M. A. VYLTSAN, N. A. IVNITSKY and Y. A. POLYAKOV. Certain Problems of the History of Agricultural Collectivization in the U.S.S.R.

The time limits and rates of agricultural collectivization, the forms and methods of collective-farm organization, elimination of the kulaks as a class, the development of the productive forces in the countryside and the deep-going changes in the social and economic pattern of the collective-farm peasantry - such, in brief, is the range of problems examined in this article.

Drawing on extensive factual material, including new archive data, the authors convincingly show that the almost ten-year period - from the 1920's to the concluding stage of the second five-year plan - required for the socialist transformation of agriculture was fully justified. The three-year period from the close of 1929 to the beginning of 1933, during which almost two-thirds of the total number of peasant households joined the collective farms, likewise turned out to be quite realistic, although it proved extremely tense and required strenuous efforts on the part of the Communist Party and the working class.

The article graphically illustrates how the Communist Party, guided by Lenin's co- operative plan and testing in practice diverse forms of production association, singled out the agricultural artel as the most suitable and expedient form of collective farming.

Pointing out that the ways and methods of eliminating the kulaks as a class may vary depending on concrete conditions, the authors substantiate the need of resorting to force in expropriating the kulaks in the U.S.S.R.

The article traces the process of development of the productive forces in Soviet agriculture in the 1930's, the influence of new technology on the growth of collective- farm labour productivity, etc.

In conclusion the authors emphasize that the rise and development of the collective-farm system was an extremely difficult and painful process. But its main result was the establishment of a new type of social relations in the countryside, which forever rid the peasants of all exploitation and oppression, made them equal and full-fledged members of socialist society and opened before them the path to a prosperous and happy life.

T. D. KRUPINA, D. A. KOLESNICHENKO and A. M. SOLOVYOVA. The History of Russia's Working Class and Proletarian Movement as Reflected in Contemporary Bourgeois Historiography

The article notes the heightened interest manifested by contemporary bourgeois historiography in the history of the Russian working class and labour movement: the increasing importance attached by Western historians and economists to the treatment of these problems in Soviet literature and their attempts to subject these problems to an independent analysis both in special and general works.

Disclosing the concrete content of the latest Western publications devoted to the history of the Russian working class, the authors of the article draw the readers' attention to some noticeable changes that have taken place in bourgeois historiography in this field and point to the appearance of works which claim to give an objective treatment of analyzed questions. However, the article convincingly shows that in actual fact these works can at best give merely an objective appraisal of individual facts connected with such particular questions as the conditions attending the formation of the working class in Russia, its position, certain developments in the history of the working-class movement. On the whole, the history of Russia's working class and labour movement is presented by bourgeois historiography in a distorted light. Most of the bourgeois authors deny in their works the very existence in Russia of a working class in the Western meaning of the term, vulgarize the forms and character of the working-class movement, belittle or completely ignore the role played by the Russian proletariat in the national and world revolutionary movement.

A. A. ZIMIN. The Principal Stages and Forms of the Class Struggle in Russia at the Close of the 15th and in the 16th Centuries

The author singles out six stages in the development of the class struggle in Russia in the 15th-16th centuries, the criterion for each individual stage being the various forms of this struggle unfolding against the background of the country's socio-economic and political development.

The first stage - from the end of the 15th to the beginning of the 16th centuries - is characterized by A. A. Zimin as a period marked by the sharpening of contradictions between the serf peasants and feudal landowners over the land question. The second stage (the first three decades of the 16th century) is distinguished for Russia's rapid economic development and the declining level of the class struggle. The third stage coincides with the reign of princely and boyar aristocracy during the minority of Ivan the Terrible. Feudal lawlessness and rapine led to peasant unrest in the countryside and to frequent risings in the towns. This struggle is waged by the popular masses jointly with the forces of feudal separatism. The fourth stage (mid-16th century) is characterized by the aggravation of the class struggle, which in a number of cases takes the form of urban revolts, and intensification of the reform movement. The fifth stage embraces the period of the Oprichnina. The class struggle extends to the whole country and the flight of the peasants from feudal bondage assumes a mass scale. The sixth stage (end of the 16th century) marks the eve of Russia's first peasant war.

V. V. KARGALOV. The 13th-century Mongol-Tatar Invasion and Its Consequences for the Rural Areas of North-Eastern Rus

Drawing on a wealth of factual material, Soviet historians have convincingly substantiated the thesis on the adverse and profoundly regressive influence exerted by the Mongol-Tatar invasion on the development of feudal Russia. However, it cannot be said that all aspects of this important problem have been adequately investigated. While we are fully entitled to state that the devastation and waste laid to Russian towns by Batu's Golden Horde have been investigated with sufficient thoroughness, it is equally true to say that the question concerning the consequences of the Mongol conquest for feudal Russia's countryside has not yet received the attention it deserves. At any rate, there has not yet appeared a single research work devoted to this important subject.

The author makes an attempt to generalize the available documentary and archeological material illustrating the consequences of the Mongol-Tatar invasion for the rural areas of North-Eastern Rus.

This material, the author points out, enables one to draw the conclusion that the Mongol- Tatar invasion had extremely painful, ruinous consequence for the rural areas of North- Eastern Rus. The incursions led to mass annihilation of the population, to the ravaging and devastation of whole principalities, to the wholesale ruination of peasant farming and desolation of pre-Mongol communities in the second half of the 13th century. This applies practically to the entire territory of North-Eastern Rus which suffered from the hostile incursions by the Golden Horde.

A. I. PUSKAS. Hungary's Anti-Fascist Forces in the Struggle for the Liberation of the Country (September 1944 - April 1945)

The article is devoted to the Twentieth Anniversary of Hungary's liberation from nazi oppression by the Soviet Army. Drawing on new materials found in Hungarian and Soviet archives, the author examines one of the less-known aspects of the struggle for Hungary's liberation - the participation of the country's progressive forces in this struggle.

On September 23, 1944, the Soviet Army, pursuing the retreating nazi hordes, entered the Hungarian territory. The Soviet Army's liberating mission greatly stimulated the fight of Hungary's anti-fascist forces against the nazi occupation forces and Hungarian reactionaries. The article illustrates the multivarious forms of this struggle. The partisan movement is regarded by the author as the highest and most effective method of Resistance. The partisan units organized and directed by Communists enjoyed the support of thousands of Hungarian patriots. Among the most widespread forms of Resistance practised by Hungarian soldiers were mass desertion from the Szalasy army, attempts to evade mobilization, and going over to the side of the Soviet Army. In the course of the battles fought on Hungary's territory in March and the beginning of April 1945, the Szalasy army disintegrated finally and completely. The overwhelming majority of Hungarian soldiers and officers going over to the Soviet side voluntarily expressed the desire to turn their weapons against the nazi occupation forces. Hundreds of Hungarian volunteers took an active part in the struggle for the liberation of Budapest.

Hungarian fascism was able to maintain itself in power only with the help of German bayonets. That is precisely why the crushing defeat inflicted on German fascism by the Soviet Army was the decisive prerequisite for the Hungarian people's victory. The article shows how the fight for Hungary's liberation set off a nation-wide popular-democratic revolution which culminated in the establishment of people's rule.

I. I. ZHIGALOV. The Aldermaston Marches and the Anti-War Movement in Great Britain (1958 - 1963)

The author traces the history of the Aldermaston Marches in 1958 - 1963, the process of their development, their principal stages, distinctive features and role in the life of British society. The Aldermaston Marches contributed to the consolidation of the anti-war forces, stimulated the activity of diverse organizations fighting for disarmament and peace, and helped to evolve more active forms and methods of the struggle for peace.

The article draws the conclusion that the movement for nuclear disarmament and peace which developed in Great Britain in the period under review has made it possible to convert considerable sections of British society into confirmed supporters of nuclear test ban, disarmament and peaceful co-existence, and enlist their participation in the struggle to carry these demands into practical effect. It is precisely the struggle of the broad sections of the English people against nuclear tests and their resolute opposition to the foreign policy line followed by the Conservatives and Right-wing Labour leaders that served as one of the chief causes which compelled the British gevernment to agree to the signing of the Moscow partial nuclear test-ban treaty in 1963.

L. M. BATKIN. Dante-Herald of Humanism

Dante was a man of the new epoch, though he himself was still unaware of that and therefore continued to remain in the Middle Ages. The popolo environment developing into the early bourgeoisie constitutes the social basis of Dante's ideology. Dante was still unable in his period to expound humanism as a distinctive philosophical outlook. Nevertheless, he far transcended the bounds of traditional medieval thinking and came very close to the sources of humanism. Dante's favourite "noble soul" ideal devoid of its traditional chivalrous-social estate colouring was typical of the dolce stil ("suave style"). Dante's intellectual aristocratism presages humanism; it signifies the popolano's self-assertion in a society which is still dominated by nobiliary ethics. His ethical teaching is meant for the popolano reader and objectively reflects the latter's requirements and psychology. There is a clear tendency to replace aristocratic lineage by the intrinsic value of the human personality itself. But here, as in everything else, Dante manifests his dual nature by timidly extolling "the meagre nobility of our blood," while at the same time castigating others for doing so. Among Dante's intrinsic features were his lust for glory, the cult of antiquity and reason. However, the author believes that the roots of Dante's distinctive and highly original philosophy should be sought not so much in the interpretation of cosmogonal-theological questions as in his liberal attitude towards material, in the very approach to the problem of knowledge, for Dante borrows from his predecessors only those elements which he deems necessary and important for himself. As distinct from Thomas Aquinas, who separated reason from faith in order to glorify faith, Dante pays homage to faith but glorifies reason. He presents traditional definitions in a new light and unexpectedly changes his accents. Dante's humanistic content begins to filter through the customary scholastic formulas.

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