Showing 753 results

to develop, whereas production has to be limited, it has become impossible to prevent the growth of unemployment and inflation. In the major capitalist countries of Europe the rate of unemployment has now reached 12-13 per cent and the inflation crisis is sweeping the capitalist world. The crisis of capitalism finds clear expression in the fact that the position of the United States, the ringleader of world imperialism, is becoming more and more difficult. The United States is in this difficult position because it is not only sharing the same crisis as the capitalist powers, but has also been gradually losing its leading position in the capitalist world. As their economic domination is being weakened as a result of the economic progress of the European capitalist countries and Japan, the US imperialists are basing their economy more and more on armaments in order to maintain their domination over the capitalist world and allow the large munitions monopolies to make profits. As a result, the deficit in their state budget has become enormous, and their foreign debts have swollen so that the United States, which was once the greatest creditor country in the world, has, now, become the largest debtor nation. Since in the United States the armaments monopolies are trying to make greater profits by ceaselessly expanding the munitions industry, the process of basing the economy on armaments cannot be halted. The United States has attended the negotiations on nuclear arms reduction, but in no way does this mean that its monopolies have abandoned their desire to expand the munitions industry. The American armaments monopolies may not regard the reduction of those nuclear weapons which have already been manufactured and sold as affecting their interests directly, but on no account will they tolerate any reduction or banning of nuclear arms 7

production. That is why the United States, while negotiating for nuclear arms reduction, continues to push forward the adventurous "Star Wars" program, which is said to cost thousands of billions of dollars. It can never free itself from the heavy burden of its ever-growing military expenditure, and its budget deficit and foreign debts will increase further. In the long run, this will lead its economy into a bottomless mire. The most effective way for the imperialists to overcome their political and economic crises is to abolish the outdated international economic order of exploiting and plundering the developing nations in a neocolonial way and establish a new, equitable one so that these countries can make economic and technological progress. It is only when the economies of the developing nations in Asia, Africa and Latin America, where there are enormous natural and manpower resources, develop that the problem of markets for the developed capitalist countries can be solved. In this way alone will the developed capitalist nations survive. However, the imperialists are taking the path of self- destruction by clinging to their neocolonial exploitation and plunder because of their exploiting nature, instead of accept- ing the developing nations' demand for a new international economic order. The contradictions and antagonism between the imperial- ist powers will be further exacerbated in the future. Though the imperialist powers are now collaborating with each other in an attempt to maintain their position of monopoly, there is no doubt that their interests will conflict with each other and that the contradictions between them will become aggravated as their markets grow narrower and the way to the growth of capital and of making money reaches a dead end. It is only 8

natural for hungry wolves to bite each other. Contemporary imperialism has also a serious inner con- tradiction because of which it cannot escape its doom. Outwardly, the developed countries seem to be prosper- ing, but inwardly they are rotting due to ever-worsening contradictions. As the marketing channels are clogged to a greater extent, capitalists are moving towards deforming the material life of people by creating an artificial inhuman demand. They are manufacturing a variety of things to stimulate extravagance, corruption and dissipation and to paralyse the human body and mind, with the result that the number of drug addicts, alcoholics, as well as degenerates pursuing abnormal desires, is growing rapidly and people are becoming mentally and physically deformed. Even the defenders of the bourgeoisie are lamenting and calling this phenomenon an incurable disease of modern capitalism. The capitalists are frenziedly spreading reactionary and anti-popular ideas and culture, as well as the decadent bourgeois way of life, in order to paralyse the working masses' consciousness of independence and to make people submit to the capitalist exploiting system. In capitalist countries all manner of reactionary ideology and superstition which, like a narcotic, numb the sound mind of the people and make them ignorant, are widespread. The way of life in which the weak fall prey to the strong is fostered and, as a result, such social evils as immorality and depravity, murder and robbery are rampant and people are trembling with fear and apprehen- sion. Thus, in capitalist society the mental life of the people becomes all the more intolerable with the increase in material wealth. With a view to maintaining its privileged position, which is 9

being endangered with the passage of time, the capitalist class is resorting to crafty schemes to placate, deceive and bribe the masses while making its reactionary ruling machine fascist and furthering its policy of aggression and war. A decadent material life, a poor mental and cultural life and a reactionary political life—these can be said to be the main characteristic of capitalist society, and they show the anti-popular nature and corruption of modern imperialism. People not only want to be physically healthy and developed while enjoying a prosperous material life, but also desire to develop mentally and culturally while leading a rich mental life. In addition, they want to live and develop with immortal socio-political integrity by joining with each other as equal masters of society. We can say that this is the inherent desire of a man as a social being. In order to develop social life to meet this desire, it is necessary to promote the mental, cultural and political life of the people in step with the enrichment of their material life. However, capitalists do not like to spend money on enriching the mental and cultural life of people because they want people to become the slaves of a corrupt material life and of money. On the contrary, they waste a large sum on restricting the mental and cultural development of the working people. Worse still, capitalists try to restrain the development of the working people's political life as far as possible because enhancing their political position and role endangers their political rule. In capitalist society people are becoming more and more the slaves of money and property and their political integrity is being repressed. In capitalist society it is not possible to eliminate in- equality in material wealth, nor is it possible to remove the imbalance between the improving material life and the 10

deteriorating mental and cultural life, and between the popular masses' growing desire for independence and their worsening political life. In order to eliminate this inequality and imbalance and achieve harmonious development in all the material, mental and cultural and political aspects of life of the working masses, one must follow the path of socialism. However, because of their class nature, the imperialists are not only unwilling to break with capitalism but also getting more and more reactionary, contrary to man's inherent desire for independence. As inequality and imbalance, as well as the reactionary nature and anti-popular character of imperialism, are now growing in capitalist society, the contradiction between the masses of the people, who desire to live and develop independently, and the capitalist class is becoming more serious, and capitalism is precipitating itself into ruin. Contemporary imperialism is in a dilemma internally and externally, and is making frantic efforts to free itself from the daily aggravating, catastrophic crisis. The US imperialists and the international reactionaries are concentrating the spearhead of their attack on the socialist countries, which are the bulwark of peace and progress, and are brazenly attempting to stamp out the struggle of the progressive people of the world who desire Chajusong. As the leader has said, the imperialists are now dancing around wielding a nuclear weapon in one hand and a purse in the other. The schemes of the imperialists are becoming ever more vicious and crafty as they try to bring the people of the socialist countries and other progressive people throughout the world to their knees by threatening and blackmailing them militarily, bribing and subordinating them economi- cally and disrupting them ideologically and culturally. 11

Whenever imperialism faces a crisis, its reactionary and aggressive nature increases and it makes desperate efforts to maintain its existence. The frenzied efforts of the imperialists are not an expression of their strength; they reveal their vulnerability. The more reactionary the imperialists become and the more frenzied are the efforts they make, the more the people will be awakened to revolutionary awareness, and the day of the collapse of imperialism will draw nearer. It is an indisputable fact that the end of contemporary imperialism is nigh, and it is historically inevitable that imperialism will perish and socialism triumph. However, imperialism will not fall of its own accord. It can be defeated only by the revolutionary struggle of the working masses led by the working class. Building up the subject of the revolution is decisive in destroying imperialism and winning victory in the revolution. In particular, it is important to strengthen the working-class party, the vanguard detachment of the revolution, and to enhance its role. If we are to strengthen the revolutionary forces we must correctly analyse and appraise the changes that have taken place in social and class composition. Since the end of the second world war social and class composition in the capitalist countries has undergone a great change. As the mechanization and automation of production has been promoted with the advance of technology in the developed capitalist countries, so the number of people who engage in physical labour has been considerably reduced, whereas the number of those who do technical and mental labour has increased rapidly and they have become the overwhelming majority of the working people. It is a law that as society progresses, so the technical and 12

cultural standard of the workers improves and the number of intellectuals increases. Certainly, it is true that the rapid growth in the number of intellectuals greatly influences the working people towards petit bourgeois ideology. Particularly in a capitalist society where systematic revolutionary education is impossible, it is unavoidable that many intellectuals are tainted with bour- geois and petit bourgeois ideas. Therefore, it is difficult to win them over to the revolution. But we cannot say that the change in social and class composition has weakened the social and class basis of the Communist and Workers' Parties or created unfavourable conditions for the socialist revolu- tion. Neither the working people engaged in technical labour nor those in mental labour are owners of the means of production. There are some differences between them and physical labourers in their technical and cultural levels and in their working conditions, but there is an essential community between them in that they are all employed and paid by capitalists. Today the number of working people—the conventional working masses plus the newly-emerged technical and mental labourers—employed by the capitalists accounts for 80 to 90 per cent of the working populations in the developed capitalist countries. This shows that the social and class basis of the Communist and Workers' Parties has, far from being weakened, actually been strengthened. The point at issue is how the Communist and Workers' Parties should conduct political work to make the broad working masses revolutionary and win them over, to suit the change in social and class composition. The working masses do not take part in the revolution spontaneously. Even the working class can work for the 13

revolution only when they have acquired class awareness. Awakening the working class and other working masses to revolutionary consciousness is all the more urgent at the moment. The working class of today cannot simply be identified with the proletariat of the past. Needless to say, the working class in socialist society is not proletarian, but even the working class in the developed capitalist countries is also different from the proletariat who, according to the classics of the previous age, had nothing to lose but their chains. Property status is not the only factor that prompts a man to take up the revolutionary cause. We should not say that a man is impelled to revolution only by hunger and poverty. An independent man's basic desire is to be the master of his own destiny, the master of the state and society. As the leader has said, there will always be resistance where Chajusong is trampled upon, and a rev- olutionary struggle where there is resistance. The intellectuals in our country before it was liberated from Japanese-imperialist rule received better treatment than the ordinary workers and were comparatively well-to-do. However, their attitude towards imperialism was revo- lutionary because they suffered national discrimination as colonial intellectuals. Even though the standard of living of the technical and mental workers in the developed capitalist countries has risen, they are ill-disposed towards the capitalist system and desire an independent life, free from the rule of capital, because they still suffer capitalist exploitation and oppression. Their desire for an independent life means that they aspire to socialism. As a matter of fact, most of the intellectuals in capitalist countries sympathized with socialism at one time. Their failure to continue to fight for socialism was due to the lack of proper 14

ideological education and leadership rather than to limi- tations to their social and class positions. The party of the working class is always the principal factor in making the working masses revolutionary and winning them over. Unless the party is strengthened ideologi- cally and organizationally and party work methods improved to accord with the actual situation, it is impossible to lead the masses to become class-conscious and organized, unite them behind the party and strengthen the revolutionary forces. Expecting success in the revolution without giving precedence to the work of building up the subject of the revolution by strengthening the party and rallying the masses behind it, would be as stupid as wishing to gather fruit without tending a tree. If it is to be strengthened, the party must, above all.else, develop itself on the principle of guaranteeing its monolithic ideology and leadership and acquire a new guiding ideology and theory that enables it to strike its roots deep among the broad masses, including the intellectuals, and lead them to revolution. The revolutionary theory is not a dogma, but a guide to action. The party must develop its revolutionary theory and improve its work method steadily to suit the changes in the situation, based on the principle of the independent position and decisive role of the popular masses. This is the way to make the broad sections of the masses revolutionary, win them over and lead the revolution to make a new upsurge. We must have a clear understanding of the true nature of modern imperialism, which is blustering and making des- perate efforts before its doom, and must hold the conviction that its downfall is inevitable. Only then can we maintain an unshakable revolutionary stand with a firm confidence in and 15

optimism about victory in the revolution. In order to assess today's revolutionary situation ac- curately and adhere to the revolutionary stand, it is essential to have a clear understanding of the superiority of socialism and its inevitable triumph. We must see historical development since the second world war as the history of victorious socialism. The defeat of fascist Germany and Japanese imperialism and the victory of the Soviet Union in the second world war meant the great victory of socialism and dealt a fatal blow to imperialism. As a result of this war, many new socialist countries emerged in Europe and Asia, and socialism has developed to become a worldwide system. Today many countries of Asia, Europe, Latin America and Africa are advan- cing towards socialism. The magnetism of socialism has grown stronger than ever, and socialism has become a bea- con of hope for the progressive people throughout the world. Of course, the development of socialism has not been smooth. The birth of the new and its victory are always attended by difficulties. Socialist countries had to overcome a series of difficulties because they were beating an untrodden path. The transition from capitalism to socialism is the most deepgoing social transformation in the history of mankind. Socialism has to pave the way for its own development through an arduous and protracted struggle to sweep away all the rubbish that has been accumulated over thousands of years. In particular, because imperialism remains in the world, the struggle for the victory of socialism involves a 16