PREDICTORS OF WORKERS’ PROTEST IN THE USSR AT THE END OF THE 1920S – THE BEGINNING OF THE 1930S: SOCIAL IDENTITY AND SELF-EFFICIENCY (BY THE MATERIALS OF THE LOWER VOLGA REGION)

Abstract

Justification. The article deals with the protest behavior of Soviet workers of the Lower Volga region in the late 1920s – the first half of the 1930s by analyzing predictors of collective actions: social identity and self-efficacy, which are the subject of the study.
 Objective. The objective of the study is to explore the potential of labor protest in the conditions of social crisis in the Lower Volga region in the late 1920s - first half of the 1930s. The scientific novelty lies in the absence of similar historical studies on this problem in regional historiography, as well as in the introduction into scientific circulation of a number of archival documents.
 Materials and methods. In the article, when studying predictors of collective actions, historical-typological, historical-comparative and historical-genetic research methods are used. Аn interdisciplinary approach allowed the author to analyze the formation and to assess the potential of labor protest in general. The source material is the information reports and reviews of the OGPU, which concentrate data on the protest behavior of the population, and the theoretical basis of the study was the scientific works of domestic authors dealing with this problem.
 Results. In the late 1920s - the first half of the 1930s, a social crisis broke out in the USSR, which led to an increased number of protest actions, mainly strikes. However, the analysis of predictors of collective actions demonstrated their low efficiency and weak potential of labor protest in general.
 Practical implications. The materials obtained in the course of the research and presented in the article can be used by historians studying protest behavior, including that of the proletariat. They can also be applied in the modern educational process.