Post-war Soviet elections 1947–1953: features of conduct and social significance (based on materials from the city of Gorky)

Abstract

The article examines the features of the conduct and social significance of elections to Soviet authorities in 1947–1953. The importance of studying this topic is associated with the need to study the state of Soviet society during the designated period. The study of elections to local authorities allows us to reconstruct the tasks that the Soviet authorities set when conducting election campaigns, the features of their conduct in different localities, the reaction of citizens, their orders and expectations from election campaigns and electoral actions. In the course of the study, using new data from archival documents, it was possible to establish the dates and features of the election campaigns to the Soviet authorities in 1947, 1950, 1953. It was noted that regular election campaigns contributed to increasing the political knowledge of citizens, introducing them to Soviet political culture, and also formed a «positive image» of the authorities in the eyes of Soviet citizens. At the same time, election campaigns revealed that Soviet citizens had a number of critical comments about the nominated deputies, which suggests the existence of dissatisfaction with certain aspects of everyday life that did not affect the main directions of Soviet state policy.