The world system of socialism has just entered its third decade of existence. This period was long enough for the commonwealth of socialist countries to become the most important factor of universal progress, the main revolutionary force of the epoch. The countries of socialism have accumulated vast experience in implementing radical socio-economic transformations, creating a new type of international relations, strengthening a close and fruitful alliance with the international workers ' and national liberation movement, and fighting for ensuring lasting peace and security of peoples.

The emergence of the world socialist system marked the beginning of a new era in the development of mankind, the era of socialism going beyond the borders of one country and turning it into an international force.

The world socialist system is a living, dynamically developing organism that has its own past, present and future. And the further it goes, the more the organic connection of times is felt in its development, the more clearly the dependence of the present on the past and the future on the present becomes. Thus, the current state of affairs in individual countries of socialism and in the system of their mutual relations, the successes achieved by the peoples of fraternal countries and the difficulties they are experiencing are largely rooted in the past. Therefore, the study and comprehension of the process of the emergence of the world system of socialism is one of the important conditions for the further progress of the socialist community. It helps to avoid many mistakes and correctly outline development prospects. In the arsenal of the communist and workers ' parties of fraternal countries, historical analysis is an important tool that helps to identify the most characteristic features and trends of modern development and, based on them, develop effective policies that reflect the common, international interests of the world system of socialism and take into account the specifics of each socialist country. The history of the emergence of the world system of socialism enriches Marxist ideas about the stages, paths and forms of development of the world socialist revolution, allows us to identify new patterns and features in the world revolutionary process and, in this connection, correctly determine the character of the epoch and the corresponding strategy and tactics of the international communist movement.

In this connection, it is appropriate to recall V. I. Lenin's statement that only "taking into account first of all the main features of the differences between different 'epochs' (and not individual episodes in the history of individual countries) can we correctly build our tactics; and only knowledge of the main features of a given epoch can serve as a basis for taking into account more detailed features of or any other country"1 .

1 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 26, p. 142.

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Reflecting on the events connected with the emergence of the world socialist system a quarter of a century later, we will try to consider below the historical regularity of the victory of the socialist revolutions in the countries of Central and South - Eastern Europe as a direct continuation of the work begun by the Great October Socialist Revolution, and as a necessary condition and starting point for the formation of a socialist community,and to identify some new features of the world revolutionary process, They emerged in the course of the struggle of the masses for their national and social liberation during the Second World War and in the first post-war years .2
First of all, the experience of history has clearly shown the organic multi-faceted connection between the October Revolution in Russia and the subsequent victorious socialist revolutions: Of particular importance is the fact that these revolutions in their development, as V. I. Lenin foresaw, reproduced the most essential features of the socialist revolution in Russia and ensured the transformation of state-organized socialism from a national force into a an international force.

The revolutions in the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe brilliantly confirmed the international character of Leninism and the fundamental position of Lenin's teaching that the transition to socialism is a historically irreversible process. In the era of imperialism and the general crisis of capitalism, it involves countries that have reached a high and medium level of development of capitalist relations, as well as countries with a low degree of development of capitalism and even pre-capitalist relations. This dealt a crushing blow to anti-communism and revisionism, to the arguments of all those who tried to portray the October Revolution and the construction of socialism in the U.S.S.R. as a zigzag of history, a nationally exceptional phenomenon possible only in the special conditions of one country.

V. I. Lenin contrasted the bourgeois and Menshevik propaganda that Soviet Russia would have no followers in the future with the conviction, based on deep scientific analysis, that the October Revolution was the first step in the development of world socialism, and that other peoples and states would inevitably embark on the path of creating a new society. "And our road is the right one," V. I. Lenin said in 1921, " because it is the road that other countries will inevitably reach sooner or later."3 The correctness of Lenin's foresight was fully confirmed by the subsequent development of historical events. Socialism in our time is already represented in the international arena by a large group of States in Europe, Asia, and Latin America; it has become the world's economic and political system. The experience of world socialism has convincingly confirmed the internal unity of the process of transition from capitalism to socialism in different countries, the existence of common laws of such a transition. First of all, he showed that the essence of the socialist revolution in all conditions is reduced to the transfer of State power from the hands of the bourgeoisie and its allies to the hands of the working class and its allies and the implementation of socialist transformations in the interests of the working people. The Communist and workers ' parties at their international forums in 1957, 1960 and 1969 pointed out the existence of common patterns of transition to socialism in different countries and emphasized their defining character-

2 The article does not analyze the course of socialist revolutions in the other group of states of the world socialist system - in Asia and Cuba, especially since most of these revolutions occurred after the new social system went beyond the borders of one country and became a world system as a result of the entry of the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe on the path of socialism.

3 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 44, p. 312.

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We took part in the revolutionary process and formulated the most important of these laws.

The October Revolution in Russia and the socialist revolutions in other countries have shown that the necessary condition for the victory of the socialist revolution is the leadership of the working masses in carrying out the revolution by the working class, whose vanguard is the Communist Party, and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat in one form or another. In order to consolidate the victory achieved and move towards socialist construction, the new State power must ensure the alliance of the working class with the bulk of the peasantry and other strata of the working people, eliminate capitalist ownership and establish social ownership of the basic means of production, ensure conditions for the gradual socialist transformation of agriculture, organize the planned development of the economy, and carry out a socialist revolution in culture and ideology. eliminate national oppression and consistently pursue a policy of equality and fraternal friendship between peoples. In the interests of ensuring favorable external conditions, each country of the victorious socialist revolution must organize the defense of the gains of the new system against enemy attacks, and ensure the solidarity of its working class with the working class of other countries.

These are the most significant features of the historical experience accumulated during the revolutionary transformations in all socialist states without exception. This experience reflects the general principles of building socialism, which, as life has shown, are extremely dangerous for the fate of the new social system to deviate from. Petty-bourgeois perversions of the nature of the proletarian dictatorship, adventurist experiments in economics, and the substitution of militant nationalism for proletarian internationalism are particularly harmful to the cause of building socialism.

Defending the thesis of general laws of socialist construction in all countries, Lenin's teaching at the same time emphasizes the fact that the forms and methods of socialist transformation of various aspects of social life, the pace of these transformations are very diverse and change depending on the specific conditions of individual countries and the international situation. Lenin clearly saw the inevitability of a variety of ways of transition to socialism and proved the theoretical and practical possibility of both the armed seizure of power by the proletariat and peaceful ways of gaining power. Lenin's instructions on the variety of forms and methods of transition to socialism give the communist and workers ' parties of fraternal countries a powerful weapon in the struggle for the victory of the new social system, and they aim at a variety of tactical maneuvers to achieve strategic goals. Guided by them, the communist and workers ' parties of the fraternal countries can make full use of the unique historical situation that developed in these countries at the time of the socialist revolutions.

Expressing his firm belief that all nations will inevitably come to socialism, Lenin emphasized that "all will not come in exactly the same way, each will introduce a unique feature in one or another form of democracy, in one or another type of dictatorship of the proletariat, in one or another pace of socialist transformations of various aspects of social life" 4 . The variety of forms of transition to socialism revealed in the course of revolutions not only does not contradict the unity of socialist states and the strengthening of their international ties.

4 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 30, p. 123.

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but, on the contrary, it helps to strengthen their fraternal alliance by expanding and replenishing the arsenal of means used by the Marxist-Leninist parties in the struggle for the socialist transformation of society.

When comprehending the problem of the variety of forms of implementation of socialist revolutions, the question inevitably arises about the points of reference, starting from which one can compare various methods of social transformation. The most important starting point is the October Revolution, as the world's first victorious socialist revolution. Comparing with it the ways and forms of the revolutionary transformations carried out in other countries almost three decades later, we can clearly identify the differences caused by the new historical conditions, the new alignment of class forces within individual countries and on the international arena that emerged as a result of the Second World War. A comparison of the forms and methods of revolutionary transformations carried out in different countries during the same period makes it possible to recognize differences caused by national specifics (specific historical, political, social, economic, cultural, geographical factors).

It is well known how great were the national and state differences of the countries that embarked on the path of building socialism after the Second World War. Suffice it to say that the level of economic and political development among them included all three types of countries included in the classification of the Comintern program 5 : (a) countries with highly developed capital (Czechoslovakia, eastern Germany); (b) countries with a medium level of capital development (Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia); (c) colonial and semi-colonial countries and dependent countries (China, Vietnam, Korea, Albania). Consequently, in the course of revolutions, one could expect to discover a wide variety of national forms and methods of revolutionary transformation.

In fact, a different trend can be traced through the colorful kaleidoscope of revolutionary events. A comparison of the revolutionary processes that took place during the Second World War and after its end in different countries shows that in some of the most significant features, the similarity between them is greater than one might expect, based on the existing national and state specifics. This applies also to the alignment of class forces that developed at different stages of the revolution, to the methods of conquest of State power by the proletariat and its allies, and, finally, to the methods of carrying out such major socio-economic measures as agrarian transformation and the nationalization of the means of production.

At the same time, it is easy to see a number of specific features that distinguish the forms and methods of implementing socialist revolutions in the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe from the October Revolution in Russia. To a certain extent, this can be explained by certain specifics in the alignment of class forces and interests within individual countries. It was also important to develop the theoretical concepts that guided the Communist and workers ' parties in developing their revolutionary strategy and tactics. However, the main significance was the different character of the epoch in comparison with the epoch of the October Revolution.

The study of the revolutions that took place at the final stage of the Second World War and in the first post-war years leads to the conclusion that in the conditions of the existence of at least one socialist country, the laws of the world revolutionary process are determined by

5 "The Communist International in documents of 1919-1932", Moscow, 1933, p. 291.

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not only by the uneven development of capitalism and the sharpness of its antagonistic contradictions, but also by the impact of a socialist society that develops according to its own laws. The vanguard role in the international revolutionary movement is objectively played under these conditions by the working class of the first socialist country in the world, which, naturally, went further than others on the path of socialist conquests, and did more than others to support this movement. The effect of this pattern was especially pronounced after the Soviet Union completely defeated the army of foreign invaders in a deadly battle with fascism.

As a result of the defeat of German and Italian fascism and Japanese militarism during World War II, a significant change in the balance of economic and political forces in favor of socialism took place on the international stage, which predetermined the emergence of many new features and features in the development of socialist revolutions in the post-war period. Many of these features have been identified as stable trends in the development of the world revolutionary process in the modern era of global confrontation between the two world systems and the further strengthening of the impact of the socialist community on international development.

The socialist revolutions in the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe are inseparable from the situation that developed in Europe on the eve and during the Second World War, when these countries were in one form or another at the mercy of nazi Germany. As a result of the Munich agreement, Czechoslovakia was dismembered. Part of it was occupied by Nazi troops. Another part of it, Slovakia, was turned into a so-called independent state, which in reality was completely dependent on Germany. This was the main result of the Czechoslovak bourgeoisie's betrayal of the national interests of Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak government refused the Soviet Union's offer of aid to fight back against Nazi Germany, thus condemning the country to foreign enslavement. In September 1939, during the outbreak of World War II, bourgeois-landowner Poland was defeated and occupied by Hitler's troops. The Polish bourgeoisie also betrayed the interests of its nation and state. With its anti-Soviet policy, it essentially handed over the Polish people to the Nazi invaders. After the armed struggle, Yugoslavia and Albania were occupied by the Nazis. In Poland, the Czech lands, Albania, and Yugoslavia, an occupation regime was established, and the "national" bourgeois State apparatus was crushed.

The situation of Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria was somewhat different during the war. The ruling circles of these countries agreed to an "alliance" with Hitler's Germany. They joined Germany and became its junior partners in plundering and oppressing their own and foreign peoples. The bourgeoisie of these countries retained the appearance of state independence, and it also retained the reactionary state apparatus, which in its essence became the dictatorship of the most reactionary strata of the bourgeoisie and the landlords, which left its mark on the forms of struggle of the masses against fascism. However, the fact of foreign domination remained decisive, which meant a regression in national economic, political and cultural development. This was already a fundamentally new situation, characterized by the fact that in the center of world civilization, in Europe, in countries that previously had national independence and had the necessary prerequisites for the victory of the socialist revolution, as a result of their enslavement by the German-Fascist invaders, the task of fighting for the trampled national independence and democratic freedoms trampled by fascism once again arose. New si-

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The occupation created new conditions for the struggle of peoples for their national and social liberation.

Thus, an important distinguishing feature of revolutions in the countries of Central and South - Eastern Europe was that they emerged from the national liberation, anti-fascist struggle. These revolutions began as broad popular movements for national liberation, the purpose of which was to fight against foreign enslavers - German fascists and their minions in the person of all sorts of Quislingovites from among the local bourgeois-landowner elite, as well as against puppet governments completely dependent on Germany. Under these conditions, the national liberation movement, which was generally democratic in nature, inevitably involved the masses of the people in the struggle for profound socio-economic transformations. The struggle against German-fascist oppression, for democracy, became ever more closely linked and intertwined with the struggle for socialism.

In Soviet literature, the literature of fraternal countries, at one time there were discussions about the stages of revolutions in the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe. Most authors have argued that in all countries these revolutions passed through two stages - a general democratic one and a proper socialist one. The historical and temporal boundary between the stages fell on 1948-1949. Life turned out to be somewhat more complicated than this scheme. In a number of countries, in particular in Hungary, Romania, and Czechoslovakia, it is indeed possible to distinguish quite clearly the general democratic and socialist stages of the revolution, although they were also characterized by the intertwining of general democratic and socialist transformations. Sometimes socialist measures were carried out by the people's government earlier than general democratic ones. Some of the measures implemented were both general democratic and socialist in nature. Thus, the nationalization of industrial enterprises, since it ensured the seizure of property from war criminals, was a general democratic measure. But, following the path of nationalization, the people's power concentrated in its hands the commanding heights in the economy, which already directly led to socialism. In some other countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe, such as Bulgaria, the specific correlation of class forces and the vicissitudes of the struggle that unfolded led to the fact that the working class was able to actually concentrate state power in its hands even before the struggle for general democratic tasks was completed .6
When analyzing the revolutionary transformations in the countries of popular democracy, it is clear that the specific situation required great tactical flexibility from the Communist and workers ' parties. In particular, while carrying out deep socio-economic measures, many of which were undoubtedly of a socialist nature, the communist and workers ' parties were in no hurry to proclaim their socialist goals, since the allies of the working class in the anti-fascist struggle were not yet sufficiently prepared to accept them. In the name of preserving the unity of all democratic forces, the working class

6 "The peculiarity and peculiarities of the development of the revolution in our country," says the report of the Central Committee of the BCP to the Seventh Party Congress, " consist in the fact that the working class, led by the Communist Party, in alliance with the working peasantry, established and consolidated its dictatorship in the form of people's democracy, not at once, not with a single stroke, but gradually, in the process of an acute class struggle (not a civil war), which in 1947 culminated in the nationalization of industry. But this is the peculiarity of the development of the socialist revolution, and not of any other revolution, which allegedly later developed into a socialist one " ("The Seventh Congress of the Bulgarian Communist Party. Reports, decisions, speeches". BKP publishing house. Sophia. 1958, pp. 135-136).

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he actively advocated the implementation of those measures that at any given moment were recognized by the broad masses of the people as necessary and overdue. As the radicalism of the measures carried out intensified, the bourgeoisie became more and more opposed to them, and thus exposed its true face to the broad masses. The working class, on the contrary, was gaining new allies. Under these conditions, the struggle for general democratic goals brought the masses ever closer to implementing measures that were directly socialist in nature.

One of the main conclusions drawn from the discussion of the development of socialist revolutions is that in the modern era of strengthening the position of world socialism and deepening the general crisis of capitalism, democratic and socialist transformations are converging and closely intertwining. The experience of combining the struggle for democracy with the struggle for socialism, accumulated by the fraternal countries in the course of revolutionary transformations, is now of wide international significance. The communist and workers ' parties in capitalist countries face the same problem: in our era, a consistent movement along the path of democracy is also a movement towards socialism. This development of the revolutionary process is determined by the new alignment of class forces on an international scale, and by the rapid maturation of objective and subjective prerequisites for socialist transformation. Under these conditions, liberation from reactionary regimes that express the interests of monopolistic capital becomes, to a certain extent, a national task and serves as an important prerequisite for the socialist revolution. In the report dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of V. I. Lenin, L. I. Brezhnev noted: "In our time, Lenin's conclusion that in the era of imperialism the tasks of the struggle for democracy and the struggle for socialism are increasingly converging and merging into a common stream is of key importance. It is with this in mind that the Communist parties of the bourgeois countries are now putting forward such programs of struggle for democracy, on the basis of which it is possible to rally the masses of the people around the working class and lead them to the next stage: the struggle for socialism."7
The occupation of many European states by Hitler's troops was by no means a simple military act. This was only the starting point for the implementation of the fascist plans for the complete extermination of entire peoples, turning millions and millions of people into slaves of the Hitlerite Reich. Faced with the monstrous atrocities of the Nazi invaders, the peoples enslaved by fascism had, in fact, the only alternative: either liberation, or death or slavery. The escalation of the reactionary nature of imperialism, which nurtured fascism with its idea of world domination and the practice of concentration camps, gave rise to an important feature of the unfolding liberation struggle: the interests of fascist reaction and its minions came into antagonistic conflict with the vital interests of entire peoples, which contributed to the joining of broad strata of the petty bourgeoisie to the anti-Fascist national liberation movement In a number of other cases, there were also parts of the bourgeois strata that had not previously taken part in the struggle against fascism.

The expansion of the front of the anti-imperialist struggle also meant the expansion of the social base of the revolution and its mass character. The working class and its vanguard, the Communist parties, have opened up new and favorable opportunities for the struggle for democracy and socialism. Successful implementation of these opportunities required vanguard to

7 L. I. Brezhnev. Lenin's cause lives and wins, Moscow, 1970, pp. 54-55.

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The working class should take into account not only the common interests of all the classes and strata that rose up to fight fascism, but also the different goals that each class and social group pursued in this struggle. In turn, these goals, as well as the political strategy and tactics of each class, largely depended on the level of economic development of a particular country, the presence of feudal remnants in it, the degree of development of democracy, and the traditions of the revolutionary movement. These goals were also determined by the strength of Fascist oppression and a number of other factors. The effectiveness of their policies directly depended on how clearly the Communist parties realized the complexity and inconsistency of reality.

The most determined and consistent fighter against fascism was the working class. He was the first to raise the banner of democratic freedoms and national independence. As the influence of the Communist parties increased among the masses of the people, its role as a vanguard force in the unfolding struggle for national and social liberation increased. The main task of the Communists was to mobilize all forces for the struggle against fascism, to involve the broadest masses of the people in it, and to arm and organize them accordingly. The steady implementation of this course, the heroism and selflessness shown by the Communists, won over the wider masses of the people to their side and strengthened their influence on the entire course of the struggle for national liberation. If even the most patriotic bourgeoisie had a glaring contradiction between the task of deepening and expanding the struggle against fascism and its class goals, then the working class and its vanguard-the communist and workers ' parties-did not have such a contradiction. His main advantage was that the interests he set for himself in the struggle for national liberation coincided with his interests in the struggle for socialism. The greater the scope of the struggle against fascism, the faster the readiness of the masses to undertake profound socio-economic transformations grew.

The main allies of the working class in the revolution were the peasantry and the urban strata of the petty bourgeoisie. In most countries, the transition of the petty-bourgeois strata to a close alliance with the working class took place during the national liberation struggle. In some cases, the transition of the main strata of the petty bourgeoisie to democratic positions ended after liberation. The intelligentsia played an active role in the anti-fascist struggle. Most of its members supported general democratic transformations and subsequently were loyal to the transition to the socialist path of development. However, the other, smaller part of the intelligentsia, closely associated with the bourgeoisie, remained under its influence and, as the revolution unfolded, took an increasingly wary and then hostile position towards the ongoing transformations.

The position of the bourgeoisie was very heterogeneous in different countries. The most reactionary part of it linked its fate with Nazi Germany, opposed itself to the people and suffered complete political bankruptcy during the liberation of the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe. This dealt a significant blow to the position of the entire bourgeoisie as the ruling class. In the countries allied to Germany, this stratum of the bourgeoisie initially formed a significant part of the ruling class. During the course of the war, especially when the inevitable defeat of fascism became clear, many of those who collaborated with Germany tried to dissociate themselves from it. In most of the countries captured by the Nazis, the occupation regimes, as a rule, did not cooperate with the national bourgeoisie. Therefore, only a small part of it was associated with the invaders.

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The anti-fascist bourgeoisie was also heterogeneous. A part of it opposed German fascism only because it did not sufficiently consider its interests (the so-called historical parties in Romania, the right-wing bourgeois groups in Bulgaria). These groups were in open opposition to the Communist-led National Fronts. The emigrant governments of Poland and Yugoslavia, for example, refused to cooperate at all with the anti-fascist resistance movement forces led by the Communists, and made no secret of their desire to suppress them. In the territory occupied by the enemy, they created their own military organizations - the Home Army in Poland and the Chetnik detachments in Yugoslavia. The Chetniks systematically attacked the partisans, acting together with the invaders. Treacherous attacks on Polish partisans were also repeatedly launched by the Home Army. Other groups of the bourgeoisie, which were more liberal and democratic, were part of the national associations of patriotic forces.

The bourgeois strata that participated in the anti-fascist struggle were interested in giving this struggle a private character, not involving the broad masses of working people in it, and not forming military units of the resistance forces. The rising political activity of the masses threatened the vital interests of the bourgeoisie and threatened its existence as the ruling class. The bourgeoisie understood that the forces of Resistance alone could not ensure the defeat of fascism. But the one who will be at the head of the national liberation struggle at the time of victory will determine the nature of the post-war socio-economic and state structure. Therefore, the bourgeoisie relied on its ties with the Anglo-American bloc, counting on its support after the defeat of Hitler's Germany, and until then it wanted to secure recognition as a leading force in the anti-Fascist struggle. The tactics of the bourgeoisie were also characterized by the desire to prevent the growth of the influence of the Soviet Union and its liberation ideas on the masses, especially on the fighters of the Resistance movement and all those who saw in the help of the USSR and in its victory over the fascist aggressors the main guarantee of the conquest of freedom and independence.

The situation that developed during the Second World War confirmed the correctness of the strategy of the international communist movement defined by the Seventh Congress of the Comintern. Therefore, the Communist and workers ' parties based their policies on the idea of the Comintern creating a united anti-fascist front. Taking into account the specifics of their countries, the balance of internal and external forces, the Communists came up with programs for organizing a broad democratic National Front. These programs served as an effective form of uniting all democratic, anti-fascist, and patriotic forces. In Czechoslovakia, this popular coalition was called the National Front of the Czechs and Slovaks, in Yugoslavia-the United People's Liberation Front, in Bulgaria-the Fatherland Front, in Poland-the People's Unity Front, in Hungary-the Fatherland Popular Front, in the GDR-the National Front, etc. The emergence of such coalitions was dictated by the objective necessity of the struggle against fascism and the interests of rapid liberation from foreign enslavers.

In different countries, there were different conditions for the formation of National Fronts. The breadth of their social base largely depended on the ability of the Communist and workers ' parties in practice to pursue a policy of uniting all anti-fascist forces, as well as on the position taken by individual bourgeois groups, and on their importance in the overall alignment of class forces. The most

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A broad bloc of different class forces was created in Czechoslovakia on the basis of a program developed by the Communist Party. It included the working class, the peasantry, the intelligentsia, and the predominant part of the middle bourgeoisie. The National Front in the GDR was formed on a fairly broad social base. It also included some bourgeois groups. In Poland, the democratic front did not include bourgeois groups that relied on the emigrant government and were in opposition to the mass anti-fascist movement. Bourgeois groups did not participate in the National Fronts of Yugoslavia and Albania, which was explained both by their weakness and by the reactionary policy pursued by the bourgeoisie of these countries.

Understanding in the light of modernity the alignment of class forces that developed during the revolutions in the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe allows us to draw a conclusion about one general trend in the development of the world revolutionary process in the modern era. The growing reactionary nature of imperialism, the growing antagonism between the interests of the monopolistic bourgeoisie and all other classes and strata of society expand the social base of the anti-imperialist struggle, and make it possible to unite broad strata of the people, including a part of the national bourgeoisie, to fight against the domination and dominance of monopolies. As is well known, the new possibilities of the anti-imperialist struggle opened up by the current correlation of class forces within individual countries and in the international arena were widely discussed at the 1989 International Conference of Communist and Workers ' Parties in Moscow.

The Meeting found that in the new historical conditions that have developed as a result of the struggle between two world systems, the collapse of the colonial system of imperialism, the aggravation of internal and external contradictions of state-monopoly capitalism, "...favorable prerequisites are being created for uniting all democratic trends in a political union that can decisively limit the role of monopolies in the country's economy, capital and also carry out fundamental political and economic transformations that will provide the most favorable conditions for continuing the struggle for socialism. " 8 The strategic line worked out by the Conference is a powerful offensive weapon in the hands of the Communist and workers ' parties in the struggle against world imperialism.

Before the defeat of Hitler's hordes, the communist parties considered the struggle against fascism, for the restoration of trampled national independence, as the main task to which everything else was subordinated. Even then, however, the Communists considered it necessary to gain political leadership in the national democratic movement in order to prevent the bourgeoisie and the landlords from coming to power after liberation. The line of the Communist and workers ' parties was aimed at developing the national liberation movement into people's democratic revolutions. These revolutions did not directly aim at the establishment of socialism, but the transformations they carried out created real prerequisites for the transition to socialism in a relatively close historical perspective. The Communist and workers ' parties, which were the most solid support of the Popular Front, were able to maintain this broad social union even after the task of national liberation was solved, and they skillfully used it to fight for deep democratic transformations, and then for the struggle for socialism.

8 "International Conference of Communist and Workers' Parties. Documents and materials", Moscow, 1969, p. 310.

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Until 1947-1949, in most European countries of popular democracy, tasks were solved primarily anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, and general democratic. During this period, the people's power is being formed and strengthened, which in its essence is a revolutionary-democratic dictatorship of the proletariat, the peasantry and the middle urban strata (artisans, handicraftsmen, small merchants, etc.). It was a broad class alliance based on the alliance of the working class and the working peasantry. The state power thus created was not yet the dictatorship of the proletariat in the full sense of the word, but it was no longer the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, whose economic and political positions were significantly weakened at this stage. By implementing policies that served the fundamental interests of the working people, the Communist parties achieved an increase in their influence among the masses and won a majority in the organs of the Popular Front, in parliaments and Governments.

It is during this period that measures are being taken on the initiative of the communist and workers ' parties in most countries of popular democracy that, although they do not eliminate the capitalist mode of production, shake its foundations and prepare the conditions for a gradual transition to the construction of socialism. In the political sphere, such measures include the democratization of all public and State institutions, the creation of various mass organizations of workers, the granting of broad rights to trade unions, and so on.

Deep transformations are also taking place in the economic sphere during this period. The first years of people's power are the years of implementation of fundamental agrarian reforms. These reforms were a genuine agrarian revolution, which forever ended the remnants of feudal relations in the countryside and eliminated the class of large landowners. The state confiscated the Landlords ' land and, for a small fee, transferred it to the ownership of landless and landless peasants. The reforms significantly improved the material situation of the peasantry and eliminated pauperism in the countryside. They sharply intensified the process of serializing the peasantry and not only did away with landlord property, but also affected the upper strata of rural capitalists. Land reforms took place in an environment of acute class struggle. In the course of these reforms, the working peasantry has learned from its own experience that the working class, the communist and workers ' parties are the consistent and resolute defenders of its fundamental interests. The implementation of agrarian reforms in the countries of popular democracy strengthened the alliance between the working class and the peasantry, unleashed the political activity of rural workers, and opened the way for further, even deeper socio-economic transformations.

Important measures at the democratic stage of the revolution were also implemented in the field of industry. In the countries of popular democracy, enterprises that were owned by collaborators, war criminals, and also owned by foreign monopolies pass into the hands of the state. These enterprises are becoming the backbone of the state sector in industry. They begin to form new Industrial relations in their essence. In some countries, during the same period, some particularly important enterprises and even industries belonging to "ordinary" capitalists, joint-stock companies, etc.are nationalized. Various forms of state control over production and distribution are introduced in private enterprises. A number of People's Democracy countries are nationalizing banks. Although all these and similar measures did not mean the elimination of the capitalist system, they also undermined its foundations. Was, in fact

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The big bourgeoisie has been liquidated, the influence of foreign monopolies has been eliminated, and the sphere of relations between entrepreneurs and workers has been strictly regulated.

Thus, the state of the dictatorship of the revolutionary classes successfully performed the functions of limiting exploitation, suppressing reactionary forces, and began to perform an economic and organizational function.

Along with the resolution of fundamental changes in economic life, political life was undergoing a process of isolation and displacement of bourgeois elements and right-wing political parties, on the one hand, and consolidation and strengthening of democratic forces, on the other. The change in the correlation of class forces in the political sphere, in particular, is evidenced by the data describing the composition of governments in the first years of the existence of people's democratic states. Thus, in Czechoslovakia, the coalition government formed on April 7, 1945, included only four communists, the remaining 16 members of the government were representatives of other parties. At the same time, the post of President until February 1948 was held by E. Benes, who headed the reactionary forces in the country. After February 1948, the Government of the National Front included 12 Communists and nine representatives of other parties. A communist was elected president. A sharp political struggle was going on in Poland, where reactionary bourgeois parties, especially Mikolajczyk's peasant party, held important positions in the country's leadership until 1947. Romania had a monarchy until the end of 1947. The bourgeois parties mostly lost their positions in the government only by the beginning of 1948. Formed in April 1948, the Romanian Government already consisted in the majority of representatives of the Workers ' Party .9
Together, all the factors mentioned above brought us very close to the dictatorship of the proletariat and put the question of the transition to the construction of socialism on the agenda.

Another important feature of people's democratic revolutions associated with the Popular Front is the presence in a number of countries of several political parties at all stages of the revolutionary process. These parties, in their overwhelming majority, adopted the platform of socialist construction during the revolution and recognized the leading role of the communist parties.

In a different way than in the Soviet Union, the people's democratic States formed the organs of State administration-the political superstructure of the working - class State. The experience of these states, as well as the Soviet experience, has confirmed that the necessary condition for the transition to socialism is a radical restructuring of the old state apparatus and the creation of new forms of power corresponding to the tasks of the victorious proletariat. But while in our country, during the October Revolution, the old state apparatus was radically destroyed and, on the basis of the initiative of the masses, all power was transferred to new bodies - Soviets - in the European countries of popular democracy, in the first stages of the revolution, along with the emergence of new forms of mass organization, some old forms and institutions were used. A sharp political struggle was unfolding in and around them; having secured a parliamentary majority by democratic means, the Communists used parliaments as one of the instruments of struggle for the masses, for popular power.

The popular fronts were not limited to one class or two classes-workers and peasants. But this was not the only difference between them and the Soviet system of Workers and peasants: they could use in the inta-

9 Sh. P. Sanakoev. Mirovaya sistema sotsializma [The World System of Socialism], Moscow, 1968, pp. 49-50.

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the scope of democratic development on the road to socialism forms of a representative parliamentary system. Of course, the application of these old forms was not a simple borrowing of bourgeois parliamentarism: the old forms were given a completely new content, both in terms of their political orientation and the actual exercise of democratic rights and freedoms for the working people. But for all this, even such an updated parliamentary form was not the most important or primary instrument of social transformation. Much more important were the new forms of democratic organization of the masses within the framework of the Popular Front, which created the possibility of expressing the needs, interests, needs, and moods of the masses more directly than in the framework of the parliamentary system.

These new forms provided direct cooperation between citizens belonging to different parties and having different beliefs. Through these forms, the overwhelming majority of the people could demonstrate their determination to support social transformations with a socialist orientation. Organizations of the Popular Front provided direct supervision and control of the masses over the actions of political parties, the state apparatus, political leaders and officials. Under the pressure of the masses, even non-socialist parties repeatedly had to approve reforms leading to socialist perestroika in the parliaments of people's democracies. In a situation of acute class struggle, the vast majority of the people expressed their will in favor of further social progress, in favor of socialism, and the most convincing victories of the electoral blocs of popular democracy were achieved through the organizations of the Popular Front. The desire of the broad masses to move towards socialism prevailed, rejecting the attempts of reaction to reverse the movement, to the domination of the exploiting classes. The unity of the people defeated all the counter-revolutionary plots based on foreign imperialism. In this situation, the hegemony of the working class and its political leadership in the system of people's democracy was strengthened, which increasingly began to fulfill the functions and role of the dictatorship of the proletariat in the struggle for the transition to socialism. With the help of the Popular Front organizations, a new system and apparatus of the state-political organization of people's democracy were created.

An important achievement of the revolutionary labor movement, most often achieved by the end of the first stage of people's democratic revolutions, was to overcome the split in the ranks of the working class, which lasted for many decades. Without strengthening the unity of the working class, it would be impossible to successfully solve the tasks connected with the further development of people's democratic revolutions and the construction of socialism in these countries. The process of strengthening the unity of the working class in all countries of popular democracy developed in the context of an unprecedented increase in the authority of the Communist parties. This was primarily due to the fact that they alone of all the existing political parties during the Second World War were the most consistent and uncompromising fighters against fascism, for the freedom and independence of their countries, for democracy and socialism. Yet this process has evolved in different ways in different countries. He was influenced by the flexibility of the Marxist-Leninist parties ' policies in the struggle for unity. At the same time, the overcoming of the split in the working-class movement in a number of countries to a certain extent depended on the degree to which the right-wing leaders of the social-Democratic parties resisted the establishment of working-class unity and on the extent to which they managed to maintain their authority among the Social-Democrats, in the working class. Therefore, in some countries, the unity of the working class was established relatively quickly, while in others, the solution of this problem was connected with overcoming the problems of the working class.-

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there are no significant difficulties. The unification of the Communist parties with the social - democratic ones, which took place on the basis of Marxism-Leninism, contributed to the consolidation of all revolutionary forces and to the strengthening of the leading social role of the working class.

The social base of the revolution was much broader than it was in our country at the time, and the internal and external conditions of the revolution's development were more favorable than in the autumn of 1917, which enabled the Communists to make the transition from the first stage of the revolution to the second in a comparatively peaceful way, without civil war, without the intensity of class struggle The October Revolution.

In the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe, violent armed measures were exhausted in the course of the anti-fascist liberation struggle, combined with the victorious offensive of the Soviet Army. The heroic partisan war of the peoples of Yugoslavia, the Popular Uprising in Slovakia in 1944, the armed uprisings in Prague in May 1945, in Bulgaria on September 9, 1944, and in Romania in August 1944 opened the way for further revolutionary transformations in a relatively peaceful way. Attempts by reactionary forces to start a civil war (Poland), organize armed actions of counter-revolutionary shock detachments (Romania), prepare an armed putsch (Hungary, Czechoslovakia) were thwarted both by the presence of the Red Army and by the fact that the reactionary forces were deprived of the main means of coercion, and the command positions in the people's militia, in particular in the the new security agencies and the army were left in the hands of the proletariat, which relied on the will of the broad masses of the people.

Having avoided a civil war and a period similar to military communism in the USSR, most people's democracies were able to dispense with such extraordinary political measures as disenfranchising representatives of the former exploiting classes and granting electoral advantages to the working class. All this contributed to the strengthening of national unity and facilitated the involvement of the broad masses in the course of revolutionary events. The experience of the countries of popular democracy has confirmed Lenin's thesis that the greater or lesser degree of acuteness of the class struggle for socialism depends not so much on the proletariat as on the degree of resistance of the exploiting classes. Violence in the hands of the proletariat is not an end in itself, but only a means to carry out the will of the overwhelming majority of the nation against the will of the old ruling classes.

Since the establishment of working-class power, supported by all working people, a series of events has been held in the countries of popular democracy to mark the transition to the construction of socialism. All large and medium - sized industry (in most countries-with a certain redemption), the bowels of land, banks, transport, all wholesale and part of retail trade, and all foreign trade are nationalized. The working-class state thus concentrates all the economic commanding heights in its hands, and begins to manage the economy systematically.

At one time, V. I. Lenin foresaw that after the victory of the Great October Revolution, socialist transformations in other countries would take place in more favorable conditions than in Russia. Indeed, life has shown that the existence of the Soviet Union has helped the workers of the fraternal countries to create and strengthen the socialist system.

The dominant feature of revolutions and socialist construction in the countries of popular democracy, as compared with the Soviet Union, lies in the more peaceful development of events, in the relatively lower intensity of the class struggle, and in the presence of a broader social sphere.

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bases of social transformations. The dictatorship of the proletariat in these countries was able from the very beginning, relying on the support of the first country of socialism, to show its peaceful, creative side on a larger scale, and in some cases to achieve its intended goals at a lower cost.

This trend clearly shows the international character of socialism, and the temporal and spatial connection between the victory of the new social system in one country and the victory of socialism in other countries is clearly visible. The efforts expended by the world's first country of victorious socialism to strengthen its economic and military potential, the decisive contribution of the Soviet Union to the fight against German fascism and Japanese militarism, the experience gained by the Soviet people in revolutionary transformations in all spheres of public life, and the comprehensive assistance of the Soviet Union to the young socialist states-all this greatly facilitated their transition socialism, accelerated the pace of building a new life. There is no doubt that this trend in the development of world socialism will continue to grow stronger as the power and international prestige of the world socialist system grows.

At the same time, it would be wrong to draw the conclusion from this progressive trend that the very fact of the existence and strengthening of the world system of socialism already removes from the agenda the problem of class struggle in the conditions of the transition period and after the construction of socialism. Life does not give the slightest reason for such a conclusion. Precisely because the revolutions in the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe developed relatively peacefully, significant groups of people belonging to the former exploitative classes remained in these countries. Among these people, there are many who are disloyal to the new system, who are a favorable breeding ground for class-hostile actions. This circumstance must be fully taken into account in the current conditions of the sharp intensification of the struggle between the two world systems, when world imperialism, seeing the victorious march of socialism, makes desperate attempts to reverse historical development and does not disdain any means to undermine the new social system.

Analyzing the causes of the Czechoslovak events of 1968, G. Husak emphasized this fact. "It is true," he pointed out, " that the exploiting classes in our country were deprived of their former economic position, but they still formed a large social group. In the Czechoslovak SSR, there are still remnants of the former bourgeois classes and a large stratum of the petty bourgeoisie, there are people who were organized in bourgeois parties before February 1948, and so on. This is exactly what was not given enough attention " 10. G. Gusak pointed out as one of the significant mistakes of the former leadership of the CPC that they overestimated the role that changes in the nature of ownership of the means of production and positive changes in the social structure of society play in the stability of the socialist system.

V. I. Lenin noted that the transition from capitalism to communism represents a whole historical epoch, and until this epoch has passed, the exploiters inevitably have "hope for restoration, and this hope turns into attempts at restoration"11 . Moreover, in 1920 Lenin said that as the front of the world socialist revolution expanded, the intensity of the struggle against the revisionists would increase. Pointing out in his theses for the Second Congress of the Comintern the necessity of combating national-opportunist deviations, Lenin noted:: "The struggle against this evil, with the most inveterate petty-bourgeois elements, is a serious one.-

10 Pravda, 15. IV. 1970.

11 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 37, p. 264.

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the more urgent the task of transforming the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national one (i.e., existing in one country and unable to determine world politics) into an international one (i.e., the dictatorship of the proletariat in at least a few advanced countries, capable of having a decisive influence on the whole of world politics) becomes."12
Life shows us that the internal anti-socialist forces in the socialist countries find the most active support from world imperialism. The imperialists have made and are still making great efforts to undermine the construction of a new social order in the countries of socialism. The entire experience of their existence demonstrates the need for high vigilance, untiring concern for the ideological hardening and unity of the party ranks, and the constant strengthening of the leading role of the communist vanguard of the working class in the system of socialist society. Forgetting these principles is fraught with a sharp activation of class-hostile elements and poses a threat to the socialist gains of the working people. In modern conditions, when the ideological struggle between capitalism and socialism has sharply escalated, high revolutionary vigilance is especially necessary. As the facts show, wherever vigilance is blunted and the struggle for the ideological purity of Marxism is weakened, nationalist and revisionist elements immediately raise their heads and seek to undermine the very foundations of the new social system.

Bourgeois propaganda is constantly spreading lies about the "anti-national" nature of revolutions in the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe. It portrays exploitative groups that opposed democratic and socialist transformations as "national forces", although in reality it was these groups, their parties, and their leaders who betrayed and destroyed the national independence and freedom of peoples. In fact, the socialist revolutions in the countries of popular democracy not only solved the greatest socio-economic and political problems, but also had the deepest national-patriotic content.

The transition to socialism is an objective necessity for every country in our era. Socialism and communism are the future of all peoples. But this universal pattern does not make its way in the same way, not in the same historical period and in different ways, it is accompanied by a whole "escort" of specific features of each country, determined by the historical conditions of its development and existence, its place in the world economy and world political relations. With the Eastern European countries in the 1940s, much the same thing happened as with Russia at the beginning of the century: the socialist revolution became the greatest national necessity, and all the healthiest and most advanced forces of the nation rallied in the struggle for its implementation. Capitalism had brought these countries to a point of destruction, and the catastrophe that threatened them could only be overcome by a socialist revolution. The question of national freedom in these countries has become inextricably linked with the struggle for socialism and for a foreign policy based on the principle of proletarian internationalism.

The national liberation struggle of peoples that unfolded in Europe during the Second World War was organically linked to the international situation. Apart from the main force opposing fascism and its armies, this struggle could not lead to success. The resistance forces alone were clearly not enough to expel the Nazis from the occupied territories, to restore the national identity of the Nazis.-

12 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 41, p. 165.

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national independence. Objectively, there was a situation in which the success of the national liberation struggle and the victory of the people's democratic and socialist revolutions required a close combination of the revolutionary energy and independence of the masses of the people with the strength of the Red Army's weapons and the power of the military and economic potential of the Soviet Union. This relationship was one of the main conditions for the coincidence of the fundamental interests of the peoples of Central and South-Eastern Europe enslaved by the Nazis and the peoples of the Soviet Union who entered the Great Patriotic War in order to save their state independence and preserve the cause begun in October.

Communists all over the world considered the attack of German fascism on our country as an attempt on the citadel of world socialism. On the first day of the Great Patriotic War, the Secretariat of the Executive Committee of the Comintern sent letters to the Communist parties stating that the perfidious attack of the Nazis on the Country of Soviets was directed not only against it, but also against the freedom and independence of all the peoples of the world, and, consequently, the defense of the Soviet people is at the same time those peoples who face the threat of fascist enslavement 13 . In the proclamations and declarations that the communist parties addressed to their peoples, they called for solidarity with the Soviet Union and the deployment of a merciless struggle against the fascist invaders. Thus, in the appeal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia it was said: "If you love freedom and independence, if you do not want to be slaves, if you want to get rid of fascist slavery, then by all means help the just struggle of the great and peace-loving country of socialism-the Soviet Union, unite your forces against your oppressors, the fascist invaders who country". In its appeal to the German people, the Communist Party of Germany, pointing out that "the victory of the Red Army and the oppressed peoples fighting for their national freedom will also be the victory of the German people", called on all the working people of the country to fight "on the side of the Red Army, against the enemy, for the overthrow of the Hitlerite gang"14 .

In its turn, the Soviet Union, having entered into a deadly battle with fascism, from the very beginning combined the defense of its national interests with the fulfillment of the proletarian international duty towards the peoples enslaved by fascism. The solution of national and international problems in the war merged for the Soviet people and its party. Our people and our party put into practice Lenin's great command that " internationalism in practice is one and only one: selfless work on the development of the revolutionary movement and the revolutionary struggle in one's own country, support (by propaganda, sympathy, material support)." the same struggle, the same line, and only one of it, in all countries without exception. " 15
Of all the states of the anti-fascist coalition, the U.S.S.R. proclaimed the fairest and most decisive goals: the complete defeat of German fascism, the liberation of the enslaved peoples of Europe, and granting them the right to organize their own internal affairs, including issues of the state system. This program was enthusiastically received by the entire anti-fascist movement. In the hands of the communists-

13 See The Communist International. A brief historical sketch, Moscow, 1969, p. 505.

14 " International solidarity of workers in the struggle for peace and national liberation against fascist Germany, for the complete destruction of fascism in Europe and Asia "(1938-1945), Moscow, 1962, p. 290.

15 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 31, p. 170.

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It was a powerful weapon in the struggle to strengthen their influence among the masses. It is quite natural, therefore, that after the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, the people's war against the fascist enslavers took on a truly all-encompassing character, both in the number of countries in which the resistance movement developed, and in the variety of forms of the movement. Developing within individual countries as a national movement in its form, the anti-fascist movement acquired an international character, being, in essence, an expression of the united front of peoples.

This clearly shows an extremely important pattern of revolutions in the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe. These revolutions relied on the comprehensive help and support of the world's first socialist country. This fact from the very beginning gave them essential features of internationalism, connected their victory with the military and economic successes of the Soviet Union, and prepared the ground for the establishment of close allied relations between the countries of Central and South - Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union after the victorious end of the war against Hitlerite fascism.

During the war, military cooperation between the anti-fascist resistance forces and the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union was of paramount importance and acquired a huge scale. During the liberation of the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe, the Red Army formed a combat alliance with the national armies of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and separate military units of Hungary. Even before the expulsion of the Nazis from the borders of the USSR, the First Polish Army, numbering about 100 thousand soldiers and officers, the 1st Czechoslovak Corps, numbering 16 thousand people, the Romanian Infantry Division and the Yugoslav Separate Infantry Brigade were created on our territory with the direct help of the Soviet Government. In the final period of the Great Patriotic War, under the overall operational leadership of the Soviet Supreme High Command, 400,000 soldiers and officers of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary fought shoulder to shoulder with the Red Army for the liberation of their countries. In addition, in close cooperation with the Soviet troops, the multi-thousandth People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia operated in an independent operational and strategic direction. By the end of the war, the USSR provided material assistance to Eastern European countries in creating and arming many dozens of large military units and formations totaling 555,000 soldiers and officers16 .

The closer the end of the war and the inevitable collapse of nazi Germany became, the more important political and economic relations between the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union became. The Western powers-our country's allies in the anti-Hitler coalition-made great efforts to ensure that national liberation did not lead to the social liberation of these countries, and that bourgeois-landlord regimes hostile to them would remain along the western borders of the USSR even after the end of World War II. The position of the USSR was noble and understandable to the masses of the countries being liberated by the Red Army - complete eradication of fascism, restoration of democratic freedoms, non-interference in internal affairs and granting the peoples the right to solve the problem of the post-war system themselves. The study of the most important political acts and actions of our country leaves no stone unturned from the notorious theory of" exporting the revolution " preached by the ideologists of the bourgeoisie. The Soviet Union, the CPSU in its policies and actions

16 M. Monin. The Great Patriotic War and the liberation struggle in Europe. "World Economy and International Relations", 1970, N 6, p. 20.

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"we followed the fundamental position of Leninism that the peoples should not be 'made happy' by imposing a revolution from outside, that revolution is made by the masses and only when they have realized the need for revolutionary transformations and are determined to make any sacrifices for their implementation.

It was precisely in order to ensure the free expression of the will of the peoples that the Soviet Union consistently exposed and suppressed the attempts of the Western Powers to impose their own political conditions on the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe. An important milestone in defining the conditions and principles of post-war peace was the Potsdam Conference. Thanks to the insistence of the Soviet delegation, the Western countries were forced to recognize the Polish Government of National Unity, which was created on the basis of the decisions of the Crimean Conference .17 In Potsdam, the Soviet delegation rejected the Western powers 'demand for an "immediate reorganization" of the governments of Romania and Bulgaria and the establishment of foreign control over elections in these countries, as well as in Hungary. A lengthy discussion preceded the decision to conclude peace treaties with Germany's former allies and allow them to join the UN. The conference participants pledged to study the problem of establishing diplomatic relations with Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary even before concluding peace treaties with them18 .

Already at the Crimean Conference, the Soviet Union had obtained the consent of Britain and the United States for Poland to receive "a substantial increase in territory in the north and west." 19 The agreement reached in Potsdam formed the basis of the treaty on the Polish-German border, signed in 1950 by the GDR and Poland - the treaty on the "border of peace". The decisions taken in Potsdam meant that the Western Powers recognized the real situation in the states liberated by the Red Army. Therefore, these decisions largely determined the failure of the plans of the Western powers to overthrow the people's democratic regimes in the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe, and they made it easier for these countries, and subsequently for the German Democratic Republic, to follow the path of independent development, along the path of radical socio - economic transformations.

As a result of the subsequent persistent struggle of the Soviet Union for the implementation of democratic principles in the preparation of peace treaties for the former allies of Hitler's Germany, mostly fair democratic draft treaties were submitted for discussion at the Paris Peace Conference (July, 1946). The inflexible position of the Soviet Union at this conference once again protected the young people's democratic States from attempts by Western Powers to trample on their national independence and turn them into satellites of international imperialism. In particular, the Soviet delegation opposed the unfounded claims of the Greek government, which was backed by the imperialist circles of Britain and the United States, to the original Bulgarian and Albanian lands. A sharp struggle unfolded at the conference on the economic aspects of peace treaties with Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria. The Soviet delegation rejected the baseless claims of the Western Powers on reparations. They also thwarted the British and US plans to impose on Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary the implementation of the so-called "principle of equal opportunities" for trade, production and entrepreneurship on their territory.-

17 See "Tehran-Yalta-Potsdam". Collection of Documents, Moscow, 1970, pp. 190-191.

18 V. Vysotsky. Potsdam-the outcome of the war, the program of the post-war device. "International Life", 1970, N 7, p. 28.

19 "Teheran-Yalta-Potsdam", p. 191.

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of the "all United Nations"initiative. In fact, this would mean freedom from imperialist plunder, and the deprivation of these countries ' economic independence. The intention of the United States, Britain, and France to restore the old imperialist regime on the Danube, to exclude the Danube countries from solving the vital question of Danube navigation, and to assert the privileged position of the Western Powers in the Danube basin was also paralyzed.

Defending the sovereign rights of young socialist states, the Soviet Union implemented a new type of international relations, won deep sympathy among the working people, instilled in them confidence in their own strength, and provided them with the opportunity to follow the chosen path of profound socio-economic and political transformations.

The most important political act aimed at stabilizing the situation in the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe and increasing the international prestige of these countries was the conclusion of treaties of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance between them and the Soviet Union. The first such treaty was signed by the Soviet Union with Czechoslovakia in 1943. Later, after the defeat of reaction in February 1948, this treaty acquired a qualitatively new meaning. The Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia was the most important means of strengthening the unbreakable alliance between the peoples of fraternal countries, preserving the national independence and State sovereignty of Czechoslovakia. At the same time, the treaty helped strengthen the international position of the Soviet Union. It has become the most important tool in the hands of our peoples in their struggle against the aggressive plans of international imperialism.

In April 1945, the Soviet Union signed a Treaty of Friendship, Mutual Assistance and Post-war Cooperation with the Provisional Government of Poland. The Treaty consolidated the allied relations between the two countries that had developed during the liberation struggle against Hitler's Germany on the basis of full equality and mutual respect. The Soviet Union and Poland have committed themselves to use jointly all measures to eliminate any threat of a repeat of aggression. The parties pledged to provide each other with military and other assistance and support by all available means for this purpose. The agreement provided for cooperation in the spirit of friendship in order to further develop and strengthen economic and cultural ties and mutual assistance in restoring the national economy. The Soviet-Polish Treaty became the key to the independence, power and prosperity of the people's Poland. It has become an essential tool for strengthening peace and security in Europe.

In 1948, after the peace treaties came into force (the favorable terms of which were also secured by the persistent position of the USSR), the Soviet Union concluded Treaties of Friendship, Mutual Assistance and Cooperation with Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria. The conclusion of treaties with these countries protected them from the expansionist aspirations of Western Powers, strengthened their domestic and international positions, and created reliable guarantees for their independent political and economic development.

The treaties of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance between the Soviet Union and the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe legally established a strong alliance and unbreakable friendship between the peoples of the USSR and the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe, which developed during the Second World War and after its end. These were truly equal treaties, embodying a new type of international relations based on the principles of proletarian internationalism. The great historical significance of these treaties

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It also consisted in the fact that they consolidated the fundamental changes in the balance of political forces in the international arena that occurred as a result of the Second World War. The treaties of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance put an end to the alienation and ill-will that the bourgeois-landlord Governments of Central and South-Eastern Europe had cultivated towards the Soviet Socialist State. They opened a fundamentally new page in relations between the Soviet Union and its Western neighbors. The military - political alliance that emerged in the course of the joint struggle against fascism and for democratic post-war development between the world's first country of socialism and the states liberated by it from the fascist yoke and embarked on the path of building socialism meant, in fact, the emergence of the world socialist system. Treaties of friendship, mutual assistance and post-war cooperation legally formalized its birth. It took place in extremely difficult economic conditions.

The Second World War led to the death of millions of people, to monstrous destruction. In our country, the lands that were subjected to occupation were devastated. Every country of popular democracy was destroyed and robbed, the difference was only in scale. The national economy of Romania, as a result of the war and enslavement by Hitler's Germany, suffered damage in the amount equal to the country's budget for more than 12 years. The war caused 300 billion in damage to the Hungarian economy. forints, which was equal to the national income for five years. This meant the destruction of all the fruits of the nation's five-year labor .20 In Poland and Yugoslavia, industry was almost completely destroyed, and most cities and villages were reduced to rubble. There were also the greatest human losses. In addition, Poland suffered a severe drought, which seemed capable of completing the work of military devastation. Catastrophic droughts also occurred in 1945-1946 in Romania and Bulgaria, and in 1947 in Czechoslovakia. Precious aid in bread and other products came to the peoples of these countries from the Soviet Union.

The exploiting classes and their accomplices, defeated but still holding significant positions in their hands, organized sabotage and speculation and did their best to disorganize what was still left of the economy. They took advantage of this situation to intensify the class struggle, placing the blame for the suffering of the masses on the young people's government and the Communists, abusing their representation in governments, parliaments, and the state apparatus in class interests, and using their press to attack the new system. In the bourgeois political circles of the West, the prospect of economic collapse in the Soviet Union, and even more so in the countries of popular democracy, was accepted as an inevitability, as an axiom. It was assumed that all these countries would not even be able to restore their economy if they did not receive support from the West, primarily from the United States. With this in mind, in March 1948 the United States imposed an embargo on the export of "strategic raw materials" to the socialist states, but in reality the supply of all the most important materials necessary for post-war reconstruction and industrial development was prohibited.

In the years of post-war reconstruction, the victory of the socialist system was won, no less in its deep historical significance than the victory in the war. In such an incredibly difficult situation, the advantages of the new society, the heroism of the Soviet people, and the importance of the leadership of the Communist Party were once again reflected. The Soviet Union already in 1948 surpassed the pre-war volume of industrial production-

20 See "The Seventh Congress of the Hungarian Socialist Workers 'Party", Moscow, 1960, p. 31.

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production facilities. In 1949, it tested its atomic weapons, eliminating the US nuclear monopoly and burying the associated hegemonic plans for American reaction. He did not flinch from the threats of imperialism and proved his determination to prevent intervention in the countries of popular democracy. It was able to provide great and versatile assistance to new countries that had embarked on the path of revolution, which in many cases played a decisive role in resolving certain critical situations that arose there in the course of the escalating class struggle, and to assist these countries in developing socialist construction.

The Soviet Union's economic assistance to the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe was of particular importance for strengthening the new system in the first years of its existence. It made it possible to overcome a deep economic crisis - to restore the most necessary things, to put idle enterprises into operation, and to meet the primary needs of the population in food and clothing. Thus, already in February 1945, the Soviet Government granted significant loans to Hungary, which was not yet fully liberated. The USSR helped to ensure spring sowing in Hungary and save the population from starvation. In March-June 1945, the Soviet government allocated 33 thousand tons of grain, about 4.5 thousand tons of meat, more than 3 thousand tons of sugar and other products for the population of large Hungarian cities from the reserves of the Red Army. In 1945, the Soviet government allocated Bulgaria first 30 thousand tons of corn and 20 thousand tons of wheat, and then, due to the deterioration of the country's food situation, another 40 thousand tons of corn and wheat. In addition, Bulgaria received a significant amount of oil and rubber from the Soviet Union. The supply of 10 thousand tons of cotton and 2 thousand tons of wool helped to launch the Bulgarian textile industry. In 1945. The Soviet Union provided Romania with a loan of 300,000 tons of grain, which helped it cope with serious food difficulties .21
Thus, thanks to the purposeful internationalist policy of the Soviet Union, its enormous economic assistance and diplomatic support to the young socialist states, thanks to the active creative policy of the communist and workers ' parties of the fraternal countries, thanks to the close alliance formed between them in the course of the struggle against Hitler's aggression and against the attempts of the Western powers to push the fraternal countries disrupt the process of creating and strengthening the world socialist system.

As a result of the people's democratic revolutions, along with the Soviet Union, a whole group of countries emerged that are close to it in their socio-economic structure, political system, and Marxist-Leninist ideology, setting the same goals of social development as the USSR. This closeness and kinship form the basis of the world socialist system, the basis of a new type of interstate relations. The objective conditions, the interests of the peoples of these countries, and the ideological foundations of the policy of the ruling communist parties require solidarity and unity of their forces in the common cause of building socialism and communism, fighting for the preservation of peace, defending revolutionary gains, and supporting liberation movements. Solidarity and unity of fraternal countries are expressed in political, economic, scientific, technical, cultural and military cooperation, through relations between States, parties and public organizations, in treaties, agreements, various contacts, and in the creation of international cooperation bodies. Significant milestones in strengthening fraternal cooperation and rallying the peoples of the world community-

21 Sh. P. Sanakoev. Op. ed., pp. 51-53.

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the creation of the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance in 1949, the most important international economic organization of fraternal countries, and the conclusion in 1955 of the Warsaw Pact, which created the most important international political organization of socialist states, ensuring the coordination of their political and military cooperation.

The formation of the world socialist system takes place simultaneously along two interrelated lines. In the countries that fell away from the capitalist system after the Second World War, an intensive process of creating a new society is underway, during which the positions of socialism and communism are being strengthened; at the same time, a whole system of economic and political relations is being established between the socialist states, which are increasingly uniting these countries into a great socialist society.

In 1970, the fraternal countries successfully completed the implementation of their next five-year plans, thus solving a number of fundamental problems of building a socialist society. The ongoing congresses of the communist and workers ' parties of socialist States mark new frontiers in strengthening the domestic and international positions of socialism. The upcoming XXIV Congress of the CPSU will set new creative tasks for our party and the entire people, the solution of which will significantly advance the construction of communism, strengthen the political consolidation and economic rapprochement of the fraternal countries, and strengthen the forces fighting against imperialism, for peace, national revival and social renewal.

From the fact of the emergence of the world system of socialism, which is of world-historical significance, comes another essential feature in the development of the revolutionary process in the modern era. Any progressive movement emerging in the world-whether it is a national liberation struggle or a struggle for radical social change - always finds immediate support from the first country of socialism in the world, and with the advent of the world system of socialism - from other fraternal countries. This support, as the development of events in Vietnam, the Middle East, and Latin America shows, hinders the imperialist export of counterrevolution and plays an essential role in preserving the progressive gains of the peoples. The growing influence of the world system of socialism on international development is the key to the success of the future social transformation of the world.

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