MORAL-POLITICAL BASIS OF THE STATE'S MILITARY POWER

 In all the biggest wars of the past, especially the world wars, not only the morale of the army, but also that of the entire population of the warring states (coalitions) constituted a factor of enormous strategic importance. This will apply even more in a world nuclear war, should the imperialists unleash it.

The thinkers and military leaders of the past noticed the dependence of victories or def eats in wars and battles on the state of the morale of the people and the warring armies. The works of the military theoreticians of the past-Clausewitz, Foch, Bernhardi, Jomini, Mikhnevich, Leer and Dragomirov- contain many correct, original thoughts about the place and role of the morale of soldiers in combat. At the beginning of the 20th century in Russia the libraries in officers' clubs contained many works on that subject. However, the idealist, of ten purely religious understanding of spiritual make-up as a thing inborn and unknowable, made it impossible for the authors of these works to look deep into the problem. These writings describe the rich historical experience of many wars, but they do it on the basis of idealist, positivist methodology. The enormous and ever-increasing role of morale in modern wars is now recognised by all. There are however two diametrically opposed viewpoints on its essence and sources the idealist, anti-scientific, and the dialectico-materialist, scientific.

Imperialist ideologists and military theoreticians look for the source of the morale of the people and the army in God, or in man's anthropological and psychological traits, i.e., they explain ideas by other ideas, derive views from other views. First of all this approach distorts the essence of the moral potential, belittles the decisive importance of the political content of the people's spiritual forces; secondly, it ignores what is most important-the socio-political sources and economic basis of these forces. This falls in with their class interests and their theoretical and methodological basis, which was treated in detail in the first chapter, in the section about the essence and sources of wars.

Moral Potential and Moral Factor

From the viewpoint of the dialecticomaterialist understanding of history the moral potential is the aggregate of moral, political and spiritual powers of a people. It expresses the ability and willingness of the population of a certain state (class or social group) to take joint action for the achievement of aims of great socio-historic importance.

In military respects moral potential means a definite degree of readiness by the people and the army to endure the extremely heavy trials of modern war, and not to lose the will to fight and defeat the enemy. Essentially, this is a moral and political potential.

The moral potential includes the morale of the people and the army. Once set in motion, the moral potential becomes a moral factor. The moral factor, as applied to society as a whole, is the resolve of the masses to carry out major social, economic, political and military tasks. The moral factor, as applied to the army, can be defined as the spiritual ability and willingness of the army to endure the heaviest trials of war without losing the will to struggle and def eat the enemy.

The moral potential and the moral factor are not constant magnitudes. They undergo small and big changes, sometimes slow and gradual, sometimes quick and sudden. This is particularly typical of the modern epoch. The efficiency with which the moral potential is utilised depends on the activity of state and military institutions, on the work of the Party and other political organisations, and is ultimately determined by the nature of the social system, by the ideology ruling in society, and also by the aims for the sake of which the war is waged.

The most important source of the people's and the army's morale is the socio-political system of the state. In its function as the source of the military might of a state, the sociopolitical system is nowadays considered not within the framework of individual countries, but within the framework of coalitions of states, with opposite social systems. The relations of comradeship and co-operation inherent in socialism and the policy pursued by the socialist states express the vital interests of the popular masses and are given every support by them. The Marxist-Leninist ideology, dominant in the socialist countries, is an inexhaustible source for mass creativity, a powerful accelerator of social progress.

The collective wisdom and will, the unity of the ideological and organisational work of the Communist and Workers' Parties, secure the transformation of the enormous moral and political possibilities into reality and are, therefore, an important source for the firmness of the people's spiritual forces. All this creates a stable political basis for the armed forces, for strengthening the defensive capacity of the country.

In recent years there has been a further consolidation of these sources owing to the extension of the socialist state's social basis, the further strengthening of the unity of the Soviet people and the peoples of other countries in the socialist community. Conversely, in the capitalist countries the socio-political basis of the people's and the army's morale is eroding. This is due to the growth of militarism, to the encroachments on bourgeois democracy (which is extremely narrow at the best of times), to the striving to se~ up dictatorial regimes and also to unrestrained demagogical propaganda. Socio-political antagonisms are aggravating in the bourgeois states, and are lowering the moral potentials of those states. This applies also to the imperialist coalition as a whole. When making an assessment of the moral potential of the imperialist states it is essential to adopt a concrete historical approach. It is one thing when a revolutionary situation prevails in those countries and when they embark on a period of social upheavals, and quite another, when the bourgeoisie in those countries has smashed the democratic forces by direct terror and large masses of the population are brainwashed by demagogic propaganda. Under such conditions the bourgeoisie is able to "pep up" the moral potential of the whole country and to lead the working masses into unjust, predatory wars.

This happened in nazi Germany in 1939 when she unleashed the Second World War and also in 1941 when she treacherously attacked the Soviet Union. This war, it will be remembered, was supported by a large part of the German population. In addition to demagogy the lightning victories of the nazi army in Western Europe and, in the early stages of the war, also in the Soviet Union, were a major contributing factor. The heavy blows the Soviet Army delivered to the German fascist troops, however, affected the morale of the German population and the fighting efficiency of the German army. The collapse of the Blitzkrieg plan and the counter-offensive mounted by the Soviet Army at Moscow made the Germans realise for the first time that def eat was possible. After the disaster on the Volga the German population and troops began to lose their faith in victory. "The disaster at Stalingrad profoundly shocked the German people and armed forces alike .... "1 Although the nazi troops fought stubbornly right up to the end of the war, being driven to it by brutal discipline and desperation, and also by the fear of retribution for the monstrous crimes they had committed, their offensive spirit was considerably weakened.

The morale of the population and the army of the bourgeois states reflects the antagonistic contradictions reigning in them and vacillates greatly depending on victory or defeat. Only powerful blows against the aggressor and his troops are able to erode and then to destroy their fighting spirit. Therefore, in preparing to rebuff possible imperialist aggression, the Soviet state and its Armed Forces are firmly resolved to rout the aggressor by the strength of their weapons and their morale.

The fundamental difference between the basis on which the morale of the people and army in the socialist countries is founded and that underlying the people's and army's morale in the bourgeois countries has left its mark also on the spiritual make-up of the people. The great economic and political transformations following the October Revolution in Russia have wrought deep changes in social consciousness, have established an ideological unity in Soviet society. Several generations in the country were educated in the spirit of selfless devotion to the ideals of communism. Soviet man has become a fighter, a revolutionary, a conscious worker. In the Soviet Union and other socialist countries New Man is shaping, new "human material" is being created.

A new, vivid feature in the make-up of Soviet man is his thirst for knowledge; it has become a typical trait of the majority of Soviet people. The striving after an all-round harmonious development of the personality offers broad prospects for self-education. There is a marked expansion in the range of his interests and intellectual needs. Man grows spiritually mature much earlier. He is deeply aware of communist ideals, of his personal responsibility for the fate of his country.

Different socio-political systems educate different people. This must be taken into account when the moral factor in different states and their coalitions is assessed. Besides, an evaluation of the moral factors of the probable opponents or belligerents must take into account that the socio-political system finds its practical expression in the state policy, and hence in the aims each state pursues in preparing for war or in waging it. The political war aim has a decisive influence on the morale of the people and the army during the war. People make history consciously, but their role in historical events depends on how correctly they realise the true causes of events, and their driving forces, how correctly they evaluate what class interests are promoted by a definite outcome of events. In this connection Lenin said:

 "An eighteenthcentury Prussian monarch once wisely remarked: 'If our soldiers knew what we were fighting for, it would be impossible to wage a single war.' "1

When the masses are aware that the war pursues unjust political aims, the moral possibilities of the country waging such a war are sharply curtailed. If the level of the working people's class consciousness is low, if the working people are unorganised, the imperialist states have greater moral possibilities to prepare and wage wars the aims of which are contrary to the working people's interests. Hence, in assessing the moral possibilities of the imperialist states in wartime, not only the economic and socio-political system of these countries but also the war's political content must be taken into account. Just, progressive wars redouble the spiritual forces of the people and the army, raising their morale. That is why the Communist Party, in rousing the people to the defence of the socialist country, broadly explains the aims and causes of the war. Lenin said:

"The realisation by the masses of the causes and aims of the war is of tremendous importance and ensures victory."1

This has been proved correct in the Soviet Union during the Civil War and again during the Great Patriotic War. We see this also from the example of Indochina, where the giant US war machine is unable to break the power and will of the peoples defending the independence of their countries. The above shows that the economic and socio-political system of socialism contains the objective conditions for an all-out consolidation and development of the moral possibilities of the socialist states. Naturally, the moral strength of the people in the socialist countries does not develop by itself, and the advantages of the socialist system do not assert themselves automatically. They are achieved by the ideological work of the Communist and Workers' Parties, by the irreconcilable struggle against bourgeois ideology and its remnants in the consciousness of the people. That struggle strengthens the moral potential, develops and helps effectively to use the spiritual energy of the people, their invincible will for victory over all aggressors. A knowledge of the basis, of the Content and sources of the people's and the army's Structure of moral strength is important to victory. the Moral Factor makes it possible effectively to form, maintain and strengthen morale in different conditions. But to be able to do this more purposefully, it is  essential, among other things, to know the structure of the moral factor, of its key elements. Sociologists and military theoreticians of the past repeatedly attempted to define the essence and structure of the moral factor. But the idealistic, sometimes frankly anthropological, interpretation of morale stopped them from solving the problem. Neither has it been resolved by modern bourgeois military thought. What is the structure of the moral factor of the socialist state?

The moral factor is a dialectical unity of the objective and the subjective. The objective and subjective aspects of the moral factor are determined by the nature of the social system, the existing social relations, the requirements for progressive development. The moral factor is objective in the sense that it is expressed in the real actions, the behaviour, the deeds of the Soviet people, soldiers, and sailors.1 The subjective aspect of the moral factor is expressed by the fact that man's willingness to suffer the heavy trials of modern war and not to lose the will to struggle and win is mediated by his consciousness.

 "The influences of the external world upon man," Engels noted, "express themselves in his brain, are reflected therein as feelings, thoughts, impulses, volitions -in short, as 'ideal tendencies', and in this form become 'ideal powers'."2 The structure of the moral factor can be conditionally pictured as two big groups of elements, which are closely interlinked and interwoven. 1

A moral action is objective primarily because it is carried out under the influence of objective conditions and is an objective reality to other people. But the internal essence of a moral action is always ideal, and moral relations are therefore usually part of the sphere of ideological relations. The first group is made up of socio-ideological elements, which express the conscious class interests, aims and tasks resolved by the war. The socio-ideological elements of the moral factor form a system of views and theories as regards war, its aims and consequences.

They include, first and foremost, the ideas and views on the essence of wars, their content and character, and also conceptions about the motherland and its armed defence, the role of the popular masses in the war and other important ideological conceptions. The elements of this group are predominantly rationalistic. The socio-ideological elements are characterised by great harmony and logical perfection. They do not arise spontaneously, but form owing to the purposeful activity of the commanders, political workers, and Party organisations.

These elements reflect the entire system of prevailing social relations. They are scientific, permeated by a spirit of historical optimism, instill deep conviction in the triumph of the ideas of communism and in the victory over any aggressor. These elements are expressed in different forms of social consciousness, among which a special place is held by political and moral forms. The willingness and ability of the Soviet people and soldiers to fulfil their patriotic, military duty is called "moral factor" because the attitude of people to the war is expressed first and foremost by moral categories: good and evil, justice and injustice, etc. Such categories of military ethics as "military duty", "moral responsibility", "military honour and dignity", "bravery", "heroism", "self-sacrifice" and others, characterise the most important aspects and features expressing the moral strength of the Soviet soldiers. 

The second group of elements making up the moral factor are the socio-psychological ones. As distinct from those of the first group, they shape largely under the direct influence of the environment. They embrace the complex aggregate of the notions, impressions and sentiments which are aroused in the population and the soldiers in the course of their everyday life. Among those that deserve particular mention are the military traditions and customs, patriotic feelings, revolutionary sentiments, practical experience, and habits connected with the defence of the country, and also some of the illusions and erroneous ideas about war. People express their attitude to the war, to its aims and character, by means of socio-psychological traits, but if that attitude does not include ideological elements, it can be neither lofty nor firm.

The elements of the second group have a comparatively stable character. Most mobile among them are emotions and sentiments; less mobile, traditions, habits, and customs. The least changeable is social and psychological make-up, the "moral qualities" of nations, of a people, which Marx and Engels called the "conscience of a nation", the "shame of a people", etc. Some of the socio-psychological elements are conservative, others react to environmental influences immediately. Hence, if negative psychological elements predominate in a person's consciousness, lie may, in a critical moment, submit to the direct influence of negative feelings-to fear, to terror, and his actions will be dictated by such feelings. In army conditions the socio-psychological elements have a clearly pronounced collectivist nature. In a military body collective sentiments, such as public opinion, collective will, collective anger, etc., find a particularly quick expression. Inspiration, suggestion, etc., exert an active influence. In political respects socio-psychological elements sometimes predominate in the moral factor, but as regards their significance and trend the decisive role belongs to the socio-ideological elements. They make up the main content and main trend of the moral factor. Naturally, the division of the elements of the moral factor into two groups is mobile and relative.

They influence each other, interpenetrate and overlap. Ideological elements are present in the socio-psychological ones (political sentiments: love for one's country and hatred for the enemy, etc.) and vice versa-socio-psychological elements "colour" the ideological components: the emotional expression of ideas, views, the preservation of habitual methods of reasoning. A decisive influence on the strength of the morale is exerted by ideological-political views. Ideals of the defence of the motherland, of communism, once implanted in people's consciousness interact with traditions, habits, with the whole range of moral qualities, feelings, and sentiments. Political ideas permeate, as it were, the moral and psychological elements and thus themselves acquire an emotional shade. They simultaneously influence all aspects of people's psychology in a definite direction, and concentrate the will, thoughts, and feelings on the fulfilment of a concrete task, mobilise the people's entire spiritual energy for decisive actions, for selfless deeds.

The absence or weakness of some positive element of the moral factor inevitably tells on the level of the people's and army's morale. Strong ideological convictions, which form the main element in the strength of morale, presuppose the necessary moral-psychological qualities. A strong will that is not propped by high ideals can become dangerous not only for the enemy, since a will without the proper ideas to back it is blind and fanatical. People possess a strong character and a high morale only if their passionate ideological conviction is combined with steadfastness, decisiveness, a firm will and other moral-psychological properties. Being relatively independent, the moral factor absorbs the revolutionary and military traditions of the past, and patriotism. In this sense the firmness of the soldiers' morale depends on the people's spiritual wealth in the past. The present Soviet generation preserves the progressive traditions born of past wars as a precious heritage. The rich moral experience of the revolutionary battles, of the victories in the Great Patriotic War are a valuable possession of the Soviet people.

Views and customs that are outmoded and no longer apply to present-day conditions must be overcome. If one does not feel the rapid rhythm of life, does not opportunely understand the new demands put on the people's spiritual forces by our dynamic epoch, the relative independence of the moral factor may become responsible for a lag in the development of some of its elements. This is a serious danger. "The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living. And just when they seem engaged in revolutionising themselves and things, in creating something that has never yet existed, precisely in such periods of revolutionary crisis they anxiously conjure up the spirits of the past to their service and borrow from them names, battle cries and costumes in order to present the new scene of world history in this time-honoured disguise and this borrowed language."1

At the same time the ideological elements of the moral factor tend to outstrip reality in the theoretical aspect. They foreshadow, as it were, the main aspects of a possible war, the role of morale in it. Thus, the moral factor is a specific manifestation of the social consciousness when such of its forms as political views and morals are pushed to the foreground and play the decisive role in the people's spiritual ability staunchly to endure the heaviest trials of a modern war. It should be remembered here that the formation of a high morale with the population and the army involves the necessity of a purposeful influence on the soldiers' consciousness. This is possible only through reliance on the achievements of modern science. . The enormous role of the moral factor increasing Role 01 the in world wars of the past is explained ~people s Moral Forces by the fact that the people had to in Modern Wars endure heavy trials.

They shouldered the burden of intensive, exhaustive, sometimes excessive, labour in order to satisfy the needs of the front. They suffered heavy privations too. Many hundreds of thousands had to evacuate from frontal zones, to abandon their property and houses. The people remaining on territories occupied by the enemy suffered even worse. For the first time in the history of war regions in the deep rear were bombed by the enemy air force. The death of millions of soldiers at the front brought mental suffering to their relatives and friends. However, all these privations, sufferings and woes are insignificant as compared with those a world nuclear war would cause. In the event of war the moral forces of the population which will have to bear unprecedented hardships will acquire crucial importance. Under these conditions the whole system of state measures composing the civil defence will to a decisive degree depend on the moral strength, endurance, and courage of millions of civilians. They will face the extraordinarily complex tasks of ensuring the vital activity in the rear, the operation of major power centres, of the system of economic management, in conditions when mass destruction weapons are applied against them on a vast scale. A whole series of measures which will become essential as soon as the war begins (current information, evacuation, salvage operations and urgent rehabilitation, the fight against subversion, mass medical assistance to the population, supplies) can be carried out only if the Soviet people everywhere, in every populated centre, show the staunchest determination and willingness to make sacrifices. The organisation and the self-discipline of every person, based on strong ideological conviction, on the striving to fulfil one's duty at any cost will assume critical importance in such conditions.

 It should be borne in mind that in a war of coalitions, even if it is waged without nuclear weapons, the role of the people's morale will be heightened because the combatants will pursue decisive aims and because the means of the armed struggle will be even more powerful than in the past. The morale of the servicemen acquires special importance in modern war. This question will be examined in detail in the next chapter.

In the event of war it will be extremely difficult for the military-political leaders of the imperialist countries to maintain the morale of the population at a high level because there are no social unity and no ideas able to inspire the masses in those countries, to give them the moral fiber to stand the heavy trials of modern war. The US authors Erich Fromm and Michael Maccoby drew the conclusion that Western countries would be unable to endure the horrors of the atomic chaos. They said that it was difficult to foresee all the consequences of atomic strikes.

There would be mass neurosis which "can result in severe depression, suicidal tendencies, self-accusations, amnesia and disorientation .... The survivors would witness a sudden tearing apart of the whole fabric of society .... In thermonuclear war no part of the social fabric would remain stable. Half of the population killed; most of the leaders gone ... unburied corpses; epidemics.. . . What sense would life make? ... For the majority of people the problem would not only be grief, but the destruction of a way of life .... "If these would be the psychological effects of thermonuclear war, what shall we say about the moral consequences of such a war?"1 the authors ask.

Preparing a nuclear war against the socialist countries, the reactionary political and military leaders of the imperialist countries encounter, as they themselves admit, enormous difficulties in their attempts to strengthen the political structure of the existing system, which is being eroded by social contradictions and conflicts. Political apathy and a feeling of doom, as well as a low level of patriotism, are typical of many layers of the population in capitalist countries.

The peoples of all countries hate war and intensify the struggle against the threat of the imperialists using mass destruction weapons. The awareness of this threat undermines the moral potential of the aggressors. Thus, the policies of the imperialist states create conditions eroding their moral possibilities already in peacetime.

The imperialist bloc is confronted by the community of socialist countries which is marching from strength to strength. The growth of its moral possibilities is conditioned by objective development laws. One of them is the increasing consolidation of the ideological and moral-political unity of the peoples within the individual socialist countries and also within the framework of the community of socialist states. At the same time moral motives in the activity of the citizens of those countries are acquiring ever greater importance.

The moral progress of socialist society is of permanent military-political importance, it helps further to raise the military power of the Soviet Army and of the armies of the other Warsaw Treaty countries. The moral superiority, conditioned by the whole socialist way of life, will provide  concrete advantages in the course of the armed struggle,  namely: . it will enable the leadership of the countries and their armed forces to set the people and army the most difficult tasks with the certainty that they will be fulfilled; owing to the spiritual superiority the population and armed forces will be less vulnerable to the influence exerted by "psychological warfare" and ideological subversion both in peacetime and during the war; due to the moral superiority the population of the socialist countries and their armed forces will be able to bear the moral-psychological burden of the war longer than the population and armies of the imperialist countries without ''tiring". 

Such are the foundations of the military power of states (coalitions) and at the same time its most important components. In their aggregate they make up the material and spiritual possibilities of states (coalitions) , that is, determine the military potential.