Peaceful coexistence is not simply an official policy of the socialist countries but an important principle of the communist movement as a whole. “The Communist parties regard the struggle for peace as their foremost task,” said the 1957 Declaration. Guided by the lofty principles of humanism in the fight for peace the Communists act in full accord with the class interests of the working-class movement. The growing interdependence of the struggle for peace and for the class interests of the working people is an essential feature of the anti-war movement of today. That is why Communists are confident that the lessening of tension and the ending of the cold war help the working class to fight with greater success for both its immediate and long- term aims. Is this confidence well placed? The answer to this question can be found in the results and the nature of the activities of the Communist parties in the capitalist countries to put into effect the ideas and principles of the 1957 Declaration. Representatives of these parties said at the Bucharest meeting that their parties, being the most consistent and resolute organizers of their peoples’ fight for an international understanding, for peaceful coexistence, had improved their contact with the masses, had gained still greater influence and prestige. The same conclusion was confirmed by the decisions taken by the C.C. meetings of many parties held after the Bucharest meeting.
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
Capitalism Society 