ACADEMICIAN I. I. MINTS. The Current Reconstruction and the Study of the Great October Revolution

The article is based on Academician Mints' contribution to the round-table discussion "The Study of the History of the Great October Revolution. Summing Up and Looking Forward" jointly sponsored by the Problems of History Editorial Board and the Scientific Council of the USSR AS on the Comprehensive Problem "The History of the Great October Socialist Revolution". The author concentrates on the current tasks.

R. G. BOGDANOV. Reykjavik: Along the Road of New Political Thinking

The author looks at what caused the Reykjavik summit and what preceded it: the Geneva meeting, statement by Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the GC CPSU, of January 15, 1986, and the USSR-USA relations between Geneva and Reykjavik. He analyses the contents and essence of the Soviet package in Reykjavik and shows that the meeting has demonstrated the viability of new political thinking.

Y. K. FISHEVSKY. An Important Instrument for Disseminating Knowledge

The article marks the 40th anniversary of the Znanie (Knowledge) All-Union Society, set up in 1947 on the initiative of prominent Soviet academics and cultural figures. At present it numbers more than 2,600,000. The author describes the forms and methods of its activity with a special emphasis on the dissemination of historical knowledge and propaganda of the Soviet foreign policy.

I. B. PONOMAREVA, N. A. SMIRNOVA. Anglo-American Contradictions in India in 1942 - 1943

The authors look at the situation which took shape in India in 1942 when the contradictions between Britain and the United States, each of them pursuing their own imperialist aims in India, became aggravated. They analyse the stand taken by the Indian National Congress which proclaimed a mass campaign of non-cooperation with the British colonialists.

Z. V. UDALTSOVA, CORRESPONDING MEMBER, USSR AS. Cultural Ties Between Kiev and Constantinople up to the 13th Century

The author discusses cultural relations which existed between Byzantium and Old Rus in the late 10th through 13th centuries. By turning to the Byzantine culture the Old Rus' ruling class associated their country with the most culturally advanced state in Europe. A detailed analysis of Kievan architecture and the visual arts of the 11th through 13th centuries and their comparison with what has been created in Constantinople serve to illustrate the emergence and consolidation of the Russian culture which enriched itself through contacts with the highest cultural achievements of Byzantium.

ACADEMICIAN A. M. SAMSONOV, O. A. RZHESHEVSKY. The Decisive Turning Point in the Second World War

The authors discuss questions connected with the decisive turning point in the Second World War and analyse different opinions about it. They demonstrate that (historians differ as to which event started the turn in the war. The authors side with "those who consider it to be the Battle of Moscow.

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