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: