FORMATION OF THE SOVIET UNION PERSONNEL POLICY IN THE 1930-S – 1940-S

The main purpose of the article is to reveal the features of the organization of work with the leading per-sonnel of the Soviet Union in the 1930-s – 1940-s, as an important component of the effective state man-agement. The article examines the state of work with the highest leading personnelof the Soviet Union in the 1930-s – 1940-s on the example of the personnel bodies’ activities of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)(VKP (b)).The focus of the study is on the Personnel Departmentof the Central Committee, the time of functioning of which falls on the specified chronological period.On the basis of archival materi-als, the organizational structure of the Department and the most important tasks faced by its employees in the process of working with the highest party, Soviet, economic and military leaders of the country are revealed.Brief biographical information of a number of officials who held key positions in this party body is provided.The existing shortcomings in the work, the procedure and the ways of fixing them are highlighted.

HISTORICAL MEMORY OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR IN THE COMMENTS OF «VKONTAKTE» SOCIAL NETWORKUSERS

The purpose of the article is to identify the degree of presence of the Great Patriotic War theme in the network discourse and to analyze the attitude of users to the main events, personalities and forms of commemoration of this conflict. The research methodology is based on the interdisciplinary approach «Predictor Mining», which involves the analysis of Internet content for the sake of users’ behavior markers identification. The 10 largest news communities «VKontakte» (29 286 352 com-ments), as well as 7 political ones, representing the entire ideological spectrum (2 684 135 com-ments) are considered. The interim conclusions are supported by the representative opinion polls data, but its discussion is characterized by a high degree of involvement and emotional saturation. Commentators' historical perceptions are generally poor and stereotyped. The research is imple-mented at the expense of the RFBR grant «Constructing historical memory of military conflicts in network communities: basic narratives, the types of identity, political risks», project № 19-011-00833 A.

CIVIL GOVERNOR M.M. OREUS IN THE SERVICE IN THE VYBORG (FINLAND) PROVINCE IN 1799–1804

The purpose of the article is to review the activities of the civil governor M.M. Oreus in the service in the Vyborg (Finland) province in 1799–1804. The guarantee of an effective mechanism of admin-istration creation as for over than 200-year period of the Russian Empire existence, as for modern conditions, it was and still is the effectiveness of the government policy on the ground. Based on this key task, the most important condition for its implementation at different stages of the development of the country was the effective selection of personnel for the post of a governor. It was the governor responsible for everything happened in his province, and the government expected him to under-stand the tasks assigned to him and take definite steps to solve them. The urgent management problem in these conditions was the strength of administrative resources capable of retaining their effective power in cases of emerging extraordinary situations, including which, will be discussed in this article. Emergency situations in the border areas occurred regularly and required the ob-servance of certain administrative traditions that influenced the success of the governor's initiatives in state tasks implementation. It will be all the more important to consider the history of the life and activities of one of the governors of the Finland (Vyborg) province, Maxim Maksimovich Oreus, who was at the head of this territory from December 14, 1799 to April 9, 1804.

AMUR RIVER TRANSPORT IN INTERACTION OF THE AMUR REGION (RUSSIA) AND THE HEILONGJIANG PROVINCE (CHINA) IN THE 1990S

The purpose of the article is to analyze the significance of the Amur River transport activity in the 1990s for interregional Russian-Chinese cross-border coopera-tion in the Far East. Using the materials in Chinese as well as archival documents, the author examines the process of border ties resumption between Russia and China in the Far East after the normalization of rela-tions between the countries. The peculiarities of the river fleet functioning on the Amur during the period of socio-economic reforms of the last decade of the 20th century in Russia are studied. The characteristic of the Amur River transport potential is presented. The prob-lems of the Amur River transport in the development of cooperation between the Russian Amur Region and the Chinese province of Heilongjiang in the context of Rus-sian-Chinese relations at the interstate and interregion-al levels are structured.

IN ADDITION TO THE DEBATE ON THE MILITARY AND POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF N. G. STOLETOV'S SUMMER MISSION TO AFGHANISTAN IN 1878

The article analyzes the events that led to the beginning of the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1881). In particular, the military and political side of the Anglo-Russian conflict at the final stage of the Eastern crisis (1875-1878) is sub-jected to a more detailed study. The author examines in details a particular episode – the departure to Afghanistan in the summer of 1878 the diplomatic mission of Major-General N. G. Stoletov to conclude an alliance against England, which was accompanied with a military demon-stration of the Russian army in relation to British India. Based on the comparison of the domestic and foreign researcher’s points of view, as well as by involving various groups of historical sources, an attempt is made to give an objective assessment of these events and to identify their influence on the genesis of the second Anglo-Afghan war, which became a natural consequence of the Anglo-Russian rivalry in the East at the end of the XIX century.

THE HISTORY OF THE«ATLAS OF THE VIRGIN MARY» USEOF THE JESUS SOCIETY IN RUSSIAN ICONOGRAPHY

The purpose of this study is to form new iconographies as a set of subjects, compositional schemes and their historical features on the example of the list of Our Lady of the Snow image, brought to Eastern Europe by the Dominican Order and distributed with the participation of the Jesus Society. The history of Russian iconography in a generalized form can be represented by two stages, char-acterizing, respectively, the influence on it of the images of the Eastern Roman Empire (earlier than the second half of the 17-th century) and Western Europe (from the second half of the 17-th centu-ry). The Jesus Society plays an important role in this process, or as its representatives later came to be called - the Jesuits. The objectives of the study were to trace the path from the source of icono-graphy in Rome to Eastern Europe, and then consider the examples of the «Joy of All Who Sorrow» in the Russian image of the Mother of God use, including one of the churches of the Orel region. While conducting the research, the historical method is used, in the study of events and processes in dynamics. To consider specific cultural values, the iconological method is used, which makes it possible to present both the visual form and its content in a comprehensive way.

PRISON PRIEST IN PRE-REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA

The purpose of the article is to examine the features of prison priests’ activities in the penitentiary system of pre-revolutionary Russia. The study boils down to detailed analysis of prison priests' powers, which were established by job descriptions and regulated their activities in the process of teaching prisoners the basics of religious doctrine for their moral formation. Analyzing the materials of the 19-th - early 20-th cen-turies, the author identifies the methods of influence and admonition on prisoners, based on their gender and age characteristics. The research results make it possible to rethink this experience in the modern period.

PROMOTION OF THE ACTIVITY OF THE POLICE FORMATIONS RANKS OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD IN RUSSIA (LATE 19-th –EARLY 20-th CENTURIES)

The purpose of the article is to analyze the system of stimulating development the activities of the police formations ranks of the imperial guard in Russia in the late 19-th – early 20-th centuries. The author con-siders the material stimulation of the activities of the police guard ranks, identifies the main stages of the award system development in the police guard structures. He presents their content characteristics and the analysis of career opportunities as the integral part of the system of stimulating the activities of the Security Guard ranks and the Palace Police. The paper concludes that the system of stimulating the activ-ity of the police units personnel of the Imperial guard in the late 19-th – late 20-th centuries has under-gone a serious evolution.

NATIONAL QUESTION IN GERMANY IN 1861 IN THE ASSESSMENT OF ENGLISH CONTEMPORARIES (BASED ON THE MATERIALS OF THE WEEKLY «THE SPECTATOR»)

The main purpose of the article is devoted to the presentation of political events in Germany in 1861 on the pages of the British periodical “The Spectator”. The main emphasis is made by the author on the anal-ysis of the coverage by Englishmen of the specifics of the national issue in the German Union: the standpoint of German political groups on the problems of unification of the country, the British awareness of the Schleswig-Holstein problem complexity, their assess-ments of William I role in the upcoming unification process, as well as their understanding of Prussia’s place in European international arena.

RELIGIOUS CHARITY IN THE RUSSIAN STATE: RETRO-ASSESSMENTS OF THE EMPIRICAL PAST

The aim of the scientific monitoring undertaken within the framework of this article is to present the most comprehensive picture of the interaction between the state organs and traditional religious confessions in implementation of social assistance by them to the needy layers of the population. A retrospective of the established realities of the social sphere existed in the past allowed the authors of this work to trace their influence on the essential characteristics and forms of religious organizations' charity activi-ties in the space of provincial regions of Russia in the second half of the XIX – early XX centuries. The conduct-ed reconnaissance of the planned range of issues made it possible to state the facts of an exclusive empyria exist-ence for every traditional Russian religious confession, as well as a certain dependence of the religious charity on the character of public relations, on the role of the state in the social sphere, and the connection with spirituality genesis.