M. Voenizdat. 1970. 366 p. The print run is 15,000. Price 1 rub. 39 kopecks.

The scientific community met with interest the publication of a new book by Vsevolod Mikhailovich Kulakov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Captain of the First rank. Unfortunately, this is his last work. Vsevolod Mikhailovich died in August last year.

V. M. Kulakov headed the Research Department of the Institute of Military History of the USSR Ministry of Defense. He was a major expert on military history. He has written over 50 works in this field. He participated in the creation of the six-volume "History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941-1945", the collective work "Modern imperialist military Ideology", was the author of a number of publications on the history of foreign military intervention and the civil war in the USSR.

Few works are devoted to the study of the military ideology of American imperialism in Soviet historiography. This topic is partially reflected, for example, in the books of G. Trofimenko, A. N. Yakovlev and a number of other authors. 1 V. M. Kulakov put this problem at the center of his research.

Currently, there is an active militarization of science in the United States. Along with the process of subordinating science to the military-industrial complex, there are tendencies to transform it from a servant to an adviser, and sometimes even a partner of militarists and monopolists. A single military-industrial and scientific complex is being formed. More than 80% of American scientists and specialists are engaged in military research. Their writings develop views and principles that express the attitude of the monopolistic bourgeoisie to modern warfare and the methods of its conduct. "Factories of military thought"are being created at universities and colleges. In military ideology, the views of certain groups of the monopolistic bourgeoisie, which do not always completely coincide, and the struggle between them, find indirect expression. Often, the aggressive nature of military ideology is disguised by peaceful phraseology.

The undoubted advantage of V. M. Kulakov's work is that it analyzes the central, current doctrines, analyzes the work of military ideologues who have a significant impact on the military strategy and state policy of the United States. From a variety of points of view and ideas, the author chooses those that most fully reflect the main views of the state and monopolies on war and its methods of conduct. He does not limit himself to presenting the main points of a particular work, but provides a convincing counter-argument. In the first chapter of Monopolies and Militarism, V. M. Kulakov shows the indissoluble connection between the processes of monopolization and militarization and concludes that militarism is created, functions and develops on the basis of the following most important principles: "Arming the bourgeoisie against the working class and the peoples of colonial and dependent countries; turning the military into the main apparatus of the bourgeois state machine; preserving the power of the monopolies of the imperialist bourgeoisie on military power; the creation of the most powerful armed forces in the world, ready for aggressive military actions; the use of human and material resources of foreign countries in wars of conquest" (pp. 18-19).

The book pays great attention to the analysis of ideological and theoretical sources of the military-political doctrines of American imperialism. Trying to disguise the real socio-economic roots of militarism and aggression, bourgeois ideologists find various excuses for them. They often resort to the propositions of social Darwinism. The thesis of "survival of the fittest" is extended by them to relations between States. States and peoples, regardless of their socio-economic system, are credited with a "physiologically inherent" desire to fight for superiority over other countries and peoples. Social Darwinism, as V. M. Kulakov points out, was also the basis of the expansionist theory of Rear Admiral A. T. Mahan, the greatest military ideologist of American imperialism, who at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries called on the United States to create a powerful navy (pp. 21, 65). Mahan saw aggression as "the inevitable law of progress." Mahan's.

1 City of Trofimenko. Global War Strategy, Moscow, 1968; A. N. Yakovlev. Pax Americana. M. 1969.

page 163

the author continues, there are now successors in the United States. This is primarily the City of Morgenthau. In his numerous works that preach the inevitability of violence, he also proceeds from the alleged "animal" desire for power and suppression inherent in all states. Hence the simple conclusion: to rule, you need to be strong, you need to arm yourself (p. 155).

Among other" classical " ideological and theoretical sources of American military ideology, V. M. Kulakov identifies geopolitics, racist theory, and neo-Malthusianism. All these reactionary theories, the book notes, are characterized by anti-communism-the desire to stop the progressive movement of history and attempts to disguise the aggressiveness of imperialism with an imaginary communist threat (pp. 86-87).

The monograph clearly shows the close interweaving of US military doctrines with their foreign policy doctrines. Often, it is almost impossible to separate them, because military force becomes the main tool of foreign policy activity, and betting on war is its main goal. As examples, the author cites the doctrines of "massive retaliation" and "nuclear deterrence", the analysis of which is given considerable attention in the book. Revealing the essence of these military-political doctrines, V. M. Kulakov rightly points out that they are aggressive and directed against socialist countries. They are based, he notes, on the idea of gaining world domination with the help of nuclear weapons (pp. 100, 214).

A sharp qualitative change in the balance of power between socialism and capitalism in the late 1950s, which was clearly manifested in the balance of military forces between the USSR and the United States, coincides with the beginning of the third stage of the general crisis of capitalism. The author rightly identifies this time as a milestone in the development of the US military ideology. Many military theorists in this country realized that the nuclear bomb was no longer an effective means of achieving victory. Illusions about the prospects of a lightning war are disappearing. The success of the Soviet rocket industry and the defense industry as a whole, the book emphasizes, proved with irrefutable clarity that the outbreak of an all-out war would turn out to be a disaster for the United States itself. After several years of agonizing re-evaluation of values, when the camp of bourgeois ideologues could hear both demands for immediate total war and occasional pacifist calls for disarmament, American military ideology took a course towards the doctrine of "limited nuclear war". V. M. Kulakov connects the emergence of this doctrine with the creation of a powerful Soviet nuclear missile potential, which made any aggression against socialist countries unpromising. Analyzing the doctrine of "limited nuclear war", the author comes to the conclusion that its danger lies in the fact that, on the one hand, the "rationality" of using nuclear weapons is preached, and on the other hand, the very real danger of developing a limited nuclear conflict into an all - out war is downplayed (pp. 277-278).

V. M. Kulakov also describes in detail another strategic concept that has emerged in place of the stalled strategy of a "massive strike" - the doctrine of"flexible response". The appearance of this doctrine is associated in the book with the names of US President D. Kennedy and his military adviser M. Taylor, who later served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The author comprehensively describes both the military and political aspects of this concept of American imperialism. Militarily, the "agile response" doctrine meant a further increase in US military production and forces. Emphasizing its political aspect, V. M. Kulakov concludes with good reason that "it is designed to conduct a permanent, incessant armed struggle against any attempt by any people to break out of the grip of national or social oppression, against countries that have won national independence" (p. 283).

In the final chapter ("The most important prerequisites for the bankruptcy of the ideology of military aggression"), V. M. Kulakov convincingly shows the superiority of the socialist military organization over the military machine of imperialism. War is not an inevitable, organic function of socialism. On the contrary, its socio - economic foundation is logically crowned by the policy of peace. The military function of the socialist state is a necessity imposed by the aggressiveness of imperialism. One of the most important tasks of the foreign policy of the socialist states is to transfer the competition with imperialism from the military to the economic and political stage.-

page 164

political and ideological struggle. In recent years, the countries of socialism have achieved a number of successes in this regard. The Treaty on the Cessation of Nuclear Weapons Testing in Three Areas and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons have somewhat narrowed the militaristic sphere of imperialist policy. However, such a result, the book emphasizes, would not be possible if the countries of socialism did not have powerful armed forces that make the imperialist military machine ineffective.

V. M. Kulakov's monograph is a brilliant example of using deep knowledge in the field of military and historical science to analyze topical and complex problems of the modern military ideology of imperialism.

page 165

Постоянный адрес данной публикации: