Archival History Research Articles

Финансовые документы комсомольских организаций как источник по истории ВЛКСМ 1960-х гг.

The article analyzes the informational potential of financial documents of Komsomol organizations, introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The source base for the study is composed of documents from the financial departments of Komsomol organizations deposited in the funds of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, the State Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan and the State Archive of Contemporary History of the Ulyanovsk Region. The purpose of the article is to analyze a wide range of financial documents and determine their historical worth when studying the history of the Komsomol in the 1960s. The financial and economic department of the administration of the Central Committee of the AllUnion Leninist Young Communist League was engaged in the preparation of the budget for the Komsomol organization and the distribution of funds for grassroots committees. The analysis of financial documents of the Komsomol makes it possible to trace the sources of funds in the conditions of the termination of state subsidies in the 1960s and highlight the priority areas of work of the Komsomol. The documents of the regional Komsomol organizations reflect the material condition and financial support of grassroots committees. The author notes a certain complexity of the classification of financial documents in modern source criticism literature. The author proposes the use of the term «financial and reporting documentation», which includes the budget, financial statements, balance sheets, distribution of funds by budget items. This material may be of scientific interest in the study of certain periods and directions in the history of the Komsomol.

Study on Value Extraction and exchange and sharing Mode of historical Retained information

Among the many retained historical information, The CPC’s archives show their unique value because of their original and authentic nature. The CPC’s history archives are used to tell the red story, spread the red culture and highlight the unique advantages of retained historical information. In the one hundred birthday of CPC, test training base in the camp salute an archives exhibition tributing to CPC centennial. The archives exhibition expands the scope of publicity, restores historical information, and highlights the role of archives in education, communication and sharing.

Assessments by modern English-speaking historians of the policy of the Comintern in Africa

The article analyzes the modern English-language historiography of the policy of the Communist International towards the African region. The choice of English-speaking countries is due to the fact that a significant number of studies devoted both directly to the activities of the Comintern in relation to Africa and the activities of its African sections are published in the USA, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa and India. The relevance of this topic is caused both by the opening of new funds of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI), which, among other things, affect the activities of African communist parties, and the opportunity that arose in connection with this to rethink some issues, including those related to the policy of these communist parties: what was the influence of the Comintern on their tactics; what was the nature of this influence; what role in the policy of the Comintern was occupied by the national and colonial questions and what are the results of their implementation. It is stated that the traditionalist approach to the analysis of the activities of the Comintern and its national sections, which took shape before and during the Cold War, is still significantly represented in English-language historiography. However, the final approval of the new approach (“revisionist”) contributed to a certain revision of existing trends: the article contains assessments of both negative and positive influence of the Comintern on individual communist parties, on the political situation in a country or region.

Троцкисты в Восточной Пруссии: «история в осколках»

Based on little-known and unpublished sources from the “Trotsky Archive” at the Harvard University’s Hogton Library, the German Federal Archives (Berlin) and the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History (Moscow), the article for the first time reconstructs the history of the United Left Opposition groups of the German Communist Party (Bolshevik-Leninists) in East Prussia in 1930-1933. The research highlights the figures of the Königsberg group, some of whom (e. g. Gustav Plep and Oskar Seipold) were active not only regionally, but also at the all-German level. The author describes the political activities of the leftist opposition (holding discussion evenings, sending circular letters to small towns in East Prussia, distributing leaflets at workers’ gatherings, etc.), and shows how local Trotskyists were influenced by conflicts between the leaders of the United Left Opposition - Roman Well, Anton Grylewicz, Kurt Landau and Oskar Seipold. The article considers some cross-border links of Trotskyists with groups in Poland. The study of this topic makes it possible to broaden the understanding of the development of the German Trotskyist movement in its regional perspective and to look differently at the political landscape of East Prussia, in which various opposition groups existed alongside the official parties.

Bádat, vystavovat a chránit archivy lidských myslí: Inspirace ze setkání s Mariou Buko

The article is a report from a meeting of the Center for the Presentation of Cultural Heritage representative with the Polish historian and sociologist Maria Buko, the former head of the Oral History Archive at the Warsaw History Meeting House. The text presents the history and present of the oral history research in Poland, the activities of the History Meeting House as well as the activities and collections of the Archive of Oral History. In addition, the topic of current politics of history in Poland is being discussed. Finally, Maria Buko’s recently released book Pogłosa is presented.

«Чуждый ленинизму шаблон сковывает силы партии»: ветеран правящей партии С. С. Старостин о проблемах СССР середины 1980-х гг. в письме к М. С. Горбачеву

The article studies public discussions concerning development of the USSR by 1985. The relevance of the topic is due to the need to study various points of view existing in the Soviet society at the dawn of Perestroika. The basis of the study is classical methods of source analysis: narrative and historical-genetic. The scientific significance is due to the fact that the analytical note by S.S. Starostin on the problems of late Soviet society is being introduced into scientific use for the first time. The study fills the gap in scientific knowledge on public discussions in the USSR by mid-1980s, when the policy of Perestroika prompted both reformers and relative “conservatives” to discuss a new path of the country’s development. Of particular interest are Starostin’s ideas, which the authorities tried to implement at the final stage of Perestroika. The basis for the study is archival document found in the fond of the former chairman of the Soviet Council of Ministers N. I. Ryzhkov (fond 653 of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History). In April 1985, Starostin’s note was sent to M. S. Gorbachev, who had recently assumed the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. The article is to study the nostalgic view on the development of the USSR on the eve of Perestroika. It attempts to reconstruct the value system of the author of the letter. The study is based on traditional methodology of classical source studies. The analyzed document is a monument of social thought reflecting disappointment with the Brezhnev era and hopes for a new Soviet leader. It has been established that, according to his ideological views, Starostin can be called a supporter of the mobilization model of economy built on moral and political incentives. He favoured a retrospective presentation of problems in comparison with the Stalin period. The main problem of the USSR indicated in his text is political mistakes of the authorities after J. V. Stalin. Starostin harshly criticized A. N. Kosygin and departmentalism. He analyzed personnel policy and symptoms of the crisis of the Soviet society and political system of the USSR and stated moral degeneration of the Soviet elite and ordinary citizens. In his opinion, the era of Khrushchev and Brezhnev was characterized by a growth of social deviations (deceit, corruption, falsification of figures, theft, absenteeism) and bureaucracy. Starostin insisted on the need to develop institutions of direct democracy, referendums.

ЮЛИЙ МАРТОВ (1873–1923) И НОВЕЙШАЯ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННАЯ ИСТОРИОГРАФИЯ

This article analyzes the current state of Russian historiography of the development of Menshevism in Russia. Particular attention is paid to A.L. Litvin and I.Kh. Urilov’s monograph “Julius Martov. A History of Life and Work. 1873–1923” published in 2021. This is a historical and biographical study of Julius Osipovich Martov (Tsederbaum), one of the most prominent figures in the socio-political life of Russia during the late 19th–the first quarter of the 20th centuries. Using a broad range of historical sources, including personal ones (such as the Ju.O. Martov Collection at the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History, Ju.O. Martov’s memoirs (“Notes of a Social Democrat” (1924)), as well as the memoirs of his relatives, friends, colleagues, and political opponents), we managed to comprehensively cover all aspects of the life and work of Ju.O. Martov as an extraordinary person and politician, one of the strongest leaders of social democracy in Russia, and the closest associate of V.I. Lenin and G.V. Plekhanov. The approaches to studying the origins and evolution of Ju.O. Martov’s views on the role played by the social democratic party in the history of Russia, his political and moral assessment of the essence and prospects of the Bolshevist regime, its influence on the struggle for a democratic future of the country were discussed. The place occupied by the monograph under consideration in modern Russian historiography of the problem was identified.

Dmitry Tikhobrazov: “My Immediate Goal Was to Get out of Serving Ukrainian Separatism”. Reminiscences about the Events in Ukraine in Late 1918 – Early 1919

This article introduces previously unpublished memoirs of Colonel Dmitry Nikolaevich Tikhobrazov about the events in Ukraine between late 1918 and early 1919. These memoirs are stored at the Bakhmeteff Archive of Russian and East European History and Culture at Columbia University in New York. The published fragment describes the attempted conscription of the memoirist to serve in the army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic Directory and the refusal of this service. These memoirs give us an insight into the attitude of white-oriented offi cers to the Petliurists and into what orders were issued to the Ukrainian troops, including in matters of discipline. The memoirs contain everyday sketches of Ukrainian life during the German occupation.

ВРЕМЕННОЕ ПРАВИТЕЛЬСТВО РЕСПУБЛИКИ КОРЕЯ В ПОИСКАХ СОТРУДНИЧЕСТВА С СОВЕТСКОЙ РОССИЕЙ: 1920–1922 ГОДЫ

As a result of the March 1st uprising, which swept colonial Korea in the spring of 1919, Korean nationalists established the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai. One of the main tasks of the Provisional Government was to achieve international recognition and receive financial assistance for the implementation of anti-Japanese resistance. To this end, it tried to establish contacts with the Soviet government, which expressed support for the national liberation movement of Koreans against Japanese imperialism. Based on the documents from the Archive of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and published sources of the Russian Archive of Socio-Political History, the article analyzes diplomatic correspondence between the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea and the government of the RSFSR, and identifies the key stages and problems of bilateral relations in 1920–1922. Initially, the relations between two sides were developing on a friendly basis. The Soviet government was interested in deepening cooperation with all groups of the Korean anti-Japanese resistance. But, as the situation on the Far Eastern Front changed and contradictions between different groups within the Korean left movement in Russia and abroad intensified, the Soviet position towards the Korean nationalists was rethought. However, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was still interested in recognition and financial assistance from the Bolsheviks. The dispatch of two emissaries of the Provisional Government to Russia over only two years testifies to serious contradictions within the national liberation movement, which directly affected the government’s image in the international arena. Finally, the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs decided that the power of the Provisional Government was not legitimate and that it could not be fully considered a representative of the Korean people.

Soviet Medicine in the Cold War: the Experience of International Cooperation and Geopolitical Influence (Second Half of the 1940s — 1970s)

The article is devoted to the transformation of Soviet medical science and practice under the conditions of the development of international relations after World War II. The main attention was placed on the study of scientific and social medical projects, which were implemented by the USSR during the Cold War under the influence of foreign policy trends and priorities. The analysis of foreign, Soviet and Russian historiography shows that researchers have made serious progress in the study of medicine in the sphere of international relations. At the same time, the Soviet medical global project has not been sufficiently examined, which is due both to the source base and to the lack of a sociopolitical context in these works. The main documents for this article are recently declassified materials held in the fonds of the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History, the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, and the Russian State Archive of Economics. The authors analyze the development of Soviet medical projects during the period of “late” Stalinism, in the 1950s and 1960s, and in the 1970s. The authors conclude that the Soviet global medical project constantly sought to expand. Thus, the first postwar years provided the foundations for the sustainability of the Soviet project within the socialist bloc, in the 1960s it would begin to spread to the Third World, and in the 1970s it would compete in the leading countries of the world. An important component of the Soviet medical project was the fight against epidemic and infectious diseases in post-colonial countries, the prevention of socially significant diseases and non-communicable diseases, as well as intensive scientific-medical and medical-technical exchanges through bilateral and multilateral partnerships. The Soviet medical project made possible not only competition between the two superpowers, but also cooperation in such important areas as the fight against smallpox or cooperation in shaping the international public dialogue on denuclearization. In general, the authors believe that an analysis of Soviet medicine during the Cold War allows us to show its role in the Soviet geopolitical construct, thus evaluating its ideological and applied components.

Собрание сочинений Владимира Нарбута: архивы, тексты, подходы

The last lifetime poetry collection of Vladimir Narbut was published in 1922. Started by the poet in the 1930s, work on the preparation of the book of selected poems Spiral was interrupted by his arrest and, subsequently, tragic death in Kolyma in 1938. Since then, separate editions of Narbut’s works have been published three times: in 1983 the poet Leonid Chertkov compiled a collection Vladimir Narbut. Selected Poems in France; in 1990 N. Panchenko and N. Byalosinskaya published the book Vladimir Narbut. Poems in the USSR; in 2018 the OGI publishing house published the book Vladimir Narbut. Collected Works. Poems, Translations, Prose. The third, latest in nearly a hundred years, reference to the works of one of the most distinctive poets of the era in the context of preparing a separate collection of his oeuvre actualized the issue of developing approaches to be guided by when compiling the forthcoming collection. The key element here seemed to be the comprehension of the experience of preparing the previous separate editions of 1983 and 1990, as well as the scientifically commented publications of Narbut’s works made by researchers in the literary periodicals of the late 20th - early 21st centuries. The closest correlation of the tragic ups and downs of Narbut’s life with the “geological upheaval” of the 1917 Revolution and the Civil War led to the ambiguous dependence of the posthumous fate of the poet’s creative heritage on the context of the era, diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive attitudes in the perception of key events in Russian and world history of the 20th century. The preparation of Narbut’s collected works was planned in the interconnection of two directions: (1) the continuation of work to eliminate the “blank spots” in the poet’s biography, and (2) the formation of the most complete collection of Narbut’s fiction for the first time supplemented, in addition to poetic texts, with prose and translations. In preparation for the publication of Narbut’s literary texts included in the collected works, the issue of using a real commentary as the main approach in preparing notes was updated, taking into account the biographical, historical, literary, folklore, mythological, and linguistic aspects. Directions were set by the thorough work that began in the 1983 edition, and especially in the 1990 edition. The bulk of research on Narbutov’s texts and biographical facts was carried out in the funds of the Odessa Literary Museum and the Odessa National Library named after A.M. Gorky (Odessa periodicals of the 1920s), in state and private archives and funds of Moscow, including the Manuscript Department, the main and newspaper funds of the Russian State Library, in the department of manuscripts of the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts, in the archives of the Federal Security Service, the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, the State Archive of the Russian Federation.

Мобилизация по партийной линии военнообязанных коммунистов в Ханты-Мансийском национальном округе на начальном этапе Великой Отечественной войны

The article based on the materials of the State Archive of the Socio-Political History of the Tyumen region examines one of the little-studied aspects of mobilization measures carried out at the initial stage of the Great Patriotic War on the territory of the Khanty-Mansiysk National District, which until August 1944 was part of the Omsk and then the Tyumen regions. Based on a selective analysis of the numerical, age, professional composition, seniority of the leadership of communists and Komsomol members, called up by the district and district military registration and enlistment offices in the ranks of the Red Army from June 1941 to July 1942, the conclusion is made about the nature of the mobilization practice of the party and economic elite, culture and education workers Ugra and the ambiguity of the influence of mobilization along the party line on the life of the district in the war and post-war times.

Признаки трансформации геосистем при освоении Южного Приморья в средневековье: городище Стеклянуха-2

We analyzed human impact on landscapes on the example of Steklyanukha-2 Medieval fortress, which is a multi-layered archaeological site, and adjacent territories. Buried soils, rampart matrix, cultural layer and surface soils were sampled within the fortress. Along with the material sampled at the site, two sections of the Upper Holocene deposits of the high floodplain of the Steklyanukha River were studied. The results of studying the sporo-pollen spectra and diatoms are presented. The paleo-landscapes during the formation of various archaeological cultures have been restored and the signs of anthropogenic impact on vegetation have been identified. The buried soil in the section of the high floodplain is a natural archive for the environment history during the appearance of the people of the Yankovskaya Culture on this territory. The soil was formed under conditions of decreasing watering in the valley; the age is estimated at more than 2 ka. Oxbow lake deposits had been accumulated from 1.6 to 0.5 ka, when the valley was actively developed in the Middle Ages. Floodplain deposits at the top of the sections indicate that the valley has been heavily watered during the Little Ice Age. Pollen signs of settlements of the lower part of the valley in the Early Iron Age, Mohe and Late Middle Ages were found. Signals of the development of secondary birch and oak forests are identified. Ambrosia and Xanthium pollen, which are reliable evidence of agricultural activity in the valley, was found in the cultural layer and sediments that formed in the Middle Ages. The pollen of plants common in anthropogenically disturbed territories was also found. The study of diatoms in a depression within the fortress confirmed the archaeologists’ assumption that it was used to store water reserves. The pollen spectra from the surface soils in the fortress and the high floodplain reflect the active agricultural development of the nearby river valleys since the second half of the 19th century. The largest amount of pollen of alien and synanthropic plants and weeds, as well as spores of pathogenic fungi (pathogens of soybeans and rice) and fire indicators were found here.

„My sword is science, my shield is work.” : Messages of the legacy of Vilma Hugonnai, the first Hungarian female physician in 2022

The Hungarian National Commission for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has proposed the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the death of Vilma Hugonnai, the first Hungarian female physician, in 2021, in a joint commemoration with UNESCO. After the positive decision of the General Assembly in November 2021, the Pre- sident of the Hungarian National Commission for UNESCO proposed to the Union of Hungarian Women the coordination of a joint commemoration of the “100th Anniversary of the Death of Vil- ma Hugonnai (1847-1922), the first Hungarian doctor”. With this commemoration, Vilma Hugon- nai’s work as a healer for families, her intellectual achievements, her enduring spiritual strength, her courage, her innovative and proactive approach and her spirit of sustaining women’s role in society as a value are to be presented as examples for present and future generations. The event is co-organised by the Hungarian Association of Midwives, the Semmelweis Museum and Archives of Medical History and the Professional Association of Hungarian Health Visitors. “She did not have an easy life, she had plenty of work besides her professional duties, she was a child minder, an advocate for children and women, and furthermore, she managed to publish a book. She translated the Anna Fischer-Dückelmann’s book from German, a family medicine book for women, and wrote the foreword to it – a copy of which I keep in the family heritage”, said András Lászlóné Radványi, great-niece of Vilma Hugonnai, at the inauguration ceremony of the Vilma Hugonnai Square in 2020 in Józsefváros (the square next to the External Clinical Block of Semmelweis University, is named after the first Hungarian female doctor). In this article, the life of Vilma Hugonnai will be analysed based on interviews with organisers, the objective being the exploration of the message and example of Doctor Hugonnai to the organisers 100 years later.

С.Л. Франк о «загадке трансценден­ции»: лекционная версия «Предмета знания»

Based on archival materials, personal correspondence and Swiss periodicals, a historical and philosophical reconstruction of the circumstances of Semyon L. Franck’s lecture visit in Switzerland in 1929 have been performed. The place and significance of the report “The Secret of Transcendence” (“Das Rätsel des Transzendenz”), which was given in Zurich at the invitation of the local Philosophical Society, in the philosopher’s creative heritage was established. It was concluded that the content of Semyon L. Frank’s lecture is reflected the epistemological problems that the philosopher set out systematically in his pre-emigrant work “The Object of Knowledge” (1915), and then presented it to the Ger­man-speaking professional community in an abridged form in two articles published un­der the general title “Cognition and Being” (“Erkenntnis und Sein”) in 1928 and 1929 in the German edition of the international yearbook on the philosophy of culture “Lo­gos”. The appendix introduces the German-language synopsis of Semyon L. Frank “The Secret of Transcendence”, stored in Box 16 of the Philosopher’s Foundation in the Bakhmetev Archives of Columbia University (New York, USA) – Bakhmeteff Archive of Russian and East European History and Culture, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Co­lumbia University, New York. S.L. Frank Papers. Box 16. S.L. Frank – Manuscript Frag­ments Notes; archival materials are provided with Russian translation and comments.

“Hindu Operation” of the Comintern in Bukhara in 1920–1921

The involvement of the Comintern in Central Asia is still an under-researched subject, although many Soviet historians were active in this international communist organisation in the 1920s and 30s. The article looks into the Comintern's policies in Bukhara in 1920–1921. Bukhara was a communications link between Soviet Russia and the countries of the East. Moscow understood that Bukhara was a strategically significant territory that could be used for its own purposes in the future. The Comintern viewed Bukhara as a springboard for further “exports” of the revolution into the countries of the East. For this reason, the Emirate of Bukhara became a centre of gravity for Indian nationalists, who, under the leadership of Manabendra Nath Roy, the Comintern's representative in Tashkent, were to establish another base for the Indian revolutionary movement there. However, Roy failed to unite the disparate groups of Indian nationalists by drawing on his Tashkent experience and in effect only harmed the work of the Comintern in Bukhara. The Comintern documents preserved in the funds of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI) indicate that the “Hindu operation” in Bukhara was very poorly organised, there were frequent conflicts among Indian nationalists, and it was very hard for them to come to a compromise. By signing the Anglo-Soviet trade agreement in March 1921, the Soviet government sought to normalise its relations with London, which could not be accomplished without curtailing the activities of the Comintern against British India.

Czechoslovak Military Units Formed in the USSR During the Second World War: Stages of Formation, Completion, and the Combat Path

The article is based on documents of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History and the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. It focuses on the stages of the formation, completion and combat use of the Czechoslovak military units created in the USSR during the Second World War. The special attention is paid to the identification of the trends and problems of the history of these formations. These topics were not developed in historiography. The history of the Czechoslovak military units passed several stages due to the creation and reorganization of these units. The Emigrant Government of Czechoslovak to eliminate these formations. The trends of the historical path of the Czechoslovak military units were, firstly, in the subordination of the formation of new, higher units due to the emergence of new mobilization contingents. The path of the Czechoslovak military units accompanied the diverse problems associated with their completion and supply. The overwhelming part of the problems was resolved only by the end of the war. The value of the Czechoslovak military units cannot be expressed in numbers, because their participation in the war was huge from the perspective of political importance for both Czechoslovakia and the USSR. In general, the formation and combat activities of the Czechoslovak military units should be recognized as a unique and very successful experience.

“Measures to Further Compromise Continue”: the Information Potential of the Special Messages of State Security Agencies in the 1950s and 1960s (Based on the Materials of the Tyumen Region)

The article is devoted to the analysis of information content of regional materials on the religious landscape of the Tyumen region. The article is based on documents from the fund of state security agencies deposited in the state archive of the socio-political history of the Tyumen region. Researchers can work with documents dated earlier than 1964. The materials describe a variety of methods of working with different faiths. In addition, the available data contain statistical information and socio-demographic characteristics of believers. Descriptions of religious practices and religious everyday life have been preserved. It is concluded that the materials of the regional state security agencies are an important source in the context of a lack of information about the religious situation in the Soviet provinces in the post-war USSR.

MEMORANDUM ON THE RESULTS OF THE AUDIT IN ULYANOVSK PEDAGOGICAL INSTITUTE FOR 1932-1933 ACADEMIC YEAR (TO THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ULYANOVSK STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY NAMED AFTER I. N. ULYANOV)

A memorandum is published on the results of a survey of the Ulyanovsk Pedagogical Institute activity after the first academic year (1932-1933). The original document is stored in the State Archive of the Recent History of the Ulyanovsk Region. The published material reflects the institute's success in the educational process management and recruiting students. It also notes the difficulties and problems that educational institutions of this level faced in general at their first stage of development.

К ВОПРОСУ О РОЛИ Г. К. ОРДЖОНИКИДЗЕ ВО ВНУТРИПАРТИЙНОЙ БОРЬБЕ 1920-Х ГОДОВ

The article examines the role of Grigory Ordzhonikidze in the inner-party struggle of the 1920s. The purpose of the article is to determine what position Ordzhonikidze held at different stages of the inner-party struggle. The transcripts and other documents of the leadership of the Bolshevik Party, stored in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI), became the basis for the research. Contrary to the popular opinion in historiography, the author states that Ordzhonikidze acted independently and was not an obedient satellite of Joseph Stalin during the inner-party struggle. After being appointed the Chairman of the Central Control Commission, he tried to some extent to alleviate the severity of political conflicts and prevent the use of harsh punishments against Stalin's opponents. There is a version in historiography according to which in 1928, during the conflict between Stalin and the Rykov – Bukharin group, Ordzhonikidze initially supported the «right wing» of the Politburo, but then suddenly revised his views and supported Stalin’s position. Based on the analysis of archival documents, the author concludes that this statement is invalid. At the same time, Ordzhonikidze, although he was on friendly terms with Stalin and shared his views on the peasant question had a conciliatory attitude and was inclined to seek a compromise with the «right». Ordzhonikidze's conciliatory attitude disappeared after the Trotskyists published a recording of a secret conversation between N. I. Bukharin and L. B. Kamenev. This compromising material formed among the Bolshevik leadership the perception of the «right wing» of the Politburo as an opposition group capable of splitting the «monolithic unity» of the party. For this reason, at the beginning of 1929, when the supreme party court over the «right» was held at the joint meetings of the Politburo and the Presidium of the Central Control Commission, Ordzhonikidze acted as one of the main accusers.