EDITORIAL. The Study of Russian History in the Fifty Years of Soviet Power

The editorial traces the principal stages of research in Russia's history during the fifty years of Soviet power. The attention in the article is focussed on the emergence of Marxist historical science in Russia in the pre-revolutionary period, its development in the early years following the October Revolution, the achievements and shortcomings of the young Soviet historical science and its subsequent progress from the late 1920's to the present time. Notwithstanding the difficulties attending the development of Soviet historical science and the shortcomings hindering its progress at the different stages of the existence of the Soviet state, the article stresses, research in the history of the U.S.S.R. was steadily developing and extending with each passing decade. Every new stage in studying the history of our country made its distinctive contribution of the development of Soviet historical science.

I. I. MINTZ. The Great October Socialist Revolution and Mankind's Progress

The article shows the epoch-making significance of the Great October Socialist Revolution which ushered in a new era in human history - the era of mankind's liberation. Proceeding from the objective Marxist-Leninist criteria of social progress, the author examines in detail the significance of the victorious proletarian revolution in Russia as a great beginning in accelerating the progress of the whole of mankind, which put an end to the undivided rule of the capitalist system, led to the rise and development of the socialist world system and precipitated the collapse of colonialism. The article graphically demonstrates the significance of the October Revolution in promoting the unity and organization of the popular masses and enhancing their influence on contemporary sociopolitical processes, and reveals the international significance of building a socialist society in the U.S.S.R. for the building of socialism in the other countries belonging to the socialist world system, for the continued development of the revolutionary movement in the capitalist countries and for the choice of the path by the young independent states which have smashed the chains of colonialism. The author makes a point of stressing that socialism means universal peace, that the formation of the socialist world system has created unprecedented opportunities for mankind's progress in the sphere of international relations and makes it possible to avert another world war.

G. N. GOLIKOV and G. Z. MUKHINA. Revolutionary Experience of World-Historic Significance

The article is devoted to the publication of Part I of the third volume of "A History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union" - a many-volume edition put out by the CC CPSU Institute of Marxism-Leninism.

The authors are guided by a desire to show the distinctive contribution made by the new book to the science of Party history. Particular importance is attached in the article to the main thesis that the victory of the Great October Revolution was primarily the result of the vast theoretical, political and organizational work carried out by the Party. The authors cite concrete examples to show how the underlying idea of the volume is brought out in the book. Much attention is devoted to the Party's struggle for the further creative development of Marxism-Leninism, against all manifestations of the Right and "Left" opportunism in the field of theory and revolutionary practice.

The article also focusses attention on the fact that the book contains extensive material illustrating the October Revolution as the triumph of the Marxist-Leninist ideas, as a single process of the socialist revolution in the centre and the provinces - in town and country. Especial significance is attached to a characteristic of ways and means used in the volume to disclose both the proletarian, socialist nature of the October Revolution (as regards its aims, tasks, content and motive forces) and its genuinely popular

character manifested in the unprecedented scope of participation of all sections of the toiling population in the revolution, in their revolutionary creative effort to build a new society, in the deep-going transformations effected by Soviet power to meet the fundamental interests and vital aspirations of all men of labour. Paramount attention is likewise devoted to highlighting the constructive mission of the October Revolution.

Another underlying thesis examined in the article graphically shows how the process of struggle for the preparation and carrying out of the socialist revolution, for upholding and consolidating its gains, was attended by the steadily developing and growing skill of the Leninist Party as the leader and organizer of the masses, by the rapid growth of its ranks and influence.

The article singles out the most important aspects in the experience of Bolshevism, which have an exceptionally great and lasting significance for the entire international Communist and working-class movement.

A. M. SOVOKIN. The Establishment of a Revolutionary Ring Around Petrograd on the Eve of the Armed Uprisind of October 1917

The attention in the article is focussed on V. I. Lenin's role in building up the armed forces of the revolution in major points lying close to Petrograd, which formed a revolutionary ring around the city. Having formulated the task of the military and technical preparation of the uprising as the main objective of the Bolshevik Party, V. I. Lenin, who was hiding in Finland at that time, did everything possible to organize the armed units stationed in Finland, Estonia and Latvia, as well as the Baltic seamen, who had gone over to the side of the revolution, for the coming battles. The article traces the Bolsheviks' titanic effort to train the revolutionary forces for a strategic blow against the power of the bourgeoisie, showing the vast contribution made in this respect by the Helsingfors, Vyborg, Kronstadt and Revel Soviets, the sailors' and soldiers' committees, which supported the Bolsheviks. The concrete data cited in the article makes it abundantly clear that the preparations for carrying out Lenin's plan of the armed uprising were directed by the Central Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks), which concentrated in its hands all information about the armed forces around Petrograd. Guiding itself by Lenin's instructions, the Central Committee directed the activity of the numerous Party organizations, Bolshevik Soviets and other working-class organizations, mustering the forces capable of overthrowing the rule of the bourgeoisie. The author graphically shows that the revolutionary forces concentrated on the approaches to Petrograd on the eve of the uprising were far superior in numbers to the counterrevolutionary forces.

MISHO NIKOLOV. The Great October Revolution and the Revolutionary Movement in Bulgaria

Analyzing the impact made by the Great October Revolution on the revolutionary movement in Bulgaria, the author stresses the role of the Bulgarian Social-Democratic Labour Party which unreservedly supported the slogans of the October Revolution, thereby taking the first resolute step towards Bolshevization, towards arming the Party with the ideas of Leninism. The author analyzes the Party's subsequent activity in conditions of the revolutionary rise developing in the country in 1918 - 1921-the Party's struggle to win over the masses and to reorganize itself into the Bulgarian Communist Party (Tesnyak Socialists). Particular attention is devoted in the article to examining the process of the Party's further Bolshevization, overcoming the Tesnyak survivals in the struggle to assume leadership of the mass anti-fascist movement that developed in the country in 1922 - 1923 and combating the "Left" sectarian mistakes (1929 - 1935). The author shows how the creative assimilation of the Bolsheviks' experience and the ideas of Leninism enabled the Bulgarian Communist Party to rally the country's progressive forces, assume leadership of the revolution and ensure the triumph of the popular-democratic system in Bulgaria.

GYULA HEVESI. The October Revolution and Its Influence on the Revolutionary Movement in Hungary

The article examines the causes that led to the emergence of a revolutionary situation in Hungary towards the end of the first world war and gives a brief characteristic of the working-class and socialist movement, of the mass revolutionary organizations existing in the country at the end of the war. The author shows the successes of

the movement for the establishment of Workers' Soviets in Hungary, which arose and developed under the influence of the October Revolution. Led by the Hungarian Communist Party (founded in November 1918), this movement culminated in the establishment of the Hungarian Soviet Republic which, though short-lived, will always remain a glorious page in the country's history. Defeated in unequal struggle with the interventionists, the Hungarian Soviet Republic vividly demonstrated the international significance of the Great October Socialist Revolution and its lofty ideas. It strikingly confirmed the viability of the Marxist-Leninist teaching and prepared the working class and all working people of the country for the subsequent exremely difficult but victorious struggle for socialism in Hungary.

UMBERTO TERRACINI. The Great October Socialist Revolution and Italy

The author shows how in a situation marked by the emergence of a mass anti-war movement in Italy, the overthrow of the autocracy and the victory of the proletarian revolution in Russia stimulated a rapid rise of the revolutionary working-class movement in Italy, which developed and spread under the slogan of emulating the Russian example. The article examines the formation of the Left ("Maximalist") wing within the Italian Socialist Party, which from the very outset proclaimed its solidarity with the world's first socialist state established by the workers and peasants of Russia and assumed leadership of the movement against intervention under the slogan "Hands Off Soviet Russia!" Side by side with analyzing the most essential features and developments attending the revolutionary movement in Italy during that period, the author also examines the processes at work within the Socialist Party, which led to a split resulting in the emergence of the Left wing and to the founding of the Italian Communist Party in 1921.

A. F. SHULGOVSKY. The Proletarian Revolution in Russia und the Anti-Imperialist Movement in Latin America

The article shows how under the impact of the Great October Socialist Revolution the liberation movement in Latin America began to assume a mass character, with the anti-imperialist manifestations of the working class and other sections of the toiling population in most Latin- American countries becoming ever more powerful. An important contribution to the organization of the anti-imperialist struggle, writes A. F. Shulgovsky, was made by the young Latin-American Communist Parties, which played a prominent part in rallying the anti-imperialist forces uniting broad popular masses. Marxists-Leninists came forward as confirmed propagandists of the ideas of proletarian internationalism, consistently worked to merge the various contingents of the world revolutionary movement in a single powerful torrent, creatively developed revolutionary theory in adaptation to concrete national conditions, comprehensively analyzed the role of different classes in the anti-imperialist movement. They helped the working people of Latin America to form a clear understanding of the historic significance of the Great October Socialist Revolution for the further development of the liberation movement and for its conversion into a component part of the world revolutionary process. That explains why the struggle carried on by Marxists-Leninists in the 1920's is inseparably bound up with the contemporary stage of the anti- imperialist liberation movement.

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