Illegal prison press materials as primary sources on the Bolshevik opposition history of the late 1920s and early 1930s
| 25 June 2018
Posted in
Archival and documental
УДК 93/94.908
Marina N. Potemkina, Nadezhda N. Makarova, Artyom E. Lubetskiy
Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Magnitogorsk, Russian Federation
Illegal prison press materials as primary sources on the Bolshevik opposition history of the late 1920s and early 1930s
Abstract
The intra-party struggle of the late 1920s and early 1930s was the key factor of the socio-economical, government and party development of the country, hence the understanding of modern issues is impossible without the examining of the Soviet historical experience. The problem has been actualized by the recent introduction of new sources into scientific circulation. Illegal prison press published by political prisoners in the USSR at the time of the increasing Stalin's power and elimination of opposition, reflects alternative trajectories of the Soviet state’s political development. Historiography of the intra-party struggle in the late 1920s and early 1930s is quite extensive. The problem was a subject of studies in both Russia and abroad, however, the limited range of primary sources made it impossible to analyse illegal prison press reflecting opposition points of view and disputes on the ideological issues, economic and political development of the Soviet Union. In this regard, the authors consider it necessary to scrutinise materials of illegal prison press that have been found in the high-security prison (also known as “a political isolator”) of the town of Verkhneuralsk and estimate their gnoseological value for understanding the historical experience of political strife in the USSR in the 1920s – 1930s. The historical sources were found in the Verkhneuralsk prison in January 2018, during repair work. They are handwritten notebooks dated back to the years of 1930-1933, in the form of magazines and records of political prisoners’ disputes. The authors were guided by the principles of historicism and objectivity. Working in the frames of methodology of “new political history” and paying special attention to political ideas and forms of political communication, the authors made several conclusions. Firstly, the recently found sources reveal new biography facts of the Bolshevik party opponents. Secondly, the introduction into scientific circulation and complex study of new documents can provide scholars with valuable information and specify the little-known aspects of the intra-party struggle of the years 1920s – 1930s in the USSR. Thirdly, the examination of the political prisoners’ magazines and records leads to the conclusion about particularities of everyday life in the “political isolator”, shows the conditions of imprisonment and helps to understand the alternative ways of development that were proposed by Stalin’s political opponents.
Keywords
Source, opposition, prison records, Bolshevik-Leninist, L. D. Trotsky, political isolation, Verkhneuralsk.
References
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About author
Potemkina Marina, PhD in History, professor, Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Magnitogorsk, Russian Federation, +7-351-923-70-35, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Makarova Nadezhda, PhD in History, associate professor, Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Magnitogorsk, Russian Federation, +7-351-923-70-35, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Lubetskiy Artyom, PhD in History, associate professor, Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Magnitogorsk, Russian Federation, +7-351-923-70-35, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it