B. M. ZABARKO. V. I. Lenin, the Comintern and the International Workers' Loan

The article sheds light on one aspect of the multilateral activity carried on by the International Workers' Relief Association - a world-wide proletarian solidarity organization founded on the initiative of V. I. Lenin and the Communist International in the autumn of 1921- launching a campaign among the proletariat of all countries to render assistance to the young Soviet Republic in the restoration of its national economy. Particular attention is devoted by the author to the history of the international workers' loan, to the part played by V. I. Lenin and the Comintern in securing foreign workers' financial assistance to Soviet Russia, to the importance of this activity for the development of the international Communist and working-class movement, the world-wide movement of proletarian solidarity.

T. A. GLINKINA. The Nation-Wide Effort to Re-establish the Material Basis of the General-Education School in the Early Postwar Years

The article highlights the efforts of the Communist Party and the Soviet state to liquidate the aftermath of war in the sphere of public education. Citing concrete historical material, the author shows the powerful movement launched by the whole country for the speediest possible restoration and development of the public education system. The re-establishment and consolidation of the material basis of the general- education school is examined in inseparable connection with the restoration and further development of the national economy during the first postwar five-year-plan period.

V. I. BOVYKIN. Russian Oil and the Rothschilds

The article examines the circumstances under which the Anglo-Dutch petroleum corporation Royal Dutch Shell took over the oil-extracting, refining and trading establishments in Russia from the Paris banking House of Rothschilds. With this aim in view the author draws for the first time on the Rothschild Bank materials kept in France's National Archive and on their basis traces the history of the Rothschilds' negotiations on the sale of their enterprises in Russia. He comes to the conclusion that this business deal is a peculiar reflection of the processes, typical of the beginning of the 20th century, of the rise and development of mature forms of finance capital and the resultant changes in the alignment of forces in the struggle for the world oil market.

V. K. VOLKOV. The Foreign Policy of Turkey and Greece on the Eve and in the Period of the Munich Compact

The article shows that in the period of the "Czechoslovak crisis" precipitated by the aggressive actions of nazi Germany with the connivance of the Western Powers, the governments of Turkey and Greece pursued a coordinated policy in the Balkans and held identical positions on major international problems. They were prepared to relinquish their neutrality should Britain and France resolve to take the path of curbing aggression. The Munich compact undermined their faith in the Western Powers' loyalty towards their allies, contributed to a marked activization of the reactionary trends in these countries, and enhanced their urge for neutrality and their desire to manoeuvre between the Western Powers and the fascist states.

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