G. D. KOMKOV. The Ideological Front of the Great Patriotic War

The article is devoted to the ideological and political work carried on by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the years of the Great Patriotic War. It contains an appraisal of the moral factor in contemporary wars and reveals the causes which determined the extremely acute character of the ideological conflict between the Soviet Union and nazi Germany. The author emphasizes that it was precisely the diametrically opposite nature of the two socio-economic systems and world outlooks that explained the exceptional bitterness of the ideological struggle between the Soviet Union and fascist Germany.

G. D. Komkov examines the main directions of the Communist Party's ideological activity at the various stages of World War II and discloses the role of the basic Party and government decisions in this sphere. His research in the organization and direction of political work among the masses proceeds in close connection with the solution of the military problems. The author makes a point of stressing the effectiveness of the forms and methods of educational work evolved during the war and shows their influence on fostering the spiritual qualities of the Soviet people. An important place is devoted in the article to an analysis of fascist Germany's measures in stepping up its "psychological warfare." The article exposes the demagogic character of nazi propaganda and the insidious methods it employed to keep, the German people in submission to the nazi leadership to the very last days of the war.

In the concluding part of the article the author sums up the results of the ideological struggle and convincingly shows that the moral and political defeat suffered by nazi Germany was quite natural and logical. The author emphatically stresses that this victory was determined by the superiority of the socialist ideology over bourgeois ideology, the ideology of fascism. The article is based on extensive documentary and statistical material furnished by Soviet archives.

Soviet State Security Organs in the Years of the Great Patriotic War

The article contains a brief historical survey of the struggle waged by the Soviet state security organs against the subversive activity carried on by the German Intelligence Service in the years of the Great Patriotic War. This struggle is divided by the author into three periods. The first period embraces the years immediately preceding the war (from the eve of Germany's attack on Poland to June 22, 1941). The chief aim of fascist Germany's Intelligence Service during that period was to carry out the necessary reconnoitring preparations for war against the U.S.S.R. Up to December 18, 1940, i. e., prior to Hitler's approval of the Barbarossa Plan, these reconnoitring preparations were of a general character. Subsequently, however, they were concretized in conformity with the requirements of this plan. For the Soviet state security organs this period was marked by the tense struggle against the attempts of nazi Intelligence Service to stimulate the activity of its old agents and smuggle in new spies on a mass scale for collecting intelligence information in the interests of war.

The second period embraces the events from June 22, 1941, to the middle of 1943, when a crucial turning point was reached in the development of the Great Patriotic War. Taking advantage of the fact that the military situation at that time was tilting in favour of Germany, nazi Intelligence chose the offensive strategy. While concentrating its main effort in the zone of hostilities, it penetrated deep into the interior of the country by smuggling in its spies, saboteurs and terrorists. Overcoming formidable difficulties caused by the adverse military situation at the outbreak of the war, the Soviet state, security organs gradually intensified their counteraction, delivering a series of telling blows to

nazi Intelligence and capturing important strategic positions for completely paralyzing the activity of nazi Intelligence in the future.

The third period, beginning with the middle of 1943 and ending with the termination of the war, is characterized by the complete superiority of the Soviet state security organs over fascist Germany's Intelligence Service.

The article shows that for all practical purposes nazi Intelligence did not succeed in accomplishing any of the tasks it was confronted with.

The article is based on extensive factual material.

B. C. URLANIS. The Toll of Human Life Exacted by Wars

The article analyzes the loss of human life suffered by mankind as a result of wars. The author singles out direct losses at the battlefronts and among the civilian population caused by war, and indirect losses which are not connected with military operations (higher mortality rate among the civilian population as a result of epidemics, deteriorated living conditions, etc.). Then there are losses resulting from the declining birth rate in war periods.

Proceeding from direct data as well as indirect calculations (correlation between the number of killed officers and soldiers, between the amount of killed and wounded; between military and non-military losses), the author gives an idea of the human losses caused by wars. The research embraces the Napoleonic Wars, the wars of revolutionary France, the War of the Spanish Succession, the Thirty Years' War, etc. The author makes a detailed analysis of the losses sustained by mankind in the first and second world wars.

A. E. KHARITONOVA. The Main Stages of Housing Construction in the U.S.E.R.

The article is devoted to the Soviet government's concern for eliminating the housing shortage in the country and extending the network of communal and public services.

The process of development of housing construction in the U.S.S.R. throughout the history of Soviet society is divided by the author into three main stages. The first stage, embracing the period 1918 - 1928, is characterized by the fact that the new housing construction was marked by the use of the old and technically backward production techniques inherited from the past and was based exclusively on the employment of manual labour.

The second stage lasted from the beginning of the first five-year plan to the mid- 1950's. At this stage the socialist state was in a position to allocate considerably bigger funds for housing development. This made it possible to establish a new, socialist material and technical basis of construction, train permanent cadres of high- skilled building workers and specialists and accumulate a certain amount of experience in employing industrial methods of construction.

From the middle of the 1950's there began the third stage distinguished by an unprecedented scale of housing construction on the basis of complete industrialization of all building processes.

A. I. NEDOREZOV. An Outstanding Event in the Anti-Fascist Movement of the Czechoslovak Peoples

The author highlights the new achievements in research work devoted to the history of the 1944 Slovak National Uprising. In contradistinction to the earlier erroneous and subjective treatment of the activity of the First Underground Central Committee of. the Slovak Communist Party, some of whose members were formerly accused of bourgeois nationalism, the article draws extensively on new documentary materials and the latest monographic researches by Czechoslovak historians to bring out the leading role of the Slovak Communist Party and its Central Committee in the anti- fascist movement whicn subsequently developed into a national uprising based on the close unity of all patriotic forces. The author gives a new appraisal of the activity of the Slovak National Council, which became a kind of revolutionary parliament of the insurgent people, and highlights the tense struggle between its revolutionary and bourgeois factions.

The article vividly reflects the immense scope of the operation carried out by the Soviet Armed Forces with the aim of rendering urgent and effective assistance to the'

insurgents. This operation, which developed into one of the major battles of the second world war, along with other forms of assistance to the Slovak people in their struggle against nazism, exerted much influence on the duration of the uprising and ultimately resulted in Slovakia's liberation from nazi occupation.

Disclosing the mistakes and blunders of the uprising, the author at the same time stresses its major political and strategic significance. Side by side with disclosing the outstanding role of the uprising in extending the national-democratic revolution and establishing a popular-democratic regime in Czechoslovakia, the article draws attention to the serious repercussion caused by the uprising in the Czech areas and neighbouring countries, as well as to the important part it played in thwarting the plans providing for the establishment of diverse federations in Central and South- Eastern Europe, which were harboured by the American and British ruling circles during the war. The article highly appreciates the Slovak people's contribution to the victory over nazi Germany.

V. G. TRUKHANOVSKY. The Colonial Problem in Relations Between the Main Participants in the Anti-Fascist Coalition

The article is devoted to the colonial problem and its impact on inter-Allied relations- an important aspect of international relations in the period of the second world war, which has not yet received adequate attention in historical research. One of the major external factors which contributed most significantly to the maturing of the crisis of the colonial system during the war, the author says, was the Soviet Union's victorious armed struggle for the liberation of the peoples, as well as the support and assistance rendered by the Soviet government-to the peoples of the colonies and dependent countries. The decisive role played by the U.S.S.R. in the achievement of victory ensured it the possibility of exerting a powerful influence on the policy of the colonial powers-the Soviet Union's allies in the anti-fascist coalition.

The article shows that British policy in the colonial question was aimed at perpetuating colonial domination over the peoples incorporated in the British Empire. The United States' policy was likewise inimical to the interests of the colonial and dependent nations, for its basic purpose was to replace British, French, Dutch or Belgian domination over these peoples by thinly-disguised American domination. However, under the influence of the Soviet Union's policy its allies were compelled to proclaim the principles corresponding to the interests of the peoples' liberation struggle. These principles were embodied in the 1941 Atlantic Charter and were subsequently submitted for official examination to the 1943 Moscow Conference of the Foreign Ministers of the U.S.S.R., U.S.A. and Britain, to the Crimea Conference and the 1945 San Francisco Conference. And although the practical policy followed by Britain and the U.S.A. on the colonial question was a violation of these principles, the American and British ruling circles were nevertheless deprived of the possibility to carry out their plans providing for the re-establishment of the old colonial regimes in the liberated colonial territories. Drawing on documentary publications and monographic literature, the author makes a detailed analysis of the struggle between the U.S.S.R., which championed the interests of the enslaved peoples, and its allies in the anti-fascist coalition, who adopted the positron of preserving and defending colonialism. This struggle accompanied the discussion of the colonial problem at the various inter-Allied and international conferences. Towards the end of the war the recognition and appreciation by the colonial and dependent nations of the Soviet Union's indefatigable and consistent effort in their defence found expression in the establishment of diplomatic relations with the U.S.S.R. by many Latin-American countries, Syria and the Lebanon.

Academician V. V. STRUVE. Certain Aspects of the Social Development of the Ancient East

Soviet historians are now working on Volume I of the four-volume history of world culture, which will comprehensively examine mankind's primitive-communal and ancient culture. In this connection the author of this article, drawing on the latest achievements of Soviet science, focusses attention on the major problems of the, ancient East that are still awaiting solution, and discusses ways and means of approaching them. The author singles out the following four main problems: the essence of the Eastern commune; the local forms of division of labour; the type of ancient Eastern slavery; combination of the ethnos categories. The solution of these problems will conclusively prove whether ancient Eastern societies, as V. V. Struve maintains, represented the first step in the development of slave-owning societies.

The author further proceeds to examine another group of problems, the solution of which will provide the basis for compiling the first volume of the above-mentioned edition. The author recommends to open the volume with examining the character of the public

works connected with the establishment of an irrigation system. The second step will be a deeper study of the process of trade and commodity exchange inasmuch as they lead to commodity production which, developing for a number of centuries, is alone capable of providing the basis for the birth of a class society. This explains the specific character of the early class society in Sumer and Egypt: the former was closely linked with the existence of commodity relations, as distinct from the latter, where commodity relations were practically nonexistent. The result was a more rapid disintegration of the Sumerian commune. On the other hand, the uniform irrigation system accelerated the genesis of the state in Sumer and Egypt, in contradistinction, say, to the Hittite empire, Phoenicia and Palestine. The third step will be devoted to tracing the stages in the development of socio-economic relations depending on the stages reached in the processing of first metals. The fourth step concerns a close analysis of the fact that the reserve of time at the disposal of free persons (owing to the exploitation of slave labour) served as a basis for the development of ancient Eastern cultures. The fifth step consists in highlighting the specific features of these cultures, resulting from widely dissimilar ethnical components, as, for instance, in Egypt, where the ethnical composition of the indigenous population remained unchanged for millenniums, and in Sumer where, on the contrary, no ethnical boundaries existed between the slaves and free citizens. The sixth step concerns research in the survivals of matriarchy, particularly in Sumerian epos. The seventh step consists in re-examining ancient religious reforms, notably the reforms introduced by Ikhnaton and Xerxes. The last step will be devoted to a reappraisal of the scientific achievements of the ancient world.

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