The Soviet Archival System from the Russian Revolution to the 1930's

Abstract

Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 resulted not only in the establishment of the Socialist regime, but also in the critical changes in the Russian archival system. Soviet government issued On the Reorganization and Centralization of Archival Affairs in the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic, which prepared the ground for the archival administration in USSR. After having been revised and supplemented in the 1920's, the decree, signed by V. I. Lenin, was changed into The Decree on the Archival Administration of Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, by which the Bolshevik government was able not only to develop the conception of the State Archival Fond with the Single Archival Fond, but also to enlarge the archival collection. Besides, it was remarkable that the archival decree of 1929 provided the justification for actual developments of the archival institution. And from the practical point of view, the decree improved the archival affairs by means of the defining of the conservation period. It was at the beginning of the Stalin's period that the decree of 1929 was issued. Therefore, it may be said that the decree was one of the proofs as well as the agricultural collectivization and the industrialization that Stalin gained the overall control of the Soviet government. It was confirmed when the Second Conference of Soviet Archivists was held from 25 May to 1 June in 1929. After this meeting, M. N. Pokrovskii, who was the director of the Archival Administration in the course of the 1920's, lost the influence over the Soviet archival organizations, which meant that the autonomy of the Soviet archivists was reduced in a great degree. Central Archival Administration of the Bolshevik regime experienced the analogous changes. It was changed into the Central Archival Agent in 1929 when the Stalinist system became strengthened. At the same time, it was significant that the Central Archival Administration of USSR was established. However, the Soviet archival affairs became under the direct control of the N. K. V. D. in the period of the Great Purge.