Third Comment by the CPC
Communist Party of China
IS YUGOSLAVIA
A SOCIALIST COUNTRY?
Third Comment on the Open Letter of
the Central Committee
of the CPSU
by the Editorial Departments of Renmin Ribao
(People's
Daily ) and Hongqi (Red Flag )
(September 13, 1963)
From the collection
The Polemic on the General Line of
the
International Communist Movement
FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRESS
PEKING 1965
pp. 139-83.
Prepared © for the Internet by David J. Romagnolo, djr@cruzio.com (March 1998)
[Transcriber's Note: In the printed edition, quoted
passages of any length appear in the same
size type, but are indented as a
block. In the following on-line version, these passages are NOT indented as a
block, but appear in a smaller point font.-- DJR]
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IS YUGOSLAVIA A SOCIALIST COUNTRY? | |||
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Third Comment on the Open Letter of the
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRIVATE CAPITAL IN YUGOSLAV |
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page 139
page 140 [blank page]
page 141
This is not only a question of ascertaining the nature of the
Yugoslav state, but it also involves the question of which road the socialist
countries should follow: whether they should follow the road of the October
Revolution and carry the socialist revolution through to the end or follow the
road of Yugoslavia and restore capitalism. In addition, it involves the
question of how to appraise the Tito clique: whether it is a fraternal Party
and a force against imperialism or a renegade from the international communist
movement and a lackey of imperialism.
On this question there are fundamental differerieces of
opinion between the leaders of the CPSU, on the one hand, and ourselves and
all other Marxist-Leninists, on the other.
All Marxist-Leninists hold that Yugoslavia is not a socialist
country. The leading clique of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia has
betrayed Marxism-Leninism and the Yugoslav people and consists of renegades
from the international communist movement and lackeys of imperialism.
The leaders of the CPSU, on the other hand, hold that
Yugoslavia is a socialist country and that the League of Communists of
Yugoslavia bases itself on Marxism-Leninism and is a fraternal Party and a
force against imperialism.
In its Open Letter of July 14 the Central
Committee of the CPSU declares that Yugoslavia is a "socialist country" and
that the Tito clique is a "fraternal Party" that "stands at the helm of the
ship of state".
Recently Comrade Khrushchov paid a visit to Yugoslavia and in
a number of speeches he revealed the real standpoint of the leaders of the
CPSU still more clearly, and completely discarded the fig-leaf with which they
had been covering themselves on this question.
page 142
In Khrushchov s opinion, Yugoslavia is not only a socialist
country but an "advanced" socialist country. There, one finds not "idle talk
about revolution" but "actual construction of socialism' In Khrushchov's opinion, the leaders of the CPSU and the
Titoites are "not only class brothers" but "brothers tied together . . . by
the singleness of aims confronting us". The leadership of the CPSU is a
"reliable and faithful ally" of the Tito cliquey.[2]
Khrushchov believes he has discovered genuine
Marxism-Leninism in the Tito clique. The Central Committee of the CPSU was
merely pretending when it asserted in its Open Letter that "differences on a
number of fundamental ideological questions still remain between the CPSU and
the Yugoslav League of Communists". Now Khrushchov has told the Tito clique
that "we belong to one and the same idea and are guided by the same theory",
and that both stand on the basis of Marxism-Leninism.[3]
Khrushchov has cast the Statement of 1960 to the winds.
The Statement says:
The Communist Parties have unanimously condemned the Yugoslav
variety of international opportunism, a variety of modern revisionist
"theories" in concentrated form. It says:
After betraying Marxism-Leninism, which they termed obsolete,
the leaders of the League of Communists of Yu- page 143
goslavia opposed their anti-Leninist revisionist programme to
the Declaration of 1957; they set the L.C.Y. against the international
communist movement as a whole. . . . It says:
[The leaders of the L.C.Y. were] dependent on so-called "aid"
from U.S. and other imperialists, and thereby exposed the Yugoslav people to
the danger of losing the revolutionary gains achieved through a heroic
struggle. It further says:
The Yugoslav revisionists carry on subversive work against
the socialist camp and the world communist movement. . . . they engage in
activities which prejudice the unity of all the peace-loving forces and
countries. The Statement is absolutely clear, and yet the leaders of the
CPSU dare to say: "In accordance with the 1960 Statement, we consider
Yugoslavia a socialist country."[1] How can
they say such a thing!
One would like to ask:
Can a country be socialist when, as the Statement says, it is
guided by a variety of international opportunism, a variety of modern
revisionist theories?
Can a country be socialist when, as the Statement says, it
has betrayed Marxism-Leninism and sets itself against the international
communist movement as a whole?
Can a country be socialist when, as the Statement says, it
carries on subversive work against the socialist camp and the world communist
movement?
Can a country be socialist when, as the Statement says, it
engages in activities which prejudice the unity of all the peace-loving forces
and countries?
page 144
Can a country be socialist when the imperialist countries
headed by the United States have nurtured it with several billions of U.S.
dollars?
This is indeed out of the ordinary and unheard of!
Apparently, Comrade Togliatti speaks more plainly than
Comrade Khrushchov. Togliatti did not mince his words; he said the position
taken by the Statement of 1960 on the Tito clique was "wrong".[1] Since
Khrushchov is bent on reversing the verdict on the Tito clique, he should be
more explicit; there is no need to pretend to uphold the Statement.
Is the Statement's verdict on Yugoslavia wrong and should it
be reversed? Togliatti says it is wrong and should be reversed. Khrushchov in
effect also says it is wrong and should be reversed. We say it is not wrong
and must not be reversed. All fraternal Parties adhering to Marxism-Leninism
and upholding the Statement of 1960 likewise say it is not wrong and must not
be reversed.
In doing so, in the opinion of the leaders of the CPSU, we
are clinging to a "stereotyped formula" and to the "jungle laws" of the
capitalist world[2] and are " page 145
What are the realities in Yugoslavia? What sort of conclusion
ought one to draw if one proceeds from objective laws, from the teachings of
Marxism-Leninism, and makes a profound analysis of the realities in
Yugoslavia?
Let us now look into this question.
One of Khrushchov's arguments to affirm that Yugoslavia is a
socialist country is that private capital, private enterprise and capitalists
do not exist in Yugoslavia.
Is that true? No, it is not.
The fact is private capital and private enterprise exist on a
very big scale in Yugoslavia and are developing apace.
Judging by the record in all socialist countries, it is not
strange to find different sectors, including a private capitalist sectors
existing in the national economy of a socialist country for a considerable
period after the proletariat has taken political power. What matters is the
kind of policy adopted by the government towards private capitalism -- the
policy of utilizing, restricting, transforming and eliminating it, or the
policy of laissez-faire and fostering and encouraging it. This is an important
criterion for determining whether a country is developing towards socialism or
towards capitalism.
On this question the Tito clique is going in the opposite
direction from socialism. The social changes Yugoslavia introduced in the
early post-war period were in the first place not thoroughgoing. The policy
the Tito clique has adopted since its open betrayal is not one of transforming
and eliminating private capital and private enterprise but of fostering and
expanding them.
Regulations issued by the Tito clique in 1953 stipulate that
"citizens' groups" have the right to "found enterprises" and "hire labour". In
the same year, it issued a decree stipulat-
page 146
ing that private individuals have the right to purchase fixed assets from
state economic establishments.
In 1956 the Tito clique encouraged local administrations to
foster private capital by its taxation and other policies.
In 1961 the Tito clique decreed that private individuals have
the right to purchase foreign exchange.
In 1963 the Tito clique embodied the policy of developing
private capitalism in its constitution. According to provisions of the
constitution, private individuals in Yugoslavia may found enterprises and hire
labour.
With the Tito clique's help and encouragement, private
enterprise and private capital have mushroomed in the cities in Yugoslavia.
According to the official Statistical Pocket-Book of
Yugoslavia, 1963 published in Belgrade, there are over 115,000
privately-owned craft establishments in Yugoslavia. But in fact the owners of
many of these private enterprises are not "craftsmen" but typical private
capitalists.
The Tito clique admits that although the law allows private
owners to employ a maximum of five workers each, there are some who employ ten
or twenty times as many and even some who employ "five to six hundred
workers".[1] And the annual turnover of some private
enterprises is over 100 million dinars.[2]
Politika disclosed on December 7, 1961 that in many
cases these private entrepreneurs are actually "big entrepreneurs". It says:
It is difficult to ascertain how wide the net of these
private entrepreneurs spreads and how many workers they have. According to the
law, they are entitled to keep five workers who are supposed to help them in
their work. But to those who know the ins and outs of the matter, these five
persons are actually contractors who in turn have their own page 147
From the profits made by these entrepreneurs, one can see
that they are one hundred per cent capitalists. Svet reported on
December 8, 1961 that "the net income of some private handicraftsmen reaches
one million dinars per month", and the Belgrade Vecernje novosti said
on December 20, 1961 that in Belgrade "last year 116 owners of private
enterprises each received an income of more than 10 million dinars". Some
entrepreneurs "received an income of about 70 million dinars" in one year,
which is nearly U.S.$100,000 according to the official rate of exchange.
In Yugoslav cities not only are there private industrial
enterprises, private service establishments, private commerce, private housing
estates and private transport business, there are also usurers, who are known
as "private bankers". These usurers operate openly and even advertise their
business in the newspapers; one such advertisement runs as follows: "A loan of
300,000 dinars for three months offered. 400,000 dinars to be returned.
Security necessary."[1]
All these are indisputable facts.
We would like to ask those who are bent on reversing the
verdict on the Tito clique: Unless it is your intention to deceive, how can
you assert that Yugoslavia has no private capital, no private enterprise and
no capitalists?
Let us now consider the situation in the Yugoslav
countryside.
Does it no longer have capitalists, as Khrushchov asserts?
page 148
No, the facts are quite the reverse.
The fact that Yugoslavia has been swamped by capitalism is
even more striking in the countryside.
Marxism-Leninism teaches us that individual economy,
petty-producer economy, generates capitalism daily and hourly, and that only
collectivization can lead agriculture on to the path of socialism.
Stalin pointed out:
Lenin says that so long as individual peasant economy, which
engenders capitalists and capitalism, predominates in the country, the danger
of a restoration of capitalism will exist. Clearly, so long as this danger
exists there can be no serious talk of the victory of socialist construction
in our country.[1] On this question the Tito clique pursues a line running
counter to socialism.
In the initial post-war period a land reform took place in
Yugoslavia and a number of peasants' working co-operatives were organized. But
in the main the rich-peasant economy was left untouched.
In 1951 the Tito clique openly declared its abandonment of
the road of agricultural collectivization and began to disband the peasants'
working co-operatives. This was a serious step taken by the Tito clique in
betraying the socialist cause. Such co-operatives decreased from over 6,900 in
1950 to a little more than 1,200 at the end of 1953, and to 147 in 1960. The
Yugoslav countryside is submerged in a sea of individual economy.
The Tito clique declares that collectivization has not proved
of value in Yugoslavia. It makes the vicious slander that
page 149
"collectivization is the same as expropriation"[1] and is a
path which "preserves serfdom and poverty in the countryside for the longest
possible time".[2] It
advocates the ridiculous idea that the development of agriculture should be
"based on the free competition of economic forces".[3]
While dissolving many of the peasants' working co-operatives,
the Tito clique has promulgated one law and decree after another since 1953 to
encourage the development of capitalism in the rural areas, granting freedom
to buy, sell and rent land and to hire farm hands, abolishing the planned
purchase of agricultural produce and replacing it with free trading in this
sphere.
Under this policy, the forces of capitalism spread rapidly in
the rural areas and the process of polarization quickened. This has been an
important aspect of the Tito clique's work of restoring capitalism.
Polarization in the countryside is firstly revealed in the
changes occurring in land ownership. Slavko Komar, formerly Yugoslav Secretary
for Agriculture and Forestry, admitted that in 1959 poorer peasant households
with less than 5 hectares of land each, which constitute 70 per cent of all
peasant households, owned only 43 per cent of all privately-owned land,
whereas well-to-do peasant households with more than 8 hectares of land each,
which form only 13 per cent of all peasant households, owned 33 per cent of
all privately-owned land. Komar also admitted that about 10 per cent of the
peasant households bought or sold land every year.[4]
Most of the sellers were poorer families.
page 150
The concentration of land is actually much more serious than
is apparent from the above data. As revealed in the July 19, 1963 issue of
Borba, the organ of the Tito clique, in one district alone there were
"thousands of peasant households with far more than the legal maximum of 10
hectares of land". In Bijeljina Commune, "it was found that five hundred
peasant households owned estates of 10 to 30 hectares". These are not isolated
cases.
Polarization in the rural areas also manifests itself in the
great inequalities in the ownership of draught animals and farm implements. Of
the 308,000 peasant households in the province of Vojvodina, which is a
leading grain-producing area, 55 per cent have no draught animals. Peasant
households with less than 2 hectares of land each, which constitute 40.7 per
cent of all peasant households, have only 4.4 per cent of all the ploughs in
this region, or an average of one plough to 20 households. On the other hand,
the rich peasants own more than 1,300 tractors and a great deal of other farm
machinery as well as large numbers of ploughs and animal-drawn carts.[1]
Polarization likewise manifests itself in the growth of such
forms of capitalist exploitation as the hiring of labour.
The February 7, 1958 issue of Komunist revealed that
52 per cent of the peasant households in Serbia owning more than 8 hectares of
land hired labourers in 1956.
In 1962 Slavko Komar said that the heads of some peasant
households had in recent years "become powerful" and that "their income is
derived not from their own labour but from unlawful trade, from the processing
of both their own products and those of others, from illicit distilling of
spirits, from the possession of more than the prescribed maximum of 10
hectares of farmland, which is obtained by purchasing, or more often by
leasing land, fictitious partition of land among family members, seizure or
concealment of public land, from the
page 151
acquisition of tractors through speculation and from the exploitation of
poor neighbours by cultivating their land for them".[1]
Borba stated on August 30, 1962 that "the so-called
kind-hearted producer . . . is a leaseholder of land, a hirer of labour and an
experienced merchant. . . . Such people are not producers, but entrepreneurs.
Some never touch a hoe all the year round. They hire labour and only supervise
the work in the field and they engage in trading".
Usurers, too, are very active in the Yugoslav countryside.
Interest rates often run to more than 100 per cent per annum. In addition,
there are people who, taking advantage of the plight of the unemployed,
monopolize the labour market and practise exploitation in the process.
Deprived of land and other means of production, large numbers
of poverty-stricken peasants can live only by selling their labour power.
According to figures given in Politika of August 20, 1962, about 70 per
cent of the 1961 cash income of Yugoslav peasant households with less than 2
hectares of land came from selling their labour power. These peasants are
fleeced right and left and lead a miserable life.
As facts show, the Yugoslav countryside is dominated by the
exploiting class.
In arguing that Yugoslavia is a socialist country, the Open
Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU states that the "socialist sector"
in the rural areas of Yugoslavia has increased from 6 to 15 per cent.
Unfortunately, even this pitiable percentage is not
socialist.
By the socialist sector of 15 per cent the leaders of the
CPSU can only mean such organizations as the "agricultural farms" and "general
agricultural co-operatives" promoted by the Tito clique. But in fact the
"agricultural farms" are capitalist farms and the "general agricultural
co-operatives" are capitalist economic organizations engaging mainly in
commerce. They
page 152
do not affect the private ownership of land; what is more, their main
function is to foster the development of the rich-peasant economy.
Problems of Agriculture in Yugoslavia, a work
published in Belgrade, states that "judging by how they are organized today
and how they function", the co-operatives "do not in the least signify
socialist reconstruction of agriculture and of the countryside. They are
working not so much for the creation of socialist strongholds as for the
development and promotion of capitalist elements. There are cases in which
these cooperatives are kulak associations".
The Tito clique has given the "general agricultural
cooperatives" the monopoly right to purchase agricultural products from the
peasants. Taking advantage of this special privilege and of uncontrolled
fluctuations in prices of farm produce, the so-called co-operatives speculate
and through such commercial activities exploit the peasants in a big way. In
1958 Yugoslavia had a poor harvest. The co-operatives and other commercial
organs took the opportunity to raise the selling prices of farm produce. The
year 1959 brought a better harvest and the co-operatives broke their contracts
with the peasants and reduced their purchases, not even hesitating to let the
crops rot in the fields.
The "general agricultural co-operatives" and the
"agricultural farms" hire and exploit a large number of long-term and
temporary workers. According to data in The Statistical Year-Book of the
Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia of 1962, long-term workers hired
by the "cooperatives" alone totalled more than 100,000 in 1961. A large number
of temporary workers were also employed. As disclosed by Rad on
December 1, 1962, hired labourers "are very often subject to the crudest
exploitation (the working day may be as long as 15 hours), and usually their
personal income is extremely low".
It is thus clear that these agricultural organizations of the
so-called socialist sector are nothing but capitalist agricultural
organizations .
page 153
Expropriation of poorer peasants and promotion of capitalist
farms form the Tito clique's basic policy in the sphere of agriculture. Back
in 1955, Tito said:
We do not abandon the idea that the day will come in
Yugoslavia when small farms will be combined in one way or another. . . . In
America they have already done so. We must find a solution to this problem.
In order to take the capitalist path, in 1959 the Tito clique
promulgated the Law on the Utilization of Cultivated Land, stipulating that
the land of peasants working on their own, who cannot farm it according to
requirements, is subject to the "compulsory management" of the "general
agricultural cooperatives" and "agricultural farms". In effect, this means the
expropriation of poorer peasants and the forcible annexation of their land to
develop capitalist farms. This is the path of capitalist agriculture, pure and
simple.
In speaking of the transition from small peasant economy to
an economy of large-scale farming, Stalin said:
There you have two paths, the capitalist path and the
socialist path: the path forward -- to socialism, and the path backward -- to
capitalism. Is there a third path? Stalin said, "The so-called third path
is actually the second path, the path leading back to capitalism." "For what
does it mean to return to individual farming and to restore the kulaks? It
means restoring kulak bondage, restoring the exploitation of the peasantry by
the kulaks and giving the kulaks power. But is it possible to restore the
kulaks and at the same time to preserve the Soviet power? No, it is not
possible. The restoration of the kulaks is bound to lead to the creation of a
kulak power and to the liquidation of the Soviet power -- hence, it is bound
to lead to the forrnation of a bourgeois government. And the formation of a
bourgeois government is bound to lead in its turn to the
page 154
restoration of the landlords and capitalists, to the restoration of
capitalism."[1]
The path taken by Yugoslavia in agriculture during the past
ten years and more is precisely the path of restoring capitalism.
All these are indisputable facts.
We would like to ask those who are bent on reversing the
verdict on the Tito clique: Unless it is your intention to deceive, how can
you assert that there are no capitalists in Yugoslavia?
The restoration of capitalism in Yugoslavia manifests itself
not only in the fact that private capitalism is spreading freely both in the
cities and in the countryside. Still more important, the "public" enterprises,
which play a decisive role in the Yugoslav economy, have degenerated.
The Tito clique's economy of "workers' self-government" is
state capitalism of a peculiar kind. It is not state capitalism under
conditions of the dictatorship of the proletariat but state capitalism under
conditions in which the Tito clique has turned the dictatorship of the
proletariat into the dictatorship of the bureaucrat-comprador bourgeoisie. The
means of production of the enterprises under "workers' self-government" do not
belong to one or more private capitalists but to the new type of
bureaucrat-comprador bourgeoisie of Yugoslavia, which includes the bureaucrats
and managers and which the Tito clique represents. Usurping the name of the
state, depending on U.S. imperialism and disguising itself under the cloak of
page 155
socialism, this bureaucrat-comprador bourgeoisie has robbed the working
people of the property originally belonging to them. In reality, "workers'
self-government" is a system of ruthless exploitation under the domination of
bureaucrat-comprador capital.
Since 1950, the Tito clique has issued a series of decrees
instituting "workers' self-government" in all state-owned factories, mines and
other enterprises in communications, transport, trade, agriculture, forestry
and public utilities. The essence of "workers' self-government" consists of
handing over the enterprises to "working collectives", with each enterprise
operating independently, purchasing its own raw materials, deciding on the
variety, output and prices of its products and marketing them, and determining
its own wage scale and the division of part of its profits. Yugoslav decrees
further stipulate that economic enterprises have the right to buy, sell or
lease fixed assets.
In the enterprises under "workers' self-government",
ownership is described by the Tito clique as "a higher form of socialist
ownership". They assert that only with "workers' self-government" can one
"really build socialism".
This is sheer deception.
Theoretically speaking, as anyone with a slight knowledge of
Marxism knows, slogans like "workers' self-government" and "factories to the
workers" have never been Marxist slogans but slogans advanced by anarchist
syndicalists, bourgeois socialists and old-line opportunists and revisionists. The theory of "workers' self-government" and "factories to
the workers" runs counter to the fundamental Marxist theory of socialism. It
was completely refuted by the classical Marxist writers long ago.
As Marx and Engels pointed out in the Communist Manifesto,
"The proletariat will use its political supremacy to wrest, by degrees, all
capital from the bourgeoisie, to centralise all instruments of production in
the hands of the State. . . ."
page 156
Engels wrote in Anti-Dí±£í²©ng, "The proletariat seizes
political power and turns the means of production into state property."
Having seized political power, the proletariat must
concentrate the means of production in the hands of the state of the
dictatorship of the proletariat. This is a fundamental principle of socialism. In the early period of Soviet power following the October
Revolution when some people advocated handing the factories over to the
producers so that they could "organize production" directly, Lenin sternly
criticized this view, saying that in reality it meant opposition to the
dictatorship of the proletariat.
He acutely pointed out:
. . . Any direct or indirect legalization of the possession
of their own production by the workers of individual factories or individual
professions or of their right to weaken or impede the decrees of the state
power is the greatest distortion of the basic principles of Soviet power and
the complete renunciation of socialism.[1] It is thus clear that "workers' self-government" has nothing
to do with socialism.
In fact; the "workers' self-government" of the Tito clique
does not provide self-government on the part of the workers; it is a hoax.
The enterprises under "workers' self-government" are actually
in the clutches of the new bureaucrat-comprador bourgeoisie represented by the
Tito clique. It controls the enterprises' property and personnel and takes
away much the greater part of their income.
Through the banks the Tito clique controls the credit of the
entire country and the investment funds and liquid capital of all enterprises
and supervises their financial affairs.
The Tito clique plunders the income of these enterprises by
various means, such as the collection of taxes and interest. According to the
statistics of the "Report on the Work in 1961 by the Federal Executive Council
of Yugoslavia", it took away about three-quarters of the enterprises' net
income in this way.
The Tito clique seizes the fruits of the people's labour
which it appropriates chiefly for meeting the extravagant expenses of this
clique of bureaucrats, for maintaining its reactionary rule, for strengthening
the apparatus which suppresses the working people, and for paying tribute to
the imperialists in the form of the servicing of foreign debts.
Moreover, the Tito clique controls these enterprises through
their managers. The managers are nominally chosen by competition by the
enterprises but are in fact appointed by the Tito clique. They are agents of
the bureaucrat-comprador bourgeoisie in these enterprises.
In the enterprises under "workers' self-government", the
relations between managers and workers are actually relations between
employers and employees, between the exploiters and the exploited.
As matters stand, the managers can determine the production
plans and the direction of development of these enterprises, dispose of the
means of production, take the decisions on the distribution of the
enterprises' income, hire or fire workers and overrule the resolutions of the
workers' councils or management boards.
Abundant information published in the Yugoslav press proves
that the workers' council is merely formal, a kind of voting machine, and that
all power in the enterprise is in the hands of the manager.
The fact that the manager of an enterprise controls its means
of production and the distribution of its income enables him to appropriate
the fruits of the workers' labour by means of various privileges.
page 158
The Tito clique itself admits that in these enterprises there
is a wide gap between managers and workers not only in wages but also in
bonuses. In some enterprises, the bonuses of the managers and higher staff are
forty times those of the workers. "In certain enterprises, the total amount of
the bonus which a group of leaders received is equal to the wage fund of the
entire collective."[1]
Moreover, the managers of the enterprises use their
privileges to make a lot of money by various subterfuges. Bribery,
embezzlement and theft are still bigger sources of income for the managers.
The broad masses of the workers live in poverty. There is no
guarantee of employment. Large numbers of workers lose their jobs with the
closing down of enterprises. According to official statistics, in February
1963 the number of the unemployed reached 339,000, or about 10 per cent of the
number of the employed. In addition, every year many workers go abroad seeking
work.
Politika admitted on September 25, 1961 that "there
exists a great gap between some workers and office employees; the former look
upon the latter as These facts show that in the Yugoslav enterprises under
"workers' self-government", a new social group has come into being consisting
of the few who appropriate the fruits of labour of the many. It is an
important component of the new bureaucrat-comprador bourgeoisie in Yugoslavia. By promoting "workers' self-government", the Tito clique has
completely pushed the enterprises originally owned by the whole people off the
path of socialist economy.
The main manifestations of this are the following:
First, the abandonment of unified economic planning by the
state.
page 159
Second, the use of profits as the primary incentive in the
operation of the enterprises. They may adopt a variety of methods to increase
their income and profits. In other words, in the enterprises under "workers'
self-government" the aim of production is not to meet the needs of society but
to seek profits, just as in any capitalist enterprise.
Third, the pursuance of the policy of encouraging capitalist
free competition. Tito has said to the managers of the enterprises,
"Competition at home will be beneficial to our ordinary people, the
consumers." The Tito clique also openly declares that it allows "competition,
the seeking of profits, speculation and the like" because "they play a
positive role in promoting the initiative of the producers, their collective,
the communes, etc.".[1]
Fourth, the use of credit and the banks as important levers
to promote capitalist free competition. In granting loans, the Tito regime's
credit and banking system invites tenders for investment. Whoever is capable
of repaying the loan in the shortest period and paying the highest rate of
interest will obtain the loan. In their words, this is "to use competition as
the usual method of allocating investment credits".[2]
Fifth, relations among the enterprises are not socialist
relations of mutual support and co-ordination under a unified government plan
but capitalist relations of competition and rivalry in a free market.
All this has undermined the very foundation of socialist
planned economy.
Lenin said:
Socialism . . . is inconceivable without planned state
organization which subjects tens of millions of people to page 160
the strictest observance of a single standard in production
and distribution.[1] He also said:
. . . without all-sided state accounting and control of
production and distribution of goods, the power of the toilers, the freedom of
the toilers, cannot be maintained, and . . . a return to the yoke of
capitalism is inevitable.[2] Under the signboard of "workers' self-government", all the
economic departments and enterprises in Yugoslavia are locked in fierce
capitalist competition. It is quite common for the enterprises under "workers'
self-government" to engage in embezzlement, speculation and hoarding, to
inflate prices, bribe, hide technical secrets, grab technical personnel and
even to attack one another in the press or over the radio in rivalry for
markets and profits.
The fierce competition among Yugoslav enterprises goes on not
only in the home market but also in foreign trade. The Yugoslav press says
that it is not unusual for twenty or thirty agents of Yugoslav foreign trade
establishments to visit the same market abroad, compete among themselves for
business, and take away the others' customers or suppliers. "From selfish
motives", these enterprises engaged in foreign trade seek to "make profits at
any cost" and "is not choosy about their means".
A result of this fierce competition is chaos in the Yugoslav
market. Prices vary considerably not only in different cities or regions but
also in different shops in the same place, and even for the same kind of goods
from the same producer. In order to maintain high prices, some enterprises do
not hesitate to destroy large quantities of farm produce.
page 161
Another result of this fierce competition is the closing down
of large numbers of enterprises in Yugoslavia. According to information
provided by the Official Bulletin of the FPRY, five hundred to six
hundred enterprises closed down annually in recent years.
All this shows that the "public" economy of Yugoslavia is
governed not by the laws of socialist planned economy but by those of
capitalist competition and anarchy of production. The Tito clique's
enterprises under "workers' self-government" are not socialist but capitalist
in nature.
We would like to ask those who are bent on reversing the
verdict on the Tito clique: Unless it is your intention to deceive, how can
you describe the state capitalist economy controlled by the
bureaucrat-comprador bourgeoisie as a socialist economy?
The process of the restoration of capitalism in Yugoslavia is
interwoven with the process in which the Tito clique has become subservient
towards U.S. imperialism and Yugoslavia has degenerated into a U.S.
imperialist dependency.
With its betrayal of Marxism-Leninism, the Tito clique
embarked on the shameful course of selling out the sovereignty of the state
and living off the alms of U.S. imperialism.
According to incomplete statistics, from the conclusion of
World War II to January 1963 the United States and other imperialist powers
extended to the Tito clique "aid" totalling some U.S. $5,460 million, of which
more than 60 per cent, or about $3,500 million, was U.S. "aid". The greatest
part of this U.S. aid was granted after 1950.
U.S. aid has been the mainstay of Yugoslavia's finances and
economy. Official statistics show that in 1961 the loans the Tito clique
obtained from the United States and U.S.-controlled international financial
organizations totalled U.S. $346 million,
page 162
or 47.4 per cent of the federal budgetary income of Yugoslavia in that
year. With the inclusion of aid from other Western countries, the money
received by the Tito clique from Western countries in 1961 totalled U.S. $493
million, or 67.6 per cent of the federal budgetary income in that year.
In order to obtain U.S. aid, the Tito clique has concluded a
series of traitorous treaties with the United States.
The notes exchanged between Yugoslavia and the United States
in 1951 concerning the Agreement Relating to Mutual Defense Assistance
stipulated that U.S. Government officials have the "freedom . . ., without
restriction", to observe and supervise the receipt and distribution in
Yugoslavia of U.S. military aid material and has "full access to communication
and information facilities". The agreement also required Yugoslavia to provide
the United States with strategic raw materials.
The Agreement Regarding Military Assistance signed between
Yugoslavia and the United States in 1951 stipulated that Yugoslavia should
"make the full contribution . . . to the development and maintenance of the
defensive Strength of the free world" and should be ready to provide troops
for the United Nations. Under this agreement the military mission sent by the
United States was to directly supervise the training of Yugoslav troops.
The Yugoslav-U.S. Economic Co-operation Agreement of 1952
stipulated that Yugoslavia must use U.S. aid for "furthering fundamental
individual human rights, freedoms and democratic institutions", that is, for
furthering capitalism.
In 1954 Yugoslavia concluded a Treaty of Alliance, Political
Co-operation and Mutual Assistance with Greece and Turkey, both members of
NATO. The treaty provided for military and diplomatic co-ordination among the
three countries, thus making Yugoslavia a virtual member of the
U.S.-controlled military bloc.
Since 1954 Yugoslavia has concluded a series of agreements
with the United States, selling out its sovereignty. More than
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fifty such agreements were signed in the period between 1957 and 1962.
Because of the conclusion of these treaties and agreements
and because the Tito clique has made Yugoslavia dependent on U.S. imperialism,
the United States enjoys the following rights in Yugoslavia:
(1) to control its military affairs; The independence and sovereignty of Yugoslavia have thus been
auctioned off by the Tito clique.
In addition to selling out Yugoslavia's sovereign rights in a
series of unequal treaties with the United States, the Tito clique, in order
to secure U.S. aid, has taken one step after another in domestic and foreign
policy to comply with Western monopoly capital's demand to penetrate
Yugoslavia.
Starting from 1950 the Tito clique abolished the monopoly of
foreign trade by the state.
The Act on Foreign Trade Activities promulgated in 1953
permitted enterprises to conduct foreign trade independently and to have
direct transactions with Western monopoly capitalist enterprises.
In 1961 the Tito regime introduced reforms in the systems of
foreign exchange and foreign trade. Their main content was the further
relaxation of restrictions on import and export trade. Complete liberalization
was effected in the import of major semi-processed materials and certain
consumers goods and restrictions on the import of other commodities were
relaxed in varying degrees. Restrictions were removed on the supply of foreign
exchange needed for so-called unrestricted imports.
page 164
Everybody knows that state monopoly of foreign trade is a
basic principle of socialism.
Lenin said that the industrial proletariat "is absolutely not
in a position to recover our industry and to make Russia an industrial country
without the protection of industry, which in no way refers to its protection
by customs policy, but solely and exclusively refers to its protection by
monopoly of foreign trade."[1]
Stalin said that "the monopoly of foreign trade is one of the
unshakable foundations of the platform of the Soviet Government" and that the
abolition of the monopoly of foreign trade would mean "abandoning the
industrialization of the country", "flooding the U.S.S.R. with goods from
capitalist countries", and "transforming our country from an independent
country into a semi-colonial one".[2]
To abolish the state monopoly of foreign trade, as the Tito
regime has done, is to throw the door wide open to imperialist monopoly
capital.
What are the economic consequences of the fact that the Tito
clique receives large amounts of U.S. aid and keeps Yugoslavia's door wide
open to imperialism?
First, Yugoslavia has become a market for
imperialist dumping.
Huge quantities of industrial goods and farm produce from the
imperialist countries have flooded the Yugoslav market. In pursuit of profits
the Yugoslav comprador capitalists, who make piles of money by serving foreign
monopoly capital, keep on importing commodities even though they can be
produced at home and even when stocks are huge. Politika admitted on
July 25, 1961 that it "was everywhere evident" that Yugoslav industry "was
suffering blows from the continuous and very complicated competition of
foreign industry".
page 165
Secondly, Yugoslavia has become an outlet for
imperialist investment.
Many Yugoslav industrial enterprises have been built with
"aid" from the United States and other imperialist countries. A great deal of
foreign private monopoly capital has penetrated into Yugoslavia. According to
Augustin Papié¬ the general manager of the Yugoslav Investment Bank, in the
period between 1952 and 1956 "the participation of foreign funds reached 32.5
per cent of the total value of economic investments". U.S. Secretary of State
Dean Rusk said on February 5, 1962 that Yugoslavia's source of capital was
"largely in the West."
Thirdly, Yugoslavia has become a base from which
imperialism extracts raw materials.
In accordance with the Agreement Regarding Military
Assistance, the Tito clique has since 1951 continually supplied the United
States with large quantities of strategic raw materials. According to the
Statistical Year-Book of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia of
1961, about half of Yugoslavia's exports of important metals, such as
magnesium, lead, zinc and antimony, have gone to the United States since 1957. Fourthly, the industrial enterprises of
Yugoslavia have become assembly shops for Western monopoly capitalist
companies.
Many major Yugoslav industries produce under licence from
Western countries and are dependent on imports of semi-processed materials,
parts, spare parts and semi-manufactured products. The production of these
industries is under the control of Western monopoly capital.
In fact, many of the industrial products sold as home
products in Yugoslavia are assembled from imported ready-made parts and have
Yugoslav trade marks attached. Vesnik u sredu of April 25, 1962 said
that "some of our industrial enterprises are becoming a special type of
commercial organization, which does not produce but assembles, only sticking
its own trade mark on the products of others".
page 166
In these circumstances, Yugoslavia has become an integral
part of the world market of Western monopoly capital. In the financial and
economic spheres it is tightly bound to the capitalist world market and has
degenerated into a dependency of imperialism, and particularly of U.S.
imperialism.
When a socialist country sells out its independence and
sovereign rights and becomes an imperialist appendage, the restoration of the
capitalist system is the inevitable result.
The special road of building "socialism" by relying on U.S.
aid advertised by the Tito clique is nothing but a road for turning a
socialist system into a capitalist system to meet the needs of imperialism, a
road of degeneration from an independent country into a semi-colony.
Khrushchov insists that this dependency of U.S. imperialism
is "building socialism". This is fantastic. A self-styled socialism having
U.S. aid as its trade mark is a new variety to be added to the bogus brands of
socialism, which were criticized by Marx, Engels and Lenin, and this is
presumably a great contribution on the part of Tito and Khrushchov in
"creatively developing the theory of Marxism-Leninism".
Judging by the counter-revolutionary role played by the Tito
clique in international relations and by its reactionary foreign policy,
Yugoslavia is still farther from being a socialist country.
In the international arena the Tito clique is a special
detachment of U.S. imperialism for sabotaging the world revolution.
By setting the example of restoring capitalism in Yugoslavia,
the Tito clique is helping U.S. imperialism to push its policy of "peaceful
evolution" inside the socialist countries.
Under the signboard of a socialist country, the Tito clique
is frantically opposing and disrupting the socialist camp and
page 167
serving as an active agent in the anti-Chinese campaign.
Under the cover of non-alignment and active coexistence the
Tito clique is trying to wreck the national liberation movement in Asia,
Africa and Latin America and is serving U.S neo-colonialism .
The Tito clique spares no effort to prettify U.S. imperialism
and benumb the people of the world in their struggle against the imperialist
policies of war and aggression.
Under the pretext of opposing "Stalinism", the Tito clique is
peddling revisionist poison everywhere and opposing revolution by the people
in all countries.
The Tito clique has invariably played the role of a lackey of
U.S. imperialism in the major international events of the past ten years and
more.
1. The revolution in Greece. On July 10, 1949 Tito
closed the border between Yugoslavia and Greece against the Greek people's
guerrillas. At the same time, he allowed the Greek fascist royalist troops to
pass through Yugoslav territory in order to attack the guerrillas from the
rear. In this way the Tito clique helped the U.S.-British imperialists to
strangle the Greek people's revolution.
2. The Korean War. In a statement issued on September 6,
1950, Edvard Kardelj, who was then foreign minister, brazenly slandered the
Korean people's just war of resistance to aggression and defended U.S.
imperialism. On December 1, speaking at the U.N. Security Council, the
representative of the Tito clique attacked China for its "active interference
in the Korean War". The Tito clique also voted in the United Nations for the
embargo on China and Korea.
3. The Vietnamese people's war of liberation. On the eve
of the Geneva Conference on Indo-China in April 1954, the Tito clique
violently slandered the just struggle of the Vietnamese people, asserting that
they were being used by Moscow and Peking "as a card in their post-war policy
of cold war".[1]
page 168
They said of the Vietnamese people's great battle to liberate Dien Bien Phu
that it was "not a gesture of goodwill".[1]
4. Subversion against Albania. The Tito clique has been
carrying on subversive activities and armed provocations against socialist
Albania for a long time. It has engineered four major cases of treason, in
1944, 1948, 1956 and 1960. Its armed provocations on the Yugoslav-Albanian
border numbered more than 470 from 1948 to 1958. In 1960 the Tito clique and
the Greek reactionaries planned an armed attack on Albania in co-ordination
with the U.S. Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean.
5. The counter-revolutionary rebellion in Hungary. The
Tito clique played a shameful role of an interventionist provocateur in the
Hungarian counter-revolutionary rebellion in October 1956. After the outbreak
of the rebellion, Tito published a letter supporting the counter-revolutionary
measures of the traitor Nagy. On November 3 the Tito clique bade Nagy seek
asylum in the Yugoslav Embassy in Hungary. In a speech on November 11, Tito
characterized the counter-revolutionary rebellion as resistance by
"progressives" and impudently questioned whether the "course of Yugoslavia" or
the "course of Stalinism" would win.
6. The Middle Eastern events. In 1958 troops were sent
by U.S. imperialism to occupy Lebanon and by British imperialism to occupy
Jordan. There arose a world-wide wave of protest demanding the immediate
withdrawal of the U.S. and British troops. At the emergency session of the
U.N. General Assembly on the Middle Eastern situation, Koca Popovié¬ State
Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Yugoslavia, said that "it is not a question
of whether we insist on condemning or approving the actions taken by the
United States and Great Britain". He advocated intervention by the United
Nations, an organization which is under the control of U.S. imperialism.
7. The event in the Taiwan Straits. In the autumn of
1958, the Chinese People's Liberation Army shelled Quemoy in
page 169
order to counter the U.S. imperialist provocations in the Taiwan Straits
and to punish the Chiang Kai-shek gang, which is a U.S. imperialist lackey.
The Tito clique maligned China's just struggle as "a danger to the whole
world"[1] and
"harmful to peace".[2]
8. The U-2 incident. In 1960 the United States sent a
U-2 spy plane to intrude into the Soviet Union and sabotaged the four-power
summit conference scheduled to be held in Paris. On May 17 Tito issued a
statement attacking the correct stand then taken by the Soviet Government as
creating "such large-scale disputes".
9. The Japanese people's patriotic struggle against the
United States. In June 1960 the Japanese people waged a just and patriotic
struggle against the United States, which was unprecedented in its scale. But
the Tito clique defended U.S. imperialism, saying that the U.S. occupation of
Japan "promoted the democratization of political life in Japan".[3]
Subsequently, it attacked the statement of Inejiro Asanuma, the late President
of the Japanese Socialist Party, that "U.S. imperialism is the common enemy of
the Japanese and Chinese peoples", accusing him of "standing for an extremist
line".[4]
10. The struggle of the Indonesian people. The Tito
clique tried to sabotage the Indonesian people's struggle against imperialism.
It engaged in base activities in an effort to prevent the establishment of a
"Nasakom" cabinet in Indonesia, that is, a government of national unity
comprising the nationalists, religious circles and the Communists.
11. The Congo event. In the summer of 1960, when U.S.
imperialism carried out armed aggression in the Congo under the flag of the
United Nations, the Tito clique not only voted for U.S. imperialism in the
United Nations but, in accordance with the desire of U.S. imperialism, sent
air force personnel
page 170
to the Congo to take a direct part in the bloody suppression of the
Congolese people.
12. The Laotian question. When U.S. imperialism stepped
up its intervention in Laos in January 1961, the Tito clique spread the view
that the United States "is really concerned for the peace and neutralization
of Laos".[1] When U.S.
imperialism engineered political assassinations and armed conflicts in Laos in
May 1963, the Tito clique attacked the Laotian patriotic forces for "putting
all the blame on the United States".[2]
13. The U.S. Alliance for Progress programme. In August
1961 the United States forced various Latin American countries to sign the
Alliance for Progress programme, which was a new U.S. imperialist instrument
for the enslavement of the Latin American people. This programme of aggression
was strongly opposed by the Latin American people but was praised by the Tito
clique as "meeting in a large measure the requirements of the Latin American
countries".[3]
14. The Sino-Indian border conflict. Ever since the
Indian reactionaries created tension on the Sino-Indian border in 1959, the
Tito clique has consistently supported the expansionism, aggression and
provocations of the Indian reactionaries against China. It openly spread the
lie that "the demarcation of the boundary was already completed at the
beginning of the present century and put into the shape of the well-known
McMahon Line",[4] and did its best to confuse right and
wrong, making the slander that China "permits itself to revise its border with
India wilfully and by force"[5] and "committed
aggression" against India.[6]
15. The Cuban revolution and the Caribbean crisis. The
Tito clique has made numerous comments attacking Cuba, saying
page 171
that Cuba "believes only in revolution"[1] and that
the Cuban revolution is "not so much a model as an exception to the road of
revolution".[2] During
the Caribbean crisis in the autumn of 1962, the Tito clique defended U.S.
imperialist aggression, saying that "the difficulties started when the Cuban
revolution trod on the pet corns of the U.S. companies",[3] and that
"if it is said that the United States was irritated by the establishment of
rocket bases in Cuba, in its close neighbourhood, that would be
understandable".[4]
From all this, people cannot fail to see that for the past
ten years and more the Tito clique has desperately opposed the socialist
countries, tried to sabotage the national liberation movement, maligned the
anti-imperialist revolutionary struggle of the people in all countries and
actively served imperialism and especially U.S. imperialism.
Khrushchov has said repeatedly that there is "unanimity" and
"accord" between the leadership of the CPSU and the Tito clique in their
positions on international problems.[5] Well,
then we would like to ask whether or not there is unanimity or accord between
your activities and the counter-revolutionary crimes of the Tito clique.
Please answer, if you have the courage.
In the final analysis, the fact that capitalism has swamped
Yugoslavia in both town and country, the degeneration of an
page 172
economy owned by the whole people into a state capitalist economy and the
decline of Yugoslavia into a dependency of U.S. imperialism are all due to the
degeneration of the Party and state power in Yugoslavia.
Fighting heroically against the German and Italian fascist
aggressors during World War II, the Communist Party and people of Yugoslavia
overthrew the reactionary rule of imperialism and its lackey in Yugoslavia and
established the people's democratic state power under the dictatorship of the
proletariat.
Not long afterwards, the leading group of the Yugoslav
Communist Party betrayed Marxism-Leninism and embarked on the path of
revisionism, bringing about the gradual degeneration of the Party and state
power in Yugoslavia.
The Yugoslav Communist Party had a glorious tradition of
revolutionary struggles. The betrayal of the Tito clique met first of all with
strong resistance inside the Party. To suppress this resistance, the Tito
clique used its power to expel and purge from the Party a great number of
Communists loyal to Marxism-Leninism. In the period from 1948 to 1952 alone,
more than 200,000 Party members, or half the original membership of the
Yugoslav Communist Party, were expelled. Taking action against the so-called
Cominform elements, it arrested and slaughtered large numbers of
Marxist-Leninists and revolutionary cadres and people, the number of
Communists and active revolutionaries arrested and imprisoned alone exceeding
thirty thousand. At the same time, the Tito clique opened the door wide to
counter-revolutionaries, bourgeois; elements, all kinds of anti-socialist
elements and careerists seeking position and wealth through their membership
cards. In November 1952 the Tito clique declared that "the appellation Party
no longer fits" and changed the name, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, into
the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. In violation of the will of all honest
Communists in Yugoslavia, it changed the character of the Yugoslav Communist
Party as the vanguard of the proletariat and made
page 173
the L.C.Y. the virtual instrument for maintaining its dictatorial rule.
In the socialist countries, state power is under the
leadership of communist political parties. With the degeneration of a
communist into a bourgeois political party, state power inevitably degenerates
from the dictatorship of the proletariat into the dictatorship of the
bourgeoisie.
The state power of the dictatorship of the proletariat in
Yugoslavia was the fruit of the protracted and heroic struggle of the Yugoslav
people. But as the Tito clique turned renegade, this state power changed its
nature.
The Tito clique has declared, "The means of the revolutionary
dictatorship of the proletariat, i.e., of the socialist state system,
become increasingly unnecessary."[1]
But is there no dictatorship in Yugoslavia any longer? Yes,
there is. While the dictatorship of the proletariat is indeed no more, the
dictatorship of the bourgeoisie not only exists, but is a brutal fascist
dictatorship at that.
The Tito regime has set up many fascist prisons and
concentration camps, where tens of thousands of revolutionaries have been
tortured to death by every kind of inhuman punishment. At the same time, the
Tito regime has pardoned large numbers of counter-revolutionaries and traitors
in the anti-fascist war. Replying to a United Press correspondent on January
7, 1951, Tito admitted that 11,000 political prisoners had been pardoned in
Yugoslavia. On March 13, 1962 another 150,000 counter-revolutionaries living
in exile abroad were pardoned. The dictatorship over these enemies of the
people was indeed abolished and they have obtained "democracy". Whatever
fine-sounding phrases the Tito clique may use, its "democracy" is only a
democracy for the small number of old and new bourgeois elements; for the
working people it is out-and-out dictatorship. The Tito clique has transformed
the revolutionary state machinery, which was built up to suppress the small
page 174
minority of exploiters, into a state machinery for suppressing the
proletariat and the broad masses.
The degeneration of the state power in Yugoslavia occurred
not through the overthrow of the original state power by violence and the
establishment of a new state power, but through "peaceful evolution". In
appearance, the same people remain in power, but in essence these people no
longer represent the interests of the workers, peasants and the working people
but those of imperialism and the old and new bourgeoisie of Yugoslavia.
Utilizing state power and controlling the economic lifeline
of the country, the Tito clique exploited the Yugoslav working people to the
utmost extent and brought into being a bureaucrat-capitalist class. Being
dependent on U.S. imperialism, this class is strongly comprador in character
and is also a comprador capitalist class. The state power controlled by the
Tito clique is that of the dictatorship of the bureaucrat-comprador
bourgeoisie.
The above facts show from various aspects that the policy
pursued by the Tito regime is one of restoring and developing capitalism,
namely, of reducing Yugoslavia to a semi-colony or a dependency.
The degeneration of the state power in Yugoslavia has led to
the destruction of the socialist economic system and the restoration of a
capitalist economic system. When a new bureaucrat-comprador bourgeoisie has
gradually come into being with the re-establishment of the capitalist economic
system in a new form, it demands the intensification of the bourgeois
dictatorship and the development of a political system suited to the
capitalist economic system so as to consolidate its ruling position.
This is how the process from the degeneration of the Party
and state power to the restoration of capitalism in the entire social and
economic system has been realized step by step in Yugoslavia. The process of
degeneration has gone on for fif-
page 175
teen years. This is the record of how a socialist state "peacefully
evolves" into a capitalist state.
The Tito clique maintains its rule in Yugoslavia by relying
on U.S. imperialist support, the state machine of the dictatorship of the
bureaucrat-comprador bourgeoisie, the labour aristocracy bought by it, and the
rich peasants in the countryside. At the same time, it uses various cunning
means to disguise its reactionary features and hoodwink the people. But its
reactionary policies are extremely unpopular. The degeneration of the
socialist state into a capitalist state, the degeneration of an independent
country into a semi-colony or a dependency of imperialism, runs counter to the
basic interests of the Yugoslav people, and cannot but be opposed by all the
honest Communists and the overwhelming majority of the people of Yugoslavia.
We are in deep sympathy with the people and Communists of
Yugoslavia in their present predicament. Although the Tito clique can ride
roughshod over the people for a time, we are confident that whatever
high-handed measures and whatever tricks of deception it may resort to, no
ruling group will come to a good end once it is against the people. The Tito
clique is of course no exception. The deceived people will gradually wake up
in the end. The people and Communists of Yugoslavia who have a glorious
history will not submit to the renegade Tito clique for ever. The future of
the Yugoslav people is bright.
The Open Letter of the
Central Committee of the CPSU asserts that for a time "the CPC leaders had no
doubts as to the nature of the socialist system in Yugoslavia", and that now
the Chinese leaders have "changed their position on the Yugoslavian question
so drastically".
page 176
True, Yugoslavia was once a socialist state. For a time the
country advanced along the path of socialism.
But soon after, owing to the Tito clique's betrayal, the
Yugoslav social system began to degenerate step by step.
In 1954, when Khrushchov proposed to improve relations with
Yugoslavia, we agreed to treat it as a fraternal socialist country for the
purpose of winning it back to the path of socialism and watching how the Tito
clique would develop.
We did not entertain very much hope for the Tito clique even
then. In its letter of June 10, 1954 to the Central Committee of the CPSU, the
Central Committee of the CPC pointed out that the fact should be taken into
account that as the leaders of Yugoslavia had already gone quite far in their
dealings with imperialism, they might reject our effort to win it over and
refuse to return to the path of socialism; "but even though this should occur,
it would not involve any political loss to the camp of peace, democracy and
socialism -- on the contrary, it would further expose the hypocrisy of the
Yugoslav leaders before the people of Yugoslavia and of the world."
Unfortunately, our words have proved all too true! Indeed the
Tito clique has flatly rejected our effort to win it over and gone farther and
farther along the path of revisionism.
After it refused to sign the 1957 Declaration, the Tito
clique put forward its out-and-out revisionist programme in 1958 and set this
banner of modern revisionism against the 1957 Declaration which is the common
programme acknowledged by all Communist and Workers' Parties. The process of
restoring capitalism in Yugoslavia has been realized step by step. And
internationally, the Tito clique is serving more and more energetically as a
counter-revolutionary special detachment of U.S. imperialism.
In these circumstances, the attitude every Marxist-Leninist
Party should take towards the Tito clique is no longer the one it should take
towards a fraternal Party or a fraternal country, nor should it be that of
winning the Tito clique over, but it should be one of thoroughly exposing and
firmly combating
page 177
this gang of renegades. The 1960 Statement has given its clear conclusion
on this point.
The Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU has
deliberately evaded the series of important events which occurred after the
meeting of the fraternal Parties in November 1957 and also the conclusions
unanimously reached at the meeting of the fraternal Parties in 1960, and tries
to defend the erroneous stand of the leadership of the CPSU by quoting a
sentence from the editorial on Yugoslavia in Renmin Ribao of September
12, 1957. This is futile.
The facts prove that our position with regard to the Tito
clique conforms with reality, is a principled position, and is in accord with
the common agreement of the meeting of the fraternal Parties in 1960. On the
other hand, the leaders of the CPSU have tried in a thousand and one ways to
reverse the verdict on the Tito clique, which testifies to their betrayal of
Marxism-Leninism, their abandonment of the 1960 Statement, and their rendering
of assistance to the U.S. imperialists and their lackeys in deceiving the
people of Yugoslavia and of the whole world.
Khrushchov says that the Yugoslav leaders have removed very
much of what was considered erroneous. But the Titoites do not admit that they
have committed any errors, much less removed them. The Titoites say that they
have "no need" to correct any error[1] and that "it would
just be a waste of time"[2] and "simply superfluous and
ridiculous" to expect them to do so.[3]
page 178
Let us look at the facts. Have the Titoites changed their
revisionist programme? No, they have not. Have they accepted the 1957
Declaration and the 1960 Statement? No, they have not. Have they changed their
revisionist domestic and foreign policies? Again, no.
The new constitution adopted by the Yugoslav Federal People's
Assembly in April 1963 most clearly shows that the Tito clique has not in the
least changed its revisionist stand. The constitution is the legal embodiment
of the out-and-out revisionist programme of the Tito clique. Edvard Kardelj
said in his report on the draft of the new constitution that it is the
"legal-political and organizational embodiment" of the concepts of the
programme of the L.C.Y.
Khrushchov is warmly fraternizing with the Tito clique not
because it has corrected any of its errors but because he is following in
Tito's footsteps.
Consider the following facts:
1. Tito denounces Stalin in order to oppose
Marxism-Leninism in its very fundamentals. Khrushchov completely negates
Stalin for the same purpose.
2. Both Tito and Khrushchov repudiate the fundamental
theories of Marxism-Leninism, both malign as dogmatists the Chinese and other
Communists who firmly uphold Marxism-Leninism, and both describe their own
revision of Marxism-Leninism as a "creative development" of Marxism-Leninism.
3. Both Tito and Khrushchov laud the chieftains of U.S.
imperialism. Tito says that Eisenhower "is a man who persistently defends
peace",[1] and that Kennedy's effort "will be helpful to
the improvement of international relations and to the peaceful settlement of
pressing world problems".[2] Khrushchov says that
Eisenhower "has a sincere desire for peace",[3]
page 179
and that Kennedy "shows solicitude for the preservation of peace".[1]
4. Both Tito and Khrushchov play up the horrors of
nuclear war in order to intimidate the people of the world into abandoning
revolutionary struggle. Tito says that once a nuclear war breaks out, it will
be the "annihilation of mankind".[2] Likewise,
Khrushchov says that once a nuclear war breaks out, "we will destroy our
Noah's Ark -- the globe".[3]
5. Both Tito and Khrushchov preach that a world without
weapons, without armed forces and without wars can be brought into being while
imperialism still exists.
6. The Tito clique proclaims that "active peaceful
coexistence" is the cornerstone of Yugoslavia's foreign policy,[4] while
Khrushchov declares that peaceful coexistence is the "general line of the
foreign policy" of the Soviet Union.[5]
7. Both Tito and Khrushchov proclaim that the
possibility of peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism has increased.
The Tito clique says that "mankind is irresistibly entering a long way into
the era of socialism through different ways".[6]
Khrushchov says that the road of the October Revolution can be replaced by the
"parliamentary road".
8. Tito advocates the introduction of "political and
economic integration[7] of the world through "peaceful
competition". Khrushchov also advocates "all-round co-operation" with
imperialism through "peaceful economic competition".
page 180
9. The Tito clique sabotages the national liberation
movement and national liberation wars in every way. Khrushchov opposes the
national liberation movement and national liberation wars on the pretext that
"any small 10. The Tito clique has renounced the dictatorship of
the proletariat. Under the slogan of "the state of the whole people",
Khrushchov also renounces the dictatorship of the proletariat.
11. The Tito clique denies that the Communist Party
should be the vanguard of the working class. Likewise, Khrushchov says that
the CPSU "has become a party of the entire people".[2]
12. The Tito clique, flaunting the "non-bloc" label, is
opposing the socialist camp. Khrushchov also says that "expressions like blocs
etc., are temporary phenomena".[3] They both
want to liquidate the socialist camp.
From these facts one must conclude that, both in domestic and
foreign policy, Khrushchov really regards Tito as his teacher and is sliding
down the path of revisionism hard on Tito's heels.
Khrushchov has abandoned Marxism-Leninism, scrapped the 1960
Statement and wallowed in the mire with the renegade Tito clique, in complete
violation of the interests of the Soviet Union, the Soviet people and the
people of the whole world. This will not be tolerated by the great Soviet
people, the overwhelming majority of the members of the CPSU and cadres at
various levels, all of whom have a glorious revolutionaly tradition.
The great Soviet people and the membership of the CPSU will
never agree with Khrushchov's collusion with the Tito
page 181
clique in opposition to the fraternal Parties which uphold
Marxism-Leninism.
The great Soviet people and the membership of the CPSU will
never agree with Khrushchov's collusion with the Tito clique and collaboration
with imperialism in opposing socialist China, Albania and other fraternal
countries and in disrupting the socialist camp.
The great Soviet people and the membership of the CPSU will
never agree with Khrushchov's collusion with the Tito clique and collaboration
with the reactionaries of all countries in opposition to the people of the
world and to revolution.
The great Soviet people and the membership of the CPSU will
never agree with Khrushchov's efforts to follow the example of the Yugoslav
revisionists, change the nature of the Party and the state and pave the way
for the restoration of capitalism.
Khrushchov has caused dark clouds to overcast the Soviet
Union, the first socialist country in the world. But this can only be an
interlude in the history of the CPSU and of the Soviet Union. People who are
deceived and hoodwinked for a time will gradually wake up in the end. History
has confirmed, and will continue to confirm, that whoever wants to turn back
the Soviet people in their advance is like the grasshopper in the fable which
wanted to stop the chariot. He will never succeed in his aim.
IS YUGOSLAVIA
A SOCIALIST COUNTRY?
Third Comment on the Open Letter of
the Central Committee
of the
CPSU
by the Editorial Departments of Renmin
Ribao
(People's Daily ) and Hongqi (Red Flag
)
(September 26, 1963)
IS Yugoslavia a socialist country?
, and the development
of Yugoslavia is "a concrete contribution to the general world revolutionary
workers movement",[1] which
Khrushchov rather envies and wishes to emulate.
[1] N. S.
Khrushchov, Speech at a Mass Rally in Velenje, Yugoslavia, August 30,
1963.
[2] N. S. Khrushchov,
Speech at a Meeting in a Factory of Rakovica, Yugoslavia, August 21,
1963.
[3] N. S. Khrushchov,
Interview with Foreign Correspondents at Brioni, Yugoslavia, August 28, 1963,
as reported by Tanjug.
[1] "For the
Victory of Creative Marxism-Leninism and Against the Revision of the Course of
the World Communist Movement", editorial board article in Kommunist,
Moscow, No. 11, 1963.
excommunicating Yugoslavia
from socialism".[3] Furthermore, whoever does not regard
Yugoslavia as a socialist country is said to be going contrary to facts and
making the mistake of subjectivism,[4] whereas in
shutting their eyes to the facts and asserting that Yugoslavia is a socialist
country they are "proceeding from objective laws, from the teaching of
MarxismLeninism" and have drawn a conclusion based on "a profound analysis of
reality".[5]
[1] Palmiro
Togliatti, "Let Us Lead the Discussion Back to Its Real Limit",
L'Unita, January 10, 1963.
[2] N. S. Khrushchov, Report to the Session of the
Supreme Soviet of the USSR, December 1962.
[3] 0pen Letter of the Central Committee of the Communist
Party the Soviet Union to All Party Organizations, to All Communists the
Soviet Union, July 14, 1963.
[4] Ibid.
[5] N. S. Khrushchov, Report to the Session of the
Supreme Soviet of the USSR, December 1962.
IN YUGOSLAV CITIES
[1] M. Todorovic,
"The Struggle on Two Fronts", Nasha Stvarnost, March issue,
1954.
[2] Vesnik u
sredu, December 27, 1961.
sub-contractors. . . . As a rule, these contractors no
longer engage in labour but only give orders, make plans and conclude
contracts, travelling by car from one enterprise to another.
BY CAPITALISM
[1] Vesnik u
sredu, December 6. 1961.
[1] J. V. Stalin,
"Grain Procurements and
the Prospects for the Development of Agriculture", Works, Eng. ed.,
FLPH, Moscow, 1954, Vol. XI, p. 8.
[1] Edvard
Kardelj, Opening Address at the Ninth Plenum of the Fourth Federal Committee
of the Socialist Alliance of the Working People of Yugoslavia, May 5,
1959.
[2] Vladimir Bakaric,
Speech at the Sisth Congress of the League of Communists of
Yugoslavia.
[3] Edvard
Kardelj, "On Some Problems of Our Policy in the Villages" Komunist,
Belgrade, No. 4, 1953.
[4]
Slavko Komar, "Some Problems Concerning the Countryside and the Peasant
Households", Socializam, No. 5, 1962.
[1] The Yugoslav
journal Index, No. 2, 1962.
[1] Slavko Komar,
op. cit.
OMY OWNED BY THE WHOLE PEOPLE
INTO CAPITALIST ECONOMY
[1] J. V. Stalin,
"Speech Delivered at the
First All-Union Congress of Collective-Farm Shock Brigaders",
Works, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, 1955, Vol. XIII, p. 248.
[1] V. I. Lenin,
"On the Democracy and Socialist Character of the Soviet Power".
bureaucrats who swallow up their wages".
[1] Letter of the
Central Committee of the L.C.Y. to Its Organizations and Leaderships at All
Levels, February 17, 1958.
[1] Vladimir
Bakarie, Report to the Fourth Congress of the League of Communists-of Croatia,
April 7, 1959.
[2] Augustin
Papié¬ "Investment Financing in Yugoslavia", Annals of Collective
Economy, Belgrade, April-November 1959.
[1] V. I. Lenin,
"Left-Wing Childishness
and Petty-Bourgeois Mentality", Selected Works, Eng. ed.,
International Publishers, New York, 1943, Vol. VII, p. 365.
[2] V. I. Lenin, "The Immediate Tasks Of the
Soviet Government", Selected Works, Eng. ed., International
Publishers, New York, 1943, Vol. VII, p. 327.
(2) to control its
foreign affairs;
(3) to interfere in its internal affairs;
(4) to manipulate and supervise its finance;
(5) to
control its foreign trade;
(6) to plunder its strategic resources;
and
(7) to collect military and economic intelligence.
[1] V I. Lenin,
"On the Monopoly of Foreign Trade", Collected Works, Russ ed., SPPL,
Moscow, 1950, Vol. XXXIII, p. 420.
[2] J. V. Stalin, "Interview with the First American
Labour Delegation", Works, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, 1954, Vol. X, pp.
115 and 116.
DETACHMENT OF U.S. IMPERIALISM
[1] Borba,
April 23, 1954.
[1] Borba,
May 8, 1954.
[1] Slobodni
Dom, September 4, 1958.
[2] Slovenski Porocevalec, September 9,
1958.
[3] Komunist,
Belgrade, June 2, 1960.
[4]
Foreign Political Bulletin, February 1, 1962.
[1] Borba,
January 13, 1961.
[2]
Politika, May 5, 1963.
[3] Komunist, Belgrade, August 17, 1961.
[4] Rad, September 12,
1959.
[5] Borba,
December 26, 1960.
[6]
Politika, September 3, 1959.
PROLETARIAT INTO THE
DICTATORSHIP
OF THE BOURGEOISIE
[1] The
Rebellion of Cuba, Belgrade, November 1962.
[2] Politika, January 1, 1963.
[3] Komunist, Belgrade, September 13,
1962.
[4] Politika,
November 13, 1962.
[5] N. S.
Khrushchov, Speech at a Mass Rally in Split, Yugoslavia, August 24, 1963.
[1] Edvard
Kardelj, "The New Constitution of Socialist Yugoslavia" Borba,
September 29, 1962.
THE QUESTION OF YUGOSLAVlA
KHRUSHCHOV REGARD TITO AS
HIS TEACHER?
[1] J. B. Tito,
Speech at the Belgrade Railway Station, December 20, 1962.
[2] J. B. Tito, Speech at the Seventh Congress
of the League of Commumsts of Yugoslavia, April 1958.
[3] J. B. Tito, Speech at the Belgrade Railway
Station, December 20, 1962.
[1] J. B. Tito,
Talk with a New York Times Commentator, February 28, 1958.
[2] J. B. Tito, Message of Greetings to
J. F. Kennedy, Borba, January 21, 1961.
[3] N. S. Khrushchov, Speech at the Session of the
Supreme Soviet of the USSR. May 1960.
[1] N. S.
Khrushchov, Letter to J. F. Kennedy, October 27, 1962.
[2] J. B. Tito, Report to the Session of the
Federal People's Assembly of Yugoslavia, Aplil 19, 1958.
[3] N. S. Khrushchov, Speech at a Meeting of
the Austro-Soviet Society, July 2,1960.
[4] Koca Popovic, Report on Foreign Policy to the Session
of the Federal People's Assembly of Yugoslavia, Borba, February 27,
1957.
[5] N. S. Khrushchov,
Report to the 20th Congress of the CPSU, February 1956.
[6] Programme of the League of Communists of
Yugoslavia.
[7] J. B. Tito,
Replies to Questions by Washington Post Correspondent Drew Pearson,
Borba, August 12, 1962.
local war might spark off the conflagration of a world war".[1]
[1] N. S.
Khrushchov, Statement at the Press Conference in Vienna, July 8,
1960.
[2] N. S. Khrushchov,
"On the Programme of the CPSU", delivered at the 22nd Congress of the CPSU,
October 1961.
[3] N. S.
Khrushchov, Interview with Foreign Correspondents at Brioni in Yugoslavia,
August 28, 1963.