J. KAHK. The Development of Historical Science in Soviet Estonia

The article describes the development and achievements of historical science in Estonia, one of the smallest Soviet Republics.

The postwar years were marked by Marxist self-education of the older generation of scientists, by the training of young cadres and building up a system of special institutes for scientific research in the field of history. The young national scientific personnel received valuable support from many research centres of the fraternal republics. Up to the mid - 1950's the joint historical conferences of the three Baltic republics with the participation of specialists from Moscow and Leningrad were concerned with fundamental Marxist reviews of the Baltic nations (the first two volumes of the "History of the Estonian S.S.R." have already been published). In the late 1950's the joint research of historians was devoted to more specialized problems, and in 1958 the historians of Soviet Estonia became the initiators of the Symposium on the Agrarian History of Eastern Europe-an organization actively supported and highly valued in the Soviet Union and in other socialist countries. In recent years cooperative research has been developing in the field of contemporary history.

Estonian scientists have achieved significant progress in studying the history of agriculture and the peasant movements in the period of feudalism. They have reconstructed the heroic history of the Estonian working class - a subject completely ignored by bourgeois historiography-and have produced many important works devoted to the revolutions of 1905, 1917 and 1940. The first two volumes of the "History of the Estonian Communist Party" have already appeared. Extensive research is being done by Estonian archeologists and anthropologists.

In the past few years the scientific personnel of the Republican Academy's Institute of History have also applied sociological research methods in their work. There have also been experiments in the use of higher mathematics and electronic computers in historical research.

A. Y. GUREVICH. General Law of History and Concrete Law-Governed Processes

The article shows that the laws of social development discovered by Marxism- Leninism are most fully revealed in examining the historical process as a whole or its major periods, epochs and formations. These are the most general laws of history by which Marxists-Leninists are guided in their research work. But apart from the general sociological laws, the historical process is also influenced by laws governing natural development, the economic, biological and psychic life of man, the spiritual life of society, by demographic laws. The concrete law-governed process of history is based on dynamic interaction of these multivarious laws. Since the correlation and significance of all these factors constantly change, the historian can explain one or another course of events only by making a close and concrete analysis of all the forces taking part in the movement. In relation to general development they may be regarded as purely accidental, but in accident too it is easy to detect the operation or intertwining of definite laws which differ widely in their significance.

The idea of providentialism and simplified interpretation of determinism are alien to the materialist conception of history, At every stage of history, the author notes, there exist possibilities of further development; which of these possibilities are being realized can be established only by concrete analysis. Of exceptional importance in this respect is the question concerning the role of the masses, groups and individuals in the historical process.

I. L. BACHILO. Certain Poblems of Research in the History of Soviet Society

The author examines the following three aspects of the problem: raising the theoretical level of historical research; methodological appraisal of the progress of research; critical analysis of the methodology used in bourgeois historiography.

The author examines some of the theses presented for a master's degree to illustrate the shortcomings in the methodological analysis of scientific subjects. At the same time I. L. Bachilo cites a number oi positive examples, drawing attention to the ability of combining logical and historical methods of research.

In the concluding part of his article the author stresses the importance of methodological analysis of bourgeois historiography devoted to the history of the U.S.S.R., particularly emphasizing the need for a critical approach to the elaboration of methodological problems of history by bourgeois authors. By way of illustration he cites the example of such extreme bourgeois trends as pragmatist anti-Marxism (Hook) and bourgeois objectivism (Momigliano, Rossi and others).

A. M. DUBINSKY. The Soviet Union's Liberating Mission in the Far East (1945)

The defeat of Japanese imperialism at the Manchurian and Korean bridgeheads by the Soviet Armed Forces, A. M. Dubinsky writes, created a favourable situation for the rise of the national-liberation movement on the Asian continent. The chief attention in the article is devoted to the influence exerted by the Soviet Army's historic victory in the Far East in 1945 on the consummation of the people's anti-imperialist and anti- feudal revolution in China. The author exposes the policy of American imperialism aimed at converting China into an anti-Soviet operational base during the concluding phase of the war in the Pacific. Encouraging and supporting the bankrupt Chiang Kaishek clique in its struggle against the revolutionary forces of the Chinese people, the U.S.A. exerted no little effort to rearm the Kuomintang army. The Chinese people, who were in dire need of Soviet assistance in the struggle against both Japanese and American imperialism, were not disappointed in their hopes. The article cites numerous facts illustrating the enthusiastic welcome given by the Chinese, Korean and Mongolian population to the Soviet Army of Liberation, which marched into Northeast China and North Korea in August 1945, the assistance rendered by the local population to the Soviet Army, the constructive activity of the Soviet military administration and the growth of China's national-revolutionary army.

D. G. TOMASHEVSKY. The Soviet Union's Struggle for the Recognition of the Polish National State (July 1944 - June 1945)

Drawing on multivarious sources, including certain materials from the U.S.S.R Foreign Policy Archive, the author examines some of the comparatively little-studied aspects of the Soviet Union's diplomatic struggle on the international arena for the recognition of the Polish national state. The article illustrates the main stages of the Soviet Union's struggle against the U.S. and British imperialist policy in the Polish question from the formation of the Polish Committee of National Liberation to the establishment of the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity (notably in the Three-Man Committee set up by the Crimea Conference), the Soviet government's consistent defence of the interests of People's Poland on the international arena and the development of Soviet-Polish cooperation in this sphere.

A. M. BORISOV. The Church and the Peasant Rising Led by Stepan Razin

In the opening part of the article the author shows that in the mid-17th century the Russian Church was one of the biggest landowners and represented an important force in the feudal state, sanctifying and strengthening its might.

During the Peasant War of 1670 - 71, A. M. Borisov writes, the Patriarch of Moscow demanded that the Russian clergy should render active assistance to the government troops in suppressing the insurgent people. In the insurgent areas the monks turned their monasteries into strongpoints for combating the insurgent people. To undermine the authority of Stepan Razin, the leader of the Peasant War, the Patriarch and the Church accused him of "blasphemy" and "apostasy" from God and the Church, thereby endeavouring to divert the insurgent peasant masses from the Peasant War. When the government troops began to press the insurgents and emerge victorious, the local clergy persuaded the insurgents to give up their struggle and surrender. Using the cross and the sword, the Church helped the autocracy to drown the people's uprising in blood. The article is based on new archive materials.

V. A. ZELENTSOV. The Vietnam Revolution: A New Stage

The article examines the principal landmarks in the development of the revolutionary movement in Vietnam, the stages of struggle and the chief factors which ensured the victory of the August 1945 revolutiоп. The victory of the people's uprising and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam opened up wide prospects for the development of the Vietnamese people along the road of democracy and progress. But the predatory war of 1945 - 1954, unleashed by the French imperialists with the encouragement and support of America's ruling element, retarded the D.R.V.'s advance towards socialism. Beginning with 1954, a new stage of development was ushered in in the Republic's history-a stage of the socialist revolution and the gradual transition to socialism, by-passing the stage of capitalist development. The tasks of the national popular-democratic revolution, which have been solved in North Vietnam, are still awaiting solution in South Vietnam, where an anti-popular puppet regime supported by American armed forces continues to remain in power. The socialist revolution in North Vietnam and the national popular-democratic revolution in South Vietnam are closely interconnected. The D.R.V.'s successful advance to socialism exerts a direct influence on the spread of the liberation struggle in South Vietnam. The article highlights the successes of the National-Liberation Front of South Vietnam, discloses the basic contradictions of South Vietnamese society, shows the process of the revolutionary struggle and the aggressive, adventurist character of America's policy in Vietnam.

A. S. KAKN. Research Into Modern History in the Scandinavian Countries in the 18th - 20th Centuries

The article highlights the progress of research into modern history in Sweden, Norway and Denmark from the latter part of the 18th to the beginning of the 20th centuries, bringing out the common and specific features in each of the three national historiographies. A feature that is common to them, in the author's opinion, consists in the early affirmation of the liberal-bourgeois and at the same time monarchist tendencies in historical literature and the preponderance of national themes. Swedish historiography, A. S. Kahn writes, was distinguished for its heightened interest in diplomatic history, particularly that of the 17th - 18th centuries, as well as for its strong political conservatism. Research into modern history in Denmark, the author points out, progressed more slowly and was marked by the predominance of highly- developed research in the history of the Middle Ages, but the views of Danish historians were far more liberal. The so-called Scandinavianism is most vividly expressed in the works of Danish researchers specializing in modern history. The young Norwegian historiography of the contemporary period, the article says, proved to be most closely connected with the country's political struggle for democratization and complete national independence. Nationalism and political radicalism were most strongly manifested in the works of Norwegian historians. Historians belonging io the Social-Democratic trend acquired much weight and influence already at the turn of the 20th century.

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