Moscow, Nauka Publ. 1982. 358 p. The reviewed monograph is designed to respond to the increased interest of the scientific community in a very relevant problem both in scientific and political terms. The editorial board and the authors of the peer-reviewed work1 set out to trace the formation of the theory of socio-economic formation in the works of Karl Marx and Franz Liszt. To show the significance of this teaching for the modern process of social development. In accordance with this, the book is divided into three large sections: "Formation of the theory of socio-economic formation", "Methodological significance of the theory of socio-economic formation", "Formation analysis of the modern era". In the opening chapter of the book (author G. A. Bagaturia), it is emphasized that the doctrine of socio-economic formation is the basis of the concept of materialistic understanding of history. The concept of social formation lies, as it were, at the intersection of two aspects of the Marxist concept: the doctrine of the structure of society (the structure of social formation) and the doctrine of the periodization of history (the formation division of the historical process). The first side defines the second (p. 7). The author outlines the main stages of the development of the theory of social formation by the founders of Marxism. He considers these stages to be: 1842- 1845, 1845 - 1848, 1848 - 1857, 1857 - 1871, 1871 - 1883, 1883 - 1895 years. G. A. Bagaturia groups these stages, in turn, into three main stages: before the European revolution of 1848-1849, from it-before the Paris Commune of 1871, and after the Paris Commune (p. 8). The author shows that Marx and Engels worked together on the development of this concept, but the decisive role in its development was played by Marx and Engels. It belongs to Marx (p. 9). The process of formation of Marxism since 1842, G. A. Bagaturia points out, in a certain sense from the very beginning was a process of cognition of the s ... Read more