2
Yury S. Nikiforov
Ushinsky Yaroslavl State Pedagogic University
COMMUNIST PARTY’S REGIONAL CONFERENCE AND REGIONAL COMMITTEE AS INSTITUTIONS OF REGIONAL POWER OF THE LATE SOVIET ERA (based on the material of the Upper Volga regions)
Nikiforov Yu.S. Communist Party’s regional conference and regional committee as institutions of regional power of the late Soviet era (based on the material of the Upper Volga regions). Vestnik of Kostroma State University, 2024, vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 17–24. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2024-30-1-17-24
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2024-30-1-17-24
УДК: 94(470.31)’’1960/1980’’
EDN: SVPRQL
Publish date: 2024-03-15
Annotation: The article analyses the social characteristics of key regional structures of the Communist Party power and the features of their composition. The study focuses on the Party institutions of regional power in the late USSR: the regional Party conference, the regional committee of the Party, the bureau of the regional committee of the Party. Considerable attention is paid in the article to the historiography of the issue of regional power in the USSR. The methodological framework of the study consisted of an institutional approach, a combination of source analysis and the oral history paradigm, the principles of historicism and systematicity. The theoretical basis of the article is based on the network approach to institutions of power (ideas of Aleksandr Konovalov, Viktor Mokhov, Oleg Khlevniuk, Yoram Gorlizki). The central concept of the study is the concept of “regional leadership network”. The “ administrative market theory” is of an auxiliary nature. Acording to Simon Kordonskiy. The basis of the corpus of sources for the article was unpublished material from archives of Russia’s regions (Vladimir, Ivanovo, Kostroma, Yaroslavl). A significant part of the sources consisted of oral history evidence – semi-structured interviews conducted personally by the author. The article concludes that contradictory trends had been growing in regional Party institutions of power. It is noted that there was an active inclusion of broad sections of the population in regional authorities, based on the values of Soviet democracy. However, actual decision-making was in the hands of the Party nomenclature clique, headed by the first secretary of the regional Party committee. It is emphasised that the real institutional centre for making management decisions at the regional level of government in the USSR was the Bureau of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party. A general increase in the educational level of the Party conference delegates and members of the regional committee of the Party is noted.
Keywords: USSR, Upper Volga regions, institutional approach, Communist Party regional committee, regional Party conference, first secretary, oral history, regional authorities, Communist Party officials’ nomenclature.
Literature list: Belov A.M. Rukovoditel iKostromskoj gubernii i oblasti 1778–2009 [The leaders of the Kostroma province and the region 1778-2009]. Kostroma, KGU Publ., 2009, 296 p. (In Russ.) Bokarev Yu.P. SSSR i stanovlenie postindustrial'nogo obshchestva na Zapade. 1970–1980 [USSR and the formation of post-industrial society in the West. 1970-1980]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2007, 381 p. (In Russ.) CK VKP(b) i regional'nye partijnye komitety, 1945-1953 [Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and regional party committees, 1945-1953], compiler: V.V. Denisov, M.Y. Prozumenshchikov, O.V. Hlevnyuk. Moscow, Rosspen Publ., 2004, 494 p. (In Russ.) Ermakov A.M. Rektory YAGPU (1908–2013): ocherki [Rectors of YSPU (1908–2013): essays]. Yaroslavl', YAGPU Publ., 2013, 127 p. (In Russ.) Goryachev Yu.V. Central'nyj komitet KPSS, VKP(b), RKP(b), RSDRP(b): istoriko-bibliograficheskij spravochnik [Central Committee of the CPSU, CPSU(b), RCP(b), RSDLP(b): historical and bibliographic reference book]. Moscow, Granica Publ., 2015, 1006 p. (In Russ.) Hakimov R.SH. Sistema privilegij i l'got regional'noj nomenklatury v sovetskij period: na primere CHelyabinskoj oblasti [The system of privileges and benefits of the regional nomenklatura in the Soviet period: the example of the Chelyabinsk region]. Chelyabinsk, CHGU Publ., 2022, 195 p. (In Russ.) Hlevnyuk O.V. Regional'naya vlast' v SSSR v 1953 – konce 1950-h gg. Ustojchivost' i konflikty [Regional power in the USSR in 1953 – late 1950s. Stability and conflicts]. Otechestvennaya istoriya [Domestic history], 2007, No. 3, pp. 31-49. (In Russ.) Hromov E.A. Regional'nye elity v SSSR v konce 1950 – seredine 1960-h: k postanovke voprosa [Regional elites in the USSR in the late 1950s - mid-1960s. to posing the question]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Bulletin of Tomsk State University], 2009, No. 323, pp. 182-188. (In Russ.) Konovalov A.B. Partijnaya nomenklatura Sibiri v sisteme regional'noj vlasti (1945–1991) [Party nomenclature of Siberia in the system of regional power (1945–1991)]. Kemerovo, Kuzbassvuzizdat Publ., 2006, 635 p. (In Russ.) Kordonskij S.G. Rynki vlasti: Administrativnye rynki SSSR i Rossii [Markets of power: Administrative markets of the USSR and Russia]. Moscow, OGI Publ., 2006, 240 p. (In Russ.) Loshchenkov F.I. Ot Stalina do Gorbacheva [From Stalin to Gorbachev]. Yaroslavl, LIYA Publ., 2000, 79 p. (In Russ.) Lubskij A.V. Institucional'nyj podhod [Institutional approach]. Teoriya i metodologiya istoricheskoj nauki: terminologicheskij slovar' [Theory and methodology of historical science: terminological dictionary]. Moscow, Akvilon Publ., 2014, pp. 133-135. (In Russ.) Luman N. Vlast' [Power]. Moscow, Praksis Publ., 2001, 256 p. (In Russ.) Mohov V.P. Regional'naya politicheskaya elita Rossii (1945–1991) [Regional political elite of Russia (1945–1991)]. Perm', Permskoe izdatel'stvo Publ., 2003, 238 p. (In Russ.) Nikiforov Yu.S. Verhnevolzhskie regiony RSFSR i soyuzno-respublikanskij centr (1950–1980-e gg.) [Upper Volga regions of the RSFSR and the Union-Republican center (1950-1980)]. Yaroslavl, YGPU Publ., 2021, 275 p. (In Russ.) Nikiforov Yu.S. Regional'nyj aspekt issledovaniya transformacii rossijskogo obshchestva 1950–1990-h gg. i evolyucii ekonomicheskogo ustrojstva: reprezentativnost' i unikal'nost' Verhnevolzhskih regionov pozdnego SSSR [Regional aspect of the study of the transformation of Russian society in the 1950s–1990s. and the evolution of the economic structure: representativeness and uniqueness of the Upper Volga regions of the late USSR]. Vestnik Kostromskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Bulletin of Kostroma State University], 2020, No. 2, pp. 52-60. (In Russ.) Nort D. Instituty, institucional'nye izmeneniya i funkcionirovanie ekonomiki [Institutions, institutional changes and the functioning of the economy]. Moscow, Nachala Publ., 1997, 180 p. (In Russ.) Razmolodin M.L. Epizody iz zhizni i deyatel'nosti F.I. Loshchenkova (interv'yu s byvshim pervym sekretarem YAroslavskogo obkoma KPSS) [Episodes from the life and work of F.I. Loschenkov (interview with the former first secretary of the Yaroslavl regional committee of the CPSU)]. Yaroslavl', LIYA Publ., 1995, 176 p. (In Russ.) Sungurov A.Y. Funkcii politicheskoj sistemy: ot zastoya k postperestrojke [Functions of the political system: from stagnation to post-perestroika]. St. Petersburg, Strategiya Publ., 1998, 271 p. (In Russ.) Shestakov V.A. Social'no-ekonomicheskaya politika sovetskogo gosudarstva v 50-e – seredine 60-h [Socio-economic policy of the Soviet state in the 50s – mid-60s]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2006, 295 p. (In Russ.) Yurchak A. Eto bylo navsegda, poka ne konchilos'. Poslednee sovetskoe pokolenie [It was forever until it was over. The last Soviet generation]. Moscow, NLO Publ., 2014, 664 p. (In Russ.) Zen'kovich N.A. Samye zakrytye lyudi [The most closed people]. Moscow, OLMA-PRESS Publ., 2002, 765 p. (In Russ.) Zolotov V.A. Politicheskaya elita SSSR: social'nyj sostav, obrazovatel'nyj i kul'turnyj uroven' (1953–1991) [Political elite of the USSR: social composition, educational and cultural level (1953–1991)]. Moscow, 2006, 48 p. (In Russ.) Gorlizki Y., Khlevniuk O. Substate dictatorship: networks, loyalty, and institutional change in the Soviet Union. New Haven, London, Yale University Press Publ., 2020, XII, 445 p.
Author's info: Yury S. Nikiforov, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Ushinsky Yaroslavl State Pedagogic University, Yaroslavl, Russia, Nikifor2108@yandex.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4253-4532