M. Mysl'. 1982. 262 p.

In Soviet historical literature, the period of participation of imperialist powers in the Russian civil war on the side of internal counterrevolution is sufficiently deeply studied, and the role of the ruling circles of the United States, Great Britain, France, and Japan in organizing military intervention against the young Soviet state is convincingly revealed. However, in covering their activities directed against revo-

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In the years leading up to the Great October Socialist Revolution, there was a certain gap in the number of revolutionary forces in Russia. Doctor of Historical Sciences O. F. Solovyov, having chosen this topic as the object of his new research, turned to the analysis of the methods of the struggle of international imperialism against the revolution in Russia, against the Leninist party.

The scientific novelty of the book is largely determined by the involvement of a wide range of unknown or little-known materials stored mainly in the state archives of the USSR.

The paper also uses numerous documentary publications, monographs and articles by Soviet and foreign authors, which contain information on the problem under consideration.

The central place in the monograph is to find out the mechanism of the "cosmopolitan union", which was formed by the ruling circles of Russia, Germany, France, Great Britain and other countries in order to suppress the revolutionary movement in Europe.

Unlike a number of other researchers, O. F. Solov'ev focuses on the common class interests of the ruling elite of these states, which are bound by a system of international treaties. "Although the ruling classes of the great powers were torn apart by sharp inter-imperialist contradictions," the author emphasizes, " their counter - revolutionary cooperation remained a common pattern, which was constantly intensified "(p.51).

Based on the documents collected by the author, the book describes the assistance that the government of William II provided to the Russian counterrevolution. Trying to tear Russia from the Franco-British group, and at the same time to weaken the revolutionary movement in Germany, it was widely supported by the tsarist government in its fight against the progressive forces of the country. It was Germany, as O. F. Solovyov shows, that took the initiative to develop an international convention defining ways and methods of combating revolutionaries, conducting surveillance of them, and ways to hand them over to the authorities (p. 46).

The diplomatic aspect of the meeting between Wilhelm II and Nicholas II in Reval in the summer of 1902 is well known from Soviet literature. O. F. Solovyov shows that at this meeting questions were also discussed about joint actions against the" anarchists", as the rulers of Germany and Russia called revolutionaries. The results of this discussion influenced the preparation and signing in St. Petersburg on March 1, 1904 of the protocol on the adoption of "international measures against the anarchist movement" (pp. 48-49). The author draws important conclusions in this regard: "The systematic struggle against the revolution, elevated to the rank of official policy, was and still is the subject of diplomatic negotiations and intergovernmental agreements" (p. 50).

Such cooperation, as can be seen from the materials of the book, took on a particularly wide scale during the revolution of 1905-1907 in Russia. O. F. Solovyov examines in detail the activities of foreign reaction during this period. The monograph examines two counter - revolutionary groups that existed at that time-the Germanophile and the Antantophile. The author cites remarkable facts that show that while French capital provided tsarism with broad financial support, the Kaiser's government planned to introduce German and Austro-Hungarian troops into the border provinces of Russia and send its military squadrons to its territorial waters on the Baltic and Black Seas.

The materials identified and used by O. F. Solovyov show that during the first Russian Revolution, the ruling circles of Western European countries significantly increased their assistance to the tsarist Okhrana in spying on Russian revolutionaries who were in exile. The book analyzes the meetings of the Russian Ambassador to France, A. I. Nelidov, with the Prime Minister of France, J. R. R. Tolkien. Clemenceau, in the course of which the latter promised to establish "special supervision" over Russian revolutionaries living in France (p.144). With good reason, the author emphasizes the importance that the imperialist governments granted large loans to tsarism, and gives their Leninist assessment: "The bourgeoisie of the whole world lends billions of dollars to an obvious bankrupt, the tsar, not only because they are tempted, like any usurer, by high profits, but also because the bourgeoisie is aware of its interest in the victory of the old order over the revolution in Russia, for the proletariat is at the head of this revolution. " 1
1 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 16, p. 445.

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O. F. Solovyov carefully examines not only the cooperation of state bodies of Western imperialist states with tsarism, but also the actions of reformist circles of European social democracy, which have taken the path of supporting the imperialist bourgeoisie and anti-Leninist elements in Russian social democracy. The materials presented in this monograph clearly show that the leaders of the Second International took the side of the Mensheviks and Trotskyists and, under the pretext of caring for the unity of the ranks of the RSDLP, tried to drag revisionist elements into it in order to create a counterweight within it to the Leninist revolutionary core. Thus, at a meeting of representatives of the social-democratic groups of Russia in Brussels (July 1914), K. Kautsky, E. Vandervelde, K. Huysmans and others sought the mechanical inclusion of schismatic elements in the RSDLP, which soon openly moved to the positions of the bourgeoisie. The monograph shows the role of V. I. Lenin in exposing such maneuvers of the leaders of the Second International, who later became supporters of the imperialist war.

It would be advisable to show more broadly in the book the actions of the imperialist bourgeoisie and the ruling circles of the United States aimed at supporting the struggle of tsarism with the revolutionary movement. As for further research on the topic, the period from 1914, when the World War began, to February 1917 needs special study first of all.

In general, the author of argumentation reveals the interaction of the tsarist Okhrana, state bodies of the imperialist countries of the West and revisionists in the labor movement in the struggle against the revolutionary forces of Russia. The book is a serious work on an important scientific and political issue.

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