S. L. SENYAVSKY. The Soviet Working Class in the Period of Consummating the Building of Socialism and in the Process of Full-Scale Communist Construction (social problems)

Drawing on extensive factual data, the author carefully analyzes the most important specific features and objective laws governing the development of the Soviet working class during a long period of transition from socialism to communism. The article graphically shows the deep-going changes taking place in the sources of replenishment, in the forms and methods of training high-skilled contingents of the Soviet working class on the basis of successful economic development and rapid technological and social progress, emphasizing the decisive significance of these changes in altering its inner social structure and tracing the impact the altered structure and composition of the working class have on the changes in the social structure of society as a whole. The author examines in particular the changes in the national, territorial, age, sex, industrial and professional structure of the working class, notably the profound changes in its general education level and professional skill, disclosing their meaning and social significance. In conclusion the author highlights the importance of the growing creative and socio-political activity of the working class as the guiding and directing force of socialist construction in the U.S.S.R.

R. Y. EVZEROV. From the History of V. I. Lenin's Book "Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism"

The article examines a number of questions connected with the history of Lenin's work on his book "Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism" and its subsequent publication. Drawing on a series of little-known and hitherto unpublished archive materials, the author defines more precisely the period in which the book was written and the conditions attending Lenin's work on it. The author makes an attempt to disclose the actual position of M. N. Pokrovsky, in connection with the deletion from the book of passages containing Lenin's criticism of Kautsky and other opportunists.

J. I. JIUGJDA and G. A. SHADJIUS. Lithuanian Emigre Historiography on the Establishment of Soviet Power in Lithuania in 1918 - 1919

Lithuanian bourgeois historians and other nationalists now living in emigration are actively contributing to anti-Soviet propaganda. They are doing their level best to play down the significance of the revolutionary events which occurred in Lithuania in 1918 - 1919, to present them in a distorted light. One of the basic contentions put forward by Lithuanian emigre historiographers is that the socialist revolution of 1918 - 1919 in Lithuania had nothing in common with the law-governed process of historical development and was devoid of any social basis, that it was exported from outside and carried out against the will and desire of the Lithuanian people. Simultaneously with this a number of emigre historians are making strenuous efforts to overestimate the role of their class in the establishment of the Lithuanian bourgeois state. Alleging that the Lithuanian people voluntarily chose the path of capitalist development under the leadership of the bourgeoisie, they completely gloss over the decisive role played by international imperialism in suppressing Soviet power and re-establishing the domination of the bourgeoisie in Lithuania. Drawingon extensive factual material, the authors expose and effectively refutethese utterly false and groundless assertions.

M. M. GUREVICHOV. State-Monopoly Tendencies in Russia

Drawing on a wide range of documentary materials from the central and local archives and closely analyzing a number of published sources, the author sums up the results produced by the monopolization of sugar production in Russia in the period directly preceding the Great October Socialist Revolution. The available factual data enables the author to arrive at the conclusion that the sugar-refining industry in Russia attained a fairly high degree of monopolization, which found expression in the establishment of monopoly associations of the highest type. The rapid development and wide scope of this process were typical of the first world war period. A careful study of the process of development of state-monopoly tendencies in the Russian sugar-refining industry graphically shows that these tendencies began to manifest themselves with particular force in the given branch of the economy on the eve of the October Revolution.

L. V CHEREPNIN. The "Russkaya Pravda" and the Birch-Bark Records of Novgorod

The article analyzes a number of ancient birch-bark records of Novgorod with the aim of establishing the extent to which they reflect the legal norms contained in the "Russkaya Pravda" - the principal statute book of the feudal laws evolved by the Kiev Rus in the" llth-12th centuries. Some of the birch-bark documents contain information on fines exacted by the feudal court from persons guilty of assassination and other crimes, on the system of legal proceedings and types of judicial evidence. Of much interest is the factual material illustrating such a specific institution of ancient Russian law as the procedure of searching out lost or stolen things or slaves. There are birch- bark texts describing lawsuits to recover debts, court examination of causes connected with usury and the right of inheritance. A close comparison of birch-bark records with the "Russkaya Pravda" enables one to form a clear understanding of the legal procedures on which the administration of justice was based in ancient Rus. Court proceedings give us a deep insight into the life of the common people during that distant period, when the deepening process of feudalization led to increasing social inequality, intensified oppression of the toiling masses and more acute class and inter- class struggle. The birch-bark, records are of great value because they portray living people and re-create concrete true-to-life situations. At the same time they vividly reflect the complex social processes taking place at a time when the growing consolidation of the new feudal order was accompanied by the continued existence of the old patriarchal system.

G. M. IVANOV. Concerning the Concept of Fact in Historical Science

The author of this historiographical survey briefly sets forth the principal views of. diverse bourgeois researchers on the nature of historical fact. Disclosing the theoretico-methodological principles of the neo-Kantian, neo-positivist and other conceptions of historical fact, he shows their limited character and scientific insolvency in the solution of such cardinal problems of historical cognition as the correlation of historical fact and historical generalization, historical fact and historical event, etc. The attention in the article is focussed on substantiating the Marxist conception of historical fact. Proceeding from this conception, the author formulates the following basic propositions: 1. The concept of historical fact is used primarily, in its two principal meanings; a) to designate any socially important phenomenon of historical reality or social consciousness which actually occurred in the past and became the object of research in historical science thanks to its reflection in historical sources; b) to designate any reconstruction of the past adequate to the concrete historical phenomenon and representing authentic knowledge confirming the reality of the event under investigation on the basis of specifically systematized information contained in historical sources; 2. Depending on the subject, aspect, aims and methods of concrete historical research, the different types of scientific historical facts singled out by one or another historian can be distributed into different groups according to such characteristic indications as their content (economic, political and ideological facts), structure (simple and complex facts) and significance (essential and inessential facts).

S. LOPATNYUK. The May 1926 Coup in Poland

In May 1926 Marshal Pilsudski removed his political opponents from power. The coup d'etat in Poland evoked much interest in other states, primarily from the viewpoint of Poland's future foreign-policy orientation. The article stresses that France, which tradition-

ally supported the National-Democratic grouping opposed to Pilsudski and his followers, was compelled to reconcile herself with the situation. The May coup was favourably received by the ruling circles of Britain and Germany. Whereas Britain's prime objective was to sever Poland from France and to subordinate Poland's foreign policy to British interests, the ruling element in Germany hoped that the new Polish government would meet Germany halfway and agree to make concessions on economic and territorial questions. But these hopes were disappointed: the very first attempts to settle Polish-German relations ended in failure. The article also examines the attitude to the May coup in Poland by the ruling circles of the U.S.A. "Italy, Rumania and other countries. The author also highlights the position taken by the Soviet Union in relation to the coup in Poland and arrives at the well-founded conclusion that the deterioration of Polish-Soviet relations following the May 1926 events should be entirely attributed to the anti-Soviet policy pursued by the ruling circles of Poland.

A. K. KLEVANSKY. The Consistent Efforts Made by the Soviet Government to Normalize Soviet-Czechoslovak Relations (from the close of 1915 to the beginning of 1920)

The article examines the character of Soviet-Czechoslovak inter-state relations from the end of 1918 to the opening months of 1920. The author's attention is focussed on the participation of Czechoslovak armed forces in the anti-Soviet intervention organized by international imperialism. Drawing on newly discovered archive materials, the author shows how the Czechoslovak government replied to the Soviet government's consistent policy characterized by a series of peace proposals directed towards eliminating the armed conflict. The author arrives at the conclusion that all the efforts of the Soviet government proved ineffectual and that the persistent attempts to settle the conflict were crowned with success only in early 1920, following the crushing defeat inflicted on the interventionist and Whiteguard forces in Siberia.

M. Y. DOMNICH. The Christian Trade Unions and the Establishment of Fascist Dictatorship in Germany

The author of this article makes an attempt (the first of its kind in historical literature) to establish the degree of responsibility devolving on Germany's Christian trade union centre (the General Federation of Christian Trade Unions) for the comparative ease with which the nazis seized state power in 1933. It is emphatically stressed in the article that the General Federation of Christian Trade Unions (GFCTU) represented a mass organization possessing substantial cadres and periodical press publications which exerted a measure of influence on a segment of Christian workers. Nevertheless, the GFCTU rejected all the proposals of the Communist Party and revolutionary trade unions to form a united front and declare a general strike. The Christian trade union centre actually surrendered to the nazis.

The available documents and materials inescapably lead to the conclusion that the causes that prompted the Christian trade unions to betray the fundamental interests of the working masses and of the whole people are deeply rooted in the methodological vices intrinsic to the social doctrine of Catholicism by which they are guided, in certain points of similarity and identical features existing in the views shared by Christian syndicalism and national-socialism.

Characterizing Christian trade union leaders as confirmed advocates of political neutrality and splitters of the trade union movement, the author writes that they did everything in their power to prevent the working class from achieving unity at a crucial period in Germany's history, when labour unity alone could save the country from national disaster.

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