M. I. TRUSH. V. I. Lenin's Activity in the Sphere of Foreign Policy (1922)

The article is devoted to the last period of Lenin's life and work. Drawing on extensive factual material, including hitherto unpublished sources, the author shows that to the last days of his life Lenin continued to carry on vast theoretical and practical work, participating in the meetings of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), the Council of People's Commissars, Labour and Defence Council, and guiding the solution of major state problems. Foreign trade monopoly, industrial management, cooperatives, financial questions, organizing the work of the Political Bureau and the People's Commissariats, the Lausanne Conference, drafting the decisions of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International-such is the range of problems tackled by Lenin at that period.

The article contains a detailed description of how V. I. Lenin, already seriously ill and bed-ridden, was keenly interested in every minor development taking place in the country and tried to find correct solutions to cardinal problems of foreign policy, giving paramount attention to the question cf establishing a state monopoly of foreign trade. It was not his illness that worried Lenin in the last hours of his life, the author says. He was deeply concerned for the destinies of the Soviet state, for the paths oi socialist construction in Russia, for the strengthening of universal peace.

E. G. GIMPELSON. The Factors That Led to the Formation of the One-Party System in the U.S.S.R.

The author shows that after the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution Soviet power did not raise the question of removing representatives of petty- bourgeois parties from the organs of state administration. But having taken the path of armed struggle against the victorious revolution and joined forces with the internal counter-revolutionary elements and foreign interventionists, these parties compelled Soviet power to regard them as its direct enemies. When, at the end of 1918 and in the opening months of 1919, the Mensheviks and Right-wing Socialist-Revolutionaries decided to renounce collaboration with the interventionists and the bourgeoisie and to recognize Soviet power, they were immediately granted the right to take part in elections. However, it was not long before living reality made it abundantly clear that the shift of these parties to the side of Soviet power was merely a tactical move designed to save themselves from imminent defeat and carry on their subversive activities. As a matter of fact, the Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries and other petty-bourgeois parties did not abandon their struggle against Soviet power, with the result that they lost all support among the masses. More, tactical vacillation of these parties only added to the disorder and confusion in their ranks. The more revolutionary elements broke with these parties and many organizations fell apart.

In conclusion the author shows that a clear indication of the political bankruptcy and collapse of the petty-bourgeois parties was the almost complete disappearance of their representatives from the organs of state power. The author arrives at the conclusion that the one-party system began to take shape in the U.S.S.R. in 1920 - 1921 and not in 1918, as was formerly believed.

D. B. SHELOV. The Ancient States of the Northern Black Sea Region and Their Place in the History of the Peoples of the U.S.S.R..

The article examines the role played in the history of the peoples of the U.S.S.R. by the ancient cities which existed on the northern and eastern shores of the Black Sea from the 6th century B.C. to the 4th century A. D. Having arisen in the process of the so-called "great Greek colonization" as Hellenic agricultural, handicraft and trading

centres, they soon became an indispensable component part of the entire historical process in the northern Black Sea region, inasmuch as they were closely connected by permanent economic, political and cultural relations with the surrounding non-Greek population of the northern Black Sea region, notably the Scythians, Sarmatians, etc., exerting considerable influence on this population and themselves being influenced by the non-Greek world. On the basis of this reciprocal influence, the article stresses, there arose and developed mixed Greco-"Barbarian" states in the northern Black Sea region and it became possible to create a truly unique and inimitable variant of antique culture. The progressive role played by the ancient cities and states of the northern Black Sea region in the history of our country, in the author's opinion, is determined primarily by the influence they exerted on the social development of diverse tribes inhabiting Eastern Europe, contributing to the more rapid disintegration of tribal relations and the maturing of class relations among these tribes. Through the antique cities of the northern Black Sea region the ancient inhabitants of the steppe and forest-steppe areas of Eastern Europe became acquainted with a number of achievements of the then most advanced antique world in the sphere of material and spiritual culture, which were subsequently assimilated by the peoples of this area.

L. A. NIKIFOROV. Industrial Development in Socialist Yugoslavia

The article is devoted to the 20th anniversary of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. The author graphically illustrates the remarkable progress in the building of socialism made by the working people of Yugoslavia in a comparatively short historical period under the "leadership of the Yugoslav League of Communists. The socialist sector now plays the decisive role in the country's economy, accounting for about 80 per cent of the aggregate national income. The policy of accelerated industrialization has substantially altered the pattern of Yugoslavia's national economy. A backward agrarian country in the past, Yugoslavia has now become an industrial-agrarian state. The 1964 volume of industrial production was nearly seven times above the figure for 1939. Approximately 40 per cent of the country's national income in 1964 was contributed by industry and 26 per cent by agriculture. The growth of industrial production stimulated the development of other branches of the national economy.

The author shows the character of Yugoslavia's economic development prior to the second world war and the formidable difficulties the Yugoslav workers had to contend with in the period of rehabilitating the country's national economy ravaged by the nazi aggressors. Characterizing the development of individual branches of industry in the postwar period, the author notes the priority development of Yugoslavia's heavy industry and the establishment of entirely new branches of industrial production. The author makes a point of stressing that only in conditions of socialist construction hat it become possible to ensure all-round economic development of all the republics now forming the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia on the basis of a voluntary union.

Y. S. GROSUL, N. A. MOKHOV and P. V. SOVETOV. The Specific Features of Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism in Southeastern Europe

The article examines the problems of contemporary historiography concerning the agrarian relations in Southeastern Europe (notably Moldavia and Walachia) in the period of transition from feudalism to capitalism.

The authors arrive at the conclusion that the feudal formation through which the shoots and elements of the new capitalist relations were forcing their way in the Danube principalities up to the 19th century had many features in common with the Balkan area of Southeastern Europe (a fairly high level of centralized feudal exploitation, attributable in large measure to the pumping of immense material and financial resources out of the country and to the harsh conditions resulting from Turkish oppression; insufficient development of the local patrimonial economy; a comparatively insignificant share of the labour rent, etc.). In the 19th century the disintegration of feudalism and the genesis of capitalism in the Danube principalities began to proceed along the lines which appeared to have more similarity with the paths of development followed by Central and Eastern Europe.

Underestimation of the specific features and peculiarities of the historical process in Southeastern Europe, the article stresses, was the main cause which doomed to failure the attempts by a number of historians to depict the genesis of capitalism in this area as being analogical to the same process in the areas east of the Elbe. Nor is it possible to find here a complete analogy with the paths of capitalist development in the countries west of the Elbe.

In conclusion the authors emphasize that the changes which took place in the socio- economic development of the Danube principalities in the 16th - 19th centuries introduced

so many distinctive features in the process of transition from feudalism to capitalism as to provide every justification for singling out this area as a special regional zone. This would undoubtedly facilitate research in the genesis of feudalism.

I. R. GRIGULEVICH. The Church and Clericalism in Chile After World War II

The author makes a close analysis oi the development of the clerical movement in Chile and discloses its intrinsic contradictions. In the 1930's-a period marked by the economic crisis and the mounting national-liberation movement-the policy of alliance with the Chilean oligarchy traditionally followed by the Catholic Church evoked sharp discontent among young clericals, who formed the National Falange a "Left" grouping which was reorganized into the Christian-Democratic Party after the second world war. The leaders of this party came out, albeit inconsistently, in support of the Chilean people's democratic demands. While remaining ideological enemies of communism, they nevertheless rejected the policy of reprisals against the Communists, giving prime consideration to the need of effecting radical social reforms. This programme helped the Demochristian leaders to wrest many Catholics from under the influence of the Right-wing reactionary parties and win them over to their side.

Victory in the 1964 presidential election campaign was contested chiefly by two major political groupings: the Left forces organized in the Chilean Popular Action Front (PAF) and a bloc formed by the Right-wing parties. The Christian-Democrat nominee Eduardo Frei, who advanced a "peaceful revolution" programme, did not have much hope for success at first. But his chances began to rise rapidly when the Right elements, apprehensive of PAF's victory, withdrew their candidate and joined him. It was precisely this circumstance which, in the final analysis, enabled the "Left" Catholic Frei to emerge victorious in the presidential elections. Notwithstanding the Rights' "tutelage," the author points out, the Frei government began to pursue an independent foreign policy from the very outset. But the implementation of the "structural reforms" promised by the clericals is being delayed.

H. PALLI. The Use of Perforation Cards in Historical Research

The author points out that perforation cards are used by many historians in the Estonian S.S.R., Moscow, the Ukrainian S.S.R., Leningrad and elsewhere. They enable the researcher quickly to find materials on any question or combination of questions in the card index. The machine-perforated cards permit to refer the material to electronic computers or tabulating perforation machines. Of particular value to historians are the dual cards combining the copy of a document with a machine card. The method of applying perforation cards is comparatively simple and accessible to every researcher.

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