Two principal facts dominate the history of Moscow in the second half of the fifteenth century: the winning of independence, and religious emancipation. On the one hand, Moscow shook off the secular yoke of the Tartars and became a State; on the other hand, the Russian Church withdrew from the guardianship of the mother Byzantine Church. Religious aspirations and the awakening of a national consciousness were then intimately bound together and strengthened each other by the interplay of their mutual influences. But, while the Moscow principality was consolidating itself and realizing its desire for political autonomy, the religious situation remained indecisive for a much longer time. The Russian soul felt itself abandoned and ill at ease with the ecclesiastical independence that came to it with the fall of Byzantium. Opposing currents divided popular opinion, and diverse influences sometimes had the most unexpected consequences. We have tried to unravel some of these currents and some of these influences in the pages that follow.

The cold war—now aggravated by shooting war in Korea, —is being waged on many fronts. One of these fronts is ideological, reflecting the incompatibility of the social ideals of the opponents. The ideological war is being conducted in many ways; and among the weapons used by the foe there is perhaps none more irritating to the Americans than the assertion that the Soviets enjoy real democracy while American democracy is but a ridiculous fake.

From the very first day of their rule over Russia the Soviet leaders have insisted that their democracy is the best, or the highest ever achieved in history. This insistence they have made both before and after the enactment of the Stalin Constitution (1936)—in other words, both when their democracy excluded from the exercise of political rights the members of the former “bourgeoisie” and its servants (for example, clergymen and Tsarist policemen), and after their shift to universal suffrage.

The most striking peculiarity of the Soviet regime, established in Russia more than thirty years ago, is its claim to be the instrument of a necessary historical and social development It regards itself as the accelerator of the evolution of mankind towards socialism and communism. The details of this evolution are unknown—but its general direction is known to the party, the Bolshevist-Communist party of Lenin and of his successor, Stalin. Therefore, the doctrine determining Soviet policies is not only a theory, but the basis for a practice carried out by an organization. This organization, the party, determines which steps are right and correspond to the demands of the situation. For the socialistic-communist aim will not be accomplished at once and easily; it will be realized by difficult and complicated struggles whose realization requires incessant maneuvering, constant observation of existing power conditions, and careful consideration of the degree of maturity reached in the advance towards the goal.