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XIX Congress of the CPSU (b) - (October 5-14, 1952). Documents and MaterialsG.M. Malenkov
Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b)
Report of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) to the XIX Party
Congress
I. The international position of the Soviet Union
Comrades! The period that has passed since the 18th Party Congress is full of events of world‐historical significance.
The Second World War shook the life of many nations and states to their foundations and changed the face of the world. Prepared by the forces of international imperialist reaction and unleashed in the East by militaristic Japan and in the West by Hitlerite Germany, the war confused the calculations of its inspirers and, thanks to the heroic struggle of the Soviet people, ended with results unforeseen for the imperialists.
Instead of destroying or weakening the Soviet Union, the USSR was strengthened; the international authority of the Soviet Union grew. Instead of weakening and crushing democracy, a number of countries in Central and South‐Eastern Europe fell away from capitalism and a peopleʹs democratic system was established in them. Instead of further enslavement of the peoples of the colonial and dependent countries, a new powerful upsurge of the national liberation struggle took place in these countries, and the crisis of the colonial system of imperialism intensified. The historic victory of the great Chinese people dealt a heavy blow to the entire world imperialist system. Now one third of humanity has been wrested from the yoke of imperialism, liberated from the chains of imperialist exploitation.
In the capitalist world itself, as a result of the war, three large states ‐ Germany, Japan and Italy fell out of the ranks of the great powers, while France and England lost their former positions.
The post‐war period is a period of further weakening of the world capitalist system and the growth of the forces of democracy and socialism.
In the economic field, the postwar years were years of growing new economic difficulties in the capitalist countries, the unfolding expansion of American imperialism and the aggravation of the contradictions between the capitalist countries in connection with this. These contradictions were intensified by the attempts of imperialist circles to find a way out of economic difficulties by militarizing the
economy and preparing for a new war.
In the political field, the post‐war period was marked by the formation of two camps ‐ an aggressive, anti‐democratic camp headed by the United States and a peaceful, democratic camp. During this time, a new center of reaction and aggression has emerged in the capitalist world in the face of the United States, from which now comes the main threat to the cause of peace, the cause of freedom and national independence of peoples. In the face of this danger, peace‐loving forces in all countries have risen to a decisive struggle in defense of peace and the national independence of their countries.
In the postwar period, the Soviet Union continued its movement, interrupted by the war, along the path indicated by the 18th Party Congress, along the path of peaceful development and a gradual transition from socialism to communism. The post‐war years were years of major achievements in industry and transport, in agriculture, in all fields of science, culture and art. At the same time, these were the years of further strengthening of the Soviet system, strengthening the moral and political unity of Soviet society and friendship between the peoples of our country.
All these years the Soviet Union waged an active struggle to preserve and strengthen peace throughout the world.
Letʹs consider the main issues of the international situation.
1. Further weakening of the world capitalist system and the economic situation in the capitalist countries
The general picture of the world economic situation is currently characterized by the presence of two lines of development.
One line is the line of continuous growth of the peaceful economy in the Soviet Union and the countries of peopleʹs democracies, an economy that does not know crises and develops in the interests of ensuring maximum satisfaction of the material and cultural needs of society. This economy provides a systematic rise in the living standards of the masses and full employment of the labor force. This economy is characterized by friendly economic cooperation between the countries that make up the democratic camp.
Another line is the line of the capitalist economy, the productive forces of which are marking time, an economy beating in the grip of an everdeepening general crisis of capitalism and constantly recurring economic crises, the line of militarization of the economy and the onesided development of industries working for. war, the line of competition between countries, the enslavement of some countries by others. This situation is created as a result of the fact that this economy is developing not in the interests of society, but in the interests of ensuring maximum profit for the capitalists by exploiting, ruining and impoverishing the majority of the population of a given country, by enslaving and systematic robbery of the peoples of other countries, especially backward countries, and finally, through wars and the militarization of the national economy.
The development of production in the USSR and in the capitalist countries is characterized by the following data:
The growth of industrial production in the USSR and capitalist countries in 1929 ‐ 1951 (as a percentage of 1929)
192919391943194619471948194919501951SSSR1005525734665717218701
0821266USA10099217155170175160182200England100123– 112121135144157160France10080–6374859292104Italy100108‐
11713397103
As can be seen from the above table, the volume of industrial production in the USSR in 1951 amounted to 1.266 percent in relation to 1929, that is, it increased almost 13 times during this period; Soviet industry in the postwar period, as well as before the war, is steadily moving along an ascending line, based on the development of peaceful production.
The above table also shows that in the United States of America, industrial production for the period from 1929 to 1939 staggered in one place; it then rose only due to a sharp increase in war production during the Second World War, then significantly decreased and rose again only as a result of the deployment of a war against the Korean people and the transition to an intensified arms race, and therefore doubled in 1951 compared with 1929 year.
During the same period, British industrial production increased by only 60 percent, while in a number of other capitalist countries of Western Europe, industry is still trampling around the 1929 level.
In the European countries of peopleʹs democracies, despite the fact that they suffered much more from the war than the capitalist countries of Western Europe, the pre‐war level of industrial production in 1951 was surpassed: in Poland 2.9 times, in Czechoslovakia 1.7 times , in Hungary by 2.5 times, in Romania by 1.9 times, in Bulgaria by 4.6 times, in Albania by more than 5 times. There is also a steady rise in agriculture in these countries; the production of industrial crops is developing especially rapidly; there are significant achievements in the field of animal husbandry.
The German Democratic Republic has made great strides in the development of its economy. Industrial production in the republic by 1952 was not only restored but exceeded the pre‐war level by 36 percent; the volume of industrial production in 1951 was 2.4 times higher than in 1946; metallurgy, mechanical engineering, chemical industry, and electricity production are growing from year to year. Agriculture, both in terms of the cultivated area and in terms of yield, surpassed the pre‐war level.
The economy of the Peopleʹs Republic of China is developing rapidly. The Chinese people are working with great enthusiasm and are successfully overcoming the dire consequences of many years of devastating war against the Japanese invaders and the Kuomintang reaction. The industrial development of China since the establishment of the peopleʹs democratic power has been proceeding at a rapid pace: the volume of industrial production in 1951 in comparison with 1949 has more than doubled; railway transport has been restored, and the construction of new railways is under way. As a result of the great agrarian reform carried out by the Peopleʹs Government of China, great successes were achieved in agriculture: the production of grain crops in 1951 was 128 percent compared to 1949, and cotton ‐ 252 percent. While in old China the countryʹs finances were completely disrupted and inflation reached enormous levels, the peopleʹs government of China strengthened the financial economy and ensured the stability of the currency.
In the Democratic Peopleʹs Republic of Korea, after its liberation from the Japanese colonialists, great economic growth was achieved. The volume of industrial production in 1949 in comparison with 1946 increased by 4 times. In the countryside, after the agrarian reform was carried out by the Peopleʹs Democratic Government, the sown area expanded by almost 25 percent, and the yield of all agricultural crops increased significantly. The attack by the American imperialists interrupted the peaceful creative work of the popular masses of the Democratic Peopleʹs Republic of Korea. American and other troops, operating under the UN flag, are savagely destroying peaceful cities and villages in North Korea, its industry and agriculture.
The Mongolian Peopleʹs Republic has achieved great success in developing its economy. From year to year, the national economy of the republic is growing and gaining strength, the material well‐being and culture of the Mongolian people are improving. The main branch of the countryʹs economy ‐ livestock raising is steadily rising, the number of livestock during the existence of the republic has increased 2.5 times; all livestock now belongs to the working peasantry. The production of the state and cooperative industry has almost tripled over the past decade.
All the data characterizing the development of production in the capitalist countries and in the countries of the democratic camp indicate that the industrial production of the capitalist countries, including the industrial production of the United States, lags far behind the rates of industrial development of the USSR and the countries of peopleʹs democracies.
It follows, further, from these data that the industrial production of the capitalist countries rose somewhat only in connection with the preparations for war and with the maintenance of the war machine during the war.
The Second World War not only failed to eliminate the economic and political contradictions of capitalism, but, on the contrary, further exacerbated these contradictions, shook the economy of the capitalist countries and deepened the general crisis of the world capitalist system. The Second World War did not justify the hopes of the big bourgeoisie of the imperialist states. Each of the two capitalist groups that opposed each other during the war hoped to redivide the world by using armed force, seize new sources of raw materials, expand sales markets for their goods, that is, strengthen their own economic position at the expense of their opponents and achieve world domination.
However, these calculations did not come true. Although Germany and Japan were put out of action as the main competitors of the three main capitalist countries ‐ the United States, Britain and France, and these countries, especially the United States, hoped in this connection to increase production in their countries by 4‐5 times, nevertheless these hopes failed miserably. In addition, China and the peopleʹs democracies of Europe fell away from the capitalist system, forming together with the Soviet Union a single and powerful camp of peace and democracy opposing the camp of imperialism.
The economic result of the formation of two opposite camps, as comrade Stalin points out, was that a single all‐encompassing world market disintegrated and two parallel world markets were formed: the market of the countries of the peaceful democratic camp and the market of the countries of the aggressive imperialist camp. The collapse of the single world market is the most important economic result of the Second World War and its economic consequences.
The two world markets are developing in opposite directions. The new, democratic world market does not know sales difficulties, since its capacity is increasing from year to year, in accordance with the crisisfree growth of production in the countries of the democratic camp, since the continuous growth of production in all countries of the democratic camp is increasingly expanding the capacity of the democratic market. On the other hand, we have another, world imperialist market, not connected with the USSR and other democratic countries, which is narrowed because of this and suffers from marketing difficulties due to interruptions and crises in production, due to unemployment and impoverishment of the masses, due to separation from the democratic countries. It should be borne in mind that as a result of the collapse of the single world market, the sphere of application of the forces of the main capitalist countries (USA, England, France) to world resources has sharply decreased, as a result of which the world capitalist market is increasingly narrowing, the conditions for the sale of goods in this market have worsened and continue to deteriorate further.
The capitalist states emerged from the Second World War with unequal results for them, which made significant changes in the economic relations between these countries. After prolonged hostilities, human losses and material damage, the economy of many warring countries was severely undermined. This applies primarily to Germany, Italy and Japan. France, Holland, Belgium and some other countries also suffered great damage. England is seriously weakened.
The United States of America profited from the war, American billionaires strengthened their economic positions. However, the United States still failed to achieve its goal, failed to establish the dominance of American capital on the world market. The US thought to increase its production after the failure of Germany and Japan by 4 ‐ 5 times. But they have only doubled their production, and now they are sliding down to the economic crisis. It is a fact that in the United States there are now at least three million completely unemployed and even more semi‐unemployed. Massive workersʹ strikes further complicate matters for US billionaires. And this happens because the US industry, through the fault of the US ruling circles, has lost such markets as the USSR, China, and European peopleʹs democracies.
American imperialism is now emerging not only as an international exploiter and enslaver of peoples, but also as a force disorganizing the economies of other capitalist countries. Using the weakening of its competitors, US monopoly capital after the war captured a significant share of the world capitalist market. It destroys the historically established multilateral economic ties between capitalist countries, replacing them with unilateral ties of these countries with the United States. By forcing their exports through the most shameless dumping and at the same time protecting their home market from the import of foreign goods, as a result of which the American people are suffocating from high prices, the American monopolies are increasingly upsetting the world capitalist market. American imperialism deprives Western European countries of the opportunity to obtain food products from the former markets in Eastern Europe, while Western European countries have always exported large quantities of manufactured goods there in exchange for food and raw materials.
Such an economic policy of American imperialism could not but aggravate the contradictions between the United States and the rest of the capitalist states. The main ones remain the contradictions between the United States and Britain. These contradictions result in an open struggle between the American and British monopolies for sources of oil, rubber, non‐ferrous and rare metals, sulfur, wool, and for the markets for their goods.
To this must be added the most serious contradictions between the United States and Japan, between the United States and Italy, between the United States and West Germany, living under the occupation yoke of the US dictators. It would be naive to think that these defeated countries would agree to live endlessly under the thumb of the American occupiers. It would be foolish to think that they will not try to somehow escape from the yoke of the United States in order to live a free, independent life.
As American capitalism, under the guise of ʺaidʺ, by providing loans, penetrates the economies of England, France, Italy, seizes raw materials and markets in the British and French colonies, the contradictions between the United States and Britain, between the United States and France, are escalating and will be escalate even more. England, followed by France and other capitalist countries, are trying to break free from the subordination of the United States in order to secure their independent position and high profits. A stubborn struggle on the part of the British capitalists against the American dominance in international trade is already unfolding.
The economic difficulties in the grip of which the capitalist countries found themselves after the war were aggravated by the fact that the imperialists themselves closed their access to the world democratic market. The United States of America reduced trade with the Soviet Union and the European Peopleʹs Democracies to almost naught and stopped trade with China. They actually banned not only the defeated countries (Japan, West Germany, Italy), but also England, France, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium and other capitalist states from selling and buying goods on the market of the countries of the democratic camp. Trade between the United States and the countries that are now part of the democratic camp declined 10 times in 1951 compared with 1937; Britainʹs trade with these countries fell 6 times and France ‐ more than 4 times.
The United States and Britain and France, having subjected the USSR, China and the European Peopleʹs Democracies to an economic ʺblockadeʺ, thought to strangle them. In reality, what has happened was not strangulation, but the strengthening of the new world democratic market. Thus, the imperialists dealt a serious blow to their own exports and further intensified the contradiction between the production capabilities of their industry and the possibilities of marketing its products.
All this means that even deeper contradictions have arisen in the capitalist economy, and the world system of capitalist economy as a whole has become much narrower and weaker and even more unstable than it was before the war.
The capitalists of the United States, realizing the existence of these economic difficulties, are trying to overcome them with the war in Korea, the arms race, and the militarization of industry.
Having unleashed a reactionary war against the Korean people and fanning war hysteria against the democratic camp, the imperialists of the USA, Britain and France switched their economy to a war footing, brought the militarization of the economy and the arms race in their countries to enormous proportions. At present, an increasing proportion of the industrial products of these countries are used for military equipment. Military orders play a decisive role in the main industries in the United States and other capitalist countries. In the budgets of capitalist states, the proportion of direct and indirect expenditures on arms races is constantly increasing. Direct military spending in the United States increased from $ 1 billion in the 1937‐1938 fiscal year to $ 58.2 billion in 1952‐1953, and now these expenditures account for 74 percent of the total US budget, while in 1937‐1938 their military expenditures accounted for 14 percent of the budget; in England military expenditures have correspondingly increased from 197 to 1.634 million pounds and now represent 34 per cent of the total budget, compared with 17 per cent in the pre‐war period; in France, military spending now accounts for nearly 40 percent of the total budget.
This unheard‐of increase in military spending leads to continuous tax increases and inflationary paper money production. The sharp weakening of the entire financial system of the capitalist countries, which was a consequence of the war and the policies of the ruling circles of the United States, continues to intensify. The depreciation of money has reached unprecedented proportions. The purchasing power of the dollar in 1951 in relation to 1939, according to official, clearly embellished figures, was only 43 percent, the pound sterling 32 percent, the French franc 3.8 percent, and the Italian lira less than 2 percent.
The transition to a war economy made it possible for the United States and other capitalist countries to raise the level of industrial production for the time being. On this basis, bourgeois economists seek to prove that large military orders are capable of endlessly maintaining a high level of ʺbusiness activityʺ. However, reality overturns these claims. Now, in the third year of especially intensified militarization of the capitalist economy, its harmful consequences are becoming more and more evident. Military‐inflationary factors, leading to a temporary revival of the conjuncture, gave rise to a one‐sided, military development of the economies of the capitalist countries. An increasing proportion of finished products and raw materials are absorbed by unproductive military consumption or are deadened in the form of huge strategic reserves. At the same time, the militarization of the economy leads to the siphoning of funds from the population by raising taxes. All this turns the budget of the capitalist countries into a means of robbing the people of billionaires, significantly reduces the purchasing power of the population, reduces the demand for industrial and agricultural products, leads to a sharp reduction in civil production and creates conditions for the onset of a sharp economic crisis.
The militarization of the national economy does not eliminate, but, on the contrary, deepens the disproportion between production opportunities and the declining effective demand of the population, which the ruling elite of the capitalist countries reduces to an extreme minimum, which leads to an increasing reduction in the capacity of the capitalist market. Thus, the inflation of war production inevitably leads to the growth of a new deep economic crisis.
The arms race is placing a particularly heavy burden on the economy of the satellite countries of the United States of America. Having unleashed the war in Korea, the United States increased pressure on the Western European states, demanding from them an ever more complete switch of industry to a war footing, exorbitant appropriations for war preparations, depriving the civilian industries of these countries of the necessary raw materials and materials. American imperialism has finally thrown off the mask of the ʺrestorerʺ of the economies of the capitalist countries. American ʺaidʺ is now being given only for arming, for preparing a new war. The arms race carried out by the rulers of England, France, Italy, West Germany, Belgium, Norway and other capitalist countries under the dictation of the American monopolies is destroying the economies of these countries and pushing them to disaster.
Billionaires, having subjugated the bourgeois state and dictating to it the policy of preparing a new war and an arms race, are now receiving colossal profits. The arms race has turned for billionaires, and primarily for monopolies, for US billionaires, a source of unprecedented enrichment. Even according to underestimated official figures, the profits of the capitalist monopolies in the United States rose from $ 3.3 billion in 1938 to $ 42.9 billion in 1951, i.e. increased 13 times. The British moneybags‐monopolists, as well as the capitalist monopolies of France, Italy, Japan and other countries, receive enormous profits, despite the fact that the economies of these countries are in a state of prolonged stagnation.
At the same time, militarization led to a sharp deterioration in the living conditions of the masses. Tax increases, rising prices for consumer goods, and inflation have exacerbated the relative and absolute impoverishment of workers. In the United States of America, direct taxes on the population in the current fiscal year have increased by more than 12 times over the 1937‐1938 fiscal year, even after adjusting for currency depreciation. In Western European countries, where the tax burden was very significant even before the Second World War, taxes increased accordingly ‐ England doubled, France 2.6 times, and Italy 1.5 times.
Even the grossly understated official cost of living and retail price indices indicate a continuous rise in the cost of living, especially after the American aggression in Korea. Under these conditions, the policy of freezing wages, carried out by the capitalists with the support of right‐wing socialists and reactionary trade union leaders, led to a large decline in real wages of workers and employees. In France and Italy, the real wages of workers in 1952 are less than half of the pre‐war level, in England it is 20 percent lower than the pre‐war level. The cost of living in the United States, according to the trade union of electricians, has almost tripled since 1939. Despite the growth of war production, in the capitalist countries there is an increase in the number of unemployed and semi‐unemployed. In Italy and West Germany, unemployment exceeds the level of the worst years of the world economic crisis of 1929‐1933; in Italy there are over 2 million fully unemployed and even more partly unemployed; in West Germany there are almost 3 million fully and partly unemployed. In Japan there are about 10 million fully and partially unemployed. In the United States, there are at least 3 million fully unemployed and 10 million partially unemployed. Unemployment is growing in England, already exceeding half a million people. In a small country like Belgium, there are over 300,000 unemployed.
The progressive deterioration in the material situation of the broad strata of the population in connection with the arms race leads to a steady increase in discontent among the masses and to an intensification of their struggle against the decline in living standards and the entire policy of preparing for a new war. The class contradictions between the imperialist bourgeoisie and the working class and all working people are sharply aggravated. The wave of the strike movement is spreading ever wider throughout the capitalist world.
The position of the world capitalist system is complicated at present by the fact that as a result of the war and a new upsurge of the national liberation struggle in the colonial and dependent countries, the colonial system of imperialism is actually disintegrating.
The immediate result of the defeat of fascist Germany and imperialist Japan was the breakthrough of the imperialist front in China, Korea, and Vietnam, where the peopleʹs republics arose in place of semicolonies and colonies. The victory of the Chinese people further revolutionized the East and contributed to the rise of the liberation struggle of the peoples oppressed by imperialism.
In the post‐war period, the contradictions between the metropolises and the colonies increased even more. England, France, Belgium and other colonial powers seek to compensate at the expense of the colonies for the hardships imposed on them by the militarization of the economy and the expansion of the United States. At the same time, the American imperialists are penetrating the colonies and spheres of influence of these colonial powers, gaining positions there for themselves, increasing the exploitation of the peoples of the colonial and dependent countries. In the course of this struggle, the American invaders incite conspiracies against their British and French ʺalliesʺ, contributing by their actions to further deepening the crisis of the colonial system of imperialism. The territory of many colonial and dependent countries (Egypt, Iran, Syria, Morocco, Tunisia, etc.) is used for military bases, and their population is being prepared for the role of ʺcannon fodderʺ in a future war.
As a result of the prolonged oppression of the imperialists and the presence of feudal remnants, the economy of the colonial and dependent countries, especially agriculture, is in a state of decline. Tens of millions of people in India, Indonesia, Iran, African countries live in conditions of constant hunger, and a huge number of people became victims of starvation. The predatory exploitation of colonial and dependent countries by imperialist powers leads to the delay in the development of productive forces in these countries, the purchasing power of the population is at an extremely low level, and sales markets for industrial products are narrowing. All this weighs down heavily on the economy of the capitalist world, increasing the internal contradictions of the world capitalist system as a whole.
The peoples of the colonial and dependent countries are putting up ever more resolute resistance to the imperialist enslavers. The growing scope of the national liberation movement is evidenced by the struggle of the peoples of Vietnam, Burma, Malaya, the Philippines, Indonesia, the growth of national resistance in India, Iran, Egypt and other countries.
2. Aggravation of the international situation. The threat of a new war from the American‐British aggressive bloc. The struggle of peoples for peace
In the postwar period, the activities of the ruling circles of the United States of America, England, France and in the field of international relations developed under the sign of the preparation for a new war.
Almost immediately after the end of World War II, the United States of America abandoned the agreed course of policy pursued by the wartime allies and enshrined in the resolutions of the Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam conferences of powers. With a number of its aggressive actions, the United States aggravated the international situation, putting the world before the danger of a new war.
The rulers of the United States have formulated the goals of their aggressive course quite frankly. As early as 1945, shortly after Truman took over as President of the United States, he declared that ʺvictory presented the American people with a constant and burning need to lead the world.ʺ Subsequently, Truman and other American politicians have repeatedly reiterated their claims to the ʺworld leadership of the United States.ʺ This line of conquering world domination and subjugating all other countries is the main motive of the entire policy of the American imperialist elite.
The US thugs knew, of course, that it was impossible to achieve domination over other nations by peaceful means. They knew from the experience of the Nazis, who also strove for domination over other countries, that one cannot even dream of world domination without the use of force, without unleashing a new war. And they decided to break the peace, prepare a new war. And since the USSR is the main enemy of the new war, the main bulwark of peace, the US tycoons came to the conclusion that the war should be launched against the USSR and other peace supporters. This is how the North Atlantic aggressive bloc was formed, cobbled together without the USSRʹs knowledge, behind its back. And in order to hide the aggressive goals of this bloc from the people and deceive the people, they declared it a ʺdefensiveʺ bloc against ʺcommunismʺ, against the Soviet Union, which is supposedly going to attack the United States, Britain, France and other members of the bloc.
For the same criminal purpose, American military bases are being created in various countries located closer to the Soviet borders.
For the same criminal purpose, West Germany and Japan are remilitarized by the ruling circles of the United States.
The ruling circles of the United States and their supporters, carrying out the remilitarization of West Germany and Japan, in front of the whole world are restoring those two hotbeds of the Second World War, for the sake of the elimination of which the peoples shed their blood in this war.
The US attack on the Democratic Peopleʹs Republic of Korea marked the transition of the American‐British bloc from preparing an aggressive war to direct acts of aggression. The Korean people, who heroically defend, in close cooperation with the valiant Chinese volunteers, the freedom and independence of their homeland and repulse the troublemakers of peace, arouse the warm sympathy of all democratic and peace‐loving humanity. (Stormy applause.)
The international situation as a whole currently has a number of specific features and characteristics, of which the following should be noted.
The main aggressive power ‐ the United States of America ‐ is strenuously urging other capitalist countries to war, primarily those in the North Atlantic bloc, as well as the countries defeated in the Second World War ‐ West Germany, Italy, Japan. The American bosses determine the goals of the war, its route, the forces to take part in it for all the bloc members, and decide other questions of preparing for the war, dictating their will.
The rulers of the United States claim that they are inspired by such ideals as the creation of a ʺcommunity of free countries.ʺ Every now and then they come out with a statement that the USA, England, France, Turkey, Greece represent the ʺcommunity of free countriesʺ, while the USSR and the peopleʹs democratic republics are supposedly ʺnot freeʺ countries. We understand this in such a way that in the USA, England, France, Turkey and other capitalist countries ʺfreedomʺ really exists, but not peopleʹs freedom, but freedom to exploit and rob the people. As for the USSR and the peopleʹs democracies, there really does not exist such ʺfreedomʺ, since in these countries the freedom to exploit and rob the working people has long been eliminated. (Applause.) This is what the proponents of the ʺAmerican way of lifeʺ boast about.
In fact, the US policy towards Western European and other capitalist ʺfriendsʺ is not democratic, but imperialist. Under the banner of ʺanticommunismʺ and ʺdefense of freedomʺ there is a de facto submission to the United States and the plundering of the old, long‐established bourgeois states and their colonies. The American imperialists, like Hitler in the past, needed the smokescreen of the ʺstruggle against communismʺ in order to divert attention from their real predatory intentions. While pursuing an imperialist policy towards Britain, France and other capitalist countries, the United States of America has moreover, to put it mildly, immodesty to pretend to be a sincere friend of these countries. Good friend! He sat astride his junior partners, robbing and enslaving them, whipping them in the tail and in the mane, and even saying: “letʹs make friends”, which means for the American moneybags ‐ first you drive me, then I will ride you. (Laughter).
Once free capitalist states ‐ England, France, Holland, Belgium, Norway are now actually abandoning their national policies and pursuing a policy dictated by the American imperialists, giving up their territories for American bases and military footholds, thereby endangering them in case of hostilities their own countries. To please the United States, they conclude alliances and blocs directed against the national interests of their states. A striking example of this is the actions of the ruling circles of France, which, with their own hands, are helping to restore Franceʹs worst centuries‐old enemy ‐ German militarism. British leaders of both the conservative and Labor trends have signed themselves up for a long time as junior partners of the United States, pledging thereby to pursue not their own national policy, but American policy. The British people are already suffering from this policy and the British Empire is bursting at all seams.
At the same time, the British propaganda organs insist that the British
Empire is allegedly being destroyed by the communists. But the ruling circles of the British Empire cannot fail to see the obvious facts indicating that the British imperial possessions are being captured not by the communists, but by the American billionaires.
Did the communists, and not the American billionaires, seize Canada, seize Australia, New Zealand, oust England from the Suez Canal zone and from the markets of Latin America, the Near and Middle East, and seize the oil regions owned by England?
Facts show that no enemy of England has dealt such heavy blows to her and has not taken away part after part of her empire, as her American ʺfriendʺ does. This ʺfriendʺ is in the same bloc with England and uses English land for air bases, thereby putting it in a difficult and, I would say, in a dangerous position, and even portraying himself as the savior of England from ʺSoviet communismʺ.
As for such ʺfreeʺ countries as Greece, Turkey, Yugoslavia, they have already managed to turn into American colonies, and the rulers of Yugoslavia, all these Titos, Kardels, Rankovichi, Jilas, Piade and others, have long been identified as American agents performing espionage and subversive assignments of their American ʺbossesʺ against the USSR and the peopleʹs democratic countries.
The ruling circles of France, Italy, England, West Germany and Japan have tied themselves to the chariot of American imperialism, renouncing their national, independent foreign policy. True, by doing so, the ruling elite of these countries betrays the national interests of their countries and signs in their own bankruptcy. But this elite prefers to sacrifice the national interests of their states in the hope of help from overseas imperialist patrons against their peoples, whom they fear more than foreign imperialist bondage.
The right‐wing Social Democrats, primarily the elite of the British Labor
Party, the French Socialist Party, and the Social Democratic Party of West Germany, bear direct responsibility for this anti‐national policy of the ruling circles. The right‐wing socialists of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Austria and other countries follow in the footsteps of their fellows and throughout the period after the Second World War have fiercely fought against the peace‐loving and democratic forces of the peoples. Modern right‐wing social democracy, in addition to its old role as servants of the national bourgeoisie, has become an agent of foreign American imperialism and carries out its dirtiest assignments in preparing for war and in the struggle against its peoples.
The peculiarity of the strategy of American imperialism is that its bosses build their military plans on the use of foreign territories and foreign armies, primarily West German and Japanese, as well as the British, French, Italian, ‐ on the use of other peoples, which should, according to the plan of American strategists , serve as a blind tool and cannon fodder in the conquest of world domination by the American monopolists.
But even now more sober and progressive politicians in European and other capitalist countries, not blinded by anti‐Soviet hostility, clearly see the abyss into which presumptuous American adventurers are dragging them, and are beginning to oppose the war. And we must assume that in countries doomed to the role of obedient pawns of American dictators, there will be truly peace‐loving democratic forces that will pursue their independent, peaceful policy and find a way out of the impasse into which the American dictators drove them. Having embarked on this new path, European and other countries will meet with full understanding on the part of all peace‐loving countries. (Stormy, prolonged applause.)
In an effort to disguise their aggressive policy, the ruling circles of the United States are trying to present the so‐called ʺcold warʺ against the democratic camp as a peaceful defensive policy and intimidate their peoples with the non‐existent danger of an attack from the USSR. The disguise of aggressive plans and ongoing hostilities with demagogic peace‐loving phraseology by the bosses of the Atlantic bloc is a characteristic feature of their policy. The fact is that today it is not so easy to drive the peoples, who have only recently learned the full weight of bloody military operations, into a new war, into a war against peace‐loving peoples. Hence these efforts of an aggressive Atlantic wolf to put on a sheepʹs skin.
Under these conditions, it would be dangerous to underestimate the harm of the pharisaic peaceful camouflage of modern aggressors. Preparations for war are accompanied by an unprecedented rampant militarism that embraces the entire life and everyday life of the peoples of the countries of the imperialist camp, a furious offensive of reaction against the working people and the fascisation of the entire regime in these countries.
If the Hitlerite imperialists, preparing for the Second World War, introduced fascism in their country, now the American imperialists, preparing for a new war, are introducing a brutal fascist regime not only in the USA, but also in other countries, primarily where the forces of peace and democracies are especially significant, as, for example, in France, Italy, Japan. The ruling circles of these countries, carrying out a shameful mission dictated by the American military, launched a war against their peoples. At the same time, the American armed forces, located outside the United States, act as punitive gendarme troops.
Today American imperialism is acting not only as an aggressor, but also as a world gendarme, trying to stifle freedom wherever possible, and to plant fascism.
A wave of hatred and resistance from the peoples he suppresses is already rising against this world gendarme.
All this testifies to the weakening of the positions of the imperialists and leads to a sharp intensification of the struggle within the imperialist camp between the forces of fascist reaction and the democratic forces of the peoples of the imperialist countries. This situation is fraught with very serious consequences for the warmongers.
In connection with the growing threat of war, a nationwide movement in defense of peace is developing, an anti‐war coalition of various classes and social strata is being created, interested in ending international tension and in preventing a new world war. The warmongers fail to pass off this non‐partisan, peaceful, democratic movement as partisan, allegedly communist. The fact that 500 million signed the Stockholm Appeal and more than 600 million signed the Appeal for a Peace Pact between the Five Great Powers is the best refutation of this warmongering assertion and an indication of the colossal scope of this non‐partisan, democratic movement for peace. This peaceful movement does not pursue the goal of eliminating capitalism, since it is not a socialist but a democratic movement of hundreds of millions of people. Peace advocates put forward demands and proposals that should help preserve peace and prevent a new war. Achievement of this goal would be, in modern historical conditions, a tremendous victory for the cause of democracy and peace.
The present balance of power between the camp of imperialism and war and the camp of democracy and peace makes this perspective quite realistic. For the first time in history, there is a powerful and cohesive camp of peace‐loving states. In the capitalist countries, the organization of the working class has grown, powerful democratic international organizations of workers, peasants, women and youth have been created. Communist parties have grown and strengthened and are waging a heroic struggle for the cause of peace.
The peoples of all countries, including the broad masses in the United States of America, are interested in fighting the threat of a new war, since in the event of a war they will suffer no less than the population of other countries. The war in Korea, despite the enormous superiority of American technology, has already brought hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded to the American people. It is not difficult to understand what colossal sacrifices the American people will bear if the fatty financial tycoons of the United States throw them into a war against peace‐loving peoples.
The point now is to raise the activity of the masses even higher, to strengthen the organization of the peace supporters, to tirelessly expose the warmongers and prevent them from entangling the peoples with lies. To curb and isolate the adventurers from the camp of imperialist aggressors, striving for the sake of their profits to involve the peoples in a bloody massacre ‐ this is the main task of all progressive and peaceloving humanity. (Prolonged applause.)
3. The Soviet Union in the struggle to preserve and strengthen peace
The main line of the party in the field of foreign policy has been and remains the policy of peace among peoples and ensuring the security of our socialist homeland.
From the first days of the existence of the Soviet state, the Communist Party has proclaimed and implemented in practice a policy of peace and friendly relations between peoples. Throughout the entire period between the two world wars, the Soviet Union stubbornly defended the cause of peace, fought in the international arena against the threat of a new war, seeking a policy of collective security and collective rebuff to the aggressor. It is not the fault of the Soviet Union that the reactionary circles of the United States and Western European countries thwarted the policy of collective security, encouraged Hitlerʹs aggression and led to the outbreak of the Second World War.
Unswervingly defending the policy of peace, our party at the same time, mindful of the hostile encirclement, tirelessly strengthened the countryʹs defense in order to meet the enemy fully armed.
In 1939, when the fire of a new war had already flared up, Comrade Stalin at the 18th Party Congress emphasized the basic principles of Soviet foreign policy, pointing out that “We stand for peace and the strengthening of business ties with all countries, we stand and will stand on this countries will maintain the same relationship with the Soviet Union, since they will not try to violate the interests of our country. ʺ At the same time, Comrade Stalin warned the aggressors, saying that ʺWe are not afraid of threats from the aggressors and are ready to respond with a double blow to the blow of the warmongers who are trying to violate the inviolability of Soviet borders.ʺ
And when Hitlerite Germany treacherously attacked our Motherland, the Soviet people gave a crushing rebuff to the enemy and defeated him utterly. The whole world is convinced that our party does not throw words to the wind. (Stormy, long‐lasting applause).
After the end of the Second World War, the party continued to pursue a foreign policy aimed at ensuring a long and lasting peace and the development of international cooperation. The Soviet government has put forward a well‐known program of measures to prevent war.
The peacefulness of the Soviet Union is evidenced not only by the proposals with which it comes forward, but also by its deeds. The Soviet Union, after the end of the war, made a significant reduction in its armed forces, which at present do not exceed in numbers the forces available before the war. After the war, the Soviet government withdrew its troops in the shortest possible time from the territories of China, Korea, Norway, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, where these troops were deployed in the course of military operations against the fascist aggressors. Considering that the struggle against the misanthropic propaganda of a new war plays a major role in defusing the international atmosphere, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted the Law on the Protection of Peace on March 12, 1951 and declared the propaganda of war to be the gravest crime against humanity, thereby setting an example for other states.
In the most serious complications that have arisen in the international arena in recent years, it was the Soviet Union that put forward proposals that provide the basis for the peaceful settlement of disputed issues. Suffice it to recall that it was from the Soviet side that the proposals were put forward that served as the basis for negotiations on an armistice in Korea.
The government of the USSR attaches great importance to the United Nations, believing that it could be an important means of maintaining peace. But at the present time, from an organ of international cooperation, which the United Nations should have been according to the Charter, the United States is turning it into an organ of its dictatorial policy in the fight against peace and is using it to cover up its aggressive actions. However, despite the enormous difficulties posed by the voting machine created by the United States in the United Nations, the Soviet Union defends the positions of peace here, seeks the acceptance of real proposals arising from the current international situation aimed at curbing aggressive forces, preventing a new war and ending hostilities where they have already deployed.
It would be wrong to think that a war can only be directed against the Soviet state. As you know, the First World War was unleashed by the imperialists long before the rise of the USSR. The Second World War began as a war between capitalist states and the capitalist countries themselves suffered greatly from it. The contradictions that are now tearing apart the imperialist camp can lead to war between one capitalist state and another. Considering all these circumstances, the Soviet Union is striving to prevent any war between states and is in favor of a peaceful settlement of international conflicts and disagreements.
However, in pursuing its policy aimed at ensuring lasting peace, the Soviet Union is faced with the fact of the aggressive policy of the US ruling circles.
At the same time, militant American circles are trying to shift the blame from a sore head to a healthy one, and in every possible way inflate their false propaganda about the imaginary threat from the Soviet Union. As for these false tales about the Soviet Union, it would be ridiculous to spread about their complete failure. Indisputable facts testify to who the aggressor really is.
Everyone knows that the United States of America is developing an arms race, refusing to ban atomic and bacteriological weapons and reducing conventional weapons, while the Soviet Union is proposing to ban atomic and bacteriological weapons and reduce other weapons and armed forces.
Everyone knows that the United States refuses to conclude a Peace Pact, while the Soviet Union proposes to conclude such a Pact.
Everyone knows that the United States is forging aggressive blocs against peace‐loving peoples, while the treaties concluded by the Soviet Union with foreign states are aimed solely at fighting the resumption of Japanese or German aggression.
Everyone knows that the United States attacked Korea and is seeking to enslave her, while the Soviet Union has not fought any military operations anywhere since the end of the Second World War.
The United States is also carrying out aggression against China. They captured the original Chinese land ‐ the island of Taiwan. Their air force is bombing Chinese territory in violation of all generally accepted norms of international law. Everyone knows that the USSR Air Force does not bombard anyone, and that the USSR did not seize any foreign territory.
These are indisputable facts.
Turning to our relations with Britain and France, it should be said that these relations should have been built in the spirit of the treaties that we concluded with these states during the Second World War and which provide for cooperation with these countries in the post‐war period. However, the British and French governments are grossly violating these treaties. The rulers of England and France, despite the solemn promises of post‐war cooperation they made to the Soviet Union at the time when it was waging a bloody war for the liberation of the peoples of Europe from German fascist enslavement, fully engaged in the aggressive plans of the American imperialists directed against the peace‐loving states. It is clear that in view of this position of the governments of England and France, our relations with these countries leave much to be desired.
The position of the USSR in relation to the USA, England, France and other bourgeois states is clear, and this position has been repeatedly stated on our part. The USSR is now ready to cooperate with these states, bearing in mind the observance of peaceful international norms and ensuring a long and lasting peace. (Applause.)
With regard to the defeated countries ‐ Germany, Italy and Japan ‐ the Soviet government is pursuing a policy that is fundamentally different from the policy of the imperialist powers. The presence of the Soviet socialist state among the victors created an entirely new environment and opportunities for the peoples of the defeated states, unprecedented in history. The policy of the Soviet state opens before any country that has signed an unconditional surrender the possibility of peaceful, democratic development, the development of its civil industry and agriculture, the sale of products in foreign markets, and the creation of national armed forces necessary for the countryʹs defense. In accordance with the Potsdam Agreement, the Soviet Union is steadily pursuing a policy aimed at the earliest possible conclusion of a peace treaty with Germany, the withdrawal of all occupation forces from Germany and the creation of a unified, independent, peace‐loving, democratic Germany, bearing in mind that the existence of such a Germany along with the existence of a peace‐loving The Soviet Union excludes the possibility of new wars in Europe and makes it impossible to enslave the European countries by the world imperialists. (Prolonged applause.)
It can be hoped that the German people, facing the dilemma of following this path or being transformed into the Landsknechts of the American and British imperialists, will choose the correct path ‐ the path of peace. (Applause.)
The same should be said with regard to Italy, whose fraternal people the Soviet Union wishes to fully restore its national independence. (Applause.)
The Soviet government believes that Japan must also become an independent, democratic, peace‐loving state, as it was envisaged by the joint decisions of the allies. The Soviet government refused to sign the unilateral agreement dictated by the American dictators at the conference in San Francisco, since this agreement violates the principles of the Cairo and Potsdam Declarations, the Yalta Agreement and is aimed at turning Japan into a Far Eastern American military base. The peoples of the Soviet Union have deep respect for the Japanese people, who are forced to endure the yoke of foreign bondage and believe that they will achieve the national independence of their homeland and follow the path of peace. (Applause.)
The Soviet policy of peace and the security of peoples proceeds from the premise that the peaceful coexistence of capitalism and communism and cooperation are quite possible if there is a mutual desire to cooperate, if they are ready to fulfill their obligations, while observing the principle of equality and non‐interference in the internal affairs of other states.
The Soviet Union has always stood and now stands for the development of trade and cooperation with other countries, regardless of the difference in social systems. The party will continue to pursue this policy on the basis of mutual benefit.
While the American‐British militant circles insist that only the arms race is loading the industry of the capitalist countries, in reality there is another prospect ‐ the prospect of the development and expansion of trade relations between all countries, regardless of the difference in their social systems, which can give for many years loading the industries of industrially developed countries, to ensure the sale of products, which are rich in some states, to other states, to help the economy of underdeveloped countries and thereby establish long‐term economic cooperation.
In pursuing its peaceful policy, the Soviet Union is in complete unanimity with other democratic peace‐loving states represented by the Peopleʹs Republic of China, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania, the German Democratic Republic, the Korean Peopleʹs Democratic Republic, and the Mongolian Peopleʹs Republic. The relations of the USSR with these countries are an example of completely new relations between states that have not previously been encountered in history. They are built on the basis of equality, economic cooperation and respect for national independence. True to the treaties on mutual assistance, the USSR is providing and will continue to provide assistance and support in the further strengthening and development of these countries. (Stormy applause.)
We are confident that, in peaceful competition with capitalism, the socialist economic system will every year more and more clearly prove its superiority over the capitalist economic system. But we are not at all going to impose our ideology or our economic system by force on anyone. “Exporting revolution is nonsense. Each country, if it wants it, will make its own revolution, and if it doesn’t want it, there will be no revolution, ”says Comrade Stalin.
The Soviet Union, unswervingly pursuing its policy of peaceful cooperation with all countries, at the same time takes into account the threat of new aggression from the presumptuous warmongers. Therefore, it strengthens and will strengthen its defenses. (Prolonged applause.)
The Soviet Union does not fear the threats of warmongers. Our people have experience in fighting aggressors, and they are not used to hitting them. He beat the aggressors back in the civil war, when the Soviet state was young and relatively weak, beat them in the Second World War, and will beat them in the future if they dare to attack our Motherland. (Stormy, prolonged applause.)
One cannot ignore the facts of the past. And these facts indicate that as a result of the First World War Russia fell away from the capitalist system, and as a result of the Second World War a number of countries in Europe and Asia fell away from the capitalist system. There is every reason to believe that the third world war will cause the collapse of the world capitalist system. (Prolonged applause.)
This, so to speak, is the prospect of war and its consequences if it is imposed on the peoples by the warmongers and aggressors.
But there is another perspective, the perspective of preserving peace, the perspective of peace between peoples. This prospect requires the prohibition of the propaganda of war in accordance with the UN Resolution, the prohibition of atomic and bacteriological weapons, the gradual reduction of the armed forces of the great powers, the conclusion of a Pact of Peace between the powers, the expansion of trade between countries, the restoration of a single international market and other similar measures in the spirit of strengthening peace.
The implementation of these measures will strengthen peace, relieve the peoples of the fear of the threat of war, stop the unheard‐of expenditure of material resources for armament and preparation of a war of destruction and make it possible to turn them to the benefit of the peoples.
The Soviet Union stands for the implementation of these measures, for the prospect of peace among peoples. (Stormy, prolonged applause.)
Party tasks in the field of foreign policy:
1) Continue the struggle against the preparation and unleashing of a new war, rally a powerful anti‐war democratic front to consolidate peace, strengthen the bonds of friendship and solidarity with the supporters of peace throughout the world, persistently expose all preparations for a new war, all the intrigues and intrigues of the warmongers;
2) Pursue the policy of international cooperation and development of business relations with all countries in the future;
3) Strengthen and develop indestructible friendly relations with the Peopleʹs Republic of China, with the European Peopleʹs Democracies ‐ Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania, with the German Democratic Republic, with the Korean Peopleʹs Democratic Republic, with the Mongolian Peopleʹs Republic;
4) Tirelessly strengthen the defensive might of the Soviet state and increase our readiness for a crushing response to any aggressors.
(Stormy, long‐lasting applause).
II. The internal situation of the Soviet Union
The period under review was characterized by the further consolidation of the internal position of the Soviet Union and the growth of the entire national economy and socialist culture. The first two years that have passed since the 18th Party Congress, the working people of our country continued to successfully fulfill the third fiveyear plan and achieved further strengthening of the Soviet Union. Over the years, new successes have been achieved in the development of the national economy.
The peaceful labor of the Soviet people was interrupted by the treacherous attack on the USSR by fascist Germany. A difficult period began in the history of the Soviet state ‐ the period of the Great Patriotic War. In the course of this war, the working class, the collective farm peasantry, and the Soviet intelligentsia both at the front and in the rear have shown high consciousness and devotion to their Motherland.
Having ended the war with a historic victory, the Soviet Union entered a new, peaceful period of its economic development. The Soviet state in a short time, at the expense of its own forces and means, without outside help, restored the economy destroyed by the war and moved it forward, leaving behind the economic indicators of the pre‐war period.
Successes in the restoration of industry and agriculture made it possible already in 1947 to abolish the rationing system for supplying the population with food and industrial goods and to carry out a monetary reform. These measures, as well as the five‐fold reduction in prices for food and industrial goods, increased the purchasing power of the Soviet ruble and ensured an increase in the material well‐being of the working people. In 1950, the ruble was converted to a gold base and raised against foreign currencies.
The successes achieved in the restoration and development of the economy made it possible for the Soviet state to begin the practical implementation of new important national economic tasks, including such as the construction of powerful hydroelectric power plants on the Volga and Dnieper, the construction of large canals for shipping and irrigation, and the creation of shelter forests in the vast territory of the country.
The historical events that took place during the reporting period showed that the Soviet social and state system is not only the best form of organizing the countryʹs economic and cultural development during the years of peaceful construction, but also the best form of mobilizing all the forces of the people to repulse the enemy in wartime. These events also showed a huge increase in the political activity of the working people, the further strengthening of the moral and political unity of the Soviet people rallied around the Communist Party, the further strengthening of the fraternal community of the peoples of the USSR and the development of Soviet patriotism.
Our people are full of determination to continue to selflessly work for the welfare of the socialist fatherland, to fulfill with honor the historic task of building a communist society. (Stormy, prolonged applause.)
1. Further rise of the national economy of the USSR
A. Industry
During the years of the pre‐war five‐year plans, socialist industrialization was carried out in the USSR. Powerful industry was the basis for the growth of the entire national economy and the preparation of the country for active defense. The years of war with particular force have confirmed the correctness of the general line of our party on the industrialization of the country. The implementation of the policy of industrialization of the USSR was of decisive importance for the fate of the Soviet people and saved our Motherland from enslavement.
In the difficult conditions of war, the party was able to quickly rebuild industry on a war footing. The equipment of all the most important industrial enterprises was evacuated from the zone of military operations to the eastern regions. During the war years, the Soviet state found sufficient strength and resources not only for the rapid commissioning of the evacuated enterprises, but also for the accelerated construction of new enterprises, mainly factories of heavy industry. Despite the temporary occupation of the economically important regions of the country by the fascist invaders, industry in the course of the war, from year to year, produced all types of weapons and ammunition for the front in increasing quantities.
With the end of the war, industry was rebuilt from war production to civilian production. The Party set the task on a large scale to develop, first of all, heavy industry, especially metallurgy, the fuel industry and the electric power industry, for without heavy industry it was impossible to solve the problems of restoring and further developing the national economy. At the same time, the party paid special attention to expanding the production of consumer goods in order to raise the peopleʹs living standards.
It took a certain time to restore the pre‐war level of the national economy. The pre‐war level of 1940 in terms of the total annual volume of industrial production was reached and surpassed in 1948, in terms of coal production in 1947, in steel and cement production in 1948, in pig iron production and oil production in 1949, in shoe production ‐ in 1950, cotton fabric production ‐ in 1951. This means that the war delayed the development of our industry for 8‐9 years, i.e. for about two five‐year plans.
As a result of the successful restoration and development of industry in the post‐war years, we now have a significantly higher level of industrial production compared to the pre‐war period. Here are the data on this score:
The growth of industrial production in the USSR (percentage by 1940)
These data show that in 1945 and 1946 there was a decrease in the level of industrial production. This is due to the fact that the production of military equipment after the end of the war was sharply reduced, and the restructuring of industry on a peaceful track required a certain time. The post‐war restructuring of industrial production was basically completed during 1946, after which the production of our industry began to grow at a rapid pace and in 1951 its total volume exceeded the 1940 level by more than 2 times. In 1952, new successes were achieved in the development of our industry. As you know, the plan for the current year for industry as a whole is not only being successfully fulfilled, but also overfulfilled, so there is every reason to believe that in 1952 industrial output will be approximately 2.3 times more than in
1940.
The industry that produces the means of production is developing especially rapidly, which in 1951 surpassed the pre‐war level by 2.4 times in total production, and in 1952 will exceed this level by about 2.7 times. In 1952 the following will be produced: 25 million tons of pig iron, or about 70 percent more than in 1940; 35 million tons of steel, or about 90 percent more than in 1940; 27 million tons of rolled products, or more than 2 times more than in 1940; 300 million tons of coal, or more than 80 percent more than in 1940; 47 million tons of oil, or more than 50 percent more than in 1940; 117 billion kilowatt‐hours of electricity, that is, 2.4 times more than in 1940; more than three times more machines and equipment will be produced than in 1940.
As for the annual increase in the output of the most important branches of industry, in recent years we have had a much larger increase in comparison with the pre‐war period. So, for the last three years ‐ 1949 ‐ 1951, that is, after the pre‐war level of industrial production was not only restored, but also surpassed, the increase in pig iron production amounted to 8 million tons, the increase in steel production ‐ 13 million tons and the increase in production rolled products ‐ 10 million tons, while in the pre‐war years, an increase in the same amount was achieved in pig iron smelting in eight years, in steel smelting in nine years and in rolled products in twelve years. The increase in coal production for the three years indicated amounted to 74 million tons and the increase in oil production was 13 million tons; an increase of the same size in the pre‐war years was achieved in coal production in six years and in oil production in ten years. The increase in electricity generation over the same three years amounted to 37 billion kilowatthours; the increase in electricity generation in the same amount in the pre‐war years was achieved in nine years.
The growth in the production of the means of production and the growth in agricultural production have created a reliable basis for the development of industries producing consumer goods. The total output of this industry in 1951 was 43 percent more than in 1940, and in 1952 it will be more than in 1940 by about 60 percent. In 1952 the following will be produced: over 5 billion meters of cotton fabrics, or about 30 percent more than in 1940; nearly 190 million meters of woolen fabrics, or about 60 percent more than in 1940; 218 million meters of silk fabrics, or 2.8 times more than in 1940; 250 million pairs of leather shoes, or about 20 percent more than in 1940; 125 million pairs of rubber shoes, 80 percent more than in 1940; over 3 million 300 thousand tons of sugar, or more than 50 percent more than in 1940; over 380 thousand tons of animal oil produced by industry (not counting a significant amount of home‐made oil), which is more than 70 percent higher than the pre‐war level of industrial production of animal oil.
As a result of the successful restoration and development of industry in the post‐war period, per capita industrial production in the USSR now exceeds the pre‐war level. Thus, the production of electricity per capita in 1951 exceeded the 1940 level by more than 2 times, the smelting of pig iron ‐ by 50 percent, steel smelting ‐ by 70 percent, coal mining ‐ by 60 percent, the production of cement ‐ more than 2 times. the production of cotton fabrics ‐ by 20 percent, the production of woolen fabrics ‐ by more than 60 percent, the production of paper ‐ by 70 percent, etc.
During the reporting period, especially in the post‐war years, the production and technical base of our industry has significantly expanded and strengthened, both through the construction of new and through the reconstruction of existing enterprises. In 1946‐1951 alone, more than 320 billion rubles were invested in industry out of a total investment in the national economy of about 500 billion rubles. During this time, about 7 thousand large state industrial enterprises were restored, built and put into operation in the USSR. The basic production assets of industry had increased by 77 percent by 1952 as compared with 1940.
But the point is not only in the quantitative growth of fixed assets. The past period is also characterized by further technical progress in industry. Unlike the capitalist countries, where there are periodic interruptions in the development of technology, accompanied by the destruction of the productive forces of society due to economic crises, in the USSR, where there are no such crises, continuous improvement of production is carried out on the basis of higher technology, on the basis of the achievements of advanced Soviet science. In the postwar years, all industries were equipped with new machines and mechanisms, more advanced technological processes were introduced, and a more rational organization of production was carried out. The machine park during this period has increased due to the replenishment of new, more productive machines by 2.2 times. Domestic mechanical engineering has created about 1,600 new types of machines and mechanisms in the last 3 years alone.
In the struggle for further technical progress, a large role belongs to our science, which by its discoveries helps the Soviet people to more fully reveal and better use the wealth and forces of nature. In the postwar period, our scientists have successfully solved many scientific problems of great national economic importance. The most important achievement of Soviet science during this period was the discovery of methods for the production of atomic energy. Thus, our science and technology eliminated the monopoly position of the United States in this area and dealt a serious blow to the warmongers who tried to use the secret of atomic energy production and the possession of atomic weapons as a means of blackmail and intimidation of other peoples. Possessing real possibilities for the production of atomic energy, the Soviet state is deeply interested in that this new type of energy be used for peaceful purposes, for the benefit of the people, because such use of atomic energy infinitely expands the power of man over the elemental forces of nature, opens up colossal opportunities for the growth of productive forces for mankind. , technical and cultural progress, increase in social wealth.
The great successes of Soviet science and technology are evidenced by the annual award of the Stalin Prizes for outstanding scientific works, inventions and fundamental improvements in production methods. The honorary title of Stalin Prize laureate was awarded to 8,470 workers in science, industry, transport and agriculture.
An important result in the development of industry is that over the past period, industry has developed rapidly in the eastern regions of the USSR, as a result of which the location of our industry has changed significantly. In the eastern regions ‐ in the Volga region, in the Urals, in Siberia, in the Far East, in the Kazakh SSR and in the union republics of Central Asia, a powerful industrial base of the country has been created. By 1952, the total volume of industrial production in these regions had tripled in comparison with 1940. In 1951, about 1/3 of all industrial production of the USSR was produced in the eastern regions, more than half of the total amount of steel and rolled products, almost half of the total amount of coal and oil, and over 40 percent of electricity.
These are the main results of the development of industry in the USSR for the period under review.
The tasks in the field of the development of our industry for the coming years are set forth in the draft directives on the fifth five‐year plan for the development of the USSR, submitted for the consideration of this congress. These targets are to raise industrial production in 1955 over 1950 by about 70 percent, with the production of capital goods to grow by about 80 percent and the production of consumer goods by about 65 percent. Such a target for the growth of industrial production means that in 1955 the volume of industrial production will increase by 3 times in comparison with 1940.
The fifth five‐year plan marks a new major step forward along the path of development of our country from socialism to communism. (Stormy applause.)
Our industry is well placed to meet the challenges ahead. Now all branches of industry are equipped with more advanced technology, have skilled workers and engineers and technicians, enterprises do not experience a shortage of raw materials and materials. The point now is to make full use of these opportunities, to resolutely eliminate shortcomings in work, to reveal unused reserves in production and turn them into a powerful source of growth in the national economy.
The industry annually not only fulfills, but also overfulfills state plans. But behind the general indicators of the good performance of industry as a whole, the poor performance of many enterprises that do not fulfill government assignments is hidden, because of which the national economy does not receive a certain amount of production. Ministries, on the other hand, do not take proper measures to fulfill the plan by each enterprise and instead often shift tasks from poorly performing enterprises to advanced ones. Hence, poorly performing enterprises live off the advanced enterprises.
One of the main reasons for non‐fulfillment of state plans is the uneven output of products by enterprises during the month. The Party has repeatedly drawn the attention of economic leaders to this defect. However, even now many enterprises are working in spurts, almost half of the products of the monthly program are produced by them in the third decade. This leads to underutilization of production capacities, to the use of overtime work, to an increase in rejects and disruption of the work of related enterprises.
Some enterprises, in order to fulfill the plan for gross output, admit the anti‐state practice of over‐production of secondary products due to non‐fulfillment of targets for the production of the most important types of products provided for by the state plan.
In a number of industries, state discipline is violated with regard to the quality of products. There are facts of delivery to consumers of substandard products and goods that do not meet the established standards and specifications. Machine‐building enterprises often put into production constructively unfinished machines that do not meet the operating conditions. At the enterprises of light industry, the output of low‐grade products is still high. All this damages the national economy.
You cannot put up with such shortcomings in the work of industry. The state plan is the law. All enterprises are obliged to fulfill the state assignments established for them and to provide the national economy with the products it needs. Economic leaders and party organizations are obliged to ensure the fulfillment of the plan by each enterprise not only in terms of gross output, but also necessarily for the production of all products, in accordance with the state plan, to achieve a systematic improvement in the quality of products, to identify and completely eliminate the causes that interfere with the normal operation of enterprises.
Special attention should be paid to the task of ensuring a further allround increase in labor productivity in all branches of industry.
At all stages of socialist construction, our Party has been steadily striving for a systematic increase in labor productivity as the most important condition for the growth and improvement of socialist production. This, mainly, explains the tremendous successes that have been achieved in the development of production in the USSR. During the period from 1940 to 1951, labor productivity in industry increased by 50 percent, and 70 percent of the increase in industrial production during this period was due to an increase in labor productivity. Labor productivity in construction increased by 36 percent over the same period.
The rapid growth in labor productivity in the USSR is primarily the result of the widespread introduction of new technology and advanced technological processes into the national economy, the result of mechanization and electrification of production, especially the mechanization of labor‐intensive and heavy work, as well as the result of a better organization of labor, an increase in the general educational and cultural level of workers and an increase in their manufacturing qualifications. The socialist economic system gives unlimited scope for the use of the latest technology. In the USSR, machines not only save labor, but at the same time they facilitate the labor of workers, which is why under conditions of a socialist economy, in contrast to conditions of capitalism, workers are more willing to use machines in the labor process. The Soviet worker is directly interested in raising labor productivity, for he knows that this will strengthen the economic might of the USSR and raise the living standards of the working people. The unity of the interests of the state and the people forms the basis for high productivity of social labor under socialism.
However, the opportunities available in our industry for increasing labor productivity are still far from being fully utilized. This is evidenced primarily by the failure to fulfill the plans for labor productivity by many enterprises. It should be pointed out that ministries are not doing enough on this important matter; Instead of ensuring that the targets for labor productivity by each enterprise are met, ministries are often satisfied with the average achieved indicators for the industry as a whole, do not take appropriate measures to bring the lagging enterprises to the level of advanced ones.
In many enterprises, the growth of labor productivity is constrained by the poor use of available means of mechanization; there are intolerable facts of negligence and mismanagement of equipment. The mechanization of production at any enterprise must inevitably be accompanied by the release of a part of the workers in order to use the released workers both for expanding production at the given enterprise and for working in new enterprises. Meanwhile, some managers of enterprises, instead of ensuring the proper use of the means of mechanization and increasing labor productivity at this expense, often organize work in the old‐fashioned way with extensive use of manual labor.
A serious drawback in the mechanization of production is also the fact that during the mechanization of production processes, some areas are either not mechanized at all, or mechanized insufficiently. At many enterprises, with a high level of mechanization of the main production processes, auxiliary work is poorly mechanized, including such laborintensive work as feeding, carrying and loading raw materials, materials and products. All this reduces the overall economic effect of mechanization and disrupts the normal course of production.
The growth of labor productivity is also restrained by the fact that at many enterprises and construction sites the organization of labor is unsatisfactory, as a result of which large losses of working time are allowed. Ministries often determine the number of workers for enterprises and construction projects without an adequate study of the actual need, without checking the correctness of the use of labor. At enterprises and especially at construction sites, there is still a ʺturnoverʺ of workers, which causes great damage to production.
Technical regulation is of great importance in raising labor productivity. Meanwhile, at many enterprises, technical regulation is set unsatisfactorily. The use of understated norms, the so‐called experimental‐statistical norms, still prevails, which do not correspond to the modern level of production technology, do not reflect the experience of advanced workers and do not stimulate the growth of labor productivity. The proportion of experimental statistical standards is very high and at many enterprises amounts to more than 50 percent of all current production standards.
The task of party, economic and trade union organizations is to quickly eliminate the causes that hinder the growth of labor productivity, and to ensure in all sectors of the national economy, at every enterprise, at every production site, the fulfillment and overfulfilment of targets for increasing labor productivity. We must resolutely eliminate shortcomings in the use of our rich technology, persistently implement a program of comprehensive mechanization and automation of production processes, introduce the latest achievements of science and technology into all sectors of the national economy, systematically improve the forms and methods of organizing labor and production, and improve the use of work force.
Comrades! Our industry is growing, developing and becoming more powerful and technically advanced. We will continue to develop in every way the productive forces of our socialist industry as the basis for the might of our Motherland and the growth of the material well‐being of the Soviet people. (Stormy, prolonged applause.)
B. Agriculture
By the beginning of the reporting period, i.e. by the time of the 18th Party Congress, the collective farm system in our country had finally strengthened, the collective farms were consolidated, and the socialist economic system was established as the only form of agriculture.
The war temporarily delayed the development of agriculture and caused great damage to it, especially in the areas under occupation, where the Nazi invaders ravaged and plundered the collective farms, MTS and state farms. However, despite the enormous difficulties of wartime, the collective and state farms of the eastern regions uninterruptedly supplied the army and the population with food, and light industry with raw materials. Without the collective farm system, without the selfless labor of collective and collective farmers, without their high political consciousness and organization, we would not have been able to solve this most difficult task.
With the transition to peaceful construction, the party was faced with the task of carrying out the fastest restoration and further development of agriculture. The partyʹs special concern in the post‐war period was the organizational and economic strengthening of the collective farms, assistance to them in the restoration and further development of the social economy and, on this basis, raising the material well‐being of the collective farm peasantry. The enlargement of small collective farms was of great importance for the further rise of the productive forces of agriculture, for large collective farms can more successfully expand and improve the social economy. At present, there are 97,000 enlarged collective farms, instead of 254,000 small collective farms as of January 1, 1950.
As a result of the implementation of measures taken by the party and the government, the difficulties in agriculture caused by the war and the severe drought that followed in 1946 were successfully overcome, and the pre‐war level of agricultural production was restored and surpassed in a short time.
In the post‐war years, the sown areas were restored at a rapid rate, the yield increased and the gross production of grain, industrial, fodder, vegetable and melon and other agricultural crops increased. The sown area of all agricultural crops in 1952 exceeded the pre‐war level by 5.3 million hectares.
Grain production was restored in the third year after the end of the war and in subsequent years increased with a simultaneous large increase in marketable grain. In the current 1952, the gross grain harvest amounted to 8 billion poods (thunderous applause), while the gross harvest of the most important food crop, wheat, increased by 48 percent in comparison with 1940. (Applause.)
Thus, the grain problem, which was previously considered the most acute and serious problem, has been successfully solved, finally and irrevocably solved. (Stormy, prolonged applause.)
In the postwar period, the production of cotton and sugar beet developed especially rapidly: in 1951, the gross output of raw cotton exceeded the pre‐war level by 46 percent and sugar beet by 31 percent. An even richer harvest of these important crops has been grown this year. The pre‐war level of production of oilseeds, potatoes and fodder crops was surpassed, and the gross yield of succulent fodders (fodder root crops, fodder melons and silage crops) was already 25 percent higher than in 1940 than in 1940. In the post‐war years, the production of flax and vegetables and melons increased significantly. However, due to insufficient attention of party, Soviet and agricultural bodies to the production of these necessary crops, the production of flax and vegetables in a number of regions has not yet reached the pre‐war level.
This year, as in previous years, the state plans for grain procurement, procurement of cotton, sugar beet, oilseeds, potatoes, vegetables and other agricultural products, as well as livestock products are being successfully implemented.
Our agriculture is becoming more skilled, more productive and provides more and more marketable products. We must understand this most important feature in the development of our agriculture. Now that the grain problem has been successfully solved, it is no longer possible in the old‐fashioned way to assess the results in agriculture only by the amount of grain produced. As can be seen from the above data, in addition to successes in the field of grain production, we have achieved great success in the development of the production of cotton, sugar beet, oilseeds, fodder and other crops. Our modern agriculture has become qualitatively different, it is fundamentally different from the old, unproductive, extensive agriculture. If the sown area of all agricultural crops in the USSR in 1952 increased by 1.4 times compared to 1913, and at the same time the area of grain crops increased by 5 percent, then the area under industrial and vegetable garden crops increased by more than 2.4 times. , and under fodder crops ‐ more than 11 times. Of the total value of marketable products of field cultivation at present, over 40 percent falls on industrial crops. Consequently, it would be a gross mistake to assess the success of agriculture only by the level of grain production.
In the postwar years, much attention was paid to equipping agriculture with new technology. Without this, we would not be able to quickly solve the problem of the restoration and further development of agriculture. During this time, the machine and tractor fleet has been replenished with a large number of new, more advanced tracked tractors with diesel engines, self‐propelled harvesters, hay mowers, beet harvesters, flax harvesters, cotton pickers and other highperformance machines. The total capacity of the tractor fleet in the MTS and state farms has increased in comparison with the pre‐war level by 59 percent and harvesters by 51 percent. Agriculture received many new machines for the mechanization of labor‐intensive processes in animal husbandry. In connection with the significant expansion of the mechanization of work in agriculture and forestry in the postwar years, the network of machine and tractor stations was expanded, a significant number of forest protection stations were re‐organized ‐ for the mechanization of work on the creation of shelter plantations, meadow reclamation stations ‐ for the mechanization of work on land drainage and improvement of meadows and pastures, machine‐livestock stations ‐ for the mechanization of labor‐intensive work in animal husbandry. In total, 1,546 new machine‐tractor, forest‐protection, meadow‐reclamation and machine‐livestock‐raising stations were created during this time, and the total number of all these stations is currently 8,939 units.
The successes in the development of agriculture achieved in the postwar years have created the conditions for solving even larger problems in agriculture. The interests of the national economy and the tasks of further improving the well‐being of the Soviet people require an even greater increase in agricultural production. The draft directives for the fifth five‐year plan envisage an increase in the gross harvest over the five‐year period: grain by 40‐50 percent, including wheat by 55‐65 percent; raw cotton by 55 ‐ 65 percent; flax fiber by 40 ‐ 50 percent; sugar beet by 65 ‐ 70 percent; sunflower by 50 ‐ 60 percent; potatoes by 40 ‐ 45 percent and an increase in the production of forage crops by about 2‐3 times.
Now that the pre‐war level of sown areas has been restored and surpassed, the only correct line in increasing agricultural production is to further all‐round increase in yield. Increasing yields is the main task in agriculture. To successfully solve this problem, it is necessary to improve the quality and shorten the time of field work, improve the use of tractors and agricultural machines, complete the mechanization of basic work in agriculture, ensure the fastest development of crop rotations with sowing of perennial grasses on collective and state farms, improve seed production, and introduce correct tillage system, increase fertilizers and the amount of irrigated land. It is necessary to strengthen the organizing role of machine and tractor stations on collective farms, to increase the responsibility of the MTS for fulfilling plans for yields and gross harvests of agricultural crops and for the development of animal husbandry.
Our agriculture should become even more productive and skilled, with developed grass sowing and correct crop rotations, a higher proportion of sown areas for industrial, fodder, vegetable crops and potatoes.
In the post‐war years, in connection with the serious successes achieved in the advancement of agriculture, the task of the all‐round development of animal husbandry became the central task of the Party and the state in the development of agriculture. During the period from July 1945 to July 1952, the number of cattle in the USSR increased by 13.4 million heads, sheep ‐ by 41.8 million heads, pigs ‐ by 21.2 million heads and horses ‐ by 5.6 million heads ... The pre‐war 1940 level in terms of the number of cattle in all categories of farms was reached in 1948, in terms of the number of sheep in 1950, and in terms of the number of pigs in the current year. In order to put the production of livestock products on a solid foundation, the Party paid special attention to the development of public collective and state farm productive livestock raising. Now collective farm animal husbandry, together with state farm, has become predominant in the country both in terms of their share in the total number of livestock and in the production of livestock products. The gross and marketable output of meat, milk, butter, eggs, wool and leather in the USSR as a whole has exceeded the pre‐war level. (Applause.)
To meet the growing needs of the population for livestock products and light industry for raw materials, it is necessary to carry out a further significant increase in animal husbandry. The draft directives on the fifth five‐year plan envisage an increase in the five‐year period of the number of cattle throughout agriculture by 18‐20 percent, and the public number of cattle on collective farms by 36‐38 percent; the number of sheep ‐ only 60 ‐ 62 percent, and on collective farms ‐ 75 ‐ 80 percent; the number of pigs ‐ only 45‐50 percent, and on collective farms ‐ 85‐90 percent; the number of horses ‐ only by 10 ‐ 12 percent, and on collective farms ‐ by 14 ‐ 16 percent; the number of poultry in collective farms is 3 ‐ 3.5 times. The draft directives provide for an increase in production of meat and lard by 80 ‐ 90 percent; milk by 45 ‐ 50 percent, wool 2 ‐ 2.5 times, eggs (on collective and state farms) 6 ‐ 7 times.
The main task in the development of animal husbandry will continue to be the increase in the number of collective farm and state farm livestock with a simultaneous significant increase in its productivity. For the successful solution of this problem, it is necessary, first of all, to create a solid fodder base in all collective and state farms, to provide livestock with good cattle yards, and also to widely mechanize work in animal husbandry. It is necessary to develop animal husbandry as highly productive, highly commodity and profitable. It is necessary to intensify work on the qualitative improvement of livestock on collective and state farms, to ensure the rapid multiplication of existing and the creation of new highly productive breeds of farm animals. A healthy rise in livestock raising is possible only with the right combination of livestock growth with massive qualitative improvement and an increase in livestock productivity.
In the postwar years, state farms have grown and strengthened significantly, they have significantly expanded sown areas against the pre‐war level, increased the number of productive livestock and agricultural production. At the same time, there are serious shortcomings in the work of state farms. One of the major shortcomings in the work of a significant part of state farms is the high cost of production of grain, meat, milk and other products. It is necessary, on the basis of the development of a diversified economy, an improvement in the organization of production, the introduction of comprehensive mechanization of all the most labor‐intensive work, an increase in the yield of agricultural crops and the productivity of livestock raising, to ensure a further increase in marketability and a significant reduction in the cost of production on state farms.
For the further development of agriculture, irrigation construction and the creation of field‐protective afforestation are of great importance. Even in the pre‐war years, many large irrigation systems were built, equipped with modern technology, and the reconstruction of old irrigation systems was carried out; As a result, the area of actually irrigated land in the republics of Central Asia and other regions of the USSR increased by one and a half times, which made it possible to successfully solve such an important task as a significant increase in cotton production. Work began on the creation of field‐protective afforestation.
In the postwar years, irrigation construction and work on the creation of field‐protective afforestation developed on an even larger scale. Large irrigation systems are being built in the Transcaucasian republics, where the area of actually irrigated lands, as a result of these works, will increase by more than one and a half times in the coming years. Since 1947, work has been underway to irrigate highly fertile, but drought‐prone lands in the central black earth zone ‐ in the Kursk, Orel, Voronezh and Tambov regions ‐ to obtain guaranteed yields of grain, industrial and other agricultural crops. Since 1948, extensive work has been carried out to create large state protective forest belts in the steppe and forest‐steppe regions of the European part of the USSR, fieldprotective forest plantations in collective and state farms, and the construction of ponds and reservoirs. Over the past three and a half years, collective farms, state farms and forestry enterprises have planted field‐protective forests on an area of 2.6 million hectares and built over 12 thousand ponds and reservoirs. In areas of excessive moisture, primarily in Belarus and the Baltic republics, as before the war, extensive work is being carried out to drain swamps and wetlands.
Great prospects are opening up for agriculture in connection with the construction of grandiose hydroelectric power plants and irrigation systems on the Volga, Don, Dnieper and Amu Darya and in connection with the commissioning of the Volga‐Don navigable canal named after V.I. Lenin. The construction of these stations and irrigation systems will provide irrigation of new lands on an area of over 6 million hectares, irrigation of pastures with selective irrigation on an area of 22 million hectares and open up wide opportunities for the electrification of agricultural production, the introduction of electric plowing, the use of electric combines and other agricultural machines with an electric drive.
Along with large‐scale irrigation construction, on all irrigated lands, the transition to a new irrigation system is being successfully carried out, in which irrigated areas are significantly enlarged due to the better location of the shallow irrigation network, the reduction of the number of permanent irrigation canals in the fields, with their replacement with temporary canals, which makes it possible make full use of irrigated land and irrigation water and creates better conditions for the mechanization of irrigated agriculture.
As a result of the implementation of the planned large‐scale work on the development of irrigation, the creation of field‐protective forest plantations and the drainage of wetlands, our agriculture will rise to the highest level and the country will be insured against weather accidents forever. (Applause.) The task is to successfully and on schedule carry out work on the development of irrigation, the creation of field‐protective afforestation and drainage of swamps. This matter should be given special attention by Party, Soviet and economic organizations.
It is also important to take measures to raise the yield of agricultural crops in the regions of the non‐black earth zone of the European part of the USSR. It is known that in the regions of the non‐chernozem belt there are great opportunities for the successful development of agriculture and animal husbandry, since these areas are distinguished by favorable climatic conditions and sufficient moisture. Meanwhile, crop yields in areas of the non‐chernozem belt are still low. To obtain high and stable yields of agricultural crops, it is necessary here, first of all, to organize the liming of acidic soils on a wide scale with the simultaneous introduction of a sufficient amount of organic and mineral fertilizers, to develop in every possible way grass sowing, to improve soil cultivation.
Carrying out the tasks of the restoration and development of agriculture, our Party, Soviet and agricultural bodies in the post‐war years have improved the management of collective farms, machine and tractor stations and state farms. However, there are still errors and shortcomings in this case.
What are the mistakes and shortcomings in the management of agriculture and what are the challenges in this regard?
First of all, it should be noted that some of our leading workers, especially in connection with the consolidation of small collective farms, admitted an incorrect, consumerist approach to the issues of collective farm development. They proposed to forcefully carry out the mass resettlement of villages in large collective farm settlements, let all the old collective farm buildings and houses of collective farmers be scrapped and create large ʺcollective farm villagesʺ, ʺcollective farm townsʺ, ʺagro‐citiesʺ in new places, considering this as the most important task of organizational strengthening of collective farms. The mistake of these comrades lies in the fact that they have forgotten about the main production tasks of the collective farms and brought to the fore the consumer tasks derived from them, the tasks of the everyday life in the collective farms. The tasks of the household device are undoubtedly important, but they are still derivatives, subordinate, and not the main ones, and can be successfully solved only on the basis of developed social production. Forgetting or belittling the main production tasks can lead all our practical work in the countryside down the wrong path, hinder the further development of collective farms and harm both the everyday life itself and the whole cause of socialist construction. The Party took timely measures to overcome these incorrect tendencies in the field of collective farm development. Party, Soviet and agricultural bodies must continue to constantly show concern for the strengthening and development of the social economy of the collective farms, which is the main force of the collective farms, and on this basis ensure the growth of the marketability of collective farm production and a further increase in the material and general welfare of collective farmers.
Further, it should be noted that in many collective and state farms the practice of creating subsidiary enterprises for the production of bricks, tiles and other industrial products has become widespread. Experience has shown that this increases the cost of building materials and industrial products and, most importantly, distracts collective and state farms from solving the problems of agricultural production and is a brake on the development of agriculture. It is necessary to correct this situation and concentrate all the efforts of the collective and state farms entirely on the further development of diversified agricultural production in order to make the fullest use of their economic potential and natural conditions for the utmost increase in the production of grain, cotton, sugar beet, flax, potatoes, meat, milk, eggs, wool, vegetables, fruits, tea and other agricultural products. As for building materials and other industrial products, our state industry and industrial cooperatives have the opportunity and are obliged to fully provide all these to collective and state farms at cheaper prices.
Further, it must be admitted that there are still facts of squandering of collective farm goods and other violations of the Rules of an agricultural artel. Some workers of Party, Soviet and agricultural bodies, instead of guarding the interests of the collective farmʹs social economy, are themselves engaged in taking away collective farm goods, taking the path of gross violation of Soviet laws, the path of arbitrariness and lawlessness in relation to collective farms. Using their official position, such workers occupy public lands, forcing the boards and chairmen of collective farms to give them grain, meat, milk and other products free of charge or for low prices, exchange their unproductive cattle for highly productive, more valuable collective farm cattle, etc. All these anti‐collective farm, anti‐state actions cause serious damage to the collective farm peasantry, hinder the further organizational and economic strengthening of collective farms and undermine the authority of the Party and the Soviet state. It is necessary to resolutely put an end to violations of the Rules of the Agricultural Artel, to punish with all the severity of the laws of the socialist state, as enemies of the collective farm system, those guilty of taking away collective farm property.
Further, it should be noted that Party, Soviet and agricultural bodies are unsatisfactorily dealing with such important issues as the organization of labor on collective farms. In matters of organization of labor on collective farms, as is known, some leading officials pursued the wrong line of planting separate units in collective farms and eliminating production teams, which in fact was directed against the mechanization of grain farming and led to the weakening of collective farms. The work done to eliminate these mistakes and distortions made it possible to significantly improve the organization of labor on collective farms and strengthen the production team. However, there are still significant shortcomings in this case. In many collective farms, production teams are not permanently staffed; the means of production are not assigned to the brigades, which leads to depersonalization; a lot of working time is wasted due to indiscretion, which reduces the productivity of collective farmers and leads to untimely performance of agricultural work. Party, Soviet and agricultural bodies are obliged to take care of improving the organization of labor on collective farms on a daily basis. It is necessary to introduce a more progressive system of income distribution in collective farms, in which the distribution of the income of the artel among its members would be made according to the number of workdays accrued to the collective farmer, in direct proportion to the agricultural products actually received by the brigade, link or individual collective farmer. This will make it possible to significantly raise the labor productivity of collective farmers, completely eliminate leveling and will contribute to a further increase in the value of the workday.
Then it should be pointed out that in the management of agriculture the stereotyped, formal approach to solving many practical issues has not yet been eliminated. Party, Soviet and agricultural leaders often, regardless of local specific conditions, give the same instructions for all districts, collective farms, machine and tractor stations and state farms on agricultural technology, animal husbandry, labor organization and other agricultural issues; such instructions, correct and necessary for some regions and farms, often turn out to be useless, and sometimes even harmful for other regions and farms. Among the Party, Soviet and agricultural workers there are still quite a few people who judge agriculture and try to manage it on the basis of the so‐called average indicators. These workers judge yields by average data, and livestock productivity ‐ also by average indicators. Satisfied with the average data, it is impossible to notice the lagging regions, collective farms, state farms in which things are going badly, it is impossible to take effective measures in time to provide them with the necessary assistance; on the other hand, beyond the average data, one cannot see areas, collective farms, state farms that have advanced far ahead, for which tasks based on average indicators are not mobilizing, pull back, and inhibit their development.
Finally, it should be said that there are significant shortcomings in the implementation of the achievements of science and advanced experience in agriculture. We have many advanced collective farms, machine and tractor stations and state farms; there are thousands of leading agricultural workers who, creatively applying the achievements of science, are achieving great results in raising yields and raising the productivity of livestock raising. However, the propaganda and introduction of advanced experience into collective and state farm production is still unsatisfactory. Our agricultural science has made a great contribution to the development of agriculture. Anti‐scientific, reactionary ideas in agricultural science have been exposed and defeated, and it is now developing on the only correct ‐ materialistic, Michurin basis, arming our workers in their activities to develop agriculture. But, in spite of the existing achievements, agricultural science still lags behind the demands of collective and state farm production. The socialist system of agriculture gives wide scope for science, makes it possible to quickly disseminate the achievements of science and advanced experience, to make them the property of all collective farms, machine and tractor stations and state farms. The most important duty of Party, Soviet and agricultural bodies is to develop in every possible way the creative initiative of scientific and practical workers, to multiply the ranks of masters of high yields and high productivity of animal husbandry, to support everything that is advanced, progressive, to quickly introduce scientific achievements into all branches of collective and state farm production. excellence in agriculture.
Comrades! We all rejoice at the colossal growth of our socialist agriculture. Our agriculture and animal husbandry are now on a powerful new upsurge. There is no doubt that in the coming years our collective farms, machine and tractor stations, state farms equipped with rich equipment will achieve even more significant successes in the development of agriculture, and we will have in the country an abundance of food for the people and a full abundance of raw materials for the rapidly growing light industry. (Prolonged applause.)
B. Commodity turnover, transport, communication
With the growth of industry and agriculture, trade also developed in the country. During the postwar years, the turnover of state and cooperative trade increased 2.9 times and significantly exceeded the pre‐war level. In 1951, more was sold to the population in state and cooperative stores than in 1940: meat and meat products by 80 percent, fish and fish products by 60 percent, animal oils by 80 percent, vegetable oils and other fats by almost 2 times. sugar 70 percent, fabrics 80 percent, shoes 50 percent. The network of retail state and cooperative trade has grown, the assortment has been significantly expanded and the quality of the goods sold has improved. However, in the area of trade, we still have many serious shortcomings. Trading organizations still poorly study the demand of the population, make mistakes in the import and distribution of goods in regions and republics. Customer service is poorly delivered in a number of places. The task is to eliminate the existing shortcomings in a short time and raise Soviet trade to a new, higher level. The draft directives for the fifth five‐year plan envisage increasing the retail turnover of state and cooperative trade by about 70 percent by the end of the five‐year plan in comparison with 1950.
The growth in production and trade was accompanied by the development of all types of transport and transportation.
During the Great Patriotic War, our transport, primarily railroad transport, successfully coped with the difficult task of providing military transportation, as well as transportation of goods for the national economy. In the post‐war years, all types of transport were not only restored, but also significantly increased in comparison with the pre‐war period. This year the freight turnover of railway transport is about 80 percent more than in 1940, the freight turnover of river and sea transport is 60 percent, the freight turnover of road transport is 3.1 times, and the freight turnover of the civil air fleet is 9.2 times. The average daily loading of wagons on the railways this year is more than in 1940, by about 40 percent.
Now all types of transport have a more powerful technical base. The carrying capacity of the main directions of the railways was increased due to the restoration and new construction of the second tracks, the expansion of the station tracks, the laying of heavy rails, the expansion of automatic blocking and other measures; new railways were built and put into operation; work continued on the electrification of the most heavily loaded railways; The fleet of steam locomotives and wagons has significantly increased, especially due to powerful locomotives and wagons of large carrying capacity.
In water transport, the length of inland waterways used for navigation in 1951 was more than in 1940, by 23 thousand kilometers. Sea and river transport has been replenished with new cargo and passenger ships. The level of mechanization of loading and unloading operations has significantly increased in comparison with 1940 and amounted to 83 percent in 1951 for the Ministry of the River Fleet and 90 percent for the Ministry of the Marine Fleet.
Automobile transport is equipped with new, more advanced trucks and cars. The network of highways with improved surface increased by 3.1 times in comparison with 1940.
In the post‐war years, communication facilities have been further developed ‐ mail, telegraph, telephone, radio. The telephone and telegraph network of the country has been expanded, the capacity of city telephone exchanges has been increased, now all regional centers have telephone and telegraph communications with regional centers, and telephones have been basically completed in village councils and machine‐tractor stations. The radio receiving network is now almost twice as large as in 1940. Postal exchange has increased significantly; the length of postal airlines increased 2.5 times.
Along with the successes achieved in the work of transport and communications, there are major shortcomings. Many railways, shipping companies and motor vehicles do not fulfill their plans for loading and transporting goods. The downtime of wagons and ships under loading and unloading is still high. The irrational and excessively long‐distance rail transportation of goods has not yet been eliminated. The work of motor transport is still poorly organized, the idle time of the fleet of trucks is long, and the cars in operation have many empty runs. The disadvantages in the field of communications should be attributed to the fact that communications agencies are still not clearly serving the needs of the national economy and the population by means of communications.
It is necessary to further develop and improve the work of all types of transport and communications, take care of vehicles and tirelessly take care of their safety, develop and strengthen the technical base of all types of transport, improve the work of the post, telegraph, telephone in every way.
D. Economy mode is the most important lever for further development of the national economy
The development of the USSR national economy is carried out at the expense of its own resources, at the expense of internal sources of accumulation. Therefore, our party has always paid and continues to pay great attention to the struggle for the strictest regime of economy, considering the regime of economy as the most important condition for the creation of intra‐economic savings and the correct use of accumulated funds. The economy regime, as a method of socialist management, has played an important role in the industrialization of the country. Now, when a new powerful upswing of the national economy is under way in our country and at the same time a systematic reduction in prices for consumer goods is being carried out, the regime of economy is acquiring even greater importance. The more fully and rationally production resources are used, the more thrifty and prudent we run our economy, the more success we will achieve in the development of all sectors of the national economy, the more results we will achieve in raising the material and cultural standard of living of the people.
Meanwhile, there are major shortcomings in the mobilization and proper use of the internal resources of the national economy.
First of all, it is necessary to point out the existing large losses and nonproductive costs in the industry. In a number of industries, the situation with the use of production capacities is still bad. Many ministries determine the capacity of enterprises in line with the ʺbottlenecksʺ of production, when calculating the capacity, they often use low rates of equipment productivity, set standards for the labor intensity of products without taking into account advanced technology and better methods of labor organization. Instead of increasing production by making better use of the internal resources of enterprises, ministries often require the state to invest in the construction of new enterprises. Many enterprises allow large losses from mismanagement and wasteful use of materials, raw materials, fuel, electricity, tools and other material assets, while the established consumption rates are often violated, fullfledged substitutes are poorly introduced; there is still a large defect in production. In 1951, for example, losses and unproductive expenses at enterprises of the Union industry amounted to 4.9 billion rubles, including losses from marriage ‐ 3 billion rubles.
As a result of the unsatisfactory use of production capacities and large losses from mismanagement, many industrial enterprises do not fulfill the tasks set by them to reduce the cost of production and allow large cost overruns. At the enterprises, there are major violations in the planning of production costs. Some business leaders, due to narrow departmental interests, to the detriment of the interests of the state, artificially create ʺreservesʺ in the plans for the cost of production by overstating the consumption rates of raw materials and materials and an unjustified increase in the labor intensity of products. This anti‐state practice of planning the cost of production at some enterprises indicates the lack of proper control over this matter on the part of the ministries. Instead of really studying the conditions of production at each enterprise, taking the necessary measures to ensure a systematic reduction in the cost of production, ministries allow cost planning without checking and approving planned calculations.
Further, it should be noted that the economy is particularly poorly implemented in construction. Construction is still expensive for us. Builders lag far behind industrial workers in terms of reducing production costs. There are major shortcomings in the organization of construction work ‐ the means of mechanization are used unsatisfactorily, labor productivity is low, waste of materials is allowed, and overhead costs are extremely high. A major shortcoming in capital construction is the scattering of manpower and resources among numerous construction organizations, among which there are a large number of small construction organizations that ineffectively use the means of mechanization. All this leads to a rise in the cost of construction, to inflating the administrative and managerial apparatus, to large overhead costs. In 1951, for example, overhead costs in construction exceeded one billion rubles, and instead of the profits stipulated by the plan in the amount of 2.9 billion rubles, construction organizations made losses in the amount of 2.5 billion rubles for that year.
Further. Large losses and unproductive costs also occur in agriculture. Agriculture is now equipped with machinery on a much larger scale than before the war. However, there are major disadvantages in the use of tractors and agricultural machines. In many machine and tractor stations and state farms, the situation with the maintenance of the machine and tractor fleet is unsatisfactory, as a result of which agricultural machines wear out prematurely, and significant cost overruns are allowed for machine repairs; there are large cost overruns of fuel and lubricants. All this leads to a rise in the cost of tractor work. Mismanagement has not yet been eliminated in many MTS, collective and state farms; due to poor organization of business, shortage and large crop losses are allowed; storage of collective farm goods is unsatisfactory; Due to poor livestock management, many collective farms have a large loss of livestock and low livestock productivity.
Transport also has high losses and waste. Many railways, shipping companies and motor vehicles allow significant cost overruns and losses as a result of non‐fulfillment of transportation plans, long downtime of cars, ships and cars, excessive fuel consumption and losses from mismanagement. There are still many cases of neglect of the safety of rolling stock, ships and vehicles, which causes great damage to the state.
Then, overhead costs for procurement, storage and sale of agricultural products are excessively high, and the costs of circulation of trade organizations are also high. The apparatus of procurement, trade and sales organizations is exorbitantly inflated. Both in the center and in the localities, there are a large number of procurement and sales organizations engaged in the procurement and marketing of often the same products and raw materials. Due to inadequacies in procurement and marketing planning, there are irrational and excessively long hauls. High overhead costs for procurement, storage and marketing of agricultural products are the result of the fact that the ministries in charge of the procurement and marketing organizations are poorly engaged in reducing overhead costs, do not control the cost of harvested products. The lack of control on the part of the ministries creates the ground for all kinds of abuse, allows procurement organizations to include all losses and losses in procurement costs and thereby cover their mismanagement. The lack of proper order and economy in the organization of procurement, supply and sales brings the state several billion rubles in losses.
Finally, the administrative and management costs are still high. In recent years, the reduction of the administrative and managerial apparatus has been carried out in a number of government bodies. However, this was carried out mainly from above, in an administrative manner. Reducing the cost of maintaining the administrative and managerial staff has not yet become a daily concern of the heads of institutions and organizations. Many ministries and departments allow the maintenance of workers in excess of the established staff. There are great excesses in the offices of regional, city and district institutions and organizations.
Experience shows that improving the work of the administrative and managerial apparatus, as well as improving the organization of procurement and sales lead and will lead to the release of some workers. The duty of economic and party organizations is the correct use of laid off workers in the interests of developing the national economy. The relevant ministries, the Ministry of Labor Reserves, party and trade union organizations are obliged to take care that these cadres receive the necessary production qualifications and can use their forces in those sectors of the economy whose development requires an increase in cadres.
Excessive expenditure of material, monetary and labor resources in all sectors of the national economy testifies to the fact that many managers forgot about the economy mode, did not care about the reasonable and economical spending of public funds, did not show proper concern for improving the financial and economic activities of the enterprises they managed. and institutions, while Party organizations do not notice these shortcomings and do not correct such leaders.
The task is to put an end to the indifference of economic leaders and party organizations to the facts of mismanagement and waste. Questions of implementing the strictest economy must always be at the center of all our economic and Party work. We must tirelessly take care of educating Soviet people in the spirit of a careful attitude towards public, socialist property. It is necessary to eradicate all excesses in the expenditure of material, labor and monetary resources and systematically ensure the fulfillment and overfulfilment of targets to reduce the cost of production. It is necessary to intensify the fight against mismanagement, sharply reduce overhead costs in industry, construction, transport, agriculture, trade, procurement and sales organizations, decisively simplify and reduce the cost of the state and economic apparatus, strengthen control of the ruble on the part of financial bodies over the implementation of economic plans and compliance with the economy. Our economic cadres must master the methods of socialist management to perfection, must raise the level of their technical and economic training, systematically improve the methods of production, seek, find and use hidden reserves hidden in the depths of the national economy.
The further development of socialist emulation is of great importance for the successful solution of problems in the development of the national economy. The party has always paid great attention to the organization of competition and believed that the main thing in socialist competition is to pull up the laggards in order to be equal in work for the best. In the conditions of our society, a positive example in work plays an enormous role in every sector of socialist construction. Soviet people are daily convinced from their own experience that the best example of organizing production, the introduction of new technology, all kinds of improvements and inventions are inevitably accompanied by a lightening of labor and lead to an improvement in the material well‐being of the working people. In all sectors of socialist construction, we have many examples of the creative initiative of the working people aimed at ensuring the continuous growth and improvement of socialist production. Our people have long been famous for their creative initiative, quick wit, ingenuity.
The enemies of socialism and their singers of all kinds portray socialism as a system of suppressing individuality. There is nothing more primitive and vulgar than this kind of representation. It has been proved that the socialist system ensured the emancipation of the individual, the flourishing of individual and collective creativity, created conditions for the all‐round development of talents and talents hidden in the depths of the masses.
In our country, honest work is highly valued and readily encouraged. The Party and the government make extensive use of the system of bonuses and awards to workers for achievements and successes in work in all areas of the national economy and culture. Only in the time after the end of the Patriotic War, 1 million 346 thousand workers, collective farmers, scientists, engineers and technical workers, employees, doctors, teachers and other workers were awarded orders and medals of the USSR, and the outstanding innovative activities of 6,480 workers of our country were awarded the high title of Hero of the
Socialist Labor.
The task of the party, Soviet, economic, trade union, and Komsomol organizations is to develop competition more widely in all sectors of socialist construction, to support with all our might the positive examples of work and progressive initiatives of the foremost workers and innovators, to disseminate advanced experience in every possible way among the entire mass of working people in order to help the laggards rise to the level of the advanced. In the struggle of the new against the old, the advanced against the backward, it is important not only to see the forces that are the creators of the new social system, but it is necessary to constantly grow these forces, take care of their allround development, tirelessly organize and improve them in the interests of successful movement forward.
2. Further rise in material well‐being, health care and the cultural standard of living of the people
The successes achieved in all sectors of the national economy have led to a further rise in the material and cultural standard of living of Soviet society. This is quite natural, there could be no other result, since in our country the goal of the development of socialist production is to ensure maximum satisfaction of the constantly growing material and cultural needs of society.
The main indicator of the rise in the well‐being of the Soviet people is the continuous growth of the national income. Between 1940 and 1951, the national income of the USSR increased by 83 percent. Unlike the capitalist countries, where more than half of the national income is appropriated by the exploiting classes, in the Soviet Union the entire national income is the property of the working people. The working people of the USSR receive about 3/4 of the national income to satisfy their personal material and cultural needs, and the rest goes to expanding socialist production and other general state and social needs.
The most important source of growth in the real wages of workers and employees and the real income of peasants is the governmentʹs consistent decline in prices for consumer goods. As a result of a fivefold decrease in state retail prices, carried out during the period 1947 ‐ 1952, prices for food and industrial goods are currently lower than in the
fourth quarter of 1947, on average, by 2 times.
As you know, workers and employees in our country receive social insurance benefits, social security pensions at the expense of the state, vouchers for free or with a large discount to sanatoriums, rest homes and childrenʹs institutions, and annually receive vacations with the preservation of wages. All working people in towns and villages receive free medical care. The state pays benefits to mothers with many children and single mothers in town and country; provides free tuition in primary and seven‐year schools; issues scholarships to students. The workers in towns and villages received these payments and benefits in the amount of 40.8 billion rubles in 1940, and in 1951 ‐ 125 billion rubles.
As a result of an increase in the money wages of workers and employees, an increase in the monetary and in‐kind income of peasants, a decrease in prices for consumer goods and an increase in other payments to the population at the expense of the state, the real incomes of workers and employees, per worker, were higher in 1951. than in 1940, by about 57 percent, and the real income of peasants, per worker, was higher by about 60 percent.
The draft directives for the fifth five‐year plan envisage an increase in the national income of the USSR for the five‐year period by at least 60 percent, an increase in real wages of workers and employees, taking into account a decrease in retail prices, by at least 35 percent, an increase in cash and in‐kind income (in monetary terms ) collective farmers by at least 40 percent.
A large amount of housing and communal construction is being carried out in our country. In the post‐war years alone, residential buildings with a total area of over 155 million square meters were built in cities and workersʹ settlements, and more than 3.8 million residential buildings were built in rural areas. Especially large‐scale housing construction work has been carried out in the areas subjected to occupation. However, despite the large volume of housing construction, we still have an acute shortage of housing everywhere. Many ministries and local councils from year to year do not fulfill the plans for housing construction established for them and the funds allocated by the state for this purpose are underutilized. In the last two years alone, over 4 million square meters of living space have not been delivered due to non‐fulfillment of housing plans. We still have such economic and party leaders who regard the housing needs of the working people as a secondary matter and do not take measures to fulfill plans for the construction and repair of housing. The task is to expand housing construction in every possible way. The draft directives for the fifth five‐year plan envisage an increase in capital investments in public housing construction by about 2 times compared with the fourth five‐year plan.
The party and government have always shown and are showing great concern for the preservation of the health of our people. Government spending on health care, including spending for these purposes at the expense of social insurance funds, increased from 11.2 billion rubles in 1940 to 26.4 billion rubles in 1951. On this basis, a further improvement and expansion of medical and sanitary services for the population has been achieved. The number of hospital beds in urban and rural areas in 1951 increased by 30 percent compared with 1940. The network of sanatoriums has been expanded. The number of doctors in the country has increased by 80 percent.
As a result of the increase in the material and cultural standard of living of the people and the improvement of medical services for the population, mortality in our country has decreased. Over the past three years, the net population growth was 9 million 500 thousand people. (Prolonged applause.)
Expenditures on education increased from 22.5 billion rubles in 1940 to 57.3 billion rubles in 1951, that is, more than 2.5 times. In the post‐war years alone, 23,500 schools were built. The number of students in the USSR now stands at 57 million, or almost 8 million more than in 1940. Seven‐year and ten‐year education has been significantly expanded; the number of students in grades 5‐10 increased by 25 percent between 1940 and 1951. The number of students in technical schools and other secondary specialized educational institutions during this period increased by 40 percent, and the number of students in higher educational institutions ‐ by 67 percent. In 1952 alone, higher educational institutions graduated 221 thousand young specialists for various sectors of the national economy and again accepted 375 thousand people this year. Currently, the country employs about 5.5 million specialists with higher and secondary specialized education, that is, 2.2 times more than before the war.
Taking into account the ever‐increasing importance of science in the life of our society, the Party shows daily concern for its development. The Soviet state launched the construction and equipping of a large network of research institutes, created the most favorable conditions for the flourishing of science, and ensured a wide scope for the training of scientific personnel. The number of research institutes, laboratories and other scientific institutions in the USSR increased from 1,560 in 1939 to 2,900 by the beginning of 1952. During this time, the number of scientific workers has almost doubled. State expenditures for the development of science in 1946‐1951 amounted to 47.2 billion rubles.
Over the past years, a network of cultural and educational institutions has been widely deployed in cities and rural areas. Currently, there are 308 thousand libraries of all types in the country. Compared to 1939, the number of libraries increased by more than 120 thousand. The annual circulation of books has reached 800 million copies and has increased 1.8 times compared to 1940. Since 1939, the number of sound cinema installations in cities and villages has almost tripled.
Literature and art are the most important and integral part of Soviet culture. We have made great strides in the development of Soviet literature, fine arts, theater and cinema. This is clearly evidenced by the fact that many talented figures in this field are awarded the Stalin Prizes every year. The high title of laureate of the Stalin Prize was awarded to 2,339 workers of literature and art.
However, it would be wrong not to see major shortcomings in the development of our literature and art behind the great successes. The fact is that, despite the serious progress in the development of literature and art, the ideological and artistic level of many works is still not high enough. In literature and art, there are still many mediocre, gray, and sometimes just hacky works that distort Soviet reality. The multifaceted and ebullient life of Soviet society in the work of some writers and artists is depicted sluggish and boring. The shortcomings in such an important and popular art form as cinema have not been eliminated. We know how to make good films that are of great educational value, but such films are still being made very few. Our cinematography has every opportunity to produce many good and varied films, but these opportunities are poorly used.
It must be borne in mind that the ideological and cultural level of the Soviet man has grown immeasurably, his tastes are brought up by the Party on the best works of literature and art. Soviet people do not tolerate dullness, lack of ideology, and falsehood, and place high demands on the work of our writers and artists. In their works, our writers and artists should scourge the vices, shortcomings, painful phenomena that are widespread in society, reveal in positive artistic images people of a new type in all the splendor of their human dignity and thereby contribute to the education of characters, skills, habits in the people of our society, free from the ulcers and vices generated by capitalism. Meanwhile, in our Soviet fiction, drama, as well as in cinematography, there are still no such types of works of art as satire. It would be wrong to think that our Soviet reality does not provide material for satire. We need Soviet Gogols and Shchedrins who, with the fire of satire, would burn out from life everything negative, rotten, dead, everything that slows down progress.
Our Soviet literature and art must boldly show lifeʹs contradictions and conflicts, be able to use the weapon of criticism as one of the most effective means of education. The strength and significance of realistic art lies in the fact that it can and should reveal and reveal high spiritual qualities and typical positive character traits of an ordinary person, create his vivid artistic image, worthy of being an example and an object of imitation for people.
Our artists, writers, art workers in their creative work to create artistic images must constantly remember that not only what is most common is typical, but what most fully and sharply expresses the essence of a given social force. In the Marxist‐Leninist understanding, typical by no means some kind of statistical average. Typicality corresponds to the essence of a given socio‐historical phenomenon, and is not just the most widespread, often recurring, every day. Conscious exaggeration, sharpening of the image does not exclude typicality, but more fully reveals and emphasizes it. The typical is the main sphere of manifestation of partisanship in realistic art. The problem of typicality is always a political problem.
The lofty and noble task facing workers in literature and art can be successfully solved only if we wage a resolute struggle against hackwork in the work of our artists and writers, if lies and rot are mercilessly eradicated from works of literature and art. Huge responsibilities in the great struggle to cultivate the new, bright and uproot the dilapidated and dead in public life fall on our workers of literature and art. The duty of our writers, artists, composers and cinematographers is to study the life of Soviet society more deeply, to create major works of art worthy of our great people. (Applause.)
Comrades! We are making great strides in improving the material wellbeing and growth of the culture of the Soviet people. But we cannot rest on our laurels. The task is to ensure, on the basis of the development of the entire national economy, a further steady rise in the material and cultural standard of living of Soviet people. Our Party will continue to show tireless concern for the maximum satisfaction of the constantly growing needs of the Soviet people, for the welfare of the Soviet person, the prosperity of the Soviet people is the supreme law for our Party. (Stormy, prolonged applause.)
3. Further strengthening of the Soviet social and state system
In the period that has elapsed since the 18th Party Congress, our Soviet state has continued to grow, develop and gain strength.
The economic foundation of our state has grown and strengthened ‐ socialist ownership of the means of production. During this time, the friendly cooperation of the workers, peasants and intelligentsia, which make up Soviet socialist society, has become even stronger.
In the face of the greatest difficulties, our social and state system turned out, as the experience of war showed, to be the most durable, viable and stable system in the world. The indestructible might of the Soviet socialist system is explained by the fact that it is a truly popular system, created by the people itself, enjoys the mighty support of the people, and ensures the flourishing of all the material and spiritual forces of the people.
The enemies and vulgarizers of Marxism preached the theory, most harmful to our cause, of the weakening and withering away of the Soviet state in an environment of capitalist encirclement. Having smashed and discarded this rotten theory, the party put forward and substantiated the conclusion that in conditions when the socialist revolution has won in one country, and capitalism prevails in most other countries, the country of the victorious revolution should not weaken, but in every possible way strengthen its state, that the state it will be preserved under communism if the capitalist encirclement remains. We would not have had those successes in our peaceful construction, which we are now proud of, if we allowed the weakening of our state. We would find ourselves unarmed in the face of enemies and in the face of the danger of military defeat if we did not strengthen our state, our army, our punitive and intelligence agencies. The Party turned the Soviet country into an indestructible stronghold of socialism because it strengthened and consolidates the socialist state in every way. (Stormy applause.)
In undertaking an attack on our country, the fascist invaders counted on the internal instability of the Soviet social and state system, on the weakness of the Soviet rear. But, as you know, the war refuted these calculations. The historical statement of Comrade Stalin was fully confirmed that in the event of war the rear and front of our country, due to their homogeneity and internal unity, will be stronger than in any other country. During the war, the armed forces and the rear of the Soviet state were strengthened. The selfless labor of the Soviet people in the rear and the heroic struggle of the Soviet Army and the Navy at the front went down in history as an unparalleled feat of the people in defending the Motherland. Our Army and Navy were built, strengthened and fought under the direct leadership of Comrade Stalin. (Stormy, long‐lasting applause). Comrade Stalin, an ingenious commander and organizer of the historical victories of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War, created the advanced Soviet military science, armed our Army with the art of defeating the enemy. Our people love their Army and their Fleet, surrounds them with constant care and attention. The armed forces of the Soviet Union were, are and will be a reliable bulwark of the security of our Motherland. (Stormy, prolonged applause.)
The Great Patriotic War and the subsequent years of peaceful development showed once again that the Soviet social system created under the leadership of the party is the best form of organizing society, that the Soviet state system is an example of a multinational state. Many of our enemies and ill‐wishers from the bourgeois camp endlessly insisted that the Soviet multinational state was fragile, nurtured hope for a split between the peoples of the USSR, prophesied an inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union. They judged our state by their bourgeois countries, which are characterized by national contradictions and strife. The enemies of socialism are unable to understand that as a result of the Great October Revolution and socialist transformations, all the peoples of our country are linked by strong friendship on the basis of complete equality. (Applause.) Our party, unswervingly pursuing the Leninist‐Stalinist national policy, strengthened the Soviet multinational state, developed friendship and mutual cooperation between the peoples of the Soviet Union, supported, ensured and encouraged the flourishing of the national cultures of the peoples of our country in every possible way, and waged an irreconcilable struggle against all and all kinds of nationalist elements. The Soviet state system, which has withstood the hard trials of the war, has become an example and model for the whole world of true equality and commonwealth of nations, demonstrates the great triumph of Leninist‐Stalinist ideas on the national question. (Prolonged applause.) Our Party preserves and will continue to preserve, like the apple of its eye, the unity and friendship of the peoples of the USSR, has strengthened and will continue to strengthen the Soviet multinational state. (Stormy applause.)
During the reporting period, new peoples entered the Soviet family. The Lithuanian, Moldavian, Latvian, Estonian Soviet Socialist Republics were formed. The entire Ukrainian people has been reunited in a single state. Belarus has gathered the entire Belarusian people into one family. In the northwest we have new borders that are fairer and more in line with the interests of the countryʹs defense. In the Far East, the Soviet Union regained the South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands that had been torn away from Russia earlier. Now the state borders of the Soviet Union are most consistent with the historically formed conditions for the development of the peoples of our country. (Applause.)
With the help of the peoples of the fraternal republics, the new union republics in a short time not only made great strides forward in industrialization, but also carried out the transfer of small peasant farming to the path of socialism, completed collectivization and are successfully developing socialist agriculture.
In the post‐war period, the main function of our state has developed and strengthened even more ‐ the function of economic, organizational and cultural and educational work. The big turn in socialist construction and the task of further bringing the party and Soviet leadership closer to the district, city, village caused the need for a number of changes in the administrative‐territorial structure of our state ‐ the formation of new regions, districts and districts. The growth of the national economy demanded further changes in the organizational forms of state management of various industries, agriculture and other sectors of the national economy. This was reflected in the downsizing and creation of new central government bodies.
In strengthening our state, the unswerving implementation of the principles of socialist democracy, which underlie the Stalin Constitution, was of paramount importance. In the postwar years, elections were held twice to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, to the Supreme Soviets of the Union and Autonomous Republics, and to local Soviets of Working Peopleʹs Deputies. These elections took place in an atmosphere of tremendous political upsurge and were a new expression of the unity of our people, of the peopleʹs boundless confidence in our Communist Party and the Soviet government. (Stormy applause.)
Tasks of the party in the field of internal politics:
1) Continue to steadily strengthen the economic power of our state, organizing and directing the peaceful labor of the Soviet people to fulfill and overfulfil the great tasks of the fifth five‐year plan for the development of the USSR, which is an important stage on the path of transition from socialism to communism;
2) To carry out a further development of industry and transport. To widely introduce the latest achievements of science and technology into industry, construction and transport, to raise labor productivity in every possible way, to strengthen discipline in the implementation of state plans, and to ensure high quality products. To steadily reduce the cost of production, which is the basis for a systematic reduction in wholesale and retail prices for all goods;
3) To carry out a further development of agriculture in order to create in our country an abundance of food for the population and raw materials for light industry in a short time. To ensure the unconditional fulfillment of the main task in agriculture ‐ an all‐round increase in the yield of all agricultural crops and an increase in the livestock population with a simultaneous increase in its productivity, an increase in the gross and marketable output of agriculture and animal husbandry. To improve the work of the MTS and state farms. To increase the labor productivity of collective farmers, to further strengthen the social economy of the collective farms, to increase their wealth and, on this basis, to ensure the further growth of the material well‐being of the collective farm peasantry;
4) Implement the strictest economy in all links of the national economy and in all branches of management;
5) To develop further advanced Soviet science with the task of taking first place in world science. (Applause.) To direct the efforts of scientists towards a more rapid solution of scientific problems of using the enormous natural resources of our country. Strengthen the creative collaboration between science and industry, bearing in mind that this collaboration enriches science with practical experience, and helps practical workers to quickly solve the problems they face;
6) To develop in every possible way the creative initiative of the workers of our Motherland, to develop socialist emulation more widely, to tirelessly show concern for more and more positive, exemplary examples of organizing work in a new way to be created in all sectors of socialist construction, persistently to disseminate these exemplary examples among the entire mass of workers so that on the labor front there is more and more alignment with the leading workers of our society;
7) To further improve the material well‐being of our people; to steadily raise the real wages of workers and employees, to improve the living conditions of the working people; to promote in every possible way the growth of peasantsʹ incomes. Develop Soviet culture; to improve the work of public education and health care; to tirelessly care for the further development of Soviet literature and art;
8) Strengthen our social and state system in every way. To further develop the political activity and patriotism of the Soviet people, to strengthen the moral and political unity and friendship of the peoples of our country;
9) Watch out for the intrigues of the warmongers. Strengthen the Soviet Army, the Navy and intelligence agencies in every way. (Stormy applause.)
III. The consignment
The steady growth of the might of our Soviet Motherland is the result of the correct policy of the Communist Party and its organizational work to implement this policy. The party, as the leading and guiding force of Soviet society, ensured the timely preparation of the country for active defense, directed all the efforts of the people to defeat the enemy during the war years and to the cause of a powerful new development of the national economy in the postwar period.
The historic victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War, early implementation of the fourth five‐year plan, further development of the national economy, increase in the material well‐being and cultural standard of living of the Soviet people, strengthening of the moral and political unity of Soviet society and friendship of the peoples of our country, rallying around the Soviet Union of all the forces of the camp peace and democracy ‐ these are the main results confirming the correctness of the policy of our party. (Stormy, prolonged applause.)
The period under review was a period of further strengthening of the party, a period of consolidating the complete unity and cohesion of the party ranks. The unity of our Party, won in a fierce struggle against the enemies of Leninism, is the most characteristic feature of its inner state, its inner life. This is the source of the strength and invincibility of our party. (Prolonged applause.)
The unity of the party ranks was the decisive condition for the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War. In the days of the most difficult trials of the Great Patriotic War, when the question of the fate of the Motherland was being decided, our party acted as a single militant organization, not knowing vacillations and disagreements in its own ranks. In the light of the results of the war, in all its greatness, we face the significance of the irreconcilable struggle that our party has waged for a number of years against all kinds of enemies of MarxismLeninism, against Trotskyist‐Bukharin degenerates, with capitulators and traitors who tried to turn the party off the right path and split the unity of its ranks. It has been proven that these vile traitors and traitors were waiting for a military attack on the Soviet Union, hoping to strike the Soviet state in the back in difficult times to please the enemies of our people. Having defeated the Trotskyist‐Bukharin underground, which was the center of attraction for all anti‐Soviet forces in the country, clearing our party and Soviet organizations from the enemies of the people, the party thereby timely destroyed any possibility of a ʺfifth columnʺ appearing in the USSR and politically prepared the country for active defense. It is not difficult to understand that if this had not been done in a timely manner, then in the days of the war we would have found ourselves in the position of people who were shelled from both the front and rear, and could lose the war.
The party owes the unshakable solidarity of its ranks first of all to our leader and teacher, Comrade Stalin, who defended the Leninist unity of the party. (All get up. Stormy, prolonged applause, turning into a standing ovation). The unity of the party ranks was, is and will be the basis of the strength and invincibility of our party. Having hardened in the fire of the harsh ordeals of the war and in the struggle against the difficulties of the post‐war period, the party came to the present congress even stronger and more united, more than ever rallied around its Central Committee. (Stormy, prolonged applause.)
The strength of our party lies in the fact that it is connected by blood ties with the broad masses and is a truly peopleʹs party, whose policy meets the vital interests of the people. In the matter of rallying the working people around the party and educating them in the spirit of communism, the role of such mass organizations as the Soviet trade unions and the Komsomol has significantly increased. In the struggle for the freedom and independence of our Motherland, for the building of a communist society, the Party has become even closer to the people and strengthened its ties with the broad masses of the working people. The Soviet people unanimously support the policy of the Party and place full confidence in it. (Stormy applause.)
The growth of the party ranks is a striking evidence of the strengthening of the partyʹs ties with the masses and of its authority among the Soviet people. By the 18th Congress, the party had 1,588,852 party members and 888,814 candidates for party membership in its ranks, a total of 2,477,666 people. As of October 1, 1952, the party consists of 6,882,145 people, including 6,013,259 party members and 868,886 candidates for party members. (Applause.)
During the Great Patriotic War, despite the great losses of the party at the fronts, the quantitative composition of the party not only did not decrease but increased by more than 1.600 thousand people. The most staunch Soviet people came to the party from the ranks of the soldiers of the Soviet Army and Navy, who fought valiantly at the front, from among the foremost representatives of the working class, collective farm peasantry and the Soviet intelligentsia, who selflessly forged victory over the enemy in the rear.
After the end of the war, the Central Committee of the party decided to slow down the admission to the party somewhat, but nevertheless it continued to go at an increased pace. The party could not fail to notice that the rapid growth of its ranks also has its drawbacks, leading to a certain decrease in the level of political consciousness of the party ranks, to a certain deterioration in the qualitative composition of the party. A certain discrepancy was created between the quantitative growth of the partyʹs ranks and the level of political enlightenment of the party members and candidates. In order to eliminate this discrepancy and further improve the qualitative composition of the party, the Central Committee recognized it necessary not to speed up the further growth of the partyʹs ranks and to focus the attention of party organizations on the tasks of raising the political level of party members and candidates. In accordance with the instructions of the Central Committee, the party organizations began to more carefully select the ranks of the party, increased the requirements for applicants, and widely launched work on the political education of the communists. As a result, we have an undeniable growth in the political level of the party ranks, the Marxist‐Leninist consciousness of our cadres. However, it cannot be considered that the task set by the party to eliminate the lag of the level of political training of the communists from the growth of the party ranks has already been solved. In view of this, it is necessary to continue to continue the line of limiting admission to the party, improving the political enlightenment and party hardening of the communists, for the party is strong not only in the number of its members, but above all in their quality.
In the post‐war period, questions of strengthening party bodies, improving their activities and strengthening the work of party organizations acquired particular importance.
The new tasks facing the country in connection with the end of the war and the transition to peaceful construction demanded a serious improvement in internal party work and an increase in the level of leadership of party organizations in state and economic activities. The fact is that the wartime situation caused some peculiarities in the methods of party leadership, and also gave rise to major shortcomings in the work of party bodies and party organizations. This found its expression, first of all, in the fact that the party bodies weakened their attention to party organizational and ideological work, due to which this work was neglected in many party organizations. There was a certain danger that the party organs would be detached from the masses and transformed from bodies of political leadership, from militant and amateur organizations into a kind of administrative and administrative institutions, incapable of resisting any parochial, narrow departmental and other anti‐state aspirations, not noticing direct distortions of the partyʹs policy in economic construction, violations of state interests.
To prevent this danger and successfully solve the problem of strengthening local party bodies and strengthening the work of party organizations, it was necessary to eliminate the neglect of party organizational and ideological work and to put an end to such phenomena as the transfer of administrative methods of leadership to party organizations, leading to bureaucratization of party work, weakening activity and initiative of the party masses.
The Central Committee has placed in the center of attention of party organizations the task of consistently implementing internal party democracy and deploying criticism and self‐criticism, strengthening on this basis the control of the party masses over the activities of party bodies, for this is the key to boosting all party work, to increasing the activity and initiative of party organizations. and party members. The measures taken by the party to develop inner‐party democracy and self‐criticism helped party organizations to a large extent overcome the shortcomings in the state of party‐political work and played a serious role in raising it. On this basis, the activity and initiative of party members increased, the primary party organizations of enterprises, collective farms and institutions strengthened, their work revived, the control of the party masses over the activities of party bodies increased, the role of plenums of party committees and party activists increased.
However, it would be a mistake not to see that the level of partypolitical work is still lagging behind the demands of life, from the tasks put forward by the party. It must be admitted that there are shortcomings and mistakes in the work of party organizations, there are still many negative and sometimes painful phenomena in the life of our party organizations that need to be known, seen, exposed in order to eliminate them, overcome and ensure further successful movement forward.
What are these shortcomings, mistakes, negative and painful phenomena, and what are the tasks of the Party in this regard?
1) Self‐criticism and especially criticism from below are far from being fully and not in all party organizations have become the main method by which we must expose and overcome our mistakes and
shortcomings, our weaknesses and diseases.
In party organizations, there is still an underestimation of the role of criticism and self‐criticism in the life of the party and the state, and persecution and persecution for criticism is allowed. It is often possible to meet workers who endlessly shout about their loyalty to the party, but in fact do not tolerate criticism from below, suppress it, and take revenge on the critic. Quite a few facts are known when a bureaucratic attitude towards criticism and self‐criticism caused great damage to the partyʹs cause, killed the initiative of the party organization, undermined the authority of the leadership among the party masses, and asserted in the life of individual party organizations the anti‐party customs of bureaucrats, the sworn enemies of the party.
The Party cannot but take into account that where criticism and selfcriticism are in the corral, where the control of the masses over the activities of organizations and institutions is weakened, there inevitably such ugly phenomena as bureaucracy, decay and even decay of individual links in our apparatus arise. Of course, this kind of phenomenon is not widespread in our country. Our Party is as strong and healthy as ever. But it must be understood that these dangerous diseases did not spread significantly only because the party, using the weapon of criticism and self‐criticism, promptly, openly and boldly exposed them, inflicted decisive blows at specific manifestations of conceit, bureaucracy and decay. The wisdom of leadership consists in being able to see the danger in the bud and not give it the opportunity to grow to the size of a threat.
Criticism and self‐criticism are a tried and tested weapon of the Party in the struggle against shortcomings, mistakes, and painful phenomena that undermine the healthy organism of the Party. Criticism and selfcriticism do not weaken, but strengthen the Soviet state, the Soviet social system, and this is a sign of its strength and vitality.
At present, it is especially important to ensure the deployment of selfcriticism and criticism from below, to wage a merciless struggle, as with the worst enemies of the party, with those who hinder the development of criticism of our shortcomings, muffle criticism, allow persecution and persecution for criticism. The fact is that in connection with the victorious end of the war and major economic successes in the post‐war period, an uncritical attitude towards shortcomings and mistakes in the work of party, economic and other organizations developed in the ranks of the party. The facts show that the successes have generated in the ranks of the Party a mood of complacency, ceremonial well‐being and philistine calmness, a desire to rest on our laurels and live on the merits of the past. Many workers have appeared who believe that “we can do everything,” “we don’t care about anything,” that “things are going well,” and there is no need to bother yourself with such an unpleasant occupation as revealing shortcomings and mistakes in work, as the struggle against negative and painful phenomena. in our organizations. These moods, harmful in their consequences, swept over some of the cadres who were poorly educated and unstable in the party relation. The leaders of party, Soviet and economic organizations often turn meetings, assets, plenums and conferences into a parade, into a place for self‐praise, due to which mistakes and shortcomings in work, illnesses and weaknesses are not revealed or criticized, which strengthens the mood of complacency and complacency. A mood of carelessness penetrated the party organizations. Among party, economic, Soviet and other workers there is a dulling of vigilance, rotozy, facts of disclosing party and state secrets. Some workers, being carried away by economic affairs and successes, begin to forget that the capitalist encirclement still exists and that the enemies of the Soviet state are persistently trying to send their agents to us, to use the unstable elements of Soviet society for their dirty purposes.
In order to successfully move our cause forward, it is necessary to wage a resolute struggle against negative phenomena, direct the attention of the Party and all Soviet people to eliminating shortcomings in work, and for this it is necessary to widely deploy self‐criticism and especially criticism from below.
The active participation of the broad masses of working people in the struggle against shortcomings in work and negative phenomena in the life of our society is a vivid testimony to the genuine democratism of the Soviet system and the high political consciousness of the Soviet people. Criticism from below expresses the creative initiative and initiative of millions of working people, their concern for the strengthening of the Soviet state. The wider self‐criticism and criticism from below unfolds, the more fully the creative forces and energy of our people will be revealed, the more the feeling of the master of the country will grow and strengthen among the masses.
It is a mistake to think that criticism from below can develop on its own, in a spontaneous manner. Criticism from below can grow and widen only on condition when each speaker with healthy criticism is sure that he will find support in our organizations, and the shortcomings indicated by him will in fact be eliminated. It is necessary that party organizations and party workers, all our leaders, lead this business and show an example of honest and conscientious attitude to criticism. It is the duty of all leaders, especially Party workers, to create conditions so that all honest Soviet people can boldly and fearlessly criticize shortcomings in the work of organizations and institutions. Assemblies, assets, plenums, conferences in all organizations should in fact become a broad platform for bold and sharp criticism of shortcomings.
Persistent struggle against shortcomings and illnesses in the work of Party, Soviet, economic and other organizations must be the daily work of the entire Party. A communist has no right to be indifferent to painful phenomena and shortcomings in work, much less to hide them from the party. If things go wrong in this or that organization, the interests of the party and the state are damaged, a party member is obliged, regardless of persons, to report shortcomings to the leading party bodies up to the Central Committee of the party. This is the duty of every communist, his most important party duty. We have leaders who believe that if employees subordinate to them report shortcomings in the Central Committee of the Party, they thereby interfere with their leadership and undermine their authority. We must resolutely put an end to this kind of harmful and deeply anti‐Party views.
The partyʹs task is to expand criticism and self‐criticism more and more widely, to eliminate everything that hinders and hinders this work. The wider we involve the masses in the struggle against shortcomings in work, the stronger the control from below over the activities of all our organizations, the more successful we will be in all areas. Consistent implementation of the slogan of criticism and self‐criticism requires a determined struggle against all who hinder its deployment, who persecute and persecute criticism. Workers who do not contribute to the development of criticism and self‐criticism are a brake on our progress, they are not ripe to be leaders, and cannot count on the confidence of the party. 2) Party and state discipline is still weak among a part of the Party, Soviet, economic and other workers.
Our cadres include many workers who formally relate to the decisions of the party and government, do not show activity and persistence in the struggle to implement them, do not worry that things are going badly with them and that the interests of the country are being damaged. A formal attitude towards the decisions of the party and government, a passive attitude towards their implementation are such vices that must be eradicated in the most merciless way. The party needs not hardened and indifferent officials who prefer personal peace of mind to the interests of the cause, but tireless and selfless fighters for the implementation of party and government directives, putting state interests above all else.
One of the most dangerous and malicious manifestations of violation of party and state discipline is the concealment by some employees of the truth about the actual state of affairs in the enterprises and institutions under their jurisdiction, embellishment of the results of work. The Central Committee and the government uncovered the facts when some workers put narrow departmental and local interests above national interests and, under the guise of caring for subordinate enterprises, hid the material resources at their disposal from the state, took the path of violating party and state laws. There are also known facts when business executives, with the connivance of party organizations, present deliberately inflated requests for raw materials and materials, and if production plans are not fulfilled, they make notes in the reports on production. There are many workers who forget that the enterprises entrusted to their care and management are state‐owned and are trying to turn them into their own fiefdom, where such, if I may say so, the leader does whatever his ʺleft leg wants.ʺ (Laughter). The great evil lies in the fact that we have a lot of workers who believe that party decisions and Soviet laws are not obligatory for them, imagining that we supposedly have two disciplines: one for ordinary people, and the other for leaders. Such ʺleadersʺ think that they are allowed to do everything, that they can disregard the state and party order, violate Soviet laws, rampage and commit arbitrariness.
The party requires from all its members, and even more from the leading cadres, truthfulness and honesty, the strict fulfillment of its party and state duty, and it cannot trust people who commit anti‐state actions, trying to cheat with the government, deceive the party and the state. Any deception of the Party and the state, in whatever form it is expressed, any attempt to deceive, by concealing or by distorting the truth, cannot be regarded otherwise than as a grave crime against the Party. It is time to understand that in our party we have one discipline both for rank‐and‐file party members and for leaders, that Soviet laws are equally binding on all Soviet people, large and small. For leaders who are guilty of an unfair attitude towards the implementation of the decisions of the party and government, who admit lawlessness and arbitrariness, there can be no discounts for their position.
The task is to resolutely put an end to violations of party and state discipline, with manifestations of irresponsibility and slackness, a formal attitude to the decisions of the party and government, tirelessly increase the sense of duty to the party and the state in all our workers, mercilessly root out untruth and dishonesty. It is unacceptable for those workers who try to hide the truth from the Party and deceive it in the ranks of the Party. Unswerving observance of the interests of our Motherland, an active and tireless struggle for the implementation of party and government decisions are the primary duty of every worker of the party and state.
3) The instruction of the great Lenin that the main thing in organizational work ‐ the correct selection of people and the verification of fulfillment ‐ is still being implemented unsatisfactorily.
The facts show that the correct selection of people and the verification of fulfillment have far from become in fact the main thing in the leading activity of the central and local Party, Soviet and economic organizations.
Poor organization of the actual execution of the directives of the center and its own decisions, the lack of proper control over their implementation is one of the most widespread and deeply rooted shortcomings in the practical work of Soviet, economic and party organizations. Our organizations and institutions issue far more decisions, directives and orders than are required, but care little about whether they are being followed or how they are being implemented. But the essence of the matter is not to bureaucratically, but to carry them out correctly. Unscrupulous, irresponsible attitude to the execution of the directives of the governing bodies is the most dangerous and malicious manifestation of bureaucracy. Experience shows that even good workers, left to their own devices, without control and verification of their activities begin to deteriorate and become bureaucratic.
The most important task of the Party is to strengthen in every possible way the control and verification of execution throughout the entire system of leadership, in the work of all organizations and institutions from top to bottom. To do this, it is necessary to raise the personal responsibility of the leaders of all organizations and institutions for verifying the implementation of the decisions of the party and government, seriously improve the work of the control and auditing apparatus both in the center and in the localities, and strengthen it with cadres in such a way that reputable people are put on this matter , experienced and politically sharp, capable of strictly observing the interests of the state. It is necessary to significantly strengthen the role of party control, to focus the attention of party bodies on verifying the implementation of decisions of the party and government. It is necessary that our governing bodies rely in their work on checking fulfillment on the broad masses of the working people, on the Party, trade union and Komsomol organizations, on the activists of the local Soviets. Only a combination of verification of execution from above with verification from below by the party and non‐party masses will ensure timely elimination of shortcomings in the work of our organizations and institutions, create an environment in which decisions and directives will be implemented in a timely manner and accurately, in a Bolshevik manner.
The decisive force of the party and state leadership is cadres, without the correct selection and education of whom it is impossible to successfully implement the political line of the party. The main task in the selection of cadres is to improve in every possible way the qualitative composition of workers, to strengthen our Party, state and economic organizations with people devoted to the interests of the Party and the state, who know the job well and are able to move it forward.
As a result of the work carried out by the party, the composition of the leading personnel has significantly improved. However, this does not mean that the task of improving the quality of the management personnel has been fully resolved. Now, when all branches of the economy are equipped with advanced technology, and the cultural level of the Soviet people has grown immeasurably, the requirements for leading personnel have become different, higher. At the helm of leadership in industry and agriculture, in the Party and state apparatus, there should be cultural people, experts in their field, capable of bringing in a fresh stream, supporting everything that is advanced, progressive and creatively developing it. We have all the possibilities for this, since the basis for the selection and promotion of leading personnel who meet such requirements has become broader than before.
The further strengthening of the composition of the leading cadres now depends mainly on the correct organization of the study and selection of workers, and for this it is necessary, first of all, to eliminate shortcomings, errors and distortions in work with cadres. And we have a lot of shortcomings in this matter.
The main disadvantage is that some managers select personnel not on the basis of political and business characteristics, but in a family way, in a friendly way, in a fellowship. Often, employees who are honest and knowledgeable, but acute and intolerant of shortcomings and therefore causing concern to management, survive under various pretexts and are replaced by people of dubious value, or completely unsuitable for the business, but convenient and pleasing to some managers. As a result of such distortions of the party line in the selection and promotion of cadres in some organizations, a family of their own people is formed, bound by mutual responsibility, who put group interests above party and state interests. It is no wonder that such a situation usually leads to decay and decay. This was the case, for example, in the Ulyanovsk party organization, where some of the economic, Soviet and party workers from the leadership of the regional organization became morally corrupted, embarked on the path of embezzlement, stealing and plundering the state property.
The clerical, bureaucratic approach to the study and selection of workers is doing great harm to the further improvement of the composition of the leading personnel. Often, the selection of employees is carried out on the basis of personal data and formal certificates, without a serious examination of the business and political qualities of employees. In the recruitment business, the vicious practice of the absentee approval or appointment of workers without live communication with them has taken root. It is clear that with such a formal, bureaucratic approach to recruiting, it is impossible to correctly decide whether an employee is suitable or not suitable for the job for which he is recommended. Without ascertaining the merits and demerits of an employee, it is impossible to determine in which post his personal abilities can best unfold.
Party organizations are obliged to ensure that the principles of selection and placement of personnel established by our Party are strictly observed at all levels of our apparatus. It is necessary to wage an irreconcilable struggle against nepotism and mutual responsibility, to put an end to the bureaucratic attitude towards the study and selection of personnel. It is necessary to raise to a higher level the work of Party bodies in the study and selection of cadres and to significantly strengthen Party control over the state of this matter in Soviet and economic organizations.
The task is to make the selection of people and the verification of fulfillment in practice the main thing in the leading activities of the central and local party, Soviet and economic organizations. It must be remembered that the purpose of the execution check is, first of all, to uncover flaws, to identify lawlessness, to help honest workers, incorrigible, to punish and achieve the implementation of the decision, to study experience and, on the basis of it, to provide the most correct, profitable, economical solution to the set tasks. You must not allow a bureaucratic approach to the matter of checking execution; you must not be afraid to cancel or correct the decision made if it turns out to be erroneous or inaccurate. Verification of performance is inextricably linked with the task of eliminating shortcomings in the selection of personnel; in accordance with the results of the audit, it is necessary to remove bad, unfit, backward, unscrupulous workers and replace them with the best, suitable, advanced, honest people; verification of implementation should help to promote new people who are able to move things forward, who stand guard over the interests of the state.
4) In many party organizations there is an underestimation of ideological work, due to which this work lags behind the tasks of the party, and in a number of organizations it is in a state of neglect.
Ideological work is the primary responsibility of the party, and underestimation of this work can cause irreparable damage to the interests of the party and the state. We must always remember that any weakening of the influence of socialist ideology means an increase in the influence of bourgeois ideology.
In our Soviet society, there is not and cannot be a class base for the rule of bourgeois ideology. We are dominated by socialist ideology, the inviolable foundation of which is Marxism‐Leninism. But we still have vestiges of bourgeois ideology, vestiges of private property psychology and morality. These remnants do not die off by themselves, they are very tenacious, they can grow, and a decisive struggle must be waged against them. We are also not immune from the penetration of alien views, ideas and sentiments to us from the outside, from the capitalist states, and from within, from the remnants of groups hostile to the Soviet regime that have not been killed by the party. We must not forget that the enemies of the Soviet state are trying to spread, stir up and inflate all kinds of unhealthy moods, ideologically disintegrate the unstable elements of our society.
Some of our party organizations, carried away by the economy, forget about questions of ideology, leave them aside. Even in such advanced party organizations as, for example, in Moscow, insufficient attention is paid to ideological work. And it doesnʹt go in vain. Where attention to ideological issues weakens, a fertile soil is created for the revival of hostile views and ideas. Those areas of ideological work that for some reason fall out of sight of the party organizations, where party leadership and influence are weakening, these areas are trying to get their hands on alien people, all sorts of elements from the rump of antiLeninist groups defeated by the party and use them to pull their own line, to revive and spreading various kinds of non‐Marxist ʺpoints of viewʺ and ʺconceptsʺ.
The underestimation of ideological work is largely the result of the fact that some of our leading cadres do not work to raise their consciousness, do not replenish their knowledge in the field of Marxism‐Leninism, do not enrich themselves with the historical experience of the party. And without this, you cannot become fullfledged mature leaders. Anyone who lags behind in ideological and political terms, lives by memorized formulas and does not feel new, he is not able to correctly understand the internal and external situation, cannot and is unworthy to be at the head of the movement, life will sooner or later discard him. Only such a leader can stand at the height of the tasks of our Party, who constantly works on himself, creatively masters Marxism‐Leninism, develops and improves in himself the qualities of a leader of the Leninist‐Stalinist type.
Party organizations are still weakly working with members and candidates for party members to improve their ideological and political training, poorly organize and control their work on the study of Marxist‐Leninist theory, as a result of which many communists do not have the necessary knowledge in the field of Marxism‐Leninism. Raising the political literacy of party members and candidates is an indispensable condition for strengthening their leading role in all areas of life, further activating the party masses and improving the work of party organizations.
Due to insufficient leadership of ideological work and lack of control over its content, serious mistakes and distortions are often made in books, newspapers and magazines, in the activities of scientific and other ideological institutions. As a result of the intervention of the Central Committee of the Party in many fields of science, manners and traditions alien to the Soviet people were revealed, facts of caste isolation and intolerant attitude to criticism were revealed, various manifestations of bourgeois ideology and all kinds of vulgarisation perversions were exposed and smashed. The well‐known discussions on philosophy, biology, physiology, linguistics, political economy revealed serious ideological gaps in various fields of science, gave impetus to the development of criticism and conflict of opinions, and played an important role in the development of science. The Arakcheev regime, which existed in many sectors of the scientific front, was defeated. However, in a number of branches of science, the monopoly of individual groups of scientists has not yet been completely eliminated, scrubbing away the growing fresh forces, protecting themselves from criticism and trying to solve scientific problems by administrative means. No branch of science can successfully develop in the musty atmosphere of mutual praise and suppression of mistakes; attempts to establish the monopoly of individual groups of scientists inevitably give rise to stagnation and decay in science.
The ideological work of the party should play an important role in cleansing the consciousness of people from the remnants of capitalism, from prejudices and harmful traditions of the old society. We must continue to develop among the masses a high consciousness of social duty, educate the working people in the spirit of Soviet patriotism and friendship of peoples, in the spirit of caring for the interests of the state, and improve the best qualities of Soviet people ‐ confidence in the victory of our cause, readiness and ability to overcome any difficulties.
The task of party organizations is to resolutely put an end to the harmful underestimation of ideological work, to intensify this work at all levels of the party and state, tirelessly to expose all manifestations of ideology alien to Marxism. It is necessary to develop and improve socialist culture, science, literature, art, to direct all means of ideological and political influence, our propaganda, agitation, and the press to improve the ideological training of communists, to increase the political vigilance and consciousness of workers, peasants, and intelligentsia. All our cadres, all without exception, are obliged to work on raising their ideological level, to master the rich political experience of the party in order to keep up with life and to stand at the height of the partyʹs tasks. It is necessary that party organizations constantly work with members and candidate members of the party to raise their ideological level, teach them Marxism‐Leninism, form them into politically prepared, conscious communists.
Our tasks in the field of further strengthening the party are as follows.
1) Continue to improve the qualitative composition of the party, prevent the pursuit of numbers, but focus on raising the political level and Marxist tempering of members and candidates for members of the party; to raise the political activity of the communists, to make all party members staunch fighters for the implementation of the policy and decisions of the party, irreconcilable to shortcomings in work, capable of persistently seeking to eliminate them; to improve and perfect the work of the trade unions and the Komsomol, to strengthen daily ties with the masses, bearing in mind that the strength and invincibility of our party lies in its blood and inseparable ties with the people;
2) To put an end to the moods of complacency and ecstasy, which are harmful and dangerous for our cause, with successes, manifestations of splendor and complacency in the ranks of the Party, boldly and resolutely reveal and eliminate shortcomings and weaknesses in our work; consistently pursue internal party democracy, expand selfcriticism and criticism from below, ensure that all honest Soviet people can courageously and fearlessly criticize shortcomings in the work of our organizations and institutions, wage a merciless struggle against all attempts to suppress criticism, persecution and persecution for criticism; to strengthen party and state discipline in every possible way, to eradicate the formal attitude to the decisions of the party and government, to wage a resolute struggle against indiscipline and violations of state interests;
3) To raise to a higher level the work of party bodies on the correct selection, placement and education of cadres, strictly observe the principles of correct selection of workers established by the party, wage an irreconcilable struggle against violators of these principles, mercilessly fight against the bureaucratic approach to the selection of personnel, improve the quality of the leadership cadres, more boldly to nominate for leadership work people who are devoted to the interests of the Party and the state, who know the job well and are able to move it forward, to remove bad, unusable, backward, unscrupulous workers; to strengthen in every possible way the control and verification of execution in the entire system of leadership from top to bottom, to raise the personal responsibility of the leaders of all organizations and institutions for verifying the execution of decisions of the party and government, to combine verification of execution from above with verification from below by the party and non‐party masses; to ensure that the correct selection of people and the verification of fulfillment in practice become the main thing in the leading activities of the central and local Party, Soviet and economic organizations;
4) End underestimation of ideological work, wage a decisive struggle against liberalism and carelessness with regard to ideological errors and perversions, systematically increase and improve the ideological and political training of our cadres; to direct all means of ideological influence, our propaganda, agitation, and the press for the communist education of Soviet people; to raise Soviet science to a higher level, deploying criticism and the struggle of opinions in scientific work, remembering that only in this way can Soviet science fulfill its mission ‐ to take first place in world science;
5) To further protect, like the apple of an eye, the Leninist unity of the party ranks, which is the basis of the strength and invincibility of our party. (Stormy, prolonged applause.)
Comrades!
In our era, the great teaching of Marx‐Engels‐Lenin‐Stalin illuminates the path of development of world civilization for all mankind.
Our party is strong in that it is guided in all its activities by MarxistLeninist theory. Its policy is based on scientific knowledge of the laws of social development.
The historical role of our great teachers Lenin and Stalin lies in the fact that they, deeply penetrating the theoretical foundations of Marxism and perfectly mastering the dialectical method, defended and defended Marxism from all distortions and brilliantly developed Marxist teaching. Lenin and Stalin constantly, at each new turn in history, associated Marxism with certain practical tasks of the era, showing with their creative approach to the teachings of Marx and Engels that Marxism is not a dead dogma, but a living guide to action.
The Marxist‐Leninist theory is the subject of Comrade Stalinʹs tireless concerns. In the center of Comrade Stalinʹs theoretical activity during the entire recent period has been the elaboration of problems of worldhistorical significance — the development of the socialist economy, the gradual transition to communism. By creatively enriching and developing Marxist‐Leninist science, Comrade Stalin ideologically arms the Party and the Soviet people in the struggle for the triumph of our cause.
The just‐published work of Comrade Stalin ʺEconomic Problems of
Socialism in the USSRʺ is of the greatest importance for MarxistLeninist theory, for all our practical activity. (Stormy, prolonged applause.) In this work, the laws of social production and the distribution of material wealth in socialist society are comprehensively studied, the scientific foundations for the development of the socialist economy are determined, and the ways of a gradual transition from socialism to communism are indicated. In his elaboration of questions of economic theory, Comrade Stalin advanced Marxist‐Leninist political economy far ahead.
Comrade Stalin put forward programmatic provisions on the basic preliminary conditions for preparing the transition to communism. In order to prepare for a real transition to communism, Comrade Stalin teaches, at least three basic preconditions must be fulfilled.
“It is necessary, first, to firmly ensure ... the continuous growth of all social production with a predominant growth in the production of means of production. The predominant growth in the production of means of production is necessary not only because it must provide equipment for both its own enterprises and enterprises of all other sectors of the national economy, but also because without it is generally impossible to carry out expanded reproduction. (I. Stalin. Economic problems of socialism in the USSR, pp. 66 ‐ 67).
“It is necessary, secondly, through gradual transitions carried out with the benefit of the collective farms and, consequently, for the whole of society, to raise collective farm property to the level of public property, and commodity circulation also through gradual transitions to replace a system of product exchange, so that the central government or some or the socio‐economic center could embrace all the products of social production in the interests of society ”(ibid., p. 67).
Of course, at the present time commodity circulation and collective farm property are being successfully used for the development of the socialist economy and are of undoubted benefit to our society. They will be useful in the near future as well. But we need to keep in mind the prospects for our development.
“... It is impossible to achieve, ‐ points out Comrade Stalin, ‐ neither an abundance of products that can cover all the needs of society, nor a transition to the formulaʺ to each according to his needs ʺ, leaving in force such economic facts as collective farm property, commodity circulation, etc. . ʺ (ibid., p. 66).
As long as there are two main production sectors in the socialist economy — the state and the collective farm — the commodity circulation with its ʺmoney economyʺ must remain in force as a necessary and useful element in the system of our national economy. The existence of commodity production and commodity circulation also determines the existence of the law of value under socialism, although under our system it has already ceased to play the role of a regulator of production.
But commodity circulation, like the law of value, is not eternal. When, instead of the two main forms of socialist production — national and collective farm — there appears one all‐embracing production sector, commodity circulation with its ʺmoney economyʺ, like the law of value, will disappear. The views of those people who believe that commodity circulation will be preserved under communism have nothing in common with Marxism. Commodity circulation is incompatible with the prospect of a transition from socialism to communism.
Comrade Stalin theoretically worked out the question of measures to raise collective farm property to the level of public property, of a gradual transition to a system of product exchange between state industry and collective farms. The rudiments of product exchange that exist at present, which are expressed in the “stocking up” of the products of cotton‐growing, flax‐growing, beet‐growing and other collective farms, will develop into an extensive system of product exchange.
“Such a system,” points out Comrade Stalin, “will require a tremendous increase in the production supplied by the city to the countryside, therefore it will have to be introduced without much haste, as urban products accumulate. But it must be introduced steadily, without hesitation, step by step reducing the scope of commodity circulation and expanding the scope of product exchange.
Such a system, by reducing the sphere of action of commodity circulation, will facilitate the transition from socialism to communism. In addition, it will make it possible to include the main property of the collective farms, the products of collective farm production, into the general system of national planning.
This will be the real and decisive means for raising collective farm property to the level of public property under our present conditions
”(ibid., P. 94).
The system of product exchange is undoubtedly beneficial for the collective farm peasantry, since it will receive from the state much more production and at cheaper prices than with commodity circulation. Collective farms, which already now use “stocking”, which means the beginnings of a product exchange system, are experiencing the enormous benefits and advantages of this system. It is known that there are especially many rich collective farms among such collective farms.
To prepare the basic preconditions for the transition to communism, ‐ as comrade Stalin points out, ‐ “It is necessary, thirdly, to achieve such a cultural growth of society that would ensure all members of society the comprehensive development of their physical and mental abilities, so that members of society have the opportunity to receive education enough to become active figures in social development, so that they have the opportunity to freely choose a profession, and not be chained for life, due to the existing division of labor, to one profession ”(ibid., p. 68).
“To do this, we must first of all reduce the working day to at least 6, and then to 5 hours. This is necessary to ensure that members of the community have enough free time to receive a comprehensive education. For this, it is necessary, further, to introduce compulsory polytechnic education, which is necessary so that members of society have the opportunity to freely choose a profession and not be chained to one profession for the rest of their lives. For this, it is necessary, further, to radically improve housing conditions and raise the real wages of workers and employees at least twice, if not more, both by directly raising money wages and, especially, by further systematic reduction in prices for consumer goods ʺ(ibid. , p. 69).
Only after the fulfillment of all these preconditions taken together, Comrade Stalin teaches, will it be possible to hope that labor, from a heavy burden, as it was under capitalism, will turn in the eyes of members of society into a first vital need, and public property will be regarded by all members of society. as an unshakable and inviolable basis for the existence of society. Only after all these preconditions are met, taken together, it will be possible to move from the socialist formula ‐ ʺfrom each according to his ability, to each according to his workʺ to the communist formula ‐ ʺfrom each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.ʺ
Comrade Stalin strongly warns against frivolous leap forward and the transition to higher economic forms without first creating the necessary prerequisites for such a transition.
Comrade Stalin gave a scientific solution to such great social problems and programmatic issues of communism as the abolition of the opposition between town and country, between physical and mental labor, and also worked out a new question in Marxist science about eliminating the essential differences between them that still remain in socialist society.
Thus, the Partyʹs plans for the future, which determine the prospects and ways of our movement forward, are based on knowledge of economic laws, and are based on the science of building a communist society developed by Comrade Stalin. (Stormy, long‐lasting applause).
Comrade Stalinʹs substantiation of the objective nature of economic laws is of great fundamental importance. Comrade Stalin teaches that the laws of economic development, the laws of political economy — whether it is capitalism or socialism — are objective laws that reflect the process of economic development that takes place independently of the will of people. People can discover these laws, learn them, use them in the interests of society, but they cannot destroy old or create new economic laws. Economic laws are not created by the will of people, but arise on the basis of new economic conditions.
The views of people who believe that it is possible to create or destroy the laws of economic development are deeply mistaken, that due to the special role given by history to the Soviet state, it can abolish the existing laws of political economy, ʺshapeʺ new ones or ʺtransformʺ them. Denial of the existence of objective laws in economic life under socialism would lead to chaos and accidents. Such a denial would lead to the fact that political economy as a science would be liquidated, for science cannot live and develop without recognizing objective laws, without studying these laws. Denial of the objective nature of economic laws is the ideological basis of adventurism in economic policy, complete arbitrariness in the practice of managing the economy.
The largest contribution to Marxist political economy is the discovery by Comrade Stalin of the basic economic law of modern capitalism and the basic economic law of socialism. The basic economic law determines the essence of a given mode of production, all the main aspects and all the main processes of its development, it provides the key to understanding and explaining all the laws of this economic system.
Comrade Stalin proved that the main features and requirements of the basic economic law of modern capitalism are “to ensure maximum capitalist profit by exploiting, ruining and impoverishing the majority of the population of a given country, by enslaving and systematically robbing the peoples of other countries, especially backward countries, and finally, by means of wars and militarization. of the national economy used to ensure the highest profits ”(ibid., p. 38). This law reveals and explains the flagrant contradictions of capitalism, reveals the causes and roots of the aggressive predatory policy of the capitalist states. The operation of this law leads to a deepening of the general crisis of capitalism, to the inevitable growth and explosion of all the contradictions of capitalist society.
The exact opposite of decaying capitalism is the rising and flourishing socialist system. The essential features and requirements of the basic economic law of socialism, discovered by Comrade Stalin, are: “ensuring maximum satisfaction of the constantly growing material and cultural needs of the entire society through the continuous growth and improvement of socialist production based on higher technology” (ibid., P. 40). Comrade Stalin showed that the goal of the socialist mode of production is not profit, but a person with his needs, the satisfaction of his material and cultural needs. Ensuring maximum satisfaction of the constantly growing material and cultural needs of the entire society serves as the goal of socialist production, and the continuous growth and improvement of socialist production on the basis of higher technology is a means to achieve the goal. The operation of this law leads to an increase in the productive forces of society, to its prosperity, to a continuous increase in the material well‐being and cultural level of the working people. (Applause.)
Comrade Stalinʹs discovery of the fundamental economic law of modern capitalism and the fundamental economic law of socialism deals a crushing blow to all apologists of capitalism. These basic economic laws indicate that if in a capitalist society a person is subordinated to the ruthless law of extracting maximum profit, in the name of which people are doomed to grievous suffering, poverty, unemployment and bloody wars, then in a socialist society all production is subordinated to a person with his continuously growing needs. ... This is the decisive advantage of the new, higher than capitalism, social system ‐ communism. (Applause.)
Communism arises as a result of the conscious creativity of the millions of working people. The theory of spontaneity and spontaneity is deeply alien to the entire economic system of socialism. The capitalist economy, by virtue of the operation of the law of competition and anarchy of production, is torn apart by the most acute contradictions. Comrade Stalin showed that on the basis of the socialization of the means of production, as opposed to the law of competition and anarchy of production, a law of planned (proportional) development of the national economy arose in our country.
The law of the planned development of the national economy is not the basic economic law of socialism, and our planning practice in itself cannot give the desired positive results if it does not take into account the main task of socialist production, does not rely on the basic economic law of socialism. In order to ensure the continuous growth of all social production and create an abundance of products in our country, it is necessary to master the art of the planned and rational use of all material, financial, and labor resources, proceeding from the requirements of the law of planned development of the national economy and in accordance with the requirements of the basic economic law of socialism ...
In his works devoted to the economic problems of socialism in the USSR, Comrade Stalin showed the complexity of the tasks that we have to solve in the struggle against difficulties, overcoming the contradictions that arise in the course of communist construction.
Comrade Stalin discovered the objective economic law of the obligatory correspondence of production relations to the nature of the productive forces and substantiated its enormous cognitive and transformative role. Shrewdly revealing the processes taking place in our economy, Comrade Stalin showed a deep fallacy of the views that under socialism there is no contradiction between production relations and the productive forces of society. There are and will certainly be contradictions, since the development of production relations lags and will lag behind the development of the productive forces. Of course, in a socialist society, it usually does not come to a conflict between production relations and productive forces, but it would be dangerous not to notice that there are and may be contradictions between them. We are obliged to notice these contradictions in a timely manner and, by pursuing a correct policy, to overcome them in time, so that production relations fulfill their role as that main and decisive force that determines the powerful development of the productive forces.
The tasks of our advancement oblige party leaders, workers in the field of social sciences, primarily economists, guided by the program instructions of Comrade Stalin, to comprehensively develop questions of Marxist‐Leninist theory in an inseparable connection with practical creative work.
The works of Comrade Stalin are a striking indicator of the outstanding importance our Party attaches to theory. The revolutionary theory was, is and will be an unfading beacon that illuminates the way forward for our Party and our people towards the complete triumph of communism. (Stormy applause.)
Comrade Stalin tirelessly pushes the Marxist theory forward. In the classic work of Comrade Stalin, ʺMarxism and Questions of Linguistics,ʺ the fundamental provisions of the theory of Marxism about the natural character of social development are raised to a new, higher level, questions about the economic basis and superstructure of society, about productive forces and production relations are comprehensively developed. The doctrine of dialectical and historical materialism, as the theoretical basis of communism, is further developed. Comrade Stalin revealed the role of language as a tool for the development of society, indicated the prospects for the further development of national cultures and languages. In this work, Comrade Stalin, having enriched Marxist‐Leninist science with new theses, opened up new prospects for the progress of all branches of knowledge.
Comrade Stalinʹs works on economic questions and on questions of linguistics mark a new stage in the development of Marxism and are a remarkable example of a creative approach to the teachings of MarxEngels‐Lenin. Comrade Stalin teaches that any dogmatic approach to theory is unacceptable and is capable of doing great harm to the cause of the political education of the masses. The theoretical discoveries of Comrade Stalin are of world‐wide historical significance, they arm all peoples with the knowledge of the ways of the revolutionary reorganization of society and the richest experience in the struggle of our party for communism. (Stormy, prolonged applause.)
The tremendous significance of the theoretical works of Comrade Stalin lies in the fact that they warn against slipping on the surface, penetrate into the depths of phenomena, into the very essence of the processes of development of society, teach to see in embryo those phenomena that will determine the course of events, which makes it possible for Marxist foresight.
The teachings of Marx ‐ Engels ‐ Lenin ‐ Stalin give our party invincible strength, the ability to blaze new paths in history, clearly see the goal of our forward movement, and to win and consolidate victories faster and more firmly.
The Leninist‐Stalinist ideas illuminate the tasks and prospects of the struggle of the masses of the people of all countries against imperialism, for peace, democracy and socialism with a bright light of revolutionary theory. (Stormy, long‐lasting applause).
Our mighty Motherland is in the prime of its strength and is moving towards new successes. We have everything you need to build a complete communist society. The natural resources of the Soviet country are inexhaustible. Our state has proven its ability to use this enormous wealth for the benefit of the working people. The Soviet people have shown their ability to build a new society and look confidently to the future. (Prolonged applause.)
At the head of the peoples of the Soviet Union is a party tested and hardened in battles, steadily pursuing the Leninist‐Stalinist policy. Under the leadership of the Communist Party, the world‐historic victory of socialism in the USSR was won and the exploitation of man by man was abolished forever. Under the leadership of the Party, the peoples of the Soviet Union are successfully fighting for the realization of the great goal of building communism in our country. (Prolonged applause.)
There are no forces in the world that could stop the forward movement of Soviet society. Our cause is invincible. You need to keep a firm grip on the steering wheel and go your own way, not succumbing to either provocations or intimidation. (Stormy, prolonged applause.)
Under the banner of the immortal Lenin, under the wise leadership of the great Stalin, forward to the victory of communism!
(After the end of the report, all delegates stand up, warmly greet Comrade Stalin with a stormy, prolonged ovation. Exclamations are heard from all over the hall: ʺHurray! Long live the great Stalin!ʺ, ʺHurray to dear Stalin!ʺ, ʺLong live our beloved leader and teacher comrade Stalin!ʺ ).