𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑬𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒄 𝑭𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑷𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆

That socialism has triumphed in our country is vividly expressed in those Articles which deal with the economic system. The economic foundation of our socialist republic is the socialist system of economy excluding all forms of exploitation of man by man. The basic means and instruments of production are common property, and hence the question of their employment is decided not by an individual but by society, which manages the national economy in a conscious and planned way with a view to ensuring a steady rise in the living standards of the working people. Thanks to this the antagonism between labour for one’s self and labour for the exploiter characteristic of capitalism has disappeared. The labour of individuals for themselves is organically tied up with their labour for the good of society as a whole. In emphasizing this fact the Constitution proclaims: “Labour in socialist society is labour

for the good of society and simultaneously for the good of the worker himself.” The Constitution contains a clear-cut formula of the new relations of ownership inherent in socialist society viewed in the historical perspective so that this formula would not hinder but facilitate the progressive tendencies of social development.

In our economy common socialist ownership prevails, expressed in two principal forms: State ownership (national property owned by the whole people) and collective ownership (co-operative property). The higher form of socialist ownership is ownership by the whole people. In view of the fact that under socialism the State is an organiza- tion of the working people national property is State property; it emerged with the birth of the people’s democratic system in our country. Only because the basic means of production and principal positions in national economy were in the hands of the people’s democratic State has it been possible to ensure a quick victory for socialist production relations. National property is the economic foundation of socialist democracy for the working people.

National or State property constitutes the basis for the planned, balanced develop- ment of the national economy as well as the rapid and steady improvement of the people’s well-being. Only on the basis of national property is it possible to establish Socialist division of labour and coordination of production both within the country and within the socialist world system as a whole. In the light of these concepts the suggestions of the Yugoslay revisionists for the abandonment of State ownership look all the more ridiculous.

The other form of public ownership under socialism is co-operative property. It embraces mainly the property of the agricultural co-operatives-voluntary associations of working peasants. Under Article 11 of the Constitution “the State in every way facilitates their development and effectively helps the peasant co-operators to develop