S. L. SENYAVSKY. Changes in the Social Structure of Soviet Society (1938 - 1970)

The article examines the basic regularities and some specific features of the process of changes taking place in the social and class structure of Soviet society in the period of consummating the building of socialism and going over to the building of communism. The author singles out five groups of the principal social and class distinctions in the conditions of victorious socialism and analyzes the process of their gradual elimination during the period of transition to a classless, socially homogeneous communist society: distinctions between classes; between classes and intermediate social strata and groups; between town and country; between mental and physical labour; interclass distinctions. The article also highlights the decisive influence exerted by the quantitative and qualitative growth of the working class on progressive changes in the social structure of Soviet society.

V. P. MISHAKOV. Lenin's Plan of Launching the Building of Socialism as Reflected in Bourgeois Historiography

The article makes a critical analysis of the methods employed by bourgeois historiography in interpreting the theory and practice of the initial stage of socialist construction in the Soviet Union. Drawing on concrete facts, the author subjects to criticism the works of a number of West-German, American and British bourgeois historians who completely gloss over or grossly distort the economic platform put forward by the Bolsheviks before the October Revolution, its development in V. I. Lenin's subsequent works and its practical realization in November 1917 and the first half of 1918. The article exposes the highly tendentious selection of source materials by diverse Sovietologists, the slanderous character of their theses, particularly those relating to the historical role of the working class and the Bolsheviks in the struggle against the economic sabotage of the bourgeoisie, in the socialist nationalization of production. Drawing on the achievements of Soviet historiography, the author convincingly demonstrates the pseudo-scientific nature of bourgeois writings which are ideologically subordinated to defending the interests of imperialism.

A. I. ROGOV. The Popular Masses and Religious Movements in Russia During the Latter Half of the 17th Century

The article examines the correlation of social and religious elements in Russian schism at the initial stage of its development. The social composition of the participants

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Summaries of Major Articles 221 in schism was extremely heterogeneous in character, embracing as it did court boyars, peasants, the streltsi (armed soldiers), handicraftsmen, petty traders and big-time merchants. Each of these groups had its own causes for resenting the existing state of things. Among those who expressed their protest most vigorously were the peasantry, handicraftsmen and tradespeople. Yet in the period under examination there were no social motives in the ideology of schism although the latter was intertwined with the class struggle. The social motives resounding in the manifestations of the dissidents were inversely proportional to the importance of religious slogans: the more forceful and pronounced grew the former, the less audible and distinct became the latter.

N. F. MOCHULSKY. The British Workers' Struggle Against the Tories' Anti-Labour Legislation (1970 - 1972)

The author describes the progress of the struggle which unfolded in Britain in the early seventies in connection with the monopolies' striving to deprive the trade unions of their basic hard-won rights, first and foremost of the right to strike. The article characterizes the attitude of the leadership of the Labour Party and of the trade unions to the antilabour bill as well as the active struggle of the Left forces against it, and reveals the essence and the mechanism of operation of the Industrial Relations Act promulgated by the Conservative government headed by Edward Heath, at the same time vividly showing the vehement resistance offered by the working masses to its practical implementation.

E. L. NITOBURG. The National Aspect of the Negro Question in the U.S.A.

Proceeding from his close analysis of the major developments in the history of American Negroes from the period of slavery and after its abolition up to the present time, the author investigates the factors which either helped to promote their cultural and social assimilation or retarded this process. In the course of almost two centuries, the author writes, side by side with their striving for complete integration into American society, the consciousness of American Negroes periodically manifested with sufficient clarity the reverse tendency towards segregation from this society. The growing self- awareness of American Negroes was characterized by fluctuations between these two tendencies, and the intensification of one or the other of these at certain periods of American history was closely connected with the rise or decline of the democratic movements in the country, and in the 20th century was also associated with the cardinal changes in the distribution and social structure of the Negro population.

N. A. YEROFEYEV. L. Namier and His Place in Bourgeois Historiography

The article analyzes the extensive scientific legacy of the prominent British historian L. Namier, whose close study of British 18th-century political scene enabled him to refute the widespread legends concerning the character of the major English political parties and Parliament of that period. Another important scientific service rendered by Namier consists in evolving the methodological principles of studying the history of Parliament through the biographies of individual M.P.s. The article also briefly examines a number of major works written by Namier's pupils and followers.

L. G. KRITSKY. The Spanish Church and the Role of Catholicism in Latin America in the 16th-19th Centuries

Drawing on a close analysis of the latest research works published in the Soviet Union and abroad, the author shows the role played by the Catholic Church in the con-

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quest of America by Spain and in evolving a system of the social organization of colonial society. These investigations enable the author to arrive at the conclusion that the Spanish Church exerted considerable influence on the development of this region owing to the fact that on the eve of the discovery of America it was able to consolidate its positions in the conditions of the absolutist regime prevailing in Spain. In the process of the conquest and colonization of America the Catholic Church came forward as the chief instrument of subjugating the local population, yielding priority in this respect only to the army.

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