People's Commissariat Research Articles

Formation of Soviet dentistry: 1918—1921

The main task of the Dentistry subsection of the People's Commissariat for Health, established in August 1918, was the creation of qualified, free, scheduled dental care in the country, accessible to the general population. Dentistry reform had to be carried out under the conditions of post-revolutionary devastation, famine and the Civil War, in the absence of sufficient funding, appropriate material base, with a significant shortage of dentists and their negative attitude towards the changes taking place. The problem of lack of equipment, materials and medicines was solved by nationalization of private dental offices, and the dentists who were left without equipment were forced to perform labor, and not all of them were able to survive those difficult years. Nevertheless, in the RSFSR a network of state outpatient dental clinics was created, which after the country's transition to the New Economic Policy began to rapidly erode - a sustainable system of free public dentistry was to be created at another time and under different economic conditions.

History of the child health care system in the southern region

Trends in the historiography of healthcare in the Southern region are an actual part of the object of research. The history of the fight against childhood tuberculosis was created on the basis of archival documents (materials of the archives of Kazakhstan-Central State Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan), statistical data on the incidence of tuberculosis in the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as data from periodicals of the beginning of the last century. Although the history of healthcare in the south is widely studied, the history of childhood tuberculosis remains outside the object of research. The article is aimed at restoring topical issues related to the history of healthcare. A special place in the health care system of the region is occupied by children's tuberculosis in the territory of the Syrdarya region at the beginning of the last century, since that period the health care system has developed as a result of the struggle with various difficulties. The article gives a historical assessment of the activities of Asfendiyarov S.Zh., who became the People's Commissar of Health of the Turkestan Republic, in the field of health protection of the population of the South. Despite the difficulties of healthcare in the Southern Region, especially in times of shortage of medical personnel at the beginning of the last century, doctors heroically worked to overcome epidemiological diseases among children and adults. The study provides an overview of the ongoing organizational work to combat malaria, tuberculosis among children. In particular, the issues, causes and indicators of morbidity and mortality of children in the Turkestan region were analyzed. The previous and current state of childhood tuberculosis is presented on a special comparative basis. Also, the indicators of alcohol consumption among young parents, which are most harmful to the child's health, are statistically presented. The study examines the achievements of doctors in the fight against childhood tuberculosis in the modern Turkestan region, reflected in a special table at a relatively republican level.

ИСТОРИЯ ФОРМИРОВАНИЯ И БОЕВОГО ПУТИ 238-Й СТРЕЛКОВОЙ ДИВИЗИИ ИЗ КАЗАХСТАНА В ГОДЫ ВЕЛИКОЙ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННОЙ ВОЙНЫ (1941–1945)

The purpose of the article is to analyze the formation and the military history of the 238th rifle division, formed in 1941 on the territory of the Kazakh SSR. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to study the history of the formation of the Kazakh division since the decision was made by the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR. The author notes the participation of the military administration of the republic in the implementation of the intended goals on the ground through the organization of interaction between local government and military administration. The problem was studied by the authors of the Soviet period, modern Kazakhstan and Russia in different years. The study is based on the researches devoted to the history of the Great Patriotic War, historical documents of the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Almaty), the Center for Documentation of the Modern History of Abai region (Semey) and the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (Podolsk). The study reveals the features of the formation of the 238th rifle division. Trends in the recruitment of military units of the division by commanding, junior command and rank-and-file units are revealed. The military history of the Kazakh division during the war is noted. The study also reveals individual examples of the heroism of soldiers and commanders on the battlefields, which became a personal example for raising the patriotic feelings of Soviet citizens. As a result the author concludes that the 238th Rifle Division from Kazakhstan made a feasible contribution to achieving The Soviet Union's victory over Germany.

ТРАУРНАЯ НЕДЕЛЯ В АЛТАЙСКОЙ ГУБЕРНИИ ПО СЛУЧАЮ СМЕРТИ В.И. ЛЕНИНА (1924 Г.)

The article is devoted to the consideration of events in the Altai province in 1924 related to the perpetuation of the memory of V.I. Lenin. The sudden death of the Chairman ofthe Council of People's Commissars ofthe Soviet Union caused a great resonance in the society. From January 23 to January 27, 1924, a mourning week was declared in the USSR. On these days in all populated areas mourning activities were held. Great attention was paid these days to perpetuating the memory of the leader of the revolution. Cultural and educational institutions in the settlements of the province were named after Lenin. Citizens actively discussed the establishment of monuments. Death of V.I. Lenin was perceived as a great and irreparable loss for the state. These factors contributed to the development of a new form of agitation work, which was formed around the image of VI. Lenin as one of the ideologists of socialist construction.

The activities of the organs of the Office of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs in the formation and strengthening of the operational and service component in the activities of the fighter battalions on the territory of the Voronezh region in the summer of 1941

The activities of the organs of the Office of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs in the formation and strengthening of the operational and service component in the activities of the fighter battalions on the territory of the Voronezh region in the summer of 1941

Contribution of the scientific and technical intelligentsia of the North Caucasus to the victory over fascism (1941–1945)

The history of the Great Patriotic War is multifaceted, and the disclosure of the role of the scientific and technical intelligentsia of the North Caucasus during the war years allows us to give an objective picture of the processes taking place in the country at the regional level. The intelligentsia, that consists of various socio-professional groups, made a feasible contribution to the defeat of the enemy. The scientific and technical intelligentsia played a big role in ensuring the country's defense capability, helped supply the army with high-quality military equipment, weapons and ammunition, their developments increased labor productivity. The efforts of scientists and constructors ensured progress in the creation of military equipment, the continuous growth of the combat performance of Soviet weapons, which became the most important condition for the victory of the Soviet people in the war. An important condition that ensures a quick and comprehensive approach to solving actual problems in the implementation of scientific developments to meet the needs of the front was the creation of new management structures, the broad involvement of the country's leading scientists to work in the departments and committees of the State Defense Committee, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, in key People's commissariats. This made it possible to optimally direct scientific activity to solving the tasks that the war set for Soviet science. The creation and organization of serial production of advanced military equipment was carried out according to the «science-technology-production» system. The extreme difficulty and scale of the tasks that were solved by the state executive and administrative bodies during the Great Patriotic War was the timely training of scientific and technical personnel. On the instructions of the SDC and the CPC of the USSR, the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in 1943–1945 did a lot of work on the main directions of their further development. At that time, the main directions in the development of a number of areas in science and technology were determined – chemistry, rocket technology, nuclear energy. The war made adjustments to the training of intelligentsia personnel. Universities and technical schools of the region had to solve the most difficult task of training technical intelligentsia.

УКРАЇНСЬКІ ВЧИТЕЛІ В РОКИ ГОЛОДОМОРУ-ГЕНОЦИДУ

The article analyzes the contradictions that arose as a result of the Bolshevik occupation of Ukraine and the attempts of the Moscow communist leadership to introduce an educational and pedagogical model in Ukraine that is completely identical to the Russian one. However, these attempts failed for some time, as the leadership of the People's Commissariat of Education of the USSR defended its own position, which was based on theses about the need to develop a domestic model of education. Everyday life systematically demonstrated all the contradictions of the communist system. Teachers expressed dissatisfaction with the communist government and refused to teach children in the spirit of Soviet demagoguery. Everyday life systematically demonstrated all the contradictions of the communist system. Teachers expressed dissatisfaction with the communist government and refused to teach children in the spirit of Soviet demagoguery. The communist regime in Ukraine intended to form a so-called "new person", that is, a person devoid of emotions, attraction to his own history, family and homeland, ready to obediently give his life for the ideas of a totalitarian leader. For a long time, the model of raising a "new person" was not adapted to Ukrainian realities, which were traditionally characterized by love and respect for elders, adoration of the child, respect for land and bread, etc. With the aim of destroying the Ukrainian indomitable mentality and forcibly instilling communist ideas, the Bolsheviks led by Stalin resorted to committing the crime of genocide of Ukrainians by organizing the Holodomor in Ukraine. The Holodomor took the lives of millions of people, primarily children, it deformed the psychology of Ukrainians, provoked manifestations of cynicism and indifference to the grief of loved ones. During the Holodomor, the communists took measures aimed at the persecution and repression of nationally conscious teachers. They were deprived of their means of livelihood by not issuing food rations, they were followed and harassed for not wanting to spread myths about a happy Soviet everyday life during lessons, they were arrested and repressed. Instead of teachers and educators of the "old school", so to speak, low-qualified, inexperienced, who showed indifference and cruelty to children were appointed to educational institutions of Ukraine. The Genocide of Ukrainians in 1932-1933 became a disaster both for Ukrainian teachers who were still working and for their students. Teachers who received education the previous day were persecuted by the authorities. The latter was aimed at stamping submissive and obedient executors of the leader's will. The teachers of the "old" school, so to speak, were replaced by party and Komsomol members loyal to the Communists. They had neither pedagogical skills nor relevant work experience. However, belonging to the totalitarian system opened up prospects for them to hold positions and provide for themselves during the Holodomor.

ИСТОРИЯ ПРАВОВОГО ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ НКВД СССР – РЕШЕНИЯ ВЫСШИХ ПАРТИЙНЫХ ОРГАНОВ КАК ИСТОЧНИК СОВЕТСКОГО ПРАВА

The purpose of the article is to identify the place and role in the legal support of the activities of the NKVD. Particular attention is paid to such a source of So-viet law as the decisions of the highest governing bod-ies of the ruling party. The study provides a description of the types of party decisions as sources of Soviet law. On the example of the legal support of the activities of state security agencies, a theoretical approach is sup-ported, within the framework of which it is proposed to introduce “party normative legal acts” into the number of sources of Soviet law. The author proves that even in the conditions of the decisive role of the party lead-ership in the formation of legislation regulating the activ-ities of the NKVD, party normative legal acts often directly contradicted the norms of the Constitution of 1936, the general principles of law. As a result, the author comes to the conclusion that joint party-government decisions in the form of joint resolutions of the Politburo of the AUCP(b) and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR were the main acts that formed the regulatory framework for the functioning of state security agencies.

Issues of children's health ecology in Karaganda region (mid-1940s)

The article deals with the medical care of children during World War II through the system of hospital and non-hospital care in Karaganda region. The struggle against epidemiological diseases has become one of the primary tasks of the doctors. Prevention of such diseases as measles, diphtheria, dysentery, whooping cough, etc. was carried out by vaccination, revaccination, strengthening of infant nutrition and other measures. Gastrointestinal diseases were also among the causes of infant mortality. The fight against gastrointestinal diseases was also an urgent task of the health authorities during the war years. Nurseries were a necessary measure of assistance to working women during the war. The nurseries were under the jurisdiction of the People's Commissariat of Health. The authorities carefully monitored the health of Soviet children, and prevented the mass spread of infectious and gastrointestinal infections among children of Karaganda region.

Организация советской высшей вневойсковой подготовки во второй половине 1930-х гг.

The article assesses organizational changes in the process of higher pre-conscription military training in civilian educational institutions of the USSR in the second half of the 1930s. This system was the most important element of training Red Army reserve personnel for the upcoming Great Patriotic War. It was created in 1930 during forced industrialization when specialists were in urgent demand in the national economy. Thus, the Soviet leadership faced the task of creating a system permitting to train future commanders without discontinuing their profession educational. The current geopolitical situation increases relevance of studying history of military personnel training in the USSR in the 1930s. The novelty of this study is that it describes for the first time the process of transformation of the institute of higher pre-conscription military training in civilian educational institutions of the USSR in the second half of the 1930s. The research is based on the office documents of the People's Commissariat of Defense and those of military districts, stored in the fond 62 of the Russian State Military Archive. The author has established reasons that influenced structural changes in the process of training reserve personnel and identified decisions of the top military leadership on the matter. The article also reveals the impact of the Red Army’s repressions of 1937–38 on the system of higher pre-conscription military training. It is noted that in the new conditions, the approach to students selection changed, more attention was paid to political reliability of personnel and students. In addition, the top military leadership decided to reduce the period of higher pre-conscription military training from three to two years, while increasing training hours. The list of educational institutions with higher pre-conscription military training also changed. However, by 1938 the geopolitical situation had changed significantly, and the position of the USSR in international politics had deteriorated greatly. The military leadership faced the problem of forced training of personnel for the regular army, and therefore the institute of higher pre-conscription training was no longer relevant. In August 1938, the system was eliminated; there was a transition to accelerated pre-army training.

Новые документы о финской оккупации Олонецкого района Карелии 1941–1944 гг.

The article analyzes newly identified documents detailing the detention of prisoners in Finnish detention facilities created on the territory of the Olonets region of Karelia during the Great Patriotic War. They provide an opportunity of studying regional aspects of the Finnish occupation of Karelia in 1941-44, comparing the data with other materials on the Finnish occupation of the Olonets region. The documents are letters of concentration camp prisoners, written to the archive in late 20th century in order to obtain certificates of their occupancy in the camp. Although the letters should have been stricken off, the archivists of the Olonets Archive have preserved them and carried out their initial analysis. These letters are, in essence, memoirs, and in the case of the Finnish occupation of Karelia, memoirs are often the only source allowing us to study the nature of the occupation regime. For instance, the letters have permitted to identify the exact location of some Finnish camps on the territory of the Olonets region, which remained unclear when working with the People's Commissariat for State Security (NKGB) documents. Some war crimes of the Finnish occupiers were already known, but these documents reveal new crimes of the camp guards, some against children. The letters listing names of deceased relatives are also of great interest, showing the mortality rate in the camps. In addition to confirming their occupancy in the camp, former prisoners recalled the events of the Finnish occupation of Karelia. This material demonstrates what work was performed by prisoners, reveals specific war crimes, and reconstructs everyday life in the detention camps. It is worth noting that modern Russian historiography often raises the issue of the impact of occupation on the psyche of children. The documents presented in the article contribute to the study of this issue. They can be used for studying regional aspects of the Finnish occupation of Karelia, for identifying war crimes, for micro level study of the Finnish occupation, and for indactive study of the occupation regime on the territory of the USSR in the days of the Great Patriotic War.

«В недрах Наркомпроса заявление мое затерялось»: прошения и ходатайства о персональном пенсионном обеспечении В.Г. Успенской — дочери Г.И. Успенского

Based on archival materials, the article considers problems of pensions provision of Vera Uspenskaya (1877—1942) in 1923—1939 whose pension case was registered in the name of her father, the writer Gleb Uspensky. Having analyzed the frequency of changes in the size of Vera Glebovna's personal retirement benefit, the authors found that all the increases in pension amounts were related to personal applications of the pensioner or petitions from her brother, sent to the People's Commissariat of Social Security of the RSFSR through in­ter­mediaries. The world-famous writer Aleksey Gorky, People's Commissar of Education Ana­toly Lunacharsky, leadership of the Union of Soviet Writers and the Literary Fund took part in the solution of her pension problems. Given the documents from the personal pension file of Ve­ra Uspenskaya, one can see that in the legally established three-step procedure for the pre-war establishment and further increase of personal pensions of republican significance (pro­vin­cial (regional) bodies - central bodies - the Commission of the NKSO of the RSFSR), an ins­titution of mediation was built in, based on the principle of personal merit.

ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИЙ БАРОМЕТР КОНЪЮНКТУРНОГО ИНСТИТУТА ПРИ НАРКОМФИНЕ СССР (РОССИЙСКИЙ ОПЫТ ПРИМЕНЕНИЯ БАРОМЕТРИЧЕСКОГО МЕТОДА В ЭКОНОМИКО-МАТЕМАТИЧЕСКОМ МОДЕЛИРОВАНИИ)

Scientific thought in Russia developed in line with world trends and in terms of application of the barometric method also has its own history. It is associated with the activities of the Conjuncture Institute under the People's Commissariat of the RSFSR, where the domestic economic barometer "Unified Economic Indicator of the Dynamics of the National Economy of the USSR" was built under the leadership of the director of the Institute, an outstanding Russian economist N.D. Kondratiev. The history of creation of this economicmathematical construction, analysis of its functioning and reasons for failures in the work are presented in this article.

Метаморфозы идеи личности и среды в отечественном образовании: путь к Человеку

The article reveals the features of the transformation of the idea of personality in Russian education in a historical retrospective in the context of current social priorities, and also characterizes the dynamics of the role and place of the environment as a pedagogical tool. It is shown that the idea of personality in Russian education came out of Christianity and was influenced by free pedagogy at the beginning of the 20th century. In the future, this idea is subjected to severe ideological censorship. It is established that today the main challenge for education is the "social horizon of artificial values", simulacra (according to J. Baudrillard). The images of a person, which, in the spirit of the People's Commissariat of Education, Socialist Education and Proletkult, are purposefully formed by the media and network communication, are the result of manipulation of a person's emotions and his motivation. The complexity and uniqueness of the individual is lost. It is assumed that education should respond to this challenge by generating and implementing clear authentic goals for the de-velopment of the individual. The experience of history shows the possibility of embedding external utilitarian goals in education, but they are not effective in the context of the true development of the individual. Receiving today a social order for a unique and inimitable personality, the education system is untenable when traditional imperative education is used. The type of personality and its unification is opposed by the complexity of personality and its diversity. The paper traces the idea that the attitude towards the environment and its place in education is undergoing significant changes. The features of the use of personality-developing environmental tools are also different. The educa-tional environment, by definition, is intended to create opportunities for a person who exists exclusively in the modality of the possible (according to D.A. Leontiev). The educational environment acquires a qualitative difference when these possibilities are refracted through the personal principle, realizing a special way of human existence associated with personal functions.

The First Counterspy: Larry Haas, Bell Aircraft, and the FBI’s Attempt to Capture a Soviet Mole by Kay Haas and Walter W. Pickut

<i>The First Counterspy: Larry Haas, Bell Aircraft, and the FBI’s Attempt to Capture a Soviet Mole</i> by Kay Haas and Walter W. Pickut

The first steps of the Zemstvo sanitary inspector N. A. Semashko in fight with epidemics in the Novouzensk Uyezd of the Samara Guberniya

The personality of N. A. Semashko presents incontestable interest as health care official and ideologist of the Soviet health care system who contributed significantly into development of health care. Great number of studies are devoted to analysis of activities of N. A. Semashko in the Soviet period holding position of the First People's Commissar of health care of the RSFSR, initiator and head of the chair of Social hygiene of the Medical Faculty of the First Moscow State University. The studies related to pre-revolutionary period of life of N. A. Semashko are presented in less degree. The article describes, on the basis of publications and archive sources (documents from the Central State Archive of the Samara Oblast, the foundations of the Russian State Library and also the family archive of E. G. Farobina, grand-daughter of N. A. Semashko) the period of life and and activity of N. A. Semashko in the Samara Gubernia after graduating the medical faculty of the Imperial Kazan University. In 1901-1902, after short training in bacteriological laboratory of the Samara Gubernia Zemstvo Hospital and appointment to the post of sanitary and epidemiological doctor of the Zemstvo, N. A. Semashko was directly involved in elimination of epidemics of diphtheria in Orlov Guy village and of anthrax in Alexandria village of the Novouzensky Uezd. The dangerous epidemics were eliminated owing to outstanding medical knowledge, courage and organizational skills of young doctor.

Градации возраста в уголовном праве советского периода (1917–1991 гг.)

The article features the formation and development of age gradations in the Soviet criminal law. The research covered various legal acts. e.g., Decrees of the Council of People's Commissars, Instructions, Decrees of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, etc. The analysis made it possible to identify the emergence of a two-stage age threshold for criminal liability. The Criminal Codes of the RSFSR (1922, 1926, 1960) and Soviet criminal legislation were studied for the legal regulation of both the age of the subject of crime and the age of the victim, as well as other actors who affected the crime typology and sentence. The author identified the maximal age threshold for criminal liability. This innovation appeared during war time and was applied to dodging conscription in production, construction, and agriculture, as well as to unauthorized absence from work, which were considered criminal liability. The article also features the historical dynamics of the age criminal responsibility.

Reform of domestic dental education in the first years of Soviet power

The reform of dental education began in the RSFSR in 1918, when the People's Commissariat adopted a regulation according to which dental schools (secondary educational institutions that trained dentists in pre-revolutionary Russia) were to be closed, and odontological units and departments for pathology and therapy of dental diseases, prosthetic technology, surgery of the jaws and oral cavity were opened at the medical faculties of universities. The establishment of odontological departments did not allow a significant increase in the ranks of odontologists, since students had to spend as much time on studying dentistry as future doctors, and received only the right to practice dentistry and an incomplete medical education. The proposal to revive dental schools to meet the needs of the population in dental care by specialized professionals met with fierce resistance from the head of the dental subsection of the RSFSR People's Commissariat of Health P.G.Dauge, who considered secondary education unacceptable. The article describes the discussion that unfolded on this issue, as a result of which odontological departments were created at the medical faculties of universities, the number of dentists decreased, and the preventive direction proposed by P.G.Dauge, as a method of reducing the country's need for dental specialists, became one of the main ones in Soviet dentistry.

А.Н. МОТНЕНКО – ВРАЧ, ХИРУРГ, ИССЛЕДОВАТЕЛЬ АРКТИКИ, РЕКТОР, ТАЛАНТЛИВЫЙ АДМИНИСТРАТОР (К 120-ЛЕТИЮ СО ДНЯ РОЖДЕНИЯ)

Anton Naumovich Motnenko (1902-1953) was a prominent Fig.in the Kuban and domestic healthcare. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the contribution of A.N. Motnenko to the development of the Arctic, practical healthcare, the formation and development of higher medical education in Kuban and the country, and his administrative and organizational abilities. The article presents new and little-known facts of A.N. Motnenko's biography and the stages of his personality formation. A native of a peasant family, graduated from a medical institute in Rostov-on-Don, graduated as a surgeon. At the age of 31, he was appointed head of the polar winter quarters and at the same time a doctor on Franz Josef Land (1933-1934), where he successfully solved administrative issues, coped with the epidemic with the flu epidemic. He was personally acquainted with the legendary Arctic explorer I.D. Papanin. At the age of 33, he became the director of the Kuban Medical Institute. The Red Army (1943-1944), ensured the work of the university during the Great Patriotic War and the evacuation. Further administrative career: Director of the Medical Institute in Rostov-on-Don (1944), Deputy People's Commissar of Health of the RSFSR (1944-1949), Rector of the Odessa Medical Institute (1949-1951). All periods of A.N. Motnenko's biography reflected his outstanding personal and professional qualities. Along with personal charm, kindness to employees, he possessed Exceptional abilities as an organizer and manager, which were in demand during a difficult period in the history of our country. In the available Russian and regional sources, the issues of A.N. Motnenko's activities are presented incompletely, contain a number of inaccuracies, there is no single publication reflecting all aspects and stages of his activity, which is the novelty of this work.

In search for the grave monument of the Professor-surgeon E. G. Salischev (part 2)

Reliance on authentic sources and the latest research allows the authors of the paper to characterize the Ioanno-Predtechensky Convent and the conventual cemetery. They write about most prominent citizens of Tomsk of the end 19th – beginning 20th century, including Professors of Imperial Tomsk University E.G. Salishchev, P.S. Klimentov, D.I. Timofeyevsky, who were buried in convent. According to the Decree on Freedom of Conscience, Church and Religious Societies, adopted by the Council of People's Commissars of Soviet Russia in 1918, the convent was closed, and the creation of a campus (studgorodok) began on its territory. In 1930, the local authorities decided to destroy the cemetery, and use the grave monuments for new construction. The authors found out that in mid-1950s a large 4-storey house was built on the cemetery site. Not a single burial or grave monument, except for Potanin’s ash, could be preserved. The authors believe that the monument to all those buried in the convent is the chapel of St. Domna Tomskaya, consecrated in 1996.