M. V. NECHKINA, V. T. PASHUTO and E. B. CHERNYAK. The Evolution of Historical Thought in the Mid-20th Century

The article represents a report delivered at the Twelfth International Congress of Historical Sciences in Vienna (September 1965). The authors show how with the appearance of Marxism historiography was drawn into the vortex of a scientific revolution, how the practical confirmation of the justice of Marxism contributes to the development and deepening of this revolution. The article stresses that the historical thought of our age, which is deeply rooted in living reality, has become a witness of the demise of the barbarous nationalist concepts of racialism, geopolitics, pan- Germanism, a witness of the collapse of Eurocentrist and colonialist historiography.

Examining the peculiar reflection of Marxist ideas in non-Marxist historiography, the article points out that many historians from Asian, Latin-American and the young developing countries of the New Africa are irresistibly drawn to Marxism. The position of sceptics of all stripes, notably the subjectivists and agnostics who deny the objective character of historical science, is weakening steadily. Historians will perform their duty of scientists, the authors declare, if they tell the people the truth of history, in which constructive effort, humanism, freedom and peace triumph over destruction, obscurantism, violence and war. Recognition of the objective character of historical consciousness, the struggle against all attempts to liquidate history as a science must become the platform on which historians of all countries can be organizationa-ly united.

K. I. RUDELSON. Urgent Theoretical and Practical Problems of Archive- Keeping

Continuing the discussion launched in the pages of this journal on the state of the source-research facilities devoted to the history of Soviet society, the author focusses attention on the problem of subjecting documentary materials to scientific investigation and poses a number of other pressing problems concerning the classification of documentary materials and their use for information research.

In recent years, K. I. Rudelson points out, important achievements have been made in the field of archive-keeping: more attention is now being given to replenishing the archives with materials furnished by the supreme organs of state power and government administration, Ministries and other central institutions, the Executive Committees of the Soviets of Working People's Deputies, research institutes and other government agencies. The author draws attention to the need of carrying out additional research into certain aspects of document verification. K. I - Rudelson believes that the most serious shortcoming in this respect is the exclusion from the U.S.S.R. State Archive Fund of documents belonging to the so-called middle and lower link (institution, enterprise, local organization).

The author shares the opinion that it is necessary to enlist the broadest possible cooperation of historians, source researchers, lawyers and economists in elaborating the most important theoretical problems of document verification.

Referring to the organization of scientific information on the basis of documentary materials kept in the state and local archives, the author substantiates the need of adopting a uniform system of classifying published works and documentary materials in the U.S.S.R. The article puts forward a number of proposals aimed at improving the traditional system of scientific reference archive aids and mechanizing the process of information-seeking according to strictly specified groups of documentary materials.

P. G. SEMYNOV, The Sovereignty of the Soviet Nations (a brief history of development)

The article briefly examines the history of development of the Soviet nations' sovereignty from the Great October Socialist Revolution to our days. National sover- ignty is interpreted by the author as a state legal institution, the political content of which is based on the right of nations to free self-determination, including the right freely to secede from the U.S.S.R. The process of liberating the nations and national minorities enslaved by tsarism led to their voluntary rapprochement. It is precisely this voluntary union of equal nations that is regarded by the author as the most salient manifestation of national sovereignty. The sovereignty of nations enjoying complete freedom in determining the form of their statehood, he emphasizes, was an important motive force contributing to the international unity of the working people-initially within the framework of the Russian Federation and subsequently within the Union o'f Soviet Socialist Republics. The further development of national sovereignty contributes to the achievement of the basic aim outlined in the CPSU Programme - the attainment of complete unity of the Soviet nations and nationalities.

N. N. YAKOVLEV. The 1905 Soviet

The article briefly reviews the history of the rise and development of the Soviets, illustrating their activity and historical role. The author shows the attitude of the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks to the Soviets in 1905 and convincingly refutes the Mensheviks' claims of being the initiators of the first Soviets. N. N. Yakovlev shows how in a number of cities the Soviets became the chief centres of the uprising and the principal organs of state power, exercising the dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry.

Analyzing certain tendencies in historical literature to underestimate the experience of the Soviets' activity in 1905, the author considers that it was precisely the experience of the 1905 Soviets that provided the basis for the conclusions concerning the role of the Soviets in the future. Tracing the development of V. I. Lenin's views on the 1905 Soviets, the author cites his pronouncements on the eve of the revolution of February 1917, in which V. I. Lenin draws the conclusion on the ability of the Soviets to become a form of proletarian dictatorship.

In the concluding part of the article the author outlines the main trends of further research in the history of the 1905 Soviets.

M. G. SEDOV. The Historical Significance of the "Narodnaya Volya" ("People's Will")

The author examines the main conceptions of the Russian and Soviet historical schools on the "Narodnaya Volya" ("People's Will") organization, showing the clash of opinions on the role and historical significance of its struggle from the first appraisals of this Narodnik organization to the literature of our days. The author believes that the numerous works devoted to this organization belittled its positive contribution to the history of the Russian revolution. M. G. Sedov stresses that Marx, Engels and Lenin had a high opinion of the "Narodnaya Volya," although they were perfectly aware of the historically limited character of its activity.

N. I. LEBEDEV. Rumania's "Historical Parties" in the Years of the Anti- Soviet War (1941 - 1944)

Drawing on extensive factual material from Rumanian and Soviet archives, the author gives a true-to-life portrayal of Rumania's bourgeois-landlord "opposition" in the years of the anti-Soviet war. Being outright accomplices of the Antonescu regime, the "historical parties" headed by J. Maniu and D. Bratianu sabotaged the development of the anti-fascist struggle in the country and refused to cooperate with the Rumanian Communist Party in establishing a national anti-Hitler front. Following a radical turning point in the course of World War II brought about by the Soviet Army's victories over the nazi aggressor, the leaders of the National-Tsaranist and National Liberal parties concentrated their efforts on preventing Rumania's liberation by the Soviet Armed Forces. The author describes in this connection the progress of the Cairo negotiations in the spring and summer of 1944, in the course of which representatives of Ru-

mania's ruling classes tried to persuade the U.S.A. and Britain to occupy the country in order to perpetuate the bourgeois-landlord system there.

The article shows how the Soviet Union's victories over nazi Germany forced the leadership of the "historical parties" to change their position on the question of cooperation with the Communist Party. The steadily growing prestige and authority of the Rumanian Communist Party and its increasing role in the country's political life compelled the bourgeois-landlord parties to agree, on June 20, 1944, to the establishment of a National-Democratic Bloc composed of the National-Tsaranist, National Liberal, Communist and Social-Democratic parties. However, in the subsequent period too the leaders of the "historical parties" did not take an active part rn the struggle for the country's liberation from the fascist yoke and in the overthrow of Antonescu's dictatorship by the patriotic forces under the leadership of the Communist Party on August 23, 1944.

A. Y. SHEVELENKO. A Comparative Analysis of the Genesis of Feudal Relations in France and Indonesia

The author's comparative analysis is based on those phenomena which characterize the process of feudalization of society within the framework of the 5th - 9th centuries for France and the 2nd - 7th centuries for Indonesia. He compares the development of both countries along the following nine directions: means of production and the main occupation of the population; the economic pattern; ways of synthesizing elements belonging to different socio-economic formations; the rise and development of feudal ownership; the emergence of dependent peasantry; the role of the state; the problem of slavery; forms of rent; the role of the church and religion. The author draws the following conclusions: for all the distinctions existing in the concrete history of both countries, there is no fundamental difference; feudal relations triumphed both in France (by the 9th century) and Indonesia (by the 7th century); the traditional thesis on the "classical character" of Prankish feudalism stands in need of a partial revision; the most general specific feature of Indonesia consists in the fact that the existence of patriarchal slaveownership in that country did not give rise to the slave-owning formation, and feudalism there grew out directly of the primitive-communal system.

Publisher:

Permanent link for scientific papers (for citations):

Found source (search robot):

Comments: