Moscow, Nauka Publishing House, 1976, 166 p. The print run is 3,700. Price 54 kopecks.

"In the annals of the liberation struggle of the Asian peoples," said General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev, " there is not a single page that does not record the effective support and solidarity of the Soviet Union, our people, and our party."1 . These words can be fully attributed to the liberation struggle of the Indonesian people against the Dutch colonialists. The difficulties of this process, the difficulties in which the first young independent state in Southeast Asia was born, and the principled support of the Soviet Union in the international arena are discussed in the monograph of Candidate of Historical Sciences Yu. A. Sholmov.

In Soviet literature, this problem is covered in the work of Yu. Aleshina " Soviet-Indonesian Relations "(Moscow, 1963). However, the reviewed monograph has a broader source base. It uses documents from the United Nations, the Indonesian and Soviet governments.

In his work "The Awakening of Asia", written in 1913, V. I. Lenin hailed the birth of an organized Indonesian national liberation movement. "It is interesting," he wrote, " that the revolutionary - democratic movement has now spread to Dutch India, the island of Java, and other Dutch colonies... The growth of the democratic movement is unstoppable. " 2 The Great October Socialist Revolution had a powerful revolutionizing effect on the fate of the Indonesian national liberation movement. The book contains the statement of a well-known Indonesian politician M. Rum that the events in Russia in October 1917 caused a powerful revolutionary upsurge in the Indonesian trade union and youth movement. The great power of proletarian solidarity was highly appreciated by the first President of Indonesia, Sukarno. "Our friendship with the Soviet people," he stressed, " has deep roots... Lenin expressed sympathy for the struggle of the Indonesian people long before our liberation. " 3 The Soviet people were an example for the Indonesians who fought for the creation of their own independent state.

The August revolution of 1945 in Indonesia was carried out by the united anti-colonial front. The Western powers, although they declared their "non-interference" in Indonesian affairs, did everything possible to help Holland, which carried out an armed aggression in order to restore its independence.

1 L. I. Brezhnev. Lenin's Course, vol. 4, Moscow, 1974, p. 252.

2 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 23, pp. 145-146

3 Pravda, 8. XI. 1963.

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domination in Indonesia. In these circumstances, the leaders of the young state turned to the USSR for support.

In his" Documentary History", the Indonesian historian O. Ralibi notes that in the message of President Sukarno and Foreign Minister Subarjo dated November 13, 1945, to the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR, a request was made that the Soviet Union take measures to curb the Anglo-Dutch imperialists in Indonesia, so that he demanded that England, whose troops landed in the Soviet Union, be allowed to Indonesia to disarm the Japanese, stop the massacre of Indonesians who are not at war with the Allies 4 . Yu. A. Sholmov cites many documentary evidence that the Soviet Union did everything in its power to help the Indonesian people defend their freedom. The USSR was the first and only great power that extended a hand of friendship to the people of Indonesia. The position of the Soviet Union, which consistently defended in the UN the inalienable right of the Indonesian people to independent development, contributed to the mobilization of all progressive forces in the world to support the just struggle of Indonesia. Resolute speeches at the UN by representatives of the Soviet Union, Poland, India and other peace-loving countries in support of Indonesia and for ending the aggression of the colonial powers caused a wide response around the world and forced the colonialists to officially recognize Indonesia as an independent state in the fall of 1949. The author shows how, as a result of the efforts of the mainly Soviet delegation, the Indonesian question remained on the agenda of the Security Council during almost the entire period of the armed liberation war of the Sunda Archipelago peoples in 1945-1949 (p.101). According to the American expert Ruth T. McVeigh, from the Indonesian point of view, the Soviet Union has taken an exemplary position in the UN (p.67).

The monograph traces the development of Soviet-Indonesian relations. Even at the May Day rally in 1946, Sukarno stressed the urgent need to establish diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union by establishing a representative office of the Indonesian Republic in Moscow. However, the first step in this direction was taken a year later, under the government of Amir Sharifuddin. On May 22, 1948, the Indonesian representative in Prague, Suripno, exchanged letters with the Soviet Ambassador to Czechoslovakia, M. A. Silin, on the establishment of trade relations and consular relations between the USSR and Indonesia. However, Dutch representatives in Indonesia, with the assistance of American "intermediaries", put rough pressure on its government, and got it to reject Suripno's statement. The paper shows how the increased resistance to internal reaction by that time prevented Indonesia from responding appropriately to the friendly behavior of the Soviet Union. Prime Minister M. Hatta, who succeeded Sharifuddin, made an official statement on June 4, 1948, in which he indicated that the Government headed by him did not intend to ratify the agreement signed by Suripno. The author rightly believes that the failure to establish Soviet-Indonesian consular relations deprived the republic of important foreign policy advantages and weakened its position in the international arena (pp. 91-92).

In January - February 1950, messages were exchanged between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia Hatta regarding the decision of the Soviet Government to recognize the republic as a sovereign state and establish diplomatic relations with it. This, as the author notes, the ruling circles of Indonesia undoubtedly hoped to make some political capital. The overall pro-Western orientation of Hatta and his successors, the leaders of the right-wing Mashumi Party, remained unchanged (pp. 109, 118). They did nothing to develop contacts with the Soviet Union. Yu. A. Sholmov describes the acute political struggle that was going on in Indonesia around this issue.

The strengthening of the Indonesian democratic forces led to the formation of a Cabinet of Ministers in July 1953, headed by a prominent figure of the National Party, Ali Sastroamijoyo. This Government, which had set itself the task of fighting for the full economic and political independence of the Republic, reconsidered the question of Indonesia's relations with the socialist countries. In 1954, an exchange of ambassadors took place between the USSR and Indonesia. The materials of the book confirm that it was in 1954-1955 that a wide range of bilateral Soviet - Indo-American relations was initiated.-

4 O. Ralibu. Documenta Historica. Djakarta. 1953. hal. 91.

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Eurasian contacts and exchanges in the fields of science, culture, art, sports and other fields, both on a governmental and non-governmental basis. In September 1956, a Soviet-Indonesian joint statement was signed in Moscow, reflecting the common approach of both countries to solving major international problems and strengthening cooperation between the USSR and Indonesia. They reaffirmed their commitment to the principles of peaceful coexistence, the policy of fighting for disarmament, and the prohibition of testing thermonuclear weapons. Continuing the course of further development of cooperation, on September 15, 1956, the Indonesian Government concluded the First Agreement, and in 1960, the second one was signed by the Indonesian Government. The second was the general agreements on economic and technical cooperation in the USSR, which contributed to the further expansion of relations with the socialist countries and opened up prospects for strengthening the political and economic independence of the republic.

The consistent assistance and support of the Soviet Union played a crucial role in Indonesia's struggle to liberate West Irian from Dutch colonialism in 1963. The author emphasizes that the first decade of relations between the Soviet Union and Indonesia opened a glorious page in the annals of friendship between the peoples of both countries. This was a period when they developed good traditions of mutual understanding, respect and solidarity (pp. 149-160).

Serious political changes that took place in Indonesia after the events of September 30, 1965, led to a noticeable weakening of ties between the USSR and Indonesia. Mass repressions after the events of autumn 1965 seriously damaged the interests of national unity in Indonesia and weakened the common front of the struggle of progressive forces against imperialism and neo-colonialism. The Soviet public condemned the anti-communist campaign in Indonesia and expressed concern for the future of relations between our countries. Having given its principled assessment of the events of 1965, the Soviet Government at the same time stressed that it stands for the further development of interstate relations with Indonesia, if the other side shows the same interest. However, Soviet proposals to expand economic and cultural cooperation have not yet received a proper response from the Indonesian government. Meanwhile, cooperation between the USSR and Indonesia can bring fruitful results if it is developed taking into account mutual interests, as evidenced by the materials and conclusions of the peer-reviewed monograph.

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