V. I. POGUDIN. The Alliance of the Working Class and the Peasantry as Reflected in Soviet Historiography

The alliance of the working class and the peasantry was the decisive force in the struggle for the victory of the proletarian revolution and for the triumph of socialism in the U.S.S.R. It was precisely to this alliance, V. I. Lenin stressed, that Soviet power owed all its successes. It is not surprising therefore that the problem of the worker- and-peasant alliance attracted the attention of Soviet historians who produced many research works devoted to this important subject. The article subjects to historiographical analysis the most important works on this problem published in the years of Soviet government, particularly during the last ten or fifteen years. The article examines the progress made in the elaboration of the problem of the worker- and-peasant alliance in the period of transition from capitalism to socialism, focussing attention on insufficiently studied, controversial and unsolved questions and indicating ways and means of investigating them more profoundly. Much attention is devoted by the author to research works analyzing the problem of alliance between the working class and the peasantry in the civil war period, in the years of the socialist reconstruction of agriculture and in the concluding stage of the building of socialism in the U.S.S.R. The author proceeds from the premise that a close study of the historical experience gained by the Communist Party in creating, tempering and cementing the inviolable fraternal worker-and-peasant alliance is of immense significance for the Soviet people in their efforts to secure the triumph of communism.

Colonel-General I. V. SHIKIN. Feigned Benevolence

The author subjects to a detailed analysis "The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad," a book written by the American journalist Harrison E. Salisbury (New York-Evanston, Harper and Row, 1969, 635 pp.).

Drawing on extensive archive materials and other sources, the author convincingly shows that the book under review has a number of serious defects: 1) Despite the "900 Days" title, Salisbury examines only the first 500 days of the siege of Leningrad; 2) Salisbury tries to camouflage his own position by hiding behind the backs of other people and endeavouring to ascribe to them his own point of view; 3) Salisbury snatches the Leningrad events out of the general context of the Great Patriotic War and deliberately passes over in silence the progress of military operations on the various battlefronts; 4) Salisbury tendentiously picks up fragmentary information from multivarious sources and artificially puts it together to paint a wrong picture with the aim of bolstering his biassed conception, whose sum and substance boils down to the allegation that the actions of Leningrad's defenders had nothing in common with the heroic activity of Soviet patriots led by the Communist Party, hut were rather a veritable road to Calvary trodden by people who did not know why they were suffering and were prompted in their actions merely by the weight of circumstances; 5) Salisbury grossly distorts many authentic historical facts, thereby consciously taking the path of falsification.

A. G. SLONIMSKY. The Participation of Russian Scientists in International Historical Congresses

The article examines the role played by Russian scientists in the four world historical congresses convened before the October Revolution. Thanks to the high scientific level and urgency of the problems dealt with in many papers devoted to archeology, ancient, medieval and modern history, Russian historical science won universal recognition at these international scientific forums. The author describes in detail the extensive work carried out by Russian scientists in preparation for the Fifth International Congress of Historians, which was scheduled to be held in.St. Petersburg in 1918 but was unable to meet in conditions of the first world war.

M. M. BLIYEV. Concerning the Time of the North Caucasian Peoples' Reunion with Russia

Research in the history of the interrelations existing between the Caucasian peoples and Russia continues to remain a topical problem of historical science. One of its controversial aspects concerns the time of the North Caucasian peoples' actual reunion with Russia. There exist two different approaches to this question: some researchers interpret the reunion as a result of peaceful negotiations which took place between Russia and the envoys of the Caucasian peoples, while others regard it as the consequence of the Caucasian War and the instalment of the tsarist administrative apparatus in the Caucasus. Each of these approaches depends on the conception shared by one or another researcher concerning the problem of Russo-Caucasian relations as a whole.

The author believes that one should distinguish two stages in the history of Russo- Caucasian relations: the first stage marked by the establishment of Russo-Caucasian relations and the Caucasian peoples' reunion with Russia, and the second stage marked by the implanting in the Caucasus of the tsarist military-administrative apparatus, which gradually converted this region into a veritable colony of Russia, and the spread of the mountaineers' struggle for liberation. The examination of these essentially different processes as phenomena having a similar political content is one of the main reasons engendering differing opinions on the question concerning the time of the North Caucasian peoples' reunion with Russia. Such an approach belittles the significance of this event for the socio-economic, political and cultural development of the Caucasian peoples.

G. A. POKIVAILOVA. Socialist Reorganization of Rumania's Agriculture (1949 - 1962)

The article examines the process of the socialist reorganization of agriculture in Rumania, highlighting the peculiar features, concrete forms and methods of the peasants' production cooperation. Production cooperation in the Rumanian countryside was accompanied by the retention of private ownership of land, which exerted no small influence on the rate and forms of cooperation.

Socialist reorganization of agriculture in Rumania was effected in the process of establishing the material and technical basis of agriculture and graphically demonstrating to the peasants the advantages of collective farming. The process of mass collectivization was accompanied by the growth of agricultural output. The multiform political and organizational work carried on by the Rumanian Communist Party was of immense significance in accelerating the reorganization of agriculture along socialist lines.

The consummation of the process of production cooperation in Rumania's-agriculture in me spring of 1962 furnished one more confirmation of the viability and vast international significance of Lenin's cooperative plan.

L. I. GOLMAN. From the History of Marx's "Capital"

The publication of the first complete Russian edition of "Karl Marx's Economic Manuscripts of 1857 - 1859" (Collected Works of Marx and Engels, Volume 46, Parts I and II) is a notable event in our country's scientific life. These manuscripts reflect a decisive stage in the formation of Marxist theory in general and Marxist political economy in particular. The wealth of the economic content latent in the manuscripts of 1857- 1859 enables one to regard them as an original rough copy of "Capital." The economic manuscripts mark an important step forward in developing Marxist philosophy and in evolving the theory of scientific communism.

The economic manuscripts of 1857 - 1859 were of exceptional significance for the development of Marxist historical science, in these manuscripts Marx summed up the results of his sustained research carried on for many years in the sphere of world history since the days when, together with Engels, he formulated for the first time the materialist conception of the historical process in "German Ideology" (1845 - 1846). The economic manuscripts of 1857 - 1859 more deeply reflected and concretized Marx's views on the general laws of historical development, on the supersession of one socio-economic formation by another (the term "social formation" appears here for the first time), disclosed many peculiarities and specific features of primitive society and of the pre-capitalist class societies, highlighted the problem of the genesis of capitalism and of the different stages of its development. All this graphically shows that from the very outset "Capital" was conceived by Marx both as a fundamental economic and historico-sociological work.

V. I. PETUKHOV. Spain's Last Intervention in South America (1863 - 1866)

The article treats of an important event in the history of the Latin-American nations' struggle for independence-the last intervention of Spain in South America. A powerful war squadron was sent against Peru with the purpose of seizing its guano- rich islands and re-establishing the colonial positions of Spain. Subsequently the Spaniards extended their military operations to Chile.

The resolute rebuff of the Latin-American nations, however, doomed this adventure of the Madrid court to complete failure. The Spanish squadron barbarously bombarded some of the Chilean and Peruvian ports in an attempt to destroy their navy. But the interventionists did not succeed in bringing Chile and Peru to their knees. After sustaining heavy losses the Spanish squadron was forced to withdraw.

It is emphasized in the article that a major precondition for the success of Peru and Chile was the unity of efforts of the Latin-American republics in the struggle against the interventionists. In this connection the author stresses the historical significance of the Latin-American Congress convened in Lima on the initiative of Peru in 1864.

Touching upon the diplomatic struggle relating to the intervention, the author exposes the treacherous attitude of the United States which actually contributed to weakening the Latin-American republics in furtherance of its own expansionist interests.

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