Yu. V. BORISOV. USSR and France: 60 years of diplomatic relations. International relations. 1984. 240 p.

It is 60 years since the government of Eduard Herriot established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. In the light of this anniversary, summarizing the history of relations between the two countries is of particularly great scientific and practical interest.

Yu. V. Borisov, a Soviet researcher and Francologist, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Head of the Department of the Diplomatic Academy of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is not the first to turn to the study of Soviet-French relations .1 In his new work, the scientist, continuing to study the topic up to the present day, drew a general picture of the development of relations between the USSR and France over all six decades. The author used diplomatic documents taken, in particular, from the French archives. Many of them saw the light of day for the first time. Yu. V. Borisov attracted Soviet publications of documents, as well as extensive memoirs, research literature, and the Soviet and foreign press.

Pointing out the factors that contributed to the development of cooperation between the two countries, the author notes at the same time that the path of Soviet-French relations has never been perfectly smooth. There were periods not only of ups and downs and mutually beneficial cooperation, but also of downturns and zigzags. The reason for this lies in the ambiguity of the foreign policy of the ruling circles of France, which has developed over the past six decades under the influence of a continuous struggle between two trends - the course towards rapprochement with the Soviet Union, which meets the national interests of the French people, and the anti-Soviet course, which invariably infringes on the national interests of France (p.4).

Soviet diplomacy consistently pursues a course of mutually beneficial peaceful coexistence as the only realistic and reasonable way of relations between States with different social systems. The effectiveness of Soviet foreign policy and the realistic approach and sound tendencies in French politics have repeatedly contributed to a fruitful rapprochement between the two countries. As the author rightly points out, the conclusion drawn from the long history of Franco-Soviet relations is that "friendship between our peoples, peaceful coexistence and cooperation between the USSR and the French Republic have always been one of the foundations of European and universal peace" (p.8).

Yu. V. Borisov convincingly illustrates this conclusion with numerous examples from the history of Soviet-French relations in the pre-war, post-war, and post-war periods, and especially in the 60s and 70s, when, thanks to the course of rapprochement and cooperation jointly adopted by the two powers, the USSR and France contributed to the elimination of the Cold War in Europe and to the turn of European and world politics detente, strengthening peace and security on the continent and on the whole planet. It was during this period that high-level meetings became regular, the exchange of information improved, and the practice of systematic consultations between dis emerged.-

1 Borisov Yu. V. Soviet-French relations (1924-1945), Moscow, 1964.

page 141

special departments on topical issues of modern international and bilateral relations. A large number of diplomatic documents were signed-declarations, protocols, agreements, many of which were a model for implementing the policy of peaceful coexistence of States belonging to two opposite socio-economic systems. The Soviet and French Governments actively participated in the preparation and holding of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Positive developments have also taken place in the sphere of Soviet-French trade and economic relations. The organizational mechanism of cooperation was successfully functioning: Large and Small permanent mixed commissions, the Chamber of Commerce, and periodically created working groups that study and solve current problems of the economy, science, and technology, on which numerous agreements were signed in the 70s, designed for 10, 15, and more years, taking into account the long-term, "strategic" prospects for social progress in both countries. Soviet-French cultural ties also developed rapidly.

The author's comprehensive analysis of the rich, largely "pioneer" and illustrative experience of Soviet-French cooperation gives the work relevance and brings the historical research to the current stage of international relations. As you know, this stage is extremely complex and acute, caused by the aggressive policy of American imperialism and its NATO allies. Reactionary forces in all Western countries, including France, have intensified their anti-Soviet and anti-communist activities. In the actions of the French side in relation to the USSR, inconsistency was revealed, which led to a slowdown and failures in Soviet - French cooperation. Meanwhile, the lessons of the past, discussed in Yu. V. Borisov's monograph, convincingly show that the fundamental long-term interests of France are connected with the improvement of the political climate, the consistent implementation of a course to defuse tension and the development of versatile Soviet - French cooperation.

As the Soviet-French high-level talks in Moscow in June 1984 showed, these objective interests are capable of breaking through the complexities and twists of the current international situation. And this is not accidental, because, as the author emphasizes in the conclusion of his work, the history that has been testing the strength of cooperation between the USSR and France for 60 years now shows that, in the end, the common core interests of the two peoples have always triumphed over temporary misunderstandings in relations between our countries (p.228).

To the advantages of the monograph by Yu. V. Borisov should also be attributed to the fact that, summarizing the long-term history of Soviet-French relations, she simultaneously raises a number of problems of this large and important topic, which could become the subject of further independent research. One of them is the issues of military detente and disarmament and relations between the USSR and France. It is no secret that the Soviet-French dialogue in this area, despite the initiative and constructive line of the Soviet side, has not yet produced results that correspond to the extremely important place that these issues occupy on the agenda of modern world politics. Moreover, in recent years, due to the well-known position of the French side, difficulties have arisen here that complicate the solution of the problem of weakening the military confrontation in Europe and around the world. However, there is no reason to conclude that it is impossible to overcome them. This is evidenced by the experience of Soviet-French relations, when thanks to the efforts of the two countries it was possible to untie the most complex knots of world politics, and revealed during the Moscow bilateral negotiations at the highest level in June 1984. The Soviet Union and France share similar positions on issues such as preventing the transfer of an arms race to outer space, prohibiting and eliminating chemical weapons, and strengthening and expanding the nuclear nonproliferation regime. This is also evidenced by the realistic approach of a number of representatives of political, public, and scientific circles in France. The identification and generalization of these reserves for the further development of Soviet-French cooperation would not only be of scientific importance, but would undoubtedly bring considerable practical benefits. Signifier-

page 142

A study of the ideological struggle in modern France that is unfolding over relations with the USSR could also be of great interest.

Yu. V. Borisov's research is not without its drawbacks. Summarizing significant historical material related to Soviet-French relations, the author did not avoid overloading some sections of the work with actual data. In general, the connection between the policy of the ruling circles of the Fifth Republic in relation to the USSR and their doctrinal attitudes, which he successfully establishes, is not always sufficiently consistent. The book would only benefit if the author involved, along with French research on the topic, assessments of scientists and political figures in the United States, England and other countries.

In conclusion, we emphasize once again that with the publication of a new monograph by Yu.V. Borisov, Soviet historical science has been supplemented with a significant and useful study.

page 143

Permanent link to this publication: