Volume 6, Nº 2 (2024)

The purpose of this work is to clarify the reality or mythology of the position about the active participation of Old Believers in the anti-government movement in the second half of the 19th — early 20th centuries. An analysis of sources showed that the Old Believers never took an anti-state position, showing only their loyalty to state power. During the period under review they rejected the revolutionaries' claims to cooperation. Only during the Civil War did the Old Believers side with one of the warring parties, which, in the absence of a single supreme power, cannot be assessed as anti-state activity. Soon after the Bolshevik victory, the Old Believers took an unambiguously favorable position towards the Soviet regime, despite the previous brutal repressions. At the same time, the Russian revolutionary intelligentsia during the second half of the 19th century retained illusions regarding the Old Believers and unsuccessfully tried to attract them to the fight against the samoderzhaviye. The democratic revolutionaries of the 60s turned to the clergy of the Old Believers, and the populist revolutionaries of the 70s also tried to work with the broad Old Believer masses, primarily peasants, to no avail.

The historiosophical concepts of Miliukov, Lenin, and Trotsky are considered. A connection is established between their concepts of history and the transformation of Russia and the pre-revolutionary ideological tradition of Westerners and Slavophiles. The question is raised about further understanding of Stalin’s plan for «building socialism in one country».

The purpose of the research. The process of forming the regional structure of the mining department is considered in the context of the implementation of two reforms of the organizational foundations of the Russian mining industry in the 19th — early 20th centuries. The basis of the study is a structural and functional analysis, which allows us to dynamically trace changes in the organization of regional institutions of the mining department. The research is based on thematic scientific literature and legislative acts from the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire.

Results. The analysis showed that having emerged in its new format in 1807, the department retained it until the end of the imperial period, developing towards increasing the number of its regional bodies from two to eight, which was a consequence of the development of the sectoral and spatial organization of the mining industry. Moreover, in the 1860s the structure and functionality of these institutions changed significantly, freed from the previous «non-core» responsibilities (social, judicial and police) and aimed at managing state-owned factories and supervising private industry. It is concluded that the state of the mining department in the first half of the 19th century corresponded to the proto-industrial level of development of the mining industry with its «serf-like» social organization and relatively slow pace of development, while the appearance of the department, emerging in the second half of the 19th — early 20th centuries, was already correlated with the early industrial level of industry with dynamically developing entrepreneurship and its spread over the vast territory of the empire.

The paper analyses the level of socio-political consciousness of workers of the Sverdlovsk and Perm railways during the Great Patriotic War. The paper shows that Ural railway workers made a significant contribution to the process of forming an indissoluble unity of the front and rear, both by achieving high production indicators and by actively participating in the patriotic movement. The paper also provides a detailed description of participation of railway workers in their free time in subbotnik (Saturday clean-up) and voskresnik (Sunday clean-up), in raising funds for the Defence Fund, in sending warm clothes and gifts for front-line soldiers, and in helping areas of the USSR liberated from the German occupiers. The paper focuses on the formation of special-purpose trains as an important area of military-patriotic activity of the Ural railway workers during the Great Patriotic War. In addition, the paper notes that armoured trains, military sanitary trains and bath trains, created during off-duty hours with money received because of patriotic events, were the necessary material embodiment of gratuitous support for soldiers and commanders of the Red Army from home front workers. The paper concludes that the high level of ideological and political motivation of employees of the Sverdlovsk and Perm railways contributed to their effective work, bringing victory over the hated enemy closer.

The article, based on digital and analytical material from the declassified archives of the Russian FSB Directorate for the Sverdlovsk region, provides an analysis of the 1953 amnesty as a social phenomenon that had a significant impact on the socio-political situation in the Middle Urals. The qualitative composition of amnestied persons, their distribution by place of permanent residence, and the number of crimes committed are considered. The opinions of the population on the aims of the amnesty, the progress of its implementation, and the results recorded by the sources of the state security agencies are presented. The intensification of the Gypsy camps, which traditionally live in the region, is pointed out. The author concludes on the influence of the 1953 amnesty on the increase in the number of crimes committed by young people, including Komsomol members. The reasons for this were to be found both in post-war demography (single-parent families, fatherlessness) and in the romanticisation of the environment of thieves. Young hooligans often committed group crimes. Unprepared for the social consequences of the amnesty, which was in fact a political event, the party and state authorities tried to adjust their policies towards those amnestied who continued their criminal activities. However, despite this and the efforts of law enforcement agencies, the problem of high crime rates remained relevant for the inhabitants of the cities of the Sverdlovsk Region until the end of 1953.

The purpose of the publication is a study based on the study of archival documents of the problem of the development of the oil and gas complex of the USSR in the second half of the 1960s — early 1970s, the factors that determined the lag of the industry in a number of indicators from the leading countries are identified. The conclusions are formulated that, along with huge achievements due to managerial miscalculations, it was not possible to overcome the shortage of high-quality special equipment, the shortage of qualified personnel, and to introduce the most modern computing technology in processing the results of geological exploration. The reasons for the difficulties are the departmental approach, insufficient investments, and objective difficulties associated with the development of new hard-to-reach regions. In the same row: the lack of effective interaction between industry and academic science, slow implementation of the results of developments in production. It is proved that experts specifically stipulated the need for special measures aimed at ensuring drilling in the regions of Siberia, the North and the Far East. The recommendations of scientists and industry experts were designed to help ensure the development of oil provinces in a shorter time and increase the efficiency of exploration for oil and gas. However, the conclusions of the academic community, gas and oil workers were often ignored.

The purpose of the study. The article attempts to reconstruct the figurative series of standards of material consumption of the urban population of the USSR, presented in the Soviet press of the 1920s–1930s. Conclusions. The content of the standards of material consumption was determined by the ideological vector (building socialism"), directly depended on the dynamics of socio-economic development, the success of modernization processes. In the USSR in the 1920s–1930s, significant transformations took place in the specifics and content of the standards of material consumption of the population. In the 1920s, the content of the Soviet press was dominated by an emphasis on breaking with the pre-revolutionary past, proclaiming simplicity and the absence of material fetishism. In the 1930s, priorities changed. The world of things is recognized as a necessary component of the Soviet man. Fashion and advertising in the second half of the 1930s formed a fairly high standard of material consumption, although the real level of provision of goods to the population was significantly inferior.

Purpose of the study. The article examines the balance of forces that developed in the territory of today’s Latvia after the end of the First World War. The purpose of the article is to study the political situation in 1919 and the military operations between German volunteer units, Landeswehr, Red Army troops, White Guard formations, national armies of Latvia and Estonia. Under these conditions, the Entente countries, led by France and Great Britain, assumed a leading role in solving the German question and the subsequent evacuation of the remaining German formations after the Great War. For this purpose, several military missions of allied countries were sent to Latvia in 1919.

Conclusions. As a result of the study, the author concludes that each of the victorious countries in the Great War considered itself entitled to determine the fate of small nations that had received the right to self-determination. While French diplomacy was not in a hurry to recognize Latvia internationally, hoping for the revival of «democratic» Russia, which would return the Baltic provinces to its fold, Great Britain prioritized its economic interests in the Baltic Sea and was ready to take Latvia under its control.

The article considers the problem of conflict resolution in Ukraine the importance of which cannot be overestimated at the present stage. The entry of Crimea into Russia, the imposition of economic sanctions by EU member states and the launch of a special military operation have caused a discussion in the international community. Turkey does not stand aside and pursues its own foreign policy course. Despite its desire to play a peacekeeping role in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict ensuring the territorial integrity of Ukraine comes to the fore. The complex and ambiguous interaction between Moscow and Ankara in the post-Soviet space does not allow achieving Results.  On the one hand the Turkish leadership stands for resolving the crisis in Ukraine and on the other hand recognizes the annexation of Crimea, Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions to Russia as illegal. Overcoming differences between Moscow and Ankara is a priority but in order to reach a compromise it is necessary to reconsider the foreign policy course. The special military operation on the 24-th of February of 2022 was the beginning of a new stage in the development of bilateral relations and made it possible to define views on the problem of conflict resolution in Ukraine. R.T. Erdogan's interest in maintaining friendly contacts with V.A. Zelensky is of concern to Moscow. The purpose of the article is to determine the impact of the Ukrainian crisis on relations between Russia and Turkey.

The purpose of this study is to identify the factors of the political discord in Egyptian society that followed from the end of 2012 to the summer of 2013 in the context of the confrontation for power in the country in the 2011–2013s. by two players: the army leadership represented by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and the Muslim Brotherhood Islamist movement (an extremist organization banned in the Russian Federation) represented by the Freedom and Justice Party. According to the results of the analysis, it is recorded that the political discord in Egypt's society is formed in response to the activities of the Islamist government led by President Mohammed Morsi. The «project» of state transformation proposed and implemented (for a short time) by them was reactionary, as it was aimed at eliminating SCAF’s constitutional declarations designed in 2011–2012s. to limit powers of newly elected politicians. Their involving into the regulatory and legal field is regarded in this work as a key factor in the subsequent next round of the political crisis of the Arab Spring. To eliminate them, the M. Morsi’s government focuses on the formation of its own full-fledged constitution, designed to change the balance of power in political system. However, this is regarded by the politically active part of society as an attempt to usurp power and build an Islamic dictatorship in the end.

The article examines the question of how the study of the life path and activities of the famous Russian scientist metallurgist V.E. Grum-Grzhimailo and the source base about him were formed. The author of the article came to the conclusion that V.E. Grum-Grzhimailo has been attracting the close attention of metallurgists, historians, local historians, journalists, and writers for many decades. Interest in this person is aroused by the outstanding personality of the scientist, the scientific contribution of the scientist to metallurgy, the vicissitudes of his life. The literature on V.E. Grum-Grzhimailo is extensive and diverse. It includes studies of the scientist's biography, articles devoted to the study of various episodes of the scientist's life and work. V.E. Grum-Grzhimailo's assessments in the literature are often diametrically opposed: from enthusiastic to highly critical. They depended on the time of writing about the scientist. There are many inaccuracies and discrepancies in the interpretation of various facts of his biography in the literature. Sources that are numerous and diverse in types help to understand the historiographical heritage about the life and work of V.E. Grum-Grzhimailo. The first group of sources is the scientific heritage of the metallurgical scientist. The second group of sources consists of documents by V.E. Grum-Grzhimailo related to his official and teaching activities. The third most extensive group of sources is the epistolary legacy of the metallurgical scientist. The fourth group of sources consists of documents of personal origin. They are divided into two parts. The first part includes memoirs, questionnaires, and an autobiography compiled by the scientist himself at various times. The second part of the documents of personal origin consists of memories of V.E. Grum-Grzhimailo.

The article presents previously unpublished documents about the implementation of the campaign to close churches in the second half of the 20s and early 30s. XX century on the territory of the Yegoryevsky district of the Moscow region. The purpose of the article is an attempt to trace the process of implementing the national line of state-church relations on the territory of an ordinary provincial town and its office-working features at different stages of the Campaign. Having before my eyes a detailed picture of state-church relations in the twentieth century. on a national scale, its regional context often remains outside the field of historical research. At the same time, it is the analysis of the clerical component of state-church relations on the territory of individual provincial cities that gives us the opportunity to fully imagine the fate of many of our compatriots who completed their journey at the Butovo training ground in 1937. The article provides an analysis of the clerical process of closing individual parishes in territory of Yegoryevsk before and after 1929. Reconstructing them on the basis of previously unpublished documents from the Central State Archive of the Russian Federation, the author identified the main distinctive features of these processes, due to the gradual swing of the repressive pendulum.

The paper provides a historiographical analysis of the views of modern Russian authors on the problems of the Great Reforms. The paper notes that modern historiography has accumulated a large number of research works devoted to the analysis of the prerequisites, content, course and results of the transformations of the 1860s — 1870s. The paper concludes that Russian historiography has a wide range of assessments of the reforms of this period, both positive and negative content. The discussion of «pessimists» and «optimists» contributed to the increment of historical knowledge, during which new historical approaches were worked out and some historiographical gaps were filled.

The review was written on a monograph by N.V. Melnikova, a well-known specialist in the history of the nuclear project, an employee of the Institute of History and Archeology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The book is devoted to the staffing of this work of the Soviet Union, in which the author, for the first time in national, and not only historiography, considers this issue. A conclusion is drawn about the validity of the research and comprehensive coverage of the issue of staffing the nuclear project. The monograph is highly appreciated.