S. I. ROSHCHIN and V. P. SERYOGIN. The Basic Problems Examined in Volume V of the "History of the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War"

The authors' attention is focussed on disclosing the cardinal factors that ensured the Allied Powers' victory over fascist Germany and imperialist Japan, as well as on the Soviet Union's outstanding contribution to the victorious conclusion of the war and to the postwar reorganization of the world along democratic and peaceful lines.

Citing abundant documentary material, the authors convincingly prove the utter insolvency of the views of those foreign historians and politicians who try to attribute the ignominious failure of the aggressive plans harboured by fascist Germany and imperialist Japan to the blunders and miscalculations of their governments, and to play down the Soviet people's contribution to the common struggle of freedom-loving nations against the fascist aggression.

The article points out that the socialist system of economy enabled the Soviet Union to make the most effective use of its vast economic potential. Having organized and developed war production on a scale fully ensuring the needs of the front, the Communist Party and the Soviet government simultaneously carried on extensive work in the field of increasing peaceful production.

Considerable attention is devoted in the article to the outstanding role played by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in mobilizing all the available resources for the speediest possible defeat of the enemy.

Analyzing the Soviet government's foreign policy, the authors convincingly show that in the common struggle against fascism the Soviet Union was a bulwark of the peoples' freedom and independence, a staunch champion of peace and progress. The inglorious end of the German and Japanese aggressors, which is regarded in the book as a natural and logical phenomenon, should be a stern warning to all those who would like to hurl mankind into the abyss of another world war.

J. I. LINKOV. N. P. Ogarev's Part in the Struggle for the Political Emancipation of Russia (In Commemoration of the 150th Birthday)

In the era of the downfall of serfdom, in the course of the struggle for the political emancipation of Russia, J. I. Linkov writes, N. P. Ogarev traversed a complicated and tortuous road of ideological waverings and vacillations, renouncing his nobiliary revolutionism in favour of democratic revolutionary views. This road is reflected in three "Plans of Action" drawn up by the joint effort of N. P. Ogarev and A. T. Herzen in 1856 - 1859, 1862 and 1864. Having discarded the reformist projects and liberal illusions manifested in the first "Plan of Action" under the influence of the stern object-lessons of the class struggle, N. P. Ogarev became a staunch supporter of the peasant revolution idea which constitutes the underlying foundation of the second and third "Plans of Action."

As one of the editors of "Kolckol" ("The Bell") - Russia's first revolutionary newspaper, N. P. Ogarev made an important contribution to the struggle for the emancipation of the peasants and to the cause of rousing to political activity the democratically-minded commoner intellectuals-the new generation of the Russian liberation movement. In the numerous articles and political comments published in the "Kolokol" he elaborated the major problems of revolutionary theory in the spirit of the ideas of democracy and Utopian peasant socialism. Analyzing a number of his articles and political comments, the author proves that N. P. Ogarev most comprehensively and effectively disclosed the reactionary essence of the 1861 reform abolishing serfdom, that his elaboration of the idea of the peasant revolution, its plan and tactics was more profound and far-reaching than any other project put forward by the revolutionary leaders of that period.

The article discloses N. P. Ogarev's role in disseminating revolutionary propaganda and advocating the views and ideas he worked out in cooperation with A. I. Herzen. He initiated the publication of "The Popular Assembly"-Russia's first revolutionary newspaper for the masses.

Paying tribute to the outstanding services rendered by N. P. Ogarev in organizing the revolutionary movement in Russia, J. I. Linkov points out that Ogarev was one of the founders of a secret society called "Zemlya i Volya" ("Land and Freedom") - the first all-Russian revolutionary organization established during the democratic commoner-intellectual period of the liberation movement. In the days of the Polish uprising Ogarev, as a member of the secret organization's Executive Council, and other Russian revolutionaries were striving to spread the flames of this revolt to the Russian territory. In conclusion the author stresses that although the revolutionary movement in Russia in the period of the downfall of serfdom suffered a defeat, the outstanding contribution made by Ogarev had a stimulating effect on its subsequent development.

Academician M. V. NECHKINA. Summing Up the Discussion on the "Ascending" and "Descending" Stages of Feudalism

The article by Academician M. V. Nechkina continues the discussion on the "ascending" and "descending" stages of feudalism, which was opened on the pages of the journal "Problems of History" in 1958. The article briefly sums up the discussion results. In the theoretical aspect, writes M. V. Nechkina, there has been no difference of opinion concerning the basic criterion in defining the time of transition from one stage to another: the generally accepted criterion is the emergence of contradictions between the level of development of productive forces and the character of relations of production. However, the article stresses, one of the weak points of the discussion was that in the course of it no suggestions were made for the employment of new, more effective methods and techniques in studying the correlation between the productive forces and the relations of production. Proposing a method of studying and analyzing the correlation between the productive forces and the relations of production, M. V. Nechkina points out that any analysis of this kind should aim at establishing whether the existing feudal ownership relations contradicted the developing productive forces. The article notes that in adaptation to Russia the researchers must provide a closely-argumented answer to the following question: Did serfdom and the landlord ownership of the land and the peasants constitute a progressive phenomenon or did this form of ownership hamper the development of productive forces?

The article analyzes the views of participants in the discussion on another important point-is it correct to identify the "disintegration of feudalism" and the "descending stage" concepts? What is the interconnection between the process of disintegration of feudalism and the gradual maturing in the womb of the feudal system of new, more progressive economic forms? The author strongly objects to the unconditional identification of these concepts by a number of researchers, because it does not disclose the elements, of capitalism and excludes the question of the early stages of their formation. Disintegration of the old and emergence of the new, writes M. V. Nechkina, are two sides of one process, whose organic interconnection requires that they be studied together as a single whole. However, the author says, this essential requirement is sometimes violated by individual researchers. Furthermore, the "disintegration of feudalism" concept has not yet been subjected to methodological elaboration in historiography - a fact which, in the author's opinion, undoubtedly hampers the progress of successful research in the problem.

The article points out that in the course of the discussion widely differing views and opinions were expressed with regard to the chronological boundary which marks the transition from the "ascending" to the "descending" stage. The divergencies in defining this boundary are quite considerable: the proposed chronological dates range between the 16th and 18th centuries. M. V. Nechkina believes that the "descending" stage of feudalism began at the very close of the 16th century and that the whole of the 17th century with its accumulation of capitalist elements should be attributed to the "descending" stage of feudalism.

The article raises the question of the role and character of the class struggle at the different stages of feudalism. In conclusion the author briefly enumerates the problems that must be investigated in the nearest future.

V. G. TRUKHANOVSKY. Anglo-Soviet Relations on the Eve of the Great Patriotic War

The article examines Anglo-Soviet relations in the period between the defeat of France in May-June 1940 and Germany's perfidious attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. In the spring of 1940, in connection with the defeat of France, the seizure of Western Europe by the Germans and Italy's entry into the war against Britain, the British government realized that it was not in a position to continue the war single-handed; it became perfectly obvious that only new and powerful allies could save Britain from imminent defeat. That explains why the Churchill government, on the one hand, took the line of winning over the United States to its side and establishing allied relations with it, and, on the other, undertook a series of measures aimed at persuading, the Soviet Union to

renounce its policy of neutrality, forcing it to break the non-aggression pact with Germany and start a war against her. With this aim in view Stafford Cripps was appointed British Ambassador to the U.S.S.R and dispatched to Moscow in May 1940.

At that time the Soviet Union was a neutral state whose relations with Germany were regulated by a pact of non-aggression, but this could in no way hinder the maintenance of normal relations with Britain. The Soviet government made repeated attempts to improve these relations but all its efforts, just as those of Cripps to secure at least the conclusion of a trade agreement between Britain and the U.S.S.R., were nullified by the adamant opposition and hostility of the British side. The authors of official British history of the second world war who enjoyed free access tp the state archives write that .the British government deemed it necessary to exert every possible pressure on the Soviet Union as a means of creating the conditions for establishing "cooperation" with the U.S.S.R. This tactic could do nothing but harm to Anglo-Soviet relations. The period from the spring of 1940 to June 1941 was marked by a sharp, often covert, struggle within Britain's ruling circles on the question of Anglo-Soviet relations. The more sober-minded and forward-looking people who clearly realized that the improvement of relations with the U.S.S.R. was of the utmost importance to the strengthening of Britain's positions, encountered fierce resistance on the part of the Munich-men. Blinded by their hatred for the socialist state, the latter were incapable of appraising the situation realistically. The developments in Europe made it increasingly clear with each passing day that the threat looming over Britain was growing inexorably. Under the impact of these factors Britain's ruling circles, in the spring of 1941, decided in favour of fighting on the side of the Soviet Union should the latter be attacked by Germany. It will thus be seen that the decision broadcast by Sir Winston Churchill on June 22, 1941, was taken by the British government beforehand, after carefully analyzing and assessing its position, and after consulting the United States.

S. L. TIKHVINSKY. Sun Yat-sen's Attitude to Soviet Russia (1917 - 1925)

The article examines the influence exerted by the ideas of the October Revolution, by the theoretical and practical principles of international relations of the young Soviet state on the foreign-policy views and practical diplomatic activity of Sun Yat-sen, the outstanding Chinese revolutionary democrat who stood at the head of South China's revolutionary government for three times in succession between 1917 and 1925.

The Great October Socialist Revolution had a vast impact on the entire national-liberation struggle of the Chinese people. In his Shanghai message to V. I. Lenin in the summer of 1918, Sun Yat-sen enthusiastically hailed the October Revolution. The Soviet government, in its turn, realistically appraised in its policy the existence in the South of China of an independent revolutionary government which, unlike the Peking government, refused to submit to the imperialist powers' pressure and based its relations with Soviet Russia on principles conforming to the interests of the "Soviet and Chinese peoples. The article comprehensively examines the history of establishing the first contacts between Sun Yat-sen and Soviet diplomats, analyzes the correspondence between them and traces the changes in Sun Yat-sen's views on foreign policy resulting from his acquaintance with the programme and policy of the Soviet state. This acquaintance importantly contributed to the growth and strengthening of Sun Yat-sen's anti-imperialist convictions. He firmly adopted the position of consistently promoting and strengthening China's fraternal friendship with the Soviet Union and of combating imperialist aggression. This position, as is graphically shown by the author, was of immense significance for the further successful development of the Chinese people's national-liberation struggle.

I. R. GRIGULEVICH. Cuba's Cultural Revolution and Its Achievements

The article shows how the deep-going changes in the cultural sphere effected by the socialist Cuba in a brief historical period have transformed this little country. A culturally backward nation in the past, it has now advanced to one of the foremost places in Latin America. Notwithstanding the formidable difficulties caused by the aggressive actions of U.S. imperialism, the Cuban' government headed by the national hero Fidel Castro has carried out a far-reaching reform in the field of public education, reorganizing the country's elementary, secondary and higher schools and nationalizing private schools; it has wiped out illiteracy and put an end to racial discrimination-that shameful legacy of the venal anti-popular regimes supported and encouraged by the American monopolies.

For the first time in Cuban history the working people in town and country have gained access to all forms of elementary, secondary and higher education. Nearly 100,000 workers and peasants receive state stipends instituted by the government. Almost three million people (about 45 per cent of the entire population of Cuba) attended diverse general-education and technical schools, colleges and universities in 1963. The Island of Freedom has a national drama theatre, an opera house, a ballet theatre, hundreds of amateur art

groups; the young national cinema industry is successfully developing; significant progress has been made in the field of literature and art; the training of scientific personnel is proceeding apace at the recently-founded national Academy of Sciences.

The article cites abundant statistical data on the generous assistance extended to Cuba by progressive-minded people of Latin-American countries and by the socialist states in carrying out her cultural transformations. The author particularly stresses the outstanding contribution made by the Soviet Union. Thousands of Cuban youths and girls have been educated and trained in the U.S.S.R.; many Soviet scientists and specialists have been sent to Cuba to share their knowledge and experience with their Cuban brothers.

S. A. MOGHILEVSKY. The Tactic of International Opportunism on the Question of War and Peace (February-October 1917)

The author cites concrete examples exposing the opportunists who advocated the continuation of the first world war and supported "their own bourgeoisie," thereby betraying the working people's interests. The author emphasizes that the Bolshevik Party headed by V. I. Lenin was the only revolutionary party to demand immediate cessation of the imperialist war, immediate peace without annexations or indemnities, and the conversion of the imperialist war into a civil war. The Bolsheviks enjoyed the support of many Western internationalists.

The Entente powers were afraid that the overthrow of the tsarist autocracy in Russia might lead to her withdrawal from the war and exerted every effort to prevent this. Meanwhile, the opportunists acted as open abettors of the imperialists who had a vital stake in continuing the predatory war. During their visit to Russia in the spring and summer of 1917, the opportunist leaders of the International Socialist Bureau and the Right-wing Social-Democratic leaders of the Entente powers and neutral countries established contacts with the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries. Drawing on archive materials, S. - A. Moghilevsky comprehensively examines the "activity" of the European social-chauvinists in Russia where they carried on propaganda in favour of continuing the war and urged convocation of an international Socialist conference as a means of counteracting the revolutionary outbreaks of the working class. V. I. Lenin and the Bolsheviks exposed the designs of the sponsors of the Stockholm conference and categorically refused to participate in it. The conference in Stockholm did not take place. The October Socialist Revolution, the author stresses, dealt a devastating blow to the machinations and intrigues of international opportunism.

Publisher:

Permanent link for scientific papers (for citations):

Found source (search robot):

Comments: