YouSaid · the spoken record

Khrushchev

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS KHRUSHCHEV

lines on the record: 149
first: 1960-09-24
most recent: 1960-09-24
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: un-general-debate

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“It was not easy for the Soviet Government to take this decision, because it was precisely our country that had first raised the issue of general and complete disarmament, and had been doing its utmost to achieve in the Committee a constructive solution to the problem, in strict conformity with the General Assembly resolution. In the circumstances, however, staying on in the Committee would only have meant helping the opponents of disarmament. It was impossible to tolerate attempts to make the great cause of disarmament an object of speculation for purposes inimical to the interests of universal peace. 238.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Our goal is to secure a stable peace, which can be achieved only through the elimination of armaments and armed forces under strict international control, 236. Acting directly contrary to the General Assembly resolution, the Western Powers engaged in meaningless talk on disarmament in the Ten-Nation Committee on Disarmament, trying to impede all progress in the matter and to discredit the idea of general and complete disarmament in the eyes of the world. 237. The Soviet Government, together with the Governments of a number of other States, was compelled to suspend its participation in the work of the Ten- Nation Committee which the Western Powers had turned into a screen for concealing the arms race.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“However, one cannot but see that the establishment of control without disarmament would be tantamount to setting up an international espionage system which, far from contributing to the consolidation of peace, could, on the contrary, make it easier for a potential aggressor to realize his plans which pose a threat to the peoples. 235. The danger lies in the fact that the establishment of control over armaments, if armaments were retained, would mean, in effect, that each side would know the quantity, quality and deployment of the armaments possessed by the opposing side. Consequently an aggressor could increase his armaments to a superior level in order to choose the opportune moment and launch an attack. We will never agree to control over armaments without disarmament, because that would mean conniving at aggression.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Throughout the work of the Ten-Nation Committee on Disarmament, the Western Powers refused to start working out a treaty on general and complete disarmament and in every way avoided discussion of the substance of the Soviet programme of general and complete disarmament [A/4219] which the General Assembly had referred to the Committee for detailed consideration. For their part, they made proposals which provided for neither general nor complete disarmament, nor any disarmament at all, but only for measures of control over armaments, i.e. control without disarmament.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Who is preventing the implementation of the General Assembly resolution on general and complete disarmament, perhaps the most important and outstanding decision in the history of the United Nations? Who is making it impossible to break the deadlock on the problem of disarmament? 233. The facts show that the absence of any progress towards the solution of the disarmament problem is the consequence of the position taken by the United States and by certain other States linked with it through NATO. 234.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“We shall do everything in our power to ensure that general and complete disarmament becomes a reality and that mankind is liberated from the arms race and from the threat of a new war of extermination. 231. A year has elapsed since the General Assembly adopted the resolution on general and complete disarmament. Having regard to the present pace of life, that is a comparatively long period of time and we need have no doubt that those engaged in the production of weapons and in the perfection and invention of new lethal means have not let it go to waste. 232. But in the sphere of disarmament not the slightest progress has been made in the past year. What are the reasons for this state of affairs to which we are forced to refer with great regret and serious concern?”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“The Soviet Government, which is consistently and resolutely pursuing a peaceful policy, solemnly declares at the present session of the United Nations General Assembly that the Soviet Union maintains armed forces for the sole purpose of defending our country and fulfilling our commitments to our allies and friends in the event of aggression against them. The use of our armed forces for other purposes is precluded because that would be alien to the very nature of our State and to the fundamental principles of our peaceful foreign policy. 230. Our country is compelled to maintain armed forces solely because our proposals for general and complete disarmament have not yet been accepted.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Guided by the resolution [1378 (XIV)] adopted by the General Assembly at its last session,' the Soviet Union, jointly with other States, took a most active part in the negotiations in the Ten-Nation Committee on Disarmament and strove for the preparation of a treaty on general and complete disarmament. Without waiting for an international agreement on disarmament, the Soviet Union is unilaterally carrying out a reduction of its armed forces by 1.2 million men, i.e., by one third, which is generally recognized as having helped to improve the atmosphere for the disarmament talks. 229.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“In September 1959, on the Soviet Government’s instructions, I submitted at the fourteenth session of the United Nations General Assembly [799th meeting] the Soviet Union’s proposals for general and complete disarmament. The appalling destructive force of modern weapons, the unprecedented pace of the arms race, the accumulation by States of vast stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, all create a threat to the future of mankind and necessitate a search for an essentially new approach to the problem of disarmament. Our proposals were the practical expression of such an approach. 228. We could only feel gratified at the fact that the ideas we had put forward won unanimous approval in the United Nations and received widespread support from the peoples of the whole world.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“We are genuinely helping the peoples of these countries to establish their independent economies and to develop their own industry, which is the mainstay of true independence and of increasing prosperity for the people. 225. Peoples which oppress others cannot be free. Every free people must help those who are still oppressed to gain their freedom and independence. 226. Allow me to express the hope that the present session of the General Assembly will be an historic landmark on the road to the complete and final elimination of colonial systems on our planet. This would be an act of great historic importance, in keeping with the aspirations of all peoples struggling to secure national independence for progressive mankind a whole. 227.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“If the colonial Powers, instead of heeding the voice of reason, persist in their old colonialist policy of keeping the colonial countries in subjection, the peoples which stand for the liquidation of the colonial regimes will have to give all possible help to those fighting for their independence against the colonialists and against colonial slavery. Moral, material and other assistance must be given so that the sacred and just struggle of the peoples for their independence can be brought to its conclusion. 224. The Soviet Union, for its part, has been giving assistance to economically under-developed countries and will continue to do so in ever-increasing volume.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“For this reason, we are appealing to the good sense and the foresight of the peoples of the Western countries, to their Governments and representatives at this Assembly of the United Nations: let us agree on steps to liquidate the colonial system of government and so speed up this natural historical process; let us do everything to ensure that the peoples of the colonial and dependent countries attain equality of rights and become able to decide their own fate. 223. We welcome the sacred struggle of the colonial peoples for their liberation.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“But to those accustomed to build their prosperity at the expense of the oppressed peoples of the colonies we say this: Think, look carefully at what is happening around you. If not today, then soon, very soon, will come the final collapse of the colonial order, and if you do not get out of the way in time, you will be swept away just the same. The life of the doomed colonial system of government cannot be lengthened either by plots or even by force of arms. Such efforts will merely intensify and embitter the struggle of the peoples against this utterly decayed system. 222. But the number of supporters of the colonial system, even in the colonial Powers themselves, is steadily dwindling and, in the final analysis, they will not have the last word.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“This is a more progressive and sensible system of relations among countries, that increases the prosperity of the peoples both in the erstwhile economically backward colonial and dependent countries and in the more highly developed ones. 220. The entire march of events and the course of economic and political development pass the inexorable judgement of history on the obsolete and shameful colonial system. 221. We cannot, of course, expect that our proposals for the liquidation of the colonial system, consistent though they are with mankind’s vital interests, will meet with sympathy on the part of those who are still clinging to the colonial order of things. I can hear in advance the criticism of those who defend the colonial system.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“It is not the peoples of the metropolitan countries but the millionaires and billionaires who cling to the colonial system. 219. In the second place, the course of development of many countries that have attained their national independence shows convincingly that with the rapid growth of their national economy, their home markets expand beyond comparison, and they can consume incomparably greater quantities of industrial goods from the more highly developed countries while, at the same time, because of the growth of their own productive forces, they are able to supply more of the raw materials and the various products and goods needed by the economies of the industrialized countries.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“The colonial peoples have but one road of escape from want and arbitrary rule — the liquidation of the colonial system of government. 217. The supporters of the colonial system are frightening the populations of the metropolitan countries by asserting that the abolition of the system will inevitably be followed by a drastic deterioration in the mode of life of the people of the industrialized countries. These assertions are clearly groundless. 218. In the first place, they betray their authors, who involuntarily admit that the metropolitan countries are continuing to plunder the colonies and dependent countries from which they derive fabulous profits. That is indeed a fact, but it is equally true that the super-profits go not to the metropolitan peoples at large but, mainly, into the pockets of the monopolists.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“If, instead of plundering and exploiting, the metropolitan States had really been guided by the interests of the colonial peoples, if they had really given them the assistance of which they like to talk, the peoples of the colonies and the metropolitan countries would have developed uniformly instead of presenting such striking differences in the development of their national economy, culture and prosperity. How can one speak of co-operation, when the level of living in the Western countries is not even comparable to that in the colonies? That is no co-operation, but the domination of one group by the other, a situation in which the latter utilize the labour and wealth of the former, exploit and plunder them and pump their national resources into the metropolitan countries.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“At the time when the countries of French Indo-China attained independence, there were 330 students in France for every 100,000 inhabitants and 4 for every 100,000 in Cambodia. In 1948 there was one doctor for 67,000 inhabitants in Indonesia. It is not surprising that, as a result of the poor living standards and the lack of proper medical assistance, the average life span in all former colonies is appallingly low in comparison with the metropolitan countries. In a number of these countries a man lives on the average not more than 35 years, which is barely half the average lifetime in the countries that held them in colonial enslavement. This is a legacy of the colonial system that has not yet been eliminated. 216.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“On the attainment of independence, per caput output of electric power in Burma was 4 kilowatt- hours a year; in India, about 15 kilowatt-hours, in Pakistan, 2 kilowatt-hours and in Egypt, about 50 kilowatt-hours, while in the United Kingdom per caput production in 1947 was over 1,100 kilowatt-hours. 215. The colonizers kept the enslaved peoples in ignorance and darkness. In 1950 the number of literate persons in Indonesia did not exceed 15 to 20 per cent of the population. In India, even a few years after independence had been won, when steps had already been taken to expand the national educational system, the level of literacy stood at 16 per cent; in Pakistan it was 14 per cent.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“On the attainment of independence by the former colonies, the annual per caput national income, according to official United Nations statistics, was only $US25 in Indonesia, while in Holland it was twenty times greater. In Burma that income was $US36, in India, $US57, or ten times less than in the United Kingdom. The per caput national income in Belgium at the time when the Congolese people won their independence was thirteen times higher than the income of a Congolese. Moreover, in the Congo, as in other colonial countries, the lion’s share of this extremely low income was taken by the colonizers. 214. Let us take such an important index of a country’s economic development as the output of electric power.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“A genuine friendship between nationalities was brought into being, which all the trials of the Second World War could not shake. These great changes benefited not only the national minorities but the Russians, Ukrainians and Byelorussians — the nations comprising a majority of the Soviet Union’s population. 211. We are proud that the experience of the former borderlands of Russia has proved that it is perfectly possible for the countries of the East to do away with backwardness, poverty, disease and ignorance within the lifetime of one generation and to rise to the level of economically advanced countries. 212. And now I should like to turn to other examples which illustrate how the colonialists in fact carry out their "civilizing mission" in the colonies. 213.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Did the development of our country suffer by the granting to the peoples of the right of independence and self-determination? Is there strife and enmity between nationalities in our multi-national country or a disintegration of the State? No, there is nothing of the sort, nor can there be. 209. Under the Constitution, each of our fifteen Union Republics has the right to remain in the Union or to leave it, if it so desires. The existence of, nineteen autonomous republics, nine autonomous regions and ten national territories makes it possible to, preserve the national characteristics and cultural originality and individuality of each people and nationality. 210. Harmony and unprecedented unity between all nationalities have been achieved in the Soviet Union.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“The Tsarist Government pursued in the borderlands of Russia an essentially colonialist policy which differed little from what can be observed today in colonial countries, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Tadzhiks and other non-Russian nationalities were scornfully called "aliens". They were not considered human beings and were ruthlessly exploited. National differences, hatred and dissension were fomented between these nationalities, and the Tsarist Empire was held together only by bayonets and oppression. When the peoples of Central Asia and Transcaucasia were given their national freedom and equal rights with the other peoples of Russia, they showed their capabilities in the development of their national economy and culture. 208.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“After the great October socialist revolution, the bourgeoisie of the whole world harped incessantly on the inevitability of the collapse of Soviet power because Russia was an ill-educated country and the working class had no experts capable of running the State machinery and the economy of the country. Life has proved the truth of Lenin's statement that the revolution would awaken the initiative of the people, that the Soviet power would produce leaders and organizers from among the masses and that, having taken power, common workers and peasants would learn to govern the State and would master all the achievements of modern science and technology. 207.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“In 1926 there were only 360 scientific workers in the Central Asian republics and Kazakhstan, while in 1959 there were 26,500, or seventy-four times as many. 205. Tremendous advances in economic, cultural and scientific development were, of course, achieved not only in the Central Asian republics, which were particularly backward in the pre-revolutionary period, but in all the other Soviet republics. Thus, for example, academies of science have been established in all the Union Republics, and there are a large number of scientific research institutes and institutions of higher education. In all the republics, during the years of Soviet rule, skilled working-class personnel have been trained and the number of intellectuals has vastly increased. 206.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“There were nine times, as many chemical workers in the whole country and seventy-two times as many in Central Asia. The number of mechanics grew by fifteen and forty-two times respectively. The number of drivers and tractor and combine operators grew by 260 times in the country as a whole and 943 times in Central Asia. The number of engineers, technicians and agronomists in the USSR as a whole increased by eighteen times and in Central Asia by thirty-eight times. The number of teachers and other cultural and educational workers increased by seven times in the country as a whole and by nineteen times in Central Asia. Medical personnel increased by 8.5 times and twenty-four times respectively. The number of scientific workers increased from 14,000 to 316,000, or twenty-three times, in the Soviet Union as a whole.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“I should like to cite a few figures taken from the results of the latest census and to compare them: with those of the census of 1926, the year in which our economy completed its recovery to the pre-revolutionary level. During that period the total number of manual and clerical workers in the national economy increased six-fold in the Soviet Union as a whole and ten-fold in Central Asia and Kazakhstan. 203. The increase in the number of skilled workers and specialists was even greater. I shall not cite all the figures because a table containing them has been distributed, but I should like to call attention to some of them. 204. From 1926 to 1959, the number of metal-workers, one of the most highly skilled of working-class occupational groups, increased nine-fold in the Soviet Union as a whole and eighteen-fold in Central Asia.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“For every 10,000 citizens of those republics there are, on the average, 88 students at institutions of higher education and 73 students at technical schools, without counting the large number of young people who have gone to study beyond the borders of their republics, in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Kharkov, Saratov, Novosibirsk, Tomsk and other cultural centres. I might note that in France there are only 40 students at institutions of higher education for every 10,000 inhabitants, in Italy, 34, and in West Germany 31 — which is almost three times less than in Soviet Central Asia. 201. A decisive factor guaranteeing the successful economic and cultural development of the national republics is the growth in the number of skilled cadres of workers and intellectuals. 202.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“There were almost no people with secondary or higher education. The Soviet Power has made education and culture widely accessible to all peoples. Illiteracy has been eliminated in Kazakhstan and the Central Asian republics, as it has in the other republics of the Soviet Union, and they, like the whole of the USSR, have achieved universal literacy. 200. Before the revolution there were no institutions of higher education in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kirghizia, Tadzhikistan and Turkmenistan, and not even any technical schools in Kirghizia, Tadzhikistan and Turkmenistan, whereas in the last academic year there were 211,000 students attending institutions of higher education in those republics, and 176,000 students attending the technical schools and other specialized secondary institutions.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“In the family of equal socialist republics, the former borderlands of pre-revolutionary Russia, which were threatened with depopulation as a result of malnutrition and disease, have been transformed into flourishing territories where living standards have risen as they have throughout the whole Soviet Union. The wages and salaries of workers and employees there do not differ from those in other republics of the Soviet Union. Like all the citizens of the USSR, they receive pensions, health insurance benefits and other social benefits. 199. The progress in cultural development achieved by the Soviet Union’s national republics is still more Striking. It is known, for example, that before the revolution the peoples of Kazakhstan and the Central Asian republics were almost entirely illiterate.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“The Soviet Central Asian republics and Kazakhstan produce many times more power than such neighbouring countries as Turkey, which produces ninety-five kilowatt-hours per caput, Iran, which produces thirty-six, and Pakistan, which produces eleven. 197. Enormous economic and cultural progress has also been made by other relatively small nationalities of the Soviet Union, united in autonomous republics. Thus, for example, during the period from 1913 to 1959, large-scale industrial production in the Yakut ASSR increased by 53 times, in the Komy ASSR by 109 times, in the Tatar ASSR by 147 times and in the Bashkir ASSR by 163 times. 198.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Today the annual output of electric power is 19,000 million kilowatt-hours, which is nine times more than that of all prerevolutionary Russia. 195. The peoples of the Soviet Union are engaged in peaceful constructive labour to achieve the targets of the seven-year plan for the development of the national economy. As a result of the fulfilment of this plan, the total industrial production of the USSR will approximately double during the seven-year period. The output of electric power will be more than doubled, and in Central Asia almost tripled. 196. The per caput output of electric power in the Central Asian republics is already about 800 kilowatt-hours a year, i.e. considerably more than in any of the Latin American republics, for example.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Today Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kirghizia, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan — all the sister republics of Central Asia — have been transformed from backward colonies of Tsarist Russia into advanced, industrially developed socialist republics. During the period from 1913 to 1960, large-scale industrial production in the republics just referred to increased by more than sixty times. The industrial production per caput of Kazakhstan, a once backward country, is equal to that of Italy, and its per caput electric power output, for example, is higher than that of Italy and equal to that of Japan. 194. Before the revolution, only 7 million kilowatt-hours of electricity was produced in the territory of Central Asia and Kazakhstan — 300 times less than in the whole of the Russian Empire.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“But there was a time when many of the nationalities inhabiting our country suffered the bitter oppression of Tsarism, of the landlord-bourgeois system. Conditions in remote areas of the Tsarist empire hardly differed from those of colonies because their populations were cruelly exploited by the autocracy, by capitalism. Whereas the autocracy looked upon the peoples of Central Asia and Transcaucasia, and other nationalities inhabiting the Russian Empire, as a source of profit, after the October revolution, when these peoples obtained complete freedom, they quickly improved their economic, cultural and social condition. 193. Let us take, for example, the Soviet Republics of Central Asia.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Yet the cost of constructing all the units of one of the world’s largest power systems, in the Inga region of the Congo, by which a tremendous area in Africa could be made to blossom, is estimated at $5,000 million. 191. It is also pertinent to recall that it is the moral duty of the States which possessed colonies in the past to return to the liberated peoples of those countries at least a part of the riches taken from them through cruel exploitation of the people and the plundering of their natural resources. 192. It may be said that it is easy for the Soviet Union to advocate the liquidation of the colonial system, since the Soviet Union has no colonies. Yes, that is so. We have no colonies and no capital in other countries.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“A positive role in overcoming the age-old backwardness of the countries that are being liberated would be played by economic and technical assistance through the United Nations and on a bilateral basis. Of course, this will require considerable funds. Where can they be obtained without overburdening the population of the industrially developed countries? Once again from this rostrum I. draw your attention to the source which could be provided by disarmament. The allocation of only one-tenth of the funds which the great Powers are now spending for military purposes would increase the amount of assistance to under-developed countries by $10,000 million a year.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Everyone knows that the economies of the colonies and the Trust Territories are at present subordinated to the mercenary interests of foreign monopolies, and the industrialization of these countries is being deliberately impeded. Imagine that the situation has changed and that these countries and territories, having become independent, are in a position to make ample use of their rich natural resources and to proceed with their industrialization, and that a better life has begun for their peoples. This would lead to a tremendous growth in the capacity of the world market, which would no doubt have a beneficial effect, not only on the economic development of the countries of the East but also on the economies of the industrially-developed countries of the West. 190.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“This prospect will, of course, only become a reality if the colonial Powers do not evade compliance with United Nations decisions. 188. We must also remember the great changes the abolition of the colonial system of government would bring about in the lives of the peoples of the enslaved countries. It would be not merely a victory for elementary human justice and international law, which the United Nations is in duty bound to strive for, not in theory but in fact; it would also bring to the peoples who are backward after so many centuries of oppression the benefits of modern science, technology, culture and social progress. 189. It would be difficult to exaggerate the vast significance which the abolition of the colonial system would have for the entire world.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“The adoption by the United Nations of measures for the final abolition of the colonial system would not only create favourable conditions for localizing and eliminating the threat of war which now exists in areas where a military conflict is in progress between the colonialists and the peoples fighting for their independence; it would also, in many instances, reduce the possibilities of the outbreak of further military conflicts between the States in these parts of the world. The peoples of the countries now suffering from the humiliations bred by foreign domination would gain a clear and immediate prospect of peaceful liberation from the foreign yoke and States clinging to their colonial possessions would be responsible before the United Nations and before the world for the fulfilment of the provisions of the proposed Declaration.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Convinced that the complete abolition of the colonial system of government will be a fine and genuinely humanitarian act, and a major advance along the path of civilization and progress, we fervently appeal to all States represented in the United Nations to support-the provisions of this Declaration. 185. The draft declaration prepared by the Soviet Government and submitted for your consideration sets out in detail the considerations which prompted us to bring this matter before the General Assembly. We would ask that this draft declaration should be distributed as an official document of the United Nations General Assembly. 186. I should like to make the following further points in my statement in the general debate. 187.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“The colonial system and colonial administration in all these forms must be completely abolished in order to afford the peoples of the territories concerned an opportunity to determine their own destiny and form of government. "2. Similarly, and strongholds of colonialism in the form of possessions and leased areas in the territory of other States must be eliminated. "3. The Governments of all countries are urged to observe strictly and steadfastly the provisions of the United Nations Charter and of this Declaration concerning the equality and respect for the sovereign rights and territorial integrity of all States without exception, allowing no manifestations of colonialism or any special rights or advantages for some States to the detriment of other States." 184.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“These representatives are hardly likely to welcome our freedom-inspired proposals! 183. Firmly adhering to the principle that the United Nations should be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of the common ends proclaimed in the Charter, the Soviet Government submits for the consideration of the General Assembly at this session a draft declaration on the grant of independence to colonial countries and peoples, solemnly proclaiming the following demands: "1. All colonial countries and Trust and Non-Self- Governing Territories must be granted forthwith complete independence and freedom to build their own national States in accordance with the freely expressed will and desire of their peoples.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“It is time for us to undertake the final assault on colonialism just as, a century or a century and a half ago, civilized mankind took the offensive against the slave trade and slave ownership, and put an end to them, thus throwing the door wide open for both the political and the economic development of society. 181. The Soviet Government believes that the time has come to pose the question of the full and final abolition of the colonial system of government in all its forms and varieties in order to make an end of this infamy, this barbarism, this savagery. 182. Not everyone here — and I realized this when I was preparing my statement — not everyone here will welcome these proposals because representatives of colonial Powers are sitting here side by side with people who are free.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“How is it possible to "achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion" — you have probably noticed that I am quoting from paragraph 3 of Article 1, of the United Nations Charter, entitled "Purposes and Principles" — and at the same time to close our eyes to so shameful a feature of present-day society as the colonial system? 180.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“How is it possible to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, which is the purpose of the United Nations, and at the same time to tolerate a situation in which, as a result of the predatory policy of the Powers that are strong militarily and economically, many Asian and African peoples can win their right to determine their own fate only at the price of incredible suffering and sacrifices, only through an armed struggle against the oppressors?”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“It is necessary to put an end to colonialism once and for all, to throw it on to the dust-heap of history. 179. Who if not the United Nations should speak out in favour of the abolition of the colonial system of government seeing that, according to the Charter, it is the Organization’s duty to reaffirm faith in human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of nations large and small.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“It is the duty of the United Nations, which is called upon to promote the strengthening of the peace and security of-the peoples, to do all in its power to prevent fresh outbreaks of military conflict in Asia, Africa, and Latin America as a result of friction between the colonial Powers and the peoples fighting for their freedom and independence. It is hardly necessary to point out that the great Powers may be drawn into the orbit of any such conflict and then, inevitably, a war which has begun by being local would develop into a general war, a world war. It is not enough, however, merely to defend ourselves against the intrigues of the colonialists, to survive one international crisis after another. It is necessary permanently to protect mankind against these intrigues, to safeguard the world from colonialists' military adventures.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“177„ The need for the complete and final abolition of the colonial system in all its forms and manifestations is demonstrated by the entire course of the history of the world in recent decades. This system is doomed and its end is simply a matter of time. To all intents and purposes the only question now is whether the colonial system can be buried quietly or whether its burial will be accompanied by risky ventures on the part of the adherents of colonialism, resorting to extreme measures. Events in the Congo are a fresh reminder of the dangers that exist. 178.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Others are colonialists themselves and from them nothing can be expected. The allies of the colonial Powers in aggressive military blocs support the colonialist policy, with all its evil concomitants. But the overwhelming majority of mankind has long since passed final judgement on the colonial system. 176. The Soviet Union, faithful to the policy of peace and support for the struggle of oppressed peoples for their national independence, the policy proclaimed by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, founder of the Soviet State, calls upon the United Nations to raise its voice in defence of the just liberation of the colonies and to take immediate steps towards the complete abolition of the colonial system of government.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“What kind of a peace is it when cruel wars are raging — unequal wars, too, in terms of the conditions under which the opposing sides are fighting. The troops of the colonial Powers are armed to the teeth with all the most modern means of mass destruction. In the hands of the peoples battling heroically for their freedom are nothing but obsolete and primitive weapons. But however destructive the wars waged by the colonialists, victory will be on the side of the peoples fighting for their freedom. 175. There are some countries which, despite great sympathy and fellow-felling for the oppressed peoples in their struggle, nevertheless have misgivings about spoiling their relations with the colonial Powers; they do not, therefore, raise their voices against these destructive wars but keep peace with the colonialists.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)