Main Sources for Studying Institutional and Social Aspects of the Black-Earth Villages Collectivization: Materials from Regional Archives 1928–1932

УДК 94(47).084.6

DOI 10.28995/2073-0101-2020-3-786-795

Vladimir B. Bezgin

Tambov State Technical University, Tambov, Russian Federation

Vadim P. Nikolashin

G. R. Derzhavin Tambov State University, Tambov, Russian Federation

Main Sources for Studying Institutional and Social Aspects of the Black-Earth Villages Collectivization: Materials from Regional Archives 1928–1932

Abstract

The article is devoted to the socially significant and debatable theme in the Russian history – collectivization in the Black Earth village. Extensive historiography is devoted to this problem; therefore, the authors draw attention to the study of the least studied aspects of the agrarian transformations carried out by the Soviet government in 1928–1930. In their opinion, analysis and study of social and institutional factors will determine the causes, identify the mechanism, and establish the consequences of the collectivization. The publication strives to identify key archival sources on the issue in the Black Earth region archives. The geographical framework is the Central Black Earth region gubernias, that is, modern Lipetsk, Belgorod, Tambov, Kursk, Oryol, and Voronezh regions. The study takes into account administrative and territorial reforms in the Central Black Earth region, as well as subsequent acquisition and reforming of archival fonds. Traditionally, Soviet historiography on collectivization focused on the creation of collective farms and struggle with against the kulaks. Contrariwise, modern historiography on the problem of the prosecutor’s office activities, the courts, the OGPU in the Black Earth village is still emergent, as many fonds were classified under the Soviet period and some remain so at least partially to this day. In preparing the article, documents have been identified in the regional archives of the Tambov, Kursk, Oryol, Belgorod, Voronezh, and Lipetsk regions, which have been previously unpublished and never introduced into scientific use. They reveal various aspects of the activities of main state institutions and social groups in the village. They detail the activities of the prosecutor’s office, MTS political departments, district control commissions, the struggle against the kulaks, and some other subjects. The study of the sources on the topic permits to assert that the fonds of these archives contain documents and materials of some interest. Introduction into scientific use of this wide range of sources enables to conduct critical analysis of the socio-political realities of 1928–30 and to construct a dynamic model of the Black Earth village development.

Keywords

Collectivization, Black Earth village, socio-political changes, sources, archives, fond.

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References

DANILOV, V. P. IVNITSKII, N. A. O derevne nakanune i v khode sploshnoi kollektivizatsii [On the village on the eve and during the complete collectivization. In Russ.]. IN: Dokumenty svidetel'stvuyut. Iz istorii derevni nakanune i vkhode kollektivizatsii 1927-1932 gg. [DANILOV, V. P. IVNITSKII, N. A. (eds.). Documents bear testimony: From the history of the on the eve and during the complete collectivization. In Russ.]. Moscow, Politizdat publ., 1989, 526 p.

Sovetskaya derevnya glazami VCHK—OGPU—NKVD. 1918-1939. Dokumenty i materialy [BERELOVICH, A., DANILOV, V. (eds.). The Soviet village through the eyes of the Cheka-OGPU-NKVD. 1918-1939. Documents and materials. In Russ.]. In 4 vols. Vol. 1: 1918-1922. Moscow, ROSSPEN publ., 2000, 864 p.

About authors

Bezgin Vladimir Borisovich, PhD in History, professor, Tambov State Technical University, department of history and philosophy, professor, Tambov, Russian Federation, +7-910-758-43-83, vladyka62@ mail.ru

Nikolashin Vadim Pavlovich, PhD in History, G. R. Derzhavin Tambov State University, Technopark “Derzhavinsky,” deputy director for innovation, Tambov, Russian Federation, +7-900-496-73-61, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Grant information

The article has been prepared with financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 19-49-680002 / 19) and of the administration of the Tambov region within the frameworks of the joint regional competition of research projects “Collectivization in the black earth village: institutional and social aspects.”

Submitted 4.01.2020, published (for citation):

BEZGIN, V. B., NIKOLASHIN, V. P. Osnovnye istochniki po izucheniyu institutsional'nykh i sotsial'nykh aspektov kollektivizatsii chernozemnoi derevni. Na materialakh regional'nykh arkhivov 1928–1932 gg. [Main Sources for Studying Institutional and Social Aspects of the Black-Earth Villages Collectivization: Materials from Regional Archives (1928–32). In Russ.]. IN: Vestnik arhivista / Herald of an Archivist, 2020, no. 3, pp. 786-795. doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2020-3-786-795