Moscow, Mysl Publishing House. 1977. 197 p. Circulation of 50,000 copies. Price 38 kopecks.

Rapid growth of foreign economic relations, increased participation in the international division of labor and cooperation -? It is a vivid expression of the success of the Soviet Union in developing the national economy and implementing a policy of peace and detente. At the same time, it demonstrates the increasing role of foreign economic relations in solving the national economic problems of our country, in strengthening the socialist community, in supporting the progressive forces of the national liberation movement and expanding the material base of the policy of peaceful coexistence. Foreign economic relations have become a very dynamic branch of the national economy of the USSR: they have their own problems and difficulties. All this has led to a growing focus on these links by the general public and scientists. The number of studies on the problems of the USSR's participation in international economic cooperation has increased markedly. A significant phenomenon among them is the book by the head of the Department of Foreign Economic Problems of Capitalism of the IMEMO of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Economics M. M. Maksimova.

The book is written on the basis of extensive use of the works of Karl Marx and V. I. Lenin, materials of the XXIV and XXV Congresses of the CPSU, plenums of the Central Committee of the CPSU, official documents and statistical publications. The author introduces the reader to the main provisions of the Marxist-Leninist theory on the world economy and international economic relations, with the implementation of these provisions in the practical activities of the Soviet state, draws attention to a number of new phenomena in the field of world economic relations and cooperation of the USSR with major groups of states. The main ideas of V. I. Lenin on the world economy, the most important features and trends of the current stage of its development, and the economic relations of the USSR with socialist, developing, and capitalist states are succinctly but clearly described in the book.

Relying on the provisions of the Marxist-Leninist theory and data on the growth of foreign economic relations of the USSR, the author convincingly shows the inconsistency of bourgeois concepts of" autarkism " of the Soviet socialist economy. Lenin also put forward and developed a truly scientific and positive program for the democratic reconstruction of the world economy, and proved its objective necessity and the interest of the Soviet Country in it. Russia, he wrote, "offers to restore the economy from the point of view of the whole world."1 Guided by Lenin's principles, the CPSU and the Soviet State in the 1920s and 1930s did, as the book notes, "everything possible to strengthen international security, and actively advocated the broad development of international economic ties" (p.17). But imperialism unleashed the Second World War, which led to huge human and material losses, to a significant disorganization of world economic relations. The victory over fascism, the emergence of the world system of socialism, and the collapse of the colonial system of imperialism led to fundamental changes in the world, which in general significantly expanded the possibilities for the USSR's active participation in international economic cooperation. The Soviet Union, as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU L. I. Brezhnev stated at the XXV Congress of the CPSU, seeks to "use the advantages that foreign economic relations give in order to mobilize additional opportunities for successfully solving economic problems and gaining time, to increase production efficiency and accelerate the progress of science and technology." 2 The most important feature of the world economy at the present stage, the book emphasizes, is the formation and development of the world socialist economic system, which has fundamentally different laws of development from capitalism both within the national economies forming it and in relations between them. However ," two socially different world economic systems are developing not autarkically, not in isolation from each other, but in a certain interaction with each other" (p.20). Moreover, the nature of this interaction is very complex and contradictory, it dialectically combines struggle and competition with relations of cooperation

1 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 42, p. 70.

2 "Materials of the XXV Congress of the CPSU". M 1976, p. 56.

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between states with different social systems.

Deep changes have taken place and are taking place in the capitalist economic system itself. The book highlights those of them that mostly affect the system of interstate political and economic relations. In the first place, the author rightly puts forward changes associated with the collapse of colonial empires, with the formation of many dozens of young national states, and with socio-economic transformations in a number of them. The book also notes changes in the group of imperialist states. This is primarily the growth of state-monopoly capitalism, the rapid expansion of the activities of international monopolies, the development of economic integration processes, and the strengthening of economic ties between the main centers of modern capitalism. "As a result," the author concludes, " the interdependence of national economies, private monopoly and state monopoly structures of highly developed capitalist countries significantly increases, while at the same time inter-imperialist rivalry increases, contradictions between the main centers of imperialism grow, and discord within the "Common Market" increases (p.23).

It is interesting to note that the growing economic relations directly between developing countries, including the processes of regional integration between them, "cannot, as a rule, be attributed either to the capitalist or to the socialist type, since developing countries that have chosen the path of socialist orientation and countries in which they are involved in economic cooperation". the capitalist mode of production is beginning to take shape or has already taken shape" (p. 26). It seems to us that at the present stage, economic relations between developing countries are dominated by features inherent in the capitalist economy, although there are elements that are characteristic of relations between socialist countries (ensuring equality and mutual benefit, mutual assistance).

Among the factors that determine the need to expand foreign economic relations, the author rightly highlights the impact of the scientific and technological revolution, which now predetermines structural shifts in the development of productive forces and in the international division of labor (pp. 48-49). The need to solve a number of global problems by joint efforts of many countries also has a noticeable impact: providing energy sources, protecting the environment, etc.

The data and facts contained in the book are convincing, showing the strengthening of the USSR's position in the world economy. Huge successes in economic construction, in the development of science and technology radically changed the position of the USSR in the world, both in the field of industrial production in general, and in the production of basic types of industrial and agricultural products.

Noting the rapid growth of the USSR's foreign trade volume, the author justifies the feasibility of creating a large export sector in a number of industries and developing export specialization. The information presented in the book clearly characterizes the dynamics and commodity structure of the USSR's foreign trade, as well as its importance for solving certain industrial, scientific, technical and social problems. The Soviet Union actively participates in exchanges on the global patent and license market. The use of such types of international industrial cooperation as large-scale investment programs, industrial cooperation and joint facilities gives our country a significant economic benefit.

Thus, the author summarizes, the possibilities and needs of the USSR's participation in international cooperation are now determined by a complex, a combination of such factors as the steady rise of the national economy and the strengthening of the USSR's economic and political positions in the world, major social shifts and further changes in the balance of forces in the international arena in favor of socialism, the creation and development of the world system of socialism, positive trends in the development of the world economy. changes in the international situation and success in implementing the Peace Program, the growing importance of foreign economic relations, the efficiency of the Soviet economy, and the strengthening of friendly relations with other states (p. 63).

The main direction of the USSR's foreign economic relations is the growing cooperation with socialist countries, primarily within the COMECON framework. Relations with these countries are at a higher and more mature stage of cooperation.-

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stages of socialist economic integration (p. 66). The main feature of these relations, the author notes, is that they "represent a conscious and systematically regulated process of the international division of labor by the communist and workers' parties and governments of the COMECON member countries, bringing national economies closer together and leveling the levels of economic development, forming deep and stable mutual economic ties in the interests of the peoples of socialist countries " (p. 66).. The author draws attention to the importance of the fact that when planning the development of foreign economic relations, the USSR gives priority to fraternal socialist countries and that the laws of commerce are not the most important and even more so the only criterion in this matter (p.67).

It is convincing to expose in the book the slanderous fabrications to which the close cooperation of the USSR with the states of the socialist commonwealth is exposed in the West. The book presents facts showing the dynamics of economic ties between the USSR and socialist countries, the importance of these ties for both the USSR and its partners, and the role of COMECON in establishing and deepening mutual cooperation between socialist countries.

Coverage of cooperation between the USSR and developing countries occupies an important place in the work. Our policy towards these countries, the author notes, is based on the Leninist approach to the national liberation movement as a natural ally in the struggle against all forms of exploitation and oppression, for political independence and economic independence, for the right of peoples to determine their own destiny, to carry out progressive socio-economic transformations (p.113). In economic relations with developing countries, "win-win", as rightly shown in the work, is a broader and more capacious concept than a simple commercial calculation or achieving an equal profit from a particular foreign trade transaction. The coincidence of interests on a number of important life issues largely determines the specifics of relations between the USSR and developing countries. This is reflected in the formation of the main areas of cooperation and in the growth rates and volumes of relations with individual countries and their groups. The most important partners of the USSR in the "third world" were the countries of socialist orientation. Relations with neighboring and neighboring countries are also developing successfully. The book contains a lot of interesting information about the importance of the USSR's economic and technical assistance in eliminating the backwardness of developing countries as soon as possible.

The third important area of foreign economic relations of the USSR was the capitalist countries. These ties have grown quite rapidly over the past decade, which is a testament to the success of the peace policy. As noted in the book, international treaties and agreements that consolidated the territorial and political realities of modern Europe and established the principles of peaceful coexistence as the fundamental norms of international life were of paramount importance in this regard (p. 138). A major factor contributing to the expansion of economic cooperation between states with different social systems was the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (1975). The book describes the dynamics, structure and mechanism of economic cooperation between the USSR and capitalist countries, and makes observations on the real and imaginary difficulties in the development of this process.

M. M. Maksimova is not limited to research and coverage of current trends. A separate chapter discusses the main tasks in the field of foreign economic relations set by the XXV Congress of the CPSU, and the problems that should be solved for the successful implementation of these tasks. Special attention is paid to improving the efficiency of foreign economic relations.

The small volume of the book did not allow the author to cover all the issues raised in it with sufficient completeness, in particular, the impact of foreign economic relations on solving economic problems of the USSR and, above all, improving the efficiency of production and product quality. A more extensive bibliographic apparatus would also be useful. These remarks, however, do not detract from the merits of the book, which will attract the attention of all those who are interested in the problems of foreign economic relations of the USSR and international relations.

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