Preparation for the 100th anniversary of Lenin's birth was marked by an in-depth study of his ideological and theoretical heritage, life, revolutionary and state activities. The literature published at that time covered an enormous number of topics, problems and questions of Lenin's legacy, the history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Soviet society, and the world workers', communist, and national liberation movement. The completion of the publication of the Complete Works of V. I. Lenin and the huge research work carried out over the past decade contributed to the rise of the scientific level of this literature. An important place in it was occupied by popular scientific works on Lenin's problems, published by the publishing house "Znanie" for the 100th anniversary of the birth of V. I. Lenin.

In 1968-1970, the publishing house published more than 40 pamphlets and books on this subject prepared by historians. Among their authors are A. I. Arnoldov, Yu. V. Voskresensky, G. N. Golikov, E. N. Gorodetsky, G. D. Obichkin, I. Ya. Trifonov, G. V. Sharapov-famous researchers of the history of Soviet society. Distinctive feature

page 148

a feature of these publications is the breadth of coverage of problems. Perhaps in none of the previous Lenin anniversaries was the significance of V. I. Lenin's ideological and theoretical legacy shown in such a diverse way. In particular, such important topics as the search for Lenin's works and the publication of his literary heritage 1, V. I. Lenin as a revolutionary, a man and thinker , and the role of V. I. Lenin in the history of the international workers ' and communist movement 2 were covered .

An important place in the series of pamphlets and books is occupied by works on the content of Lenin's plan for building socialism in the USSR and its implementation in the course of creating a socialist economy and cultural construction, the role of the masses in the construction of socialism and communism3 . The attention of the general reader will also be drawn to works that cover the history of Soviet foreign policy and the role of V. I. Lenin in shaping its basic principles, 4 Lenin's concept of the national question and its solution in the USSR, 5 Lenin's struggle against opportunism and bourgeois ideology, and the significance of Lenin's ideological heritage for the struggle against modern opponents of socialism and Marxism, 6 . Special pamphlets are devoted to such important issues as the connection between Leninism and internationalism, Lenin's views on the historical destinies of the peoples of Central Asia, the strengthening of the workers 'and peasants' union in the early years of NEP, V. I. Lenin - organizer of the defense of the socialist Fatherland, Lenin's views on political work among the masses, Lenin's doctrine of the national liberation movement7 . For the first time in the popular series, methodological issues of science, the development of which occupied an important place in the scientific activity of V. I. Lenin, were covered. In our time of rapid development of science and technology, the relevance of this problem has significantly increased 8 . The topic "V. I. Lenin as a historian and the significance of his historiography" is especially widely presented in this series.-

1 G. N. Golikov. The Great Ideological Heritage of V. I. Lenin, Moscow, 1969; G. D. Obichkin. New Documents of Lenin's Ideological Heritage, Moscow, 1969.

2 V. T. Loginov. V. I. Lenin-revolutionary, thinker, man. Moscow 1969; N. E. Korolev, F. I. Firsov. V. I. Lenin-founder of the Communist International. Moscow 1969; L. N. Grigoriev. V. I. Lenin and the International labor and Communist movement. Moscow 1969; V. Z. Serdyuk. V. I. Lenin's Struggle against Right and" left " Opportunism, for the Unity of the International Communist Movement, Moscow, 1969; V. I. Polyansky. Leninism and Internationalism, Moscow, 1969.

3 V. Ya. Klimushev, V. I. Lenin on the role of the popular masses in the construction of socialism and communism, Moscow, 1968; V. I. Pogudin. Implementation of Lenin's Plan for the Construction of Socialism in the USSR, M. 1969; Yu. S. Papkov. V. I. Lenin on the economic policy of the Soviet State in the first years of Soviet power, M. 1969; V. I. Kasyanenko. V. I. Lenin at the head of the struggle for the economic independence of the Country of Soviets, M. 1969; Yu. V. Voskresensky. V. I. Lenin on the large-scale economy of the Moscow, 1969; A. S. Motylev. The Triumph of Lenin's Plan for Industrializing the Country of Soviets, Moscow, 1969; V. Z. Drobizhev. Lenin's Plan of Industrialization of the USSR, Moscow, 1969; G. V. Sharapov. Lenin's Cooperative Plan and its International Significance, Moscow, 1969; A. I. Arnoldov; V. I. Lenin and the Cultural Revolution, Moscow, 1969; P. I. Simush. Social role and Destinies of the intelligentsia, Moscow, 1969; B. M. Portugalov. The triumph of Lenin's ideas about protecting the health of the people, Moscow, 1969.

4 A. V. Berezkin. Foreign policy of the Leninist Party and Proletarian Internationalism, Moscow, 1968; K. Ivanov. Lenin's Fundamentals of Foreign Policy of the USSR, Moscow, 1969; R. A. Sergeev, A.V. Sergiev. Lenin's Principles of Foreign Policy of the Soviet Union, Moscow, 1969; I. V. Dudinsky, V. I. Lenin and the Development of the Socialist Commonwealth, Moscow, 1969.

5 Yu. I. Paletskis. Lenin's National Policy, Moscow, 1969; E. A. Bagramov. Leninism and Ways of solving the national question in the USSR, Moscow, 1969.

6 I. Y. Trifonov, V. I. Lenin and the Struggle with Bourgeois Ideology at the beginning of NEP, Moscow, 1969; V. D. Granov. Leninism vs Opportunism, Moscow, 1969; V. V. Kortunov, V. V. Chistov. Leninism and Ideological Struggle at the present Stage, Moscow, 1969.

7 V. I. Polyansky. Edict. op.; Sh. Sh. Abdulaev, A. I. Zevelev. V. I. Lenin and historical destinies of the peoples of Central Asia. Moscow, 1968; B. A. Gavrilov. Lenin's Union of Workers and Peasants and its Strengthening in the First Years of NEP, Moscow, 1969; I. V. Stavitsky, V. I. Lenin at the Head of the Defense of the Socialist Fatherland, Moscow, 1969; A. K. Kolesnikov, V. I. Lenin and Political Work among the Masses, Moscow, 1969; A. A. Iskenderov. Lenin's Teaching on the National Liberation Movement, Moscow, 1969, et al.

8 B. M. Kedrov. Lenin and Methodological Issues of the History of Science, Moscow, 1969.

page 149

a critical legacy for Soviet science " 9 . Even this list of topics testifies to the great work done by Znanie publishing house to mark the 100th anniversary of Lenin's birth.

Vladimir Ilyich, as is well known, made very high demands on mass literature on public issues, calling it one of its necessary qualities to include new facts and information that would help to convincingly reveal the most important provisions of Marxist theory .10 Most of the pamphlets published for the Lenin jubilee generally meet these wishes. By the way, scientific journals could hold a broad public discussion of popular science literature in all sections and branches of historical science. This would make it possible to develop the most important principles of publications of this kind, to improve their quality, taking into account the current level of development of Soviet historical science and the socio-political, ideological and educational tasks facing it.

Published works are small in volume (mostly 2-4, less often - 10 - 12 author's sheets). This required the authors to strictly select questions and factual material. Sometimes several pamphlets were devoted to the same or similar topics; however, their authors solved their tasks differently, usually without duplicating or repeating each other. Most of the publications under consideration are designed for lecturers, as evidenced by the note on the title pages. But this literature will certainly attract the attention of the broadest circles of readers - workers, intellectuals, and young people - who are interested in Lenin's legacy and the most important problems of Communist Party policy, both in the past and at the present stage. These publications will also be important for scientific and political self-education and for the communist education of the working people.

Interesting factual material is contained in the pamphlets of G. N. Golikov and G. D. Obichkin, which tell about the collection and publication of Lenin's priceless heritage both in our country and abroad. The authors reveal the enormous work done by the Communist Party, its Central Committee, and the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU in this direction. Thanks to this work, it was possible to publish the Complete Works of V. I. Lenin, republish his works in the languages of the peoples of the USSR and other peoples of the world. It seems that similar pamphlets (about finds, searches, publications of Lenin's works in the USSR and abroad) about the work of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism should be published periodically in the future.

A great scientific and political problem in modern conditions is Lenin's plan for building socialism and its implementation in our country. This topic is covered in the peer-reviewed literature both in general and on its individual problems (industrialization of the country, collectivization and the cultural revolution). Unfortunately, the works written in general terms turned out to be much weaker than the works on specific historical issues. They devote too much space to the traditional presentation of questions, relatively few bright, new convincing facts, and not enough theoretical generalizations. This was especially evident in the treatment of the question of a developed socialist society. As you know, V. I. Lenin was the first to introduce this concept, tirelessly justified and concretized it in his works of the post-October period11 . In the anniversary literature devoted to the problem of building socialism, this topic should, in our opinion, have taken its proper place.

Among the works on concrete historical problems, Y. V. Voskresensky's pamphlet "V. I. Lenin on Large-scale Industry" compares favorably with other publications on this topic not only by covering a large number of important issues, but also by their deep theoretical research. The author drew on a wealth of digital and factual material that makes it possible to judge changes in the industrial development of the country as a whole.-

9 E. N. Gorodetsky. Problems of the history of Soviet society in the works of V. I. Lenin. (Questions of methodology. Scientific Laboratory), Moscow, 1970; V. P. Naumov; V. I. Lenin on the main problems of the history of the civil war in the USSR, Moscow, 1969; A. I. Zevelev. Some questions of the historiography of the history of the CPSU in the works of V. I. Lenin. Moscow, 1970.

10 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 5, pp. 358-359.

11 See, for example, V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 40, p. 104; vol. 27, p. 253; vol. 41, p. 27.

page 150

lom, as well as its individual economic regions. But the paper does not sufficiently show the structural changes in industry that occurred during the years of industrialization: the creation of new industries, the predominant growth of advanced industries in those conditions of economic development, the emergence of new economic ties and proportions in industry, and colossal changes in its geographical location. In this regard, the social consequences of industrialization are also not fully disclosed: the growth of the working class, the change in its professional, technical, cultural and psychological appearance; the book contains little new data on these issues. At the same time, the pamphlet by Y. V. Voskresensky has a very valuable quality: it covers not only the problem itself, but also the acute ideological struggle that has been waged around it since the 1920s. The author drew on foreign literature devoted to the issues of industrialization, both Marxist and bourgeois. The material presented by the author made it possible to show the scientific inconsistency and political orientation of the falsifying methods of bourgeois ideologists who try to distort the essence of socialist industrialization, belittle its historical significance, and thereby question the importance of the experience gained during its implementation for the peoples and countries that embarked on the path of socialism in the post-war period.

When covering the problems of socialist construction in popular historical literature, such an approach has become traditional, when the initial boundaries of the process under study and its final results are most clearly and convincingly shown, and the process itself, the ways of development of socialist construction, and the forms of work of the Communist Party at its various stages are less highlighted. The pamphlets on cultural construction, the cultural revolution, and the formation of the socialist intelligentsia are particularly revealing in this respect. These processes are shown somewhat more strongly, but still clearly insufficiently, in the works on the implementation of Lenin's cooperative plan. This is covered much more fully than in other authors ' pamphlet by G. V. Sharapov. Using interesting and convincing factual material, the author was able to show the process of cooperation of the peasantry in the USSR and the agrarian transformations in the countries of popular democracy, and tried to trace their common and special features. Although he was faced with a very difficult task, in general, he successfully coped with it. The section devoted to the struggle of the Marxist - Leninist parties in capitalist countries for the solution of the agrarian question is somewhat weaker. It seems that a special booklet should be devoted to this important topic, especially since lecturers and propagandists are particularly in need of it.

Such a serious problem as the cultural revolution and its implementation in the USSR is covered in the works under consideration very concisely and in fact concisely. Its disclosure at the proper scientific level, with the involvement of new material, was complicated by the small volume of brochures (1 author's sheet). But even with these difficulties, much more could have been done. Thus, in A. I. Arnoldov's pamphlet "V. I. Lenin and the Cultural Revolution", the main question - about the victory of socialist ideology in our country - was pushed into the background and therefore did not receive sufficient coverage. Even questions about the use of cultural heritage, about specialists, are revealed much more fully than the question of the victory of a new ideology that has influenced all aspects of society's life. The author does not mention this even when justifying the objective regularity of the cultural revolution in countries that have entered the path of socialist development, and basically reduces its solution to the task of introducing the broad working masses to the management of society and the state. The problem of the victory of socialist ideology in our country should soon receive more detailed coverage in popular science literature, taking into account the current level of its development by historians and philosophers.

Pamphlets devoted to Lenin's national policy (Yu.I. Paleckis) and the solution of the national question in the USSR (E. A. Bagramov) are of great interest. If the first one attracts by its clarity, popularity of presentation, rich factual material, which is successfully combined with the personal memories of the author - witness and active participant of the described events, then the value of the second one is its theoretical aspect. These two approaches to the same problem successfully complement each other. It would probably be advisable in the future to diversify these options with works that reveal the specific course of the struggle for solving the national gp-

page 151

The main goal of the conference is to highlight not only the Leninist program of nation-building, but also the concrete ways and activities of the Communist Party and the Soviet State in one of the most complex areas of human relations: the creation of socialist, truly democratic and humanistic relations between nations and nationalities. An important factor in the solution of the national problem in the USSR was the work to establish the socialist ideology among the masses. Unfortunately, this issue, which is very relevant in modern conditions, has not yet received sufficient coverage on the pages of popular publications. The authors of pamphlets on the topic "V. I. Lenin and Foreign Policy" showed his huge role in the formation of Soviet diplomacy, in developing the theoretical foundations of a new type of foreign policy, its most important principles (classism, democracy, glasnost, internationalism), and followed with concrete examples how these principles are implemented. The questions of the nature and content of the relations of the Soviet state with the countries of the socialist commonwealth, with the capitalist world, and with the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America are successfully elucidated. It is also natural that the authors of the pamphlets pay great attention to the problem of proletarian internationalism and its manifestations in the foreign policy of the Soviet state.

As is well known, the questions of Soviet foreign policy, its content, essence, and history are among the most acute in the modern polemic between Marxists and anti-Communists. Unfortunately, the authors did not say much about this important aspect of the issue, nor did they provide any facts that could be useful to the lecturer and a wide range of readers. A serious drawback of some of these pamphlets is the abundance of generalities, unproven and undisclosed provisions. Znanie Publishing House should significantly increase the requirements for this aspect of the literature it publishes. Among the successful pamphlets on this subject, one should mention the pamphlet by I. V. Dudinsky. He clearly identified the main issues of the topic, selected the most important Leninist statements and characteristics, tried to understand them in the light of modern events, based on the history of the countries of the socialist community and their relations, and brought interesting facts, which makes the work very informative. The author expresses interesting thoughts and observations on the ways of the emergence of socialism as a world system, on the relations between socialist states, on the vitality of Lenin's ideas of socialist integration, on Lenin's strategy of struggle for the world victory of socialism, on the importance of the struggle for the purity of Leninism at the present stage of social development and the tasks of fraternal communist parties in this area.

It is probably advisable to prepare new publications in the future that would cover issues of political, economic, diplomatic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation between the socialist countries. Specific coverage of the problems that the socialist states have to solve in the organization of joint defense, in the field of economy, and in the foreign policy arena will allow us to judge the success that the socialist community has achieved on the basis of developing interstate relations and relations of a new type, previously unknown to history.

A series of pamphlets is dedicated to V. I. Lenin as an outstanding leader and organizer of the international workers ' and communist movement, the founder of the Communist International. The authors were able to show V. I. Lenin's activity in rallying the international workers ' and communist movement, his outstanding role as a theorist who developed the most important principles of the communist movement of the XX century, its strategy and tactics. The pamphlets rightly pay great attention to the ideological struggle waged by V. I. Lenin against all varieties of opportunism, revisionism and anarchism, both on theoretical questions of materialist teaching and on the assessment of the existing situation, the revolutionary strategy and tactics of the world communist movement. The authors were able to show the complexity of the situation in which the Third International emerged, the most important directions of its activity in leading the working-class movement, its enormous historical significance and influence on all sides of the working-class and communist movement in the interwar years. It would be advisable to continue publishing brochures on this topic.

page 152

In particular, to show the role of major figures of the workers ' and communist movement of the XX century in the successful solution of large and complex tasks set by V. I. Lenin (G. Dimitrov, R. Luxemburg, K. Zetkin, D. Manuilsky, etc.).

Especially relevant in modern conditions are works about V. I. Lenin's struggle against bourgeois ideology, the significance of Lenin's ideological heritage and Lenin's principles of criticism of ideological opponents at the current stage of the party's ideological work. These topics also received serious coverage in the jubilee literature, primarily in the pamphlet by I. Ya. Trifonov. On the basis of a large amount of factual material, he was able to recreate the picture of the ideological life of the early 1920s, the policy of the Communist Party, and the role of V. I. Lenin and his associates in preparing crushing blows against bourgeois ideology. The brochure will be read with great interest not only by a lecturer and propagandist, but also by a specialist historian. One can only regret that it poorly reflects some important aspects of the activities of the Communist Party, which had a great influence on the course of the ideological struggle at that time - the creation and activity of communist universities, the Socialist Academy, the Istpart, the Institute of the Red Professorship, the Karl Marx Institute, and the Karl Marx Institute. Engels, V. I. Lenin Institute. These issues have already been covered in the specialized historical literature 12 . The pamphlets devoted to the issues of ideological struggle at the present stage are much poorer in actual material. We can hope that this shortcoming will soon be eliminated and this topic will occupy one of the leading places in the work of the Znanie publishing house. Propagandists and agitators especially need its scientific coverage.

Of great interest are pamphlets devoted to Lenin's historiographical heritage and the influence of V. I. Lenin on the development of Soviet science. The authors rightly believe that one of the merits of Marxist historiography is to clearly state the question of what historical science should do, what problems it should solve, what is the practical significance of the results obtained by it, and what are the possibilities of their application in public life. The authors have shown that V. I. Lenin saw in historical science an active transforming force, a means of knowing the distant and near past in order to explain modern events, anticipate their course and development, and justify the revolutionary actions of historically progressive classes and forces. E. N. Gorodetsky cites a large number of statements by V. I. Lenin about history and historical science the importance of a deep and creative study of the events of the past, specific examples of the use of historical knowledge by Vladimir Ilyich to develop scientifically based judgments and make decisions on various pressing issues (the conclusion of the Brest Peace), to fight against ideological opponents of the party line. On the basis of rich factual material, the author shows how V. I. Lenin worked on his works after the October Revolution, what sources of information he used when covering issues of party and state construction, economic and political life of the country. The pages about how V. I. Lenin worked on the sources, what techniques he used in studying them and presenting his thoughts are read with great interest.

However, not all the problems raised in the work of E. N. Gorodetsky received equal coverage. For example, the enlightenment and educational functions of historical science and the importance that V. I. Lenin attached to them in introducing a scientific worldview to the masses are less clearly revealed. Poorer shows the role of V. I. Lenin as the initiator and leader of the training of scientific staff of historians, the reorganization of historical education in the first years after the revolution.

The series" History and Politics of the CPSU " includes a pamphlet by A. I. Zevelev devoted to the historiography of the history of our party. The author pays great attention to V. I. Lenin as a historiographer and the first researcher of the history of the party, the initiator of the creation of the Soviet system of research educational institutions in the field of historical science. The author presented a lengthy review of the current literature on this issue, and presented in detail his views on the subject and tasks of the historiography of the history of the CPSU. A large number of questions raised in the brochure, extensive

12 See "Essays on the History of Historical Science in the USSR", vol. IV. Moscow, 1966, et al.

page 153

factual material makes it useful for a wide range of readers, including teachers of the history of the CPSU in universities. However, there are a number of shortcomings in the brochure. Speaking about the factors that determined the development of historical party science, the author for some reason ignored the problem of creating historical party archives in our country. V. I. Lenin and the Communist Party's constant concern for the development of party history ensured the success of the enormous work that had been going on since the first years of the revolution to collect, process, and publish historical documents, memoirs, and other materials that became the factual basis for the formation of the historiography of party history .13 By the way, the author dates the well-known appeal of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) "To all party organizations" regarding the collection of materials on the history of the Great October Socialist Revolution to the beginning of 1919, that is, the time close to the Eighth Congress of the RCP(b), since this document is usually printed in the materials of the Congress . Meanwhile, this appeal was first published in Pravda in June 191815 . The author writes only negatively about the course of V. I. Nevsky on the history of the RCP(b), whereas this work was a definite achievement of the first stage of the development of historical party science, which should be mentioned. In this regard, the question arises: should popular publications include controversial, not yet fully formed, sometimes one-sided opinions and assessments? I would not like to immediately give a negative answer to this difficult question. It needs a serious, well-thought-out solution, taking into account the purpose of the publication, the specialization of its author and the nature of the problem under consideration. One might not have asked this question if it were not for the danger that an assessment made categorically, as is usually done in popular literature, in a "large audience" begins to function as an immutable truth.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize once again that Znanie Publishing house has done a very necessary job on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Lenin's birth. The works published by him for the anniversary not only promote Lenin's ideological heritage, help lecturers and propagandists in their big and important work, but also acquaint the general public with the most important achievements of Soviet historical science, with the problems that Soviet social scientists are working on.

13 See E. N. Gorodetsky. Creation of historical and party science centers. "Questions of the history of the CPSU", 1965, N 5.

14 " The Eighth Congress of the RCP (b)". Protocols, Moscow, 1959, p. 513.

15 Pravda, 5-6. VI. 1918.

page 154

Permanent link to this publication: