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Document No. 98: Speech by Andropov at the Political Consultative Committee Meeting in Prague, January 4–5, 1983 ——————————————————————————————————————————— Iurii Andropov delivered this important speech to the PCC soon after becoming general secretary of the CPSU. His comments mark another stage in the Soviet leadership ’s endeavors to understand the changes in American and NATO policies from the Carter to the Reagan administrations. Andropov’s interpretation is that the West is compensating for both recent losses in the Third World and the ongoing internal crisis of capitalism. At least the first part of the argument, though not the second, is directly in line with Reagan’s own thinking. Implicitly criticizing the stagnant policies of his predecessor, Leonid Brezhnev, Andropov also asserts that the West is trying to exploit weaknesses in the socialist countries, including their indebtedness to Western creditors, inadequate food supplies and technological backwardness. He clearly believes the United States is out to achieve superiority, and is worried about what he believes is America’s ability to maintain the arms race by simply cutting other expenditures as needed. Both of these views mirror the thinking in conservative Western circles. ____________________ Each of us, evidently, wonders what has caused the sharp turn in U.S. and NATO policy, which produced the current flare-up of tensions, and for how long this aggravation will last. The essence of the matter, in our opinion, is above all the unfavorable changes in the world from the point of view of imperialism. The 1970s were a time of further growth in the power and influence of the socialist commonwealth. We were able to achieve military–strategic parity with the West. This gave us an opportunity to conduct business on a par with it. Our dynamic policy of détente produced major positive developments in international relations. Imperialism suffered noticeable losses in the wide zone of the so-called third world, upon control of whose resources the well-being of the West continues to depend. Revolutionary changes in Angola, Ethiopia, Nicaragua and other countries—and they were caused by objective factors—were taken by Washington, not without reason , as a defeat for American policy. The Reagan phenomenon and his policy, however, has not only external but also internal causes. Symptoms of deep crisis—the fall of production, inflation, mass unemployment —have affected practically all capitalist countries. And the bourgeoisie, as a rule, looks for escape from such conditions by embarking on external political adventures. But this is but one side of the coin. The other side is that the USA and NATO have seen their opportunity in the difficulties we all have been facing to one extent or another in our economic development. I have in mind the growth of foreign debts, the food situation, our technological lag in certain areas and a series of other bottlenecks . Internal political complications in some socialist countries have been ap472 praised in a similar vein. Let us not close our eyes: for as long as these problems exist, our class enemies will try to turn them to their benefit; that is why they are class enemies. The policy of Reagan and of those who stand behind him is nothing but an attempt to fight the laws of historical development, to cut by any possible means the further losses for the capitalist system. The sharp edge of this policy is directed against the Soviet Union and the entire socialist commonwealth. Washington’s so-called differentiated approach to certain socialist countries is tactics that does not change anything in substance. The struggle unfolds in virtually all directions. One cannot help notice the shamelessness with which the United States has been trying to complicate the economic conditions of the socialist countries. Just think of their actions against Poland! Or the notorious “gas pipeline” story, when the USA was willing to sacrifice the interests of even their closest allies.22 The Americans, judging by everything, want to continue using trade relations as a weapon of political pressure. I am talking about the sharp limitation of our access to advanced technology , decreasing the volume of, and tightening credit, restrictions on foreign currency earnings of the socialist countries from exports, etc. We all feel the increased activity of the ideological centers of imperialism. And this is not simply the renewal of a propaganda war, with which we are familiar from the past. A high-stakes wager has been placed—on creating a political opposition in our countries, and on manipulating...

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