Academician I. I. MINTZ. The Great October Revolution arid Mankind's Social Progress

The article characterizes some of the main directions in which the Great October Socialist Revolution influenced mankind's social progress. The building of socialism; the establishment of a new type of government corresponding to the new society; the alliance between the proletariat and the peasantry;, the struggle for peace as an indefeasible law of socialism; friendship of the peoples, proletarian internationalism; a different place and role assigned to science and art; active participation of the broad working masses in administering public affairs-these achievements of our country are viewed by the author as a direct result of the victory of the socialist revolution, as its contribution to the advancement of social progress.

A. M. SAKHAROV and S. S. KHROMOV. The 14th International Congress of Historical Sciences

The broad exchange of views and opinions between the representatives of widely differing trends and the exceptionally wide range of questions discussed at the 14th international congress of historical sciences in San Francisco revealed in general outline the present state of historical science and highlighted in particular the constantly growing interest in problems relating to the theory of historical cognition, the keen attention paid to the problems of contemporary history, as well as the increasing significance of historical science as a sphere in which there can be no peaceful co-existence between the Marxist and the bourgeois conception of history. The heightened activity displayed by Marxist historians converted the congress into a forum of propagating the Marxist conception of history. Having repulsed the attempts of the falsifiers of history, arid the enemies of socialism to divert the congress from discussing scientific questions and convincingly demonstrated the utter futility and groundlessness of their sallied against the Marxist appraisal of events. Marxist historians engaged in a businesslike; constructive and useful dialogue with representatives of other trends and proponents of different views.

N. N. DEMOCHKIN. The 1905 Soviets as the Organs of the Armed Uprising and Revolutionary Rule

The article reveals the nature and aims of the Soviets which appeared for the first time in the years, of the first people's revolution in Russia, analyzes,the basic stages in their development arid describes the Bolsheviks' struggle against "the Merisheviks who did their level best to belittle the Significance of the Soviets. The authors shows the activity of the Soviets in directing the preparation and carrying out df the armed uprising, laying special emphasis on, their role as the organs of the incipient new revolutionary power based on the revolutionary-democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry.

N. A. SOBOLEBA. Russian Tdwii Heraldry

The article examines the history of the shields of arms adopted b different Russian towns. In Ancient Rus there existed city emblems. Owing to the specific features attending the development of the towns during the period when the country was subjected by the Golden Horde, these emblems were not converted into shields of arms. Early in the 15th century there appeared territorial emblems, which began to perform the functions of shields of arms since the 17th century. The 18th century witnessed the transition from regional to city emblems which, thahks td the purposive actions of the central government (represented by the Heraldry Office), were gradually transformed into permanent town symbols.

G. A. TROFIMENRO. Evolution of U. 5. Military-Political Strategy After the Second World War

Drawing on a number of official U. S. documents, the author closely examines the stages of the evolution which occurred in America's military-political strategy after the Second World War. Under the influence of objective factors the U. S. Administration was adapting its strategy to the changing world situation, going over from the tough strategy of "containment" at the height of the cold war to the more flexible military-strategic conceptions. The author analyzes the most up-to-date trends in U. S. strategy: special emphasis on the ocean strategy, the attempts to galvanize the idea of a "limited coun-

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ter-force war." The article subjects to a critical examination the Pentagon's allegation about the systematic reduction of the U. S. military budget during the last few years. The author also examines the objective causes which brought about a relaxation in Soviet-American relations.

L. I. GOLMAN. Frederick Engels and Certain Problems of Historical Cognition

A comprehensive analysis of Engels' works and letters has enabled the author to show the inestimable contribution made by this great founder of scientific communism to the elaboration of the cardinal methodological questions of historical science. The article examines the views of Frederick Engels on the correlation between historical science and its methodological basis-historical materialism, on the tasks and aims of historical research, on the ways and methods of establishing historical truth. Particular attention is devoted to Engels' views concerning the specific features of historical cognition, his approach to the analysis of historical sources, his understanding of the leading place belonging to dialectical logic in the process of summarizing historical facts and evolving historical conceptions. Another important question on which the author briefly touches in his article is the interpretation given by Frederick Engels to the partisanship of historical science, its cognitive value and educational significance, his definition of the role it plays in social life, in the political and ideological struggle.

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