This book has been organized around four different approaches: the first involves tracing the roots of Soviet concepts of the Third World within the Marxist tradition. The second approach is a discussion of Soviet attitudes to the capitalist world market as they evolved from the early Bolshevik period up to the present commitment to integration. The third approach is an attempt to present the evolution of internal structures in the USSR: class-formation, economic or institutional structures, ie an attempt is made to relate internal relations of production and ideology to the policy followed vis-a-vis the capitalist world system. These three approaches correspond to the three first chapters of the book, or part 1. The fourth approach - identical to part 2 of the study - is a discussion of Soviet-Third World relations under presently existing conditions. The conclusion, finally, summarizes some of the main arguments, linking them together in order to form a new pattern of comprehension. It also points to various questions which the study gives rise to.