Barricades going up in Odessa. September 1941
a fearsome new weapon, the ``Katyusha'' rocket launcher, made its
debut. The wedging enemy panzer groupings were dealt heavy blows
near Rudnya, Yelnya, Vitebsk, Roslavl and Bobruisk.Translated from the Russian ~
Designed by MAXIMILIAN SCHLOSSBERG ~
Editorial Board: A. M. Samsonov, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (General Editor); D. A. Kovalenko (Chief Editor); Y. I. Korablev, G. D. Komkov, V. A. Kumanev, A. P. Nenarokov.
HCTOPHfl CCCP
B rpex HacTb III
Ha amjiuucKOM jubtKe
First printing 1977
Second revised and enlarged edition 1982 © HsAaxejibCTBO «Hporpecc» 1982 c A«nojiHeHHHMH English translation © Progress Publishers 1977, 1982 Printed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
„ 10604--656
663 06T>HBJI.
014(01)-82 ~ 0505000000 [2]CONTENTS
FOREWORD.................................................................................. 5
Chapter ] ....................................................................................... 7
THE SOVIET UNION'S GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR (1941--45) ........ 7
The treacherous attack by fascist Germany ............................... 7
Mobilisation of the country's resources to resist the enemy.......... 13
The creation of the anti-Hitler coalition .................................... 19
The nazi troops' first defeat. The failure of the Blitzkrieg............ 20
The battle on the Volga. The turning point ................................ 30
Decisive victories by the Red Army and the cessation of hostilities in Europe ............................................................................ 47
The defeat of imperialist Japan and the end of the Second World War .................................................................................... 61
Chapter 2....................................................................................... 68
THE REHABILITATION AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONAL ECONOMY. COMPLETION OF THE BUILDING OF SOCIALISM (1946--58) ................................................... 68
The revival of the liberated areas............................................. (,8
The policy of peaceful development ......................................... 70
The struggle to boost the economy........................................... 72
Socio-political life ................................................................. 85
Progress in agriculture ........................................................... 92
Enhancing the guiding role of the Party. The 20th CPSU Congress ............................................................................. 93
The final victory of socialism in the USSR ................................ 102
Soviet foreign policy.............................................................. 105
3Chapter 3 ....................................................................................... 126
FURTHER CONSOLIDATION OF SOCIALIST SOCIETY AND THE GRADUAL TRANSITION TOWARDS COMMUNISM
(1959--76) ..................................................................................
The 21st CPSU Congress. Adoption of the Seven-Year Plan and the initial stages in its implementation....................................
The 22nd CPSU Congress. Adoption of the new Party Programme ......................................................................................
The struggle to fulfil the Seven-Year Plan. Improving economic management .........................................................................
Successes in the development of industry and agriculture ............
The 23rd CPSU Congress. The Eighth Five-Year Plan.................
50th anniversary of the October Revolution. The developed socialist society ..............................,.....................................
Uniting all progressive forces in the struggle for peace and against imperialism ..........................................................................
The Lenin Centenary Year .....................................................
Successes of the Eighth Five-Year Plan ....................................
The 24th CPSU Congress and its decisions................................
Socio-political life between 1971 and 1975. The results of the Ninth Five-Year Plan.............................................................
The USSR's struggle for peace and international security. Resisting imperialist aggression................................................
The successes of the USSR and other socialist states in implementing the Peace Programme (1971--75) ............................
The 25th CPSU Congress and its historic significance .................
The Constitution of developed socialism ...................................
The sixtieth anniversary of the Great October Revolution ............
Soviet foreign policy in the latter half of the 1970s and the early 1980s ..................................................................................
XXVI Congress of the CPSU — important landmark on the road to communism..........................................................'................
CPSU activity on the international scene...................................
Questions of economic development. Results of the Tenth and the main targets of the Eleventh Five-Year plans.............................
The main objectives of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan ...................
Growth of the Soviet scientific potential. Further consolidation of the Soviet way of life and the moulding of the new individual ......
The Party — vanguard of the Soviet people ................................
Chapter 4.......................................................................................
THE ADVANCE OF SOVIET CULTURE....................................
Cultural life during the Great Patriotic War ...............................
Uplift of education in the postwar years ...................................
Progress of Soviet science. The opening of the space era.............
Literature and art in the struggle for progress ...............................
CONCLUSION...............................................................................
CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY......................................................
NAME INDEX ...............................................................................
126 129 136 139 146 150 153 166 169 172 184 193 199 219 231 240 246 251 258 259 262 265 268 273 275 275 275 284 291 308 320 327 352 [4] __ALPHA_LVL1__ FOREWORDPart~III of the History of the USSR covers the period from the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1941--45 to the present day. These years saw significant events in the social and economic development of the Soviet Union.
Having, in the main, constructed a socialist society, the peoples of the USSR made a vast effort to consolidate and improve it, heartened by the prospect of a gradual transition to communism. But the treacherous attack on the USSR by fascist Germany on the 22 June 1941 interrupted the peaceful work of the Soviet people, forcing them to stand up and defend the great gains of socialism.
The fascists and their allies strove to destroy the Soviet state, enslave the Soviet peoples and employ the resources of the USSR in order to establish their own world supremacy. On the part of the Soviet people, the war was a just struggle for freedom and independence, and for their socialist homeland.
The Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War against fascist Germany and militarist Japan demonstrated the great advantages of the socialist system based on the voluntary unification of Soviet republics into a single union state.
The might of the Soviet Union was an important condition for the creation of an anti-Hitler coalition of states and peoples.
Owing to joint military action by the peoples of the USSR and the other states in the anti-Hitler coalition, and thanks to the peoples' national liberation struggle, the Second World War ended in the defeat of the most reactionary imperialist forces. Internationally, the balance of forces swung in favour of socialism and democracy. Many peoples in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America broke with imperialism and embarked on the path of independent development. A world system of socialist states took shape—the system that is now the leading force and bulwark of the anti-imperialist movement of the peoples. It firmly upholds the great significance of the principles of proletarian internationalism.
In spite of all the hardships, the Soviet state emerged from the war much stronger than it had been at the outset. The enormous industrial potential created in the eastern regions of the country enabled the economy of the war-ravaged areas to be rehabilitated within a short space of time. After the war the Soviet economy developed with consistent success: six postwar five-year plans have already been fulfilled.
5Important changes have also occurred in the social and political life of the country.
Changes in the world balance of forces, the creation of a vast economic potential, and the increasing cohesion of classes and social groups, nations and nationalities have all resulted in the complete and final victory of socialism in the USSR. A developed socialist society has been constructed, and a start has been made on the comprehensive building of communism. The tasks involved were spelled out by the Party Programme and by the resolutions of the 20th-24th and, particularly, the 25th Party Congress. These documents formulate the scientifically determined way of building communism in the USSR.
Now as before the war the USSR is following a policy designed to ensure peace between nations and is struggling for their freedom, independence, and security. The unity of the socialist countries guarantees the success of this struggle for peace and independence. The Soviet Peace Programme shaped by the 24th and further elaborated by the 25th Party Congresses is being successfully implemented. It enjoys the warm support of the whole of progressive mankind.
The 25th Congress of the CPSU in February-March 1976 called again on the peoples of the USSR, the socialist countries, and the whole of mankind to redouble their efforts in the struggle for peace which is for the good of all nations and a sine qua non for mankind's progress.
The five years since the 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union were highlighted by strenuous efforts of the Soviet people to meet the targets of the Tenth Five-Year Plan (1976--1980), which were crowned with success. The country's national wealth has increased substantially. So has its productive and scientific-technical potential. The living standard and level of culture of the Soviet people have gone up.
Among the most important political events was the adoption of the new Constitution of the USSR in 1977, which secured the pillars of the Soviet developed socialist society. The adoption of the Constitution coincided in time with the 60th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the celebration of which was an imposing demonstration of proletarian internationalism and the solidarity of the working people of the world with the world's first socialist country, with its policy of peace, the support it renders the national liberation movement and social progress.
The 26th Congress of the CPSU, held on 23 February-3 March 1981 in Moscow, elaborated new tasks in the building of communism, stressing its indissoluble link with the struggle to consolidate peace.
This third part of the History of the USSR, offered to the public abroad, contains new material on the history of the Soviet Union of the past forty years.
This variant of the volume was prepared by a group of authors, consisting of professors D. A. Kovalenko (Chief Editor), V. A. Kumanev, G. A. Kumanev, I. M. Volkov, I. S. Kremer, and G. D. Komkov; L. K. Bayeva, Cand. Sc. (Hist.), and researcher N. P. Zimarina.
[6] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ Chapter 1 __ALPHA_LVL1__ THE SOVIET UNION'S GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR (1941--45) __ALPHA_LVL2__ The treacherous attack by fascist Germany.The treacherous attack by fascist Germany. Mobilisation of the country's resources to resist the enemy. The creation of the anti-Hitler coalition. The nazi troops' first defeat. The failure of the Blitzkrieg. The battle on the Volga. The turning point. Decisive victories by the Red Army and the cessation of hostilities in Europe. The defeat of imperialist Japan and the end of the Second World War
The treacherous attack by fascist Germany. The international imperialist bourgeoisie recognised the USSR to be the bulwark of the world revolutionary and national liberation movement, and so it did not abandon its aggressive designs on the country. The Soviet state was particularly hated by the German imperialists and fascists. They viewed the Soviet Union as the most serious obstacle to their plans for world domination. Accordingly, having unleashed the Second World War and defeated a whole series of European states, fascist Germany, now considerably strengthened, decided to attack the Soviet Union. As early as the 22 August 1939 Hitler declared quite openly to an audience of leading Wehrmacht officers in Obersalzburg: "We shall defeat the Soviet Union. German rule will encompass the world.'' He also warmed to the same theme at a conference of the top nazi leaders held in Berghof on the 31 July 1940.
In preparing to attack the Soviet Union, the German fascists were aiming to seize its territory and resources, destroy the Soviet socialist system, annihilate millions of Soviet people—primarily Communists and Soviet, trade union and Komsomol activists—and reduce the remainder to slavery.
The Soviet Union was threatened with a new military intervention.
There were many signs of an impending attack by fascist Germany on the USSR. The nazi leadership was feverishly assembling an aggressive anti-Soviet bloc, concluding military treaties in the autumn of 1940 and the spring of 1941 with Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland, and later a treaty of friendship with Turkey. The seizure of Poland and Norway, and consolidation in the Balkans enabled Germany to form bridgeheads for an attack on the USSR on the northern, western and southern directions. In areas adjacent to the Soviet frontier a crash programme was put into effect to build new airfields, supply depots, petrol dumps., roads and railways. Nazi propaganda continued to poison German minds, using lies to justify the supposed need to conquer vast areas of "living space" and instilling hatred and contempt for other peoples, who were destined to become the slaves of the "Aryan race".
By enslaving many countries in Europe, fascist Germany increased its industrial potential considerably. Germany produced 22.5 million tons 7 of steel in 1939, but 31.8 million tons in 1941. Large reserves of petroleum products and non-ferrous metals were built up. This made it possible to effect a rapid increase in the production of weapons and ammunition. In 1939 the total output of the German war industry was roughly double that of the British and American industries combined. Dunng 1940 Germany's military production rose by 75 per cent to attain a level 22 times that of 1933. In addition, Germany was able to make use of the military equipment of the states it had conquered.
The Germans allocated 153 divisions, including 33 panzer and motorised divisions, to the offensive against the USSR. By the spring of 1941 the concentration of German troops in areas along the SovietGerman border had risen steeply. Several dozen trainloads of troops had been arriving in there every day ever since the end of April to the 22 June 1941. Violations of the USSR's western frontier also became more frequent. During the first half of 1941 German aircraft intruded into Soviet air space 324 times. During the 11 months preceding the outbreak of war, Soviet frontier guards detained some 5,000 German scouts.
Disturbing reports on the forthcoming aggression also reached Moscow from Soviet intelligence sources and through diplomatic channels. Accordingly, the Communist Party and the Soviet Government took a number of important measures to strengthen the country's defences. During three yearsof the Third Five-Year Plan, annual industrial growth in the USSR averaged 13 per cent, but in the case of the defence industry the figure was 39 per cent. Allocations for defence purposes were stepped up considerably: they amounted to 25.5 per cent of the state budget in 1939, 32.6 per cent in 1940 and 43.4 per cent in 1941. In February 1941 a mobilisation plan was drawn up and adopted to put the whole of industry on to a war footing. Powerful defensive lines began to be built along the western borders of the USSR. From 1939 to the nazi attack on the Soviet Union, the total strength of the Armed Forces almost trebled.
In all, 125 new divisions were formed. Some 800,000 reservists were called up for training sessions at the beginning of June 1941. In order to strengthen the defences along the western borders, some troop formations began to be moved from the hinterland to the frontier areas at the end of May 1941. A total of 939 train journeys were involved in these movements. As of the 22 June, 538 trains had been loaded, and of them 455 were still on the way and 83 had arrived at the points of destination and been unloaded. The equipping of the Red Army with combat materiel also continued apace. Between January 1939 and the 22 June 1941 the Soviet troops had been equipped with over 7,000 tanks, 29,637 field guns, 52,407 mortars and 17,745 combat aircraft. Over half of all the military hardware was concentrated in the military districts flanking the border. Additional defensive measures were also taken, including the rapid construction of fortified areas along the new state frontier.
In July 1940 the German General Staff had set to work to plan an invasion of the USSR (Operation Barbarossa) with the aim of destroying the Soviet Union and enslaving and exterminating its peoples. The nazi strategists based the plan on the ``Blitzkrieg'' concept. The nazi Command reckoned that it would quickly seize the most important political and industrial centres of the USSR—Moscow, Leningrad, the 8 Donets Coal Basin (Donbas) and the Caucasus—and would thus have the Soviet people at its mercy. The ultimate aim of Operation Barbarossa was to keep Asiatic Russia at bay along a line running from Arkhangelsk to the Volga, paralysing Russia's only remaining industrial area, in the Urals, by air raids, should that prove necessary. When they were preparing their Blitzkrieg against the USSR, the rulers of fascist Germany were convinced that the Soviet state was a fragile affair and had no doubt as to their rapid victory. The Chief of Staff of the German Ground Forces, General Franz Haider, declared that Soviet Russia was just like a pane of glass: if you struck it once with your fist, it would shatter immediately.
The inevitable collapse of the multinational Soviet state was forecast not only by the nazis, but also by many opponents of communism in the other capitalist countries.
By the time of the treacherous attack on the USSR, the German Army, armed with the latest equipment and having already two years' war experience behind it, was the most powerful army in the capitalist world. By June 1941 the total strength of the German Armed Forces had been brought up to 8.5 million men. They consisted of 214 divisions, 7 brigades and 5 fleets of aircraft. The German Army possessed some 11,000 planes, 78,000 guns and mortars, and 11,000 tanks and assault guns. The German Navy comprised 3 battleships, 8 heavy or light cruisers, 43 destroyers, 155 submarines and a considerable number of auxiliary vessels.
The nazis concentrated 82 per cent of their ground forces along the western frontier of the USSR. Together with the troops supplied by the satellite countries, a grand total of 190 fully equipped divisions were deployed in the area. The invasion force consisted of 5.5 million officers and men, 3,712 tanks, 4,950 combat aircraft, and 47,260 guns and mortars. Thus, the vast power of the nazi military machine was packed into a first sudden strike, which, the fascist leaders thought, would crush the Red Army.
The fully prepared military forces of Germany and its allies were confronted by Soviet troops from the frontier military districts; they contained 170 divisions with a total of 2.9 million men. They were equipped with 1,800 heavy or medium tanks (including 1,475 of recent design), 1,540 combat aircraft of recent construction, and 34,695 guns and mortars (excluding 50-mm mortars). In addition, the troops had a considerable number of obsolete aircraft and tanks.
The enemy had a substantial advantage in both manpower and equipment. The Soviet divisions were dispersed over a wide area on the front line and in the interior. Some of the divisions were under strength. Many tank, motorised and aircraft formations were still being raised. Some of the personnel were called up for army service on the eve of the war, and so had no time to receive adequate military training.
The preparation of the country's defences was also affected by the serious miscalculations made by J. V. Stalin in his assessment of the overall military and strategic situation and the possible timing of the German attack. Despite the reports indicating that Germany was preparing for aggression against the Soviet Union, Stalin believed right till the last moment that it would be possible to ward off the impending 9 war through diplomatic means. The troops in the western military districts were not put on standby alert in time. A directive to the frontier areas warning of a possible surprise attack by the Germans was only issued on the evening of the 21 June and did not have time to reach many formations and units. The first blow struck by the aggressor took the Soviet troops by surprise.
At about 4~a.m. on the 22 June 1941 the armed forces of fascist Germany and its satellites treacherously invaded the USSR without presenting any claims to the Soviet Union and without any declaration of war. The suddenness of the attack gave the aggressor considerable, though temporary, advantages.
This was the beginning of the Great Patriotic War—the largest military conflict between socialism and the shock forces of imperialism, which lasted for 1,418 days. For the Soviet people, it was an all-out Patriotic War to defend the freedom and independence of their country and the great gains of socialism.
A qualitatively new stage began in the Second World War at this point. Originally, the war between Germany, on the one hand, and Britain and France, on the other, was an imperialist war. But with time and under the influence of the growing role of the masses, who demanded that their governments organise more active military operations against the fascist invaders, and also thanks to the growth of the liberation struggle in the occupied countries, the war assumed a different character. The entry of the USSR into the war against fascist Germany and its satellites altered the situation radically and completely turned this war into a war of liberation.
From the very outset the Great Patriotic War was a war that was intended not just to defend the socialist system in the USSR, but also to defend social progress and the lives of the many millions of people in various European countries who had been enslaved by fascism. It was fought to decide the destiny of world civilisation. Th&liberation of the countries which had fallen victim to fascism, and their national regeneration and sovereignty depended on the successes of the USSR in the war.
These great aims in the war, which reflected the fundamental interests of the Soviet people, raised to a new level their moral and political unity, patriotism, high morale and a tremendous strive for victory.
By defending the freedom and independence of their socialist homeland, the Soviet people were discharging their class, internationalist duty to working people the world over. The armed struggle that the Soviet people waged against the nazi aggressors increased the strength of the Resistance movement in the occupied countries and led to the masses' exerting growing pressure on the governments of the bourgeoisdemocratic states. The peoples of the countries in the anti-fascist coalition strove to save world civilisation and progress from fascist barbarity.
Although they retained their class positions vis-a-vis the USSR, the ruling circles of the great powers—Britian and the USA, and later France too—were obliged by circumstances to form a united front with 10 the Soviet Union and to embark on an armed struggle against fascist Germany and its allies.
On the Soviet-German front a bitter struggle was developing. During the very first hours of the war over 1,000 German bombers carried out massive raids on the industrial centres, ports, railway junctions and military targets in the western areas of the USSR. The enemy struck particularly heavy blows from the air at the airfields in the frontier districts, destroying over 800 aircraft on the ground. Total Soviet air losses for the 22 June, including the planes destroyed in aerial combat, amounted to some 1,200 aircraft. This enabled the enemy to secure temporary air supremacy. An avalanche of fascist tanks and motorised infantry, supported by artillery and mortar fire, descended on the frontier posts and inhabited localities. The Soviet troops on the Western Front lost nearly all their ammunition depots, at which over 2,000 carloads of ammunition were stored. What was more, the nazis seized a large quantity of tanks and pieces of artillery, which altered the balance of forces in favour of the enemy still more. Along the main direction of advance the enemy enjoyed a threefold or even fivefold superiority in men and equipment. Red Army units went into battle undermanned 30--40 per cent, without deployed rear units, with only a limited quantity of materiel, transport and communication equipment and with insufficient engineering support. The small units of Soviet frontier guards, which bore the first blows of the German Army, fought with extreme bravery. But despite their heroism, they were unable to stop the enemy invasion. Under the onslaught of the superior enemy forces, the Red Army units had to fight a difficult rearguard action as they retreated into the interior.
The nazis had launched an offensive along a front running from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea. The main events occurred on three strategic directions—the lines of advance leading to Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev. In accordance with its overall plan for the war, it was here that the fascist Command concentrated the majority of its men and equipment.
The Army Group North was advancing from East Prussia through the Baltic area towards Leningrad, the Army Group Centre from the area north-east of Warsaw towards Minsk, Smolensk and Moscow, and the Army Group South from the vicinity of Lublin towards Zhitomir, Kiev and the Donbas.
The Communist Party inspired and organised the Soviet people in the struggle against the fascist aggressor. During the very first hours of the war it explained to the masses the plunderous, imperialist nature of fascist Germany's attack on the USSR and the threat that it posed to the peoples of the USSR. The Party called on the peoples of the USSR to rally even closer together in the face of the extreme danger that hung over the country. The leadership of the country's Armed Forces was assumed by the High Command General Headquarters, set up on the 23 June 1941 by the decision of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party's Central Committee. It was made up of members of the Political Bureau and the heads of the People's Commissariat for Defence: S.K.Timoshenko (Chairman), S.M.Budyonny, K. Y. Voroshilov, G.K.Zhukov, N.G.Kuznetsov, V.M.Molotov and J.V.Stalin. From 11 the 10~July onwards the Command, renamed the Supreme Command GHQ, was headed by J. V. Stalin. On the first day of the war the Baltic, Western and Kiev Special Military Districts were transformed into the North-Western, Western and South-Western Fronts respectively, while the Odessa Military District became the 9th Army. On the 24 June the Leningrad Military District was converted into the Northern Front, defending the area from Leningrad to Murmansk. The 25 June saw the formation from two armies (the 18th and the 9th) of the Southern Front, the troops of which were deployed along the River Prut.
Owing to their considerable superiority in manpower and the suddenness of their attack, the fascist troops had managed by the beginning of July 1941 to capture Lithuania, a large part of Latvia and the western parts of Byelorussia and the Ukraine. The enemy, however, failed to encircle and destroy the Red Army troops in the area, just as he failed to capture the ships of the Baltic Fleet; the ships first withdrew to Tallinn, and later broke through to Kronstadt and Leningrad.
The enemy's assumption that the Red Army was a very poor fighting force proved to be unfounded. From the very beginning the patriotism of the Soviet people and their belief in the Tightness of their cause and in their invincibility were clearly demonstrated in incredibly harsh conditions. Previously the fascist troops had nowhere encountered anything like the stubborn resistence, or sustained the large losses that they had to contend with on the Soviet front from the very first days of the fighting. On the 25 July 1941 Field Marshal Keitel, Chief of Staff of the German High Command, commented that the German Staff's theoretical work on outflanking manoeuvres, which had justified itself in the West, proved to be inadequate against the Russians. Up to mid-July 1941 German losses averaged 4,000-4,200 men a day, over 7,000 during the second half of July, and by the end of the third month of fighting the total nazi losses were in excess of half a million officers and men. Before the attack on the USSR the fascist army which had conquered almost the whole of Europe had only lost some 300,000 men.
The German generals and their crack troops were now forced to reckon with the military skill and courage of Soviet defenders. The Soviet fighting men of all nationalities were devoted to their socialist homeland and had a deep hatred of the enemy.
Frontier post 13 under Lieutenant A.V.Lopatin of the 90th Vladimir-Volynsky Frontier Detachment was surrounded, yet held out for 11 days. The troops defending Przemysl courageously warded off the enemy attacks. After heavy fighting they left the town at the order of the Command towards the end of the first day of the war. But on the following morning units of the 99th Infantry Division launched a sudden counter-attack, freed Przemysl once again and held it for five days. The town of Liepaja was sturdily and skilfully defended by the men of the 67th Infantry Division commanded by N. A. Dedayev, a former member of the Bolshevik underground, who had participated in the storming of the Winter Palace.
Soldiers of over 30 nationalities heroically defended the Brest Fortress on the frontier. Encircled by the enemy troops, the small garrison under Regimental Commissar Y.M.Fomin, Major P.M. Gavrilov and Captain I. N. Zubachov held out for over a month.
12The soldiers of all arms fought courageously against the invaders, displaying mass heroism.
From the very outset of the war many glorious deeds were accomplished by the Soviet airmen, who were battling with the enemy's numerically superior air force. When their ammunition was exhausted, many of them sacrificed their lives and rammed targets either in the air or on the ground. As early as the 22 June 1941 targets in the air were rammed by Junior Lieutenant D. V. Kokoroev, Lieutenant P. S. Ryabtsev and Senior Political Instructor A. S. Danilov on the Western Front, by Senior Lieutenant I. I. Ivanov and Junior Lieutenant L. G. Butelin on the South-Western Front, and by Senior Lieutenant A. M. Moklyak on the Southern Front. On the 24 June near Brody the airman G. A. Khrapai crashed his flaming plane on to a bridge across which German tanks were passing. The following day saw a similar feat performed by A. N. Avdeyev's crew and, the day after that, by Captain N. F. Gastello and his comrades-in-arms—the gunner and radio operator A. A. Burdenyuk, the navigator G. N. Skorobogaty and the gunner A. A. Kalinin. Fighter pilots also distinguished themselves during those hard days: S. P. Suprun, for instance, was the first serviceman to be awarded (posthumously) second Gold Star of Hero, and S. I. Zdorovtsev, M. P. Zhukov and P. T. Kharitonov were the first to be Heroes of the Soviet Union.
The Red Army's resistance grew stiffer every day, inflicting increasingly painful blows on the enemy. However, it proved impossible to stop him in the frontier area. The nazis continued to develop their offensive, advancing farther into Soviet territory. Having entered the war in extremely unfavourable conditions, the Soviet troops were, at that time, unable to form a continuous front, occupy advantageous positions beforehand and organise sound defences. By the 10 July the nazi army had advanced 500 km from the border along the north-western line of advance, 600 km along the western line and 350 km along the south-western line. Soon the enemy had captured the whole of Byelorussia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldavia and many parts of the Ukraine, and was at the gates of Leningrad.
The Soviet Union was in mortal danger.
~
Mobilisation of the country's resources to resist the enemy. The serious situation at the front called for an immense concentration of effort by the Communist Party and the whole Soviet people.
In this hour of trial the Party called on the peoples of the USSR to defend their socialist homeland and mobilise all their resources to drive back the enemy. The government announcement of fascist Germany's treacherous attack on the USSR was broadcast on the afternoon of the 22 June. The radio announcement ended with the words: "Our cause is just. The enemy will be crushed. Victory will be ours.'' These words constantly inspired the millions of citizens of the multinational Soviet state.
In order to mobilise the country's resources, the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet issued a series of decrees on the 22 June. All reservists born between 1905 and 1918 inclusively were mobilised in 14 military districts. Martial law was proclaimed in several republics and 13 regions of the Soviet Union. Despite the extremely unfavourable situation, the advantages of the socialist system enabled all the material and moral and political possibilities to be mobilised in a very short time and brought into play in order to achieve the main task—to drive out the invader.
During the first days of the war hundreds of thousands of citizens of different nationalities applied to be sent on active service as volunteers. A total of 5.3 million people had enlisted in the Soviet Armed Forces either through mobilisation or of their own accord by the 1 July 1941.
Special volunteer battalions were formed to fight infiltrated enemy units as well as to supplement the regular army. By the end of July 1,755 special battalions had been formed, together with some 60 people's volunteer divisions, 200 separate regiments and a large number of other units created during the summer and autumn of 1941. This made it possible for a further 291 divisions and 94 brigades to be formed and drafted into active service between the 22 June and the 1 December 1941.
The Party, Soviet, trade union and Komsomol organisations of the RSFSR, Kazakhstan, the republics of Central Asia, Transcaucasia and the Baltic republics did an enormous amount of work to train reserves and muster military units and formations. Together with the Russians, the Ukrainians, the Byelorussians and the members of other nationalities, the peoples of these republics swelled the numbers of the Soviet Armed Forces from the very outset of the war. During the first 10 months of the war over 500,000 Kazakhs, Tajiks and the members of other nationalities were called up into the army.
Far from shaking the Soviet people's unity, the sudden German attack only served to strengthen it. The slogan "All for the front and for victory" became the motto of their life.
The Party and the Government drew up and began to implement a broad programme for organising resistance against the enemy. On the 29 June 1941 the Council of People's Commissars and the CPSU(B) Central Committee sent the Party and Soviet organisations in the forward areas a special directive presenting a political assessment of events and outlining a plan for the Soviet people's struggle against the enemy. The document called for an end to all complacency and lack of concern, and urged all institutions, organisations and enterprises to reorganise their work and put it on to a war footing. The point was made perfectly clear: "The war imposed on us by fascist Germany is to decide whether the Soviet state is to live or to die, and whether the peoples of the Soviet Union are to be free or to fall into slavery.'' In the areas occupied by the fascists, partisan detachments and sabotage groups were to be organised for the purpose of initiating partisan warfare by the whole people, the general aim being to create intolerable conditions for the enemy and all his accomplices. It was also suggested that, whenever Red Army units were forced to retreat, they should take all railway rolling stock and all valuable property with them; anything that could not be moved was to be destroyed.
The contents of the directive of the 29 June were publicly revealed by Stalin in a radio broadcast on the 3 July 1941. He spelled out the 14 immensity of the danger posed by the enemy attack for all the country's peoples.
The military situation required that the Red Army should be strengthened and reinforced by Communists and Komsomol members. The Party's Central Committee adopted a resolution mobilising Communists to strengthen Party and political work among the troops at the front. During the first six months alone 60,000 Communists and 40,000 Komsomol members were sent as political workers to fight in the active army. By the end of 1941 there were 1,234,000 Communists in the Armed Forces — over twice as many as just before the war. This was, in fact, two-fifths of the entire Party membership. The Communists set an example and fought heroically. During the first year of the war alone 400,000 of them sacrificed their lives fighting for their country. Komsomol members, the cream of Soviet youth, fought just as bravely on the front lines and in the enemy rear. Partisan detachments and underground groups were formed everywhere in the nazi-occupied areas.
Many Soviet citizens between the ages of 16 and 50 underwent military training without taking time off from work. At the suggestion of the Komsomol organisation, special Komsomol and young people's units were trained to destroy tanks, operate machine guns and mortars, and master other military skills. By September 1941 over 7 million people were involved in military training.
Thousands of people living in frontline areas helped to set up artificial obstacles and entanglements. At the beginning of July 160,000 people worked every day on the erection of defensive constructions in the Kiev fortified area alone.
During the early days of the war a number of other important decisions were taken regarding the wartime restructuring of life in the country.
The situation called for special forms of administration and command in the state as a whole, in the Armed Forces and in the economy.
By the joint decision of the CPSU(B) Central Committee, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and the Council of People's Commissars, a State Defence Committee (SDC), headed by Stalin, was set up on the 30 June 1941. As an emergency body, the SDC assumed total power and exercised both Party and state control over the country. This enabled the efforts of the military and home fronts to be pooled and united, and the material and manpower resources to be effectively mobilised in order to achieve the prime objective—the defeat of the enemy.
Particularly experienced Party and Soviet officials were assigned to take charge of the various aspects of military, economic and ideological work.
The Main Political Administration of the Red Army was organised right at the beginning of the war. The Institute of Military Commissars was revived, and it did much to raise the troops' fighting spirit. A number of members and alternate members of the Party Central Committee were sent to the army as members of the military councils. A third of the members of the Party Central Committee and many local 15 Party executives in the Union republics, territories and regions left for the front.
On the 24 June 1941 an Evacuation Council was set up to supervise the evacuation of people and commodities. The 30 June saw the creation of a Manpower Registration and Distribution Committee so as to ensure fuller and more efficient use of the work force.
At the beginning of the war the Soviet Information Bureau was founded to report on the course of the Great Patriotic War. A number of new people's commissariats (e.g. for the tank industry and mortar armaments) were set up at the same time.
Relying on the unity and cohesion of the working people of the USSR, the Party mobilised resources for the defence of the socialist homeland on all sectors of the front and in the rear.
It was an extremely difficult task to put the country's economy on to a war footing.
Enterprises which had previously produced peacetime goods had to switch over immediately to the production of military equipment: tractor works started to manufacture tanks, iron-and-steel works began to produce new kinds of alloys suitable for the armour plating of tanks and self-propelled guns, and factories producing agricultural machinery switched over to mortars. It was necessary to forge new production and cooperative links, and to organise deliveries to the major factories of the semi-processed material and equipment required for the production of military hardware.
Substantial changes were made to the state budget. Allocations for military purposes in the second half of 1941 were 20,600 million rubles up on those for the first half of the year.
Vast quantities of food had to be mobilised for the army and the urban population, as well as raw materials for the war industry.
The rural population had to face up to the hard task of quickly harvesting the crops on the collective and state farms, and conveying the produce out of the threatened areas. It sometimes happened that collective farmers would be gathering in the grain literally under enemy fire and would hand it over to the state for transportation to the eastern regions of the country. Cattle was herded off eastwards, and machinery was carried off and peasants migrated to destinations in the east. The enemy's rapid advance into the interior caused serious losses to Soviet agriculture.
A rationing system for food and manufactured goods was introduced so as to mobilise all possible food and raw material supplies for the front. Everyone who was fit for work was employed in the factories and on the farms. Transport was reorganised, giving priority to military needs. Through the efforts of Party and Soviet organisations at the centre and in the localities, the country was transformed into a close-knit military camp.
The restructuring of the economy was complicated by the evacuation of people, industrial enterprises, agricultural resources and cultural treasures from the front zone to the rear.
When preparing its eastern crusade, nazi Germany had drawn up a plan for the economic plundering of the USSR. The nazis hoped to use 16 ``experience'' they had gained in Europe. The economies of the occupied countries —Poland, France, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Holland and Czechoslovakia—had fallen almost undamaged into fascist hands. Germany became significantly stronger economically at the expense of these countries, making use of their industry, agriculture, manpower and raw material sources in order to boost its own military and economic potential.
The German imperialists hoped to seize intact the factories, mines, ore deposits, transport, the equipment of the collective and state farms and the machine and tractor stations, as well as other material and cultural commodities, in the Soviet Union. They wished to use the USSR's skilled work force for their own purposes. Through this powerful economic base the nazis planned to achieve world supremacy.
These designs had to be frustrated.
The Soviet troops' retreat called for urgent measures to transfer the USSR's productive forces from the threatened areas. The complexity and difficulty of the task lay above all in the enormous, unprecedented scale of the transfer to be effected and the small amount of time available. The evacuation had to take place in extremely hard conditions owing to the suddenness of the enemy attack, the vast scale of the military operations, the massive air raids, the artillery bombardments, and the conversion of many towns and villages into battlefields or frontline areas.
Millions of people, numerous factories, columns of tractors, enormous droves of cattle, and trains laden with priceless art treasures and invaluable documents headed eastwards. The Party and the Government organised and controlled this unprecedented resiting of productive forces.
The Central Committee of the CPSUfB) and the Council of People's Commissars had adopted their first resolution "On the Procedure for the Removal and Siting of Manpower and Valuable Property'', which spelled out the stages and priorities of the evacuation, on the 27 June 1941. The 16 August 1941 saw the passing of the military and economic plan to cover the fourth quarter of 1941 and 1942 in the Volga area, the Urals, Western Siberia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia. It envisaged a reduction in the time taken to transfer people and vital industrial installations from a threatened area to the country's eastern regions.
These and other important state decisions largely predetermined the success of the mammoth drive to set up a reliable rear which would lay the foundations for the coming victory.
By the spring of 1942 the eastern regions of the USSR were accommodating 7,417,000 evacuees. In addition, 2,393,300 head of cattle were transferred to these parts in the course of 1941 together with a large quantity of tractors and agricultural equipment.
The eastern regions also housed a vast number of enterprises from the Ukraine and Byelorussia, Latvia and Lithuania, Estonia and the Karelo-Finnish Republic, Moldavia and the western parts of the RSFSR. It proved possible to move the large factories of Moscow, Leningrad, Kharkov, Odessa and other Soviet industrial centres (industrial plant comprised up to 36 per cent of all the freight carried during the evacuation).
__PRINTERS_P_17_COMMENT__ 2---69 17The Urals, the Volga area and Siberia received 40 per cent of the material evacuated, and some went to the Central Asian republics. During the second half of 1941 a total of 2,539 industrial enterprises were shifted to the rear, 1,523 of which were moved between July and the end of November. This operation required the use of some 1.5 million railway wagons, to make no mention of anything else.
In the new areas the evacuated enterprises and their staff found themselves in a very difficult situation. Frequently factory buildings were not ready to accommodate the equipment, and there was a shortage of housing, fuel and electrical power. However, the Soviet people surmounted all these difficulties and soon had the enterprises functioning again. It took an average of 6-8 weeks to restore an evacuated factory to full working order.
The operation to switch the whole of industry on to a war footing lasted for about a year. As a result of the vast organisational work put in by the Party and the labour effort of the whole Soviet people, a coordinated and rapidly growing war economy had taken shape by the end of 1942.
All this despite the fact that the Soviet economy was going through a particularly difficult time during the second half of 1941. Some of the country's plant had been lost through occupation, and many enterprises were not yet operating in their new locations. Gross industrial output between June and the end of November was 47.6 per cent down. In December, however, the fall in industrial output was halted, and its steady growth began.
In the second half of 1941 the average monthly production of combat aircraft showed an increase of 120 per cent over the figure for the first half of the year. The corresponding figures are 150 per cent in the case of light and heavy machine guns, 200 per cent for artillery pieces, 700 per cent for submachine guns, and over 50 per cent for mortars of all calibres. During the six months of war in 1941 the ordnance factories produced as many 45-mm anti-tank guns as had been made during the whole of 1940.
By the end of 1941 the country's work force had diminished drastically. This resulted from the enemy's occupation of a vast area and from the call up of reservists into the Red Army. Women, teen-agers and elderly people took over at the factories. Having mastered the necessary skills, they had to work in exceptionally hard conditions.
While setting the country on to a war footing and directing the efforts of the masses into meeting the needs of the front, the Party also gave constant attention to ideological work.
Here the Party was guided by Lenin's view: "In the final analysis, victory in any war depends on the spirit animating the masses that spill their own blood on the field of battle. The conviction that the war is in a just cause and the realisation that their lives must be laid down for the welfare of their brothers strengthen the morale of the fighting men and enable them to endure incredible = hardships.''^^1^^
_-_-_~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 31, p. 137.
18The Party's Central Committee restructured all the ideological and political work in the country. The chief aim came to be the mobilisation of all the fighting men, partisans, members of underground organisations, and workers on the home front so that they should perform specific tasks that would speed up the defeat of the enemy. The ideological and political work carried out by the Party and the state concentrated on providing the people and the army with a profound explanation of the just aims of the Great Patriotic War, on fostering a boundless devotion to the country and a hatred of fascism, and on strengthening the moral fibre of the Soviet people.
Lenin's idea of the defence of the socialist homeland was a potent source of political education for the Soviet people. The Party also noted the displacement into many republics of millions of people who knew neither the language nor the customs of the indigenous population. It bore in mind equally the persistent attempts by fascist propaganda to revive and kindle the vestiges of the small-proprietor, nationalist outlook of some of the local inhabitants in the German-occupied areas.
Lenin's works dealing with the defence of the socialist homeland and the nationalities question were reproduced in large editions. M.I. Kalinin, A. S. Shcherbakov, Y. M. Yaroslavsky and other Party leaders and Soviet statesmen wrote speeches, leaflets and articles.
An enormous part in ideological and political work was played by the press. In the armed forces the press gave prominence to the mass heroism of the fighting men, revealed the powerful force of the unity of the peoples of the USSR, and exposed the atrocities of the nazis. The frontline papers appeared in Russian and in the languages of other peoples of the USSR.
The ideological work carried out by the Communist Party was a vital factor in mobilising the working people of all social strata and all the Soviet republics for the struggle against the enemy.
The transformation of the USSR into a single armed camp and the
successful restructuring of the Soviet economy and the whole life of the
country along military lines created the most important inner
preconditions for victory.
~
The creation of the anti-Hitler coalition. The rulers of Hitler's Germany had hoped to form a common front of the imperialist states against the Soviet Union. However, the course of events dispelled the fascists' dreams. On the 22 June Winston Churchill, the head of the British Government, declared that Britain had decided to fight against nazi Germany on the side of the USSR. A similar statement was made on the 24 June by US President Franklin D.Roosevelt. During the summer of 1941 intensive talks took place between the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, and a number of agreements were concluded. At the same time the Soviet Government established contact with the Free France National Committee and the governments-in-exile of Czechoslovakia, Poland and the other nazi-occupied countries. From the 29 September to the 1 October representatives of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain met in Moscow and drew up a plan whereby the USA and Britain would supply the Soviet Union with armaments, equipment and foodstuffs. In __PRINTERS_P_19_COMMENT__ 2* 19 return, the USSR undertook to supply the USA and Britain with strategic raw materials.
Britain and the USA formed a military alliance with a socialist country against the imperialist states of the nazi bloc which were akin to them as regards their class nature. This occurred because of the contradictions within the capitalist world, which deepened still further during the war. Belatedly, the Anglo-American statesmen realised how dangerous nazi Germany was, and how even more dangerous it would become if it managed to conquer the Soviet Union and seize its resources.
The most reactionary imperialist circles in the USA and Britain were in no great hurry to curb fascist aggression. They wanted both the USSR and Germany to exhaust themselves in the war.
Ordinary people in the USA, Britain, France and the other capitalist states took a different view of the alliance with the USSR. They sympathised with the Soviet Union and demanded that its military efforts should receive support.
The governments of the USA, Britain and a number of other countries had to reckon with public opinion, and so the anti-Hitler coalition had taken shape by the end of 1941. Led by the USSR, Britain and the USA, the coalition was supported by the peoples of German-occupied Poland, France, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Belgium, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Greece and Albania. It was joined by China (which was fighting imperialist Japan), the dominions of the British Commonwealth and a whole series of other states.
Fascist Germany and its satellites had to contend with a strong
alliance of freedom-loving peoples who were ready to defend their
liberty and independence to the end.
~
The nazi troops' first defeat. The failure of the Blitzkrieg. Following the forced retreat of the Red Army in the autumn of 1941, the Germans sieged Leningrad on the north-western sector of the front. The city was then inhabited by over 2.5 million people, mainly women, children and elderly people. Leningrad's links with the rest of the country were severed in all directions except across Lake Ladoga. Supplies of food and fuel were running out fast. Having captured its suburbs, the nazis subjected the city to intensive round-the-clock air raids and artillery bombardments.
Yet despite the frantic efforts of the fascists, they were unable to advance beyond the outlying areas of Leningrad. The troops of the Leningrad Front, the sailors of the Baltic Fleet and the entire population of the city turned it into an impregnable fortress. The defence of Leningrad was led and inspired by its Communists.
Just before the war the city's Party organisation had the membership over 153,500 people. It was headed by A. A. Zhdanov, A. A. Kuznetsov and Y. F. Kapustin. Over 70 per cent of the city's Communists and 90 per cent of its Komsomol members took part in the armed resistance against the enemy.
At the approaches to Leningrad Soviet ground troops fought in close cooperation with the Air Force, the Baltic Fleet and the Chudskoye and Ladoga flotillas.
20
Defending the skies over Leningrad
The Baltic Fleet was holding on to the islands of the Moonsund Archipelago so as to stop enemy ships from sailing into the Gulf of Riga and the Gulf of Finland. From airfields near the front Soviet flyers made raids deep into enemy territory. On the night of the 7-8 August 1941 a group of bombers under the command of Colonel Y. N. Preobrazhensky made the first attack on military targets in Berlin.
The Battle of Smolensk began on the 10 July in the central sector of the Soviet-German front. The troops of the Western Front, who were outnumbered by two to one and had much less equipment to fight with than the enemy, were ordered to hold in check the nazi advance by stubborn defence so as to gain the time needed to train and bring up the reserves.
The troops were given a great deal of help by the Party organisations and population of the Smolensk, Orel and Kalinin Regions. The Smolensk Party organisation alone despatched nearly three-quarters of its membership to the front. In addition, over 20,000 local people joined the army as volunteers and in the city itself a volunteer brigade was formed.
The troops of the Western Front fought an active defensive battle
and frequently counter-attacked, regaining inhabited localities that had
been captured by the enemy shortly before. It was here, near Orsha, that
21
Barricades going up in Odessa. September 1941
a fearsome new weapon, the ``Katyusha'' rocket launcher, made its
debut. The wedging enemy panzer groupings were dealt heavy blows
near Rudnya, Yelnya, Vitebsk, Roslavl and Bobruisk.
During the Battle of Smolensk the troops of the Western Front were given great support by the defenders of Mogilev, who kept a large German force pinned down. Far behind the enemy lines and cut off from the main Soviet forces, several Red Army formations and the people of Mogilev held the city for a long time.
In mid-July the numerical and technical superiority of the nazis enabled them to break through the Soviet defences and to capture Smolensk on the 16 July. Even so, the battle continued still more fiercely after this. Having drafted reserves into the Western Front, the Soviet Command launched an unexpected offensive in the general direction of Smolensk during the last 10 days of July.
The bitter fighting in the Smolensk area, during which the enemy was dealt a heavy blow at Yelnya, lasted until the beginning of September. The troops who were later to form the nucleus of the Soviet guards regiments particularly distinguished themselves in the battle. On the 30 July, for the first time in the Second World War, the German troops were ordered to take up defensive positions.
Thus, the offensive by the Army Group Centre in the main strategic 22 direction, towards Moscow, was delayed by two months. The nazis suffered heavy losses and were forced to cool their heels for precisely the period of time that Operation Barbarossa had allocated to the whole "eastern campaign''. This enabled the Soviet Supreme Command to do a great deal to build up reserves and strengthen the defences of the capital.
Forced to halt the advance towards Moscow, the German High Command decided to divert the main blow towards Kiev, the capital of the Soviet Ukraine. The idea was to surround and destroy the main forces of the South-Western Front, and then to swing round once again towards Moscow and to develop the offensive on Rostov. The bitter fighting for Kiev lasted 83 days. The working people of Kiev selflessly defended their city alongside the troops of the South-Western Front.
The heroic defence of Kiev also helped to delay the enemy offensive against Moscow. At the walls of the Ukrainian capital the nazis lost over 100,000 officers and men dead or wounded, as well as many tanks and other equipment. Nevertheless, the fascist invaders managed to break through the defences on the flanks of the South-Western Front, to surround the Soviet forces and capture the city. After fierce and sanguinary battles some of the troops fought their way through the German lines, but many died a brave death.
The heroic defence of Odessa was full of strategic and political
significance. For 69 days the Coastal Army and the Black Sea Fleet,
The cruiser Chervona Ukraina in action
[23]
assisted by the local people, withstood the enemy onslaught. The city
was only abandoned at the order of the Supreme Command, owing to a
sharp deterioration in the military and strategic situation in the Southern
Ukraine. The 25th Chapayev and the 95th Moldavian Divisions, the 1st
Marine Regiment, the 42nd Odessa Division (which was formed mainly
from the people's volunteer force) and many other units and formations
distinguished themselves in these engagements. The heroic defenders of
Odessa were moved to Sevastopol. After the fall of Odessa the fascist
troops invaded the Crimean Peninsula, posing a real threat to the
Donbass at the same time.
Yet the invader's successes were not the ones he had counted on. The resistance of the Red Army along the whole front was becoming stiffer and stiffer, and the onslaught of the fascist hordes was constantly losing momentum.
Communist-led partisan and underground groups were struggling throughout the length and breadth of the Soviet territory occupied by the enemy. A popular vengeance movement was organised on the basis of a Party and Government directive dated the 29 June 1941 and the CC CPSU's Political Bureau resolution of the 18 July 1941 entitled "On the Organisation of the Struggle in the Rear of the German Troops''. By the end of 1941 on occupied Soviet territory there were already more than 250 underground regional, town and district Party committees directing the military operations of over 2,000 partisan detachments. The partisan and underground movement was rapidly developing into a serious fighting force that gave considerable support to the Red Army.
By the end of September 1941 the fascist troops had not reached the line indicated by Operation Barbarossa. All the previously set time limits had expired.
Fearing the total collapse of the Blitzkrieg plan, the nazi Command decided to concentrate its main efforts once again in the strategic direction of Moscow. The capture of Moscow was of particular significance in the enemy plans. The fascist ringleaders imagined that, if the USSR lost its capital, it would be forced to surrender. The Army Group Centre advancing on Moscow was considerably reinforced by troops brought up from the reserves and by units transferred from other sectors of the Soviet-German front. Against the Western, Reserve and Bryansk Fronts defending the Moscow direction the enemy concentrated some 80 divisions, 14 of which were panzer divisions and 8 motorised. This was more than a third of all the infantry divisions and nearly two-thirds of the panzer and motorised divisions operating on the Soviet-German front. On the central direction the German troops had 40 per cent more men, 120 per cent more tanks, 90 per cent more guns and mortars, and 160 per cent more aircraft than the Soviet .defenders.
The German Command set up three strike forces to capture Moscow. Two of them were to grip the capital in an enormous pincer movement from north and south, cutting it off from the Soviet rear, while the third, central grouping, was to strike directly at the city via Gzhatsk.
The Moscow offensive was started on the 30 September 1941 by the forces of the southern enemy grouping, which was operating in the Orel-Tula-Kashira direction against the troops of the Bryansk Front. The 24 central and northern German strike forces began to move on the 2 October.
The stronger enemy armies broke through the Soviet defences and forced the defenders to withdraw to a considerable distance. The fascist troops captured Kalinin, Bryansk, Orel and Vyazma, reached the suburbs of Tula, poured into the Moscow Region and began fighting in the distant approaches to the capital.
The Communist Party and the Soviet Government headed the defence of Moscow. Hundreds of thousands of people in the city and the surrounding region started to build defensive constructions. Barricades appeared in the streets of Moscow as the capital prepared for street fighting.
The Moscow Party organisation played an outstanding part in the defence of the capital. Over 360,000 Communists and Komsomol members from Moscow and the Moscow Region went off to the front. The enemy was trying to grip the heart of the Soviet Union regardless of the losses incurred. Nevertheless, the Moscow offensive was brought to a standstill in the last few days of October. The front line then ran through Kalinin, Volokolamsk, Naro-Fominsk, Aleksin and Tula.
However, the overall situation on the Soviet-German front that October had deteriorated. In the north-west the enemy had managed to make a forced crossing of the Volkhov and had advanced as far as Tikhvin. The nazis were trying to effect a junction in the area between Lakes Ladoga and Onega with the Finnish troops, surround Leningrad with a second line of troops and so starve its defenders into capitulation.
"Communists, forward!"
[25]
In the south the fascist troops had entered the Donets Basin and, as they developed the offensive towards the Caucasus, had seized Rostov-on-Don. In the Crimea the enemy was storming Sevastopol, the base of the Black Sea Fleet.
The Soviet Union found itself in an extremely difficult situation. The country was deprived of the territory which in the prewar years had produced 63 per cent of its coal, 68 per cent of its pig iron, 58 per cent of its steel, 60 per cent of its aluminium, 38 per cent of its grain and 85 per cent of.its sugar. The Urals, Siberia, the Soviet Far East and the Central Asian republics now had to bear the brunt of the military supply effort. The army was running short of guns and ammunition.
The fascist occupation forces plundered and devastated Soviet towns and villages, and destroyed cultural and scientific treasures. They covered the occupied territory with a network of concentration camps in which Soviet citizens were starved to death, gassed or inoculated with infectious diseases. Millions of people were sent to do forced labour in Germany.
The Soviet Union was also faced by the growing threat of an attack by the Japanese imperialists, who were impatiently awaiting the fall of Moscow before embarking on aggression against the USSR.
The situation on the front near Moscow became increasingly tense. Fighting was going on 80--100 km from the city, and the nazis were not slow to announce its impending capitulation.
The struggle for Moscow was entering its decisive phase. The Communist Party explained to the Soviet people the full seriousness of the situation, and was responsible for initiating a series of urgent measures to strengthen the capital's defences. On the 20 October a state of siege was declared in Moscow and its suburbs by the State Defence Committee.
Moscow was being defended by the whole country. New troop formations were being raised in Siberia and the Soviet Far East, in Central Asia and the Caucasus, in the Volga area and the Urals. In Tataria alone the 18th, 146th, 334th and 352nd Infantry Divisions were formed. The reserves thus created were quickly moved up to the positions around Moscow. Trains carrying fuel, military equipment, weapons and food rushed towards the capital at record speed.
The enemy sustained heavy losses as he encountered the growing resistance of the Red Army. On the Volokolamsk direction alone the Germans lost some 29,000 effectives dead and not less than 200 tanks in 13 days of fighting.
By the beginning of November 1941 the fascist troops stood at the approaches to the capital. However, the fascists had been seriously weakened. The German Command was constantly regrouping its forces and bringing up reserves.
The Party's Central Committee, the SDC and Supreme Command GHQ made good use of the time they had gained to further strengthen the capital's defences. Anti-tank strong points and zones were set up at the near approaches to Moscow. During the first half of November several fresh armoured, infantry and cavalry divisions arrived at the front. The troops were also reinforced by anti-tank artillery and mortar units.
26On the eve of the 24th anniversary of the October Revolution a meeting was held in Moscow to mark the occasion, and the traditional military parade was held in Red Square on the 7 November. This was good for morale, since it strengthened the Soviet people's belief in the inevitable defeat of fascism.
Considerable changes occurred in the situation on the various fronts. In late November the Red Army counter-attacked near Tikhvin and Rostov-on-Don. The Soviet troops shattered the enemy forces, recaptured the towns and caused the fascists to beat a hasty retreat. These victories did much to help the defenders of Moscow, since they prevented the enemy from transferring troops from the other directions to the city.
After a two-week pause the nazis renewed the assault on Moscow in
mid-November 1941. It was launched by 51 divisions, 13 of which were
panzer divisions and 8 motorised. The enemy enjoyed a considerable
numerical advantage over the troops of the Western Front, especially in
tanks (150 per cent) and artillery (70 per cent). The powerful blow of the
enemy panzer groups was dealt on the right flank of the Western Front.
Simultaneously General Guderian's 2nd Panzer Army attacked
southeast of Tula, and the 4th Army moved against the centre of the front. The
Soviet capital was in great danger. Bitter fighting ensued along an
An anti-aircraft battery in Commune Square by the Central Theatre of the Red Army
[27]
enormous front stretching from Kalinin to Tula. The defenders of
Moscow fought to hold every defensive line. An anti-tank group of 28
men—Russians, Ukrainians, Kazakhs and Kirghizes—from the 1075th
Infantry Regiment of General I. V.Panfilov's 316th Infantry Division
was attacked by a company of enemy submachine-gunners and 50 tanks
in the vicinity of the main road to Volokolamsk, near the railway station
at Dubosekovo. "Russia is huge, but there is nowhere to retreat.
Moscow is behind us.'' These words, spoken by the political instructor
V. G. Klochkov, who commanded the fighting, were more like an oath
than a statement of fact. The men did not retreat. They destroyed a
considerable number of enemy tanks, and most of them died at
their positions. Only six of the 28 heroes (known as the Panfilovtsy)
survived: D. F. Timofeyev, G. M. Shemyakin, I. D. Shadrin,
D. A. Kozhubergenov, I. Y. Dobrobabin and I.R. Vasilyev.
The defenders of Tula stood firm in the face of the enemy. The Soviet troops and volunteers annihilated countless nazis at the walls of that ancient Russian town. In the rear of the German troops dozens of partisan detachments struck hard at the occupation forces.
Making use of their considerable superiority in manpower, armours and artillery, the German troops broke through to the Moscow-Volga Canal at the end of November and made a forced crossing in the vicinity of Yakhroma. In the southern sector of the offensive the enemy bypassed Tula on the eastern side, having failed to take the town, and advanced on Kashira.
On the 27 November near Kashira and on the 29 November north of Moscow, Red Army formations struck powerful counter-blows at the enemy. It became clear that the enemy onslaught was weakening. On the 30 November the nazis made the last attempt to break through to Moscow from the north-west. Their attacks were repulsed on the 2 December by the 1st Strike Army and the 20th Army, commanded by Generals V. I. Kuznetsov and A.I. Lizyukov, together with the 16th and 30th Armies under Generals K. K. Rokossovsky and D. D. Lelyushenko.
The turning point in the Battle of Moscow was at hand.
On the 5 December 1941, at the order of the Supreme Command GHQ, a counter-offensive was launched by the troops of the Kalinin Front (commanded by General I. S. Konev) and, on the 6 December, by the Western Front (commanded by General G. K. Zhukov) and the South-Western Front (commanded by Marshal S.K.Timoshenko). The fighting became even fiercer along the whole of the 800-km front. The nazis mounted furious counter-attacks, trying to hold on their position in the areas that were closest to the capital. But the Red Army broke the enemy's resistance. As they retreated, the fascist troops abandoned their weapons, military equipment and vehicles in the deep snowdrifts. Thousands of dead and wounded officers and men remained on the battlefield.
Having routed the flanking strike groupings of the fascists who were
threatening Moscow from the north and south, the Soviet troops
liberated Kalinin, Yelets and Kaluga. In January 1942 the Moscow
counter-offensive developed into a general Red Army offensive, in the
28
March-past in Red Square. 7 November 1941
course of which the Soviet troops advanced 400 km westwards, clearing
the enemy right out of the Moscow and Tula Regions, and out of dozens
of towns and hundreds of villages in other regions.
The German defeat near Moscow had immense military, political and international repercussions. For the first time in the Second World War, the fascist armies had suffered a heavy defeat, and the myth of their invincibility had been dispelled. The plan for a Blitzkrieg campaign against the USSR lay in ruins, and the war assumed a prolonged character. Given this situation, Germany's ally Japan decided not to attack the USSR. In the German-occupied countries the antifascist struggle mounted by the enslaved peoples grew still more intense.
The German defeat near Moscow raised the spirits of the Soviet people and made them even more certain that the fascist invaders would be inevitably routed. It was an event that exerted a decisive influence on the whole subsequent course of the Second World War, since it marked the start of the great turning point and augured well for future victory.
By the beginning of 1942 a powerful anti-Hitler coalition, consisting of 26 states, had already taken shape. Their manpower and material resources were way in excess of those commanded by Germany and its allies. The USA declared war on Japan, and then on Germany and Italy. Nevertheless, the brunt of the war was still borne by the Soviet Union. 29 Despite their solemn undertakings, the Governments of Britain and the USA declined to open a second front in Europe and confined themselves to comparatively small military operations in secondary theatres of war in Africa and the Pacific. This enabled Germany and its allies to transfer a considerable number of fresh military formations to the Soviet-German front. In the summer of 1942 the numbers of the fascist troops operating against the Red Army rose to 237 divisions and, by the winter, to 266, of which 193 were German. In North Africa the British at that time were facing only 4 German and 11 Italian divisions.
The situation on the Soviet-German front still remained tense. By the spring of 1942 the Red Army offensive had come to an end. The fascist troops managed to dig in 120 km from Moscow, and so still posed a constant threat to the capital.
In the north-western section of the front the enemy troops continued to besiege Leningrad.
On the southern flank of the front the enemy captured the Kerch
Peninsula in May 1942 and continued to storm Sevastopol. The situation
of the defenders was extremely difficult. They were cut off from all
overland communication with the rear and experienced great hardship in
procuring adequate supplies of food and ammunition. Even so, the
people in Sevastopol repulsed one attack after another. Only on the 4
July 1942, after 250 days of heroic defence, was Sevastopol abandoned
at the order of the Supreme Command.
~
The battle on the Volga. The turning point. Taking advantage of the absence of a second front in Europe, the fascist High Command launched a new offensive on the Eastern Front in the summer of 1942. The aim was to defeat the Soviet troops of the South-Western and Southern Fronts, break through to the Don Elbow, seize the Lower Volga and Caucasus regions and then achieve their main objectives. For this purpose a powerful grouping of 90 divisions was assembled on the southern flank of the Soviet-German front. By the end of June 1942 there were some 900,000 enemy officers and men, 1,260 tanks, over 17,000 guns and mortars, and 1,640 combat aircraft concentrated in a zone stretching from Kursk to Taganrog. This grouping contained up to 35 per cent of the nazi infantry and over 50 per cent of the armoured and motprised formations that the enemy had then amassed on the Soviet-German front.
The Soviet troops were in an unfavourable position. Supreme Command GHQ had expected a new enemy offensive, but once again in the central strategic direction rather than in the south, and had deployed its reserves accordingly. In addition, the Soviet Command had attempted between May and June 1942 to organise an offensive in the Kharkov direction, but the attack was inadequately prepared and proved unsuccessful. As a result of the Red Army's serious reverses at Kharkov and, later, in the Crimea, the enemy had a big advantage in strength on the southern flank of the Soviet-German front.
The enemy offensive began on the 28 June. German, Rumanian, Italian and Hungarian armies that formed the Army Group South took part in it. Seizing the initiative, they began offensive operations on a broad front stretching from Orel to Taganrog. At first, the main blow 30 was directed at the Kursk-Voronezh direction, where the enemy managed to break through the defences of the Bryansk and Southwestern Fronts, and reached the suburbs of Voronezh on the 7-8 July. Nevertheless, the Soviet forces managed to stop any further enemy advance in the area. Fascist attempts to move further eastwards were unsuccessful.
.
The fascist Command then altered course and directed its mam forces towards the Caucasus and Stalingrad. Between the 28 June and the 24 July 1942 they advanced 150--400 km, seizing the fertile lands on the right bank of the Don and the eastern industrial regions of the Donbas. Subsequently the nazis occupied Rostov-on-Don, made a forced crossing of the Don and posed a direct threat to the Caucasus. The historic battle of Stalingrad began on the 17 July on the Chir River.
The Red Army courageously held in check the enemy advance
inflicting heavy losses. The Soviet Supreme Command allocated some ot
its reserves to the defence of the Volga. The Stalingrad Front was
formed on the 12 July and consisted of three reserve armies (the 62nd,
63rd and 64th), two armies from the former South-Western Front (the
21st and the 8th Air Army) and, subsequently, the 28th, 38th and 57th
Armies from the south-western direction, as well as the Volga Flotilla.
However many of these troops were insufficiently manned and
equipped and had been weakened in the heavy fighting during the retreat
towards Stalingrad. The Stalingrad Party organisation roused the whole
population of the city and the adjacent region to go to the aid of the
Fighting near Sevastopol. May 1942
[31]
Soviet troops. Defensive constructions were erected, and factory
workers stayed on the job for days on end, making and repairing
weapons, and producing ammunition and military hardware for the
front.
The enemy onslaught grew fiercer. By September the fascist troops were already fighting in the streets of Stalingrad. In the south they had captured Krasnodar, Stavropol, Armavir, Maikop, Anapa, Novorossiisk and, subsequently, Pyatigorsk and Mozdok.
As a result, by the autumn of 1942 the enemy had occupied territory on which before the war 45 per cent of the country's population had been living, 33 per cent of the gross industrial product had been output and 47 per cent of all the arable land was situated.
Nevertheless, the position of the Soviet rear was becoming stronger. By mid-1942 the Soviet economy had been put on to a wartime footing. They were hard times for industry, transport and agriculture, since there was a shortage of metal, fuel, electrical power, raw materials, food and manpower. Yet, despite all the hardships, those who manned the factories, mines, oilfields, and collective and state farms in the rear worked unstintingly to rapidly increase the country's military potential.
By the autumn of 1942 the battles for Stalingrad and the Caucasus were being fought with growing bitterness. In the south the enemy onslaught had been stopped by the troops of the North Caucasian (from the 1 September Transcaucasian) Front in the foothills of the western part of the Caucasian Range, in the passes of the Central Caucasus and on the Terek River near Mozdok.
Particularly heavy fighting was going on in the Lower Volga area, where the 51st, 57th, 62nd and 64th Armies were putting up a courageous defence. The ranks of the defenders of Stalingrad were swelled by Communists, Komsomol members, factory workers, railwaymen and water-transport workers. On the 24--25 August alone over 2,000 people, mainly Communists and Komsomol members, volunteered to assist the defence of Stalingrad. During the subsequent days a further 8,000 volunteers joined the defenders. In a situation in which the town had become the front and the factories were under constant artillery and aerial bombardment, workers repaired and produced new tanks that went straight into battle from the factory gates.
Heavy fighting also continued in other sectors of the immense Soviet-German front: in August and September the troops of the Western and Kalinin Fronts attacked in the direction of Rzhev and Vyazma, while the units of the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts launched an offensive near Sinyavino. This prevented the German Command from switching some of its forces from these areas to the Volga. Nevertheless, the situation of Stalingrad remained critical. On the 25 August 1942 a state of siege was declared. The enemy subjected the city to constant air raids and artillery bombardment. The nazis employed against the city not only their best ground forces, but also the full strength of their 4th Air Fleet, which made over 2,000 sorties. The city was submerged beneath the incessant tumult of bombardment, crumbling buildings and devastation, and was enveloped by a continuous curtain of flame, smoke and soot. It was not long before the water and electricity supply failed, but work continued non-stop in the enterprises that produced war materiel or 32 repaired tanks and other kinds of armaments and military equipment. The distinction between front and rear vanished completely.
On the 12~September the defence of the city was entrusted to the 62nd Army under the command of General V.I.Chuikov and to a part of General M.S.Shumilov's 64th Army. On the morning of the 13 September the German 6th Army began the assault on the city. Street fighting of unprecedented intensity flared up and continued for two months. It was the most difficult and critical stage in the battle.
A small group of Soviet Guardsmen, consisting of Russians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Tajiks and Tatars, commanded first by Sergeant Y.F.Pavlov and then by Lieutenant I. F. Afanasyev, defended a four-storey house for 58 days. Thanks to their valiant efforts, the building was transformed into an impregnable fortress.
The whole country also heard at that time about the great exploit of 11
heroes from the East—nine Uzbeks, a Kazakh and a Tatar. Through
their defence of one particular hill, they barred the way to an enemy who
outnumbered them by thirty to one. The hill on which they all died
Harvesting under the protection of anti-aircraft machine guns
[33]
a heroic death has been named the Hill of the Eleven Heroes from
the East.
The city was enshrouded in smoke and lit up by many fires. Troops defended the narrow strip of land behind which lay the smooth expanse of the Volga. Under a withering artillery fire, the Volga Flotilla delivered to the western bank all that the city's defenders needed to carry on the fight. In the streets of Stalingrad the units of General A. I. Rodimtsev's 13th Guards Division, Colonel 1.1. Lyudnikov's 138th Division, the units commanded by Colonel S.F.Gorokhov and Generals N. F. Batyuk, A.A.Sarayev and L.N.Gurtyev, and Lieutenant-Colonel M.S. Batrakov's marine brigade earned undying fame. They repulsed hundreds of ferocious enemy attacks, pinning down a total of 50 crack divisions. By mid-November 1942 the stubborn resistance of the Soviet troops, who had repulsed 700 enemy attacks, forced the nazis to adopt defensive tactics. However, they still occupied most of the city.
In the Caucasus the enemy managed to reach the Main Caucasian Range. But then here too the staunchness of the men of the Transcaucasian Front compelled the nazis to discontinue further offensive operations.
By frustrating the fascist offensives on the south-western strategic direction at Stalingrad and in the North Caucasus in the autumn of 1942, the Soviet forces achieved important military and political results. Events took place at Stalingrad whose historical significance can hardly be overestimated. The turning point in military operations in favour of the Soviet Army had been largely prepared by the successful development of the Soviet economy. On the initiative of Party organisations, a mass movement developed in all sectors of the national economy under the slogan "Into work as into battle!" By the summer of 1942 over 1,200 evacuated enterprises of various types had been put into operation again in the eastern parts of the USSR. In June 1941 only 18.5 per cent of the country's munitions enterprises had been sited in the east, as compared with 76 per cent in June 1942. Ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, and coal and oil industries began to develop intensively.
As early as March 1942 the eastern areas of the USSR provided as much military products as the enterprises of the whole Soviet Union had been producing before the war.
Industry in the Urals began to produce up to 40 per cent of the total Soviet military output, including 60 per cent of all medium tanks and 100 per cent in the case of heavy tanks. Every second shell that was fired at the enemy was made of steel smelted in the Urals. In 1942 the gross product of all industry in the Urals was 180 per cent higher than in 1940, and the output of war materiel was over 400 per cent up. There was also a sharp growth in the military and economic potential of other eastern areas, where widespread industrial construction was under way. In Western Siberia, for instance, the total gross industrial product grew by 140 per cent, including a rise of 2,600 per cent in the case of military production. In the Volga area the figures were 150 and 800 per cent respectively. In 1942 the number of newly built industrial enterprises in the country totalled 10,315.
34The gross product of Soviet industry increased by over 50 per cent between 1941 and 1942. The tank-building industry produced some 2,800 vehicles in 1940, and about 6,000 in 1941, but in 1942 the total output climbed to 24,719. The production of aircraft grew from 15,735 in 1941 to almost 25,500 in 1942. The monthly output of artillery pieces in 1942 was double that of the war months of 1941.
Thus, despite the loss of the militarily and economically important western areas of the USSR, the vast scale of the evacuation and other extreme difficulties, the Soviet Union possessed by the end of 1942 a smoothly functioning and rapidly growing war industry. This made it possible to complete the re-equipping of the Red Army with up-to-date hardware: the Soviet troops received first-class tanks, modern aircraft and a large quantity of artillery, mortars and automatic weapons. The country's armed forces ceased to experience a shortage of ammunition.
The command system and the Soviet troops' fighting skill improved considerably.
At dawn on the 19 November 1942, following careful preparation, the Soviet troops launched the decisive counter-offensive between the Volga and the Don. Even during the defensive battles in the autumn of 1942, Supreme Command GHQ and the General Staff had begun to plan a counter-offensive with the aim of surrounding and destroying the nazi forces besieging Stalingrad. In order to execute this vast operation, extensive troop concentrations were formed, supported by a large quantity of artillery, tanks and aircraft. The following officers attached
Fighting in Stalingrad
[35]
to General Headquarters took part in preparing the counter-offensive:
the Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General G. K. Zhukov; the
Chief of the General Staff, General A. M. Vasilevsky; the top Artillery
Commander, General N. N. Voronov, and the top Air Force
Commander, General A.A.Novikov. Party and political work among the troops
was stepped up considerably.
On the 19 November the enemy defences to the north-west of the city were broken by the troops of the South-Western Front, commanded by General N.F.Vatutin, and the Don Front, commanded by General K. K.Rokossovsky. On the 20 November, having penetrated the enemy's defences to the south of the city, the men of the Stalingrad Front, commanded by General A. I. Yeremenko, took the offensive. The armoured groupings of the Squth-Western and Stalingrad Fronts raced towards one another, encircling the enemy divisions in an enormous pocket between the Volga and the Don. On the 23 November, after a four-day advance, the forward units of these fronts joined up near the hamlet of Sovetsky, snapping shut the ring of steel around the fascist troops in Stalingrad and its environs. The German 4th and 6th Panzer Armies—22 divisions containing over 330,000 officers and men—were trapped in a pocket. In order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, the Soviet Command proposed that the surrounded troops should surrender, but the nazis continued to resist fanatically, hoping for a miracle. Bitter fighting initiated the drive to smash the surrounded forces. An assault launched by a large enemy grouping from the vicinity of Kotelnikovo to help the encircled troops in Stalingrad was repulsed by the 51st Army and the 2nd Guards Army.
While the troops of the Don and Stalingrad Fronts were hacking to pieces the ring of encirclement and were pulling the noose tighter and tighter, the units of the Voronezh and South-Western Fronts took the offensive, broke through to the rear of the fascist army operating in the Don Elbow, and prevented it from giving any assistance to the encircled divisions.
On the 2 February 1943 the momentous battle of Stalingrad came to an end. In the course of wiping out of the enemy grouping, 147,000 enemy officers and men were killed, and 91,000 captured. Among the prisoners were 24 generals and the commander of the German 6th Army Fieldmarshal Paulus. All in all, the enemy lost up to 1.5 million effectives in the battle of Stalingrad. The Soviet troops seized a vast quantity of arms and equipment.
The impressive victory at Stalingrad showed the whole world that the once-formidable German war machine was already breaking down.
Germany was entering a grave crisis, and its Japanese and Turkish allies finally gave up their plans for declaring war on the USSR. Suppressed discontent with the fascists was spreading in Italy, Rumania and Hungary. The morale of Hitler's army had been seriously undermined.
The victory at Stalingrad was partly responsible for the upsurge of the Resistance movement in the nazi-occupied countries of Europe, activated the operations and doubled the strength of the patriots who refused to bow their heads to the invaders. It came as a convincing proof to all peoples that fascism was inexorably doomed.
36The Red Army's defeat of the nazi hordes on the banks of the Volga was the decisive factor in bringing about the turning point in the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War as a whole. The Soviet Armed Forces firmly seized the initiative and hung on to it till the end of the war.
__*_*_*__The great victory at Stalingrad paved the way for further powerful blows against the enemy.
Particularly significant was the breaking of the enemy blockade of Leningrad, which was accomplished in January 1943 by the troops of the Leningrad Front, commanded by General L. A. Govorov, and the Volkhov Front, commanded by General K. A.Meretskov. This triumph made it possible to restore railway links with the beleaguered hero-city.
During the offensive of winter 1942--43, in addition to routing the
enemy on the Lower Volga and at Leningrad, the Red Army also cleared
areas in the North Caucasus and the Don of the fascist invaders, and
liberated a part of the Donbas, Rostov-on-Don, Voronezh, Kursk,
Young people — for the front
[37]
Kharkov and a number of other large cities. The enemy was thrown back
600--700 kilometres to the west. The Soviet troops freed a total of some
500,000 square kilometres.
In the liberated zones they saw the results of the nazis' monstrous crimes: plundered and devastated towns, depopulated and burnt villages, evidences of the mass execution of civilians, disfigured palaces of culture, museums, schools and hospitals, and defiled historical and cultural monuments. The speedy rehabilitation of the economy and culture in the liberated areas became the concern of the whole Soviet people.
Under the influence of these victories, the partisan and underground movement—popular avengers who fought in the enemy-occupied areas—became even more extensive. By December 1942 the German rear was being harassed by 1,013 partisan detachments, comprising some 100,000 fighters. Underground Party committees headed their activities. In the Ukraine and Byelorussia alone 23 underground regional committees, and 328 town and district committees of the Party were functioning. Komsomol regional committees also operated in the underground movement. Komsomol groups arose in hundreds of enemy-occupied towns and villages. By the end of the second year of the war the Soviet patriots had destroyed over 300,000 officers and men, derailed at least 3,000 trains, blown up or burnt 825 armament depots and ammunition dumps, and wrecked many tanks, aircraft and other military equipment behind enemy lines. The names of many partisans and underground fighters, such as M.Guryanov, T. Bumazhkov, S. Solntsev, Z. Kosmodemyanskaya, K. Zaslpnov, Y.Chaikina, F. Pavlovsky, I. Kuzin and A.Petrova, feature prominently in the record of the early years of the war.
Overall strategic control of the partisan struggle was effected by the CC CPSU(B) and Supreme Command GHQ. An SDC resolution of the 30 May 1942 set up under Supreme Command GHQ a Headquarters of the Partisan Movement, headed by P. K.Ponomarenko; similarly in the autumn of 1942, republican and regional partisan headquarters were founded, under the leadership of the secretaries of the Central Committees of the Communist Parties of the Union republics and the secretaries of the Party regional committees.
The Red Army offensive in the winter of 1942--43 placed the fascist troops in a difficult position, particularly in the southern sector of the front. Nevertheless, the fascist Command was able to despatch fresh reserves from Western Europe to the Eastern Front, carried out a regrouping of its forces and managed temporarily to stabilise the front line. In the Eastern Ukraine and the Donbass the enemy even launched a counter-offensive and recaptured Kharkov in March 1943. It was during the defence of Kharkov, near the hamlet of Sokolovo, that the first Czechoslovak military unit, which later formed the nucleus of the people's liberation army of Czechoslovakia, received its baptism of fire.
Towards the spring of 1943 a lull had settled over the battlefields. Both sides were making urgent preparations for further operations.
Fascist Germany tried to repair its shaky position on the Eastern
Front, avenge the defeat at Stalingrad and turn the course of the war
back in its favour. In preparation for the summer 1943 offensive, the
38
The Urals. Tanks for the front
nazis carried out total mobilisation and began to transfer a large number
of new troop formations from the Western Front to the Soviet-German
Front. By the summer of 1943 fascist Germany had 42 divisions more on
the Soviet-German front than at the outset of the war against the USSR.
However, the nazis were unable to carry out offensive operations on
several strategic directions at the same time.
The German Command decided to organise a new and powerful offensive in the Kursk sector of the front. The basic aim behind Operation Citadel was to surround and destroy the Soviet troops in the Kursk bulge by means of unexpected converging blows from Orel and Belgorod, and then to carry forward the attack into the hinterland. By the beginning of July 1943 the enemy had concentrated near Kursk a total of up to 50 of his best divisions (16 of which were panzer or motorised divisions), as well as a mass of artillery and aircraft. This amounted to over 17 per cent of the enemy's infantry divisions, some 70 per cent of his panzer divisions and up to 30 per cent of his motorised divisions that were on the Soviet-German front at the time. Furthermore, the strike groupings formed for the offensive could be reinforced by another 20 divisions that were located on the flanks. Thus, in the battle of Kursk the enemy counted on using more than a third of all the German formations that were on the Soviet-German front. The nazis were preparing to employ on a massive scale the new and supposedly impenetrable heavy Tiger and Panther tanks and the Ferdinand self-propelled guns.
39Soviet Supreme Command was also preparing to deliver a crushing blow against the enemy and to press home the fundamental change that had already begun in the Great Patriotic War. Supreme Command GHQ guessed the intentions of the nazi Command well in advance, and as early as the end of March and the beginning of April 1943 put the finishing touches and approved a plan for repulsing the enemy offensive and then launching a powerful counter-offensive.
From April 1943 onwards material and technical preparations got under way so that the Soviet troops would be properly equipped and supplied for the battle of Kursk. This called for maximal use of all kinds of transport, the railways in particular.
The Red Army had managed to concentrate large forces in the Kursk bulge. The Central Front, commanded by General K. K.Rokqssovsky, and the Voronezh Front, commanded by General N. F. Vatutin, which had to cope with the main task, that of containing and repulsing the enemy attack, comprised over 1.3 million men, up to 20,000 guns and mortars, some 3,600 tanks and self-propelled guns, and 2,370 planes. Behind them were deployed the forces of the Steppe Front, which was kept in reserve at the disposal of the Supreme Command. Coordination of action of the different fronts operating in the Kursk bulge was entrusted to Marshals of the Soviet Union G. K. Zhukov and A. M. Vasilevsky.
On the 4 July Hitler's order for the offensive to be launched was read out to the fascist troops. "The powerful blow that will be struck against the Soviet armies is to shake them to the core,'' the order said. At dawn on the 5 July 1943 the nazis attacked the defences of the Soviet fronts. The attack was an immensely powerful one, and the fighting immediately became very bitter. The Soviet troops stubbornly defended every line of defence, destroying thousands of enemy effectives, hundreds of tanks, assault guns and other equipment.
The positions of a battalion of the 73rd Guards Infantry Division near the village of Krutoi Log were assaulted on the 9 July by 120 enemy tanks backed by infantry. In the course of a 12-hour battle the Guardsmen damaged or set on fire 39 German tanks and destroyed up to a thousand nazis. Of the battalion's 450 men, 200 died heroic deaths, including the commander, Captain A. A. Belgin. The officers and men of all arms of the services—airmen, tankmen and gunners—fought just as heroically.
Incurring immense losses, the fascist troops managed to drive 9-15 kilometre wedges along the Orel-Kursk direction, and 15--35 kilometre wedges along the Belgorod-Kursk direction. But they were unable to go any further: the enemy offensive petered out. Supreme Command GHQ decided to commit large armoured and Army reserves to the battle. On the 12 July near the village of Prokhorovka an unprecedented tank engagement took place, involving some 1,200 armoured vehicles. The enemy was exhausted and strained to the limit by these pitched battles. Counter-offensives were launched on the same day by units of the Western and Bryansk Fronts, on the 15 July by the Central Front, and on the 3 August by the Voronezh and Steppe Fronts. Overcoming stubborn resistance, Soviet troops captured Orel and Belgorod on the 5 August. The first artillery salute was fired in Moscow to mark the liberation of 40 these towns. Subsequently, every major Red Army victory was marked by artillery salvoes.
In August 1943, at the height of the battle of Kursk, the partisans developed their "rail war'', which had been planned by the Headquarters of the Partisan Movement. The first stage of the operation alone involved 170 partisan detachments, consisting of some 100,000 men. In just a single night, that of the 3 August, they put 42,000 rails out of action, and 200,000 by mid-September. The operation aggravated the enemy's already difficult position, causing him serious complications in regrouping and supplying his forces.
In the summer of 1943 the fascist army suffered enormous losses in battles of vast scale. Of the 70 German divisions that took part in the battle of Kursk 30 were crushed. In 50 days of fighting, the enemy lost over 500,000 officers and men. Fascist Germany was no longer capable of making up for such losses. The victory at Kursk altered the balance of power still more in favour of the Red Army. After this, the general summer offensive of the Soviet troops got under way. It took place along a2,000-kilometre front that stretched from Nevel to the Sea of Azov. During the three months of the offensive the Red Army advanced up to 400--450 kilometres in places, liberating hundreds of large towns and other localities.
The battle for the Dnieper was an outstanding offensive operation during the second period of the Great Patriotic War.
The fascist armies, much weakened in the summer battles of 1943,
were in a state of deep crisis. The German Command was trying at all
A delegation of collective farmers from the Moscow Region handing over to the Red
Army a column of tanks built from their personal savings
[41]
costs to stabilise the front line, especially along the western and
south-western directions following the line Velizh-Dorogobuzh-Bryansk
and Sumy-Northern Donets. It hoped to make use of such formidable
water barriers as the Dnieper, as well as the Rivers Sozh, Molochnaya
and so on, and hurriedly erected defences on them.
The Soviet troops were faced by the difficult task of crossing the Dnieper on the march, without slackening the momentum of the offensive, destroying the enemy's "Eastern Rampart" and so upsetting all his calculations.
At the end of August 1943 the Red Army breached the enemy defences through the coordinated efforts of four fronts, approached the Dnieper at the end of September and immediately set about making a forced crossing.
The crossing of the Dnieper was effected in a difficult situation, under constant artillery and air bombardment. High morale and a great deal of physical resilience were called for so that the Soviet troops could overcome this major obstacle.
The battle for the Dnieper lasted without respite for almost the whole of October. The enemy launched counter-attack after counter-attack, aiming to dislodge the Soviet troops from the bridgeheads they had seized and to hurl them back into the river. However, the Red Army beat off the German onslaught, routing 26 divisions in the process. On the 5 November units of the 1st Ukrainian Front fought their way into Kiev, the capital of the Soviet Ukraine, and the city was cleared of the enemy on the following day. As a result of the liberation of Kiev, a large bridgehead of great strategic significance was formed to the west of the city. Realising this, the enemy brought up fresh reinforcements into the area and began a new counter-offensive in mid-November. The fascist grouping was, nonetheless, defeated by the combined forces of the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts. Having finally lost all hope of holding the "Eastern Rampart'', the nazis rolled back westwards. Of the Red Army troops who took part in the battle for the Dnieper 2,438 became Heroes of the Soviet Union in recognition of their valour. Many thousands of servicemen were decorated.
The victory on the Kursk bulge and the Red Army's summer-autumn offensive completed the fundamental change in the course of the Great Partiotic War and the Second World War as a whole in favour of the USSR and the other countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. By the 26th Anniversary of the October Revolution the Red Army had already liberated nearly two-thirds of all occupied Soviet territory. Over 100 German divisions were defeated during the summer and autumn of 1943. During this period the combat alliance of the Slav peoples grew even stronger. The 1st Czechoslovak Brigade under the command of Ludvik Svoboda fought bravely during the fighting for Kiev. The Polish 1st Tadeusz Kosciuszko Division saw action for the first time in the battles for Lenino, north-east of Mogilev, as part of the Western Front. It was formed in the Soviet Union and was the nucleus of the future army of People's Poland.
The partisan movement assumed even greater proportions behind the enemy lines in the second half of 1943 and the beginning of 1944.
42In the occupied areas the nazi authorities unleashed a monstrous reign of terror. The German occupation brought the Soviet people only robbery and the inhuman exploitation of the population, savage executions of Soviet patriots, the extermination of women, old men and children, massive deportation for slave labour in Germany, constant starvation and humiliation. In the Ukraine alone over 4 million Soviet citizens and prisoners-of-war were slaughtered. The nazi occupation authorities wanted to break the spirit of the Soviet people and to intimidate them. But the fascist atrocities only served to intensify their anger against the German occupiers and their hatred for them. Through its underground organisations, the Party roused the people of the occupied regions to resist the fascist invaders. By the beginning of 1944 over 350,000 armed partisans were operating behind the enemy lines. Vast partisan-held areas which had been cleared of the enemy took shape. The nazi occupation forces were terrified of the formations commanded by such famous partisan leaders as S. A. Kovpak, V. I. Kozlov, M.I.Naumov, A.N.Saburov, A. F. Fyodorov, S.V.Grishin, V.Y.Samutin and F. F.Taranenko.
In 1943 a total of 24 Soviet partisans were made Heroes of the Soviet Union, and thousands of them were awarded orders and medals. They pinned down considerable enemy forces. In March, for example, the German Command was obliged to assign 19 divisions and 300 separate units and SS detachments to protecting the army's lines of communication. In the summer of 1943 the occupation forces had to raise the number of divisions protecting the rear to 25.
On to Kiev! The crossing of the Dnieper. November 1943
[43]
Soviet young people played a full part in the partisan struggle and the underground activities.
Underground youth organisations, directed by Communists, were to be found in every occupied region or large inhabited locality. A typical example is provided by the struggle mounted by the underground youth organisation in Krasnodon. The young people of this small town in the Donets Basin set up their own organisation, known as the Young Guard. It had a membership of up to 200 young men and women, led by Ivan Turkenich, Viktor Tretyakevich, Oleg Koshevoi, Ivan Zemnukhov, Sergei Tyulenin, Ulyana Gromova, Lyubov Shevtsova and Vasily Levashov. Among other things, these young underground fighters distributed anti-fascist leaflets, carried out sabotage and frustrated the occupation forces' activities. With the help of traitors, the Gestapo managed to capture nearly all the Young Guards, who were then cruelly tortured to death.
As they retreated westwards, the nazis pursued a scorched earth policy, in the course of which the population was deported to Germany. In order to evade fascist slavery, Soviet people fled into the densely wooded areas controlled by the partisans and took up arms.
The year 1943 saw a general upsurge in military production. Making a great effort, the workers on the Soviet home front managed in 1943 to bring about a radical change in output, especially in industry and transport. The main efforts of the Communist Party and the workers on the home front were concentrated on removing the bottlenecks in the war economy, increasing labour productivity and employing production capacity to the full.
Thanks to the measures taken and to the selfless toil of its miners, the country received 23 per cent more coal than in 1942. The construction of new power stations and the expansion of existing ones led to an 11 per cent growth in the output of electrical energy in the country during this period. Soviet metallurgists managed in 1943 to boost the production of pig iron by 17 per cent, aluminium by 20, nickel by 52, steel by 5 and rolled metal by 4.8 per cent.
All this made it possible to expand industry's engineering base. For the first time since the beginning of the war, the state plan for rail freight transport on all the 32 trunk lines then in operation was overfulfilled.
An important means of increasing the output of defence production was provided by the powerful development of nationwide socialist emulation, as well as by the introduction of new methods of production, and notably line production. In the aero-engine factories alone the introduction of the line production method increased labour productivity in 1943 by 20--25 per cent. During that year Soviet aircraft factories provided the front with a total of some 35,000 planes, i.e., 37.4 per cent more than in 1942, and 9,700 more aircraft than were produced by German industry.
The tank builders were just as successful. During 1943 a total of 24,000 tanks and self-propelled guns were manufactured in the USSR, whereas German industry made only 18,200 such vehicles during 1942 and 1943. In 1943 the Red Army received 130,000 guns of all types. The 44 workers, engineers and designers in the munitions enterprises strove constantly to improve the military hardware and to build new kinds of armaments. In 1943 the production of rocket launchers showed a 240 per cent increase over the 1941 level. Considerable success was also achieved in the production of ammunition, which was nearly 3 times the quantity made in 1941. The growth of military production in 1943 also continued in the eastern areas. In the Urals it was 6 times up on the 1940 level, 34 times in Western Siberia, and 11 times in the Volga area. All in all, the gross industrial product in 1943 was 17 per cent higher than in 1942, and war industry output was 20 per cent up. During the three peacetime years of the Third Five-Year Plan the average annual growth rate of production had been 13 per cent.
The successful development of the war industry and of the Soviet economy as a whole made it possible to complete the outfitting of the Red Army with the latest equipment: an endless flow of first-class tanks and modern aircraft, and a large quantity of artillery, mortars, automatic weapons and ammunition of all kinds reached the front. The patriotic movement to set up a defence fund from personal contributions gained momentum throughout the country. People gave away their savings in order to buy tanks, aircraft and artillery.
Partisans returning from a mission. Western Byelorussia
[45]
Throughout 1943 agricultural workers ensured that there were no serious holdups in supplying the Red Army and the civilian population with food, and industry with raw materials.
Life was returning to ravaged and desolate lands and to devastated towns and villages. On the 21 August 1943 the Council of People's Commissars and the CC CPSU(B) adopted a resolution entitled "On Immediate Measures for the Rehabilitation of the Areas Freed from German Occupation''. The people living in these areas were helped by the republics, territories and regions that had not had to endure the rigours of occupation. Special patronage committees were set up in 12 Union and Autonomous republics, and they carried out a great deal of organisational work. Factories rose again out of the ruins, and flooded mines began to produce once again. The scale of rehabilitation was gigantic.
The successes achieved by the Soviet Union in its struggle against fascist Germany and the German satellite countries enhanced its international standing. In 1942--43 a further nine countries established diplomatic relations with the USSR. At the same time the position of fascist Germany became worse and worse, and the nazi bloc began to fall apart.
In July 1943 US and British troops landed in Sicily, and in the second half of August they invaded mainland Italy. The fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was deposed, and a government headed by Marshal Badoglio came to power. For a time it tried to continue the war, but the widespread, Communist-organised anti-fascist movement of the Resistance, the defeat of the Italian troops on the Soviet-German front, and the operations of the US and British troops forced it to surrender. On the 13 October 1943 Italy declared war on Germany. Anti-fascist feeling grew stronger in Rumania, Hungary and Finland. There was a fresh upsurge in the powerful national liberation movement in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Yugoslavia, France and other occupied countries.
In the face of this military and international situation, the leaders of the Third Reich thought that the best thing to do was to prolong the war and seek a separate peace with the Western states.
Soviet foreign policy was confronted with the task of frustrating the nazi government's plans to conclude a separate peace treaty with the USA and Great Britain. Between the 19 and 30 October 1943 the Foreign Ministers of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain conferred in Moscow. The meeting resulted in a declaration to continue the war until Germany surrendered fully and unconditionally, and also spelled out the principles that would be applied to the postwar situation.
During this period the heads of the allied governments also signed a declaration on the nazis' responsibility for the atrocities they had committed.
The heads of the Soviet, US and British Governments met at the Teheran Conference from the 28 November to the 1 December 1943. They adopted a declaration containing statements about the three powers' general line on the conduct of the war and on cooperation during the postwar period.
46At Teheran the British and American Governments undertook to start the invasion of Northern and Southern France no later than the 1 May 1944, thereby opening a second front in Europe. The conference made an important contribution towards strengthening the coalition between the USSR, Britain and the USA.
Thus, fascist Germany's plans to split the anti-Hitler coalition were
totally frustrated. The Great Patriotic War (and the Second World War
as a whole) entered a new phase, that of its victorious conclusion.
~
Decisive victories by the Red Army and the cessation of hostilities in Europe. = The Soviet-German front continued to be the focal point in the Second World War. Of the 315 divisions and 10 brigades that constituted the German Army by the beginning of 1944, a total of 198 divisions and 6 brigades, or 70 per cent of the Army, were operating on the Soviet-German front. A further 38 divisions and 18 brigades supplied by Germany's satellites were also on Soviet territory. In Italy the US and British troops were opposed by 19 divisions, or less than 6 per cent of Germany's ground forces. In France, Holland, Belgium and Norway, despite the expected allied invasion from the British Isles, the German Command stationed only 64 divisions, or 20 per cent of its ground forces.
As a result of the victories of the Red Army, major successes in
developing the war economy, and the liberation in 1943 of important
industrial and agricultural areas of the country, the Soviet troops became
The liberation of Sevastopol. Troops break through to the Grafskaya Embankment.
May 1944
[47]
numerically and technically superior on all fronts. By the beginning of
1944 they had 30 per cent more men, 40 per cent more tanks, 70 per cent
more artillery and 170 per cent more aircraft. The morale of the Soviet
troops was immeasurably higher.
Supreme Command ordered the Red Army to completely liberate Soviet territory in 1944. For this purpose, a plan for delivering constant strategic blows against the main enemy groupings was carefully put together.
The offensive was started at the end of December 1943 and the beginning of 1944 by the forces of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts, commanded by Generals N. F. Vatutin, I. S. Konev, R. Y. Malinovsky and F. I. Tolbukhin. An active part in operations was played by the Black Sea Fleet, the Azov Naval Flotilla and the partisan formations in the Ukraine, Moldavia and the Crimea. The offensive was mounted along a front 1,400 kilometres long, stretching from the Polessye-Pripet area to the Black Sea coast.
On the 14 January 1944 the troops of the Leningrad, Volkhov and 2nd Baltic Fronts, supported by the Baltic Fleet, took the offensive against the Army Group North. In the course of bitter fighting near Leningrad and Novgorod they breached the enemy's heavily fortified defences in just a few days and compelled him to retreat. On the 20 and 27 January the country saluted the Soviet servicemen who had cleared the enemy out of Novgorod and completely freed Leningrad from the nazi blockade which had lasted for 900 days. By the beginning of March the Leningrad Region and part of the Kalinin Region had been liberated. Soviet troops entered Estonia.
In the Western Ukraine the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts successfully carried out the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky operation, surrounding and destroying 10 enemy divisions and a brigade by mid-February. In the spring of 1944 Red Army units developed the offensive and liberated the whole of the Ukraine to the west of the Dnieper and the Crimea.
As a result of the winter and spring offensive in 1944, the enemy suffered a major defeat, withdrawing 120--300 kilometres from Leningrad and Novgorod, and 600--700 kilometres in the southern sector of the front. Soviet troops reached the state frontier along a distance in excess of 400 kilometres. Military operations were extended beyond the Soviet border.
By the summer of 1944 the balance of forces on the Soviet-German front had altered still more in favour of the USSR. As of the 1 June, there were 6,425,000 men on active service in the Soviet Army. There were also Polish, Czechoslovak, Rumanian, Yugoslav and French units and formations, numbering 104,000 men, that were strategically subordinate to the Soviet Command.
The enemy armed forces that were on the defensive along the Soviet-German front amounted to 4 million men.
Since it was now clear that the Red Army alone was capable of defeating fascist Germany, the Western allies decided, at long last, to open the second front in Europe. The circumstances were highly favourable for such a move, since the bulk of Germany's forces continued to be deployed along the Soviet-German front. There was only 48 a relatively small number of German troops stationed in occupied France. In addition, the national liberation struggle in the nazi-occupied countries had by then become widespread. On the 6 June 1944 British and American troops landed in Normandy in Northern France. Although two years behind schedule, the second front in Europe was now, at last, a reality.
From then on, strategic coordination was established between the Soviet, British and American troops. Yet, even after the opening of the second front, the brunt of the war continued to be borne by the Soviet Union. The greater part of the most battle worthy fascist divisions were still fighting on the Soviet-German front.
In the second half of 1944 the Red Army offensive assumed a gigantic scale. Blows of unprecedented strength were struck against the enemy in different sectors of the enormous Soviet-German front. The enemy thrashed around in confusion, not knowing where to send his rapidly shrinking reserves.
On the 10 June 1944 a determined Soviet offensive was launched to liberate Karelia and put Finland out of the war. The troops of the Leningrad Front, acting in team with the Baltic Fleet, took several days to breach the strongly fortified and deeply echeloned enemy defences on the Karelian Isthmus, and, on the 20 June, stormed and captured Vyborg. After the fall of Vyborg, the troops of the Karelian Front took the offensive in Southern Karelia, in the Petrozavodsk and Svir directions. In September 1944 a defeated Finland signed an armistice with the USSR and, on the 1 October, declared war on fascist Germany.
The Minsk offensive. July 1944
[49]
The nazi Command took a great deal of trouble to determine the direction of the main Red Army thrust in the summer of 1944, but came to the erroneous conclusion that the offensive would begin to the south of the Polessye-Pripet area. The enemy assembled a large quantity of armour in this area. However, the new Soviet offensive, codenamed ``Bagration'', began in Byelorussia rather than in the western areas of the Ukraine. It was marked by a considerable concentration of forces, vast territorial extent and the rapidity of the Red Army's advance, and called for the timely concentration of a large body of troops, equipment, armaments, ammunition and other materiel.
Preparations for this operation started in the spring of 1944. Its objective was to defeat the German Army Group Centre, to completely liberate the republic and, subsequently, to be in a position to undertake further operations.
The Byelorussian operation was entrusted to the troops of the 1st Baltic Front and the 3rd, 2nd and 1st Byelorussian Fronts, commanded by Generals I. K. Bagramyan, I. D. Chernyakhovsky, G. F. Zakharov and K. K. Rokossovsky. Also involved were long-range aviation, the Dnieper Military Flotilla, the anti-aircraft forces and numerous detachments of Byelorussian partisans. Marshals of the Soviet Union G. K. Zhukov and A. M. Vasilevsky, representing GHQ, were to coordinate the actions of the various fronts.
Before the operation began, the attacking fronts were reinforced by 38 infantry and 12 cavalry divisions, 10 armoured and 2 mechanised corps, 18 tank and 28 SPG regiments, 4 artillery divisions, 16 artillery bri gades and several other artillery formations and units. Forty per cent of the entire personnel of the army in the field, 49 per cent of its guns and mortars, and 77 per cent of its tanks and self-propelled guns were concentrated along the 700-kilometre sector of the offensive.
On the 23 June powerful artillery salvoes and air strikes at enemy fortifications heralded the beginning of the Byelorussian offensive. During the first 12 days of this major operation the Soviet troops advanced 225--280 kilometres. The fascist invaders were driven out of the Vitebsk, Mogilev, Polotsk, Minsk, Bobruisk, Molodechno and Baranovichi Regions. The Red Army was greatly assisted by the Byelorussian partisans, who disrupted the Army Group Centre rail communications along the entire length of track from the front line to the state border. On the night of the 20 June alone, they blew up 40,775 rails. Between the 26 and 29 June they derailed 147 enemy trains, which paralysed enemy's important transportation lines.
The 5 July saw the beginning of the second stage of the offensive, as a result of which by the 29 August units of the 1st Baltic Front penetrated into the Baltic area, the 2nd and 3rd Byelorussian Fronts reached the border with East Prussia, and the 1st Byelorussian Front reached the Rivers Narew and Vistula.
Thirty enemy divisions were defeated near Vitebsk, Minsk and Bobruisk. The enemy lost 540,000 officers and men.
The battle in Byelorussia was still under way wnen the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front struck in the Lvov and Rava-Russkaya directions at the enemy's Army Group Northern Ukraine. Between July and August the enemy grouping was totally defeated here too.
50The Soviet troops liberated the whole of the Western Ukraine and the south-eastern regions of Poland, made a forced crossing of the Vistula and entrenched themselves in a large bridgehead to the west of Sandomierz.
During this time, in the West the British and American troops were beginning their advance into the French hinterland. The noose around fascist Germany was drawing tighter. The Wehrmacht generals tried to save the situation through collusion with the ruling circles of Britain and the USA, and through the removal of Hitler himself. However, the attempt on Hitler's life, made on the 20 July 1944, proved unsuccessful. Mass repressions began within the fascist army.
By then the German economy was declining rapidly. The nazis, therefore, saw it as extremely important to keep Rumania and its oilfields on their side. It was also highly desirable for them to have the material resources of the other Balkan states at their disposal. Consequently, despite the fact that the Army Group Southern Ukraine, which barred the way to the Balkans, was obviously threatened after the defeat of the Army Group Northern Ukraine, Hitler would not sanction its withdrawal.
The Red Army offensive began on the 20 August 1944. After three days of fighting, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, commanded by General R. Y. Malinovsky, and the 3rd Ukrainian Front, commanded by General F. I. Tolbukhin, surrounded 22 German divisions and several isolated units and formations in an area to the south-west of Kishinev. They had been crushed by the 29 August. At the same time, the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts continued their advance into Rumania. The Rumanian Tudor Vladimirescu Division fought alongside them in the battle to liberate Rumania. This division had been formed in the USSR in 1943 from Rumanian prisoners-of-war who volunteered to serve in it. It formed the nucleus of the People's Army of the new Rumania.
The entry of the Red Army into Rumania activated the revolutionary movement there .The Rumanian people, who had languished under the yoke of the dictatorship of Antonescu and fascist Germany, rose up to fight for their freedom. On the 23 August an anti-fascist rising led by Rumanian Communists took place in Bucharest. The people overthrew the Antonescu Government, and a new one was formed. On the 24 August it announced that the country was withdrawing from the war on the side of Germany, and declared war on Germany the following day. From the end of August onwards, 22 Rumanian divisions fought alongside the Red Army to free their country.
Developing their rapid offensive, Soviet troops entered Bucharest, the capital of Rumania, on the 31 August 1944, and the ships of the Black Sea Military Fleet put landing parties ashore and sailed into the Danube.
The defeat of the fascist troops in Rumania unleashed an enormous wave of revolutionary, anti-fascist feeling in neighbouring Bulgaria. Yet Bagrianov's pro-fascist government took no account of the will of the people and continued to help fascist Germany. Red Army units crossed the Bulgarian frontier and, receiving an enthusiastic welcome from the people, set about liberating the country. On the 9 September a popular uprising against the reactionary government flared up in Bulgaria. The 51 insurgents set up the Fatherland Front Government, led by the Communist Party of Bulgaria. The new government soon declared war on Germany and its ally, Hungary.
In the autumn of 1944 the troops of the Ukrainian Fronts continued their offensive operations in order to liberate Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Yugoslavia, and to finally crush the enemy in the southern sector of the Soviet-German front. The Red Army's liberating crusade fused with the widespread national liberation movement of the peoples of Central and South-Eastern Europe. In Slovakia, for instance, the partisan movement developed into a popular uprising at the end of August. The German Command moved large forces into the area in order to suppress it. Soviet troops arrived to give assistance to the insurgents. Together with the 1st Czechoslovak Corps, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front broke through the enemy defences in the Carpathians (near the Dukla Pass) and entered Czechoslovakia, thus beginning its liberation.
In accordance with an understanding worked out between the Soviet Government and the National Committee of Liberation of Yugoslavia, Red Army units crossed the Yugoslav border on the 28 September. Together with the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, they hastened towards Belgrade. During the attack the first to reach the streets of the city were units of the 4th Guards Mechanised Corps under General Zhdanov and the Yugoslav 1st Proletarian Division under Colonel Vaso Jovanovic. After seven days of bitter street fighting, the Yugoslav capital was liberated on the 20 October. At the same time, a nazi grouping of 20,000 men was surrounded to the south-east of Belgrade and destroyed.
Pounded by the Soviet troops, the fascist bloc finally collapsed. Germany's only remaining ally was Hungary. Szalasy's fascist clique, which clung on to power with the help of German bayonets, maintained the alliance with Germany. Soviet supreme Command ordered the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts to neutralise nazi Germany's last accomplice. At the end of October 1944 Soviet troops launched an offensive in the direction of Budapest. Supported by the Danube Military Flotilla and after stubborn fighting, the troops of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts made a forced crossing of the Danube. Developing the offensive, they surrounded an enemy grouping of 180,000 men in the Hungarian capital of Budapest on the 24 December. The liberated Hungarian people set up a national provisional government, which declared war on fascist Germany on the 28 December.
Events in the northern sector of the Soviet-German front were proceeding just as successfully. Following the defeat of the Army Group Centre, Soviet troops had reached the border with East Prussia. However, a large Wehrmacht grouping was still active in the Baltic area—the Army Group North, The German Command relied on it heavily: it was supposed to ensure German naval supremacy on the Baltic Sea and the supply of iron ore from Sweden, to pin down some of the forces of the Red Army and to complicate its offensive along the central direction.
In view of the situation that had taken shape in that sector of the front, Supreme Command GHQ decided to strike at Riga, thereby cutting the German troops off from East Prussia.
52The Riga offensive was begun on the 14 September by the forces of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Baltic Fronts, commanded respectively by Generals I. K. Bagramyan, A. I. Yeremenko and I. I. Maslennikov, with the objective of completely liberating the Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republics. Three days later, to the north of Narva, the Leningrad Front, commanded by General L. A. Govorov, took the offensive against Tallinn. The objective of this offensive was to drive the enemy out of Soviet Estonia. The operations of the Leningrad Front were supported by the ships and aircraft of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet and by the ships of the Lake Chudskoye Military Flotilla. By the 26 September the troops of the Front had emerged on to the entire length of the Baltic coastline from Tallinn to Parnu, completing the liberation of the Estonian SSR with the exception of the Moonsund Archipelago. On the 21 October the Riga operation also ended successfully. The Soviet troops cleared the southern coastline of the Gulf of Riga and drove the enemy back on to the Courland Peninsula. Here, between Tukums and Liepaja, 29 nazi divisions, 8 combat groups and a brigade were cut off and were fighting with their backs to the sea. A further 3 enemy divisions were bottled up in Klaipeda. The remaining forces of the German Army Group North (up to 20 formations) had been defeated. National military formations from the Baltic republics (the Estonian and Latvian Infantry Corps and the Lithuanian Infantry Division) took part in the battle to free the Soviet Baltic region.
In the harsh conditions of the Arctic the troops of the Karelian Front, commanded by General K. A. Meretskov, in close cooperation with the Northern Fleet, commanded by Admiral A. G. Golovko, took the offensive on the 7 October 1944 and defeated the enemy's 20th Alpine Army. On the 1 November, having completely liberated the Petsamo area from the German occupation forces, they stepped on to Norwegian territory.
As a result of the Red Army's outstanding victories in the summer and autumn of 1944, Soviet territory had been completely freed of the occupation forces, with the exception of a small part of Latvia in which a large enemy grouping was besieged.
The state frontier of the Soviet Union had been totally restored along its entire length from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea. Fulfilling their internationalist duty and their great liberating mission, the Soviet Armed Forces continued the war outside the USSR. The Red Army helped the peoples of a number of countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe to throw off the yoke of fascist tyranny.
As they stepped on to German soil, full of hatred for fascism, the troops of the Red Army did not, however, confuse the Hitler clique and the nazis with the working people of Germany. The attitude of the Soviet troops towards the German people was shaped not by the desire for vengeance, but by the principles of proletarian internationalism. By destroying the nazi military machine, the Red Army released from the nazi death camps millions of the victims of nazism, including the flower of the German working people.
War-torn 1944 also brought major successes on the Soviet labour front. Throughout the year the military and economic capability of the USSR constantly expanded and grew stronger. It was in 1944 that Soviet 53 industry reached its wartime production peak. From April 1942 up to and including April 1944 overall labour productivity rose by 40 per cent. Production capacity also expanded considerably. All this resulted in a sharp increase in industrial production. In 1944 the production of ferrous metals was almost 25 per cent up on the 1943 level, steel 28 per cent up, pig iron 31 per.cent and coal mining 30 per cent. Soviet factories were producing 7-8 times as many tanks, 6 times as many guns, almost 8 times as many mortars and 4 times as many aircraft and all kinds of ammunition as at the beginning of the war. In 1944 the Soviet Armed Forces received 29,000 tanks and self-propelled guns, over 40,000 aircraft and more than 120,000 guns, and they even had light and heavy machine guns, rifles and automatic weapons to spare. The Red Army considerably surpassed the enemy in military equipment. The new Soviet victories and the growth of the USSR's war economy were closely linked with the increased capacity of all forms of transport: freight turnover in 1944 was 15.3 per cent higher than in 1943. Collective and state farms boosted the production of food and industrial raw materials. The country was successfully rehabilitating the economy of the liberated areas.
The enemies of the USSR believed that the Soviet Union would come to the concluding battles of the war in a state of exhaustion. However, these forecasts were wide of the mark. Towards the end of the war, the Soviet Union was a great military and economic power.
Caught between two fronts, Germany had to face the inevitability of surrender. By the beginning of 1945 the bulk of the enemy forces continued to operate on the Soviet-German front. On this front 204 enemy divisions were concentrated, whereas the British and American troops had to face less than 70 German divisions.
In January 1945 the Red Army was preparing for the final blows against the enemy. The Soviet Command planned to defeat the enemy in East Prussia between the Vistula and the Oder, to liberate the whole of Poland and to thus open up the road to Berlin. In the southern sector of the front the troops were ordered to complete the elimination of the Budapest grouping and to prepare for an attack on Vienna.
The offensive was scheduled to begin on the 20 January 1945. However, unforeseen circumstances caused the date to be changed. On the 16 December 1944 the German forces unexpectedly launched an offensive on the Western Front, in the Ardennes and the Vosges, against the British and American forces, overrunning them and forcing them to retreat. By this means, Hitler was aiming to gain time, seeking to dash his enemies' hopes of complete victory, to make them drop their demands for unconditional surrender and to induce them to conclude a negotiated peace.
On the 6 January 1945 the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, sent an anxious message to Stalin, asking him to supply immediate assistance. Accordingly, the Soviet Command ordered the offensive to start ahead of time, on the 12 January, even though preparations for the operation were not yet complete. What was more, the weather at that time was not at all suitable for aircraft operations.
The Red Army's most gigantic winter offensive of the war got under
54
The Yalta Conference. February 1945
way along the 1,200-kilometre front from East Prussia to the
Carpathians. The nazi Command was obliged to hastily transfer some of its
troops from the Western to the Eastern Front. This relieved the pressure
on the British and American forces in the Ardennes and enabled them to
launch a counter-offensive shortly afterwards.
Throughout January the troops of the 3rd and 2nd Byelorussian Fronts, acting in cooperation with the Baltic Fleet, broke through the enemy's strongly fortified defence lines in East Prussia and surrounded a large grouping of his forces. By the end of the month, a considerable proportion of these forces had been eliminated, although the enemy offered particularly fierce resistance here. Many Soviet soldiers died heroic deaths in the pitched battles fought in the area. General I. D. Chernyakhovsky, a prominent Soviet military leader and the commander of the 3rd Byelorussian Front, was killed in an operational zone on the 18 February.
Soviet troops had entered Poland in the summer of 1944, during the Byelorussian operation. The beginning of the country's liberation coincided with a tragic event in its history. On the 1 August 1944 the people of Warsaw rose up against the German garrison. This rising, provoked by a group of political adventurists so that they could seize power, had been unexpected to the Soviet Command. Exhausted by the 55 two-month offensive, the Red Army units in the area were not in a position to make a forced crossing of the Vistula while on the march and so to liberate Warsaw. Inevitably doomed, the rising was cruelly put down by the fascists.
In mid-January 1945 units of the 1st Byelorussian Front and the 1st Ukrainian Front took the offensive from their bridgeheads on the west bank of the Vistula. To the south, the offensive was launched by formations in the right-hand sector of the 4th Ukrainian Front. This marked the beginning of the strategic operation to liberate the Polish people from fascist slavery, known in the history of the war as the Vistula-Oder operation. Its principal objective was to defeat the enemy grouping that was stationed in Poland as a defence force protecting the vital centres of Germany, to break through to the Oder, to capture important bridgeheads in the area and to secure favourable conditions for the decisive blow against Berlin.
Bitter fighting ensued for six days on the west bank of the Vistula. The fascist troops offered stubborn resistance. Nevertheless, the Soviet forces crushed the enemy's defences and compelled him to retreat westwards. On the 17 January 1945 Warsaw was liberated. During the battle to take the city, the 1st Polish Army fought boldly alongside the Soviet troops.
The German Command was obliged to hastily remove formations from other sectors of the front and to redeploy them against the attacking forces of the 1st Byelorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts. Between the 19 January and the 3 February up to 30 divisions and over 300 separate units were sent to the area. However, this did not help the enemy to strengthen his position in the intermediate defence lines. After the troops of these fronts had reached the Oder on the 3 February 1945, had completely cleared the right bank of the enemy forces and had seized bridgeheads on the left bank of the river, the Vistula-Oder operation came to an end. The enemy's last powerful citadel, Berlin, lay ahead.
In the southern sector of the Soviet-German front the Soviet troops managed to repulse the enemy counter-attacks in Hungary and, once the Budapest garrison had been eliminated, prepared for the thrust towards Vienna.
Meanwhile, in the west the allied troops were putting the finishing touches to their preparations for the offensive that would bring them to the Rhine and subsequently enable them to capture the Ruhr industrial region.
During the final stage of the fight against nazi Germany and its satellites, the Soviet Armed Forces continued to bear the brunt of the war and struck the decisive blows against the nazis. The Red Army was opposed by 195 enemy divisions, while the western allies had 107 to contend with. It was not because of the Anglo-American offensive in France that Germany faced the inevitable prospect of surrender, but as a result of the defeat of its main forces on the Soviet-German front.
By the time the Soviet troops were preparing to advance beyond the Oder-Neisse line and to storm Berlin, a whole series of urgent political issues needed to be resolved. The most important of them was the 56 question of the terms on which Germany would surrender and that of the country's postwar structure. The first half of February 1945 saw the meeting between the leaders of the three allied powers which was held in the palace at Livadia, near Yalta, in the Crimea. The USSR was represented by the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Josef Stalin, the USA by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Great Britain by Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
At the Yalta Conference the allies finalised their war plans for bringing about the defeat of Germany, decided on the country's future and took a number of other important decisions. The conference was not without its disagreements and acrimonious discussions, particularly over the future of postwar Germany. The US and British delegations favoured Germany's dismemberment into a number of small states, but this proposal was not accepted. The heads of states agreed on the measures that were to pave the way for Germany's becoming a single, peace-loving and democratic state: the fascist party, the Wehrmacht and the General Staff were to be disbanded and war industry eliminated. On this point the conference communique declared that "only when nazism and militarism had been eradicated would there be the hope of a worthy existence for the German people and a place for it in the community of nations".
The allies examined the question of reparations, the Soviet-- Polish frontier and the return to Poland of former Polish territory in the west.
The conference reached a decision on the need to set up a United
Nations Organisation in order to ensure peace and international security.
Street fighting in Kolau. April 1945
[57]
The leaders of the three Great Powers also adopted the declaration of
liberated Europe which established the right of the peoples freed from
fascism to set up democratic institutions of their own choosing.
In order to secure its Far Eastern borders and to hasten the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Government confirmed its commitment, undertaken at the earlier Teheran Conference, to take action against Japan 2-3 months after the end of the war in Europe. A special conference resolution stipulated that after Japan's capitulation Southern Sakhalin would be returned, and the Kurile Islands ceded, to the Soviet Union.
The Yalta Conference dashed the nazi hope of a separate peace and of splitting the anti-Hitler coalition, although even afterwards the backstage intrigues of fascist diplomacy and reactionary imperialist circles in the USA and Great Britain continued. At the final stage of the war the German troops ceased all serious resistance, by and large, in the west, while on the Soviet-German front they held on ferociously to every defensive position, often leaving a dead land behind them.
During February and March 1945 the Red Army completed the destruction of enemy forces in East Prussia (apart from isolated pockets of resistance), defeated the grouping in East Pomerania and cleared the occupation forces right out of Poland. Between the end of March and the first half of April Hungary was liberated, and so was the eastern part of Austria with its capital, Vienna.
In April 1945 the Red Army was confronted by the task of delivering the final blow against fascist Germany and its Armed Forces.
In order to capture Berlin, the Soviet troops had to break through the powerful and deeply echeloned defensive lines along the Oder and Neisse, and overcome both the Berlin Fortified Area, consisting of three circular lines of defence, and resistance inside the city itself, which had been prepared for prolonged and stubborn defence. The fascist armies fighting for Berlin comprised some 1 million officers and men, 8,000 guns and mortars, over 1,200 tanks and assault guns, and 3,300 aircraft.
In order to deal the coup de grace, the Soviet Command concentrated a vast quantity of military hardware: 40,000 guns and mortars, 6,300 tanks and self-propelled guns, 7,300 aircraft and a great deal of other equipment.
The Berlin offensive began on the 16 April and continued until the 2 May. Launching powerful thrusts, the troops of the 1st Byelorussian Front (commanded by Marshal of the Soviet Union G. K. Zhukov), the 1st Ukrainian (commanded by Marshal of the Soviet Union I. S. Konev) and the 2nd Byelorussian Front (commanded by Marshal of the Soviet Union K. K. Rokossovsky) broke through the enemy defences, advanced rapidly and completed the encirclement of the Berlin grouping on the 25 April. This grouping comprised some 200,000 effectives, 3,000 guns and mortars, and 250 tanks and assault guns. In order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, the Soviet Command proposed that the surrounded grouping should surrender, but the nazis cruelly persisted in driving on their men to fight in the streets of the capital. Anyone who suggested measures that would weaken the resistance or who even merely agreed with them was denounced as a traitor.
58
The Victory Banner over the Reichstag
Colonel-General of the Artillery Weidling had been appointed commander of the Berlin garrison, but all operations were actually under the control of Hitler, who had by then taken refuge in a bunker of the Reichschancellery.
When the German Command had declined the surrender ultimatum, the Soviet troops began the assault on Berlin. Bitter fighting in the streets went on for 10 days. Together with the 1st and 2nd Armies of the Wojsko Polskie and units of the Czechoslovak and other fraternal armies, the Soviet troops stormed the city block by block, street by street and district by district from several directions at once, fighting their way towards the city centre and the Reichstag. The Victory Banner fluttered over the Reichstag early in the morning of the 1 May. It had been hoisted by Sergeants M. A. Yegorov and M. V. Kantaria.
Hitler had committed suicide in the afternoon of the 30 April. On the 1 May the new government headed by Grand Admiral Donitz sent truce envoys to the Soviet Command, proposing a temporary cease-fire in Berlin "so as to pave the way for peace negotiations between Germany and the USSR''. The Soviet reply was perfectly concise: there would be no negotiations; only immediate and unconditional surrender was 59 acceptable. At 6 p.m. on the IMay the German Government announced its refusal to surrender. The fascist troops in Berlin were then subjected to a massive artillery barrage, and the Soviet troops resumed their assault on the centre of the city. By the morning of the 2 May the remnants of the Berlin garrison had been split up into isolated groups, and by 3 p.m. the Berlin garrison and the commander of the city's defences, General Weidling, had ceased all resistance and had surrendered.
As soon as military operations in the German capital had come to an end, measures were taken to restore the city's economy. The Soviet Government allocated to the starving population of Berlin almost 96,000 tons of flour and grain, and a large quantity of other foodstuffs from army supplies.
Meanwhile the British and American air forces had been furiously bombing the towns of Dresden, Halle, Dessau and other industrial centres that were in the zone to be occupied by Soviet forces. The British and American ground forces advanced unhindered towards the Elbe. On the 25 April, near Torgau, they met up with Soviet troops advancing from the east.
On the 8 May, in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst, Field marshal Keitel, Admiral von Friedeburg and Colonel-General of the Air Force Stumpf signed the act of unconditional surrender on behalf of the German High Command. In the south, however, in Czechoslovakia, a group of German forces still continued to offer resistance. They held on to Prague, which was in danger of total destruction. On the 9 May Soviet troops reached the Czechoslovak capital after a forced march. The citizens of Prague had risen in revolt and were already fighting pitched battles against overwhelming enemy forces. The Soviet troops came to the rescue in time: on the 11 May the enemy ended his resistance and surrendered. The Soviet fronts involved in the Prague operation also included the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps, the 2nd Army of the Wojsko Polskie, and the Rumanian 1st and 4th Armies. Czechoslovakia was liberated and its people embarked on the road of democratic development.
In this way, the German state collapsed under the powerful blows of the Red Army which fought in cooperation with troops from the USA, Britain, France, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia and Albania, and, later on, with units from the Rumanian, Bulgarian and Hungarian Armies. The war in Europe came to an end.
After the end of hostilities in Europe, the Soviet Government attempted to create conditions that would prevent German militarism from ever starting another war. To this end, it was arranged that a three-power conference would be held in Berlin. However, the US Government dragged its heels over the date. It later emerged that the new American President, Harry Truman, had been awaiting the results of the first testing of the atomic bomb. Armed with the atomic bomb and bearing in mind the USSR's losses in the war, Truman planned to dictate his own terms in Berlin.
The conference between the heads of government of the USSR, Great
Britain and the USA began, nevertheless, on the 17 July 1945 in the
60
The front commanders at the final stage of the war. Sitting (left to right): Marshals of the
USSR: I.S.Konev, A. M. Vasilevsky, G. K.Zhukov, K. K. Rokossovsky and
K. A.Meretskov. Standing: Marshals of the USSR: F. I.ToIbukhin, R. Y.Malinovsky and
L.A.Govorov, and Generals of the Army A. I. Yeremenko and I. K. Bagramyan. 1945
Berlin suburb of Potsdam and lasted till the 7 August. It was here that the
ideas formulated at Yalta were made more specific and precise. It was
decided to disarm Germany, dismantle its war industry, destroy the
fascist party and give the German people the opportunity to reshape the
country on a democratic and peaceful basis. A start was made to drawing
up the terms of peace treaties with Germany and its allies—Italy,
Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland. Agreement was reached with
Germany over reparations and the changes in its frontiers. In particular,
the conference found it necessary to hand over to the Soviet Union the
town of Kdnigsberg and the adjacent area, to return historically Polish
lands to Poland and to stipulate its western border as running along the
Oder and the Western Neisse as far as the Czechoslovak frontier, and
including the Danzig (Gdansk) area.
The Potsdam Conference was a great victory for peace and progress.
It laid firm foundations for the preservation of peace in Europe, so long
as all the parties honoured the agreements reached.
~
The defeat of imperialist Japan and the end of the Second World War. = The nazi Reich had been crushed, but the Second World War still continued in South-East Asia and the Pacific Basin. Three months after the signing of fascist Germany's act of surrender, the USSR honoured the undertaking given at the Yalta Conference and came to the aid of the peoples in the Japanese-enslaved countries of Asia and its British and American allies. This step was also dictated by the security interests of the Soviet state and the need for a lasting peace in the Far East.
61Although Japan had not taken any action against the USSR, it had, nevertheless, remained an ally of fascist Germany throughout the war. It had concentrated the enormous Kwantung Army near the Soviet frontier, threatening to invade the Soviet Far East. This had obliged the Soviet Union to keep considerable forces (up to 40 divisions) in the area, forces which it desperately needed in the fight against Germany. Nor could the Soviet Government fail to take account of the fact that in the prewar years all Japan's military preparations had been directed towards a future attack on the USSR. As Oshima, the former Japanese ambassador to Germany, stated, for 20 years all the plans of the General Staff had been geared to an offensive against Russia. During the Soviet Union's war against Germany the Japanese Navy had been hampering Soviet merchant shipping, blockading in effect, the ports and sea boundaries of the Soviet Far East. Japanese intelligence had supplied Germany with espionage information. According to former Japanese War Minister Tojo, Japan was to have attacked the Soviet Union as soon as the USSR's military potential had been fully sapped by the German onslaught and Japan's aim of seizing the Soviet Far East had been made as easy as possible. This is what Japan's ``observance'' of the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact signed in April 1941 amounted to. When the pact's validity expired on the 5 April 1945, the Soviet Government chose not to renew it, declaring that in the circumstances the Neutrality Pact had been meaningless and impossible to extend.
On the 8th August 1945 the Soviet Government declared war on imperialist Japan.
Three fronts were formed to undertake military operations against Japan: the Trans-Baikal Front, which included troops from the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army, the 2nd Far Eastern Front in the Amur area and the 1st Far Eastern Front in the Primorye area. Also involved were the Pacific Fleet and the Amur Military Flotilla.
Since the armed forces stationed in the Far East were insufficient to bring about the rapid defeat of the Japanese imperialists, Supreme Command GHQ approved a plan for transferring to the Far East some of the troops from the former Soviet-German Front. Between May and June 1945 the 39th Army was transferred from the Konigsberg area to the Trans-Baikal Front, as were the 53rd and 6th Guards Tank Armies from near Prague, and the 5th Army was moved from East Prussia to the 1st Far Eastern Front. Also transferred to the Far East were a large number of artillery, air and engineering formations and some of the railway troops. Two front Commands of the 2nd Ukrainian and the former Karelian Fronts were also despatched to the area. All this made it possible to almost double the number of Soviet troops in the Far East. Overall direction of military operations was in the hands of the High Command of the Soviet troops in the Far East, headed by Marshal of the Soviet Union A. M. Vasilevsky. It was planned to conduct three operations: the Manchurian operation in order to defeat the Kwantung Army and liberate North-East China and North Korea, the South Sakhalin operation in order to drive the Japanese out of that area, and the Kuril Islands landing operation. The operation against the powerful Kwantung Army was the linchpin.
62By the beginning of the Manchurian operation the troops of the three Soviet fronts were ranged in a broad arc around the territory occupied by the Kwantung Army and were thus able to deliver converging blows.
The offensive in Manchuria began on the morning of the 9 August. From the 10 August onwards operations were also undertaken by the 8th and 4th People's Liberation Armies and partisan detachments of China.
Drawing on the experience gained in the fighting against the German
Army, the Soviet troops breached their way through the fortified frontier
areas, overcame the fierce resistance offered by the enemy and made
Fighting the Kwantung Army. Soviet troops deploy on a new position. August 1945
rapid advance into the Manchurian hinterland. The offensive took place
in very complicated meteorological conditions. Torrential rain had been
falling constantly since the 8 August, and mountain streams and rivers
had overflowed their banks, flooding what roads there were and causing
transport delays. Retreating enemy units demolished tunnels, bridges
and crossing points, set fire to towns and villages and offered fierce
resistance. Nevertheless, the bulk of the Kwantung Army was shattered
in 10 days and surrendered. During the second half of August 1945
Soviet troops liberated Manchuria, the town of Dalny (Dairen) and Port
Arthur, North Korea, and captured South Sakhalin and the Kuril
Islands.
The defeat of the Japanese troops was effected during a single campaign, which lasted only 24 days. In scale and mobility, it occupies a leading place among the campaigns of the Second World War.
When the Soviet successes in the fight against the Kwantung Army had become clearly apparent, the US Air Force subjected various parts of Manchuria to intensive bombardment, even though American airmen had not dropped a single bomb in the area throughout the war hitherto. It was all rather similar to the bombing of the German towns that were to be included in the Soviet occupation zone.
On the 6 August, without any military necessity, an American plane dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, causing the deaths of many thousands of civilians, including women, children and old men. On the 9 August, as the Red Army took the offensive, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki by order of the US President and Military Command. Many thousands of innocent people perished in the flames and ruins of this town too. It was a senseless, cruel and barbarous crime against not only the Japanese people, but also mankind as a whole.
The Soviet defeat of the Japanese Kwantung Army—the backbone of militarist Japan's ground forces—compelled the Japanese Government to bring the war to an end. On the 2 September 1945 Japanese representatives signed the act of unconditional surrender presented to them by the allies on board the American cruiser Missouri. The Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War and the Second World War as a whole had ended.
__*_*_*__An objective study of the history of the Second World War shows that fascist Germany was defeated not because of any particular wrong strategic decisions (although such decisions were made and influenced the course of the war) and not because of any other secondary factors. The principal error made by the leaders of fascist Germany lay in underestimating the military, economic and political potential of the Soviet Union and in doubling the ability of the Soviet people to defend their freedom and independence and their socialist system, which reflected their fundamental aspirations and interests. In fact, never before in the history of warfare had there been such mass heroism, self-sacrifice and scorn of death for the sake of a country's freedom as those that were displayed during the Great Patriotic War by the peoples of the USSR who were defending the great gains of socialism.
During the war over 7 million Soviet fighting men, representing approximately 100 nations and nationalities of the USSR, were decorated with orders and medals, and some 11,000 of them were made Heroes of the Soviet Union.
When preparing for a war against the USSR, the fascist ringleaders were the victims of their own illusions as to the fragility of the Soviet system. In fact, though, the Soviet state, founded as it was on an alliance between the working class and the peasantry, and on the firm basis of friendship between all of its peoples, turned out to be tremendously solid. In the harsh and difficult situation of a war that had begun badly 64 for it, the socialist state not only withstood, but even crushed its powerful imperialist enemy.
The victories of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War were primarily triumph for the Soviet social and state system. The war showed convincingly that the socialist system was not only the best form of organising the economic and cultural development of a society in times of peaceful construction, but was also the best way of mobilising manpower and resources in order to defeat an enemy in wartime.
The high level of the development of the USSR's economy was an important condition for its victory. The industrialisation of the country, the collectivisation of agriculture and the cultural revolution, which were accomplished during the years of the prewar five-year plans, enabled the USSR to make a great leap forward in its historical development. Just as the Red Army won a military victory over the fascist troops, so the working people on the Soviet home front, locked in single combat with nazi Germany and its accomplices, won an economic victory over the enemy.
Through the alliance between the Soviet working class and the peasantry, front and rear, army and people became united even closer during the war, and the political power of the Soviet socialist state expanded and grew stronger.
The war materials supplied by the allies, particularly during 1941 and 1942, the period that was hardest of all for the USSR, were extremely limited in quantity and did not have a decisive influence on the outcome of the war.
Despite the enormous difficulties and deprivations of wartime, the working people on the Soviet home front themselves provided the Red Army with all that was needed to conduct the war, and in quantities, moreover, that were sufficient to overwhelm the enemy.
__*_*_*__Whenever necessary, they forsook their leisure time and spent days on end in the mines and at their machines, providing the country with metal, and the front with weapons, ammunition and first-class military equipment.
During the last three years of the war Soviet industry produced an annual average of 120,000 pieces of artillery, 40,000 aircraft, 30,000 tanks and 193.9 million artillery shells. Germany, on the other hand, produced an annual average of 26,000 aircraft and 19,000 tanks between 1942 and 1944.
All in all, the Soviet Union produced during the war years 489,900 artillery pieces, 102,500 tanks and self-propelled guns, and 136,800 aircraft. During this period only 9,600 guns, 11,576 tanks and self-propelled guns, and 18,753 aircraft were received from the USA and Great Britain.
The Soviet people are rightly proud of the fact that the fascist hordes were stopped and defeated by Soviet-made weapons, manufactured by the workers on the home front, and that Soviet military hardware surpassed the equipment of the nazi army, which was then regarded as the best in the capitalist world.
__PRINTERS_P_65_COMMENT__ 5---69 65Socialist agriculture and Soviet transport also commendably withstood the stern test of war, meeting the priority needs of both the front and the rear.
From the stern ordeals of the war it was the Soviet Armed Forces, founded under the guidance of Lenin, that emerged victorious. The war showed that the Army of the world's first socialist country was a first-class army, possessing high morale and good combat qualities. In the deadly armed struggle against fascist Germany and then against militarist Japan the Soviet troops displayed remarkable military skill, staunchness, courage and mass heroism. During the Patriotic War a brilliant galaxy of Soviet commanders and military leaders came to the fore — men such as I. K. Bagramyan, I. D. Chernyakhovsky, V. I. Chuikov, A. V. Gorbatov, S. G. Gorshkov, L. A. Govorov, A. A. Grechko, I. S. Isakov, I. S. Konev, P. K. Koshevoi, N. I. Krylov, N. G. Kuznetsov, D. D. Lelyushenko, R. Y. Malinovsky, K. A. Meretskov, K. S. Moskalenko, A. A.Novikov, F. S.Oktyabrsky, K. K. Rokossovsky, V. D. Sokolovsky, F. I. Tolbukhin, V. F. Tributs, A. M. Vasilevsky, N. F. Vatutin, K. A. Vershinin, N. N. Voronov, I. I. Yakubovsky, A. I. Yeremenko, I. S. Yumashev, M. V. Zakharov, G. K. Zhukov.
Embodying the monolithic unity of the working class and the peasantry, as well as the fraternal friendship of over 100 nations and nationalities, the Soviet people showed by its example that in wartime a country in which there are no social antagonisms has considerable advantages.
The partisan movement, which was active in all the Soviet territory temporarily occupied by the enemy, amounted to a massive demonstration of the high patriotic qualities of Soviet people. The movement involved over one million people.
The whole course of the Great Patriotic War showed the enormous role of the organising and ideological activities of the Communist Party, which mobilised the Soviet people and headed their struggle. The prestige of the Party was constantly on the increase, and its link with the people became closer and closer. A graphic indication of this was the fact that during the war years over five million people joined the Party as candidate members and some 3.5 million as full members.
During the four years of sanguinary war, the Soviet people accomplished an unprecedented feat, defending the great gains of the October Revolution.
As a result of this victory, fundamental changes in favour of socialism took place in the world balance of forces.
History confirmed Lenin's forecast that "...our cause is strong; that no matter what attempts are made to invade Russia and no matter what military moves are made against us—and in all probability many more will be made—all these attempts will go up in smoke as we know from our actual experience, which has steeled us. After every such attempt by our enemies, we shall emerge stronger than = ever".^^1^^
The Red Army's total defeat of the fascist Reich foiled the plans of German imperialism for establishing world domination and enslaving all _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 31, p. 329.
66 peoples. The Soviet Union's victory rid Europe of fascist slavery and many countries in Asia of the oppression of Japanese imperialism. It saved mankind from the threat of nazi enslavement.A direct consequence of the victory over fascism was the further upsurge of the international communist, working-class and national liberation movement throughout the world.
As a result of the defeat of fascist Germany and militarist Japan, socialism emerged from the confines of a single country, and the states which embarked on the road of socialist construction formed the world socialist system.
Favourable conditions were thus set up for national liberation revolutions in the colonies and dependencies. Under pressure from the peoples of the countries enslaved by the imperialists, the colonial system collapsed. This was the next most historically important event after the formation of the world socialist system.
[67] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ Chapter 2 __ALPHA_LVL1__ THE REHABILITATION AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONAL ECONOMY. COMPLETION OF THE BUILDING OF SOCIALISM (1946--58) __ALPHA_LVL2__ [introduction]The revival of the liberated areas. The policy of peaceful development. The struggle to boost the economy. Socio-political life. Progress in agriculture. Enhancing the guiding role of the Party. The 20th CPSU Congress. The final victory of socialism in the USSR. Soviet foreign policy
The renewal of peaceful economic construction enabled the Soviet state to concentrate on completing the building of socialism and paving the way for the gradual transition towards communism. In the main, socialism—the first phase of communism—had been built already during the years that preceded the war.
After the war the priority task was to restore the prewar level of
economic development and, subsequently, to overtake it, to achieve
further improvement of socialist production relations, to consolidate
socialist ownership, to raise the material and cultural strandard of living
of the working people, and to intensify the struggle against bourgeois
views and the influence of the imperialist ideology of the West.
~
The revival of the liberated areas. The fascist invaders had left appalling devastation in their wake. Stalingrad lay in ruins. In Voronezh nearly all the housing had been destroyed. In Poltava, Kharkov, Kremenchug, Zaporozhye, Ternopol, Smolensk, Sevastopol and Novorossiisk the invaders had burnt or demolished up to 80 per cent of all housing and public buildings. In the Ukrainian capital of Kiev they had razed to ground 940 state and public buildings, more than 6,000 housing blocks and over 800 industrial enterprises. The enemy had reduced to heaps of rubble the first achievements of the five-year plans—the Dneproges, the Azov and Zaporozhye steelworks, the Rostov Agricultural Machine Works and many other industrial enterprises.
Byelorussia suffered just as much from the occupation: nearly all the republic's industry and all its plant and power equipment that it had not been possible to evacuate had been either completely destroyed or wrecked. The invaders had caused enormous damage in Minsk, Gomel, Vitebsk, Polotsk, Orsha and many other Byelorussian towns. Over 400,000 collective farmers' houses, thousands of collective-farm public buildings and all the machine and tractor stations lay in ruins.
Over 1,710 towns and settlements had been plundered by the fascists. The overall material losses to the Soviet state totalled 2,600,000 million rubles, 679,000 million of which represented the value of property stolen 68 or destroyed by the fascists. Over twenty million Soviet citizens lost their lives during the war. There was hardly a family that had not known the grief of losing someone who was dear to it.
By the end of 1945, 90 per cent of the prewar output of coal was produced in the USSR, 62 per cent of oil, 59 per cent of pig iron, 67 per cent of steel and 41 per cent of textiles. The area under cultivation had diminished from 150.6 million hectares in 1940 to 113.6 million, and the number of cattle had shrunk during this period from 54.5 million head to 47.4 million. The agricultural gross product amounted to 60 per cent of the prewar level.
Many people took the view that the Soviet Union would be unable to rehabilitate the economy through its own efforts. The Soviet people coped with the hard consequences of the war single-handed.
The revival of peacetime life in the liberated areas required vast
effort on the part of the people, and the overcoming of enormous
difficulties. In order to rehabilitate the mines of the Donbas, it was
necessary to pump out over 620 million cubic metres of water—six times
more than had had to be removed during the restoration of France's
coal-mining industry after the First World War. A complex mining
economy and power supplies had to be rehabilitated and fresh manpower
had to be provided for the Basin. Restoration work in the Donbas began
in 1944. The whole country helped to rehabilitate its oldest mining area.
The miners themselves performed prodigious efforts. Risking their lives,
people went down into the mines and worked in the flooded shafts. In
Young hands restoring Stalingrad. 1945
[69]
the course of two years 129 major mines and 889 small and medium-size
ones were put back into operation.
Thanks to the metallurgists of the South, between 1944 and 1945, 77 blast furnaces and open-hearth furnaces started working again, as well as three Bessemer converters and nine electric furnaces. A number of electric power stations with a total capacity of 2.3 million kilowatts were restored, including the Novomoskovsk, Volkhov, Shterovka and Zuyevka installations, and work proceeded on restoring the Dneproges Power Station.
Throughout the country an enthusiastic effort was made to rehabilitate transport, the electrotechnical industry, agricultural machinebuilding, municipal facilities and services, trade, communications and housing in town and countryside.
In Stalingrad a patriotic movement grew up among women to provide selfless and unpaid assistance in rebuilding the city. It was started by A. Cherkasova, the wife of a frontline soldier. The first brigade of Cherkasovtsy (as these women were known) lent a hand to the builders who were restoring the famous building known as Pavlov's House. In the local paper the brigade published an appeal to the city's women to help building workers. It evoked a warm response throughout the country. In the Donbas volunteers worked a total of over 2 million unpaid man-days in the construction of housing and public buildings. Every citizen of Kiev regarded it as a matter of honour to take part in restoring the city, and particularly in rebuilding the main street, Kreshchatik. In 1944, after the lifting of the blockade, the people of Leningrad voluntarily worked a total of 23 million unpaid man-days in restoration teams.
Agricultural workers in the liberated areas also displayed a record of selfless endeavour. These areas were helped by the eastern republics and regions of the USSR. Seeds, tractors, equipment, draught animals and livestock were sent to the Ukraine, Byelorussia, Moldavia and Karelia.
The working people of the Gorky and Ivanovo Regions and the
Khakass Autonomous Region assisted the collective farmers of the
Kalinin, Kursk and Smolensk Regions. The advantages of the socialist
system and the people's determination to eliminate the aftermath of the
war as quickly as possible enabled life to be restored in the liberated
areas.
~
The policy of peaceful development. On the 19 August 1945 Pravda published an announcement stating that the CC CPSU(B) and the Council of People's Commissars had entrusted Gosplan (the State Planning Committee) with the task of drawing up a five-year plan for rehabilitating and developing the economy of the USSR between the years 1946--50.
In March 1946 a meeting of the USSR Supreme Soviet gave the Fourth Five-Year Plan the force of law. The main tasks were to rehabilitate the war-torn areas of the country, to restore industry and agriculture to their prewar levels, and then to surpass this level considerably.
The intention was to exceed the prewar level of industrial output by
48 per cent. It was planned to increase the number of workers and office
workers, engaged in national economy, bringing it up to 33.5 million
70
Restoration works in Leningrad. 1945
people as compared with 27.3 million in 1945, as well as to raise labour
productivity by 36 per cent and to lower production costs by 17 per cent.
Considerable priority was assigned in the five-year plan to the further electrification of the country: powerful hydroelectric stations were to be built, including installations at Kuibyshev, Stalingrad and Gorky. Another important feature of the plan was the rehabilitation of the national economy in the former German-occupied areas: 40 per cent of all capital investment was allocated for this purpose. The plan also stipulated important assignments as regards developing the economies of the young Soviet republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as well as areas in Siberia and the Soviet Far East.
In agriculture it was envisaged that the prewar level of grain harvesting would be surpassed by 27 per cent, and by 25 per cent in the case of industrial crops. A considerable increase was planned in the number of cattle and in supplies of tractors, agricultural machinery and mineral fertilisers.
The restoration of normal economic conditions and a new upsurge in all sectors of the economy were intended to pave the way for a significant improvement in the working people's material and cultural standards. The five-year plan provided for a 30 per cent increase in the national income and a 28 per cent growth in trade as compared with the prewar level. Housing construction assumed impressive dimensions: 71 during the five-year plan 72.4 million square metres of housing were to be built—roughly equivalent to half of the housing that was available in the country in 1913.~
__ALPHA_LVL2__ The struggle to boost the economy.The struggle to boost the economy. From 1944 onwards the share of military spending was gradually decreasing in the state budget. This made it possible to boost the production of consumer goods alongside an increase in the output of defence items. The foundation was thus laid for the postwar rehabilitation of the economy and its transfer to a peacetime footing.
This restructuring of industry called for the surmounting of substantial difficulties. The production of new goods had to be organised, and, in a number of cases, this required the replacement of plant and raw materials, the introduction of new technology and the development of wider contacts between cooperating factories. There were serious imbalances in the development of individual industries, and there was a lack of fuel, power and metal for the normal functioning of all the factories and plants. Major metallurgical establishments like the Petrovsky Works (Dnepropetrovsk), the Makeyevka Works and the Ilyich Works (Zhdanov) were hindered by frequent stoppages owing to the general shortage of power. Even in parts of the Urals and Siberia some important factories were receiving only 40--50 per cent of the power they required. The transition to peaceful construction involved the reorganisation of management: between 1946 and 1947 the People's Commissariats for the tank industry, mortar artillery and ammunition were abolished. They were used as the basis for the People's Commissariats (later Ministries) of agricultural and transport engineering, mechanical engineering and instrument-making. The restructuring of industry required time and inevitably resulted in a temporary fall in production. All these factors caused the gross industrial product in 1946 to fall by 17 per cent compared with 1945 and to constitute only 77 per cent of the prewar level, while the production of non-military commodities increased by 20 per cent.
Yet, despite all the difficulties, the postwar reorganisation of industry was largely completed in 1946. In order to eliminate the imbalances that had arisen, the economic plan for 1947 called fora more rapid development of the fuel and metallurgical industries and a higher production of electricity and consumer goods than had been previously envisaged by the five-year plan. In 1947 industry fulfilled the plan. In the last quarter of the year the output reached the prewar level, and there was no longer any lagging behind the targets set by the five-year plan. In 1948 industrial production exceeded the prewar level.
High priority was assigned to the rehabilitation of power stations and
the coal and metallurgical industries of the southern areas of the country.
Restoration work at the Dneproges ranked first in terms of significance
and extent: here the machine room, most of the dam buttresses and the
sluices had been demolished. The fascists had used 360 tons of high
explosive to blow up the dam itself. A vast amount of work had to be
carried out. Thousands of workers, engineers and technicians toiled to
rebuild this pioneer of socialist power engineering. One of the top
organisers, F. G. Loginov, was in charge of the restoration work. The
Dneproges was raised from the ruins in record time: the first unit
72
Restoration works at the Dneproges. 1945
[73]
produced industrial current in March 1947, and the last in June 1950.
After the restoration the Dneproges was providing more electricity than
all the power stations of pre-revolutionary Russia put together. Also
restored were the Zuyevka and Kurakhovskaya power stations in the
Donbas, the Nivsky Hydroelectric Power Station in the Murmansk
Region, the Tiraspol, Kharkov and Krivoi Rog hydroelectric power
stations, and power stations in the Donbas, the Dnieper area, Kiev,
Krasnodar, Voronezh, Bryansk and other towns.
During the years covered by the Fourth Five-Year Plan, work to restore the Donbas assumed large dimensions. In the course of this work a great deal of new-extracting technology was introduced. In 1949 Donbas miners reached the prewar level of coal output.
Thanks to the successful rehabilitation of the Donbas and the Moscow Coal Basin, the growth of mechanisation, the sinking of new mines in the Donbas, the Urals, the Kuzbas (Kuznetsk Coal Basin) and Karaganda, and the enthusiastic efforts of the miners, 57 per cent more coal was mined in 1950 than in 1940, and 75 per cent more than in 1945.
Restoration work was proceeding on blast furnaces, open-hearth furnaces and iron mines in Krivoi Rog, manganese mines in Nikopol and the gigantic iron-and-steel works in the South. The rehabilitation of the southern metallurgical giant, the Zaporozhye Steelworks, whose steel was sorely needed in many industries, was anxiously followed by the whole country: the building team comprised over 10,000 young men and women from Moscow, towns in the Urals and other centres. The central heating and power plant, the open-hearth furnaces, the slabbing mill, the cold rolling shop, the lamination shop and others were soon working again at the Zaporozhye Steelworks. The successful rehabilitation of the iron-and-steel centres in the Ukraine made it possible to increase the smelting of cast iron and steel, and the production of rolled metal by 100--150 per cent during the period covered by the five-year plan. A vast amount of industrial reconstruction work was carried out in Kiev, Kharkov, Minsk, Stalingrad and other towns that had been occupied during the war.
At the end of 1945 the Government adopted a special resolution on the rehabilitation of 15 of the older Russian towns. The Komsomol assumed patronage over the restoration of Stalingrad, Leningrad, Minsk, Kiev, Voronezh, Smolensk, Novgorod and other towns.
As during the period covered by the prewar five-year plans, the
USSR bristled with the scaffolding of new building projects. New power
stations were going up: there was the Farkhad Hydroelectric Power
Station on the Syr-Darya in Uzbekistan, the Ust-Kamenogorsk Power
Station on the Irtysh in Kazakhstan, the Khrami and Sukhumi Power
Stations in Georgia, the Krasnaya Polyana Power Station in the
Krasnodar Territory, the station on Lake Sevan in Armenia, the
Mingechaur Power Station in Azerbaijan, and the stations at Rybinsk
and Tsimlyansk, to mention only a few. The Komsomol assumed
patronage over the building of most of these power stations. In 1947, for
instance, the building of the Ust-Kamenogorsk Hydroelectric Power
Station was declared to be a young people's project, and in 1950 over
4,000 Komsomol members, or 80 per cent of the builders, were working
on the site. The Komsomol of Azerbaijan led the building of the
74
The Kramatorsk Heavy Engineering Works. 1946
[75]
Mingechaur installation. Every republic and region in which building was
proceeding according to the five-year plan presented the same picture. In
the second half of 1950 decisions were taken to build the Volga-Don
Canal, two hydroelectric power stations on the Volga and another station
at Kakhovka on the Dnieper. Young people from all over the country
took an active part in the construction work: some worked directly on
the building sites, while others saw that orders for equipment were
speedily completed. The labour heroism of Komsomol members and
other young people was one reason why the five-year plan was fulfilled
ahead of schedule.
The development of the oil industry also involved an extensive building programme. By the end of the five-year plan the new oil towns of Oktyabrsky and Ishimbai had appeared between the Volga and the Urals, while the old town of Syzran and several others had become oil-refining centres. The building of gas pipelines between Saratov and Moscow (843 km) and between Dashava and Kiev (500 km) did much to improve the country's fuel balance.
The postwar building operations altered the face of the country and the siting of its industry. Iron-and-steel works went up in Transcaucasia (in Rustavi) and in Uzbekistan (in Begovat). Tube-rolling mills were constructed in Sumgait (Azerbaijan) and Nikopol (Ukraine).
Great changes took place in the industry of Leningrad. Towards the beginning of the five-year plan Leningrad's industry was producing only 32 per cent of its 1940 output. Yet the five-year plan required that the prewar level should not only be attained once again, but even be considerably surpassed. Particular attention was given to the development of shipbuilding and engineering.
In the Pechora Coal Basin the mining of coal for Leningrad was stepped up markedly, as well as the extraction of peat; the mining of shales and production of shale gas were expanded in Estonia and the Leningrad Region. The Kokhtla-Jarve — Leningrad gas pipeline was built and began operating. Thanks to the exertions of Leningrad's workers and to the great efforts of the Party organisation, industry in Leningrad had achieved the prewar level by 1948, and considerably surpassed it in 1950.
New lines of production and new workshops appeared at many old factories. At the Azov Steelworks a blooming mill and a rail-rolling mill were built, and a powerful blooming mill opened at the Novy Tagil Works. New aluminium plants grew up at Bogoslovsk in the Urals and Kanaker in Armenia, as well as the Ust-Kamenogorsk Lead and Zinc Plant in Kazakhstan. Tractor and automobile factories were built in the Byelorussian capital of Minsk, an automobile plant in Kutaisi, a tractor works in Lipetsk and an agricultural machinery works in Rubtsovsk (Altai). During the five-year plan period there was a 50 per cent growth in the USSR's basic industrial assets as compared with 1940.
The industrial upsurge was helped a great deal by the fact that the rehabilitation of enterprises in the liberated areas was underpinned by the industrial base that had been set up in the eastern regions during the prewar five-year plans and expanded during the war years.
The numbers of the working class grew rapidly during the period covered by the Fourth Five-Year Plan. Its ranks were joined by men 76 demobilised from the Army and Navy (over 9 million) and by young people who had just left secondary schools, vocational centres and in-job training courses. During the first four years of the five-year plan 11 6 million people began work, mainly in industry and building. In 1950 there were 38,895,000 factory and office workers employed in the Soviet economy.
Owing to the difficulties arising from the restoration of the economy and shortcomings in the wage system, there was an intensive personnel turnover. The Soviet state carried through a number of measures to discourage this: factory and office workers in industry, construction and the coal industry received privileges in social security and a pay supplement; alongside the development of state housing construction, long-term credits were also made available for individual building. The mechanisation of labour-consuming work considerably eased working conditions, and the production training system was expanded.
The movement to promote new work methods assumed impressive dimensions, testifying to the growth of the working class's political consciousness and activity. In 1946, on the initiative of the workers at Makeyevka and of various Moscow enterprises, the All-Union Socialist Emulation began—a movement to fulfil and overfulfil the assignments of the Fourth Five-Year Plan.
The innovators of this plan constantly sought new technical methods
and strove to raise labour productivity and the quality of the goods
manufactured, and to ensure high cost-benefit ratio. This is shown by the
The Hydroelectric Power Station at Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakh SSR
[77]
results of the labour initiatives taken by front-rank workers. On the
initiative of the Moscow lathe operator P. Bykov and the Leningrad
counterpart G. Bortkevich, a movement was launched to ensure
high-speed work methods.
N. Rossiisky, a foreman at the Moscow Kalibr Factory, employed the line production system, which enabled him to boost output by 750 per cent. He taught his progressive working methods to all the workers in the sector, thus trebling labour productivity and halving production costs.
There are many examples of the mass heroism, initiative and resourcefulness that were displayed by workers, engineers and whitecollar staff as they rehabilitated their factories and plants. Here is just one instance. At the Azov Steelworks the fascists had destroyed the most powerful blast furnace. It had shifted 1.3 metres from its original position and had sunk to a depth of over 3.5 metres at an angle of 20°. Technical commissions thought that it would be best to dismantle it and build a new one in its place. But the engineers proposed a different, unprecedented solution: to lift the furnace with hydraulic jacks, without dismantling it, straighten it up and move it back to its old place. The idea was accepted and carried out. The blast furnace, weighing 1,300 tons, was raised and moved according to plan in the course of 18 work shifts. This was an unprecedented success for the builders: normal methods would have required at least six months to do it. On the 10 September 1946 the furnace produced its first pig iron.
By the end of the five-year plan up to 90 per cent of the country's workers were taking part in emulation movements.
The fulfilment of the assignments of the Fourth Five-Year Plan in industry was keynoted by the broad introduction of new technology: labour-consuming processes in ferrous metallurgy were mechanised, the mechanisation of coal-mining was completed, the world's best technique for drilling boreholes—using turbodrills—was mastered, electrical energy was introduced into the economy on a broad scale, and electronics began to develop.
New line production and automatic systems appeared in engineering works, and the first fully automated factory, producing pistons for car engines, was constructed. Over a thousand highly efficient new machine tools, automatic units and other machines were designed and manufactured by Soviet engineers and workers.
At the initiative of workers in Leningrad, a patriotic movement was launched to foster the creative association of scientists and production workers. Thousands of scientists, engineers and innovators blazed new trails in science and technology, introducing technical advances into production. For example, a team at the Institute of Electric Welding under the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences devised a new method for automatic electric welding, which was subsequently used widely in industry.
In association with engineers and workers, Soviet scientists discovered how atomic energy could be applied for peaceful purposes. During the years of the Fourth Five-Year Plan work began in the USSR on building the world's first industrial atomic power station, with a capacity of 5,000 kilowatts. It began operating on the 27 June 1954.
78As a result of the vast amount of work performed by Party and public organisations in promoting new techniques and training workers to use them, and thanks to the development of socialist emulation and the innovators' movement, the Fourth Five-Year Plan was completed ahead of schedule as regards industry—in four years and three months. A total of 6,200 rehabilitated or newly built industrial enterprises were working again. Gross industrial production rose by 73 per cent over the prewar level, as against the planned 48 per cent. Labour productivity in industry grew by 37 per cent. Heavy industry was particularly successful in 1950: 19 million tons of cast iron were produced, over 27 million tons of steel, more than 261 million tons of coal, some 38 million tons of oil and over 91,000 million kilowatt-hours of electrical power, all of which was considerably in excess of the output achieved in 1940. Industrial successes of this kind did much to strengthen the material and technical base of socialist society.
In all the Union republics industrial output surpassed the prewar level: by 15 per cent in the Ukraine and Byelorussia, by 91 per cent in Lithuania and by 100 per cent in Moldavia. Metallurgical enterprises producing steel and rolled metal were built in the Kazakh, Uzbek, Georgian and Latvian republics.
During the period of the Fourth Five-Year Plan the labour enthusiasm and heroism of the working class and the advantages of the planned system of socialist production were vividly demonstrated.
__*_*_*__One of the most complex tasks faced by the Party and the Soviet people immediately after the Great Patriotic War had ended was the rehabilitation of agriculture.
The agricultural tractor fleet had declined by almost a quarter during the war years, and the number of horses had been halved. But manpower losses weighed particularly heavily upon the countryside. What was more, many people from the countryside had left to work in industry or on building sites. By the beginning of 1946 the numbers of able-bodied collective farmers had shrunk by almost 33 per cent, and the numbers of men in this category fell to some 40 per cent.
The weakening of the material and technical base and the dwindling of manpower resources were reflected in collective- and state-farm production. The area of land under cultivation grew smaller, there were poor harvests of crops of all kinds, and productivity of livestock declined too. The gross agricultural product in 1945 was 40 per cent below the prewar level.
Meteorological conditions were also adverse during the first year of the five-year plan. In 1946 drought struck Moldavia, the Ukraine, the central black-earth region, the right bank of the Lower Volga, and the North Caucasus—a drought that was more severe than that of 1921. Agricultural production was also affected by mismanagement. Despite the serious postwar economic difficulties, the Soviet state came to the aid of the drought-stricken areas, supplying them with food and seed-corn. The area of land under cultivation was prevented 79 from diminishing, and in some parts it was even increased as early as 1947.
During the early postwar years the CC CPSU(B) and the Soviet Government worked out specific measures to rehabilitate and develop agriculture as quickly as possible.
In September 1946 the USSR Council of Ministers and the CC CPSU(B) adopted the resolution "On Measures for the Liquidation of Infringements of the Regulations of the Agricultural Artels Within Collective Farms''. The resolution sharply condemned cases of the wrong distribution of incomes, the misappropriation of the collective farms' public land, the misuse of collective-farm property, and the violation of the democratic foundations on which the collective farm should be managed.
Practical measures were drawn up to put an end to infringements of the democratic principles of collective-farm management and to distortions of Party policy as regards the formation of collective farms.
In accordance with this resolution a Collective-Farm Council was established under the USSR Government in order to strictly control over the observance of the Regulations and in order to handle collective-farm matters. The Council was headed by the Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers A. A. Andreyev and consisted of prominent Party and Soviet officials and the chairmen of advanced artels. Local Party and Soviet bodies did much to consolidate the collective farms economically and organisationally. A total of 7.3 million hectares of land that had been occupied at various times in defiance of the Regulations was handed back to the collective farms. The machinery of administration and management on the collective farms was pruned considerably. This helped to strengthen the collective farms' finances.
In February 1947 a Plenary Meeting of the CC CPSU(B) discussed "Measures for the Development of Agriculture in the Postwar Period''. Attention focussed on the drawing up of practical measures to ensure that the assignments of the five-year plan in agriculture were performed without fail. It was planned to step up supplies of agricultural machinery to collective and state farms, to raise the level of farming and to improve agricultural management. The meeting acknowledged the need to create the post of deputy director for political affairs at the machine and tractor stations.
During the early postwar years the Soviet state considerably strengthened the base of agricultural engineering. More and more tractors and assorted machinery were being sent to the countryside every year. During the period covered by the five-year plan the number of tractors in agriculture increased by 30 per cent and combine harvesters by 40 per cent. Over 900 new machine and tractor stations were set up. At the same time important measures were being implemented to improve the work of the machine and tractor stations and the skill of the machine operators. By the end of the five-year plan the material and technical base of agriculture had been not only restored, but also considerably expanded. This was a vital condition for the rehabilitation and further development of agricultural production.
80
P.M. Angelina in a field team. 1946
In the course of the five-year plan considerable efforts were made to reinforce the agricultural workers. Thousands of Communists from the towns came to work in the countryside. Collective-farm chairmen, team leaders and machine operators were trained in various schools and at special courses. However, even by the end of the five-year plan the problem of managerial personnel for collective and state farms had not been completely resolved.
Measures were taken to raise the level of farming: correct crop rotations were introduced on collective and state farms. In the early postwar years particular attention was given to anti-drought measures. In 1948 the Council of Ministers and the CC CPSU(B) adopted the resolution "On the Plan for Afforestation to Protect Fields'', which provided for a whole complex of measures to raise harvest yields: the creation of field-protecting forest belts, the introduction of correct crop rotations, and the construction of ponds and other reservoirs. At the end of the quinquennium workers in the countryside did a great deal to give effect to this plan, and this had a positive effect on harvest yields in subsequent years.
During the early postwar years the numbers of able-bodied men in collective and state farms rose somewhat as a result of the return to the countryside of demobilised soldiers. But this increase was short-lived. __PRINTERS_P_81_COMMENT__ 6---69 81 Manpower was needed to rehabilitate the devastated towns and to develop industry. The most important source of manpower was the countryside. Millions of collective farmers moved to the towns in order to work on building sites and in industry. By the end of the five-year plan there were 25 per cent less able-bodied workers on the country's collective farms than there had been before the war.
The peasantry and all those who worked in the countryside during the early postwar years displayed impressive labour heroism, ensurance and a deep understanding of their duty. Despite the limited opportunities for mechanising labour and despite the shortage of draught animals, the collective farmers did everything possible to rehabilitate the collective farms and to normalise social production. It was particularly difficult to rehabilitate the agriculture of the liberated areas. During the early postwar years the cows of the collective farmers in these areas were frequently used as draught animals, and sometimes large tracts of land were ploughed up and sown by hand.
Socialist emulation was a powerful means of mobilising the efforts of the rural population to surmount the harsh consequences of the war. Its important features were its mass character, its multiplicity of forms and their affinity with emulation in industry. The development of emulation in the countryside was largely assisted by decrees from the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet decorating agricultural workers for high crop yields and productive livestock-breeding. During the quinquennium a total of some 5,500 agricultural workers were made Heroes of Socialist Labour, and over 160,000 were decorated with orders and medals. Never before had tillers of the earth and breeders of livestock received awards on such a scale. It amounted to public recognition of the importance of the work performed by people in the countryside and of their contribution to the development of the national economy as a whole. The names of leading farmers were known throughout the country—people like the field team leaders B. Bagirova, Sh. Gasanova and M. Ozyorny, the collective-farm chairmen M. Posmitny, K. Orlovsky and P. Prozorov, and the prominent machine operators P. Angelina, I. Shatsky, A. Gitalov, P. Nektov and S. Pyatnitsa.
As a result of the efforts made by the rural population and the help provided by the working class as regards the mechanisation of collectiveand state-farm production, the consequences of the war were gradually overcome and there was an increase in farming and livestock yields. A good grain harvest was gathered in as early as 1947. In subsequent years the gross yields of grain and industrial crops increased annually, and the country received from the collective and state farms growing quantities of grain and raw material for industry.
Livestock-raising was rehabilitated with great difficulty. True enough, by the end of 1948 the prewar level as regards the total number of cattle had been achieved, but the growth in numbers was not accompanied by a commensurate increase in the products obtained from the animals. In April 1949 the USSR Council of Ministers and the CC CPSU(B) adopted a three-year plan for developing collective- and state-farm productive livestock-raising, to be put into effect in 1949--51. As a result, the herds on the collective farms began to grow rapidly. But their productivity remained low. This was the effect of a shortage 82 of fodder and adequate stockyards. Some target figures were not achieved.
An important result of the efforts of the peasantry and the mechanisation of agriculture was a growth in labour productivity. In 1950 productivity on the collective and state farms reached the prewar level. This was the decisive precondition for the rehabilitation of agricultural production.
The organisational strengthening of the collective farms was assisted by their amalgamation which occurred at the end of the quinquennium. In the summer of 1950 this process became widespread. In a single year the number of collective farms was more than halved through amalgamation, and this created favourable opportunities for the efficient use of agricultural equipment and for the strengthening of the collective farms with managerial staff. Many economically weak collective farms merged with stronger enterprises and became more viable and efficient.
The state farms too were rehabilitated and strengthened. In 1950 there were some 5,000 of them, 289 more than in 1940.
By the end of the quinquennium the restoration of agriculture was, in the main, completed. Its gross product in 1950 stood at 99 per cent of the prewar level. During the quinquennium the gross output of grain crops increased by 70 per cent, their yield grew considerably, the cotton crop more than trebled, and more of the main livestock products were turned out than in 1940. In terms of the principal kinds of livestock, the publicly-owned herds on the collective and state farms became predominant. However, in terms of many important indices, such as the area under cultivation, crop yields and the gross output of grain crops, the prewar level was not achieved. This was the result of the harsh consequences of the war, the drought of 1946 and shortcomings in agricultural management.
The renewal and strengthening of the material and technical base of agriculture enabled the collective-farm peasantry to set about the tasks facing them, despite their reduced manpower. Even at the end of the quinquennium, agriculture was unable to fully satisfy the country's food and raw material needs, and was lagging behind the other sectors of the national economy.
During the Fourth Five-Year Plan the peasant farms in the western
areas of Byelorussia and the Ukraine, the Baltic republics and Western
Moldavia were successfully collectivised. The socialist restructuring of
agriculture in these areas was carried out in more favourable
circumstances than had been the case in other parts of the country during
the thirties, and therefore it was effected considerably faster. Collective
farms in the western areas began to appear in 1945--46. But mass
collectivisation was only carried out in 1949. The kulaks and bourgeois
nationalists offered fierce resistance to the socialist restructuring of the
countryside. They engaged in terrorism against Communists and rural
activists, and spread anti-Soviet propaganda. Nevertheless, their resistance
was broken. The collectivisation of peasant farms in the Baltic republics
and the western areas of Byelorussia, the Ukraine and Moldavia was
largely completed by the end of 1950. By the end of the five-year-plan
period the collective-farm system has taken firm root in all areas. A total
__PRINTERS_P_81_COMMENT__
6*
83
M. A.Posmitny
of 96.7 per cent of all peasant
households in the country
had been unified to form
collective farms.
The years covered by the Fourth Five-Year Plan were an important stage in the life of the Soviet countryside.
__*_*_*__The growth of industry and the rehabilitation of agriculture during the Fourth Five-Year Plan, as well as the reduction in military expenditure enabled the Soviet state to considerably improve the material position and to raise the cultural level of the working people in town and countryside.
The planned development of the Soviet economy made it possible to avoid the crises = and unemployment that were typical of a number of countries in the capitalist West during the postwar period. The normal rhythm of work at enterprises was being restored everywhere, as well as the regular holidays of factory and office workers. The numbers of these workers during the fourth quinquennium were 7.7 million up on the 1940 figures. This fact alone is highly indicative of the material position of the working people. The rehabilitation of old towns and the appearance of new ones, the growth of industry and the development of new industrial construction led to an increase in the USSR's urban population: in 1941 a total of 60.6 million people lived in towns, but in 1951 the number rose to 71.4 million. During the Fourth Five-Year Plan 102.8 million square metres of living accommodation (21 per cent more than had been called for by the five-year plan) were built in the towns, and over 2,700,000 houses in the countryside. Even so, the rapid growth of the urban population gave rise to an acute housing shortage. During the fourth quinquennium mortality in the USSR was 50 per cent of the 1940 level and 33 per cent of the 1913 level; the birthrate increased and the natural growth in the population proceeded at a higher rate. All this was evidence of the improvement that had taken place in the material and cultural well-being of the people.
In December 1947 the rationing system for food and manufactured
goods was abolished in the USSR, and a monetary reform was carried
out. The reform was necessitated by the fact that during the war the state
had been obliged to issue a great quantity of paper money, which had lost
its value as a result of the shortage of goods. Moreover, counterfeit
84
K.P. Orlovsky
money issued by the German
invaders during the Great
Patriotic War was still in
circulation.
The monetary reform strengthened Soviet finances, raised the purchasing power of the Soviet ruble and, in conjunction with the abolition of the rationing system, made it possible to change to developed trade at considerably reduced prices. As a result of the three price cuts during the fourth quinquennium, the real earnings of factory and office workers and the incomes of the collectivefarm peasantry rose appreciably.
An indication of the improvement in the prosperity of the working people is provided by the growth in the national income, which rose by 64 per cent between 1940 and 1950.
Every year the state allocated enormous sums of money for social and cultural facilities. The hospitals, sanatoria and rest homes destroyed by the fascists during the war and occupation were totally restored, and new ones were also built. In 1950 the number of doctors rose to 265,000 as against 155,000 in 1940.
The successful fulfilment of the postwar Fourth Five-Year Plan
considerably strengthened Soviet society.
~
Socio-political life. = The chief function of public organisations during the war had been to muster all the people's resources in order to defeat the enemy. In the postwar years socio-political life was dominated by organisational, economic, cultural and educational matters. The Communist Party directed the people's efforts towards carrying out the assignments of the postwar five-year plan, towards developing and consolidating socialism. The Party removed the restrictions on democracy that had naturally been imposed during the war years, and activated the work of the Soviets, trade unions, the Komsomol and other public organisations.
Ideological work formed an important part of the Communist Party's activities. In the postwar years, as during the war, the Soviet people showed an exemplary awareness of their social duty, work and the country's interests. The overwhelming majority of Soviet people were patriotic and ideologically sound, and had boundless faith in the cause of communism. However, some still clung to vestiges of the private-- 85 ownership mentality, bourgeois morality, elements of nationalism, reluctance to work honestly for the benefit of society, and admiration for the reactionary bourgeois culture of the West. This called for ideological work to be stepped up.
The Communist Party gave attention to the political education of Communists. In 1946 the Party had a total membership of 6 million people, over half of whom had become Communists during the war years. Between 1946 and 1952 a large contingent of Party and Soviet officials underwent additional training, and a widespread Party educational network was set up.
The resolutions of the Party's Central Committee on literature and art that were adopted between 1946 and 1948 were highly relevant to the improvement of ideological work in the country. These resolutions condemned political apathy, the lack of ideas, triteness and other shortcomings that occurred in individual works of literature and art, and advanced serious assignments relating to the improvement of the ideological education of the people, particularly young people. Special emphasis was laid on the importance of Party spirit in literature and art, their important social mission and the need for them to be closely linked with current political tasks and the life of the people.
These resolutions played an important part in boosting the ideological content of Soviet culture: the interest of the people in literary, artistic and scientific matters increased considerably. Unfortunately, the resolutions contained a few subjective assessments of the work of a number of fine Soviet writers, composers and individual personalities in the film and theatrical world that were only corrected subsequently.
The discussions on aspects of philosophy and economics, held between 1947 and 1951, were of great importance and helped to consolidate the principle of Party spirit in the social sciences. Although these discussions did not always pass off smoothly, they did help to bring scientific research closer to the practical task of socialist construction, to overcome voluntarist and subjectivist views on the nature of economic laws, and to reveal the negative consequences of the lengthy divorce of economics from the real-life processes in the development of Soviet society.
The victorious conclusion of the war made it possible to further develop Soviet democracy and to remove the restrictions that had been imposed on it by the war. The day after the victory over imperialist Japan, the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet issued a decree lifting the state of emergency in the country and the dissolving the State Defence Committee.
Elections to the USSR Supreme Soviet were held in February 1946, and the first session of the Soviet in March 1946 approved the decision to change the name of the Council of People's Commissars to the USSR Council of Ministers. The new name for the government was more in accord with universally accepted terminology. The session also approved M. I. Kalinin's request to be relieved of his duties as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on grounds of ill health, and elected N. M. Shvernik to the post.
In February 1947, after the suspension caused by the war, elections
to the Supreme Soviets of the Union and Autonomous republics took
86
P. A. Prozorov
place, and, at the end of 1947
and the beginning of 1948, to
the local Soviets. Henceforth
elections to the Soviets took
place at the times stipulated by
the Constitution. The elections
made it possible to renew the
membership of the Soviets and
to involve millions more Soviet
citizens in the country's active
political life.
The elections to the Soviets were accompanied by a further upsurge in political and labour life: electoral meetings took place everywhere, deputies' reports were heard and mandates were voiced. In 1946 a total of 99.85 per cent of the electorate took part in the elections to the USSR Supreme Soviet, and in 1950 the figure was 99.96 per cent. In 1946 of those who took part in the elections 97.67 per cent voted for the bloc of Communists and non-Party candidates, and in 1950 the proportion rose to 99.72 per cent.
The elections to the local Soviets presented a similar picture. The best representatives of the Soviet people were elected to them. Of the 1,339 deputies elected to the USSR Supreme Soviet in 1946, a total of 511 (38.05 per cent) were workers, 349 (26 per cent) were peasants, and 479 (35.95 per cent) were office staff.
During the postwar years the Soviets tackled extremely varied matters arising in the construction and rehabilitation of industry, the municipal facilities and services, the organisation of the work of machine and tractor stations, state farms and collective farms, and the raising of the people's standard of living.
The working people's most massive organisations—the trade unions—were confronted during the postwar years by substantial tasks of economic construction, stepping up educational work among the masses and improving their material and living standards. During the war the depletion of the numbers of the working class had caused a reduction in the numbers of factory and office workers in the trade unions. However, the successful rehabilitation of the national economy and some improvement in the organisational work of the trade unions led to an increase in their membership: as early as 1948 the trade unions had 28.5 million members. The tasks of the Soviet trade unions during the postwar years were formulated in the decisions of the 14th (December 1945) and the 15th (April 1946) Plenary Meetings of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (AUCCTU). The 15th Meeting declared it to be the main task of the trade unions to organise millions of 87 factory and office workers to fulfil the plan for 1946--50 through socialist emulation. At the same time the trade unions' attention was drawn to the need to step up their concern for the material and living standards of the working people and for the raising of their cultural level.
During these years the trade unions carried out a great deal of work in organising socialist emulation, developing the movement of rationalisers and inventors, fostering the creative association between science and production, and improving the working and living conditions of factory and office workers. In 1945 commissions were set up under the trade unions to keep an eye on the consideration and implementation of rationalisation proposals. From 1947 onwards, at the suggestion of the Party's Central Committee, the practice of concluding collective agreements, which had existed from 1917 to 1933, was revived. The 16th Plenary Meeting of the AUCCTU (April 1947) stipulated that the collective agreement should be the basis of all trade union work. The trade unions also did a great deal in the field of cultural and educational work: they managed to restore the network of clubs, recreation and reading rooms, and libraries, which had been destroyed in a number of places. Other important aspects of trade union work were the organisation of scientific and technological education among the workers and the raising of their skills through part-time or on-job training courses.
In April 1949 the Tenth Trade Union Congress was held in Moscow. The congress summed up the results of trade union activities over the past 17 years. The attention of trade unions was drawn to the need to overcome formalism in the organisation of socialist emulation and in attitudes towards the proposals made by rationalisers and inventors. The congress called for the more active involvement of workers in production conferences and for an improvement in the trade unions' cultural and educational work. The congress also ratified the Rules of Trade Unions of the USSR, which defined the place of the trade unions in socialist society, their tasks and their rights.
After the Tenth Congress the trade unions considerably improved their management of socialist emulation, the movement of rationalisers and inventors, and their cultural and educational work. These matters came up for discussion at AUCCTU plenary meetings after the congress. The organisational fragmentation of the trade unions was also tackled: in 1945 there were 139 trade unions in the USSR, whereas in 1949 amalgamation had reduced their numbers to 66.
The Komsomol played an important part in socio-political life. The country's Komsomol members initiated many valuable ideas for speeding up the development of industry, rehabilitating towns and villages, and boosting agriculture.
The 11th Congress of the Komsomol was held in March-April 1949. It was convened 13 years after the Tenth Congress, which had taken place in 1936. During these years the numbers of Komsomol members had grown and surpassed the figure of 9 million. The Komsomol Rules passed by the congress and the decisions on the work of the Komsomol in schools formulated the organisation's tasks in educating young people and involving them in economic construction.
88 __*_*_*__The 19th Party Congress was held in October 1952, nearly 14 years after the 18th Congress. It summed the historic victories of the Soviet people. The Great Patriotic War and successful postwar rehabilitation of the national economy showed once again the strength of the Soviet system and the correctness of the Communist Party's leadership. The Party organisations had quickly restructured their activities, concentrating on political and organisational work among the masses and seeking to combine it correctly with economic work.
Evidence of the close ties between the Party and the people, ties which had not slackened even in the most difficult years of the war, was provided by the growth in its membership: by the time of the 18th Congress there had been 2,477,666 members and candidate members, but by the time of the 19th Congress the numbers of members and candidate members had reached 6,882,145.
The membership of the Komsomol, the Party's main reserve, was also growing. In 1939 it had a membership of 8 million, the figure doubled by 1952. Over 4 million Komsomol members joined the Party.
The Congress summed up the results of the country's economic development over the postwar years and showed the growth and cohesion around the USSR of all the forces for peace and democracy. The successes achieved by the USSR in the development of its economy were undoubted. However, as was pointed out at the Congress, there were also serious shortcomings in industrial management: some enterprises did not fulfil the plan, equipment was underused, the rate at which production processes were mechanised and productivity grew was sluggish, and so on.
Agriculture was developing slowly: in 1952 the real amount of grain harvested did not exceed 90 million tons. This situation arose from the results of the devastating war and shortcomings in agricultural management.
The Soviet Union, which had played the decisive role in defeating the main forces of imperialism during the Second World War, made it easier for peoples of some European countries to triumph over reactionary, anti-popular regimes and to set up people's democracies. The uniting of the people's democracies with the USSR to form a close-knit socialist community strengthened the position of socialism throughout the world. The socialist community received the support of peace-loving democratic forces the world over. The influence of Communist Parties in various countries grew significantly. The representatives of 44 fraternal parties were the guests of the CPSU(B) Congress.
The Congress confirmed the directives for the Fifth Five-Year Plan (for 1951--55). It was a plan for a fresh upsurge in all sectors of the national economy. Total industrial output was to rise during the quinquennium by 70 per cent, by 80 per cent in heavy industry, and by 65 per cent in the production of consumer goods. Capital investments would be roughly double that of the fourth quinquennium. It was planned to put into operation major power stations, including the Kuibyshev, Kama, Gorky and Ust-Kamenogorsk stations.
89In agriculture crop yields generally were to be increased, particularly the gross output of grain, which was to go up by 40--50 per cent, the numbers of publicly-owned cattle and their productivity were to be boosted, and the chief types of agricultural work were to be mechanised.
The Fifth Five-Year Plan called for a 50--55 per cent growth in labour productivity, a 60 per cent rise in the national income, and the raising of the working people's material and cultural standards.
The 19th Congress resolved that the Party's name should be changed. Henceforth it was known as the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the CPSU. The new Party Rules adopted at the Congress defined the Party's chief tasks during the completion of the building of socialism and the transition to communism, and emphasised the leading role of Communists in Soviet society. The Congress also made changes in the structure of the central Party bodies: a Presidium of the Central Committee replaced the Political Bureau, and a Secretariat was set up in place of the Organisational Bureau.
After the 19th Congress the Soviet people entered a period of intensive labour to fulfil the Fifth Five-Year Plan. The work was carried out in new historical circumstances, both internal and external.
The Soviet economy's attainment of its prewar level and the completion of its peacetime restructuring enabled the Party and the state to take greater account of the needs of the developing socialist society so as to satisfy the constantly growing material and cultural requirements of the workers, peasants and intelligentsia.
The job of completing the building of a developed socialist society in the USSR was no longer being carried out in isolation, but in close alliance with the peoples of the socialist countries. Consequently, in addition to the country's domestic requirements, the USSR took account of the interests of the people's democracies, helping them to eliminate the consequences of the Second World War and to rehabilitate and restructure their economies on socialist lines.
These new tasks required the USSR to make more efficient use of all the possibilities inherent in the national economy, and to constantly multiply its economic potential.
J. V. Stalin died shortly after the Congress, on the 5 March 1953. Certain circles in the West imagined that the Party's leadership within the state would weaken and that there would be a change in the fundamental principles of Soviet domestic and foreign policy. But these hopes proved vain. The Party and its Central Committee continued to consistently implement Marxist-Leninist teaching, welded Soviet society together even more solidly and led it to new victories.
In the early fifties the Soviet Union achieved notable successes in developing the material and technical base of socialist society. In 1953 the USSR produced 27.4 million tons of cast iron, 38.1 million tons of steel, 320.4 million tons of coal and 134,400 million kilowatt-hours of electrical power. In 1952 the 101-kilometre-long Volga-Don Canal was opened, and work was under way to build more hydroelectric stations. In 1953 industry exceeded its prewar level by 150 per cent, transport freight turnover increased by 100 per cent, and the number of factory and office workers grew by 12.5 million people in comparison with 1940. Over 17 million workers, engineers, technicians and office staff were involved in 90 industry. The USSR was gradually overtaking the advanced capitalist countries of the West in terms of per capita industrial production. The level of agricultural production, however, continued to fall short of demand.
The new historical tasks called for a fundamental improvement in the work of all Party, state and public organisations on the basis of Leninist principles, and for the eradication of the substantial shortcomings in the direction of the country's political and economic affairs that had arisen during the prewar and war years. The Communist Party staunchly revealed what it was that was impending the progress of the USSR towards communism. It organised the masses to overcome the shortcomings in the development of industry, agriculture, science and education.
The restoration of Leninist norms and the collective principle in the work of the Party and state required a critical evaluation of the state of affairs in many spheres of Soviet society, the exposure of the consequences of the personality cult in its concrete manifestations, and the removal of the errors and defects associated with it.
The exposure of the criminal activities of the political adventurist Lavrenty Beria was of great importance in this respect. While heading the Ministry for Internal Affairs, he had trumped up numerous ``cases'' against honest workers and had blatantly infringed socialist legality. However, the crimes of Beria and his accomplices were brought to light, and their deserved punishment was duly meted out. This was a great victory for the Party and its collective leadership.
The July (1953) Plenary Meeting of the CC CPSU approved the resolute action taken by the members of the Presidium of the Central Committee against Beria's group, and took measures to strengthen Party guidance in all sections of the machinery of state. In accordance with the decisions of the July (1953) Plenary Meeting, the Central Committee adopted a firm policy of restoring and developing the Leninist norms and principles of Party life, particularly the principle of collective leadership. The work of all the Party's central bodies was restructured in accordance with this principle, and plenary meetings of the Central Committee came to be called regularly.
The structure of the CC CPSU's leading bodies also changed: instead of two bodies, the Presidium and the Presidium Bureau, one was created, the Presidium of the CC CPSU. In September 1953 N. S. Khrushchev was elected First Secretary of the CC CPSU.
The Central Committee adopted measures to improve intra-Party democracy: blinkered bureaucratic methods in Party work were repudiated, the numbers of Party activists were increased and rank-- and-file Communists were more broadly involved in drawing up important Party decisions.
All this helped to raise and strengthen the guiding role of the Communist Party within the country's public organisations.
The Party carried out a great deal of work to curb infringements of socialist legality. Thousands of honest and innocent Party, Soviet, economic and Komsomol officials were rehabilitated. Among them were such prominent Party workers as A. S. Bubnov, N. A. Voznesensky, S. V. Kosior, N. V. Krylenko, A. A. Kuznetsov, P. P. Postyshev, 91 M. I. Rodionov, Y. E. Rudzutak, V. Y. Chubar and R. I. Eikhe, the Komsomol leaders A. V. Kosarev and N. P. Chaplin, and the military leaders V. K. Blyukher, A. I. Yegorov, M. N. Tukhachevsky, I. P. Uborevich and I. E. Yakir.
The Party's Central Committee gave serious attention to improving the functioning of the state and Party apparatus. The rights of ministers and the heads of the chief ministerial boards were extended, the structure of ministries and departments was changed, and the machinery of administration was pruned considerably. Improvements were made to the work of compiling plans for enterprises. The implementation of these measures raised management's responsibility for fulfilling the plans and helped to develop creative initiative and remove unnecessary centralisation.
The Party condemned distortions in the implementation of the nationalities policy that had been committed during the war years in respect of individual peoples, and restored national autonomy to the Balkars, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingushes and Karachays.
Significant extensions were made to the Union republics' rights as regards planning and finance. Having restored Party control over the state security organs, the court and the procurator's office, the Party took measures to reinforce these bodies with well-tested staff.
The struggle against shortcomings and distortions of Party policy in public, state and Party affairs strengthened the Soviet state and helped to raise the Party's leading role in the development of the country and to enhance the moral and political unity of Soviet society, the alliance between the working class and the peasantry, and the friendship of its peoples.
Elections to the USSR Supreme Soviet took place in March 1954. Over 120 million people participated, and 99.8 per cent of the electorate voted for the bloc of Communists and non-Party candidates. Once again the people displayed their unity around the Party and confirmed their faith in the Soviet system.
The Fifth Five-Year Plan was being successfully implemented. In industry the Party and the people devoted great attention to the preferential growth of heavy industry. Bearing in mind the fact that science and technology were becoming more and more important in the development of industry, the Soviet state decided in the mid-fifties to accelerate scientific and technological progress. The July (1955) Plenary Meeting of the CC CPSU held a special discussion on improving the work of industry.
The USSR was the first country to start employing atomic energy for
peaceful purposes and to reinforce the trend towards automation in
mechanical and power engineering. Yet some industries continued to
function as before, without taking any notice of the advances made in
Soviet and foreign science and technology. These negative features
affected the country's technological progress. The CC CPSU required
all Party organisations to resolutely back technological progress, foster
the best techniques and, on this basis, raise labour productivity.
~
Progress in agriculture. = It proved impossible during the early years of the fifth quinquennium to achieve the planned growth in agricultural 92 production. What was more, in the early fifties there was even a tendency for the rate of development in agricultural production to fall. The imbalance in the development of industry and agriculture that had been apparent in the prewar years was increasing. The gross output of industry in 1953 was 150 per cent above the 1940 level, while its agricultural counterpart was only slightly above the prewar figure.
In the early fifties, when the urban population had grown and industry was advancing rapidly, the level of 1940 in agricultural production was intolerable. This backwardness was the result of a number of objective causes: there was the aftermath of the war and the limited possibilities of the Soviet state, which was primarily concerned with rehabilitating and developing industry and transport, a fact which prevented it from giving adequate material and technical assistance to agriculture. The situation was also aggravated by the complicated international situation that arose in the early fifties and required additional defence expenditure.
The collective farms were unable to make full use of their own internal resources in order to develop production. During the early postwar years the Soviet state was obliged to retain the tax-type procurement of grain, potatoes and animal produce in collective farms at low prices. This procurement policy made it possible to concentrate the large sums of money needed to rehabilitate and develop industry and strengthen the country's defence capacity. But it created no material incentive among the peasantry to develop collective-farm production. What was more, the collective farmers were poorly paid.
The development of agriculture was also affected by subjective factors, such as mistakes in collective-farm management, blinkered bureaucracy and niggling supervision by Party and Soviet bodies of the organisation of collective-farm production. Managerial methods of this kind, which had to some extent arisen through the circumstances of wartime and of the early postwar years, were unacceptable in the context of peaceful construction.
Soon after the collective farms had been amalgamated to form larger units, many of them actually produced less. This was mainly because the amalgamation involved changing the crop rotations and the members of long-standing teams. The advantages of the large farm units did not appear immediately.
The agricultural situation was thoroughly discussed at the September (1953) Plenary Meeting of the CC CPSU. The meeting analysed the causes of agricultural backwardness and drew up a whole system of measures to boost production. They were further developed and made more specific in the decisions of subsequent plenary meetings of the CC CPSU and in government resolutions. Most important of all, the wholesale purchase prices of collective-farm produce were considerably raised, which increased the collective farmers' material incentive to develop collective farming. For instance, the procurement prices of wheat rose more than sixfold from 1952 to 1958, and almost twelvefold in the case of cattle. Between 1953 and 1958 the collective farms' monetary income almost trebled, and this had its effect on the earnings of the collective farmers, which rose markedly.
93A great stimulus to the efficient use of the collective farmers' private plots was the new system for taxing the gains they made from this land. The amount paid in tax was determined not by profitability (the quantity of cattle in personal use, the size of sowings), but by the area of the private plot. Moreover, the total amount of tax payable was reduced to 40 per cent in 1954, and arrears from earlier years were cancelled. At the same time reductions were made in the quantities of animal products, potatoes and vegetables that had to be compulsorily supplied to the state from the private plots. In 1958 compulsory deliveries of agricultural produce from the personal plots of collective farmers, workers and office staff were totally abolished.
State expenditure of the needs of the countryside increased. By the mid-fifties the country's economic position was such that, while retaining a high rate of industrial development, it became possible to allocate more money to finance agriculture. During the fifth quinquennium state investment in agriculture amounted to 170 per cent more than during the previous five years. The material and technical base of agriculture was considerably strengthened during these years. In 1954 and 1955 alone the countryside received more than 400,000 tractors (in the 15 h.p. category), 227,000 cars and lorries and a great deal of other equipment. Agricultural machinery was now available in increasing quantities, and new and more up-to-date equipment was appearing all the time. Increasing use was being made of electrical power in agriculture.
Better use of equipment was made in agriculture. This was largely assisted by the staffing of the machine and tractor stations with a permanent body of machine operators. Before 1953 the bulk of the technical staff—tractor operators and trailer hands—had not been attached to the machine and tractor stations, but were seasonal workers whom the collective farm assigned to sowing, harvesting and other jobs. From 1953 onwards machine operators became permanent staff at the machine and tractor stations. This had a positive effect on the machine operators' technical skill and on the efficiency with which machinery was used in agriculture. The measure was also important socially: over one million collective farmers thus joined the working class and began to work in state enterprises. The part played by the working class in boosting agriculture became even more important.
The increase in the quantities of machinery in the machine and tractor stations and the state farms and the better use that was now made of it enabled the bulk of agricultural work to be further mechanised. Ploughing, sowing and grain harvesting had been almost completely mechanised by the end of the fifties. Manual labour, however, predominated in loading and unloading work, harvesting potatoes, flax-pulling and a number of other jobs. Livestock-raising was at a particularly poor level of mechanisation.
The managerial staff of the collective farms, machine and tractor stations and state farms was considerably reinforced. Over 20,000 Communists—Party and state workers familiar with agriculture—were selected for work as collective-farm chairmen. Agricultural specialists were redistributed, and over 120,000 agronomists, engineers and livestock experts moved out of agricultural institutions and went to work in the collective farms.
94The measures taken to extend collective-farm democracy did much to promote the growth of production activity among the agricultural workers. The collective farms were given broader rights in planning and in determining the size of the private plots, the numbers of cattle in personal use and other matters of everyday collective-farm life envisaged in the Rules.
The priority task was to secure a sizable increase in grain production. It was impossible to bring about a drastic and immediate rise in grain yields on old land, given the limited quantity of fertiliser available at the time. Nor was it possible to change farming techniques overnight. One of the most feasible ways of accomplishing the task rapidly was to plough up the virgin and long-fallow lands. The February-March (1954) Plenary Meeting of the CC CPSU called for grain sowing to be expanded by making use of 13 million hectares of virgin land as early as 1954--55. This Party decision found widespread support among working people. The Party's appeal to go off to develop the virgin lands met with an enthusiastic response from young people. Komsomol committees received over 500,000 applications from young people to be sent to the new areas. By the 25 March 1954 in Moscow alone 40,000 factory and office workers had applied to Party or Komsomol organisations. There were even instances of whole teams and shifts submitting such applications. The working people of Moscow and the Moscow Region sent over 54,000 people to work permanently on the virgin lands, and organised 46 grain state farms. The bringing of the virgin lands into cultivation came to be the concern of the whole country. People were sent out from all the republics. Over 80,000 left for the eastern areas between 1954 and 1956 from the Ukraine, as well as thousands of volunteers from Byelorussia, the Transcaucasian republics and the Baltic area. The young people and Komsomol members were joined by agricultural specialists, experienced collective farmers and workers from the state farms. Some state farms in the virgin lands were fully staffed by people who had come from other republics, towns and regions. Volunteers from Byelorussia set up 24 new state farms, workers from Georgia—4, Latvia—4, Armenia—3, and Azerbaijan—3. Some farms were manned by demobilised soldiers. Even the names of the state farms give some indication of who founded them—names like Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Voronezh and Red Navy. All in all, between 1954 and 1955 a total of 425 large grain state farms with an area of 25--30 thousand hectares of arable land each were set up in the virgin lands. A considerable area of the virgin land was developed by collective farms. These collective farmers worked on the land in harsh conditions, with only rough-and-ready accommodation in the wild steppes. N. F. Kozinets, the director of the Gorky State Farm in the Kokchetav Region, recorded in the farm's Act of Foundation: "In accordance with Order No.~260 issued by the USSR Ministry for State Farms, I, Nikolai Fyodorovich Kozinets, director of State Farm No.~5 in the Kokchetav Region, have taken over 25,450 hectares of land and the single birch tree situated thereon.'' Many other state farms in the virgin lands had a similar starting point.
Powerful equipment was needed to till land that had never seen a plough before. In addition to the volunteers, the Soviet state also sent 95 thousands of tractors, combine harvesters and a great deal of other machinery to these areas. By the end of 1955 over 33 million hectares of virgin and long-fallow land had been brought into cultivation. The onslaught against the virgin lands was sustained throughout the years that followed. During the quinquennium (1954--58) 40 million hectares of virgin land were ploughed up, i.e., an area roughly equivalent to a quarter of all the arable land in Europe (excluding the USSR). Thousands of new state farms and settlements sprang up in steppes that had been empty for centuries.
During the first few years the virgin lands provided a rich grain harvest. It was not easy to harvest the millions of hectares in time. In addition to the permanent settlers, many young people—students and soldiers—were sent to gather in the harvest every year. Owing to the shortage of equipment, the harvesting was not always completed in time. Despite this, the contribution made by the virgin lands to the state granaries was a big one. In 1958 the gross harvest of grain crops throughout the country amounted to 134.7 million tons, of which the virgin lands provided 58.5 million tons, i.e., over40 percent. A vast new source of grain had thus been created in the eastern parts of the country. In Kazakhstan the gross production of grain increased more than fourfold between 1954 and 1958.
Serious miscalculations were also made in the gigantic task of utilising the virgin lands. The ploughing up of the new land was sometimes carried out without sufficient consideration being given to the possibilities for its subsequent use. Nor were agrotechnical requirements observed, and this began to affect yields, particularly in the late fifties and early sixties. During the massive onslaught on the virgin lands, there was some slackening in the attention given to the development of farming in a number of traditional agricultural areas which had provided fairly good harvests before the war. They began to receive less machinery and investment, and this adversely affected their productivity.
However, after taking due note of the advantages and disadvantages, outlays and errors, one can only conclude that the developing of the virgin lands was of great importance: the country received additional millions of tons of grain, and a rich granary had been established.
During the second half of the fifties immense changes for the better did not take place in the virgin land areas alone. The implementation of the measures drawn up by the September (1953) Plenary Meeting of the CC CPSU led to a great political and labour upsurge among those employed in agriculture. Socialist emulation became even more widespread in the collective and state farms.
The efforts of agricultural workers and of the whole Soviet people to boost agriculture were producing results. In 1958 there was a record grain harvest of 134.7 million tons. The state received 50 per cent more grain than it had after the bumper harvest of 1940. The numbers of cattle and its productivity also increased considerably. Socialised livestockraising on the collective and state farms began to play the decisive role in supplying the country with animal products. The gross agricultural product is a summary indicator of the advances made. In 1958 it stood at 156 per cent of the prewar level. The overall annual average increment in 96 the gross agricultural product between 1954 and 1958 amounted to 8 per cent, instead of the 1.6 per cent of the period 1950--53. There was a tendency for the gap in the industrial and agricultural development rates to narrow somewhat. State farms became more important as regards the production and procurement of agricultural products.
The selfless labour of the agriculturalists received nationwide recognition. In 1958 the Order of Lenin was awarded to the Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakh and Moldavian Republics and a number of regions and territories for conspicuous success in developing agriculture. The leading regions, districts and individual collective and state farms displayed their successes at the Ail-Union Agricultural Exhibition, which opened in 1954. The numbers of its participants and the quantity and quality of its exhibits rose every year.
The contribution made by young people towards the general effort to boost agriculture was duly rewarded. The Komsomol was awarded the Order of Lenin for its heroic work in developing the virgin and long-fallow lands. Thousands of heroes were presented with a special medal, "For Development of the Virgin Lands'', instituted in 1956.
During the postwar years the necessary conditions matured in the Soviet Union for strengthening the collective-farm system. The farms became considerably stronger economically, and their monetary income in 1957 was almost three times as high as in 1950. The quality of the collective farms' management—chairmen, team leaders and farm managers—was improved.
The successes in agriculture, the growth of the collective farms' managerial staff and the powerful upswing in the country's economy made it possible in 1958 to implement a series of new measures to boost agriculture still further and to develop the collective-farm system. A change in the technical servicing of the collective farms was particularly important.
Ever since the mass collectivisation of the farms, the bulk of the agricultural work on the collective farms had been carried out through the machine and tractor stations, which were state enterprises. By the end of the fifties this system of technical servicing for the collective farms had become obsolete. In effect, two masters were working on the land allotted to a collective farm—the machine and tractor station (a state enterprise) and the collective farm (an agricultural workers' collective). Once the collective farms had grown economically and organisationally stronger, this situation retarded their further development: it limited the initiative shown by the collective farms and discouraged personal responsibility for the organisation of production. For this reason, after a far-ranging discussion, a Plenary Meeting of the CC CPSU concluded in February 1958 that it was necessary to reorganise the machine and tractor stations, turning them into repair and maintenance stations, and to sell to the collective farms the tractors, combine harvesters and other agricultural machinery that belonged to the machine and tractor stations. In March 1958 a session of the USSR Supreme Soviet adopted the law on the further development of the collective-farm system and the reorganisation of the machine and tractor stations, in which the decisions of the Plenary Meeting were given the force of law. Immediately after the law had been passed, the collective 7---69 97 farms began purchasing equipment from the machine and tractor stations. By the end of 1958 over 80 per cent of the collective farms had acquired tractors and other equipment.
This concentration of equipment on the collective farms enabled it to be used more fully and more productively. The reorganisation of the machine and tractor stations and the collective farms' purchase of agricultural equipment had important social, as well as economic, consequences. The measures assisted the further development of collective-farm and cooperative ownership, helping to change its structure and bring it more into line with state ownership on behalf of the whole people. In addition, a large contingent of technicians from the machine and tractor stations came to work in the collective farms. They brought to the collective farms their experience of work in state enterprises, which had a positive effect on life within each collective farm.
The change in the technical servicing facilities also called for a change in the forms of the economic links between the state and the collective farms. At the end of June 1958 the USSR Council of Ministers adopted a resolution on the abolition of compulsory deliveries and payment in kind for work performed by the machine and tractor stations, and on the new procedure, prices and terms for the procurement of agricultural produce. The numerous forms of procurement were replaced by uniform state purchases at fixed and economically calculated prices with regional adjustments. At the same time the collective farms were relieved of their arrears as regards the compulsory supply of produce to the state.
All these measures created more favourable conditions for revealing the advantages of the collective-farm system and for developing the creative initiative of agricultural workers.
This was the beginning of the improvement in the development of agriculture. However, it was not before the end of the quinquennium that it ceased to lag behind the plan assignments.
The first successes in the work to boost agriculture were important
politically as well as economically. They helped to further strengthen the
alliance between the working class and the peasantry. The countryside
received enormous assistance from the towns in terms of machinery and
specialist staff, and there was a rise in the material well-being of the
collective-farm peasantry. The development of trade strengthened the
economic ties between town and countryside.
~
Enhancing the guiding role of the Party. The 20th CPSU Congress. = The 20th CPSU Congress was held in Moscow on the 14--25 February 1956. It was attended by 1,436 delegates, representing over 7.2 million members and candidate members of the Party. Representatives from 55 foreign Communist and Workers' Parties were present as guests.
An analysis of the international and domestic position of the USSR was presented at the Congress, and the prospects of building communism were determined. The Congress emphasised that the main feature of the present period was that socialism had emerged from the confines of a single country and had become a world system. The balance of forces had changed in favour of the USSR and the countries of the 98 socialist community. In terms of the rate at which their industrial production was growing, the socialist countries had left the capitalist states far behind. The industrial base of the socialist states had become stronger. The development of the capitalist economy was marked by extreme instability and the aggravation of its inherent contradictions. The position of world capitalism grew noticeably weaker.
Generalising the new developments in modern society, the 20th Congress advanced a set of new propositions on fundamental international questions. It gave further development to the Lenin's thesis of the peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems.
The Congress stressed that the policy of peaceful coexistence meant that states with different socio-economic systems would be competing in the economic, scientific and cultural spheres, and that this policy had as its principal aim to prevent a thermonuclear world war. Moreover, this competition between the two systems did not entail any refusal from or weakening of the international class struggle, which made the battle between the socialist and bourgeois ideologies inevitable. Disputes between states over ideological and political matters should not be resolved by war. Marxists proceeded from the view that the triumph of socialism was the result of the internal development of the contradictions and class struggle in each capitalist country. Exporting revolution was alien to the spirit of Marxism-Leninism.
The Congress drew an important conclusion about the possibility of preventing a new world war in the current period. Although the danger of aggressive wars remained as long as imperialism survived, a world conflict was no longer absolutely inevitable. Relying on the powerful socialist community, peace-loving forces throughout the world had very real possibilities for preventing the outbreak of another world war.
The Congress further developed and specified the thesis about the variety of ways in which various countries might reach socialism and about the possibility that, under certain conditions, a socialist revolution might develop peacefully.
The Congress summed up the results of the Fifth Five-Year Plan, which had been fulfilled ahead of schedule, in 4 years and 4 months. Industrial output was 85 per cent up on the 1950 level. The plan had been overfulfilled in a whole series of industries, including the production of steel, rolled metal, electrical power, coal and oil. Housing construction had assumed vast proportions: 150 million square metres, or 5 million flats, had been built during the quinquennium. It was emphasised at the Congress that the acceleration of technological progress would be decisive in the growth of industrial production as a whole. The Congress approved the Directives for the Sixth Economic Development Plan, to cover the years 1956--60, which provided for the priority development of heavy industry and the implementation of Lenin's ideas for electrifying the country and for involving new sources of raw materials, fuel and electricity in industrial production. To this end, the Congress called for the setting up in the next 10--15 years in the country's eastern regions of an electricity production base, a coal-mining centre and a third metallurgical base with a production capacity of 15--20 million tons of cast iron a year, and required that mechanical engineering should be developed in the area.
__PRINTERS_P_99_COMMENT__ 7* 99 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1982/3HU357/20051223/199.tx" __EMACS_LISP__ (progn (lb-ht-force-refresh "en/1982/3HU357/") (lb-ht "1982")) __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2005.12.23) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ bottom __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+The Congress examined the question of overcoming the Stalin personality cult and its consequences. The resolution it adopted approved the work that had been carried through by the Central Committee to restore the Leninist standards of Party life and to develop intra-Party democracy. The Congress proposed to the Central Committee that it should consistently implement measures that would totally eliminate the personality cult, which was alien to Marxism-Leninism, remove its consequences in all spheres of Party, state and ideological work, and strictly observe the Leninist standards of Party life and the principles of collective leadership.
In its criticism of the personality cult the Party was guided by the well-known Marxist-Leninist propositions on the role of the masses, the Party and the individual in history and on the inadmissibility of the cult of an individual political leader, no matter how great his merits.
A resolute attack on the personality cult was necessary in order to create vigilance in the Party and active resistance to the appearance of similar developments, so that any possible relapses into this cult should be curbed immediately and the Party leadership exercised in accordance with the collective principle, with the active participation of millions of working people. The Party took the view that, although the criticism might give rise to some temporary difficulties, yet it would have a positive effect from the viewpoint of the interests and ultimate aims of the working class. The Party was aware that any criticism of the errors committed as a result of the personality cult would be seized upon by its enemies for anti-Soviet use. Nevertheless, it took this step, guided by considerations of principle and by the interests of the struggle for communism.
The decisions of the 20th Party Congress and, later, the CC CPSU resolution of the 30 June 1956 entitled "On Overcoming the Personality Cult and Its Consequences" provided a clear answer to the question of the origins, essence and nature of the manifestation of the personality cult and its consequences.
Party criticism of the personality cult was intended to eliminate its harmful consequences and thus to strengthen the position of socialism. The Party discerned two aspects in Stalin's activities: a positive aspect which it valued and a negative one which it criticised and condemned.
By overcoming the consequences of the personality cult, the Party enabled socialist democracy to develop.
The 20th CPSU Congress called for a thorough-going improvement in Soviet democracy and the work of Soviet bodies in the centre and in the localities, and for a strengthening of their links with the masses.
The Congress approved the measures taken by the Central Committee to extend the rights of the Union republics as regards management of the economy, and recommended that further steps should be taken in this direction. It was also decided to improve the communist education of the working people and the ideological work carried out by the Party in general. Accordingly, the Congress instructed the Central Committee to draft a Communist Party Programme, and made a few amendments to the CPSU Rules.
After the 20th Congress the CC CPSU devoted much attention to improving the forms of economic management. This was necessitated 100 primarily by the growth of the economy, by the complexity of the tasks involved in completing the building of socialism, and also by the determination of the Party and state to base social production and distribution on scientific foundations. The accomplishment of this task required the constant testing of the measures taken by the practical activities of the masses in their millions.
Between 1956 and 1958 transformations intended to implement the decisions of the 20th Congress were put into effect in the USSR. In May 1957 the system of industrial and construction management was changed in accordance with a law adopted by the Seventh Session of the USSR Supreme Soviet. The management of industry was restructured on a territorial basis through the setting up of economic councJs ( sovnarkhozy) in the principal economic administrative areas. Some all-Union and Union-republican ministries were abolished, and their enterprises were transferred to the economic councils. The formation of economic regions and economic councils was made the responsibility of the Union republics. At the same time the various planning bodies were restructured on a countrywide scale.
In the course of the implementation of the decisions of the 20th Congress, the trade union organisations at the enterprises were faced with new tasks. A CC CPSU Plenary Meeting in December 1957 held a special discussion on the work of trade unions and on how their role could be enhanced in production management and in communist construction.
Important changes also occurred after the 20th Congress in the field of state construction. The rights of the Union republics were extended considerably. As early as May 1956 over 3,500 enterprises had been transferred to their jurisdiction instead of being run by all-Union bodies. The Union republics were given full rights as regards economic management and planning on a republican scale.
Effective power in enterprise management shifted to the economic regions and the Union republics. This was a further step in the development of socialist democracy.
The Communist Party adopted measures to substantially improve the work of the Soviets of Working People's Deputies as the basis of the machinery of state. In 1957 the local Soviets had their rights extended in matters of economic planning, production and distribution of the produce of local cooperative industry, the organisation of housing, public amenity and road construction, and the handling of financial and budgetary matters.
Many functions that had previously been performed by the state apparatus were transferred to the societies and organisations of the working people. Important steps were taken to further improve the activities of the state and economic apparatus, and to enhance the role of the trade unions, the Komsomol, cooperatives and the cultural and educational societies of the working people. This was an expression of the overall tendency in the development of the Soviet state: state control is coming increasingly to be combined in the USSR with the principles of public self-administration. The Communist Party is striving to see that each Soviet citizen plays an active part in social management. These transformations assisted the improvement of the forms and methods of 101 Soviet state activity and the development of socialist democracy. They were designed to bring economic and state management methods into line with the level of social development already achieved.
The Party gave serious attention to industries whose development strengthened the material and technical base of socialism.
In May 1958 a Plenary Meeting of the CC CPSU took important measures to develop the chemical industry. The Plenary Meeting noted that the latest discoveries in chemistry enabled fuller use to be made of the rich natural resources in order to produce synthetic materials needed for the manufacture of footwear, clothing and household articles; consequently, the development of the chemical industry had an important part to play in creating the material and technical base of communism. The Government was instructed to see that the economic development plan for the period 1959--65 ensured that there was sufficient investment in the chemical industry to promote a high rate of development in this vital sector of heavy industry, so that the output of important chemical products doubled or trebled and the production of synthetic fibres and plastics increased by between 350 and 700 per cent.
The economic successes enabled a series of measures to be taken to raise the well-being of the working people. In July 1956 a law was adopted on state pensions providing for the number of pensioners to rise to 18 million and the pension for some categories of people to be doubled. A start was made on transferring factory workers and office staff to a six- or seven-hour working day. On Saturdays and on days preceding national holidays the working day was shortened by two hours. The Soviet state set forth the task to sufficiently meet the demand in consumer goods within the next 5-6 years.
The Party's Leninist course, which was confirmed in the decisions of
the 20th CPSU Congress and which was being successfully
implemented, was resisted by a small group of CC CPSU Presidium members
including V. Mplotov, L. Kaganovich, G. Malenkov. They adopted
factious tactics in order to frustrate the implementation of the decisions
of the 20th CPSU Congress and change the Party's political line. The
June (1957) Plenary Meeting of the CC CPSU roundly condemned the
anti-Party activities of this faction. The Party unanimously approved the
decision of the Plenary Meeting. Having consolidated its ties with the
masses, the Party mobilised all resources in order to implement the
decisions of the 20th Congress.
~
The final victory of socialism in the USSR. The 20th century has gone down in history as the period of the consolidation of socialism. During the thirties socialism triumphed in the Soviet Union. In the forties it spread beyond the confines of a single state. A world system of socialist countries emerged, embracing over a third of mankind. The late fifties saw the final victory of socialism in the USSR. The Soviet Union embarked on the period of the developed socialist society and the building of communism.
The victory of socialism in the USSR during the thirties ensured that capitalism would not be restored inside the country. However, the victory was not yet final, since the USSR, as the only socialist country, was encircled by hostile capitalist states. There was the constant threat 102 of military intervention by the imperialist countries and of the restoration of capitalism through the armed might of international reaction. The capitalist countries surrounding the USSR were far stronger in economic and military terms.
With the formation, after the Second World War, of the world socialist system, the international balance of forces altered radically. Although there is still no guarantee that the Soviet Union will not be attacked by capitalist countries even now, the world balance of forces is such that an attack by any enemy could be fought off.
From the viewpoint of the world alignment of forces, the guarantee against the restoration of capitalism is based on the economic and military power of the USSR and the whole socialist community, on its peace-loving foreign policy and on its unremitting struggle against the aggressive scheming of the forces of imperialism and world reaction.
The building of socialism in the USSR was a historic feat on the part of the Soviet people. For the first time in the history of social development, socialism became a reality. The complete and final victory of socialism was won by the Soviet people under the guidance of the Communist Party. This victory was the principal result of the efforts of the Party and the people during the years of Soviet power.
The fundamental changes in the socio-economic life of society enabled the country's age-old backwardness to be abolished within a short period. In just 22 years (of the 40 years of Soviet power 18 were devoted to the war and postwar rehabilitation) the Soviet Union advanced along the road of economic development that took capitalist countries at least 100 years to cover. The USSR's total industrial output increased 33 times in comparison with 1913, and 74 times in the case of production of the means of production.
Thus, the USSR won its first victory in the worldwide economic competition with the capitalist countries.
During the building of socialism in the USSR a new historical community of people belonging to different nations—the Soviet people—took shape, a community with common features as regards their economy, class structure, world outlook, spiritual values and way of thinking. The Soviet people's living conditions changed radically. Destitution, unemployment, the hovels in which the workers lived and the ruination of the peasants through lack of land and unbearable taxes vanished into the past. During the years of Soviet power the real earnings of the workers have grown by 480 per cent, and peasant incomes by 500 per cent. Electricity, gas, radio, television, books and newspapers are now everyday features of the lives of working people. Taxation is gradually being abolished, and the housing problem is being resolved in rapid strides. The USSR has the world's lowest rents. Average life expectancy has risen sharply.
The Soviet Union's successes in all fields of economic and socio-political life enabled the Soviet state to embark on a new period of development—the period of the developed socialist society.
Important changes also occurred in the very nature of the Soviet state: from a state of the dictatorship of the proletariat it became a state of all the people, which relies on all the classes and strata in society with the guiding role belonging to the working class led by the Communist 103 Party. It successfully defends the interests of all the working people in society in the face of the capitalist world and discharges its internationalist commitments in relations with socialist and friendly states abroad.
Ever since its creation, the dictatorship of the proletariat contained features of universal socialist democracy. For the first time in history, it was democracy for the vast majority in society, for the working people. With the development of socialism, these features became stronger, and, with the complete and final victory of socialism, they became decisive. This is the principal achievement in the development of the Soviet state.
The successes of the USSR in building socialism evoked widespread response. In November 1957 Moscow was the venue for a meeting of representatives of Communist and Workers' Parties from the socialist countries and for a conference of representatives of Communist and Workers' Parties in 64 countries. Vital documents of the international working-class movement were adopted at these conferences—the Declaration of the Meeting of Representatives of the Communist and Workers' Parties of the Socialist Countries and the Peace Manifesto of the Communist and Workers' Parties.
The Declaration upheld the conclusions of the 20th CPSU Congress on the international situation, provided a theoretical generalisation of the experience of the struggle of the masses for socialism and peace, and demonstrated the unity of the views shared by the Communist and Workers' Parties. The Declaration summed up the principal objective laws of the struggle for socialism, e.g., the guiding role of the working class and its vanguard, the Marxist-Leninist party, the carrying through of a socialist revolution and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the forging of an alliance between the working class and the peasantry, the abolition of capitalist ownership and the establishment of socialist ownership of the chief means of production. These features are applicable to the development of all countries that have embarked on the road of socialism, but in each country they apply in accordance with its historically specific conditions and national peculiarities.
The adoption of the Declaration dealt a serious blow against opportunists and brought particular attention to bear on the struggle against revisionism and dogmatism in the Communist and Workers' Parties. The Declaration affirmed that the chief danger lay in revisionism as a manifestation of bourgeois ideology in the working-class movement, and also in dogmatism and sectarianism, which weakened the working class and undermined the revolutionary movement. The Peace Manifesto called upon all peoples to intensify the struggle to preserve peace.
These two documents expressed the unanimity of outlook of all the fraternal parties on the basis of Marxist-Leninist ideology, and demonstrated the strength of proletarian internationalism. Both documents received the support and approval of the overwhelming majority of the Communist and Workers' Parties throughout the world.
Thus, significant changes took place in the USSR during the 13 years that followed the war. The first five years were spent on rehabilitating the economy and general living conditions, and on building work in town and countryside in the areas that had suffered at the hands of the fascist invaders; but the next eight years saw socialist construction proceeding in order to strengthen the material and technical base of socialism, 104 improve its production relations, develop socialist democracy and draw social groups, nations and nationalities closer together.
In the course of these 13 years 12,100 major enterprises began to function. The fixed assets of socialist industry grew by 300 per cent, and the gross industrial product by 400 per cent. By occupying second place in the world after the USA in terms of industrial production, the USSR took a major step forward towards accomplishing its main economic task.
Substantial changes took place in agriculture and in the cultural and
living standards of Soviet society. This made it possible to create a
developed socialist society and to start the gradual transition to
communism.
~
Soviet foreign policy. At the end of the Great Patriotic War the Soviet Union commanded greater authority in international affairs than ever before. There were objective reasons for this, arising from the outcome of the war. The Soviet people had played an outstanding part in the recent war. They had constituted the main, decisive force that brought about the defeat of fascism and the victory of the anti-Hitler coalition. In the harshest of circumstances they had confronted the enemy with a powerful army provided with modern weapons and had fought their way through their own territory and that of several other countries in Europe, bringing freedom. All this inevitably enhanced the international standing of the Soviet Union and boosted its influence. The desire of many states to establish close ties with the USSR was an early manifestation of this heightened authority. The Soviet Foreign Ministry had great difficulty in accommodating all the new embassies in Moscow: there were now~50 of them as against 23 before the war. This fact showed that the governments of many countries were fully aware of the Soviet Union's new position in world affairs.
No less important, however, was the unprecedented growth of Soviet prestige in world public opinion, among the masses in all continents. It was the time that saw the debacle of the myth that the Soviet Union was a backward and devastated country inhabited by an oppressed and downtrodden people—a colossus with feet of clay. Victory over fascist Germany could only have been won by a people who were utterly devoted to their country and to the socialist system.
A further important change occurred in the Soviet Union's foreign policy situation. Ever since the world's first socialist state was set up, Western governments found it necessary to surround the country with a string of hostile states, forming a kind of cordon sanitaire. Finland, the small Baltic states, Poland and Rumania were all enlisted for this purpose. In 1945 the ring of hostile states surrounding the Soviet Union was broken. Left-wing forces came to power in Eastern and Central Europe—in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania. In these countries liberation from the foreign occupation forces was accompanied by social upheavals and deep-going reforms that heralded their debut on the socialist road of development.
Left-wing, democratic forces also achieved political prominence in other European countries: in nine of them—France, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Austria, Finland and Luxemburg— 105 Communists became members of the government. In Britain the Conservatives were obliged to hand over the reins of power to the Labour Party.
The political map of the world looked completely different. Such major capitalist states as Germany, Italy and Japan had suffered a crushing defeat. France had been seriously weakened by the war and four years of occupation. During the war Great Britain had constantly built up its military power, but by 1945 its financial resources had been very much depleted. Furthermore, a widespread, mass movement for independence was under way throughout the length and breadth of the British Empire, and the same applied to the colonial possessions of France and the Netherlands. The mutiny in the Indian Fleet and the August revolutions in Indochina and Indonesia opened up a new stage, this time successful, in the colonial peoples' struggle for national emancipation.
Only one Western country, the United States, emerged from the war immeasurably stronger than it had entered it. In terms of manpower, US losses in the war were very slight compared with those suffered by many other countries. American territory had not been ravaged by military operations. Moreover, the war had been an immense stimulus to sharply increased military production. By 1945 the USA accounted for almost two-thirds of the Western countries' industrial production and about a third of world exports. Over half the gold reserves of the bourgeois world were piled up in American bank vaults. All these factors provided fuel for the American leaders' political ambitions. Statements began to be made to the effect that the USA should dominate the world.
At the end of the war in Europe world opinion and many statesmen were not yet aware that the pretensions of certain circles in the USA to world domination had been underpinned by the very effective fact of the atomic bomb. The leaders of the Soviet Union were informed of it during the Potsdam Conference (17 July-2 August 1945), at which the new weapon was used to put political pressure on the USSR. As yet, though, there was no open split between the allies: the Western countries still needed the help of the Soviet Army in order to finish off Japan.
It proved possible at Potsdam to reach decisions on the demilitarisation, denazification and democratisation of Germany, the preservation of the country's economic integrity, the western frontier of Poland and various other matters.
But a few days after the conclusion of the Potsdam Conference the new weapon was actually used. It brought death and terrible suffering to the people of two Japanese cities. The explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki initiated a new world situation. Clearly, this barbarous act was not occasioned by military considerations.
As early as 1945 appeals began to be voiced about "rolling back" the Soviet Union and ``liberating'' the peoples of Europe from Soviet influence.
Early in 1946 Churchill appealed in Fulton for unity "against Eastern communism''. The Truman Doctrine was the next step towards friction with the USSR. The doctrine originated in March 1947, when the US President proposed that Congress should allocate 400 million dollars for assistance to Greece and Turkey. The President's message argued that the USA had a ``right'' to intervene in various parts of the world where 106 the US Government took the view that American interests might be threatened. The first tangible result of the Truman Doctrine was the rearming of Greece and Turkey, and the building there of American strategic air bases.
In the summer of 1947 George Marshall, the US Secretary of State, announced his plan for economic assistance to the countries of Europe. The provision of American aid involved certain limitations on the sovereignty of the European countries. One of the first results of the Marshall Plan was restrictions on their trade with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. There were indications that the plan's organisers hoped to use the postwar economic difficulties in the East European countries (e.g., Czechoslovakia) and the shortage of food and consumer goods in general so as to re-establish their influence over them. A considerable part of these efforts was aimed at the rehabilitation of West Germany's military and economic potential.
Thus, the Marshall Plan, widely publicised as "the plan to save the world'', was really intended to unite the bourgeois countries on an anti-Soviet basis. The ``cold'' war gained the upper hand. But a ``hot'', preventive war against the Soviet Union was also discussed openly and in some detail. All this complicated the process of establishing normal relations in the postwar world.
The end of the war confronted Soviet diplomacy with a number of tasks. Above all, it was necessary to resolve the various questions connected with a peaceful settlement in Europe and in the Far East. The Soviet Union had to ensure not only its own security, but also the security of a whole group of countries that had embarked on the process of socialist development: either during the war or after it these countries concluded treaties of friendship and mutual assistance with the USSR. The Soviet Government played a part in establishing a new international organisation to maintain the peace—the United Nations Organisation. The UN Charter was drawn up at a conference of 50 countries in San Francisco (April-July 1945). The vital principle of the equality and self-determination of peoples and the recognition of the right of peoples to fundamental liberties for all, irrespective of race, language, religion or sex, were recorded in the UN Charter at the initiative of the Soviet delegation. UN members undertook to resolve their disputes through peaceful means alone. Essentially, these principles can be traced back to Lenin's view that there would be a lengthy period of peaceful coexistence between socialist and capitalist states. The Soviet Government played an extremely active part in the new international body as soon as it began to function.
The Soviet Union imagined that the cooperation of the war years would continue. The preservation of peace was in the fundamental interests of the USSR. At the end of 1945 Stalin wrote to Truman: "I feel I can say that on the whole I am optimistic as to the results of the exchange of views now taking place between us on urgent international problems, and this, I hope, will provide further opportunities for coordinating the policies of our countries on other = issues.''^^1^^ _-_-_
~^^1^^ Correspondence Between the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the presidents of the USA and the Prime Ministers of Great Britain During the Great Patriotic War of 1941--1945, Vol. 2, Moscow, 1957, p. 281.
107 Significantly, this letter from the Soviet leader remained unanswered. The US Government was veering on to a new course, in which there was no place for cooperation with the USSR.The differing approaches adopted by the Great Powers towards the principal aspects of the new world situation were clearly manifested over the need to draft terms for the peace treaties with Italy, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria and Finland.
The USA, Britain and France proposed terms that were in their own selfish interests. The British delegates suggested, for instance, that all the Italian colonies should be placed under British control. The plan submitted by London also provided for seizing a part of Ethiopia and attaching it to British Somaliland.
The Western delegates insisted on terms that would give them dominant positions in the economies of the vanquished states. Lip service was duly paid to the outwardly attractive principles of "equal opportunities" and "economic freedom''. But in the circumstances that had then taken shape in a devastated Europe, the adoption of such principles meant increasing the total helplessness of the national economies of the defeated countries in the face of the economic onslaught of the major Western powers.
An American and British diplomatic attempt to fashion a different approach towards the former enemy countries is also of some interest. In the case of Italy and Finland, flirtatious tactics were employed, accompanied by demands for the terms of the peace treaties to be ``softened''. Having extracted from the vaults of the Italian Treasury a total of 4,000 million dollars to maintain their troops in Italy, the USA and Great Britain put up a lengthy resistance to the just demand that the Italian reparations payable to the Soviet Union should be fixed at 100 million dollars.
A completely different line, however, was pursued in relation to the three countries in which left-wing, democratic forces had come to power after the war—Bulgaria, Hungary and Rumania. Stern notes were sent out from Washington and London to the governments of East European countries on the subject of their domestic policies. Britain supported Greek claims to a considerable chunk of Bulgarian territory. Despite the fact that Albania itself had been a victim of aggression, the Western delegates made backstage proposals to divide Albania up between the neighbouring countries and to obliterate the Albanian state altogether. US representatives suggested internationalising the Danube—the internal waterway flowing through Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria and several other countries.
The Soviet Government tried to see that a system of peace treaties would help to strengthen peace in Europe and would enhance the security of the Soviet Union. To this end, it was necessary to ensure a democratic, anti-fascist slant in the development of the former enemy countries, to protect their sovereignty and to ward off interference in their affairs from the major Western states. At all stages in drawing up the treaties, Soviet diplomacy displayed great persistence and tactical skill, and was ultimately successful over nearly all the fundamental issues. The peace treaties were signed in February 1947. It was primarily a triumph for Soviet foreign policy and Soviet diplomacy, which had 108 fought for the independent and free development of the former enemy countries. Three of them — Bulgaria, Hungary and Rumania—embarked on the path of democracy and socialism.
The conversion of Japan into a peace-loving democratic state was a vital condition for the preservation of peace in the Far East. On the 8 August 1945 the Soviet Government acceded to the Potsdam Declaration produced by the USA, Great Britain and China. This declaration provided, among other things, for the eradication of militarism in Japan, the punishment of war criminals, the encouragement of democratic tendencies among the Japanese people, and the development of peacetime industry.
The defeat of Japan prompted far-reaching changes throughout East and South-East Asia. The liberation struggle against the Japanese occupation forces that had been begun by the peoples of Indonesia, Indochina and Burma now developed into a struggle for their complete national emancipation. The Soviet Union was ready to support all progressive forces in Asia that sought total national liberation.
Serious contradictions surfaced almost at once in the approach that was taken towards a peaceful settlement in the Far East. The USA, which had occupied the Japanese islands, sought a free hand in governing its conquered rival. The Soviet Union insisted that the four powers which had played a decisive role in the defeat of Japan should pursue a concerted policy in the country.
Following a hard-fought diplomatic struggle, a compromise solution was adopted at the end of 1945 to set up a Far Eastern Commission with representatives from 11 states, and an Allied Council for Japan, consisting of representatives from the four Great Powers. Furthermore, the principle of unanimity between the four Great Powers was established in the Commission, and each of the members of the Allied Council was given the right to countermand the orders of the American commander-in-chief in Japan. The US Government promised that its instructions to the commander-in-chief in Japan would be in accordance with the political line laid down by the Far Eastern Commission. In 1947, with the active participation of the Soviet Union, important joint decisions were taken on democratising and demilitarising Japan. It was the energetic and determined policy of the Soviet Union that assisted the passage of a number of reforms in postwar Japan. At that time too, however, and particularly starting from 1948, the US authorities paid less and less attention to the Allied Council and the Far Eastern Commission, gradually reducing them to the role of mere recorders of American decisions.
Matters were even more complicated as regards settling the most important issue bequeathed by the war—the German question. This was the problem that was to be the focal point in relations between the victorious powers during the early postwar years.
The Soviet Government aimed to eradicate the vestiges of fascism in Germany, to democratise the country, to ensure its development as a peace-loving state and to make any repetition of German aggression impossible. These aims were wholly in accord with the decisions jointly adopted at Yalta and Potsdam by the leaders of the Great Powers.
109In East Germany, occupied by Soviet troops, all democratic parties and organisations were enabled to function immediately after the end of the war. The cartels, trusts and syndicates that had played a prominent part in assisting nazi aggression were dissolved, and the property of war criminals was confiscated and handed over to the people. By the spring of 1948 nearly all mining enterprises had been nationalised, along with over 60 per cent of the fuel and power enterprises, half of all the engineering works, and so on. The activities of hundreds of thousands of former members of the Nazi Party had been closely scrutinised. During the process over half a million active nazis had been relieved of their posts.
Agrarian reform was an important progressive step in East Germany. About 560,000 peasant families were given a total of 2.2 million hectares of land from the landowners' estates. The Junkers, the traditionally militarist class in German society, thus vanished in the eastern part of the country.
The reforms also extended to education. Some 30,000 teachers who were nazis lost their jobs, and the best members of the German intelligentsia and those who took part in the anti-Hitler Resistance helped to devise a new system of school education that emphasised a spirit of friendship towards other peoples.
None of these measures, which were enacted during the early postwar years, violated the Yalta and Potsdam Agreements. The point should be made that during the initial period, when the cold war was still in its infancy, the allies in Germany managed to agree on many issues. For instance, in 1945 the military commandants in Berlin reached agreement on 208 of the 217 questions examined. But as the overall deterioration in relations between the USSR and its recent allies became more pronounced, so Western policy over the German question underwent a radical change. In May 1946 General Lucius Clay, who was then the US Deputy Military Governor in Germany, sent the US Secretary of War a report containing a plan for the division of Germany.
The policy of the Western powers amounted, in effect, to the inclusion of the part of the country that they were occupying, with its industrial potential and manpower resources, in the overall balance of forces opposing the USSR. The speech made in Stuttgart in September 1946 by the US Secretary of State, James Byrnes, can be seen as the turning point in the Western powers' "German policy''. The Potsdam decisions on the eastern frontier of Germany were queried in the speech. It was also announced that the USA no longer intended to honour its commitment to supply the Soviet Union with reparations from the current production of the Western zones of Germany. All in all, the speech was intended to awaken nationalist sentiment among the German people and to torpedo the allies' joint decisions on the German question.
December 1946 saw the decision to amalgamate the British and American occupation zones, forming a bizonal area. This was the first important step towards dividing the country and abolishing four-power control.
The Soviet Government was opposed to the partition of Germany. At the Moscow Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers held in 110 March--April 1947, the Soviet Government submitted a proposal to restore the economic and political unity of Germany and to immediately draw up a peace treaty for the country as a whole. The USSR favoured the restoration of Germany as a democratic republic with a single German parliament and a single German government, and proposed the urgent formation of central German administrative offices for finance, industry, transport, communications and foreign trade. All these proposals were rejected by the Western delegations.
The London Conference between the USA, Great Britain and France, which was held (with an interval) from the 23 January to the 1 June 1948, marked an important stage in the forthcoming division of Germany. It was here that the measures to set up a West German state were planned; more specifically, it was planned to convene a West German Constituent Assembly.
It was typical of the relations then existing between the Great Powers that the Soviet Government was not informed of the three-power conference on the German question and heard about it only from press reports.
One of the results of the London Conference was the carrying out on the 18 June 1948 of a monetary reform in the Western zones. This reform (which was also extended to West Berlin) was prepared in secret and came as a complete surprise to the Soviet authorities. It sparked off a dangerous crisis. The devalued old marks poured into the Soviet occupation zone. The Soviet military administration was obliged to take urgent steps to protect the East German economy and monetary system. In order to foil currency speculators, checks were carried out on passengers arriving from West Germany and certain restrictions were imposed on transport links between Berlin and the Western zones. Nevertheless, the Soviet side was ready to maintain the supply of food and fuel to the whole of Berlin. Yet the occupation authorities prevented the people of West Berlin from making use of any kind of help from East Germany. The USA organised the "Berlin airlift" to keep West Berlin supplied. Every day 380 American transport planes made several flights each into Berlin. All this was simply a propaganda move and was also intended to intensify the cold war. The restraint shown by Soviet diplomacy and its readiness to accept a reasonable compromise helped to preserve the peace during those tense months. Nevertheless, the "Berlin crisis" accelerated the complete division of Germany and the formation of a separate West German state.
__*_*_*__An important issue confronting Soviet foreign policy was the organisation of relations with the young people's democracies in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. These states were linked with the Soviet Union by their community of aims as regards internal development and by their common interest in the preservation of peace. Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania viewed the Soviet Union as their defence against possible interference from the major Western powers. Treaties of friendship and mutual assistance, signed between 1945 and 1948 with nearly all the people's democracies, aimed to forestall the resurgence of German aggression 111 and militarism. They also acted as a shield against the attacks of the proponents of the various plans for "rolling back" and "squeezing out" socialism from Eastern Europe.
Relations with Yugoslavia came to occupy a particular place in Soviet foreign policy. During the struggle against the common enemy—the German and Italian fascists—and during the early postwar years, relations between the USSR and Yugoslavia had been extremely friendly. In 1948 the CPSU and the Communist and Workers' Parties in other countries sharply criticised some of the actions of the Yugoslav leaders. The conflict, shifted on to state relations between the USSR and Yugoslavia, dragged on for several years.
During the early years of the new states' development, the Soviet Union provided them with considerable economic assistance (up to 1949 Poland alone received 2,200 million rubles' worth of Soviet investment credit for industrialisation purposes). They were also given the former German assets on their territory—assets that became the property of the USSR in 1944--45. At the decision of the Soviet Government, reparation supplies by Rumania and Hungary to the Soviet Union were abolished in 1948. Economic ties between the USSR and the European people's democracies expanded rapidly. In 1948 trade between the USSR and Hungary was almost 20 times as high as it had been in 1938.
Czechoslovakia featured prominently in Western powers' plans owing to both its geographical position and to the fact that by the end of 1947 and the beginning of 1948 the transformations that had taken place in the country were not as far-reaching as in several of the other East European countries. Private capital was still economically and politically strong. Members of bourgeois circles formed part of the government, holding a considerable number of ministerial posts. On the 20 February 1948 twelve ministers tendered their resignations to Premier Klement Gottwald. This step was motivated by their hopes that the Communistled government would fall. However, the Communist Party did not give up power, seeking support among the people and arming the workers. On the 25 February the government was reorganised on a new basis. The forces of socialism in Czechoslovakia finally triumphed. During the February events a widespread hostile campaign against the Soviet Union and the people's democracies was mounted in the UN and in Western capitals. The US and British Governments embarked on a number of hostile actions against Czechoslovakia. On the 1 March 1948 the American Congress sanctioned an export embargo against the socialist countries. The situation was deliberately aggravated by reactionary circles in the Western countries, but the support given to democratic forces in Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union was the chief factor that caused the USA and its allies to decide against intervening in Czechoslovakia.
An important stage in the development of cooperation between the USSR and the people's democracies was marked by the setting up of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), launched by the European socialist countries at the beginning of 1949. The CMEA's main function is to organise and to develop economic cooperation between the socialist countries.
112A joint foreign policy line was gradually developed by the people's democracies and the Soviet Union. The bringing together of the socio-economic systems operating in these countries, their common interest in the preservation of peace, and the development of close economic relations led to the formulation of joint principles and tactics in the struggle for peace.
The Soviet Union fought persistently to preserve the peace. Soviet representatives at the UN opposed the ideological preparations for a new war. At the initiative of the Soviet Government, the UN adopted in 1947 a resolution condemning any form of propaganda that might intensify the threat to peace.
During this period the Soviet Union put forward a proposal to ban and destroy atomic weapons. The USSR supported rigorous international control over the implementation of the ban on atomic weapons. On the 11 June 1947 the Soviet representatives in the Atomic Energy Commission submitted special proposals for broad supervision over the implementation of an international convention banning atomic weapons. The proposals stated that whenever there was any suspicion that the convention had been infringed, the International Control Commission would conduct a special investigation. The commission was to have access to any nuclear enterprise. It had the right to analyse nuclear raw materials, and so on.
The US delegates to the Atomic Energy Commission secured the rejection of the Soviet proposals. But at every session of the General Assembly, in the Security Council and in the Atomic Energy Commission the Soviet delegates continued to table fresh proposals, all directed towards the same objective—the abolition of weapons of mass destruction. The Soviet Government also attacked the US Baruch Plan, and was frequently criticised in foreign publications for doing so. Analysis of the plan shows that it was not a plan for disarmament. It was intended to strengthen the USA's monopoly on nuclear weapons. This is easily shown by the following example. Vast powers were conferred by the Baruch Plan on the international control body. The conditions for representation in the body were so designed that the majority of places would go to US representatives and the delegates of the major West European states.
What was more, a US Government report on the matter showed that until an agreement on the destruction of atomic weapons was reached, their production was to be permitted only in the USA. The discriminatory and one-sided nature of the Baruch Plan was evident. Agreeing to it meant neither more nor less than leaving one's fate to the goodwill of the US Government. This ``goodwill'' was singularly lacking where the USSR was concerned over every single issue of any importance in world politics. The same applies to conventional armaments, in which the USA forced the Soviet Union into a burdensome race and would agree to none of the proposals on even a partial moratorium. It also applies to the question of the US bases surrounding the Soviet Union.
There was also disagreement and friction between the two countries over other matters. The Soviet Government was naturally alarmed by the bourgeois states' policy of setting up military blocs. It saw a great source of danger in this policy. The Brussels Treaty between five of the __PRINTERS_P_113_COMMENT__ 8---69 113 countries in Western Europe — Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg—on political, economic and military cooperation, signed in March 1948, and the formation by these countries of a joint military headquarters in Fontainebleau represented a serious threat to the security of the Soviet Union. On the 17 March, the day the treaty was signed, the US Government declared that it would give the new bloc full support. Moreover, it was clear that in the USA there was a strong urge to form an even more extensive military alliance. Throughout 1948 the US State Department was involved in negotiations with the governments of the West European countries and Canada on this question.
At the same time the division of Germany was being completed. On the 23 May 1949 the parliaments of the West German Lander ratified the Basic Law, the constitution of the new state. The 7 September saw the first meeting of the West German parliament (the Bundestag), which proclaimed the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). In this way, the USA and its allies dishonoured their commitments and failed to take account of the legitimate interests of the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries. In particular, the partition of Germany was closely linked with the desire to make unimpeded use of the country's industrial western region as an important base and bridgehead against the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Government did everything in its power to prevent the world from being divided into military blocs. It appealed to the potential members of the organisation that was being planned to refuse to join an anti-Soviet alliance. The Soviet Government offered to conclude a non-aggression pact with Norway, a country which borders on the USSR. At the end of January 1949 the Soviet Union issued a special statement giving a detailed analysis of the serious consequences for the whole international situation that would arise from the setting up of a military alliance. The Soviet Government declared that the Western powers had returned to the old anti-Soviet foreign policy course, based on isolation of the USSR, that they had pursued during the years that preceded the Second World War and which had almost led European civilisation to disaster.
However, all these warnings were in vain. There was no stopping the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the conclusion of which in April 1949 was the crossing of the Rubicon in postwar international relations.
On the whole, the four years that immediately followed the war were extremely dangerous. At times, it seemed that a military conflict was just round the corner. The Soviet Union did everything possible to prevent war and to strengthen its own security and that -of the world.
In 1949, however, important events took place on the international scene, radically altering the balance of forces.
The Chinese people's many years of struggle against foreign oppression and internal reaction came to an end. On the 1 October 1949 the People's Republic of China (PRC) was proclaimed.
Towards the end of 1949 socialism had developed into a world system embracing over 800 million people, i.e., over a third of the world's 114 population, and an area forming roughly 27 per cent of the earth's surface.
Changes also occurred in the heart of Europe. In response to the creation of the West German state, democratic forces in East Germany took an important decision. On the 7 October 1949 People's Chamber elected by the people in the Eastern part of the country proclaimed the formation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). For.the first time in history, a peace-loving state had been set up on German soil.
The year 1949 also saw the emergence of a mass peace movement which soon united hundreds of millions of people in all countries. Its vanguard was formed by such outstanding public figures and scientists as Frederic Joliot-Curie, Yves Farge, Pablo Picasso, John Bernal and William Du Bois. This immediately gave the movement enormous influence and authority. Within a short time it had developed into a substantial moral and political factor that could not be disregarded.
Finally, an event of historic importance took place: the elimination in 1949 of the US monopoly on atomic weapons. The USSR also developed the atomic bomb, and that occurred far sooner than Western politicians had supposed. The creation of the atomic bomb in the USSR was, in fact, the end of the period in which the US position-of-strength policy was underpinned by any really credible base.
The development of Soviet nuclear weapons was a forced step, intended to safeguard the security of the USSR. In a situation in which the US ruling circles were surrounding the Soviet Union with a network of military bases and were threatening it with atomic warfare, the Soviet Government could not avoid taking the necessary steps to strengthen the country's defences. Even so, having developed atomic weapons, the USSR frequently declared its readiness to destroy them so long as the Western powers did the same. Between 1950 and 1953, as during the previous years, the Soviet Government struggled persistently for a ban on nuclear weapons.
But these proposals too, just like the Soviet Government's other peace moves aimed at relaxing international tension and fostering the peaceful settlement of all disputes, met with no support among reactionary circles in the bourgeois countries. On the contrary, frightened by the rapid growth and strengthening of the world socialist system, they prepared with even greater haste to carry out their plans for "rolling back communism''. The sizable slump in US industrial output which began in 1949 also put the wind up the American monopolies. They demanded that the Government increase military contracts and organised a widespread press campaign intended to convince the American people that only war or major military preparations could stave off an economic crisis. During its first six years of office (1945--50) the Truman Administration spent on military needs more money than all the US governments put together had spent during the 150 years that preceded the Second World War. As they carried through the rapid construction of military bases in various parts of the world, the American ruling circles proceeded to equip them with nuclear weapons. Although officially acknowledging in September 1949 that the atomic bomb had also been made in the Soviet Union, the US Government did not accordingly carry out the necessary reassessment of its policies. On 115 the contrary, the US Congress's Joint Committee on Atomic Energy declared in December 1949 that the USA now needed to produce more bombs and more powerful bombs, and to manufacture them more rapidly.
This was the beginning of the nuclear arms race. In the United States war hysteria assumed unprecedented dimensions. It was impressed upon people that a Soviet attack on Western Europe and the USA was imminent. The atmosphere of anti-communist hysteria was conducive to repression and acts of terrorism not just in the USA, but also in other countries. Between 1949 and 1951 a series of despicable crimes were committed against prominent leaders of the working class. Terrorists seriously wounded the Italian communist leader Palmiro Togliatti and murdered the secretary of the Buenos Aires Communist Party organisation, Jorge Calvo, and the Chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium, Julien Lahaut.
In 1951 the US Congress took a decision that elevated subversion in the socialist countries to the level of official policy. A total of 100 million dollars was allocated in order to finance reactionary emigre organisations, anti-government propaganda, sabotage and subversion in the socialist countries.
But the greatest danger of all to world peace during these years came from US intervention in the war in Korea (June 1950). Organised under the UN flag, the intervention by the USA and several other powers in Korea constituted a direct threat to the People's Republic of China. The interventionists were sure of their rapid and easy success. However, at the end of 1950, when they had reached the Chinese border, Chinese volunteers were sent to aid the friendly people of Korea and helped them to thrust the enemy back to his starting point along the 38th parallel. But the war continued and developed into a bitter international conflict. The sanguinary war against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), started by the French authorities in 1947, also dragged on. In 1951 the Western powers signed a peace treaty with Japan illegally, without the participation of the Soviet Union. At the same time the San Francisco Peace Treaty was signed, providing for American troops to stay in Japan.
In Europe preparations were accelerated for the inclusion of West Germany in the various military blocs.
The North Atlantic Treaty was extended to include Turkey and Greece—countries which are a long way from the Atlantic, but very close to the borders of the Soviet Union. Finally, the USA stepped up its trade embargo against the socialist countries. In September 1951 it annulled the trade agreement with the Soviet Union that had been in operation since 1937.
In these complicated circumstances, fraught with the danger of imminent war, the Soviet Government saw one of its chief tasks to be to defend the rights and interests of the socialist countries on the international arena.
The establishment of an alliance with the People's Republic of China was an important act of Soviet foreign policy during this period. In February 1950 a treaty of friendship, alliance and mutual assistance was signed in Moscow between the two countries. Both sides undertook to 116 do everything possible to prevent any repetition of Japanese aggression: if Japan or any other state that had formed any kind of alliance with Japan attacked the USSR or China, each side undertook to provide the other with immediate military and other assistance. In accordance with agreements signed in 1953, the USSR undertook to assist China in building or reconstructing 141 major industrial enterprises. The Soviet Union supplied China with credit on easy terms and began to exchange scientific and technical information and to help train economic specialists for China.
Relations between the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries continued to grow stronger and to develop. The USSR freely handed over to the socialist countries an enormous quantity of scientific and technical documentation and thousands of blueprints and patents. Soviet universities and institutes accepted thousands of students from these countries, training them to become engineers, teachers and doctors. Already in 1952 the supply of machinery and equipment from the Soviet Union to these countries was 10 times as high as in 1946. The businesslike coordination of the socialist countries' national economic plans was established, together with other forms of economic and cultural cooperation.
Ever since the war in Korea began, the USSR strove to localise the conflict and to bring about a cease-fire and a peace treaty. On the 4 July 1950 the Soviet Government issued a statement on the events in Korea. The USSR favoured an end to foreign military intervention and the withdrawal of foreign troops from Korea.
The Soviet Union continued to call persistently for a peaceful settlement of the Korean question. A draft settlement was submitted by a Soviet representative in August 1950. It was proposed to end the hostilities in Korea, to withdraw foreign troops from the country and to hear representatives of the Korean people and China at the UN. A few months later, in October 1950, the Soviet Union, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, Poland and Czechoslovakia spoke on the subject at the 5th Session of the UN General Assembly. Their joint proposal called for an end to the war and the withdrawal of foreign troops from Korea, to be followed by elections to a National Assembly on the basis of free and nationwide suffrage. Proposals for settling the Korean question were also tabled by several other states, including India, but the USA, its allies and its client countries, which commanded a majority in the General Assembly, rejected these proposals.
Considerable stimulus towards a peaceful settlement was provided by the proposal put forward by the Soviet representative at the UN, Y.A.Malik, speaking on American radio on the 23 June 1951. The proposal was "to start negotiations between the belligerents about a cease-fire and an armistice accompanied by a mutual withdrawal of troops away from the 38th parallel''. Striving to end the bloodshed as quickly as possible, the Soviet Union did not raise the question in its new proposal of the simultaneous withdrawal of the foreign troops in Korea. The Soviet proposal served as the basis for negotiations, which eventually began on the 10 July 1951.
The talks lasted for two years, being broken off several times owing to resistance from the US Command. The interventionist troops sought 117 doggedly to achieve their objectives on the battlefield. They tried to breach the front in one place after another, attacked soldiers belonging to the Korean People's Army and Chinese volunteers, and bombed towns in North Korea.
While the armistice talks were going on, the Soviet delegation to the 6th and 7th Sessions of the UN General Assembly made fresh proposals for a complete cessation of hostilities. The stubborn diplomatic fight for a peaceful solution to the Korean question that was waged by the Soviet, Polish and several other delegations was eventually successful. In April 1953 the 7th Session of the General Assembly approved a resolution that provided the basis for the signing of an armistice agreement on the 27 July of that year.
The USSR mounted an equally persistent struggle for the peaceful and just solution of all international problems. The Soviet Government repeatedly demanded that the Kuomintang representatives should be expelled from UN bodies and that the legitimate rights of the People's Republic of China should be restored in the United Nations. It also supported the PRC's demand that US troops should be withdrawn from the Chinese island of Taiwan. Championing the freedom and independence of all peoples, the Soviet representatives at the UN supported Iran in its struggle against the domination of the foreign oil monopolies; the Arab states which protested against repression by the colonial authorities in North Africa; and the Government of Burma, which called for an end to the aggressive acts of Kuomintang troops on Burmese territory.
The Soviet Government consistently maintained its struggle to resolve the German problem. A number of measures were taken to strengthen the German Democratic Republic. In May 1950 the Soviet Government decided to cut the reparations still outstanding by 50 per cent, i.e., by over 3,000 million dollars, and in August 1953 declared that reparations were no longer payable by the GDR. Dozens of Soviet enterprises on the territory of the GDR were handed over to the country, and credit was provided. At the same time, the Soviet Union strove to speed up the preparation of a just and democratic peace treaty with Germany.
In October 1950, at the invitation of the Soviet Government, a conference of the foreign ministers of the eight European socialist countries was held in Prague. Their joint communique pointed out that the decision to remilitarise West Germany, adopted at the New York conference by the USA, Great Britain and France in September of that year, was in fundamental conflict with the Potsdam Agreement. The Prague conference put forward a number of proposals to resolve the German problem. It called on the powers occupying Germany to issue a statement to the effect that they would not permit the remilitarisation of the country and would implement the Potsdam Agreement. Those present at the conference also proposed that all restrictions on the development of a peaceful German economy should be lifted, that the unity of Germany should be restored and that a peace treaty should be concluded with the country, which would have been drafted with the participation of the German people itself. However, these proposals elicited no support from the Western powers.
118In March 1952 the Soviet draft proposal for the fundamentals of a peace treaty with Germany was put forward. It provided for the restoration of Germany as a single state, the withdrawal of the occupation forces not later than a year after the coming into force of the peace treaty, the abolition of all kinds of restriction on the development of the country's peaceful economy, and the creation of national armed forces necessary for defence purposes. Moreover, Germany would have to give an undertaking not to enter into any military alliances directed against any of the countries which took part through its armed forces in the anti-Hitler coalition during the Second World War. There were special clauses dealing with the securing of the German people's democratic rights, and there were provisions for banning all organisations that were hostile to democracy and the cause of peace. The draft indicated that after the reunification of Germany the allied powers would support its application for membership of the United Nations.
Subsequently, historians and journalists in the FRG and other Western countries have often criticised their governments for refusing to negotiate on the basis of the Soviet proposals of the 10 March 1952 and for declining to test the sincerity of the Soviet proposals by putting them into practice. But the position of the Western powers had nothing to do with their ``trust'' or ``mistrust'' of the Soviet Union. The point was that the Soviet draft interfered with their plans for enlisting West Germany in their military blocs. At the same time they took steps to subvert the GDR from within. Western agents mounted a widespread campaign inside the GDR, strove to unite the elements that were hostile to socialism, and incited them to oppose the GDR Government. On the 17 June 1953 they managed to bring their supporters in East Berlin out on to the streets and to organise demonstrations. The plot was foiled in the course of a few hours. Soon after the events of the 17 June the Soviet Government invited a GDR Government delegation to Moscow for talks on a wide range of political and economic questions. The Governments of the USSR and the GDR concluded that, if the unity of Germany was to be restored along peaceful and democratic lines, then an all-German provisional government needed to be set up through direct agreement between East and West Germany. The chief function of this government would be to prepare and organise free elections throughout Germany, as a result of which the German people would themselves decide, without interference from foreign states, on the social and state system that would operate within a single democratic and peace-loving Germany. The Governments of the USSR and the GDR vigorously protested against the involvement of West Germany in military blocs, stressing that such acts on the part of the Western powers hindered the plans for the reunification of Germany and heightened the tension in Europe.
At that time relations between the Soviet Union and the Western countries were in a very tense state indeed.
In Korea the US Command was dragging out the armistice negotiations. In the meantime, the air space and territorial waters of the Korean People's Democratic Republic were being systematically violated. The supporters of Chiang Kai-shek, armed by the United States, were making air raids on Chinese towns and were trying to blockade the southern coast of China. In Indochina French troops were 119 conducting a sanguinary colonial war against the peoples of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Military headquarters in America were planning intervention in military operations in Indpchina. John Foster Dulles, the US Secretary of State, favoured using the atomic bomb in Vietnam. Due to the irresponsible policies of military circles and of the US Government, ``local'' wars threatened to escalate into a vast international conflict.
The constantly expanding arms race constituted a serious danger to peace.
__*_*_*__The situation that had taken shape by 1953 called for rapid and bold action to preserve the peace and reduce tension. Once again the Soviet Government seized the initiative. First of all, it took a number of steps to normalise and consolidate its relations with neighbouring states. In May 1953 the Soviet Union proposed that Turkey should join it in taking steps to establish good-neighbour relations between the two countries. Iran was similarly invited to improve relations. The Soviet Government started economic negotiations with Afghanistan, which ended at the beginning of 1954 with the signing of an agreement whereby Soviet credit would be made available to Afghanistan, together with assistance in the building of a number of food industry enterprises. At the end of 1953 the first long-term trade agreement was signed between the Soviet Union and India.
The CC CPSU and the Soviet Government took steps to normalise relations with socialist Yugoslavia, which had been broken between 1948 and 1949. All these steps helped to improve the international climate.
On the 4 August 1953 the Soviet Government proposed to the USA, Great Britain and France that a conference of foreign ministers from the Great Powers should be summoned to examine measures to reduce international tension: in particular, the Soviet Government proposed that the conference should look into the German problem and the question of a state treaty with Austria. The Western powers' agreement to the conference was only received in November. The conference itself took place in January and February 1954 in Berlin. It was the first meeting of the foreign ministers of the Great Powers after a five-year break.
The Soviet Union submitted specific and constructive proposals on all the questions under discussion. The USSR proposed that an all-European collective security treaty should be concluded. During the discussion on the German question the Soviet delegation submitted its draft of the fundamentals for a peace treaty with Germany. In the view of the designers of the Soviet draft, a reunited Germany should not participate in military alliances and should be a neutral state. At the heart of the Western plan that was presented at the conference was the idea that a united Germany should take part in the military groupings that had been set up in Europe under US auspices. Needless to say, no agreement was possible on such a basis.
In order to forestall a resumption of hostilities in Korea and to put an end to the war in Indochina, the Soviet Government proposed that a special conference should be convened, attended by the foreign 120 ministers of the five Great Powers—the USSR, China, the USA, Great Britain and France. The military reverses that France had suffered in Indochina and domestic political factors obliged the French and British Governments to agree to this suggestion. The USA, which objected to the conference, found itself in isolation and was ultimately compelled to join the majority.
The foreign ministers of the five Great Powers assembled in Geneva on the 26 April 1954. Representatives from other interested countries were also invited to attend. The Soviet Union, China and the Korean People's Democratic Republic favoured the setting up of a united Korean state and, to this end, proposed that elections to a Korean National Assembly should be conducted on the basis of an electoral law providing for proportional representation and secret balloting. However, no agreement was reached on the Korean question at the Geneva conference owing to opposition from the US delegation.
At the suggestion of the Soviet delegation, the drafts that had been submitted by the delegations of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and France formed the basis for discussion of the Indochina question. The DRV delegation proposed a simultaneous cease-fire throughout Indochina. Following the conclusion of an armistice, a political settlement would be carried out on the basis of French recognition of the independence of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, the withdrawal of French troops from their territory and the unification of each state through free elections.
Under pressure from public opinion at home and also under the impact of the major French defeat at Dien Bien Phu, the French Parliament unseated, on the 7 May 1954, the government, which had been dragging out the negotiations, and voted for an end to the "dirty war".
The Indochina armistice agreement was signed on the 20 July and, on the following day, all the participants in the Geneva conference, except the USA, signed a Declaration, which provided for the holding of free elections in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. In Vietnam a temporary demarcation line was established just south of the 17th parallel.
As the Soviet Government noted in a special statement, the end of the war in Indochina created "favourable conditions for settling other pending important international questions concerning Europe as well as Asia".
In Europe the chief question was still that of Germany. The policy of the USA and the other Western powers towards the FRG had led, in effect, to a resurgence of German militarism. True enough, on the 30 August 1954 the French National Assembly voted against the Paris Treaty setting up a European defence community, which had been signed in May 1952. This treaty provided for the creation of a military community consisting of France, the FRG, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg. The treaty had the effect of setting aside the Potsdam Agreements between the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, and paved the way for a revival of militarism in West Germany. The treaty was aimed against the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries. It also posed a threat to other peoples in Europe.
But the architects of the treaty did not abandon it. They hastened to change its name, re-arrange the articles and eventually achieved their 121 aim: an agreement on the European Defence Community with the participation of the FRG was signed and, what was more, involved not only France, but Great Britain, which had previously kept aloof from this military bloc. The signing of new Paris Agreements setting up a military alliance consisting of France, Britain, the FRG, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg took place on the 23 October 1954.
Guided by the interests of peace, the Soviet Government did everything possible to prevent West Germany's becoming involved in military blocs and, after the signing of the Paris Agreements, strove to see that they were not implemented. Between November 1954 and January 1955 it despatched three notes on the subject to the governments of the Western powers. In place of the Paris Agreements, the Soviet Union proposed that a treaty on collective security in Europe should be concluded and that a conference should be convened for this purpose, to be attended by all the European states as well as the USA and the People's Republic of China.
The Western governments refused to take part in such a conference. At this juncture the eight European socialist countries, alarmed at the growing danger of war in Europe, conferred in Moscow from the 29 November to the 2 December 1954. Issuing warnings against the revival of German militarism, the participants to the conference declared on behalf of their respective countries that, in the event of the Paris Agreements being ratified, they would take steps to ensure their own security, if need be going as far as concluding a joint treaty and setting up a joint military command. Nevertheless, the ruling circles in the Western countries ignored this warning. The Paris agreements were ratified.
Immediately after the ratification of the Paris Agreements, the Government of the FRG hastened to create a West German army. Commanding positions in the Bundeswehr were offered to over lOOnazi generals—war criminals who were responsible for the deaths of millions of people.
The new situation that had taken shape in Europe called for decisive action to safeguard peace. The participants to the Moscow conference of 1954 met once again on the 11 May 1955, this time in Warsaw. On the 14 May the eight socialist states in Europe signed a treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance, for the term of 20 years. The signatories to the Warsaw Treaty agreed to set up a Political Consultative Committee and a Joint Command of the Armed Forces. Other states could accede to the treaty, irrespective of their social and state system. The participants agreed that, if a collective security system were set up in Europe and an all-European treaty were to be concluded, then the Warsaw Treaty would lapse. The Government of the GDR declared that, if Germany were to be reunited, then the GDR's commitments under the Warsaw Treaty would be annulled.
The day after the signing of the Warsaw Treaty, a further important link was added to the chain of peace efforts made by the Soviet Government: on the initiative of the USSR, a state treaty was signed with Austria. Shortly before this, Austrian leaders had visited Moscow at the invitation of the Soviet Government. The Soviet leaders expressed their readiness to sign a state treaty with Austria if the Austrian 122 Government would agree to the neutralisation of the country and would not join any military groupings. The signing of the state treaty was linked with the withdrawal from Austria of all foreign troops, including the Soviet Army units stationed in Eastern Austria. Preliminary agreement was reached in Moscow in April 1955, and on the 15 May of that year the representatives of the Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain and France met in Vienna to sign a state treaty with the Government of Austria terminating the occupation of the country and restoring its sovereignty.
Soon after the treaty had been signed, Austria promulgated a special law providing for the country's permanent neutrality, and pledged that it would not join any military blocs and would not allow foreign military bases to be built on its territory. This was an important event that helped to improve the political atmosphere in Europe.
But yet it proved impossible to bring about any real thaw in the international situation. The cold war continued. The military bloc known as SEATO, consisting of the USA, Great Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines was set up in September 1954. The beginning of 1955 saw the formation of the Baghdad Pact, whose members were Great Britain, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan. The USA was not formally a member of this military alliance, but shortly after its formation it did in fact come to play the leading role in it. Towards the end of 1954 and the beginning of 1955, the vicinity of the Chinese island of Taiwan and the offshore islands seized by the supporters of Chiang Kai-shek again became a flashpoint. Protected by the US Navy, they renewed their provocative actions against the PRC. The situation in Europe also remained disturbing. In May 1955 West Germany officially joined the aggressive North Atlantic bloc.
The Soviet Government had the firm support of the world public opinion, which demanded a resumption of contacts between the government leaders of the Great Powers, broken off since the end of the war.
On the 18 July 1955 the heads of government of the USSR, Britain and France met in Geneva. The conference examined the German problem, the question of European security, disarmament and the expansion of contacts between countries belonging to the two world systems.
At this conference the Soviet Government once again submitted a broad peace programme. It proposed that an all-European collective security treaty should be concluded with the participation of both German states to start with and, later, of a united Germany. Pending the formation of a system of collective security in Europe, the Soviet draft envisaged that the states belonging to NATO and the West European Alliance, on the one hand, and the Warsaw Treaty states, on the other, should conclude a treaty in which they would undertake not to use armed force against one another. The Soviet delegation also suggested that the armies of the USA, the USSR and the PRC should be reduced to 1-1.5 million men each, those of Britain and France to 650,000 and those of all the other states to 150,000--200,000. When the armed forces and conventional weapons had been considerably reduced (by 75 per cent of 123 the agreed dimensions), then atomic and hydrogen weapons were to be completely banned and subsequently removed from national arsenals and destroyed.
The heads of government agreed that the foreign ministers of the four powers would continue to discuss the matters that had been dealt with during the conference. To this end, the delegations drew up joint terms of reference for the foreign ministers. However, having assembled for their conference in October, the ministers were unable to reach any decision.
Nevertheless, the Geneva agreement of the heads of government, on which worldwide attention had been focussed, did a certain amount to improve the international situation. It provided a clear demonstration of the superiority of negotiation to ``brinkmanship''.
Shortly after the Geneva conferences, the peace forces in all countries received further confirmation of the Soviet people's desire for peaceful coexistence with other peoples. The 20th CPSU Congress, held in February 1956, put forward a series of new propositions on the fundamental problems of international development. Specifically, the Congress declared that war was not preordained and inevitable, and provided clear guidelines to all those who were struggling for peace.
At the same time, 1956 also brought serious international complications. As soon as the socialist countries had first appeared, the Western powers, as is known, had aimed to interfere in their political and economic affairs and to restore the bourgeois system. An example of this is provided by the events that took place in Hungary in October and November 1956, which were provoked by foreign reactionary circles and by counter-revolutionary elements within the country.
The counter-revolutionary rising threatened to completely destroy Hungary's socialist gains and to generate highly dangerous international complications. The insurgents began to take cruel reprisals against Communists and those who had actively favoured socialist construction. The capital and several provincial towns were swept by a savage wave of white terror. Many courageous and honourable sons of the Hungarian working class died in the course of a few days. Then the newly formed Revolutionary Workers' and Peasants' Government headed by Janos Kadar requested help from the Soviet Union. The Soviet Government responded and provided fraternal support to the Hungarian working class. Discharging its internationalist duty, it helped the revolutionary forces of Hungary to put down the rising. Yet another plot hatched by reactionary circles in the West against the socialist community had been foiled.
At almost the same time as the events in Hungary, the Governments of Great Britain, France and Israel undertook joint action against Egypt, which had decided to nationalise the Suez Canal.
The joint forces of the three powers invaded Egypt and ravaged the town of Suez. Their objective was to overthrow the government of President Nasser and to set up a puppet regime that would be at the beck and call of the Western monopolies. At this difficult hour for the Egyptian people, the Soviet Union came to the aid of the national liberation movement in the Middle East. The firmness of the Soviet position forced the interventionists to retire and to abandon the areas in 124 Egypt that they had captured. The Suez Canal remained the perpetual property of the people of Egypt.
In 1958, when Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries were once again threatened by the "gunboat diplomacy" of the leading capitalist powers, the Soviet Government also came to the assistance of the Arab peoples and helped them to defend their independence and sovereignty.
Wishing to initiate arms reductions, the Soviet Government agreed in 1958 to a proposal made by the USA, Great Britain and France to fix strength of the armed forces for the USSR, the USA and China at 2.5 million men (instead of the 1.5 million proposed by the Soviet Government).
However, the Western powers rejected their own proposal.
Nevertheless, the Soviet Government put forward a number of concrete proposals for banning nuclear weapon tests, for refusing to make use of nuclear weapons and for reducing the numbers of foreign troops in the two German states. What was more, the USSR made bold unilateral moves over disarmament. In 1955 the Soviet Union had 5,763,000 men under arms. Between 1955 and 1958 three considerable force reductions brought the number of troops down by a total of 2,140,000. The USSR Supreme Soviet resolved to abandon the testing of nuclear weapons and called upon the other powers to follow this example. As a result of the Soviet Union's stubborn and consistent struggle for peace and peaceful coexistence, the second half of the fifties saw a further growth in the USSR's international standing. At the same time, the Soviet Union built up its power still further, constructing the world's first intercontinental missile. The high development level achieved by Soviet science and by the Soviet economy was demonstrated by the launching in 1957 of the first artificial earth satellite.
[125] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ Chapter 3 __ALPHA_LVL1__ FURTHER CONSOLIDATION OF SOCIALIST SOCIETY AND THE GRADUAL TRANSITION TOWARDS COMMUNISM (1959--76) __ALPHA_LVL2__ [introduction]The 21st CPSU Congress. Adoption of the Seven-Year Plan and the initial stages in its implementation. The 22nd CPSU Congress. Adoption of the new Party Programme. The struggle to fulfil the Seven-Year Plan. Improving economic management. Successes in the development of industry and agriculture. The 23rd CPSU Congress. The Eighth Five-Year Plan. 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. The developed socialist society. Uniting all progressive forces in the struggle for peace and against imperialism. The Lenin Centenary Year. Successes of the Eighth Five- Year Plan. The 24th CPSU Congress and its decisions. Socio-political life between 1971 and 1975. The USSR's struggle for peace and international security. Resisting imperialist aggression. The successes of the USSR and other socialist states in implementing the Peace Programme (1971--75). The 25th CPSU Congress and its historic significance.
In the 20 years that followed the triumph of the socialist revolution the Soviet people built the fundamentals of a socialist society. The period of transition from capitalism to socialism in the USSR came to an end in the late thirties.
The complete and final triumph of socialism in the USSR in the late fifties and early sixties showed that socialism had taken on the characteristics of mature, or full, socialism.
The classics of Marxism-Leninism viewed socialism as the first, lower phase of communism.
"It is this communist society,'' Lenin wrote, "which has just emerged into the light of day out of the womb of capitalism and which is in every respect stamped with birthmarks of the old society, that Marx terms the 'first', or lower, phase of communist = society."^^1^^
A socialist society is typified by the following features: political power belongs to all the working people, who are led by the working class headed by its vanguard, the Communist Party; the means of production have ceased to be private property and belong to the whole of society; the exploiter classes and the factors that cause man to exploit man have been eliminated; social production is being developed on the basis of elaborate plans which take account of the need for a constant increase in the prosperity of the working people; and social wealth is distributed in line with the principle "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his work".
Socialism does not as yet provide complete equality, and the wealth differentials between the working people in society remain; there exists equality merely as regards the relationship of all the working people to the means of production, which are public property and cannot be _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 25, p. 465. 126
126 converted into private property—consequently it is impossible for man to exploit man or for the emergence of the inequality that arises if the means of production are privately owned.Full communism—the higher phase of the communist formation—is characterised by a higher level of the development of the productive forces, by the absence of substantial differences between town and countryside, and between mental and physical labour, by the conversion of labour into man's prime demand, and by the all-round development of the individual; society will be able to distribute social wealth among its members in line with the principle "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" and real equality will be achieved among the members of communist society.
Lenin wrote, "...The scientific distinction between socialism and communism is clear. What is usually called socialism was termed by Marx the 'first', or lower, phase of communist society. Insofar as the means of production become common property, the word 'communism' is also applicable here, providing we do not forget that this is not complete = communism."^^1^^
Lenin also said: "If we were to ask ourselves in what way communism differs from socialism, we should have to say that socialism is the society that grows directly out of capitalism, it is the first form of the new society. Communism is a higher form of society, and can only develop when socialism has become firmly = established."^^2^^
In Lenin's view, the difference between these two stages in one and the same formation lay primarily in the ways of organising social labour through public ownership of the instruments and means of production. Under socialism, social labour, organised without capitalists, is carried out with rigorous control and supervision by the state of the working people and by their organisations over the observance of the measurement and remuneration of labour, since for a long time people who have emerged from a capitalist society retain many old working habits and their mistrust of a socially run economy.
These habits could only be overcome by a protracted struggle against people's attitude to work as just an obligation.
Under communism, "people form the habit of performing their social duties without any special apparatus for coercion, and ... unpaid work for the public good becomes a general = phenomenon".^^3^^ The inculcation into the consciousness of the working masses and into their daily lives of the basic rule "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" calls for prolonged and persistent effort, stretching over decades, to gradually, but determinedly, introduce communist labour discipline embracing millions of working people.
But one's attitude to labour is only one aspect. The transition to communism requires a higher degree of socialisation of the means of production and, in particular, bridging the gap between state property, or the property of the entire people, and collective-farm and cooperative property; it is also necessary to eliminate the substantial differences _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin Collected Works, Vol. 25, p. 471.
~^^2^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 30, p. 284.
~^^3^^ Ibid., pp. 284--85.
127 between town and countryside, and between physical and mental labour. AH this demands a higher level of the country's economic development too, an increase in social wealth and the attainment of higher productivity of labour than can be achieved under capitalism.As has already been pointed out, the complete and final triumph of socialism in the USSR ushered in the start of the developed socialist society.
The process of setting up such a society and revealing its possibilities and advantages got under way immediately after the victory of the socialist revolution. It involved the surmounting of great difficulties. Each historical period in the establishment of developed socialism was marked by its own special features. In February 1920 Lenin said: "...the transition from the old, customary, familiar capitalism to the new socialism, as yet unborn and without any firm foundations. At best this transition will take many years, in the course of which our policy will be divided into a number of even smaller stages. And the whole difficulty of the task which falls to our lot, the whole difficulty of politics and the art of politics, lies in the ability to take into account the specific tasks of each of these = transitions."^^1^^
It was the period under review—the sixties and the early seventies —that saw the drive to accomplish the large and complex tasks involved in finding the most efficient way to combine the advantages of the socialist system with the latest advances resulting from the scientific and technological revolution, and to ensure on this basis a high degree of economic efficiency and its planned and balanced development. These problems were dealt with in the five-year economic development plans formulated during the period, in the new CPSU Programme adopted at the 22nd Party Congress and in the resolutions of the 23rd, 24th and 25th Party Congresses and a series of CC CPSU Plenary Meetings. They laid down in concrete detail the ways in which the material and technical base of communism was to be formed. Accordingly, the need arose to carry out changes in production relations and in the forms of economic management so as to give free rein to the operation of the economic laws of socialism. Only on this basis was it possible to achieve higher labour productivity and to raise the people's living standards. The period was marked by further improvements in Soviet democracy and in the ideological work conducted by the Party and state.
The building of a developed socialist society was undertaken in the Soviet Union in close collaboration with the socialist countries, which were completing the basic essentials of a socialist society during these years. By this time the economic ties between socialist countries had grown stronger and extremely comprehensive. This called for deeper specialisation and production cooperation between the interconnected sectors of the economy. The Charter adopted at the 12th Session of the CMEA in 1959 summed up the aims of economic cooperation between socialist countries as being to accelerate economic and technological progress, to raise the level of industrialisation in the industrially less developed countries, to boost labour productivity and, in this way, to increase the people's prosperity.
_-_-_~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 30, p. 331.
128 This coordination of economic effort by socialist countries is in
objective accord with the existing tendency "towards the creation of a
single world economy, regulated by the proletariat of all nations as an
integral whole and according to a common plan. This tendency has
already revealed itself quite clearly under capitalism and is bound to be
further developed and consummated under =
socialism"^^1^^, as Lenin put it.
This favours the emergence of more propitious circumstances for the
completion of the building of socialism and the transition to communism
in the USSR, as well as for the construction of developed socialism in
socialist countries.
~
The 21st CPSU Congress. Adoption of the Seven-Year Plan and the initial stages hi its implementation. = The first three years of the implementation of the Sixth Five-Year Plan led to a further upsurge in the economy: the production of electrical power rose considerably, as did the output of oil, natural gas, pig iron and steel. By carrying out the policy of boosting the pace of technological progress, which found expression in the complex mechanisation and automation of production, in 1958 Soviet industry more than trebled the output of new kinds of plant and machinery as compared with 1950. There was a 75 per cent increase in the supply of electricity to industry, which enabled its productivity to rise considerably.
Agriculture and some sectors of industry, however, lagged behind the targets set, which, in a number of instances, were unrealistically high. In addition, there was the need to develop fresh sources of raw materials, certain imbalances that still remained in the development of individual sectors of the economy, and the setting up of a new system of economic management whereby the bulk of the planning effort shifted to the Union republics and the economic regions. All this called for a revision of the economic plan for the last two years of the Sixth Five-Year Plan. In conjunction with the plan for the forthcoming five-year period, this revised version constituted the Seven-Year Economic Development Plan covering the years 1959--65.
In the autumn of 1958 work began on setting the control figures for the new plan. Central Party and state organs and local Party, state, trade union and Komsomol organisations took part in the work. The CC CPSU Plenary Meeting of November 1958 gave its approval to the theses dealing with the control figures for the Seven-Year Plan.
The theses were published in the Soviet press. They were subjected to intense public discussion. A widespread socialist emulation campaign aiming to promote the fulfilment of the plan assignments ahead of schedule got under way.
The extraordinary 21st Party Congress was held in Moscow from the 27 January to the 5 February 1959. The Congress reached the important conclusion that socialism in the USSR had achieved a complete and final victory and that the country had embarked on the period that would see the construction of communism. The delegates heard and discussed the report on the control figures for the Seven-Year Economic Development Plan for the USSR during the period 1959--65, and approved them.
_-_-_~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 31, p. 147.
__PRINTERS_P_129_COMMENT__ 9---69 129The main task of the Seven-Year Plan was to ensure the further development of all sectors of the economy through the preferential growth of heavy industry, to strengthen the country's economic potential and to bring about a marked rise in the people's standard of living.
The gross industrial product in 1965 was to be 80 per cent higher than in 1958, and the annual growth in output was to average 8.6 per cent. This expansion in production was planned to take place through the installation of new plant, the reconstruction of enterprises and further building. State investment in new building and the reconstruction of existing enterprises was estimated to be in the region of 194,000--197,000 million rubles, i.e., was equivalent to nearly all the capital investment that had taken place throughout all the preceding years of Soviet power.
The plan provided for accelerated rates of development in metallurgy, mechanical engineering, instrument-building and radio electronics—fields which determined the success of technological progress. A great deal of attention was also focussed on the development of chemistry, and particularly on the production of polymer materials, and on continued progress with the electrification of the Soviet economy. For this purpose it was planned to increase the output of electrical energy by 110--120 per cent and to set up a single energy network servicing the most important areas of the country. The industrial use of atomic energy was also envisaged, as well as the construction of new atomic power stations. Through the development of mechanical engineering it was planned to make substantial improvements to production technology, to complete the mechanisation of labourconsuming jobs and to bring about the widespread automation of production processes.
Agriculture too was assigned considerable tasks by the Seven-Year Plan; the intention was that agricultural production should go up by 70 per cent.
In light industry and the food industry, output was to rise by 50--70 per cent, the social consumption fund by 60--63 per cent, and the incomes of factory workers, office staff and collective farmers by 40 per cent. It was also planned to raise minimum pensions and to improve communal facilities. A further target was the construction of some 15 million flats in towns and workers' settlements and of 7 million houses in rural areas. Considerable attention was given to the development of education, science and culture.
Another vital aim of the Seven-Year Plan was the further consolidation of the unity of socialist countries in accordance with the principles of proletarian internationalism.
In its appraisal of the international significance of the Seven-Year Plan, the 21st CPSU Congress declared that it emphasised once again the peaceful nature of the policies of the Soviet state.
The Seven-Year Plan inspired the Soviet people to make further great labour efforts. The movement of brigades and front-rankers of communist work gained widespread popularity. The contest for this honorary title embraced not only individual workers, brigades and sections, but also whole shifts, workshops and enterprises. The first to earn the right to call themselves members of a workshop of communist 130 work were the workers in the repair shop of the MoskvaSortirovochnaya marshalling yards, who initiated the communist work movement. They decided to make use of progressive methods and modern technological advances in order to ensure high production indicators, to constantly raise their cultural and technological level, and to be exemplary peolpe not only at work, but in everyday life too.
In May I960 the All-Union Conference of the leaders in the contest between brigades and front-rankers of communist work was held in Moscow under the slogan: "Learn to work and live in communist fashion''. By this time over 5 million factory workers, office staff and collective farmers were taking part in the movement—a figure that rose to 20 million in 1961.
The production innovators were seeking to achieve good results at work by improving production processes not for the sake of their own personal material benefit, but primarily through their ideological devotion to the communist system. This can be seen with particular clarity in the initiative taken by V. Gaganoya, a worker at the Vyshny Volochok Cotton Combine. At her own wish, she was transferred in October 1958 from a leading brigade earning high wages to a very backward brigade. By April 1959 she had transformed the team into one of the best. Gaganova's initiative was highly commended by the Soviet Government, which awarded her the title of Hero of Socialist Labour. Many followed her example. For instance, the Donetsk miners N. Mamai and A.Kolchik also had themselves transferred to backward brigades and set themselves the aim of transforming them into true communist work teams.
A concrete result of the widespread progress of socialist emulation was the successful fulfilment of the assignments in the Seven-Year Plan. During the first three years alone some 3,000 major enterprises were put into operation. Among them were the iron-and-steel works at Karaganda and Kuibyshev, the hydroelectric power station on the Volga with a capacity of 2.5 million kilowatts, and the Baltic, Bratsk and other power stations. Some 9,000 new kinds of machinery and equipment were devised, and the volume of industrial output rose by 33 per cent as against the 27 per cent laid down by the plan.
The development of industry and improvements in the material position of the working people depended largely on successes in agriculture. Throughout the country there was a rising demand for agricultural raw materials and food as a result of the growth of industrial production and the population increase. During the years covered by the Seven-Year Plan the population of the USSR grew by nearly 25 million. In 1961, for the first time in the country's history, the urban population drew level numerically with the rural population, and, in later years, exceeded it.
The Seven-Year Plan envisaged that the country's growing demand for agricultural produce was to be satisfied mainly through higher crop yields and greater productivity in livestock-raising. The conditions necessary to the successful fulfilment of these assignments were set up: as a result of the measures formulated by the Plenary Meeting of the CC CPSU in September 1953, the collective and state farms grew much stronger, were manned by trained staff and had a considerable amount of __PRINTERS_P_131_COMMENT__ 9* 131 agricultural machinery placed at their disposal; furthermore, the millions of hectares that had been ploughed up in the virgin lands made a sizable contribution to the country's food and raw material resources.
The Soviet state made considerable investments in agriculture. Capital investment during the seven-year period amounted to more than 55,000 million rubles—over twice as much as during the previous seven years. Socialist industry and the working class continued to supply agricultural equipment to the countryside. Moreover, alongside a quantitative growth in the equipment available, a large qualitative improvement in it also took place during the seven-year period, the tractor fleet was altered structurally and modernised, and new kinds of machinery were devised with due heed being paid to the differences in the climatic zones in which they were to function. It is true that during the first years of the seven-year period the rate at which tractors were delivered to the collective and state farms did fall somewhat for a number of reasons, and quite a lot of tractors which had come to the end of their working lives were written off as useless. On the whole, though, the agricultural tractor fleet grew by 148,000 machines between 1959 and 1961. During the later years of the seven-year period the supply of agricultural machinery to the countryside improved still further.
The year 1961 saw the founding of the special all-Union association known as Soyuzselkhoztekhnika, which was charged with maintaining the supply of machinery, spare parts and mineral fertiliser to the collective and state farms, and with organising mechanical repair work. The various branches of Soyuzselkhoztekhnika collected requests for machinery from the collective and state farms, and placed orders with industrial enterprises.
At the end of the seven-year period over 1,600,000 tractors (60 per cent more than in 1958) and about 100,000 motor vehicles were operating in the collective and state farms.
By the end of the period every person employed in agriculture had at his disposal five times as many energy resources as he had had just before the war. There was also an improvement in the quality of the machinery, resulting in a higher level of mechanisation in collective- and state-farm production. Needless to say, though, this does not mean that the countryside's need for mechanical equipment was fully satisfied. Considerably more equipment was required if the main jobs in the fields were to be carried out at the most suitable times. Owing to the shortage of machinery and machine operators, sowing and harvesting were often protracted operations, and this affected crop yields and the gross agricultural output. Mechanisation was little in evidence in livestockraising, especially on the collective farms, where the most important and most labour-consuming jobs were still performed manually. Little use was made of electrical power in agricultural production. By the end of the seven-year period only four per cent of the electricity generated in the country was being used in agriculture.
The collective-farm peasantry and workers on the state farms worked hard during the years covered by the Seven-Year Plan. Socialist emulation in the countryside did much to boost agricultural output and was marked by widespread participation and by the great variety of the forms it took. The effort to improve crop farming and livestock-raising 132 and to make them more productive was the overriding obligation that the participants undertook to carry out. The early part of the period saw the communist labour movement spread from industrial enterprises to the, collective and state farms. Among the first agricultural collectives to be honoured with the title of "Collective of Communist Work" were the Pobeda and Kirov collective farms in the Krasnodar Territory, the 22nd Party Congress Collective Farm in the Rostov Region, the Petrovsky State Farm in the Lipetsk Region, and the mechanised teams led by V. A. Svetlichny and V. Y. Pervitsky. Thanks to their general proficiency and skilful use of equipment, these collectives achieved high crop yields and reduced costs.
The initiative shown by V. Gaganova fired the imagination of many
agricultural workers during the period covered by the Sev en-Year Plan.
Following in her footsteps, many heads of advanced brigades,
Cast iron production at the Rustavi Metallurgical Works, Georgian SSR
[133]
cattle-breeding and dairy stations, collective and state farms moved to
take over the management of backward sections of production.
A vivid example of agricultural endeavour is provided by the initiative displayed by the Uzbek collective farmer T. Akhunova. She learnt to become an expert machine operator and was very successful at the controls of a cotton-picking combine. Thousands of women followed her lead and learnt how to operate complicated agricultural machinery. The farmers' creative approach to their work played a decisive part in boosting agricultural output.
In the late fifties collective farms all over the country were being enlarged. This happened largely because the machine and tractor stations were phased out and the collective farms were supplied with sophisticated equipment. Small and even medium-sized collective farms were unable to acquire and make efficient use of such equipment in agricultural production. One further task was also being tackled through the increase in size: amalgamating weak collective farms with economically strong ones made it possible to bring about a general rise in collective-farm production more quickly. State farms were also becoming larger. The economic advantages of socialism could only really come to the fore in large enterprises that were capable of undertaking major building work, launching land improvement schemes and applying scientific developments and advanced experience.
It was inevitable that land use, the means of production and labour resources would come in for greater concentration during the scientific and technological revolution, and this had results that were generally positive. By the end of the seven-year period every collective farm had an average of 421 households, 38 tractors (in terms of 15 h.p. units) and 2,900 hectares of land under crops. It was a fairly large, multisectoral enterprise that had every opportunity to farm efficiently.
During the years covered by the Seven-Year Plan it was quite common for economically weak collective farms to be converted into state farms. The conversion was effected voluntarily, in accordance with a decision reached by collective-farm meetings. The reorganisation of collective farms to form state farms had far-reaching social consequences. Thousands of collective farmers became workers in state farms, swelling the numbers of the working class.
As a result of amalgamation and the conversion of some collective farms into state farms, the numbers of collective farms fell from 69,100 in 1958 to 36,900 in 1965. The numbers of state farms nearly doubled over this period. Consequently, a more prominent part came to be played by state farms in production and particularly in state purchases of agricultural produce.
The organisational measures carried out during the late fifties and
early sixties—the reorganisation of the machine and tractor stations, the
enlargement of the collective farms and the conversion of some of them
into state farms—did, on the whole, have positive social and economic
results. However, these measures were not immediately able to ensure
any significant growth in agricultural production. Errors committed
during their implementation also had an effect: there was a certain
amount of haste in selling off the equipment of the machine and tractor
stations, without proper account being taken of the collective farms' real
134
Harvesting at the Mayakovsky State Farm, Kokchetav Region
economic possibilities, excessively large and unmanageable collective
and state farms were set up, and so on.
The situation in agriculture was frequently discussed during the period of the Seven-Year Plan. Additional measures to boost output were devised and implemented. From 1961 onwards state investment in agriculture, which had declined at the beginning of the Seven-Year Plan, began to pick up. Between 1961 and 1965 it amounted to twice as much as during the previous five years. Collective and state farms began to receive more mineral fertiliser. Supplementary measures were also adopted to strengthen the collective-farm economy: the prices of tractors, other machines and spares were reduced in 1961; collective farms which had not yet paid in full for the equipment they had purchased from the machine and tractor stations were granted extra time to settle their debts, their credit was extended, and so on. Steps were also taken to provide agriculture with trained staff and to raise their qualifications: specialists who had been trained at higher and secondary specialised educational establishments were sent to the collective and state farms; schools of advanced experience, economics seminars and courses were organised. From 1962 onwards machine operating and servicing courses were laid on for everyone in villages during the winter 135 period. These measures had a positive effect on the development of collective and state farms.
At the same time, subjectivist tendencies began to appear in agricultural management, as well as attempts to give preference to organisational, administrative measures in the drive against backwardness on the farms. The year 1962 saw the formation in the localities of territorial production boards to run the collective and state farms, with each board being responsible for several regions; in regions and territories agricultural committees were set up. The frequent restructuring of agricultural management gave rise to considerable difficulties.
Agriculture was harmed by ill-founded recommendations concerning farm equipment and livestock-raising without sufficient regard for the natural and economic conditions affecting production or for local experience. Sometimes maize would be sown in unsuitable conditions, grassland would be ploughed up and bare fallow would be eliminated. Stereotyped farming techniques were particularly damaging in the virgin lands. The elimination of fallow land and mpnocultural sowings paved the way for soil erosion and reduced crop yields. This in turn affected gross production.
The state purchase prices of agricultural produce, which were raised in 1953 after the reorganisation of the machine and tractor stations (when the collective farms became fully responsible for their own expenditure on the purchase, maintenance and running of all types of machinery), were still too low to provide any material incentive as regards the use of manpower. True enough, the prices of livestock produce were raised in 1962, but even they barely covered production costs. Livestock-raising continued to be economically unprofitable for the collective and state farms.
The situation that had taken shape in agriculture by the end of the seven-year period called imperatively for the adoption of decisive measures to boost output.
__*_*_*__ __ALPHA_LVL2__ The 22nd CPSU Congress. Adoption of the new Party Programme.The 22nd CPSU Congress. Adoption of the new Party Programme. = On the 30 July 1961, by decision of the CC CPSU, drafts of a new Programme and new Rules for the CPSU were published in the Soviet press for consideration by the whole Party and people. The draft of the new CPSU Programme contained a scientific blueprint for the building of a communist society in the USSR.
During the days of discussion that preceded the Congress, over 500,000 meetings were held at enterprises, collective and state farms and institutions and in military units. The draft Programme and Rules were discussed by about 73 million people.
The 22nd Congress of the Communist Party was held in Moscow on the 17--31 October 1961. It summed up the development that had taken place in the USSR, adopted a new CPSU Programme and a new set of Party Rules, and elected the Party governing bodies.
The Congress was attended by nearly 5,000 delegates, expressing the will of 9,700,000 Soviet Communists, and by a large number of guests from 80 foreign Communist and Workers' Parties.
136The historic significance of the 22nd CPSU Congress lies in its adoption of a concrete, scientific programme for building communism in the USSR. The programme generalises the experience of building a new society in the USSR and other socialist countries, as well as the experience of the world communist and liberation movement. The CPSU Programme is an example of the creative development of MarxismLeninism.
By breaching the front formed by the imperialists, the October Revolution had initiated a new period in history—the age of the defeat of capitalism and the victory of socialism. The first Party Programme (1903) had been carried out.
In the second Programme, adopted in 1919, the Communist Party declared that the immediate aim was to build a socialist society. The chief result of the accomplishment of this aim was the complete and final victory of socialism in the USSR. Consequently, a new science, dealing with the establishment and development of socialism and tested in practice, became part of the heritage of mankind. It is now easier for other peoples to proceed towards socialism. World development shows that the forces of socialism and progress are growing the world over, and that peoples are increasingly breaking with imperialism.
The new CPSU Programme formulated the Party's major tasks in the building of communism: to create the material and technological base of communism, to develop communist social relations and to mould a new kind of man. The USSR set about the practical fashioning of the material and technological base of a communist society. It is from this base that the further improvement of equipment and technology proceeds, as well as the organisation of social production in both industry and agriculture.
Creating the material and technological base of communism is coming more and more to involve raising labour productivity, carrying out the complex mechanisation and automation of production, making broad use of the chemical industry in the economy, encouraging the development of efficient new spheres of production and new kinds of energy and materials, correctly siting and rationally using the country's natural, material and labour resources, and so on. By marrying science and production, and by constantly raising the working people's level of technical knowledge, a rapid rate of scientific and technological advance can be sustained and the way is paved for man's achievement of his highest stage in the development of productive forces.
The Programme devotes a great deal of attention to the development of heavy industry. Light industry and the food industry will significantly increase consumer output; to an ever increasing degree heavy industry will also ensure the growth of consumer production.
Agriculture is an integral part of the country's economy. During the years in which socialism was built, the USSR set up a developed network of collective and state farms. The task now is to develop all these farms further and so attain an abundance of high-quality food for the people and raw materials for industry.
The CPSU Programme is permeated by the idea of creating optimal conditions for people to live in. The highest expression of communist humanism is contained in the words: everything in the name of man, everything for the benefit of man.
137The Programme pinpointed what had to be done in industry, transport and agriculture, and to boosting the prosperity of the people. It also charted the development of social relations, the Soviet state, national relations, scientific and cultural development, and the education of man for the communist society.
The gradual development of socialism into communism means more than the elimination of class distinctions: it also implies setting up a homogeneous structure for society, removing all substantial differences between town and countryside and between mental and physical labour, and creating communist equality.
Thus, the 22nd Party Congress gave the Soviet people a scientific programme for building communism.
At the same time it approved the new Party Rules. The Rules develop the Party's organisational principles in accordance with the tasks of the period of the full-scale building of communism. The Rules emphasise that the CPSU bases its efforts on unswerving observance of the Leninist standards in Party life, the principle of collective leadership and the all-round development of intra-Party democracy, the activity and initiative of Communists, criticism and self-criticism.
The Congress heard the Report of the Party's Central Committee. The document described the period between the 20th and 22nd Congresses as a time which had seen the further strengthening of the economic, political and defence capability of the Soviet Union, and the growth of its international standing.
The CC CPSU's Report to the 22nd Congress provided specific information on the increasing prosperity. Since 1956 the real incomes of factory and office workers in the USSR had risen by 27 per cent and, in the case of the collective farmers, by 33 per cent. As they strove to raise the people's living standards, the Communist Party and the Soviet Government gave serious consideration to such matters as improving wages, transferring all factory and office workers on to a seven- or six-hour working day, and providing additional pension cover. Housing construction had assumed proportions seen nowhere else in the world.
The Congress also summed up the results of the first three years of the Seven-Year Plan period; the average annual growth in industrial output during these years had exceeded the target rate. It was also pointed out, however, that agriculture had been developing at a slow pace.
The 22nd Congress upheld the policy of restoring and further developing the Leninist standards of Party and state life, and the collective nature of the leadership, and of enhancing the Party's guiding role and strengthening its unity.
At the time of the Congress a monument was ceremonially unveiled in Moscow to Karl Marx, the brilliant thinker and the founder of scientific communism.
The 22nd CPSU Congress demonstrated once again the unity and cohesion of the international communist movement. In the speeches they delivered at the Congress, the representatives of the various Communist and Workers' Parties expressed their solidarity with the CPSU, viewing its internationalist activities as being in the vanguard of the world communist movement.
138Foreign policy received a great deal of attention at the 22nd Party Congress. The central objectives of Soviet foreign policy were declared to be, as before: to strengthen the community of socialist states, to provide maximal support to the peoples' revolutionary and national liberation movement, and to implement the principle of the peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems.
The Congress resolutions stated that the CPSU would continue to do
everything necessary to preserve and strengthen international peace and
friendship so that the lofty ideals of the social progress and happiness of
the peoples might triumph.
~
The struggle to fulfil the Seven-Year Plan. Improving economic management. = The Soviet people joined together in carrying out the decisions of the 22nd Congress and in implementing the Party Programme. The people's efforts were primarily directed towards performing the assignments of the Seven-Year Plan—a plan which marked an important stage in creating the material and technical base of communism. In industry, the introduction of the most progressive forms of labour, the boosting of its productivity and the application of technological progress came to be crucial. The communist work movement proceeded with renewed vigour. A total of 30 million people, almost every other factory or office worker, took part in it in the middle of 1964. The title "Collective of Communist Work" was won by over 3,500 enterprises, 50,000 workshops, cattle-breeding and dairy farms, and 500,000 brigades. More than 6 million factory and office workers were honoured with the title "Front-Ranker of Communist Work".
Many labour feats were performed by teams of factory and office workers in industry and construction. The working people of Leningrad took only five years to complete the Seven-Year Plan for raising labour productivity. At the beginning of 1962 the people of Moscow and Leningrad undertook to fulfil the annual plans ahead of schedule. The team at the Zaporozhye Steelworks, which was competing for the title "Collective of Communist Work'', achieved in 1962 the level that had been planned for the end of the Seven-Year Plan period. This was done thanks to their mastering the new and progressive oxygen-converter method of producing steel.
July 1962 saw the opening, ahead of schedule, of the powerful Kremenchug Hydroelectric Station, a vital member of the string of power stations along the Dnieper. On the 25 March 1963 the builders of the Krasnoyarsk Hydroelectric Station dammed the Yenisei, diverting its waters along a new channel. The latter years of the Seven-Year Plan period went down in history as a time of tremendous activity in the building industry: over 600 major installations went into operation every year.
The effort to carry out the Seven-Year Plan gave rise to new forms of creative activity on the part of the Soviet people.
In 1963 an ail-Union contest for the introduction, ahead of schedule, of the fresh capacity in the chemical industry that had been planned for the fifth year of the Seven-Year Plan was launched at the suggestion of the staff of the Luganskkhimstroi concern. The drive to boost labour productivity assumed a vast scale. In the fourth year of the Seven-Year 139 Plan period the blast furnace operatives at the Magnitogorsk Combine attained the world's highest level of productivity. The experience of innovators and advanced collectives revealed the enormous potential of socialist economy.
Very important was the work performed by voluntary organisations at enterprises in the sphere of production and management. At the end of 1962 there were 119,000 standing production conferences operating in the USSR, involving some 5 million people. These conferences made up to 2 million recommendations and proposals every year.
In 1963 alone there were over 16,000 public economic analysis offices functioning on a voluntary basis at enterprises all over the country, as well as 8,000 public technical information centres and thousands of councils for innovators at research institutes and laboratories. They brought together over a million engineers, scientists and innovators. In 1965 the numbers of inventors and rationalisers reached the 3 million mark, and the application of their proposals and inventions enabled the state to make savings of 11,000 million rubles. Communist labour emulation played an important part in the successful completion of the plans for the final years of the Seven-Year Plan period.
Young people provided outstanding examples of labour heroism during these years. After the 14th Congress of the Komsomol in April 1962, a total of 150 major construction projects were declared to be all-Union Komsomol shock building sites. It was a period in which over 3 million young men and women worked on the country's construction sites; in 1962 alone 150,000 young people went to these sites via the Komsomol. The 150 industrial installations which the Komsomol had helped to build began functioning.
In agriculture, members of the Komsomol were particularly active in promoting high crop yields and in mechanising livestock farms. In June 1962 Komsomols in industrial centres assumed patronage over the building of new workshops and the reconstruction of existing enterprises in the tractor-building and engineering industries so as to guarantee that farmers were supplied with efficient equipment. Young people continued to assist the exploitation of the virgin lands. In 1962 over 70,000 Komsomol machine operators helped to gather in the harvest from the virgin lands. Young people joined the older generation in the drive to create the material and technical base of communism.
It was important to develop the most progressive industries, especially the chemical industry. Its accelerated development between 1959 and 1963, and the general spread of chemical products throughout the economy made it possible to bring about a qualitative transformation in the most important sectors of industry, to step up consumer output and to cut production costs. In December 1963, a Plenary Meeting of the CC CPSU drew up a detailed programme for the further accelerated advance of the chemical industry and the application of chemical products to the economy. Additional investment was pumped into the industry so that 200 new enterprises could be built and over 500 existing ones reconstructed. Particular importance was attached to the chemical industry in the drive to boost agricultural production. As early as 1964 a total of over 200 million rubles' worth of chemical preparations was produced over and above the planned target.
140
Cotton-picking at the Pakhtakor State Farm in the Golodnaya Steppe
[141]
After the 22nd CPSU Congress the Party and state concentrated on measures to speed up scientific and technological progress in all sectors of the economy. The task posed by Lenin, to catch up with and overtake the technologically and economically advanced capitalist countries, and the need to constantly strengthen and improve the country's defences required that the Party and state draw up a technological policy and devise forms of economic organisation and management that would help to accelerate scientific and technological progress. These matters were frequently examined at plenary meetings of the Party's Central Committee.
The USSR Academy of Sciences played a significant part in promoting scientific and technological progress. As the Seven-Year Plan proceeded, Soviet scientists made an important contribution to the progress of science and all sectors of the economy. The USSR came to occupy a leading position in the study and use of nuclear power and in building up an advanced jet and rocket technology.
Engineering made an outstanding contribution to economic modernisation: over 400,000 heavy machine tools and other equipment were modernised in the course of the Seven-Year Plan. In all, 1,400 automatic or semi-automatic production lines were commissioned, and 22,000 new kinds of machinery and equipment were built, i.e., twice as many as had been produced over the 14 years that followed the war, and about 8,000 new devices.
However, technological progress and production efficiency were inevitably affected by the enterprises' lack of any incentive to modernise. A gap developed between scientific discoveries, inventions and technical advances, on the one hand, and their application to production, on the other.
In order to improve the management of scientific and technological advance, the economic councils were enlarged in 1962 and, in 1963, sectoral committees were set up on the model of the former ministries. However, these changes did not substantially influence technological progress in industry.
Failures in the attempt to enforce a consistent technical policy also affected the growth of gross industrial production: in 1963 growth over the previous year amounted to 8.1 per cent, while in 1964 the figure was only 7.3 per cent.
Given the increase in production capacity, this rate of growth in industrial output called for the activation of economic means of managing production.
The restructuring of Party, state, Komsomol and trade union organisations according to the "production principle'', which was carried out in November 1962, also prevented a smoothly functioning system of economic management from being set up.
A number of grave shortcomings were also apparent in the development of agriculture: the growth of grain and livestock production had slowed down, and difficulties had arisen in supplying the towns with bread, meat and other foodstuffs.
A fall in the growth of the USSR's national income resulted inevitably from the slowing down in the rate of industrial and agricultural output. This gave rise to great concern among the Party and the people.
142The main reasons why Soviet economic indicators between 1962 and 1964 fell short of the targets set in the Seven-Year Plan were disregard for the scientific principles of economic planning and management, errors and subjectivism in the approach to the intricate matters involved in building communism, and infringement of the Leninist principles of collective leadership. Instead of strict accountancy and the correct use of the objective laws of the development of socialist production, organisational and administrative restructuring was sometimes undertaken. The Party's Central Committee made a profound analysis of the situation that had arisen in the country's public and economic life, and drafted urgent measures to rectify the mistakes that had been made and to accomplish the vital tasks of communist construction.
The Plenary Meeting of the CC CPSU in October 1964 unanimously condemned subjectivism and voluntarism in government, showing loyalty to the Leninist standards in Party life and to the collective principle in Party leadership. The Plenary Meeting gave the lead for the consistent implementation of the decisions of the 20th and 22nd Party Congresses and the requirements of the Party Programme, and provided an example of firm adherence to principle and refusal to condone shortcomings.
The Plenary Meeting relieved Nikita Khrushchev of his -duties as First Secretary of the CC CPSU, a member of the CC CPSU Presidium and Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, and acknowledged that it was unwise to entrust the duties of First Secretary of the Central Committee and Chairman of the Council of Ministers to a single person. Leonid Brezhnev was elected First Secretary of the CC CPSU. At the recommendation of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, Alexei Kosygin was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers.
The Plenary Meeting of the CC CPSU held in November 1964 considered the experience gained during the two years in which the new structure of Party, state, trade union and Komsomol organisations had been in operation, and concluded that the 1962 reorganisation had given rise to a number of difficulties, complications and failings, and had disrupted the functioning of Party and state organisations, preventing them from operating smoothly and meaningfully.
The November Plenary Meeting decided to bring the structure of Party bodies into line with the CPSU Rules and real-life conditions.
Similar modifications were made to the Soviets of Working People's Deputies, the trade unions and the Komsomol.
Building an advanced socialist society makes new demands on those who manage the society and its economy.
The CC CPSU Plenary Meeting held in March 1965 devised a series of urgent economic and political measures to boost agriculture. The state grain purchase procedure was altered through the introduction of a fixed plan for the following six years and a substantial rise in the basic purchase prices. Additionally, voluntary purchases of staple food crops over and above the plan were made out of surplus produce at considerably raised prices. Economic incentive schemes geared to the production of certain food crops gave the collective and state farms greater material interest in their work. Substantial additional funds were injected into the development of livestock-raising.
143Agriculture was allocated 71,000 million rubles for the purpose of strengthening its material and technical base over the next five years—a sum equal to the total investment in agriculture over the 20 years that immediately followed the war. Collective farms were given great financial assistance. In order to step up the mechanisation of production and raise labour productivity in agriculture, thus boosting output, it was decided that over the following five years the output of tractors would be twice as high as in 1965 and that there would be a substantial increase in the production of combine harvesters, vehicles, machinery and equipment for livestock farms, as well as other agricultural hardware.
The Plenary Meeting drew up a series of measures to strengthen the collective and state farms organisationally and economically, to develop the democratic principles on which collective farms should be run, to improve the application of scientific advances to agriculture, and to raise the level of Party and Government work in the countryside.
The decisions of the CC CPSU Plenary Meeting held in March 1965 formed an important contribution to the Party's designing an agrarian policy during the building of communism: they ushered in a new stage in rural life. The decisions were widely discussed in Party organisations and collective and state farms, and sparked off a great political and production upsurge among agricultural workers.
As it proceeded to build communism in the USSR, the Party strove to make correct use of the economic laws of the development of Soviet society, with its enormous advantages and potential, for the benefit of the people. The CC CPSU Plenary Meeting held in September 1965 had on its agenda "Measures to improve industrial management, enhance planning and reinforce the economic stimulation of industrial production''. The facts and figures adduced at the Plenary Meeting presented a convincing picture of the growth of Soviet industry. Yet even fuller use of its reserves was needed if the demands of the economy were to be met.
Any further rise in the level and pace of industrial development, the acceleration of technological progress in industry, and the boosting of the people's prosperity called for fuller use of all industrial reserves. This applied particularly to raising production efficiency, increasing the return on capital investment and the basic production funds, improving the quality of the goods produced, eliminating wastage and unnecessary expenditure, and boosting labour productivity.
The decisions of the Plenary Meeting envisaged a whole series of measures to improve planning and production management, to reinforce economic stimulation at industrial enterprises and to extend their rights. This improvement was reflected in the economic reform that started in 1965. It was based on three main principles: raising the scientific level of planning, extending the management rights of enterprises and intensifying economic stimulation.
The reform did not mean a mechanical return to the old system that antedated the economic councils; instead it provided for restoring sectoral management with the observance of planning principles, enhancing the role of economic levers and incentives in the development of production, and rationally combining centralised direction with increased independence for enterprises.
144The Sixth Session of the Supreme Soviet in October 1%5 unanimously approved the law altering the system of industrial management bodies: the economic councils, which had existed since 1957, were replaced by ministries responsible for the successful development of industry, its technological standards and the supply of consumer goods to the people. The Seventh Session of the Supreme Soviet in December 1965 passed the law transforming the Party and state control bodies into people's control bodies. This was done in order to involve large numbers of working people in supervision and control, and to enhance their role in the work of the control bodies.
The onset of the economic reform heralded the strengthening, the more correct and efficient use of the advantages of the socialist economic system. Centralised planned management of the economy began to cohere more rationally with the further development of the initiative and self-reliance of enterprises and their teams of workers. This made it possible to overcome fairly quickly the backwardness in developing the economy which marked the period 1959--64, and to complete the Seven-Year Plan assignments for industry.
The Party and state have carried out a great deal of educative work among the working people. Its principal objective is to mould the new person of a communist society.
During the establishment and development of socialism in the USSR, the Marxist-Leninist doctrine, tried and tested in the heat of struggle, has become the ideology of the whole Soviet people. Today socialist ideology is the foundation of the Soviet people's intellectual and aesthetic life, and acts as a powerful weapon in the struggle for communism. Thanks to the many years of ideological work performed by the Party and the state, a new man, possessing the noble ideals and lofty qualities expressed in the moral code of the builders of communism, had emerged by the time a developed socialist society had been created.
A profound revolution has occurred in the consciousness of the Soviet people—workers, collective-farm peasantry and the Soviet intelligentsia. In the circumstances of today, however, ideological work is of vast importance. The Party takes the view that the higher the consciousness of the members of a socialist society, the fuller and broader is their creative activity in building a communist society and its material and technical base; the higher the masses' level of consciousness, the higher the development rate of society itself.
The struggle against bourgeois ideology and its offspring— revisionism, reformism and dogmatism—is a vital aspect of the ideological work of the Party and state. The Party views the struggle against bourgeois ideology as an uncompromising class struggle for strengthening the position of socialism and communism, for the benefit of the international working class. It should be borne in mind that the imperialists are waging an unceasing struggle against the socialist system, its ideology and ethics.
In its efforts to build a new society, the Soviet people have fashioned impressive revolutionary and labour traditions and have achieved prodigies of communist work. Inculcating these traditions into the __PRINTERS_P_145_COMMENT__ 10--69 145 working people, especially young people, is one of the most important tasks of ideological work in the USSR.
The Party and state have always devoted great attention to educative work with young people, who now make up half the Soviet population. The creative energies of young people are directed towards tackling the specific tasks involved in building communism and strengthening its material and technical base. At the same time the Party, the Komsomol and the teaching bodies are cultivating a Marxist-Leninist world outlook in the younger generation, as well as a class approach to all the various aspects of life, and devotion towards communist society.
A feeling of responsibility is developed in young people for the
interests of their state and for the preservation and defence of the great
gains of socialism, and their staunchness is heightened in the struggle
against the influence of bourgeois ideology and morality.
~
Successes in the development of industry and agriculture. = What, then, were the results of the Seven-Year Plan? They amounted primarily to a significant development of productive forces. The basic production funds in the country almost doubled. Industrial output rose by 84 per cent, capital building work by 49 per cent and the turnover of all kinds of transport by 72 per cent. In 1965 Soviet industry produced 5 times as much steel as in 1940, nearly 5.5 times as much rolled metal, almost 8 times as much oil, 13 times as much cement, 4.2 times as many cars and lorries, 11 times as many tractors and 10.5 times as much electrical power.
Substantial qualitative transformations occurred in addition to the quantitative changes: many new kinds of production arose as a result of scientific and technological progress, and a large quantity of various types of new machinery, equipment and devices were built and commissioned, making it possible to modernise a number of industries. The introduction of automation and mechanisation of production enabled labour productivity in industry to be raised by some 25 per cent. In five years alone (1961--65) 211,000 million rubles was invested into capital construction work (as much as had been invested during the previous 10 years).
The USSR accounted for nearly a fifth of the world's gross industrial production in 1965, as against a tenth before the Second World War. It should be recalled that the population of the USSR was only 7 per cent of the world total at the time. In the course of the Seven-Year Plan period the numbers of workers increased by 14 million, and the numbers of specialists and office staff by 7 million. This is an indication of the USSR's industrial development and of the enhancement of the leading role played by the working class—the most advanced and organised class in Soviet society.
The systematic assistance provided by the towns to the countryside and the measures that were adopted to boost agriculture helped to consolidate the alliance between the working class and the peasantry. The process of the further improvement of the socialist social system was developing; the forms of ownership by the whole people and by the collective farms and cooperatives were consolidated, there was an increase in the country's public wealth and in the incomes of the working 146 people, and improvement took place in the forms of economic management. The democratic principles of managing production became broader as a result of the reform.
The growth in prosperity is summed up in the following data: during
the Seven-Year Plan period the national income rose by 53 per cent, and
the wages and salaries of factory workers and office staff increased on
average from 78 rubles a month in 1958 to 95 rubles in 1965. Pension
provision for collective farmers was improved in 1965, and the total
number of pensioners rose from 20 million to 32 million. Nearly 17
million flats and houses were built in towns and villages, making up some
40 per cent of all housing by the beginning of the Seven-Year Plan.
Blast furnace at the Magnitogorsk Iron-and-Steel Combine
[147]
Public consumption rose, and there was a 60 per cent increase in the
retail trade.
Industrial successes made it possible to strengthen the country's defences, to increase the output of military hardware and to improve its fighting and technical qualities.
Thanks to the successes in the development of science, the USSR achieved significant results in space exploration, in the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes and in survey work to locate deposits of natural resources. All this raised the country's economic potential.
Nevertheless, substantial difficulties were encountered as the Seven-Year Plan was being carried out. The complication in the international situation that arose from the USA's aggressive war against Vietnam obliged the USSR to increase its expenditure on defence, and this inevitably affected the fulfilment of economic plans.
The targets that the Seven-Year Plan had set agriculture were not achieved: agricultural production grew by only 14 per cent, which caused the failure of certain assignments designed to develop the light and food industries. It also affected the rate of growth of the national income and the people's material prosperity.
Agricultural development was also retarded by the consequences of two poor harvests (in 1963 and 1965) and by serious shortcomings in agricultural management that had occurred earlier.
Industry failed to meet its targets in the output of certain kinds of chemical products, coal, machinery and equipment, and certain consumer goods. This resulted from errors that had been made while the plan was being compiled: production expansion assignments in some industries were not always in line with the actual possibilities on the shop floor. The consequences of a number of unjustified reorganisations that had taken place previously constituted a further negative factor. The difficulties that arose in economic development demanded that the Party and the Government should adopt a series of measures to ensure more rational use of the country's expanded productive forces, rising prosperity and the fuller emergence of the advantages of an advanced socialist system.
Thus, despite the difficulties which presented themselves, considerable success was achieved during the years of the Seven-Year Plan in the development of the economy, the improvement of production relations and the consolidation of Soviet society. As well as growing immensely, the socialist economy also became more varied and multisectoral. The speed at which scientific and technological advances were applied to the economy was vastly increased. The international standing and prestige of the Soviet Union became even greater.
The Seven-Year Plan marked an important stage in the building of a developed socialist society and in the gradual transition towards communism.
The Seven-Year Plan period saw the consolidation of cooperation between the countries belonging to the world socialist system. The USSR provided a great deal of help to socialist countries as their industrialisation proceeded. A total of 1,200 industrial enterprises were being built in these countries with Soviet help, and 700 of them began operating during this period. Successful industrialisation in socialist 148 countries brought about a situation in which industrial production accounted on average for 80 per cent of these countries' economies, and their industrial production increased by 5 times between 1950 and 1965, whereas in the rest of the world it could do little more than double.
It was also during these years that the cooperation of agriculture was carried through in most of the countries belonging to the socialist camp.
The victory of socialism in these countries had important social consequences: new, socialist production relations were established, the leading role of the working class in society was consolidated, and its alliance with the working peasantry as the basis of the new people's democratic system was strengthened.
Economic cooperation between socialist countries is underpinned by
the international division of labour, which allows each country to make
rational use of its own internal resources so that it can more quickly
develop its productive forces and raise the people's prosperity.
Cooperation in production, the coordination of economic plans,
specialisation and the cooperation of production bearing in mind the
interests of each country became crucial. Soviet oil reaches the GDR,
Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia through the Druzhba oil pipeline,
which was built by the joint efforts of these countries. The Mir joint
power grid services the European socialist countries. Cooperation is also
Open-cast coal-mining at Ekibastuz
[149]
taking place in science and technology. All this makes it easier to build
communism in the USSR and speeds up the advance of other socialist
countries along the path of building developed socialism.
~
The 23rd CPSU Congress. The Eighth Five-Year Plan. = The Plenary Meeting of the CC CPSU held in September 1965 adopted a resolution to convene the 23rd CPSU Congress, and drew up the agenda.
The 23rd Congress of the Communist Party took place in Moscow from the 29 March to the 9 April 1966. It was attended by 4,943 delegates, representing all the Communists in the Soviet Union, who then numbered nearly 12 million. Also present were numerous guests from 86 fraternal Communist and Workers' Parties and from NationalDemocratic and Left-wing Socialist parties.
The 23rd Party Congress heard and discussed the Report of the CC CPSU, delivered by Leonid Brezhnev, the report of the Central Auditing Commission and the report on the Directives for the Five-Year Economic Development Plan for 1966--70, which was read by Alexei Kosygin.
The period under review had been marked by a further growth in the numbers of Party members, by the enhancement of the Party's political and organisational role and by the consolidation of the Leninist principles of Party life.
As regards the USSR's international position and its foreign policy, the Party was doing its utmost to see that the Soviet people could continue to work successfully, and was striving to preserve world peace.
As for political cooperation between the socialist countries, the period had seen the further strengthening of ties between these countries' fraternal parties—ties that were based on the principles of the parties' equality and independence. In the field of economic and military cooperation, the relations between the socialist countries had also been developing successfully.
The 23rd CPSU Congress gave its approval to the Central Committee's line and practical measures designed to strengthen the unity of the international communist movement on the principled basis of Marxism-Leninism and the documents that had been drawn up in 1957 and 1960 at the conferences of Communist and Workers' Parties.
The CC CPSU's Report also analysed the results of the Seven-Year Plan and designated the Party's tasks in economic construction.
The Congress approved the Central Committee's political line and its practical activities.
The Central Committee's Report and the Report on the Directives for the Eighth Five-Year Plan noted that in the course of the Seven-Year Plan the Soviet people had achieved further successes in developing the economy, science, technology and culture.
The Congress indicated that the shortcomings in the development of the country's economy had been largely caused by the fact that the forms and methods of management, planning and economic stimulation of production that had been employed in the preceding period were out of step with the new and higher level of the country's productive forces and had begun to retard their development.
150The Congress gave its approval to the transformations that had been carried out in economic management during the period between the 22nd and 23rd CPSU Congresses.
The Directives for the five-year plan to cover the period 1966--70, which were approved by the Congress, assigned the tasks of the Party and the whole Soviet people so that the best possible use could be made of the possibilities that were inherent in the socialist economic system.
The Eighth Five-Year Plan was another important stage in creating the material and technical base of communism, and in further strengthening the economic and defence capacity of the USSR. The chief economic task of the Eighth Five-Year Plan was to ensure the further significant growth of industry, a high and sustained rate of development in agriculture, a substantial rise in the people's living standards, and the fuller satisfaction of their material and cultural requirements through maximal use of advances in science and technology and through increasing the efficiency of production and labour productivity.
The Eighth Five-Year Plan was marked by a combination of development in the material and technical base, the growth of the working people's living standards, the upsurge in productive forces and the improvement of socio-economic relations in society.
Building the second stage of the Druzhba oil pipeline
[151]
The Krasnovodsk Oil Refinery,
Turkmen SSR
The most important social tasks of the five-year plan were to accelerate the speed at which the people's prosperity was being increased, to continue to break down the substantial differences that existed between town and countryside, to raise the material and cultural standards of living of the rural population and to bring them closer to living standards in the towns, and to boost the educational, cultural and technical level of the people.
The Directives envisaged a high rate of growth in social production and the national income; it was planned to increase industrial production by about 50 per cent and agricultural production by 25 per cent. Capital investment in the Soviet economy was to be of the order of 310,000 million rubles, or 50 per cent more than had been the case over the previous five years. The national income was to be increased by 38--41 per cent and per capita real incomes by some 30 per cent.
Priority was assigned to the development of agriculture so that the country's requirements for agricultural produce could be satisfied more fully. Other vital tasks of the five-year plan were to speed up scientific and technological progress, to improve the quality of all products and to boost labour productivity and the efficiency of social production.
The Congress unanimously approved the Directives for the Eighth Five-Year Plan.
152The Congress also gave its wholehearted approval to the proposal for partial changes in the CPSU Rules, reinstating the earlier name of the Central Committee's governing body—the CC CPSU Political Bureau—and the post of General Secretary of the Party's Central Committee.
The 23rd Congress unanimously adopted a statement on US aggression in Vietnam calling for this aggression to be terminated, for an end to the bombing of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, for American troops to be withdrawn from South Vietnam and for the Vietnamese people to be given the opportunity to handle their own internal affairs by themselves.
The resolutions of the 23rd CPSU Congress met with an enthusiastic
response from the Party and the whole Soviet people.
~
50th anniversary of the October Revolution. The developed socialist society. = The situation in the country after the 23rd CPSU Congress was marked by a fresh labour and political upsurge in all sectors of the drive to build a communist society.
Elections to the USSR Supreme Soviet took place in June 1966. The
electorate's unanimous voting for the bloc of communist and non-Party
candidates was the best indication that the Soviet people approved of the
Blast furnace at the Karaganda Iron-and-Steel Works, Kazakh SSR
[153]
Party's domestic and foreign policies. The First Session of the Supreme
Soviet met in August 1966 and elected a Presidium headed by the
chairman, Nikolai Podgprny. It also confirmed the new membership of
the USSR Council of Ministers headed by Alexei Kosygin. The sessions
of the USSR Supreme Soviet in 1966 and 1967 discussed vital issues
involved in Soviet state construction.
The further development of socialist democracy took the form of activating the Soviets of Working People's Deputies from the bottom and right to the top. The role played by the Soviets was significantly enhanced by the extension of their rights in such fields as coordination of the work performed by the enterprises and economic organisations located in their area, reinforcing the Soviets' material and financial base and boosting their supervisory activities. The Session of the Supreme Soviet held in August 1966 also passed a law setting up standing commissions under the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities to deal with the main directions in state, economic, social and cultural construction, and with certain aspects of the functioning of the Supreme Soviet. The brief of the standing commissions was to examine the economic development plans and the state.-budget, and to strengthen control over the implementation of laws and decrees, and over the activities of ministries and government departments.
In recent years the part played by the Soviets in improving Soviet legislation has become more pronounced. The Supreme Soviets of the USSR and the Union republics have passed important laws on public health, marriage and the family, environmental protection and the rational use of natural resources, the fundamentals of land legislation, labour and universal liability to military service. Millions of Soviet citizens took part in discussing the drafts of these laws.
Substantial measures were taken to further improve the functioning of the machinery of state and reduce its size and running costs.
An active part in managing society has been played, as in previous years, by the trade unions, which have a membership of 93 million factory workers, office employees and agricultural workers. After the 23rd CPSU Congress they put in a great deal of effort to involve the working people in managing state, public and production matters, and to cultivate a communist spirit among the masses. This was also considerably helped by the economic reform of 1966--69, which introduced a new system of planning and economic incentives in industry, transport and agriculture.
The drive to fulfil the Eighth Five-Year Plan primarily involved putting industry on to a completely self-financing basis. From now on the yardstick for assessing the work of each enterprise was to be the quantity of output that had been sold and the amount of profit received. The enterprises themselves were given greater freedom to plan production and to offer their staff bonuses in keeping with the results of their efforts. In industry the economic reform was carried out gradually: it affected the first 43 factories, in 20 towns, in January 1966, 200 in the summer of 1966 and 704 enterprises employing a total of 2 million people at the end of 1966.
In 1967 the economic reform affected whole sectors of industry and transport. By the end of the year the new system was operating in 7,000 154 enterprises employing a total of over 10 million workers. They accounted for 40 per cent of all industrial output.
The economic reform helped to raise the efficiency of social production, improve planning, apply scientific and technical advances and speed up the development of the country's productive forces.
At the beginning of 1967 the USSR entered its jubilee year, the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Soviet rule.
In May 1967 the Eternal Flame on the grave of the Unknown Soldier beside the Kremlin wall was lit with fire that had been brought from the grave of the heroes of the October Revolution in Leningrad's Mars Field.
On the 15 October 1967 the Victory Monument was unveiled on Mamai Hill in Volgograd.
On the 2 November, just before the 50th anniversary of the October
Revolution, a monument was unveiled in the Kremlin grounds in honour
of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, who organised the victory of the Great October
Offshore oilfields, Azerbaijan SSR
[155]
Socialist Revolution and who founded and governed the world's first
state based on the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The Komsomol-sponsored young people's visits to areas of revolutionary, military and labour fame was of great educative value; over 20 million young men and women took part in it. In a letter to the CC CPSU signed by 50 million young men and women, young people gave a report on their labour successes during the jubilee year.
The working people of the USSR greeted the jubilee by a great upsurge in the socialist emulation to fulfil the Eighth Five-Year Plan. Steelworkers produced 76 million tons of steel in 9 months; collective and state farms were successfully fulfilling the plans for the sale of their produce to the state. Building workers completed work on the world's largest hydroelectric station, at Bratsk, two large units with a capacity of 508,000 kilowatts each at the Krasnoyarsk Hydroelectric Station, the first section of the world's largest gas pipeline between Central Asia and Central Russia, and the oil pipeline from Ust-Balyk to Omsk.
On the 18 October 1967 the automatic space station Venera-4 reached the surface of the planet Venus, and on the 30 October two Soviet satellites docked and separated while in orbit around the earth.
As for the material prosperity of the Soviet people, the run-up to the anniversary of the October Revolution was heralded by an important change: the bulk of factory and office workers were put on to a five-day working week totalling 41 hours with two days free. The state raised minimum earnings to 60 rubles, increased the wages of factory and office workers in a number of industries and parts of the country, as well as the amount of pension received, and reduced by five years the age at which certain categories of workers became eligible for a pension.
The celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Soviet rule were marked by the introduction of the Order of the October Revolution and the 50th Anniversary Banners of the CC CPSU and the Council of Ministers. Over 1,000 victors in socialist emulation—enterprises, organisations, collective and state farms, military units and formations, and military training establishments—were honoured with 50th Anniversary Banners; Moscow and Leningrad were decorated with the Order of the October Revolution. Orders and medals were awarded to over 130,000 Soviet citizens who took part in the October Revolution and the Civil War, and to many foreigners too.
The 50th anniversary of the October Revolution was celebrated by the working people of socialist countries and by progressive circles throughout the world. Representatives from over 100 countries took part in international gatherings and scientific conferences and symposia.
The chief result of the Soviet people's fifty years of creative effort was the construction of a developed socialist society.
It is a major feature of the system operating in a developed socialist
society that the country's productive forces grow at a stable and rapid
rate. In 1913 tsarist Russia was the world's fifth largest industrial
producer and the fourth in Europe, accounting for some 4 per cent of
world industrial output. In 1937, at the end of the period of transition
from capitalism to socialism, the USSR was the largest producer of
industrial goods in Europe and the second largest in the world as a
whole, surpassed only by the USA. Just before the Second World War
156
The Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station
the USSR accounted for 10 per cent of world industrial production, but
in 1967 this figure had risen to 20 per cent and the volume of output was
73 times greater than in 1913. The USSR and the other socialist countries
accounted for 39 per cent of world industrial production in 1969.
The share in world industrial output of the developed capitalist states—the USA, Great Britain, France, the FRG, Italy and Japan—fell from 70 per cent at the beginning of the Second World War to 47 per cent in 1969. The development of the USSR's productive forces is founded not only on a well equipped production and technological base and a highly trained body of skilled workers, engineers and technicians, but also on the vast reserves of natural resources that have been located in recent years. The Soviet Union possesses one-third of the world's oilbearing regions, over a quarter of all the known deposits of natural gas, enormous sources of hydroelectric power, vast coal resources and rich reserves of metallic ores and timber.
157During the years of Soviet rule, agricultural output had almost trebled, even though the number of workers employed in agriculture had fallen by over half.
In the period 1950--69 the annual growth of industrial production in the USSR was 10.2 per cent, as against 4.5 per cent in the USA, and the corresponding figure for Soviet agricultural output was 3.8 per cent, as opposed to 1.8 per cent in the USA.
A developed socialist society is founded on stable socialist production relations, which are being constantly improved, in town and countryside. They ensure the planned and smooth development of the economy, and make use of all technological advances. The transformations that were effected at the time in economic management were designed to bring socialist production relations into full accord with the level of development that had been achieved in productive forces, to boost economic efficiency and to ensure the best possible fusion between scientific and technological advances and the advantages of a socialist economy. The economic system of a developed socialist state is founded on the active participation of the working people in planning and management, on their concern for the economic health of the whole country and on highly developed socialist collective labour.
Social wealth in Soviet society is distributed on the basis of socialist ownership and depends on the quantity of socially useful work that has been contributed by each worker. The socialist principle of distribution, "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his work'', is implemented in its entirety.
Through stable rates in the growth of its productive forces, the developed socialist society ensures an in-depth improvement in living standards and the systematic raising of the working people's level of prosperity. Not only have the exploiter classes and the exploitation of man by man been abolished once and for all in the USSR, but their unavoidable concomitants—unemployment, destitution, lack of social security, urban slums and high infant mortality—have also disappeared. During the first 50 years of Soviet rule, the national income grew by 36 times, workers' earnings increased by 6.5 times and those of the collective-farm peasantry rose by 8.5 times. The Soviet state looks after public health, providing all the members of society with free medical attention.
In a developed socialist society concern for the people's welfare and for social justice are focal points for the attention of the Party and state. This is shown by their concern for the health of the rising generation and by the care they take of young people. During the first 50 years of Soviet rule infant mortality was reduced by 10 times; in 1970 kindergartens and day nurseries were looking after 9 million children; 60 million young people were attending ordinary, specialised secondary and vocational schools, colleges or places of higher education; there were 2.5 million teachers and 600,000 doctors in the USSR.
As it nationalised the large housing estates in the towns, Soviet rule undertook to meet the housing needs of the working people. During the 50 years, 2,100 million square metres of living space was built at the expense of the state and the people, which increased the housing available in the towns by 7 times.
158Average life expectancy rose sharply as a result of tremendous advances in public health, social security and improvements in living and working conditions. It rose to 70 years, as against 32 years in pre-revolutionary Russia. Today it is one of the highest levels of life expectancy in the world.
As was made quite clear in the CC CPSU's Report to the 25th Party Congress, developed socialism creates new opportunities for further raising the prosperity of the Soviet people, improving their working and living conditions, and ensuring considerable progress in the health service, education and culture, which help to mould the new man and perfect the socialist way of life.
The developed socialist system is marked by fundamental changes in the class structure of society. It is free of vestiges of the exploiter classes and is developing through social, political and ideological unity and through the bringing together of the working class, the collective-farm peasantry and the intelligentsia.
The West Siberian Iron-and-Steel Combine
[159]
The working class is the most numerous class in Soviet society: in 1970 the workers totalled 62 million, or over 55 per cent of the gainfully employed population. The working class was and remains the basic productive force in society. Its revolutionary spirit, sense of discipline, degree of organisation and collectivism determine its leading position within socialist social relations. The leading role of the working class in the construction of communism is constantly enhanced as its general culture, educational level and political activity rise. By the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution 386 workers out of every 1,000 had a secondary or higher education, but by the 50th anniversary the figure had risen to over 550.
The political basis of the developed socialist system is formed by the alliance between the working class and the peasantry: the implementation of Party policy in the countryside and the measures taken to boost industry and agriculture led to the further strengthening of this indissoluble alliance. During this process the social character of the peasantry and the nature of their work and psychology underwent a fundamental transformation, and they grew closer to the working class. The general educational level of the peasantry also rose: in 1940, six per cent of the rural population had a higher or secondary education, whereas, according to the figures relating to the end of 1970, over half the rural population had completed their course at a secondary school or higher educational establishment.
The increase in power supplies to agriculture and the introduction of new equipment into the countryside (powerful tractors, combine harvesters and farm vehicles) are constantly swelling the numbers of machine operators: in 1940 a total of 1,401,000 tractor, machine and combine operators and drivers were employed on the collective and state farms, whereas there were 1,356,000 of them in 1950, 2,579,000 in I960, 3,094,000 in 1965, 3,357,000 in 1969, and 3,443,000 in 1970. The work of this category of peasants becomes closer in nature to the labour of industrial workers. The rise in the prosperity and improvement in the living conditions of people in the countryside, the enhanced role of state ownership in collective-farm production, and the development of inter-collective-farm and state-collective-farm production associations are gradually breaking down the differences between town and countryside, and between the working class and the peasantry.
The social structure of the mature socialist system is constantly developing, with the main trend in its evolution being away from class differentiation and towards social homogeneity.
The process whereby the working class, the peasantry and the intelligentsia draw closer together is becoming more and more noticeable. The application of the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution to industry and agriculture is speeding up the elimination of the differences between mental and physical labour, and is drawing the working class and the collective-farm peasantry closer to the intelligentsia. The Soviet intelligentsia constitutes a numerous social group in the developed socialist society: in 1969 it totalled 29.9 million people. By that time there were 883,400 scientific workers alone in the USSR—a quarter of all the scientific workers in the world.
The acceleration of scientific and technological progress and the 160 continued rise in the people's culture and level of education are accompanied by a growth in the numbers of the intelligentsia and by the enhancement of its role in the life of society. The unity of the classes and social groups in a developed socialist society and their gradual drawing together are based on their community of interests, aims and ideals, the essence of which is the building of a communist society.
The social structure of mature socialism is constantly developing. Moreover, the predominant tendency in its development is a movement away from class differentiation towards social homogeneity.
The state of the dictatorship of the proletariat was the chief means of mobilising the working people to build a developed socialist society. The elimination of the exploiter classes and the assertion of the ideological and political unity of Soviet society caused the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat to develop into the state of the whole people, a political organisation of the whole people, with the guiding role belonging to the working class.
The development and improvement of socialist democracy are inalienable features of the developed socialist society. The Soviet democratic system includes the Soviets of Working People's Deputies as the basis of the socialist state and the fullest expression of its democratic nature. Their functions involve 2 million deputies and 25 million Soviet activists, who act as voluntary assistants. The system also includes the people's control bodies, which involve millions of workers, collective farmers and office staff. The trade unions, which bring together practically all factory workers, office staff and agricultural workers, constitute one of the most important means of involving the working people in state administration and the management of society.
The Lenin Komsomol occupies an important position in the social and political life of a socialist society. It does a great deal to bring up young people in accordance with revolutionary, militant and labour traditions and in the spirit of communist ideology, Soviet patriotism and internationalism. The basic unit in a socialist society is the workers' collective. It is intended to develop socialist qualities and a high level of responsibility on the part of each member of the collective for the future of the enterprise, institution or building project.
By taking part in the work performed by the Soviets and other social organisations, the Soviet people manage their state and production.
The Armed Forces are a vital part of a developed socialist society. Throughout the 50 years during which Soviet rule had been in existence, they stoutly defended the great gains of socialism against the encroachments of imperialist aggressors. Between 1918 and 1920 they smashed the military invasion of the interventionists and whiteguards, and in 1941--45 they defeated German fascism and Japanese imperialism. Nowadays, together with the armed forces of the socialist countries, they are reliably ensuring international security.
The source of the strength and invincibility of the Soviet Armed Forces is their indissoluble link with the people and the people's support and daily concern for the way of life and the military and political training of the Army and Navy.
Ever since the outset of Soviet rule the new army was founded as an integral part of the Soviet state apparatus on the basis of the class forces __PRINTERS_P_161_COMMENT__ 11---69 161 which assumed power in October 1917. It was this that gave rise to its fundamental difference from the armies of bourgeois states. As Lenin wrote, "The army was a machine of oppression not only under the monarchy. It remains as such in all bourgeois republics, even the most democratic ones. Only the Soviets, the permanent organisations of government authority of the classes that were oppressed by capitalism, are in a position to destroy the army's subordination to bourgeois commanders and really merge the proletariat with the army; only the Soviets can effectively arm the proletariat and disarm the bourgeoisie. Unless this is done, the victory of socialism is = impossible."^^1^^
Since the early days of the Revolution the Communist Party has been unremittingly concerned for the Soviet Army and Navy. The education of the fighting men in the spirit of Soviet ideology has always been a focal point for the attention of both the Party and state. Guidance by the CPSU is the source of Soviet military power.
In a developed socialist society strengthening the country's defence capability is a vital task for the Party and the whole people. "Nor should there be any doubt in anyone's mind that our Party will do everything to have the splendid Armed Forces of the Soviet Union provided, in the future as well, with all the necessary means for fulfilling their responsible task of standing on guard over the Soviet people's peaceful labour and acting as the bulwark of world = peace."^^2^^
The scientific ideology of Marxism-Leninism lies at the basis of cultural life in a developed socialist society. It has enormously influenced the whole course of social development and has become a powerful instrument for the revolutionary transformation of the world and the building of socialism and communism. Having taken possession of the masses, Marxist-Leninist ideology became the dominant ideology in Soviet society and formed the basis of its ideological cohesion. Thanks to the great ideological and educative work performed by the Party and the Soviet authorities, a communist world outlook and a new attitude towards labour and social duty took deep root among the working masses. This was reflected in the various forms of mass labour emulation, the communist labour movement and the creative initiative displayed by the workers' collectives. The developed socialist society is characterised by the rich spiritual world of the Soviet people, their high moral qualities and their conscious attitude towards work, society and one another.
The whole system behind the developed socialist society and the predominance of Marxist ideology are helping the bulk of the working masses to assimilate all cultural achievements and to advance towards a higher spiritual level. This is facilitated by scientific and technological progress and by the whole social and cultural situation that has been brought about by the new social system. The increase in leisure time in the USSR favours the balanced development of the individual and his use of the spiritual potential that Soviet society possesses.
The developed socialist society is marked by considerable successes in moulding the man of the future communist society. Apart from a high _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 28, p. 466.
~^^2^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Report oj the CPSU Central Committee and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy, Moscow, 1976, p. 99.
162
The Kamantuz Grain Elevator, Kokchetav Region
level of social consciousness, man in a communist society will also be
free from the slavery of a narrow division of labour between people,
from being endlessly obliged to do the same job, and from being turned
into a mechanical appendage to the machine.
In a socialist society people are brought up and trained to be balanced and practical, capable of doing anything.
Today a whole series of workers' collectives show a high level of occupational and general educational training, the broad development of mastery of more than one profession, and the existence of workers who are able to operate a number of machines. Extremely important in the training of workers were the development of the general education school and the implementation of the Law on the Restructuring of the National Education System, passed on the 24 December 1958, and the government decrees of the 30 May 1961 and the 10 August 1964 on the improvement and duration of production training in schools, on the development of production training at enterprises, and on further steps in vocational training.
Thus, the developed socialist society creates all the necessary conditions for developing the abilities and creative activities of all the working people—society's chief productive force.
A feature of the present stage in the development of Soviet society is the flourishing of all the Soviet nations and nationalities, the levelling up of their economic and cultural standards, and their drawing closer together in friendship. The socialist ideology of the equality and fraternity of peoples has been confirmed in their mutual relations.
__PRINTERS_P_163_COMMENT__ 11* 163The nationalities question, in the form in which it existed in Russia before the October Revolution, was fully resolved during the first 50 years of Soviet rule. All the nations—great and small—are equal, benefitting equally from the triumph of socialism. But in a developed socialist society too national relations are constantly developing, thus posing fresh problems and tasks.
Educating the working masses in the spirit of internationalism and Soviet patriotism is a constant task of the Party and the Soviet state.
During the building of socialism in the USSR a new historical community has taken shape—the Soviet people, founded on the indestructible alliance between the working class, the peasantry and the intelligentsia, with the working class retaining the leading role, and on the friendship existing between all the country's nations and nationalities.
The developed socialist society is characterised by the constant growth of the guiding and directing role of the Communist Party, which after the victory of socialism became the vanguard of the whole Soviet people.
It was Lenin who first formulated the proposition of the guiding role of the Party in the system of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and of the decisive significance of this guidance for the struggle against the forces of the old society and for the construction of the new, socialist society. As Lenin put it, "The dictatorship of the proletariat means a persistent struggle—bloody and bloodless, violent and peaceful, military and economic, educational and administrative—against the forces and traditions of the old society. The force of habit in millions and tens of millions is a most formidable force. Without a party of iron that has been tempered in the struggle, a party enjoying the confidence of all honest people in the class in question, a party capable of watching and influencing the mood of the masses, such a struggle cannot be = waged successfully."^^1^^
The whole history of the establishment, development and consolidation of socialist society in the USSR has provided a vivid confirmation of Lenin's view of the guiding and directing role of the CPSU as an objectively existing feature.
As was emphasised in the CC CPSU's Report to the 25th Congress, "Under developed socialism, when the Communist Party has become a party of the whole people, it has in no sense lost its class character. The CPSU has been and remains a party of the working = class."^^2^^
The guiding role of the CPSU is enhanced, on the one hand, by the immense tasks involved in creating the material and technical base of communism, and by the need to further improve production relations and socialist democracy, and, on the other hand, by the growing part played bv the theory of scientific communism in educating the masses.
Consequently, the guiding and directing role of the CPSU, the party of scientific communism, is further enhanced by a number of factors in _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 31, pp. 44--45.
~^^2^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Report of the CPSU Central Committee and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy, p.~75.
164 the present stage of building communism — the scale and complexity of the tasks involved, the dynamic nature of the social processes, the onrush of the scientific and technological revolution, the growing role of the whole system for managing the social processes, the educative functions carried out, the class struggle between capitalism and socialism on a world scale, and the imperative need to work out the correct line in international politics.These are the characteristics of developed socialism. The building of such a society is the chief result of the Soviet people's struggle to bring about the triumph of the ideals proclaimed by the October Revolution.
In 1977 the peoples of the USSR will be celebr cting the 60th
anniversary of the October Revolution. During this period the USSR has
travelled a path that is equivalent to centuries of earlier development.
Comparing the current level of development with the historical past, CC
CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev said at the 25th CPSU
Congress: "We have created a new society, a society the like of which
mankind has never known before. It is a society with a crisis-free,
steadily growing economy, mature socialist relations and genuine
freedom. It is a society governed by the scientific materialist world
outlook. It is a society of firm confidence in the future, of radiant
Residential apartment houses in Tashkent built by volunteers from Moscow
[165]
communist prospects. Before it lie boundless horizons of further
all-round =
progress."^^1^^
~
Uniting all progressive forces in the struggle for peace and against imperialism. = The world changed radically during the years that followed the success of the October Revolution. It was the period that saw the deepening general crisis of capitalism and the further strengthening of the positions of the socialist system.
In the first year after the Revolution socialism was represented by just one country, the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, while today it is embodied in a powerful system of socialist states. One-third of humanity has embarked on the path of socialism.
The international working class has become a powerful force. It is now the leading revolutionary force in the age that is seeing the transition from capitalism to socialism, and is playing a vital part in the politics of the developed and developing countries of the world. It constantly maintains its struggle against capitalist exploitation: every year more and more people are involved in strike action. A total of 36 million people went on strike in 1965, 57 million in 1968 and 64 million in 1970. The working-class movement is now led by the Communist, Workers' and Left-wing Socialist parties.
The anti-imperialist national liberation movement in the colonies and dependencies grew stronger under the influence of the socialist revolution and the victories of socialism. In 1919, the colonies and dependencies accounted for over 72 per cent of the world's territory and 70 per cent of its population; in 1970, however, the colonialists were hanging on to just over 3 per cent of all territory and 1 per cent of the world population. About 70 independent states had taken shape on the ruins of the colonial empires that capitalism had fashioned in the course of 400 years. In all, 1,500 million people in the former colonies and dependencies embarked on the path of an active political life, constituting a vital factor in social and political progress.
The Communist and Workers' Parties are in the vanguard of the revolutionary forces that are today leading the struggle to sweep away obsolete capitalist practices. In 1917, the Communist and the kindred Left-wing Socialist parties had a membership of some 400,000, but on the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution 88 Communist and Workers' Parties had 50 million members. In differing historical circumstances they are staunchly fighting for socialism, peace and democracy, opposing the threat that the imperialists may start another world war.
Through its economic successes, improvements in the people's material standards, and scientific and cultural advances, the socialist camp is exerting a crucial influence on world development. World imperialism cannot eliminate socialism. It is powerless to regain the historical initiative it has lost, since after the triumph of the October Revolution it ceased to have a monopoly over the ordering of world affairs. The mainstream of human development is now determined by the world socialist system—the vanguard of social progress—the _-_-_
~^^1^^ Ibid., p. 103.
166 international working class and the peoples of the former colonies, who have embarked on a liberation struggle to put an end to the obsolete colonial system of imperialism.In recent years the revolutionary process has made strides throughout the world. The working people's struggle for their social and national emancipation and for the abolition of the imperialist system is gaining momentum in all parts of the world. As Lenin foresaw, various forces and movements are coming together in this struggle. The three main forces—the world socialist system, the international working class and the peoples' national liberation movement—are striving to transform the world according to new social principles and to abolish imperialist domination.
The tasks in the struggle against present-day imperialism were spelled out most fully by the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties which was held in Moscow on the 5-17 June 1969.
Weaving shop at a textile mill in Riga
[167]
The agenda featured the vital issue: "Tasks at the Present Stage of the Struggle Against Imperialism and United Action of the Communist and Workers' Parties and All Anti-Imperialist Forces''. Discussion centred around a document on the subject that had been drafted beforehand by a special preparatory commission. Representatives of all the parties took part in the discussion, and the overwhelming majority of the delegations endorsed the document as it stood.
The document characterised the current stage in the fight against imperialism and justified the need for all Communists and all anti-imperialist forces to coordinate their actions so as to develop the onslaught against imperialism and the forces of reaction and war. The Meeting devoted a great deal of attention to expounding the role of the world socialist system. All the delegates who spoke regarded it as the leading force in the revolutionary struggle of the peoples. The world socialist system embodies the society that is destined to supersede capitalism. Through its power, including its military might, it contributes decisively towards preventing world war and provides substantial backing for the national liberation movement in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The document clearly laid down the ways in which the unity of the countries belonging to the world socialist system could be further strengthened.
The Meeting adopted a declaration on Israeli aggression against the United Arab Republic, Jordan and Syria, expressing its solidarity with the Arab peoples. The "Appeal in Defence of Peace" exposed the criminal imperialist policy of trying to start a third world war. At the end of its work, the Meeting unanimously adopted the Address "Centenary of the Birth of V. I. Lenin'', calling on all Communists throughout the world and all supporters of progress and democracy to mark the event by stepping up their work to spread the ideas of Leninism and by redoubling their efforts to bring about the revolutionary renewal of the world.
What, then, is the importance of the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties?
The Meeting specified the ways in which the unity of Communists throughout the world and all anti-imperialist forces could be strengthened in order to resolve the key issue of the age—the struggle against imperialism. It provided the impetus towards the activation of theoretical work within the parties and towards joint action by the working people in a number of countries against aggression in Vietnam and the aggressive policy pursued by Israel in the Middle East.
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union commended the results and historic significance of the International Meeting, regarding it as an important means of coordinating the efforts of the fraternal parties in the fight against imperialism.
The CC CPSU Report to the 25th Party Congress pointed out that the
programme of anti-imperialist action that had been advanced by the 1969
Meeting had in many respects been carried out. "Along with the
Communist Parties of other countries, we can now say that the road and
the main objectives of the struggle have been defined correctly, and that
168
joint work for the good of the peoples has evoked a broad response
among the masses and is yielding useful =
results."^^1^^
~
The Lenin Centenary Year. = The last two years of the Eighth Five-Year Plan coincided with the preparation and holding of the celebrations marking the centenary of Lenin's birth.
All the peoples of the USSR and the socialist countries, the fraternal Communist and Workers' Parties, and progressive people the world over prepared for the celebrations. As early as August 1968, in a special resolution entitled "On Preparations for the Centenary of the Birth of V. I. Lenin'', the CC CPSU announced a broad programme of measures leading up to the prominent date.
December 1969 saw the publication of the CC CPSU Theses entitled "On the Centenary of the Birth of V. I. Lenin".
The Soviet Government marked the occasion by adopting a resolution to set up a memorial complex at Lenin's birthplace, Ulyanovsk, and also by confirming the decision to present Lenin Centenary certificates and medals to enterprises, institutions, military units, servicemen and individuals in recognition of their labour, military and revolutionary services.
Preparations for the Lenin Centenary involved the whole country, evoking universal enthusiasm.
Increased effort was put into the study and propagandising of Lenin's theoretical legacy, current aspects of the CPSU's domestic and foreign policy, and issues relating to the international communist movement. In 1970, over 16 million people were involved in the system of Party study. Success here was fostered by completion of the publication of Lenin's Collected Works in 55 volumes: further editions appeared in 1969--70. New documents were featured in the fourth edition of the Biography of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, which was published in 1970. Hundreds of scholarly books on history, philosophy, scientific communism and the history of the CPSU and the international communist movement had been published by the centenary.
Numerous scientific congresses and assemblies in the USSR, the socialist countries and some capitalist states were devoted to Lenin as the leader and theoretician of the proletariat, not to mention many international congresses, symposia and exhibitions.
In August 1970 the Fifth International Economic History Congress was held in Leningrad, attended by some 1,400 delegates from 34 countries. Topics associated with the work of Lenin occupied an important place in the congress's broad programme.
The 13th International Congress of Historians, which began in Moscow on the 16 August 1970, was more representative than any of its predecessors: it was attended by about 4,000 delegates from 50 countries, both Marxists and non-Marxists. Lenin's ideas were reflected in all the papers given by the Marxist historians, and even in many of these presented by the non-Marxists. This was also true of the special _-_-_
~^^1^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Report of the CPSU Central Committee and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy, p. 36.
169 paper Lenin and History, which sparked off lively discussion at the Congress-sponsored symposium "Lenin and Historical Science".Scientific conferences and symposia, articles and books pointed to the importance of Lenin's theoretical legacy to the development of the natural and technical sciences.
Soviet fiction was enriched by a number of new works on the life and activities of Lenin, including A. Koptelov's novel The Flame Will Blaze Up, V. Kanivets's novel The Ulyanovs, M. Shaginyan's Retracing Lenin's Steps and A. Prokofyev's poem Immortality. Artists and sculptors created a series of new works on the Lenin theme. Documentary and feature films appeared, such as Stories about Lenin, Lenin in Poland and Lenin and Krupskaya.
The centenary year was distinguished by a fresh upsurge in the labour activity of the masses and by the growth of their political awareness and their readiness to carry out the Party's plans for building a new society. Those who took part in the socialist emulation in honour of the Lenin Centenary strove to fulfil the five-year plan by the 7 November 1970; they were to do this by improving the whole organisation of production, boosting efficiency and avoiding the wastage of raw materials.
The whole country was in the grip of socialist emulation. In the course of it, factories, building sites and enterprises attached to a number of industries fulfilled their plan assignments ahead of schedule. In April 1970 the CC CPSU, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the USSR Council of Ministers and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions presented Lenin Centenary certificates to 2,500 enterprises, organisations, institutions, and collective and state farms for achieving high standards in socialist emulation. A large number of military formations, units and ships, as well as military training establishments and institutions, which had obtained good results in their military and political training were also awarded Lenin Centenary certificates.
On the 11 April 1970 the country's whole working population took part in a communist subbotnik held to mark the Lenin Centenary.
The money earned during the subbotnik was spent on improving the education and health services by the additional building of primary and secondary schools, hospitals and clinics, on expanding vocational education facilities for young workers in town and countryside, and on training skilled workers for industry and professional machine operators for agriculture.
The Komsomol played an enormous part in spreading socialist emulation during the centenary year. In addition to the usual, traditional ways in which young people carried out Lenin's instruction that they should study communism, the Komsomols of Leningrad suggested that a special test should be organised during the centenary year. Every young person taking part in the test had, in effect, to compare his own life, behaviour and actions with the high standards demanded by Lenin. About half a million Komsomols in the Leningrad regional organisation underwent the test; 20,000 Leningrad Komsomols became FrontRankers of Communist Work, and over 15,000 completed their five-year plan assignments ahead of schedule. A similarly massive response was forthcoming from the Komsomols of Moscow and the towns of the Ukraine and other Union republics.
170The test encouraged young people to make a better study of Lenin's theoretical legacy and to combine their political studies with practical participation in communist construction. The country placed a high value on the labour successes of its young people: 660,000 Komsomols were decorated with Valiant Labour medals. Millions of people received Lenin Centenary medals.
The centenary celebrations began with the opening of the memorial complex in Ulyanovsk. The builders deposited in the building's foundations an address to their descendants who would celebrate the 150th anniversary of the October Revolution and Lenin's bicentenary. It contains the words: "By right of seniority, we instruct you, our great-grandchildren, to hold high the banner of the great Lenin, to multiply the gains of your fathers and grandfathers, to advance farther along the glorious trail blazed by Lenin, to cherish the places in our town that are associated with Lenin, and to preserve them for future generations."
On the eye of the centenary of Lenin's birth, public organisations in all the Socialist countries held celebration sessions. In many nonsocialist countries similar meetings were arranged by Communist and Workers' Parties.
The Lenin Memorial Complex in Ulyanovsk
[171]
On the 21--22 April 1970, a joint celebration meeting of the CC CPSU and the Supreme Soviets of the USSR and the RSFSR was held in the Moscow Kremlin's Palace of Congresses in honour of the Lenin Centenary. It was also attended by the representatives of 79 fraternal Communist and Workers' Parties from all the continents. CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev presented the Report Lenin's Cause Lives on and Triumphs, dwelling in detail on how the Party and the people are putting Lenin's teaching into practice. A special section of the Report was devoted to revealing the significance of Leninism in the development of the-world revolution.
The Lenin Centenary Year became a historic landmark in the
development of the world communist and liberation movement. It
showed the immense influence of Leninism on the development of
human society, helped to strengthen the unity of the countries belonging
to the world socialist system and to foster cohesion within the
international communist movement on the basis of Marxism-Leninism
and proletarian internationalism, and played an important part in the
organisation of concerted anti-imperialist action.
~
Successes of the Eighth Five-Year Plan. = During the Eighth Five-Year Plan period it proved possible to bring about a substantial growth in the scale of the economy and the pace at which it was developed and its qualitative indicators improved.
The chief economic indicators of the five-year plan as regards the national income, industrial growth and improvements in the working people's material prosperity and cultural level were higher than in the Seven-Year Plan.
Industrial growth over the five years amounted to 50 per cent. The industries which were the mainstay of scientific and technological progress developed considerably faster than had been anticipated. Production in the engineering and metalworking industries grew by 74 per cent, in the chemical and petrochemical industries by 78 per cent, and in electrical power engineering by 54 per cent.
A great deal was done to modernise industry. In the course of 10 years 32,000 new types of machinery and plant were created, as well as over 12,000 new instruments and more than 10,000 kinds of industrial products.
In industry, wider use was made of high-capacity installations: there was a sizable increase in the capacity of power-generating equipment and oil-refining plant, and also in the size of blast furnaces and converters. This enabled labour productivity to be raised substantially and investment to be sharply reduced. Industry produced a unique piece of power-generating equipment with a capacity of 800,000 kilowatts, the highly efficient "4000" broad strip hot rolling mill, electric locomotives developing 8,000 h.p. and supersonic aircraft, to mention only few.
Following on from scientific and technological advances, industry began to manufacture machine systems for wholesale automation; the production of programme-controlled machine tools was also organised.
Industrial progress was also reflected in the expansion of the raw materials base: there were new discovering of deposits of natural gas, oil, ferrous and non-ferrous metallic ores, diamonds and other minerals. 172 Of the 16,000,000 million cubic metres of the known reserves of natural gas, over 13,000,000 million were located during the five-year plan period, including the vast gas and oil deposits in the eastern part of the country.
The Tyumen oilfields supply industry in Siberia and the Far East; some of the oil goes by pipeline to western areas of the country. The significance of the discovery of these deposits is clear from the fact that in 1970 oil and gas accounted for over 60 per cent of the country's fuel balance, as against 51 per cent in 1965. The increase in the extraction of oil and gas in Western Siberia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenia is in keeping with the Leninist nationalities policy the fundamentals of which were first proclaimed by Lenin in April 1918 and the correct siting of productive forces.
In addition to the exploitation of raw materials, successes were also scored in manufacturing economical synthetic materials and making wider use of them in industry.
During the five-year period, industry produced a considerable quantity of consumer goods: there was an 8.3 per cent increase in their average annual production, as against 6.3 per cent during the previous quinquennium.
The Kishinev Tractor Works, Moldavian SSR
[173]
For industry and agriculture to be further developed and the people's living and cultural standards to be raised, a vast programme of capital investment had to be carried through. Investment during the quinquennium totalled 352,000 million rubles—almost as much as had been invested during the previous eight years. The five years of the plan saw the opening of 1,900 major industrial enterprises and installations, including such giants as the Krasnoyarsk Hydroelectric Power Station with a capacity of 5 million kilowatts, the Volga Car Plant in Togliatti, the Pavlodar Tractor Works, the Bratsk and Syktyvkar wood-industry complexes, the Chernigov Worsted Fabric Combine and the Kursk Knitwear Combine. Enormous iron-and-steel works were also commissioned, such as the West Siberian Works and the Karaganda Combine, as well as the oil extraction complexes in the Tyumen Region and Western Kazakhstan, and oil and gas pipelines totalling 35,400 kilometres in length. In the material production sphere, the USSR builds more than any other country in the world. This has paved the way for a great build-up of production capacity. The modernisation and rebuilding of enterprises has become an important means of boosting the country's economy. In ferrous metallurgy the capacity for producing pig iron increased by 9.7 million tons during the quinquennium, steel by 18 million tons and rolled metal by 14.3 million tons, while iron ore mining expanded to the tune of an additional 120.5 million tons every year.
Scientific and technological advances, higher standards of professional training and the introduction in industry of a new system of planning and incentives enabled the general rate of productivity growth in the economy to be accelerated by 37 per cent during the quinquennium, as against 29 per cent during the Seyen-Year Plan period. This resulted in a 73 per cent increase in industrial output through higher productivity alone. The rise in labour productivity contributed notably towards the growth of public wealth, boosting the efficiency of production and its further development.
In view of the importance of agriculture to communist construction, the CC CPSU assigned particular prominence to agricultural development during the years of the Eighth Five-Year Plan. A long-term complex programme for the development of agriculture was drawn up at a series of plenary meetings held between 1966 and 1970. The implementation of this programme ensured a high and stable pace of development. The CC CPSU Plenary Meeting of May 1966 drafted measures to improve the land and boost its fertility: it was planned to irrigate newly sown fields in arid areas and to drain the land in damp zones, as well as to plant field-protecting forest belts, and other measures to prevent soil erosion. The expenditure incurred by drastic land improvement schemes on the collective farms was borne by the state budget.
Reinforcement of the material and technical base of agriculture is a vital condition for its intensification. The main long-term priorities and technical equipment schedules for agriculture were specified at the CC CPSU Plenary Meeting in July 1970.
Every year, as it carries out the decisions of the Party, the working class steps up the production of all kinds of equipment for the collective and state farms.
174Never before had the countryside received so much assorted machinery as it did during the Eighth Five-Year Plan period. At the beginning of 1970 over 1.9 million tractors and 600,000 combine harvesters were at work in the country's fields. In 1970 every collective farm had an average of 55 tractors and much other machinery besides. The Lenin Collective Farm in the Turkmen SSR, for example, possessed over 100 tractors, 50 cars and lorries, 42 cotton harvesters and a great deal of other hardware. There are quite a lot of collective farms like this in the USSR.
By 1970 nearly all collective and state farms had been electrified and
were supplied with power from state electrical systems. In 1970 every
agricultural worker had nearly 11 h.p. of power supplies at his disposal
instead of the 7.7 h.p. that he had at the end of the Seven-Year Plan.
Construction of the Toktogul Hydroelectric Power Station, Kirghiz SSR. 1971
[175]
More and more mineral fertiliser was also supplied. In 1970, for instance,
collective and state farms received 70 per cent more fertiliser than at the
end of the Seven-Year Plan period.
A great deal was done during these years to improve the land. Over 4.3 million hectares of land were drained or irrigated between 1966 and 1969. New powerful irrigation systems are being built in Central Asia, the Southern Ukraine, the North Caucasus and the Volga area. Their completion will largely transform the natural conditions in these regions and will make it possible for considerable areas to be farmed and for crop yields to be raised.
The nature of work on the collective and state farms alters in keeping with the growth of supplies of agricultural equipment. It is coming closer and closer to industrial work calling for a high degree of professional training. Every collective and state farm now employs people doing jobs that were virtually unknown in the countryside before collectivisation. For example, in 1968 the Druzhba Collective Farm in the Vinnitsa Region employed 104 tractor operators, 21 combine operators, 53 drivers, 4 electricians, 4 metal-workers, a mechanic, and 2 operators at the farm's pig-breeding station. And this farm is in no way exceptional. The machine operator is now the key figure on the collective and state farms. Their numbers and the proportion they form of the rural population have been growing rapidly in recent years. In 1970, some 3.5 million machine operators were working on the collective and state farms—about 12 per cent of all agricultural workers. However, the farms' need for skilled machine operators is still far from satisfied.
An improvement in collective and state farm management also took place during the quinquennium. Trained personnel now head most of the collective and state farms, livestock farms, brigades and other teams. In 1970, a total of 95.5 per cent of the directors of all state farms and over 80 per cent of all collective farm chairmen had a higher or secondary specialised education. Nowadays quite a lot of collective farm chairmen and state farm directors hold the degree of Candidate of Sciences. There has also been an increase in the numbers of agricultural specialists, such as agronomists, livestock experts and engineers. At the end of 1970, more than 821,000 specialists with a higher or secondary specialised education were employed in agriculture, with an average of 10 graduate specialists working on each collective or state farm. Admittedly, the specialists are rather unevenly distributed among the collective and state farms: there are more of them on the economically strong collective and state farms, and fewer on the poorer ones. The 22nd CPSU Congress Collective Farm in the Vinnitsa Region, for example, employs 25 agricultural specialists, including 2 Candidates of Sciences. This farm is certainly not unique. The numbers of the collective farm intelligentsia swell every year—a noteworthy feature of rural life today.
During the eighth quinquennium the new economic system that had been devised at the CC CPSU Plenary Meetings held in March and September 1965 was also applied to agriculture. State farms were made fully accountable for their finances. From their own funds they had to meet all production expenditure and build up the necessary monetary reserves. At the end of the five-year plan period some 35 per cent of all 176 state farms were already operating under the new planning and incentive conditions. This had a very rapid effect on their output. Between 1961 and 1965 the state farms had run at a loss totalling 5,300 million rubles, but during the eighth quinquennium they produced a profit of 7,500 million rubles.
Fundamental changes also occurred at this time in the way that
collective farmers were paid. In May 1966, the CC CPSU and the USSR
Council of Ministers adopted the resolution "On Increasing Incentives in
the Development of Social Production''. It recommended that from the 1
July 1966 onwards collective farmers should receive guaranteed wages in
cash (at least once a month) and in kind according to rates that had been
fixed for the corresponding grades of workers at state farms. Previously
wages had been paid out of the part of the income that was left after the
settlement of amounts owing to the state and the creation of the social
funds. Now, however, the collective farmers' wage fund was to have
priority. If a collective farm did not have enough money to pay its
The Kurchatov Atomic Power Station at Beloyarsky
[177]
members, the state would make credit available for up to five years. This
boosted incentive considerably. By the end of 1966, most collective
farms had introduced guaranteed monthly wages, thus rejecting the
system of payment according to workday units which dated from the
times of massive collectivisation.
In 1969, a collective farmer's monthly earnings were one-third higher than in 1965.
The introduction in 1965 of state pension provision for collective farmers was of great social and political significance. In 1971, the pension computation terms that had been devised for factory and office workers were extended to cover collective farmers as well. This change in social security provision for collective farmers was a landmark in the process of eliminating differences between workers and the collective farm peasantry.
The application of financial accountability within production teams inside the farm unit, livestock farms and other sectors of collective farm production was a new feature of collective farm life and arose from the demands of the economic reform. Under these conditions, every collective farmer had a direct material interest in the fruits of his collective's work.
The founding of production associations linking different collective farms or collective and state farms has become increasingly widespread in recent years. Agro-industrial complexes are being set up to link agricultural production enterprises with enterprises that process agricultural produce and manufacture building materials, as well as with livestock farms, etc. The process of socialising production is going beyond the bounds of individual collective farms. The level of the socialisation of collective farm property is rising steadily. Collective farm property is taking on new features and is becoming more similar to the state form of property, belonging to the whole people.
For agriculture to continue to grow, collective farm democracy must necessarily develop further and more members of the agricultural work force must be involved in production management. The years of the Eighth Five-Year Plan were marked by the application of important measures to extend the creative activity of the masses and to develop socialist democracy.
The 3rd All-Union Congress of Collective Farmers was a major event in collective farm life, since it adopted new model Collective Farm Rules. A commission, set up by decision of the CC CPSU Plenary Meeting of March 1965 and headed by CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, prepared a draft of the new rules, which were then widely discussed at collective farm meetings and Party organisations.
In November 1969, over 4,500 delegates, the foremost representatives of the collective farm peasantry, assembled at the 3rd All-Union Congress to discuss the draft rules. After lively and careful discussion, the delegates gave the draft their unanimous approval.
The new rules emphasise the part played by the collective farm as a school of communism for the peasantry. They provide an answer to the question of how the collective farms are to develop during the transformation of socialist relations into communist ones, and of how the peasants are to be led towards communism. The new rules extended 178 the collective farms' economic self-reliance. They developed further one of the most important principles of collective farm democracy—the fact that farms managers are elected and can be replaced. Nowadays, in accordance with the new rules, brigade leaders and the heads of other small units are elected, and not just the members of the collective farm board and the chairman.
The Congress elected a Union Council of Collective Farms, consisting of 125 prominent collective farm managers, as well as eminent Party and state functionaries. The Council discusses the most important issues affecting collective farms, draws general conclusions about the organisation of production, and formulates appropriate recommendations. By decision of the Congress of Collective Farmers, collective farm councils have now been set up in all republics, territories, regions and districts. After the Congress, collective farm meetings were held everywhere, and they ratified new farm rules that had been drafted on the basis of the general model Rules.
An increase in political activity among the agricultural work force has
led to a growth in the numbers of Communists in the countryside. There
are Party organisations in every collective and state farm. In 1967, over
2.3 million Communists were working in rural areas. On average, there
were 40 communists in each collective farm, and 78 in every state farm.
The Komsomol gives the Party every assistance in the countryside.
The turbine-driven Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin, the flagship of scientific exploration fleet
[179]
More than 8 million Komsomols work in rural localities. A new feature in
social and political life in the countryside was the setting up in the
collective farms in 1964 of trade union organisations for machine
operators, agricultural specialists and collective farm managers. By the
beginning of 1972, some 3 million collective farmers were trade union
members.
The results of agricultural development over the quinquennium showed that the Party's policy of intensifying production and making broad use of economic incentives to stimulate agriculture had been fully justified.
During the period covered by the Eighth Five-Year Plan, agriculture developed rapidly. The average annual volume of agricultural production increased by 21 per cent, as against 12 per cent in the previous quinquennium. The increase in grain production was particularly marked. The average annual grain yield rose by 30 per cent. Moreover, crop yields and grain harvests increased considerably both in the southern grain-producing areas (the Kuban area and the Ukraine) and in the non-black earth zone where large industrial centres are located. Between 1966 and 1970 the average annual yield of grain crops amounted to 1.37 tons, which was 0.35 tons higher than during the previous quinquennium. In 1970, an all-time record harvest of 186 million tons of grain and 6.9 million tons of cotton was gathered in.
There was a considerable increase in the output of animal products such as milk and meat, not so much through any growth in the numbers of cattle as through a rise in productivity. This enabled state purchases of farm produce to be increased. During the last quinquennium the state purchased an average of 66 million tons of grain every year (i.e. 28 per cent more than during the previous five years) and about 39 per cent more meat and milk. However, the level at which agricultural produce, and particularly meat, is output and purchased by the state still fails to fully satisfy the increased demand for it. For a number of reasons, agriculture was, and still is, the most complicated sector of the Soviet economy.
As it assessed agricultural development, the USSR was also summing up the results of the implementation of Lenin's plan for cooperatives in the countryside and, indeed, of the whole 40 years of collective farm development. In 1970 the agricultural work force had at its disposal 15 times more energy resources than in 1928, just before collectivisation on a massive scale. Gross agricultural production during these years nearly trebled, while the agricultural work force shrank by about half. Collective and state farms developed into large highly mechanised entities. Agricultural production is becoming more and more industrial in nature, and the level of the socialisation of cooperative and collective farm property is rising.
Big changes have also occurred in the peasantry itself as a class in socialist society. Collective labour on socialist farms equipped with complicated technology, the rise in material prosperity and the cultural level, and the enormous amount of educative work carried out by the Party have altered the peasant's general outlook and his political awareness. He now possesses a spirit of collectivism, a feeling of social duty, loyalty to the great Leninist ideals and a high degree of labour and 180 political activity. In the nature of their work and their cultural and technical level, the peasantry is drawing closer to the working class, the substantial differences between them are being eliminated, and the alliance between the two friendly classes is being strengthened.
Successes in developing industry and agriculture, the growth of labour productivity and the lowering of unit costs have enabled the Soviet state to boost the material prosperity and cultural standards of the people. The most general indicator in this area was the growth of the national income. During the quinquennium, the national income rose by 41 per cent, as against 32 per cent during the previous five years, amounting to the immense sum of 1,166,000 million rubles.
During the Eighth Five-Year Plan, but not during the seventh, the rates at which consumption and the accumulation fund grew came closer together. The growth in the consumption fund during the Eighth Five-Year Plan period amounted to 57,000 million rubles, as against 31,500 million rubles during the Seventh Five-Year Plan, accompanied by an increase in the accumulation fund.
Construction of the Nurek Hydroelectric Power Station, Tajik SSR
[181]
Such a distribution of the national income only became possible in the context of a developed socialist society, in which the people's living standards rise quickly at the same time as the economy develops at an accelerated pace. Three-quarters of the national income was expended on consumption and only a part (186,000 million rubles) on production accumulation (increasing the basic production funds of factories and mills, railways and other production enterprises, and swelling the material commodity reserves).
It was this factor that conditioned the accomplishment of the social tasks of the five-year plan—increasing the wages of factory and office staff by 26 per cent, raising the collective farmers' earnings from public land by 42 per cent, and boosting real per capita incomes by 33 per cent, as against 19 per cent during the Seventh Five-Year Plan period.
The successes in economic development made it possible to increase trade inside the country by 48.4 per cent, to boost housing construction considerably and to improve the living conditions of the working people. The quinquennium saw the construction of 11,350,000 flats, i.e., more than in any capitalist country. Fresh successes were achieved in the health and education services and in developing Soviet science.
The Eighth Five-Year Plan generated not only great successes in applying the blueprints for the country's economic growth, but also a further improvement in socialist social relations.
The growth of the country's economic potential, the further strengthening of the social unity of Soviet society, the improvement of social relations, and the progress of science provided a firm foundation for the country's defence capability. As in the previous quinquennium, the strengthening of defence capability and the development of the defence industry came in for the close attention of the CC CPSU and the Soviet Government. The worsening international situation caused the Soviet state to make fresh efforts to reinforce its security.
During the years of the Eighth Five-Year Plan, 80,000 million rubles were spent on defence. Scientific advances led to the designing and introduction of new kinds of modern armaments. Their combat and technical qualities were also enhanced.
A new law, "On Universal Military Service'', passed on the 12 October 1967, had important consequences for recruitment into the Armed Forces and for strengthening their ties with the people. It altered the way in which military service was to be carried out, bearing in mind the improved educational and physical standards of the new recruits. The length of service was cut by one year, and a single call-up age was established (18). Measures were also put in hand to improve the preparation of young people for service in the Armed Forces.
In a resolution dated the 21 January 1967 and entitled "On measures to Improve Party and Political Work in the Soviet Army and Navy'', the CC CPSU defined the concrete ways in which this work would be enhanced in accordance with the international situation, the nature of modern warfare, and the fundamental changes that had occurred in the organisation of troops and in their armaments.
The years of the Eighth Five-Year Plan saw the performance of a great deal of work to improve the joint defence of the socialist states adhering to the Warsaw Treaty. On the 17 March 1969 a meeting of the 182 Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Treaty states set up the Committee of Defence Ministers. That December, the new committee discussed important matters bearing on the reinforcement of the member states' defence capability. The Military Council, headquarters and technical committee of the Joint Armed Forces were founded in 1969.
The sessions of the Political Consultative Committee which were held in August and December 1970 discussed important questions relating to improving organisation and strengthening all-round cooperation between socialist countries in the contemporary international situation.
Based as it is on the principles of socialist internationalism, equality and comradely cooperation, the Warsaw Treaty reliably serves the interests of peace and socialism. Many proposals drawn up by the Political Consultative Committee have formed the basis of decisions adopted by major international conferences or have been reflected in bilateral interstate agreements.
The Motor Works at Togliatti
[183]
While the NATO bloc remains in existence, and militarist circles sustain the arms race, the Warsaw Treaty countries will continue to strengthen their military and political alliance.
The USSR's successes in the field of peaceful economic construction
during the years of the Eighth Five-Year Plan strengthened the defence
capability of the whole socialist system, boosted the USSR's
international standing among all the world's progressive forces, and intensified
the affection of the working masses for the country that was blazing the
trail towards communism.
~
The 24th CPSU Congress and its decisions. = The 24th CPSU Congress (30 March—9 April 1971) was one of the most representative Party congresses; it was attended by some 5,000 delegates elected by 14 million Soviet Communists. The Congress has occupied a prominent place in contemporary world politics, in the world communist and workingclass movement, and in the struggle pursued by the Party and the whole people to build the material and technical base of communism.
The fact that the Congress was attended by 102 delegations from Communist, national-democratic and left-wing socialist parties in 91 countries underlined the tremendous international significance of the 24th CPSU Congress, and highlighted the part played by the USSR as the uniting centre and bulwark of the international communist and working movement, and of all revolutionary forces throughout the world.
Speeches made by foreign guests emphasised the point that the grfwing power of the USSR exerted a direct influence on the development of the world socialist community, on strengthening the u/iity of the world communist movement, and on the course taken by the world revolutionary process.
The Congress armed the Party and the whole Soviet people with a clear, scientific programme for the immediate period in the full-scale construction of a communist society. The content of this programme was given in the CC CPSU Report, presented by CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, in the report made by Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers Alexei Kosygin on the draft Directives for the Ninth Five-Year Plan, and in the resolutions adopted.
As regards foreign policy, the Congress proclaimed the struggle for peace and security, and for strengthening the indissoluble alliance and fraternity between the socialist countries, and the alliance with the anti-imperialist liberation movement throughout the world.
In economic policy, the Congress defined the Party's main course as being to aim for a considerable rise in the people's material living and cultural standards, to be underpinned by a high development rate in socialist production (industry, agriculture, transport and services).
Higher living standards for the working people have always been an objective of the economic policy formulated by the Party and the state, which have been constantly guided by the requirements of the main economic law of socialism. However, conditions have not always been favourable to the operation of this law.
In a developed socialist environment, the opportunities for accomplishing this task have grown immeasurably: there has been an increase in the scale of the economy and in the opportunities for ensuring its 184 dynamic balanced deyelopment. The intensive factors in economic development (the application of scientific and technological advances, boosting the efficiency of socialist production) have assumed priority in the drive to build the material and technical base of communism. A favourable external factor is the increasing economic integration of socialist countries, which are jointly tackling the important economic issues involved in building developed socialism and communism.
The current stage in the building of communism is also characterised by the fact that raising the prosperity of the working people is coming increasingly to be an imperative requirement of economic development, a major precondition of the rapid growth of production, and the sine qua non for the balanced development of the main productive force—the man of the new society.
The Congress determined the ways in which the efficiency of social production was to be raised—through using the fruits of the scientific and technological revolution, marshalling all spare production capacity, and improving the sectoral structure of industry by accelerating the development of those sectors that ensured a fall in production costs an increase in the output of the finished product and a rise in productivity.
A vital part in raising efficiency is played by economising on raw
The central control room of the Unified Power Grid, Moscow
[185]
materials, making more rational use of manpower resources, primarily
through reducing physical labour, replacing outdated equipment and
raising the quality of the goods produced.
Close attention is being given to developing and improving industrial complexes such as fuel and energy, metallurgy and engineering, electronics, the radio industry and instrument building, which contribute vitally to technological progress.
Transport, communications, the supply of materials and equipment, and the USSR's economic ties abroad all help to boost the efficiency of production.
The Congress decided that it was of vital importance to further improve the whole system for managing the economy by perfecting the organisational structure of management, reinforcing economic incentives, modifying the system of payment by results, and more broadly involving the working people themselves in economic management and heightening their feeling of responsibility for the future of production. This general economic policy line of Party and state found its concrete embodiment in the Directives for the Ninth Five-Year Plan.
As far as social policy was concerned, the Congress resolved to continue the process of welding together the classes and social groups and all the nations and nationalities in Soviet society, and so to strengthen its unity. This line took the practical form of Party and state measures to further develop socialist democracy, involve more and more working people in state administration, and heighten their communist awareness.
As for Party construction, the Congress declared that the methods of Party administration should be improved, Leninist standards of Party life should be scrupulously observed, and the Party's link with the people should be further strengthened. Important tasks were formulated in the field of the Party's ideological work.
Recent years have been marked by the further development of the theory of scientific communism, as is expressed in such CC CPSU documents as the Theses on the 50th anniversary of the revolution, the Lenin centenary, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Marx and Engels, and the centenary of the Paris Commune, and in documents for the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties in 1969. They summarise the varied experience gained during the revolutionary struggle waged by the Party and the people, and during the building of socialism and communism, as well as the problems of the world revolutionary process and the features of the present stage in international relations. In the field of history every effort is being made to produce a correct and objective account of the history of the Soviet state.
While noting the successes in the Party's ideological and theoretical activities, the Congress indicated in a resolution that the creative development and propagandising of Marxist-Leninist doctrine, and the struggle against attempts to revise it would continue to be central to the Party's ideological work. The Party's theoretical energies would have to be directed towards further treatment of topical aspects of modern social development, particularly the issues involved in communist construction.
186The Congress adopted a resolution on partial changes in the CPSU Rules and confirmed the CC CPSU draft Directives for the Five-Year Economic Development Plan to cover the years 1971--75.
In accordance with the Party's basic economic task at the current stage in the building of communism, the Congress defined the principal task of the Ninth Five-Year Plan as being: to ensure a considerable rise in the people's material and cultural living standards through a high development rate in socialist production, raising its efficiency, scientific and technological progress, and accelerating the growth of labour productivity.
The Congress spelled out the ways in which this principal objective was to be attained: social production was to be guaranteed a balanced and planned development, agriculture and the consumer industries were to enjoy high growth rates, and there was to be a considerable increase in efficiency throughout the economy.
The successful accomplishment of this fundamental task was intended to ensure that a broad programme of social measures was implemented: the country's income was to rise by 37--40 per cent, and there were also to be changes in the distribution of the national income.
The Ninth Five-Year Plan provided for the improvement of labour organisation and higher productivity, and also proposed specific measures to improve the working people's housing and living conditions, and to make living standards in town and countryside more equal.
The Agricultural Machine Works at Rostov-on-Don
[187]
The economic foundation for the implementation of this programme was provided by further development of the material and technical base of society.
The main task of industry in the five-year plan was to expand and improve the industrial basis for developing the socialist economy, particularly agriculture and the associated industries, to raise the technical level and the efficiency of production, and to effect a drastic improvement in the quality of the finished product.
The programme for the development of agriculture also included the broad application of chemical products, and land improvement schemes.
State and collective farm investment in agriculture was to be brought up to 129,000 million rubles over the quinquennium.
It was planned to step up the production of consumer goods, to expand trade and to improve public services.
Particular attention was paid to improving the structure of the
location of productive forces, perfecting territorial economic ties and
enhancing the part played by the Union republics in tackling economic
matters.
~
Socio-political life between 1971 and 1975. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union acted as the organiser of socio-political life in the USSR and of the working people's struggle to fulfil the Ninth Five-Year Plan. Since it was by nature the party of the working class, it increasingly became the party of the whole people. By the beginning of 1976 a total of 41.6 per cent of the Party's membership were workers, 13.9 per cent collective farmers, some 20 per cent members of the technical intelligentsia and over 24 per cent workers involved in science, literature, art, education, public health and administration, or servicemen. Among new Party members 58 per cent were workers and, if one takes an overall view, some 80 per cent of all new entrants were people engaged in material production.
During the ninth quinquennium the CPSU grew by 2.6 million members and put into effect a number of measures to improve the quality of its membership by regulating the acceptance of new members and by involving all Communists in daily practical activities. The renewal of Party cards was very important in this respect. It encouraged Party organisations to be more active in resolving the tasks facing them and in raising the demands made on Communists.
The guiding role of the CPSU was particularly apparent during the ninth quinquennium as regards further improving socialist statehood and developing socialist democracy.
The activities of the Soviets of Working People's Deputies became very full and varied. The USSR Supreme Soviet discussed vital matters affecting the social and political life of the country.
A number of important laws and decrees were adopted, including those "On the Fundamentals of Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics Concerning Public Education" (1973) and "On the Draft Fundamentals of Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics Concerning Subterranean Resources" (1975).
In 1972 the working people triumphantly celebrated the 50th anniversary of the formation of the USSR. It was a great festival of 188 friendship and indissoluble unity between all the classes and social groups, nations and nationalities of the USSR, and of their internationalist fraternity.
In February 1972 the CC CPSU published a resolution "On Preparations for the 50th Anniversary of the Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics'', calling upon the working people to mark the half-century jubilee by new achievements. This gave rise to new forms of socialist emulation, such as "15 republics—15 production drives" and "The agreements of the thousands".
On the 21--22 December 1972 the Moscow Kremlin's Palace of Congresses was the venue for the celebratory session of the CC CPSU and the Supreme Soviets of the USSR and the RSFSR held to mark the occasion. The celebrations were attended by representatives from over 100 countries.
To mark the occasion, the Order of the Friendship of Peoples was instituted, and work began on the Friendship of the Peoples monument in Moscow.
The main assembly line at the Minsk Motor Works, Byelorussian SSR
[189]
Socialist democracy was further developed during the last five-year plan period by ensuring the increasingly broad participation of the working people in managing all the affairs of society and by further developing the democratic principles of Soviet statehood.
The activities of the Soviets were substantially improved by the Supreme Soviet's adoption on the 20 September 1972 of a law on the status of a deputy. The document provided a clear definition of the rights and obligations of a deputy and of his mutual relations with social and state bodies and with the working people's collectives which put him forward as a candidate in the first place. A deputy is obliged to maintain constant links with his electorate and with the working people's collectives. He is responsible to the electors and is accountable to them. If he has failed to justify their trust, the electors can recall their deputy at any time. During the last 10 years 4,000 deputies have been recalled from local Soviets and 11 from the USSR Supreme Soviet. In the 1975 elections to the local Soviets a considerable number of already registered candidates were dropped at the suggestion of the electorate, and in 68 constituencies candidates failed to receive an absolute majority and so were not elected as deputies. Greater regularity has been introduced into the accountability of executive committees to the local Soviets. In 1974 alone, at the initiative of deputies, over 465,000 questions were tabled for the consideration of the local Soviets, and more than 839,000 for examination by executive committees. Between 1970 and 1974 the deputies of local Soviets raised 250,000 issues and were given concrete and businesslike answers. The proposals and inquiries launched by deputies on the basis of their electoral mandate reflected the demands and needs of the people. The laws passed by the Supreme Soviet on extending the rights and material possibilities of rural district and town Soviets also helped to improve their activities.
While exercising guidance over the Soviets, the Communist Party acted, as before, in conjunction with non-Party members. About 44 per cent of deputies to Soviets at all levels were Communists, and some 56 per cent were non-Party = members.^^1^^
The membership of the Soviets—from local Soviets to the Supreme Soviet—provides a sort of collective portrait of the population. Thus, the Supreme Soviet of the 9th Convocation that was elected in 1974 contained a total of 1,517 deputies, of whom 498 were workers and 271 collective farmers. The remainder were members of the working intelligentsia, to which the workers and peasants had given rise.
Among the deputies of all Soviets in 1975, 40.5 per cent were workers, 27.2 per cent were collective farmers and 32.3 per cent were teachers, doctors or specialists of one kind or another. Over 100 nationalities were represented in the Soviets, and more than 48 per cent of the deputies were women.
In 1975 over 9 million working people helped to prepare and hold the elections to the local Soviets, and 163.5 million people, i.e., practically all the adult population of the country, took part in the voting. Over 2.2 million deputies work in 50,000 local organs of = power.^^2^^ Nearly 1.8 _-_-_
~^^1^^ Soviet Union. Political and Economic Reference Book, Moscow. 1976, p.~54.
~^^2^^ Ibid., p. 55.
190 million deputies were elected to the local Soviets' standing commissions in 1975. The work of these commissions is also assisted by 2.6 million activists.At the suggestion of the commissions, 329,000 decrees were adopted by the local Soviets in 1975.
The further strengthening and development of socialist democracy will be reflected in the draft new Constitution of the USSR, work on which began during the ninth quinquennium.
The activities of public organisations such as the trade unions and the Komsomol form an important part of the development of socialist democracy.
The 15th Congress of Soviet Trade Unions, which at that time had a membership of 98 million, was held in Moscow in March 1972. The central issue tackled at the congress was the question of the trade unions' participation in the struggle to fulfil the Ninth Five-Year Plan. The delegates' attention was drawn to matters arising from the working class's struggle to successfully fulfil the economic plans of the current quinquennium and to make correct use of leisure time for relaxation, raising their educational and cultural level, seeing to their health and physical development, and bringing up their children. The question was seriously raised of combating such anti-social phenomena as drunkenness, vandalism and infringement of discipline at work.
The Soviet Turkmenia Collective Farm. 1970
[191]
The trade unions have an extremely important part to play in developing socialist emulation and in making correct use of material and moral incentives in order to secure high productivity. Production conferences and workers' meetings to discuss plans for the work and social development of collectives proved most effective here.
Over 65 million workers were employed in the Soviet economy at that time, of whom two-thirds were industrial workers and 9 million were agricultural workers.
In 1972 the USSR Supreme Soviet awarded the Order of Lenin to the Soviet trade unions in recognition of their active participation in the drive to fulfil the Ninth Five-Year Plan. In 1975 the initiators of the Stakhanovite movement—A. G. Stakhanov, K. G. Petrov, A. Kh. Busygin, P. I. Kovardak, M. V. Gnatenko, I. I. Gudov and N. S.Smetanin—were made Heroes of Socialist Labour.
An important contribution towards fulfilling the Ninth Five-Year Plan was made by the Komsomol, which had a membership of 35 million young men and women at the end of the quinquennium.
April 1974 saw the convening of the 17th Komsomol Congress, devoted to the theme of the continuity of traditions in the struggle for the victory of the revolution and the building of socialism in the USSR. Thirty million young people were then involved in productive labour in the economy. The Komsomol accomplished many glorious feats of labour. The Komsomol's Central Committee declared the building of the Baikal-Amur Railway, which started in 1974, a Komsomol shock project. During the congress the first volunteer detachments from the Moscow, Leningrad and other Komsomol organisations left for the railway construction site.
Over half a million young men and women worked on the 670-odd Komsomol shock projects of the Ninth Five-Year Plan. The Komsomol took it upon itself to supervise the building of 1,200 land improvement and agricultural installations in the non-black earth areas of the RSFSR.
The celebrations to mark the 30th anniversary of victory over nazi Germany and imperialist Japan formed an important event in the socio-political life of the peoples of the USSR in 1975. It was a great festival for the Soviet people, the fraternal peoples of the socialist countries, and all revolutionary and progressive peace forces throughout the world.
The 8 May 1975 saw the holding in the Kremlin's Palace of Congresses of the meeting dedicated to the 30th anniversary of victory. Apart from the representatives of the working people of the USSR, army and navy men, war veterans, and the heads of Party and Soviet organisations, the meeting was also attended by delegations from the socialist countries and by representatives of the countries that had also belonged to the anti-Hitler coalition—the USA, Great Britain and France—and of many other countries. It was a great event for all those who had taken part in the struggle of the peoples against fascism, the defeat of which made it possible for a number of countries in Europe and Asia to embark on the road of socialist development.
On the eve of the celebrations the CC CPSU, the Presidium of the
USSR Supreme Soviet and the Soviet Government issued an appeal To
All Peoples, Parliaments and Governments throughout the world, calling
192
The Kaunas Hydroelectric Power Station, Lithuanian SSR
upon all those who were concerned for the world's future to make every
effort to see that future was a peaceful one: "Lasting peace and the
freedom of the peoples are the most fitting monument to those who died
in the war.
"Lasting peace and the freedom of the peoples form the unfading
ideal that inspires us. We shall do everything to see that this ideal
becomes a binding law in human =
affairs."^^1^^
~
The results of the ninth five-year plan. = The ninth quinquennium marked another major stride in creating the material and technological base of communism, raising the people's living standards and strengthening the country's defence capacity.
The ninth quinquennium was the best one ever in the country's history as regards the scale of the absolute growth in industrial production, capital investment and state allocations for carrying out new measures to raise the people's prosperity.
The basic tasks of economic and culutral construction during the ninth quinquennium were accomplished thanks to the unstinting toil of the working class, the collective farm peasantry, the intelligentsia and the working people in all the Union republics, who advanced the progress of socialist emulation on a broad front.
During the period covered by the Ninth Five-Year Plan over 500,000 _-_-_
~^^1^^ Kommunist No.~7, 1975, p.6.
__PRINTERS_P_193_COMMENT__ 13---69 193 million rubles were invested in capital construction work in all sectors of the economy (as against 352,000 million rubles during the eighth quinquennium). This made it possible to increase basic production funds by 50 per cent, and to more than double them in comparison with 1965. During the last 10 years the country's economic potential has in effect doubled.As a result of the successes achieved in capital construction work, about 43 per cent of the economy's production funds have been renewed, including nearly 56 per cent in the case of agriculture.
The growth in the national income was the most important indicator of the USSR's economic development during the ninth quinquennium. It grew by 34 per cent in this period. Moreover, 75 per cent of this income was used for consumption purposes, and the figure is even in excess of 80 per cent if one takes account of the accumulation resources that were channelled into the building of housing and everyday service facilities. This distribution of national income enabled the prosperity of the whole population to be considerably boosted, with particular attention being paid to raising the living standards of the lower-income groups.
An indication of the substantial rise in the Soviet people's living standards is provided by the 20 per cent increase in the wages of factory and office workers during the five years and the 25 per cent increase in the earnings of collective farmers. The period also saw a 40 per cent increase in the payments and benefits to the population derived from the social consumption funds. Real per capita incomes rose by 24 per cent.
During the five years the state raised the minimum wages and piecework rates for middle-income factory and office workers engaged in material production, and also for a number of categories of workers in the non-productive sphere. Doctors, teachers and day nursery staff all had pay increases. Old age pensions and disability grants also went up, as did the grants paid to students in higher education and students attending secondary specialised educational establishments and technical colleges. Other social security measures were also carried out. The incomes of some 40 million people rose through the increase in pensions and grants alone, and 75 million people benefited from the measures taken to improve and raise = wages.^^1^^ During the Ninth Five-Year Plan period 70 per cent more state money was allocated to new measures to raise the people's living standards than in the eighth quinquennium.
In a socialist society the real incomes of the people double every 15 years or so. In other words, in the duration of a single lifetime socialist society proceeds to a qualitatively new consumption level several times. During the ninth quinquennium there was a 36 per cent growth in retail turnover, and state retail prices remained stable. During the same period over 11 million flats and houses with a total floor space of 544 million square metres were built, enabling the living conditions of 56 million Soviet citizens to be improved. Over the last 20 years more than 20,000 million square metres of living space have been built.
_-_-_~^^1^^ Guidelines for the Development of the National Economy of the USSR for 1976--1980, Moscow, 1976, pp. 177, 178.
194The social programme includes measures to improve working and living conditions, education, the health service and environmental protection. The completion, by and large, of the transition to universal secondary education for young people is one of the achievements of the ninth quinquennium.
This vast social programme was made possible by the high rate of growth and quality improvement in material production during the period: increased productivity contributed more to the growth of the national income, scientific and technological progress was accelerated, and the structure of social production was further improved.
In accordance with the Directives of the 24th Party Congress, total
industrial production in 1975 was 43 per cent higher than in 1970. The
plan assignments for the output of heavy industry were over-fulfilled.
Poised to take on the Tenth Five-Year Plan, the country had ample
reserves of fuel, primary commodities and the main building materials.
Kalinin Prospekt, Moscow
[195]
A new residential area in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR
The structure of industry had improved: the sectors
determining technological progress and economic efficiency—mechanical
engineering, power engineering and the oil and chemical industries—
accounted for 31 per cent of total industrial output in 1970, but 36 per
cent in 1975.^^1^^
The USSR came to lead the world in the production of a number of important commodities, such as steel, oil and mineral fertiliser.
During the ninth quinquennium engineering increased its output by 73 per cent, agricultural engineering by 78 per cent, the production of instruments and automation equipment by 90 per cent, and computer technology by 330 per cent.
Some 2,000 major industrial enterprises and a large number of installations equipped with modern technology began operations. In light industry and the food industry alone about 1,000 enterprises were built during the five years, making it possible to produce more and more consumer goods of various kinds. The output of consumer items increased by 37 per cent during the five years, and the output of recreational and household goods by 60 per cent.
_-_-_~^^1^^ Ibid., pp. 173, 174.
196In agriculture, work proceeded on implementing the long-term complex programme of agricultural development that had been drawn up by the CC CPSU Plenary Meeting in March 1965. It included the strengthening of the material and technological base of agriculture, the draining of damp areas and the irrigation of arid land, the application of chemicals to agriculture and the specialisation of its production. A total of 131,000 million rubles was allocated to the development of agriculture — over a quarter of all capital investment in the economy during the ninth quinquennium. Collective and state farms received 1,100,000 lorries, 1,700,000 tractors, 449,000 combine harvesters, 15,800 million rubles' worth of agricultural machinery and a grea; deal of other hardware. Substantial measures were taken to provide agricultural production with electrical power from state power stations. By the end of the quinquennium electricity consumption in agriculture was 3.5 times as high as it had been in 1965. The overall capacity of the tractor, combine and automobile engines used in agriculture has grown by 80 per cent over the last 10 years, while the electricity supply per worker has more than doubled.
Over 300 million tons of mineral fertiliser were supplied to collective
and state farms during the quinquennium, and cultivation was started
over 9 million hectares of improved =
land.^^1^^ The Saratov and Big
Stavropol (stage 2) Canals were built and irrigation work in the
Yerevan, Armenian SSR
_-_-_
~^^1^^ __NOTE__ Footnote moved to page 197 from page 198. Ibid., p. 174.
[197]
A new residential area in Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR
Golodnaya Steppe neared completion. Major new irrigation and drainage systems were constructed in many parts of the country.
All these measures enabled the collective and state farms to overcome the consequences of the droughts of 1972 and 1975 and to increase the average annual gross output by 13 per cent, as compared with the eighth quinquennium. Decisive measures in the struggle against the natural elements, and the heroic work of the collective and state farmers made it possible to secure high yields. The average annual production of grain during the ninth quinquennium amounted to 181.5 million tons; in the case of meat, the figure was 14 million tons, and milk 87.4 million tons. As for cotton, 7.7 million tons were picked, as against 6.1 million tons during the eighth quinquennium.
During the period covered by the Ninth Five-Year Plan, rapid growth occurred in labour productivity, accounting for 84 per cent of the growth of industrial output, 78 per cent of output in the building industry, and the whole of the growth that took place in agriculture. Significant strides were made in exploiting the natural resources of the northern and eastern areas. In Western Siberia alone oil production in 1975 almost reached the 150 million ton mark, or nearly a third of all the oil produced __NOTE__ Footnote at bottom of page 198 belongs at bottom of page 197, maybe. 198 in the country, while 38,000 million cubic metres of natural gas were extracted.
It should, however, be pointed out that not all the specifications in the five-year plan were completely met. This is explained by a number of factors. Some of them are objective in nature: owing to two years of drought, agricultural output fell short of the target, and this inevitably affected the production of certain kinds of food and manufactured consumer goods, as well as the pace at which the national income grew. But there were also subjective reasons—errors in planning, delays in the commissioning of production capacity and in the application to production of scientific and technological advances, and infringements of planning, technological and labour discipline.
However, the main result of the ninth quinquennium is undoubtedly
the fact that a major step forward was taken in creating the material and
technological base of communism, in raising the people's living
standards and in ensuring the country's security.
~
The USSR's struggle for peace and international security. Resisting
imperialist aggression. =
The late fifties and early sixties saw the further
growth in the USSR's international standing. This arose through the
increase in the Soviet Union's economic and defence capability and the
rapid development of the whole world socialist system; also through the
USSR's persistent struggle for peace and d\'etente.
Norilsk
[199]
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The activation of Soviet foreign policy brought favourable results.
Following a number of important international conferences (one of which was the conference of the heads of government of the Four Powers, held in Geneva in the summer of 1955), several unilateral reductions carried out by the Soviet Union in its armed forces, the normalisation of relations with Yugoslavia, and the conclusion, with the decisive participation of Soviet diplomacy, of a state treaty with Austria, a crushing blow was dealt against all those who claimed that the Soviet Union was an aggressive state. The Soviet Government and the Soviet people showed themselves to be the staunchest and most consistent defenders of peace.
The active nature of the USSR's peaceful foreign policy was particularly manifest in the rapid expansion of its international contacts. Guided by the decisions of the 21st, 22nd and 23rd CPSU Congresses, the Soviet Government strove resolutely to resolve a number of vital issues in contemporary international relations. The 23rd CPSU Congress resolution on the CC CPSU Report provided a clear-cut formulation of the basic guidelines: "The foreign policy of the Soviet Union, together with that of other socialist countries, is aimed at securing favourable international conditions for the building of socialism and communism; strengthening the unity and cohesion, the friendship and fraternity of the socialist countries; supporting the national liberation movements and maintaining all-round co-operation with the young developing countries; upholding consistently the principle of the peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems, firmly repelling the aggressive forces of imperialism and delivering mankind from the threat of a new world war."^^1^^
The events of the second half of the fifties showed that the prestige and power of capitalism were waning. The great anti-colonial revolution moved on from Asia and gripped Africa. The peoples swept from power, one after another, those heads of a number of states and governments who were overtly associated with reactionary circles of the Western powers: in Iraq, Korea, and in Turkey. Early in 1959 a people's revolution was triumphant in Cuba.
During the few decades in which it had been active on the international scene, the Soviet Union had shown that it adopted a respectful attitude towards all peoples, great and small, and towards all states, irrespective of their socio-economic system. The idea of the peaceful coexistence of countries with different socio-economic systems runs through the whole of Soviet foreign policy.
The formation, after the Second World War, of a whole group of socialist states gave rise to a new and previously unknown type of international relations—relations between socialist countries. They vividly expressed friendship, disinterested mutual economic assistance and political unity in international affairs. The leaders of socialist states regularly discuss the problems of international relations and foreign policy, particularly matters relating to the strengthening of peace and security in Europe.
_-_-_~^^1^^ 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Moscow, 1966, pp. 287--88.
200Great significance attaches to strengthening the friendship and cooperation of the USSR and other socialist countries with the German Democratic Republic, the first state of the German workers and peasants. The treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance, signed by the USSR and the GDR in June 1964, put an end, once and for all, to the West German revanchists' hopes of swallowing up the German socialist state. The Soviet Government favoured the establishment of equitable relations between the GDR and the FRG, and UN membership for both states.
The treaties of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance between the USSR and a number of socialist countries were renewed. These countries were: Poland (1965), Mongolia (1966), Bulgaria (1967), Hungary (1967),Rumania (1970) and Czechoslovakia (1970).
An important stage in the socialist counties' struggle to ensure peace and security in Europe was marked by the Bucharest meeting of the Political Consultative Committee in July 1966. In a special declaration on the matter, the delegates called for the establishment in Europe of good-neighbour relations through peaceful coexistence, including the establishment of normal relations between the two German states, for the dismantling of military blocs and military bases in foreign countries, and for the creation of an effective European security system. It was proposed that measures to diminish tension should be implemented, such as withdrawing foreign troops from bases abroad, reducing the armed forces of both German states, setting up atom-free zones, and acknowledging the inviolability of current European frontiers. The possibility was also raised that a conference might be convened to discuss security in Europe and the development of European cooperation. The Bucharest meeting set in motion a whole series of steps, on the part of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, to pave the way for a European security system.
At the Meeting of European Communist and Workers' Parties held at Karlovy Vary in April 1967, the programme for promoting security in Europe was expanded by the inclusion of several new sections. The conference noted that the creation of a European security system would have to involve the recognition of the existence of two sovereign and equal German states, and the acknowledgement that the Munich Agreement never had any legal validity. Karlovy Vary also generated the proposal that all European states should conclude a treaty repudiating the use, or threatened use, of force in mutual relations, that relations should be normalised between all the states and the GDR, and that a nuclear non-proliferation treaty should be concluded.
The solidarity of the socialist countries and their determination to prevent any change in the balance of power in Europe that would favour imperialism were also demonstrated by the joint action taken by the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR and Poland over the worsening of the internal political situation in Czechoslovakia in the spring and summer of 1968. In January a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CC CPCz) took important decisions to improve Party and state leadership and to develop socialist democracy. Many measures based on these decisions were perfectly justified, and all the fraternal parties took an understanding view of 201 them. Soon, however, internal developments in Czechoslovakia began to give cause for concern. Right-wing, revisionist elements acquired great influence in the central Party bodies and in the Government, as well as in the mass media. They sought to discredit the Communist Party and to deprive it of its leading role in the development of society.
Meetings took place between March and August 1968 between leaders of European socialist countries in Dresden, and between the Communist and Workers' Parties in Warsaw and Bratislava, at which views were exchanged on the situation in Czechoslovakia. Soviet and Czechoslovak leaders met twice in May and August—in Moscow and Cierna and Tisou.
The situation in Czechoslovakia continued to deteriorate. Internal and external anti-socialist forces were activated. There was a real danger that the gains of socialism in the country might be threatened. A blow might, thus, be struck at the position of socialism in Europe as a whole, and conditions might arise in which the socialist world could later come under attack from the most aggressive forces of imperialism. In view of this, five Warsaw Treaty countries—the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR and Poland—sent their troops into Czechoslovakia on the 21 August 1968.
The Plenary Meeting of the CC CPCz held in December 1970 emphasised that the entry of the allied troops of the five socialist countries into Czechoslovakia was an act of internationalist solidarity and was in the interests of the working people of Czechoslovakia, the international working class and the socialist community; it also accorded with the class interests of the international communist movement. It was an internationalist act that saved the lives of thousands of people, ensured internal and external conditions for peaceful and calm labour, strengthened the western borders of the socialist camp and frustrated the hopes of imperialist circles for a revision of the results of the Second World = War.^^1^^
An important stage in the struggle launched by the Soviet Union and other socialist countries for lasting peace in Europe was marked by the Budapest meeting of leaders of the Warsaw Treaty states in March 1969. They called on all European countries to cooperate in seeing that a European conference was convened so that security and peaceful collaboration could be discussed. Shortly afterwards, the Government of Finland sent a memorandum to 32 states, proposing Helsinki as the venue for the conference.
At the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties held in Moscow in June 1969, which summarised the experience of the peoples' struggle for peace, the idea of establishing in Europe an effective system of security, based on relations of equality and mutual respect between all states in the continent, received full backing.
In October 1969 the Foreign Ministers of the Warsaw Treaty countries made concrete proposals for the European conference agenda: (1) on promoting European security and on repudiating the use or threat _-_-_
~^^1^^ See Lessons of the Crisis Development in the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and of Society after the 13th Congress of the CPCz, Moscow, 1971, pp. 45--46 (in Russian).
202 of force in mutual relations between states in Europe; and (2) on expanding trade, economic, scientific and technical ties on equitable principles designed to develop political cooperation between European states.At their meeting in June 1970, the Foreign Ministers of socialist countries decided to propose that the conference agenda should be extended so as to include a new section dealing with the creation at the European conference of a body to handle questions affecting security and cooperation. The situation in Europe also came in for close scrutiny at the meeting of the Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Treaty Organisation held in Berlin in December 1970.
The cohesion of the socialist countries was demonstrated particularly vividly in connection with the events in Indochina. The US Government was giving active support to the most reactionary circles in the countries of the peninsula—in South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. It sent arms and instructors to South Vietnam, where the overwhelming majority of the population were opposed to the reactionary regime. Furthermore, it provided its puppets in high offices with money, and had, in effect, taken over the direction of the war against the people. None of this, however, was able to save the corrupt regime. In the capital, coup followed coup, while in the provinces vast tracts of territory were taken over by detachments of the National Liberation Front. Early in August 1964, US aggression entered a new phase: US Air Force planes initiated regular bombing raids on the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Moreover, between the end of 1964 and the beginning of 1965, President Johnson sent troops to South Vietnam to take part directly in the fighting. There were 33,000 American soldiers fighting in South Vietnam in 1964, and in 1967 the number had risen to nearly 500,000. This amounted to a flagrant breach of international law and neither more nor less than international piracy. Almost simultaneously an undeclared war began against the areas of Laos in which progressive, democratic forces were entrenched.
Together with other socialist countries, the Soviet Union provided a great deal of help to the Vietnamese people, who were heroically resisting American imperialist aggression.
In February 1965, during the visit paid to Hanoi by Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers Alexei Kosygin, agreement was reached on measures to strengthen the defence capability of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and to maintain its security. The Soviet Government despatched military equipment to the DRV and announced in April 1965 that, if the DRV Government asked for volunteers to be sent to Vietnam, the request would be granted.
In 1967, 1968, 1970 and in later years, the USSR signed agreements with the Government of the DRV whereby it would grant the latter gratuitous economic and military assistance and long-term credits. There were also trade agreements and a number of others. The USSR supplied the DRV with food, oil, transport facilities, ferrous and nonferrous metals, cotton and fabrics, medicines and medical equipment, weapons, ammunition and other commodities needed to strengthen the DRV's defence capability and to rehabilitate and develop its economy.
203DRV leaders frequently expressed their warm gratitude to the Soviet Union for its effective all-round assistance and support in repelling aggression and furthering socialist construction.
Active support for the heroic people of Vietnam was also given by other socialist countries.
At a meeting in Sofia in March 1968, the Warsaw Treaty Organisation's Political Consultative Committee adopted a declaration on the threat to peace that had been created by the expansion of American aggression in Vietnam. The meeting announced that help would continue to be given to the Vietnamese people for as long as the DRV and the people of Vietnam needed it to triumph over the imperialist onslaught.
Together with other socialist countries, the Soviet Union officially recognised the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, formed in June 1969, and supported the realistic programme for a peaceful settlement that was proposed by the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam during the Paris talks with US representatives. The basic ingredient in the programme was the withdrawal of all American troops from South Vietnam, and the formation in the South of a provisional coalition government without outside interference.
In December 1969, the Party and state leaders of the USSR and other socialist countries who had assembled in Moscow declared that the fraternal countries, proceeding from the principles of proletarian internationalism and their devotion to the cause of peace, independence and the freedom of the peoples, would continue to provide all possible backing to the just struggle of the Vietnamese people until the aggressive war against Vietnam was brought to an end.
The expansion of American aggression in Indochina and the spread of the war into Cambodia were condemned in a special statement issued by the heads of government of the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Mongolia, Poland, Rumania and Czechoslovakia in May 1970.
A further vivid instance of the internationalism and progressive nature of Soviet foreign policy is provided by the Soviet Union's staunch defence of the sovereignty and independence of Cuba, whose people are building socialism.
US Government circles were sharply hostile towards the Cuban people's victory over the bloody regime of the dictator Batista in 1959. They attempted to annihilate revolutionary Cuba by curtailing the sale of oil and the purchase of sugar, the country's main export. The Soviet Union and other socialist countries came to Cuba's assistance by buying up all the sugar that had been earmarked for export to the USA. The Soviet Union sent dozens of tankers carrying fuel to the distant shores of the revolutionary island. The USSR is still helping the Cuban people to develop ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy and engineering, to build power stations and study centres, and to carry out a geological survey of the island.
Thousands of Cubans have studied in Soviet educational establishments, and still are. Soviet specialists are helping to develop the economy on the spot, in Cuba.
204The people of the heroic island have to wage a fierce struggle to defend the Cuban revolution. American agents have performed acts of sabotage on more than one occasion: they have set fire to sugar plantations, detonated ammunition, shelled Cuban towns from the sea and dropped bombs from the air.
In April 1961, Cuban counter-revolutionaries landed on the island with the blessing of the US Government, armed and financed by Americans. This gang of mercenaries was routed by revolutionary troops in three days.
It was during the tense April days of 1961 that the Cuban leaders declared that ihe revolution was a socialist one and that the Cuban people aimed to build socialism.
In the autumn of 1962, in preparation for a fresh invasion, on a much broader scale, the US Government decided to deploy its own armed forces. In so doing, the American imperialists were pursuing both short-term and wider, far-reaching aims. The direct objective of the planned invasion was to destroy the Cuban revolution and to demonstrate to the countries of Latin America the determination of American imperialism to suppress the revolutionary movement in the continent by any means, even including the use of armed force.
The American Command decided to act in phases: first a naval blockade would be organised, Cuba would be cut off from the rest of the world, and then the country would be bombed and finally invaded. In October 1962, the US Navy surrounded Cuba, monitoring its sea communications. The Soviet Government warned the United States that, if any attempts were made to intervene, it would give support to revolutionary Cuba. As a result of the US blockade of Cuba and the threat of a further invasion, a dangerous crisis came to a head in October 1962 in the Caribbean. The whole world was faced with the threat of a devastating thermonuclear war.
At this dramatic moment in the development of international relations, the Soviet Government displayd restraint and flexibility. Following an exchange of messages between the head of the Soviet Government and the US President, it proved possible to reach an agreement resolving the Caribbean crisis. The American imperialist attack on revolutionary Cuba had been forestalled. The course of events in the Caribbean showed that the historical processes occurring in the world were irreversible, the balance of power had altered decisively in favour of the forces of socialism, and that the "export of counterrevolution" was confronted by difficult obstacles.
If the new system is to be consolidated in the recently formed socialist countries and if they are to develop successfully, then it is important for them to extend their economic ties between themselves and with the Soviet Union. By coordinating their national economic plans and by pooling their production efforts, they are steadily carrying out an international division of labour within the socialist system. In June 1962, Moscow was the venue for a meeting of the First Secretaries of the Communist and Workers' Parties and of the heads of government of the CMEA countries. The meeting passed an important document, Basic Principles of the International Socialist Division of Labour. Later, at meetings of representatives from the CMEA countries, decisions were 205 reached on the collective harmonisation of national economic plans and on the creation of an International Bank for Economic Cooperation, vested with the far-reaching powers of the Executive Committee of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. The specialisation of each socialist country in the production of those kinds of commodities for which it is best suited also makes it possible to conduct building and production at a high rate.
The rapid development of these countries, most of which were previously backward economically, is only due to mutual assistance. The USSR's economic relations with the socialist countries are based on fraternal mutual assistance and on the desire to further the economic development of one's partner. Previously, history has produced no example of a more developed state giving disinterested assistance to an economically backward country so that it can set up whole industries.
In 1966--70 alone, over 300 industrial and agricultural installations were built or reconstructed in socialist countries with technical assistance from the USSR.
In turn, the Soviet Union has received from the CMEA countries plant for 54 chemical works and a considerable proportion of its imported ships, to name just two items. The Soviet Government makes credit available to the socialist countries on the easiest of terms—2 per cent per annum with no interest payable during the first few years of the credit facility, or absolutely interest-free.
Socialist countries account for some two-thirds of the Soviet Union's foreign trade. The USSR and other socialist countries exchange their scientific and technological advances with one another. The Soviet Union has provided the fraternal countries with a great deal of help as regards the peaceful use of atomic energy.
The Druzhba oil pipeline was brought into operation through the joint efforts of a number of socialist countries as long ago as 1964. It carried Soviet oil from the banks of the Volga into Central Europe—to the oil refineries of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland and the GDR. By the beginning of 1969, these countries had received 85 million tons of oil through the pipeline. A second section of the Druzhba pipeline has now been laid, bringing some 50 million tons of oil to the fraternal countries in 1975. Agreements have been reached with a number of countries to jointly build a gas pipeline.
The Soviet Union, Rumania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the GDR and Poland built the Mir integrated power grid energy system. The CMEA countries pooled a considerable part of their rolling stock, and set up a special organisation to coordinate efforts to develop ferrous metallurgy (Intermetal), and so on. Yugoslav representatives have been taking part in the work of many CMEA organisations since 1963.
The five-year plans of the CMEA countries for the periods 1956-- 60, 1961--65, 1966--70 and 1971--75 were coordinated within the CMEA framework. All these events constitute graphic confirmation of the fact that socialist integration is becoming a real factor in international life.
206The coordination and cooperation of the economies of socialist countries produced good results. By the end of 1969, industrial output in the CMEA countries was over six times as high as in 1950. This rapid industrial development was associated with help from the Soviet Union to other socialist countries in the field of heavy engineering and in supplying these countries' economies with oil and gas.
The efforts of the USSR and other socialist countries are directed towards bringing about a situation in which the economic balance in the historic contest between the capitalist and socialist systems swings in favour of the latter. This is to be achieved by overtaking the most developed capitalist countries in rates of production.
The Chinese people received great economic and technological assistance from the Soviet Union. With the help of the USSR, over 200 major industrial enterprises, workshops and installations provided with the latest equipment were built in China and brought into operation. With
The CMEA Executive Committee in session
[207]
the help of the USSR, new industries were set up in China: they were the
aircraft, car and tractor industries, power engineering, heavy and
precision engineering, instrument-building and various sections of the
chemical industry. The Soviet Union helped China by sending a large
number of specialists for periods of varying length. Thousands of
Chinese engineers, technicians and workers underwent instruction,
scientific training and practice in the USSR.
From the early sixties onwards, relations between the USSR and the People's Republic of China began to deteriorate rapidly. At the instigation of the Chinese side, a brusque curtailment of economic and cultural ties with Soviet Union was started. The Chinese leaders acted in accordance with their own particular ideological platform, totally incompatible with Leninism, on the main issues in world affairs and the world communist movement. They began to lay claim to leadership of the world revolutionary process, and produced adventurist ideas about prompting world revolution through nuclear war, and so on. They demanded that the Communist Party of the Soviet Union repudiate the line of the 20th Congress and the CPSU Programme. Intensive anti-Soviet propaganda poured from Peking. The CPSU began to be accused of ``revisionism'', of "bourgeois degeneration'', of giving insufficient support to the revolutionary movement in other countries, and so on. The Chinese leaders made unjustified territorial claims on the Soviet Union. In the spring and summer of 1969, they organised armed raids on the Soviet-Chinese border, which were totally crushed.
In September 1969, at the suggestion of the Soviet Government, a meeting was arranged in Peking between Chairman of the Council of Ministers Alexei Kosygin and Chou En-Iai, Premier of the State Council of the PRC. The following month saw the start in Peking of negotiations between government delegations from both countries on the subject of border issues. Adhering to its principled line, the Soviet Government is still making every effort to achieve a normalisation of inter-state relations with China in accordance with the principles of peaceful coexistence and friendship.
A major condition for the further change in the world balance of forces in favour of socialism is that the socialist camp should surmount the difficulties that have arisen in its midst.
Historical experience as a whole shows that it is in the course of cooperation between the peoples of socialist states that they develop a deeper awareness of the community of their destinies and the tasks awaiting them.
__*_*_*__The anti-colonial revolution that has been occurring in the postwar years sees the Soviet Union as a true friend and ally.
The support given by the Soviet Union to the peoples in the colonies and dependencies and to their struggle against imperialism is neither fortuitous nor temporary.
During the oppressed peoples' struggle for their liberation and while the new independent states were still being established, the USSR gave them unconditional moral and political support.
208In 1960, at the initiative of the Soviet Government, the 15th Session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Declaration on Granting Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. In 1961 the 16th Session discussed the question of how the Declaration was being implemented. Between 1961 and 1970 over 30 colonial countries became independent. The Soviet Government actively champions the final abolition of the colonial regimes and wishes to see that the South African and Rhodesian racists are brought to heel.
The peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America rightly view the Soviet Union as a sincere friend. The young states' chief problem is likely to be that of reordering their economy and terminating its agrarian, colonial structure. This alone is capable of giving young independent countries real freedom from any oppression, including economic oppression. The creation of modern industry will enable the peoples' living standards to be raised in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The governments of the capitalist states demand a high price from young independent countries for their aid: they wish to subordinate these countries and direct their internal development and foreign policy.
Socialist countries do not dictate political or military terms to states that are poorly developed economically. Their assistance is friendly and disinterested. What is more, it is granted on beneficial terms. The Soviet Union has made vast credits available to India, Egypt, Iraq, Guinea, Mali, the Somali Republic and other countries. Between 1966 and 1970, Soviet trade with the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America exceeded 11,000 million rubles in value (4,000 million rubles more than during the previous quinquennium).
Soviet assistance enabled Egypt to build the vast Aswan Dam, five metallurgical, six engineering and other enterprises. In order to build the Aswan Dam, the Soviet Union supplied Egypt with powerful machinery and the necessary blueprints, and sent experienced specialists. Sri Lanka has made use of Soviet credits to construct an iron-and-steel works and a tyre factory, Indonesia to build two metallurgical plants, and India to erect several major heavy industrial and power engineering enterprises.
Besides providing credits to states in Asia, Africa and Latin America, the Soviet Union and other members of the socialist community help developing countries to create the fundamental, decisive sectors of the economy that underpin their economic self-reliance. With the help of the USSR, over 700 industrial installations are being built in the developing countries. An example is provided by the metallurgical enterprises in India: there is the combine at Bhilai (which became operational in 1959) and in Bokaro, where an enormous metallurgical plant is being built; work is proceeding on the construction of the second section of the Bhilai combine.
Soviet engineers and workers do not just build enterprises; they also train local workers, technicians and engineers in many countries. When Soviet engineers were building a large grain combine in Afghanistan, they trained over 500 Afghan specialists. While the Aswan Dam was being constructed in Egypt, more than 11,000 skilled workers were trained. Thousands of students from developing countries are educated __PRINTERS_P_209_COMMENT__ 14---69 209 at institutes of higher learning in Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev, including the Patrice Lumumba Friendship University in Moscow. The USSR has helped to build laboratories at higher and specialised educational establishments in Bombay, Addis Ababa, Damascus and other towns in Asia and Africa.
The expansion of economic ties with the USSR and the technological assistance of the powerful socialist state are helping the young countries of Asia and Africa to pursue an independent foreign policy with greater confidence.
After the Israeli attack on Egypt, Jordan and Syria in June 1967, the Soviet Union assumed a firm position of giving support to the Arab countries. Together with a number of other socialist countries, the USSR broke off diplomatic relations with Israel. In June and July 1967 Nikolai Ppdgorny, Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, visited Egypt, Syria and Iraq. The Soviet Union helped the Arab states, particularly Egypt and Syria, to restore their defence capability. The Soviet Government calls persistently for an end to aggression and for a political settlement of the conflict on the basis of the UN Security Council resolution of the 22 November 1967, i.e., primarily through the total liberation of Israeli-occupied Arab land.
This resolution also envisages an end to the state of war between Israel and the Arab states, freedom of passage for shipping through the international sea routes in the area, the settlement of the Palestinian refugee problem, and guarantees providing security to the borders of all states existing in the Middle East. The Soviet Government considers that all these stipulations in the Security Council resolution must be implemented in full so that a firm foundation can be laid for a just peace in the Middle East. Moreover, the Soviet Government has expressed its readiness to join other states that are permanent members of the Security Council in setting up international guarantees for a political settlement in the region.
The 27 May 1971 saw the signing in Cairo of a treaty of friendship and cooperation between the USSR and Egypt. The treaty stressed the determination of both sides to develop and strengthen the relations of friendship and all-round cooperation existing between them. If situations arose which the two sides regarded as posing a threat to peace or infringing the peace, then they would immediately make contact so as to adopt agreed positions in order to remove the threat or restore peace.
This treaty, just like the treaty of friendship and cooperation that was signed with the Republic of Iraq on the 9 April 1972 in Baghdad, was an event of great historical importance and testified to the Soviet Union's consistent struggle to bring about a peaceful settlement in the Middle East and to strengthen the independence of the Arab countries.
The cooperation of the USSR and other socialist states with the Arab peoples was vividly demonstrated during the renewal of Israel's conflict with Egypt and Syria. The Soviet Union gave the broadest moral, political and material support to the Arab countries, enabling them to markedly improve their position in the fight against expansionism and to seek a just and peaceful settlement of the conflict.
210An example showing that it is perfectly feasible to apply Lenin's idea of the peaceful coexistence of states with different social and economic systems is provided by the Soviet Union's relations with a number of countries, particularly its neighbours — Finland, Afghanistan and Iran.
For many years now relations with these countries have been a model of good-neighbourliness: all political issues are resolved in a spirit of benevolence and respect for each other's interests, while economic and cultural ties are expanded every year. The USSR's friendly relations with India have also been considerably developed.
Relations between the Soviet Union and France are making good progress. President de Gaulle's visit to Moscow in the summer of 1966 marked an important stage in mutual cooperation. As a result of his talks with Leonid Brezhnev, Nikolai Podgorny and Alexei Kosygin, a Soviet-French declaration was signed, reflecting the two sides' common views on many foreign policy issues. The declaration pointed out that, in the opinion of the two sides, the problems of Europe should be resolved primarily within European frameworks. An agreement on scientific and technical cooperation was also signed at the same time. It provided for the sale of patents and the exchange of licences, as well as cooperation in space research and the peaceful use of atomic energy. A permanent Soviet-French commission was set up to carry out regular FrancoSoviet consultations on economic matters. Subsequently, major agreements were signed between the two countries, providing for supplies of French equipment to Soviet car plants and for joint high-energy research.
Talks with the French leaders resumed during the return visit to France paid by Alexei Kosygin, the Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers. A major result of the talks was the joint proposal to convene a European conference to examine the problems of security in Europe. Previously, during the Moscow talks, both governments had undertaken to hold regular mutual consultations on international problems.
The visit to Moscow paid by France's President, Georges Pompidou, in October 1970 was a great event in Soviet-French relations. The Moscow talks revealed the closeness or coincidence of the two countries' positions over a Middle East settlement and the restoration of peace in Indochina. The parties to the talks reiterated their positive attitude towards a European conference and emphasised the need to initiate the active and comprehensive preparation of the meeting.
Aspects of Soviet-French economic relations were also examined. The earlier long-term trade agreement for 1970--74 provided for the doubling of trade between the USSR and France. At the end of 1970, an agreement was reached about Soviet participation in building a metallurgical complex in France.
The Soviet Government was also concerned to develop political and economic relations with other countries, such as Canada and Japan. One of the results of expanding economic ties with Italy was the agreement that the Fiat firm would help to build a car works at Togliatti.
The USSR's relations with the Federal Republic of Germany are vital to the strengthening of peace in Europe.
211With the support of other socialist countries, the Soviet Government favoured the drafting and signing of a peace treaty with Germany. A draft treaty was tabled by the Soviet Union on the 10 January 1959. Unlike earlier proposals, the draft contained the full text of a peace treaty, and not just its basic terms.
However, the only response made by the Western governments to the attempts of the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic to bring about an agreement on the German question was a further show of force. The US and British garrisons in West Berlin were reinforced. War hysteria intensified in the imperialist countries and there were even calls to "take the ultimate risk" and go to war with the socialist countries. The world situation deteriorated.
After Konrad Adenauer had been succeeded as Federal German Chancellor by Ludwig Erhard in 1963, there was still no respite in the policy of trying to isolate the GDR from its allies and of seeking to do a deal with other socialist countries at the expense of the GDR. At the same time, the most right-wing, reactionary politicians in the FRG continued their efforts to abolish the GDR.
On the 12 June 1964, a treaty of friendship, mutual assistance and cooperation was signed in Moscow between the USSR and the GDR, and all these plans suffered a severe setback. The treaty solemnly proclaimed the inviolability of the borders of the GDR. In the event of one of the sides being subjected to an armed attack in Europe by any state or group of states, the other side would supply immediate assistance in accordance with the provisions of the Warsaw Treaty. The signatories to the treaty of the 12 June 1964 proceeded from the indisputable fact that there were two German states on German soil, as well as the separate political entity of West Berlin. They declared (Article 2 of the treaty) that they would constantly strive to normalise the situation.
The formation in the FRG in December 1966 of the "Grand Coalition" government headed by Kurt Kiesinger and the Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister, Willy Brandt, gave rise to fresh hopes of substantial changes in West German foreign policy. Essentially, though, the policy of the former government continued in force.
Positive changes began later, after the Bundestag elections in September 1969 and the coming to power of a government formed from the Social-Democratic and Free Democratic parties. The new government drew certain lessons from the failures of its predecessors' Ostpolitik ``(Eastern Policy''). Chancellor Willy Brandt made the improvement of relations with the USSR an important part of his policy. This new tendency in West German foreign policy was supported in the USSR. For many years the Soviet Government had sought to develop all the possibilities inherent in the agreement establishing diplomatic relations with the FRG, signed in 1955. Following complicated and prolonged negotiations, the 12 August 1970 saw the signing in Moscow of a treaty that marked a new stage in relations between the two countries.
The USSR and the FRG pledged to resolve disputes by peaceful means alone and to refrain from the use or threat of force. Great importance attached to Article 3 of the treaty, whereby both sides undertook to observe the territorial integrity of all the states of Europe 212 within their present borders. They declared that they regarded as inviolable both now and in the future the frontiers of all European states, including the Oder-Neisse line (the western boundary of the Polish People's Republic) and the border between the FRG and the GDR.
The treaty was a conspicuous success in the USSR's struggle to strengthen peace in Europe.
The signing of the treaty was used by reactionary forces in the FRG as a reason for fresh violent attacks on the principles of peaceful coexistence, the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic. They made every effort to delay the ratification of the treaty with the Soviet Union (as also happened with the treaty with the Polish People's Republic, signed by the FRG in December 1970). This activation of the West German ``ultras'' serves as a further, reminder to the peoples of Europe that revanchist sentiment in the FRG is long-lived. Nevertheless, the drive to ratify the treaties with the USSR and Poland united a sizable section of the country's population as they supported peace and the strengthening of European security. Both treaties were ratified by the Bundestag on the 19 May 1972.
The Four-Power Agreement on West Berlin, adopted in September 1971, was an important contribution towards ensuring peace and security.
__*_*_*__The Soviet Government considers that disarmament is one of the most important and urgent problems in international relations. Over 100 million people in all countries are either under arms or engaged in military production.
The NATO countries' military expenditure grows every year: in 1970 it stood at 103,000 million dollars, whereas in 1976 the USA alone spent over 100,000 million dollars on military requirements. The Pentagon put in a request for 113,000 million dollars to cover 1977.
Experts have calculated that the postwar arms race has swallowed up 6 million million dollars—a sum equivalent to the value of the whole world's gross product in 1976.
But the point is not just the enormous material losses incurred by the growing preparations for war. The continuation of the arms race is fraught with vast danger for humanity. The stockpiling of nuclear weapons of immense destructive power and the proliferation of new and sophisticated delivery vehicles constantly tempt militarist circles to trust to luck and to resolve all the arguments and contradictions through a pre-emptive strike at the socialist countries.
In 1956, the US Senate's Aeronautical and Space Sciences Commission invited a group of specialists to one of its meetings so as to discuss the feasibility (and the consequences) of a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. One of the consultants, General Gavin, informed the Senators that one such strike by the strategic air force would inevitably cause the deaths of hundreds of millions of people.
There is a further, no less dangerous aspect to consider. The more weapons are stockpiled, the greater the danger to mankind of a nuclear war ensuing through pure chance or error. There have been a number of cases where dubious alarm signals caused the US Strategic Air 213 Command to declare a standby alert. Ground-to-air missiles have been erroneously launched on several occasions. There is widespread knowledge of such cases as the explosion at a base in New Jersey where missiles with nuclear warheads were kept, or the ``loss'' of an atomic bomb near Palamos in Spain. In the conditions created by the arms race and international tension, war can break out through error or as a result of a nervous or psychological disorder in a pilot or missileman.
One further aspect of the problem should not be ignored. The further proliferation of nuclear weapons or, as the Western press puts it, the "expansion of the nuclear club'', will greatly intensify the risk of war. If the trend were to follow its logical progression, the number of nuclear powers would rise to 8-10, and ultimately to several score. This would immeasurably increase the danger of both the premeditated and the accidental outbreak of a thermonuclear war.
There is only one way of removing the threat that hovers over mankind—to call an end to the arms race and to bring about general and total disarmament. Soviet diplomacy is working towards this objective.
The 14th Session of the UN General Assembly in 1959 approved the ideas advanced by the Soviet Union, and unanimously adopted a resolution calling for universal and complete disarmament. The US representatives also voted for it.
Taking note of the comments made by a number of governments, the Soviet Government altered a few points in its draft in 1960. In the Ten-Nation Committee on Disarmament set up by the UN General Assembly to prepare a disarmament agreement, the French representatives expressed the wish that disarmament should begin with the destruction of the means of delivering nuclear weapons, i.e., ballistic missiles, satellites, supersonic aircraft, etc. Despite the fact that the Soviet Union had achieved universally known successes in this field, the Soviet Government agreed to accept the French proposal and announced this to all governments in a statement dated the 2 June 1960. The statement went on to say that, naturally enough, the banning and destruction of all nuclear weapons delivery vehicles would have to be accompanied by the dismantling of foreign military bases abroad, since the Western powers would otherwise gain a military advantage over the Soviet Union.
According to the representative of France, Jules Moch, the new Soviet proposal largely coincided with the views held by France and Britain. Nevertheless, the Committee of 10 made no progress towards drafting-an agreement. The Soviet Government suggested that the disarmament issue should be discussed at the UN General Assembly, and called on the heads of government to attend the Assembly in New York. The heads of government of several dozen countries responded to the proposal. They took part in the work of the 15th Session of the General Assembly, which opened in September 1960.
At the session the Soviet Government tabled its draft "Basic Provisions of a Treaty on General and Complete Disarmament'', which reflected the main proposals submitted by the Soviet Government on the 2 June I960, as well as several amendments that took account of the fresh wishes of other countries. It was now proposed at the initial stage to completely halt production and destroy all nuclear weapons delivery 214 vehicles, besides dismantling all foreign military bases abroad. It provided for a reduction in the US and Soviet armed forces to 1.7 million men each. At the second stage the intention was to impose a complete ban on nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, to halt production of them and to eliminate existing stockpiles, and to continue the reduction of conventional armaments and armed forces in all states. Finally, at the third stage, it was planned to complete the run-down of the armed forces of all states, to shut down all military establishments and to terminate expenditure for military purposes. The Soviet draft envisaged effective international control over disarmament. The drafts submitted by the Soviet delegation were supported by numerous mass organisations, scientists and influential politicians in many countries.
An agreement on general and complete disarmament became even more urgent and necessary as a result of the rapid progress of technology and the successes achieved in space exploration. On the 12 April 1961 the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. He made a complete orbit of the earth and returned successfully to Soviet territory. The Soviet Government again appealed for the achievements of human thought to be employed in the service of peace and progress.
However, the American side was not at that time disposed to take any concrete steps towards reaching an agreement. Making use of Soviet proposals for a peace treaty with Germany as a pretext for aggravating the situation, the US Government did its best to intensify the cold war and whip up the arms race. The military budget for 1961/62 that was submitted to Congress was the largest in the history of the USA (over 53,000 million dollars), and the armed forces grew by more than 200,000 men.
In December 1961 the UN General Assembly gave its approval to the formation of the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament: 5 socialist countries (the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Rumania and Bulgaria), 5 NATO countries (the USA, Britain, France, Italy and Canada) and 8 neutral countries (India, Burma, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Brazil, Mexico and Sweden). The committee set to work in March 1962. During the first days of the committee's functioning, the Soviet delegation submitted a detailed draft treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict international control. The draft provided for the carrying out of complete disarmament in a period of four years.
In April 1962 the eight neutral members of the Committee of 18 tabled proposals for ending nuclear weapons tests and establishing permanent control based on the monitoring stations already existing in the various countries.
The Soviet Government gave immediate support to this proposal and announced that, as a first step, it was prepared to undertake voluntarily not to carry out any nuclear explosions during the talks if the Western powers would adopt a similar position. The Western states' reply to the proposal of the eight neutral countries and to the peaceful Soviet statement, however, took the form of a series of nuclear explosions carried out by the USA and Britain near Christmas Island, as well as some American tests conducted in the atmosphere at a height of several hundred kilometres. The detonation of nuclear devices in space is extremely harmful to the population of the whole world. Such explosions 215 may make radio communication impossible for a lengthy period over vast areas. They may also affect changes in the earth's weather conditions and create serious obstacles to manned space flights.
Negotiations in the Committee of 18 dragged on for many months. By the summer of 1962, they were still at square one. The Soviet Government continued its persistent and stubborn attack on the positions of the hard-headed militarists, mobilising public opinion in all countries in the struggle for peace.
In order to prompt the reaching of an agreement to end the testing of nuclear weapons, the Soviet Government made an important proposal early in 1963: it consented to the carrying out of 2-3 inspections a year on Soviet territory. Since the Western powers had previously raised the question of the need for 3-4 inspections, the Soviet proposal seemingly paved the way for rapid agreement. However, as soon as the Soviet representatives in the Committee of 18 announced the USSR's agreement to the 2-3 inspections, the US Government declared that it considered 7-8 inspections a year necessary.
The Soviet Government tabled a further proposal. It expressed its readiness to conclude an agreement banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere, in space and under water.
During talks between the representatives of the USSR, the USA and Britain in Moscow, agreement was reached on the content of the treaty, which was signed on the 5 August 1963 by the three Great Powers. Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko signed for the USSR, Foreign Secretary Lord Home for Great Britain, and Secretary of State Dean Rusk for the USA. Article 1 of the treaty declares that each of the signatories undertakes to forbid, prevent and not to carry out any test explosions of nuclear weapons or any other nuclear explosions in the atmosphere or beyond its bounds, including territorial waters and the high seas. All states may freely accede to the treaty.
Over 100 states have signed the treaty. Of the major states only two, France and China, have taken up a negative position over the treaty.
Following Soviet-American negotiations, agreement was reached in 1963 that objects carrying nuclear weapons would not be put into orbit. Both agreements—the partial test ban treaty and the Soviet-US agreement just mentioned—indicated that there had been some improvement in relations between the two countries.
After the assassinatjon of President Kennedy in November 1963, the note of detente in Soviet-American relations began to fade rapidly.
However, the Soviet Government did not stop its efforts to improve these relations and to achieve disarmament. At the end of 1963 it made important new proposals. The Soviet Union considered it necessary to negotiate the signing of a non-aggression pact between the NATO countries and the Warsaw Treaty states. The Soviet Government suggested that a number of measures should be adopted to prevent any sudden attack. It was proposed, in particular, that surface control points should be set up, on a reciprocal basis, at airfields, at railway junctions, on truck roads and in large ports.
The beginning of 1964 was marked by a new peace initiative on the part of the Soviet Government—a proposal that an international treaty should be signed banning the use of force in the settlement of territorial 216 and border disputes. The proposal was accorded a warm reception by world opinion and by dozens of governments. US President Lyndon Johnson, who had succeeded John Kennedy, agreed in principle with it. It proved impossible, however, to put the idea into practice during the sixties.
Important new steps to reach agreement on disarmament were taken by the Soviet delegation at the 18th Session of the UN General Assembly. Just before the session, Western powers voiced their anxiety that in the process of total disarmament a state might be tempted to use hidden stockpiles of missiles and nuclear weapons against another country. Other opponents of the disarmament plans demanded that a "balance of forces" should be retained as a vital condition of disarmament. In order to allay all these Western anxieties, the Soviet representatives at the General Assembly submitted a new proposal—to allow the USSR and the USA to keep a limited quantity of intercontinental, anti-missile and ground-to-air missiles until the end of the whole disarmament process. This became known in the foreign press as the "nuclear umbrella" proposal.
The Soviet Government addressed to the 19th Session of the UN General Assembly a memorandum on measures to further ease international tension and restrain the arms race. These measures envisaged a 10--15 per cent cut in the military budgets of a number of states, the withdrawal or reduction in the numbers of foreign troops stationed outside their own countries, the dismantling of foreign military bases, prevention of the further proliferation of nuclear weapons and the banning of their use, the creation of nuclear-free zones, the conclusion of a non-aggression pact between the NATO and Warsaw Treaty states, and so on.
In the 1965 financial year, the USSR's military expenditure was cut by 500 million rubles. Previously it had been announced that preparations were in hand for a further reduction in the armed forces.
In the mid-sixties, warmongering circles in the capitalist countries drew up various plans to frustrate the impending detente. One of the dangerous ideas in circulation was the plan for setting up a multilateral nuclear force (MNF)—a scheme devised in Washington. Long-range Polaris missiles were to be carried by submarines, whose crews would be drawn from American, British, West German and other servicemen from the NATO countries. The MNF plan meant that the revanchist circles in the FRG would have access to nuclear weapons too. This would greatly increase the danger of the outbreak of a nuclear world war.
Accordingly, a meeting of the Warsaw Treaty states' Political Consultative Committee was held in Warsaw in January 1965.
The meeting warned the proponents of the MNF that, if they persisted in their efforts to set up such a force, the Warsaw Treaty states would be obliged to adopt retaliatory defensive measures to safeguard their security.
The autumn of 1965 saw the 20th, jubilee Session of the UN General Assembly. The session began in the difficult situation created by US aggression against the Vietnamese people and by the armed conflict between India and Pakistan. Various plans for giving the FRG access to nuclear weapons were causing increasing concern in Europe.
217The Soviet Government made use of the UN rostrum in order to unveil a far-reaching programme for peace. The Soviet delegation to the 20th Session submitted a draft treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. On behalf of the Soviet Government, the delegation demanded that the USA should terminate its intervention in Vietnam. In order to end the conflict between India and Pakistan, the Soviet Union made its good offices available. It even offered to arrange a meeting between the Indian and Pakistani leaders on Soviet territory. Such a meeting took place in Tashkent, with the participation of Alexei Kosygin, Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, in January 1966, and resulted in a great success for all supporters of peace. President Ayub Khan of Pakistan and Prime Minister Lai Shastri of India agreed at the talks to halt military operations and to abandon the use of force in settling their disputes.
In subsequent years the Soviet Government concentrated its efforts on diminishing the nuclear conflict threatening humanity. In the Committee of 18 at Geneva, during the talks with the representatives of the USA and other powers, Soviet representatives sought to see that an international treaty was drawn up to prevent the further spread of nuclear weapons throughout the world. After intensive diplomatic efforts, a draft treaty was agreed upon in 1968, and by mid-1969 the document had been signed by the governments of over 90 states. The coming into force of the treaty, on the 5 March 1970, was a major success for the Soviet Government's efforts to contain and end the arms race.
The Soviet Union's programme of struggle for disarmament was also put forward in a memorandum on certain urgent measures to end the arms race and to bring about disarmament, published on the 1 July 1968. The memorandum contained specific proposals, the practical implementation of which would lessen the danger of widespread military conflict. The Soviet Government proposed that the use of nuclear weapons should be banned; talks should begin on the cessation of their production; stockpiles should be run down; nuclear weapons should eventually be completely banned and eliminated; a halt should be immediately called to all nuclear tests, the flights of bombers carrying a nuclear pay load over foreign countries, and the patrolling of submarines armed with nuclear missiles; all states should be urged to carry out the Geneva Protocol of 1925; and foreign military bases established in other countries should be dismantled.
Talks between the Soviet and US Governments in limiting strategic armaments began in 1969 in Helsinki. Later they were continued in Vienna. During these years the Soviet Government and the governments of other socialist countries mounted a persistent diplomatic struggle to end the production and destroy the stockpiles of chemical and bacteriological weapons. At the 24th Session of the UN General Assembly, the Soviet delegation submitted a draft convention on these questions, which was approved by many states. Soviet diplomacy took the initiative, suggesting that regional security systems should be set up in various parts of the world. Soviet foreign policy achieved a major success in the late sixties when a treaty was concluded, banning the location of nuclear and other types of weapons of mass destruction in space, on the seabed and on ocean floors.
218 __ALPHA_LVL2__ The successes of the USSR and other socialist states in implementing the Peace Programme (1971--75).The successes of the USSR and other socialist states in implementing the Peace Programme (1971--75). = The world press has given the name of Peace Programme to the foreign policy programme of action by the Soviet state that was advanced by the 24th CPSU Congress. During the five years that followed the Congress the efforts of the Soviet Government were directed towards implementing it. The fact that considerable success was achieved here during the period is due to the cohesion of socialist countries and to the unity of action of these countries' ruling parties and governments in the political, economic and foreign policy spheres.
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union gave a great deal of attention to relations with the socialist states. These relations are characterised by the further development of the USSR's all-round cooperation with the socialist countries and by the strengthening of their joint international positions. The flowering of every socialist nation and the consolidation of socialist states' sovereignty are accompanied by the strengthening of their mutual ties and by the growth of common elements in their policies, economies and social life. Thanks to their unity, socialist countries have registered substantial international successes. Their joint action has created a solid barrier against the aggressive inclinations of the imperialist forces. The victory of the people of Vietnam is the most striking example.
Support by the Soviet Union and other socialist countries enabled the heroic people of Vietnam not only to successfully resist imperialist intervention, but also to inflict heavy defeats on the forces of the aggressor and the Saigon regime. The Vietnamese people's heroism and self-sacrifice, coupled with resolute support from socialist countries and progressive opinion throughout the world, proved stronger than the armies of the interventionists and their accomplices. All this obliged the US President to negotiate with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam anil the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam. The negotiations concluded on the 27 January 1973 with the signing in Paris of an agreement ending the war. The agreement confirmed the Vietnamese people's right to self-determination. It provided for the complete withdrawal from Vietnamese soil of all American and other foreign troops and laid down the fundamental principles for a peaceful political settlement of the problems of South Vietnam.
The Soviet Union continues to give the Vietnamese people far-ranging assistance with restoring their war-ravaged economy. In earlier years over 150 enterprises had been built in the DRV with Soviet assistance, but many of them were destroyed during the war. In the summer of 1973 the USSR and the DRV reached agreement on the participation of Soviet specialists in rehabilitating them. The USSR is also helping to build new installations in the DRV and is supplying industrial and agricultural equipment. The CC CPSU and the Soviet Government resolved to view as non-repayable aid the credits that the USSR made available to the DRV in previous years for the purpose of economic development.
The meeting of the Warsaw Treaty states' Political Consultative Committee that took place in Warsaw on the 17--18 April 1974 declared in 219 support of the DRV and PRO policy of strict compliance with the Paris cease-fire agreement and of restoring peace to Vietnam. The meeting also condemned the imperialist-backed attempts of the Saigon regime to frustrate the political settlement envisaged by the Paris agreement.
The victory of the Vietnamese people at the end of April 1975, the total collapse of the rotten Saigon regime, and the liberation of Saigon and later the whole of South Vietnam opened up the prospect of the reunification of the people and the building of socialism throughout Vietnam. After Vietnam, the peoples of Laos and Cambodia also won their freedom.
The last two years have witnessed historic events in the lives of Vietnam's heroic population of 50 million. On the 30 April 1975 the popular armed forces and the people of South Vietnam finally drove the American imperialists from Vietnamese soil. This historic act concluded the national democratic revolution and initiated a new stage in the whole country's advance towards socialism. Elections to a National Assembly for the whole of Vietnam were prepared and conducted under the supervision of the Vietnam Workers' Party. On the 25 April 1976 the whole population of both North and South took part in general elections and elected 492 deputies.
The National Assembly of a united Vietnam met from the 24 June to the 3 July 1976 in Hanoi. On the 2 July it proclaimed the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, decided that a new constitution should be drafted, gave official sanction to the republic's flag, state emblem, national anthem and capital, and established the supreme organs of state.
Vietnam has now become an important factor for peace and progress not just in South-East Asia, but in Asia as a whole.
During these years the friendly relations between the Soviet Union and the Korean People's Democratic Republic continued to develop on the basis of the treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance of the 6 July 1961.
In November 1974, during a visit to the Mongolian People's Republic by a Soviet Party and Government delegation led by CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, new agreements were signed with the aim of deepening all-round cooperation between the USSR and the MPR.
The combined efforts of socialist states secured universal recognition of the sovereignty of the German Democratic Republic, its entry to the UN, and international confirmation of the western borders of the socialist states of the GDR, Poland and Czechoslovakia. This was achieved through the conclusion of peace treaties between a number of countries. The most important results of the European peoples' liberation struggle during the Second World War were thus confirmed, and the way was paved for a stable peace and good-neighbour relations in Europe and beyond. The 7 October 1975 saw the signing in Moscow of a treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance between the USSR and the GDR, upholding and developing the earlier treaty relations.
Soviet-Cuban relations also grew stronger. The First Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (December 1975), which adopted a 220 Programme Platform was of great importance for the future development of Cuba.
The basis for close cooperation between socialist states and its organising force are provided by the indissoluble alliance between the socialist countries' Communist Parties, which is founded on the unity of their world outlook and their common aims and will. Regular meetings between socialist countries' Communist Party leaders, the smooth functioning of the Warsaw Treaty states' Political Consultative Committee, and ideological and economic cooperation strengthen the socialist countries' indissoluble unity and enhance their role and significance in international affairs.
The countries of the socialist community play a major part in the world economy: during the last quinquennium their industry developed four times more rapidly than that of the developed capitalist states. In July 1971, the countries belonging to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance adopted a long-term programme of socialist economic integration which was to be implemented by stages over the following 15--20 years. It provided for the joint exploitation of natural resources for the benefit of all, the supply of fuel, raw materials and sophisticated equipment, and the satisfaction of the demand for manufactured and food commodities. The implementation of this programme strengthens the material base of the socialist community.
Relations with countries that had freed themselves of colonial dependence occupied an important place in Soviet foreign policy during these years. They grew considerably more numerous and firm, and contained important new elements. The USSR does not interfere in these states' internal affairs and respects the right of every people to decide its own future. Here as everywhere else, though, the USSR is on the side of the forces of progress, democracy and national independence and continues to support the peoples who are fighting for their freedom. The victory of the peoples of Guinea-Bissau, the Cape Verde Islands, Mozambique and Angola crowned their many years of heroic struggle for independence. Soviet ties with the Republic of Guinea and the Congolese People's Republic have grown stronger over the recent years.
The USSR fully supports young states' legitimate aspirations and their determination to rid themselves of imperialist exploitation and economic dependence on the imperialist countries.
The further development of relations between the Soviet Union and India provides a splendid illustration of the strengthening of the alliance between the forces of socialism and national liberation. A 20-year treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation was signed between the two countries in August 1971. The treaty is of enormous importance to the development of bilateral relations between the USSR and India, and to the stabilisation of the situation in South Asia and in the continent as a whole. Both sides have undertaken to make every effort to preserve and strengthen peace in Asia and throughout the world.
Soviet-Indian relations were raised to a new and higher level by the visit of the Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, to the USSR in September 1971 and by the visit of CC CPSU General Secretary 221 Leonid Brezhnev to India. On the 29 November 1973 a Soviet-Indian declaration was signed in Delhi during Leonid Brezhnev's visit to India. The visits saw the signing of important agreements on the further development of economic and trade cooperation, and on cooperation between the USSR State Planning Committee and India's Planning Commission, as well as a consular convention. The identity of both sides' views on vital international issues is recorded in the joint Soviet-Indian declaration signed by CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The Indian economy is much benefitted by the arrangement whereby the Soviet Union will help to further expand the iron-- and-steel works at Bhilai (up to a capacity of 10 million tons of steel a year) and to build an oil refinery at Mothura with an annual capacity of 6 million tons of oil, a copper mining and enrichment complex at Malanjkhand, an underground railway in Calcutta, and other installations to be decided on subsequently. Also important is the agreement reached on the development of production cooperation in non-ferrous metallurgy, light industry and other industrial sectors.
The USSR gave active and consistent support to the people of Bangladesh in their struggle for freedom and independence and favoured the eventual normalisation of relations between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The expansion of economic and political ties with Turkey and the signing of economic and other agreements with Iran, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Laos made a considerable contribution towards improving the political climate throughout Asia.
The USSR has frequently proposed that a system of collective security should be set up in Asia: the proposal was first voiced in 1969 at the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties. On the 20 March 1972, in a speech at the 15th Congress of Soviet trade unions Leonid Brezhnev explained that collective security in Asia should be based on the principles of the non-use of force in relations between states, respect for their sovereignty and the inviolability of their borders, non-interference in domestic affairs and the broad development of economic and other cooperation on the basis of complete equality and mutual benefit. Leonid Brezhnev also mentioned the question on the 15' March 1973 in a speech delivered at Alma Ata and in October 1973 at the World Congress of Peace Forces.
The Soviet Union has put a great deal of effort into strengthening peace in the Middle East. However, the lengthy process of removing the aftermath of the Israeli aggression of 1967 in the Middle East and the desire of Zionist, imperialist and also Arab reactionary forces to retard the progressive development of the Arab countries have complicated the drive for peace and security in the area.
The friendly ties between the USSR and Syria have been strengthened. With Soviet assistance building work is now under way on a dam and a major power station on the Euphrates. A railway line is being built between Latakia and Qamishliye, and Syrian oil enterprises are also developing. In April 1974, during a visit paid to the USSR by the President of Syria and General Secretary of the Arab 222 Socialist Renaissance Party of Syria, Hafez Assad, an agreement was signed on the further development of economic and technical cooperation and also on measures to strengthen the defence capacity of the Syrian Arab Republic.
Friendly relations between the USSR and the Republic of Iraq were also strengthened. The 9 April 1972 saw the conclusion between the two countries of a treaty of friendship and cooperation, which was in the interests of both the Soviet and the Iraqi peoples and aimed to promote the achievement of a lasting and just peace in the Middle East.
Soviet cooperation with Algeria and South Yemen developed further, considerable steps were taken to develop Soviet-Libyan ties, and friendly contacts with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) were also strengthened.
Regarding the Palestinian resistance movement as a component of the Arab peoples' national liberation movement, the USSR championed the legitimate rights of the Arab people of Palestine. During a visit to Moscow in 1973, a PLO delegation headed by Yasser Arafat praised the friendly position adopted by the USSR, which supported the just cause of the Arabs and favoured a lasting and fair peace in the Middle East.
Relations between the USSR and the Arab Republic of Egypt (up to 1971—the United Arab Republic) have taken a different turn.
The policy of the USSR towards Egypt and Soviet efforts to find a political settlement to the Middle East crisis were held in high esteem by the Arab Socialist Union and by President Gamal Abdel Nasser. In a telegram of the 1 August 1970 addressed to the Soviet leaders he wrote: "We well remember all that the Soviet Union has done to give us assistance and support in all fields. The memory of this friendly and just position adopted by the Soviet Union will always remain in the consciousness of the broad masses of the loyal Arab people. It will be handed down from generation to generation as the ideal in relations between states and = peoples.''^^1^^
The 15 January 1971 saw the triumphal opening of the Aswan hydropower complex, built by the labour of Egyptian workers and engineers in collaboration with Soviet specialists and with the help of the Soviet Union.
When, on the 6 October 1973, the Israeli aggressors renewed the Middle East war, the Soviet Union gave the Arab states substantial help in armaments. It also provided political and diplomatic support by prompting the UN Security Council to pass a cease-fire resolution on the 22 October. This resolution also called for the practical implementation of the Security Council's resolution of the 22 November 1967. Thanks to the firm position adopted by the USSR and other peace-loving states, Israel was forced to curtail military operations and to embark on negotiations. The USSR took part in the Geneva peace conference on the Middle East in December 1973.
In January 1974, a US-sponsored agreement on the disengagement of troops on the Egypt-Israel front was signed, and May saw the signing _-_-_
~^^1^^ Pravda, 1 August 1970.
223 of a US and Soviet-sponsored agreement on the withdrawal of Syrian and Israeli forces and on the liberation of all Syrian territory occupied by Israel in 1973, as well as several areas seized in 1967.The Soviet Government continues to struggle to achieve a rapid and equitable settlement in the Middle East, resolutely condemning aggressive acts perpetrated by Israel. It provided effective assistance to Egypt in the construction of 400 industrial installations, some of which are already in operation.
In the light of all this, the decision taken on the 14 March 1976 at the suggestion of Anwar Sadat to unilaterally repudiate the treaty of friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union was an act of unfriendliness towards the USSR. This act by the Government of Egypt struck hardest at the interests of the Egyptian people and at the Arab peoples' liberation = struggle.^^1^^
The Soviet Government devoted great attention to collective security in Europe. The vital need, emphasised in the Peace Programme, to effect a fundamental swing towards detente and peace in Europe was reiterated in the declaration of the 26 January 1972 adopted by the meeting of the leaders of Communist and Workers' Parties and the heads of state of socialist countries in Prague. It stated that "European security and cooperation demand the setting up of a system of obligations that rule out the use or threat of force in mutual relations between states in Europe—a system that guarantees all countries from acts of aggression and which benefits every people and furthers its = prosperity''.^^2^^ The Prague meeting also favoured the early convening of European conference on security and cooperation, and formulated the seven principles on which inter-state relations in Europe should be based: the inviolability of borders; the non-use of force; peaceful coexistence; the fundamentals of good-neighbour relations and cooperation in the interests of peace; mutually beneficial ties between states; disarmament; and support for the = United Nations.^^3^^
At the end of February 1972, during a visit to the USSR by the Finnish President, Urho Kaleva Kekkonen, a discussion of international affairs once again lent support to the need for the early convening of a European conference and for the holding, as part of the preparations for it, of multilateral consultations with the participation of all the states involved.
Progress towards the convening of a European conference was accelerated by the Soviet-Italian negotiations in October 1972 and by the meeting between President Georges Pompidou of France and CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev in January 1973. Both sets of talks stated the need for the successful conclusion of multilateral preparatory consultations and for the convening of a European conference.
This idea was reaffirmed during the negotiations between the USSR _-_-_
~^^1^^ From a TASS statement in Pravda, 16 March 1976.
~^^2^^ From the Decree on Peace to the Pence Programme. 1917--1975, Moscow, 1975, p. 227 (in Russian).
~^^3^^ Ibid.
224 and the FRG in May 1973. Finally, the conclusion of a number of treaties was also relevant to the convening of the conference. The USSR, Poland, the GDR and Czechoslovakia signed treaties with the FRG proclaiming the inviolability of the borders that took shape in Europe as a result of the victory over fascism, as well as a treaty on settling the problems of West Berlin, and a number of bilateral treaties between many states were concluded on the basis of the principles of peaceful coexistence.The swing away from the cold war towards peaceful cooperation in international relations was a very favourable element in preparations for the European conference: it became possible as a result of the changed international balance of forces in favour of peace and progress and also thanks to the active struggle mounted by socialist countries and other peace-loving states for international detente. It was under the impact of these circumstances that the governments of the NATO countries were compelled on the 31 May 1972 to declare their agreement to take part in preliminary talks (consultations) regarding the preparation of a European conference. They took place in Helsinki from the 22 November 1972 to the 8 June 1973; 32 European states, the USA and Canada participated in them. The consultations ended with the adoption of recommendations on the organisation of the conference, its agenda, composition, date and venue.
Subsequently the European conference took place in three stages. The first stage, from the 3 to the 7 July 1973 in Helsinki, was attended by the foreign ministers of 35 states. The Soviet delegation tabled a draft General Declaration on the fundamentals of European security and the principles of relations between states in Europe. The draft formulated the basic propositions that should underlie the further development of these relations: sovereign equality, the rejection of force or the threat of it, the inviolability of frontiers, territorial integrity, the peaceful settlement of disputes, non-interference in internal matters, respect for the rights of man and basic freedoms, the equality and right of peoples to decide their own future, cooperation between states, and scrupulous fulfilment of obligations accepted under international law.
The second stage—from the 18 September 1973 to the 21 July 1975—was held in Geneva. During this stage the coordinating committee and the numerous commissions drafted documents for approval by the conference.
The third stage—from the 30 July to the 1 August 1975 in Helsinki—concluded with the signing by the leaders of 33 European states, the USA and Canada of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Speaking on the 31 July at the conference, the head of the Soviet delegation, Leonid Brezhnev, emphasised that the adoption of the document provided a solid base of fundamental principles that should determine the standards of conduct on the part of states in their relations between each other, the principles of peaceful coexistence, sovereignty and equitable cooperation between states with different social systems. The document confirmed the inviolability of the frontiers in Europe that had taken __PRINTERS_P_225_COMMENT__ 15---69 225 shape after the Second World War, and this unprecedented meeting between the leaders of 35 states was in itself an event of vast international significance. It marked the beginning of a new phase in detente.
However, the European conference is just the start of the multilateral process of strengthening security and developing cooperation in Europe: the states agreed to organise further meetings between their representatives and to hold the first of them in Belgrade in 1977.
The development of the Soviet Union's relations with West European powers is vital to normalising the situation in Europe.
In the course of Leonid Brezhnev's visit to France in September 1972 the "Principles of Cooperation Between the USSR and France" were formulated and signed. Two working meetings were held in 1973 between Leonid Brezhnev and the French President, Georges Pompidou. As a result, Soviet-French cooperation in many fields was deepened still further.
In March 1974, President Pompidou held talks with CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, and these helped to further strengthen the traditional friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between the USSR and France. The two sides emphasised the desire of both countries to step up their mutual action in order to consolidate detente in Europe, and to continue to hold regular summit meetings.
After the death of Georges Pompidou, the new President of France, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, also stressed the need to further develop relations with the Soviet Union. The continuity of the policy of accord and cooperation between both countries was demonstrated during Leonid Brezhnev's visit to France on the 4-7 December 1974 and also during the French President's official visit to the Soviet Union on the 14--18 October 1975. The outcome was the signing of a declaration on the further development of friendship and cooperation between the USSR and France. The agreements on cooperation between the USSR and France that have been signed in the fields of civil aviation and the aircraft industry, power engineering and tourism give concrete form to the propositions of the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference.
The consolidation of peace in Europe was also promoted by Leonid Brezhnev's visit to the FRG in June 1973. Some important agreements were signed during the Bonn talks—on developing economic, industrial and technical collaboration and on cultural cooperation. Measures to further develop air links between the two countries were also agreed on. The visits to the USSR by the FRG's Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt (October 1974), and Federal President, Walter Scheel (November 1975), were most important. As a result of the improved cooperation between the USSR and the FRG, trade between the two countries has quadrupled over the last five years. The FRG is now top of the table among the USSR's Western trading partners. Cultural ties and contacts between the two countries have expanded, even though the hostile activities of those in the FRG who oppose cooperation with the USSR have not yet come to an end. Thus, between 1971 and 1975 the USSR and other socialist countries achieved considerable success in improving peaceful relations in Europe.
226The change of the international balance of forces in favour of socialism prompted US ruling circles to adopt a more realistic course in their relations with the socialist countries, and primarily with the Soviet Union. The persistent and patient efforts of Soviet diplomacy, in conjunction with the determined resistance on the part of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries to imperialist aggression, were of prime importance in normalising Soviet-American relations.
The summit talks between the USSR and the USA in Moscow in May 1972 marked the beginning of the swing among US ruling circles towards a more realistic and constructive approach to the concrete problems of Soviet-American relations. The documents signed as a result of the negotiations between CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and US President Richard Nixon—on the fundamentals of relations between the two countries, the treaty to limit anti-missile defence systems, the interim agreement on certain measures to limit strategic offensive weapons, and others—received worldwide acclaim. The affirmation of the principle of peaceful coexistence in the document entitled The Basic Principles of Mutual Relations between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America was particularly important. The document underlines the fact that in the nuclear age there is no other basis for the maintenance of normal relations between the two countries.
Leonid Brezhnev's visit to the USA in June 1973 assisted the consolidation and further development of the positive changes that were occurring in relations between the world's two major powers. The visit concluded with the signing of ten agreements and documents. The most important of them is the Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War, which touches on the interests of humanity as a whole. The agreement stipulates that, if at some time relations between the USSR and the USA, or between each of these countries and other countries, appear to entail the risk of nuclear conflict, or if relations between countries that are not signatories to the agreement appear to entail the risk of nuclear war between the USSR and the USA, or between each of these countries and other countries, then the Soviet Union and the United States shall immediately proceed to urgent consultations with one another and shall make every effort to prevent nuclear war. The document entitled Fundamental Principles of Negotiations to Further Limit Strategic Offensive Weapons is also of substantial importance.
Other agreements signed during the talks concern cooperation in such fields as agriculture, science, technology, the peaceful use of atomic energy, education, culture, art, the resources of the World Ocean and the development of transport.
During the visit to Moscow of US President Richard Nixon from the 27 June to the 3 July 1974, the USSR and the USA signed a treaty limiting the underground testing of nuclear weapons and undertook, as of the 31 March 1976, to stop the underground testing of nuclear weapons with a capacity of over 150 kilotons. In the protocol to the Soviet-American treaty limiting anti-missile defence systems (26 May 1972) the USSR and the USA agreed to have only one site each on which anti-missile defence systems were deployed, instead of the two 227 allowed by the 1972 treaty. Also signed were Soviet-American agreements on cooperation in power engineering, in housing and other forms of construction, in current medical research, and so on. All these documents provide a solid political and legal basis for the development of mutually beneficial cooperation between the USSR and the USA on the principles of peaceful coexistence. They do, to a certain extent, diminish the danger of the outbreak of nuclear war.
After Richard Nixon's resignation, the new US President, Gerald Ford, declared his determination to maintain continuity in foreign policy. On the 23--24 November 1974 near Vladivostok a working meeting was held between CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and President Ford. During the meeting it was decided to sign in 1975 an agreement limiting strategic offensive weapons, valid until the end of 1985, on the basis of equality and security.
Important understandings on other unresolved political problems were also reached during the meeting near Vladivostok and in Helsinki.
While seeking a substantial improvement in Soviet-American relations, the Soviet Government has to bear in mind the fact that the USA is the leading force among the imperialist countries and that strong positions are still occupied in the USA by reactionary circles that retard the development of normal cooperation between the USA and the USSR and oppose detente, since they regard it as benefitting one side only—the Soviet Union. This refers particularly to the settlement of certain economic matters.
On the 18 October 1972, following discussions in the SovietAmerican commission on trade matters, agreements were signed on trade, the settlement of Lend-Lease repayments and the mutual granting of credits. The agreements make the following provisions: (a) the contracting parties shall, on a basis of reciprocity, confer on one another most-favoured-nation status; (b) if this status is established, the USSR undertakes to make payments in order to redeem its Lend-Lease debts; (c) credits shall be made available for trading operations.
Soviet economic bodies concluded a number of contracts providing for the participation of American firms in building industrial installations in the USSR, which also helped to improve Soviet-American relations.
However, in December 1974, a new trade bill, containing the "Jackson Amendment'', was passed in the USA. Discriminatory measures were applied as regards extending most-favoured-nation treatment to the USSR—measures that amounted to interference in the USSR's domestic affairs. Soviet commodities imported into the USA became subject to high tariffs (over 50 per cent higher than ordinary duty), and the USA refused to make credit available to cover items purchased by the Soviet Union. Accordingly, the Soviet Government was obliged to cancel the trade agreement of 1972. The Americans lost out heavily on this, since they forfeited the opportunity to compete for building contracts, which the Soviet Union subsequently placed with other countries.
228The leaders of the People's Republic of China have adopted a hostile attitude towards the USSR and the socialist countries and their policy of detente, disarmament and the struggle for peace and peaceful coexistence. Although the Maoists have frequently made official declarations to the effect that relations between the USSR and the PRC should be based on the principles of peaceful coexistence, they have in practice backtracked on their own proposals. They have failed to respond to Soviet proposals to conclude a treaty on the non-use of force (1971), on non-aggression (1973), on the settlement of frontier disputes and on improving relations on a mutually beneficial basis.^^1^^
The USSR has always adhered to a firm and principled policy: to wage a bitter struggle against the Maoists' hostile policies and yet at the same time to be ready to normalise relations with China on the principles of peaceful coexistence. The USSR has frequently pointed out that, if Peking returned to a policy that was really based on Marxism-Leninism and if it rejected its policy of hostility towards the socialist countries and began to cooperate with them, this would meet with an appropriate response from the Soviet side, thus making it possible for the development of good relations between the USSR and the PRC on the principles of socialist internationalism.
Thanks to the Party's persistent struggle to implement the Peace Programme, the international standing of the USSR has been greatly strengthened. Relying on the power, unity and dynamism of world socialism and on its strengthening alliance with all progressive and peace-loving forces, the USSR has brought about a swing in the development of international relations away from the cold war and towards the peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems, away from tension and towards detente and normal mutually beneficial cooperation between states. This was achieved in a bitter struggle against the world's reactionary forces—from extreme imperialist groupings and fascist elements to the Chinese Maoists.
The Peace Programme mapped out a realistic path towards ending the cold war and identified precise objectives in the struggle to ensure a transition from the danger of war to peaceful cooperation. The first stage in achieving world peace was an improvement in the international climate, which was an indication of the feasibility of attaining lasting peace.
Detente in mutual relations between the capitalist and socialist worlds was also given material form in the activation of economic, scientific, technological and cultural cooperation on the part of the USSR and the rest of the socialist states with the capitalist countries: this facilitated mutual understanding and the development of peaceful ties between peoples.
One of the main areas in the struggle to implement the Peace Programme is the demand for an end to the arms race and for total disarmament. This task is one of growing urgency today, since the _-_-_
~^^1^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Following Lenin's Course, Moscow, 1975, pp. 31, 84, 293.
229 aggressive forces of imperialism are spurring on the arms race. The USSR's ultimate objective in this field remains that of universal and total disarmament and a ban on the building of new, even more destructive weapons systems.The imperialist forces hostile to peace try to explain away the arms race and the increase in military expenditure and to justify NATO's military preparations by talking about the "Soviet threat''. It is not difficult to appreciate the falsehood of these statements. The peoples of the USSR need peace and not war, and in the USSR state funds are allocated primarily to raising the people's prosperity. The CPSU appeals to all peoples throughout the world and all countries to pool their efforts in order to put an end to the arms race and to bring about universal and complete disarmament.
While developing bilateral relations with various states, the Soviet Government also continues to play an active part at the United Nations with the intention of improving the international situation as a whole. At the 27th Session of the UN in 1972 the Soviet delegation tabled a motion "On the Non-Use of Force in International Relations and Perpetual Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons''. Also important were the Soviet Union's proposals, submitted to the UN in 1973 and supported by a majority of its members, that the permanent members of the Security Council should effect a 10 per cent cut in their military spending and that some of the money thus made available should be used for economic assistance to the developing countries.
The USSR also proposed that a worldwide treaty should be concluded, banning the use of force in international relations. The signatories would undertake to refrain from using any forms of weapons, including nuclear weapons, in order to resolve disputes.
The improvement in relations between countries with different socio-economic systems that has become apparent in recent years is also, to some extent, the result of the struggle on the part of world opinion for detente, which is developing in close accord with the USSR's peace-loving foreign policy.
During the last few years the activity of peace-loving opinion has been reflected in such large-scale events as the Assembly of Representatives of Public Opinion for European Security and Cooperation in Brussels (June 1972), the World Congress of Peace Forces in Moscow (October 1973) and the World Congress for International Women's Year in Berlin (October 1975).
The Brussels Assembly was a representative forum for a broad spectrum of public opinion in the European countries. Communists and Socialists, Catholics and bourgeois leaders, trade unionists, scientists and writers formulated in Brussels a programme of struggle for peace in Europe and submitted their concrete proposals on all vital international issues.
The Moscow Congress was an even more impressive demonstration
of the growing strength of public opinion and its influence on the
course of events. For several days the problems involved in
strengthening peace were discussed by 3,200 delegates from 140
countries and by the representatives of many international and
national organisations, the United Nations, international trade union
230
The USSR delegation in Helsinki
associations, all the churches and so on. The highlight of the Congress
was the speech delivered by Leonid Brezhnev in which a profound
analysis was given of the Soviet Union's approach to the
strengthening of peace and cooperation, together with an assessment of the
processes currently operating in the world. As a result of the free
discussion in the Congress's plenary sessions and in its 14
commissions, resolutions were adopted with the intention of mustering public
support in all countries for the further activation of efforts to
strengthen peace.
These congresses fulfilled an important role in mobilising the masses
for the struggle to consolidate peace.
~
The 25th CPSU Congress and its historic significance. = The 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was held between the 24 February and the 5 March 1976. It was attended by over 5,000 delegates, representing the 15,694,000 Communists in the country. Membership of the CPSU had risen by 2.6 million in five years.
231The Congress was also attended by 103 delegations from Communist, Workers', National Democratic and Socialist Parties from 96 countries. The delegations consisted of prominent figures in the communist, working-class and national liberation movements.
A characteristic feature of the decisions of the 25th Congress is their perfect continuity with the decisions of the 24th Congress and its principled Leninist policy of building a communist society in the USSR, creating the material and technical base of that society, improving the whole of the developed socialist system and implementing the Peace Programme. The Congress spelled out the tasks facing the tenth quinquennium, as well as the immediate prospects in all spheres of Soviet society as it continues to build communism.
All the documents issuing from the Congress—the Central Committee's Report, which was presented by CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and which featured a number of extremely important propositions and conclusions, later approved by the Congress, and the Guidelines for the Development of the National Economy of the USSR for 1976--1980, also endorsed by the Congress—form an important contribution to the theory and practice of communist construction.
The CC CPSU's Report to the 25th Congress presented a profound analysis of the situation in the world of today and described the international activities of the CPSU. The Congress summed up the first results of the implementation of the Peace Programme and determined the objectives of the further struggle for peace and international cooperation and for the freedom and independence of the peoples. The Congress declared that it was now essential to seek to accomplish the following urgent tasks as a matter of priority: to swell the active joint contribution of socialist states to the strengthening of peace; to bring about the curtailment of that growing threat to peace, the arms race, as well as the transition towards reducing stockpiles of weapons, thus facilitating disarmament; to concentrate the efforts of peace-loving states on eliminating the remaining potential sources of war and, above all, on working out a just and lasting settlement in the Middle East; to do everything possible in order to deepen detente and to give it substance as concrete forms of mutually beneficial cooperation between states; to persist with attempts to ensure security in Asia on the basis of the joint efforts of the states in that continent; to endeavour to conclude a world treaty on the non-use of force in international relations; to regard it as a priority task to completely eliminate all remnants of the system of colonial oppression— infringements of the equality and independence of peoples, and all sources of colonialism and racism; and to seek to remove discrimination and all artificial obstacles in international trade and all inequitable treatment, imposed solutions and exploitation in international economic relations.
The 25th Congress declared that Soviet foreign policy would be directed towards accomplishing these tasks and giving further substance to detente.
The Congress also elucidated the connection between the peaceful
coexistence of states with different social systems and the class
232
CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev speaking at the
25th Party Congress
struggle of the proletariat for the revolutionary transformation of the
capitalist world. Also clarified was the connection between political
detente and the world revolutionary process.
The events that had occurred in the world since the 24th CPSU Congress confirmed its conclusion that the general crisis of capitalism was continuing to deepen. All the vital centres of the world capitalist economy were in the grip of an economic crisis. As the CC CPSU's Report puts it, "The sharp cutback in production and the growing unemployment in most of the capitalist countries intertwine with such serious convulsions of the capitalist world economy as the monetary, energy and raw materials crises. Inflation has made the crisis processes especially acute. Impelled by the continuously growing military expenditure, it has attained dimensions unprecedented in peacetime."^^1^^ The capitalists are attempting to transfer the heavy burden of the crisis on to the shoulders of the working people: the rise in the cost of living and the reduction in the people's real incomes, steadily increasing unemployment, which now afflicts over 15 million people in the developed capitalist countries, and short-time working are all sufficient evidence of the instability of capitalism.
At the same time the world revolutionary process continues to develop. The class struggle of the working people under the guidance _-_-_
~^^1^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Report of the CPSU Central Committee and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy. XXVth Congress of the CPSU, Novosti Press Agency Publishing House, Moscow, 1976, p. 33.
233 of the working class against oppression by the capitalist monopolies, the national liberation movement for the independence of whole peoples, the development and consolidation of socialist countries and the growth of the favourable impact produced by their foreign policies—all determine the principal direction of social progress today.The events of recent years show that capitalism has no future as a social system, but it will not collapse automatically. Only social revolution—that powerful lever of social renewal—can lead to the destruction of capitalism.
As the 25th CPSU Congress underlined, Communists proceed in their struggle from the general laws of the development of a revolution and of the building of socialism and communism. The CC CPSU's Report makes the point clear: "A deep understanding of these general laws, and reliance on them, in combination with a creative approach and with consideration for the concrete conditions in each separate country, have been and remain the inalienable and distinctive feature of a = Marxist-Leninist.''^^1^^
These propositions were formulated in the resolutions of the international meetings of the fraternal Communist and Workers' Parties in 1957, 1960 and 1969. They underlie the internationalist unity of Communists in their struggle for the revolutionary transformation of the world, facilitating the discussion of problems that arise in a "comradely spirit in the framework of the immutable standards of equality and respect for the independence of each = Party".^^2^^
The Congress recalled the importance today of observing the principles of proletarian internationalism, which is one of the major principles of Marxism-Leninism, when it emphasised that Soviet Communists consider the "defence of proletarian internationalism the sacred duty of every = Marxist-Leninist".^^3^^
The practical activities of the CPSU in recent years to establish contacts with fraternal parties, regional conferences and meetings between Communist Parties, and proposals from many parties about the convening of a new world meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties all testify, like much else, to the strength and vitality of proletarian internationalism.
The Congress gave hearty approval to Leonid Brezhnev's proposal that a monument should be erected in Moscow in memory of the heroes of the international communist movement who had fallen at the hand of the class enemy. The erection of this monument would symbolise the CPSU's unchanging loyalty to the great cause of proletarian internationalism.
The enemies of communism often make a fuss about the fact that the Soviet people display solidarity with the struggle of other peoples for freedom, independence and progress. Sometimes they even try to prove that this runs counter to detente and peaceful coexistence. A perfectly precise and clear answer was given to these questions too in _-_-_
~^^1^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Report of the CPSU Central Committee and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy. XXVth Congress of the CPSU, p. 37.
~^^2^^ Ibid., p. 36.
~^^3^^ Ibid., p. 37.
234
The 25th CPSU Congress in session
the CC CPSU's Report to the 25th Congress and in the speeches
delivered by delegates and guests.
The 25th CPSU Congress reaffirmed that the USSR's Leninist foreign policy is a class policy. Detente does not abolish the laws of the class struggle: even during detente Communists will not accept capitalist exploitation, and monopolists will not side with the revolution. As for peaceful coexistence and detente, they refer to the sphere of interstate relations, in the course of which arguments and conflicts should not be settled through war or through the use or threat of force. They should be settled through peaceful negotiation with scrupulous observance of the principle of non-interference in the affairs of other states and with respect for their independence and sovereignty. Interstate relations of this kind create the most favourable conditions for peaceful socialist and communist construction and for the development of the world revolutionary process. Socialism and peace are indivisible. The struggle to preserve and strengthen peace is 235 in the interests of the Soviet people and is the greatest boon for all peoples throughout the world and an important condition for the progress of mankind today.
Summing up the Party's international activities, the CC CPSU declared to the Congress in its Report: "The international position of the Soviet Union has never been more stable. We have entered the fourth decade of peace.... The detente has become the leading trend. That is the main outcome of the Party's international = policy.''^^1^^
The Congress also noted that there are certain difficulties in the USSR's relations with capitalist countries. They are often founded on the reluctance of influential circles in bourgeois countries to part with the cold war state of mind and to consistently pursue a policy of mutually beneficial cooperation and non-interference in the affairs of other states. Consequently, if lasting peace is to be achieved in Europe and throughout the world, it is necessary to mount a long and stubborn struggle and to strive to make detente irreversible.
The Soviet people's conviction that the USSR's foreign policy is correct and their support for this policy, which is in the fundamental interests of all peoples throughout the world, form an important condition and guarantee of its success.
The CPSU's international policy is the cause of all the people. It is based on the economic and defensive capacity of the country, its spiritual potential and all that is created by the labour of the Soviet people. Consequently, it is the policy of the future.
The 25th Congress devoted a great deal of attention to the economic and social tasks of the Tenth Five-Year Plan.
As regards the basic trends in economic policy, the Ninth and Tenth Five-Year Plans do, in effect, form a single whole.
The Congress made it perfectly clear that the "cardinal task of the five-year period is to consistently implement the Communist Party's policy of promoting the people's living standards and cultural level on the basis of a dynamic and balanced development of social production and enhancement of its efficiency, the acceleration of scientific and technological progress, the growth of labour productivity and the utmost improvement of the quality of the work in every sector of the national = economy".^^2^^ This definition formulates the supreme long-term aim of the economic policy of the Party and the state—to raise the people's material and cultural standards—and also the ways and means of achieving it.
Compilation of the Tenth Five-Year Plan took place at the same time as the marshalling of the initial data for the development of the country's economy up to 1990. This made it possible to look ahead and to determine the nature and scale of the tasks confronting the Soviet state, to concentrate its resources in order to accomplish them, to identify potential problems and difficulties, and to ease the drawing up and fulfilment of programmes and projects that extended beyond a _-_-_
~^^1^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Report of the CPSU Central Committee and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy. XXVth Congress of the CPSU, p. 40.
~^^2^^ A. N. Kosygin, Guidelines for the Development of the National Economy of the USSR for 1976--1980, Moscow, 1976, p. 24.
236 single quinquennium. Calculation showed that between 1976 and 1990 the USSR will have approximately twice the amount of material and financial resources that it had during the last 15 years. This will create new possibilities for accomplishing in the USSR the basic social and economic tasks defined in the Party Programme, and in the resolutions of the 24th and 25th Party Congresses. The CC CPSU Report to the Congress makes the point explicit: "This concerns, notably, a further rise of the Soviet people's well-being, an improvement of the conditions of their work and everyday life, and considerable progress in public health, education and culture, in fact everything that helps to mould the new man, the harmoniously developed individual, and improve the socialist way of = life.''^^1^^The Tenth Five-Year Plan will mark a new stage in implementing the Party's long-term policy as regards socio-economic development and the construction of the material and technical base of communism in the context of the scientific and technological revolution. It will comprise a new stage in the development of socialist social relations and the Soviet way of life, and also in ensuring the USSR's security.
The main, distinctive features of the Tenth Five-Year Plan can be briefly defined as follows:
(a) it will be a quinquennium of all-round, complex, balanced development of the economy on a scale exceeding the assignments of the Eighth and Ninth Five-Year Plans;
(b) the greater intensification of production on the basis of scientific and technological progress and maximal economy measures will be crucial;
(c) it will be a quinquennium of resolute effort to implement the programme for boosting agriculture and its efficiency and to improve quality;
(d) the kernel of the five-year plan is expressed in the brief and comprehensive formula: the five-year plan of quality and efficiency to bring about the further growth of the economy and the prosperity of the people. In order to raise the efficiency of production, such indicators as lowering the consumption of prime commodities, raw materials and fuel, the better use of production capacity and the improvement of the consumer properties of all kinds of produce and goods will be determining factors;
(e) the role of international economic cooperation is growing fast, together with the deepening of socialist economic integration and the fuller use of the advantages of the international division of labour. This characterises the tenth quinquennium as a period of peaceful effort on the part of the Soviet state.
The programme for social development and raising the living standards of the people is characterised by the following indicators. The chief means of raising incomes is higher wages, which account for three-quarters of the total increase in income. The average pay of factory workers and office staff will rise by 16--18 per cent during the quinquennium with further improvements being made to basic rates _-_-_
~^^1^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Report of the CPSU Central Committee and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy. XXVth Congress of the CPSU, p. 48.
237 and remuneration. The earnings of collective farmers from their work on public land will rise by 24--27 per cent with improvements being made to the system of payment and the growth of the farms' productivity. Grants and benefits paid to the people from the social consumption funds will increase by 28--30 per cent, which will make it possible to carry through a number of new measures affecting the social security of mothers and raising the minimum pensions of factory workers, office staff and collective farmers.The volume of trade will rise by 27--29 per cent during the quinquennium, accompanied by fuller satisfaction of the solvent demand of the population for food products and manufactured items, and by the preservation of stable state retail prices for the main consumer items and the lowering of prices for certain kinds of commodities as and when the conditions for this are created and the commodity resources are accumulated.
Housing construction will proceed on a large scale: during the quinquennium 545--550 million square metres of living sp;;ce in residential blocks will be produced, and the comfort, planning and quality of accommodation will be improved. Some 100,000 million rubles of capital investment will be funnelled into housing and public building works. As before, the bulk of all housing will be built at the expense of the state, which will also encourage the development of cooperative building and private building in workers' settlements and rural areas.
During the tenth quinquennium the state will be putting a vast amount of effort into improving working conditions, public health and medical care and boosting the educational and cultural level of the Soviet people.
The whole of this vast social programme is based on the projected powerful upsurge in material production and the achievement of balanced development in the economy.
The CC CPSU Report to the 25th Party Congress declared that the "pivot of the Party's economic strategy both for the Tenth Five-Year Plan and for long-term development is a further build-up of the country's economic might, an enlargement and basic renewal of production assets and the maintenance of a stable, balanced growth of the heavy industry as the foundation of the = economy".^^1^^
The tenth quinquennium is seeing the preservation of the rapid rate of growth in heavy industry, the output of which should rise by 38--42 per cent. However, this does not imply any slackening of attention to expanding the production of consumer goods. Consumer output will be increased to the tune of 43,000--46,000 million rubles, as against a 39,000 million ruble increase during the ninth quinquennium.
The devising of large complex programmes designed to extend over two or three quinquennia—programmes for the development of the fuel and energy complex, metallurgy and the leading engineering sectors— will be of great importance to the development of the economy. In particular, further development will be carried out at the West Siberian _-_-_
~^^1^^ Ibid., p. 64.
238 complex, which is ultimately capable of supplying the whole country with about half of its oil and natural gas and a considerable proportion of its synthetic rubber and plastics. Exploitation of the productive forces of Eastern Siberia will also enter a new phase. The Sayan complex, for instance, the energy for which will be provided by the SayanoShushenskoye hydroelectric station (the most powerful in the world), will comprise large metallurgical and engineering installations. The construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway, which started during the ninth quinquennium, is of great importance in exploiting the natural resources of Eastern Siberia and the Soviet Far East.The CC CPSU's Report declares that the "Party regards the further development of agriculture as a key task of the state and the = people".^^1^^ Substantial measures are contemplated so as to create a firmer material base for agricultural production. It is planned to allocate 172,000 million rubles to the development of agriculture—41,000 million rubles more than during the ninth quinquennium—and to supply 467 million tons of fertiliser (as against 307 million tons during the ninth quinquennium). Supplies of machinery will be increased by 50 per cent, and this will enable the complex mechanisation of grain farming, livestock-raising and other agricultural sectors to be largely completed. During the five years it is planned to cultivate 9 million hectares of reclaimed land through land improvement schemes in the non-black earth strip of the RSFSR and through the setting up of major irrigation systems in the south and south-east of the European part of the country, in Central Asia and in Kazakhstan.
As the material and technical base of agriculture grows stronger, so the major task becomes that of improving its efficiency, its qualitative indicators, its organisations and its management.
These, then, are the tasks of the Tenth Five-Year Plan as regards social and economic policy. The programme is perfectly feasible, since the working people have a deep-rooted interest in implementing the plans drawn up by the Party.
The whole world followed the progress of the 25th CPSU Congress, seeing it as a new and historic stage in the advance of Soviet society towards communism.
The Congress produced a theoretical generalisation of the experience accumulated by the working people of the USSR and other socialist countries in their drive to build socialism and communism, and equipped the Party and the people with a knowledge of the concrete ways, methods and means of advancing further towards communism, which emerges from mature socialism.
The Congress provided a profound analysis of international relations, summed up the efforts of the USSR and other socialist countries to implement the Peace Programme advanced by the 24th CPSU Congress, and produced a programme of further struggle for peace and international cooperation and for the freedom and independence of the peoples in modern circumstances. It made an invaluable contribution towards resolving the vital problems of the current stage in the world revolutionary process and the international _-_-_
~^^1^^ L.I. Brezhnev, Report of the CPSU Central Committee and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy, XXVth Congress of the CPSU, p. 50.
239 communist movement and towards a scientific justification of its strategy and tactics, demonstrating the unswerving devotion of the CPSU to the principles of proletarian internationalism.The Congress was vitally significant in that it demonstrated, with renewed vigour, the monolithic unity of the CPSU, its utter devotion to the people and its unshakeable loyalty to Marxism-Leninism. The working people of the USSR expressed their wholehearted approval of the historic decisions of the 25th CPSU Congress which gave a new and powerful impetus to further achievements in the drive to build mankind's first communist society.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ The Constitution of developed socialism.The Constitution of developed socialism. = In 1977 the Soviet people and all progressive mankind celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of the Great October Revolution.
October 25 (November 7) 1917 witnessed the triumph of the first socialist revolution in world history. The Land of Soviets appeared on the map. In those distant years our country was an island in the world capitalist ocean. Today more than a thousand million people in the socialist countries celebrate the October anniversary with us. For millions of people in different countries the Great October Revolution is an example of the immense magnetic force, the tremendous advantages of socialism, which in a short space of time has succeeded in solving the most important problems of human history and has raised the peoples of Russia, enslaved until recently, to the level of developed socialist nations.
On the eve of the sixtieth anniversary of the Soviet state a new Constitution of the USSR was adopted.
More than forty years have passed since the adoption of the Constitution of 1936. The basic socialist principles enshrined in it withstood the test of time. The need for a new Constitution of the USSR was dictated by the radical changes which had taken place in all spheres of the life of Soviet society after the victory of socialism.
The economic basis of Soviet society was firmly established: today its economy is characterised by the undivided prevalence of socialist ownership in two forms—state (belonging to all the people) and collective farm-and-cooperative. A single powerful economic complex has been set up in the USSR, which is developing steadily and dynamically by combining the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution with the advantages of the socialist system.
Major changes have taken place in the social structure of Soviet society. In the mid-1930s more than half the population were peasants. Today the largest class in Soviet society is the working class, which accounts for two-thirds of the population. It is made up of millions of educated, technically proficient, politically mature people.
Today 73.2 per cent of workers have higher or secondary (eight- or ten-year) education. Forty years ago it was less than 8 per cent. The labour of Soviet workers is increasingly resembling the work of engineers and technicians.
Great changes have also taken place in the lives of collective farm peasants. The triumph of the collective farm system, the increased mechanisation of agriculture, and the rise in the educational and cultural level of rural workers have led to a significant improvement in 240 their way of life. In social status the collective farm peasantry is coming closer and closer to the working class.
In view of the rapid development of production, science and technology the Soviet intelligentsia, which is drawn mainly from workers and peasants, is growing. It has become truly people's. As the bearer of scientific and technological knowledge, the Soviet intelligentsia is playing an increasingly important role in communist construction.
The public activity of all strata of Soviet society, workers, the collective farm peasantry and the intelligentsia, has increased. Their participation in the state administration has broadened.
While the working class retains its leading role, all classes and social groups are drawing closer together, and the socialist society is growing more homogeneous. The finest qualities of the working class, their revolutionary spirit, capacity for organisation, and collectivism, are spreading to all strata of the population and becoming permanent features of the whole people.
The substantial differences between mental and physical work and between living conditions in town and country are gradually disappearing. The indestructible alliance of the working class, the collective farm peasantry and the people's intelligentsia, bound by firm ties and common interests, has become a real fact. This alliance is a most important source of and condition for the further successes of communist construction.
Over the years the economic and cultural level of all the republics of the Soviet Union has evened out. Particularly striking changes have taken place in republics that arose in place of the feudal or semi-feudal border provinces of the former tsarist empire. Within the lifetime of a single generation Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenia have become republics with a highly developed industry, large-scale mechanised agriculture, and advanced science and technology. The nations and nationalities of our multinational country are drawing ever closer together. As a result of their de jure and de facto equality in all spheres of life and fraternal cooperation and of the drawing together of all classes and social strata in the USSR a new historical community has developed, the Soviet people.
As a result of the drawing together of the two basic forms of socialist ownership and the gradual disappearance of the substantial differences between town and country, mental and physical labour, the social ideals and psychology of all strata of the population have also drawn closer together. Radical changes have also taken place in the political system. With the transition of all social strata and groups to the ideological and political standpoint of the working class, the Soviet state, which arose as a state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, has grown into a state of the whole people, which expresses the will and interests of the workers, peasants and intelligentsia, the working people of all nations and nationalities of the Soviet country.
In the last ten years the creative activity of the Soviet people has assumed unprecedented proportions, and its labour and public __PRINTERS_P_241_COMMENT__ 16---69 241 activities have increased. Economic and cultural construction is now carried on on a vast scale. In order to direct the creative energy of the people, the forces and resources of society towards the successful solving of the ever more complex tasks confronting us both at home and in the international arena, it is essential to pursue a scientifically based policy, which is a concrete and attainable programme of action. In these conditions the leading and guiding role of the CPSU in the life of Soviet society is continuing to grow. However, the strengthening of the leading role of the Party does not detract from the importance of state bodies, public organisations and work collectives. The CPSU guides their activity, without taking their place, and distinguishes strictly between the functions of Party and state bodies. The Party pursues its line, first and foremost, through Communists who are elected by the people to the Soviets and who work in state bodies and in the various public organisations. Thus, the Party acquires the real possibility of putting its policy into practice through the existing socio-political system, acting in accordance with the Constitution.
The growth in the role of the CPSU at the stage of developed socialism has been reflected in the new Constitution of the USSR.
In recent years the international standing of the Soviet Union has changed radically. In the mid-1930s the Soviet Union was the only socialist state in the world and was surrounded by hostile states. After the defeat of fascism and Japanese militarism in the Second World War and the victory of the people's democratic revolutions in a number of European and Asian countries the world socialist system has emerged and is developing successfully. The colonial system of imperialism has collapsed: more than two thousand million people have been liberated from colonial dependence. Scores of young states have been formed, many of which have rejected the capitalist path of development and turned to socialism. All this has greatly weakened the position of world imperialism.
The 1970s were heralded by important changes in the alignment of forces in the international arena. There was the historic turning from the cold war and military confrontation between states with different social systems to detente and the consolidating of the principles of peaceful coexistence. This was promoted to a considerable extent by the consistent policy of the Soviet Union and other countries of the world socialist community, aimed at averting the threat of nuclear war and strengthening peace.
The persistent struggle of the Soviet Union, the countries of the socialist community and all peace forces to save mankind from the threat of a nuclear catastrophe, for disarmament and a ban on the testing and production of new types of weapons of mass destruction, including the neutron bomb, made it possible to avert the threat of another world war.
These changes in the internal life of the USSR and its international status offered more favourable opportunities for solving such practical tasks as creating the material and technical basis of communism, transforming socialist social relations into communist ones, and moulding the man of communist society.
242The gradual advance of Soviet society at the stage of developed socialism determined the need for the drawing up of a new Constitution of the USSR.
The Supreme Soviet of the USSR set up a Constitution Commission under the chairmanship of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Leonid Brezhnev, which included Party and government officials and members of the working class, collective farm peasantry, and the intelligentsia.
The Constitution Commission drew up a draft of the new Constitution which retained and developed the ideas and principles outlined by Lenin for a socialist type of constitution: the first Soviet Constitution of 1918, which proclaimed the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat created by the October Revolution; the Constitution of 1924, the first constitution of the multi-national Soviet state, which gave legislative embodiment to the voluntary association of fraternal republics in a single state; and the Constitution of 1936, which consolidated the victory of socialism in the USSR. The draft of the new Constitution incorporated the previous constitutional experience of Soviet history and generalised it scientifically. It enriched this experience with a new content in keeping with the demands of the modern age.
On June 4, 1977, the draft of the new Constitution of the USSR was published in the central newspapers of the Soviet Union for nationwide discussion which continued for about four months. More than 140 million people, over four-fifths of the country's adult population, took part in it.
Soviet people discussed the draft thoroughly and knowledgeably, for in recent years the Soviet working people's competence in dealing with matters of state has grown immeasurably. The Constitution Commission and the editorial offices of newspapers and magazines received a stream of comments and proposals for improving the text of the draft. The Constitution Commission made a careful study of these comments and proposals, on the basis of which 119 of the draft's 173 articles were amended; in addition a new article was added. After revision the draft of the new Constitution contained nine sections, which included 21 chapters and 174 articles. At the same time Party and government bodies and departments, trade union, Komsomol and other public organisations were recommended to give careful consideration to all the working people's comments and proposals submitted during nationwide discussion of the draft Constitution of the USSR for improving the work of concrete areas of state, economic and cultural construction and to take the necessary measures to implement them.
On October 7, 1977, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR unanimously adopted and put into effect the new Constitution of the USSR, the world's first Fundamental Law of developed socialism. The day on which the Constitution of the USSR was adopted was declared a public holiday, Constitution Day.
The fact that these historic decisions were taken on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution was of profound significance: "This is not a mere coincidence in time of two major events in the life of our country. The connection between them goes 243 much deeper. The new Constitution, one might say, epitomises the whole sixty years' development of the Soviet state,'' said Leonid Brezhnev in his report on the Draft Constitution at the session of the Supreme Soviet of the = USSR.^^1^^
Speaking of the characteristic features of developed socialism and the solving of the direct tasks of building communism, Leonid Brezhnev noted in his report: "In short, whatever specific conditions may prevail in the countries building socialism, the stage of its advancement on its own basis, the stage of mature, developed socialist society is an indispensable link in the chain of social transformations, a relatively long stage of development on the path from capitalism to communism. Moreover, to discern and make use of all the potentialities of developed socialism means at the same time a transition to building = communism."^^2^^
The specific features and peculiarities of the new Constitution may be formulated as follows.
The main trend of all that is new in the Constitution of the USSR is to extend and deepen socialist democracy. "Under socialism,'' wrote Lenin, "...for the first time in the history of civilised society, the mass of the population will rise to taking an independent part, not only in voting and elections, but also in the everyday administration of the state."^^3^^
The society of developed socialism has also become the society of developed socialist democracy.
The new Constitution developed further the democratic principles of the formation and activity of the Soviets, the most representative bodies of state authority, their connection with the masses, and their practical activity in the interests of bringing about true sovereignty of the people. For the first time the new Constitution consolidates such forms of democracy as the nationwide discussion of important acts of state legislation.
Participation by the working people in production management has also been enshrined in the Constitution: they are granted extensive rights in the discussion and solution of state and public affairs. The clause on work collectives is in the chapter on the political system of the USSR.
An important feature of the new Constitution is a provision for the greater role and place of mass organisations of the working people — trade unions, Komsomol, cooperative and other mass organisations—in the administration of public and state affairs and in deciding political, economic, social and cultural matters.
The Constitution consolidates the position of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the system of public organisations. It is the guiding nucleus of these organisations. The CPSU is _-_-_
~^^1^^ L. I. Brezhnev, On the Draft Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Results of the Nationwide Discussion of the Draft, Novosti Press Agency Publishing House, Moscow, 1977, p. 7.
~^^2^^ Ibid., pp. 25--26.
~^^3^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 25. pp. 492--93.
244 composed of representatives of the people and serves the interests of the people.The new Fundamental Law, as the preceding Constitution, consolidates such rights as freedom of speech, the press, meetings, assembly, street processions and demonstrations.
All these political rights and freedoms are enjoyed by the people in the interests of strengthening and developing the socialist system. They are guaranteed by the right of working people to make use for these purposes of public buildings: clubs, palaces of culture and theatres. The working people of the Soviet Union and their public organisations and work collectives have the press, radio, television and other media of mass information at their disposal. Wide use is made of such forms of realising political freedoms as speaking at meetings and demonstrations and writing in newspapers and magazines. At the very dawn of Soviet power, Lenin said, speaking of the Constitution of 1918: "We do not promise that the Constitution will guarantee liberty and equality in general. Freedom—but for which class and for what = purpose?"^^1^^ These words of Lenin's are still relevant today, the only difference being, however, that now we are dealing not with a state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, but with a state of the whole people. The Constitution of the USSR ensures freedom and equality, including political freedoms, not for part of society, but for the whole Soviet people, for all the classes and social groups of our society. But for us too Lenin's words "for what purpose" this freedom is ensured retain their significance.
Under the Constitution the rights and freedoms of citizens may not and should not be used against socialist society and the state. That which is contrary to the interests of the people, the interests of communist construction, cannot find support in our society. Slander of the socialist system and anti-Soviet propaganda or agitation are forbidden by law.
The Constitution contains a special clause on the right of citizens to take part in the administration of state and public affairs; extensive rights are granted to citizens for the safeguarding of private interests; the guarantees of the political rights of Soviet citizens are strengthened. The Constitution deepens and extends socialist democracy in the sphere of socio-economic rights of citizens. These are the right to work and leisure, the right to health protection, the right to social security and education, the right to housing and other rights. Moreover, the content of these rights has grown more profound and their material guarantees are fuller. For example, the right to work, which has become the norm in the USSR, now includes the right to choose a type of occupation and activity in accordance with one's inclinations and professional training. This right is guaranteed by the stable development of the Soviet economy, which engenders a growing demand for qualified labour and specialists in many fields. It is also ensured by the highly developed system of general and specialised education, professional training and improving of qualifications. Today the USSR has 150,000 general education schools, 6,457 _-_-_
~^^1^^ Ibid., Vol. 30, p. 240.
245 vocational schools, 4,300 technical colleges, and 860 higher educational establishments.There are now~34 times as many specialists with higher and secondary specialised education in industry, and 47 times as many in agriculture, compared with 1936.
The new Constitution consolidates for the first time citizens' right to housing: this is guaranteed by the constantly increasing house-building, which is now seven times higher than in 1936, while rents remain unchanged.
The number of people receiving pensions, which have tripled in recent years, is constantly growing. There is a uniform system of social insurance and pensions for factory and office workers and collective farmers. The number of pensioners has risen from four million in 1940 to 46 million in 1977. The network of homes and boarding houses for invalids and the aged is constantly expanding. Thus, socialist democracy not only proclaims the rights of citizens, but also ensures them with firm guarantees.
The new Constitution proceeds from the unity of the rights and duties of Soviet citizens, who are obliged to observe the Constitution of the USSR and Soviet laws, to comply with the standards of socialist conduct and uphold the honour and dignity of Soviet citizenship.
For the first time the new Constitution included a special chapter (Ch. 4) dealing with the foreign policy of the USSR. In the postwar years the Soviet Government passed a law prohibiting war propaganda: its content is reflected in the Constitution. The relations of the USSR with other states are based on principles which fully reflect the propositions formulated in the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference of 1975.
The adoption and putting into effect of the new Constitution of the
USSR aroused tremendous interest all over the world and warm
approval from the working people of all countries.
~
The sixtieth anniversary of the Great October Revolution. = There is no event in the history of mankind of such significance and consequence as the victory of the socialist revolution in Russia, one of the largest countries in the world.
It changed the lives of the peoples of Russia radically and opened up a new era in world history, the era of the collapse of capitalism and the revolutionary transformation of the old world.
In the years which have passed since the victory of the Great October Revolution the face of our planet has changed markedly. The example of the workers and peasants of Russia, who breached the system of imperialist rule and oppression, inspired the working people of all countries in their struggle against the dominion of capital, against an outdated system that brings poverty, unemployment and war.
The Soviet land has lived and laboured for over sixty years, which is a very short period in the history of the development of a society, if one takes into account that for twenty years, one-third of its 246 history, the Soviet people has been compelled to fight and restore an economy devastated by war and intervention. In only six decades the Soviet country made a huge leap forward not only in the sphere of raising the people's culture and education, but also in such a " capitalist" sphere as industrial production. In sixty years the USSR has attained an industrial growth rate that took the world's most developed country, the USA, 120--130 years to achieve.
A vast distance, not in time, but in terms of what has been done, separates the Soviet present from the early years of Soviet power, when socialist construction began here. The years passed and the enthusiasm of the builders of Magnitka and the Kuzbas, who lived on meagre rations in cold huts, has gone down in history, as have the first drafts of the Electrification of Russia Plan (GOELRO), the bitter, harsh years of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet atomic power stations and huge factories, and the world's first spaceship, which blazed the trail to outer space.
Before the October Revolution tsarist Russia lagged behind the main capitalist countries in level of development. Today the USSR is a major, rapidly developing industrial power. On the main indices it occupies first place in Europe and second in the world. The Soviet Union produces one-fifth of the world's industrial output. The successes of the country's socialist economy speak for themselves: in 1977, the national income was 68 times higher than before the revolution, and industrial production 145 times higher. In 1980 our country's output in sixteen days was equal to that for the whole of 1940. During the years of Soviet power homes with a total of 3,200 million square metres living space have been built. In ten years alone (1966--1976) almost 122 million people received new homes, a figure which exceeds the combined population of Great Britain and West Germany.
The well-being of the Soviet people is steadily growing. Real wages are rising. The basis of this rise is remuneration for labour and the social consumption funds, which are one of the most important features of socialist society. These funds are spent on providing free education and raising of qualifications, free medical care, pensions, grants, scholarships, free and cut-rate vouchers for sanatoria and holiday homes, and paid leave. Part of these funds is used to cover the expenses of maintaining dwelling houses. The role of social funds in raising real incomes is constantly growing. Thus, in 1936 payments and benefits from these funds per head of the population-totalled 21 rubles, compared with 382 rubles in 1977.
In the last ten years approximately 4,000 large industrial projects began operation and thousands of existing factories were reconstructed. The tenth five-year plan period included such important construction projects as the unique Baikal-Amur Railway, the automobile plant for producing heavy-duty lorries on the River Kama in Tataria,and Atommash, a giant factory, supplier of installations for atomic power stations; an impressive irrigation and land improvement programme was carried out in the non-Black-Earth zone of the RSFSR. Large hydroelectric stations were constructed, such as the Nurek station in Tajikistan and the Sayano-Shushenskoye station on 247 the River Enisei in Siberia, and the opening up of the Soviet Far East and Siberia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia continued.
A developed, mature socialist society has been built in the Soviet Union. The Soviet economy, a single, powerful economic complex in which all the production and economic links are closely interconnected, is developing successfully.
The socialist way of life has been established in Soviet society, the most important features of which are creative labour for the good of society, and atmosphere of true collectivism and comradeship, patriotism and internationalism, social optimism, creative activity, and striving for spiritual enrichment.
The new Soviet Constitution was adopted in the year of the sixtieth anniversary of the October Revolution. It reflects the main achievements of the socialist revolution, the path traversed by the Soviet country in the building of the new society.
The sixtieth anniversary of the victory of the October Revolution revealed its historical and international importance.
The main result of the October Revolution, which has determined the face of the modern age, was the emergence and further development of the world socialist system. The October Revolution had a tremendous influence on the development of the national liberation movement and the abolition of the imperialist colonial System. As a result of its collapse more than ninety states have gained national independence.
Under the influence of the ideas of the October Revolution and thanks to the success of socialist construction there has been a growth in the political consciousness and organisation of the working class of the capitalist countries, led by the Communist and Workers' parties, and a broadening of its allies' front in the struggle against monopoly rule, and for democracy and socialism.
As a result of a radical change in the balance of forces in the world historical initiative is now in the hands of the socialist countries. Their international position is growing stronger and their influence on the course of world events more profound.
"We are advancing towards the epoch when socialism, in some specific, historically determined form or other, will be the prevailing social system on earth, bringing with it peace, freedom, equality, and well-being to the whole of working = mankind,"^^1^^ said Leonid Brezhnev in his report on the sixtieth anniversary of the Great October Revolution. The October Revolution brought about radical changes in the solution of the age-old problem of human history—that of war and peace.
The Soviet Union continues, as before, to pursue a peace-loving foreign policy, the policy of peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems. We support the view that the historical dispute between socialism and capitalism should be solved not on the battlefields, but in the sphere of peaceful creative labour. In 1917, the first decree to be signed by Lenin was the Decree on Peace. It laid the _-_-_
~^^1^^ L.I. Brezhnev, The Great October Revolution and Mankind's Progress, Novosti Press Agency Publishing House, Moscow, 1977, p. 32.
248 foundation for new relations between states and peoples. It outlined the principles of inter-state relations which later became known as the policy of peaceful coexistence. This policy is in the interests of the peoples of all countries.The Soviet Union and other socialist countries continue to strive hard to guide international relations in the direction of peace, and do their utmost to reduce, with the aim of eventually eliminating entirely, the threat of nuclear war, to curb the arms race and to constantly reduce the level of military confrontation of the two systems.
The celebration of the sixtieth anniversary was new confirmation of the historic importance of the victory of the October Revolution.
In the Soviet Union preparations for the anniversary took place in the atmosphere of moral and political uplift that arose in the course of the discussion and adoption of the new Constitution of the USSR.
Great interest in this anniversary was shown all over the world. It was accompanied everywhere by the holding of meetings of international organisations, scientific sessions, and exhibitions devoted to this important event. This served to reveal the historic significance of the October Revolution and to demonstrate the achievements of the birthplace of the October Revolution in the construction of socialism and communism.
On the eve of the anniversary, on November 2 and 3, 1977, in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses in Moscow a jubilee meeting was held of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Supreme Soviets of the USSR and RSFSR with the participation of many foreign and Soviet guests.
The celebrations in Moscow were attended by 123 delegations from 104 countries who expressed their solidarity with the Soviet people.
The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Leonid Brezhnev, presented a report On the Great October Revolution and Mankind's Progress. Soviet radio and television broadcast live from the meeting hall. Millions of people in the USSR and other countries were able to watch and listen to the speeches at this meeting. In his report Leonid Brezhnev spoke of the historical path of the struggle and victories of the Soviet people, the pioneer of the new age of revolutionary renewal of the world.
In an historically short space of time a society has been constructed in the USSR that is free of crises, unemployment and social injustice, a society that ensures the reality of all the rights and freedoms which it proclaims. Seeing these socialist achievements, the peoples of the world are turning more and more to the ideas and practice of socialist democracy.
These triumphs of the people, achieved by implementing Lenin's ideas, have confirmed the Tightness of the most important MarxistLeninist proposition on the decisive role in history of the working masses, who are capable of creating, in Lenin's words, "something infinitely loftier than the greatest genius can = foresee".^^1^^
_-_-_~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 26, p. 474.
249The result of the transformations that have taken place in the USSR was the building of a developed socialist society which is gradually growing into a communist society.
The potential of the society of developed socialism is tremendous. Leonid Brezhnev's report formulates clearly the historical tasks of the Soviet Union in realising this potential and shows the measure of historical responsibility of the Party and people for this realisation.
An important place in Leonid Brezhnev's report was given over to questions of peace. Detente was the result of a change in the balance of power in the world between capitalism and socialism, the growth of the strength and international authority of the countries of the socialist community. At the same time it is also a result of the successes of the international working-class movement and the forces of the national liberation movement.
International relations are at a crossroads leading either to increased trust and cooperation, a strengthening of the policy of peaceful coexistence and, in the final analysis, a lasting peace, or to increased mutual fear, a balancing on the brink of war.
The growth of military potential that is taking place in a number of countries threatens the existence of mankind itself. This is why the radical measures proposed by Brezhnev, simultaneous cessation of production of nuclear weapons by all states, a temporary ban on all nuclear tests, and the declaration of a moratorium on nuclear explosions for peaceful purposes, were greeted with approval by progressive people the world over.
In their address "To the Peoples, Parliaments and Governments of All Countries" the participants in the special meeting announced: "The Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Soviet Government and our whole people will continue to strive determinedly for the strengthening of peace and peaceful coexistence, for an end to the arms race, for a reduction in weapons and eventually for general and complete disarmament under strict international control.'' The participants in the jubilee meeting delivered vivid, moving speeches about the importance of the great feat of the workers and peasants of Russia in October 1917, of which the building of a society of developed socialism and communism in the USSR was the continuation.
N. P. Bogdanov, who took part in the February and October revolutions, said: "Lenin's behests, his immortal ideas, live on and triumph in the deeds of our people, in the growth of the economic might of the Soviet state, in the flowering of science and culture, in the improved well-being of the working people."
Le Duan, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam conveyed warm congratulations to the fraternal Soviet people. "Like the morning sun,'' he said, "the October Revolution drove away the cheerless gloom of capitalism, heralding the arrival of the shining dawn of socialism on one-sixth of the globe and opening up a new era in the history of human society."
Alvaro Cunhal, General Secretary of the Portuguese Communist Party, spoke of the indissoluble link between the struggle for democracy and the struggle for socialism.
250Luis Corvalan, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Chile, expressed warm gratitude to the Soviet people and the Central Committee of the CPSU for their active and unlimited solidarity with the struggling Chilean people.
Enrico Berlinguer, General Secretary of the Italian Communist Party, Paul Laurent, Secretary of the French Communist Party, and many representatives of Communist and Workers' parties spoke of the search for the best ways of struggling for the victory of the revolution and socialism in their countries and of internationalist communist solidarity.
There were also many congratulations and greetings from various countries to the Soviet people and the Soviet Government.
In his address the President Kekkonen of Finland noted: "The indisputable achievements of the Soviet Union over the last sixty years in various spheres have dispelled all doubts concerning the viability of the world's first socialist state. The influence of the historic events of October 1917 and the purposeful creative labour of the Soviet people extends far beyond the borders of the USSR."
The Prime Minister of India, Moiarji Desai, in his speech said: "The bonds of friendship and cooperation are the cornerstone of our future relations, which will become even broader and more fruitful than before."
Praising highly the fraternal solidarity of the Soviet Union with peoples fighting for their social and national progress, General Secretary of the Democratic Party of Guinea, President of the Republic of Guinea, Ahmed Sekou Toure, noted: "We greatly value the contribution of the Soviet Union to the liberation struggle of all peoples under colonial rule, and particularly the all-round assistance of the friendly Soviet people to the young independent states."
The October celebrations were a splendid demonstration of
proletarian internationalism and the solidarity of the working people of
the whole world with the first socialist country, with its peace policy,
and with its support of national liberation and social progress.
~
Soviet foreign policy in the latter half of the 1970s and the early 1980s. = Efforts to develop and strengthen the world socialist system and to defend it from aggressive imperialist encroachments remained among the central tasks of Soviet foreign policy in this period too.
The new USSR Constitution stresses that "the USSR, as a part of the world system of socialism and of the socialist community, promotes and strengthens friendship, cooperation, and comradely mutual assistance with other socialist countries on the basis of the principle of socialist internationalism, and takes an active part in socialist economic integration and the socialist international division of = labour".^^1^^
Joint rebuttal of hostile imperialist schemes and attempts at subverting the socialist system in this or that country is indispensable for the successful development of the world socialist system.
_-_-_~^^1^^ Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Novosti Press Agency Publishing House, Moscow. 1977, pp. 32--33.
251Relations among the socialist countries comprise contacts and cooperation among governmental bodies, public organisations, cities, factories, state and collective farms.
Typical features of Soviet relations with the countries of the socialist community include deeper bilateral cooperation based on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance treaties, expanded multilateral ties in the military and economic spheres, and coordination of foreign policy efforts by the Communist parties and governments of the socialist countries.
The Soviet Union's relations with most socialist countries rest on a firm basis of treaties. Bilateral agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Hungary, Mongolia, Poland and Romania, whether concluded anew or prolongated in the 1970s, and bilateral relations between these countries make up a whole system of allied obligations of a new type. As Leonid Brezhnev said at the 26th CPSU Congress, the socialist countries are building "a type of truly just, equal, and fraternal relations between states never seen in history before".^^1^^ Facts have convinced the socialist countries that observance of treaties is a tradition of Soviet foreign policy.
The Soviet Government does all it can to ensure the fullest and most comprehensive solidarity and internationalism in all aspects of its relations with the fraternal countries. Much attention is paid to the strengthening of allied relations with these countries, the perfection of the political and defence mechanism within the framework of the Warsaw Treaty Organisation. Party and government leaders from the socialist countries regularly meet and discuss key world issues in a businesslike and friendly way. They coordinate their foreign policies to safeguard and consolidate peace.
The socialist countries draw up and collectively implement their scientifically sound foreign policy. In 1973--1975, they played a decisive role in the preparation and successful implementation of the 35-nation European Conference. Now they exert tremendous efforts to develop and strengthen detente and to neutralise hotbeds of armed conflict, including the hotbed in the Middle East. They offer comprehensive assistance to victims of aggression and rebuff imperialist attempts at exporting counter-revolution—for example, the one undertaken during the final stages of the Angolan people's struggle for independence in 1974--1975.
Of particular importance are conferences of the Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Treaty Organisation, at which leaders of the socialist countries meet regularly. To perfect the consultation mechanism, the November 1976 session of the Committee decided to establish a special committee at the foreign ministers' level.
At the Belgrade (1977--1978) and Madrid (1980--1981) conferences of _-_-_
~^^1^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Report of the Central Committee of the CPSU to the XXVI Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy, Novosti Press Agency Publishing House, Moscow, 1981, p. 8.
252 participants in the European Conference, the socialist countries pursued a concerted policy to promote greater trust among European nations and convene a disarmament conference.The 26th Congress of the CPSU noted that the Soviet Union and other socialist countries had established a consensus of principle on all important problems of socio-economic development and world politics. Regular contacts among the leaders of the socialist countries are held without the formalities of protocol, in a friendly atmosphere.
The Congress also defined the difficulties which had accompanied the socialist countries' efforts to solve their problems in recent years: the deterioration of the world economic situation, obstacles in the way of detente, the imperialist-imposed arms race, and the intensified ideological struggle.
Besides, the Congress openly recognised the mistakes that found their way into the domestic policy of the socialist countries. In this connection, the Congress referred to the cpmplex and dangerous situation in Poland in late 1980-early 1981.
The policy of the Chinese leaders who have sided with the imperialist countries in their approach to a number of key world issues, remains aimed at aggravating the international situation.
Still, despite all these difficulties, the socialist system is advancing dynamically. The Soviet Union makes a significant contribution to greater unity among the socialist countries and to the implementation of their peaceful foreign policy.
The support of the popular struggle against imperialism and neocolonialism, for complete national and social emancipation was an important aspect of Soviet foreign policy in the latter half of the 1970s.
As Leonid Brezhnev said at the 25th CPSU Congress, "The Soviet Union's attitude to the complicated processes taking place within the developing countries is clear and definite. The Soviet Union does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and peoples. It is an immutable principle of our Leninist foreign policy to respect the sacred right of every people, every country, to choose its own way of development. But we do not conceal our views. In the developing countries, as everywhere else, we are on the side of the forces of progress, democracy and national independence, and regard them as friends and comrades in = struggle.''^^1^^ Soviet assistance to the nations fighting for independence is selfless: the USSR seeks no profit in Asia, Africa or Latin America, it does not look for economic privileges or concessions and builds no military bases there.
Soviet cooperation with the developing countries facilitates the restructuring of their economies and social life on a progressive basis. During the 1970s, the Soviet Union concluded friendship and cooperation treaties with several Asian and African nations.
The Soviet Government is active in the efforts to achieve a just and peaceful settlement in the Middle East. It extends political and material _-_-_
~^^1^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Report of the CPSU Central Committee and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy. XXVth Congress of the CPSU, p. 16.
253 assistance to the Arab peoples who have to defend themselves against Israeli aggression supported by the United States and some other capitalist countries. The Soviet Union has advanced concrete proposals about a comprehensive solution of this protracted international conflict based on restoring all territories annexed by Israel to the Arab countries; recognising the right of the Arab people of Palestine to create a sovereign state; ending the state of war in the region; recognising the right of'all countries in the region to independent and sovereign existence; and offering iniernational guarantees to preserve durable peace. The Soviet Government stands firmly on this position of principle, despite the attempts by the conservative forces in some Arab countries at fomenting anti-Sovietism and rupturing friendly tics with the Soviet Union.The Soviet Union and other socialist countries assisted the peoples of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau who completed their hard struggle for independence in the 1970s; they are helping to strengthen the democratic regime in Ethiopia, etc.
Soviet delegates at the United Nations consistently advocate efforts to eliminate all vestiges of colonial rule in southern Africa and other regions. The Soviet Union fully supports the lawful claims of newly free countries, their dedication to end imperialist exploitation and become masters of their own natural resources.
In this connection, the Soviet Union is active in supporting the initiative concerning the establishment of a new international economic order based on equality, sovereign enjoyment of equal rights, and cooperation among all nations. This new order is to eliminate inequality and the existing injustice, make it possible to bridge the growing gap between the developed and developing countries in the economic sphere, and ensure swifter economic and social progress for the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The Soviet Union pays special attention to developing and deepening friendly ties and cooperation with the countries who are in the forefront of the national liberation struggle, who have chosen the socialist-oriented path. The comprehensive cooperation of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries with these nations helps them to solve their basic economic problems and implement progressive socio-economic transformations. The USSR effectively supports the progressive regimes' desire to expand and strengthen the state sector, so important for the advancement of their national economies; to promote economic planning and carry out radical agricultural reform. The development of comprehensive cooperation between the newly independent nations on the one hand and the Soviet Union and other socialist countries on the other helps to consolidate the democratic forces of these nations, expand the national working class and strengthen the entire anti-imperialist front.
Today many newly liberated countries reject the capitalist way of development and turn towards socialism. As Leonid Brezhnev said, "The socialist countries are staunch and reliable friends of these countries, and are prepared to give them all possible assistance and support in their development along the progressive path. This means 254 not only moral and political, but also economic and organisational support, including assistance in strengthening their = defences."^^1^^
The Soviet Union shapes its foreign economic policy to meet the needs of the developing countries, of newly independent states as fully as possible. Priority is accorded to assisting in their industrial development, for only the creation of a modern industry, the basis of their national economies, will enable these countries to overcome the holdovers of colonial rule and attain genuine independence. The Soviet Union is assisting the developing countries in the construction of metallurgical and machine-building projects, oil refineries and large power stations. The Al-Thawrah hydropower project built in Syria with Soviet assistance accounts for over 70 per cent of the nation's electric power supply, the second stage of the steel project in Algeria increased its output to two million tons of steel a year, etc. In several African countries, the Soviet Union has helped to equip agriculture with machinery and establish agricultural machinery rental agencies.
In 1978, the Soviet Union's foreign trade turnover with the developing countries was 8,551,000 million = rubles.^^2^^ Cooperation with some countries—for example, with India—has for many years been based on long-term agreements. Mutual profit is the salient feature of this cooperation. A large part of all assistance is used to develop the state sector. This enables the newly independent countries to nationalise key branches of their economies and resist the expansion of multinational monopolies more effectively.
Cooperation with the Soviet Union and other socialist states and their policy of detente greatly benefit the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Detente hampers counter-revolutionary intervention by the imperialist powers and enables the newly independent states to effectively safeguard their national sovereignty, including that over their natural resources, and become masters of their own countries. Further progress in detente may bring about practical implementation of the Soviet proposal about reducing the military budgets of the permanent members of the UN Security Council by 10 per cent and using part of the funds thus released for assistance to the developing countries. This would help greatly in the fight against the traditional enemies of Asia, Africa and Latin America—famine, illiteracy and disease. Soviet foreign policy and direct assistance to the peoples fighting for their liberation are of great importance for hundreds of millions of people.
The Soviet Union and other fraternal countries help in strengthening the defence capabilities of the liberated countries—Angola, Ethiopia and others. As Leonid Brezhnev said at the 26th CPSU Congress, "we are against the export of revolution, and we cannot agree to any export of counter-revolution = either."^^3^^
_-_-_~^^1^^ L. I. Brezhnev, The Great October Revolution and Mankind's Progress, p. 22.
~^^2^^ National Economy of the USSR in 1978, Statistical Yearbook, Moscow, 1979, p. 548 (in Russian).
~^^3^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Report of the Central Committee of the CPSU to the XXVI Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy, p. 18.
255Imperialism launched an undeclared war against the Afghan revolution and threatened the security of the Soviet Union's southern border. Therefore, the Soviet Government rendered military assistance to friendly Afghanistan. Upon the request of the Afghan Government, a limited Soviet military contingent was sent into the country and it helped the democratic regime combat counter-revolution. The Soviet Government has stated its readiness to withdraw Soviet troops from Afghanistan if the infiltration of counter-revolutionary gangs there ceases. As Leonid Brezhnev said, "this must be secured in accords between Afghanistan and its neighbours. Dependable guarantees are required that there will be no new = intervention.''^^1^^ The part of the bourgeoisie advocating toughness, confrontation, aggravation of international relations and an end to detente became more active in the latter half of the 1970s. This trend in the ruling class of the capitalist countries grew especially strong because the success of detente in the political sphere was about to spread to military matters. Specifically, there was the positive turn in Soviet-US talks on limiting strategic offensive armaments. The military-industrial complex in the United States and other countries saw this turn (and the SALT-II Treaty itself) as a threat to its interests and profits. A whole system of measures was drawn up to cut down or completely neutralise the losses of the monopolies which might result from the SALT-II Treaty. As early as May 1978 the American administration forced the NATO member-countries to agree to a continuous annual increase of their military budgets by 3 per cent—no matter how international relations develop.
Subsequently, the US Government seized upon the revolutionary developments in Iran and the Soviet Union's legitimate assistance to the Afghan revolution to try and use them for turning the world back to the cold war. The reason is not only the fear of the big bourgeoisie for its profits. An influential part of the ruling class and its members in the administration are still unable to reconcile themselves to the parity of the two major military-political alliances, the parity between the Soviet Union and the United States in the military-strategic field, a fundamental factor of international life. Therefore the right regards as unacceptable any significant agreement that might impose a limit on the armaments level of the two countries. Besides, the stubborn struggle against any agreement on arms limitation reflects the hope of changing the course of events and attaining superiority over the Soviet Union by a new spurt in the arms race.
At a time when the ruling quarters of NATO, led by the US administration, aimed their policy at wrecking detente, the Soviet Government advanced important initiatives. In October 1979, the Soviet Union announced the withdrawal of 20,000 Soviet servicemen and 1,000 tanks from the German Democratic Republic. A simultaneous initiative proposed that talks be started on reducing the number of Soviet medium-range missiles deployed in the European part of the USSR on condition that NATO abandoned its plans to station new nuclear weapons in Western Europe.
_-_-_~^^1^^ Ibid.
256These Soviet initiatives could have significantly improved the international situation in Europe and throughout the world, but the Western powers did not accept them. At the December 1979 session of NATO in Brussels they reaffirmed their decision to deploy about 600 new nuclear missiles and bombers in Western Europe starting in 1983. Implementation of these plans would upset the existing approximate parity between the two military-political alliance. The United States would add several hundred nuclear missiles capable of hitting the entire European territory of the Soviet Union to its intercontinental strategic missiles and bombers. Besides, the deployment of Pershing-2 and cruise missiles cannot be described as replacement or modernisation of old types of missiles. They are in fact new weapons.
Then Washington published Presidential Directive 59 on preparations for a "limited nuclear war" against the Soviet Union. It is actually a plan to deliver a pre-emptive nuclear strike against Soviet military targets. The authors of this "new strategy" advertised it as the "best way of averting a large-scale conflict with Russia''. In actual fact, any nuclear strike, no matter how ``limited'', would inevitably kill many millions of people. Besides, the very danger of nuclear war increases: President Carter's directive was to convince the public that such war was acceptable. Closely connected to the preparation of Directive 59 were the statements of top-ranking officials of the US administration that mankind would not perish in case of nuclear war, that the casualties would be "only 10 per cent of the world's population"—about 400 million people.
The efforts of the socialist countries to prevent the world from lapsing into cold, let alone hot war and to consolidate the gains of detente were reflected in decisions adopted at the May 1980 session of the Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Treaty Organisation held in the Polish capital. Leaders of the socialist countries proposed that no state and no group of states in Europe increase its armed forces on that continent; that preparations be speeded up for a conference on military detente and disarmament in Europe; that talks be brought to a successful conclusion as soon as possible on a complete and universal ban on nuclear weapons tests, on the non-use of these weapons against the non-nuclear states where nuclear weapons are not stationed, and on the prohibition to deploy nuclear weapons in states where they are not stationed at present.
The Soviet Union and other socialist countries have advocated urgent talks to convene a world treaty on the non-use of force, to end the manufacturing of nuclear weapons and gradually reduce their stockpiles, up to and including their complete elimination, to prohibit the creation of new types and new systems of mass destruction weapons, and to reduce defence budgets, above all those of the big powers. Besides, important issues have been raised about limiting and reducing the level of military presence and military activity in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf; about non-nuclear zones of peace in various regions; etc.
At the 26th CPSU Congress, Leonid Brezhnev advanced new __PRINTERS_P_257_COMMENT__ 17--69 257 important proposals to strengthen peace. Specifically, he proposed that confidence-building measures in the military field be extended to cover the entire European part of the USSR—on condition that the Western countries also extend the application of confidence-building measures. Leonid Brezhnev's proposal about a moratorium on the deployment in Europe of new medium-range nuclear missiles of the NATO countries and the USSR, including the US forward-based nuclear weapons in this region, has evoked widespread international response.
Another initiative proposed the convening of a special session of the Security Council with the participation of the top leaders of its member-states "in order to look for keys to improving the international situation".^^1^^
The decisions of the 26th CPSU Congress on international issues
are a graphic illustration of the Soviet Union's active efforts to
prevent war and secure peace for mankind.
~
XXVI Congress of the CPSU—important landmark on the road to communism. = The 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, held on 23 February-3 March 1981 in Moscow, was attended by over 5,000 delegates representing the Party's 17,480,000 members. In the time since the previous congress as many as 1,800,000 new members were admitted, among whom more than half are of the working class, more than 10 per cent collective farmers, and some 30 per cent of the intelligentsia and servicemen.
Present at the Congress were 123 delegations of Communist, Workers', national-democratic and other parties and organisations from 109 countries, including prominent personalities of the world communist and national liberation movements.
This was fresh evidence of the close bonds between the CPSU and the world communist and working-class movement, the vitality of proletarian internationalism, and the solidarity and unity of the main revolutionary forces of our time.
Congress heard the Report of the Central Committee of the CPSU to the XXVI Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy, delivered by Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the CC CPSU, and the Report of Nikolai Tikhonov, Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, Guidelines for the Economic and Social Development of the USSR for 1981--1985 and for the Period Ending in 1990. The Central Auditing Commission of the CPSU and the Congress Credentials Committee also presented reports. Congress elected the central governing bodies of the Party for the next period.
A Congress resolution completely approved the Leninist policy and practical activity of the Party's Central Committee and its report, instructed all Party organisations to abide by the principles and carry out the home and foreign policy tasks set in the Central Committee Report.
_-_-_~^^1^^ L.I. Brezhnev, Report of the Central Committee of the CPSU to the XXVI Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy, p. 41.
258The Guidelines for the Economic and Social Development of the USSR for 1981--1985 and for the Period Ending in 1990 were unanimously endorsed.
Congress adopted a resolution providing for the elaboration of a new text of the Programme of the CPSU.
The period between the 25th and 26th Congresses was highlighted by strenuous and on the whole successful efforts of the entire Soviet people to meet the targets of the Tenth Five-Year Plan. The country's national wealth has increased. So has its productive and scientifictechnical potential. The living standard and level of culture of the Soviet people have gone up.
The political scene between congresses was highlighted by the adoption of the new Constitution of the USSR in 1977, which secured the achievements of developed socialist society and rang in a new stage in the development of socialist democracy. The defence capability of the Soviet Union has been augmented.
The unity of Party and people had grown immeasurably, so had the
friendship of the peoples of the USSR—the sources of the strength
and power of Soviet society.
~
CPSU activity on the international scene. = Congress produced a deep-going analysis of the international situation and the foreign policy of the CPSU.
The latter half of the seventies saw a tense struggle of two lines in world politics—the line of bridling the arms race, strengthening peace and detente, and defending the sovereign rights and the freedom of nations, as set forth in the Peace Programme of the 24th and 25th Congresses of the CPSU, on the one hand, and, on the other, the line of disrupting detente, escalating the arms race, the line of threats and interference in other countries' affairs, and of suppressing the liberation struggles of nations, followed by the countries of the imperialist West, notably the USA.
The greater aggressiveness of imperialist policy, first of all that of US imperialism, may be traced to the further deepening of the general crisis of capitalism, the greater role played by the military-industrial complex in economy and politics, the shrinking of the sphere of imperialist domination owing to the victory of revolutions in a number of countries — Afghanistan, Iran, Nicaragua, and Ethiopia—and the progress of the national liberation struggle which brought about the crash of colonial empires.
Also, imperialism's greater aggressiveness was generated by the aggravation of contradictions within and between capitalist states, notably the USA, the EEC countries, and Japan.
As a result, by the beginning of the eighties the world situation deteriorated. The war danger grew, and thunderclouds gathered on the international horizon.
In these unfavourable conditions, the Soviet Union and its socialist allies, along with other peace-loving forces, worked on to preserve and deepen detente, eliminate the war danger, curb the arms race, and further mutually advantageous cooperation with most countries of the world.
__PRINTERS_P_259_COMMENT__ 17* 259This produced favourable external conditions for the fulfilment of the constructive economic plans of the socialist countries.
The Soviet Union owes its successes in the fight for peace during the period of the Tenth Five-Year Plan largely to the further advancement of the fraternal relations with other socialist countries in the economic, political, ideological and cultural fields.
These relations repose on a common ideology and the common aim of struggle for socialism, and specifically on socialist property, which brings nations together on a mutually beneficial basis whereas private capitalist property divides states despite treaties and juridically established economic and political organisations.
The socialist community of states has allies among the peoples of the developing countries. The Soviet Union and other socialist countries maintained broad, mutually beneficial economic, scientific, and technical cooperation with them throughout the tenth five-year plan period, and aided the peoples of Angola, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia in their armed struggle against internal reaction and outside imperialist aggression.
The Central Committee Report to Congress reaffirmed that the Party "will consistently continue the policy of promoting cooperation between the USSR and the newly-free countries, and consolidating the alliance of world socialism and the national liberation = movement".^^1^^
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union does its work in close cooperation with Communist and Workers' parties in other countries. There are now Communist parties in 94 countries. Their ranks are growing, and so is their role in the working-class movement, in the working people's fight against the capitalist offensive, and against the arms race and preparations for another war.
This struggle is an important factor furthering the unity and raising the prestige of the world communist movement.
In its relations with capitalist states in the time span of the Tenth Five-Year Plan, the Soviet Union consistently followed a policy of peaceful coexistence, whose basic principles were defined in the Peace Programme of the 24th and 25th Congresses of the CPSU, and unfailingly countered the forces of aggression.
In the seventies, the policy of peaceful coexistence, first proclaimed by Lenin, exercised an increasingly determining influence on world relations.
Ranking high among the achievements of the Soviet peace offensive was the successful development of economic, scientific, technological, and cultural cooperation among countries of the two systems. In the seventies, there was also useful cooperation in the framework of international organisations in such fields as peaceful uses of atomic energy, combating epidemics and illiteracy, protection of historical and cultural monuments, weather forecasting, and so on.
As the Soviet Union sees it, all forms of negotiation must be _-_-_
~^^1^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Report of the Central Committee of the CPSU to the XXVI Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy, p. 21.
260 invoked to resolve the security problems of Europe and to consolidate the "Spirit of Helsinki".The policy of peaceful coexistence and international cooperation is essential not only for the progress of the world revolutionary process, but also to resolve crying global problems in the interests of nations—to discover and use new sources of energy, provide the world's growing population with enough food, protect the environment, develop outer space and the deep of the World Ocean, and so on.
Taking guidance in the Peace Programme, the Soviet Union has worked perseveringly for a sounder world climate throughout the latter half of the seventies. Priority here went to bridling the arms race, and above all to limiting nuclear armaments, the most dangerous to humanity.
In June 1979 in Vienna, the Soviet Union and the United States signed a Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, SALT-II.
Negotiating a complete ban on tests of nuclear weapons with the United States and Britain, the Soviet Union also suggested stopping their manufacture and beginning to scale down their stockpiles until they are finally eliminated.
Among the achievements made in limiting the production of mass annihilation weapons was the coming into force of a convention prohibiting the military use of environmental modification techniques, and finalisation of the basic provisions of a treaty banning radiological weapons. Negotiations were begun on removing chemical weapons from the arsenals of states, and on reducing armed forces and armaments in Central = Europe.^^1^^
In addition to the earlier peace proposals, a set of new measures to consolidate peace and international security was put forward at the 26th Congress:
1. To extend the confidence-building measures established in the military field by decision of the Helsinki Conference and to give advance notice not only of military exercises of ground forces, but also of naval and air exercises, and of large-scale troop movements, and to apply this to the entire European part of the USSR provided the Western states, too, extend the confidence zone accordingly.
The Soviet Union calls for negotiations on confidence zones in the Far East with all interested countries.
2. To uphold the measures achieved in the limitation of strategic arms, and immediately to renew negotiations with the USA in this field on the principles of equality and equal security.
3. To further the limitation and reduction of strategic armaments the Soviet Union is prepared to continue relevant negotiations with the United States without delay on the basis of equality and equal security, preserving all the positive elements so far achieved. All the other nuclear powers should join these negotiations at the appropriate time.
4. The Soviet Union suggests coming to terms on limiting the _-_-_
~^^1^^ For more details see next chapter.
261 deployment of new submarines and on prohibiting modernisation of existing and development of new ballistic missiles for these submarines.5. To block the increasingly dangerous stockpiling of nuclear-missile arms in Europe, the Soviet Union suggests that after the relevant negotiations are initiated, a moratorium on the deployment in Europe of new medium-range nuclear-missile weapons of the NATO countries and the Warsaw Treaty countries should be declared at once, thus freezing the existing quantitative and qualitative level of these weapons, including the US forward-based nuclear weapons in this region.
6. In face of the destructive consequences which a nuclear war could visit on mankind, the Soviet Union suggests that a competent international committee should be set up to demonstrate the vital necessity of preventing a nuclear catastrophe. This committee should inform the whole world of its conclusions.
7. To find ways of improving the international situation and preventing war, the Soviet Union suggests calling a special session of the Security Council with the participation of the top leaders of its member-states, in which leaders of other states could also take part.
The Soviet proposals for combating the arms race and the increased danger of war cover a wide range of issues. They are the continuation and development of the Peace Programme in the present-day international situation. Their main purpose is to relieve the peoples of the danger of a nuclear war and to safeguard world peace.
No task is more important now for the Party, for the Soviet people, and for all the peoples of the world.
In a nutshell, the 26th Congress of the CPSU ushered in a new stage
in the Soviet Union's persevering and consistent struggle for
deepening detente, bridling the arms race, and consolidating peace.
Having added constructive elements to the Peace Programme, the
Congress again gave emphasis to the role of the Soviet Union as a
champion of peace and international cooperation, and made a new
major contribution to the efforts of uniting and stimulating all peace
forces of the world.
~
Questions of economic development. Results of the Tenth and the main targets of the Eleventh Five-Year plans. = The 24th and 25th Congresses of the CPSU outlined further ways of heightening the well-being of the people and improving the efficiency and quality of all work in keeping with the Party's programmatic principle— everything for the sake of man, for the benefit of man.
The main economic achievements and the rise in the people's well-being are epitomised by the increase in the country's national income over that of the ninth five-year plan period by 400,000 million rubles, industrial output by 717,000 million rubles, and agricultural production by 50,000 million rubles.
A far-flung programme of capital construction was carried out, with investments totalling 634,000 million rubles. As a result, the basic assets of the national economy expanded 40 per cent. As many as 262 1,200 large new industrial enterprises were put into operation. This includes the completion of the Kama Motor Works, the Zeya and Nurek hydropower stations, the Togliatti nitrogen plant, the Chirchik and Charjou mineral fertiliser works, the mighty rolling mill at the Beloretsky metallurgical combine, the all-purpose mill at the Nizhni Tagil iron-and-steel works, and the 400-km power transmission line from Zeya to the Baikal-Amur Railway.
The development of territorial-industrial complexes continued throughout the tenth five-year period in the European part of the Russian Federation, in the Urals, Siberia, the Soviet Far East, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan.
The build-up of oil production from 31 million tons in 1970 to 312 million tons is an illustration of the success of the Party's decision to develop West Siberian wealth. Furthermore, gas extraction went up from 9,500 million to 156,000 million cubic metres. The PavlodarEkibastuz complex yielded 67,000,000 tons of coal or thrice as much as in 1970, and Orenburg Region gas workers produced more than 48,000 million cubic metres of gas.
A greater role in the economy of the Asian part of the Soviet Union is played by the Sayan, Bratsk-Ust-Ilimsk, South Yakutian, KaratauJambul, Mangyshlak, and South Tajikistan territorial-industrial complexes. And further extensive opportunities for opening up the remote regions are offered by the ongoing construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway.
The development of new regions is of social and political as well as economic significance, because it is providing the country with important resources for the building of the material and technical basis of communism. Throughout the preceding five-year period, the Soviet economy developed as a single national economic complex. The economic potential of each of the constituent republics has risen visibly.
Heavy industry, the foundation of the country's economy and defence capability, made further headway. The production of consumer goods, too, went up 21 per cent, with the range of commodities widening and their quality improving.
The technical standard of production was elevated through the introduction of new technology; the productivity of social labour rose 17 per cent.
Following the lines of the Party's agrarian policy, collective and state farmers have done a good deal to extend the material and technical resources of agriculture, which is turning more and more industrial in make-up. Investments in farming, embracing the whole range of works, passed the 170,000 million ruble mark and amounted to more than 27 per cent of total investment.
Agriculture was supplied 1,800,000 new tractors, more than 1,300,000 lorries, nearly 540,000 harvester combines, substantial quantities of machines for livestock breeding and feed-making, and some 390 million tons of mineral fertiliser. The power-per-worker ratio climbed 40 per cent.
Irrigation and land-improvement works were launched on a grand scale. The area of irrigated and drained land came to nearly 35 million hectares. A comprehensive agricultural development programme was 263 carried out in the non-chernozem zone of the Russian Federation. Concentration and specialisation of agricultural production, and agro-industrial integration grew in depth and became more diverse.
Growth of agricultural output has thus been made secure. For the first time, the average annual gross grain harvest reached the 205 million ton mark. Production of meat, milk, eggs, cotton, and other produce went up.
Transport was taken further forward, and its technical resources were expanded. Pipelines, and marine and motor transport are carrying a bigger share of the freight, and air lines are carrying more passengers.
As in the ninth five-year plan period, so in the past five years there was important progress in the social field. Out of the national income, 334,000 million rubles more than previously were spent on raising the living standard.
Real per capita incomes climbed 18 per cent, average wages and salaries more than 16 per cent, and earnings in socialised farming 26 per cent. Thirty-one million wage and salary earners had their pay increased.
In the five years, the social consumption funds added up to 527,000 million rubles, with 438 rubles paid out per head of population in 1980 against 354 rubles in 1975.
The living standard of Great Patriotic War veterans was visibly improved, and there were pension rises for collective farmers and some wage and salary earners in certain sectors of the economy.
Wage and salary increases were made up by the greater consumption of foodstuffs and manufactured goods; the retail turnover rose 24 per cent and services 43 per cent.
The spectacular house-building programme, with as much as 87,200 million rubles more being put in than planned, was a signal success. The housing erected in the five-year period, totalling 530 million sq m, saw more than 50 million people move into new homes.
As a result of the mammoth house-building scheme carried out under the postwar five-year plans, 80 per cent of the country's urban population is living in self-contained flats.
The social-political result of the steady economic progress in the tenth five-year plan period is that the entire system of social relations, the socialist way of life, continued to advance.
The Party attaches great historical significance to the progress achieved, but it is also aware of the difficulties, faults, and unresolved problems. It has made a deep study of their causes, and has charted ways of rectifying them.
Economic and social progress could have been more substantial if the advantages of planning were used more fully, if the productive potentialities were tapped more effectively, and if the faults were combated more resolutely.
A few economic and social problems were complicated by the exhaustion of many old, including large, mineral deposits, the removal of the basic centres of the extractive industry east or north, and by the unfavourable weather for farming in 1977, 1979, and 1980.
The plan targets for raising production efficiency and the 264 productivity of labour were not met. The mechanism of management and planning, the methods of management, and the labour and executive discipline were below the requisite standard. This complicated the conversion of the economy to intensive development. And the chief reason for many of the listed faults, in addition to the objective ones, was "that the force of inertia, conventions, and habits from the period when the quantitative rather than the qualitative aspect of the work loomed the largest have still not been fully = overcome".^^1^^
But all in all, the results of the past five years show that the Soviet Union has made progress in all areas of economic and social development. The Tenth Five-Year Plan will take a creditable place in the heroic history of the Soviet people.
The Soviet Union has entered the 1980 with a powerful economic
and scientific-technological potential, and with an army of highly
trained personnel. The frontiers reached in the economic and social
fields make still greater undertakings entirely feasible.
~
The main objectives of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan. = For the Soviet Union the coming decade will be a new major stage in building the material and technical basis of communism, advancing social relations, and moulding the new individual.
The objectives of this stage are set out in detail in the Guidelines for the Economic and Social Development of the USSR for 1981--1985 and for the Period Ending in 1990, which were made public long before the Congress. As many as 121 million people took part in discussing them: a huge number of suggestions, additions and clarifications were submitted, enriching the content of the document which won the approval and support of the working class, collective farmers, and intelligentsia.
Stressing continuity in the Party's economic strategy of the eighties, Congress defined the key aim of the coming five years with account for their specifics:
"The central objective of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan is to ensure the further improvement of the Soviet people's well-being on the basis of the steady and constructive development of the national economy, accelerated scientific and technological progress, transition of the economy to intensive development, more rational utilisation of the country's production potential, the maximum saving of all types of resources, and improvement in the quality of work."
The indispensable condition for securing this social objective and all the production targets of the five-year plan is the development of heavy industry, of its key sectors—the fuel and energy complex, iron-and-steel, construction, and transport.
Each of these industries has its own urgent tasks and its own specific problems. But in substance there is just one way of coping with them: utmost intensification of production and utmost heightening of efficiency.
_-_-_~^^1^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Report of the Central Committee of the CPSU to the XXVI Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy, p. 49.
265Within the frame of the basic principles and distinctive features of the country's economic strategy, Congress singled out a number of concrete problems of a fundamental nature whose importance extends beyond the current five-year period to the 1980s as a whole.
The cardinal one is to secure fuller and more effective use of the production potential. In many areas of production the Soviet Union has forged into first place. This must be compounded with a constant sense of responsibility for how fully and effectively the resources are used.
Congress gave prominence to the programme for the further upgrading of the nation's well-being in the eleventh five-year period and the eighties as a whole. It covers improvements in all areas of life—incomes, social insurance and maintenance, consumption, housing, culture and leisure, working conditions, and life style.
The part of the national income earmarked for consumption and accumulation is to go up 18 to 20 per cent in these five years. In 1985, the share of consumption in the national income is to be 77.3 per cent, with social consumption funds rising 20 per cent.
Real per capita incomes are to go up 16 to 18 per cent in the next five years, and retail trade—22 to 25 per cent.
Important here is the planned increase of average wages and salaries by 13 to 16 per cent. By the end of the five-year period they are to amount to 190--195 rubles monthly, with collective farmers' incomes from socialised farming rising 20 to 22 per cent.
In present conditions, Congress noted, pride of place goes to boosting supplies of food and other consumer goods.
Food production has increased in the past few five-year periods. ''At the same time,'' Leonid Brezhnev said at Congress, "the Party's Central Committee and the Political Bureau of the CPSU Central Committee, being well aware of the situation in each republic and each region, see that difficulties in supplying the population with food still exist."
To solve the problem radically, and this in the shortest possible time, a special food programme has been drawn up.
Since any food programme is based on the further advancement of agriculture, Congress focussed attention on the tasks facing that branch of the economy. The foremost objective is to increase the production of meat and other animal products. Under the Eleventh Five-Year Plan meat output is to increase by over 3 million tons, reaching 18.5 million tons in 1985.
Congress outlined the way to lifting up animal husbandry: further increases in grain output must see a simultaneous growth of the share of forage crops, coupled with production of coarse and succulent feed and of protein supplements; the breed of livestock must be improved and its productivity raised, industrial poultry farming expanded, and so on. The maximum support is also to be given to farms run by industrial enterprises to supply their personnel. And fuller use should be made of the potentialities of subsidiary individual holdings, which account for more than 60 per cent of the country's potato crop, and up to 29 per cent of the vegetables, meat, and milk.
Taking an overall view, Congress stressed that the main problem 266 facing agriculture is the same as that facing other sectors of the economy—heightening efficiency and quality. Large financial and material allocations will continue to flow into agriculture, which will be systematically regeared along industrial lines. "But the emphasis now—and this is a distinctive feature of the agrarian policy in the eighties — is being shifted,'' as the Central Committee Report said, "to returns on capital investments, to making agriculture more productive, to deepening and improving its links with all branches of the agro-industrial complex."
The end result in agriculture depends in many ways on the efficiency of the related industries, and due attention is being devoted to them in the new five-year period. With better transport, storage, and processing much waste could be avoided, and the needs of the people more fully supplied even at the present volume of production.
An essential component of efficiency is a further improvement of the economic conditions in which collective and state farms function. The Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers have taken a comprehensive decision on the matter, and it is extremely important, Congress noted, that its provisions should be duly carried out.
Prime significance in the Party's efforts to raise the standard of living is attached to expanding the production and improving the quality of consumer goods, and to extending public services.
In the eleventh five-year period the problem is being posed in a broad perspective. Consumer industries are to get the latest equipment, supplies of raw and other materials are to be improved, and so is planning and management. Provisions have been made for improving working conditions and bettering the living standard of the work force. The services and utilities are to get better technical equipment and more of it, and are to be more uniformly located across the country. More skilled personnel is to be trained for them. The distributive network is to get a bigger say in determining the range and quality of goods.
Much of the responsibility for increasing the output of consumer goods devolves on heavy industry. Local industries, too, are expected to make a significant contribution.
In the eleventh five-year plan period it is envisaged to open to tenancy 530 million to 540 million sq m of new housing. State-financed construction is to be compounded with cooperative house-building in cities and with individual building of cottages in smaller towns, urban communities, and villages.
Solution of the problems facing the country and proper use of available potentialities depend in many ways on the standard of economic management. Congress attached exceptional importance to the matter and examined it in a special section of the Guidelines, "Improvement of Management, Raising Management Standards in All Spheres of the Economy".
Successful functioning of the economic mechanism depends on tighter discipline and the greater personal responsibility of managerial staff and of leading government and Party personnel. Every leader, as Leonid Brezhnev pointed out, must always remember his lofty 267 responsibility to the men and women he has been entrusted with leading, his responsibility to the Party and the people.
In present conditions prime importance is attached to greater responsibility for the fulfilment of state plans.
Congress defined the ways and means of improving management, planning, and control. It stressed the importance of carrying out the decisions taken by the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers in 1979 on further improving the economic mechanism and increasing its leverage in enhancing efficiency and quality.
The Party's economic strategy for the eleventh five-year period and the eighties as a whole reflects the basic interests of the Soviet people, and has won their approval and support.
The 26th Congress examined the topical issues related to the social, political and cultural development of Soviet society, stressing the link between economy and society's social, political and cultural progress.
This was the angle from which Congress outlined the further
development of the class structure of society, of national relations, the
Soviet state, and socialist democracy, as provided for under the new
Constitution of the USSR.
~
Growth of the Soviet scientific potential. Further consolidation of the Soviet way of life and the moulding of the new individual. = In the drive for its strategic economic objectives—unintermittent heightening of the material and cultural standard of the working people, and provision of favourable conditions for the harmonious development of the individual—the CPSU has always assigned a key part to science. Alongside various theoretical problems, the country's scientists increasingly concentrated their efforts on key economic issues, and on discoveries likely to bring about revolutionary change in production and substantially augment the intellectual potential of Soviet society.
In the past five-year period (1976--1980) Soviet science visibly extended the range of research, forging into a place of leadership in a number of crucial fields of knowledge. Its achievements facilitated the advancement of such up-to-the-minute industries as atomic engineering, space technology, electronics and microelectronics, the microbiological industry, laser techniques, and production of synthetic diamonds and other synthetic materials.
Space exploration has yielded considerable scientific and technical achievements. More than 450 sputniks of the Kosmos series were launched, and automatic Prognoz weather laboratories functioned in a variety of orbits. A new lot of soil samples was brought back from the Moon by the Luna-24 station, while the interplanetary Venera-11 and Venera-12 vehicles blazed new trails to Venus. The range of automatic sputniks used in weather forecasting, communications, television, and navigation was substantially extended. In 1980 alone, as many as 110 space vehicles were launched in the Soviet Union. The Salyut-5 and Salyut-6 orbital stations, along with the 18 Soyuz spacecraft, the 11 Progress and three new Soyuz T vehicles accommodated the long and short expeditions of 24 Soviet cosmonauts and 7 cosmonauts of other 268 socialist countries—V. Remek of Czechoslovakia, M. Hermaszewski of Poland, S. Yiihn of the German Democratic Republic, G. Ivanov of Bulgaria, B. Farkas of Hungary, Pham Tuan of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and A. Mendez of Cuba. In 1980 the two-man space crew of L. Popov and V. Ryumin worked a 185-day stint in the Salyut-6 orbital station. Their expedition, and all the others, yielded a vast amount of information that facilitated projects which had only recently seemed inconceivable. The automatic gear proved itself dependable, and spacemen again demonstrated the human capacity for exploring the Universe. In the early years of the space era, the usefulness of the immense expenditures involved in space exploration was often placed in question at various international forums, whereas now people have grown deeply aware of the benefits it yields to the study of the Earth's natural resources, to weather forecasting, ocean studies, navigation, communications, TV broadcasting, and other fields. The Soviet approach to space exploration is circumscribed by the peaceful objectives of Soviet foreign policy. Whenever and wherever the problem was discussed, the Soviet Government has invariably proposed that outer space should be studied and used exclusively for peaceful purposes. The weather forecasts of the Hydrometeorological Service of the USSR, which utilises Meteor sputniks, yearly help to preserve property worth many millions of rubles. Experts estimate that a weather forecast of 95 per cent accuracy three days in advance obtained by means of space technology yields the world an annual saving of 60,000 million dollars. Storm warnings and other forecasts make for safe and economical transport, and help determine the right time for sowing, harvesting, and fertilising. Space prospecting helps to spot new mineral deposits.
On 16 February 1978, at the United Nations, a circular was issued on the Soviet Union's cooperation with other countries in remotecontrol sounding of the Earth from outer space, and on 19 May that year in Moscow a convention was signed by Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Mongolia, Poland, Rumania, and the Soviet Union on the transmission and use of the obtained data. Combined use of land-based technology and the Orbita, Ekran and Moskva space satellite systems has, in effect, solved the problem of double-channel TV coverage throughout the Soviet Union at times convenient for viewers. Space studies have yielded valuable knowledge about the Earth and its atmosphere, the Sun and its planets, remote objects in the Universe and the interplanetary medium. They have also contributed conspicuously to biology and medicine.
Space development offers humanity tremendous benefits, provided it is directed to peaceful purposes.
The results of fundamental research are more and more a source of ideas essential for economic development.
In line with an assignment of the 25th Party Congress, the USSR Academy of Sciences applied itself to coordinating science, tightening bonds between various sectoral academies, higher educational establishments, and research institutes. A joint session of the USSR 269 Academy of Sciences and the USSR Agricultural Academy was held in 1978, and a similar session of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1980. Topical problems were discussed in crop farming, animal husbandry, and health.
By the 1980s Soviet science was producing approximately one-third of the world's science product, while the number of science workers approached 1,400,000. "The conditions in which the national economy will be developing in the eighties,'' says the Central Committee Report to the 26th Congress, "make the acceleration of scientific and technological progress ever more pressing... The Communist Party proceeds from the premise that building up a new society without science is simply = inconceivable.''^^1^^ Accelerating scientific and technical progress is seen in Congress documents as an indispensable element in the drive for the chief objective of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan. "Such solicitude,'' said Academician A. P. Alexandrov, President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, in his Congress address, "helps our work, inspires us, and enables us to secure the requisite logistics for our science. Entering the new five-year period, we can safely say that the Soviet contribution to world science will be substantially greater than what we have already contributed."
Congress stressed that the growing role of science in the life of society spells higher demands on scientists. The Central Committee Report and other Congress material note that the further development of science and technology must be more closely tied to the country's economic and social problems, must be directed to speeding the conversion of the Soviet economy to intensification, to securing higher efficiency of social production. The Guidelines call for higher efficiency of research, shorter time between laboratory and shopfloor, and tighter bonds between research and production. "Everything that tends to make the process of introducing novelties difficult, slow, and painful,'' Leonid Brezhnev said at Congress, "has to be removed. Workers in production must be vitally interested in making quicker and better use of the fruits of the thought and work of scientists = and designers."^^2^^
Congress outlined a broad programme of fundamental and applied research in social, natural, and technical sciences.
__*_*_*__The rise in the cultural level of the Soviet people in the tenth five-year plan period was reflected in all areas of the spiritual life of mature socialist society. An indissoluble element of the Soviet way of life, socialist culture has brought up citizens of the Soviet Union in a spirit of humanism and collectivism, patriotism and internationalism. The singleness of the principles of the socialist life style _-_-_
~^^1^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Report of the Central Committee of the CPSU to the XXVI Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy, p. 56.
~^^2^^ Ibid., p. 57.
270 and socialist culture have also made for a singleness of values and orientations. Harmonious development of the individual and improvement of the socialist way of life are interconnected processes. Ennobling the individual, offering scope for his faculties and gifts, Soviet culture contributes to the improvement of all forms of life activity, that is, to the way of life. The right of Soviet citizens to free use of all achievements of culture was reaffirmed legislatively in the new 1977 Constitution.In recent years, effective measures have been taken to secure further improvements in the quality of education and upbringing, to overcome flaws and obsolete teaching methods, to upgrade the general school and the system of vocational and other specialised education. These measures repose on the results of research in various fields of science, including sociology, psychology, medicine and literally all other social, natural and technical sciences, as well as pedagogics. The chief aim, indeed, was to raise the general educational standard of the Soviet people, and animate the nation's predisposition to intellectual enrichment.
All echelons of the public education system are centred on training the rising generation for socially useful activity, moulding qualities that stimulate the aspiration to creative endeavour and the student's motivated enthusiasm for his or her future occupation. More and more visibly each year, this has been the social purpose of the Soviet system of education, which compounds training of the work force with a moral and intellectual climate furthering the development of the personality.
The introduction of universal secondary education, which has been made a compulsory minimum under the new Constitution, is justified socially and economically by the individual's natural striving for harmonious development and by the needs of scientific and technological progress. Now that secondary education has become compulsory, the educational standard in all the fifteen Union republics has, to all intents and purposes, become the same.
Taking note of the greater potential of public education, the 26th Congress of the CPSU called for improvements in the quality of instruction, and in work-oriented and ethical education.
Congress called for improvements in school syllabuses and for better textbooks.
Praise was lavished in the Central Committee Report and some delegates' speeches on the higher school and the system of specialised secondary schools for their contribution to the progress of the Soviet Union, to its intellectual and productive potential, and the development of science and culture. In 1976--1980, higher schools, technical colleges, and specialised secondary schools have graduated 10,000,000 such qualified specialists. Yearly, diplomas of universities and institutes are awarded to 800,000 young people.
By the end of 1980, the number of people with a higher or secondary (complete and incomplete) education had climbed to 146 million, that is, 83 per cent of the country's employed population.^^1^^ _-_-_
~^^1^^ The total population of the Soviet Union as of 1 January 1981 was 266,600,000.
271 The higher school bears an important share of responsibility for producing enough qualified specialists to meet the needs of the country, for the quality of their training, and the level of their civic consciousness. In view of the declining accretion of manpower that responsibility has become still = greater.^^1^^Soviet art and literature entered the eighties in exuberant spirits. Many new talented artistic works appeared in all the republics of the Union. As noted in the Central Committee Report to Congress, stirring revolutionary themes continue to be heard in them. The images of outstanding revolutionaries and thinkers, the nation's historic past, heroes of different generations, inspired workers in culture to produce works in all fields and genres of art. Many works have treated the present. The finest works in literature and art were awarded the Lenin and State Prizes.
It is common knowledge that the Soviet people are the world's most avid readers. According to 1980 figures they have at their disposal 133,000 public libraries with a stock of nearly 2,000 million books. In the five years the printings of books and pamphlets added up to 1,900 million copies. Cultural achievements are propagated among the mass of the people by 47,500 people's (free) universities, with an enrolment of nearly 14 million devotees of art, literature, and music.
Artists and sculptors showed their works to the public at periodical republican and central art exhibitions, and on national culture days.
Congress called on workers in art and literature to take the interests of the people closer to heart, to share in the people's joys and difficulties, to assert the truth of life, and the loftiest humanistic ideals.
In the final analysis, all cultural values produced in the Soviet Union are directed to one aim—the moulding of the new individual. And one can count on success in this undertaking only if it reposes squarely on the reliable foundation of the country's socio-economic policy. Conversely, each citizen of the Soviet Union is expected to use the achievements of science and culture sensibly.
The growth of the health services and the popularity of sports is an important indicator of Soviet social and cultural progress. Hospital beds per 10,000 population have gone up from 118 in 1975 to 125 in 1980, and the number of medical doctors from 834,000 to 1,000,000. Today, outpatient clinics can receive half a million more patients per shift than five years ago.
The health of mothers and children is a prime concern of the Soviet state. The system of maternity homes, women's medical wards, kindergartens and infant nurseries has been substantially expanded. By the end of 1980 there were 130,000 kindergartens and nurseries attended by over 14 million children, or twice as many as 15 years ago. Disease incidence among children has gone down spectacularly.
In the Soviet Union sport is directed to cultivating physically fit and spiritually sound citizens. The physical culture movement benefited _-_-_
~^^1^^ Some 42 million employed at enterprises, offices, and on collective farms acquired new trades or professions at various courses by the beginning of 1981, and this with the active assistance of higher schools.
272 tremendously from the Summer Olympics in Moscow. The Soviet state has set the aim of making physical culture and sports still more massive, to make sports a way of life for the mass of the people, notably children.In sum, as noted at the 26th Congress of the CPSU, the Party is putting forward a sweeping programme of further improving the people's well-being in the eleventh five-year plan period.
Soviet culture of the eighties is an active factor furthering the
improvement and growth of the productive, social-political and
spiritual activity of Soviet citizens. It has become an agent of social
integration, of the convergence of classes and social groups in the
setting of the socialist way of life. Single in content and orientation,
and internationalist in spirit, it is serving the interests of the people
and the harmonious, all-round development of the individual.
~
The Party—vanguard of the Soviet people. = The nation associates all its plans and undertakings with the activity of the CPSU. It has implicit trust in the Party, and works for its great cause — communism — under the Party's tried and true leadership.
The Central Committee Report to Congress examined the Party's development as the vanguard of the Soviet people, and recorded the further improvement of the Party's guidance in all areas of life.
The past five years, as Brezhnev noted, have clearly shown that the conclusion about the growing role of the Party in the period of developed socialism, drawn by the 25th Congress, was absolutely justified. And in the light of the Soviet people's impressive achievements, Lenin's trenchant words that the Party is the intelligence, honour, and conscience of our times sound more forcefully and clearly than ever.
In the time since the previous congress, noteworthy changes have been witnessed in the Party, touching on its quality and numbers. Membership has gone up by 1,800,000 and now totals nearly 17,500,000, out of whom 56.2 per cent are workers and collective farmers. The Party has worked to consolidate its ranks, to clear them of unworthy people, and to enhance the role of every member.
Collective elaboration of questions of theory and practice at Party congresses, Central Committee plenums, and sittings of the Political Bureau and the CC Secretariat is the highest expression of the Party's leading role.
Constant concern is shown for enhancing the role and responsibility of Party committees at all levels, for the efficiency of the primary Party organisations.
The essence of Party leadership lies in selecting personnel and verifying performance. In the past five years, more and more specialists were moved from production to Party work. This had a generally beneficial effect.
The Communist Party attaches special importance to ideological work, to the education of the mass of the people in the communist spirit. This is indispensable if the new society is to thrive and just as important as building the material and technical basis and as upgrading social relations.
__PRINTERS_P_273_COMMENT__ 18---69 273Still, the changed conditions at home and on the international scene call for closer scrutiny, and the Central Committee of the CPSU issued a special decision in April 1979 outlining the task of bringing ideological work and political education abreast of the present circumstances. What is needed is harmonising the Party's ideological work, political education, organisational work, and economic guidance. Communist education is the concern of the entire Party, of all its activists, every Party member.
__*_*_*__The 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union adopted decisions of tremendous historical importance. They spell out an imposing programme for the comprehensive development of Soviet society in the next five years and the longer term, and a clear programme of struggle for world peace.
Summing up the results, Leonid Brezhnev said: "We intend to concentrate all our efforts in two related directions. One is the building of communism, the other is the strengthening of peace."
The work of the Congress was imbued with a constructive spirit, deep insight, a truly collective approach to the elaboration of the new tasks, with a democratic spirit in decision-making. The thousands of reports sent to Congress by workers of their labour achievements, the many letters they sent, and their good wishes, were like a salute in honour of Congress, attesting to nationwide support. The Congress rostrum was truly a rostrum of the entire people, the Congress decisions were everybody's asset.
[274] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ Chapter 4 __ALPHA_LVL1__ THE ADVANCE OF SOVIET CULTURE __ALPHA_LVL2__ Cultural life during the Great Patriotic War.Cultural life during the Great Patriotic War. Uplift of education in the postwar years. Progress of Soviet science. The opening of the space era. Literature and art in the struggle for progress.
Cultural life during the Great Patriotic War. = The harsh years of the Great Patriotic War (1941--45) brought about profound changes in the activities of all strata of the Soviet people, including scientific and cultural workers. Many of them put aside their microscopes and test tubes, pen or brush, blueprints or manuscripts, and took up their rifle and army overcoat, joining the ranks of the country's defenders. Over 2,000 employees of the USSR Academy of Sciences were on active service with the Army or fought in the People's Volunteer Force or in partisan detachments. Those scholars who manned the home front, in their laboratories and institutes, devoted their lives, energies and thoughts to giving practical effect to the slogan "Everything for the front! Everything for victory!" Academician V. L. Komarov, the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, expressed the view of the scientific workers in the following terms: "Helping to defeat fascism is the noblest and greatest task that has ever confronted science, and to this task are devoted the knowledge, energies and very lives of Soviet scientists."
The German seizure of the western regions of the USSR placed the country in a very serious position. Industry was deprived of rich sources of metal ore, coal, manganese and other defence materials. In order to compensate for the losses sustained, it was necessary to urgently seek out additional raw material resources in the eastern regions and to step up the production of synthetic substitutes and scarce materials. Soviet scientists set about accomplishing these tasks. In September 1941 a special commission was set up under the chairmanship of Academician V. L. Komarov. Its membership consisted of over 800 prominent scientists and technologists working in 60 scientific institutions. The commission put a great deal of effort into discovering and using for defence purposes the resources of the Urals, Western Siberia and Kazakhstan. Similar commissions sprang up from 1942 onwards in the Volga and Kama areas and in the Karaganda Basin.
The work of the USSR Academy of Sciences, research institutes 275 and higher educational establishments was reshaped in accordance with the demands of wartime. The leading figures in Soviet science were withdrawn to the distant rear—the trans-Volga area, the Urals and Siberia. New scientific centres appeared in the eastern regions. Academy institutes were founded in Kazan, Sverdlovsk, Frunze, Tashkent, Alma-Ata and other towns. A branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences was opened in Western Siberia. The Ukrainian Academy of Sciences was evacuated to Ufa.
Sometimes research work had to be undertaken without the necessary equipment and materials, and in makeshift premises. None of these exceptional difficulties were unable to halt the growth of Soviet science, although they did introduce numerous complications. New deposits of ore, non-ferrous metals, gas, oil, etc., were discovered and exploited. Following the discovery of natural gas at Yelshan, it proved possible to use it to supply industry in Saratov and, later, in Moscow and many other towns. At the scientists' recommendation, peat and brown coal from Siberia came to be used just as intensively. The scientific commission working in the area of the Middle Volga presented suggestions which subsequently enabled oil output to be increased in the vicinity of Vtoroi Baku. Invaluable help to the front was given by the commission for geological and geographical assistance to the Red Army (headed by Academician A. Y. Fersman), especially through its work in supplying the Command with operational maps, maps of vital areas, camouflage devices and so on.
Major successes were also registered by scientists studying the natural resources of Kazakhstan. Here it proved possible to locate and begin the exploitation of many deposits that were important to the war industry. Manganese from Dzhezkazgan replaced the supplies from Nikopol in factories in the Urals, while oil from the Emba helped to overcome the difficulties experienced in obtaining oil from Transcaucasia. During the war Kazakhstan was the main supplier of non-ferrous metals. A great deal of attention was also given to identifying additional food resources.
Medical workers laboured with unprecedented intensity to devise efficient methods for healing the wounded and to prepare new medicines. Such were the Academicians N. Burdenko, A. Bakulev, S. Spasokukotsky and A. Vishnevsky. Thanks to the efforts of medical scientists and to the selfless work of doctors and medical personnel, over 70 per cent of the wounded returned to active service after treatment. Mortality in the country's military hospitals was several times lower than during the First World War, even though the numbers of wounded were incomparably greater. The USSR Academy of Medical Sciences was founded in June 1944.
The work of Soviet physicists was extremely relevant to defence. The team headed by Academician A. F. loffe carried out valuable radar research. An aircraft detection and ranging device was built at the USSR Academy of Sciences Physics and Technology Institute. After studying the flight paths of bullets and shells, Academician V. A. Fok and his colleagues produced firing tables that did much to raise accuracy. Intensive study of key aspects of nuclear physics 276 during the war laid firm foundations for its subsequent rapid progress.
The war effort was helped by the latest optical devices ( rangefinders, periscopes, camera lenses, sights) produced by a team headed by Academician S. I. Vavilov. A substantial contribution towards equipping the Red Army with various valuable materials was made by the chemical industry (e.g. the creation of plastics for making transparent armour and windows in aircraft, ships and tanks, the production of acetone through new methods, etc.).
The front made complicated and constantly growing demands on weapons of all kinds. Between 1941 and 1945 Soviet scientists collaborated with industry to produce increasingly sophisticated pieces of artillery, tanks, automatic infantry weapons, armour-piercing shells, bombs, communications equipment, ships and aircraft. The Soviet T-34 tank was reckoned to be the most sophisticated medium-sized battle tank of the Second World War. A great deal of help in organising the mass production of tanks and artillery was given by scientists at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences Institute of Electrical Welding, led by Academician E. O. Paton. Nazi attempts to copy Soviet tanks ended in failure. Krupp steel was clearly inferior to steel from the Urals. A team of scientists headed by Academician I. P. Bardin performed extremely valuable work in the preparation of new kinds of high-grade steel, which was widely used in the building of tanks and in other defence industries.
The artillery designers V. G. Grabin, F. F. Petrov, I. I. Ivanov and others put a great deal of effort into building shells and artillery systems that were the most up-to-date in terms of capacity and rate of fire. There was a fivefold increase in the armour-piercing power of Soviet shells. Nazis on the battlefield were terrified of the withering fire of Soviet jet-powered artillery, referred to as ``Katyushas'' by the Red Armymen. These devices were designed by V. N. Golkovsky, V. V. Aborenkov, I. I. Gvai and others.
The theoretical work on aerodynamics carried out by the eminent Soviet scientists and Academicians S. A. Chaplygin, M. V. Keldysh, S. A. Khristianovich and B. N. Yuryev and A. N. Tupolev was of inestimable significance to the building of combat aircraft.
In the USSR in May 1942, a jet aircraft was successfully tested for the first time anywhere in the world.
The scale on which new weapons were assimilated in a very short time and in such difficult circumstances had no earlier parallel.
A very important part in the ideological battle against fascism was played by the social scientists. Through their works historians, philosophers and economists reinforced the Soviet people's belief in victory and their patriotic feeling, and actively exposed the enemy's inhuman theories. The massive propagandising of Marxist-Leninist doctrine in newspapers, on the radio and in books was a powerful means of ideologically strengthening working people in the USSR between 1941 and 1945.
The war period abounds in instances of the extreme self-sacrifice, resolve and patriotism displayed by Soviet scientists in the struggle against fascism. Leningrad scientists accomplished an undying feat: despite hunger and artillery and aerial bombardment, they continued 277 their research inside the beleaguered city, gave lectures and worked in military hospitals and war enterprises.
Hundreds of talented scientists perished during the war years. In Leningrad alone 136 architects starved to death or were killed during the bombardments. A fine example of patriotism and courage was set by D. M. Karbyshev, a Doctor of Military Sciences and a lieutenantgeneral of the engineering troops, who was posthumously made a Hero of the Soviet Union for his valour and uncompromising resolve. As a lieutenant-colonel in the tsarist army, he sided with the Revolution in October 1917. Just before the outbreak of war, he was a professor at a number of military academies. In a seriously shell-shocked condition, he fell into fascist hands in 1941. Neither torture nor the concentration camp could break the will of this great scientist and Communist. On the 28 February 1945, he was murdered at the Mauthausen death camp in Austria.
Evidence of the growing importance of science was provided by the founding during the war years of the Uzbek, Azerbaijan and Armenian Academies of Sciences, as well as academies of artillery and medical sciences.
Nor did the war halt the work of Soviet educational establishments. Hundreds of schools and centres of higher learning were evacuated to the east. Naturally, the massive transfer of educational establishments from the front areas to the hinterland made organisation and timetabling extremely difficult. The schools of Uzbekistan alone took in over 40,000 evacuees.
The buildings of many schools, technical colleges and higher educational establishments, which were beginning to be in short supply anyway, were converted into military hospitals, recruitment centres and barracks. Consequently, lessons had to be arranged in several shifts, often in unsuitable premises. The eastward evacuation of educational establishments helped not only to preserve teaching staffs and equipment, but also to ensure the more or less uninterrupted production of specialists to help at the front and in the rear. It encouraged the growth of new educational centres in the remoter areas of the USSR, and this was subsequently to play an important part in supplying the country with the necessary trained staff in peacetime.
During the war most young people were denied the opportunity of receiving a secondary or higher education: some fought in the Red Army or in partisan detachments, while others started work at industrial and defence enterprises, at machine and tractor stations, and on collective or state farms, replacing their fathers and elder brothers, who had gone off to the front. During the war years, the numbers of young people attending secondary school fell by more than half.
The Party and the Soviet state took all possible measures to see that
young people in the rear could improve their general educational level
without leaving work. Accordingly, a network of evening schools for
young workers and farmers was established, and close attention was
given to developing the correspondence course system. Skilled
manpower for the economy was trained at technical colleges, factory
schools and vocational schools (these schools trained over 2.25 million
278
The presidium of the meeting held to mark the 220th anniversary of
the Academy of Sciences. 1945
young workers between 1941 and 1945). During this period, higher and
secondary specialised educational establishments produced 842,000
young specialists.
In the conditions created by the struggle against fascism, the educational priority continued to be the task of seeing that everyone received his basic compulsory education. Even behind the enemy lines, in the "partisan territories" of Byelorussia, the Ukraine and the western areas of the RSFSR, and in such beleaguered towns as Leningrad, Odessa and Sevastopol, schools continued to function, making use of every opportunity to hold lessons. Preparing to become worthy defenders of their country, schoolchildren gave enthusiastic help to such voluntary defence organisations as Society for Assisting Defence and Aviation and Chemical Construction in the USSR (Osoaviakhim), the Russian Red Cross Society and so on. Between 1941 and 1945 a total of 5.3 million schoolchildren passed through the standard course in physcial fitness and basic military skills.
Schools did a great deal to advance the country's labour efforts. Young patriots made an enormous contribution towards helping the Red Army: they collected medicinal herbs and scrap metal, worked on collective farms and in factories, did odd jobs for military hospitals, looked after the families of frontline troops, and so on.
279During the war years Soviet writers and artists concentrated on meeting the cultural requirements of the military and home fronts. Over 1,000 patriotic writers went off to the front voluntarily. M. Sholokhov, A. Fadeyev, K. Simonov, A. Tvardovsky, B. Polevoi, B. Gorbatov, N. Tikhonov, V. Stavsky, V. Vishnevsky, A. Surkov, V. Vasilevskaya, A. Gaidar, P. Brovka, A. Malyshko, Y. Petrov and other known writers served in the Red Army as commanders, political instructors or war correspondents. Of the 800 members of the Moscow Writers' Organisation 250 went off to the front. The writers in the Byelorussian, Rostov and other organisations joined the Red Army almost to a man. Even the oldest writer, A. S. Serafimovich, then 80 years of age, went to the scene of military operations.
The country's writers sincerely expressed the patriotic ideals that led the Soviet troops into battle. In military hospitals, trenches and shelters, in partisan-occupied woods and during lulls in the fighting, the Soviet defenders read the new books produced, and drew from them the strength to stiffen their moral resilience.
The hero of fiction came to be the fearless serviceman, the unstinting worker, the patriotic partisan. The war also left its imprint on the form of literary and artistic works. During the first months of war it was the supposedly minor genres in all forms of creative work that were of overwhelming significance. In prose the short story and the publicist's feature story took up a dominant position.
Many writers turned to the publicistic genre — the most militant form of artistic propaganda. The short piece from a war correspondent, the article and the feature story matched up the best to a rapidly changing political and military situation, and made possible an immediate response to fast-moving events. Particularly well known were the publicistic works of A. Tolstoy, L. Leonov, I. Ehrenburg, N. Tikhonov, M. Sholokhov, A. Fadeyev, K. Simonov and B. Gorbatov. The central press, frontline newspapers and partisan leaflets all published vivid contributions by writers and journalists about events at the front.
On the 22 June 1942—the anniversary of the nazis' treacherous attack on the USSR—Mikhail Sholokhov published his short story Hate and, shortly afterwards, chapters from his new novel They Fought for Their Country, in which he depicted the courage and colossal strength of the Soviet people. The heroic feat of the Red Armymen who fought on the banks of the Volga was described in Konstantin Simonov's story Days and Nights.
A great deal of Soviet prose writing dealt with the theme of the struggle put up by Soviet people in enemy-occupied areas. There was, for instance, V. Vasilevskaya's The Rainbow, as well as B. Gorbatov's The Unconquered (Tarns' Family) in which the writer showed the steadfastness of the workers. The courage and spiritual purity of the Soviet fighting men and the workers in the rear also featured in such works as Alexei Tolstoy's The Tales of Ivan Sudarev, A. Bek's Volokolamsk Highway, M. Shaginyan's The Urals in Defence and A. Karavayeva's Fires.
280Even in the hardest days, works of fiction continued to be published in quantities that were large for the time.
Soviet writers also turned to historical subjects in their efforts to produce patriotic works. Such were Alexei Tolstoy's novel Peter the Great, V. Shishkov's Yemelyan Pugachov, S. Golubov's Bagration and A. Stepanov's Port Arthur.
The social significance of Soviet poetry grew too. In the autumn of 1941, when fascist shells were exploding in the streets of Leningrad, the 95-year-old Kazakh poet (akyn) Dzhambul Dzhabayev addressed a moving Epistle to the Leningraders. His poetic work, full as it was of love and admiration for the staunchness and courage shown by those who were defending the city of Lenin, was posted up on the buildings of the besieged town. During the same period the poet N. Tikhonov wrote the long poem Kirov Is with Us, soon to be followed by K. Simonov's Wait for Me, Olga Bergholtz's February Diary and A. Prokofiev's Russia, as well as new poems by A. Surkov, G. Gulyam, M. Rylsky and others. A. Tvardovsky's lengthy poem Vastly Tyorkin vividly depicted the epic quality of life at the front, as well as the characteristics of the Russian serviceman, who waged "a mortal struggle not for glory, but for life on earth".
The 1942--43 period saw the publication of M. Aliger's long poem Zoya and P. Antokolsky's The Son. The heroes of both poems give their lives for their country, dying at the hands of the fascist invaders, but their deaths inspire others to struggle nobly for justice.
Despite the difficulties of wartime, Soviet literary works were distributed far and wide. In late 1941 and early 1942 about 50,000 public libraries and nearly 60,000 reading premises in clubs were functioning throughout the country, not to mention the numerous mobile libraries. Books were delivered directly to factories, farms and fields.
Between 1941 and 1945 Soviet books earned increasing recognition far beyond the USSR itself. During the war period Soviet literary works were published in 35 countries.
In all, 275 writers and poets perished in battles to maintain the country's freedom and independence. Arkady Gaidar, the outstanding writer of children's stories, was killed while fighting in a partisan detachment. The writer Yevgeny Petrov died tragically on the 2 July 1942 as he was flying back from the besieged town of Sevastopol. On the third day of the war, the poets D. Altauzen, A. Tvardovsky and E. Dolmatovsky went off to join the army in the field as war correspondents. Altauzen's feature stories, articles and poems began to appear in almost every issue of the frontline newspaper. In the spring of 1942 the unit in which the poet was serving was surrounded, and he died an honourable death. The writers Y. Krymov and V. Stavsky were also killed in battle. I. Menshikov was burnt to death while flying to link up with the partisans, and Ye. Zozulya died near Kiev. The famous Tatar poet Musa Dzhalil, who had gone off to the front during the early days of the war, was tortured to death by the nazis in Spandau Prison on the 25 August 1944. He had been captured, seriously wounded, in battle. On the day before his death, he wrote a poem of defiance against his captors.
281No, butcher, you lie, I will not kneel, Though you torture me or sell me for a slave! Standing I'll die, not pleading for mercy, Though you strike off my head with an axe!
In recognition of their participation in the struggle against the fascist occupation forces, some 500 writers were awarded Orders and medals, and 10 were made Heroes of the Soviet Union.
The cinema played a considerable part during the war years. In the course of the first few months, over 100 newsreel teams left for the front. They shot thousands of metres of film recording numerous incidents that occurred during the battle against the enemy. Many cameramen died at their posts. The cameramen who made the film Leningrad in Struggle shot scenes of life in the city under the harsh conditions imposed by the enemy blockade. The film was noted for the great force of its emotional impact and its artistic merit. Film teams also accompanied the Soviet troops who launched the offensive near Moscow in December 1941. It took only a month to make the most important film of the early part of the war, The Defeat of the German Army at Moscow.
The short non-documentary films that, together, formed the "Fighting Selection" series were also made at this time. The series comprised short films on dramatic and political themes, as well as political satire.
The first full-length wartime feature film, Mashenka, was made in the spring of 1942 and received warm acclaim.
Films about the heroic struggle of the Russian and other peoples of the USSR against foreign invaders, films about the October Revolution and the Civil War, and anti-fascist films enjoyed immense popularity—films such as Parkhomenko, Georgi Saakadze, Kutuzov, Kotovsky, David-Bek and Professor Mamlok.
The second half of 1942 saw the appearance of A Lad From Our Town, directed by A. Stolper and B. Ivanov, and 1. Pyryev's The Party Secretary. These full-length films record the personalities of true Communists and illustrate the people's love of their country.
The film Zoya, dedicated to the memory of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, is a deeply patriotic film. The theme of the Russians' steadfastness and of their loyalty and devotion to socialist ideas is explored in the films The Rainbow, Invasion, Man Number 217, She Defends Her Homeland, Wait for Me and The Two Soldiers.
The period of the Soviet offensives saw a growth in the output of documentary films.
In 1944--45 the documentary film studios made 11 productions dealing with the Red Army's major operations. Also screened were the documentaries The Battle for Sevastopol, Victory in the Western Ukraine, Victory in the South, The Liberation of Soviet Byelorussia, The Liberation of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Berlin among others.
Musicians also marched in step with the whole Soviet people.
The song The Holy War, by the composer A. Alexandrov and the poet V. Lebedev-Kumach, was the most significant piece of songwriting to emerge from the period. It was first performed by the Red 282 Army Song and Dance Ensemble in Moscow's Byelorussian Railway Station to an audience of troops departing for the front. Other favourites among the troops included V. Solovyov-Sedoy's Evening in the Roadstead, M. Blanter's In a Wood Near the Front, M. Fradkin's Song of the Dnieper, N. Bogoslovsky's Dark Is the Night and K. Listov's The Small Light and The Trench.
Dmitri Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony, composed for the most part in the heroic city of Leningrad during the blockade, was the most remarkable of the major wartime musical works. The symphony was performed in the Hero City by the Radio Committee Orchestra on the 9 August 1942. Other famous composers also worked hard and successfully. It was during the war years that S. Prokofiev wrote his 1941 Overture; Y. Shaporin completed his patriotic oratorio Legend of the Battle for Russia; A. Khachaturyan created two symphonies and the ballet Gayane; M. Balanchivadze finished his First Symphony; A. Shtogarenko glorified his native land in the cantata My Ukraine. M. Koval's opera Yemelyan Pugachov was also produced in the difficult wartime conditions, and S. Prokofiev wrote the opera War and Peace, based on Tolstoy's novel.
In general, all stage productions took account of the country's military tasks. Every new dramatic work was staged by the theatres. Such plays as A. Korneichuk's The Front, L. Leonov's Invasion, K. Simonov's Russian People, B. Lavrenyov's Epic of the Black Sea Sailors, N. Pogodin's The Kremlin Chimes and A. Kron's The Naval Officer went down very well with Soviet audiences. The practice of organising travelling performances and concerts was an important initiative. From very early on the war artistic brigades began to be formed in order to give performances not in the theatre, but at the factory, collective farm, mobilisation point and military hospital. In Moscow 700 artistic brigades were set up, 508 in Leningrad, 108 in the Ukraine and 102 in Georgia.
Teams from nearly all the country's large theatres went to the troops' forward positions: thousands of musicians, dancers, singers and literary readers took part in cultural work at the front.
During the war a total of 3,685 artistic brigades visited the various fronts, involving over 42,000 cultural workers. Between 1942 and 1945 they put on 441,000 performances and concerts. During the same period more than 532,000 concert performances were given in the hospitals for wounded troops and officers.
Soviet painters also helped to mobilise the people's resources. Placards and political cartoons were useful weapons against fascism. On the second day of the war the streets of Moscow and other towns were displaying Kukryniksy's placard entitled We shall mercilessly defeat and destroy the enemy!
The traditional "TASS Windows'', made famous at an earlier period, soon began to make a new appearance. They were produced by such artists as Kukryniksy, P. Sokolov-Skalya, G. Savitsky, M. Cheremnykh, N. Radlov, N. Denisovsky and P. Shukhmin (in collaboration with the poets D. Bedny, V. Lebedev-Kumach and others). Between 1941 and 1945 publishing houses produced over 1,000 of these ``Windows'' in printings of many millions.
283In 1941 and 1942, when the country was experiencing its most critical period, I. Toidze's placard The Motherland is calling! made its appearance, together with D. Moor's What have you done to help the front?, D. Shmarinov's Revenge!, V. Mukhina's We shall defend Moscow!, and V. Ivanov's and O. Burova's Anyone who takes up the sword against us shall perish by the sword!
Permanent and mobile exhibitions played an important part in presenting the best drawings, paintings and sculptures to the Soviet people. An art exhibition was even held in besieged Leningrad in January 1942.
In painting and sculpture, as in other forms of art. many famous works were created between 1941 and 1945.
All members of the creative intelligentsia—writers, poets, painters, scientists, educationists, stage artists, composers and film workers — displayed a high level of patriotism and resilience during the ordeals of the war years. In exceptionally difficult conditions and moving shoulder to shoulder with the struggling people, they discharged their duty to their country, helping the Party to mobilise all the resources of the working people in order to defeat the enemy.
The war years revealed the full depth of the vitality of Soviet
culture, its high ideological level, popular nature and devotion to the
communist cause.
~
Uplift of education in the postwar years. The transition to peaceful life required a considerable stepping up of cultural and educational work among the population. The Soviet people had to heal the wounds inflicted by the war and at the same time resolve new historical tasks.
The damage the nazi barbarians inflicted on the cultural wealth of the USSR is beyond description. Fascist invaders destroyed 84,000 schools, hundreds of higher schools, research institutes and laboratories, razed to the ground and plundered nearly 430 museums, 44,000 Palaces of Culture, libraries, clubs, hundreds of depositories of the historical treasures of the Russian, Ukrainian, Byelorussian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian and other peoples of the Soviet Union. They defiled and plundered the museum-homes of Lev Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana, Alexander Pushkin in Mikhailovskoye, Pyotr Chaikovsky in Klin, Ivan Turgenev in Spasskoye-Lutovinovo, Taras Shevchenko in Kanev, and Anton Chekhov in Yalta. Nazis carted out 320,000 rare books and manuscripts from the library of the Ukrainian Academy of sciences alone. They burned 1,500,000 books from the Byelorussian Lenin State Library and turned the building into a heap of rubble. The country's ancient towns, rich in monuments of olden times and architectural buildings, lay in ruins.
The Central Committee of the CPSU and the Soviet Government adopted the necessary measures to eliminate the damage caused by Hitlerites to the country's material, cultural and spiritual wealth. The destroyed cultural monuments were restored in the regions liberated from the fascist yoke and schools, clubs, libraries, kindergartens, hospitals, theatres, institutes and museums were brought back to normal.
Having successfully resolved the tasks of restoration by the 284 beginning of the 60s, the country entered the final stage of the cultural revolution, the result of which was the creation of "all the necessary ideological and cultural conditions ... for the victory of commu- nism".^^1^^
The restoration and further development of public education was a special concern of the Soviet state. First of all, the problem of an acute shortage of schools had to be dealt with, so that all children could attend school.
The allocations for school education increased every year. By the end of 1950 the expenditures for these purposes increased by more than 150 per cent as compared with the prewar 1940. More than 30,000 educational establishments for five million students were built and restored in the first ten postwar years alone. Beginning in 1949 schools went over to a compulsory seven-year education everywhere, and conditions were created for the transition to a universal secondary education in the capitals of the Union republics and in major cities. By 1952 universal seven-year free schooling was introduced, in the main, in the Soviet Union.
The training of the young generation for active participation in social production and equipping it with work skills have been and remain to be the most important function of Soviet schools. "We could not believe in teaching, training and education,'' wrote Lenin, "if they were restricted only to the schoolroom and divorced from the ferment of = life."^^2^^ After 1956 labour lessons and practical training at workshops and in the field were introduced in general education schools. Pupils began to be acquainted with leading branches of industrial and agricultural production on a broader scale. In September 1956 the CPSU Central Committee and the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a resolution on the setting up of boarding schools in which children would enjoy state support six days a week.
Although Soviet schools achieved certain success in moulding the new man, there was inadequate touch between studies and practice by the close of 1950. Soviet school system had to be further perfected in accordance with new life requirements. Instead of the functioning seven-year school a compulsory eight-year polytechnical school was set up in accordance with the law adopted by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in December 1958. Also it was decided to set up a three-year primary in place of the four-year primary school. The law envisaged that the term of schooling be lengthened by one year in secondary schools. However, practice proved this measure to be insufficiently grounded and justified. Therefore, beginning with 1964, ten-year schooling was restored.
Gradually, beginning with the 60s, measures were carried out to introduce compulsory general secondary education for schoolchildren. Ever greater attention was paid to raising the quality of teachers' training to meet the requirements of the times and the sweeping _-_-_
~^^1^^ Programme of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Adopted by the 22nd Congress of the CPSU, October 31, 1961. Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1961, p. 117.
~^^2^^ V. 1. Lenin, Collected Works. Vol. 31, p. 295.
285 scientific and technological revolution. An All-Russia Congress of Teachers was held in Moscow in 1960 and teachers' congresses were held in other Union republics.As a result of strengthening the ties between school and production, carried out on a countrywide scale, school-leavers began to work more willingly at collective and state farms and factories. Hundreds of thousands of them took up studies, without interrupting work, in corresponding courses, and evening branches of the higher schools. At the beginning of the seven-year plan period more than 10,000 young people with a secondary education worked at the animal-breeding farms in Ryazan Region. All in all, more than 1.200,000 young men and women worked at establishments and building sites and in farm fields in the first three years of the seven-year plan period, while, over 500,000 school-leavers received, together with their school graduation papers, cerfiticates testifying that they were metal workers, combine-harvester operators, drivers, tractor drivers and so on.
The reform of the system of public education facilitated the solution of another most important task of the modern stage of the cultural revolution—that of raising the cultural and technical training of the workers and peasants. A process continued of withering away of the essential differences between mental and physical labour. The network of cultural and enlightenment institutions such as clubs. Palaces of Culture, libraries and people's universities of culture have had marked effect on cultural growth of the workers and peasants.
The scientific and technological revolution expanded its frontiers and spheres of influence with every year, presenting ever new requirements including those to schools. In the 60s measures were taken to further improve teaching and school syllabuses. Of great importance was the resolution of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers of November 10, 1966, "On Measures for Further Improvement of the Work of the Secondary General Education Schools'', which gave a clear-cut definition of the current tasks of the Soviet system of education. The 23rd Party Congress emphasised the necessity of developing schools as general educational, labour and polytechnical institutions. The improvement of public education brought about new achievements in the teaching and upbringing of the growing generation in the years of the eighth five-vear plan period.
The tasks of developing the pedagogical thought in the country, studying and disseminating the experience of the best teachers and school collectives, preconditioned the setting up of the Academy of Pedagogical Science of the USSR. The All-Union Congress of Teachers held in 1968 was a major milestone in the history of public education. It discussed topical questions such as perfecting the system of raising and teaching the growing generation as well as the urgent problems of the development of pedagogical science. On the eve of the congress a large group of teachers, who had distinguished themselves in their work, was awarded the high title of Hero of Socialist Labour.
The current scientific and technological revolution leads to an increase of the share of mental work in overall labour expenditure. 286 The high level of general school education has grown in social importance. In the years of the Eighth Five-Year Plan schools began to work on the new syllabuses and books. A broad transition from the four-year primary schooling to a three-year one was another important change in the school education system. Over 1966--1970 the general education schools of the Russian Federation completed, in the main, this transition. Alongside this, the renewal of the content of education made teaching more complicated. The selection of the increased flow of scientific-technical and cultural information had to be stepped up and teaching improved. An Institute of General Problems of Education was set up in Moscow in 1970 within the system of the Academy of Pedagogical Science of the USSR with the aim of working out scientific forms and methods of organisation of educational work.
Much has been done to introduce universal secondary education in line with the decisions of the 24th CPSU Congress. Nearly three million schoolchildren left school in the 1969/1970 academic year. This was twice as many as in 1960. Nearly 7,500 new secondary schools were opened in the same period. The transition to a universal secondary education in the years of the ninth five-year plan period enhanced the social significance of the work of teachers. The Directives of the 24th CPSU Congress on public education questions emphasised the necessity of improving considerably the qualification of teachers and instructors in the ninth five-year period.
The training of pedagogical cadres was steadily improved and expanded. Teachers were trained by more than 200 teachers' training colleges, 45 universities and by nearly 400 teachers' training schools. In the beginning of the 70s nearly 940,000 teachers went through various forms of courses in the Russian Federation which prepared them for work with new syllabuses and textbooks.
The instructions of our Party about the necessity of intensifying the work of professional orientation of students, with due account given to their inclinations and the requirements of the national economy for qualified personnel, was of great importance in the solution of the most important national task. Towards the close of the ninth five-year period the number of pupils studying in senior clases reached 400,000. The number of first-year pupils in the vocational schools providing secondary education also increased. In that period over 14 million young men and women graduated from the country's secondary schools of all types. The discussion at the 6th Session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1973) of questions of developing and improving the country's public education, and the adoption of the Fundamentals of Legislation of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics and of the Union Republics on Public Education were a new important step in the cultural progress of Soviet society. The main principles recorded in the Fundamentals envisage: the equality of all citizens in receiving education regardless of race and nationality, sex, creed, property and social status; compulsory education for all children and teenagers; a state and social character attached to all study and educational establishments; freedom of selection of the language of teaching: teaching in native language or in the language of any other peoples of the USSR. Since 1978 the country has gone over to a free use of 287 textbooks. Our young people receive knowledge thanks to general education in accordance with the Constitution of the USSR which gives them the right to enter any higher school, whereas in such developed capitalist countries as the FRG, France, Britain only 20--25 per cent of the young people (mainly from the upper classes) have this opportunity.^^1^^ Even those who in no way may be regarded as sympathisers with the socialist system have to admit the outstanding achievements of the Soviet state.
At the 25th CPSU Congress the Party substantiated the correct ways to new successes in education and the upbringing of the growing generation. It was stressed in the Report of the CPSU Central Committee to the Congress that "in modern conditions when the volume of knowledge a man needs tends sharply and rapidly to increase, it is no longer possible to rely mainly on the assimilation of a definite sum of facts. It is important to habituate the young person in the ability to augment his knowledge independently, and to find his bearings in the torrent of scientific and political information."
__*_*_*__The work of restoring and developing the network of higher schools was started on a wide scale immediately after the end of the war. New higher schools were opened far and wide across the country: universities were founded in Vladivostok, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk and other cities. 1950--1955 saw the opening of 50 new higher learning establishments. The number of students grew steadily. In 1951 there were 350,000 first-year students—thrice more than the total number of students in Britain at that time.
By the close of the 50s the total number of establishments of higher learning was 766 (as against 105 in pre-revolutionary Russia), and the number of students—2,200,000 (as against 127,000 before the revolution).
In the 1960s and 1970s, due to the scientific and technological revolution and the reform of public education, the ties between Soviet higher and secondary specialised schools and production have grown noticeably stronger and the quality of teaching improved. By the beginning of the 60s half of all Soviet higher school students studied without interrupting work. Young people with working record have an advantage when being enrolled in an institute of higher learning. That is why the composition of the student body has changed so drastically: today, up to 70 per cent of students have a record of at least two years of practical work. The restructuring of the study process in the country's higher schools is largely dictated by the drawing closer of theoretical courses to practical work, by the requirements of the swiftly developing economy and by the tasks of the scientific and technological revolution.
The training of qualified personnel was under way in all branches of knowledge, but special attention was paid to training people in _-_-_
~^^1^^ According to UNESCO only every fourth child in the world receives primary education and only every 12th—secondary.
288 natural-technical specialities. In 1970/1971 close to nine million students studied at higher or secondary specialised schools, of which six million studied at higher schools. Women's educational level grew particularly swiftly. There were 75 per cent of women among doctors with a higher education, 63 per cent—among teachers and 36 per cent—among science workers. Higher education developed at an unprecedented rate in Soviet
constituent republics where many new higher schools were set up in
the postwar years. Universities were opened in Ashkhabad, Kishinev,
Saransk, Uzhgorod, Dushanbeh, Nalchik, Yakutsk, Ufa,
The University of Tashkent. Just before lectures
__PRINTERS_P_289_COMMENT__
19---69
289
Makhachkala, Cheboksary, Elista. At the beginning of the 60s there were 36
higher schools in Uzbekistan, 25 in Kazakhstan, 23 in Byelorussia, 19
in Georgia, 14 in Azerbaijan, 12 in Lithuania, 13 in Armenia, 9 in
Latvia, 8 in Tajikistan, 7 in Moldavia, 7 in Estonia, and 6 in
Turkmenia. There were more higher school students in the Ukraine
than in Britain, France, Spain, Sweden and Austria taken together,
and 10 times more than in Canada.
The Soviet Union is rendering extensive assistance to the young countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America in training highly qualified national specialists. The Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University, named after national hero of the Congolese people, was opened in Moscow on November 17, 1960.
In the last few years the level of teaching of social disciplines in the country's higher and technical schools increased considerably and the interest of young people, towards mastering humanitarian sciences, heightened. New textbooks have been written on the history of the CPSU, philosophy, political economy, and scientific communism. More than two million higher school graduates took part in the 6th All-Union Competition on the Problems of Social Sciences. In the ninth five-year plan period 63 new institutes of higher learning were built and the area of student campuses increased by another 5,500,000 sq m.
The swift increase of general educational and cultural-technical level of the working class and collective-farm peasantry was a distinctive feature of the cultural construction in the Soviet Union. A great number of schools, technical schools and institutes of higher learning were set up in the towns on the sites of big enterprises, on the initiative of the workers. The workers of many works and factories strive for every factory and office worker to have a secondary education. Thus, more than 70 per cent of the workers at the Moscow Likhachov Motor Works have graduated from either a secondary or a higher school.
The decisions of the 25th CPSU Congress opened up broad perspectives for the further development of the system of higher education. The Communist Party has placed the task before higher schools of raising the level of the professional, ideological and political education of specialists to meet the requirements of scientific and technological progress, the interests of communist construction. Particular attention has been concentrated on maximum provision of specialists for the regions with intensive development of productive forces, on the training of more specialists in new fields of science and technology.
The volume of knowledge necessary for present-day specialists increases steadily, which is why the study process in higher schools is being constantly improved. It is significant that in the ninth fiveyear plan period, the economic effect of the realisation of research work in higher schools amounted to 4,200,000 roubles. Staff workers of the universities came up with more than 20 discoveries, 32,000 authorship certificates and nearly 1,200 patents. Some 5,000 inventions belong to students.
According to the latest data, mental workers make up one-tenth of the population of the Soviet Union. Young people from among the 290 working class, peasantry and office workers join the ranks of intellectuals. In the Tenth Five-Year Plan another 9,600,000 specialists were trained for the country's economy and establishments.
No capitalist country can match the Soviet Union in the rate of development of the higher and secondary education. At the beginning of the 70s there were 89 times more qualified specialists working in the country's economy than in pre-revolutionary Russia. Today 72 per cent of the working people engaged in the Soviet economy have a higher or a secondary (8- or 10-year) education.
The data of the international survey of the time budget have shown that today the working people of the Soviet country are spending seven times more of their free time on education than in the highly developed capitalist countries.
The solution of new, more complicated problems of communist construction, the scale of the scientific and technological revolution demand a steady increase in the educational level of the working people of all Union republics.~
__ALPHA_LVL2__ Progress of Soviet science. The opening of the space era.Progress of Soviet science. The opening of the space era. = The scope of research in the most diverse fields of science began to expand noticeably already in the first postwar years. In a number of fields the achievements of Soviet scientists allowed the country to come to the fore in world science. Particular attention was paid to the development of fundamental research in the fields of knowledge which largely ensured an accelerated rate of growth of the economy, and strengthened country's defence capacity.
The harnessing of atomic energy (a group of scientists headed by Academician I. Kurchatov) and the commissioning of the world's biggest synchrophasotron for research into atomic particles was an historical achievement. The creation of atomic and hydrogen bombs in the Soviet Union cooled the hot heads of many warmongers.
The discovery of the oil- and gas-bearing regions in Western Siberia which were forecast earlier, of the big new mineral deposits in Yakutia, in the Urals, Siberia and in the Soviet Far East, the tapping of the richest hydropower resources sparked off the exciting development of these regions. Whereas not so long ago major science forces were concentrated in Moscow, Leningrad, Kharkov, Kiev and in other cities of the European part of the Soviet Union, today a considerable portion of research organisations is concentrated also in the Urals, Kazakhstan, Siberia, Transcaucasia, Central Asian republics and in the Soviet Far East.
The level of research work and the qualification of scientists at many research centres in the Union republics are so high that they can tackle major problems on the nationwide scale, and not only on that of the given region. In 1956 the system of the USSR Academy of Sciences had 120 institutes and large laboratories and 12 local branches. Research centres were set up on the island of Sakhalin, on Kamchatka, in Daghestan, Volga area and in the Crimea. When the state faced the important task of using on a broad scale the productive forces of Siberia, it was decided to set up a new major complex of research establishments—the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences—with its centre in Novosibirsk, where Akademgorodok __PRINTERS_P_291_COMMENT__ 19* 291 was built. In certain important scientific trends the Siberian Branch occupies a leading place in the Soviet Union and enjoys world renown.
As a result of the consistent Leninist nationalities policy pursued by the Party, new republican academies of sciences—Kazakh, Estonian, Latvian, Tajik, Turkmen, Kirghiz, Lithuanian, and Moldavian — were set up in the country's national regions in postwar years as the science cadres multiplied and research centres strengthened. They played an important role in the progress of science. In the postwar years the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, where broad-scale research was initiated in the fields of cybernetics, physics of solid bodies, science of metals, physical chemistry and geology, considerably enhanced its prestige. The astrophysicists of Armenia have made a substantial contribution to Soviet and world science, scientists of Georgia—in the field of mechanics and mathematics, scientists of Uzbekistan—in chemistry of alcaloids, scientists of Kazakhstan—in geology, scientists of Azerbaijan—in petrochemistry, scientists of Latvia—in the organics of fine synthesis, and so on. The Academies of Sciences of the Central Asian republics pay much attention to the working out of the scientific principles of cotton growing, the study of deserts and questions of their economic utilisation, as well as to the study of seismological problems.
The papers of Soviet scientists at international congresses and
conferences have received high praise from the world scientific
The building of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences
in Moscow
292
The Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences in session. 1961
community. A number of the workers of Soviet science have been
elected honorary members and doctors of many foreign national
academies, universities and scientific societies, as well as to the panels
of international associations and committees. Since the early 50s an
intensive study of the Antarctic was launched in close collaboration
with other countries, and an intensive study of the Arctic continued.
The achievements of the Soviet scientists N. Semyonov, I. Tamm,
L. Landau, P. Cherenkov, I. Frank, N. Basov, A. Prokhorov, and
L. Kantorovich were rewarded with the Nobel Prize.
Along with a steady growth in the volume of scientific ventures, expansion of research centres and training scientific workers in the main fields of science, the state steadily increased expenditures to meet its needs. Life itself has advanced as the focal problem the task of accelerating the rate of scientific and technological progress and of boosting its economic effect, as well as its social significance. Guidance of scientific activity has become much more important.
The creation of the supersonic passenger planes, on which a number of world records have been set, turned out to be a major achievement of Soviet technology.
Physicists conducted a research and experimental work in the 60s-70s, which led to the unraveling of the mysteries of the atom and tapping its energy for peaceful purposes. The first industrial atomic power station was put on line in the Soviet Union as far back as June 293 27, 1954. Scientists from socialist countries combined efforts to set up in the town of Dubna, near Moscow, the Joint International Institute for Nuclear Research. The Soviet Government granted it the latest technological equipment and soon—in 1957—the most powerful (for those times) atomic particles accelerator was triggered there. A year later the 100,000 kW atomic station began to generate electricity in the Soviet Union and the construction of big new atomic power stations was launched. In particular, 1969 saw the beginning of the construction of the industrial atomic power station with a fast neutron reactor. Its rated capacity amounted to 600,000 kW.
The building in the Soviet Union of the world's first atomic icebreaker Lenin (1959), turned out to be a convincing example of the peaceful use of atomic energy.
Three times Hero of Socialist Labour Academicians I. Kurchatov,
A. Alexandrov, Y. Zeldovich, Yu. Khariton and Corresponding
Akademgoiodok, near Novosibirsk
294
I. V. Kurchatov
Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences K. Shchelkin have made
an outstanding contribution to the development of atomic physics.
Major discoveries in the fields of theoretical physics and mathematics were connected with the names of N. Bogolyubov, B. Pontekorvo, M. Leonovich, M. Lavrentiev, P. Kapitsa, A. Tikhonov and others. Research work of Soviet scientists in the field of quantum electronics has received world recognition. Following the starting up in 1957 of the world's most powerful at that time synchrophasotron which accelerated protons to the energy of 10,000 million eV, the construction of a still more powerful 70,000 million eV accelerator was successfully launched. The accelerating technology began to be used on a broad scale for the needs of the socialist industry, as well as for agriculture. The discovery by a group of scientists, headed by Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR G. Flerov, of a heavy isotop of the 102nd element was a major event in Soviet science. Research work in the field of nuclear energy was aimed at the service of peace. Country's prominent scientists 295 B. Konstantinov, M. Millionshchikov, L. Landau, L. Artsimovich, A. Logunov, M. Markov, R. Khokhlov and others worked fruitfully in various fields of physical science. Researchers faced the problem of harnessing the thermonuclear reaction—the most powerful source of energy on our planet.
Mathematicians have made a noticeable step forward: in the field of the analytical theory of numbers, in the field of probability theory and mathematical statistics.
Successes in chemical science (research work of Academicians A. Nesmeyanov, I. Knunyants, N. Zhavoronkov, G. Boreskov, G. Razuvaev and others) largely facilitated progress in the Soviet economy.
Mechanics, radio-physicists, cyberneticists, energy specialists, astronomers (works of Academicians V. Ambartsumyan, V. Glushkov, V. Kotelnikov, P. Kochina, G. Marchuk, A. Tselikov, A. Ishlinsky, V. Chelomei and others) have made a substantial contribution to science.
Research in the field of biological science has had a paramount importance for agriculture, medicine and certain branches of industry. Research in the chemicalisation of agriculture, of great importance for raising the yields of agricultural plants and productivity of livestock, was expanded. Selectionists joined forces with scientists in the drive to boost agriculture. Hybrids and new maize species, cultivated by B. Sokolov, M. Khajinov, A. Musiiko and others, have taken up over 20 million hectares.
The workers of medical science continued actively to combat diseases. Such prominent medical workers as L. Bogush (TB treatment), A. Vishnevsky and B. Petrovsky (heart disease treatment), N. Blokhin and N. Petrov (treatment and prophilactics of cancer) were awarded the Lenin Prize for their fruitful research. A highly effective preparation against poliomyelitis has been created under the guidance of A. Smorodintsev and M. Chumakov. Hundreds of research institutions and laboratories, above all, those which were under the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, tens of thousands of scientific and medical workers energetically engaged in the work of prolonging human life. It is indicative that the average man's life span has now reached 70 years. In the 60s-70s the Soviet Union moved into first place in the world as to the absolute number of doctors and also as to provision of doctors for the population: more than a quarter of all the doctors in the world and four-fifths of all doctors in Europe worked in the Soviet Union.
The social organisation of public health service in the USSR is based on two main principles: free qualified medical aid and preventive work of medical institutions.
The development of Soviet engineering was marked in the last years
by major shifts. Durability and automation have moved to the
foreground here. Scientists and engineers developed many new highly
efficient automatic and semi-automatic machine-tools with hydraulic
transmissions and a copying device for processing various materials.
Particular attention was paid to the development of devices for
programmed control of metal-cutting machine-tools. The automated
296
Loading a nuclear reactor
[297]
control theory (Academician V. Trapeznikov's school) made good
progress here. The significance of chemical methods in metal
processing increased in the field of technology. The development of
the industry of polymers spurred on the production of new materials
not only those which outdid natural materials but also materials which
never existed in nature before. In 1962 researchers of the E. Paton
Institute of Welding of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences developed
and introduced a new method of arc automated welding of steels.
Soviet metallurgists have practically resolved the task of introducing
gas into blast-furnace production. The technology of so-called
micro-metallurgy—obtaining super-thin metal threads and wires,
without which the development of the latest technology is
impossible—began to be energetically developed.
The founding of the Academy of Social Sciences under the CC CPSU soon after the war was an important step in the training of Marxist cadres in the field of humanitarian knowledge. Set up in 1947 at the initiative of Soviet scientists, the All-Union Society for Disseminating Political and Scientific Knowledge (today the Znanie All-Union Society) began to play an important role in the system of educating the working people. At the close of the 40s a number of new branches (Kola, Komi, Yakutia and others) were set up in the system of the USSR Academy of Sciences—complex scientific establishments. This extended the ``geography'' of science.
Since the second half of the 50s social sciences, comprising the scientific basis for guiding the development of society, have played a more active role in the formation of the scientific world outlook of the Soviet people and in the solution of the tasks of communist construction. Following the historic decisions of the 20th Congress of the CPSU Soviet social science scholars undertook the most topical problems on a wide scale. The scientific-methodological level of their research has become noticeably higher and their approach to the problems presented by life much more creative.
A number of urgent problems, relative to the patterns of the transition from socialism to communism, the creation of the material and technical basis of communism were scientifically developed in the works of Soviet economists. Research in the field of theoretical problems was combined with the working out of concrete recommendations to improve planning and economic management and boost the efficiency of the entire social production.
The historians focussed on the generalisation of the experience of communist construction, the study of the main patterns of the development of socialism and its growing into communism.
Among the works of Soviet historians note, above all, should be made of the publishing of collective fundamental works: the manyvolumed World History, The History of the USSR from Ancient Times Up to Our Day, the ethnographic series Peoples of the World, The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union. 1941--1945. The Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the CPSU Central Committee jointly with other science collectives is finishing the publication of the six-volume History of the CPSU, the Soviet Historical Encyclopaedia and a 12-volume History of the Second World War.
298
Y. A. Gagarin
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The philosophical literature has been enriched by the fundamental publications—History of Philosophy and the Philosophical Encyclopaedia. Soviet philosophers are studying such problems as the uniformities of the development of the communist socio-economic formation, topical problems of dialectical and historical materialism, philosophical questions of contemporary natural sciences, critical analysis of bourgeois philosophical conceptions.
The works of Academician M. Khrapchenko and of Corresponding Member F. Filin in philology were awarded the Lenin Prize.
Research has enlivened noticeably in the field of sociology: specific research started at industrial enterprises and on state and collective farms.
Science was enriched with valuable works in other departments of humanitarian knowledge, too.
As Soviet society developed, ever broader sections of the working population in all the constituent republics have been drawn into participation in the cultural life. Tens of thousands of engineers, technicians and workers joined the movement of disseminating and developing scientific know-how. Commissions for promoting technological progress, bureaus of economic analysis, and the like were set up at enterprises in Moscow, Leningrad, Sverdlovsk and other industrial centres, with the all-Union Society of Inventors and Rationalisers and the All-Union Scientific and Technical Society playing an important role in this movement.
__*_*_*__Among the outstanding gains of Soviet science the achievements in space exploration and in the research into the atomic nucleus justly hold first place. These achievements wrought a true revolution in world science and are of great importance for all humanity. It has now become clear to everyone that such achievements could be made only in a highly developed country.
The progress of science and technology in the USSR allowed Soviet scientists to penetrate deeper and deeper into nature's mysteries. Three space rockets were launched in 1959. The first of these actually became the tenth planet of our solar system, the second reached the Moon's surface, delivering to the Mare of Serenity and the Mare of Rains a penant depicting the emblem of the USSR, while the third rocket sent into the Moon's orbit an automatic interplanetary station and helped to photograph the reverse side of the Moon's surface. Experimental animals, insects and plants were sent into space. The information obtained supplied new data for a manned space flight which was in the stage of preparation.
On April 12, 1961, the space era began—Man flew into space from the planet Earth. Soviet Radio and Central Television announced: "Moscow speaking. All the radio stations in the Soviet Union on the air. On April 12, 1961, the world's first manned spaceship Vostok was put into orbit in the Soviet Union. A citizen of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Major Yuri Gagarin, is the pilot-cosmonaut of the Vostok spaceship."
300What has happened would until quite recently have been regarded as fantastic or as coming true only in the distant future. Newspapers the world over, radio and TV broadcasts carried news of this event. At 10:35 a.m. Moscow time of the same day the Soviet spaceship with the pilot-cosmonaut landed safely in the predetermined region of the USSR. Yuri Gagarin was justly called the "Columbus of the 20th century''. A daring age-old dream about man's space flight was thus realised and broad perspectives were opened for a further exploration of near space by a man.
On August 6, 1961, at 9 a.m the spaceship Vostok-2 piloted by G. Titov was put into Earth orbit. His flight lasted 25 hours. He was the first to control the spaceship manually. March 16, 1962, saw the launching of the first of the series of Kosmos research satellites. Then followed a whole string of news about the launching of spaceships with Soviet cosmonauts on board. In the summer of 1962 A. Nikolayev and P. Popovich made a flight in the Soviet spaceships Vostok-3 and Vostok-4, and the next year the world witnessed another triumph of Soviet science—a new many-day simultaneous flight of the spaceship Vostok-5 piloted by V. Bykovsky and Vostok-6 piloted by the world's first woman-cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.
The automatic interplanetary station Mars-1 was launched successfully to Mars in November 1962 and the Soviet station Luna-4 started to the Moon on April 2, 1963.
October 12, 1964, saw the orbiting by a powerful rocket-carrier of the world's first three-seater spaceship Voskhod-1 with EngineerColonel V. Komarov, researcher K. Feoktistov and physiciancosmonaut B. Yegorov on board. For the first time ever a scientist and a physician could make their observations directly in space. The cosmonauts had made their flight without space costumes and with no ejection system.
A new Soviet spaceship, Voskhod-2, was orbited on March 18, 1965. That flight opened a new page in the history of space exploration: for the first time ever man stepped out of the spaceship into space. It was cosmonaut A. Leonov assisted by the spaceship commander P. Belyaev who made this complicated experiment, requiring exceptional bravery.
The touch-down on the Moon on February 3, 1966 of the Soviet autorhatic station, which transmitted photographs back to Earth, was another milestone in space exploration.
April 1967 saw the testing of the spaceship Soyuz-1. Cosmonaut V. Komarov, having completed the planned flight programme, died during the ship's landing due to certain unforeseen circumstances.
On October 18, 1967, the Venera-4 automatic station made the first direct measurements of Venus' atmosphere and at the close of October of the same year the world's first automatic docking of the earth's man-made satellites was achieved in the orbit.
The year of 1968 was marked by G. Beregovoi's successful flight in a new modernised spaceship Soyuz-3; two stations carrying Soviet pennants launched toward Venus reached its surface in May 1969.
In January 1969, two spaceships, Soyuz-4 piloted by V. Shatalov and Soyuz-5 piloted by B. Volynov, docked in and members of the 301 crews, E. Khrunov and A. Yeliseyev, walked in space from one ship to another.
Three Soviet spaceships, Soyuz-6 with Lieutenant-Colonel G. Shonin and flight engineer V. Kubasov, Soyuz-7 with Colonel A. Filipchenko, flight engineer V. Volkov, Engineer-Colonel V. Gorbatko and Soyuz-8 with V. Shatalov and flight engineer A. Yeliseyev, were orbited on October 11, 12 and 13, 1969. The crews carried out a complex research programme which included metal welding, performed in the outer space for the first time ever.
In the same period, the Soyuz-9 manned spaceship and automatic stations to probe the Moon, Venus, near and interplanetary space were launched in the Soviet Union.
The flight of the Luna-16 automatic station (September 1970) helped to solve a most complicated scientific and technological problem— sampling moon rock with the help of automatic devices and delivering the samples to earth. On October 20, the automatic station Zond-8 was sent toward the Moon and returned back to earth. On November 17 Luna-17 landed on the Moon's surface in the western part of the Mare of Rains bringing there a self-propelled vehicle, Lunokhod-1. A unique space experiment lasted for ten and a half months with the moonrover used for a broad complex of scientific and technological studies. The automatic interplanetary station Venera-7 launched on August 17, 1970 reached Venus on December 15, probed the lower layers of its atmosphere down to its surface and sent the first scientific data back to earth directly from the surface of another planet of the Solar System.
The 70s were the years of realisation of the Interkosmos programme of joint research ventures by scientists of socialist countries. Valuable complex scientific experiments were conducted with the help of man-made satellites of the Interkosmos series, and the geophysical rocket Vertikal-1.
In their heroic flight on the Soyuz-11 spaceship that lasted from June 6 to 30, 1971, Lieutenant-Colonel G. Dobrovolsky, flight engineer V. Volkov and test-engineer V. Patsaev carried out fully a most difficult complex of research on their spaceship and on the scientific orbital station Salyut. On their way back the crew died in an accident. But their flight made an invaluable contribution to space exploration.
The list of cosmonauts, who circumnavigated the earth, has been considerably replenished in the last few years. By their research work in space the crews of the Soviet Soyuz spaceships have made a tangible contribution to the development of Soviet science about the Universe, to the solution of a number of complicated problems linked with the effect of weightlessness on a human body and other scientific and technological, biological and geophysical tasks.
The flights of the Soviet interplanetary stations of the Mars and
Venera series have inscribed a new page in the chronicles of the
Soviet and world space flights. They considerably expanded our
knowledge of the planets of the Solar System. The Venera-7 and
Venera-8 stations soft-landed on the surface of the planet Venus.
Unique pictures of the planet's surface were transmitted back to earth
302
A group of cosmonauts in front of Lenin's Mausoleum
from the descent capsules soft-landed in various parts of Venus from
the automatic stations Venera-9 and Venera-10.
People across the world watched the bold space experiment conducted in mid-summer 1975—a joint flight of the Soviet spaceship Soyuz-19 and the American Apollo.
The preparation of this experimental flight required the solution of many fundamental questions concerning the standardisation of docking units, radio-technical means of approaching and docking-in operations and the air conditions in the spaceships, and also the organisation of the flawless interaction of the ground control services. This called for numerous meetings of scientists, engineers, cosmonauts and astronauts of the two countries.
Finally, on July 15, 1975 the Soviet spaceship piloted by A. Leonov and V. Kubasov started out from Baikonur Cosmodrome and seven and half hours later the US Apollo spaceship piloted by T. Stafford, V. Brand and D. Slayton was launched from Cape Canaveral.
This space experiment lasted for nine days. During this time Soyuz and Apollo docked in twice. Extensive scientific and experimental work was jointly carried out during the two-day flight of the first international orbital station. The scientists and cosmonauts of the two countries had a humane aim in mind—to enhance the safety of space flights. But what they achieved turned to be far greater: the flight became a symbol of detente which was under way on the basis of the principles of peaceful coexistence, a practical contribution to the 303 development of mutually advantageous cooperation in the interests of peace on earth.
The first year of the Tenth Five-Year Plan was marked by new achievements in space exploration. A 48-day research venture on board the station Salyut-5, with the spaceship Soyuz-21 docking with it, was completed on August 24, 1976, and on September 23, 1976, Soyuz-22 returned to earth after an eight-day flight. Its crew took a series of photographs with cameras made at the Carl Zeiss Jena company in the GDR.
Another achievement was the long space flight by Y. Romanenko and G. Grechko. 96 days saw the voyages of the following orbital complexes: Soyuz-26—Salyut-6 — Soyuz-27, Salyut-6—Soyuz-27— Progress-1 (automatic cargo spaceship), and then Soyuz-27— Salyut6—Soyuz-28. The launching in March 1978 of the first international crew in Soyuz-28, including A. Gubarev (USSR) and V. Remek (Czechoslovakia) in accordance with Intercosmos programme was a new step in space exploration.
These endeavours combined the talent of scientists, designers, engineers and the effort of workers.
Space research promotes a swift development of many branches of natural science and technology, the creation of new scientific disciplines, and speeding up of the scientific and technological progress. The historical achievements of the Soviet Union in space exploration are inseparably linked with the names of outstanding scientists and engineers M. V. Keldysh, S. P. Korolyov, A. A. Blagonravov, M. K. Yangel, G. N. Babakin, A. M. Isaev, B. N. Petrov, V. P. Glushko and others.
__*_*_*__Contemporary science in the USSR increasingly became a direct productive force, with the essence of this notion acquiring new facets and becoming more meaningful. By the mid-60s Soviet scientists scored considerable successes in the research into the properties of plasma, in medico-biological and geological studies, in mathematics and in social studies. Thanks to the efforts of scientists of the USSR Academy of Sciences the manufacture of high-quality diamonds was developed on industrial scale. Science itself was being quickly industrialised. Its experimental base boasted of installations which in scale were on a par with big industrial enterprises. Such were, for instance, the Serpukhov proton accelerator (at the time, the world's biggest), head-on flux accelerators in Novosibirsk and other major charged particle accelerators, powerful radiotelescopes, aerodynamic tunnels, units for thermonuclear research and computer complexes.
The rapid process of mathematisation of most diverse branches of
knowledge led to the burgeoning of many fruitful ideas which formed
the groundwork of cybernetics, bionics and other important trends of
scientific and technological progress. High-speed computer technology
moved to the forefront. Mathematical modelling in chemistry, biology
and in various spheres of technology, carried out successfully in the
60s and 70s, speeded up research and promoted a more rapid
304
The launching rocket with the Soyuz-11 space module ready
for blast-off
[305]
introduction of scientific achievements into practice. In the 60s a new
industrial branch appeared — scientific instrument-making.
A USSR conference of scientific workers held in June 1961 discussed all-round development of scientific thought in the country and the introduction of the results of research works into practice. The USSR Academy of Sciences gradually turned into the main coordinating centre of research in the country.
The 23rd and the 24th Party Congresses emphasised the importance of comprehensive progress of science and technology in mature socialist society as the main lever in creating the material and technological basis of communism. They also pointed out the paramount importance of fundamental studies. The Party's line at a further development of the scientific and technological revolution found a concentrated expression in the decisions "On Measures to Increase the Efficiency of the Work of Research Organisations and Speed Up the Use of the Achievements of Science and Technology in the National Economy'', "On Measures to Further Improve Research Work in the Field of Agriculture" and many other documents. The CC CPSU decision "On Measures for Further Development of Social Sciences and Enhancing Their Role in Communist Construction" (August 14, 1967) was of importance in uplifting the humanitarian fields of knowledge.
The achievements of Soviet science embodied the effort of scientists of all Union republics. New atomic reactors were commissioned at the close of the 60s and beginning of the 70s in Kiev, Tbilisi, in Latvia and Uzbekistan. Whereas before the Revolution there was not a single scientist in Kirghizia, their number exceeded 25,000 in the years discussed. The Kirghiz Academy of Sciences had 40 research institutions. In the Ukraine they numbered 600 (including institutes and laboratories).
Another two units of the Voronezh Atomic Power Station, and the Kola and the Leningrad stations were started up in 1971--1975. Atomic power stations were built with the help of Soviet specialists in the GDR and Bulgaria. The building of the atomic icebreaker Arktika was begun (which after launching sailed right up the North Pole in August 1977).
The 250th anniversary of the USSR Academy of Sciences was observed as an important occasion. The Academy came to its jubilee possessing resources unheard of before: it boasted 250 major scientific institutions with a body of workers numbering 160,000. By that time it was a member of 140 international scientific organisations. In its greeting the CC CPSU, the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet and the Council of Ministers noted that "the remarkable achievements of Soviet scientists have had a great effect on the development of world science and are inseparable from the swift progress of natural science and of the advanced social-political thought of the 20th century. Soviet science has played an outstanding role in turning our country into one of the most powerful industrial = states."^^1^^ In connection _-_-_
~^^1^^ News of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. 1975, No.~12, pp. 3-4 (in Russian).
306 with this significant event, the Academy was awarded the second Order of Lenin, while the republican academies of sciences received the Order of Friendship of the Peoples.The establishment, following the Siberian Branch of the Academy, of the Far Eastern and Ural Research Centres and the NorthCaucasian Scientific University Centre (based in Rostov-on-Don) is to be considered among the major changes of a scientific and organisational character. The network of research establishments in the North-Western part of the Russian Federation and in the Volga Area (in Gorky, Kuibyshev, Saratov, Volgograd) has been considerably expanded.
Research in the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1971--1975) was conducted with a view to the fulfilment of the historically important task formulated at the 24th Congress of the CPSU—"organically to fuse the achievements of the scientific and technical revolution with the advantages of the socialist economic system, to unfold more broadly our own, intrinsically socialist, forms of fusing science with production."^^1^^
Refitting of scientific centres with the most up-to-date research equipment became the most pressing problem. The Academy undertook this work during the Ninth Five-Year Plan jointly with corresponding country's ministries and departments. The ties of Soviet scientists with their colleagues in the fraternal socialist countries became closer. In connection with its jubilee the Academy of Sciences of the USSR was awarded a number of Orders of the states of the socialist community. The 25th Congress of the CPSU mapped out a course for a further acceleration of scientific and technological progress, emphasising the leading role of the Academy as the country's centre of theoretical studies and the coordinator of the entire scientific work. "The revolution in science and technology requires radical changes in the style and methods of economic work, a determined struggle against sluggishness and red tape; it requires true respect for science and the ability and desire to take advice from and reckon with science. It requires an improvement of planning and economic incentives in order to create the conditions that can in full measure expedite the passage of new = ideas."^^2^^
In conditions of the mature socialist society, where science on the threshold of the 80s has truly become a decisive factor of growth in the country's productive forces, Soviet scientists spared no effort to put to use nature's riches and forces most speedily and effectively. The voice of the Soviet scientists was heard in the UN, UNESCO, ILO, the International Scientific Union and at international scientific congresses and conferences. Along with the discussion of fundamental problems Soviet scientists actively come out for averting nuclear confrontation, the consequences of which would have been catastrophic, for international security and for detente. Their peaceful _-_-_
~^^1^^ 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Documents, Novosti Press Agency Publishing House, Moscow, 1971, p. 69.
~^^2^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Report of the CPSU Central Committee and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy. XXVth Congress of the CPSU. p. 58.
__PRINTERS_P_307_COMMENT__ 20* 307 aspirations are clearly reflected in the Pugwash movement, in the struggle for European security, for confidence and equitable cooperation among nations in the name of peace in the world.Literature and art in the struggle for progress. = In the immediate postwar years the theme of heroism of the Soviet people in the struggle with the bitterest enemy of mankind, fascism, was dominant in literature. Boris Polevoi in A Story About a Real Man truthfully showed the tenacity of the Soviet fighter. The book was based on real events. Alexander Fadeyev wrote The Young Guard—a book about the heroic fight of an underground Komsomol organisation, the Young Guard, operating in the enemy-occupied area in Donbas in 1942 and early 1943. The feats of Soviet patriots were described in the reminiscences of the outstanding leaders of the partisan movement D. Medvedev (This Happened Near Rovno), S. Kovpak (From Putivl to the Carpathians), and A. Fedorov (The Underground Party Committee Functions) and P. Vershigora (Men With Clear Consciousness). Spring on the Oder by E. Kazakevich, Standard-Bearers by O. Honchar, White Birch by M. Bubennov and other books depicting the strength and courage of the Soviet people in those trying years received world renown.
Soviet readers, while highly appraising the best works, criticised those which reeked of an apolitical approach or were detached from reality and the problems that concerned the nation.
Years went by, the scope of the reconstruction work expanded. More and more often writers turned to the theme of peaceful life and work of the people, healing their war wounds. Literary community, seeking to reflect reality in a true light, began to highlight construction work and life contradictions more thoroughly, and more often to touch upon acute, still unresolved problems.
The 2nd Congress of Soviet writers (1954) in many ways promoted the further ideological and artistic development of prose writers, poets and playwrights. Expressing their thoughts, Mikhail Sholokhov said in his speech at the congress: "Every one of us writes as his heart prompts him, while our hearts belong to the Party and our nation, whom we serve by our art."
The creative upsurge, which began in literature in the latter half of the 50s, spread throughout all the Union republics. The topics showed greater variety and depth. Among the books, which came out in the first 10--15 postwar years, stands out the historical novel Abai about Kazakh poet-enlightener Abai Kunanbaev (1845--1904) by the Kazakh writer M. Auezov. To a New Shore and other works of V. Lacis depicted the life of the Latvian working people. The Turkmen writer B. Kerbabaev devoted his novel Nebit-Dag to the labour of the oilmen of his republic. N. Rybak's The Pereyaslavl Assembly tells about the historical past and the joint fight of the Ukrainian and Russian peoples against foreign invaders. Poets M. Tursun-Zadeh, P. Brovka, M. Rylsky, R. Gamzatov and others came out with eventful poetical works.
Leading masters of Soviet literature published their new works. In late 1956 Mikhail Sholokhov published The Fate of a Man, a story 308 showing a Soviet man, whose dignity and spirit no hardships could break. Soon after this the writer completed his novel Virgin Soil Upturned.
L. Leonov's Russian Forest, F. Gladkov's autobiographical trilogy and K. Fedin's Early Joys and No Ordinary Summer were among the works of large dimensions, showing the destinies of many people.
Writers and playwrights created more and more works in which they showed the scope and enthusiasm of peaceful endeavour. People of a high sense of duty and bold ideas, fighters for everything that is new and advanced in life are shown in A. Tvardovsky's Horizon Beyond the Horizon, G. Nikolayeva's A Battle on the Way, Yu. Bondarev's Silence, D. Granin's Into the Storm, V. Ovechkin's Everyday Life in a District.
In the late 50s and early 60s at a number of meetings and talks at the
CC CPSU leaders of the Party and the Government had sincere
discussions with masters of literature and art, dealing with most
topical problems of the development of culture. The Central
Committee pointed to the necessity of strengthening the principles of
the Party orientation of art and literature in the conditions of struggle
of the two worlds, drawing attention to the impermissibility of
lopsided description of the life of society, of the inflated depiction of
certain negative phenomena arising along our difficult road. The 3rd
Abai Square, Alma-Ata
309
and the 4th Congresses of Soviet writers were significant in
determining the further paths of development of literary work.
Annually, on Lenin's birthday, April 22, Lenin Prizes are awarded in the Soviet Union for the most talented works in literature and art. Among the outstanding works marked by humanism were the poems Horizon Beyond the Horizon by A. Tvardovsky and Man by E. Meizelaitis of Lithuania, the novels about contemporary life by Chinghiz Aitmatov of Kirghizia, a book of poems Stars High Up by the Daghestan poet Rasul Gamzatov, an epic trilogy Let the Blood of Man Not Flow, Bread and Salt and Numerous Kith and Kin by the Ukrainian writer Mikhailo Stelmakh, poems The Days Are Slipping By... by the Byelorussian poet Petrus Brovka, poems by Gafur Gulyam of Uzbekistan, Mikhail Svetlov's Poems of Recent Years and others.
Moreover, a big group of writers and poets were awarded State Prizes of the USSR, the RSFSR and other Union republics.
The revolutionary transformations which have been and are being accomplished in the USSR, and people's destinies make up the main content of these talented literary works.
The achievements of the multinational Soviet literature were shown on the 50th anniversary of the Great October Revolution and on the 100th anniversary of Lenin's birth during the festivals of culture and art of the Union republics in Moscow. On May 20, 1967, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded the Writers' Union the Order of Lenin. M. Isakovsky, B. Kerbabaev, A. Korneichuk, L. Leonov, N. Tikhonov, Y. Smolich, A. Surkov, M. Tursun-Zadeh, P. Tychina, A. UpTts, K. Fedin, R. Gamzatov, A. Prokofiev and a number of other prominent representatives of the Soviet multinational literature were awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labour. Writer Mikhail Sholokhov received this title twice.
In the years of the Eighth Five-Year Plan the total number of published literature considerably exceeded the indices of the previous five-year period and amounted to 7,000 titles and 430 million copies on the average annually.
Questions relating to the further growth of the ideological and artistic qualities of literary works were thoroughly discussed at the 24th Congress of the CPSU. The congress condemned attempts "to reduce the diversity of present-day Soviet reality to problems that have receded into the past for good as a result of the work done by the Party to surmount the consequences of the personality cult'', and "attempt to whitewash past phenomena which the Party had subjected to emphatic and principled criticism, and to conserve ideas and views contravening the new, creative elements which the Party had introduced into its practical and theoretical work in recent = years."^^1^^
Soviet literature further proved its role in the general Party cause by its achievements in the decade that followed. These years saw a steady growth of the role of literature in the life of developed socialist society.
_-_-_~^^1^^ 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Documents, p. 106.
310The 5th and the 6th congresses of Soviet writers were of great importance, once again emphasising close ties of the writing community with the life of Soviet people and once again bringing to the fore the writer's main duty of portraying the image of his contemporary and creating an artistic chronicle of the times. Chinghiz Aitmatov and Nodar Dumbadze, Alexander Chakovsky and Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Vassily Shukshin and Justinas Marcinkevicius, Georgi Markov and Kamil Yashen, Robert Rozhdestvensky and Kaisyn Kuliev, and many other masters of all literary genres created new highly artistic works.
Leonid Brezhnev in his report to the 25th Congress of the CPSU said that the preceding years had been characterised by a further intensification of the activity of all creative intellectuals and that "this positive and vivifying process has naturally been reflected in the new works of socialist realism which have been created in our country over the past few years. These works respond more frequently and what is even more important, more deeply to the basic and essential ideas which animate the country, and which have become part and parcel of the personal histories of Soviet men and = women.''^^1^^
__*_*_*__Art has been assuming an ever-growing significance in the intellectual life of the Soviet people. New millions of the working people came within reach of the highest cultural achievements, works of artists and composers, theatrical art, cinematography, books and amateur art.
The founding of the USSR Academy of Arts in 1947 meant much in improving the level of the work of the fine art masters. The first postwar decade saw the appearance of many meaningful canvases and sculptures, mainly dealing with subjects of the historical past, revolutionary events, events of the first five-year plans, and with the grim years of the Second World War. Such were, for instance, B. loganson's "Lenin's Speech at the 3rd Komsomol Congress'', A. Bubnov's "Morning on Kulikovo Field'', V. Serov's "The Winter Palace Is Ours'', Y. Neprintsev's "A Rest Spell After Fighting" and A. Laktionov's "A Letter From the Front''. Among the sculptures there were N. Tomsky's monument to Gogol, E. Vuchetich's monument to Soviet soldiers in Berlin, monuments to M. Gorky and P. Chaikovsky by V. Mukhina, N. Zelenskaya, Z. Ivanova and other works.
With every year new gifted artists and sculptors appeared in all the country's republics, who studied at the Repin Institute of Art, Sculpture and Architecture in Leningrad, the Surikov Art Institute in Moscow, in the art academies in Tbilisi and Latvia, at Kiev and _-_-_
~^^1^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Report of the CPSU Central Committee and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy. XXVth Congress of the CPSU, p. 94.
311 Lithuanian art institutes and in many other educational establishments throughout the country.Soviet art exhibitions were systematically shown abroad, especially in the late 50s and onwards. Their central theme was Soviet people, their peaceful endeavours, thoughts and aspirations.
The second postwar decade brought further growth in the creativeness of the men of art. The founding of the USSR Artists' Union in 1957 was an important event in the history of national fine arts. Most of the masters turned to the subjects of our contemporary life, seeking to truthfully depict peaceful life of the Soviet people and their work (paintings by A. Plastov, Y. Pimenov, P. Korin, U. Tansykbaev, I. Klychev and others). Many paintings and monuments were devoted to the crucial problem of our epoch—the struggle for peace and friendship among nations (works by B. Prorokov, Kukryniksy, G. Korzhev, G. lokubonis, S. Konenkov and others). In 1957, more than 5,000 Soviet artists and sculptors took part in the exhibition devoted to the 40th anniversary of Soviet power. Displayed there were some 8,000 paintings, drawings and = sculptures.^^1^^ During the 22nd Congress of the CPSU (October 1961) a monument to Karl Marx (sculptor L. Kerbel) was unveiled in Moscow.
Beginning with the 1960s various forms of folk art found a broad development, with universities of culture being set up on a voluntary basis across the country. An All-Union exhibition of the works of amateur artists opened in 1961, which was preceded by nearly 6,000 local exhibitons.
In the period of the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1966--1970) art traditions of all the peoples of the USSR received a new lease on life. Most significant among them were the All-Union exhibitions devoted to the 50th anniversary of the Great October Revolution (1967), and the 100th anniversary of Lenin's birth (1970). They were preceded by republican and zonal exhibitions. All in all, there were 12 Union, 32 republican and 20 zonal exhibitions. 11,000 works by 5,000 artists were shown at the inter-regional exhibitions of the Russian Federation alone. In 1966--1970 nearly 500 various monuments were unveiled, far greater than the number of the works of monumental sculpture ever erected in the USSR.
Epic works of art were put up in the form of the majestic memorial ensemble on Mamayev Hill in Volgograd, the memorials at Piskaryovskoye Cemetery in Leningrad, at Salaspils near Riga and at the place of the Byelorussian village of Khatyn burned down by fascists, the monument "Machine-Gun Cart" near the Ukrainian town of Kakhovka and the memorial to the defenders of the Brest Fortress.
Artists and designers came up with new and interesting works. The Lenin memorial complex in the city of Ulyanovsk presents a fine synthesis of monumental-decorative and architectural design of public buildings and structures.
During the 3rd All-Union Congress of Artists in 1968 the Union of Artists of the USSR was awarded the Order of Lenin. Artists and _-_-_
~^^1^^ In the early 60s there were 108 state art museums, and 120 collective farm art galleries.
312
The Kirghiz Drama Theatre in Frunze
sculptors S. Konenkov, M. Saryan, E. Vuchetich, B. loganson,
N. Tomsky received the high title of Hero of Socialist Labour.
Several topical exhibitions to mark the congress were mounted across
the country. The works of foreign artists from the collections of
galleries of various countries became a regular event.
The state paid much attention to a careful development of the traditions of folk art (laquered miniatures of Palekh and Mstera, Khokhloma and Semyonovo painting on wooden ware, Kholmogory, Yakut and Chukchi bone carvings, Lithuanian amber work, jewellery art of Daghestan, Central Asian and Azerbaijan carpets and Armenian stone carving).
As was noted in the CC CPSU resolution "On Folk Art Crafts" (February 1975), "the folk decorative and applied art, an inseparable part of Soviet socialist culture, actively influences the formation of art tastes, enriches professional art and expressive means of industrial aesthetics".^^1^^
_-_-_~^^1^^ Pravda, December 27, 1975.
313It was said at the 25th Congress of the CPSU that the main line of the development of contemporary art is in striving toward the creation of a profound and vivid image of the contemporary, toward the fullest possible depiction of reality and ideologically sound works called upon to influence the spectator emotionally, influence his feelings and thoughts.
Postwar years were marked by a further enhancement of the level of Soviet musical culture asserting the ideas of peace and progress. The struggle of the Soviet people against fascist invaders found its expression in the operas by D. Kabalevsky "Taras' Family'', "Young Guard" by Y. Meitus, "A Story About a Real Man" by S. Prokofiev and others. Historical themes were prominent in the opera and ballet repertoire: production of ``Decembrists'' by Y. Shaporin, "Bogdan Khmelnitsky" by K. Dankevich, "War and Peace" by S. Prokofiev, "Taras Bulba" by V. Solovyov-Sedoi, ``Spartakus'' by A. Khachaturyan and others.
The theme of peoples' friendship and struggle for peace occupied a leading place in the songs of the Soviet composers.
In the process of cultural development the cultures of various nationalities, musical art in particular, have increasingly enriched one another. Musical groups of different republics periodically perform in various cities of the Soviet Union. It has become a tradition to hold musical festivals ``(Russian winter'', "White nights'', "Dnieper dawns'', etc.) and meetings of composers and singers with their listeners during national festivals of culture. Mass song fetes, especially in the Baltic republics, enjoy particular success.
The 2nd (1957), 3rd (1962) and 4th (1968) congresses of Soviet composers focussed their attention on topical questions of the development of musical culture. Their participants stressed that the problems of people's life and work had occupied the central place in the work of Soviet composers. Quite a number of vivid works were created in the preceding two decades (50s and 60s) on contemporary subjects and heroic and patriotic themes: D. Shostakovich's llth and 12th symphonies and "Stepan Razin's Execution'', G. Sviridov's "Pathetic Oratorio'', V. Muradeli's opera ``October'', D. Kabalevsky's ``Requiem'', O. Taktakishvili's "Rustaveli's Traces'', J. Juzeliunas' "The Lyre for Man" and others. As Dmitry Shostakovich said, "All the best traditions of our art, both in the past and at present, and a civic and moral duty demand that every Soviet artist to be in the thick of life, in the centre of all events of our unique time."
Musical and performing arts were winning ever new positions on the world stage. Results of international contests constantly proved the high prestige of Soviet composers, instrumentalists, conductors and singers. In 1973 alone Soviet musical art masters took part in 15 international contests, winning 15 first and 11 second prizes.
Foreign ties of the masters of arts of the Union republics noticeably expanded, especially with their colleagues in socialist countries. The performances of Georgian, Ukrainian, Moldavian and Uzbek folk dance ensembles, of symphony orchestras from a number of republics, of the Russian dance company Beryozka, Uzbek Bakhor, Igor Moiseyev's USSR Folk Dance Ensemble, the Alexandrov Soviet 314 Army Song and Dance Ensemble, Pyatnitsky Chorus, the Omsk Folk Chorus and so on were really triumphant.
The fact that the Union of Composers of the USSR was awarded the Order of Lenin was recognition of the high merits of Soviet musical art.
Music in all its genres and forms active in the upbringing of a harmoniously developed man has become in the USSR in the conditions of mature socialism really close and necessary for the people. Soviet music's future is linked with the development of culture of a communist society in which all the riches of folk creative forces and talents will blossom forth.
Big changes were also taking place in the country's theatrical life. Beginning with the close of the 50s two thirds of the repertoire of the Soviet theatres was comprised of plays on contemporary topics. Classical plays and the best works of foreign authors of all times also enjoyed stage success. A. Arbuzov's Irkutsk Story, and A City at Dawn, A. Korneichuk's The Wings, A. Salynsky's Drummer-Girl, Ch. Aitmatov's Mother-Earth, S. Alyoshin's Everything Remains with People were prominent among the plays of the 50s and 60s. In 1969 alone the number of new plays at the theatres made up an imposing figure of 3,500 and the audience increased too: as compared with 1965 the number of spectators went up by 48 million.
In 1967 a national contest of new theatrical productions was held in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Great October Revolution. The plays July 6th (Moscow Art Theatre), Truth and Nothing But the Truth (Leningrad Bolshoi Drama Theatre) and Pages From a Diary (Ivan Franko Theatre in Kiev), were among the best. Sergei Prokofiev's opera Semyon Kotko and R. Shchedrin's Carmen-Suite (based on Bizet) were succesfully shown at the Bolshoi Theatre.
Amateur theatres, which actively promote the aesthetic education of the broad masses of the population, have become one of the highest forms of amateur stage art. They numbered over 1,000 in 1969. Nearly 300 million spectators attend theatres annually in the country.
Theatres for children and youth have a right to be proud of their noticeable creative achievements. The world's first Children's Musical Theatre (director N. Sats) was opened in Moscow. The repertoire of S. Obraztsov's Central Puppet Theatre as usual enjoyed big success.
Its multinationality is a characteristic trait of the artistic wealth of the Soviet theatre today. According to statistics for the mid-70s there were over 560 professional theatre companies in the USSR and the theatres functioned in 47 languages of the peoples of the USSR. The development of the nations and nationalities of the USSR, the blossoming of their national cultures, their gradual drawing together, the community of their ideological and art platform have created broad possibilities for their mutual influence, for the growth of international trends in stage art.
After the end of the Great Patriotic War of 1941--1945 Soviet cinematography produced major works which have brought it world renown. Film studios were set up and are working fruitfully in all Union republics, and cinemas appeared in the remotest parts of the 315 country. The best postwar films are characterised by a more profound depiction of various facets of life, by the search for new means of encarnation of contemporary man's main traits. In the 50s and 60s gifted young masters, who furthered the best traditions of Soviet film-making, came to work in Soviet cinematography: G. Chukhrai, A. Saltykov, S. Bondarchuk, V. Zalakevicius, E. Urbansky, V. Skuibin, V. Artmane, V. Shukshin. P. Luspekayev, D. Banionis, I. Smoktunovsky, K. Lavrov and others.
The films in which its makers tried to show on the screen a real life truth and to penetrate deeper into the hero's inner world testified to the expansion of the expressive means of film art. The processes taking place in Soviet cinematography in the 60s and 70s were very complicated and varied, just as complicated and diverse was the complex of social and intellectual changes marking the postwar history of the Soviet people.
The country's cinematographers both experienced masters and young film directors, cameramen and actors, were constantly searching for new ways. This is easily felt when watching prominent Soviet films of the last few decades, whether they are filled with reflections, or are films condemning crimes against humanity, progress and peace or heroic-patriotic films on historical and revolutionary themes, or films from the classical repertoire of world dramaturgy.
Feature and documentary films about the life and activity of the founder of the Soviet state Vladimir Lenin as before occupied a prominent place among other films. A special note must be made of the films of the last quarter of the century: "Stories About Lenin'', "The Communist'', "And Quite Flows the Don'', "Lenin in Poland'', trilogy ``Ordeal'', "The Forty First'', "The White Sun of the Desert'', "July 6th'', "Optimistic Tragedy'', "The Escape".
War years have left an indelible imprint on the Soviet people. Therefore, the subject of the Great Patriotic War of 1941--1945 has become one of the main themes in peace time, strongly attracting the attention of cinema makers. "The Cranes Are Flying" directed by M. Kalatozov, S. Bondarchuk's "The Fate of a Man'', and "They Fought for Their Country'', G. Chukhrai's "Ballad of a Soldier" and the "Clear Skies'', A. Stolper's "The Living and the Dead'', "Men Are Not Born Soldiers'', M. Ershov's "Native Blood'', S. Rostotsky's "The Dawns Are Quiet Here'', G. Egiazarov's "The Hot Snow" — such is a by far incomplete list of most significant cineworks in the last two decades devoted to the events of war years. The accumulated rich experience made possible the creation of a multi-series epopee ``Liberation''.
Beginning with the second half of the 50s a tendency grew towards the unveiling of an inner life of our contemporary. This was reflected in the films "Everything Remains with People" by G. Natanson, in M. Romm's "Nine Days of One Year'', Y. Raizman's "Your Contemporary'', A. Saltykov's "The Chairman'', D. Khrabrovitsky's "The Taming of Fire'', Y. Yegorov's "An Ordinary Story'', V. Shukshin's "The Red Snowball Tree'', S. Rostotsky's "We'll Get by Till Monday" and others. Thus, "The Chairman'', which has enjoyed great success with cinema-goers, gives a true picture of those difficult years when the village, devastated by war, was rising from the ruins. The authors of the 316 film tell about the hard process of restoration of the collective farms. Mikhail Ulyanov, who played the role of the collective farm's chairman with real mastery, was awarded the Lenin Prize.
The creative work of an outstanding writer, actor and film director, Vassily Shukshin, who produced a number of original films, scripts and film characters, received wide popular recognition.
Such films about our contemporaries, as well as the best screen versions of prominent literary works (``Hamlet'', "War and Peace'', "King Lear'', "The Karamazov Brothers'', "The Idiot'', ``Othello'' and others) make people think about man's place in society and about his responsibility towards it.
Mikhail Romm's "Ordinary Fascism'', a two-part documentary exposing the core of fascism, was a major event in the development of Soviet cinema. The author studied over two million metres of film during his work on the picture, including documentaries from the Third Reich archives.
Films by Roman Karmen ``(Flaming Continent" and others), A. Medvedkin, A. Kaloshin, V. Dunaev and others developed the subject of the struggle against imperialism.
In the Union republics, such films as "No One Wanted to Die'', (director V. Zalakevicius) in Lithuania, "The Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" (S. Parajanov) in the Ukraine, "Father of a Soldier" (R. Chkheidze) in Georgia must be recognised as major achievements. TV films "Aide-de-camp of His Excellency'', "Ugryum River'', "Shadows Disappear at Noon'', "Operation Trust'', "Seventeen Moments of Spring'', "How the Steel Was Tempered'', "Eternal Call" have deserved high praise.
The formation of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR in 1956 was an important step in rallying film masters creatively and promoted further development of the art. Under conditions of mature socialism, as was stressed at the 2nd (1971) and 3rd (1976) All-Union congresses of cinematographers, their main calling was to depict the endeavours of the people and the historical road they have traversed.
"The entire generations of Soviet people,'' read the greeting of the CC CPSU and the Soviet Government on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Soviet cinematography, "have been brought up from their youthful years and are still being brought up on the heroic life-asserting cinematographical images calling to patriotic deeds and creative work, to an active social activity and selfless defence of the gains of the socialist sistem."
__*_*_*__The present-day cultural development of Soviet society is the final stage in the cultural revolution. An objective process is under way of complete realisation of society's intellectual capabilities, when the absorption and creation of cultural values becomes an inner requirement of every citizen, while useful labour is being filled with a profound intellectual content. The moulding of a harmoniously 317 developed person, the shaping up in all citizens of communist consciousness and morality are at the focus of society's attention. The cultural and technical level of the workers and farmers is being raised to the level of intellectuals and the essential differences in the cultural and everyday life between the town and the village are being erased.
The swift development of the intellectual life of a multinational Soviet nation is one of the most characteristic traits of the developed socialist society built in the Soviet Union. A broadly developed network of libraries has been set up in the country, which open their doors to 70 million readers daily. Today it is difficult to find a big rural settlement without a library. The Bibliophile Society, recently set up in the country, conducts useful work among the masses. As was noted at the 25th Congress of the CC CPSU, today every Soviet family receives on an average over four periodicals.
Every second citizen of the USSR is a subscriber to newspapers and magazines. One single edition of all newspapers exceeds 80 million copies and makes up almost a third of the world's edition. The country's radio broadcasting and television are conducted in more than 60 languages of the peoples of the Soviet Union and in 40 foreign languages. As to the number of publications the Soviet Union occupies first place in the world. Lenin's works have been published in 102 languages in a total of over 450 million copies. Books and magazines in the Soviet Union are published in all the languages of the country and in dozens of foreign languages.
In the years of the Ninth Five-Year Plan the transition to a universal 10-year education was, in the main, completed. At the beginning of the Tenth Five-Year Plan 93 million Soviet citizens were encompassed by various kinds of teaching, of which number over 50 million studied at general secondary schools, nearly 5 million—at higher colleges and universities, and 4.5 million—at specialised secondary schools. Up to 2 million specialists, 730,000 of them with a higher education, were sent to work in the national economy.
The history of the cultural progress in the Soviet Union is an object of bitter attacks on the part of its ideological opponents who try to distort the essence of revolutionary transformations and downgrade the historical gains of the Soviet people, including those in the field of cultural development.
However, the reality of the socialist society refutes the fabrications of "experts on Soviet culture''. The undeniable achievements of the USSR in the development of science, education, art and literature serve as the main rebuffal to the unscientific fabrications. People on all continents are becoming convinced from their own experience that the October Revolution turned out to be the beginning of a new epoch in the spiritual development of mankind. The successes of the cultural revolution in the Soviet Union dispelled the legend which contends that in a society there inevitably exists, on the one hand, a "grey mass'', the lot of which is hard manual labour and submission, and a handful of the ``elite'', on the other, who allegedly are endowed by nature to think, control and develop science and culture.
Socialism and culture are inseparable. This regularity has been reflected with an especial force in the materials of the 25th Congress 318 of the CPSU concerning the Tenth Five-Year Plan. The congress emphasised that in the conditions of mature socialism the task of a further development of education, literature, art and mass media increase immeasurably and the effect of truly gifted works is enhanced. "Talented works of literature and art are part of the national heritage. We know that the well-turned phrase, the play of colour, the expressiveness of stone and the harmony of sound inspire our contemporaries and will leave in the hearts and souls of our descendants a memory of our generation, of our epoch, with its anxieties and = accomplishments."^^1^^ The culture of mature socialism in our days becomes a more and more active and effective force in the struggle for the assertion of communist ideals. The grandeur of socialism lies in the fact that while bringing creative activity within people's reach, it enriches culture with a lofty civic content and revolutionary humanism.
The plans drawn up by the Party ensure a further blossoming of culture of the country's all peoples. In present-day conditions every major event in the USSR in the field of culture bears an imprint of national uniqueness and at the same time is regarded in other republics as an achievement of the national culture, because the culture of mature socialism is inseparably linked with a single world outlook of all working people, with the community of the national and the international and is aimed at the shaping up of the comprehensively developed personality, at the identification of its creative abilities for the benefit of society. The development of the USSR, the experience of other countries of the socialist community, again and again prove the justness of Lenin's words that people obtain a real possibility to work successfully against ignorance and to enjoy all the boons of civilisation only after they win freedom and national independence.
_-_-_~^^1^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Report of the CPSU Central Committee and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy. XXVth Congress of the CPSU, p. 96.
[319] __ALPHA_LVL1__ CONCLUSIONDuring their many centuries of history the peoples living in what is now the USSR have passed through all the major socio-economic formations—primitive communal society, slave-owning, feudal and capitalist societies—although the development of each people shows individual characteristics. Among the East Slavs, for instance, primitive communal society did, in effect, give way immediately to the feudal system, whereas in Central Asia, the Transcaucasus and the Black Sea area the first class formation was represented by slave-owning societies. In more recent times the capitalist formation dominated the country as a whole, even though pre-capitalist relations survived among certain of the peoples. The triumph of a socialist revolution in Russia marked the beginning of a new socio-economic formation—the communist society—the first stage of which was socialism.
Ever since the earliest times the peoples of Russia have played an outstanding part in world history. The first class-based state formations that arose in the Transcaucasus, Central Asia, the Northern Black Sea area and the Dnieper region exhibited a level of culture that was high for the period, as can be appreciated from the architecture, painting and writings that have survived.
In the 13th century the ancient Russian state of the East Slavs and a number of states in Central Asia and the Transcaucasus were subjected to the Mongol invasion, which led to fearful devastation and the destruction of many independent states. By taking upon itself the full weight of the Mongol onslaught, Russia shielded the peoples of Western Europe from the horrors of foreign enslavement and saved European civilisation from destruction.
For over two centuries the peoples of Russia had to wage a bitter struggle for their national independence against Mongol, Swedish and German invaders. However, at the end of the 15th and in the 16th centuries the Russian state achieved a substantial economic upsurge and became the largest state in Europe. If it lagged behind a number of other European states, this was due to the devastation caused by prolonged foreign invasions. Yet it was precisely the formation of the centralised state that enabled Russia to throw off the Mongol yoke once and for all in 1480.
It was within the framework of a centralised Russian state that the 320 further development of feudal relations took place, together with the formation of the state's political foundations and the growth in the country's international standing: it established diplomatic relations with a whole series of West European and Oriental states.
However, this consolidation of the centralised state did, on the one hand, cause an intensification in the feudal exploitation of an enslaved peasantry, which gave rise to history's largest peasant rising under the leadership of Ivan Bolotnikov, and, on the other hand, added much heat to the struggle inside the ruling class of feudal serf-owners. Considered objectively, these circumstances facilitated the Polish and Swedish intervention against Russia at the beginning of the 17th century, which seriously endangered the very existence of an independent Russian state.
At this critical moment the Russian people, which had by this time taken firm shape, strode on to the historical stage: thanks to the participation of the popular masses, the country freed itself of the Polish and Swedish interventionist forces in the early 17th century and managed to restore its statehood.
The reunification of the Ukrainian and Russian peoples was an important event for the Russian state in the 17th century. The reunification was achieved after a prolonged liberation struggle mounted by the Ukrainian people under Bogdan Khmelnitsky against the feudal, national and religious oppression of the Polish landowning aristocracy and the Polish gentry.
Commodity-money relations developed further under the feudal system in 17th-century Russia, and a single market covering all Russia began to take shape. Craft industry made significant advances in the towns, and the first manufactories appeared. At the time, however, bourgeois relations affected trade most of all in Russia; they had little influence on craft industry in the towns, which, like agriculture, was conducted along feudal lines. This feature of socio-economic development was one of the reasons why Russia continued to lag behind the advanced countries in Western Europe, which had already embarked on capitalist development.
The state system in 17th-century Russia also underwent an evolution of the bourgeois type: under the first Romanovs state power existed in the form of a limited monarchy. During their reign an important role was played by the Boyar Duma (Boyars' Council) and the Zemskiye Sobory (National Assemblies), which were in constant session at that time. However, the intensification of the class struggle in the country and the weakness of the towns' commercial and craft elite and the rising merchant class directed Russian political development towards an absolute monarchy.
The growth of social contradictions and the intensification of feudal exploitation in Russia were chiefly responsible for the urban risings and the peasant war of 1667--71, led by Stepan Razin, which marked an important stage in moulding the revolutionary traditions of the peoples living in the country.
In the 18th century, with its borders now enclosing the lands of the Great Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians and the Baltic peoples, Russia ranked with the world's Great Powers.
__PRINTERS_P_321_COMMENT__ 21---69 321The need to resolve complex matters relating to domestic and foreign policy in the interests of the nobility and the rising merchant class accelerated the development of an absolute monarchy which headed a determined struggle for Russian outlets to the Baltic and the Black Sea. While meeting the interests of the country's ruling classes, the struggle was at the same time one of Russia's national objectives.
An extensive manufactory industry was gradually taking shape in Russia, the national market embraced the Baltic area, Siberia and the south-eastern regions of the country and foreign trade also made considerable headway. These developments set up the material preconditions for the future evolution of capitalist relations and accelerated the formation of the Russian nation.
Yet the strengthening of the absolutist feudal monarchy in Russia served to intensify feudal oppression, and this in turn aggravated the class struggle in the country, as was shown by the peasant war led by Yemelyan Pugachev (1773--75).
The 19th century in Russian history is the period that saw the decay of serfdom and the development of capitalism. As the largest European power, Russia played an important part, in the early 19th century, in defeating the armies of Napoleon, who sought to create a world empire.
The Russian people's patriotic feat in 1812 and the clarion call sounded by Alexander Radishchev and his sympathisers prompted the Decembrists, revolutionaries from among the nobility, to seek to deliver the serfs from the power of the landowners and the tsar. Their objective was pursued by Alexander Herzen and Vissarion Belinsky, and later by the revolutionary democrats of the sixties. Their struggle against serfdom, as well as the peasants' mounting struggle against the landowners, hastened the collapse of the serf-owning system. Yet, while abolishing serfdom "from above" in 1861, the landowners, led by the tsarist monarchy, retained their economic and political dominance in the country. Nevertheless, the event inaugurated a new class division of Russian society—the capitalist one.
The growth of a large-scale engineering industry, the formation of a proletariat, the stratification of the peasantry, the capitalist evolution of the landowners' estates, and the growth of domestic and foreign trade showed that capitalism in Russia was developing "in depth'', while also extending "in breadth"—to new territories.
In the late sixties and early seventies the struggle against tsarism was led by the Narodniks, young democratic intellectuals not belonging to the gentry, who believed that Russia could bypass the capitalist stage of development and proceed to socialism via the peasant commune. The Narodnik theories reflected the desire of the peasant masses of Russia to free themselves once and for all from the domination of the landowners and to gain land, freedom and equality. Progressive members of the democratic intelligentsia in Russia were associated with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and were influenced by their ideas. In the seventies the working movement grew stronger, and the first Marxist organisations made their appearance.
The peoples of Russia have played an enormous part in the 322 development of world culture, having given to the world such outstanding scholars, writers and artists as Avicenna, Biruni, Firdousi, Shota Rustaveli, Nizami, Shirvani, I. Sarkavag, Alisher Navoi, Andrei Rublyov, Georgi Skorina and Ivan Fyodorov, Ivan Pososhkov, Feofan Prokopovich, Mikhail Lomonosov, Grigori Skovoroda, Dmitri Mendeleyev, Ivan Pavlov, Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Lev Tolstoy, Taras Shevchenko, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Maxim Gorky, Mikhail Glinka, Pyotr Chaikovsky, Modest Moussorgsky, Ilya Repin, Vassily Surikov, Fyodor Shalyapin, Konstantin Stanislavsky and dozens of others.
Right at the end of the 19th century Russia entered the imperialist age. In Russia, however, highly developed forms of capitalism were intermingled with vestiges of serfdom. The hall marks of the Russian political system were the autocracy, the persecution of national minorities, and the people's total lack of rights. The proletarian stage in the revolutionary movement started right at the close of the century. From the early 20th century onwards Russia became the centre of the world revolutionary movement, the birthplace of Leninism. Russia's proletariat became the guiding force in the revolutionary struggle of the working masses against the autocracy and capitalism.
The leadership of the proletariat, guided by the Marxist party founded by Lenin, was manifested in the class battles fought during the bourgeois-democratic revolutions of 1905--07 and 1917. The latter, ihe February Revolution of 1917, developed in the course of eight months into a socialist revolution.
The triumph of the Great October Socialist Revolution and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, in the form of the Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies, throughout Russia opened up a new period in the history of mankind—the age of the triumph of socialism and communism. They marked the beginning of worldwide socialist revolution.
The development of the world's first socialist state shows that it was the dictatorship of the proletariat that enabled the peoples of Russia to rid themselves of capitalist oppression and the horrors of the imperialist world war, and to put an end to the age-old backwardness of the country.
During the period of transition from capitalism to socialism (1917--1937) the peoples of the USSR accomplished radical socioeconomic transformations. Private ownership of the instruments and means of production, land, factories, transport, communications and the mass media was abolished, and the small holdings of the working peasantry were transformed into socialist cooperative property. Radical transformations in society's spiritual life—a cultural revolution— were carried through: mass illiteracy was ended among the adult population, universal compulsory education was introduced for the rising generation, and a new intelligentsia was trained, capable of educating the Soviet people in the communist spirit.
In accordance with Lenin's plan for building socialism and communism in the USSR, the country was industrialised, agriculture was collectivised, and a powerful economic potential was created. The 323 total victory of socialism marked the emergence of a developed socialist society, and all-out construction of communism was started. The creation in the USSR of a developed socialist society was the main result of the Soviet state's first half-century of development. The viability of the new society was attested by the brilliant victories of the Soviet Armed Forces during the Civil War and the Great Patriotic War.
The historical experience of building socialism and communism in the USSR has brought to light the principal laws governing the setting up of the new socio-economic formation. They are not just of "purely Russian" significance, they are of international importance, since they are inevitably repeated in one way or another by other peoples and countries.
The first of these laws is the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, which is a vital condition for the building of socialism. The essence of it is the political, state guidance of society by the working class and the poor peasants during the period of the struggle for socialism. The dictatorship is made necessary by the resistance of the overthrown exploiter classes and all the class forces within the country that are hostile towards socialism, and by attacks on it by external enemies—the reactionary imperialist states. In relation to these hostile forces the dictatorship of the proletariat is a form of violence. But in relation to the working peasantry and intelligentsia, the non-proletarian strata of society, the dictatorship of the proletariat takes the form of their guidance by the state with a view to involving them in socialist construction.
The supreme principle of the dictatorship of the proletariat is the alliance between the proletariat and the working peasantry with the proletariat preserving the leading role in it. The aim of the alliance is to create and consolidate socialism whose victory ensures the socio-political and ideological unity of society.
Expressing and defending as it does the interests of the working people, the dictatorship of the proletariat is a higher form of democracy than the bourgeois variety.
With the building of socialism—the first phase of communism—the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat has developed into a state of all the people, expressing the interests and the will of the people as a whole. The guiding role in the state belongs to the working class as the advanced and most organised force in society.
The second law of socialist construction is that the successful construction of socialism in a country with a multinational population is only possible where the peoples are bound by ties of indissoluble friendship.
The national question came to be one of the fundamental issues of socialist construction in the USSR. Sweeping away all forms of bourgeois nationalist ideology, the working class and its vanguard, the Communist Party, managed to unite the working people of all nations around the Russian proletariat, merging their efforts in the struggle against the enemies of the socialist revolution and for the building of a new, socialist society.
The Leninist national policy of equality and fraternal cooperation 324 between the peoples was a vital factor in building a single economy, a single, union state. The working class was the principal force expressing the peoples' desire for the creation of a single state—the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
By removing antagonism from social relations and by ensuring the all-round development of the economy and culture of the socialist Soviet nations, as well as encouraging their drawing together, the working class resolved the national question, thereby enriching the practice of the world revolutionary movement with a new understanding of internationalism.
The creation of sovereign republics with a highly developed industry and large-scale mechanised agriculture in place of the formerly backward, feudal or semi-feudal outlying national areas of the Russian Empire resulted not only from the concentration of the material forces, resources and efforts of all the Soviet peoples, but also from a great feat on the part of the Russian people, the working class of Russia, who put into practice Lenin's formulation of the internationalist tasks of the working class and who did everything to eliminate the real inequality of the peoples.
The building of a developed socialist society heralded the completion of the formation of a new historical community—the Soviet people.
By developing modern industry, collective agriculture, transport and communications, and the service industries the working class, the collective farm peasantry and the working intelligentsia in each Union republic make their contribution to the economy of their multinational socialist state. The Soviet Union comprises 15 Union republics, 20 autonomous republics, 8 autonomous regions and 10 national areas. In 1979 it had a population of 265 million.
The third vital feature of socialist construction in the USSR is the fact that the guiding force in the building of socialism and communism is the Communist Party, which expresses the interests and aims of the working class and of all the working people, and has close ties with the masses.
It was the Party's correct guidance of the masses that was responsible for their victory in the October Socialist Revolution and for the triumph of the young Soviet state over the imperialist intervention and internal counter-revolution between 1918 and 1920.
Thanks to the guidance of the Party, the world's first socialist state was set up in the USSR, the defence of its gains from armed attack by the reactionary imperialist forces was organised between 1941 and 1945, the economy was rehabilitated after the war, and the Soviet people are successfully advancing towards communism.
A basic feature of the development of Soviet society is the constant enhancement of the role of the Party in communist construction and in managing all aspects of life in the country. It is only guidance by the Party that makes the people's struggle to achieve the ultimate aim formulated in the Party Programme—the victory of communism— organised, planned and science-based.
Relying on the historic experience of its struggle for the interests of the people and putting its Programme into practice, the CPSU boldly 325 directs the creative energy of the Soviet people towards further consolidating socialism, creating the material and technical base of communism, and moulding the new man of communist society.
Finally, a vital condition fo( the building of a new society in the USSR was the Soviet state's peace-loving foreign policy, whose first acts were the Decree on Peace and the withdrawal of Russia from the imperialist world war. The kernel of Soviet foreign policy has always been the persistent struggle for peace and peaceful coexistence and the economic contest between socialism and capitalism.
In accomplishing the behests of Lenin, the Soviet people has always done everything possible to strengthen the country's defences and has raised the military preparedness of its Army and Navy so that, if necessary, they will be able to deal a crushing blow against an attack by any aggressor. The USSR's historical experience has fully confirmed the correctness of this policy.
The 24th CPSU Congress noted the necessity of seeing that the USSR's foreign policy always combines determined resistance against imperialist aggression with a constructive policy of settling urgent international issues and maintaining normal and even, where there are favourable conditions, good relations with states adhering to any social system.
The foreign policy of the USSR is in the fundamental interests of world socialism and the national liberation movement, and actively promotes the affirmation of the principles of the peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems and resistance against aggressive imperialist policies.
A consistent foreign policy line and a powerful economic and defence potential, which is vital to strengthening peace and striving for social progress, form the Soviet people's internationalist contribution towards the struggle of world forces against imperialism and for the freedom of the peoples, democracy and socialism.
The 25th CPSU Congress (24 February-5 March 1976) was an important landmark in the Soviet people's advance towards communism. It set up new specific tasks for the general drive to increase the power of the USSR, to raise the living standards of the Soviet people and to improve the whole life of Soviet society. It posed specific new tasks in the field of foreign policy and in the struggle to secure peace and international cooperation, freedom and independence.
Together with the fraternal socialist countries, the USSR is vigorously and confidently blazing the trail towards a happy future for all mankind.
The 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 23 February to 3 March, set new frontiers of peaceful communist construction, invigorating and improving Soviet society, and new objectives in the fight for peace and social progress.
[326] Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1982/3HU357/20051223/351.tx" __EMACS_LISP__ (progn (lb-ht-force-refresh "en/1982/3HU357/") (lb-ht "1982")) __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2005.12.23) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ bottom __ALPHA_LVL1__ CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY 1941June 22
Germany treacherously attacks the USSR. Soviet Government issues an Appeal to the People. Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet orders mobilisation of reservists born between 1905 and 1918.
June 30
Formation of State Defence Committee (SDC).
July 10-September 10
Battle of Smolensk.
July 11-September 19
Heroic defence of Kiev.
August 5-October 16
Heroic defence of Odessa.
September
Start of fascist blockade of Leningrad.
September 29-October 1
Moscow Conference (USSR, USA and Great Britain).
September 30
Start of the Battle of Moscow.
October 30-July 4 (1942)
Heroic defence of Sevastopol.
December 5-6
First fascist reverses near Moscow.
1942January 1
Signing of declaration in Washington by 26 states providing for joint resistance to the Tripartite Pact states (Germany, Italy and Japan).
May 26
Signing in London of a treaty of alliance between the USSR and Great Britain in the war against fascist Germany and its European allies. The treaty also provides for cooperation and mutual assistance after the war.
June 11
Signing in Washington of an agreement between the USSR and the USA on the principles to be applied to mutual assistance in the conduct of war against aggression.
July 17-February 2 (1943)
Battle of Stalingrad
1943January 12--30
Breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad.
July 5-August 27
Battle of Kursk.
August 3-November 1
The "rail war": Soviet partisans cripple enemy rail communications.
August 5
Soviet Army liberates Orel and Belgorod.
August 21
Council of People's Commissars and CC CPSU (B) decision "On urgent measures to rehabilitate the economy in areas freed from German occupation''.
September 3
Fascist Italy signs the act of unconditional surrender.
October 19--30
Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers (USSR, USA and Great Britain).
327November 6
Soviet troops liberate Kiev.
November 28-December 1
Teheran Conference of heads of government (USSR, USA and Great Britain).
December 12
USSR and Czechoslovakia sign a treaty of friendship, mutual assistance and postwar cooperation.
1944January 14-March 1
Fascist troops defeated near Leningrad and Novgorod.
January 24-February 17
Korsun-Shevchenkovsky enemy grouping destroyed.
April 10
Odessa cleared of fascist troops.
May 9
Liberation of Sevastopol.
June 6
Anglo-American forces land in Normandy. Opening of the second front in Europe.
June 23-August 29
Soviet Army's Byelorussian operation.
August 20
Soviet Army begins Jassy-Kishinev operation.
August 23--24
Rumania ends hostilities against the USSR and declares war on fascist Germany.
August 24
Liberation of Kishinev.
September 4
Finland ends hostilities against the USSR and breaks off relations with Germany.
September 9-10
Bulgaria ends hostilities against the USSR and declares war on fascist Germany.
October 13
Liberation of Riga.
October 20
Belgrade liberated by Soviet forces and the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia.
October 25
USSR and Italy renew diplomatic relations.
December 10
Soviet-French treaty of alliance and mutual assistance signed in Moscow.
1945January 12
Soviet Army launches the Vistula-Oder operation.
January 17
Soviet Army liberates Warsaw together with the Polish Army.
February 4--11
Yalta Conference of heads of government (USSR. Great Britain and USA).
February 13
Soviet Army crushes the enemy's Budapest grouping and liberates the city.
April 4
Soviet forces liberate Bratislava, capital of Slovakia.
April 11
USSR and Yugoslavia sign a treaty of friendship, mutual assistance and postwar cooperation in Moscow.
April 13
Soviet Army liberates Vienna.
April 16—May 8
Soviet Army's Berlin operation.
April 21
USSR and Poland sign a treaty of friendship, mutual assistance and postwar cooperation.
April 25—June 25
United Nations Conference at San Francisco.
May 2
Soviet Army captures Berlin.
May 8
In the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst representatives of the German High Command sign the instrument of unconditional surrender by the German armed forces.
May 9
Day of Victory over fascist Germany. Soviet Army liberates Prague.
June 24
Victory parade in Moscow's Red Square.
June 29
USSR and Czechoslovakia sign a treaty reuniting Transcarpathian Ukraine with Ukrainian SSR.
July 17—August 2
Potsdam Conference of the leaders of the three allied powers—USSR, Great Britain and USA.
August 6
USSR resumes diplomatic relations with Rumania and Finland.
August 9
In accordance with its allied commitments, the USSR enters the war against imperialist Japan.
328August 14
September 2
September 25
October 24
1946March 15
March 18
July 11
July 29-October 15
September 19
1947August 29
September 7
December 14
1948February 4, 18; March 18; April 6
1949January 25
September 25
1950February 14
May 30
1951March 12
1952June 6
July 27
October 5-14
Treaty of friendship and alliance signed in Moscow between the USSR and China. USSR resumes diplomatic relations with Bulgaria.
In Tokyo Japan signs the instrument of unconditional surrender by the Japanese armed forces.
USSR resumes diplomatic relations with Hungary.
UN Charter comes into force.
Adoption of law transforming the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR into the USSR Council of Ministers, and the Councils of People's Commissars of the Union and autonomous republics into Councils of Ministers.
USSR Supreme Soviet passes law "On the five-year plan for rehabilitating and developing the Soviet economy in 1946--50".
Opening of the Saratov-Moscow gas pipeline (843 km).
Paris Peace Conference.
USSR Council of Ministers and CC CPSU (B) decision "On measures to eliminate infringements of the Rules of the Agricultural Artel in collective farms".
Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet ratifies the peace treaties with Italy, Rumania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Finland concluded on February 10 in Paris.
Celebration of Moscow's eighth centenary.
USSR Council of Ministers and CC CPSU (B) decision "On the conduct of monetary reform and the abolition of rationing for food and manufactured goods".
USSR concludes treaties of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with Rumanian People's Republic, Hungarian People's Republic, People's Republic of Bulgaria, and Finland.
Formation of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) announced.
TASS announces the testing of an atomic bomb in the USSR.
USSR signs a treaty of friendship, alliance and mutual assistance with the People's Republic of China.
CC CPSU (B) decision "On the enlargement of small collective farms and the tasks of Party organisations arising therefrom".
USSR Supreme Soviet passes the Law on the Defence of Peace.
Opening of Tsimlyansk Hydroelectric Power Station.
Opening of Volga-Don Ship Canal.
19th Party Congress. Party renamed Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Adoption of Directives for the 5th economic development plan (1951--55).
__PRINTERS_P_329_COMMENT__ 22---69 329 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957March 5
June 6
August 20
September 7
February 19
March 2
May
June 27
January 25
February 9
May 14
May 15
June 2
August 23
September 9-13
September 20
February 14--25
March 6
June 30
July 14
October 19
October 30
October 4
November 14--16
Death of Stalin.
Completion of South Urals Thermal Electric Power Station.
Announcement of the testing of a hydrogen bomb in the USSR.
CC CPSU decision "On measures to further develop agriculture in the USSR".
Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet issues a decree transferring the Crimea Region from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.
Plenary Meeting of the CC CPSU decision "On the further increase of the country's grain production and the ploughing up of virgin and long-fallow lands".
Celebration of 300th anniversary of the reunification of the Ukraine and Russia. Order of Lenin awarded to Ukrainian SSR and RSFSR.
World's first industrial atomic power station opened in the USSR.
Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet issues decree "On ending the state of war between the Soviet Union and Germany".
USSR Supreme Soviet issues declaration on establishing direct ties between parliaments in all countries.
Signing of the Warsaw Treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance between socialist countries.
Soviet, US, British and French Governments sign a treaty ending the occupation of Austria.
Soviet-Yugoslav declaration signed in Belgrade.
Production starts at the Cherepovets Iron and Steel Works.
Talks in Moscow between the USSR and the FRG government delegations. Diplomatic relations established between the USSR and the FRG.
USSR signs a treaty in Moscow with the GDR.
20th CPSU Congress.
CC CPSU and USSR Council of Ministers decision "On the Rules of the agricultural artel and the further development of collective farmers' initiative in organising farm production and managing the artel".
CC CPSU decision "On overcoming the personality cult and its consequences".
USSR Supreme Soviet adopts the Law on State Pensions.
Soviet-Japanese declaration announces that agreement has been reached on ending the state of war between the USSR and Japan, and on resuming diplomatic and consular relations.
Soviet Government issues a declaration on the fundamentals of developing and further strengthening friendship and cooperation between the USSR and other socialist countries.
World's first artificial earth satellite is launched by the USSR.
Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties of socialist countries held in Moscow.
330 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964August 10
September 7
January 2
January 27-February 5
September 10
October 1
November
December 9
April 12
July 6
August 6
October 17--31
August 11--12
April 25--27
June 14--16
August 5
January 17
October 12
October 15
Completion of Kuibyshev Hydroelectric Power Station.
First section of a new atomic power station (capacity 100,(XX) kw) goes into operation.
Space rocket launched towards the moon.
21st CPSU Congress. Endorsement of economic development targets for 1959--65 (seven-year plan).
Production starts at the Lenin Iron and Steel Works in Kuibyshev.
Opening of the Lumumba Friendship University in Moscow.
Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties held in Moscow. Delegates attended the celebrations marking the 43rd anniversary of the October Revolution.
Volga Hydroelectric Power Station begins operating.
World's first spacecraft, the Soviet Union's Vostok, manned by Yuri Gagarin, orbits the earth and lands safely.
USSR signs a treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Spacecraft Vostok-2, manned by German Titov, is launched into earth orbit, landing on August 7.
22nd CPSU Congress. Adoption of a new Programme and new Party Rules.
Spacecraft Vostok-3, piloted by Andrian Nikolayev, is launched into earth orbit (Aug. 11), followed by Vostok-4, piloted by Pavel Popovich (Aug. 12), both ships landing safely on August 15.
All-Union Conference of Front-Rankers of the Communist Work Movement.
Spacecraft Vostok-5, piloted by Valery Bykovsky, is launched into earth orbit (June 14), followed by Vostok-6, piloted by the woman-cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (June 16), both ships landing safely on June 19.
Treaty banning the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, in space and under water is signed in Moscow.
Completion of first section of the world's highestcapacity gas pipeline, from Bukhara to the Urals.
Voskhod, the world's first three-seater spacecraft, manned by Vladimir Komarov, Konstantin Feoktistov and Boris Yegorov, is launched into earth orbit, landing in the preset area on October 13.
Druzhba pipeline goes into operation, carrying oil from the banks of the Volga to the Danube and the Oder.
__PRINTERS_P_331_COMMENT__ 22* 331 1965 1966 1967March 18
March 24--26
July 18
September 27--29
January 31
March 1
March 29-April 8
March 31
January 27
April 23
April 29
May 8
May 12
June 29
September 7
September 8
October 5
October 30
November 3-4
Spacecraft Voskhod-2, manned hy Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov, is launched into earth orbit. Leonov becomes the first man to walk in space. The ship lands near Perm on March 19.
CC CPSU Plenary Meeting. Decision passed on urgent measures to further develop agriculture.
Launching of a multi-stage rocket carrying the automatic space station Zond-3, which photographs the invisible side of the moon on July 20.
CC CPSU Plenary Meeting. Decision passed "On improving industrial management, perfecting planning and reinforcing economic incentives in industrial production".
Launching of the automatic space station Luna-9, which soft-landed on the moon on February 3.
After a 14-week flight the automatic space station Venera-3 reaches Venus.
23rd CPSU Congress. The Directives for the new five-year plan (1966--70) are endorsed.
Space rocket blasts off towards the moon carrying the automatic space station Luna-10, which becomes the world's first artificial lunar satellite on April 3.
Treaty on the principles to be observed by states when exploring and using outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is signed in Moscow, Washington and London.
Spacecraft Soyuz-1, piloted by Vladimir Komarov, is put into earth orbit. While completing the test flight, Komarov dies tragically on April 24.
Announcement of the USSR Council of Ministers' adoption of a decision on measures to further develop the economy and culture of the nationalities of the Soviet North.
Beside the wall of the Moscow Kremlin an eternal flame is ignited on the grave of the Unknown Soldier in memory of the heroes who perished in the Great Patriotic War.
20-year treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance is signed in Sofia between the USSR and Bulgaria.
Soviet-Czechoslovak Bratstvo gas pipeline starts functioning.
Signing in Budapest of a treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance between the USSR and Hungary.
Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station (capacity 4,100,000 kw) declared ready for industrial operation.
Transcontinental gas pipeline from Central Asia to the country's central regions (2,750 km) comes into operation.
Artificial earth satellites Kosmos-188 and Kosmos-186 perform the first in history automatic docking and undocking manoeuvres while in orbit.
Joint session of the CC CPSU and the Supreme Soviets of the USSR and the RSFSR in Moscow dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution.
332 1968 1969 1970February 1
August 10
October 8
October 26
January 14
January 15
January 16
March 13
June 5-17
October 11
October 12
October 13
November 24
November 25--27
November 28
April 21--22
May 6
June 1-19
July 7
August 12
November 10
Ishim water pipeline (1,748 km) in Kazakhstan comes into service.
CC CPSU decision on preparations for the centenary of Lenin's hirth.
First section of the Tashkent Thermal Electric Power Station, the largest in Central Asia, put into operation.
Spacecraft Soyuz-3, piloted by Georgi Beregovoi, is put into earth orbit, landing in the preset area on October 30.
Spacecraft Soyuz-4, piloted by Vladimir Shatalov, is put into earth orbit.
Spacecraft Soyuz-5, manned by Boris Volynov, Alexei Yeliseyev and Yevgeni Khrunov, is put into earth orbit.
Spacecraft Soyuz-4 and Soyuz-5 effect a manually controlled docking.
Khrunov and Yeliseyev leave their ship, Soyuz-5, carry out a series of experiments in space and make observations. Later the ships undock, continue their flight and land separately.
Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet issues a decree conferring the Order of Lenin on the USSR Academy of Sciences.
International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties in Moscow.
Rocket blasts off carrying spacecraft Soyuz-6 (pilot Georgi Shonin, flight engineer Valery Kubasov). After completion of the schedule, the ship lands in the preset area on October 16.
Launching of spacecraft Soyuz-7, manned by Anatoly Filipchenko, Vladimir Volkov and Victor Gorbatko. The ship lands in the preset area on October 17.
Spacecraft Soyuz-8, manned by Vladimir Shatalov and Alexei Yeliseyev, is put into earth orbit. It lands in the preset area on October 18.
Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet ratifies the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
3rd All-Union Congress of Collective Farmers in Moscow.
CC CPSU and USSR Council of Ministers pass a decision endorsing the Model Rules of the Agricultural Artel adopted by the 3rd All-Union Congress of Collective Farmers.
Joint jubilee session in Moscow of the CC CPSU and the Supreme Soviets of the USSR and the RSFSR dedicated to the centenary of Lenin's birth.
Treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance signed in Prague between the USSR and Czechoslovakia.
Prolonged orbital flight of spacecraft Soyuz-9, manned by Andrian Nikolayev and Vitaly Sevastyanov.
Treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance signed in Bucharest between the USSR and Rumania.
Treaty between the USSR and the FRG signed in Moscow.
Luna-17 automatic space station launched. On November 17 the station soft-lands on the moon, [cont. page 334] 333 1971 1972
November 30
March 30-April 9
April 23
May 27
June 6
June 7
June 30
July 27--29
August 9
September 5
October 30
November 26
December 2
January 25--26
February 22
February 25
March 21--24
April 4
April 10
April 17
delivering to its surface the automatic self-propelled moon vehicle Lunokhod-1, remote-controlled from the earth, which carries out scientific investigations. First section of the world's most northerly thermal electric power station at Ust-Khantaisk (Krasnoyarsk Territory) comes into service.24th CPSU Congress. Directives for the ninth five-year economic development plan (1971--75) approved.
Spacecraft Soyuz-10, manned by Vladimir Shatalov, Alexei Yeliseyev and Nikolai Rukavishnikov, is put into earth orbit, landing in the preset area on April 25.
Treaty of friendship and cooperation signed between the USSR and Egypt.
Launching of spacecraft Soyuz-11, manned by Georgi Dobrovolsky (commander), Vladimir Volkov and Victor Pat sayev.
Soyuz-11 docks with the space station Salyut (put into orbit previously) to form the world's first piloted orbital space station.
After completing the scheduled 23-day flight in the first piloted orbital space station, the cosmonauts Georgi Dobrovolsky, Vladimir Volkov and Victor Patsayev perish while returning to earth.
In Bucharest the 25th Session of the CMEA adopts The Comprehensive Programme for the Further Extension and Improvement of Cooperation and the Development of Socialist Economic Integration by the CMEA Member-Countries.
Treaty of friendship and cooperation signed between the USSR and the Republic of India.
CC CPSU decision "On the further improvement of the organisation of socialist emulation".
Joint Soviet-French document "Principles of Cooperation between the USSR and France" signed in Paris.
Session of the USSR Supreme Soviet adopts a law on the five-year economic development plan for 1971--75.
Landing module of the automatic space station Mars-3, launched on May 28, soft-lands on Mars.
In Prague a meeting of the Warsaw Treaty states' Political Consultative Committee adopts "Declaration on Peace and Security in Europe".
CC CPSU decision "On preparations for the 50th anniversary of the formation of the USSR".
Return module of the Soviet automatic space station Luna-20, which was launched on February 14 and soft-landed on the moon, returns to a preset area in the USSR, delivering samples of moonrock.
15th Congress of Soviet Trade Unions.
Single carrier rocket launches the Soviet communications satellite Molniya-l and the small autonomous French MAS satellite.
In Moscow representatives of the three depository states—USSR, USA and Great Britain—sign a convention banning the development, production and stockpiling of bacteriological (biological) and toxic weapons, and on their destruction. More than 40 countries sign the convention on the same day.
Signing in Ankara of a Declaration on the principles of good-neighbour relations between the USSR and the Turkish Republic.
334May 20
May 22--30
July 22
October 3
October 14
October 18
November 2
December 9
December 21--22
December 23
1973January 10
January 16
April 3
April 26--27
Konakovo Thermal Electric Power Station comes into operation at its full design capacity (2,400,000 kw).
Negotiations between the Soviet leaders and the US President and his advisers during their visit to Moscow. The following joint documents are signed: Basic Principles of Mutual Relations between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America, The Treaty on the Limitation of ABM Systems, The Interim Agreement on Certain Measures with Respect to the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, An Agreement on the Prevention of Incidents on and over the High Seas, The Agreement on Cooperation in the Peaceful Exploration and Use of Outer Space, An Agreement on Public Health,
After covering over 300 million km in 117 days, the automatic interplanetary station Venera-8 enters the atmosphere of Venus and releases the landing module containing scientific apparatus, which then soft-lands on the planet's surface.
Coming into force of the treaty between the USSR and the USA on limiting anti-missile defence systems, and the interim agreement between the two countries on certain measures to limit strategic offensive weapons, signed on May 26.
Soviet-American agreement on certain aspects of shipping is signed in Washington.
Three Soviet-American agreements are signed in Washington: on trade, on settling Lend-Lease accounts, and on the mutual provision of credits.
In Belgrade an agreement is concluded between the USSR and Yugoslavia on economic and technical cooperation in building or reconstructing industrial and other installations in Yugoslavia.
Agreements are signed in Moscow on the provision of Soviet assistance to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and on trade between the two countries in 1973. Also signed is an agreement establishing a permanent intergovernmental commission on economic, scientific and technical cooperation.
Joint session of the CC CPSU and the Supreme Soviets of the USSR and the RSFSR dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the formation of the USSR held in Moscow. Adoption of the Address "To the Peoples of the World" by the USSR Supreme Soviet and the CC CPSU.
Agreements are signed in Moscow on the development of Soviet-Cuban economic cooperation, as well as an agreement on mutual deliveries of goods in 1973--75.
CC CPSU and Council of Ministers decision "On intensifying environmental protection and improving the use of natural resources".
Announcement of the soft landing on the moon made by the automatic space station Luna-21, which delivers the vehicle Lunokhod-2 so as to continue exploring the lunar surface. The exploration schedule is completed by early June.
CC CPSU and Council of Ministers decision "On certain measures to further improve industrial management".
Plenary Meeting of CC CPSU hears CC CPSU General [cont. on page 336] 335
May 1
May 11--12
May 12--13
May 18--22
June 18--25
June 26--28
July 6
July 17--19
July 30--31
August 10
September 18--21
September 27--29
October 17
October 25--31
November 12--15
Secretary Leonid Brezhnev's report "On the international activities of the CC CPSU to implement the decisions of the 24th Party Congress" and fully approves the measures of the Political Bureau to ensure lasting peace throughout the world and guarantee the security of the Soviet people.Committee for International Lenin Prizes "For the Promotion of Peace Among Nations" announces that prizes are to be awarded to Leonid Brezhnev, Salvador Allende, Enrique Pastorino and James Aldridge.
CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev pays a friendly visit to Poland.
Leonid Brezhnev pays a friendly visit to the GDR.
Leonid Brezhnev visits the FRG at the invitation of Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt. The Governments of the USSR and the FRG sign agreements on developing economic, industrial, technical and cultural cooperation, as well as an additional protocol to the Agreement on Air Communications.
CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev pays an official visit to the USA. Agreements are signed by the Soviet and US Governments on cooperation in agriculture, in studying the world's oceans and in transport, on contacts, exchanges, and on cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy. Also signed are the basic principles for negotiations on further limiting strategic offensive weapons and the agreement on the prevention of nuclear war. The results of SovietAmerican relations are summed up in a joint communique (see Prtivda of June 26).
CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev visits France to hold summit consultations with the French President, Georges Pompidou.
CC CPSU and Council of Ministers decision "On measures to further improve working conditions in rural general education schools".
6th Session of the USSR Supreme Soviet hears reports on the present state and further improvement of the education system, and draft fundamentals of legislation of the USSR and the Union republics on public education; on the present state and measures to further improve general secondary education; on vocational and technical education in the USSR, and on specialised secondary and higher education, and passes decrees on them.
Friendly meeting in the Crimea of the leaders of the Communist and Workers' Parties of Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Mongolia, Poland, Rumania, the USSR and Czechoslovakia.
USSR Central Statistical Board announces that the population of the USSR reached the 250-million mark on August 9, 1973.
CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev pays a friendly visit to Bulgaria.
Launching of spacecraft Soyuz-12, manned by Vassily Lazarev (commander) and Oleg Makarov (flight engineer).
CC CPSU decision "On the 250th Anniversary of the USSR Academy of Sciences".
World Congress of Peace Forces is held in Moscow, attended by 3,200 delegates from 143 countries.
The Yugoslav President, Josip Broz Tito, pays a friendly visit to the USSR.
336November 26--30
December 18 26
1974January 8-21
January 17
January 28-February 3
March 12--13
April 17--18
April 23--27
June 4-8
June 16
June 18
June 27-July 3
July 3
July 11
August 7
August 26
September 12
September 18
September 25
October 28--31
October 29-November 3
November 6
November 23--24
November 25
December 2
December 4-7
December 26
CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev pays a friendly official visit to India. Joint Soviet-Indian declaration published on December I.
Flight of spacecraft Soyuz-13, manned by Pyotr Klimuk (commander) and Valentin Lebedev (flight engineer).
All-Union Komsomol assembly under the slogan "We greet the determining year of the five-year plan period with excellent work and study results".
Talks on the mutual reduction of armaments in Central Europe are resumed in Vienna.
Leonid Brezhnev visits the Republic of Cuba.
Leonid Brezhnev meets France's President Georges Pompidou in Pitsunda.
Meeting of the Warsaw Treaty states' Political Consultative Committee in Warsaw.
17th Komsomol Congress held in Moscow. The first special Komsomol Contingent leaves Moscow to help build the Baikal-Amur Railway.
Prime Minister Mohammad Daoud of the Republic of Afghanistan visits the USSR.
Elections to the USSR Supreme Soviet.
25th CMEA Session in Sofia sums up the CMEA achievements and sets tasks for the future.
Third Soviet-US summit meeting in Moscow.
Launching of the orbital scientific space station Salyut-3.
Signing of a treaty of friendship and cooperation between the USSR and the Somali Democratic Republic.
USSR proposes that the question of a ban on interference with the natural environment and the climate for military purposes should be included in the agenda for the UN's 29th Session.
Launching of spacecraft Soyuz-15.
CC CPSU and Council of Ministers decision on increasing material assistance to low-income families with children.
Soviet-US strategic arms limitation talks resumed in Geneva.
Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet issues a decree introducing allowances for children in low-income families.
Helmut Schmidt, Federal Chancellor of the FRG, visits the USSR.
Visit to the USSR paid by a Portuguese Government delegation headed by Alvaro Cunhal.
Luna-23 lands on the moon.
Working meeting between General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and US President Gerald Ford near Vladivostok.
The first unit of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station-3 comes into full operation.
Launching of spacecraft Soyuz-16.
General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev pays a working visit to France. Signing of an agreement on economic cooperation for the period 1975--79.
Launching of the orbital scientific space station Salyut-4.
337 1975January 12--16
February 6
February 7
February 9
February 11
February 13--17
March 2
March 3
March 4-5
March 12--14
March 18
March 28--29
April 9-15
May 9
June 15
June 24--26
June 26--29
July 17--19
July 30-August 1
Australia's Prime Minister E. Gough Whitlam, pays an official visit to the USSR. Signing of an agreement on scientific, technological and cultural cooperation between the USSR and Australia.
Completion of building work on the Kirov Factory's new rolled metal complex. The "350" rolling mill reaches its design capacity, and the "900/680" mill is completed.
CC CPSU decision "On the results of the renewal of Party cards".
CC CPSU decision "On the 30th anniversary of the Soviet people's victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941--1945".
Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet ratifies the convention banning the designing, manufacture and stockpiling of bacteriological and toxic weapons, and providing for their destruction.
Britain's Prime Minister Harold Wilson visits the USSR. Signing of a Soviet-British declaration on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, as well as a protocol on consultations.
Signing of a Soviet-French inter-governmental agreement on cooperation in environmental protection and on other forms of cooperation.
General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia Gustav Husak pays a brief friendly visit to Moscow and confers with Leonid Brezhnev.
Secretaries of the CCs of the Communist and Workers' parties of socialist countries confer on preparations for celebrating the 30th anniversary of victory over fascist Germany and militarist Japan.
Leonid Brezhnev, Alexei Kosygin and Andrei Gromyko hold talks with Finland's President Urho Kaleva Kekkonen.
Leonid Brezhnev addresses the llth Congress of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party in Budapest.
Official visit by Marien Ngouabi, Chairman of the CC
,
of the Congolese Labour Party and President of the People's Republic of the Congo.
Friendly official visit paid to the USSR by Dzemal Bijedic, President of the Federal Executive Council of Yugoslavia and a member of the Presidium of the CC of the League of Communists. Discussion of the development of economic cooperation between the USSR and Yugoslavia in 1976--80.
Celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Soviet people's victory in the Great Patriotic War.
Elections to the Supreme Soviets of the Union republics and to the local Soviets of Working People's Deputies.
29th Session of the CMEA approves the plan for multilateral integration measures in 1976--80.
Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko pays an official visit to Italy. Signing of a protocol on cooperation in environmental protection, as well as an agreement on economic cooperation in 1975--79.
Joint flight of spacecraft Soyuz-19 (USSR) and Apollo (USA).
Third and concluding stage of the European Conference in Helsinki. Signing of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
338September 25--26
October 1-4
October 6
October 6-13
October 7
October 12
October 14--18
October 22 and 25
October 27--31
November 10--15
November 18--24
November 25--29
December 8-11
December 14
December 15--16
1976February 4
February 19
February 24-March 5
April 22
May 19
May 26
Official visit to Canada by Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko.
Official visit to the USSR by the Portuguese President, General Francisco de Costa Gomes.
Jubilee session held in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses to mark the 250th anniversary of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Official friendly visit paid to the USSR by a GDR party and government delegation led by the First Secretary of the CC of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, Erich Honecker.
Signing in Moscow of a treaty of friendship and cooperation between the USSR and the GDR.
Completion of an important stage in the construction of the Sayano-Shushenskoye Hydroelectric Power Station—the damming of the Yenisei.
Official visit to the Soviet Union by French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing. Signing of a declaration on the further development of friendship and cooperation between the USSR and France.
Interplanetary stations Venera-9 and Venera-10 go into orbit around Venus. Landing modules reach the planet's surface and transmit to earth photographs of the landing area.
Visit to the USSR by a party and government delegation from Vietnam. Signing of agreements on the provision of economic assistance to Vietnam, as well as a protocol on the results of coordinating the national economic plans of the USSR and the DRV for the period 1976--80.
Visit to the Soviet Union by the Federal President of the FRG, Walter Scheel.
Official visit to the USSR by the Italian President, Giovanni Leone.
Official friendly visit paid to the USSR by a party and government delegation from Czechoslovakia led by Gustav Husak, General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and President of Czechoslovakia.
Visit to Afghanistan of the Soviet government delegation. Signing of a protocol extending the term of the 1931 Treaty of Neutrality and Mutual Non-Aggression.
Publication of the CC CPSU decision and the draft Guidelines for the Development of the National Economy of the USSR for 1976--1980, prepared for the 25th Party Congress.
Moscow conference of Foreign Ministers of socialist countries.
Resolution of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers "On Measures to Prevent Pollution of the Black and Azov Sea Basins".
Commissioning of a six-metre optical telescope, the world's largest, at the astrophysical observatory of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
25th Congress of the CPSU.
A long-term trade agreement between the USSR and Sweden is signed in Moscow.
Soviet-Laotian documents on cultural and scientific cooperation and trade are signed in Moscow.
A Soviet-Mozambican agreement on cultural and scientific cooperation is signed in Moscow.
Celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Bolshoi
339May 28
May 31
June 2
June 11
June 29
July 6
July 16
August 3
August 9
September 15
October 8
October 14
October 19
October 29
November 10
November 24
November 25--26
December 9
December 19
Theatre of the USSR.
Soviet-Angolan documents on the basic principles of friendly relations and cooperation are signed in Moscow.
Treaty between the USSR and the USA on Underground Nuclear Explosions for Peaceful Purposes is signed in Moscow and Washington.
An agreement on promoting Soviet-Iraqi economic and technical cooperation is signed in Baghdad.
Soviet-Philippine documents on the establishment of diplomatic relations, and trade agreement are signed in Moscow.
A Declaration on the Further Development of Friendship and Cooperation between the Soviet Union and India is signed in Moscow.
A conference of European Communist and Workers' parties "For Peace, Security, Cooperation and Social Progress in Europe" opens in Berlin. Leonid Brezhnev, head of the CPSU delegation, addresses the conference.
Launching of the Soyuz-21 spaceship, piloted by Boris Volynov and Vitaly Zholobov. On July 7 it docks with the Salyut-5 station. On August 24, following a 48-day flight, the cosmonauts return to earth.
An agreement between the USSR and France on preventing accidental or non-planned use of nuclear weapon is signed in Moscow.
Publication of a resolution of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers "On a Land Reclamation Plan for 1976--1980 and Measures for a More Rational Use of Reclaimed Lands".
Launching of the Luna-24 station. On August 18, it makes a soft landing on the moon.
Launching of the Soyuz-22 spaceship, piloted by Valery Bykovsky and Vladimir Aksyonov.
Soviet-Angolan documents on friendship and cooperation are signed in Moscow.
Launching of the Soyuz-23 spaceship, piloted by Vyacheslav Zudov and Valery Rozhdestvensky.
Documents on Soviet-Mongolian cooperation are signed in Moscow, together with a treaty on the borders between the USSR and the MPR.
Session of the USSR Supreme Soviet adopts a law On the National Five-Year Economic Development Plan for 1976--1980.
Signing in Moscow of a joint Soviet-Polish statement "For the Further Development of All-Round Cooperation between the Soviet Union and the Polish People's Republic, for Stronger Friendship between the Soviet and Polish Peoples".
A Soviet-Rumanian "Statement on Promotion Cooperation and Fraternal Friendship between the CPSU and the RCP, the Soviet Union and Rumania" is signed in Bucharest.
A meeting of the Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Treaty states takes place in Bucharest. The participants unanimously adopt the declaration "For New Goals in International Detente, for Stronger Security and Promotion of Cooperation in Europe".
A protocol on economic and technical cooperation and a programme of cultural cooperation between the USSR and the Libyan Arab Republic is signed in Moscow.
Publication of a Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet awarding Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, with the [cont. page 341] 340
December 27
December 29
1977January 6
January 14
January 18
February 1
February 7
March 21--25
March 31
April 6
April 14
May 6
May 16
May 18
May 19
May 24
Order of Lenin and a second Gold Star medal on the occasion of his 70th birthday for outstanding services to the Communist Party and the Soviet state. Also published is a decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet on presenting Leonid Brezhnev with an honorary weapon.Pre-schedule commissioning of the first stage of the Stavropol hydropower station with 1,200,000 kw capacity.
Commissioning of the first production complex of the Volgograd Atommash plant, a giant nuclear engineering project.
Commissioning of the first stage of the Kama plant for the output of heavy-duty lorries.
Publication of the resolution of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers "On Increasing the Output of Consumer Goods in 1976-- 1980 and on Measures to Improve Their Quality".
The World Congress of Peace Forces opens in Moscow.
The Hero-City of Tula is awarded the Gold Star medal.
Publication of the CPSU Central Committee resolution "On the 60th Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution".
Launching of the Soyuz-24 spaceship, piloted by Victor Gorbatko and Yuri Glazkov. On February 8, the spaceship docks with the orbital station Salyut-5. On February 25, the cosmonauts return to earth.
16th Congress of the Trade Unions of the USSR is held in Moscow. By a decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, the trade unions of the USSR are awarded the Order of the October Revolution.
Signing of a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between the USSR and the People's Republic of Mozambique.
A consular convention, a programme of cultural and scientific cooperation and a trade agreement between the USSR and the Republic of Tunisia are signed in Moscow.
A treaty on promoting economic cooperation between the USSR and the Republic of Afghanistan is signed in Moscow.
A Declaration on the Basic Principles of Friendly Relations and Cooperation between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Socialist Ethiopia is signed in Moscow.
A new coal face comes into operation at the Vorshagorskaya mine, the largest in the Pechora coal basin.
Signing in Moscow of a long-term programme for the promotion and expansion of trade and economic, industrial and scientific and technical cooperation up to 1990 between the USSR and the Republic of Finland, and an agreement on cooperation in the construction of the Kostomukinsk ore-dressing combine.
Publication of an agreement between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America on cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes.
A plenary meeting of the CPSU Central Committee discusses the report made by Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and Chairman of the Constitution Commission of the USSR, on the draft Constitution of the USSR and
341June 4
June 17
June 18
June 22
July 19--30
August 17
September 11
October 3
October 4-7
October 9
October 10
October 14
October 15
October 25
November 1
November 2-3
recommends that it be submitted for nationwide discussion. The plenary meeting adopts a decision on combining the posts of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet.Publication of the draft new Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the USSR for nationwide discussion.
A session of the USSR Supreme Soviet elects Leonid Brezhnev Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet.
Publication of the resolution of the USSR Supreme Soviet "On Measures for the Increased Protection of Forests and the Rational Use of Timber Resources".
A Soviet-French declaration on international issues and bilateral relations between the USSR and France, and also a Statement by the Soviet Union and France on detente, and a Soviet-French declaration on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons are signed in Paris.
An international children's festival "Let There Always Be Sunshine!" is held in Artek.
The nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika reaches the geographic point of the North Pole at 4 a.m. Moscow time.
Publication of the resolution of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers "On Improving the Training and Education of Students in the Vocational Schools Network".
A plant producing Kamaz tip-up lorries comes into operation in Neftekamsk (Bashkiria).
The Seventh Special Session of the USSR Supreme Soviet (ninth convocation) discusses the draft and adopts the new Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the USSR; the Supreme Soviet endorses the Declaration "On the Adoption of the Constitution ( Fundamental Law) of the USSR'', together with the Law on Declaring Constitution Day (October 7) a National Holiday and the Law on the Procedure Governing the Coming into Force of the Constitution of the USSR.
Launching of the Soyuz-25 spaceship, piloted by Vladimir Kovalyonok and Valery Ryumin. The flight ends on October 11.
An agreement on prevention of accidental nuclear war is signed in Moscow between the governments of the USSR and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The first unit of the Kursk atomic power station with an annual output of 24 million kilowatt hours of electricity reaches planned output capacity.
Publication of the resolution of the CPSU Central Committee, and the USSR Council of Ministers "On Measures for Improving the Public Health Services".
A joint Soviet-Indian declaration expressing the " solemn resolve" of the two countries to "strengthen further their friendship and cooperation" is signed in Moscow.
First passenger flight of the TU-I44 supersonic plane on the Moscow-Alma Ata line.
A joint session of the CPSU Central Committee, the USSR Supreme Soviet <md the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation to mark the 60th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution is held in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses in Moscow. It adopts the addresses "To the Soviet People'', "To the Peoples, [cont. page 343] 342
November 10
November 12
November 22--25
December 10
December 18
December 29
December 30
1978January 10
January 14
January 19
February 1
February 1-4
February 20--23
February 24
Parliaments and Governments of All Countries of the World".The Completion of the Baksan Neutron Observatory of the Institute of Nuclear Research of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the commissioning of the world's largest underground neutron telescope and laboratories of the observatory.
The completion of laying the power transmission line (LEP-220) from Ust-Kut to Tagora, linking the first station of the western wing of the Baikal-Amur Railway with the Irkutsk-Energo power grid.
An international meeting "October and the Youth" of representatives from various youth organisations from over a hundred countries, takes place in Leningrad.
Launching of the Souyz-26 spaceship, piloted by Yuri Romanenko and Georgi Grechko. On December 11 it docks with the Salyut-6 space station, which was put into orbit on September 29, 1977. On December 20 the cosmonauts walk in space.
At the Nizhni Tagil metallurgical combine the first stage of a universal mill for the output of broad units is commissioned ahead of schedule.
Publication of the resolution of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers "On Improving the Training and Education of Pupils in General Educational Schools and on Preparing Them for Work".
Completion of a 20-kilometre oil pipeline along the floor of the Caspian Sea, linking the Gubkin bank with the Cheleken seaboard.
Launching of the Soyuz-27 spaceship, piloted by Vladimir Djanibekov and Oleg Makarov, On January 11, it docks with the Salyut-6 — Soyuz-26 orbital complex with Yuri Romanenko and Georgi Grechko on board. On January 16, cosmonauts Vladimir Djanibekov and Oleg Makarov return to earth on the Soyuz-26 spaceship.
Publication of the Letter of the CPSU Central Committee, the USSR Council of Ministers, the All-Union Central Trade Union Council and the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League on launching a socialist emulation in 1978.
TASS Statement refuting foreign press reports on the participation of Soviet military personnel in alleged Ethiopian preparations to invade Somalia.
Meeting between Leonid Brezhnev and Raul Castro, Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of the Republic of Cuba, to discuss the strengthening and promoting Soviet-Cuban relations.
A government delegation of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen pays an official visit to the USSR. The sides discuss relations between the two states and express support for the idea of turning the Red Sea into a zone of peace.
A Party and Government delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic led by President of the Republic Hafez Assad holds talks in the USSR with the Soviet leaders on promoting Soviet-Syrian relations and also on the Middle East situation.
The Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet proposes to the National People's Congress of China that the USSR and the PRC issue a joint statement on the
343March 2
March 8
March 9
March 9-13
March 11
March 16
April 3-5
April 14--20
April 24--25
April 25--30
May 4-7
principles of mutual relations between the two states and the normalisation of Soviet-Chinese relations. The Chinese leadership declines to discuss the question of improving relations between the USSR and the PRC.Launching of the Soyuz-28 spaceship, piloted by an international crew consisting of Alexei Gubarev ( commander) and Czechoslovak citizen Vladimir Remek (cosmonaut-researcher). On March 3, the ship docks with the Salyut-6—Soyuz-27 orbital complex. On March 10 the international crew returns to earth on the Soyuz-27 spaceship.
Adoption of the final document of the Belgrade meeting of representatives of countries participating in the Helsinki Conference. The document expresses the states' attitude to strengthening detente on the basis of the implementation of the provisions of the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference.
A delegation of socialist member-states of the Disarmament Committee, submits a draft convention on banning the production, stockpiling, and use of neutron weapons.
Soviet-Moroccan talks on cooperation between the USSR and Morocco conclude with the signing of a long-term agreement on economic and technical cooperation in the development of phosphates and a protocol on trade for the next 30 years.
TASS publishes a statement vigorously condemning the decision of the USA to produce the neutron bomb and reaffirms the Soviet proposal on a joint agreement not to produce the neutron bomb.
After successfully completing the programme of scientific and technical research and experiment on Soyuz-- 27, cosmonauts Yuri Romanenko and Georgi Grechko return to earth. Their flight had lasted for 96 days.
Lieutenant Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, Chairman of the Provisional Military Administrative Council and the Council of Ministers of Socialist Ethiopia, comes on a working visit to the Soviet Union to discuss the existing friendly relations between the two countries and the prospects of strengthening them further.
Official visit to the Soviet Union by Forbes Bernham, Prime Minister of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, and the signing of agreements on cooperation in the cultural sphere, on the development of fishing and on supplying machinery and equipment.
A meeting of the Committee of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Warsaw Treaty states takes place in Sofia to examine questions of disarmament—in connection with the preparations for the special UN General Assembly session—and the strengthening of European security.
18th Congress of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League. Speech by Leonid Brezhnev, in which he formulates the tasks of the Komsomol in communist construction and advances a programme for ending the production of mass destruction nuclear weapons and of new types of highly lethal conventional armaments.
Official visit to the FRG by Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the CPSJJ Central Committee and Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, and the signing of the documents: Joint Declaration and Agreement on Developing and [cont. page 345] 344
May 17--25
May 25
May 30-June 2
June 7-15
June 15
June 21--25
June 27
July 5-6
July 11
August 26
November 2
__PRINTERS_P_345_COMMENT__ 23---69 Deepening Long-Term Cooperation—up to 25 years—Between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Federal Republic of Germany in the Economic and Industrial Field.Official visit to the USSR by Jose Lopez Portillo, President of the United States of Mexico. A consular convention and a programme of scientific and technical cooperation for 1978--1979 are signed. The USSR subscribes to the Treaty for the prohibition of nuclear weapons in Latin America.
The Soviet delegation submits a draft document "On Practical Ways of Terminating the Arms Race" to the special UN General Assembly Session on Disarmament.
Official friendly visit to Czechoslovakia by a Party and Government delegation from the USSR led by Leonid Brezhnev. A joint statement on promoting fraternal friendship and all-round cooperation between the CPSU and CPCz, and the USSR and the CSSR is adopted.
Official visit to the USSR by the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. During meetings with the Soviet leaders both sides express their desire to strengthen their traditionally peaceful relations, and to make them more stable and fruitful.
Launching of the Soyuz-29 spaceship, piloted by Vladimir Kovalyonok and Alexander Ivanchenkov. On June 17 the ship docks with the Salyut-6 station.
Biilent Ecevit, Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, pays an official visit to the USSR for talks with the Soviet leaders. A "Political Document on the Principles of Goodneighbpurly and Friendly Cooperation between the Soviet Union and Turkey'', an agreement on the demarcation of the continental shelf between the USSR and Turkey in the Black Sea, and a programme of cultural and scientific exchange for 1978--1980 are signed.
Launching of the Soyuz-30 spaceship, piloted by an international crew consisting of Pyotr Klimuk ( commander) and Polish citizen Miroslaw Hermaszewski (cosmonaut-researcher). On June 28 the ship docks with the Salyut-6—Soyuz-29 orbital complex. On July 5 the international crew returns to earth.
The Ninth Session of the USSR Supreme Soviet (ninth convocation) adopts the laws: On Procedure for the Conclusion, Implementation and Denunciation of International Treaties Entered into by the USSR, On Elections to the USSR Supreme Soviet, On the Council of Ministers of the USSR, On the Further Improvement of the Collective Farmers' Pension System.
Publication of resolutions of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers on developing and raising the efficiency of agricultural production.
Launching of the Soyuz-31 spaceship, piloted by an international crew consisting of Valery Bykovsky (commander) and citizen of the GDR Sigmund Yahn (cosmonaut-researcher). On August 27, the ship docks with the Salyut-6—Soyuz-29 orbital complex. On September 3, the international crew returns to earth on the Soyuz-29 spaceship.
Conclusion of the 140-day flight of the Salyut-6— Soyuz-29 orbital complex. Cosmonauts Vladimir Kovalyonok and Alexander Ivanchenkov return to earth on the Soyuz-31 spaceship.
345November 22--23
November 27
November 29--
December 1
January 6
January 8
January 17
January 18
February 7
February 13
February 16
February 25
March 4
March 18
March 28
April 10
346The meeting of the Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Treaty states adopts a Declaration on the world situation, expressing their firm adherence to the policy of detente and their resolve to bring about its extension.
A plenary meeting of the CPSU Central Committee discusses the state plan for the economic and social development of the USSR for 1979, the State Budget of the USSR for 1979 and adopts the relevant decisions.
The Tenth Session of the USSR Supreme Soviet (ninth convocation) adopts the laws: On the State Plan for the Economic and Social Development of the USSR for 1979, On the State Budget of the USSR for 1979, Law on Citizenship of the USSR.
Publication of the resolution of the CPSU Central Committee and the Council of Ministers of the USSR "On Additional Measures for the Protection of the Environment and a More Rational Use of Natural Resources".
Commissioning of a unique automatic coal-loading complex completes the construction of the first stage of the country's largest deep-water mechanised port Vostochny.
A nationwide census is taken.
Commissioning of the Soyuz Gas Main and the third stage of the Orenburg gas complex constructed jointly by the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Poland, Rumania and Czechoslovakia.
The inter-state power transmission line Vinnitsa (USSR)-- Albertir&swhatthe;a (Hungary), which is of great importance in developing the electrification of the CMEA membercountries, comes into operation.
The CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers adopt the resolution "On Measures for Further Improving the Training of Skilled Personnel and Securing Labour Stability of Personnel at Construction Sites".
The CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers adopt the resolution "On Measures for Promoting the Electrification of Agriculture".
Launching of the Soyuz-32 spaceship, piloted by Vladimir Lyakhov (commander) and Valery Ryumin (flight engineer). On February 26, the ship docks with the Salyut-6 orbital space station. On March 14, the Progress-5 automatic freight ship docks with the Salyut-6—Soyuz-32 orbital complex.
Elections to the USSR Supreme Soviet.
The CPSU Central Committee adopts the resolution "On the 50th Anniversary of the First Five-Year Plan for the National Economic Development of the USSR".
Departure of a 50,000-strong nationwide shock Komsomol team named after the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Virgin Lands to the construction sites of Western Siberia.
Launching of the Soyuz-33 spaceship, piloted by an international crew consisting of Nikolai Rukavishnikov (commander) and Bulgarian citizen Georgi Ivanov (cosmonaut-researcher). On April 11, in view [cont. on page 347]
April 18--19
April 26--28
May 6
May 31-June 1
June 7
June 11--14
June 15--18
June 26--28
June 30
July 12
July 18-August 11
July 28
August 15
August 20
August 24
September 1
of the faulty operation of the approach-correcting engine of the Soyuz-33 spaceship, its docking with the Salyut-6 orbital station was cancelled. On April 12, the international crew returns to earth on the Soyuz-- 33 spaceship.The First Session of the USSR Supreme Soviet (ninth convocation). It elects the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet under the chairmanship of Leonid Brezhnev.
Visit to the USSR by President of the French Republic Valery Giscard d'Estaing. A programme for promoting cooperation between the Soviet Union and France in support of detente and peace, and other documents are signed.
Publication of the resolution of the CPSU Central Committee "On the Further Improvement of Ideological and Political Education".
A Soviet Party and Government delegation led by Leonid Brezhnev visits the Hungarian People's Republic. The work collective of the Csepel metallurgical and engineering plant is awarded the Order of the October Revolution, and Soviet-Hungarian documents are signed.
Launching of the Soyuz-34 unmanned spaceship to dock with the Salyut-6—Soyuz-32 orbital complex.
Official visit to Moscow by Morarji Desai, Prime Minister of India. A joint statement by the USSR and India, and a number of other documents are signed.
Soviet-US summit meeting in Vienna. Signing of a Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT-II) between the USSR and the USA, a protocol to the Treaty, and a Joint Statement of Principles and Basic Guidelines for Subsequent Negotiation on the Limitation of Strategic Arms.
33rd meeting of CMEA in Moscow. Adoption of a statement on the 30th anniversary of CMEA, and the publication of a communiqu^.
Completion of the main line of the Baikal-Amur Railway and its opening to railway traffic from the Urgal Station to Komsomolsk-on-the-Amur.
The CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers adopt the resolution "On the Further Development of Higher Education Schools and on Raising the Quality of Trained Specialists".
Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet meets with leaders of the Communist and Workers' parties of Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Rumania, Poland, and Mongolia.
The CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers adopt the resolution "On Improving the Planning and Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Economic Mechanism for Raising the Efficiency and Quality of Work".
Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Ryumin walk in space.
Conclusion of the 175-day flight of the Salyut-6— Soyuz-32 orbital scientific research complex. Cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Ryumin return to earth.
The CPSU Central Committee adopts the resolution "On the Further Development of Medical Science in Siberia and the Soviet Far East''. Completion of the Stavropol Canal.
__PRINTERS_P_347_COMMENT__ 23* 347September 11
October 4-9
October 24
November 1
November 20
November 28--29
December 16
December 26
December 29
December 31
1980January 12
January 13
February 4-5
February 24
February 26
February 27
March 8
March 20
The CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers adopt the resolution "On Improving the Work of Safeguarding Law and Order and Combating Violations of Law and Order".
Visit to the GDR by a Soviet Party and Government delegation, led by Leonid Brezhnev. Speech by Leonid Brezhnev at a meeting to mark the 30th anniversary of the formation of the German workerpeasant state. New peace initiatives are put forward. Statement by Leonid Brezhnev on the unilateral withdrawal of a definite number of Soviet troops from GDR territory.
The Nurek hydropower station comes into full capacity operation.
The Kazakh SSR is awarded the Order of Lenin for outstanding achievements in implementing the decisions of the 25th Congress of the CPSU on increasing the output of grain and for the sale to the state in
1979 of 1,250 million poods of grain. Sixth All-Union Congress of Composers.
The Second Session of the USSR Supreme Soviet (tenth convocation) adopts the laws: On the State Plan for the Economic and Social Development of the USSR for
1980 and On the State Budget of the USSR for 1980. Publication of the resolution of the CPSU Central Committee "On the 110th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin''. Completion and commissioning of the Kalinin line and the Gorkovskaya Station of the Lenin Moscow Metro. The Iriklinskaya hydroelectric power station in the Southern Urals is commissioned at full capacity. Completion of the large-tonnage ammonia production complex at the Dorogobuzh nitrogen fertiliser plant.
Adoption of the resolution of the CPSU Central Committee, the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, the Council of Ministers, and the All-Union Central Trade Union Council "On Further Strengthening Labour Discipline and Reducing the Fluctuation of Personnel in the Economy".
Publication of answers given by Leonid Brezhnev to questions by a Pravdu correspondent.
A delegation of the United Front for National Salvation and the People's Revolutionary Council of Kampuchea led by Heng Samrin, Chairman of the UFNSK Central Committee and Chairman of the People's Revolutionary Council of Kampuchea, pays a visit to the Soviet Union.
Elections to the Supreme Soviet of Union and autonomous republics and to local Soviets of People's Deputies.
The CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers adopt the resolution "On Measures for the Further Economic and Social Development of the Regions Inhabited by the Nationalities of the North".
Completion of the Armenian atomic power station.
The CPSU Central Commitee and the USSR Council of Ministers adopt the resolution "On Additional Measures for Improving the Living Conditions of the Veterans of the Great Patriotic War".
An All-Union Meeting of Representatives of Collective Farm Councils takes place in Moscow.
348March 29
April 1
April 7
April 9
April 14
April 22
April 25
April 28--29
May 13--15
May 16--19
May 26-June 3
May 27
May 29
June 6-9
June 19
June 20
June 24
June 30-July 1
July 1
July 3
The automatic Progress-8 freight transport spaceship docks with the Salyut-6 orbital station.
Leonid Brezhnev is presented with the Lenin Prize for his books Little Land, Rebirth and Virgin Lands, and for his indefatigable fight for peace.
The CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers adopt the resolution "On Measures for Improving the Construction Work, Repair and Maintenance of the Country's Motor Roads".
Launching of the Soyuz-35 spaceship, piloted by Leonid Popov (commander) and Valery Ryumin (flight engineer). It docks with the Salyut-6 orbital station.
Departure of the 7,000-strong Molodogvardeyets nationwide shock Komsomol team for work at the country's major construction sites.
A meeting commemorating the 110th anniversary of the birth of V. I. Lenin is held in Moscow.
Completion and commissioning of the world's largest power block with a fast breeder reactor at the Beloyarskaya atomic power station.
A Conference of European Communist and Workers' parties for peace and disarmament takes place in Paris.
A Soviet delegation led by Leonid Brezhnev takes part in the jubilee conference of the Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Treaty states held in Warsaw. A Declaration and a Statement are signed.
Talks are held in Warsaw between Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, and the President of France, Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
The flight of the Soyuz-36 spaceship manned by an international crew of Valery Kubasov (commander) and citizen of Hungary Bertalan Farkas ( cosmonautresearcher). On board the Soyuz-35—Salyut-6— Soyuz-36 orbital complex joint research was conducted with the cosmonauts Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin.
Ali Nasir Muhammad, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Yemen Socialist Party, arrives in Moscow on an official friendly visit.
Completion of the world's largest strip coal mine Bogatyr—a major element of the Ekibastuz fuel and energy complex.
The flight of the Soyuz T-2 spaceship, piloted by Yuri Malyshev (commander) and Vladimir Aksyonov (flight engineer).
Completion of the country's largest Northern OreDressing Combine named "Ukrainian Komsomol".
Construction of the Olympic facilities is completed.
A plenary meeting of the CPSU Central Committee adopts a resolution on convening the 26th Congress of the CPSU in February 1981.
Federal Chancellor of the FRG Helmut Schmidt, and Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister, Hans Dietrich Genscher, visit Moscow at the invitation of the Soviet leadership.
Completion of the first stage of the country's largest steel cold rolling plant at the Novolipetsk steel works.
The Zeya hydroelectric power station—the first of its kind in" the Soviet Far East—is commissioned at full capacity.
349July 19-August 3
July 23--31
July 24-August 18
August 1
August 27
September 18
September 18--26
September 29-October 7
October 8-10
October 11
October 13
October 16
November 12--17
November 27-- December 10
December 2
December 5
December 7-11
The XXII Olympic Games are held in Moscow.
The flight of the Soyuz-37 spaceship, piloted by Victor Gorbatko (commander) and Pham Tuan, Hero of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (cosmonaut-researcher). Research was conducted on board the Salyut-6 orbital space station.
Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, meets in the Crimea with leaders of the Communist and Workers' parties of Poland, the GDR, Portugal, Rumania, Bulgaria, Laos, and Mongolia.
The Soviet Union completes the withdrawal from the German Democratic Republic of a definite contingent of Soviet troops.
Celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the Kazakh SSR and the Communist Party of Kazakhstan. Leonid Brezhnev addresses the anniversary meeting in Alma Ata.
Completion of the first stage of the Nikolayev alumina plant.
The flight of the Soyuz-38 spaceship, piloted by Yuri Romanenko (commander) and Cuban citizen Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez (cosmonaut-researcher). On September 19 the ship docks with the Salyut-6— Soyuz-35 orbital complex.
Soviet-Indian talks are held in Moscow.
A Party ami Government delegation from the Syrian Arab Republic led by Hafez Assad, General Secretary of the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party and President of the Syrian Arab Republic, visits Moscow. A treaty of friendship and cooperation is signed.
Conclusion of the 185-day flight of the Salyut-6— Soyuz-35 orbital research complex.
Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, is awarded the international Gold Mercury Prise for his outstanding contribution to the strengthening of peace and international cooperation.
Babrak Karmal, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, President of the Revolutionary Council and Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan,pays an official friendly visit to Moscow. A Statement and other documents are signed.
Urho Kaleva Kekkonen, President of the Republic of Finland, pays an official visit to Moscow.
The flight of the Soyuz T-3 spaceship, piloted by Leonid Kizim (commander), Oleg Makarov (flight engineer), and Gennady Strekalov ( cosmonautresearcher).
Publication for nationwide discussion of the draft "Guidelines for the Economic and Social Development of the USSR for 1981--1985 and for the Period Ending in 1990" of the CPSU Central Committee to the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Meeting in Moscow of Party and Government leaders from the Warsaw Treaty states.
Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, pays an official friendly [cont. on page 351] 350 1981
January 2
January 9
January 16
February 17
February 18
February 20
February 23-March 3
March 12
March 22
May 14--22
visit to India. A joint Soviet-Indian declaration and other documents are signed.The Reftinskaya hydropower station comes into full capacity operation.
Completion of the Ust-Ilimsk hydroelectric power station and the commissioning of the first stage of the Ust-Ilimsk cellulose plant.
Commissioning of the first unit of the Cheboksary hydroelectric power station.
Completion of the second stage of the Kama Motor Works. The plant is now working at full capacity.
Successful completion and commissioning of the first power block of the Rovno atomic power station.
A plenary meeting of the CPSU Central Committee approves the "Report of the Central Committee of the CPSU to the XXVI Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Home and Foreign Policy".
The 26th Congress of the CPSU takes place in Moscow.
Launching of the Soyuz T-4 spaceship, piloted by cosmonauts Vladimir Kovalenok and Victor Savinykh.
Launching of the Soyuz-39 spaceship piloted by an international crew consisting of Vladimir Djanibekov (commander) and Mongolian citizen Zhugderdemidiyn Gurragcha (cosmonaut researcher). The spaceship docked with the Salyut-6—Soyuz T-4 orbital complex.
The flight of the Soyuz-40 spaceship, manned by an international crew consisting of Leonid Popov ( commander) and Rumanian citizen Dumitru Prunariu (cosmonaut researcher).
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Aborenkov, V. V.—277 Adenauer, K.—212 Afanasyev, I. F.—33 Aitmatov, Ch.—310, 311, 315 Akhunova, T.—134 Aksyonov, V.—340, 349 Aldridge, J.—336 Alexandrov, A.—282 Alexandrov, A. P.—270, 294 Aliger, M.—281 Allende, S.—336 Altauzen, D.—281 Alyoshin, S.—315 Ambartsumyan, V.—296 Andreyev, A. A.—80 Angelina, P. N.—82 Antokolsky, P.—281 Arbuzov, A.—315 Artmane, V.—316 Artsimovich, Z.—296 Auezov, M.—308 Avdeyev, A. N.—13 Avicenna—323
B
Babakin, G. N.—304 Badoglio, P.—46 Bagramyan I. Kh.—50, 52, 66 Bagryanov—51 Bakulev, A.—276 Balanchivadze, M.—283 Banionis, D.—316 Bardin, I. P.—277 Basov, N. G.—293 Batrakov, M. S.—34 Batyuk, N. F.—34 Bedny, D.—283 Belgin, A. A.—40 Belinsky, V.—322 Belyaev, P.—332 Beregovoi, G.—301. 333
__COLUMN2__Bergholtz, O.—281
Beria, L.—91
Berlinguer, E.—251
Bernal, J.—115
Bernham, F.—344
Bijedic, D.—338
Blyukher, V. K.—92
Biruni—323
Bizet, G.—315
Blagonravov, A. A.—304
Blanter, M.—283
Blokhin, N.—2%
Bogolyubov, N. N.—295
Bogoslovsky, N.—283
Bogush L.—2%
Bondarchuk, S.—316
Bondarev, Yu.—309
Boreskov, G.—2%
Brand, V.—303
Brandt, W.—212, 336
Brezhnev, L. I.—150, 162, 164, 165, 166, 169, 172, 178, 184, 211, 219, 222, 224--28, 231, 232, 234, 243, 244, 249, 250, 253, 254--56, 257, 266, 267, 270, 273, 274, 311, 336, 337, 338, 340, 341, 342, 344, 347, 348, 349, 350
Brovka, P.—280, 308, 310
Broz-Tito, J.—336
Bubennov, M.—308
Bubnov, A.—311
Bubnov, A. S.—91
Budyonny, S. M.—11
Bumazhkov, T.—38
Burdenko, N.—276
Burdenyuk, A. A.—13
Burova, O.—284
Butelin, L. G.—13
Bykovsky, V.—301, 340, 345
Byrnes, J.—110
C
Calvo, J.—116
Carl XVI Gustaf—345
352Carter, J.—257
Castro, R.—343
Chaikina, Ye.—38
Chaikovsky. P. 1.—284, 311, 323
Chakovsky, A.—311
Chaplin, N. P.—92
Chaplygin, S. A.—277
Chekhov, A. P.—284
Chelomei, V.—2%
Cheremnykh M.—283
Cherenkov, P. A.—293
Chernyakhovsky, I. D.—50, 55, 66
Chkheidze, R.—317
Chou En-lai—208
Chubar, V. Ya.—92
Chuikov V. 1.—32, 66
Chukhrai G.—316
Chumakov, M.—2%
Churchill, W. S.—19, 57
Clay, L.—110
Corvalan, L.—251
Costa Gomes, F. de.—339
Cunhal, A.—250, 337
D
Danilov, A. S.—13 Daoud, M.—337 Dedayev, N. A.—12 Denisovsky, N.—283 Desai, M.—251, 347 Djanibekov, V.—343, 351 Dobrobabin, I. Ye.—28 Dobrovolsky, G.—302 Dostoyevsky, F.—323, 334 Du Bois, W.—115 Dulles, J. F.—120 Dumbadze, N.—311 Dunaev, V.—317 Dzhabayev, D.—281 Dzhalil, M.—281
E
Eikhe, R. I.—92
Egiazarov, E.— 316
Ehrenburg, I.—280
Engels, F.—186, 322
Erhard, L.—212
Ershov, M.—316
d'Estaing, V. G.—226, 339, 347, 349
F
Fadeyev, A.—280, 308 Farge, Y.—115 Farkas, B.—269, 349 Fedin, K.—309, 310 Fedorov, A.—308 Feoktistov, K.—301, 331 Fersman, A. Ye.—276 Filin, F.—299 Filipchenko, A.—302, 333
__COLUMN2__Firdousi —323 Flerov, G.—295 Fok, V. A.—276 Fomin, Ye. M.—12 Ford, G.—228, 337 Fradkin, M.—283 Frank, I. M.—293 Friedeburg, H. von—60 Fyodorov, A. F.—43 Fyodorov, I.— 323
G
Gaganova, V.—131
Gagarin, Yu.—215, 300, 301, 331
Gaidar, A.—280
Gamzatov, R.—308, 310
Gandi, Indira—221, 222
Gasanova, Sh.—82
Gastello, N. F.—13
Gavrilov, P. M.—12
Genscher, H. D.—349
Gitalov, A.—82
Gladkov, F.—309
Glazkov, Y.—341
Glinka, M.—323
Glushko, V. P.—304
Glushkov, V.—2%
Golkovsky, V. N.—277
Golovko, A. G.—53
Golubov, S.—281
Gorbatov, B.—280
Gulyam, G.—281
Gorbatko, V.—302, 333, 341
Gorbatov, A. V.—66
Gorky, M.—311, 323
Gorokhov, S. F.—34
Gorshkov, S. G.—66
Gottwald, K.—112
Govorov, L. A.—37, 52, 66
Grabin, V. G.—277
Granin, D.—309
Grechko, A. A.—66
Grechko, G.—304, 343
Grishin, S. V.—43
Gromova, U.—44
Gromyko, A. A.—216, 337, 338, 339
Gubarev, A.—304, 344
Guderian, H.—27
Gulyam, G.—310
Gurragcha, Z.—351
Gurtyev, L. N.— 34
Guryanov, M.—38
Gvai, I. 1.—277
H
Hafez Assad—223, 343, 350 Herzen, A.—322 Hermaszewski, M.—268, 345 Hitler, A.—7, 40, 42, 59 Home—216 Honchar, O.—308
353Honetker, I-:.—339 Husak, G.—338. 339
I
loffe, A. F.—276 loganson, B.—311, 313 lokubonis, G.—312 Isaev, A. M.—304 Isakov, I. S.—66 Isakovsky, M.—310 Ishlinsky, A.—296 Ivanchenko, A.—345, 346 Ivanov, B.—282 Ivanov, G.—269, 346 Ivanov, I. I.—13, 277 Ivanov, V.—284 Ivanova, 7.— 311
J
Johnson, L.—217 Joliot-Curie, F.^115 Jovanovic, V.—52 Juzeliunas, J.—314
K
Kabalevsky, D.—314
Kadar, J.—124
Kaganovich, L. M.—102
Kalatozov, M.—316
Kalinin, M. I.—13, 19, 86
Kaloshin, A.—317
Kanorovich, L.—293, 294
Kantariya, M. V.—59
Kapitsa, P.—295
Kapustin, Ya. F.—20
Karavayeva, A.—280
Karbyshev, D. M.—278
Karmal, B.—350
Karmen, R.—317
Kazakevich, E.—308
Keitel, W.—12, 60
Kekkoncn, \J. K.—224, 251, 338 350
Keldysh, M. V.—277, 304
Kennedy, J.—216, 217
Kerbabaev, B.—308, 310
Kerbel, L.—312
Khachaturyan, A.—283, 314
Khajinov, M.—296
Khariton, Yu.—294
Kharitonov, P. T.—13
Khokhlov, R.—296
Khrapai, G. A.—13
Khrapchenko, M.—299
Khristianovich, S. A.—277
Khrunov, E.—302, 333
Khrushchev, N. S.—91, 143
Kiesinger, K.—212
Kizim, I,.—350
Klimuk, P.—337, 345
Klochkov, V. G.—28
__COLUMN2__Klychcv, I.—312
Knunyants, 1.—296
Kochina, P.—296
Kokoroyev, D. V.—13
Kolchik, A.—131
Komarov, V. L.—275
Komarov, V.—301, 331, 332
Konev, 1. S.—28, 48, 58. 66
Konenkov, S.—312, 313
Konstantinov, B.—296
Korin, P.—312
Korneichuk. A.—283, 310, 315
Korolyov, S. P.—304
Kortelov, A.—170
Korzhev, G.—312
Kosygin, A. N.—150, 154, 184, 203, 208.
211, 218, 337. 338 Kosarev, A. V.—92 Koshevoy, O.—44 Koshevoy. P. K.—66 Kosior, S. V.—91 Kosmodemyanskaya Z.—38, 282 Kotelnikov, V.—296 Koval, M.—283 Kovalyonok, V.—342, 345, 351 Kovpak, S. A.—43, 308 Kozhubergenov, D. A.—28 Kozinets, N. F.—95 Kozlov, V. I.—43 Kron, A.—283 Krymov, Y.—281 Kubasov, V.—302, 303, 333, 349 Kuliev, K.—311 Krylov, N. I.—66 Kukryniksy —283, 312 Kunanbaev, A.—308 Kurchatov, I. V.—291 Kuzin, I.—38 Kuznetsov, A. A.—20, 91 Kuznetsov, N. G.—II, 66 Kuznetsov, V. I.— 28
L
Lacis, V.—308
Lahaut, J.— 116
Laktionov, A.—311
Landau, L.—293, 296
Laurent, P.— 251
Lavrentiev, M.—295
Lavrenyov, B.—283
Lavrov, K.—316
Lazarev, V.—336
Lebedev, V.—337
Lebedev-Kumach, V.—282, 283
Lelyushenko, D. D.—28, 66
Lenin, V. L—18, 19, 66, 97. 126. 127. 128, 155, 162, 164, 167, 168--72, 173, 186, 192, 211, 245, 248, 250, 260, 273, 310. 316 319, 323, 325, 326, 348, 349
Leone. G.—339
Leonov, A.—301, 303, 332
Leonov, L.—280, 283, 309, 310
354Lermontov, M.—323 .' Leonovich, M.—295 Levashov, V.—44 Listov, K.—283 Lizyukov. A. I.—28 Loginov, A.—296 Loginov, F. G.—72 Lomonosov, M.—323 Lopatin, A. V.—12 Lumumba, P.—210 Lyudnikov, I. 1.—34 I.vakhov, V.—346, 347
M
Makarov, O.—336, 343, 350 Malenkov, G. M.—102 Malik, Ya. A.—117 Malinovsky, P. Ya.—48, 51, 66 Malyshev, Y.—349 Malyshko, A.—280 Marchuk, G.—296 Marcinkevicius, J.—311 Markov, G.—311 Markov, M.—296 Marshall, G.—107 Marx, K.—127, 138, 186, 312, 322 Maslennikov, I. I.—52 Medvedev, D.—308 Medvedkin, A.—317 Meitus Y.—314 Meizelaitis, E.—310 Mendeleyev, D.—323 Mendez, A.—269, 350 Mengistu Haile Mariam—344 Menshikov, I.—281 .Meretskov, K. A.—37, 53, 66 Millionschikov, M.—296 Moiseyev, I.—314 Molotov, V. M.—11, 102 Moor, D.—284 Moskalenko, K. S.—66 Moussorgsky, M.—323 Muhammad, A. N.—349 Mukhina, V.—284, 311 Muradeli, V.—314 Musiiko, A.—296 Mussolini, B.—46
N
Nasser, G.—124, 223 Natanzon, G.—316 Navoi, A.—323 Naumov, M. I.—43 Nektov, P.—82 Neprintsev, Y.—311 Nesmeyanov, A.—296 Ngouabi, M.—338 Nikolayev, A.—301, 331, 333 Nikolayeva, G.—309 Nixon, R.—227, 337 Nizami—323 Novikov, A. A.—35, 66
__COLUMN2__O
Oktyabrsky, F. S.—66 Orlovsky, K. P.—82 Ovechkin, V.—309 Ozyorny, M.—82
P
Panfilov, I. V.—28
Parajanov, S.—317
Pastorino, E.— 336
Paton, Ye. O.—277
Patsaev, V.—302, 334
Pavlov, I.—323
Pavlov, Ya. F.—33
Pavlovsky, F.—38
Pervitsky, V. Ya.—133
Petrov, B. N.—304
Petrov, F. F.—277
Petrov, N.—296
Petrov, Y.—280, 281
Petrova, A.—38
Petrovsky, B.—296
Pham Tuan—269, 349
Picasso, P.—115
Pimenov, Y.—312
Plastov, A.—312
Podgorny, N. V.—154, 211, 337, 338, 339
Pogodin N.—283
Polevoy, B.—280, 308
Pompidou, G.—211, 224, 226, 336, 337
Ponomarenko, P. K.—38
Pontekorvo, B. M.—295
Popov, L.—269, 349, 351
Popovich, P.—301
Portillo, J. L.—345
Posmitny, M. A.—82
Pososhkov, I.—323
Preobrazhensky, Ye. N.—20
Prokhorov, A. M.—293
Prokofiev, A.—281, 310
Prokofiev, S.—283, 310, 315
Prokopovich, F.—323
Prorokov, B.—312
Prozorov, P. A.—82
Prunariu, D.—351
Pugachev, Ye.—322
Pushkin, A. S.—284, 323
Pyatnitsa, S.—82
Pyryev, I.—282
R
Radishchev, A.—322 Radlov, N.—283 Raizman, Yu.—316 Razin, S.—321 Razuvaev, G.—2% Remek, V.—269, 304, 344 Repin, I.—323 Rodimtsev, A. I.—34 Rodionov, M. I.—92
355Rokossovsky, K. K.—28, 36, 40, 50, 58, 66
Romanenko, Yu.—304, 343
Romm, M.—316, 317
Roosevelt, F. D.—19, 57
Rossiisky, N.—78
Rostotsky, S.—316
Rozhdestvensky, R.—311
Rozhdestvensky, V.—340
Rublyov, A.—323
Rudzutak Ya. E.—92
Rulsky, M.—308
Rukavishnikov, N.—334, 346
Rusk, D.—216
Rustaveli, Sh.—323
Ryabtsev, P. S.—13
Rybak, N.—308
Rylsky, M.—281
Ryumin, V.—269, 342, 346, 347, 349
S
Saburov, A. N.—43 Sadat, A.—224 Saltykov, A.—316 Salynsky, A.—315 Samrin, H.—348 Samutin, V. Ye.—43 Saryaev, A. A.—34 Sarkavag, I.—323 Saryan, M.—313 Sats, N.—315 Savinykh, V.—351 Savitsky, G.—283 Scheel, W.—339 Schmidt, H.—226, 337, 349 Sekou Toure, A.—251 Semyonov, N. N.—293 Serov, V.—311 Sevastyanov, V.—333 Shadrin, I. D.—28 Shaginyan, M.—170, 280 Shalyapin, F.—323 Shaporin, Yu.—283, 314 Shastri, L.—218 Shatalov, V.—301, 302, 333 Shatsky, I.—82 Shchedrin, R.—315 Shchelkin, K.—295 Shcherbakov, A. S.—19 Shemyakin, G. M.—28 Shevchenko, T. G.—284, 323 Shevtsova, L.—44 Shirvani—323 Shishkov, V.—281 Shmarinov, D.—284 Sholokhov, M.—280, 308, 310 Shonin, G.—302, 333 Shostakovich, D.—283, 314 Shtogarenko, A.—283 Shukhmin P.—283 Shukshin, V.—311, 316, 317
__COLUMN2__Shumilov, M. S.—33
Simonov, K.—280, 281, 283
Skorina, G.—323
Skorobogaty, G. N.—13
Skovoroda, G.—323
Slayton, D.—303
Smoktunovsky, I.—316
Smolich, Y.—310
Smorodintsev, A.—2%
Sokolov, B.—2%
Sokolov-Skalya, P.—283
Sokolovsky, V. D.—66
Solntsev, S.—38
Solovyov-Sedoy, V.—283, 314
Spasokukotsky, S.— 276
Stafford, T.—303
Stalin, J. V. (Dzhugashvili)—9, 11, 12, 15,
57, 90, 107, 330 Stanislavsky, K.—323 Stavsky, V.—280, 281 Stelmakh, M.—310 Stepanov, A.—281 Stolper, A.—282, 316 Strekalov, G.—350 Stumpf H.-J.—60 Suprun, S. P.—13 Svetlichny, V. A.—133 Svetlov, M.—310 Sviridov, G.—314 Svoboda, L.—42 Surikov, V.—323 Surkov, A.—280, 281, 310 Szalasy—52
T
Taktakishvili O.—314 Tamm, I. Y.—293 Tansykbaev, U.—312 Taranenko, F. F.—43 Tereshkova, V.—301, 331 Tikhonov, A.—295 Tikhonov, N.—280, 281, 310 Timofeyev, D. F.—28 Timoshenko, S. K.—11, 28 Titov, G.—301, 331 Togliatti, P.—116 Toidze, I.—284 Tojo, H.—62
Tolbukhin, F. I.—48, 51, 66 Tolstoy, A. N.—280 Tolstoy, L. N.—284, 323 Tomsky, N.—311, 313 Trapeznikov, V.—297 Tretyakevich, V.—44 Tributs, V. F.—66 Truman, H.—60, 107 Tselikov, A.—2% Tukhachevsky, M. N.—92 Turkenich, I.—44 Turgenev, I, S.—284 Tursun-Zadeh, M.—308, 310
356Tvardovsky, A.—280, 281, 309, 310 Tychina, P.—310 Tyulenin, S.—44
U
Uborevich, I. P.—92 Ulyanov, M.—317 Upits, A.—310
V
Vasilyev, I. R.—28
Vasilevskaya, V.—280
Vasilevsky, A. M.—35, 40, 50, 62, 66
Vatutin, N. F.—36, 40, 48, 66
Vavilov, S. I.—277
Vershigora, P.—308
Vershinin, K. A.—66
Vishnevsky, A.—276, 296
Vishnevsky, V.—280
Volkov, V.—302, 333, 334
Volynov, B.—301, 333, 340
Voronov, N. N.—35, 66
Voroshilov, K. Ye.—11
Voznesensky, N. A.—91
Vuchetich, E.—311, 312
W
i
Wciclling. H.—59, 60 Whitlam.E. G.—338 Wilson, H.—338
__COLUMN2__Y
Yahn, S.—268, 345 Yakir, I. E.—92 Yakubovsky, 1. 1.—66 Yangel, M. K.—304 Yaroslavsky, Ye. M.—19 Yashcn, K.—311 Yegorov, A. I.—92 Yegorov, B.—301, 331 Yegorov, M. A.—59 Yegorov, Y.—316 Yeliseyev, A.—302, 333, 334 Yeremenko, A. 1.—36, 52, 66 Yevtushenko, Ye.— 311 Yumashev, I. S.—66 Yuryev, B. N.—277
Z
Zakharov, G. F.—50
Zakharov, M. V.—6
Zalakevicius, V.—316, 317
Zaslonov, K.—38
Zdorovtsev, S. I.—13
Zeldovich, Y.—294
Zelenskaya, N.— 311
Zemnukhov, I.—44
Zhavoronkov, N.—2%
Zhdanov, A. A.—20
Zholobov, V.—340
Zhukov, G. K.—11, 28, 35, 40, 50, 58, 66
Zhukov, M. P.—13
Zozulya, Ye.—281
Zubachov, I. N.—12
Zubov, V.—340
357 __ALPHA_LVL0__ The End. [END]REQUEST TO READERS
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[358]PROGRESS PUBLISHERS WILL SOON PUBLISH
History of the USSR: the Era of Socialism. This book by a group of Soviet historians, originally designed as a textbook for higher schools, has been revised specially for foreign readers. The introduction gives a brief survey of the situation in Russia before the Great October Socialist Revolution and describes the conditions that led up to the latter. The authors then examine the major stages in the history of the Soviet state: the rehabilitation of the economy after the Civil War and foreign intervention, the socialist reconstruction of industry and agriculture, the struggle against the nazi aggressors in 1941--1945, the building of developed socialist society and the transition towards communist construction.
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