“Socially alien elements” in the Ukrainian society of 1929–1939 and means of their adaptation to the mechanisms of the social engineering of totalitarianism

Abstract

The article analyzes particularities of the social situation in the Ukrainian SSR in 1929–1939. The mechanisms of the social engineering of the Stalinist regime, which created special difficulties for citizens with “unclean biography” and social origin, are determined. Archival sources reveal the complexity of such state campaigns as “cleaning”, passportization and verification of party documents in the republic. With the help of these campaigns the authorities identified “unreliable” citizens and created social tensions in society that pushed people to such methods of adap- tation to new conditions and rules that implied insincerity with the authorities. Particular attention is paid to Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions, which had certain specificity. Firstly, during the revolution in Ukraine there was an active peasant anti-Bolshevik movement there. Secondly, these were multinational, border and port areas, in which there were plenty of people who had relatives abroad or who were engaged in trafficking, illicit trade, or other “non-Soviet” affairs. The causes, methods and consequences of concealing the facts of one’s own biography (especially information about family ties) by the inhabitants of the republic are determined. Some examples of successful or unsuccessful attempts of document forging, corruption actions of local officials, through which “socially alien” citizens tried to “improve” their lives and their status, are considered. The article focuses on the techniques and methods used by the bureaucratic system to identify “socially alien” personalities in all the spheres of life of Ukrainian society. Such a policy of power was not always successful because of the inability of the system to use the resources necessary for total verification and control. Article received 10.03.2019