L. F. MOROZOV. Periodization of the History of Struggle Against the NEP Bourgeoisie

The article is devoted to the broad discussion in our journal of diverse aspects of the New Economic Policy. The struggle of the Soviet state against the NEP bourgeoisie is regarded by the author as a series of successive stages differing in the methods of struggle against private capital, in the degree and effectiveness of control over its activity and, most important of all, in the correlation between the processes of the ousting and utilizing capitalist elements. As the socialist economy grew and developed the processes of ousting the NEP bourgeoisie from the economy occupied an ever-increasing place in the Soviet state's policy towards private capital, which, however, did not rule out the possibility of utilizing capitalist elements even in the decisive stages of struggle against them.

Accordingly, the article singles out the following stages in the struggle to oust and utilize capitalist elements in the towns during the NEP period: the first stage (from 1921 to the spring of 1924) - a period of preparation for the offensive. In those years the Soviet state extensively utilized capitalist elements in the interests of reviving trade in the country, but the system of control over their activity was still imperfect and insufficiently effective. A more reliable system of control was instituted over the activity of capitalist owners in the sphere of industry, where the socialist economic system predominated from the very outset. The second stage-from the spring of 1924 to 1926 - was marked by the consolidation of Soviet trade, which acquired dominant positions in the country's trade turnover. This enabled the Soviet state to intensify its drive for the ousting of private capital from the sphere of trade and exercise more effective control over NEP elements. The third stage (1926 - 1929) was distinguished by the decisive victory scored by the socialist economy in its competition with private capital. There began the process of disintegration of the NEP bourgeoisie as a class grouping. In the fourth stage (1930 - 1932) the struggle against the NEP bourgeoisie ended in the complete and final victory of the socialist economy.

V. K. YATSUNSKY. The Role of Historical Geography in Elaborating the Basic Problems of Russian and Soviet History

In the opening part of his article the author briefly examines the role and place of historical geography in contemporary Soviet historical science. Then he proceeds to survey the most important problems of Russian and Soviet historical geography, graphically illustrating the immense importance of the historico-geographical aspect for the study of both the pre-Soviet and Soviet periods in the history of the U.S.S.R. - a vast country with widely differing natural and socio-economic conditions. Historical geography helps to concretize the researcher's conceptions on many important aspects of the historical process, makes it easier to take into account the specific features attending the process of historical development in different parts of the country, without proper attention to which this development presents a very general and, consequently, distorted picture.

In the concluding part of his article the author briefly surveys the contents of a comprehensive historical atlas of the U.S.S.R. planned for publication by the Institute of History of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences jointly with the Central Department of Geodesy and Cartography of the U.S.S.R. State Committee on Geology. The Atlas will appear in two volumes, the first of which is to be devoted to the pre-Soviet and the second to the Soviet period in the history of the U.S.S.R.

E. I. INDOVA, A. A. PREOBRAZHENSKY and Y. A. TIKHONOV. The Class Struggle of the Russian Peasantry and Its Influence on the Rise and Development of Bourgeois Relations

The aim of this article is to illustrate the influence exerted by the class struggle of the serf peasantry on the rise and development of the new bourgeois relations in feudal Russia in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Until recently, the authors write, the class struggle of the peasantry was interpreted to mean open armed risings. This prevented the researchers from disclosing the main prerequisites of the peasant wars and risings, from interpreting the class struggle as an unceasing process organically intrinsic to the feudal system. To bring out the real impact made by the peasant struggle on the ousting of feudal relations and their replacement by bourgeois ones, the article makes a close study of everyday phenomena reflecting the protest of the rural population, which found concrete expression in the demands put forward by the peasant wars and major risings.

The anti-feudal struggle, the authors stress, was gradually undermining and weakening the fetters of serfdom which hampered the formation of an all-Russian national market. The peasants' day-to-day struggle proceeded in the following directions: struggle for the freedom of movement; for the right to settle in towns; struggle for the freedom of commercial and industrial activity; for changing the forms of feudal rent (against the corvee); against the employment of compulsory labour in large-scale industry; for changing the feudal character of land-tenure; for civil rights.

In a number of cases, the article points out, the persevering struggle of the enslaved and oppressed population, manifested both in open mass movements and in everyday resistance, yielded tangible results. Thus, the peasants won the right to leave their villages to work for hire and engage in free enterprise. They also obtained the permission to join handicraft guilds and become merchants. Important successes were achieved by the rural population in winning the right freely to engage in trade and business activity, as a result of which these spheres of economy lost their social-estate character. The struggle against the forcible registration to specified factories and mills resulted in substantially diminishing the employment of compulsory labour in large-scale industry. At the same time, the struggle against the feudal system of landownership, land-tenure and labour rent failed to yield any tangible results, for it affected the very foundations of serfdom, and the landlords, supported by the absolutist regime, refused to make any concessions in this respect.

The peasants' struggle was not confined to the economic sphere; it also spread to the sphere of civil rights. However, the weak and dismembered peasant masses could not rise to the level of nation-wide political struggle.

In conclusion the authors emphasize that the ruthless exploitation of the peasant masses by the serf-owning class gave rise to social dissension within the rural communes.

V. D. BLAVATSKY. Submarine Archeology and Its Tasks

The article describes some of the major submarine archeological operations carried out by the Soviet Union and other countries in the first half of the 20th century.

The author briefly examines the technical methods employed in submarine operations, which importantly contributed to the progress of archeological research. The article dwells in detail on the results of exploring ancient vessels discovered at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea and in other aquatic areas in the fifties and sixties, on the expeditions dispatched by the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences' Institute of Archeology to the northern shores of the Black Sea.

The author raises the quesion of the expediency of starting great-depth archeological investigations at the bottom of the Black Sea, where organic life is nonexistent and where the remnants of ancient vessels and their cargoes are likely to be discovered.

G. N. REUTOV. Britain's Foreign Policy on the Eve of the Second World War as Reflected in British Bourgeois Historiography

The article reviews a number of works by English bourgeois historians, political leaders and publicists devoted to the international relations and foreign policy of Great Britain on the eve of the second world war. Analyzing their appraisals and conclusions, the author shows how they explain the causes which precipitated the war devoting particular attention to the treatment of Anglo-Soviet relations of 1938 - 1939 by British bourgeois historiography.

The author makes a point of stressing that most of the works produced by British historians are marked by profound internal contradictions both as regards the assessment of the general course of events on the international scene and the policy followed by the ruling circles of Great Britain. Many of these works clearly underestimate the danger the aggressive policy of fascist Germany presented not only to the destinies of peace in Europe but also to the British people and their country. A great many works by British authors, notably those which appeared in the late forties and early fifties, clearly betray an attempt to justify by every possible means the policy of "non-interference" and appeasement of nazi aggressors, pursued by Chamberlain's government in detriment to the vital interests of the British people.

The deepest contradictions are revealed in those works by British historians which dwell on the Soviet Union's policy in 1938 - 1939. Some of them try to ignore the significance, of the Soviet Union's proposals aimed at organizing a collective rebuff to nazi aggression, others make reference to Moscow's "secret negotiations" with Berlin in the summer of 1939 and even to the aggressive plans allegedly harboured by the U.S.S.R. The obvious purpose of all such allegations is to shift the blame for the unleashing of war onto the U.S.S.R. and to justify the unseemly policy of the "appeasers." Only a few of the authors venture to admit that the British ruling element's negative attitude to the Soviet proposals, notably the proposal to conclude an effective mutual assistance pact between the U.S.S.R., Britain and France, was dictated by their class position, by the fear that their common struggle against Hitler might set off a revolutionary explosion in Europe.

Such are the characteristic features of the basic trend in British bourgeois historiography of the eve-of-war foreign policy. Parallel with this the author graphically shows the steady growth and development in recent years of a critical trend in British bourgeois historiography of the eve-of-war foreign policy. Notwithstanding the fact many Britisch historians adhering to this trend have not yet completely rid themselves of serious contradictions in appraising the prewar developments, some of them have already made a definite contribution to the re-establishment of historical truth and realistic interpretation of the history preceding in second world war.

L. KIM. The Cameroon People's Struggle for Unity and Independence (1946 - 1961)

The article reviews the main stages in the Cameroon people's struggle for political independence and for the establishment of a single state. The author characterizes the alignment of the social forces taking shape in this struggle and the activity of the main political parties participating in it. Particular attention is devoted in the article to the activity of the Union of the People of the Cameroons (UPC) - a revolutionary-democratic party uniting diverse class and social forces (workers, peasants, petty bourgeoisie, intellectuals, national bourgeoisie). The leadership of the party is exercised by representatives of democratic intelligentsia, the revolutionary working class and the peasantry.

The popular masses headed by the UPC, the author points out, exerted much effort to achieve the country's reunification by peaceful means, but the bloody events of May 1955 compelled the UPC to resort to armed struggle. The Union of the People of the Cameroons skilfully combined its underground activities with legal forms of struggle against colonialism. With the proclamation of the Federative Republic of the Cameroons on October 1, 1961, the aims of the revolutionary movement were fully achieved. However, despite the proclamation of independence the French occupation forces continue their war in the Cameroons. In these conditions, the author writes in conclusion, the struggle to deliver the country from its shackling dependence on imperialism continues to remain the paramount political task.

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