P. P. BOGDANOV, M. M. MINASYAN and E. A. PROKOFIEV. The Basic Problems Examined in the Fourth Volume of "The History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union"

The article dwells on the following basic problems of Volume IV: the military operations carried out by the Red Army in 1944; the outstanding role of the Soviet people in ensuring our victories at the front and in the rear; the activity of the Communist Party in directing the devoted labour effort of the broad popular masses in the rear and the heroic struggle of the Soviet Armed Forces at the front; the role played by the Red Army and the anti-fascist movement of the peoples in the fight to deliver European nations from nazi slavery; the activity of the Soviet rear in 1944.

The authors also give a general idea of Volume IV of "The History of the Great Patriotic War" by offering an abundance of new facts, generalizations and conclusions of undoubted interest to Soviet historians. Of particular value is the authentic information on the numerical strength of the Soviet and nazi forces by the beginning and by the summer of 1944; on strategic and tactical planning during the winter, summer and autumn campaigns; on the Warsaw rising; on the character of the August 23 uprising in Rumania; on the brilliant tactic of combining the Red Army operations with the armed uprising in Bulgaria; on the Communist-led struggle of Hungary's working people behind the enemy lines; on the specific features of the Soviet Union's war economy in 1944, etc.

Considerable attention is devoted in the article to a detailed analysis of the grave mistakes connected with the Stalin personality cult and their pernicious consequences.

M. L. BOGDENKO. Solid Collectivization of Soviet Agriculture in the Initial Stage

The article is devoted to one of the most complicated and difficult periods in the development of the Soviet countryside - the first stage of solid collectivization. It highlights the following principal problems: the emergence of the collective-farm movement in the I.S.S.R., the Party's transition from the policy of restricting the kulaks to the policy of eliminating them as a class on the basis of solid collectivization, practical implementation of this policy in the first half of 1930, the distortions of the Party's policy in collective-farm development in the winter of 1929 - 1930 and their roots.

The author stresses the objective necessity for the socialist transformation of the countryside, pointing out that without collectivization it was impossible to build socialism, create a uniform economic foundation of the Soviet system and lead the toiling peasantry onto the path of prosperity and culture. The article emphasizes that the mass movement for agricultural collectivization in the U.S.S.R. was initiated by the Communist Party which was guided by a far-reaching programme for the socialist reorganization of agriculture it had drawn up under V. I. Lenin's leadership in the first years following the October Revolution.

The author illustrates the formidable objective difficulties attending the process of the rise and development of the collective-farm system, showing how in the first stage of solid collectivization these difficulties were seriously aggravated by a number of mistakes and distortions in agricultural collectizivation policy, the chief responsibility for which devolved on Stalin. It required much effort and a vast amount of organizational work on the part of the Communist Party and the Soviet people to rectify these mistakes and create the prerequisites for a new upsurge of the collective-farm movement.

E. G. GIMPELSON. The Policy of War Communism (1918 - 1920)

The article elucidates the economic policy of Soviet power in the period 1918 - 1920, which has come to be known as War Communism. This problem, the author stresses, has become the object of gross falsification by bourgeois historiography. Distorting the essence of this policy, many bourgeois authors try to instill the idea that War Communism represented a "Soviet experiment at laying the foundation of a Communist economy." Actually, however, this policy was aimed not at building communism but at mobilizing all the material and manpower resources of the war-ravaged country for the achievement of victory over the combined forces of foreign intervention and Whiteguard counter-revolution.

E. G. Gimpelson cites extensive factual material to illustrate the basic trends, character and results of this policy. The article points out that the exceptional difficulties experienced by the young Soviet Republic in conditions of a besieged fortress-famine, utter dislocation of industry and transport, depreciation of currency-forced the government to resort to a number of extreme measures. The author examines the most important of these measures: introduction of the surplus-appropriation system, under which all surplus produce in the hands of the peasants was to be registered and acquired by the state at fixed prices, so as to enable the Soviet government to provide the population with food, proceeding from the principle: "He who does not work, neither shall he eat"; nationalization of the middle-sized and small industries, in addition to large-scale industry, and their utilization for the manufacture of armaments and articles of prime necessity; introduction of a state monopoly of the grain trade and prohibition of private trading in grain; provision of foodstuffs and consumer goods to the population at fixed prices, i. e., practically free of charge; introduction of fixed public-service rates for the working population; gradual replacement of the currency-circulation system by natural exchange; introduction of universal compulsory labour service for all classes, under which all able-bodied citizens could be mobilized for work in any sector of vital importance to the front and national defence.

Bringing out the essence of the system of temporary emergency measures necessitated by wartime conditions, the author draws attention to the fact that V. I. Lenin figuratively called it War Communism, because certain economic phenomena of those years (elements of equalitarianism in distribution, naturalization of economic relations, etc.) were outwardly reminiscent in form of Communist principles. At the same time, the author writes, V. I. Lenin emphasized again and again that, in the true meaning of the term, there were no communistic elements in these measures. They were determined not by the "advance to communism," which is possible only on the basis of a highly developed material and technical foundation, but by the utter economic dislocation and the acute shortage of bare essentials. The Communist Party and Soviet government saw clearly that in the new conditions created by the victorious conclusion of the Civil War there was no longer any reason for maintaining the rigid regime of War Communism, that it was urgently necessary to adopt a new policy. That explains why the Tenth Party Congress, which opened on March 8, 1921, passed the highly important decision to replace War Communism by the New Economic Policy (NEP). In conclusion the author writes that the economic measures of the proletarian state, which were correct and necessary in conditions of a "besieged fortress," proved unviable in conditions of peaceful socialist construction.

F. I. VIDYASOV. Foreign Imperialists' Counter-Revolutionary Designs and the Kornilov Revolt

Drawing on numerous historical sources, including a number of hitherto unpublished archive documents, the author shows the role played by American, British and French imperialists in organizing jointly with the Russian bourgeoisie a reactionary conspiracy with the aim of crushing the revolution and establishing a regime of military dictatorship.

The article cites convincing data on diverse forms and methods employed by foreign imperialists for direct intervention in Russia's internal affairs in the period of the Kornilov revolt. It is graphically shown, among other things, that already in those days anti-Bolshevism began to figure prominently in the ideological arsenal of the imperialists and became a powerful weapon in their struggle against the international working-class movement, against democracy and progress. The plot against the Russian revolution was indissolubly linked with the suppression of the working-class movement in the United States, Britain and France. At the same time, export of counter-revolution was one of the forms in the imperialists' struggle against their own people.

The author shows the outstanding role of the Bolsheviks in disclosing the real significance of the Kornilov revolt, in exposing, the arch-reactionary character of the policy pursued by the Western-Power imperialist circles, primarily by American imperialism which often resorted to diverse "democratic" methods to camouflage its real intentions.

The author draws the conclusion that the exposure by the Bolsheviks of the imperialists' counter-revolutionary plots and the efforts to frustrate their evil designs were an important condition for ensuring the victory of the October Revolution.

IB NORLUND. The Communist Party of Denmark in the Struggle Against Revisionism

The article briefly describes the history of the struggle waged by the Communist Party of Denmark in defence of the working people's interests. In the postwar period the Danish and international reaction has formed a united front against the growing influence of the Danish Communist Party and has intensified its anti-Communist campaign. After the Twentieth CPSU Congress and the counter-revolutionary putsch in Hungary the revisionist elements have become more active in the Communist Party of Denmark. The joint attempts of the reactionary and revisionist elements to undermine the Communist Party from within and force it to depart from the Marxist-Leninist path have encountered a determined rebuff from the Danish Communists.

The author devotes considerable attention to the struggle of the Danish Communists against the factionalists and the revisionist group, for the unity and solidarity of the Communist Party ranks, for the triumph of the Marxist-Leninist line. In the course of mass democratic discussions the Communist Party of Denmark disclosed the real aims of the revisionists and liquidators and banished them from its ranks. Following their expulsion from the Party, the revisionists, headed by Larsen, have conclusively exposed themselves as inveterate enemies of the working class and open abettors of the Danish and international reaction.

Side by side with analyzing the main shortcomings and weaknesses of the Danish Communist Party in the struggle against revisionism, sectarianism and dogmatism, in the struggle to achieve unity of the genuinely popular, Left forces in Denmark, the author outlines the principal tasks confronting the Party in present-day conditions. The Twenty-First Congress of the Danish Communist Party (May - June 1962) formulated the Party's basic tasks and aims at the present stage.

Representatives of the 16 fraternal parties attending the Twenty-First Congress of the Communist Party of Denmark wholeheartedly supported the Danish Communists' struggle against revisionism, for the interests of the working class and the entire Danish people, for peace, independence and democracy.

In the concluding part of his article the author stresses that the lessons drawn by the Danish Communist Party from its. struggle against revisionism are of undoubted interest and value to all countries. The outcome of the Danish Communists' struggle for their Party should be regarded as a significant victory of internationalism over nationalism, of proletarian ideology over bourgeois ideology. The Communist Party of Denmark has always been and remains a militant detachment of the international army of Communists.

L. M. MUNBY. Certain Aspects of the Development of Progressive Historiography in Great Britain

The article examines the principal trends of research conducted by British Marxist historians in the period following the establishment by the British Communist Party of a history section in 1946. The author points out that in spite of considerable difficulties British Marxist historians have produced a substantial number of research works in the past 25 years, which essentially influenced the historiographical treatment of certain problems relating to Britain's history. These publications analyze a wide range of problems pertaining to ancient history, early medieval period, the period of transition from feudalism to capitalism, as well as a number of problems relating to the era of pre-monopoly capitalism and imperialism.

Much attention is devoted by the author to a detailed analysis of research works by British historians specializing in the history of 16th - 18th-century Britain and concentrating their research on the struggle of the exploited masses, The article notes the significant progress made by progressive British historians in studying the industrial revolution, British colonial expansion and international relations.

Among the problems most comprehensively examined in modern and contemporary Marxist historiography of Britain is the history of the labour movement. The extensive research in this field is summed up by L. M. Munby in the concluding part of his article.

Giving a general appraisal of contemporary British progressive historiography, the author stresses that this work has been accomplished by a group of Communist historians numbering about 100 men; moreover, many of them have no spare time to devote themselves to research activity. That such a small group of scientists has managed to produce a comparatively large number of historical works should be attributed to the broad discussions, extensive local research work and exchange of opinions organized by the British Communist Party's history section over the past 15 years.

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