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Information about several papers discussed at the conference "Economic Development of European Socialist Countries," which was held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on November 30 to December 6, 1964 is presented. The various reports presented focused on the comprehension of the economic trends and problems in Eastern Europe. Such features and issues considered including balance of payments, labor skills, and technological innovations.

This article is reprint of a paper published originally in Russian in a 1971 Russian journal Voprosy Filosofi; translated to English by Michael Cernea. This paper remarks on the Seventh World Congress of Sociology held September 1970 in Varna, Bulgaria. The Congress was a mosaic of almost thirty-five hundred people involved in more than one thousand papers presented during the fifty workshops and research sessions over more than six full days of meetings, not to mention innumerable discussions in the corridors. The congress revealed in the most convincing way the qualitative change in the distribution of forces in the world science of sociology during the last years, namely, a sharp increase in the weight of Marxist sociology and the sociology of socialist countries. Scholars from the socialist countries took over in Varna not merely in the quantity of their representatives but through their skill in participating in the work of the congress. Suffice it to say that they represented 40 percent of all the papers. Besides the Marxist sociologists, there are three basic groups of delegates that might be categorized by their attitudes toward Marxism, their level of professional training and their number; the professional sociologists; social philosopher sociologists; and beginners.

This paper reports that at the VIIth World Congress of Sociology, held in Varna, Bulgaria from September 14-19, 1970, a new executive was elected for the Sociology of Religion Research Committee. Professor Norman Birnbaum, Amherst College, Department of Anthropology-Sociology, Amherst, Massachusetts, was elected to succeed the late Professor Le Bras. The section decided to recruit membership as now required under the new Statutes of the International Sociological Association and to plan a conference for September 1972. It was also decided to invite representatives from each country on the committee.

Various explanations have been offered for the conservatism of the Bulgarian villagers who live in close proximity to and under the apparent influence of Sofia, the country's chief city. A study of the contacts which these villagers have with the "outside world" shows that even when they visit Sofia they still move in a peasant world and fail to break through the psychological barrier separating them from the urban dweller. The "outside world" in visiting the village usually comes in holiday mood, either as returned relatives for a week end, as hikers climbing the mountain in extreme sport styles, or as summer guests enjoying the fine climate. Such visitors take little pains to interpret city ways to the solemn peasant. A few salesmen, officials, artisans, and entertainers make their appearance during the year but leave little impact upon the social structure of the village. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The available diagnostic procedures for malignant melanoma are critically discussed. The hazards of simple excision biopsy can be reduced by the technique of radiation or chemotherapeutic cover. Methods of treatment are reviewed and the 5 year follow-up results of the treatment of 136 patients in the author's clinic are reported. It is concluded that both radiation and surgery have a place in the treatment of this tumour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents several updates concerning foreign trade in different countries in 1966. Establishment of a factory for copper wire production in Albania; Development of trade of western countries with Bulgaria as a result of the country's rapid economic growth; Czechoslovakia's exportation of diesel motors to over 50 countries; Production and foreign trade in air conditioning and refrigerating equipment in East Germany.

The article presents the views of the author on the Seventh World Congress of Sociology to be held in Varna, Bulgaria, on September 14-19, 1970. The congress will provide sociologists from different countries an excellent opportunity to exchange their professional experiences and discuss family traits, structures, changes and trends in various societies.