Polemic on General Line of International ... - From Marx to Mao

the strictest observance of a single standard in productionand distribution. 1He also said:. . . without all-sided state accounting and control ofproduction and distribution of goods, the power of the toilers,the freedom of the toilers, cannot be maintained, and. . . a return to the yoke of capitalism is inevitable. 2Under the signboard of “workers’ self-government”, all theeconomic departments and enterprises in Yugoslavia are lockedin fierce capitalist competition. It is quite common for theenterprises under “workers’ self-government” to engage inembezzlement, speculation and hoarding, to inflate prices,bribe, hide technical secrets, grab technical personnel andeven to attack one another in the press or over the radio inrivalry for markets and profits.The fierce competition among Yugoslav enterprises goes onnot only in the home market but also in foreign trade. TheYugoslav press says that it is not unusual for twenty or thirtyagents of Yugoslav foreign trade establishments to visit thesame market abroad, compete among themselves for business,and take away the others’ customers or suppliers. “Fromselfish motives”, these enterprises engaged in foreign tradeseek to “make profits at any cost” and “is not choosy abouttheir means”.A result of this fierce competition is chaos in the Yugoslavmarket. Prices vary considerably not only in different citiesor regions but also in different shops in the same place, andeven for the same kind of goods from the same producer. Inorder to maintain high prices, some enterprises do not hesitateto destroy large quantities of farm produce.1V. I. Lenin, “ ‘Left-Wing’ Childishness and Petty-Bourgeois Mentality”,Selected Works, Eng. ed., International Publishers, New York,1943, Vol. VII, p. 365.2V. I. Lenin, “The Immediate Tasks Of the Soviet Government”,Selected Works, Eng. ed., International Publishers, New York, 1943,Vol. VII, p. 327.160