UNIVERSAL HISTORY BY LEONID SERGEEVICH* The concept of L. S. Vasiliev has been known to specialists in the East for many years. At one time, when it was impossible to take a step without Karl Marx or, in extreme cases, F. Engels, it was called the concept of the "Asian mode of production"; when ideological freedom came, but it was still difficult to abandon the usual use of words, it became known as the concept of the "state mode of production". Now, according to the latest book, it has received the name "Eastern structure". L. S. Vasiliev has written many monographs, but perhaps the most famous of them is "History of the East" in two volumes, published in the fourth edition, which is still the main textbook for all students taking this subject. The novelty of this work lies not only in the fact that "West" was added to "East", but also in the fact that even the "eastern" chapters were written anew. According to the author, much of what was presented in the two-volume "History of the East", "including a considerable number of analytical arguments of a theoretical nature, the reader will be able to find in this work", but "verbatim repetition of the text is almost nowhere to be found" (I, p. 10). And it really is. You can only bow before a master who polished his conclusions many years ago, but does not consider any of his words cast in bronze. At the same time, speaking about himself (in the third person), L. S. Vasiliev writes: "He did not seek to create new theories for his new work" (ibid.). Indeed, the main positions of the researcher remained the same, but now the venerable scientist decided to write the history of the East into the history of all mankind. Or rather, to write the history of mankind in the history of the East. This intention is quite legitimate, because the history of the East is the history of the majority of humanity and the largest part of this history is 6 thousand years against 2.5 thousand years of the history of Europe. The long-cherished ... Читать далее