p Ouman history is a chain of generations, cultures, civilisations, and ages. The ground for the present was laid in the past, and the ground for the future is being laid in the present. Our time has witnessed the appearance of many sovereign states in place of former colonies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The present of the newly independent states-their political, economic, and cultural development is laying the foundation for a happy future.

p History, as we know, has its own objectiv. logic, that is, a linkage of major events and ages unrelated to man’s volition or consciousness: a 201 historical orientation that exists independently of the human consciousness. But historical development is not determined by any supernatural forces or by any biological laws, and much less by some psychic, subconscious element. The objective logic of history follows from the fact that changes in social relations depend on the material and economic conditions, development of the productive forces; improvements in the sociopolitical and ideological forms of life are determined by the economic basis and the socio-class structure that expresses it. The objective logic of history is the necessary change of socio-economic formations, including changes in the economic structures, and, indeed, in the type of life of society and the historical forms of communities (from clan or tribe to nations and international communities). The logic of history also amounts to qualitative changes in political institutions consonant with the evolution of economic relations, as well as a reassessment of ideological values. Hence the Marxist definition of social development as a natural-historical process or an objective process similar in a way to the changes taking place in nature.

The notion of objective in social science means that there have never been generations or nations able to choose the way of life according exclusively to their taste or volition in disregard of the material conditions thev have largely inherited 202 from the preceding society. We might say that every generation moves forward by leapfrogging the one before. In order to take a firm hold on life, people inevitably use the obtaining level of labour and produetion or the foundation for it laid by preceding generations, as well as the existing social relationships and material, technical and intellectual wealth. This to a considerable extent determines the character, orientation, and forms of the economic and other performances of the current generation and shapes the relevant links among people. On the other hand, every individual engages in various types of activity or enters into relationships with other individuals consciously; for example, every individual exchanges material goods and intellectual values, takes part in local self-government, etc. But the chain of events and the general relations and development trends that take shape do not depend on the goals of individuals and, what is more, are never fully appreciated by people. These processes are the aggregate result of the activities of many people, of the infinite variety of wills and aspirations. Marxist science is far from any one-sided treatment of history, and does not identify the process of history with some objective mystical force. The task of science is to establish the role of the conscious will in history and find the root causes for the socio-historical activity of individuals, classes, and nations.