I. M. VOLKOV. Soviet Collective-Farm Peasantry in the Early Postwar Years (1946 - 1950)

The first postwar five-year period marks an important stage in the history of the Soviet peasantry. It witnessed significant changes in the letter's numerical strength, composition, material and cultural level. The return of demobilized soldiers to peaceful pursuits in 1945 - 1948 did much to render the manpower problem in the collective farms less acute, though this was accompanied by an outflow of the peasant population to the towns to seek employment in industry and construction.

A series of important measures were carried out in the early postwar period to train experienced collective-farm managers and to raise the cultural level and professional skill of the farmers. The peasants' material position improved substantially as a result of higher payment for labour in the collective farms and increased satisfaction of the material and cultural requirements of the rural population from the public consumption funds. True, the rate of improvement of the farmers' standard of living in the various regions differed widely. The collective-farm peasantry in the postwar years displayed a keen understanding of its patriotic duty and worked selflessly to rebuild agriculture and increase farm output. The attainment of the prewar level of agricultural production is the main result of the labour effort made by Soviet farmers in 1946 - 1950.

B. N. KAZANTSEV. The Tsarist Legislation Regulating the Peasants' Seasonal Work in Russia in the 17th - 19th Centuries

Drawing on a careful analysis of extensive legislative material, the author shows the principal stages of the policy pursued by the tsarist government with regard to the peasants' seasonal employment in private industrial and handicraft enterprises, the inconsistency and vacillation manifested by the feudal state in the question of hiring the peasants for seasonal work, the class causes of the amendments and changes in the feudal legislation relating to these subjects. A close examination of the appropriate legislative acts indicates that the drafting of measures to regulate the farmers' seasonal work was dictated by the class interests of the Russian feudal state, the country's economic development and the need of combating the peasants' arbitrary exodus from the countryside. The article shows the chief methods employed by the state to regulate the peasants' seasonal work, examines the forms of hire encouraged by the government, the main directions of legalized seasonal work, the character of the concessions, and changes in the legally-fixed periods of hire. A careful study of the feudal legislation regulating the peasants' seasonal work enables one to understand the specific features attending the formation of wage labour and to trace the tendencies leading to the gradual differentiation of the peasantry into workers with allotments, on the one hand, and capitalist owners, oh the other.

E. V. KOVALEV. The Socio-Political Transformations in Mexico (1930's - 1960s')

The author examines the class nature of the socio-economic transformations carried out in Mexico in the 1930's - 1960's and shows their impact on the country's subsequent economic and political development. The Mexican bourgeoisie was compelled to effect these transformations under pressure of the popular masses, whose persistent struggle resulted in the nationalization of the oil industry, the railways and, subsequently, the power industry. All this has helped to establish a fairly strong state sector in the economy, whiich plays an important part in the country's industrial development. The socio-economic transformations and accelerated industrialization have brought about significant changes in the class composition of the population. The number of the peasant commune members, industrial workers and the bourgeoisie has grown substantially. Yet the material position of the masses has not improved to any appreciable extent for the simple reason that the ruling bourgeoisie has taken advantage of its power to intensify the exploitation of the working class and the toiling peasantry.

O. V. SEROVA. Fascist Italy's Foreign Policy on the Eve of Her Withdrawal from the War (concerning negotiations on a separate peace, autumn 1942 - spring 1943)

The desire of fascist Italy's ruling circles to withdraw from the war was prompted by the crisis of fascist dictatorship, mortal fear of the working masses, heavy defeats suffered on the battlefronts of World War II, notably on the Soviet-German front. The article traces Mussolini's attitude to the question of withdrawing from the war, examines the concrete steps towards negotiating a separate peace with the Western Powers taken by the fascist government, the royal circles and the military top crust at the close of 1942 and the beginning of 1943, and reveals the causes that determined the failure of these attempts.

The author comes to the conclusion that Rome was well aware of the armistice terms put forward by Britain and the U.S.A. as a result of its contact with the Western Powers early in 1943. Badoglio's government, which came to power following the overthrow of Mussolini's regime on July 25, 1943, entered into negotiations with the United States and Britain on the armistice terms, which concluded in the opening days of September with Italy's unconditional surrender.

V. Y. ARKHIPOV. Indonesia's Economic Development in the Colonial Period (the era of imperialism

The imperialist era, which is marked by the sharply intensified exploitation of the colonies, has laid its imprint on the structure, specific features and rate of economic development of colonial Indonesia. Foreign capital investments in Indonesia's economy since the beginning of this century, the author writes, have brought about important changes in the economic development of the colony: mineral raw materials for the needs of European and American industry have begun to play a conspicuous part in the country's national production and acquired paramount importance in its export trade.

The marked activization of foreign capital in Indonesia has been unable appreciably to weaken, let alone eliminate, the country's economic disunity. Furthering their narrow selfish aims of extracting maximum profits, the Dutch colonialists made practically no efforts to unite the country economically. Even forced to modify her economic policy in the colony in the 1930's, the Netherlands did not alter the substance of this policy and Indonesia continued to remain the agrarian and raw material appendage of the: metropolitan country.

V. M. MASSON. The Problem of the Neolithic Revolution in the Light of the Latest Archeological Data

The article examines the problem of mankind's transition to the producing economy which forms the main content of the neolithic revolution. Drawing on extensive archeological material, the author describes the. following three models of this process: 1) the Asia Minor model characterized by the emergence of the land-tilling and cattlebreeding economy based on a highly-developed economy of hunters and food gatherers; 2) the meso-American model, in which the emergence of the land-tilling economy proceeded on the basis of a highly specialized food-gathering economy in conditions of the crisis of hunting caused by paleoclimatic changes; 3) the Peruvian model predominantly linked with the formation of the land-tilling economy, coupled with the growing role of fishing and sea-hunting which, determined the early development of a sedentary mode of life. The article examines the main social and natural factors which determined the course of this revolution as well as its significance for mankind's progress towards the early class society."

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