A. K. BIRON and A. A. DRIZUL. Principal Trends in the Development of Historical Science in Soviet Latvia

The article characterizes the creative activity of historians in Soviet Latvia, analyzes historical research problems, illustrates the scientific and political significance of generalizing works on the history of the Latvian people. The authors note the achievements of Latvian historiography in the elaboration of agrarian history, including the history of the peasant movements, and in studying the history of the working class. Works devoted to such momentous events in the history of the Latvian people as the revolutionary movement of 1905 - 1907, the Great October Socialist Revolution, the establishment of Soviet government in Latvia in 1919, the socialist transformations effected in. 1940 - 1941, as well as to such an urgent and pressing theme as the activity of the Latvian Communist Party, have been published. The authors examine in general outline the contribution made by the Republic's archeologists, ethnographers and anthropologists to research into a number of important scientific problems and describe the assistance rendered Latvian scientists by "many central scientific-research institutions.

G. F. DACHSCHLEIGER. Kazakhstan on the Eve of NEP

The article examines the specific features of the socio-economic situation obtaining in Kazakhstan on the eve of transition to the new economic policy, analyzes the social structure of the Kazakh villages and resettlers' communities, shows the level of their ties with the market, the methods of solving the agrarian question, eliminating the pernicious colonial heritage in agrarian relations and paving the way for the Kazakh people's transition to socialism without going through the capitalist stage.

S. B. OKUN. Yuri Tynyanov's Historisrn

Analyzing Yuri Tynyanov's "The Death of VazirMukhtar" - one of the best Soviet historical novels written in the second half of the 1920's, the author believes that it is quite natural and logical to include the finest specimens of literary historical works in the range of problems studied by historiography. Setting forth the historical problems raised by Tynyanov, S. B. Okun convincingly shows that in his approach to the solution of a number of questions the writer forestalled many historians of his time and that some of his propositions became firmly established in Soviet historical, science twenty-Odd years after the appearance of the novel depicting A. S. Griboyedoy's diplomatic activity. This refers, in particular, to his treatment of the causes that "led to the assassination of A. S. Griboyedov, as well as of the letter's project for the organization of the Russian Transcaucasian Company. In the process of his analysis of the novel, S. B. Okun shows the utter insolvency of the accusations levelled against the author for many years (for instance, "the absence of a revolutionary historical perspective" in the novel). The author maintains that the problem concerning "the continuity of generations" is posed in Yuri Tynyanov's "The Death of Vazir-Mukhtar" in the same way as it was treated by A. I. Herzen in his work "The Development of the Revolutionary Ideas in Russia."

N. V. SIVACHOV. The Negro Question in the American Labour Movement (1919 - 1939)

The article examines the attitude of the various contingents of the American labour movement to the Negro question in the period between the two world wars. The author stresses that the Negroes constitute an integral part of the American nation. The article highlights the theoretical approach to the Negro question by the American labour movement and the attitude of America's trade unions and workers' parties to Negroes: the negative position of the American Federation of Labour towards the Negro workers, which resulted in the alienation of Negroes from this organization, and the extensive work carried out by the American Communist Party to draw the Negro masses into the Unions. In the 1930's the Communists and the Left forces in the Congress of Industrial (Organizations achieved tangible successes in this field, thereby contributing to the establishment, for the first time in American history, of close ties between the trade unions and the Negro, movement on the eve of the second world war.

A. N. KRASILNIKOV. Military-Political Doctrines of the British Ruling Circles After World War II

The article analyzes the specific features of the military-political doctrines and conceptions of the ruling circles of Britain from 1945 to our days. Showing the utter groundlessness of bourgeois leaders' assertions that the Soviet Union's aggressive postwar policy was allegedly responsible for the appearance of such doctrines, the author reveals the real causes that prompted the emergence and continuous replacement of these military-political doctrines in adaptation to the changed alignment of world forces. The author convincingly shows that their principal aim is to enable Britain to assume the role of the second leading power of the capitalist world after the United States. The article cites abundant data to show that Britain's aim in aspiring to the role of the second great military power is not to uphold universal peace, but to defend her imperialist, colonialist interests, to suppress the mounting national-liberation movement, to fight the Soviet Union and other socialist countries.

V. T. FOMIN. From the History of Fascist Germany's Preparation for Aggression Against the U.S.S.R.

The article describes the rabid campaign of slander, misinformation and deception launched by Hitler Germany on the eve of its perfidious attack against the U.S.S.R. The author graphically shows the active part played in this campaign, which was supported and encouraged by the reactionary element in Britain and the United States, by the press, radio and all the leading departments of nazi Germany (the General Staff, the intelligence service and the various Ministries). Much attention is devoted in the article to the sidetracking manoeuvre carefully planned by fascist Germany in 1940 - 1941, which played a conspicuous part in preparing its surprise attack on the U.S.S.R. In his polemic with G. Jacobaen, F. Ruge and other historians, who try to allege that the landing in Britain continued to figure prominently in Germany's military plans even after the surrender of France, the author draws on the documents of the German Supreme Command, the memoirs of nazi generals and other sources to prove that, whereas in the concluding stage of their war against France the nazis still intended to carry out Operation Sea Lion, in the subsequent period, notably in the early autumn of 1940, when the U.S.S.R. became the immediate target of its aggression, Hitler Germany gave up its contemplated landing in Britain. The fictitious preparations for the landing in Britain merely served as a diverting manoeuvre designed to mislead public opinion.

Y. I. SEMYONOV. The "Social Organism" Category and Its Significance for Historical Science

The article examines the concept of a concrete, individual society. This category, which the author proposes to designate "social organism" and which is practically used by all historians, is still inadequately elaborated theoretically. The author makes an attempt to disclose the concept of "social organism," to establish its correlation with other concepts, primarily with the category of "socio-economic formation," for which purpose he traces the development of social organisms from the origin of human society to our days. He shows that the concept of "social organism" enables the historian to analyze individual societies from the viewpoint of their internal structure and their relations with one another. According to the forms of men's activity within social organisms, the author divides the latter into social-community, social- political and transitional between the first and the second, according to internal structure-into federative and unitary, according to the forms of their interrelation-into independent, autonomous systems of social organisms and their federations. Proceeding from this premise, the author interprets history as a science studying the development of social organisms, their systems, confederations, federations and, lastly, the whole of society as a product of their combination.

BOTO BRACHMAN and HERMANN SCHREIER. Documentation-Minimum or Maximum?

The authors hold that the problems of source research and archive-keeping discussed on the pages of our journal are of great urgency and significance for historical science and archive-keeping in the German Democratic Republic. Proceeding from the experience gained by G.D.R. historians and archive-keepers, B. Brachman and H. Schreier express their views on a number of questions raised by M. S. Selezney and M. N. Chernomorsky in their article "Certain Questions of Establishing a Source Research Basis on the History of Soviet Society" (published in "Problems of History" No. 9, 1965). The authors draw the following basic conclusion: it is necessary to strive for minimum documentation which, at the same time, includes a certain maximum, the decisive factor, being to keep archive documents and records well preserved.

Publisher:

Permanent link for scientific papers (for citations):

Found source (search robot):

Comments: