Folklore Studies and the Present Day

The present stage in the development of the social sciences in our country is characterized by an effort to arrive at a more precise understanding of their place and function in present-day life; to find new forms and methods for the application of special knowledge to the solution of pressing problems of progress toward communism; to correctly combine works of generalization on the historic level with systematic studies of the social and cultural processes of our times. The next 20 years will doubtless be marked by a rise in the significance of the social sciences, whose function is to generalize from experience and to validate theoretically the establishment of higher forms of social relations, politics and culture, and to play a decisive role in the establishment of that abundance of intellectual riches without which communism is unthinkable.