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The regional nomenclature was an important political force in cementing the Soviet system. However, issues of its social amenities and developments in the standard of living, especially as exemplified by the national state entities, have not been addressed sufficiently. The motivation for strengthening the bureaucratic status largely developed owing to the opportunity to improve the financial situation. The objective conditions for the workplace arrangements were very difficult in Кazakstan in the 1920s-1930s. The Kazakh officials combined administrative resources and traditional ethno-social ties to solve social problems. The informal administrative resource, unofficial communications and privileges increased the gap between officialdom and citizens. Administrators who knew the Kazakh language well received benefits in accordance with the decision of the CEC and the CPC KASSR of September 1, 1933. The new hierarchy of social relations opportunistically united administrators and managers. The widespread centralization and better methods of nomenclature formation enhanced the integrity of the system. At the same time due to the specifics of historical-geographical and ethno-social conditions the material and social status of the regional officials could differ substantially from that of the central authorities. Sophisticated hierarchical system of measures of material and social support for the officials provided an incentive for the strict observance of corporate discipline, unconditional fulfillment of duty, devotion to the official ideology.

The agrarian crisis of the mid-1930s in the Soviet Union remains unstudied in the Russian and foreign historiography. The article attempts to identify the impact of agricultural and food crises, caused by 1936 crop failure and the official procurement policy on the demographic processes in the Urals. The demographic crisis in the Ural village took place against the background of political repressions. During the fall of 1936 and the first half of 1937 the crisis changed the demographic behavior of the population: the number of births decreased, the number of deaths increased. Deterioration of reproduction indicators was recorded among both the urban and rural population. The growth of infant mortality was especially sharp and the main cause of death was contagious infectious diseases. The author calculated excessive mortality of the urban and rural populations in 1936 and 1937, it amounted to nearly 50 thousand residents of the Sverdlovsk region. Furthermore, there was a dramatic increase of rural population migration to the cities. This demographic situation proved to be extremely unfavorable. Food supply system, systems of medical services, trade, consumer cooperatives in the country were unable to cope with negative situation. Due to the lack of food supplies farmers faced a problem of survival, not all managed to escape from the village. State aid came too late, just before the spring sowing in 1937, but its recipients were only the farmers who participated in the field work. For the first time in historiography the author’s conclusions on the demographic crisis of the mid-1930s are based on the analysis of archival documents of current civil registration. The January 1937 census recorded a reduction of the rural population in Urals, in comparison with the 1926 census data. The reconstruction of reproductive processes on a monthly basis was only made possible by the use of materials held by registrar authorities. These materials showed that in September of 1937 in the Urals village death rate exceeded birth rate, while the mortality peak had already passed.

One of the symbols of N.S. Khruschev’s rule was the virgin lands campaign carried out in the eastern areas of the USSR and aimed at producing large amounts of cheap grain within a short period of time. It had significant economic, socio-demographic and environmental implications reflected in numerous publications. However one of these implications has been neglected by the researchers - the campaign’s impact on the production and organizational structure of agriculture. The article addresses this problem. After I.V. Stalin’s death the Head of the Soviet government G.M. Malenkov advocated for using material incentives in the agricultural sector, development of kolkhozes and machine-tractor stations, intensifying agricultural production in the old-arable areas of the country. This strategy was opposed by the virgin lands project of N.S. Khrushchev. Growth in grain production was achieved by means of cultivation of the undeveloped lands based on the urban dwellers’ labour enthusiasm and industrial forms of economic activities. Mass construction of the state agricultural enterprises was launched on the new lands. After the XX Congress of the CPSU (1956) sovkohozes were also established in the old-arable areas of the USSR on the basis of economically weak agricultural artels. Kolkhozes were enlarged and their work was reorganized in accordance with the sovkhoz model. In 1958 machine-tractor stations were abolished and their machinery was sold to these kolkhozes. Nevertheless the economic and financial performance of the large part of kolkhozes and sovkhozes was below the expected level. Labor productivity of agricultural workers was low. In the early 1960s crop yields of the virgin lands significantly decreased. The growth rate in the agriculture slowed down significantly. Extensive factors of the production growth reached their limits. Analysis of reconstruction of the production and organizisational structure of agricultural sector allowed to conclude that its major implication was acceleration of depeasantization of the Soviet village.

The purpose of the article is to identify the factors that forced the party leadership to actively develop the Communist party press in the 1950s, as well as to determine the particular mechanism of preparing the ideological texts. The focus is on the analysis of the activities of editorial boards and authors of ideological magazines. The research methodology included discourse and content analysis of the proceedings of the meetings of editorial boards and articles published in the party magazines. As a result, it was concluded that the idea of building communism required the indoctrination and ideological mobilization of both the party and society as a whole. In its turn it determined the need of the Communist party and its leaders for an institution performing not only teleological and mobilization functions but also functions of Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist exegesis and conceptualization. Party magazines became such institutions. The circle of authors of the party’s periodicals in the 1950s was carefully selected on the basis of principles of partisanship and ideological competence, their ability to self-censor and to develop creatively the ideas of Marxism-Leninism while remaining within rigid boundaries of the existing logical-semantic matrix of ideological articles. Complicated procedure of approvals, discussions and editing of texts led to the emergence of a «collective» author, who ensured the high quality of ideological articles, in terms of performing a function of political exegesis. At the same time, such a «collective» author guaranteed personal security both for a particular author, reducing the degree of his personal responsibility for the possible ideological «flaws» and for the Editorial board that published articles corresponding to «the party line».

Scientific journals of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS) play a notable role in the scientific communication system. They appear to be both a “regional research product” and a significant part of the whole system of academic journals. However, they have not yet been studied by researchers as an independent object. The reform of Russian science is currently under way. Modern methods of scientific research and criteria for staff performance evaluation are discussed. Therefore, it is useful to consider the experience of creation of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SBRAS) and one of its aspects - publication of scientific journals. Historical research on the activities of SBRAS served as the basis and helped to understand the special conditions under which the construction of the Siberian Scientific Center began. Organization of SBRAS was intended to accelerate the development of regional natural resources. The archival documents and materials of the academic press helped better understand the complete picture of circumstances under which a unique scientific Akademgorodok environment was formed. Analysis of the SB RAS scientific journals has given the material to describe their characteristics. Bibliographic indices and library catalogs allowed making up a “family tree” of Siberian academic journals. The paper identifies specific features of the Siberian journals, traces the quantitative and qualitative evolution of journals, and shows how these characteristics promoted the development of scientific research in SB RAS. Therefore the author has achieved the goal of reconstructing the history of the Siberian academic journals, identifying their specific features and factors that contributed to their formation.

The article is devoted to comparative analysis of reforms in the book business in Russia during the Soviet and post-Soviet eras. The author proves that reforms of the 1920-1930s were undertaken in order to form and strengthen a “vertical” (centralized) system of state management for the book publishing and book trade. Partial transfer of power from the government to the regional level during the period of the “new economic policy” was a retreat from the mainstream. Along with the structures of Gosizdat of RSFSR which had a monopoly on book business, state-run co-operative societies appeared in the province - the joint-stock association “Sibkrayizdat”in Siberia and the joint-stock company “Knizhnoye delo” in the Russian Far-East. They represented a regional “vertical of power” and contained some elements of “horizontal” system of developing the country’s book culture, oriented towards the creation of territorial societies of publishers and bibliophiles. However, the next reform of 1930-1931 swept away all attempts to weaken the “vertical”, having established rigid centralization in the Russian book business. Territorial systems of book business were transformed into local branches of a single monopolistic structure - Union of State Publishing Houses of RSFSR (OGIZ) and its book trading division (KOGIZ). Further on they transfomed into regional publishing houses and book trading units of the USSR Goskomizdat system. Reforms of the 1990-2000s, on the contrary, destroyed the “vertical of power” in the Russian book business, having determined as a priority the “horizontal” ties between book traders whose motley mosaic build up today territorial societies of members of book industry. “Horizontal” scheme of book business development is aimed at better satisfying growing and increasingly varied demands of modern society in the regions of Russia. Rudiments of the “vertical” system that remained in a form of provincial and territorial state publishing houses in the 1990s-2000s suffered a breakup one by one.

The article analyzes trends of development of independent press in the Siberian - Far Eastern region in the XXI century. The author formulates definition of modern samizdat - unregistered, self-initiated, noncommercial editions of small circulation issued by authors or at their expense; identifies reasons for which Samizdat remains in demand in the Post-Soviet uncensored society. It has been determined that the main reason for preserving “self-publishing” under new political conditions is dissatisfaction with the existing mass media. Modern samizdat is an alternative to the professional press. The unregistered amateur periodical press compensates information gaps resulting from commercialization of publishing business and official mass media’s focus on the values of popular and market culture. The new millennium witnessed transformation of the amateur press thematic range and substantial characteristics of amateur editions. The modern unregistered press remains a means of expressing oppositional opinions. The independent periodical press of various ideological orientations exists due to the lack of steady national political identity. However in the XXI century the politicized samizdat lost its dominant position. The modern amateur press is, first of all, a form of alternative culture making activities. The main function of the independent periodical press is to embody creative self-realization of Siberians and Far Easterners. In the XXI century the literary samizdat is in most demand, as its area of distribution in the region is very wide. The main forms of the Siberian - Far Eastern independent literary periodical press are author’s magazines and anthologies of amateur literary associations. Subcultural editions elucidating new directions of the underground - fan and art-zines have gained wide popularity. Samizdat technology has been improved, the modern amateur press is distributed by means of computer and typographical equipment.

The article examines the national system of historical and cultural heritage protection in the Republic of Tyva. The relevance of the topic is due to the changes taking place at the present stage. These changes are caused by the creation of regional investment platforms in the mining industry, intensive development of land for the construction of industrial facilities and residential buildings. Due to the fact that the territory of Tuva historically belonged to the world of nomadic civilization, the main type of historical heritage include the archaeological sites, buildings and monuments of monumental art mainly of the XX century. The author provides historical data about the legal regulation of the state protection of monuments of history and culture, as well as the objects of archaeological heritage of Tyva. The State body, Committee for the Protection of Monuments of History and Culture in the Republic of Tyva, was established in 1992 as an institution subordinate to the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tyva, and as an executive body in 2008. In the first decade of the XXI century, the system of the State Protection of Cultural Heritage Objects (CHO) was meant to be a single system of executive bodies throughout the territory of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tuva. This system was supposed to include the federal body for CHO protection, authorized bodies in the field of CHO protection, executive authorities of the Republic of Tuva, as well as municipal administration. Nowadays it is necessary to solve the problems inherited from the Soviet period concerning the historical and cultural heritage preservation, primarily archaeological objects due to the active and extensive economic development of the Republic. As of January 1, 2016 there are 955 objects of cultural heritage in the Republic of Tuva. Much of work on CHO registration was conducted during the numerous scientific expeditions organized by the academic institutions of the Soviet Union. In the late XX and early XXI centuries, two archaeological expeditions from St. Petersburg (Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the State Hermitage) were held. Monuments of history and culture are represented by the buildings and monuments created in the first half of the XX century, given the history of Tyva , its traditional type of farming and nomadic herding. Nevertheless, modern Tuvians preserved their traditions and ancestor worship, respectful attitude to the past, which leaves space for hope that cultural heritage in the territory of Tyva will persist for years to come.

The article discusses the daily life of the representatives of the clergy in the diocesan period in the history of Orthodoxy in Yakutia. The purpose of this article is to identify the common and specific features in the everyday life of the clergy. The research methodology includes the principle of specificity, when the clergy’s routine is studied taking into account definition of time and place; historicism, which considers the daily life of clergy in its development; consistency, which implies that the provincial clergy lived their lives in accordance with the spiritual laws of the Empire, and the principle of reliance upon historical sources. The latter principle implies the introduction into scientific circulation of unpublished archival documents and the historiographical tradition that takes into account the results of earlier scientific studies. In the course of the study the author points to a small number of the clergy of Yakutia; characterizes its age capacity and role in the history of Yakutia. Admission of locals to the clerical ranks, payment of wages from the state budget and local sources resulted in the dynastic succession of clergy that had emerged early in the XX century. Differences in financial situation depending on the place of service and position resulted from the opportunity to receive spiritual education and to increase its level. Specifics of the clergy’s daily life arouse due to the wealthy life of townspeople and integrative role of the rural parish clergy in Yakutia. The study shows that standard of living of urban parishes corresponded to a general welfare of the wealthy urban residents whereas the priests of the rural churches lived in a relative poverty, although along with performing official duties they provided integration of rural population into the Russian civilization space.

The study of the public service is multidisciplinary in nature and includes works of legal specialists and historians. Legal studies mostly deal with a theoretical aspect of the problem, defining the public service as a legal category. Historical studies on the problem are fragmented with sel ected aspects being considered in the context of all-Russian system of power. It is relevant to study the public service in the sphere of national education taking into account the regional specificities in Asian Russia. The legislative basis of the public service was created in the era of Peter I. The introduced regulations for promotion in rank were based on a principle of impeccable service to the state. At the beginning of the XIX century the public service became dependant on education. The growing number of schools and demand for educators led to a certain derogation fr om the public service rules in the Ministry of National Enlightenment which made them more democratic as compared to other ministries. To meet staffing needs, the authorities fixed service obligations for the education institutions graduates who had studied under full State care. In suburban areas special and greatest benefits, that set preferential service terms, were introduced. Special benefits were established for the IX and upper ranks officials in Eastern Siberia that implied additional financial aid, high salary, and a long leave. The greatest privileges were envisaged for Yakutia and Turukhansk region. However this policy was meant to address only the secondary education. While providing favorable conditions for secondary school teachers, the authorities “forgot” about the elementary school teachers. The low living standard, social vulnerability, lack of professional growth possibilities put the teachers to the bottom of a social ladder. The government’s policy inconsistency in the field of social welfare of teachers led to the split of the teaching community in the revolution of 1917.