p This is a revised and supplemented edition of a book which was published in Russian in 1977. Its authors are research workers of the Institute of Africa, the USSR Academy of Sciences, and other institutes and also specialists with good knowledge of Africa acquired through their work in diverse Soviet state organisations and institutions.

p The authors do not intend to give a detailed account of the history of multiform diplomatic, political, economic and other relations between the peoples of Russia, and then the Soviet Union, and the peoples of Africa. This monograph is above all a socio-economic study of present-day SovietAfrican relations with occasional references to the past. The authors proceeded from the fact that the long-standing Soviet-African friendship and cooperation developed at an especially rapid pace after Africa became independent. They also took into consideration that the roots of contemporary events lie in all the preceding processes.

p Consequently, they operate with historical facts to refute allegations in certain Western publications that the Soviet Union “discovered” Africa only in the 1950s. The authors bring to light certain general regularities and sources of the relations between the USSR and African states. They analyse Soviet policy towards colonial countries and peoples in the interval between the two world wars, and beginning with this historical period investigate individual aspects f the Soviet Union’s cooperation with the continent’s newly free states.

p In recent years much more attention is being paid in the USSR to the study of the modern history of the former colonies, including the newly free African states. Books on this subject examine the more important problems of socio-economic and socio-political development in the liberated countries, their foreign policy and international relations and their struggle against racialist and colonial regimes. They also criticise bourgeois-reformist, nationalist conceptions and show that real socialism has turned into a factor of the national independence of countries which had thrown off colonial oppression.

p Some books and articles deal with individual aspects of the establishment of relations between the world’s first socialist state and the developing countries.

p This book is the first comprehensive study containing an analysis of the development, trends and prospects of the multiform Soviet-African relations and their interconnections. It shows that ever since its establishment the Soviet Union has approached the national liberation movements [of the oppressed peoples and [independent countries from strictly class positions. The ^authors note that in the course of the development of relations with the majority of independent African countries the Soviet Union has accumulated considerable experience in establishing international cooperation which is basically new as regards its content and forms, and, above all, in terms of its objectives.

p The publication of this study in foreign languages is theoretically and practically important and expedient for several reasons. Among them are the increased importance of the Soviet Union’s political, economic, scientific and cultural cooperation with African countries in broadening the scope of national liberation revolutions, the mounting positive influence of independent Africa on all present-day international relations and its growing role in world development. Moreover, the present publication will help progressive forces to provide well-argumented replies to anti-Soviet bourgeois-reformist and neo-Maoist falsifications of Soviet policy towards African countries.

p The authors based their analysis of Soviet-African relations on Marxist-Leninist theory and combined theoretical propositions with facts, and statistical and other data. They endeavoured to unite a wide range of theoretical 8 aspects of the given problem within the framework of an integral conception and took into consideration that the Soviet Union’s relations with African countries and national liberation movements are in a state of continuous development.

p We hope that having read this book the reader will come to appreciate the lucid and consistent nature of Soviet policy vis-a-vis Africa, that on the African continent as elsewhere the USSR does not pursue a "conflict strategy" but is on the side of the forces working for national independence, social progress \and democracy. The authors clearly show that the USSR is against the preservation of the vestiges of colonial oppression and racialism in Africa and that it opposes neocolonialism and racialist regimes.

p The book acquaints the reader not only with theory, but also with the practical results of the Soviet Union’s economic cooperation with African countries. It demonstrates that the establishment, extension and deepening of economic, commercial, scientific, technical and cultural links with the USSR helps the developing countries to do away with backwardness, build up their own independent economy and achieve social progress.

Prof. Anatoly Gromyko
Director
The Institute of Africa
USSR Academy of Sciences