The Evolution of the Body of the First Secretaries of the Russian Communist Party — All-Russia Communist Party in Kalmykia in 1921‒1943

Abstract

The article discusses the main trends in the rotation of the executive (the first) secretaries of the Kalmyk regional party committee in 1921–1943. The study is based on the documents from the fund of the Kalmyk regional committee of the USSR Communist Party kept at the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia. The principles of objectivism and historicism were used for the analysis of the archive materials that allowed to examine the problem in its relation to the existing specific historical circumstances. The goal of the article is to investigate the body of the first secretaries of the Russian Communist Party — All-Russia Communist Party in Kalmykia. The use of the common in the historical research methods (the broadside examination of the archive sources, historical description, chronological method) allowed to investigate the historical phenomena in the close relation to the historical situation. The author concludes that the specific feature of the rotation of the first secretaries of the Kalmyk regional party committee was the appointment of people from other regions of the country to this position. Mainly these were formal representatives, supervisors recommended by the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party — All-Russia Communist Party for the positions of the first or second secretaries of the regional party committee. The analysis of the characteristics of the body of the first secretaries of the Kalmyk regional party in the given time period showed that all these people were from poor peasant families, without high education but with sufficient party service record who combined party and soviet activities.