The former merchants of Tomsk in the struggle for electoral rights in the period of the 20s – 30s of the 20<sup>th</sup> century: classification of behavior tactics

Abstract

The issue of deprival of electoral rights of the pre-revolutionary business elite representatives is considered on the example of the former merchants of Tomsk. The institution of disenfranchisement, which continued to evolve during its existence from 1918 to 1936, in 1926 turned from a restrictive measure into a measure of social pressure of non-proletarian classes. According to the new instructions, activities related to the receipt of non-labor income, with the use of hired labor, now had no statute of limitations. From now on, all private traders were deprived of voting rights, regardless of the type of patent they chose. Such changes entailed an increase in the total mass of nonvoters representatives of the former merchant class. The last hopes of the pre-revolutionary business elite for adaptation in the new society were destroyed. Based on the statements of the nonvoters, the author reconstructed the most typical behavioral practices of former nonvoters merchants in the struggle for their civil rights. The author proposes a classification of tactics of former merchants behavior as a separate group among the nonvoters. In the future, a more extensive selection of cases of nonvoters belonging to this group is expected as well as the use of the content analysis method in the study in accordance with the identified criteria.