L. D. KOVALCHENKO. Corresponding Member, USSR Academy of Sciences. History Among Other Social Sciences

The author looks at the object of research and the subject-matter of historical science and at what distinguishes it from historical materialism; he discusses the social functions of history and the specificity of historical research. Kovalchenko writes that history should be engaged in studying human activity seen as a natural-historical advance which is internally conditioned and is subject to objective laws in each specific historical and geographical situation. The article emphasises the need to comprehensively develop the theoretical-methodological and scientific- methodological foundations of historical science, and the source base.

Y. V. ARUTYUNYAN, L. M. DROBIZHEVA. National Cultural Specificity and Some of Aspect of Social Life in the USSR

The authors assess the influence culture exerts on the social life of the Soviet nations: how it influences their social and political orientation and their personal intellectual values. They demonstrate that the national cultural specificities survive migrations and reveal themselves in professional orientations and other spheres of life; therefore to be effective the social and cultural policy in the multinational Soviet state should take into account the cultural features of every nation.

V. D. ZIMINA. Collapse of Monarchist Counter-Revolution in the North- West of Russia (1917 - 1920).

Reveals the class essence of the alliance between the' Russian monarchist counterrevolutionaries and the German imperialists during the civil war and intervention; describes in detail how the counter-revolutionary pro-German "all- Russia governments" and armed detachments sprang up in the north-western fringes of Russia; and draws a picture of the popular struggle under the leadership of the Communist Party and the Soviet Government against the German interventionists and their Russian henchmen.

A. I. KLIBANOV. At the Sources of Russo-Spanish Ties. The 1480s - 16th Century

Regular ties between Russia and Spain were established in the 1480s, the period marked in both countries by the liberation from the foreign yoke and political unification of their territories. The author draws attention to the sources previously outside historians' attention to illustrate the emergence of relations between Spain and Russia in politics, trade, and culture. The article covers the period up to the late 16th century.

A. VINOGRADOV. The Great Power and Peaceful Settlement with Italy in 1945 - 1947

Describes the Soviet Union's policy aimed at ensuring the conditions which would make it possible to conclude a peace treaty with Italy meeting the country's national interests and guaranteeing her democratic post-war development. The author shows that the Western powers sought to secure their own aims making Italy a junior partner in aggressive military blocks. The article provides a critical analysis of the bourgeois historiography of the subject.

A. P. PYANKOV. Some Aspects of the Emergence of Feudalism in Russia

The Eastern Slavs reached the stage of class formation very early: first they used the labour of slaves; starting with the 9th century feudal relations appeared in Rus. Between the 9th and 11th centuries the country lived through the early feudal period with an early feudal monarchy taking shape within its frames. This process caused greater ethnic cohesion among the Eastern Slavs.

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