Yerevan. Yerevan State University Publishing House. 1982. 302 p.

Soviet historical science has achieved great success in studying the experience of the Communist Party in solving the national question and guiding national relations at the stage of developed socialism. Numerous works of various profiles and genres have been published that cover this topic. Among them, a monographic study carried out by social scientists from Moscow and Armenia is noteworthy .1 The value of this book lies in the fact that it highlights the experience of the CPSU and the fraternal Communist parties in the development of the Marxist-Leninist theory of the national question, the achievements in its implementation in the USSR, and the international significance of the national program and policy of the CPSU at the present stage of the development of the world revolutionary process. The study covers the period from the last decade of the XIX century to the present day.

Describing the specific historical conditions of the struggle against tsarism and the bourgeoisie, for the victory of October and Soviet power, against fascism in the Great Patriotic War, and for building a developed socialist society in the USSR, the authors show the variety of forms and methods of the CPSU's activity in the international education of working people.

Touching upon the origins of fraternal solidarity and the emerging friendship of the peoples of Russia, the authors focus on the significance of the victory of October, which opened the path to socialism and national liberation for all the peoples of former tsarist Russia. Lenin's prediction that "various separate federations of free nations will increasingly be grouped around revolutionary Russia has come true. This federation will grow completely voluntarily, without lies and iron, and it is indestructible. " 2 The success achieved in socialist construction by the voluntarily united Soviet republics is a convincing confirmation of the profound realism of Lenin's national party policy and of the world - historical significance of the CPSU's experience in implementing it.

The triumph of Lenin's national policy was the selfless struggle of the workers of the U.S.S.R. against German fascism. The book convincingly shows the failure of the leaders of the third Reich to achieve the opposition of the non-Russian peoples of the USSR to the Russian one, to raise these peoples against their elder brother , the great Russian people, and thereby weaken the power of the Soviet Union (p.84). The party organizations of the Soviet national republics sent over 650,000 Communists to the front. Soldiers of all nationalities of the USSR fought in all units and formations of the Soviet Army. Thus, in the 62nd army, which defended Stalingrad, 51.6% of the soldiers were Russians, while the rest were Ukrainians, Belarusians, Tatars, Kazakhs, Georgians, Bashkirs, Uzbeks, and soldiers of many other nationalities (p.91). Among the heroic defenders of the Brest Fortress were representatives of more than 30 nationalities .3
Summarizing the numerous facts presented in the book, the authors conclude that both in the days of the struggle against the internal and external enemies of our common Fatherland - the USSR, and in the days of peaceful creative labor, workers, peasants, and intellectuals, educated by the Communist Party in the spirit of Soviet patriotism and socialist internationalism, walked and will continue to walk hand in hand in a single formation. For the first time in history, the multinational composition of a country has gone from being a source of weakness to a source of strength. Based on extensive factual material, the book shows that the full development of economic, cultural and scientific ties between the Soviet republics contributed to the strengthening of the international unity of the working people, the growing homogeneity of Soviet society, and the formation of a historically new social and international community of people - the Soviet people.

At the same time materials of the book witness-

1 Author's team: Ts. P. Aghayan, M. A. Arakelyan, A.V. Hakobyan, E. A. Bagramov, M. I. Kulichenko, L. N. Lebedinskaya, A. Ya. Manusevich, G. P. Makarova, M. A. Melikyan, V. A. Muradyan, N. A. Tavakalyan. Editorial Board: I. I. Mints (Editor-in-chief), Ts. P. Aghayan, M. A. Arakelyan, L. M. Karapetyan, T. F. Kuzmina, M. I. Kulichenko, A. Ya., Manusevich, K. S. Khudaverdyan, L. A. Khurshudyan, V. A. Muradyan.

2 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 35, p. 288.

3 Беларуская Савецкая Энцыклапедыя. Т. II. Мiнск. 1970, p. 422.

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They indicate the need for further study of the diversity of forms and methods of realizing full equality of all nations and nationalities of the country, their free development within the framework of a fraternal union, and their further rapprochement. In our multiethnic country, the field of national relations and the development of a scientifically based national policy will continue to be an urgent task, attracting the constant attention of the Communist Party and the Soviet State.

The study of the party's work on international education implies a comprehensive analysis of the tendency of the flourishing and rapprochement of nations, highlighting such forms of work that open up even greater scope for the mutual enrichment of the cultures of our peoples. "It is important to identify the problems and contradictions that arise here in a timely manner, and to resolve them skilfully," K. U. Chernenko said at the June (1983) Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee. "In short, internationalist education should be conducted broadly, persistently, and in a business-like manner, not limited to festivals, decades, and anniversary watches." 4
The authors correctly demonstrate the decisive significance of the October Revolution's crushing blow to imperialism and the entire world capitalist system for the liberation of the colonial and dependent peoples from social and national oppression. Born as a result of the victory of October, the world's first socialist state became a reliable pillar of the national liberation struggle. The Soviet state, as V. I. Lenin taught, exerts its main influence on the destinies of oppressed peoples, on the world revolutionary process , by its economic policy, 5 by the constant growth of the material well-being and culture of the masses of the people.

The book reveals the world-historical significance of the experience of nation - building in the USSR, the experience of the CPSU in forming the internationalist consciousness of the broad masses of the working people of our country. The principles of proletarian internationalism, which formed the basis for the solution of the national question in the socialist countries of Central and South - Eastern Europe, ensured the recognition of the equality of their nations and nationalities, and defined policies aimed at ensuring this equality in political, economic, cultural and other fields. With its internationalist content, this policy instills in all citizens a sense of socialist patriotism, an understanding of the significance of the great socialist community, belonging to the world socialist system, the socialist community.

The authors correctly point out that Great October contributed to the growth of the national liberation movement of the peoples of the colonies and dependent countries. Lenin's assumption that the national liberation and anti-colonial movements of the majority of the world's population, which have emerged as "independent active revolutionary factors" 6, will turn against capitalism and imperialism in the future, was fulfilled. The book shows that in the course of the anti-imperialist national liberation struggle in many countries, an alliance of the working class, the peasantry, and the intermediate strata was actually formed and operated. At the present stage, the liberation movement is becoming more and more class-based in its character from a national one. The influence of socialism on the forces of national liberation is increasingly growing (pp. 255, 256).

Analyzing the programs and activities of the communist parties of developed capitalist countries, the authors show that the national question in these countries also includes the protection of the interests of foreign workers and immigrants from Africa and Asia, who now make up a fairly solid mass, especially in Germany and England. In the developed capitalist countries (the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Belgium, Spain) in the post-war period and earlier (for example, the Northern Ireland question in England), there are facts of aggravation of national relations, which is a sign of a general crisis of capitalism in general and bourgeois democracy in particular. The rise of the national liberation movement in Africa contributed to the emergence of the African - American civil rights movement in the United States (the"Negro Revolution"). The core of the national issue in Canada remains the problem of the French Canadians of Quebec. In the 70s, the national question became particularly acute in the UK, where there is a large number of immigrants from Asia and Africa, which means that there is a large number of immigrants from the United States.-

4 Proceedings of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, June 14-15, 1983, Moscow, 1983, p. 59.

5 See Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 43, p. 341.

6 Ibid., vol. 44, p. 38.

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The Ulster problem has become even more complicated. The national movement in the developed capitalist countries acquires a special significance as a social phenomenon that exposes the falsity of bourgeois democracy, as a sign of its crisis.

Today, the growing and deepening peace movement is having an ever-increasing impact on raising the level of the national liberation struggle of dependent peoples. In the course of this struggle, the link between the national liberation movement and the struggle of the working class for socialism is strengthened. However, this line still attracts little attention of researchers.

The book has an important educational value, showing the continuity of historical and revolutionary, military and labor traditions, strengthening in the minds of workers the feelings of friendship and brotherhood of the peoples of the USSR, international responsibility to their socialist homeland, and patriotic pride of the Soviet man.

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