卷 2, 编号 3 (2020)

The Diary of Ivan Maisky, a diplomat, Soviet Envoy (later Ambassador) to the United Kingdom from 1932 to 1943 is one of the valuable sources on the interwar history of international relations and WWII. Maisky never saw his diaries returned to him after they had been confiscated at the time of his arrest in 1953. It was declassified by the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation and published in 2006-2009 with the commentaries of Russian scholars. The analysis of the Diary which contains unique details about Soviet-British relations casts new light on the roles of Great Britain and the USSR in the pre-war international crises and allows for a re-evaluation of the two powers’ efforts aimed at preventing or delaying the war. When the Diary is juxtaposed with the declassified British archive materials, the degree to which the British officials trusted the Soviet Envoy/Ambassador as well as the level of his awareness of the undercurrents of British politics become clearer. The authors argue that the Versailles System had failed by the mid-1920s and was replaced by the Locarno System based on the guarantees of Germany’s western borders. In the mid-1930s the Locarno System was in disarray despite British efforts to save it through concessions and the appeasement policy. The «Diplomat’s Diary» shows a struggle within the British elite between the supporters and the opponents of the appeasement policy linked with the search for a new configuration of the European system of security.

The purpose of this study is to identify the origins of the pro-Israeli affections of the prominent American politician Lyndon Baines Johnson (the President of the United States in 1963-1968) in the initial period of his political career before winning the Senate elections in 1948. The study resulted in conclusion that preferences of Lyndon Johnson towards Israel were influenced by a number of factors. First of all, this was the influence of the views that had developed in the family of an American politician. His grandfather and aunt were active members of the Christodelphian community, in which the protection of the Jews as God’s chosen people was one of the principles of life. Lyndon’s father, Samuel Ealy Johnson, jr. always tried to take the side of the oppressed and persecuted people. Because of this, Lyndon’s father received threats against him from the Ku Klux Klan. We should also note the role of Lyndon Johnson’s encirclement at the dawn of his political career. A number of prominent American Zionists stood out in this encirclement. In addition, the life attitudes and values of the future 36th US president coincided with the philosophy and experience of the founders of the State of Israel, from side of its leaders as well as from the side of ordinary citizens, soldiers and farmers. Being raised on the Texas frontier and admired for examples of bravery and courage, Johnson felt justified in Israel’s willingness to use force at any moment. Lyndon Johnson’s words and deeds were never at variance. He personally took part in saving the lives of Jewish refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe. Though, their number, apparently, was not as large as it is sometimes presented in publicist and even historical papers.

The article analyzes the development of historical studies in Kazakhstan in the period after the disintegration of the USSR. The article presents new approaches, achievements and shortcomings in the development of science, the activities of the main research centers and educational institutions, scientific discoveries that have expanded the horizons of history in Kazakhstan. It is shown that in the post-Soviet period, the historical science of Kazakhstan has gone through a difficult and ambiguous path of transformation. The nature of research has changed, which was expressed in methodological approaches and methods. In addition, historians were able to search for materials in the archives both within the country and abroad.

The article deals with the historical aspects of the formation and key periods of development of public monitoring commissions. Consideration of the topic of this article through the prism of events that highlight the prerequisites for the formation of a system of public control, allowed the authors both to identify systematic difficulties faced by individuals who joined human rights organizations, and to formulate specific proposals, the application of which in practice can be indispensable for improving the activities of public monitoring commissions at the current stage of their development. The content of the article reveals historical facts that played an important role in the formation of public monitoring commissions, mainly as a human rights institution of public observers. The authors note some persons who are interested in creating a system of public control that can provide both consulting and financial assistance not only to representatives of penitentiary institutions, but also to citizens held in them. The article allows you to clearly present the chronology of events that are elements of the Foundation of modern human rights organizations, including a description of situations that affected the performance of members of public monitoring commissions in various time periods. The authors attribute the dynamics of the relevance of the functions of public control to various circumstances, including the emergence of the Gulag, which became the main stumbling block in the development of public monitoring commissions at the end of the second half of the XX century. The article also highlights the stages of forming the next composition of public monitoring commissions, provides indicators that characterize not only the number of their members in the subjects of the Russian Federation and members of such commissions, but also the number of visits to places of forced detention, verification activities, complaints and applications considered, legal consultations, etc. In addition, the authors analyzed the activities of human rights organizations that are active in some regions of the Russian Federation, which revealed the specifics of the implementation of certain rights of citizens, including those who are in prison. The use of a systematic approach to the study of the historical aspect of the creation of public monitoring commissions and the analysis of the organization of work of their members allowed the authors to identify certain problems of theoretical and practical significance, as well as to suggest ways to solve them.

Yakov Vladimirovich Samoilov (1870-1925) - a large and original mineralogist, geologist, paleobiogeochemist of the early 20th century, one of the first students of V.I. Vernadsky at Moscow University, a talented teacher, professor at Moscow University, Moscow Agricultural Institute, Novoaleksandriysky Institute of Agriculture and Forestry. As a mineralogist he worked in the Urals, in Central Russia, in the Donetsk basin. Head of a large-scale program for the study of phosphorites in European Russia, founder and first director of the Scientific Institute for Fertilizers, an active participant in several international geological congresses. Developed the doctrine of biolites and agronomic ores. He made an original contribution to the substantiation of paleobiochemistry, sedimentology and lithology. I'M IN. Samoilov was one of the first scientists to pay attention to the study of the mineralogy of sedimentary deposits. Organizer and head of a large-scale program for studying phosphorite deposits in European Russia with the aim of using phosphorus fertilizers in agriculture. Organizer of the Public Committee and the Scientific Institute for Fertilizers (now the Ya.V. Samoilov Scientific Institute for Fertilizers and Insectofungisides), an active participant in the organization of research in mineralogy and geochemistry at the Institute of Applied Mineralogy and the Floating Marine Scientific Institute, chairman of a number of commissions at the Supreme Council of the National Economy of the USSR, a consultant State Planning Committee of the USSR. All his life he was in close communication with V.I. Vernadsky.

The main task of this article is analysis of mutual perception of Soviet people and Australians during the first part of the Cold War. Situation in provincial centers of USSR and Australia (Urals region and Western Australia) is at the center of author`s attention. The article is based on the materials of Orenburg region`s Center of contemporary history documents, newspapers «Uralsky Rabochy» (Sverdlovsk) and «The West Australian» (Pert). The author proves that formation of images of these countries had special characteristics due to their roles in world policy and their political regimes. The author concludes Australians had complex but controversial image of Soviet Union. There was no real image of Australia among ordinary Soviet people. Originality of this article is connected with its first attempt to analyse mutual perception of Soviet people and Australians during the first part of the Cold War studying situation in provincial centers of USSR and Australia. Importance of this article is also connected with high relevance of the problem of formation of the images of nations in contemporary conditions of development of international humanitarian contacts.

The article is devoted to the researching of the J.R.R. Tolkien’s (British writer and linguist) influence on the outlook of counterculture movements in 1960-1970s years. The west countries’ history of that period describes a developing of the youth protest activity and the promoting of the trilogy «The Lords of the Rings», which became the most important embodiment of J.R.R. Tolkien’s mythology. As the result, the creativity of British writer became as the fantastic allusion to the modern and recent historical problems of society, such as the USA campaign in Vietnam, world wars, consumption cult, the harm to the environment, the fight for civil rights, etc. The purpose of that article is to identify the role of J.R.R. Tolkien’s myth in the ideological forming of youth movements of the mentioned time period in the USA and West Europe of 1960-1970s years. Through the prism of that interaction authors reconstruct a layer of counterculture mythology with the merging of Tolkinism’s (the writer’s creativity and outlook) and protest ideas inside the original awareness. The result of this process is in the appearance of the new youth movements’ ideological aspects, reflected in slogans, sings and street art of the pointed time period. The embodiment of the young generation’s protest activity with fictional heroes and events in Tolkien’s Middle-Earth has the main role in such aspects. However, today there is lack of the researching of that problem. Authors of the article suggest to look at the counterculture’s history in west countries through the prism of the pointed synthesis as the one of basically elements in the formation of modern mass culture and subculture layer.