The Smell of Factionalism: Left Opposition in the Vyatka Provincial Organization of the Bolshevik Party in 1923-1924

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-124
Author(s):  
Yuri N. Timkin
Keyword(s):  
Central Committee ◽  
Central State ◽  
Local Society ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
Provincial City ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Potential Alternative ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Local Opposition ◽  
Provincial Center

The activity of the Vyatka left opposition that arose during the internal party discussion in the fall of 1923 and the spring of 1924 is studied. The work is based on archival documents from the Central State Archive of Kirov Region, as well as on materials from the Vyatka Pravda party newspaper. The platform of the local opposition opposed the formation of factions but insisted on clarifying what factionalism is supposed to mean. The Left Opposition united the party community of the provincial city and adjacent working areas. Most party members initially expressed full confidence in the partys Central Committee. An analysis of archival material shows that the Vyatka opposition tried to establish a broad discussion of problems in internal party life. In the provincial center there was a party discussion club that organized heated discussions. The focus on clarifying the concepts of factions and groups reflected the desire of opposition supporters to avoid being accused of betraying the party and the cause of the revolution. Remarkably, until early January 1924 the left opposition had absolute support among party members in Vyatka. The article analyzes the Central Committees suppression of the local opposition in January - February 1924, and in particular the skillful techniques of Aron Solts and his supporters. At the final stage of the struggle, a group of conciliators arose among the members of the opposition, and contributed to the victory of the Central Committee line. The article clarifies reasons and circumstances of the defeat of the opposition, none of whose representatives openly stood in opposition to the majority of the Central Committee or called on ordinary members to protest. The authors demonstrate that the local left opposition was a situational unification of diverse forces, dissatisfied with the bureaucratization of the party, the growing dictatorship of the Central Committee, the newcomers, as well as the dominance of appointees from the Party and the Soviets. During the discussion in the organizations of the Party, the need for developing internal party democracy and a free discussion of the problems emerged, showing that there was a potential alternative to Stalinism. The main feature of the left opposition was that it formed and temporarily won the predominantly non-proletarian Vyatka, where before the 1917 revolution the zemstvo and city democratic self-government has gained roots; this is interpreted as a preservation of the demand for freedom and democracy in local society.

scholarly journals Compartment optics for the development of personal correspondents

2019 ◽  
pp. 33-37
Author(s):  
В.О. Піскун
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Central Committee ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Fourth Power ◽  
Central State ◽  
Party Leadership ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Current Assessment ◽  
The Media ◽  
State Archives

Mass media play a significant role in society, performing the role of "fourth power". The format of relations between the media and society is made in accordance with the political regime. In the conditions of a totalitarian state, which was the USSR, the media were always at the center of attention, because it was they who provided an ideological basis for the ruling political party and the vigilance of the journalist staff was an extremely important part of this "attention". The article attempts to identify the main areas of the CPSU's personnel policy regarding media coverage of journalists, the presence / absence of essential features of party leadership in the staff in general and journalists-specifically, the current assessment of the effectiveness of the Communist Party leadership and its impact on the media. The archival documents of the Central State Archives of Public Associations of Ukraine (Fund of the Central Committee of the CPU) and a number of published documents, sufficiently diverse in their format, were processed: memoranda, information, preparatory documents for plenums, meetings, resolutions of the republican and local party leaders. The conclusions summarize the main historical lessons that will help society, the authorities of today and the media to build relationships that are inherent in the democratic stage of civilization development.

scholarly journals Gubernia Control Commission of the RCP (B) Fighting the Disintegration of Party Organizations in 1921–23: Archival Materials of the Vyatka Gubernia

2021 ◽  
pp. 482-495
Author(s):  
Yuri N. Timkin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Abrupt Change ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Central State ◽  
New Economic Policy ◽  
Local Staff ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
Party Organizations ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Decisive Action ◽  
Party Work

The article draws on archival materials from the Central State Archive of the Kirov Region to analyze the activities of the Vyatka Gubernia Control Commission of the RCP (B) in 1921–23 directed against the collapse of party organizations of the gubernia. The author pursues two tasks: identifying the commission staff and determining its methods. The novelty of the research is determined by the fact that in 1921, following the introduction of the new economic policy, many party members found the abrupt change of course intolerable, which led to a crisis and collapse of entire party organizations. Recently, there have been published a lot of works on various aspects of the control commissions’ activities, but their activities directed against collapse of entire party organizations haven’t yet been investigated. The research is based on archival material and uses principle of historicism and historical institutionalism. The Vyatka Gubernia Control Commission was established in August 1921 in connection with the first general purge. Its first membership did take decisive action, having no relevant experience and busy with Soviet work. But as the situation in the party organizations deteriorated, the 19th Gubernia Party Conference (February 1922) decided to regard the commission staff most seriously. The new commission included Nikolai Agalakov, Ivan Babintsev, Gusev as its members, D. Zobnin as a candidate, and Sitnikov as an investigator. In 1922–23 the meetings of the commission repeatedly discussed the state of the party organizations and Soviet apparatus of the Kotelnich, Nolinsk, Malmyzh, Orlov, Slobodskoi, Soviet, Urzhumsk districts, and of other party organizations. The major shortcomings were identified: collapse of internal party work, failing discipline, abuse and corruption, drunkenness, squabbles, and resignations from the party. The peculiarity of this period was such that these shortcomings became widespread and threatened entire organizations. Members of the Vyatka gubCC got busy; relying on the party committees and organs of the Cheka-OGPU, they were able to stop the process of organizational disintegration by 1924. The analysis of the activities of the Vyatka gubCC has showed that it became an effective tool in overcoming the collapse of party organizations and in strengthening discipline. This happened only after the commission was staffed with experienced, disciplined, and energetic local staff. While reviewing the commission's activities, it has become apparent that the most effective methods of its work were field meetings, purges of the entire organizations, transfer of guilty party members, imposition of various party penalties (up to exclusion from the party).

scholarly journals V. V. Bedin in Charge of the Central State Historical Archive of the USSR in Leningrad: 1945–52, 1954–64

2021 ◽  
pp. 916-926
Author(s):  
David I. Raskin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Central Committee ◽  
Central State ◽  
Historical Archive ◽  
Difficult Time ◽  
Russian State ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Red Army ◽  
History Of

The article is to highlight the little-known pages in the history of the Russian State Historical Archive, one of the largest archives in Russia. Its story is an integral part of the history of archiving in Russia. The article is to show the role of an individual in the history of Russian archiving in a case-study of the activities of one of its most effective managers. His life is largely characteristic of the generation of archival leaders of the 1940s–60s, while his personal characteristics are unique. The article is based on genuine archival materials preserved in the so-called “Archive of the archive” and also on the memoirs of his contemporaries. It is devoted to the biography of Vasily Vasilyevich Bedin, the longtime head of the Central State Historical Archive in Leningrad (now the Russian State Historical Archive). V. V. Bedin was appointed head of the archive at a difficult time. During the war and in the siege of Leningrad, the archive was headed by temporary leaders who replaced one another and did not always cope well with the responsibilities assigned to them. V. V. Bedin became the fifth head of the archive since 1941. Descent from the Novgorod gubernia peasants, a Red Army soldier during the Civil War, a political instructor, he became a party functionary, studied at the Institute of Red Professors. In 1937, he was appointed head of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Belarus, and in 1939 became director of the Leningrad branch of the Museum of V. I. Lenin. On December 22, 1945, he was appointed head of the Central State Historical Archive in Leningrad. In this position, he did a lot to eliminate the consequences of the war and to put the archive in order; he strove to improve the situation of the archive’s staff. In a difficult political environment of the late 1940s - early 1950s he showed high integrity and much decency. This was the reason for his dismissal in 1952. But with the beginning of the “thaw,” V. V. Bedin was re-appointed head of the archive on July 3, 1954. Under his leadership, the archive became a truly scientific institution. V. V. Bedin created a businesslike atmosphere in the archive, allowing its staff of to show initiative and boldly discuss the fundamental issues of the archival administration development. He did a lot to improve the storage of archival documents. V. V. Bedin initiated the archive’s transition to a more functional structure. He remained in the memory of the Leningrad archivists as an effective and principled, demanding and caring leader.

THE ILLUMINATING OF THE EDUCATION ISSUES OF SURKHAN OASIS IN ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS(1920-1930 YEARS)

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 40-45
Author(s):  
Oybek Isaev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
School System ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Traditional Schools ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Central State ◽  
Archival Documents

The materials which were stated in this article is about 1920-1930 and it discusses processes ofeducational system in Surkhan valley on the basis of data from Uzbek Republic Central State Archive, as well as regional Archive of Surkhandarya province, and Archives of districts. The article reveals clear understanding about how educational affairs went on in the valley, constructions of schools, and liquidation of old traditional schools and establishment of the novelsoviet educational school system.

THE PROJECT OF STAGING "KHOVANSHCHINA" BY M. P. MUSSORGSKY IN B.V. ASAFYEV’S ORCHESTRATION

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-102
Author(s):  
V. A. Aleksandrova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
National Museum ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Central State ◽  
Saint Petersburg ◽  
Russian State ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of ◽  
Orchestral Score ◽  
First Time

The article is devoted to the history of an unrealized performance of M. P. Mussorgsky’s opera "Khovanshchina" orchestrated by B. V. Asafyev. On the basis of archival documents, stored in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts, the Russian National Museum of Music, Central State Archive of Literature and Art of Saint Petersburg, the Bolshoi Theatre Museum, most of which are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, studied the circumstances under which the opera was planned to be staged in the State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (nowadays — the Mariinsky Theatre). Fragments from the reports of the Artistic Council of Opera at the State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet meetings, the correspondence between B. V. Asafyev and P. A. Lamm, the manuscript "P. A. Lamm. A Biography" by O. P. Lamm and other unpublished archival documents are cited. The author comes to the conclusion that most attempts to perform "Khovanshchina" were hindered by the difficult socio-political circumstances of the 1930s, while the existing assumptions about the creative failure of the Asafyev’s orchestration don’t find clear affirmation, neither in historical documents, nor in the existing manuscript of the orchestral score.

scholarly journals «THE LAST CIVIL GOVERNOR OF OLD FINLAND» – OFFICIAL ACTIVITY OF IVAN IVANOVICH WINTER ACCORDING TO THE DOCUMENTS OF THE RUSSIAN STATE HISTORICAL ARCHIVE

2021 ◽  
Vol 01 (05) ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
T.V. Bogdanova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decisive Role ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Local Society ◽  
Imperial Russia ◽  
Russian State ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Public Consciousness ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
Managerial Experience ◽  
The 19Th Century

The study of the pre-revolutionary institution of governorship, its interaction with the central authorities is extremely important. Objective coverage of historical events predetermines a diverse interest in both national and local characters. Military and civilian governors of Imperial Russia have always been at the center of the political, economic and cultural life of individual provinces. They had a significant impact on provincial life not only due to personal qualities, but also due to the prevailing attitude towards them in public consciousness. In terms of importance, the governor for local officials and ordinary people was in second place after the monarch, and sometimes on the same level with him. However, such a perception by the local society of the figure of the governor did not exclude the fact that people could be enrolled in this position only by coincidence. The decisive role was played by the position taken by the monarch and his immediate entourage, and the real volume of power and the well-being of the region depended on the degree of trust of the central authorities in this or the new governor. Not only talented leaders were appointed to the governor's posts in the Finnish province (Old Finland), but officials who necessarily had organizational and administrative-managerial experience. Based on the preserved archival documents, the article tells about one of them - Ivan Ivanovich Vintere, whose administrative "rise" and "fall" reveal the peculiarities of interaction of various levels in the vertical of power at the beginning of the 19th century.

scholarly journals On the Education of Surkhan Oasis in Archival Documents (in 1920-30)

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (8) ◽  
pp. 289-294
Author(s):  
O. Isaev
Keyword(s):  
Educational System ◽  
School System ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Traditional Schools ◽  
The Novel ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Central State ◽  
Archival Documents

The materials which were stated in this article is about 1920–1930 and it discusses processes of educational system in Surkhan valley on the basis of data from Uzbek Republic Central State Archive, as well as regional Archive of Surkhandarya province, and Archives of districts. The article reveals clear understanding about how educational affairs went on in the valley, constructions of schools, and liquidation of old traditional schools and establishment of the novel soviet educational school system.

Did the Soviet Union instruct Southeast Asian communists to revolt? New Russian evidence on the Calcutta Youth Conference of February 1948

2009 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larisa Efimova
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Central Committee ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Soviet Leadership ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Archival Documents

This article uses recently declassified archival documents from the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (of Bolsheviks) concerning the Calcutta Youth Conference of February 1948. This evidence contradicts speculation that ‘orders from Moscow’ were passed to Southeast Asian communists at this time, helping to spark the rebellions in Indonesia, Malaya, Burma and the Philippines later that year. Secret working papers now available to researchers show no signs that the Soviet leadership planned to call upon Asian communists to rise up against their national bourgeois governments at this point in time. This article outlines the real story behind Soviet involvement in events leading up to the Calcutta Youth Conference, showing both a desire to increase information and links, and yet also a degree of caution over the prospects of local parties.

The 12th Congress of the Communist Party of China

1983 ◽  
Vol 93 ◽  
pp. 108-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lowell Dittmer
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
Central Committee ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
New Members ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
General Effort ◽  
Typical Gesture

On 1 September 1982, 1,545 delegates and 145 alternates convened the 12th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. The meeting was announced in advance (at the seventh plenum of the 11th Central Committee, held in Beijing 4–10 August) and proceeded with well-rehearsed smoothness to its scheduled adjournment 15 days later. The meeting agenda conformed closely to established protocol, consisting of speeches and work reports, discussion and adoption of a new Party constitution, culminating in the election of new members to the Central Committee and other “standing” (i.e. permanently tenured) positions and convention of the first plenary meetings of these organs. The meeting began on 1 September with a relatively brief opening speech by Deng Xiaoping, the presiding chairman (though in a typical gesture to collective leadership there were no less than nine other presiding chairmen), and was followed by Hu Yaobang's comprehensive report and by speeches or reports by Ye Jianying, Chen Yun, Li Xiannian and others. These documents were all published as part of a general effort at greater publicity that included prior announcement of the dates of convention and adjournment, invitation of more than 70 responsible persons from democratic parties, non-Party patriots and other well-known personages from various circles to attend as observers (as had been done previously during the Eighth Congress), fairly detailed reporting of the election of deputies, their assembly and daily activities, arrangements and so forth, and even a sort of press conference that Zhu Muzhi, spokesman of the conference, held for Chinese and foreign reporters – although no foreign Communist Party members or foreign journalists were permitted to attend the Congress itself.

scholarly journals P. Kulish’s epistolar contacts (based on archival sources)

2021 ◽  
Vol IX(258) (47) ◽  
pp. 36-41
Author(s):  
K. Timofieieva
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Archival Science ◽  
Present Stage ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Social Nature ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Ukrainian Society

The chosen topic is determined by an urgent necessity to look into Panteleimon Kulish’s achievements as a piece of the Ukrainian society’s history, especially in the field of humanities, with the archival science occupying an important place within. It is an important factor combining past, present and future through epistolary work. National revival in Ukrainian society is impossible without an objective reception of P. Kulish’s creative heritage. At present, the letters of famous people are put at the level with other archival documents: protocols, notes, petitions, orders, diaries, and memoirs, notes of party and state bodies. Nowadays, in general use and open access there are huge archival collections, among which one can find many unprintable handwritten materials. Therefore, through a systemic and scrupulous scientific research, we are to find out the mysterious figure of P. Kulish, full of contradictions and contrasts, as state the scientists who have been studying his activities and work for more than a hundred years. However, the present stage of studying P. Kulish’s activities raises a necessity of carrying out a more complete, deeper and more thorough development of documentary sources, including correspondence. The Kulish letters provide his researchers with reliable facts about the artist's biography and work, and allow them to study and analyze in detail the cultural space of that time, that is, one way or another, represented in today's reality, as history repeats itself. The modern researcher is attracted to P. Kulish’s personality by the infinity of handwritten material, now awaiting its publication. With the involvement of archival material, the proposed publication considers various aspects of P. Kulish's relationship with his surroundings, analyzes his epistolary heritage as Kulish's correspondence is of a literary-scientific and cultural-social nature. Covering the views and ideas of P. Kulish, based on historical archival sources, the research addresses to documentary materials while working with epistolary sources, as well as introduces the writer's correspondence into scientific circulation.

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