scholarly journals Activity of Political Departments on Railway Transport in Far East of the USSR (1933– 1941)

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-133
Author(s):  
A. A. Isaev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Far East ◽  
Soviet Society ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
Railway Transport ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
High Productivity ◽  
Archival Documents

An active and comprehensive study of all aspects of the political and ideological impact of the power structures on the population of the country has received a new impetus only in the last few decades. One of the means of this influence was political departments established in some of the most important economic sectors, including rail transport. At the same time, in contrast to the study of the activities of political departments in rural areas that received due development in the historical literature, railway political departments received little attention. Thus, the purpose of the article is to use archival documents and materials to analyze activities of political departments in the railway transport of the far Eastern region of the Soviet Union in the prewar period. The creation of political departments was a continuation of the party line on the formation and implementation of certain political and ideological levers of influence and control in the socio-economic sphere, including transport. As one of the most important components of the program of ideological reorganization of the Soviet society in the course of socialist reforms, they had to introduce certain ideological and political principles into the public consciousness and thereby stimulate the development of labor qualities in the population of the country. With their help, according to the authorities, in the shortest time could be eliminated many shortcomings in the organization of transport at all levels and achieved high productivity.

New Materials for Studying Preparation and Staging of the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in 1957

2018 ◽  
pp. 550-563
Author(s):  
Daniel Sawert ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Soviet Society ◽  
Unique Event ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Cultural Standards ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Local Traditions

The article assesses archival materials on the festival movement in the Soviet Union in 1950s, including its peak, the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students held in 1957 in Moscow. Even now the Moscow festival is seen in the context of international cultural politics of the Cold War and as a unique event for the Soviet Union. The article is to put the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in the context of other youth festivals held in the Soviet Union. The festivals of 1950s provided a field for political, social, and cultural experiments. They also have been the crucible of a new way of communication and a new language of design. Furthermore, festivals reflected the new (althogh relative) liberalism in the Soviet Union. This liberalism, first of all, was expressed in the fact that festivals were organized by the Komsomol and other Soviet public and cultural organisations. Taking the role of these organisations into consideration, the research draws on the documents of the Ministry of culture, the All-Russian Stage Society, as well as personal documents of the artists. Furthermore, the author has gained access to new archive materials, which have until now been part of no research, such as documents of the N. Krupskaya Central Culture and Art Center and of the central committees of various artistic trade unions. These documents confirm the hypothesis that the festivals provided the Komsomol and the Communist party with a means to solve various social, educational, and cultural problems. For instance, in Central Asia with its partiarchal society, the festivals focuced on female emancipation. In rural Central Asia, as well as in other non-russian parts of the Soviet Union, there co-existed different ways of celebrating. Local traditions intermingled with cultural standards prescribed by Moscow. At the first glance, the modernisation of the Soviet society was succesful. The youth acquired political and cultural level that allowed the Soviet state to compete with the West during the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students. During the festival, however, it became apparent, that the Soviet cultural scheme no longer met the dictates of times. Archival documents show that after the Festival cultural and party officials agreed to ease off dogmatism and to tolerate some of the foreign cultural phenomena.

scholarly journals Humanitarian Cooperation of Japan and the USSR in the Second Half of the 20th Century

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-213
Author(s):  
D. V. Kiba ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Contact Region ◽  
Far East ◽  
State Committee ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Fourth Stage ◽  
Ussr Council ◽  
Archival Documents

The article provides a periodization of humanitarian cooperation between Japan and the USSR. The first stage was activity of the Press Office of the Soviet Union Council for Japan and the Soviet Information Office in the Land of the Rising Sun in 1946–1957. The second stage was the period of active policy of the USSR Embassy, together with the State Committee for Cultural Relations under the USSR Council of Ministers in 1957–1967. The third stage was defined by the activity of Soviet Embassy and Regional Authorities of Japan and the USSR in establishing cultural relations in 1967–1985. The fourth stage was humanitarian cooperation of both countries carried out under terms of the Soviet-Japan cultural agreement signed in 1986. The fourth stage covers the period from 1986 to 1991. The article identifies the main forms of humanitarian cooperation between two countries. The author believes that connections in the sphere of art were dominant. The Japanese public was an active subject of bilateral relations. The author considers the membership of the Soviet-Japan Friendship Movement and its participants (public organizations, Piece Movement, choral and musical collectives, private companies of Japan) and reveals the reasons for the Japanese public’s interest in Soviet culture based on archival documents and materials of the Japanese and Soviet periodicals. The author points out that the regional cooperation between two countries developed significantly and emphasizes the special role of the USSR Far East as a contact region with Japan.

Public Sentiment among the Population of the City of Leningrad and the Leningrad Region in June - August 1941: From Situation Reports of the NKGB of the USSR

2018 ◽  
pp. 1051-1059
Author(s):  
Sergey V. Bogdanov ◽  
◽  
Vladimir G. Ostapyuk ◽  
Natalya A. Zhukova ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Society ◽  
Leningrad Region ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
State Security ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Military ◽  
The City

The article considers one aspect of everyday life of the population of Leningrad and the Leningrad region in the first months of the Great Patriotic War, which had been carefully concealed by official Soviet propaganda. Throughout all postwar decades up to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian historical science continued to reproduce the myth of absolute unity of the Soviet society and mass patriotic enthusiasm of the working class, kolkhoz peasants and intelligentsia in the face of enemy aggression. And yet archival documents of the state security agencies reveal numerous facts and distinctive features of anti-Soviet manifestations among various socio-professional groups of the population of Leningrad and the Leningrad region in the first months following the German invasion in the Soviet territory. These facts show that the imminent war had a serious impact on the inner world of the inhabitants of the Northern capital of the Soviet Union, exacerbating numerous problems that had accumulated in the Soviet society in the decades before the war. The article mostly draws on the recently declassified situation reports of the People's Commissariat of State Security for the city of Leningrad and the Leningrad region from the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense. It deals with such occurrences of anti-state sentiment as panic rumors, anti-Soviet agitation, listening to the radio-broadcasts of hostile states, distribution of anti-Soviet leaflets, planning pogroms of local party and state leaders. It analyses key features of anti-Soviet manifestations among urban and rural population. It contains information on the first manifestations of collaboration among those inhabitants of the Leningrad region, who had ended up in the territory occupied by the German troops. It studies mechanics of repressive activities of state security bodies caused by restructuring of Soviet society, while the military operations began.

scholarly journals Reaction of the Far East to the Transition to Open Forms of Trade in the Mid-1930s

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-209
Author(s):  
Larisa A. Dudar ◽  
◽  
Alexander A. Isaev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Far East ◽  
Supply System ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
The Far East ◽  
The Family ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Just Society ◽  
Far Eastern

Referring to archival documents, this article considers the sentiments of the Far Eastern population of the USSR and its reaction to the transition from the rationing system to free trade which started on 1 January 1935. The study of the socio-psychological aspects of important events and phenomena of the mid-1930s, including public sentiments, is relevant as they contribute to the recreation of the psychological portrait of the generation. The authors of the article emphasise the fact that the reaction of the population of the region to the transformation of the distribution system was ambiguous and depended on various political, ideological, and socioeconomic aspects of life. A significant part of the population supported the actions of the authorities and was positive. Far Easterners were motivated by the expectations of improving the overall socioeconomic situation in the country and hopes for the early construction of a just society. At the same time, there was also a critical mood, which was caused both by numerous miscalculations in the organisation of trade and by groundless rumours and gossip. Negative sentiments were both latent, manifested themselves in conversations with colleagues and the family circle, and open showing in public speeches. A part of the population doubted the necessity of abolishing the rationing system for fear of famine. The central and local authorities attempted to eradicate any critical mood and backlash by various means, e.g. by normalising the supply system, but the situation with the supply of the population of the Far Eastern region continued to be difficult throughout the 1930s.

scholarly journals The Population of the Far Eastern Federal District: Realities and Prospects

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-71
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Motrich ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Russian Far East ◽  
Far East ◽  
Federal District ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
Demographic Development ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
Far Eastern

The paper analyzes the current demographic development of the Russian Far East. It shows the nature of the population change in the region (taking into account the Republic of Buryatia and the TRANS-Baikal territory that were included in the FEFD in 2018) in urban and rural areas. The article presents the population dynamics for the administrative centers of the Far Eastern regions and reveals their role in changing the urban population in the corresponding regions of the Far East. The data of three variants of the population forecast in the Far Eastern region are presented and the assumption is made about the possibility of the achievement of corresponding indicators

History of Relations between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in Documents from Serbian and Russian Archives

2018 ◽  
pp. 630-639
Author(s):  
Irina A. Konoreva ◽  
◽  
Igor N. Selivanov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Far East ◽  
Contemporary History ◽  
Master Program ◽  
East European ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
The Usa ◽  
History Of

The review characterizes two collections of archival documents published in Belgrade and Moscow. They contain materials on the history of Yugoslavo-Soviet relations in 1964-1980s from the Archive of Yugoslavia and the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History. The reviewed collections continue the series of publications of the Archive of Yugoslavia (‘Documents on Yugoslavia Foreign Policy’) and of the International Fund ‘Democracy’ (‘Russia: The 20th century’). The collections contain over 100 documents, most of which are published for the first time. They address problems of international relations and domestic policy of the two countries. These problems were discussed by the leaders of Yugoslavia and the USSR at their one-on-one meetings. These discussions allow to trace the process of establishment of mutually beneficial relations. There are materials on general problems of international relations, as well as regional issues: estimation of the role of the USA in the international affaires; impact of the Non-Aligned Movement; European problems; political situation in the Near, Middle, and Far East, and in the Southeast Asia; etc. The chronological framework include events of the Second Indo-Chinese War. The 2-volume collection includes I. B. Tito’s and L. I. Brezhnev’s assessments of the operations in Vietnam and their characterization of the American policy in the region. Its name index and glossary of abbreviations simplify working with documents. The materials of these collections may be of interest to professional historians, Master Program students specializing in history and international relations, who may use them as an educational resource, and post-graduate students researching issues of World and East-European history.

scholarly journals SOVIET RESETTLEMENT’S PROGRAM FOR THE UKRAINIAN PEASANCE IN 1921–1925

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 67-72
Author(s):  
Olesia Rozovyk
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Far East ◽  
North Caucasus ◽  
The Urals ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
The Far East ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government

The article, based on little-known sources, deals with the process of forming the policy of the Soviet government to solve such a problem as agrarian overpopulation of the USSR. The article presents data on overpopulation in some districts of the Ukrainian SSR, such as Kyiv, Chernihiv and Volyn districts, where such a phenomenon as scarcity of land and low-yielding soils was presented. An Emergency Resettlement Commission was established within the People’s Commissariat of Land Affairs by the decision of the Council of People’ Commissars (CPC). This Commission solved all issues related to the resettlement of peasants within the republic and abroad. Similar commissions were also formed in all provincial and county centers of the Ukrainian SSR. These commissions began active work on the registration of landless peasants and the search for vacant lands, primarily in the republic for their resettlement, beginning in the spring of 1921. Commissions were also carried out with the All-Russian (later All-Union) Resettlement Commission on the provision of land in uninhabited areas of the RSFSR, such as the Volga region, the Urals, Siberia, Kazakhstan, the Far East, Kuban, Stavropol, North Caucasus to the settlers from Ukraine. In February 1923, the CPC of the Ukrainian SSR took measures to ensure the planned resettlement of the rural population of the republic in Ukraine and abroad. In the autumn of 1923, the VIII All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets approved the main directions of resettlement policy in the republic. It was reduced to the following measures: first – the resettlement of Ukrainians in the free lands of the Ukrainian SSR; second – resettlement, first of all, of the poor population, which included assistance in farming; third – the resettlement of part of the population from rural areas to cities; fourth – the resettlement of small peasant families in the All-Union Colonization Fund in the Urals, Siberia, Kazakhstan, the Far East. In April 1924, CPC of the Soviet Union, supporting the resettlement movement, adopted a resolution “On the benefits of migrants”. It determined the level of material assistance to the families who settled in new lands. Thus, during 1921–1925, the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee and the CPC of the Ukrainian SSR developed a program of resettlement of the Ukrainian population within its ethnic lands and the Union Colonization Fund. This was the first five-year cycle of resettlement policy of the government of the USSR, and in 1926 a new resettlement program was approved, designed first for seven and then for ten years.

scholarly journals Political Sentiments of White Émigrés in the Far East in the 1920s

2021 ◽  
pp. 13-23
Author(s):  
Vasiliy P. Pashin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
Far East ◽  
The Far East ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
State Archives ◽  
Intelligence Service ◽  
Selection Of

Based on the documents from the Central Archives of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation and the State Archives of the Russian Federation, analysed in line with the anthropological approach, this article describes in broad outline the sentiments of white émigrés in the Far East during the 1920s. The archival documents include informant reports from the Beijing and Shanghai residencies of the Foreign Department of the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU), summaries and analytical reports of the Counterintelligence Department of the OGPU, reports of operational officers of the Foreign Department of the OGPU, official and personal letters, reports and correspondence of top White Guard leaders, and reports from Chinese newspapers. The paper specifies the total number and location of exiles in the Far East. Further, it dwells on the reasons for Russian citizens’ emigration to China and mentions their peacetime occupations in Russia. Moreover, the article describes the attempts of foreign adversaries to involve white émigrés in anti-Soviet activities and the reasons for their failures. It is shown that white émigrés formed organizations for the purpose of cultural and other communication in a kindred environment and for mutual moral and material support. A conclusion is substantiated that the dogma of the irreconcilability of class interests influenced the tendentious selection of information about white émigrés, about their general “hostility” towards the Soviet Union. In addition, it is alleged here that the majority of white émigrés, including some of their leaders, wanted to return to their homeland. This conclusion is based not only on analytical information reports compiled by secret agents of the GPU-OGPU, but also on surveys initiated by top white émigré leaders and carried out abroad in the 1920s.

scholarly journals The Korean diaspora in the USSR in the 1930s

2021 ◽  
Vol 135 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-62
Author(s):  
N.A. Potapova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Far East ◽  
Korean Population ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
Korean Diaspora ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Japanese Military ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Two Stages ◽  
Far Eastern

The article is devoted to the so-called Korean problem in the Soviet Union and ways to find ways to solve it. The Bolsheviks inherited from the Russian Empire the unresolved issue of active settlement of the Far East by Koreans. The migration from Japanese Korea was massive and uncontrolled. Unlike the Chinese, who settled all over the Soviet Union, Koreans settled compactly in the far eastern region. According to the 1937 census, the diaspora in the USSR numbered about 200,000 people. Since the 1920s, the Bolshevik government has attempted to solve the Korean question in the country, including repression of the diaspora. However, the Bolsheviks resorted to drastic and decisive measures in the 1930s. At this time, persecution of the Korean population increased. The main reason for persecution was the desire of the Bolshevik government to rid the country of «unreliable» and «dangerous» elements. The repression of Koreans in the 1930s can be divided into two stages. The first stage covers the period from the beginning of the new decade to the summer of 1937. This period is characterized by sporadic arrests of the Korean population, with the peak of persecution being in 1931- 1932 due to the occupation of Manchuria by Japan and, consequently, a new wave of the Korean population emerged in the Soviet Far East. The Japanese military threat was the main reason for the Bolshevik government to look for foreign spies and agents in the USSR, and the population living in territories occupied by Japan and ending up in the Soviet Union were charged with Japanese espionage. The Koreans therefore became a category of the so-called fifth column. The targeted repressions in the first half of the 1930s were replaced by mass punitive actions in the second half of the 1930s, which reached their peak in 1937-1938. The repression of Koreans in 1937- 1938 comprised conditionally two punitive campaigns. The first campaign was the deportation of far eastern Koreans to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The second was the arrests and convictions of the Korean population during the period of the Great Terror as part of the mass operations of the NKVD (The People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs ), particularly the «Harbin» operation. Before 1937-1938, arrests and convictions of Koreans ranged in the hundreds. Thus, for example, in 1933 213 persons were convicted of espionage, in 1934 - 104, in 1935 - 200. During the period of the Big Terror only under the order No.00593 there were convicted about 5 thousand Koreans.

scholarly journals Archival Ethnographic Films as a Historical Source

2018 ◽  
pp. 692-703
Author(s):  
Ivan A. Golovnev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Far East ◽  
Practical Interest ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Scientific Texts ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Promising Area ◽  
Ethnographic Cinema ◽  
Ethnographic Films

The article draws on text and visual archival documents to study nature and informative value of Soviet ethnographic films. Ethnographic cinema is a phenomenon almost unstudied by both ethnography and cinematology. Analyzing an illustrative experience of film director A. A. Litvinov and researcher V. K. Arsenyev, who were at tip of the spear in Soviet ethnocinema, the author investigates effective methodology of their scientific and cinematographic work: from script based on scientific texts to lengthy ethnographic filming expeditions to editing of the films assisted by scientific advisors. The choice of the chronological framework rests on the fact that late 1920s – early 1930s was a time of growth for ethnographic filming in the Soviet Union, characterized by both quantity and quality of ethnographic films. It was a time when a panorama of ethnographic films about different peoples of the multinational Soviet country was created, in production of the most significant of these professional scientists were involved. A series of ethnographic films about ethnic groups of Primorye (the Udege), Kamchatka (the Koryaks, the Lamuts), and Chukotka (the Chukchi), a collaboration of A. A. Litvinov and V.K. Arsenyev, received recognition from the public, and also from the scientific community. These film documents are among first photovisual records on the ethnography of the peoples of the Far East. From the point of view of ethnographic cinematology, the article concludes that ethnographic films, if approached scientifically, become a form of research, film as a ‘document’ of the period providing historical and ethnographic data. Little-studied archival ethnographic films are a promising area of research, well deserving being included into the scholarship. Their creators’ experience is of practical interest for modern ethno-cinematographers.

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