History of the Soviet Union

Nella moderna storiografia occidentale, così come nella coscienza di massa dei cittadini, una visione unilaterale degli eventi che dalla prima crisi di Berlino hanno portato alla divi- sione della Germania è stata inevitabilmente stabilita. Approfittando di alcune fonti russe, proviamo a ricostruire passaggi chiave, utili ad analizzare il modus operandi sovietico e a carpirne le intenzioni.

This article uses Sino-Soviet film festival diplomacy to show how anticolonialism played a crucial role in the cinematic Cold War. First, it analyzes the Sino-Soviet cinematic cooperation at the Asian Film Week in Beijing in 1957 and the First Afro-Asian Film Festival (AAFF) in Tashkent in 1958. Second, it examines the breakdown of Sino-Soviet cinematic ties at the Third AAFF in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1964, and via the trenchant Chinese critique of Grigorii Chukhrai’s films. The Chinese retreat from Soviet cinema paralleled the deterioration of political relations between Mao’s China and Khrushchev’s Soviet Union. Immediate diplomatic needs informed ideological clashes at festivals and brutal film criticism. But cinematic encounters exceeded state directives. They redefined revolutionary film aesthetics and the role of cinema in liberation struggles in ways that inspired the militant «Third Cinema» movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

The present essay offers an overview of the sources in German archives on, and also originating from Soviet prisoners of war in German custody during World War II.5 Hereby, the focus is on the German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv, BArch), on the files from military departments and organisa- tions. A complete overview, however, cannot be given here as documents of captured Red Army soldiers are to be found as well in numerous state archives and a lot of small and private collections. This essay particularly ad- dresses scholars who want to begin with research on prisoners of war from the Soviet Union, and in the first place want to make themselves familiar with the sources’ situation in Germany.

Монография посвящена историку, ректору Московского университета, академику Вячеславу Петровичу Волгину (1879–1962). Выпускник историко-филологического факультета, революционер, публицист после Октябрьской революции стал непосредственным участником, а нередко и инициатором проводимых в университете преобразований. Ему довелось руководить МГУ в один из наиболее сложных периодов его истории, когда происходила перестройка высшего образования, велись поиски наилучшего варианта структуры университета, пересматривались образовательные программы с целью подготовки специалистов для молодого социалистического государства.
Бóльшая часть иллюстраций публикуются впервые.
Книга адресуется самому широкому кругу читателей.

A trent’anni dal “suicidio” dell’Unione Sovietica, l’autore ripercorre il Termidoro e la storia dell’Urss attraverso la raccolta di brevi saggi, scritti in presa diretta tra il 1987 e il 1992.

Dopo la morte di Brežnev nel 1982, seguita dai due brevi interregni di Andropov e Černenko, l’ascesa di Gorbačëv nel 1985 poneva fine alla gerontocrazia. Attraverso perestrojka e glasnost’ vennero subito introdotte radicali riforme politiche che, in assenza di un piano economico ben definito, condussero in breve tempo a una situazione di caos generale, a una grave penuria alimentare e al sorgere di pesanti conflitti interetnici da decenni sopiti.
Le enormi concessioni unilaterali, prive di contropartite, agli Usa e alla Nato, condussero in pochi anni allo scioglimento del Patto di Varsavia e alla riunificazione tedesca. Nonostante nel referendum del marzo 1991 il 77% degli elettori si fosse espresso per il mantenimento dell’Urss, sia pure sotto altra forma, il contro-colpo di stato di El’cin nell’agosto dello stesso anno portò alla disintegrazione dell’Unione Sovietica, che il 25 dicembre cessò di esistere.

Sergio Romano giornalista, saggista, accademico, storico e diplomatico. Ha lavorato a Parigi, a Vienna e alla sezione italiana della Bbc di Londra come giornalista. È stato direttore generale delle relazioni culturali, rappresentante permanente della Nato e Ambasciatore d’Italia a Mosca dal 1985 al 1989. Dopo le sue dimissioni, ha insegnato Storia delle relazioni internazionali alla Bocconi di Milano e alle università americane di Berkeley e Harvard. È dottore dell’Istituto di Storia universale dell’Accademia delle Scienze della Russia. Tra le molte pubblicazioni segnaliamo: Processo alla Russia (Longanesi, 2020), Atlante delle crisi mondiali (Rizzoli, 2018), Putin (Longanesi, 2016), Guida alla politica estera italiana (Bur, 2004).

Eric J. Schmaltz.  "Carrots, Sticks...and Demonstrations:  Yuri Andropov's Failed Autonomy Plan for Soviet Kazakhstan's Germans, 1976-1980."  Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Lincoln, Nebraska), Vol. 39, No. 3 (Fall 2016):  pp. 1-21.  (Revised and expanded reprint version.) 

The original article appeared in the Eurasia Studies Society Journal of Great Britain and Europe, Vol. 3, No. 1. (Jan. 2014):

https://eurasiahistory.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/eric-schmaltz-tess-eurasia-studies-soc-journal-vol-3-no1-jan-20141.pdf

Copyright permission is granted from original journal publisher.  This revised version contains updates, additions, and minor modifications.  Research on the topic grew out of one of the author’s dissertation chapters completed in 2002 for the fulfillment of his Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  German- and Russian-language translations are the author’s unless otherwise noted.  The author included some of these findings in his presentations at the 2016 AHSGR Convention, held in July in Concord, California.

Many scholars are unaware of the resources available at the AHSGR.  See link to AHSGR Website for this and so many other fine research materials: 

https://ahsgr.site-ym.com/store/default.aspx?

Philippine expeditions to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics at the height of the Cold War had not warranted much attention. These relentless efforts were intended to extend courtesy, hospitality, and support between Filipino and Soviet peoples. This article contends cultural diplomacy to be the most developed area in Philippine and USSR relations by tracing the continuities of Soviet foreign policy before during, and after the Détente. In light of stronger bilateral relations as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, might this article start to examine new documents that have come to light through a history of foreign affairs. The article hopes to recover shared undercurrents in academics, culture, and the arts in the promotion of Philippine and Soviet cultures alike.

An Expected Book: Romanian Prisoners of War in the Soviet Union. Documents (1941-1956)
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Книга, которую ждали: Румынские военнопленные в Советском Союзе. Документы. 1941-1945 гг.) (Vitalie Văratic / Laurențiu Constantiniu / Ilie Schipor / Vladimir Ivanovici Korotaev / Vladimir Nikolaevici Kuzelenkov (eds., trads), Prizonierii de război români în Uniunea Sovietică. Documente. 1941-1945, Editura „Monitorul Oficial”, București, 2013)

Как известно, современная социально-политическая ситуация на евразийском пространстве обладает огромным потенциалом развития и открывает широкие возможности экономического взаимодействия для всех государств региона. Одним из наглядных примеров подобного взаимодействия служит активное экономическое сотрудничество между Турцией и Россией. Однако современная ситуация на Ближнем Востоке, война с радикальным исламизмом, инициировавшим деструктивные процессы в странах региона, создают препятствия развитию нормальных межгосударственных отношений. Неизбежно эти процессы влияют и на развитие турецко-российских отношений. Вовлеченность Турции и России в сирийские события невольно затрагивает исторически сложившиеся геополитические интересы государств в регионе, а также весьма болезненные этнотерриториальные проблемы, до настоящего времени не нашедшие своего разрешения.
В целях укрепления будущего сотрудничества и предотвращения возможных конфликтов между двумя близкими государствами – Россией и Турцией, у которых имеются общие экономические, культурные связи, общая история, общие возможные интересы, - изучение проблемных зон и конкретных достижений в рамках временного партнерства этих стран в кризисные исторические периоды, такие, например, как период Холодной войны, представляется крайне важным и актуальным. В этой связи можно сказать, что исследование турецко-советских отношений в контексте формирования международной военно-политической конфронтации не только позволяет понять мотивацию внешнеполитической стратегии Турции и СССР, но и дает возможность глубоко изучить те внутренние и внешние факторы, которые влияли на характер и динамику турецко-советских отношений в исторически важный период XX века.
Актуальность данной работы заключается в комплексном подходе к изучению формирования и трансформации турецко-советских отношений в контексте международного военно-политического противостояния. Мы старались максимально подробно рассмотреть именно те аспекты отношений двух стран, которые по разным причинам еще не получили в российской историографии достаточного освещения. Например, переговорный процесс 1964-67 гг. и подписание Договора об экономическом и техническом сотрудничестве между СССР и Турцией от 25 Марта 1967 г., в результате которого были сооружены несколько крупных промышленных объектов при технической и экономической поддержке СССР в Турции.

In Eastern Europe, the energy crisis has led to large-scale environmental damage, and the ways in which energy sources are exploited and used have a dramatic effect on the environment in terms of pollution to air, land and water.  During the course of this essay, I will look at the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) and Poland to demonstrate how the environmental crisis is related to the energy crisis.

The USSR and Poland, in many ways, typify the problems of energy and environmental pollution in Eastern Europe.  The USSR has been chosen to examine the Soviet government’s belief that, “Its line of socialism can adequately cope with environmental degradation”.  Poland has been chosen because it has some of the most acute energy and environmental problems in Eastern Europe with 27 areas severely affected by ecological damage.

The energy sources examined in this essay include coal, oil and nuclear, and the ways in which electricity is generated and utilised.  I shall examine the economies of the USSR and Poland, and energy-intensive industries such as steelmaking, chemical production and heavy engineering.  I will also examine the problems of outdated technology, which in itself leads to greater environmental damage.

The study is framed as follows:
- In section 2, links between industry, energy and environmental crises.
- In section 3, links between coal, oil and gas generation and environmental crisis.
- In section 4, links between systemic inefficiencies and environmental crisis.
- In section 5, links between nuclear energy and the environmental crisis.

POSTSCRIPT:
- Independence of former Soviet states in late-1991, and USSR dissolution in December 1991.
- Russian sphere of influence in former Soviet states, e.g. CSTO – Collective Security Treaty Organisation of Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
- Poland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in 1999, whilst Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined in 2004.
- Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland joined the European Union (EU) in 2004 – with new legal, environmental and trade procedures.
- Trade of oil, gas, coal, and food to countries in Europe and the EU (35% of EU energy needs are supplied from Russia, and in Germany around 60%).
- Strategic importance of Ukraine – desire to join the EU and NATO, Ukraine is important for agricultural goods (e.g. wheat, barley), oil, gas, coal, minerals.
- Vladimir Putin’s rebuilding of the Russian Empire/Soviet Union, the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008, the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the 2022 invasion of east Ukraine, e.g. Donbas, Kyiv.

free download in pdf: Political and Transitional Justice in Germany, Poland and the Soviet Union from the 1930s to the 1950s, edited by  Magnus Brechtken, Władysław Bułhak und Jürgen Zarusky, Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2019, 336 pp.
The book contains chapters by
Yuri Shapoval: The »Union for the Liberation of Ukraine« (»SVU«) trial: fabrication, mechanisms, consequences
Iryna Ramanava (Irina Romanova): The “Lepel Case” and Regional Show Trials in the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR) in 1937
Ingo Müller: Judicial and Extrajudicial Political Persecution under the National Socialist Dictatorship - Structures, Logic, and Developments
Wladyslaw Bulhak: In Search of Political Justice, 1939-2000. From the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland to the Institute of National Remembrance
Joanna Lubecka: German Crimes Tried in Poland: A political and legal analysis on the example of Supreme National Tribunal Trials in Southern Poland
Adam Dziurok: The specific character of prosecuting Nazi crimes in the borderlands
Lukasz Jasinski: Polish and Czechoslovak Retribution against Germany, 1945-1949: A Comparison.

The Soviet Azerbaijan tried to obtain new territories at the
expense of the Soviet Armenia. It was carried out within the central
and local committees organized by the Central Executive Committee
of the Transcaucasian Federation. The famous Armenian writer Aksel
Bakurits also took part in these activities. His reports and letters are
an important source to study the process of border demarcation
between Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan in the mid 1920s.

The history of Turkey–Soviet Russia relations is one of the most
controversial topics in Turkish historiography. The controversy was
largely a product of the Cold War interpretations when the USSR
and Turkey were in hostile camps. This article shows the
Bolsheviks’ reappraisal and readjustment of their policy towards
Turkey during the transition of Turkey from a war of independence
to the foundation of a New Turkey in conditions of peace. In doing
so, the paper focuses specifically on Ambassador Surits’ detailed
reports on Turkey in 1923, including his policy recommendations.
In this way the article attempts to contribute to our conception of
the essence of Soviet–Turkey relations by taking into account
Ambassador Surits’ reports as the primary sources.

Historiography During the Soviet Nation and State Building Process
The concepts of nation and state embody in themselves both normality and artificiality. It is firmly established by historical experience that the human, as the subject of the former as well as the object of the latter, frequently interferes with the content of these concepts. If this intervention stems from ideological reasons, the implication is that the mechanism for providing legitimacy is involved with its focus on historiography. At this stage, the engine of historiography becomes an office for the approval of political power.
Within that context, the fictionalization of history transforms the knowledge of the past to a reproducible product. This understanding means a neglect of the motive to attain the reality of the past; instead, the aim is to become the social engineering required for the continuity of the ideology. In this concise text, alongside the ongoing philosophical debates as to what history is and how it should be laid out, the instrumentality of history in practical terms will be examined with a special focus on the Soviet Union paradigm.
Keywords: Soviet historiography, Soviet nation-state, Territorial historiography, Soviet nationalism.

This paper examines the impact of Soviet nationality policy in the region of Abkhazia, de jure a part of modern Georgia, between the years of 1921 and 1953. They years selected, which begin with the onset of Soviet rule in the area and end with the deaths of both Joseph Stalin and Lavrenti Beria, are used as this era saw the greatest impact of the nationality policy in Abkhazia. The hypothesis presented is that it was this nationality policy, and its consequent results, that led to the current conflict between Abkhazia and Georgia, and that the Abkhaz feel they were unjustly targeted by the Soviet authorities as a result of both Stalin and Beria being ethnic Georgians. Evidence is presented that this was not the case, and instead Abkhazia was not singled out but were treated much as other parts of the Soviet Union were during this era, regardless of the ethnicity of the Soviet leadership. A case is made that because of initial Soviet policy to grant minority groups increased standing in their homelands, the Abkhaz, under the tutelage of Nestor Lakoba, were actually given increased independence, which was reduced as a consequence of an overall Soviet policy during the late 1930s. However due to a personal conflict between Beria and Lakoba, whom was murdered by the former, the Abkhaz instead believed that they were integrated into Georgia because of Stalin and Beria’s ethnic background, and consequently took issue with the Georgia, fearing they were to be eradicated as a distinct people. This research is important to show that the modern conflicts between Abkhazia and Georgia are not simply a post-Soviet conflict, but indeed have a background that dates back to the very formation of the Soviet Union, and thus to properly understand the current issues, and resolution, it is necessary to understand its causes.

Taking into account the ideological responses the Soviet Union offered, in its different phases of existence, to the national question, this study aims to offer a diachronical perspective of Moscow's efforts in order to create a 'Soviet people'. Kenneth Jowitt's concept, 'the Moscow centre', applies to the whole socialist camp, both the USSR and to the rest of the communist states loyal to Moscow; however, in the present paper, I have carried out a risky enterprise, and limited it only to the territory of the former USSR, more exactly, to the relation between Moscow and the nationalities and/or ethnies of the Soviet Union, most of them dispersed trough the remote regions of the country and only a part of them having their own federative republic. Recognizing the imperilous potential which the nationalities might have with reference to the Soviet Union as a state, the communists tried both ideologically and politically, to 'forge' a Soviet supranational identity able to overcame this thorny problem. Officially, the Russians also must have 1 The syntagm was borrowed from Jowitt: 1992, p. 159 2 This paper was initially presented at the 2008 edition of the 'Ideologies, values and political behaviors in Central and Eastern Europe' conference, which took place between 5 and 6 of December at the West University of Timișoara. Its previous title was Cohesion or destabilization? Controversial aspects regarding the influence of the Russian Federation on its 'near abroad', where I also took into account the national problems of the former Soviet Union. Finally, I decided to concentrate on the Soviet Union exclusively. The research needed to conceive this paper was partially facilitated by an AMPOSDRU grant which I received from Babeș Bolyai University for the whole duration of my doctoral studies. Political Science Forum renounced their national identity in favor of the Soviet melting pot; in practice, however, the non-Russians were always oppressed by the dominant nationality, although this fact was not ideologically and constitutionally visible. This was one of the main causes which, in combination with others, led to the undermining and finally to the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

Precedenta biografie a lui Hrușciov, apărută, dacă nu mă înșel, în 2005, și tradusă între timp și la noi, mi-a atras atenția asupra lui William Taubman. Este vorba despre biografii "muncite", împănate de sute de pagini de referințe bibliografice, printre care foarte multe documente de arhivă, interviuri, și de abia apoi literatură secundară, cărți și articole. Științific și metodologic vorbind, cele două cărți sunt solide. Ele reflectă însă, în special cartea asupra căreia mă opresc acum, un fel de orientalism anticomunist temperat, blajin, modest în prezentarea ipotezelor generale de lucru, onest în asumarea lor implicită, și astfel cu atât mai convingătoare; idilic, într-un cuvânt. Hrușciov și Gorbaciov reies, pe cale de consecință, ca niște lideri ale căror propensiuni reformatoare s-ar datora exclusiv condiției lor rurale, ambițiilor și abilităților lor politice. Despre marele mecanism de dinamizare și de mobilizare socială fără precedent care a fost Partidul Comunist al Uniunii Sovietice (PCUS), alături de celelalte instituții sovietice-niciun cuvânt. Individualism metodologic pur, și până în pânzele albe. Cireașa de pe tort în biografia lui Gorbaciov, a cărei ironie amară autorul nici măcar nu o sesizează, este dată de un pasaj care tratează maniera în care Gorbaciov a asigurat finanțarea fundației sale după destrămarea Uniunii Sovietice: " (...) în absența subvențiilor guvernului rus, pe care Elțîn le-a oprit în 1992, Gorbaciov și-a finanțat fundația prin prelegerile pe care le-a ținut în toată lumea contra unor onorarii considerabile. El și-a folosit de asemenea celebritatea pentru vânzarea de pizza și genți Louis Vutton, în reclame TV și tipărite; alături de onorariile pentru conferințe și drepturile de autor ale cărților, aceste apariții ocazionale în reclame au reprezentat principala modalitate prin care a menținut existența fundației" (pp. 697-698; subl. m.). În rest, biografia lui Gorbaciov este complexă, ireproșabil documentată și popularizată pe gustul publicului larg, prin inserția unor dialoguri având rolul de a simplifica și în același timp romantiza narațiunea. Născut în 1931 în mediul rural, Gorbaciov dezvoltă de mic aptitudini intelectuale și de conducere care îl vor ajuta să urce gradual treptele sistemului politic sovietic, devenind secretar de partid pentru regiunea Stavropol, protejat al lui Iuri Andropov și, în 1985, secretar general al PCUS. Dacă s-ar fi născut exatc în același loc, cu jumătate de secol mai devreme, am mari îndoieli că aptitudinile sale individuale l-ar fi propulsat până la un asemenea nivel în imperiul țarist a cărui structură de clasă rigidă și opresivă este de altfel suficient de cunoscută pentru a mai intra în detalii. Dar ăștia suntem, ăștia defilăm. Cronologia ulterioară a evenimentelor este și ea destul de cunoscută: perestroika (social-economică) dublată de glasnost (deschidere culturală), proces prin intermediul căruia Uniunea Sovietică a fost reformată până a dispărut efectiv; sigur că, la începutul anilor 1980, disfuncționalitățile sistemului sovietic, potențate și de reluarea cursei înarmărilor de către americani, ajunseseră la un nivel fără precedent și, în contextul Războiului Rece, trebuia făcut ceva pentru a stopa declinul economic și geopolitic abrupt al Uniunii Sovietice, dacă dorea măcar să mențină aparența de superputere rivală a Statelor Unite. Dar ceea ce s-a făcut poate fi exemplificat ironic prin intermediul celebrului banc: operația a fost un succes, dar pacientul a decedat. Pe măsură ce accelerează ritmul reformelor, Gorbaciov câștigă încrederea Occidentului, pe care îl convinge că nu este dispus doar să simuleze o schimbare, ca predecesorii săi, ci efectiv vrea mai mult-trezind în același timp ambițiile geopolitice unipolare ale acestuia. Nu am să reiau aici pe larg contextul evenimențial al destrămării 1

Published by Böhlau Verlag as vol. 9 in the series ʻDas östliche Europa: Kunst- und Kulturgeschichteʼ in 2019. Eds. Krista Kodres, Kristina Jõekalda, Michaela Marek. Köln, Weimar, Wien: Böhlau Verlag. 280 pp. ///

How did the Eastern European and Soviet states write their respective histories of art and architecture during 1940s–1960s? The fourteen articles in this book address both the Stalinist period and the Khrushchev Thaw, when the Marxist-Leninist discourse on art history was ʻinventedʼ and refined. Although this discourse was inevitably ʻSovietizedʼ in a process dictated from Moscow, a variety of distinct interpretations emerged from across the Soviet bloc in the light of local traditions, cultural politics and decisions of individual authors. Even if the new ʻofficialʼ discourse often left space open for national concerns, it also gave rise to a countermovement in response to the aggressive ideologization of art and the preeminence assigned to (Socialist) Realist aesthetics.

The creation of a " Soviet heritage " dates back to the 1930s. Admittedly, the Bolshevik regime that arose from the Revolution put in place a service for the protection of specific monuments as soon as 1918 and brought about the Avant-garde architecture in the 1920s. However, the 1930s are when the theory on what can and should be the Soviet heritage was developed. It is also the decade of the great architectural achievements of the USSR, such as the Palace of the Soviets. This article goes back to this founding moment before showing the various ideological and memorial investments of heritage in the USSR until 1991, then in Russia until today, based on examples taken from various cities.

The year 1968 was crucial in the history of Soviet dissent. The first five numbers of “Chronicle of Current Events” as well as Sakharov’s Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom appeared in samizdat. In Moscow, as well as elsewhere in the USSR, there were protests against the invasion of Czechoslovakia. In the same year at Radio Liberty in Munich a special unit was created with the purpose of maintaining and developing a samizdat collection and processing samizdat texts for broadcasting; also, a program entirely devoted to readings of complete samizdat documents was launched.  Other radio features devoted to Samizdat would be added in the following years. Thus, the impact of dissent and samizdat on Soviet society was dramatically amplified as a result

This chapter examines the development of the concept of international jus cogens at the 1968–69 Vienna Conference on the Law of Treaties. First, it argues that investigating the conditions under which jus cogens entered into widespread international legal discourse demonstrates that many elements of international law that are typically deemed axiomatic are in fact generated through sustained competition. Contemporary international law claims "universality", but jus cogens, arguably the strongest source of this claim, was constructed through far-reaching conflicts between competing world visions. Second, it argues that jus cogens’ contentious history highlights the difficulty of developing an emancipatory political programme through lofty appraisals of international law’s normative force. Jus cogens has contributed only marginally to the effort to consolidate the achievements of decolonization, proving no more valuable a means of furthering respect for sovereign equality or facilitating global redistributions of wealth than the formalism it was intended to supplant.

By the 1960s and 1970s, revisionist historians attempted to integrate political, economic, and social factors to suggest a more complex picture of the Russian Revolution beyond the simplification of Marxist theory or conspiratorial politics. By briefly examining the Russian Revolution from three historiographical lenses –– a Marxist perspective, a social interpretation and a view of gender  –– this paper attempts to reveal the continuities and discontinuities which existed among these different lenses. While Marxist historians stress the inevitability and the Bolshevik representation of the general population, social historians reject the revolution’s predictability and refine the correlation between the masses and a Bolshevik presence by reexamining the independent consciousness and active involvement of people of different social stratums and sexes in advancing the process of revolution and the Bolshevik success.

Regional show trials of 1937 in the Soviet Union are the subject of a number of foreign researchers. However, the first of them took place in the Byelorussian SSR in the Lepel district. The so-called "Lepelskoe delo" served as a model for the organization of hundreds of similar processes around the Soviet Union and acted as a starting point for stripping at all levels of government. However, an explanation of the causes and scope of Union scale of the company only Stalin’s attempt to find scapegoats for failures in business and play on the companies if peculiar peasants naively monarchist sentiment is somewhat simplistic. It is not quite right to see it only as part of the repression 1937-1938. It seems that the company has also been an attempt to appease the limitless violence that engulfed the village in the 1930s, to establish control over the local authorities. And, obviously, the peasantry was still a powerful force, which in 1937 in large part remained unconquered, forcing authorities to seek new forms of interaction.

The starting point in studying the subject regarding the first directives of thesoviet NKGB in Bessarabia, March-August 1944 was the declassification of the unpublished documentary materials from the Archive of the Security and Intelligence Service of the Republic of Moldova (ASIS RM), as well as some unpublished documentary sources from the NCSA Archive (National Counsel for the Security Archives from Romania).
In the present work, the conducted researches come to continue the process of studying the (re)sovietization of Bessarabia through the optics of the Soviet ‘secret police’ (NKGB), starting in 1944. Within that logic, basically attesting a historiographical void with regards to the study of the issue about the role and activity of the NKGB in the sovietization process of Bessarabia starting in 1944, in this paper we focused on the analysis of the following aspects: the elucidation of the first directives of the Soviet NKGB in Bessarabia/Moldavian SSR in the mentioned period; the analysis of the impact and long-term generated trends of those NKGB first directives in Bessarabia; the specifics of certain aspects of the Soviet NKGB’ modus operandi in Bessarabia. The study and therefore the analysis of the role of the Soviet NKGB played in the Bessarabia space, starting in the spring-summer of the year 1944, means actually the sine qua non condition in the disclosure and knowledge of hidden incentives of the (re)sovietization of Bessarabia, of experiments and social engineering initiated by USSR in this territory.

Sokolov I.A. Tea Notes. – Moscow, 2014. – 104 p. – ISBN 978-5-9973-2912-9 (INFO)

Данный сборник включает в себя ряд статей и заметок чайной тематики и призван продемонстрировать новые перспективные направления исследований и расширить существующие границы научного знания по истории чая и чайной торговли в Российской империи и ранний Советский период за счёт ввода в научный оборот новых материалов. Большая часть материалов, использованных при подготовке  сборника статей, представлена материалами частных коллекций, никогда ранее не публиковавшихся.

Сборник включает документы, найденные в ходе ремонта Верхнеуральской тюрьмы и относящиеся к 1932-1933 гг., когда тюрьма являлась местом содержания политических заключенных.  Публикуемые тексты отражают идейно-политическую жизнь находившихся в Верхне-Уральском политизоляторе большевиков-ленинцев – представителей антисталинской коммунистической оппозиции, последователей Л.Д. Троцкого. Среди впервые вводимых в научный оборот материалов – программные  документы  оппозиции, материалы издававшихся заключенными рукописных журналов, аналитические и полемические статьи, переписка. Они позволяют составить представление о критике оппозиционерами политики советского партийно-государственного руководства в период «великого перелома» и первой пятилетки, а также об альтернативах, которые оппозиция противопоставляла этой политике.
Для историков и всех интересующихся отечественной историей ХХ века.

The Cold War (1947-1991) included an air of antagonism and mutual distrust between the United States (US) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) (1922-1991). Spies betrayed their countries, and millions died in proxy wars. The struggle for dominance prompted massive propaganda campaigns, psychological warfare, nuclear, and technological competitions. This study first examines how the 1980’s nuclear tension between the US and the USSR reached its zenith. It then identifies how the USSR reacted to President Ronald Reagan’s (1981-1989) strategy of preparation for a preemptive attack, and further outlines the international implications of this brinkmanship. Suspicion and mistrust between the US and the successor state of the USSR, the Russian Federation, subsequently referred to as Russia, over their strategic intentions are increasingly threatening Western stability, international order, and the balance of power. It is evident that current tensions between the US and Russia ...

The Cold War (1947-1991) included an air of antagonism and mutual distrust between the United States (US) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) (1922-1991). Spies betrayed their countries, and millions died in proxy wars. The struggle for dominance prompted massive propaganda campaigns, psychological warfare, nuclear, and technological competitions. This study first examines how the 1980’s nuclear tension between the US and the USSR reached its zenith. It then identifies how the USSR reacted to President Ronald Reagan’s (1981-1989) strategy of preparation for a preemptive attack, and further outlines the international implications of this brinkmanship. Suspicion and mistrust between the US and the successor state of the USSR, the Russian Federation, subsequently referred to as Russia, over their strategic intentions are increasingly threatening Western stability, international order, and the balance of power. It is evident that current tensions between the US and Russia closely parallel the circumstances of the Cold War era during the 1980s

The article deals with foreign factors, together with the changes of socioeconomic conditions have made it necessary in the middle of the 1930s, increasing numbers of the USSR Armed Forces and their technical re-equipment, which resulted in a shift from the territorial militia system acquisition to staffing principle construction the armed forces.

В статье рассматриваются внешнеполитические факторы, которые, в совокупности с изменениями социально-экономических условий, вызвали необходимость в середине 1930-х годов увеличения численности Вооруженных Сил СССР и их технического переоснащения, что повлекло за собой переход от территориально-милиционной системы комплектования к кадровому принципу строительства Вооружённых сил.

Впервые публикуются 18 писем выдающихся советских учёных в издательство «Наука» в поддержку публикации очерков «Биологическая наука и культ личности» Ж.А. Медведева, написанных с июля по октябрь 1965 г. После отстранения Н.С. Хрущёва от власти в 1964 г., Т.Д. Лысенко и его псевдонаучные теории лишились официального покровительства. Публикация исследования Медведева, демонстрировавшего отрицательные последствия лысенковщины, казалась в новых условиях вполне реальной. Однако несколько попыток его опубликовать, в том числе в издательстве «Наука», оказались безуспешными. Учёные, написавшие по просьбе Медведева А.М. Самсонову, главному
редактору издательства, были выдающимися биологами, биохимиками и физиками, многие из них были академиками. Среди них было много учёных, с большим риском для себя выступивших в прошлом против Лысенко. В своих письмах они горячо поддерживали издание исследования Медведева, подчёркивая его своевременность и актуальность, в том числе указывая на большую путаницу представлений советских агрономов, а также преподавателей и студентов вузов о генетике и теориях Лысенко. Несмотря на высокие научные звания и степени авторов писем, они, однако, не были в силе противостоять установившемуся неблагоприятному идеологическому климату.

W dziedzinie badań naukowych nad Związkiem Radzieckim problem mniejszości narodowych
może być postrzegany jako indykator krajowej polityki Związku Radzieckiego w  danym
okresie. Pozostaje zatem otwarte pytanie, w  jakiej mierze obraz mniejszości w poszczególnych
praktykach dyskursywnych odróżniał się od oi  cjalnej polityki państwa, jakie miejsce w dyskursie
publicznym posiadają przedstawicieli mniejszości narodowych, jak różnią się one od
przedstawicieli „rdzennych” grup etnicznych, z punktu widzenia autorów aktów dyskursywnych,
i  tak dalej. Rozstrzygnięcie tych problemów pomoże zrozumieć, na ile aktualna była kwestia
narodowa w ZSRR, jakie istniały obrazy poszczególnych grup etnicznych lub lokalne wersje „ludzi
sowieckich”. Badanie świadomości społecznej ZSRR możliwe jest także poprzez analizę dyskursu
tekstów funkcjonujących w społeczeństwie sowieckim. W swojej analizie korzystałam z tekstów humorystycznych, nadrukowanych na łamach czasopisma satyry i  humoru „Pieprz” (w  języku
ukraińskim “Перець”). Humor w czasach totalitarnych wypełniał, jak wiadomo, ważliwe funkcje
społeczne i psychologiczne, i w tych tekstach były przedstawione praktycznie wszystkie aspekty
życia społecznego. Moim celem badawczym było wyjaśnienie specyi  ki reprezentacji mniejszości,
ich miejsca w porównaniu do innych grup, ale również zrozumienie korzeni tej specyi  ki płyną-
cych – w środowisku społeczno-kulturowym na Ukrainie radzieckiej czy w polityce narodowej
w ZSRR w całości. Aby usystematyzować i pogrupować informacje z tych tekstów stworzyłam bazę
danych w ramach MS Access o nazwie „Teksty czasopisma »Pieprz«”. Analiza treści bazy danych
ujawniła, że zdecydowana większość przedstawicieli mniejszości narodowych była wyznaczona
przez formalne specyi  czne markery etniczne (nazwisko i  lokalizacja). Wytworzyło to raczej
nie obraz różnych grup etnicznych, ale lokalne warianty ludzi sowieckich. Jednak nawet takie
markery wskazują na kilka etnicznych stereotypów i na specyi  kę polityki wobec narodowości.
W  dłuższej perspektywie chronologicznej oczywista jest tendencja przedstawienia obrazów
republik związkowych jako właśnie republik narodowych, i  z  tym jest związane zmniejszenie
ilości przedstawicieli mniejszości narodowych w tekstach. W „Pieprzu” spotykamy przedstawicieli
najliczniejszych mniejszości narodowych i przedstawicieli narodów republik związkowych, którę
miały reprezentować jednocześnie jedność i różnorodność ZSRR.

Серед багатьох питань, пов'язаних з проблемою співіснування різних етносів в СРСР та в Радянській Україні зокрема, проблема співіснування нацменшин і українців стає індикатором національної політики в конкретно взятий період. Залишається відкритим питання, наскільки відрізнявся образ нацменшин в окремо взятих дискурсивних практиках від офіційної національної політики, яке місце в громадському дискурсі займали представники нацменшин, чим вони відрізнялися від представників «корінних» етносів з точки зору авторів дискурсивних актів та ін. Вирішення цих питань дозволить визначити , наскільки актуалізованим було національне питання в СРСР, чи створювалися образи окремих етносів, або локальні варіанти «радянського народу» і т. д.
.Дослідження громадської свідомості СРСР здійснено шляхом дискурс-аналізу текстів, які циркулюють в радянському соціумі. Для прикладу ми взяли радянські гумористичні тексти, адже гумор стосувався практично всіх сторін суспільного життя через властиві йому соціально-психологічні функції. Як приклад ми аналізували тексти та зображення журналу «Перець» (укр. «Перець»), українського журналу сатири та гумору. Цей журнал було обрано через його поширеність серед населення. Цей друкований орган був одночасно полігоном для діяльності гумористів та засобом індоктринації суспільства. Цей журнал став якісним медіатором, який налагоджував зв'язок між населенням та офіційним дискурсом. Нашою метою було дослідити, яким чином в обраному нами джерелі репрезентувати нацменшини, яке місце вони займали серед інших образів, що на це впливало: специфічні риси побутування нацменшин в соціокультурному просторі Радянської України або національна політика в СРСР і ін. 
Був проведений контент-аналіз та семіотичний аналіз текстів та карикатур журналу, який показав, що в переважній більшості випадків представники нацменшин позначаються формальними етнічними маркерами (специфічна прізвище та локалізація). Це створювало образ не різних етносів, а, швидше, локальних варіантів радянського народу. Проте навіть таке маркування вказує на певні етнічні стереотипи або національну політику. Особливо це стосується образу євреїв. Неформальні етнічні маркери (специфічна зовнішність, національні символи, тощо) актуалізовувлись в основному в контексті зовнішньополітичної тематики або агітаційних зображень, присвячених дружбі народів. Спостерігається тенденція все більшого зображення союзних республік як національних, що позначилося на зменшенні частки персонажів-представників нацменшин та збільшення частки персонажів-українців.