Abstract

Our time is one of revolutionary changes enormous in scale and pace, both in the social sphere and in that of science and technology, as a consequence of which the main problems of human existence are being posed in a fundamentally new manner. The problem of war and peace holds highest priority among these problems of vital importance. Now it is not only the prospects for progressive human development that depend upon the manner in which the problem of war and peace will be resolved; it is not only the fate of civilization that is at stake, but the very existence of life on our planet. Whether the earth will become a sad and silent monument to the inability of the intelligent beings populating it to pass history's examination in maturity or will become a flourishing abode worthy of the great human species is being decided today, now, in the ceaseless struggle for peace. "The stabilization of peace," L. I. Brezhnev points out, "is one of the most important guarantees of the greatest of human rights - the right to live. And we regard life not merely as existence but as existence worthy of man."