p The normal functioning and development of society depends on the size, density, distribution and other characteristics of the population. There is a special science, demography, which is engaged in studying population. MarxistLeninist philosophy also deals with the problem, because the demographic processes and features play an essential part in all social systems.

p Philosophy has produced theories according to which population growth is the basic factor determining the evolution of society. But there have also been other theories which denied the role of demographic processes in social development altogether, holding that they are merely a consequence of the growth of labour productivity.

p However, some characteristics of population, for example, its density (i. e. the number of people per unit area)  [38•1 , structure and rate of growth, do exert certain influence over the development of production and other aspects of social life.

p For example, at the earliest stages of his de- 39 velopment, man could not oppose the harsh forces of nature on his own. For production to function normally, a certain population minimum is necessary. There must be human resources in order to develop new areas rich in natural wealth. Such regions of the Soviet Union as Siberia, the Far East, and the North are rich in minerals and forests. But the natural conditions there are usually very hard and so the population density is lower than in the European part of the USSR. This, of course, impedes the development of the productive forces in these regions. To attract people, the Soviet government provides various benefits for the inhabitants: higher pay, better living conditions, etc.

p The composition of the population is an important factor influencing the development of society. In each country besides the economically active, i. e. the working population, there are old people, children, teenagers, students, people in search of work, and housewives. In exploiter societies, parasitic classes, social strata and groups dominate, which participate in consumption but do not, as a rule, participate in production.

p The ratio of the various categories of the population to each other, and the proportion of the population engaged in production have an essential impact on the growth of production and consumption of material and cultural benefits. For example, the birth rate is very low in several Euro- 40 pean countries such as West Germany, Austria and Great Britain and the number ot" children and young people in these countries is, as a consequence, small. Therefore, the population there is growing older as a whole, i. e. the proportion of people of advanced years is noticeably increasing. In the future, this process may cause a labour shortage.

p Bourgeois ideologists put forward theories according to which population growth is the main factor determining the whole evolution of society. In actual fact, however, although population growth does influence society’s development, it does not determine it. Nor does the level of social development depend on population density. It is impossible to use population growth to explain why one socio-economic system is replaced by another.

p Population growth itself depends first of all on the type of social system. It cannot be regarded as a purely biological process of human reproduction. Not only nature, but also society influences population growth. This is why a family does not always have as many children as the mother could give birth to. Besides, not all children born live to grow up. This is not only due to biological factors either. Much depends on the social system and the type of existing social relations.

p Karl Marx said that there is no abstract law of population in society which is invariable for all 41 historical epochs. He himself formulated the law of population operating under capitalism and showed that while accelerating the rates of population growth, capitalism at the same time created a relatively superfluous population in the form of an army of unemployed who consequently are deprived of the means of existence. The use of technology and automation in production under capitalism worsens the negative consequences of the operation of this law.

p Under socialism, the law of population is characterised by the full and rational employment of the working population and its systematic distribution and growth, because the development of production and society serves the interests of the people, and concern for improving the people’s welfare is an essential aspect of government policy.

p Of course, under socialism, problems concerning various population processes do arise as well. For example, in several socialist countries the birth rate has dropped sharply and the rates of population growth have fallen. Migration of the population over the country’s territory and from the countryside to the towns does not always coincide with the interests of the economy and society.

p But socialist society can purposefully control population growth processes, and indeed implements many measures to attain this. In the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic and 42 elsewhere, families with many children receive special allowances, mothers are granted long prenatal and postnatal paid leave, etc. To channel the flow of population into the regions where it is needed, various benefits are provided there for workers. Socialist society aims to regulate in a comprehensive way conditions which determine the settlement of people throughout the country’s territory, migration, birth rate changes, the education and qualification structure of the population of separate economic regions, employment in social production, etc.

p At present, mankind has entered a stage in which demographic problems have become particularly important.

p Over recent decades, an amazingly rapid growth of the world’s population has taken place - the population explosion. During the first hundred millennia of man’s existence the world was populated by only a few million people. For a very long time the number grew quite slowly, and in the 17th century was only 600 million. Then the growth rate increased sharply. Over the last three and a half centuries the world’s population has increased fivefold. In 1950, there were about 2,500 million people in the world, and today there are over 4,600 million, which means that the world’s population has almost doubled over the last thirty-odd years. The acceleration of the population growth rate is primarily explained by 43 the fact that, while the mortality rate in developing countries, especially among children, has on the whole been falling, the birth rate, far from dropping, often reached the biological maximum.

p United Nations experts have calculated that by the year 2000, the Earth’s population will reach 6,200 million. According to some estimates, there will be 1,300 million people in China, 950 million in India, 350 million in the Soviet Union, 320 million in the USA, 250 million in Pakistan, and 160 million in Nigeria.

p At present, developing countries account for 90 per cent of the overall population growth on Earth. There is a profound gap between the soaring growth of the population, and hence the volume of requirements, in these countries, on the one hand, and the level of their production, on the other. The problem of providing enough food, energy resources and work places for this vast number of people is becoming more and more acute. Great difficulties often arise. But it would be incorrect to think that the widespread famine which exists on Earth is merely the result of rapid population growth. It is essentially the harsh legacy of colonialism and the result of the policies of imperialist countries which are spending enormous sums on the arms race. In India, for example, food shortages can chiefly be explained by the fact that the British colonialists held back the development of the productive forces in the 44 country for decades arid obstructed the manufacture of agricultural machinery, the establishment of a mineral fertiliser industry, and other industries necessary for increasing agricultural output. Repeated food crises in some Central American countries are caused by their one-sided specialisation in growing bananas, a situation from which the US monopolies alone are profiting, and which has made the "banana republics" dependent on food imports.

p The elimination of all consequences of colonialism is the main condition for improving the food situation in the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. These problems can be fundamentally resolved through the comprehensive economic and cultural development of these countries, the provision of work for the ablebodied population, and the elimination of illiteracy.

p At the same time, taking into account the urgency of the problems already facing developing countries, it would be erroneous to deny the need for an extensive demographic policy. Several countries must think about slowing down their population growth and stabilising its size. Special legislation and government measures can be applied to control population processes. This kind of government policy is being followed in India, China, Pakistan, Tunisia, Turkey, and elsewhere.

p Many bourgeois sociological theories distort the essence and direction of demographic processes. Marxism considers it necessary to expose them, and to suggest effective ways of dealing with the problems involved.

p It was a distorted view of demographic problems that gave rise to Malthusianism and neoMalthusianism, the most appalling trends in bourgeois sociology. The English bourgeois economist Malthus (18th-early 19th century) put forward the reactionary idea that the workers were themselves to blame for their hunger, poverty and all other misfortunes, because the birth rate among them was far too high. Neither capitalist exploitation nor colonialism were in any way to blame. Marx gave the lie to this inconsistent and reactionary theory in Capita., and Lenin exposed it in "The Working Class and Neo-Malthusianism”. Engels described Malthusianism as a "vile, infamous theory ... hideous blasphemy against nature and mankind".  [45•1 

p Malthus’s ideas are widespread in modern bourgeois sociology, though in a somewhat updated form. Recently, a considerable number of works by his adherents have been published, such as Road to Survival by William Vogt and 46 Population Bomb by Paul Ralph Khrlich. The authors of these books claim that even now there is not enough food for everyone in the world, and that a general famine is imminent, as a result of which hundreds of millions of people will die. Present-day Malthusianists believe that humanity can only be saved from death by starvation through compulsory mass sterilisation, by withholding medical aid to increase the mortalityrate, by discontinuing economic assistance to developing countries, and even by thermonuclear war. Marxists reject these theories and call for a struggle for social progress, for increasing life expectancy and for peace and happiness for all people.

If they set about it in earnest, people will in time learn to control the birth rate. Yet a radical solution to all demographic problems is only possible on the basis of profound socio-economic, political and cultural change.