By I. IVANOV

The attempts of the multi-
Nationals to intervene in the in-
ternal affairs of the young states
Stem from their unwillingness to
admit the end of the era of

colonialism.

Political pressure is often ex-
erted through mass media con-

| trolled by the international cor-
-porations.

The companies are just as
active in “winning over” the of-
ficials to alter, above all, state
Measures and plans in their
favor.

Lonro Company of the Repub-
lic of South Africa assigned to
the post of director a son of the
former president of Togoland.
After that the economic devel-
Opment plans of the country in-
Cluded a complex of sugar plan-
tations Lonro Company was eag-
er to create. Just like in regular
commercial ‘transactions bribes
are widely used. The French
Weekly, Le Nouvel Observateur
Writes:

“The multi-national companies
begin buying the favors of the

| interior minister, chief of police,
_ Senior officers and local aristoc-

Tacy. Then they sell the services

_ Of their subsidiaries at exorbitant
_ Monopoly prices.”

Interference, Bribery
In such cases the international
Corporation may pay the local
leaders not only in money, but
also in terms of political support.
Thus, Lonro Company helped
€ authorities of a certain coun-
try obtain the extradition of the
leaders of local opposition in ex-

: Change for the monopoly right

to import certain goods into that
Country.

eS; The companies now regularly .
Participate” in the general elec-
tion campaigns in the developing

uy Countries. Thus, in the Congo

€ Union Minister generously
Nanced Tshombe’s Conacat par-

‘ Inflation-free

phd labi AA lI a

MULTI-NATIONALS
Political threat to new states

ty which supported the secession
of Katanga from the country. At
the same time the company
made another contribution (“just
in case”) to rival Balubacat par-
ty.

In their attempts to exert pres-
sure on the governments of de-
veloping countries the inter-
national corporations do not
limit themselves to covert meth-
ods. They actively resort to
armed intervention against “dis-
obedient” countries. The experts
of the World Confederation of
Labor wrote:

“The multi-nationals know
very well how to make use of
funds, economic aid and finally
armed force for the maintenance
of their domination.”

Thus, in the postwar period

Widespread interest in the
activities of the multi-nation-
als, is heightened by the ap-
proach of the World Confer-

ence on Multi-National Corpor- -

‘ations to be held in Toronto,
Nov. 14-16, 1975.

This is the second of a four-
part article which appeared
under the. title, Multinationals
and the Young States, in the
USSR publication, Asia and
Africa Today (No. 6, 1975). I.
Ivanov, D.Sc. is a Soviet eco-
nomics expert.

the international oil corporations
have been caught red handed in
resorting to political (and even
armed) intervention against a
number of Afro-Asian countries,
such as Syria, Lebanon, Iraq,

me

countries

Iran, Algeria, Nigeria and Indo-
nesia. :
The pretext for such interven-
tion was in most cases nationali-
zation of their assets, disputes
over the compensation sum or
local legislation that did not suit

‘the companies. Thus, when the

Libyan government decided to
assume control over 51% of the
assets of the British Petroleum
and Bunker Hunt companies of
Great Britain the latter attempt-
ed boycotting Libyan oil on the
markets of Great Britain, the
United States, France, the Neth-
erlands, Federal Germany, Italy,

Spain, and the Bahamas. It is ~

noteworthy that in the United
States the action of the British
companies was upheld by Texaco
and Standard Oil of California.

The. international oil corpora-

tions are no exception to the_

Tule.

State—Multi-National Tie-ups

In such conflicts the company
is often backed by the govern-
ment of its own country. The
Financial Times wrote that it had
become a standard practice for
the companies to turn to the gov-
ernments for help in supporting
their own efforts with official

_arm-twisting. This has repeated-

ly led to ordinary commercial
disputes being escalated to inter-
national conflicts.

In their réport the UN experts
on multi-nationals write:

“The responsibility for politic-
al actions by international com-
panies sometimes rests with
the governments of the base
countries, which have used these
companies as instruments of

‘their foreign policy and for intel-

ligence activities. In particular
this is true of states which occu-
py dominating positions in some
countries or regions through ca-
pital investments or connections
they have retained from the co-
lonial period.”

The international corporations
often side with the most reac-
tionary regimes in the recipient
countries. In particular this is
evidenced by their alliance with
colonial and raeialist regimes.
Many of the international cor-
porations have outlets in the Re-
public of South Africa.

Contrary to the decisions of
the United Nations, Marcel Das-
sault of France is supplying

. South Africa and Rhodesia with _

fighters and helicopters.

The British Petroleum and
Shell companies are supplying
Rhodesia with oil.

The U.S. metal-refining com-
panies are buying manganese
from it and 13 Western compa-

nies and banks have undertaken -

to build a steel-making plant in
Que-Que for the RISCO com-
pany of Rhodesia.

By ALF DEWHURST See

Last week’s column on inflation as-
Serted that there is no inflation in the
SOcialist countries. This week we pre-
Sent briefly the main economic features
Of the socialist countries which guar-
antee them inflation-free economies.
The main feature of socialist produc-
tion is that all means of production are
Publicly owned, meaning that: all land,

x Natural resources, energy, mines, oil
Wells, forest industries, factories, all

Means of public transportation, banks
4nd financial institutions, public utili-
ties and so on are the collective pro-
Perty of the whole people and under
Neir democratic control. Housing is
fither state-owned or cooperatively
Owned. There is no capitalist owner-
‘Ship.

There are two forms of socialist pro-
Perty. First, there is state property,

ich is the property of the whole
People as represented by the socialist
State. Secondly there is the cooperative

d collective farm property which is
‘he joint property of groups of work-

et dng people. Both forms of socialist pro-

Marxism-Leninism and foday's world

perty develop in close interaction.
Naturally, state property which en-
compasses all the main levers of the
country’s economy is the dominant, the
highest, form of socialist property.

cae, a a

Socialist ownership of the means of ©

production gives rise to a new type
of production relations which are su-
perior to those of capitalism. These are
relations of equal and free members of
society. The former antagonistic rela-
tion of exploiter and exploited has been
abolished, for all members of society
are co-owners of the means of produc-
tion. Socialist ownership removes the
contradiction between the productive
forces and the relations of production
that existed under capitalism.
Socialism makes it possible for the
socialist states to plan the most effec-
tive use of all the productive resources
of society, both human and material.
This planning encompasses the work-

ing out of long-term and current plans
and the organization of their fulfill-
ment, the appointment of managers for
the various sectors of the economy,
determination of the forms and princi-
ples of remuneration of labor, carry-
ing through a definite price policy, and
fixing transport tariffs.

A major result of such planning is
that the production growth rates of the
secialist countries, whose economies
are both crisis- and inflation-free, ex-
ceeds those in the capitalist countries.
For instance, by 1968 the volume of
industrial production in the USSR,
compared with the pre-revolutionary
year of 1913, had increased by 78
times. During the five-year plan (1966-
1971) industrial output increased by
50%. The present five year plan (1971-
1$75) will register a production rise

~ between 42 and 46%.

* Bo a

Socialism opens up bold perspectives

for accelerating the rate of technolo-

gical progress. The wide employment

of new production techniques and

equipment by the socialist countries
facilitates labor productivity, eases the

work load of the workers, reduces

working hours, adds to social wealth, —
all of which means that the working ©

people are the real recipients of the
fruits of technology.

Distribution of the social production
is another important function of the
socialist states. Under socialism the
bulk of the social product comes under

the contro] of the state which ensures

a balanced distribution of the national

income so as to guarantee a steady
advance in meeting the ever fuller satis-_

faction of the people’s requirements
on the basis of sustained growth and
systematic improvement of socialist
production. :

Sccialism replaces the anarchy of —

capitalist production with planned,

balanced development of the whole ©

economy. That is why they are infla-
tion-free.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 3, 1975—Page 7