scholarly journals “Party Work Lapses”: Crisis Phenomena in the RCP (B) Organizations in the Vyatka Gubernia in Late 1918 - the First Half of 1919: From Archival Materials

2019 ◽  
pp. 458-466
Author(s):  
Yuri N. Timkin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Central Committee ◽  
The State ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Party Organizations ◽  
Eastern Front ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military ◽  
Party Work

The article draws on archival materials of the State Archive of the Kirov Region and those of the State Archive of Social and Political History of the Kirov Region to examine the development of uezd organizations of the ARCP (B) in the Vyatka gubernia in late 1918 and the first half of 1919. In late 1918 the Vyatka gubernia became the Civil War battleground. When Perm was taken, the White Guard began to threaten Vyatka. Meanwhile, the political situation in the gubernia was tense; peasants, townspeople, and workers had their grievances against the Bolshevik policies. The existing uezd organizations of the ARCP (B) were unprepared to work in the immediate battle area. Fearing for the fate of the Eastern front, the Central Committee of the party sent a commission to Vyatka headed by Stalin and Dzerzhinsky. It was to carry out a wide range of measures to reorganize party and Soviet work. The power was taken by the Military Revolutionary Committee. The novelty of the study is in the fact that archival materials are used to assess the circumstances of the ARCP (B) organizations. These circumstances can be defined as those of a permanent crisis; the party organizations were ill-adapted to the extraordinary conditions of the Civil War. The narrowing of the party’s social base caused, first of all, by food policies forced the gubernia committee to cleanse party organizations and staff them up with well trusted personnel. The author has introduced into scientific use some previously unknown facts. The analysis of archival material allows to conclude that party work lapsed because party organizations seemed ineffective in the days of the anti-Soviet uprisings of summer and autumn of 1918 and while the Civil War raged. Conflicts, squabbles, intra-party struggles became an everyday occurrence. Party organizations constantly faced infiltration of persons with opposing views who sought to avoid mobilization or improve their financial situation.

“...LOCOMOTIVES WILL FREEZE, FAMINE IS COMING, AND THERE ARE CASES OF TYPHUS...”. RAILWAYS OF THE GREAT SIBERIAN CAMPAIGN 1919–1920

2021 ◽  
pp. 121-138
Author(s):  
Vasily Zh. Tsvetkov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Technical Condition ◽  
The State ◽  
Rolling Stock ◽  
Documentary Evidence ◽  
Eastern Front ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
State Archives ◽  
The Military

The publication of documentary materials reflects the history of the organization and conducting of the retreat of the units of Admiral A.V. Kolchak’s Eastern Front and the evacuation of civilian refugees from Omsk and other cities in Siberia in November 1919 – January 1920. The article considers the issues of the technical condition and operation of the TRANSSiberian railway and, in particular, the functioning of the rolling stock. Those aspects for the history of the Civil War in the East of Russia to this day remain poorly studied. Evidence is provided on the state of the military, refugee and civil trains, and about the situation of passengers. Consistently and with the involvement of documentary material, the stages of the preparation and implementation of evacuation measures are described, and the reasons for the failure of planned decisions are analyzed. The article presents evidence on the consequences of full-scale disaster with the railway accident that became part of the Civil War history in Siberia. The materials from the State Archives of the Russian Federation that have not been widely used in scientific research and have not been published yet, as well as some previously published documentary evidence, were used. The study of that aspect of the Civil War history in Siberia allows to get an idea of not only the military, but also of the political importance that the TRANS-Siberian railway played in the absence of developed transport communications in the East of Russia.

scholarly journals Attitude to the New Economic Policy in the RCP (B) Party Organizations of the Vyatka Gubernia in 1921-1923: Archival Materials

2020 ◽  
pp. 169-179
Author(s):  
Yuri N. Timkin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
The State ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Low Literacy ◽  
New Economic Policy ◽  
Party Organizations ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military

Drawing on archival materials from the State Archive of the Kirov Region and the State Archive of Social and Political History of the Kirov Region, the article analyzes attitudes to the New Economic Policy (NEP) in the party organizations of the RCP (B) of the Vyatka guberina in 1921. The novelty of this work lies in the fact that the author draws on archival documents to investigate the attitude of communists to the decision of the X Congress of the RCP (B) to replace surplus tax by tax in kind (prodnalog) and other measures for the development of the NEP in 1921. It turns out that party workers in position of responsibility and ordinary members of the party, as a rule, understood and perceived the NEP in their own way, reading into it the interests and needs of different social and professional groups. Moreover, there emerged some ideological differences due to different understanding of the political goals of the New Economic Policy. For the first time in local historiography, the author has introduced into scientific use some previously unknown archival facts. The analysis of the archival material allows the author to conclude that the attitude to the NEP of party workers in position of responsibility and of rank-and-file members differed. If the “top” of the party discussed the ideological aspects of the NEP, the “bottom” members, as a rule, were interested in its practical orientation. There was no unanimous support for the NEP not just among the responsible party workers, but also among the rank-and-file members. The author comes to the conclusion that the lack of clear understanding of the nature of the New Economic Policy caused disagreements in the party ranks, which, in absence of the tradition of broad discussion of controversial issues, was fraught with danger of a split. The Military Communism ideology and low literacy (including political one) that prevailed in the party ranks did not promote good understanding of the new party course and its creative application under specific regional conditions. Critics and open opponents of the NEP faced “organizational conclusions.”

The development of the movement for the communist labour at the Tyumen shipbuilding plant in days of the seven-year plan (1959-1965): the experience of microhistorical study

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-172
Author(s):  
Sergey S. Pashin ◽  
Natalia S. Vasikhovskaya
Keyword(s):  
Political History ◽  
The State ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Industrial Enterprise ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of

The article is devoted to the study of the movement for communist labour at the Tyumen Shipbuilding Plant during the period of the seven-year plan (1959-1965). The authors seek to fill a historical narrative with the particular facts connected with the peculiarities and specifics of such phenomenon as the movement for communist labour. They consider it in the context of microhistory and as the most important element of production routine. The employees of the largest industrial enterprise of Soviet Tyumen — Shipbuilding Plant in concrete historical circumstances came under the spotlight of the authors. The submitted article is written with attraction of a wide range of archival documents, taken from the funds of the State Archive of the Tyumen Region and also funds of the State Archive of Socio-Political History of the Tyumen Region. Having studied the documents the authors come to conclusion that the movement for communist labour had little effect on the production progress of the plant employees.

The practice of terror by Soviet workers in the fight against banditry in the Osinsky District of the Perm Governorate during the Civil War

2020 ◽  
pp. 202-212
Author(s):  
Angela V. Dolgova
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
The Real ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Eastern Front ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military

During the Civil War, Soviet workers had to fight against desertion and banditry. Since the majority of the country’s population was the peasantry, a confrontation arose with the Soviet government of that part of it that could not accept it. More often than not, peasants fell under such Bolshevik propaganda labels as “white gangs” or “gangs of deserters”, which had spread through the efforts of the party-Soviet propaganda machine. According to archival documents, local Soviet workers used terror not only to suppress resistance, but also as a forced measure caused by the real military-political situation in the Perm Governorate. The fight for the establishment of the power of the Soviets was fought against banditry, not desertion, and was fierce. Consequently, the widespread thesis in the history of the Civil War in the Perm Governorate about mass desertion is nothing more than an assumption. The line of the Eastern Front passed next to the Osinsky District, so the most fierce fight unfolded here, which in turn had an impact on the military-political situation in the governorate as a whole.

scholarly journals LETTERS “TO THE AUTHORITIES” AS A SOURCE ON THE HISTORY OF STUDENT LIFE DURING THE CIVIL WAR

2020 ◽  
pp. 151-162
Author(s):  
A. N. Eremeeva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
The State ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Armed Struggle ◽  
Vital Functions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Student Mobilization

The article is devoted to student letters "to the authorities" in 1918 – early 1920s, taken as a source for studying the student corporation during the Civil War. The research is limited to the Cossack regions of the Russian South – Don and Kuban, centers of the armed struggle against the Bolsheviks. Higher education institutions were founded there shortly before the revolution. As a result of a powerful intellectual migration from Petrograd and Moscow, new universities were founded in 1918–1919. Student letters used in the study were obtained from the archival funds of higher educational institutions, government and administrative bodies of the State Archive of Krasnodar region, the State Archive of Rostov region, and the Professional Education Department Main Collection of the State Archive of the Russian Federation. Recipients’ and addressee’ statuses, time, subject, and motivation for writing are taken as parameters and considered in the analysis of letters. Attention is given to notes, official inscriptions on the documents, as well as accompanying letters, official answers, autobiographies, questionnaires, etc. The content of letters is examined within the context of the higher education space formation, along with migration processes of the revolutionary years, and the situation of civil confrontation in the South of Russia. Later, the authors of some letters became known in various fields; the discovered texts help recreate the milestones of their early biographies, especially since many tried to conceal the fact of their life and schooling on non-Soviet territories. The research reveals specific themes and plots of student letters "to the authorities", their value as an authentic source of information. These themes are admission / transfer to another institution, student mobilization, ways of solving material problems, and the activities of student organizations. The author notes how the contradictions within the anti-Bolshevik camp (clearly pronounced on the Don and Kuban) influenced the content of the texts. This is especially true for collective messages "to the authorities" that defended the interests of particular groups or students as a whole. It is shown that the interpretation of certain events and processes was determined both by the real needs of the authors of the letters and by the current political situation. In general, letters "to authorities" are an important source for reconstructing students’ daily life and the vital functions of higher education institutions in extreme conditions.

scholarly journals Partisan Movement in Kuzbass during the Civil War of 1917-1919

2020 ◽  
pp. 423-438
Author(s):  
I. Yu. Uskov ◽  
A. E. Pyanov
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
The State ◽  
Archival Data ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Local Media ◽  
The Military ◽  
First Time

The article is devoted to the characterization and dynamics of the development of the partisan movement during the Civil War in the territory of modern Kemerovo Region in 1918-1919. The issues of the activity of individual partisan detachments in the territory of Kuzbass are considered. Attention is paid to the specifics of the partisan movement in this territory. Based on the analysis of archival data and local media materials, the military operations of partisan detachments are described. The question is raised of the partisan movement role in the victory of the Reds. The novelty of the study is in the fact that for the first time on the basis of processing a wide range of sources the state and dynamics of the partisan movement in Kuzbass during the years of the Civil War are presented. The features of the partisan movement in the region are demonstrated. The reasons for the entry of peasants into the ranks of partisans are revealed. The relevance of the study is due to its scientific and social significance. The first is determined by the fact that this kind of research, based on an analysis of a wide range of sources, is considered for the first time. The second is related to the need to rethink the features of the course of the civil war in the regions of the country and to attract the attention of scientists and society to the problems of a split in society during the crisis years.

scholarly journals New Documents on the History and Heritage of Russian America in the Fonds of the State Archive of the Kostroma Region

2020 ◽  
pp. 615-626
Author(s):  
Alexander Yu. Petrov ◽  
◽  
Yuliya S. Egorova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Far East ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Document Collection ◽  
History Of ◽  
Russian America

Presenting new documents to the scholarly society is important for studying the history and heritage of Russian America. The authors pay special attention to the fonds of regional archives, as their unique documents expand our knowledge of already known subjects and elaborate the historical and cultural heritage of Russian America. The State Archive of the Kostroma Region stores papers of local ethnographers, who meticulously collected materials on the history and heritage of the Russian colonial past. These documents have rarely being studied and remain unknown to researchers. The purpose of the article is to study the fonds of the State Archive of the Kostroma Region in order to identify new documents on the history of the Russian colonization of Alaska, as well as documents on the historical and cultural heritage of Russia in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean. The object of the research is document collection deposited in the State Archive of the Kostroma Region. The collection consists of hundreds of documents related to the history of the development of the Far East and Russian America and can provide a basis for preparing scholarly articles on a wide range of issues, such as the history of Russo-Chinese and Russo-Japanese relations, the interaction of the Russians and indigenous peoples of Siberia and Alaska, the transfer of Alaska to the USA, the financial and economic development of the Russian -American company and its joint-stock. Documents from N. N. Selifontov personal provenance fond shed light on the interactions of the Russian-American company with various government agencies during the sale of Alaska to the United States. Of particular value are N. N. Selifontov’s marginalia touching upon certain events in the history of Russian America, as well as his hand-written papers containing his personal opinion on the interaction of the Irkutsk governor-general with the royal court. The corpus of documents from Grigorov collection is vital for studying the early Russian exploration of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska and for preserving the memory of exploration of Alaska in various Russia towns.

scholarly journals Documents of the Moscow Central State Archive as a Source on the History of Party and Military Institutions of Soviet Russia During the Civil War

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-55
Author(s):  
S. S. Voytikov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Central Committee ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Central State ◽  
Eastern Front ◽  
Russian State ◽  
Red Army ◽  
Military Institutions ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
The Military

The article analyzes the valuable corpus of sources of party and military institutions of Soviet Russia during the Civil War. During the Soviet period, documents of the (then) Moscow Party Archive were actively introduced into scholarly circulation, revealing mainly the activities of the Moscow Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) on communist mobilizations, and primarily regarding the Eastern front in 1918 and the Petrograd front in 1919. At the same time, a whole layer of materials from the archive’s collections remained mostly unclaimed. The Moscow Party Archive retains documents on the organization and activities of the Communist faction of the People’s Commissariat for Military Affairs, which together with the documents of Russian State Military Archive allow a comprehensive study of the process of “communization” of the military apparatus in 1917 and subsequent years. The specified sources, in particular, make it possible to answer the question about the reasons for the establishment in 1919 of the Red Army Political Department as a department of the Central Committee of the RCP(b). Reports of old Bolsheviks to the Moscow Committee of the RCP(b) and the Mossoviet of 1918 contain valuable information about the use of military specialists by the Bolshevik regime, the contribution to the Soviet military construction of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, the liquidation of the rebellion of the Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Front M. A. Murav’yov, the causes of loss of the nascent Red Army of Kazan, and other issues.

The ‘March Bolsheviks’: The Emergence of the Uezd Organizations of the RCP (b) in the Vyatka Gubernia in the Spring – Autumn 1918: From Archival Materials

2018 ◽  
pp. 455-462
Author(s):  
Yuri N. Timkin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
The State ◽  
Criminal Record ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
Party Organizations ◽  
Party Building ◽  
History Of ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Ruling Party

Drawing on archival materials from the State Archive of the Kirov Region and those from the State Archive of Social and Political History of the Kirov Region, the article studies emergence and development of the uezd organizations of the RCP (b) in the Vyatka guberina in the spring – autumn 1918. By spring of 1918 the Soviets had set up their authority, and the Bolsheviks had wrung the majority therein from the Left Socialists-Revolutionaries. Up to the spring of 1918 there were no RCP (b) organizations in most uezd towns of the Vyatka gubernia, which may be explained by non-proletarian character of the population and by extreme weakness of the RCP (b) institutional arrangements in the gubernia. The novelty of this research hinges on the term the ‘March Bolsheviks’ used to explain the process of the party building. As it became a ruling one, left socialists, Baltic internationalists, and German prisoners-of-war turned internationalists swarmed to the party. The Bolshevik party overflowed with careerists, adventurers, and persons with a criminal past and present. There were shortages of food and goods, but party membership received food rations, and also a share in the confiscated food and property of the bourgeois. Many a party cell must have thus supplied and financed itself. Higher party bodies constantly had to purge the party organizations of those who ‘worm themselves’ into the party ranks and ‘latched onto the part teat,’ and also of persons with criminal record. The author is the first to introduce into scientific use these facts, which prior to 1991 could have never been published. Unfortunately, even after 1991, they remained uncollected, unanalyzed, and unpublished. Having analyzed the archival material, the author concludes that the gravitation of ideological backsliders towards the ruling party is attributable to the historical conditions. People had to obtain their needs, despite the ideology of the ruling party.

scholarly journals Attitudes of Russian Officers in the Conditions of the Polish-Soviet War of 1920 Based on Savinkov’s Memoirs

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-98
Author(s):  
Piotr Głuszkowski ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
The State ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Russian Civil War ◽  
Russian Army ◽  
Political Views ◽  
Red Army ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Russian Federation

The Polish-Soviet War of 1920 is a key period to understanding the history of Poland as well as Polish-Russian relationships. Despite the amount of research on the topic, there are still many gaps to be filled. One of them is the attitudes and behaviour of Russian officers in war conditions. The main source for this article is Viktor Savinkov’s memoirs written in 1927 and kept in the State Archive of the Russian Federation. Viktor Viktorovich Savinkov (1886–1954) was a Russian publicist, writer, and artist; younger brother of Boris Savinkov, a famous writer and revolutionist. During the Russian Civil War, he was a soldier of the Don Army. In early 1920, he was captured by the Bolsheviks and offered to join the Red Army. The article characterises the way Savinkov was concealing his socio-political views, expressing his attitudes towards new authorities, and how he managed to desert during the Polish-Soviet war. The conditions of the offensive of the Red Army on Warsaw are also described in the memoirs, including the sentiments and behaviour of the soldiers. Savinkov’s memoirs make it possible to study the behaviour of other officers and soldiers of the former Russian army, who had been forced to serve in the Red Army.

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