Home – Home – Jornals – Advanced Search

Issues related to the study of methods of social conflicts resolution remain understudied in the Buryat ethnographical literature. The purpose of the present research is to reveal traditions of handling the conflicts among the Buryats in the XVIII-XIX centuries. There were various types of social collisions: some of them were intergroup and even interethnic conflicts, while others were intragroup (including family conflicts). The author considers the latter type of collisions. The research is based on the literary and archival sources of the XVIII-XIX centuries. In a traditional society there were two possible ways of reconciliation: extrajudicial (when the aggressor admitted depravity of his or her action, apologized to his or her victim and received forgiveness) and judicial (held by the Court of the non-Buryat chiefs). Aggressors and their victims belonged to the local groups interested in the prompt resolution of conflicts. The Buryat courts had the estate character and were totally controlled by the “indigenous chiefs”, therefore all levels of this judicial system were aimed at achieving reconciliation. Investigation, judgment and execution were held by the “indigenous chiefs”. Proceedings initiated by the victims were usually completed by the lowest-level courts. Along with substantive examination of cases and carrying out of sentences (prescribing fines or even corporal punishment for the aggressor) the courts were instrumental in maintaining the peace and stability within the local groups. This social institute was sanctified by the traditional worldview that supported the authority of the court’s and the indigenous chiefs among popular masses. At the same time, according to the traditional beliefs the superiority of the mythical court of “white” sky inhabitants and spirits over the ordinary courts was generally accepted. For this purpose people continued the practice of taking oath near the “shaman stones”.

The article deals with demographic transformations of the ethno-local groups of Kumandins and Chelkans as a result of the Great Patriotic War as exemplified by the age-sex structure. The Great Patriotic War produced catastrophic demographic effects on the indigenous peoples and resulted in more than 1000 deaths. The analysis of age-sex structure allows to reconstruct these effects. The research objective is to consider demographic transformations of the indigenous peoples as a result of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) by the example of ethno-local groups of Kumandins and Chelkans. Despite the considerable volume of publications about the Great Patriotic War, the problem of participation indigenous people of Siberia and the North in this war remains understudied. In particular, there are virtually no studies on the demography of indigenous peoples during this period. Research is based on data from the registers of farms of the Nizhneneninsk and Suzop Village Councils, the Solton district of Altai Region, and Malocheben Village Council in the the Turachak district, Oyrat Autonomous Region (now Altai Republic) dated to the early 1950s. In general, the data on the age and sex composition of the Kumandins of the Nizhneneninsk and Suzop Village Councils, as well as the Chelkans of Malochebechensky Village Council indicate that there was a demographic crisis during the postwar period. It was characterized by a gender disparity in favor of females, reduction of the share of children in the general structure of the population as a result of the low level of birth rate, increasing share of the elderly, a regressive type of age structure. Combat losses, along with the increased mortality of indigenous people as a result of deterioration of living conditions were the main causes of demographic changes.

The objective of this article is to consider the history of development of several South Russian settlements in the Minusinsk region and their architectural traditions. The culture of South Russian resettlers is less studied than that of the old residents. It analyzes the issues related to the formation of the group of South Russian settlers in the Minusinsk uyezd; touches upon an issue establishment of several settlements; describes traditions of house construction, including the rituals of the domicile. The paper is based on the materials of expedition organized by the Minusinsk local history museum in 2015. The expeditionary work was carried out in the villages of Minusinsky, Kuraginsky, Krasnoturansky, Idrinsky Districts of the Krasnoyarsk Krai. Traditional culture of the South Russian resettlers was studied during a short-term trip. The main forms of work were interviews with audio recording and photography. The majority of South Russian settlements in the Minusinsk uyezd had been formed since the late XIX - early XX centuries. Stolypin agrarian reforms largely contributed to the process of resettlement. However the first descendants from the South Russian territories came here as early as in the early XIX century. It was the time when the village of Kavkazskaya was established. The settlers were immigrants from Mogilev, Orel, Kharkov, Tambov and Poltava provinces of the Russian Empire. The buildings in the above settlements continued the South Russian architectural traditions: the immigrants used to build dugouts (zemlyankas), mud huts (mazankas, mazanuhas), trampled huts (toptankas), houses of sward layers; hutches of sun-dried bricks were also wide-spread due to the lack of building timber. To some villages it was brought from the sub-taiga areas. Houses of sun-dried bricks prevailed in those villages that had neither wood nor possibilities to import it from other areas. The author notes that some superstitions connected with housebuilding, moving home and house-warming parties (vlazyny) have survived up to our days.

The article analyzes mechanisms of creating the sacred landscape, including the worship of a water source and a revered stone. In the Trans-Urals and Siberia some “holy places” remain understudied, while relevant materials are to be introduced for scientific circulation. For the purposes of a systematic presentation the object of research are the mechanisms of creation of the religious landscape. The subject of research is the specifics of veneration of a water source and a stone in the village of Rafaylovo in the Isetsky district of the Tyumen region. The research is based on the published sources and field data (oral reports, interviews, discussions, participant observation) collected in 2012-2013. Analysis of field data collected in the peripheral rural areas reveals specific practices of the religious worship of shrines. These practices developed under the conditions of the secondary cultural landscape formed by the resettling population in the territory of the Trans-Urals. Furthermore, the research materials, which include the new sacred objects, demonstrate the new ways of sacralisation of natural objects. Analysis of the above materials leads to the conclusion, that the sacred landscape is actively being created in the territory of a historic religious center. In Soviet times the village of Rafaylovo was completely devoid of Christian symbols (the sacred markers). Nowadays it is re-acquiring them owing to the active participation of the locals, especially the head of the local religious community. In order to improve the sacred status of the territory in the process of “new colonization” a water source and a stone (a fragment of the Holy Dormition Cathedral of the Simonov Monastery) were added as new objects of worship. New religious symbols form a new image of the sacred landscape, which is purposefully constructed thanks to the adequate strategy developed by the stakeholders, and especially by the Russian Orthodox Church, which is typical for the whole territory of Siberia.

The article is devoted to studying the interaction between civil and military authorities while they were addressing problems concerning provision of the Russian troops’ material needs in the 18th-century Siberia. This was clearly a key aspect of securing the Russian empire’s borders east of the Urals. Its study can help to estimate precisely the efficiency of local authorities’ operations and their specific relations with the Siberian corps’ command. The author focuses on one of the episodes in the history of the Siberian governor D.I. Chicherin’s activities in that field. The article is based on archival sources: two books from the Senate fond in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and one file from the fond of the General Auditor expedition of the Collegium of War in the Russian State Military History Archive (Moscow). Several conclusions have been drawn from the study of archival materials. First, objective difficulties, due to the remoteness of the region and home stations of the military units, certainly, hampered purchase and delivery of food supplies. However, Chicherin’s excessive efforts led to enormous expenditures of the state treasury’s funds and unnecessary accumulation of provision for many years into the future. Second, overlapping functions and indistinct differentiation of powers between the military command and civil authorities had obviously facilitated many abuses. The losses resulting from such abuses often were irretrievable for the state treasury. On the other hand, the Russian empire’s supreme power paid much attention to the questions of state defense and maintenance of army’s fighting efficiency throughout the XVIII century. Therefore, the civil and military powers managed to ensure adequate performance of the army supply system even under such conditions, in this far outlying region of the Russian empire, at the cost of great financial expenses.

Based on the newly discovered documents from the Russian State Archive of the Navy the paper aims to look more closely at the biography of N.I. Myagkov before he was appointed Head of the Yakutsk Oblast. In Post-Soviet Russia due to the digression from the Marxist-Leninist teaching and use of the new methodological approaches researchers have been paying more attention to the tsarist authorities. One of them was N.I. Myagkov, Head of the Yakutsk Oblast (1826-1831), a man who greatly contributed to the development of his region. He occupies a special place among other Yakutsk regional heads. The study of this historical figure is relevant due to the fact that at the current stage researchers have information only about his activities in Yakutia as well as some brief facts about his early years. The principle of historicism provided the methodological basis for the study. The author used a historical-biographical method (reconstruction of the process of formation and development of N.I.Myagkov’s personality before his activities as Head of the Yakutsk oblast) and a problem-chronological method (studying it in a time sequence). The major finding of the study is that for the first time in historiography it describes in depth the process of formation and development of N.I. Myagkov’s personality before his activities as Head of the Yakutsk oblast. The author also presents new facts about his early period of life (his studies at the Gentry Sea Cadet corps, military service in the Baltic Fleet, work at the Governing Senate and Admiralty Office, appointment as Head of the Yakutsk Oblast).

The purpose of the study is to show the illegal activities of the Omsk organization of the Socialist Revolutionary Party in the early 1920s. The author used new archival documents that can help to disclose hitherto unknown episodes in the activities of the Omsk municipal and provincial organizations of the Right-Wing Socialist Revolutionaries under Soviet rule. The presented study applied comparative, structural and logical methods of analysis. Based on the interrogation records related to one of the leaders of the SRs’ local party organization in Omsk the author reconstructs a picture of Party life in Omsk in the early 1920s; describes how the SRs went underground and restored their Party structures at the municipal and provincial levels; analyzes personal composition of the executive bodies. The analysis of Lunegov’s interrogation records allowed to obtain a new information about the organizational structure, quantitative and qualitative composition of the executive bodies of revolutionary organizations in that period. Special attention is paid to the analysis of basic activities of the Omsk municipal committee and illegal forms of the SRs’ work with the population. The author believes that the party leaders were not able to deploy a large-scale party work among both the SRs and various groups of population during the period under study. The author considers the fact that the local bodies of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission had quite detailed information about the illegal activities of the Right-SRs, except for the intra-party information. This gap was partially compensated during Lunegov’s interrogations. Based on the obtained information the author concluded that the Omsk SRs tried to intensify their party activities with the beginning of the new economic policy. This motivated the Bolshevik government and the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission’s local authorities to take appropriate actions which paralyzed the activities of the Right-SRs and then helped to initiate the process of self-dissolution of the Socialist Revolutionary Party in the Omsk province.

Contemporary studies on the Soviet man identity shows that there were ambiguities in the ways of its development. Many Soviet people (regardless of whether or not they were famous) were forced to pretend to be ideological Communists, to lead a double life, fabricate a fake biography. Many active “builders of communism” with party tickets unenthusiastically received and obeyed the orders from the Bolshevik power. Among the well-known members of the Soviet press there were many people of that sort. The paper aims to show that even the most active propagandists of the Soviet system often were hypocritical. Many professional and well-educated Communist media employees were secretly critical of the dogmas of propaganda. They considered them primitive and criticized them, while some Bolshevik journalists renounced their Communist views. The article shows how dissent manifested itself among the prominent representatives of “ideological front”, for the most part in Moscow. People’s commissars L. Krasin and G. Chicherin were known for their great skepticism regarding the world revolution. In communicating with each other many famous Communists invented epigrams and jokes about the Soviet regime. Many provincial journalists also showed dissent. In the years of the Great Terror, even the most loyal servants of the regime were willing to criticize the policy of repressions. Thus, the journalistic elite was dominated not by the ideological fanatics, but by conformists, who agreed to accept the Bolshevik policy. Their articles and books written in dogmatic spirit often contained hidden criticism or irony. Some journalists believed in communism and criticized the Soviet regime in order to improve it. Other propagandists defended their personal interests and therefore agreed to lead a double life. Some propagandists associated with the anti-Stalinist opposition sharply criticized the foundations of Bolshevism. Thus, in the Soviet Union the ideological sphere was sometimes marked by rejection of the tenets of communism which was not always concealed.

The article analyzes relations between the leadership of West Siberian regional committee (Kraikom) and Politburo on the issues associated with the grain procurement campaign in 1931-1932. Such analysis will help to better understand the role of party regional representatives in Stalin’s agricultural policy. While on the whole remaining supporters of changes that took place in the Soviet countryside, the regional authorities could also adjust their course. In terms of grain procurement it led to controversy with the Central Commitee on timing and volume of harvested grain. The final plan for grain procurement campaign of 1931-1932 in West Siberia was a result of long negotiations between central and regional leaders. Unrealistic objectives set by Politburo, caused a negative response from the regional committee. R.I. Eikhe, First secretary of West Siberian regional committee, repeatedly appealed to the central government to reduce the plan. In August 1931 he proposed to reduce the grain procurement quota from 100 to 65 mln. puds, explaining this by drought and crop failure that struck the main grain-growing areas of the region. This argument was supported by disappointing messages about the scope of disaster. In addition, R.I. Eikhe received moral support from the heads of other regions, who also had to ask Politburo to reduce the grain procurement plan. The West Siberian regional committee serving its own interests took a defensive stance that fit into common actions of other regional party organizations. Politburo had to make concessions, reducing plan to the proposed 65 million puds. It is noted that the final plan was a result of compromise. Procurement organizations collected required amount of grain, but this was detrimental to the food, forage and seed funds of collective farms. It also impacted negatively on agricultural economy of region and material well-being of peasants.

In the late 1920s - early 1930s the state farms played the most important role in modernization of agricultural sector of the Soviet economy. The government relied on organizing the large specialized farms. Since 1928 the construction of grain state farms became a priority as the latter were intended to become a major force in grain production and delivery and to demonstrate the advantages of large socialized production to the peasants. Until 1931 the number of grain farms increased due to the construction of new farms, however they didn’t meet the Soviet government’s expectations. The state made significant investments in material, technical and financial supply of state farms, but their level of production and profitability remained unsatisfactory. Poor organization of labor was one of the sources of the crisis in grain-producing state farms. It was the main reason for failure to implement the plan for grain delivery by the state farms during 1930 - 1932. Moreover, agronomic standards often were violated. Irrational use of agricultural machinery had a negative impact on harvesting. Efficient management of state farms was often hampered by their extremely huge size. The need for restructuring grain-producing state farms became increasingly apparent. Further policy of the state pertaining to sovkhozes was to optimize and increase the effectiveness of the existing farms instead of establishing new ones. Reorganization of state farms led to their downsizing and conversion. It was intended to increase significantly the manageability of farms and positively affect their production results. Since 1935 transfer of state farms’ lands to the collective farms had been widely practiced. In conjunction with the reorganizations the system of public sector management in agriculture underwent permanent changes.