E. A. STEPANOVA and I. A. BACH. The General Council as the Guiding and Directing Organ of the International Working Men's Association.

The chief attention in the article is devoted to the General Council-the permanently functioning central elective body of the First International, which played a conspicuous part in the history of this first influential organization of the international proletariat. Like the International itself, its General Council fundamentally differed in its class proletarian character from multivarious self-styled and ephemeral committees and associations which kept appearing in rapid succession after the revolution of 1848 - 1849, primarily among the political emigres.

The authors make a point of stressing the decisive influence exerted on the activity of the General Council and on the entire work of the First International by the fact that its first programmatic documents, the Inaugural Manifesto and the Charter, as well as numerous other important appeals, messages, addresses, resolutions, etc., were formulated by Karl Marx. Represented on the General Council and its Permanent Committee- a narrower and less representative executive body - as a secretary-correspondent for Germany, Marx factually directed the Council's entire activity from October 1864 to September 1872. The approval of the Council's activity and its re-election in the same composition at the International's Congresses in Geneva (1866), Lausanne (1867), Brussels (1868) and Basle (1869), testified to the confidence and prestige it enjoyed among the membership of the First International.

Acting as an organizer and militant leader of mass working-class manifestations in different countries in support of the strike struggle, democratic and liberation movements, against militarism and aggressive wars, in defence of the Paris Commune - the world's first proletarian state, the General Council, the authors write, was educating the working class of Europe and America in the spirit of proletarian solidarity and proletarian internationalism. It is stressed in the article that the General Council succeeded in achieving united action by the international proletariat notwithstanding the different level of development attained by various detachments of the proletariat and the widely differing theoretical views which pretty often divided them. Upholding the common, fundamental interests of the working class in the struggle against sectarian petty-bourgeois theories, against liberal bourgeois reformism, conspiratorial adventuristic tactics, anarchist pseudo-revolutionary phrase-mongering and the splitting activity of the Proudhonists, trade unionists, Lassalleans and Bakuninites, the General Council promoted the unity of the international proletariat on the basis of scientific communism. The broad discussions organized by the General Council at annual congresses reflected the ideological growth of the rank-and-file members of the International, and congress resolutions reflected the process of drafting a uniform theoretical programme based on the fundamental principles of Marxism. In conclusion the authors point out that by imparting Marxist ideas to the forward-looking representatives of the working class and by educating and training devoted, internationalist-minded proletarian revolutionaries in different countries, the First International laid the groundwork for the international struggle for socialism.

I. A. KIRILIN. Soviet Foreign Policy in the Historic Decade

The article briefly surveys the U.S.S.R. activity in the sphere of foreign policy during the period 1953 - 1964. The author dwells on the theoretical problems of Soviet foreign policy, on its periodization within the framework of this decade. He devotes much attention to illustrating the Soviet Union's efforts to avert the threat of a world thermonuclear war, to liquidate the dangerous hotbeds of war which kept appearing during these years. A special section is devoted to the Soviet Union's activity aimed at strengthening the world socialist system. The author analyzes the principal trends of the Soviet Union's policy in relation to the other socialist countries, pointing out the omissions and errors which occurred in relations between the U.S.S.R. and the other socialist countries durin?

the Stalin personality cult period. The article examines the Soviet Union's policy towards the national-liberation movement of the peoples of colonial and dependent countries, shows the struggle waged by the Soviet state for the elimination of colonialism and neo-colonialism in all its forms and manifestations, describes the assistance rendered by the U.S.S.R. and other socialist countries to the young states that have arisen as a result of the progressive disintegration of the imperialist colonial system. Considerable space is devoted by the author to illustrating the Soviet Union's struggle for eliminating the survivals of the second world war, for general and complete disarmament and for effecting other important measures designed to safeguard and strengthen universal peace. He stresses the major significance of the nuclear test ban treaty signed in August 1963, reveals the importance of the Soviet Union's proposal to conclude an international agreement renouncing the use of force in the settlement of territorial and border disputes. Much attention is devoted in the article to the promotion of the Soviet Union's economic and cultural relations with other countries. The article is based on extensive factual material and authentic documents.

S. L. TITARENKO. The Origin of Bolshevism (to the forthcoming publication of the first volume of the "History of the CPSU")

The article is devoted to a characteristic of Volume I of the many-volume publication on the history of the CPSU undertaken on the initiative of the CPSU Central Committee. The author briefly reproduces the substance of the guiding instructions to the compilers of this many-volume publication contained in a special resolution of the CPSU Central Committee ("On the Principal Trends in the Compilation of a Many-Volume Publication on the History of the CPSU"). The article acquaints the reader with the structure and contents of the first volume, laying particular emphasis on the new elements contributed by the authors and editors to research in the problem of the emergence of the proletarian party in Russia. In particular, the author dwells on the elimination of a number of patently erroneous appraisals concerning certain important developments in the Party's history which originated during the Stalin personality cult period, notably on the predecessors of the proletarian party and on the role and place of Plekhanov's "Emancipation of Labour" group. Special attention is devoted in the article to a detailed characteristic, contained in Volume I, of the period connected with the beginning of the Leninist stage in the development of the theory and practice of Marxism, in the revolutionary movement of the Russian proletariat (1893 - 1903). The author emphasizes that it was precisely in this period that Lenin formulated the ideological and organizational principles of the proletarian party of a new type, a party of social revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat. In this connection the article makes reference to those materials in the volume which reflect V. I. Lenin's struggle against the Narodniks, "legal Marxists" and "Economists", for a union of scientific socialism with the mass working-class movement, for the establishment of a party of revolutionary action. The author also shows how the international significance of the emergence of the new-type proletarian party in Russia is highlighted in the volume.

E. V. RUDAKOV. Socialist Agricultural Transformations in the Bulgarian People's Republic

The article illustrates the process of the socialist reorganization of Bulgaria's agriculture as a concrete example of the successful implementation of the basic principles of Lenin's cooperative plan in the specific conditions of that country. The author shows how the Communists of Bulgaria utilized to the best advantage the vast experience and all-round assistance of the U.S.S.R. and other socialist countries. The predominance of small-scale peasant farming based on private ownership of the land determined the specific form of the Bulgarian peasants' production cooperation through the agricultural cooperatives of working farmers. The article highlights the consistent struggle of the Bulgarian Communist Party for the strictest observance of the Leninist principles of socialist construction, the all-round organizational, financial and technical assistance rendered by the people's government to the producers' cooperatives, which vastly contributed to the successful solution of the task: more than 1,200,000 economically helpless and technically backward peasant households were united into 1,020 large-scale production cooperatives equipped with up-to-date machinery and widely applying the achievements of progressive agrotechnology.

The socialist reconstruction of agriculture marked the consummation of the social revolution started by the popular uprising of September 9,1944.

V. P. DMITRENKO. The Struggle of the Soviet State for Gaining Control of the Rural Market in the Early Years of the New Economic Policy

The article is devoted to an analysis of the basic factors which paved the way for a radical turning point in the struggle of state and cooperative trade against private trade in 1923 - 1924. The utmost importance among these factors is attached by the author to the generalization by the Communist Party of progressive experience in the field of trade regulation during the first two years of the New Economic Policy (NEP), the publication of V. I. Lenin's last programmatic articles written in 1923, the successes achieved by state and cooperative trading organizations in promoting cooperation between the country's socialist industry and individual peasant farming without private middlemen and capitalists, the consummation of the process of reorganizing the structure and activity of consumers' cooperative societies by the beginning of 1924 in adaptation to the new conditions created by NEP.

The author illustrates the vast organizational and educational work carried out under the leadership of the Communist Party, which greatly contributed to the consolidation of economic ties between state and cooperative trading organizations and enabled the latter to form a united front for launching a resolute offensive against private trade. The methods applied in the economic competition with the NEP bourgeoisie in the sphere of commodity circulation were developed and encouraged in every way. The all-round and generous assistance rendered by the Soviet state enabled the cooperatives to gain considerable advantages over private traders and merchants. Beginning with 1923 - 1924 the regulating influence of the socialist economy became the decisive factor determining the course of development of the rural market. The article is based on a wide range of new archive materials.

I. F. GINDIN. Russian State Capitalism in the Pre-Monopoly Period

The article analyzes the essence of state capitalism, its fundamental distinctions from state-monopoly capitalism, the economic, social and political significance of state capitalism in different historical periods, the various phenomena attributable to state capitalism and the interrelation between state capitalism and state economic policy. The author further examines state capitalism in the West in the period marked by the emergence of the capitalist system and the evolution of state capitalism in the 19th century, proceeding from the premise that the method of comparative historical analysis contributes to a fuller and more precise definition of Russian state capitalism. In 18th-century Russia, as in the West, state intervention in the economy was quite considerable. However, in conditions when the feudal-serfdom formation was still strong and unshaken, this intervention tended not so much to accelerate the development of capitalist relations as to strengthen the old formation. In Russia (as in Japan) state capitalism attained its highest degree of development in the period of pre-monopoly capitalism, whereas in the West state capitalism at that time already lost its function as accelerator of capitalist development.

The author divides the history of development of state capitalism in Russia into the following three stages: 1860's - 1880's; early nineties to the crisis of 1900 - 1903; the period following the revolution of 1905 - 1907. In conclusion the article characterizes the main distinctive features, peculiarities and historical results of Russian state capitalism.

A. M MIRKIND. The Centenary of the First International and the West-German Social-Democracy

The article shows that the Right-wing elements of the Social-Democratic Party of Germany (SDPG) have decided to mark the centenary of the First International by launching a new vigorous offensive against Marxism. Some of them (the Wener-Erler group, for example) are completely renouncing the revolutionary traditions and ideals of the First International and of the German working-class movement. Others (notably G. U. Wehler), while admitting that Marxism played a definite role in the life of the German 19th-century Social-Democracy and recognizing the latter's association with the First International, at the same time try to make out that the German and European working-class movement had nothing in common with Marxism beginning with mid-1860's.

Assessing the jubilee of the First International, the SDPG leaders are endeavouring to divorce the activity of the International Working Men's Association from the name of Karl Marx, or, in other words, to rob the International of its Marxist spirit.

A. I. Mirkind makes a detailed analysis of works by such authors as W. Teimer, G. Grutzner, E. Mattias, K. Anders, W. Eichler, G. Wehler, G. Gillesen, H. Mann and others, convincingly showing the utter groundlessness of their assertions directed against Marxism and the First International.

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