V. G. AFANASYEV. History as a Process of Advancing Towards a Higher- Type Integrity of Society and Man

The author proceeds from the well-known Marxian proposition that history knows three types of relations between men: relations of personal dependence; relations based on material dependence; relations of harmony existing between the free individual and the harmoniously developed society. The first type corresponds to the primitive communal, the slaveowning and the feudal formations; the second - to the capitalist formation; the third - to the communist formation. Particular attention is devoted in the article to the socialist society which, on the one hand, overcomes the antagonisms between, the individual and society, and, on the other, creates the prerequisites and conditions for the moulding of an integral, comprehensively developed individual, for establishing a harmonious society and for promoting harmonious relations between them.

A. Y. BORISOV. Soviet Diplomacy at Inter-Allied Conferences in the Years of the Second World War

The article analyzes the Soviet Union's activity at the international conferences held in 1943 - 1945 in the light of the new archive materials published by the Foreign Ministry of the U.S.S.R. The author brings out the decisive role of Soviet diplomacy in the negotiations conducted with the U.S.A. and Great Britain - the Soviet Union's Western allies - on such cardinal problems as the opening of the second front and shortening the duration of the war, the formulation and practical implementation of the democratic principles underlying the postwar settlement, laying the groundwork for a stable postwar peace in the interests of the working masses and creating reliable safeguards to avert another world war. The experience of effective co-operation of states with differing social systems united in the anti-Hitler coalition during the Second World War graphically confirms the viability of the principles of peaceful co- existence.

Y. A. POLYAKOV, Corresponding Member of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, I. N. KISELEV. The Population of Russia in 1917: Numerical Strength and National Composition

The article sums up the results obtained from calculating the demographic processes at work in the Soviet land in the period 1917 - 1926. Proceeding from the method elaborated by the authors, it reconstructs the dynamic series reflecting the movement and national composition of the population both at regional and country-wide levels. The authors of the article draw extensively on the results obtained from the 1926 population census, the data of the current demographic and sanitary statistics and other materials. The numerical strength of the population in 1917 is examined for different territorial variants.

L. N. PUSHKAREV. S . M. Solovyov's "Public Readings on Peter the Great"

The article purports to disclose the historiographic and socio-political significance of S. M. Solovyov's "Public Readings on Peter the Great," to define their place in the creative work of the eminent Russian bourgeois historian and their importance in the spate of literary works published to mark the bicentennial of Peter the Great. The author focusses attention on the main problems illumined in "Public Readings," showing, on the one hand, Solovyov's achievements in comparison with nobiliary and bourgeois historiography, while, on the other, pinpointing the limitation of his views and the erroneous-ness of some of his propositions. The article also shows the role played by "Public Readings" in the historiography of the Petrine epoch as a whole.

"The Importance of History as a School Subject for the Moulding of the 20th-Century Man"

The article sets forth the basic propositions contained in the general report to the XV International Congress of Historical Sciences, which consists of two parts. The first part formulating the principles and the relevant proposals to the Congress is the result of the joint efforts of the main speaker from the U.S.S.R. and co-reporters from other

стр. 190

countries. The second part reflects the Soviet experience of teaching history in the secondary school as a means of moulding a correct, scientifically substantiated world outlook in every member of contemporary society. The attention in it is focussed on reflecting world history in the Soviet school textbooks and the history of Russia and the U.S.S.R. in the school textbooks published in other countries. The authors also show the role played by relics of the past and works of fiction in shaping the historical views of the rising generation.

I. A. SVANIDZE. The Agrarian Reforms Effected in Algeria

The author characterizes the agrarian structure of Algeria in the period when the country won its independence and traces the progress made in restructuring its agriculture. In 1963 the farms belonging to the European colonists and companies were transformed into self-governing state farms and merged into bigger demesnes. The self-governing sector now accounts for two-thirds of the country's over-all agricultural output in terms of value. Since 1971 a series of far-reaching measures have been carried out to reorganize the traditional sector of agriculture, including the distribution of publicly-owned lands among the fellahin, confiscating the landed estates belonging to the landlords who fled from the country, limiting the size of big landholdings and the number of cattle owned by big-time cattlebreeders, wide-scale co-operation of the peasantry and reconstruction of the forestry.

Permanent link to this publication: