The Evolution in the Organization of Soviet Research on Africa. Although in most of the African countries the "march towards independence" started in the late Fifties, and despite the fact that 1960 was "The African Year", the level of research on Africa in the field of Social Sciences was already qualified insufficient by the 20th Congress of the Communist Party in 1956. Research on Africa at this time did not take the new reality into account, nor did it help to define a policy with regard to national liberation or colonization. As early as 1918, however, the Socialist Academy of Human Sciences, which later became the Communist Academy, represented the highest level of research in the young Soviet state; there was also the Scientific Association of Marxist Orientalists, created in 1921, whose studies were also rather remarkable. However, the directors of research, most of whom were not party members, were progressively replaced by members of the party, trained at the Communist University, created in 1921, and specializing in studies on workmen in the West. As early as 1936, this brought about a complete reorganization of research applied to the West and to Africa in particular. Both the Communist Academy and the Scientific Association of Marxist Orientalists were obliged to close their doors. The Oriental Institute and the Institute of Ethnography, created somewhat earlier, both attached to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, were placed in charge and re-grouped all the research activities centered on Africa. This reorganization did not favor development of African research when Africa was knowing a period of accelerated historical and political evolution. After the 20th Congress, the creation of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, and above all the African Institute, re-launched research on Africa. Research in this field has flourished in the past 15 years, namely due to the new orientations and interests of the state at the Foreign Relations level. Polarized at the beginning by the question of national liberation movements and development, research now focuses rather on the economic problems associated with "developing countries" and attempts to formulate models for economic take-off. This article is therefore, more concerned with the structure of Soviet research on Africa at the institutional level than with its contents.