The evolution of marxist theories of population: Marxism recognizes the population problem

Abstract

Marxist theories led Soviet writers to view the population problems of less developed countries in rather simplistic terms: Since overpopulation is caused by capitalism, the obvious solution to the so-called population problem is simply to replace the capitalist system with communism. The argument most frequently heard at the World Population Conference in 1965, by contrast, accepted the population problems of underdeveloped countries as real, at least in the present context, but maintained that they will be solved through the natural course of events by raising the level of living. Birth rates somehow decline naturally as a country becomes more industrial and more urban. Family planning programs can not succeed in the absence of urbanization and rising levels of living. On November 23, 1965, the intellectual newspaper Literaturnaya gazeta published the first of a series of papers calling for a new interpretation of the population problems in developing countries. Boris Urlanis questioned the oft-stated contention of the various Marxist writers that birthrates decrease as the proportion of the population living in urban areas increases. He said that it is possible that increased urbanization may bring lower birthrates in time, but that it is essential that population problems be solved immediately. In the weeks and months that followed, other Soviet writers contributed to the dialogue, some in support of Urlanis and others in support of the more traditional interpretation of Marxism. The real test of the Soviet policy came in three international meetings during 1966. In the most important of these, the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Soviet Union supported the resolution which gave the Secretary-General rather broad authority in the population field, stating that it was gratifying that the United Nations had finally come around to the Soviet view that family planning was no substitute for economic and social progress and that it was therefore proper for states to formulate their own population policies. These events indicate that the Soviet Union is in the process of evolving a new policy in the population field. Their actions to date, however, have been cautious; but then it is not in the nature of governments to make radical shifts in policy, particularly where policy is so tangled in ideology. The United States government spent several years evolving its present policy, and it would be unrealistic to expect the Soviet Union to change more rapidly. © 1968 Population Association of America.