-
PEKI 4Jonuory 2?, 7no
DeYelop ProductiYe ForsesAnd Continue the Revolution|[
4.
{^
-{L
llow llid ilarr and Engels llilferentiateEurope's Political
Forees?
- Answering questions regording the "Renmin Riboo"orticle on the
theory of the three worlds
Shanghai: A Coostol lndustrial Base
-
PEKINGREVIEW
,L 4. [q.#TBEUING ZHoUBAO.
THE WEEN
Premier Borre Visits ChinoVice-Choirmon Teng Ying-choo Visits
Phnom PenhBright Prospects for lron ond Steel ProductionMore
Exports Thon lmports
ARIICIES AND DOCUMENIS!s It Necessory b Deyclop the Productive
Forces in Continuing the Revolution?
- Lin KongShanghoi: A Cooul lndustriol BoseChinese Press
Survey:
Afforestotion in the CopitolReoders' Comments
Explonotory Notes to Volume V of "Selected Works of Moo Tsetung"
(3)Three-World Theory: Questions & Answers: How Did Morr ond
Engels Dil-
lerentiote Europe's Politicol Forcer in thc Lotter Holl ol the
t9th Century?Oil Struggle Develops in Depth - Hsin PingWhy Dges
Moscow Resort to Lies ond Slonders Over Kompucheo-Viet Nom
Armed Conflict?-A commentory by Hsinhuo CorrespondentThe
Unemployment Problem in Western Countries - Hsin Ping
aROUND THE WORTD. Three-World .Jheory: Closs Line lor
Present-Doy lnternotionol Communist
Movement
Kompucheo: 10th Anniversory of Founding of Revolutionory Army
CelebrotedBolivio: Fighting for Democrotic RightsEgypt-lsroel
Tolks: lsroeli Obstructions
ON THE HOME FRONICommune- or Brigode-Run. EnterprisesStoring
GroinMorning in Peking
Yol. 21, No. I lonuory tt, TYto
Published in English, French, Spanish,Japanese, German and
Arabic edifions
CONTENTS
6
t1
14
l415
18
22
24
26
Published cvery Fridoy by PEKING REVIEW, Peklng (37), ChinoPost
Office Registrotion No. 2.922
Printad in the People'3 Republic of Chino
-
Premier Barre Yisits China
"I have brought you thesalute of the Republic ofFrance." This
was what FrenchPremier Raymond Barre saidwhen he came down the
rampand' met Chairman Hua Kuo-feng who was at the plane-sideto
welcome him.
Vice-Premiers Teng lIsiao-ping and Ku Mu, Minister ofFoieign
Affairs Huang Hua andMinister of Foreign Trde LiChiang"-were also,
present atPeking Airport to welcome Pre-mier Raymond Barre and
Ma-dame Barre, Minister of ForeignAffairs Louis de Guringaud,
Minister of Foreign TradeAndre Rossi and MadameRossi.
While shaking hands with'Vice-Premier Teng Hsiao-ping,Premier
Barre said: "This isthe fir{ time we meet, but myFrench
friends.often spoke tome about you in the pastseveral years."
Coming from the secondworld, the French Premier paida fiveday
official visit to Chinastarting from January 19. Onthe evening of
the distinguishedguests' arrival in Peking, Vice-Premier Teng
Hsiao-ping hosteda grand banquet given bY the
WEEK
State Council in their honour.Vice-Pr'emier Teng and
PremierBarre both spoke on the occa-sion. (For highlights of
theirspeeches see box below.) Whilein Pe'king, Premier Barre
heldtalks with Vice-Premier Tengand they attended the sign-ing
ceremony of an agree-ment on science and iechnologybetween the
Governments ofChina and France, signed bythe foreign ministers of
bothcountries.
January 21 wais a busy dayfor the French friends. Chair-man Hua
met Premier Barreand hisr entourage in the after-noon and exchanged
viewswith him on the developmentof friendly relations betweenChina
and France and on in-ternational issues of commonconcern. During
the meeting,Chairman Hua accepted withpleasure President
Giscardd'Estaing's invitation to visitFrance and expressed the
hopethat President Giscard willvisit China at a time convenientfor
him. To the dozens ofFrench journalists who wergbusy colering and
taking shotsof the meeting between theleaders of the two
countrieqChairman Hua said: "I requestyou, on your return home,
toconvey our regards to theFrench people. The French peo-ple have a
glorious traditionand the French nation is a greatnation."
THE
C.onfronted with the threot of su!,erpoirer oggression ond
ex-ponsion, the existence of on increqsingly united ond strong
Europeis in the interests of the Europeon people We oppreciote
theefforts of the French Government _to promote the unity of
Western'Europe. ;Tene Hsioo-ping
lndeed, both Chino ond Fronce treosurr their own notionol
ln-dependence, ond 'they do not ollow. the superpowers to dictote
tothem oi ride rougjhshod'over them. Both believe thot, in order
todefend notionol independdnce ond security, it is necessorf in
thistroubled world to strengthen'their defence copobility ond
oppose onyqttampt of hegemonism to weoken their defence.-feng
Hsioo-ping
The relotions between Fron"" ond Chino ore good ond they
condevelop further. lt is our duty to extend ond deepen our
co-operotion, This co-operotion seems to me to conform not only
tothe possibilities but olso to the fundomentol interests of our
twopeoples.-Roymond Bone
Amgng these principles, I mention in porticulor respect
fornotionol independence.ond identity, renouncement of blocs,
rejec-tion of oll ottempts to bring pressure to beor upon other
countries,ond the right for eoch country or o number of countries
freelygrouped together to solve their own problems free from
outsideinterference. - Roymond Borrc
lr"""rVn, lW)
-
That evening, Premier andMadame Ba,rre gave a grandreciprocal
banquet. On theafternoon of January 22, Vice-Chairman of the
StandingCommittee of the NationalPeople's Congress Teng Ying-chao
met with Prernier andMadame Barre. Before theirdeparture for home,
the Frenchguests toured northeast Chinaand Shanghai.
Yice-Chairman TengYing-chao YisitsPhnom Penh
Teng Ying-chao, Member ofthe Central Committee 'of theCommunist
Party of China andVice-Chairman of the StandingCommittee of the
National Peo-ple's Congress, was accorded awarm welcome by the
Com-munist Party, the Governmentand people of Kampuchea whenshe
paid a 3-day friendship virsitto Democratic Kampuchea lastweek. In
the years of ragingwar when Kampuchea wasfighting for national
liberation,Vice-Chairman Teng hadcherished the wish to visit
thecountry as a comrade-in-armsof the Kampuchean people.Last year
when Secretary PolPot of the Central Committee ofthe Communist
Party of Kam-puchea visited China, he per-sonally extended an
invitationto her. Now this wish has cometrue.
On the day of her arrival atPhnom Penh, Pochentong Air-port was
permeated with a
4
ln delending the country, we hove surmounted ond ore over'coming
obstocles to fight ond sofeguord our socred ierritories. -Nuon
Cheo
We Kompucheon people cherish theL.desire to enioy dignity osthe
moster of the lond, liod on independent; free ond peoceful lifeond
build the country in occordonce with our profound ospirotignsond in
the woy we hove chosen. We Kompucheon people ore filledwith the
most ordent ond justified potriotism.-Nuon Cheo
Our froternol close ond deep friendship is bosed on
Morxism'Leninisrn ond proletorion internotionolism ond hos stood
the test ofprotrocted struggles. -- Teng Ying-choo
Democrotic Kompucheo is on independent ond sovereign sbte.The
just couse of the Kompucheon people in upholding the FivePrinciples
of Peoceful Coexistence ond in sofeguording the independ-ence,
sovereignty ond territoriol integrity of their own country
iswinning brood sympothy ond support from the people of the
wholeurcrld. - Teng Ying-choo
warm atmosphere of revolution-ary friendship and
militantsolidarity between Kampucheaand China. PoI Pot, Secretaryof
the C.P.K. Central Com-mittee and Prime Minister ofthe Government
of DemocraticKampuchea, and Nuon .Chea,Deputy Secretary of the
C.P.K.Central Committee and Chair-man of the Permanent Com-mittee
of the People's Congressof Kampuchea, were at the air-port to
welcome her. Thatevening, the Kampuchean hostsgave a grand banquet
in herhonour. Chairman Nuon Cheasaid at the banquet: "Today, we
welcome in high spirits Vice-Chairman Teng Ying-chao, be-cause
she is not only a nobleenvoy of the glorious Com-munist Party of
China, the Na-tional People's Congress and theChinese Government,
but alsoan intimate comrade-in-arrns ofthe late and beloved
Premier
Chou En-Iai." (See speectthighlights in box above.)
Before the banquet, Vice-Chairman Teng called onSecretary PoI
Pot and otherKampuchean Party and govern-ment leaders at the
StatePalace. They had a very cor-dial and friendly conversa-tion.
Before leaving Kampucheafor home, Vice-Chairman Tengand other
Chinese guests, ac-companied by Chairman NuonChea, visited Siem
Reap in thenorthern part of Kampuchea onJanuary 20.
Bright Prospects for lron
China's iron and steel in-dustry got off to a flying startthis
year. Production plans forthe first half of January
wereoverfulfilled, with daily outputeonsistently high and
stable.Major.iron and steel products in
Peking Ret>ieut, No. 4
-
the first ten .days registered'substantial increases over
tJresame period of last year and theoutput of steel, in
particular,was up by more than 120 percent.
The situation is so good thatit has surpassed all
expectations.Take for instance the city ofTangshan where a strong
earth-quake in summer 1976 causedheavy damage to its iron andsteel
works. But after more thana year of arduous efforts, theworkers
there have successfullyrestored and developed produc-tion.
. By December last year,the city's average daily steeloutput had
reached 2,710 tons,which was well over the pre-quake level.
Like the other industrialdepartments, China,s iron andsteel
industry was in a state ofstagnation, fluctuation and
evenback-sliding when the ,,gang offour" was running wild. Withthe
downfall of the gang, itsfollowers in the Ministry ofMetallurgical
Industry and inthe key enterprises were dis-missed from office.
Since then,things have begun to turn forthe better and a big leap
for-ward is taking shape. In his re-cent talks with reporters,
thenewly appointed Minister ofMetallurgical Industry Tang
Kedeclared that the goal was todevelop the metallurgical indus-try
at high speed, with topquality and by advanced stand-ards and
strive to catch upwith and surpass the United
Januar'lt 27. 1978
States by the end of thiscentury.
Developing the metallurgicalindustry as fast as possible isof
paramount importance toputting an end to the backwardstate of
China's economy andrealizing the modernization ofagriculture,
industry, nationaldefenee and science and tech-nolog;7. Unless we
achieve ahigh-qieed development . of oureconomy, our country will
notbe powerful enough and wouldbe subjected to foreign ag-gression-
But what doeshigh speed mean? The par-ticipants in the
nationallearn-from-Taching conferenceof the metallurgical
industrywhich had recently closed inPeking were of the
unanimousopinion that high speed meansChina should rank among
theworld's most advanced coun-tries in the iron and steel in-dustry
before the end of thiscentur5r.
l,lore Exports Thanlmports
Last year saw the overfulfil-ment of state plans for bothexports
and imports whose totalvolumes were over 12 per centhigher than in
the previousyear. ltrith exports exceedingimports, there was a
favourable
balance of foreign exchange.'Heavy and light industrial
products, minerals and textiles
accounted for 63 per cent of thetotal exlrcrts and farm and
side.line products 3? per cent. In-dustrial exports included
crudeoil, coal, machine tools, cottoncloth and silk fabrics as well
asarts and crafts which are export
items of long standing.
With a view to learning fromother countries and
acceleratingsocialist construction, Chinaalso imported some
equipmentand technology for oil explora-tion and coal mining and
forchemical fertilizer plants, Eowergeneration, the
petrochemicalindustry and steel rolling mills.
IN THE WTWS
o Premier Hua Kuo-feng onJanuary 14 sent .a message toHis
Highness Sheikh Jaber Ah-med al Sabah, warmly con-gratulating him
on his ascensionto the Emirate of the State ofKuwait.
o Soong Ching Ling, Vice-Chairman of the Standing Com-mittee of
the National PeoPIe'sCongress, on JanuarY 19 gave a
dinner at her residence in hon-our of Madame WelthY Fisher,an
American friend, and herCanadian assistant Miss SallYSwenson.
o Premier Hua on January22 sent a message to. BulentEcevit,
congratulating him onhis assumption of the office ofPrime Minister
of the Republicof Turkey.
-
ls It llecessary to lleuelop the ProductiueForees in Gontinuing
the Reuolution?
by Lin Kang
|lllttlllItiltl!l!iltllllltliltiltltIttilillilillttit!illllttltlll|ltlilllrnililililillltltlIltltilt
lTlO develop the social productive forces is oneI of the basic
tasks of the dictatorstrip of the
proletariat, and to bring about such develop-ment, with
technical innovations and tdchnicalrevolution as the prime mover,
constitutes animportant aspect of continuing the revolutionunder
the proletarian dictatorship.
Sociotism Colts for Developmcnt olProductivc Forccc
Some people do not understand why theproductive forces,
techniques, production toolsand the like should have anything to do
withclass struggle. In their eyes, "rtvolution" irsalways a
political conc.ept in a society wherethere are classes and class
struggle. It is, there-fore, necessary to get this question clear:
In asocialist country like China, whish is not de-veloped
economically, can we ultimately defeatand eliminate the bourgeoisie
and ensure thetransition from socialism to communism simplyby
carrying on the struggle in the superstruc-ture and not rapidly
developing the social pro-ductive forces?
Marx and Engels held that socialist revolu-tion was possible
only in countries where,capi-talism was highly developed. Ihis
thesis wasbased on the conditions of their time. Laterwhen
conditions ehanged with the emergenceof imperialism, it gave way to
the new thesisthat socialist revolution could triumph first inone
country, even if it was economically back-ward.
6
In his article Out Retsolutioz written in1923, I-enin castigated
the revisionist view ofsome.people who, on the ground that "the
de-velopment of the productive forces of Russiahas not attained the
l,evel that makes socialismpossibtre," refused to seize political
power evenwhen the situation for revolution was ripe andthe
proletariat had made every preparation forit. At the same time, he
pointed out dearlythat the productive forces must be of a
suffi-ciently high level in order to realize socialisin,that is, to
firmly establiih the socialist system,and he maintained that this
was an "in@ntro-vertible proposition." L€nin said that afterseizing
political power, the proletariat must useit to subdue the enemy and
develop the socialproductive forces.so as to achieve the loftygoal
of the revolution.
Comrade Mao Tsetung taught us in thesanre way. As soon as
victory was basically,won in the soeialist transformation of
thesystem of ownership, he stressed: Only when"the productive
forces of our society have bccufairly adequately d,eveloped" over a
cstainperiod of time 'will it be possible to regard oursoeialist
€conomic and political system ashaving obtained a fairly adequate
materlal base(now far from adequate), and will it be ltossibleto
regard our state (the superstructure) as fullyconsolidated and our
socialist society ae funda-mentally built." (The Situation in the
Summerof 195?.1 He also pointed out: "This is anobligation. You
have such a big population,guch a vast territory and suc.h rich
Bssourcos,
Peking Reoieus, No: 4
-
and what is more, you are said to be buildingsocialism, which is
supposed to be superior; ifafter working at it for 50 or 60 years
you arestill unable to ov€rtake the United, States, whata sorry
figure you will cut!" (Strengthen PartyUnitg anil Carrg Forwaril
Partg Traditions,1956.) Here Comrade Mao Tsetung pointed upthe
tremehdous significance of developing theproductive forces under
socialism to strengthen-ing the dictatorship of the proletariat,
guardingagainst capitali,st restoration and supportingthe world
revolution.
If prior to the seizure of political power bythe' proletariat,
its basic economic interestscould be satisfied only through a
political rev-olution which would replace the dictatorship ofttre
bourgeoisie with the dictatorship of the pro-letariat, then after
the seizure of politicalpower, the basic economie interests of the
pro-letariat and othe.r labouring peciple will be metirot only by
relying on a strong dictatorshipof the proletariatlbut also by
building a power-ful socialist econorny and achieving a
produc-tivity of labbur which is higher than that undercapitalism.
I-enin regarded this as a twofold ordual tbsk,. or a twofold
guarantee, politicd andeconomiq for reaching the goal of
cornmunism.
A powerfirl dictatorship of the proletariatand a Hghly developed
and modernized ma-terial base are the. hallmark of a strong
socialisteountr5r and the prerequisite for the abolitionof classes
.and the transition to communism.That was why Comrade Mao Tsetung
made classstruggle, the struggle for production and scien-tific
experiment the three great revolutionaryrirovements for building a
strong socialistcountf.
Giving Chong Chun-chioo the Ue
In countries where the economy was back-ward in the past and
where small-scale produc-tion predominated, the task of the
proletariandictatorship in developing the social productiveforces
is especially important and pressing afterthe socialist
transformation of the system oforvnership has in the main been
completed.Chang Chun-chiao of the "gang of four," how-ever, ranted
that to develop the productiveforces'under the dictatorship of the
proletariatwas tantamount to '(preparing dowries for"
January 27, 1978
capitalism, meaning "paving the way for capi-talist
restoration." This is sheer nonsense.What do the enemies of
socialism rely on"forexistence? And what is their most
deep-rootedbasis? Lenin held that in countries with a small-scale
peasant economy, capitalism has a firmereconomie base than
coinmunism and smallproduction engenders capitalism and the
bour-geoisie daily and hourly. For this reason,he pointed out: "The
latter [the internalenemy] depends on small-scale production,and
there is only one way of underminingit, namely, to place the
economy of the counity,including agriculture, on a n€w technical
basis,that of moderrr large-scalo production t' lTheEighth
All-Russia Congress of Sot>iets, 1920.)Failing to do so, it
would be impossible for theproletariat to triumph over the
bourgeoisie andthe socialist road over the capitalist road.
With regard to the social ctrange in agri-culture, the
switch+ver from the small-scalepeasant economy to collective
ownership with alow level of public ownership merely frees
theproductive forces from the trammels.of outdatedrelations of
production. Even in the absenae oftechnical revolution, this change
can be effect-ed on the basis of hand tools and draught ani-mals
already in use. But the suritch-over ortransition from collective
ownership to owner-ship by the whole people in agriculture is
quitea different matter. It can be achieved onlythrough a
large-scale technical revolution foraccomplishing the mechanization
and electrifi-cation of agficulture and creating a new kindof
agricultural productive forces based on mod-ern techniques. This is
an important distinc-tion between ownership by the whole peopleand
collective ownership in agriculture. Andthat was why Comrade Mao
Tsetung held thatin agriculture the revolution in social systemmust
be combined with technical revolution andthat without the latter it
would be impossibleto turn collective ownership into ownership
bythe whole people.
Chang Chun-chiao, however, said that "Thetransition is possible
even without a materialbase," adding that the poorer the country,
theeasier the transition and that "it's better forChina with a
population of 800 million to re-main poor." This is a downright
adulterationof Marxism
-
There may be in the world (and actuallythere is) undeveloped
socialism or developingsocialism (this being a great Marxist truth
dis-covered by Lenin in the era of imperialism),but there can never
be undeveloped communismor poor communism. According to the
present-day definitions, "undeveloped" and "eommu-nism" are two
incompatible concepts. Thefounders of scientific socialism told us:
A highlevel of development in production is the pre-requisite for
the realization of communism. Theproletariat in'economically
backward countriesmakes great sacrifices. to seize political
powerbecause it wants to use its own dictatorship tocreate this
"prerequisite." This historical task,as Ixrnin put it, is to
complete the great politicalrevolution by slow, hard and laborious
economicwork over a very long period. It was for thisreason that
the resolution adopted at the SixthPlenary Session of the Eighth
National Congressof the Communist Party of China in 1958 cor-rectly
pointed out; "Since we are dedicated tothe cause of communism, we
must, first andforemost, be enthusiastic about developing our
, productive forces."
The "gang of four" did just the opposite.According to their
logic, it seeurc that only bysticking to small-scale production,
doingnothing to achieve modernization and relyingon a poor and
backward eeonomy can we defeatthe bourgeoisie, prevent revisionism
and ad-vance easily to communism. If the peopie'smaterial and
cultural lite is improved, theyalleged, revisionism is bound to
emerge. Howabsurd this is! Under the signboard of "continu-ing the
revolution under the dictatorship of theproletariat," this bunch of
anti-Marxist politicalswindlers completely negated the role
playedby the dictatorship of 'the proletariat in theeconomic field,
tried to undermine the econornicstibngth of this dictatorship, and
indulged onlyin empty talk about communism.
Relotionship Between Politics ond Economics
In an attempt to deceive the people,the "gang of four" also
distorted Lenin,sfamous thesis that "politics cannot but have'
precedence over economics,,, and attacked thosepeople who devoted
their energy to socialistconstruction
8
Lenin advanced the above thesis and exlplained it with due
emphasis towards the endof 1920 and at the beginning of 1921 when
hew.as carrying on a debate with Qotsky overthe question of the
trade unions. What didLenin say about the economic tasks at the
time?In December 1920 when the debate was _on,he declared at the
Eighth Ail-Russiai Congressof Soviets: "Economic tasks, the
economic front,are again and again assuming prominence asthe ehief
and fundamental factor." (Report onthe Work of the Council of
People's Camtnissars.)During this debate brought on by
llotsky,Lenin expressed his regret that the Party's at-tention was
distracted from economic tasksfor some tiine. He said: "I have
al*ays said,and will continue to say, that we need moreeconomics
and less politics, but if we are tohave this we must clearly be rid
of politicaldangers anil political mistakes." (Once Againon the
Traile Unions, the Current Situatistu anilthe Mistakes of Trotskg
and Bukharin, l92l.lHe further pointed out that Trotsky's
politicalmistakes, aggravated by Bukharin, "d.i.stroct orrrParty's
attention from economic tasks and 'pro-duction' work, and, unJ
ortunatelg, make u s uasteti.me on correcting them . .. instead of
having apractical and business-like'economic' discus-sion." (ibid.)
From February to May 1921, duringwhich time the Tenth Congress of
the RussianCommunist Party (Bolsheviks) was held, Lenintime and
again stressed the great significanceof ecronomic construction. In
October, hebegan to concentrate his attention on solvingthe
problems and correcting the mistakeswith regard to economic
policies at thetime.
Did Lenin go against his own famousthesis? Of course not.
Lenin said that attention should be con-centrated on economic
work at that time. Thisdid not at all mean that politics no longer
playedthe commanding role. While stressing economicwork, Lenin
never meant that politics no longertook precedence over economics.
On the con-trary, the more urgent the economic tasks, themore
important it was to put poiitics in com-mand of economics. When we
say politics takesfirst place and plays the commanding role, wemean
that politics should determine the orien'tation and point out the
way for fuifilling
Peking Reuieta, No. 4
-
economic tasks in the struggle against all sortsof capitalist
tendencies and all acts ddtrimentalto the socialist economy
(Lenin's oontroversywith Trotsky and others-over the question
ofttre trade unions was precisely a strtrggle ofthis nature). We do
not mean in'the least thatpolitics can brush aside or supersede
economics,for this is what people who knownothing aboutthe
relationship between politics and economicsor deliberately
undLrmine the socialist revolu- ,tionary cause do.
TLre "gang of four" asserted that prrttingthe stress on economic
tasks would lead to de-parting from class struggle. Such an
argumentis completely groundless. Our economic con-struction is
carried out as a task of the statewhich, in itself, means the
dictatorship of theproletariat and politics. Here politics is
playingthe commanding role, issuing orders and de-crees accog{ing
to the law governing the de-velopmenl-"of the socialist eaonomy.
Duringthe period of the First Revolutionary Civil War;Comrade'Mao
Tsetung said that we must engagein ecopomic construetion for the
purpose ofgaining victory in the reyolutionary war, t etter-ing the
life of the peoplg and Bo stimulatingtheir more active
participation in tlre revolu-tionary war and consolidating the
dernocratiedictatorship of. workers ahd poasants, He addedthat this
was a great task, a CFeat class struggle.Likewise, we are now
devoting ourselves toeconomic construction and the modernization.of
agriculture, industry, national d'efence andscience and technolqgy
so as to build a power-ful socialist country, improve the people's
ma-
qrthusiasm for bgilding pocialism, consolidatethe dictatorship
of the proletariat and finatlydefeat the bourgeoisie. Hew can this
be re-gardd as i'a movemint Siving all importance .to the
productive fotrles" and not as i'a. great ,class stmgglei'?
inevitably hamper the heightening of people'spoliticil
coflsciousness and that the realization,of the four modernizations
would inevitablyturn people's minds to capitalism. This is alsovery
absurd. Enge1s once said: "It is the rev-olutionizing of all
traditional relations by in-dustry a.e it ilevelops that also
revolutionizospeoplo's minds." (Engels to F.A. Sorge, 1892.1'Here
Engels spoke'of one of the consequenoesarising from .the
development of capitalist in-dustry- Such being the;case, doesn't
it followthat under socialism the development of large-scal,e
industry, and the growth of industry inthe rural areas and the
realization of farmmechqnizatipn in paptlcular, will bring aboutthe
revolutionization of nelations among all the
The "g[ng qf f_oUf'l also bebbled that thedevelopment of the
productive foroes would
. January 27, 7978
-
small collectives which wiil in turn . revolu-tionize the
peasants' minds?
The Need for Technicol RevolutionWitli the rapid development of
the social
productive forces, the task of carrying out tech-nical
innovations and technical revolution isbound to become the ordeir
of the day., \,[orldhistory shows that big advances in the
pro-ductive forces in any society always take placeafter a new
class has firmly established its rule.Industrial revolutions under
capitalism generallytook place after the bourgeoisie had
seizedpolitical power.' Likewi.se, the establishment ofpolitical
rule and socialist relations of produc-tion by the proletariat must
be followed by its
' own industrial rEvolution and technical revolu-tion. This is a
great revolutionary task historyhas entrusted to the dictatorship
of. the prole-tariat.
Beginning from 195?, that is, from thebaSic completion of the
socialist transformationof the systim of ownership, Comrade
MaoTsetung drew attention to this question morethan once. In
January 1958 he told Party mem-bers:.China is backward
econornicaLly and hasa riveak.material basis; that is why ws still
re-main in a passive position and are shackledmentally and have not
been liberated in thisrespect. So he called on Party members tomake
an effont and launch a technical revolu-tion. the whole Party, he
added, must pgyattention to this question.
Needless to say, we do not propose to givefirst place to
techniques while carrying out
technical revolution. Our slogan is: Revolu-tionization commands
modernization. But itwon't do either for us to engage solely
in-politicsand,knoW nothing about techniques and voca-tional work.
For this reason, Comrade MaoTsetung called on us to study hard to
mastertechniques and acquire profieiency in our workand become both
red and expert.
While putting forward the task of earryingout technical
revolution, Comrade Mao Tsetungin 1958 called on the whole Party to
study nat-ural science and technology. One who attachesno
importance to natural science cannot claim tobe a good Marxist, for
what has been achievedin natural science has played an important
rev-olutionary role in promoting the developmentof the Marxist
theory and in bringing about secial changes. After seizing
political power andbecoming its own master in society, the
prole-tariat must not only thoroughly transform so-ciety and fight
against enemies of all descrip-tions but also transform nature. In
the era ofsoqialist revolution and construction, the revolu-tion in
science and technology cannot but be-come an indispensable and
important part ofour work.
The Party Central Committee decidedto convene a national science
conferencein spring this year. (For details see our issueNo. 40,
1977.) This is a decision of great im-portance to the realization
of the four moderni-zations, a decision made in line with
ComradeMao Tsetung's consisfunt teachings after sweep-ing away the
interference of thb "gang of four."
10 Peking Reuieu, N.o. 4
-
Shonghoi: A Coostol lndustriol Bose
fiNCE described by the capitallsts of the WestV as a "paradise
for adventurers," the cityof Shanghai which'had a lopeided economy
hasbeen transformed from a corxiumer city into asocialist
industrial base.
. Achievcments ond DevelopmentFrom 1949, the year of Shanghai's
libera-
tion, to 1976r its total industrial ou@ut valuehad increased
19.3 times. Heavy industry,which accounted for only 13.6 per cent
of thetcrtal in the past, took up 53.4 per cent. Shanghaihas become
a comprehensive base embracingvarious branches of industry and with
heavyand, light industries proportionateiy developed.
Over the past two decades and more,Shanghai has provided large
amounts ofmachinery and equipment, funds and technicalforce for
developing industries in the interior.From 1950 to 1976,
investments by the state in,Shairghai's capital construction
amounted onlyto 7.6 per cent of its revenue delivered to thestate,
while the accurfiulation funds it providedfor the country amounted
to 41.9 per cent ofthe nation's total investments in capital
con-structiron for this pqriod. Since liberation,Shanghai has. sent
hundreds of thonsands oftechnicians and skilled workers to other
partsof the country and helped train over 100,000young workers for
these places.
Situated on the east coast, Shanghai wasChina's biggegt
industrial city before liberation.At that time, however, it had
only some lightindustrg and very little heavy industry.
Annualproduction of steel was no more than severalthousand tons and
the machine-building in-dustry muld only do repairs and
a-*semblingjobs.
January 27,1978
Chairman Mao's instruction on making good
use of and developing coastal industry pointedout the way for
Shanghai's industrial develop-ment. In his On, the Ten Maior
Reloti'onships, hescientifically explained the relationship
betweenindustry in the coastal regions- and industry inthe
interior. He said: *Without doubt, thegreater part of tho now
industry should be lotat-ed in the interior so that industry may
graduallybecome evenly distributed; moreover' thiswill help our
preparations against war." Headded: "Making good use of the old
industriesin the coastal regions and developing theircapacities
will put us in a stronger position topromote and support industry
in the interior."
Capitalist industrial and commercial enter-prises in Shanghai
became state-private enter-prises in the fifties. With this change,
thenature of their ownership changed too. How-ever, these
enterprises were. small in scale andtheir means of production and
labour forcewere scattered. This was not advantageous toadopting
advanced techniques or to changingthe disproportionate development
of light andheavy industries.
Regroupings of whole trades were carriedoirt so as to change
that part of the socialistrelatiorrs of production which did not
correspondto the productive forces. Through merger'expansion and
the building of a few new enter-priss, the number of large and
medium-sizedenterprises increased while that of small
onesdecreased.
Later, heavy industrial branches developedrapidly. They included
the iron and steel andchemical indu.stries, the making of
heavy-dutymachines, motor vehicles and tractors, shipbuild-
11
-
ing and the rnaking .of electronic instrumentsand metens. A
great many light industrialfactories and textile mills were
concentrated inthe city; they were merged and new technologywas
introduced to raise their produqtioncapacity. At the same time
workers were asrsigned and factory buildings allocated for
thbdevelopment of hea.vy industry and new indus-trial branches
making wristwatbhes, camerasand television sets.
While effecting the reorganization of theeconomy, technical
innovations and technicalrevolution were carried out. The emphasis
oftechnical transformation was not on buildingnew factories or
buying complete sets of newequipment, but on technical innovations
to tapthe potential of existing equipment. Take thetextile industry
for instance. It now has reachedadvanced levels by introdqcing
technical in-novations and renovating the old machines leftover
frdm the 1920s and 1930s. Although thenurnber of spindles has been
reduced by one;fourth in the past 28 years and the workers
byone-eighth, output of cotton yarn has increased2.4 times.
Shanghai's metallurgical industry wasvery backward-in the early
post-triberation days,having only a few small open-hearth
furnaces.Through expansion, .reconstruction and buildingof some key
projects, steel output has nour risento several million tons
annually, and daily out-put today.is greater than that of two
yearsbefore liberation.
Fluctuotions in Output
These achievements have been obtainedunder the guidance of
Chairman Mao's revolu:
tionary line. But in the post-liberation yearsShanghai suffered
from interference and sabo-tage by Liu Shao-chi, Lin Piao and, in
particular,the Wang4hang-Chiang-Yao anti-Party .,gangof four" which
had entrenched itselt in Shang-hai for ten years and caused the
greatestdamage,
To develop the national economy in a plan-ried and proportionate
way under the unifiedleadership of the central authoritie is
thecharacteristic of China's socialist economy. Butthe "gang of
four" and their followers inShanghai opposrid the unified
leadership of thecentral duthorities, which they slandered
as"fascist dictatorship." One of the followerseven babbled: "Take
orders from Shanghai,not Peking."
The gang also sabotaged co-operation be-tween Shanghai and other
provinces, munici-palities and cities, and oppced and underminedthe
mis movement to learn from Tactring inindustry.
The gang labelleil veteran cadres, veteranworkers, eilgineers
and technicians as ,,demo-crats," "capitalist-roadert,''!rcople
with rfestedinterests" and t[e "stinking ninth category,,(they
placed intellectuals in the ninth critegorypfter the Other eight
catcgories of clas$ enemies).This dampened the entbusiasm of the
above-mentioned.
In the last few years, investments in capitalconstruction and
the number of workers in
Shanghai kept increasing, butindustriat development'slow-ed down
This was due to thepabotage by the "gang offour." Annual increase
ofindnstrial' output 'value felt
Wortcrr ol o thrnchrl electrmlotribb taclory legtlnS trtcolour
tuber
l
Pelcitl,,g'Rioietrl No, 1
-
Lelt.' Bellows for blast furnaces manufactured by the Shatrghal
Shaped Tubing Plant.Eiglrt.' Eydraulic metal posts for coal-mining
produceil in Shanghai.
from 14.8 per cent in 1970 to only 2 per cent in1976.
After the smashing of the "gang of four,"Shanghai's industrial
production has gone upsteadily: Gross industrial output value in
1g??was 8.6 per cent higher than that of 19?6. Thisbrought an en'd
to the continuous drop in theannual ,rate of increase of ihdustrial
pofluction. ,Profits from industry rosg more than 10 per cent,whlch
waq highqr than the percentage of increaseln production.
I Thr$ reverqed the situation ofthe city's failure in fulfilling
its revenue planse,t by the state fo: three years running.
Plonr qnd Prorpccb
China's socialist revrlution and constnrctionhave now reached a
rlew stage of development.Making full rxe dt, i* industrial
condifions,Shanghai is strivlng to makd.greater contribu-tions to
the state by producing more tictrnicatequipment of advanqed level,
training large'numbens of outstanding engineers end tech-nicians
and providing bigggr gurrur of - ac---cumulFtlon.
Eo achieve this, Shanghai will develop thebasic industriis at
top speed. The goal set forthe period between now and 1985 ts to
con-centrate efforts on speeding up th,9 developmentof the iron and
steel, petroihemical andelectronics induatries. The
machine-buildingindustry will provide the state with large,
extra-large, precision and new types of machinery and
:equipment.
lanuory 27, 19?8
Accelerated development of the basic in-dustries will promot"
th" gro*th of the otherindustries.
Attention:will also be paid to light influstryand handicrafts
while stepping up the devetop-ment of heavy industry.
Industry's support for agriculture will bestrengthened. The city
will produce and supplyto the whole country low-cost and
high-qualityfarm mAchinertrr, chemical fertilizep, effectivebut
less toxic insecticides as well as water con-servancy and power
equipment and transportIactlities for the rural areas.
Attention will be pbi{ to the modernlzatlonof icience and
technology so that Shanghai willbecome e scierttific bgse ranking
among theworld's edvanced.
The city proper is already too large; em-phasis in tbe future
will be on construction in.the suburbs and the building of smaller
h-dustribl towns in the outlying districts, whichwill co-ordinate
with enterprises in the citypr,oper. Fboduction of industrial goods
reletedto agriculture lilill be partially taken over .byfactories
run by the rural people's sommunes.Planned readjustment will help
improve thedistribrrtion of industry and more land in thecity
proper will be available for new housingestatesr and for
,tree-planting as well. Basegproducing non-staple food will be
built so thatthe metropolis will .be self+ufficidnt in pork,eggs,
poultry and aquatic products within threeto five'years.
13
-
Afforestation in theCapital
It WttttC RIBAO (Peking Daily) published anI/ editorial on
January 6'calting for furtherefforts to speed up tree planting in
and aroundPeking.
On the outskirts of the capital (embracingnine counties and five
suburban districts), 230,000hectares or 49 per cent of the area
suitable forgrowing trees have been afforested. In addition,some 95
million trees have been planted aroundthe houses and villages and
along the roads andwaterways, averaging 25 trees for.each personin
the rural areas. The rapid increase in fruittrees has made Peking
basically self-sufficientin the supply of apples, pears and other
kindsof fruit grown only in the northern iart of thecountry.
Peking's annual output of dried andfresh fruit has reached 150,000
tons. Forest re-sources have been expanding year after year.The
tree belts have proved to be an enormoushelp to farm production,
protecting the landfrorn windstorms, anchoring drifting sands
andpreserving top soil and moisture. Over theyears, a number of
adyanced units and workersin forestry have come to the fore in the
variouscounties and districts of the Peking municipality.
However, owing to the interference of the"gang of four" and the
lack of sufficient atten-tion on the part of some leading cadres,
thepace of afforestation i:r Peking fell short ofexpectations.
During the movements for agriculturalpro.ducers' co-operatives
and the people'scommunes in the fifties, Chairman Mao calledon the
whole nation to cover the country rvithtrees. He also 'lrcinted out
that agricul-ture, forestry and animal husbandry are
inter-dependent and that the three are of equal im-portance and
none can be dispensed with.Recently when Chairman Hua Kuo-feng
tookpart in physical labour at the Miyun Reservoiron the outskirts
of Peking, he also instructed
14
that the nation should go in for afforestation ina big way.
lThe editorial spoke of the great significance
of developing forestry. at top speed and de-manded that the
Party organizations at variouslevels on the capital's outskirts
attach impor-tance to this work. It caliid for efforts tocombine
the work of full-time tree-plantingteams.with the rnass movements.
They mustmake the best of spring, autumn and rainyseason to
mobilize the peasants and city dwellersto plant trees.. The goali
for 1980 are: Plantas many trees as possible on the plains, build
uptimber centres by planting conifers and otherfast-growi.ng
species on the hills to the westand north of Peking, and plant
fruit trees andtree belts for soil and water conServation onthe
fringes o{ the hills. Meanwhile, effortsmust be made to cover
scenic areas around theGreat Wall, the Ming Tombs and the
MiyunReservoir with trees as quickly as possible.
Readers' Commentsp) ENMIN RIBAO had made many improve-I L ments
in its coverage, style of writing andlayout in the past year. This
was greatly ap-preciated by its readers.
Striving to do still better, this newspa.peron January 10
started a new column entitled"Readers' Comritents" on its fourth
page. Twoof the three short articles published that daymade
suggestions and requested that the pressco-ordinate efforts in
deepening the revolutionin education.
One of the two articles, contributed by aPeking middle school,
stressed that, despite in-terference and sabotage by the
revisionist lineof Liu Shao-chi and the "gang of four," Chair-man
Mao's proletarian revolutionary line hasalways held the dominant
position on the edu-cational front in the 28 post-liberation
yeans.It suggested .that the press should give publicityto thqse
educational workers who; in the face ofinterferenee from the
revisionist line, haveworked hard in the interest of the people
andmade contributions to socialism. The press, itadded, should also
help the readers gain an
Peking Reui,eu, No. 4
-
accurate understanding of Chairman Mao's in-structions
concerning the revolution in educationand acquaint them with good
experiences inbringing order to educational work so as to meetthe
needs for modernizing agriculture, industry,national defence and
science and technology.
The other article from'a state farm inHeilungkiang Province
brought up the questionof teaching materials for primary and
middleschools. It said that textbooks for mathematics,physies and
chemistry leave much to be desired,parts of which were illogical
and disconnected.More serious was the fact that many of the"gang of
four's" fallacies were inserted in thehistory and poiitics
textbooks. The articlecalled for further exposure and criticism of
thegangf's crimes in this respect and for greater
efforts to compile and put out new and bettertextbooks as soon
as poqsible.
The third article praised Renrnin Eiboo foropenly admitting its
mistake in publishing a re-port which proved to be incorrect.
Written byseveral workers of Peking's Tungfeng Market,it said:
"Renmin Riboo's open self-criticism ofits mistake shows that our
Party paper has re-vived and carried forward the Party's'fine
tra-dition and style of work. This is a greatinspiration to us
all."
Chairman Mao always advocated that wemust follow the mass line
in running newspapers.The introduction of this new column will
helpRenmi,m Bibao further strengthen its ties withthe readers in
accordance with Chairmari Mao'sconsistent teachings.
their other property should be protected, andthe small portion
of land they rented out wouldnot be requisitioned. But in certain
specialareas where the peasants would not get theproper portion of
land unless that part of landrented out by the rich peasants was
requisi-tioned, such land should, with approval by thePeople's
Government, be partly or wholly req-uisitioned. With regard to
those rich peasantsof a semi-landlord type who rented out
largetracts of land, all such land should be requi-sitioned.
Revision of the Outline Land Law of Chinameant a change of
policy: the policy of req-uisitioning the rich peasants' surplus
land andother property was changed to one of maintain-ing the rich
peasant economy. This was conduciveto the speedy restoration and
development offarm production at that time. Later, the richpeasant
economy finatly disappeared with thedeepening of the movement for
agricultural cs-operation.
Explanatory l{otes to Volume V of"Selected Works of Mao Tsetung"
(3)iltlrilIililH1ililltlllrillltillliltiltililililllnnillttltlillltrtiltlrttltlIllIltmlllllililtllll
The lond.lqw
Here the land law refers to the OutlineLand Law of China
published in October 1947with the approval of the Central Committee
ofthe Communist Party of China. It stipulated,among other things,
that in carrying out theagrarian refqrm ali the land and other
propertyof the landlords should be confiscated and dis-tributed
among the peasants; in the case of therich pieasants, their surplus
land and other pro-perty would be requisitioned.
After the founding of the People's Republicof.China, the Central
People's Government pro-mulgated in June 1950 the Agrarian
ReformLaw of the People's Republic of China whichmade amendments to
the Outline Land Law of1947. Under the Agrarian Reform Law, all
theland owned by the rich peasants and tilledeither by themselves
or by hired labourers and
Januarg 27, 1978 75
-
Refotions between the stote sector snd theprivote sector of the
economy
(See p, 28.)These were relations between the state-
owned and private-owned industry and com-merce in the early
post-liberation years.In handling the relations between thestate
sector and the private sector ofthe economy, the People's
.Government fol-lowed the policy of firmly estabtishingthe leading
position of the state economyand enabling the state enterprises to
developsteadily, *hile at the same time placingthe private
capitalist economy under the leader-strip of the state economy. In
industry, thestate enterprises helped the private ones in
ac;cordance with the needs of the national econo-my by placing
orders with them for processingand manufacturing goods and
purchasing their,products. As to privatg commercial
enterprises,state trade departments made leeway for themwith
regard, to the scope of trarrsactions, pricesand market
managernent, provided they did notengage in speculatiop. In
addition, private in-dustry and commeroe were given state loanswhen
they were in need. AII th(s was aimed atmaking use of the poiitive
factors of privateindustry and comrnerce that were beneficial tothe
nation's ecoriomy and the people's livelihoodand restricting
activities inimical to the nation's
. economy and the people's livelihood, so that theprivate
capitalist economy would be led gradu;ally onto the path of state
cepitalism,
Retotions betweeri lobour ond copitol ,
(See p. 28) I
This is a reference to the relaiions betweenworkers and
capitalists in private industry andcommerce. In essence, they were
relaiions ofoppression and exploitation of the proletariatby the
bourgeoisie. With a view to improvingthe relatioru between labour
and capital in theearly years after liberati6n, the state laid
downthree principles: 1. 'Ttre working clais' demo-'cratlc rights
must be guaranteed. 2. Both labourand capital strould strive to
develop productlonln the interest of the economy. 3.
Problemsarieing from labour-capital relstions, includingthose of
wages and welfare, must be solvedthrough consultations, on the
basis of which a
16
more stable form of labour-capital contractswas to be introduced
step by step.
Agrorion reform(See p. 29.) _This was a revolutionary movement
in
which the Chinese Communist Party led thepeasants in abolishing
the feudal system ofland ownership and introducing the ownershipof
land by the peasants. In old China, thesystem of. land ownerstrip
was feudal or semi-feudal in nafure, under which the poor
peas-ants, farm labourers and middle peasants whomade up over g0
per cent of the rqal popula-tion owned only 20 to 30 per cent of
the coun-try's total cultivated acreage, whereas thelandlords and
rich peasants who accountcd forless than 10 per cent of the rural
populationowned as much as ?0 to 80 per cent of the landunder
cultivation. The landlords' savage ex-ptroitation of the peasants
by taking advantageof the land they owned seriously hampered
thedevelopment of the productive forces.
To overthrow imperialism and feudalismand accomplish the basic
task of the democra,tic revolution, the Communist Party ofChina led
the peasents in, the struggle egabstcorrupt officiels, local
tyrants and evil gentryand against €xtortionate taxes and levies
andexorbitdnt rent and interest in the period of thptr'irst
devolutibnary Civil War (1524-271. Theagrarian revolution was
carried out fnrther inthe revolutionary base areas in the period
ofthe Second Revolutionary Civil War (f02?:3?).During the War of
Resistance Against ,Japan(1937-45), the Chinese Communi;st Party
changedthe policy of confiscating the landlords' landinto one of
reducing rent and interest. This wasaim€d at uniting with various
clesses andpolitical partiei in the common struggle
against'japalrese aggression. With the start of theThird
Revolutidnary Civil War (1945-f949), theChinese Cornmunist Party
led the peisants inthe liberated areas in'carrying out agrarian
re-fornr. On May 4, 1940, the Party Central Com-mlttee iseudd the
Directive on the Land Question,changirig the polley.of reducing
rent and in-terest' which was effective during the anfl-Japanese
war period into one of ionflscating theland of the landlords and
distributing it amongthe peasante. The Outline Land Law of
China
Pelcing Reoi,ew, No. 4
-
was published in October lg4? and a land re.form movement was
launched in the liberatedareas which had a population of 150
million.This satisfied the.peasantst demind lor l,and andensured
the victory of the War of Liberation.
After country-wide liberation, the CentralPeople's Government in
June 1gS0 promi,Igatedthe Agrarian Reform Law of the people,s
Re-public of China. Ttris was followed by theagrarian reform
movement in the new liberatedareas. By the winter.of. 1952 agrariag
reformwas basically completed ,throughout the coun-try, with the
exception..of Taiwan province andsome minority nationality areas.
In the oldand new liberated areas, about 300 rnilliellandless or
land-deficient peasants receivedsome 47 million hectares of land,
and the peas-ants stopped handing over to the landlordsabout 35,000
million kilogrammes of grain asland rent every year. Thanks to the
agrarian re-form, the political cbnsciousness of the peasantswas
enhanced, the worker-peasant hlliancre wasconsolidated and
favourable, conditions werecreated for the socialist transformation
of
Toxes should be reodjusted
In line with Chairman Mao's inshtretions,the Administrative
Council (which later becamethe State Council) adopted the decision
thatthe agricultural tax in kind to be do[ected inthe summer of
1,950 in the new liberatedareas should be reduced by 4 'per centai
compared with the averale tax rate inautumn, 1949, the,salt tax
should be cut by halfbeginning from June 1980, commodity
taxesshould be reduced from 1,186 to BEg kipds asfrom July that
sarne year, and the lndustrialand commerciat business taxes sh6uld
be leviedaccording to the rates fixed by the state. AIIthese
,measures were of great significance tolightening the people's
burden and booctingproduction.
The principlq qf moking overoll plons ondtoking qll foctors inio
considerstion(See p. 30.)This is an important strategic prineiple
of
the Chinese Comruunist Party in dealing withproblems in
socialist revolutlon and socialist
January 27, 1978
construction, It consiats gf overaltr plans, all-round
consideration and proper arrangementsfor all sectors of the economy
a4d for the 800million people of various classes and strata, sothat
they will play their due roles. In otherwords, it is necessary'to
correctly handle thecontradictions among the people and those
be-tween ourselves and the enemy, bring into playall positive
faetors and turn. negative factorsas far as possible into positive
one$, all for thepurpose of building a great socialist country.
In his Tatks at a Conferenee of Secretaries ofProuincial,
Municipal and Autonomous RegionPartg Committees in January 19Q7,
ChairmanMao pointed out: "Our policy is still one
ofoverall:planning'and all-round consideration sothat everyone is
provided for. This includes pro-viding for all the army and
government per-sonnel'teft behind by the Kuomintang. Eventhose who
fled to Taiwap tut do-u:bi,ck. Allcounter.-ievolutionaries not to
be put to deathwiII undergo remoulding and be given a chanceto earn
a living. The democratic parties will bepreserved and coexist'with
us for a long timeand their members will be provided for. In aword,
we will take care of all orir country's 600million pgople.... Whpt
kind of policy is this?It is one of mobilizing all fosltive forces
to build
Thei fotlowing mdnth when he made thespeech On the Coiregg
Elond,ling of Contrad,ic-tions Among the People, he agaln stated:
"Byoverall conslde,rgtioo , wc mean rconsiderationthat ehrbraces
the 000 mitlion people of ourcoluntry. .In drawing uir plans,
handling affairsor thinking over"prcblems, wo. must proceedfront
the fact that Chlrra has a population of 600mllllon, and we must
never forget this fact. Whydo we'make a potnt of this? Is lt
posslble thatthere are poople who ero etill unaware that we'havo a,
porpot-"ttrin of, 000 nitlllonZ Of ioursgsveryone linows this, but
whe,n it comes toactual practice, some people forget all about
ltand act as though the fewer the people, thesmaller the clicle,
the better. thos? who havethia lsimall clrcle' mentaltty abhor the
ldea ofbrtrigtng every positive' factor lnto play, ofunlting rtith
everyone who can be united witt,and of doing overythlng porrible to
turn nogativofactorg into posltlve ones so as to strrre the
greatcause of buildtng a coclalist society."
(To be contlnued,)
17
-
Three-World Theory; Questions qnd Answers
How Diil tlarx,and Engels llillerentiate Europe'sPolitieal
Forces in the Latter Hall 0lIhe l9th Gentury?
ln.No. 45, 797.7 o! *Peking Ret>ieut' wecami,eil in fult the
articl,e ,,Chairtnn MadsTheory ol the Di.fferentiati.on of the
ThreeWorlils ls g Major'Contribution to Marrism-Lenini$n" by the
Editorial, Dryrtment of"Renmim Ribaa." Recently, ,'Pekhtg
Reoiett/,requesteil o number o! htstorbns,' ecorwm.istsand
journalists to an$Der som.e questions raiseclbg our rea.d,ers
coruerning the srtiale. BegVning with this issue, we uil,l ytblish
these ques-tions ond, answers. - Eil.
QUESTION: What was the political situation ofEurope like in the
latter half of the 19th century?Why did Marx and Engels in 18ls and
after-wards -consistently stressed that tsarist Russiawas the chief
bulrryark of European reaction?And why did Marx and Engels regard
to theend of their days resolute opposition to theaggressive policy
of tsarist Ru-qsia as the crite-rion by which to differentiate
Europe's politicalforces and to determine to which nationalmovement
in Europe the international proleta-riat should give its support?
\[hat significancehas a review of historical events in that
periodto our analysis of current international politicalforces?
.ANSWEE by "Li Yuan-rqing, historion: Thepolitical situation of
Europe in the latter halfof the lpth century was very
complicated.
The contradiction between the proletariatand the bourgeoisie in
this period grew moreand more acute. With the publication of
theManifesto of the Communist Partg in 1848 andthe founding of the
First International in tr864,
I8
the ,proletariat for the first time had a prog-ramme and an
organization of its own. In theinternational arena the two major
forcas, theproletariat and the bourgeoisie, were locked infierce
struggle.
At the same time, the development of cap-italism brought in its
wake bourgeois demo-cratic revolutionary movements all over
Europe.Some had as their aim the overthrow of theautocratic feudal
system, .some the eliminationof all feudal vestigas, and others an
end tonational disunity. A number of oppressednations were striving
to achieve the'if independ-ence. All these different demands
milroredthe contradiction between capitalism andfeudalism and
between oppressed and oppressornations.
In this period the bourgeois revolution inBritain and France had
already on the whole'been accomplished; tsarist Russia,
Austria,Prussia, ancl the Ottomin Empire (Turkey)astride Europe,
Asia and Africa were the re-maining feudal powers. There were
contra-dictions between capitalist countries, betweenfeudal
countries and between capitalisd andfeudal countries.
These multifarious contradictions inter-weaved to form an
extremely complicatedinternational situation.
How did Marx and Engels, revolutionaryteachers of the
international proletariat at thattime, treat such a complex
situation in inter-national elass struggle? They took a{irm holdof
the basic contradiction between the proletariatand the bourgeoisie
on an international scalewithout overlooking any of the other
contra-dictions. Proceeding from the genbral interests
Peking Reoieu, No. 4
-
of the international workers' movement, theymade a concrete
analysis of the various contra-dictions in the international arena
and analysedthe main feudal countries in Europe, whichstood in the
:way of the development ofcapitalism, determined that the empire of
tsaristRussia was the principal enemy of the Europeanrevolutionary
movements and called on therevolutionary people of Europe to throw
them-selves into the struggle to destroy this biggestscourge.
firis . proposition advanced by Marx andEngels had a sound
scientific basis and wascompletely in conformity with the
objectiveoverall situation in Europe at that time.
Tsorist Russio - Principot Enemy ofEuropeon Revolutionory
MovemenbTo begin'with, tsarist Russia was an auto-
cratic feudal state based on the most bar-barow serf system. As
a social system, it was awhole historical period behind the
capitalistcountries like Britain and France. In the l?thand 18th
centuries, when bourgeois revolu-tions in these two countries
smashing the feudalshackles and giving rise to a rapid development
of capitalism there, tsarist Russia retainedits backward serfdom.
In the first half of the19th century, Chartism - a mass,
political,working-class revolutionary movement -erupted in Britain.
In 1848 the first civil warin' France between the proletariat and
thebourgeoisie broke out. In tsarist Russia, how-ever, the
serf-owners remained the ruling classwhich not only wanted to
tighten its grip onthe serfs at home but also to impose the
samesystem on other countries as well.
Second1y, tsarist Russia was in pusuanceof a policy of
aggression aimed at conqueringEurope. In the beginning of the 18th
century,Peter I seized vast territories along the Balticcoast and
thereby threw open the gate to North-ern Europe. When he moved his
capital fromMoscow to "Petersburg, the eccentric centre ofthe
empire," he provided a most illuminatingfootnote to tsarist
Russia's ambition to conquerEurope. Towards the end of the 18th
century,through the partition of Poland, Catherine: I(Ekaterina
Alekseevna) carved a broad corridoqteading to the European mainland
and thenafter several wars against Turkey, she grabbed
Januar!1 27, 1978
vast areas north of the Black Sea to openthe southern gate to
Europe. From then ontsarist Russia reached for the hinterland
ofEuropb irom the irorth, the south and the east,slicing off large
pieces of territory from neigh-bouring countries and grevely
menacing tf,esecurity and independence of various
Europeancountries.
Thirdly, tsarist Russia was most hostile tothe revolutionary
movements in Europe. Whenthe revolutionary storm swept the
Europeancontinent in 1848, it gave all-.out support toAustria in
repressing the national-liberationmovements in Italy and
Czechoslovakia and toAustria and Prussia in quelling the German
rev-olution and putting down the movement fornational unification;
and, together with Turkey,stamped out the revolution in Romania
andsent 140,000 troops to crush the national-liberation movement in
Hungary. As pointedout by Engels, "No revolution in \ilesteraEurope
can gain final victory, as long as thepresent Russian state exists
beside it." (ln-troilaction to th,e Pampl'tlet "Soclal Things
FromBussio," 1875.)
Fourthly, the Ru(sian tsarist empire wasmore deceptive than any
other autocraticfeudal state. There was no land-grab, no out-rage,
no repression on the part of tsarism whichwas not carried out under
the pretext of en-lightenment, of liberalism, of the liberation
ofnations. Making use of Pan-Slavism, it fosteredillusions among
the Slavic nations under Aus-trian and Turkish rule that Russian
tsaris4was the "liberator" and "saviour" of its (slaviq
brethrens," and that they needed only its helpto "Iiberate"
themselves from Austrian andTurkish enslavement and set up their
ownnational states. Because of its deceptiveness,tsarist Russia
proved very dangerous to therevolutionary people in Europe and
therevolutionary movements there.
It was at this time that the disintegratingTurkish colossus, of
which Tsar Nicholas I said,the "'sickman' is dying," was made the
ob-ject of dismemberment by tsarist Russia.Austria, Russia's
toughest and most stubbornrival on the Balkan Peninsula, was
brought t
-
of the tsar, was "still the faithful vassEl"evenr after the
kicks. Thus, in comparisonto these and. other European
countries,tsarist Russia was the moet dangerousenemy of the
revolutionary people of Europefor it was energetically engaged in
aggressionand expansion against the European mainland,brutal
suppression of the European revolu-tionary movements, deceptive
activities to dividethe revolutionary people of Europe and,
inaddition, it had a reactionary serfdom and.oe-cupied an
exceptionally favourable geographicalposition.
For this very ieason, one of Karl Marx'scontributions, said
Engels, was his being thefirst, in 1848, and then repeatedly, to
stross. that"tho \lyestem European labour parties muit ofnecessity
wage an implacable war againstRussian tsarism" (?he ?oreign Poliq
of BussiozTsarism, 1890) because Russian tsarism was thechief
bulwark of Eurgpean reaction and its am-bition was to subdue Europe
ar-rd make victoqimpossible for the European proletariat.
Thisviewpoint was elaborated again and again byEngels, who pointed
qut that the "holy aliianc€"'with tsarist Russia as its nucleus was
"the samebig obetacle which hampers the free devclop-ment of all
nations and etrch peoplo a devel-opment wlthout which wc couldrft
tbink of anysocial revolutlon ln the different couritries, muchless
to complete it with inutual rup'po*." Ttrere-fore, "the overthrow
of the tsadst govermmat,the elimination of thig s@urge that
thrcatensEurope - guch, in my opinion, il the prerequisitefor the
enrancipatlon of the sentral and eastEuropean nations." (Engets to
!or1 NoiteJde tnJuW, Jarluary 1888.) ,
Lenin highly appreciated this viewpoint otMarx's and Engels'. He
pointed out in 1909:"Half a century ago Bussia's roputation ,aa
att.internatlonal gendarqe was flrmly bstablishod. .
. After the lallure of the Frcnch revolutlon ln1815, at the
proposal of Tsar Alexender l, the threefeudal monarchs of Russlq
,Auatrla and Prusalaformed a "holy alllance" to pr€serve the old
orderin Europe and suppress revolution ln variouscoqntrles.
20
... One has only to recall the Hungarian cam-paign of Nicholas
I, and the repeated repressionsof Poland, to understand why the
leaders ofthe international socialist prolbtariat from theforties
onward denounced tsarism so oftento the European workers and
European demo-crats as the chief mainstay of reaction in thewhole
civilized world." (The Tsor Visits Europeanil Members of the
Black-Hutrdreil Dumo VisitEngland..l
After determining tsarist Russia as the mainenemy of the
revolutionary peopte of Europe,Marx and Engels, regarded resolute
oppositionto the Russian tsarist empire's policy of aggres-sion as
the criterion by whieh to differentiateEurope's political forces
and to determine towhich national movement in purope the
inter-national proletariat should grve its support. Theburden of
their theory and tactics in the dif-ferentiation of the political
forces was to unitewith all forces that can be united with, makeuse
of every "rift" among the enemieq, "allyourselves even with our
enemies" (Marx:Stei,n, 1849), strike at the main qnemyand win
victory for the revolution. At thispoint, let us recall how Marx
and Engels gavefirm support to the independence movqment inPoland
and what attitude they took towards theCrimean War (1853-58). This
will help us under-stand how they specifically applied under.
cbn-ditions then prevailing this method of differen-tiation and
tactics.
Thc'Polich lndcpendencc Movbment
Poland occupying a strategic position inEastern Europe had
always been an object'oftsarist Ruesiqn aggressign and enslavement.
In1815, tsarist Russia occupied most of Poland andturned it into a
colony, which expiains wly thePolish independence movement
immediatelydefined tsarist Russian empire as its enemy. Theraging
armed uprisings and revolutions of thePolish people in 1800, 1840
and 1863 were blowsagainst the empire's drive for world hegemonyand
boosted the liberation movements inside theempire and throughout
Europe. Marx andEngels hailed the Cracow uprising of 1846 as a
Peking Rersiew, No. 4
-
brilliant example for the whole of Europe. Marxnoted that the
Polish uprising of 1863 hadushered in a revolutionary era
throughoutEurope.' Both Marx and Engels called on theEuropean
working class to give full support tothe Polish independence
movement. In responseto this call of the leaders of the
internationalproletariat, the West European proletariat un-folded a
widespread mass movement in supportof Poland. British workers in
solidarity withPoland convened a workers' meeting in 1864 towhich
representatives of France, German;r, Italyand Poland were invited.
Marx attended thismeeting which decided immediately to set upthe
Working Men's International As3ociation.This was how the Polish
uprising became "thestarting-point for the International." (Fm
theGeneua Meeti,ng of the 50th Annbersary of thePolish ReuoLution
o, 1830, 1881.) This showsvividly that the Po[sh independence
movementwhich enjoyed Marx's and Engels' firm suplrcrtdirectly
helped bring about the founding of theFirst International and
greatly promoted the de-velopment of the workers' movement in
Eunope.
. The Crimeon Wor
In the early 50s of the 19th century, Marxand Engets followed
closely tsarist Russia'sschemes to partition Tllrkey and the
CrimeanWar. that followed. Engels polnted out: It was"a war . . .
of traditional ambition with theRussians, of life and death with
the Turks."lThe Hotg Wor, 1853.) Throughout the war,Marx and Engels
clearly sided with Turkey.Before the outbreak of the war, they
warnedthat if tsarist Russia won the war, occupiedConstantinople
and the straits of Bosponrs andDardanelles and gained control of
Turkey, itwould nearly double ib strength and becomeso much
stronger than all other EuropeaD €oun-tries mmbined; if events
developed in thatdirection, it would be most disastrous to
tlqerevolutionery cause. On the other hand, theypredicted, if
tsarist Russia turned out to tre theloser, a new revolutionary high
tide was $qreto rise in the European countries to speed upthe
ripening of the revolutionary gituation inRussia and help bring
about the.collapse of the
January 27,7978
',',t
feudal sysfiln il Ou"ope and the ,liberation ofthe oppressed
nations there.
, ,' The war developed exactly as Mar* andEngeb .had predicted.
After the oitbreak ofthe war, Turkey fought back doggedly. Intheir
bid for the mastery of Turkey, Britainand France cEme to the rescue
of the country.Austria and Prussia, too, brought military pres-sure
to bear on tsarist Russia for fear that itmight become too strong.
Tsarist Russia thussuffered a disastrous defeat; tsarism "had
com-promised Russia before the wolld, and therebycompromised itself
befqle Russia. There fol-lowed a terrible disillusionment."
(Engels:The Foreign Poliq of Russian Tsorilszrr., 1890.)As the
"European gendarme," it was seriouslyweakened. The revolution in
Europe which hadbeen at a low ebb since the petback of 1848began to
look up and a new revolutionary up-surge was in the offing. All
this proved to bea boon to the European revolutionary
move-ment.
Eromples of Toctics
Lenin spoke highly of Marx and Engelstaking the attitude towards
Russian tsaristempire as the criterion by which to
differentiateEurope's political forces and to determine towhich
national movement in Europe the inter-national proletariat should
give its support.He cailed these "examples of Marx'stactics.l'
Today, it can be said that theseexamples arq still instructlve as
they will helpus in analysing present-day reality. They tellrx that
as Marx and Engels firmly supportedthe Polish independence
movement, we mustlend firm support to thb anti-lmperialist,
anti-hegemonist struggle of the oppressed nations to-
' day, and that as they suppprted the Turkish em-pire in its
resistance to lsarist Ruisian aggression,we must support the gecond
world countries inthe struggle against the two hegemonic
lx)wers,the $oviet Unioa bnd the United States. Therevolutionary
policy of forming the broadestunited front, whatever the conteht,
is to strike atthe main enerny. This is as true tOday as it was
acentury ago; it is entlrely in accord with theintirests of the
international proletariat.
21
-
Oil Struggle Develops in Depth
rnHE oil struggle waged by lhe third worldI oil-producing
countries has brought about
a new eeonomic situation for the +hird worldcountries in
safeguarding their national rightsand interests and combating
plunder by thesuperpowers. It also demonstrates that thethird world
countries and people constitute themain force in the struggle
against imperialismand hegemonism.
lmperiolist Ptunder
Plunder of Asian, African and Latin Amer-ican oil has long been
a source of- enormousprofits for imperialism. A century ago the
im-perialists, with fire and sword, invaded the oil-producing
countries and imposed treaties ofconcessions on them. By 1957,
imperialist con-cessions in Asia, Africa and Latin Americatotalled
over 9.8 million square kilometres,about the size of the whole of
Erurope. The in-ternational oil cartels tightfy controlled
theprospecting, extracting, refining, transport andmarketing of
oil, and reaped millions upon mil-lions of dollars in profit from
the tens of bil-lions of tons of crude oil they grabbed.
llhe-exploitation of one barel of oil in the MiddleEast cost only 5
per cent of what it did in theUnited States. The U.S. monopoly
capitalistsannually pocketed an average of over 40,000dollars in
profit from each Middle East oil work-er. "OiI is dirt-cheap."
Historical facts showthat to a considerable extent the prosperity
ofthe imperialist countrie was built on dreap oilseized from the
third world.
Ttre fight for the oil resources hasbeen one of the main aspects
of imperialist con-tention for world hegemony. Before World WarII
Britain and the United States had beenlocked in a fierce battle for
oil. Now the twosuperpowers, the Soviet Union and the UnitedStates
- which are contending for world hege-
22
mony, have become two overlords scramhlingfor the oil resourees
of the third world, . Aft€rWorld War II, U.S. imperialism used
.evgr5rmeans to secure oil. It attempted to perpetuateits control
and plunder of the Middle East, oneof the most important oil bases
in the world.Aftgrwards, the Soviet Union started its scufflewith
the United States for the oil resources ofthe third world, Since
then the tussle betweenthe two superpowers has been growing
inintensity.
The Strength of the Third tUorld
The plunder and contention for hegemony bythe imperialist
powers, the superpowers in par-ticular, inevitably arouse the
resistance andstruggle of the Jhird world countries and peo-ple.
The oil-producing countries in Asia, Africaand Latin America have
displayed ever greaterstrength in their resolute struggle against
impe-rialism over the years.
After the outbreak of the fourth MiddleEast war in October 1973,
the struggle againsthegemonism surged to a new high in the
worldeconomic arena as Arab oil-producing countrieSinitiated the
use of oil as a weapon and werejoined by other oil-producing
codntries of thethird world.
The use of oil as a weapon was a hard blowto one hegemonist
power and an exposure ofthe other. First, the oil-producing
countries ofthe third world have seized back the right tofix prices
for crude oil. They have readjustedoil prices a number of times in
the last fouryears, bringing up the depressed oil prices tofour
times the former level. This brought toan end the era of
imperialist and hegemonistplunder of low-priced oil. The income of
oil-producing countries increased by a big marginand their economic
strength was greatly en-hanced. The total oil revenue of the 13
ooun-
Peki.ng Retsiew, No, 4
-
pto?orrcil 0f olt oulPu AilD txponl Ey opt(tTETBEN SITTES II{
IHT WORI.D IOIII,
011 tEvlilut 8rroru lrD ttrEtIHE 0lr PrKt wAs lllstD
,O yrs. (1954-1973) I25 billidn U.S. dollars| , yr. (1974) IIO
billion U.S. dollars
tries whieh are now members of the OrgBrdza-tion of Petroleum
Exporting Countries was only125,000 million U.S. dollars in the 20
years end-ing 1973. It stood at 110,400 million dollars ina single
year, 19?4, the first year after oil priceswere raised. By the end
of 1973, these coun-tries had a total surplus of only 3,000
milliondollars, but by the end of March 1977, theirreserves
totalled 144,000 million dollars Be-sides, they have taken over
step by step tleshares of foreign oil companies, or
nationalizedthem, thus aecelerating the collapse of the con-cession
system of imperialism. Now all oil-producing countries are taking
measunes in thefield of refining, transport and sales to
recovermore of their oil rights and interests and de-veiop their
national oil industries.
U.S. imperialism, long the plunderer of theoil resources of the
third world; wai hard hitby the oil weapon. It is losing its
privileges inmany oil-producing countries and its
eoonomicexploitation is being curbed. In 1972, tJre yearbefore the
oil-producing countries seized backthe right to fix oil prices, the
United Statesspent only 3J00 mitlion dollars in oil imports.But in
1976, the figure soared to 36,000 milliondollars. It was estimated
at 45,000 milliondollars last year.
In the 'struggle over oil, Soviet mcial-imperialism has revealed
itself as a double-dealer. Prior to the use of oil as a weapon,
ttreleaders of the Soviet Union pretended to be onthe side of the
oil-producing countries whilewgrhing them against employing the oil
weap-on, describing such an action as "an insane
January 27,7978
step that might lead,lo a world.uiar.'l Duringthe oit embargo,
Moscow shipped large quanti-.ties of oil to the United States, thus
standipgin lhe way of the Arab countries. Later, it gotIarge
amounts of oil dollars and oil rubles bybuying,cheap.and selling
dear. In, such dgals,eyen {he East European countries were
notspared.
. Uniq in SuugglcTtre year 19?? witnessed further develop-
ment of the oil struggle waged by the oil-pro-ducing cguntries
o! the third world in rallyinground the banner of fighting in
unity.
, ['irst, they. firmly exposed the plots of thetwo superpowers
to sabotage the oil struggle.One superpower.had confronted t}re
oil-produc-ing countries with a threat of armed force. Inreply,
sorne Arab oil-produeing countiies warn-ed imperialism that they
would destroy all oilfield facilities and cut off all oil supply to
itif it dared to resort to force.
Ttre other superpower schemed to split ortopplb the OPEC. The
attempt was sternly ex-posed by the leaders or governments of
manyoil-producing countries, who declared that theywould never be
taken in.
Second, they safeguarded and reinforcedunity among themselvee.
Ttre superpowersgtroa,ted over the "two-tier prices" that
appearedfor some time after OPEC's Doha conference inDecqmber 19?6.
But OPEC decided last Julyto restore the "single price" before it
met inStockholm. Ttris was another signal victory ofthe
oil-producing countries of the third worldin eonsolldating unity
and struggling in co-ordination.
Ttrird, they strengthened their relations ofmutual aid and
cro+peration with the non-oil-producing countries of the third
world. Foryears the oil-producing countries whose strug-gle enjoyed
the powerful support of the non-oil-producing countries, provided
various kindsof, aid to the developing countries among theIatter. ,
Ttre financial aid provided by the oil-producing Arab countries to
the non-oil-produc-ing countries increased from about 1,000
mil-lion dollars in 19?3 to 5,600 million dollars in
-
1975. The special fund set up by OPBC to aidthe developing
cuuntries aleo'went'up to 1,600million dollars last year from 800
million,dol-lars in 1976. At the Afro-AraU lurirmit lastMarch,
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United ArabEmirates and the state of
Qatar bnnouncid theprovision of 1,500 million dollars in aid
forAfrican and Atab sountries. A similar histor-ical destiny and
the common task of combatingimperialism and hqgemonisrn have
brought theoil-producing countries and the non+il-produc-ing
countries. of the third world close togCther.
Fourtb, they enlarged the united frontagainst hegemonism by
winning over the secondworld countries. In their attitude towards
theoil struggle, the second world countries havecontradictiohs
rrriih the,turs' superpowers des-pite sorrle points in common
between thern" Intheir own interest and to safeguard theirvitaloil
supply, the second world countries realizethat they should have
'.dialogue," instiad ofconfrontation, wittr the oil-producing
countriesof the third world. In return, the latter haveadopted an
attitude'of winning oyer and cb-operating with them. 'Since the
beginning oflast year, the oil-producing countries have con-cluded
a series of agreements on exporting
TIIIA1{OAI, AD PNOYIDTD BY OII.PIODUCIITGANAB COUl{ITI ES IO
}IOil-OII.-Pf, ODUCII{G COUilIRIIS
ot lllt IBInD wonlDu.il: billion U.S. dollars
'fficrude oil and importing industrial equipmentwith Japan and a
number of West Europeanaiiintries Itey also announeed that they
woulds&pply crtrde oil to .the seeond- world countriesat
stablepril*s if they did not disrupt the rela-tions of stippty iira
dqrrand on the oil market.
Ttre struggle over oil is dev"eloping in depth.The united
struggle of , the thir{ world oil-produci4g countries against
hegemonism rnep-rese{rts a historical trend which is
invincible.
-by Hsin Ping
Ithy Does illoscow lesOrt to Lies ad $landers0y0r
llarrpuchea-Uiet'ilam firtned Conflict?
ITHE Soviet propaganda machine has recentlyf churned out a
string of lieq to slander China
over the Kampuchea-V.iet Nam armed conflict.A Seviet radio
commentary on January 3 allegedthat "the worsening relations
between the So.cialist Republic of Viet Nam and Kampucheahave
obviously been provoked by Peking." TheSoviet newapgper, Iasestia,
and'TASS time andagain spread such rumours as "many Chinesemilitary
advisers hdve taken paft in the militaryactions of the Katnpuchean
side."
24
. , No one is going to.believe these groundlessfabrications
which aie therefore not worth re-futing. But what deserves
attention is that,apart from deliberate animosity towards China,the
Soviet Union has an ulterior motive lnchoosing this very moment to
tell and spreadsuch lies with unusual haste.
A law governing the Kremlin's actioru isthat, rryhenever it
wants to provoke an interna-
.,'tional dispute and interfere in it, Moscow in-variably tries
to create a pretext and often plays
Peking Reoiew, No. 4
-
the -role of a villain bringing suit before hisvictims in order
to divert people's attention awayfrom its own machinations.
History has repeatedly proved that there i.sindeed some villain
who makes it a practice tofish in troubled waters by provoking
interna-tional incidents and it is none other than theSoviet Union
itself. In 1971, taking advantageof the dispute between India, and
Pakistdn, itsupported one part5r and attacked the other.Trading on
the Cyprus situation in 19?4, itagain stepped in, exacerbating
contradictionsbetween the two communities on the island
anddifferences between the countries concerned, inan attempt to
infiltrate the area, expand andstrengthen its position to cortend
with theUnited States for hegemony iR the Mediter-ranean. From 1975
to 1976, it exploited thedifferences among the three Angolan
national-liberation organizations to provokg a civil warby backing
one and attacking the othertwo. Moreover, it sent vast numberS of
mer-cenaries to carry out armed intervention againstthis newly
independent country and turned itinto a forward base for Soviet
expansion into'southern Africa.
In 1977, utilizing the differences betweenAngola andZaire, it
again instigated mercenariesto invade Zaire. Then, it stretched its
handsinto the Horn of Africa and the Middle and NearEast, cashed in
on the disputes between thecountries concerned to aggravate
contradictionsthere so as to expand its sphere of influence.
Not long ago, the Soviet Union held an air-Iift exercise on an
amazing scale with the Hornof Africa as the focus. This makes it
abundantlyclear how it uses disputes among third worldcountries for
its own strategic ends. It iscommon knowledge that Moscow has been
try-ing for a long time to establish its hegemonyover Southeast
Asia and bring the region intoits "system of co[ective security in
Asia." Nowit is repeating its stock tricks on the questionof
Kampuchea-Viet Nam conflict. It is Moscowitself that is stirring up
trouble for the solepurpose of bringing unrest to the region, yet
itmounts a barrage of rumours in order to vilifyChina. Its purpose,
of course, is to divert peo-
January 27,1978
ple's attention and conceal its strategic aim ofestablishing
domination over Southeast Asia.
The other aim of this deluge of Sovietslanders is to sow
discord. It has alleged that"the Peking aufhorities refuse to be
reconciLedwith the presence of a unified socialist VietNam. ." This
cock-and-bull story is theheight of absurdity. As is well known,
the Chi-nese people have always given powerful backingto the
Vietnamese people in their'war againstU.S. aggression and for
national salvation andin their struggle for the reunification of
theirfatherland. The Vietnamese people who havebeen through those
difficult war years cantestify to this historical fact. On the
otherhand, it is an irrefutable fact that throrighoutthe five
decisive fears of war waged by theKampuchean people against the
traitorous IonNol ciique, the Soviet Union had all along sidedwith
the clique and antagonized the Kam-puchean people. It smeared their
war -ofnational, liberation as a "fratricidal war" and,working hand
in glove with the Lon Nol clique,it clandestinely tried to rig up a
"third force" inthat country to sabotage the revolution of
theKampuchean people. The Soviet Governmentmaintained diplomatic
relations with the puppetLon Nol regime right up to the last day of
thetraitorous clique.
Consequgntly, it is the Soviet authoritieswho "refuse to be
reconciled with" the preseneeof a revolutionary and socialist
DemocraticKampuchea in Southeast Asia and will not besatisfied
until they get rid of it. It is for thisreason that Moscow is
zealously telling lies intrying to confuse the picture to mask its
wildambitions.
Soviet lies and slanders, however, have apositive use: they help
heighten the vigilance ofthe people of Indochina and elsewhere in
South-east Asia against the Soviet Union. The peopleare waiting to
see what further acts the Soviethegemonists are going to commit in
an attemptto capitalize on the..armed conflict betweenKampuchea and
Viet Nam.
(A commenl,ery bA Hsinhua Corresponlent)
-
The Unemployment Problem in
Western Countries
f N the major Westem capitalist coun'tries, ther huge army of
jobless workers and largenumbers of unemployed youth
in.prticularhave given rise to a het of social and
politicalproblems It is a reflection of the deepeningpolitical,
economic and social crises in thecapitalist world.
Nu Phenomenon in Postwor YeorIn the second half of 19?5 or in
19?6, the
Western countries began to experienc:e an eco-nomic upturn after
reaching the lowest pointduring the gravest postwar economic crisis
of1974-75. By the first half of last year, the ecoDo-mies of most
of these countries had reached, orwere approachingi their
pre-crisis levets. How-ever, the number of jobless in some
countrieshad not dwindled but had been increasing. Thishad never
happened in previous postwareconomic crises. It constitutes a
feature of theserious unemplo)rment in the Western countries
According to data compiled by the Organiza-tion for Economic
Co-operation and Development (O.E.C.D.), industrial output in its
24member countries went up in varying degreesas- compared with that
in 19?5, but unemploy-ment; rme from 15.25 million to over 16
million.
Official U.S. figures showed that in thefirst 11 months of last
year, the rate of unem-plo.yment remained at about ? per cent and
thenumber of jobless stood at 6.8 million inNovember, or 60 per
cent higher than inNovember 1973, the pre-crisis year.
26
In the nine European Economic Communitycountries, unemploSrment
reached 6.04 million'last September, or double the figure of
threeyears ago. In Britain it surpassed the milliohmark in August
1975 and reached 1.636 millionlast August, a postwar record.
In West Germany, unemployment droppedto less than one million in
the first half of lastyear, but again rose above the million mark
inNovember - standing at 1,004,300.
DieterKroneberg, Chairman of the Employment PolicyWorking Group
of the West German Free Dem-ocratic Party, said that this
development "isbitter, but not unexpected."
In Italy, unernployment totalled 1.7 million.An AP report dated
last December 16 said thatby the year's end, the number of Italians
outof work would soar to nearly 2 million' ?.I pu"cent of .the work
force.
In Japa.n, unemployment continued to risein the first few months
of last year, reactringl apost-crisis record of. 7.27 million in
March.Despite a slight decline afterwdrds, it still stoodabove the
million mark. Besides, 2.5 to 3 millionworkers were semi-unemployed
or lrclentiallyunemployed.
Jobless Youth Going Up
Another characteristic of the serious unem-ployment in Western
countries is a steady in-crease in the number of jobless youth with
theirpercentage in the overall unemployment figurealso going
up.
Peking Reai,eu:, No. 4
-
The number of unemployed youth in thenine E.E.C. countries has
risen rapidly in thelast few years. It exceeded one million in
lg?4,a 50 per cent increase over 1g?3, and surpassed2 million in
the middle of last year, or 3b percent of the'joLle