STALIN and STALIN'S LEADERSHIP

V. MOLOTOV

M o s c o w 1 9 5 0

It is now particularly clear how exceedingly fortunate it was for our country and for the cause of Communism generally that, after Lenin's death, the Communist Party of the U.S.S.R. was headed by Comrade Stalin, under whose guidance the Soviet Union has already for more than a quarter of a century been victoriously building communist society. In this historic period our country has grown to full maturity as a socialist land, and at the same time it has become the decisive factor in the mighty upsurge of all the progressive forces of humanity. This is the consummate achievement of Comrade Stalin, of Stalin's leadership, which ensured the ideological unity of our Party on the basis of the principles of Marxism­ Leninism and the undeviating advance of the Soviet people along the road mapped out by the great Lenin.

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Already at the end of 1936, in his Report on the Draft Constitution of the U.S.S.R., Comrade Stalin said:

". . .we now have a fully formed multinational Socialist State, which has stood all tests, and whose stability might well be envied by any national state in any part of the world."

As we know, the Stalin Constitution set the stamp and seal on this general outcome and became the basis for the further progress and the further all-round development of the forces of our state.

In 1946, summing up the results of the Second World War, and outlining new tasks of socialist construction Comrade Stalin spoke of the world historical significance of the victory of the Soviet Army in this war. He said that "our Soviet social system was victorious" in this war, having demonstrated that it is "a better form of organization of society than any non-Soviet social system," and that, furthermore, "our Soviet state system was victorious" in this war, having demonstrated that "the Soviet state system has proved to be a model multinational state, that the Soviet state system is a system of state organization in which the national problem and the problem of the collaboration of nations have found a better solution than in any other multinational state."

It is quite obvious that we could not have scored this victory if it had not been preceded by the great successes achieved by the Soviet people, under the guidance of our Party, in promoting the political and economic progress of the Soviet State. Without this, we would not have had that economic might of our country’ that solid rallying of the working class and of all the working people around the Party, around Comrade Stalin, and that selfless readiness of the people to defend the Soviet State against its foreign enemies, which were the ·decisive factors in deter­mining the victorious outcome of the war.

This great victory was made possible by the socialist successes achieved by our people in the years preceding the Great Patriotic war. 

It was necessary, first of all, to lay the economic foundation of Socialism; and thereby put on a firm footing the state system of the dictatorship of the proletariat which is based on an alliance between the working class and the laboring peasant masses. This was the purpose of the policy of socialist industrialization of the country, which · found expression in the celebrated Stalin five-year plans. In these years many thousands of factories and mills were built and many new industrial cities and areas grew up. This policy, strengthened and enhanced the leading role of the working class in the Soviet Union. Thanks to the Stalin industrialization policy, which made possible the technical reconstruction of our entire national economy, we were able to ensure an uninterrupted and steadily increasing rate of expansion of Soviet industry especially heavy industry, to make our national economy independent of capitalist countries, and continuously to improve the welfare and culture of the working class and of all the working people of our country.

It was further necessary to solve the problem, posed for the first time in history, of inducing the millions of small and backward peasant farms to adopt large-scale collective farming, equipped with modern machinery. Comrade Stalin's theory of collective-farm organization- which was made the basis of the celebrated Rules of the Agricultural Artel, with its wise principle of harmonizing the personal interest of the collective farmer with the paramount interest of the common collective-farm economy and Stalin's personal direction of the mass collective-farm movement which developed, ensured the successful accomplishment of this historic task, resulting in the elimination of the kulaks and of all other still surviving capitalist elements, and in laying the foundation for the socialist organization of the entire national economy of the U.S.S.R. It was only after the collectivization of the peasant farms had been accomplished, permitting the application on an unprecedented scale of up-to-date machinery and agricultural science in the big collective farms that had been formed, that agriculture ceased to be a brake on the progress of the national economy, and that boundless prospects of economic and cultural advancement opened up before the collective-farm peasantry. And only this can explain why it has now become possible for us to implement such new plans that adopted last year', the majestic plan outlining measures to ensure high and stable harvests in the steppe and forest-steppe areas of the European part of our country-which is something absolutely beyond the capacity of any capitalist state.

The Policy of industrializing the country and the policy of collectivizing peasant farming, as well as the mass shock-work and socialist emulation movement which developed under the Stalinist Party leadership, transformed the face of our country. Capitalist elements were completely eliminated. From an exploited and oppressed class, our working class became the leading force in the Soviet State, heading the Soviet people in the building of Social­ism. Having built collective farms enjoying all the advantages of modern large-scale agriculture, the Soviet peasants definitely liberated themselves from the vampires that preyed upon the countryside the kulaks, profiteers, usurers and other exploiters and began to lead a new, prosperous and cultured life. The present Soviet intelligentsia are not the intelligentsia of old; they are a new people's, socialist intelligentsia, the bulk of whom also come from the workers, peasants and other laboring sections, and who serve their people willingly and devotedly. A socialist society has been founded and is already firmly established in our country, a society without capitalists and without exploitation of man by man; and at the same time the roots of a possible restoration of capitalism have been irrevocably extirpated.

What lends particularly great significance to the fundamental social changes that have taken place in the U.S.S.R. i:s the fact that ours is a multinational state, and that all the peoples of the Soviet Union, notwithstanding all the differences in their historical past, and often in their present ways of life, are following one and the same socialist path of development. And one of the most remarkable achievements of Stalin's leadership is that great friendship, that fraternal cooperation and mutual assistance which have been attained among the peoples of our country under the banner of socialist internationalism, and which are growing stronger from day to day.

These socialist successes in the U.S.S.R., and their great progressive significance, which is becoming more and more a1pparent, attract the attention of other peoples all the more, because the general crisis of the capitalist system is patently growing more and more. acute: more and more countries are dropping out of this system, capitalism has no 1onger any prospect of a general upward movement, while the stronger capitalist powers are feathering their nests by ruthlessly plundering and weakening other capitalist and dependent countries, and, above all, by brutally exploiting the working masses of these countries. It can now no longer be concealed that a new economic crisis is gathering in the countries of America and Europe and that the vast army of unemployed and semi.-employed is growing. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, where there are no crises and no unemployment, is confidently advancing a1ong the road of economic progress and prosperity.

In spite of the predictions of our enemies in the capitalist camp that a prolonged period of economic depression would he inevitable in the U.S.S.R. after the second world war, our country is coping successfully with the severe consequences of war and enemy occupation, and is promoting the all-round development of its national economy, and, what is more, our industry is already producing at a far higher level than before the war. The workers, peasants and intellectuals of the Soviet Union see that they are today living better than, yesterday, and are sure that tomorrow they will live better than today. They are confident in their future, because they see for themselves that the U.S.S.R. grows stronger and more prosperous from year to year. They know that they have a reliable guide, the Communist Party, and a wise leader, the great Stalin.

It is the supreme merit of Comrade Stalin that in all these years, no matter what difficulties we encountered on our path, the Bolshevik Party has always held high a lot of the standard of battle for the victory of Socialism in the U.S.S.R.

There were plenty of Trotskyites, Rights and every other brand of traitor and alien element in the Party who sowed disbelief in the possibility of the victory of Socialism in the U.S.S.R., surrounded as it was by a capitalist encirclement. After the death of Lenin, every species of agents of the class enemy sharply intensified their attacks on the Party and its policy of building .Socialism. Comrade Stalin Upheld and developed Lenin's theory of the possibility of the victory of Socialism in one, separate country, of the possibility of the victory of Socialism in the U.S.S.R.

To argue about the scientific correctness of this theory and to show that, in view of the uneven development of the capitalist countries' in the epoch of imperialism, Social­ ism cannot triumph simultaneously in all countries, but can only triumph at first in individual countries, is entirely unnecessary nowadays, since the possibility of the vie: tory of Socialism at first in one, separate country has already become a reality in the victory of the socialist system in the U.S.S.R., where the premises are already being successfully created for the transition to the higher phase of Communism. Thus all the talk borrowed from reactionary bourgeois and Social-Democratic ideological sources, that Socialism could not be built in 1such a technically and economically backward country as Russia has been refuted not only theoretically, but by the actual fact that Socialism has triumphed in our country.

But it must not be forgotten that the Party could not have scored this victory, which demanded self-sacrificing struggle, if it had not been armed with profound confidence in the possibility of this victory, if the Party had not con­-founded the sceptics and waverers in its own ranks, if the Party, guided by Comrade Stalin, had not inspired and led the working class of our country in boldly and resolutely eliminating all and every anti-Leninist vacillation, in a steadfast struggle against the class enemy and his agents among the working people and within the Party itself.

This historic achievement of Stalin's leadership is all the greater, because it is of supreme international significance, inasmuch as it deals a crushing blow to the Social­ Democratic disbelief in the victory of Socialism, a dis­ belief which all Communist ,parties have to encounter within their own ranks. The victory of Socialism in our country has manifestly demonstrated that the so-called "objective premises" for the victory of Socialism have long ago matured in all countries of Europe, and not only of Europe, and that, in view of this, it is one of the chief tasks of all honest supporters of Socialism resolutely to eliminate the reactionary influence of the bourgeoisified Social-Democratic bureaucrats and the split they are causing in the working-class movement.

Everyone can now see that our country has been transformed into a Sodalist State, that the victory of Socialism in the U.S.S.R. provides all the requisites for the further and still more powerful economic progress of the country and the steady improvement of the welfare of the Soviet people, arid that the international situation has already largely changed in favor of Socialism and people's democracy. The innumerable millions of people of the Soviet Union, having in the years of Soviet rule made a _gigantic advance in their cultural development, are solidly and actively participating in the work of socialist construction in town and countryside, imbued with a profound consciousness of the rightness of their cause and with deep confidence in the wisdom of Stalin's leadership. We are suocessfu1ly advancing the consolidation of the socialist system and the socialist re-education of the Soviet people, and his finds expression in such an enhancement of the moral and political unity of Soviet society and in such an upsurge of Soviet patriotism, that there is now no force on earth capable of turning our people back to capitalism.

That is the ·Chief outcome of the socialist development accomplished by our country under the Stalin leadership of the Bolshevik Party.

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As to the relations of the U.S.S.R. with other countries and the international situation generally, in this field too, important ·Changes have taken place in the past few years.

Until very recently the Soviet Union was the only existing Socialist State, and was surrounded by a hostile capitalist encirclement. Everyone knows 1how many at­ tempts the imperialist powers1 made by direct military intervention, economic blockade and every despicable means, including plots and the assassination of Soviet representatives, wrecking and sabotage to put an end to the existence of the first Socialist State. The chief task confronting the foreign policy of the Soviet Government was to ensure the external conditions for the peaceful development of the U.S.S.R. This likewise entailed constant and vigilant ·concern to enhance the strength of the Soviet Army and its readiness to defend the country against attack. The fact that from 1921 to 1941 our country was able, by pursuing an independent Soviet foreign policy, to secure peaceful conditions for its development is an immense achievement of the Stalin foreign policy-the policy of peace. The Stalin foreign policy, backed by the successes in building Socialism and the growing might of the country, enabled us to extend the prewar period of peace into twenty years of peace, and this solved the problem of converting the U.S.S.R. into a mighty socialist power, which stood all the trial of the last war with credit.

The Second World War ended in complete victory for the U.S.S.R. and the allied states over the fascist aggressors. It stirred the Soviet people to a tremendous exertion of effort and at the same time demonstrated to the whole world the economic might of our country and the unbreakable unity of the peoples of the U.S.S.R. built up under Stalin's, leadership of the Party in the years preceding the war. By their self-sacrificing struggle, the Soviet people "saved the civilization of Europe from the fascist pogrom mongers" (J. Stalin). The unexampled exploits of the Soviet Army in this war surrounded our Motherland with glory. Everyone knows what an inestimable role was played by Comrade Stalin in organizing the great victory. .

In order to organize victory, Comrade Stalin himself took over the political and economic direction of the country, as well as the military direction, himself assuming command of the country's armed forces, which inspired the army and the whole people to self-sacrificing and heroic struggle. This ensured the rapid conversion of the country's economy to the needs of war. The gigantic Soviet Army created in the war under the personal direction of Comrade Stalin was built on the principles of the Stalin military science and became the finest army of modern times. All this made it possible to bring about a radical change in the course of the war and ensured the victorious realizat1ori of Stalin's strategical plans for the defeat of the enemy. The delay in opening the second front in Europe made it clear to the whole world that the honor of vanquishing fascism in Europe, and then in the Far East, belongs first and foremost to the Soviet Army and its incomparable Stalin leadership. This world historical victory added to the glory of our country, the Soviet Army and its great commander, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin.

At the same time, we know what an important part in the defeat of the armed forces of the Axis powers was played by the formation of the anti-fascist coalition of the Soviet Union, the United States of America, Great Britain and other allied states thanks to the Stalin foreign policy, which had succeeded in preventing the formation of a united front of capitalist states against the U.S.S.R. in the period ,preceding the second world war, the aggressive fascist states found themselves isolated, while the Soviet Union occupied the place it deserved in the mighty anti-fascist coalition. Here, too, Comrade Stalin's personal influence on the whole course of developments was immense. His profound knowledge of the history of nations, Ibis rich and varied experience as leader of the international communist movement, his faculty of piercing and promptly divining the strategical plans and tactical moves of individual states, his boldness and flexibility of decision in complicated international questions all these features that are so characteristic of Comrade Stalin determined the decisive successes of the Soviet Union's foreign policy.

For the anti-Hitler coalition of the three powers to have arisen during the war, it was first necessary to foil the anti-Soviet plans of the governments of Britain and France and of the imperialist circles standing behind them, the aim of which was to egg Germany into war with the Soviet Union and then to profit at their expense, particularly at the expense of the U.S.S.R. The Soviet Union was even constrained to conclude a pact of non-aggression with Germany, when it became definitely clear that all the eff orts of the Soviet Government to form a United front with other European states against the growing fascist aggression of the Axis countries had been frustrated by the British and French governments because of their blind hatred of the Soviet workers' and peasants' state. The perfidious intent of the intrigues the British and French were then weaving against the Soviet Union was divined by Comrade Stalin in time, and this made it possible not only to remove our Motherland from immediate jeopardy by postponing Hitler Germany's attack on the U.S.S.R., but so to shape deve101pments as to bring about a state of affairs in which the governments of Britain and the United States found themselves compelled to form an Anglo-Soviet-American · anti-fascist coalition, wh1ch conformed with the interests of all peace-loving Nations

The changes in the international situation· following· from the Second World War and the enhanced role of the U.S.S.R. Speak for themselves.

We have such a significant fact above all, as the formation in Europe and As1a of a number of People's Democracies, which are now confidently embarking on the building of Socialism. Only !hopeless reactionaries can to­ day cherish absurd and utopian illusions of restoring the peoples of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Albania and Korea, not to Speak of the Mongolian People's Republic, to their old conditions, to the· status of meek slaves of the landlords and bourgeoisie. The world-wide significance of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, which has undermined the foundations of imperialism in Asia, cannot be denied.

New roads to freedom and happiness have opened for the great Chinese people, and, what is! Particularly important, they have now a reliable leader in the shape of the Communist Party of China. Comrade Stalin defined the immense significance of the establishment of the German Democratic Republic in words which have reverberated throughout the whole world: "The establishment of a peace-loving German Democratic Republic," he said, "constitutes, a turning point in the history of Europe. There can be no doubt that the existence of a peace-loving democratic Germany, together with the existence of the peace-loving Soviet Union, 1precludes the possibility of new wars in Europe, puts an end to bloodshed in Europe and renders impossible the enslavement of European countries by the world imperialists."

Today, all the people's democratic states are in one camp with the Soviet Union, u1pholding the cause of peace and democracy. Imperialist ambitions and policies of aggrandizement are as alien to the people’s democratic states as they are to the Soviet Union. They are vitally interested in .ensuring their peoples, who have won their liberty, durable conditions of peace and the establishment of friendly and equal relations with other peoples.

We must not, however, forget that there is another camp.

Although the Second World War ended only so very recently, the imperialist countries, and above all the ruling circles of the United States and Great Britain, are again feverishly preparing for a new war. Possessed by lack of faith in their own internal strength, they keep on weaving new aggressive plans, inflating their war budgets, and creating military bases and offensive military alliances and blocs, thereby revealing how dangerous to the peace of the peoples is the present policy of the imperialist powers, which breeds all sorts of adventuristic plans for the establishment of world supremacy with the help of any and every means of aggression, including atomic warfare.

But times! Have changed.

Of immense significance is the fact that among all the peoples of the earth activity in the struggle to 'safeguard peace is continuously growing, and with it the realization that enduring peace cannot be ensured by pious pacifist wishes. The movement of the supporters of peace, which has spread all over the world, is one of the most graphic expressions of the desire if the peoples for world-wide peace. This movement embraces hundreds of millions of workers by hand and brain, and includes all the democratic trade unions, as well as the democratic organizations of women, youth and intellectuals, with their many millions of members, which have sprung up since the war. We know that this broad movement in defense of peace, democracy and progress· looks upon the U.S.S.R. as its chief support and hope, and that Stalin's name is its great banner.

In the light of these facts, the enhanced role of the Communist and "Workers' parties in many countries is understandable; in spite of persecution and election chicanery on the part of reactionary governments, these par­ ties are growing in numbers and ideological firmness as Marxist-Leninist parties. During the war, the prestige of the Communists among the masses increased unprecedentedly, since it was from the ranks of the Communists that came the most devoted fighters against fascism and champions of the rights and liberty of the people. Today no government that wants to enjoy real authority among its people can ignore the tremendous spread of the influence of communist ideas among the masses. As we know, in order to climb to power in Yugoslavia, the Tito clique also had to pretend to be friends of the U.S.S.R. and to pose as Communists. But the time is not far off when the traitorous Tito clique, who have become a gang of hired assassins and spies in the service of foreign imperialist governments, and whose hostile plans against the Soviet Union and their own people have been exposed, will suffer the ignominious fate of unscrupulous mercenaries of imperialist reaction

All this signifies that since the Second World War the alignment .of international forces has substantially changed.

In place of the old situation, where there was only one Socialist State, the U.S.S.R., existing in the midst of a ca1piitalist encirclement, a new situation has arisen, in which the Soviet Union is no longer internationally isolated-and this must be regarded as a supreme achievement of Stalin's leadership. Today the U.S.S.R. Is not alone in defending worm peace. Together with the Soviet Union, the People's Democracies, and the entire inter­ national camp of peace supporters which has now arisen, are upholding this cause. Two camps1 have formed: the democratic cam1pi, headed by the U.S.S.R., which fights the instigators of a new war in defense of universal and stable peace, and the opposite, imperialist camp, headed by the ruling circles of the U.S.A. and Great Britain, which is pursuing a policy of preparing another war, but which is unable to stop the cumulative growth of the international peace movement. The situation is, such that if the imperialists unleash another world war, they will inevitably meet with such a universal rebuff from the peace­ loving peoples and the entire democratic camp as will lead not merely to the defeat of individual aggressive powers, as in the past, but to the liquidation of the entire world imperialist system.

This is the main conclusion that follows from the changes in the international situation, changes which signify that today the destinies of the peace-loving 1p:eoples and the interests of all progressive community are inseparably bound up with the continued successes of the Soviet Union and of the world democratic camp, headed by its acknowledged leader, the great Stalin,;

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An edition of J. V. Stalin's Collected Works is1 now being published, beginning with his writings of 1901. The theoretical and political importance of this edition cannot he overestimated.

Stage by stage, there unfolds before our eyes the creative, genius of the great Stalin in all its copious variety and intellectual profusion. They illumine with the light of Marxist-Leninist ideas the most diverse practical problems in the work of the Bolshevik Party and the inter­ national communist movement, as well as complex scientific problems of history and philosophy; they explain highly acute problems of domestic and foreign policy and root 1p1roblems relating to the economy of the U.S.S.R., as well as various periods in the ,development of the countries of the capitalist world; they disclose the nature of big problems of socialist culture, in its diverse national forms, arid reveal the significance of the military problems that have time and again faced the Soviet State--"and as we read it we become clearly aware of the exceptional .role played by Comrade Stalin personally, beginning with the first years of Soviet rule, in the defense of our Motherland against foreign enemies, as well as for the consistent implementation· of the Soviet policy of 1p:eace, which has always been and continues to be, the chief task of the foreign policy of the U.S.S.R.; and much else besides testifying to the great historic deeds of our Party and its Stalin leadership.· · ·

A great creative ·Marxist, Comrade Stalin has done much to develop the Leninist strategical and tactical principles of our Party, which is exceptionally important to the communist movement in all countries. Above all, mention should be made of the problem of the victory of Socialism in one, separate country, which was first raised by Lenin, and which in the works of Comrade Stalin finds profound scientific treatment. Comrade Stalin has also illumined with the idea of Marxism- Leninism and has theoretically developed other major Problems that confronted our Party and the Soviet State, as, for instance: the Communist Party as a revolutionary party of a new type, and, ill' particular, the question of its leading role in the system of the dictatorship of the proletariat; the socialist industrialization of the U.S.S.R. and its decisive significance in strengthening the Soviet State; the collectivization of the millions of peasant farms and the liquidation of the last of the exploiting classes, the kulaks, as the consummation of the socialist transformation of the foundations of the entire national economy of our country; the problem of strengthening the Socialist State to the utmost in the midst of a capitalist encirclement, and the question of the conditions for the withering away of the state; the national question in the period of the bourgeois-democratic revolution and the national and colonial question in the conditions of Socialist Revolution, and, in particular, the question of socialist nations; as well as many other highly important questions of present-day times. The elaboration of these and other problems in Stalin's scientific works is under present conditions of supremely vital importance not only to the U.S.S.R., but to other countries as well, especially to the countries which have adopted the path of Socialism or are conducting a struggle for national liberation.

For all that, it must- be borne in mind, that no collection of works, however full, can adequately reflect the immensity of the work, so inspiring to our Party and the Soviet people, which Comrade Stalin daily performs in posing new problems and continuously elaborating ever new gigantic plans for our socialist construction, in formulating the major pronouncements of the Party and Government, including basic diplomatic documents, in all the various affairs connected with organizing the practical realization of adopted decisions and so forth-yet without which it is impossible to conceive the actual scope and ideological significance of Stalin's leadership.

As the great continuer of the cause of the immortal Lenin, Comrade Stalin heads all our work of socialist construction, welding the family of Soviet nations, directing the working people of town :and country towards the one great common goal, mobilizing Communists and non- Communists for the building of Communism in our country, and inspiring the struggle of the working class and oppressed peoples of the world. Stalin’s leadership is imbued with a profound consciousness of the momentousness of the historical mission of the Bolshevik Party, the Soviet Stale and of our entire cause. Critical verification of work performed, regardless of rank or past services; persistent development of Bolshevik self-criticism; un­-flagging vigilance with respect to the class enemy and the schemes of his agents, who are still active; promotion of new, ideologically staunch cadres who have been tested in action, and encouragement of young talent; utmost development of socialist emulation and of all other forms of active participation by the broad masses in the building of Communism, and the continual advancement of new measures for promoting the culture and communist education of the Soviet people-these are some of the most potent features of Stalin's leadership of our Party. Facts of historic significance bear witness to the invariable success with which the Party, under Comrade Stalin’s leadership, has coped, and is coping, with these paramount tasks.

In his remarkable article, "On the Question of the Strategy and Tactics of the Russian Communists,” written in 193, comrade _Stalin clearly defined three historic turning points m the history of our revolution and the three corresponding strategical plans of our Party. Regarding The third, the last, turning point, Comrade Stalin wrote:

"The third turning point began with the October Revolution, when the mortal conflict between the two imperialist groups: of the West had reached a climax· when a revolutionary ,crisis was obviously brewing In the west; when bourgeois rule in Russia, hankru1p,t and entangled in contradictions, fell under the blow of the proletarian revolution; when the victorious proletarian revolution, having broken with imperialism and retired from the war, acquired sworn enemies in the shape of the imperialist coalitions of the West; when the decrees of the new Soviet Government on peace, the confiscation .of the landed estates, the expropriation of the capitalists and the emancipation of the 01pipressed nationalities won it the confidence of millions of working people all over the world. This was a turning point of international significance, for the international front of capital was broken for the first time, and for the first time the question of the overthrow of capitalism was placed on a practical footing. This turned the October Revolution from a national, Russian, force, into an international force, and the Russian workers from a backward detachment of the international proletariat into its vanguard, which, by its self-sacrificing struggle, was awakening the workers of the West and the oppressed countries of the East. This turning point had not yet achieved its ultimate development, because it had not yet unfolded on an international scale, but its substance and general direction were already sufficiently clearly defined." (J. V. Stalin, Collected works, Vol. 5, pp. 178-79.)

The profound meaning and prophetic character of these words of Stalin are clear to us. And all can now see how far our country has advanced, and how profoundly the international situation has since changed precisely in the way of which Comrade Stalin wrote. This is particularly clear today, when the U.S.S.R., the country of Socialism victorious, with its gigantic political, economic and cultural progress, together with its friends, the People's Democracies, is confidently marching forward, while the capitalist countries,--both big and small-are more and more losing confidence in the future, unable to find a way out of the mounting economic, and political contra­ dictions, and continually stricken with new economic dis­ asters.

In distinction to the capitalist countries, where blind laws of elemental economic development prevail and set the general tone, with the inevitable periodical crises and growingly acute social antagonisms consequent thereon, the Soviet State is built on entirely different principles. In our country, thanks to the Socialist Revolution and the abolition of the exploiting classes which followed it, the progress of the entire national economy is organized on planned lines, which is something no capitalist state can dream of. In the Soviet Union not only is the economic progress of the country organized in accordance with a single long-range plan, but the planning element is, introduced into all other branches of social life, with the purpose of accelerating the general and all-round progress of the culture of the peoples of the U.S.S.R., and the progress and thriving of the sciences and arts. Only under­ standing this, can one understand t:he growing successes of Soviet science and technology, including the well- known achievements in mastering atomic energy, which so amazed and disconcerted all the various enemies of the

U.S.S.R. Every day brings out more clearly the profound fundamental and practical significance of the struggle against pseudo-science launched by the scientists of the Soviet Union, armed with the method of materialist dialectics. Our literature and art are more and more becoming the standard-bearer of our Stalin epoch, greatly contributing to the successes of the Soviet people, inspiring them in their work and struggle, and extending Soviet influence far beyond the borders of our Motherland.

Tasks, of such grandeur have never faced any other state. The narrow bourgeois outlook is altogether incapable of conceiving problems of such magnitude. Only a mature socialist society could tackle such tasks as the introduction of fundamental scientific principles into all spheres of the country's economic and cultural life and into the ideological education of the people in the spirit of Communism, which is doing so much to multiply our forces, and which raises the U.S.S.R. head and shoulders above any country in the capitalist camp. This also ex­plains the unparalleled growth of the moral and political prestige of the U.S.S.R. among the peoples of the entire globe.

It is not fortuitous that these majestic tasks fell to a Party which gave our people and all mankind such great leaders, such titans of theoretical thought and revolutionary deeds, as Lenin and Stalin. If, after Lenin's death, the Soviet people triumphantly solved their internal and external strategical and tactical Problems, and made their state so mighty and, at the same time, so spiritually near and comprehensible to the working people of the whole world, the Supreme and historic credit for this belongs in the first place to the great leader of our Party, Comrade Stalin, to Stalin's leadership.

It is because of this that the confidence of the working people of our country in Stalin’s wise leadership is so boundless, that their faith in Stalin's genius is so strong, and that the love of the Soviet people and of the working people of the whole world for Comrade Stalin is so deep.

Today, on his seventieth birthday, we once again wish our great and dear Stalin, our leader, teacher _and friend, good health and long years of life for the benefit and glory of our people, and for the happiness of all progressive mankind.

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