G. M. ALEXEYEV. Creative Technical Activity of the Soviet Working Class as an Historiographic Problem

The article represents the first work devoted to an analysis of most up-to-date literature on the problem of development of the working people's creative activity in the sphere of invention and rationalization in the U.S.S.R. in the conditions of the present-day scientific and technological revolutiоп. The author focusses attention on those aspects which have general methodological significance. The working people's creative technical activity in the conditions of developed socialism is viewed by Soviet scientists as an exceptionally important form of creative effort in the social sphere, as a component, organic part of studying one of the cardinal political problems of our time-the place and role of the working class in the process of social development, in speeding up scientific and technological progress. Side by side with pinpointing the successes and shortcomings of Soviet historiography in reflecting the creative technical activity of the working class in the U.S.S.R., the author maps out certain tasks and outlines ways and means of its further development.

B. I. STEPANENKO. The Collapse of the Counter-Revolution in the Don, the Kuban and the Terek Regions in 1920

Drawing on a wide range of documentary materials, the author characterizes in his article the armed counter- revolution in the Don, the Kuban and the Terek regions, explains the reasons of its activization, traces the progress of the struggle against it during the campaign of the anti-Soviet armed forces organized by international imperialism, in which the leading role was assigned to bourgeois-landlord Poland and to General Wrangel. Among the chief factors responsible for the failure of the adventuristic plans harboured by the counter-revolution in the former Cossack areas in the South of Russia the author singles out the following: first, in 1920 the anti-Soviet forces in these regions no longer possessed a sufficiently broad socio-political base inasmuch as the vast majority of the population there firmly supported Soviet power; second, under the leadership of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and V. I. Lenin the local Party and government bodies succeeded in creating a situation in these areas conducive to the successful struggle against the counter-revolution; third, the units of the Red Arrny and the organs responsible for safeguarding the revolutionary order displayed unprecedented courage, valour, mass heroism and selfless devotion to the cause of revolution in stamping out the underground counter-revolutionary centres and in routing the anti-Soviet armed forces.

J. M. JURGINIS. Changes in Lithuania's Agrarian System in the Period of Feudalism

The article examines the evolution of U.S. foreign policy course in the conditions conventional ownership of land into patrimonial estates, of gradually depriving the peasants of the right of ownership and turning their plots into allotments, the maximum size of which was equivalent to approximately 21 hectares. The author shows that the decay of the system of feudal landownership was manifested in the money rent (chinsha) approximating the lease, although only those of the peasants who possessed civil rights could become tenant farmers. And these rights could be granted only by the state authority through the abolition of serfdom.

G. A. VORONTSOV. Evolution of U.S. Foreign Policy in the Conditions of Detente

The article examines the evolution of U. S. foreign policy course in the conditions marked by a relaxation of international tension. U.S. recognition of the need for peaceful co-existence took place under the impact of the altered alignment of forces on the international arena and the growing influence exerted by the socialist world community, by the forces of peace and progress. Highlighting the various aspects of Soviet-American rela-

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tions, the author analyzes the sources, root causes and concrete forms of manifestation of the new tendencies in U.S. foreign policy. The policy of peaceful co-existence, of better relations with the U.S.S.R. is meeting with increasing support among the vast majority of Americans, because it constitutes the only reasonable alternative to the cold war and to the heightening of tensions. At the same time the evolution of America's foreign policy towards strengthening the positions of realistically-minded politicians prompts the opponents of detente in the United States to step up their activity.

P. P. CHERKASOV. France and the U.S. Aggression in Indo-China

The article analyzes France's position with regard to the U.S. aggression in Indo-China (1961 - 1973). The author makes an attempt to reveal the aims and motives of French policy in Indo-China, to show the reasons for the rise and development of Franco-American contradictions in this part of the world and to give an appraisal of the Gaullist plan for "neutralizing" Indo-China. The article traces the evolution of France's policy in the course of the Indo-China war and elucidates the factors responsible for this evolutiоп. The author also investigates the question about the part played by French diplomacy in the peaceful settlement of the armed conflict in Indo-China in 1973.

V. E. ZARITSKY. The Concept of "Strength" in German Bourgeois Historiography

The article traces the continuity and specific nature of the concents of "strength" elaborated and developed in German bourgeois historiography and in contemporary West-German political science. The author shows the narrow, limited character of political thinking typical of the entire "realistic" school with its intrinsic striving to reduce the whole complexity of the processes taking place in the sphere of foreign policy to an abstract power confrontation of states on the international scene. At the same time the article enables one to draw the conclusion that the changes occuring in international relations have had a definite impact on West-German historiography and political science. When interpreting the "realistic" doctrine today, many West-German politicians and historians lay particular accent on the need to make a sober appraisal of the actually existing relation of forces.

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