‘WE WANT TO-BE FRIENDS’ -- KRUSHCHEV

‘Peaceful coexistence only wa

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2

MOSCOW

Pledging continuation of Soviet policies for peace and friendship, Nikita Krushchev, in his report as first secretary to the 20th congress of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union last week, noted that the principle of peaceful coexistence was gaining increasing international recognition — a
logical development ‘‘as there is no'other way out in the present situation. ae

“‘Indeed.’’ he said. ‘‘there are only two ways, either peaceful coexistence or the most devastating war in history. There is no third alternative.’’

>’ b

Speaking on Soviet-American relations, Krushchev said:

“We want to be friends and
Cooperate with the United States
in the effort for peace and secur-
ity“of the people as well as in the
economic and cultural fields. We
pursue this with good intentions,
without holding:a stone behind
our. backs.”

‘If good relations were not es-
tablished between the Soviet
Union and the United States and
mutual distrust existed “this will
lead to an arms race on a still
Sreater scale and to still more
dangerous growth of the forces
on both sides.”

So far, the Soviet initiative had
not met due understanding and
support in the U.S. “But we
want to hope that it will be
properly appreciated in the Was:
and that methods will change for
the better.”

He added: “We intend to con-
tinue to work for the further
improvement of our relations
with Britain and France. Our
countries, situated in Europe,
have many common _ interests,
and first of all a common con~
cern to prevent a new war.”

“Our unchangeable principle
is to develop and strengthen
friendly relations with all coun-
tries which, like us, strive to
preserve peace.”

Then he asked: “Is another war
really: inevitable ?” :

_ And he declared that Marxists,
in answering this question, must
take into consideration the
epoch-making changes that had
taken place since the Second
World War.

_ The Marxist idea that war was
Mevitable under capitalism was
Propounded at a time when im-
Perialism embraced the whole
World and when the peace forces
Were weak and poorly organised.

But today the forces opposed
to war were well organised and
Strong, and the peace forces had

® material as well as the moral
Power to prevent aggression.

There was no “fatal inevit-
ability of war,’ but extreme
Vigilance was necessary because
the economic basis for the out-
break of wars remained so long
a8 imperialism existed.

m disarmament, Krushchev
Said the Soviet Union would
“Spare no effort to solve this all-
mportant problem.

“We shall continue to work
for the termination of the arms
Grive and the prohibition of
atomic and hydrogen weapons,”
he said.

But he accused the Western
Powers of refusing to accept con-
Crete’ Soviet proposals and
Claimed that they “even went
back on their own proposals.”

Krushchev opened his report
With a review of the international
Situation since the last congress
Was held in 1952.

© paid particular attention to
the situation in the capitalist
©ountries where the contradic-
tions of capitalism continued to

develop while in the Soviet Union,

© People’s Democracies and in
People’s China the rate of pro-
8tess was increasing all the time.
€ pointed to the growing con-
Tadiction between British and
-~Merican capitalism and the way
‘NX which the U.S. is now grab-
RE the principal areas in which
Titish capitalism was previously
Ominant.
«Exposing the fallacy of the
Sitions of strength” policy of
estern powers, he added
When nations conduct such

@
that

Soviet policy is one of coopera ion y
fields,” Nikita Krushchev, first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, told the party’s 20th congress in Moscow last
week. “We pursue this with good intensions, without holding a stone behind our backs,” he said. Here Krushchev and Premier

Nicolai Bulganin are seen with Canada’s External Affairs Minister

year.

a policy the danger of war in-
creased.

But on the other side, the
forces of socialism, democracy,
peace and national liberation
were being consolidated, while
the prestige and standing of the
socialist countries exerted an ever
greater influence on the course
of events. a7

> present fight o e masses
pas Seanie for peace, he said,
had no parallel in history and in
this fight for peace many other
sections of society, apart from the
working class, had joined.

But the division of the work-
ing class in. many countries
played into the hands of the
capitalists. Ii the working class
were united there could be no

wars.

Shake was big pressure on
leaders of the labor movement in
different countries to end the div-
ision in the working-class move-
ments. There were different
views of the way to achieve the
transition to socialism but many
social democrats were In agree-
ment of the need to fight against

er of a new war.
ne ct them, said Khrush-
chev, and are willing to to every-

i for unity.
oe a Communists believed it
was a “hollow illusion” to think
that economic crises could be
postponed by continually expand-
ing arms manufacture.

“The arms race does not cure
the sickness, it drives it in-
wards; and the more extenSive
the militarisation of the econ-
omy, the heavier its conse-
quence for capitalism.

“Crises are inherent in the very
nature of capitalism. They are
inevitable.” ,

Dealing with Germany, he de-
clared:' “The revival of vast Ger-
man economic might particularly
aggravates the situation of .the
world market.

He said the German problem
could be solved by creating a
collective security system in
Europe, the rejection of the Paris
agreements rearming West Ger-
many and “rapprochement and
cooperation between the two Ger-
man states.”

Discussing world changes and

the new prospects for transition |

of countries and nations to so-
cialism, Krushchev said:

“It is probable that more forms
of transition to socialism will
appear. Moreover the implemen-
tation of these forms need not
be associated with civil war un-
der all circumstances.

“Our enemies like to depict us
Leninists as advocates of violence
always and everywhere. True we
recognize the need for the revo-
lutionary transformation of cap-
italist society into socialist society.
There is no daubt that in a num-
ber of capitalist countries the
violent overthrow of the dietator-
ship of the bourgeoisie and the
sharp aggravation of class strug-
gle connected with this are in-
evitable.

“But the forms of social revo-
lution vary, and it is not true
that we regard violence and civil
war as the only way to remake
society.”

Krushchev recalled that in 1917
Lenin said the Russian Revolu-
tion might develop peacefully,
and it was not the fault of the
Bolsheviks that counter-revolu-
tion, intervention and. civil war
forced workers and peasants to
take to arms. :

“Leninism teaches us that the
ruling classes will not surrender
their power voluntarily. And the
greater or lesser degree of in-
tensity which the struggle may
assume, the use or non-use of
violence in the transition to so-
cialism, depends on the resist-
ance of the exploiters, on wheth-
er the exploiting class itself re-

Lester B. Bearson during the latter’s visit to the Soviet Union last

sorts to violence rather than on
the proletariat.

“In this connection the ques-
tion arises whether it’s possible
to go over to socialism by using
parliamentary means. No such
course was open to the Russian
Bolsheviks, who were the first
| to effect this transition.

“Since then, however, the his-
torical situation has undergone
radical changes which make pos-
sible a new approach to the ques-
tion. The forces of socialism and
; democracy have grown immeas-
' urably throughout the world and

capitalism has become. much
| weaker.

| “The mighty camp of social-
| ism, with its population of over
' 900 million, is growing and gain-
ing strength. Socialism has great
powers of attraction to workers,
peasants and intellectuals of all
countries. Ideas -of socialism
are, indeed, coming to dominate
the minds of all working human-
ity.

“At the same time the present
situation offers the working class
in a number of capitalist coun-
tries a real opportunity to unite
the overwhelming majority of
the people under its leadership
and to secure the transfer of the
basic means of production into
the hands of the people.

“The right wing parties and
their governments are becoming
increasingly bankrupt. In these
circumstances the working class,
by rallying around itself the toil-
ing peasantry, the intelligentsia,
all patriotic forces and resolutely

is in a position to defeat the re-
actionary forces opposed to the
popular interest, to win a stable
majority in parliament and to
transform the latter from an or-
gan of bourgeois democracy into
a genuine instrument of the peo-
ple’s will.

“In such an event this institu-

FEBRUARY 24, 1956 —

repulsing opportunist elements, ;

|

‘
H

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tion may become an organ of
genuine democracy, democracy
for the working people.

“The winning of a_ stable
parliamentary majority, back-
ed by a mass revolutionary
movement of the proletariat
and of all the working people
could create for the working

“ elass of a number of capital-
ist and former colonial coun-
tries the conditions needed to
secure fundamental social
changes. ee

“In the countries where capit-
alism is still strong and has a
huge military and police appara-
tus at its disposal, the reaction-
ary forces will, of course, inevit-
ably offer serious resistance.

“There the transition to social-
ism will be attended by a sharp
class revolutionary struggle.

“Whatever the form of transi-
tion to socialism, the deciisve
and indispensable factor is the
political leadership of the work-
ing class, headed by its vanguard.

“Without this there can be no
transition to socialism.

On the question of peaceful
competition between socialism
and capitalism, Krushchey de-
clared:

“When we say that in the com-
petition between the two sys-
tems of capitalism and socialism,
socialism will triumph, this by
no means implies that the victory
will be reached by armed inter-
vention on the'part of the social-
ist countries in the internal
affairs of the capitalist countries.

“Our confidence in the tri-
umph of Communism is based
on the. fact that the socialist
mode of production possesses
decisive advantages over that
of capitalism.

“We believe that after seeing
for themselves the advantages
that Communism holds out, all
working men and women will
sooner or later take the road to
the building of a socialist society.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 3

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