From June 25 to 28, in Congo-Brazzaville, the World
Peace Council held an International Seminar on Population
and Development. This conference of experts was mandated
to draft working papers for submission to the World Popula-
tion Conference that is being held in Bucharest, Romania,
from August 19-to 30.

Represented at the seminar were 26 nations from all
continents, except Australia and Antarctica, as well as dele-
gates from eight public organizations — including the Afro-
Asian People’s Solidarity Organization, World Peace Council,
World Federation of Democratic Youth, Women’s Interna-

. tional Democratic Federation, World Federation of Democrat-
ic Trade Unions, and World Health Organization. Three Afri-
can liberation movements participated — the African Na-
tional Congress of South Africa, ZAPU of Zimbabwe and
SWAPO of Namibia.

President Marien N‘gouabi of Congo-Brazzaville and
Romesh Chandra, chairman of the World Peace Council,
made the keynote speeches and the principal papers were
delivered by Professor Ya. N. Gurevaty of the Soviet Union’

_ and Professor Zweyacker of France, who were also members
of the drafting commission for the final documents,
along with Professor Robert Rhodes of the United States
Professor Costin Murgescu of Romania and Doctor Mamadou
Sako of Mali. :

The following is the report, slightly abridged and edit-
ed, presented by Professor Guzevaty.

By Ya. N. Guzevaty

Doctor of Science in Economics
Academy of Sciences, USSR

M.. cannot be separated from nature. His life, limited
by the acts of birth and death, is a biological phenomenon
characteristic of all living beings. Nevertheless, there is a
fundamental quality. that differentiates man from other
forms of organic nature — his ability to work according to
a plan. It is even possible to say that labor created the
human being. Man does not exist passively in nature but
actively influences it and alters it, through his labor, to fit
his needs. Animals, at best, are capable of collecting;
man produces, he creates items that nature could never
produce alone. That is why it-is impossible to apply the
laws of fauna to human society.

To live, people grow food, build: dwellings, develop

Various ways of living and act cooperatively, in joint ac-

__ tivities, to exchange the products of their labor: This re-
Sults in the social character of production and the creation
of various productive relations between people. Thus, a
given population should not be regarded as a mere group
of people occupying a certain territory, but as a concrete
totality in its diversity of productive relationships, taking
_into Consideration subdivisions into classes and various
Social, professional groups that take shape in
the course of social production.

indissoluble unity between productive
relationships constitutes the main

of human society. Consequently;

a history of society is, first and foremost, a history of

ing the form of family organization, the family being, it-
self. phenomenon. Thus, it is the level
of development of productive forces which determines,

historical peculiarities in the reproduction of population.

historical process as it takes place in reality is complex,
Consisting of inter-connected and interacting phenomena.
Although economic factors are decisive in this complex

_ Of phenomena, their role is not absolute but remains re-
lative as they are influenced from outside by many other
forces taking place in the interaction. :

These interacting forces: include demographic fac-

tors in which the dual nature of the reproduction of man —
the inter-relation of the biological and the social — is ex-
pressed. And, although demographic factors are second-
ary to economics, they possess a certain independence
and are capable of influencing social processes, influenc-
ing production. Thus, the size, structure and rates of
growth of the population, which depend on the ratio be-
tween births and deaths, indirectly influence the nature
and magnitude of the requirements of society and, there-
by. the volume and structure of production. It is in this

- sense that Karl Marx wrote that population “‘is both the
basis and the subject of the entire social production.” -

The impact of the demographic factors in various

spheres of social life gives rise to specific problems which
have been termed ambiguously and inexactly the prob-
lems of population. Since the demographic factors are

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1974—PAGE 6

. increase in

The world |
is for people

ville, June 25-28, 1974:

The seminar has thrown light on the rapid growth of
the world’s population, particularly in the developing
countries, through concrete socio-economic conditions,
and the problems which this growth poses in all fields,
and more especially where nutrition, training, employ-
ment and population migration are concerned.

It has stressed the serious nature of the problems thus

also been careful to place them in the context of existing
socio-economic structures. :

This is why it has strictly refuted a neo-Malthusian
approach to these problems, according to which popula-
tion growth represents the principal threat to mankind
and, unless a policy aimed at halting this growth is adopt-
ed at an international level, famine, the exhaustion of

From the Conclusions of the World Peace Council International Seminar on Population and Development, Brazz

posed and the necessity of facing up to them. But it has °

resources and catastrophic pollution of the environme”
will be inevitable. the
i Population problems must always be put into h
context of an overall view of their real background, whic
is that of socio-economic relationships. nd
‘ The speakers underlined the proposition thot ic
‘population policy could be a substitute for aoa
‘development; that no population policy in itself
eradicate famine, ignorance, unemployment and ©
social ills. : en
The World Peace Council denounces the ane
confusion which seeks to mask the responsibilities of a
. perialism and to weaken efforts for the achievement
the unity of all anti-imperialist forces, without which a
struggle against hunger, poverty and underdevelopm? aa
cannot be won. |

secondary to the economic factor, the problems they
create are also secondary. They are not universal; they
differ depending on the concrete conditions in various
countries and regions of the world — size, structure, rates
of growth, density and location of population on the one
hand, and the level of economic and cultural development,
the nature of the relations of production, the pecularities
of the political system, state system, etc., on the other.

All this does not exclude, of course, the possibility
of making generalizations for scientific purposes,

The world demographic situation as a whole and the
prospects of its further development are determined by
the growth of population in Asia, Africa and Latin Amer-
ica, since these regions contain about 70% of the world’s
population. As a result of the sharp decline in mortality in
these regions during the last decades, with natality re-
maining at the same high level, they show a high rate of

effect upon the health of the people in the new independ-
ent states. In particular, the expansion of the road net-

sources within the countries, reducing the risk of famines
and outbreaks of epidemics. ~

Under conditions of the persisting backwardness of
agrarian economies, a low level of industrial develop-
‘ment and mass unemployment, a high birth rate creates
substantial difficulties for the developing countries. An
manpower without a corresponding growth .
of the means of production complicates the problems of '
employment and food Supply, hampers the introduction
of universal schooling for children and the elimination of
illiteracy among adults. It increases labor supply in the
villages, intensifying rural to urban migration which, in
its turn, seriously aggravates the economic and social
problems of the cities.

of the demand to “abolish unconditionally all laws atte

tion of the national wealth, the more accessible on pe

ures would not solve the population problems of 4
ing countries. The only solution is the transformaf,
backward social structures and ae ey ‘uit
nical progress. Demographic poli , in va
cilitate this task siner tmodePaization of ‘society fed
in a tendency toward a lower birth rate. But de a!
policy can succeed only if combined with peat
forms as well as with the practical measures in H¢"—
of culture, education and social security. ;

M... countries adopt so-called “family P”,,
programs” as the equivalent of a demographic Pu
These programs, which supply information about |

control: and provide necessary medication and ™

help, can play an important role in the area of mov “alti
child health, reducing the high mortality rate T .,
from child marriages, too closely spaced childbirit
incompetent and illegal abortions. V.I. Lenin wa

vo

abortions or against medical literature about ee
measures and so on.” (V.I. Lenin, Complete Wo
23, P. 257 — Russian ed.) ; vale
In cases where. the tradition of large families
the family planning programs give parents — the birt
who want many children — the option of spacing cal
until’they are convenient. Then, as economic and. idly the
factors develop, parents should realize more rap te
advantages of having fewer children and this now
to promote a lower birthrate, which occurs in the 7 s
of social development. : — satio'
~ In contrast to the developing countries, pots ere
growth in advanced industrial states is moderates | he
sult of the long historical evolution of demogtaP™”
havior in the process of social development.
The influence of economic factors on the ae . that
ic processes manifests itself ultimately in the ! mod!
that each new social system, and its correspondint ing
of production, triumphs over the old system by | pecomes
higher productivity of labor. Society as a whole ayy th
richer as a result and has-better living conditions. jife ©
tends to lower mortality and to lengthen averanr revo”
con

0
D

pectancy. Thus, among other factors, the indus
lution that started at the end of the 18th century ©
buted toward raising life in Europe. qyoa

“The role of economic factors in lowering yan Ui
ics of mortality may lessen or increase under isi
pact of social factors. The more ‘equitable the ali:

fied medical help for the masses of the popula
more consistent the right to work for the people: