People in the North: Guidelines for Social Policy of the Soviet State in the Arctic (1920s — 1930s)

Abstract

The article examines the social problems of the development of the Arctic in the early Soviet period. The features of the social policy of the Soviet state in relation to the indigenous peoples of the northern territories are shown. The contradiction between the desire of the Soviet state to introduce the principles of socialism into the daily life of aborigines and the real level of socio-economic development of the indigenous peoples of the North is revealed. The living conditions of the non-indigenous population in the territories adjacent to the Northern Sea Route are considered. It is concluded that the solution of the problems of the social policy of the Soviet state in the process of developing the Arctic was subordinated to the main task of launching and operating the Northern Sea Route.