Russian Province Research Articles

Representations of Trust and Distrust in Financial Institutions in Russian Regional Speech Culture

The article is devoted to a comparative analysis of the representation of trust and distrust in financial institutions in the language and speech culture of the Russian province. The use of the constructivist methodology of P. Bourdieu made it possible to interpret trust as an internal component of the practices of an agent involved in the current situation in the financial market. The content analysis of 55 semi-structured interviews with three generations of residents of the region showed that the conservative model of financial behavior continues to be reproduced in the speech culture. The difference between generations is less noticeable against the background of a significant difference between residents of rural and urban settlements. The study revealed a high level of resentment associated with the collective memory of the collapse of the USSR and privatization. All generations in rural settlements showed a low level of assessment of their own financial situation, while both rural and urban informants had a rather pessimistic representation of social change. Semantic analysis revealed the dominance of the image of the state as a “collector of payments” in their consciousness, and to a lesser extent, an “assistant” supporting a person in their relationship with financial institutions.

Изменение количества удельных поселений в Шенкурском уезде Архангельской губернии в 1797–1863 годах

On the basis of office documents from the funds of the Russian State Historical Archive and the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, the change in the number of villages in the appanage group of volosts (Prikaz) and volosts of the Shenkursk uyezd of the Arkhangelsk province is investigated. It was revealed that 201 names of settlements disappeared in the uyezd in 1797-1863, including 61 between the V – VIII revisions, the remaining majority – between the VIII–X revisions. The reduction of settlements was a rather complicated phenomenon. It included the desolation of villages, mainly until the early 1930s, and the establishment of a small number of new settlements. However, most of the village names disappeared during the merger of several villages (from two to four) into one settlement, usually into a village. The opposite trend was also observed – division of villages into two settlements, which led to the emergence of new villages. Thus, the reduction in the number of appanage settlements very often entailed not their desolation, but the disappearance of only names. The characteristics of the reduction of appanage settlements in the Arkhangelsk province differed significantly from those in other provinces of Russia.

Belarusization in Russian Regions in the 1920s in Modern Russian Historiography

The article presents a historiographical review of publications on the policy of Belarusization carried out in the Russian regions in the 1920s. This work does not address the publications of Belarusian and foreign researchers on the practice of implementing the new Soviet national policy within the territorial borders of the Belarusian Republic. The main attention is paid to the three Russian provinces bordering Belarus – Pskov, Smolensk and Bryansk. At the same time, the eastern territories of the RSFSR – the Urals, Siberia, and the Far East, where Belarusians found themselves as a result of the resettlement policy, especially at the beginning of the 20th century during the Stolypin agrarian reform, were not ignored. Belarusization, as part of the general policy of Korenization, proclaimed in 1923 at the XII Congress of the Russian Communist Party (b), in modern research is closely linked to the need to show new principles and directions of Soviet national policy for the development of Belarusian statehood and culture in contrast to the all-out polonization carried out by the Pilsudski government in Western Ukrainian and Belarusian lands ceded to Poland by the Riga Peace Treaty of 1921. A significant role in this process was assigned to the expansion of the state borders of the BSSR at the expense of Russian territories, especially in 1924 and 1926. However, Belarusization did not find any real support from the local authorities, who considered Belarusians to be part of the Russian population until the end of the 1920s, as well as due to the significant self-Russification of the Belarusian population in the Russian regions that had already taken place by the middle of the decade. Formally, these tasks were constantly on the agenda of the party and Soviet authorities in the second half of the 1920s. But they have not received any significant practical implementation.

The black sun that lights the underworld. On I. Ermakova’s The Copper Mirror [Mednoe zerkalo

The article offers a detailed review of The Copper Mirror [Mednoe zerkalo], a collection of selected works from several decades by the contemporary poet I. Ermakova. Following the book’s structure that draws on the titles of Ermakova’s earlier collections (The Provinces [Provintsiya], The Vineyard [Vinogradnik], and A Lullaby for Odysseus [Kolybelnaya dlya Odisseya]), the critic traces a plot that guides the reader on a journey from the post-Soviet Russian provinces of the 1990s into the present day. Although the most up-to-date poems in the book date from 2020 (including the opening verse ‘I started a bonfire, fed the flame…’ [‘Ya razvyol kostyor, nakormil plamya…’], which seems to hold the key to the book’s meaning and objective), the meticulous selection of poems and their arrangement reveal a book that is undeniably modern in its response to the latest topics and challenges. In addition to the commentary on the book’s inner theme and Ermakova’s ‘manifesto’ poems, the review considers the critical reception of her works and cites the best articles about the poet, including the preface to The Copper Mirror by the critics and philologists A. Skvortsov and A. Salomatin.

Vyazma’s Merchant Savva Timofeev Son Altukhov: the Problem of Determining the Personality and Motivation of the Temple-Builder of the 18th Century

The article deals with the little-studied problem of merchant temple building in a provincial Russian city of the 18th century using the example of Vyazma. The author applied anthropological, systemic and critical approaches. In the 18th century, donations for the construction of churches became a characteristic feature of the daily life of the merchant elite. The focus of the study is the history of the Vyazma merchant-temple builder S.T. Altukhov. The example of this merchant shows what problems a historian may encounter in the process of research. A critical approach to the publications of the 19th century made it possible to make a more plausible assumption about the date of construction of the Vyazma temple, for which the merchant Altukhov donated his capital. Establishing the identity of the merchant, determining the approximate date of his birth, the composition of the merchant family were studied on the basis of a comprehensive study of the materials of the first and second revisions, as well as parish registers. The problem of motivation for the temple-building activity of the merchant S.T. Altukhova is considered on the basis of the study of archival documents from the fund of the Chief Magistrate. When working on the article, the funds of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and the State Archive of the Smolensk Region were used. This article develops the topic of articles about the Vyazma merchant-temple builders of the 18th century, published by the author earlier.

Natural overgrowth of long-fallow land in the Smolensk-Moscow district Central Rus-sian province of the southern taiga zone of the European part of Russia(on the example of the lands of the Federal Williams Research Center of Forage Production and Agroecology)

Natural overgrowth of long-fallow land in the Smolensk-Moscow district Central Rus-sian province of the southern taiga zone of the European part of Russia(on the example of the lands of the Federal Williams Research Center of Forage Production and Agroecology)

On the history of the connection of the criminal court and the civil court chambers’ in the Russian Empire provinces in the second half of the 1860s (on the example of the Voronezh province)

Importance. One of the main transitional period issues of reforming the judicial system of Russia in the second half of the 1860s is connecting the chambers issue of the criminal court and the civil court at the provincial level. The purpose of the study is, firstly, to identify the mechanism of connecting the chambers of the criminal court and the civil court in the provinces of Russia in the second half of the 1860s, and secondly, to analyze the main problems faced by judicial officials when connecting the analyzed institutions.Materials and Methods. The main sources of the research are the following materials: archival files from the funds of the State Archive of the Voronezh Region (GAVO); normative legal acts, collections of rules and laws; materials of the periodical press; – statistical and reference publications. The methodological basis of the research was both general and particular methods of scientific cognition: the method of structural analysis; the historical-comparative method; the historicalsystemic method; the formal-logical method; other methods of scientific cognition were also used in the article.Results and Discussion. Archival materials from the funds of the State archive of Voronezh region are analyzed, according to which it is possible to restore the connecting the chambers mechanism of the criminal court and the civil court in the provinces of the Russian Empire. On the basis of the current imperial legislation, the general regulatory rules that judicial officials followed when connecting the judicial institutions in question in the second half of the 1860s are revealed. The main problems faced by judicial officials when connecting the chambers of the criminal court and the civil court in the Voronezh province are identified and considered.Conclusion. The mechanism for connecting the chambers of the criminal court and the civil court in the provinces of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 1860s was not specifically prescribed. From November 26, 1867 to July 1, 1869, the judicial system in Voronezh province was at a transitional stage. During this period, pre-reform judicial institutions still continued to operate, at the same time new courts began to work: Voronezh and Ostrogozhsky District courts. The main problem in the functioning of the Judicial Chambers (including the united Chamber since May 1, 1868) at the transitional stage was the lack of a full-time number of judges.

Museumification of urban space in provincial Russia (socio-philosophical aspect)

Museumification of urban space in provincial Russia (socio-philosophical aspect)

A railway modernity. Izmalkovo train station in Ivan Bunin’s work

The article discusses the everyday life of Izmalkovo, a train station in Imperial Russia’s Oryol governate. Among its frequent visitors and commuters was Ivan Bunin. The writer often resided in the area and used the station’s postal and passenger services. Housed in a small and inconspicuous railway station building of the fourth rank, Izmalkovo gradually became an important logistical hub for the writer. Izmalkovo’s postmark grew increasingly familiar to prominent figures of Russian modern art and literature. Following the devastating events of 1917, life in the Russian provinces becomes perilous for those living there. The political crisis forced Bunin to move from Izmalkovo to Yelets, where he had to seek a secret sanctuary at the local notary’s house. Next, the writer was forced to flee the country. Nostalgic memories of the humble station’s chronotope haunted Bunin for the rest of his life. Using an extensive body of examples, the scholar traces the changing perception of the station in the Nobel Prize winner’s writings, from the romantic impressions of his youth to the agonizing reflections on the ‘cursed days.’

Роль органов местного самоуправления в становлении и развитии мировой юстиции в России второй половины XIX века

The main aspects of the influence of local governments represented by district zemstvo assemblies on the organization and functioning of world justice in the post-reform Russian province are considered. Attention is focused on the commonality of the principles of building a system of local self-government and world courts, as well as on the problems that the zemstvo faced in the formation of the world judiciary, in particular, restrictions on the property qualification, difficulties in implementing the provisions of the law on unanimous election, a narrow circle of candidates, the impact of social contradictions, financial opportunities. At the same time, it is recognized that the zemstvo institutions as a whole successfully coped with the responsible task entrusted to them and formed a world court worthy of respect and trust.

Vyatka priest, educator and methodist teacher N. N. Blinov

Introduction. One of the active processes of humanization of education in modern conditions is an appeal to the best achievements of the past, to the works of representatives of Russian, including regional pedagogy, whose creative searches were permeated with the ideas of humanism, concern for the upbringing and education of a person. Genuine interest is aroused by the multifaceted pedagogical and methodological activities of the famous Vyatka priest, zemstvo figure and methodist teacher N. N. Blinov (1839-1917), who clearly manifested himself as a practical teacher, a methodologist of primary education at the All-Russian level, the author of numerous educational books, an educator and researcher of the history of the Udmurt people. Materials and methods. The author uses as research methods: analysis of historical and pedagogical literature, biographical and historical methods, axiological (value) approach to the study of historical and pedagogical material. In his work, the author used a number of publications by foreign and Russian authors. Results. The period of activity of N. N. Blinov coincided with the time of activation of the development of education in Russia. In the Russian provinces, local methodologists in the field of education actively worked, – authors of textbooks and the first alphabets, mainly for the so–called "small", i.e. non-Russian, peoples. Blinov was one of the most prominent representatives of the Russian regional enlightenment in the second half of the XIX – first two decades of the XX centuries. His activities were of a multilateral nature. Russian Russian was the author of textbooks for Russian and Udmurt children, the organizer of rural schools, and his local history work was highly appreciated by the Russian Imperial Geographical Society. Especially his books "Learning – light" and the first Udmurt alphabet "Lydzon" should be highlighted. Discussion. In N. N. Blinov's method of teaching reading, the presence of such a new element in literacy teaching for that time as a clearly established and filled with concrete content step-by-step, currently known as "algorithmization", is original and valuable. At the same time, the desire to establish strict stages in the assimilation of letters was inevitably accompanied by the need to introduce words whose meaning was still unknown to children. Conclusion. Blinov's fruitful scientific, methodological and practical pedagogical activity, his local history work are a vivid phenomenon in the history of Russian provincial education. His methodological views remain relevant up to the present time. Vyatka educator contributed to the development of Udmurt culture and literature by being the author of original ethnographic, dramatic, historical and biographical works. His turbulent, eventful life deserves further study, as well as his numerous works.

“Genocide of the Soviet People”: Putin’s Russia Waging Lawfare by Means of History, 2018–2023

This article exposes the political underpinnings of the term “genocide of the Soviet people,” introduced and actively promoted in Russia since 2019. By reclassifying mass crimes committed by the Nazis and their accomplices against the civilian population—specifically Slavic—as genocide, Russian courts effectively engage in adjudication of the history of the Second World War. In the process, genocide trials, ongoing in twenty-five Russian provinces and five occupied Ukrainian territories, present no new evidence or issue new indictments, thus fulfilling none of the objectives of a standard criminal investigation. The wording of the verdicts, and a comprehensive political project put in place to promote it, suggests three main objectives behind the novel genocide of the Soviet people trope, absolving the Soviet Union of responsibility for the outbreak of the Second World War, counterbalancing the efforts of the Ukrainian government to seek international recognition of Holodomor as an act of genocide, and drawing a parallel between Nazi crimes and those ascribed to “Ukrainian neo-Nazis.” Russian genocide trials are a crass example of sham justice and a manifestation of lawfare.

Крестьянское коневодство Российской империи во второй половине XIX — начале XX века: историографический аспект

This study is an attempt at a historiographical analysis of research works into the history of peasant horse breeding in the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th — early 20th century. The work delineates historiographical periods, identifies the focal points covered in the literature and outlines avenues for future exploration. Monographs, dissertations and research articles reporting findings on peasant horse breeding served as sources of the study. Pre-Soviet, Soviet and modern historiographical periods are distinguished. Although the first works on the issue appeared in the pre-Soviet period, most were opinion pieces. In the Soviet period, the Marxist-Leninist ideology prompted historians to delve into the peasant economy. Yet, horse breeding by peasant farms was considered only in passing in works whose geographical scope extended to the entire territory of European Russia or groups of several regions. Modern historiography of the issue features studies emphasising the regional features of peasant horse breeding in provinces of the Russian Empire in the s period. However, the state of the peasant horse breeding economy in many provinces of Russia has received little scholarly attention in the country, alongside comparative analysis of peasant horse breeding across regions or exploration of how central departments, zemstvos and public organisations contributed to the modernisation of the industry.

Военнопленные Первой мировой войны в Омском Прииртышье: имена, статусы, память

The publication does not simply review the inter-fonds name index of prisoners of World War I mentioned in the metric books of churches in the Omsk region (1914–1920). It is shown how formalized information from metric records can be interpreted from the point of view of both nominative and statistical approaches. It is emphasized that in the light of the data of the reviewed publication, the fate of captured foreigners in Russia ceases to look like non-alternative and predetermined, and the prisoners themselves — only victims of war, victimized objects. The participation of prisoners of war in the life of host communities allows specifying the degree of impact of captivity on the institutions and practices common in provincial Russia, as well as considering captured foreigners as people whose destinies turned out to be decisive for the destinies of thousands of other people who lived yesterday and live today.

Curbing the Time of Troubles: commemoration practices in the Russian provinces in 1918, based on materials from the State Archive of the Penza Region

Curbing the Time of Troubles: commemoration practices in the Russian provinces in 1918, based on materials from the State Archive of the Penza Region

Alexander Nikolaevich Gladyshev: The Path in Politics of a Siberian Social-Democrat

The article reconstructs the biography of the Omsk socio-political figure, journalist, editor, revolutionary, social-democrat A. N. Gladyshev. Despite the fact that he played a considerable role in the revolutionary movement in Siberia in 1905–1907, 1917, in the city life of Omsk in the inter-regilization period, a separate scientific publication about his biography, has not yet been written. This is largely due to the fact that he initially entered the menshevik fraction and negatively reacted to the arrival of the Bolsheviks to power in the fall of 1917. At the same time, his biography multiplictly reflects the features of the fate of the intellectual in the Russian province, which is not side to political events. The study revealed the role of A. N. Gladyshev in the formation of his nephew — the famous Soviet figure V. V. Kuibyshev. The basis for conducting the study was a set of unpublished sources identified by the author in the funds of the historical archive of the Omsk region, the Omsk State History and Local Lore, Media and memories of A. N. Gladyshev’s activities in the memoirs of revolutionaries. The correspondence of the 1950s 1970s has the greatest information potential for this production. A. N. Gladysheva with an Omsk historian, candidate of historical sciences P. L. Trofimov. At the same time, the biography of Gladyshev requires further, more detailed reconstruction, since far from all documents, the numerous memories of A. N. Gladyshev were identified. In conclusion, the author comes to the conclusion about the importance of the documentary heritage of A. N. Gladyshev, as an active participant in historical processes in Siberia.

Влюбленный Разумихин: чýдная судьба героя второго плана. Рассуждение в жанре апологии

This paper is dedicated to one of the heroes of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment, Dmitry Razumikhin, who is usually regarded as a minor, accessory character and often considered an ordinary, average, even mediocre personality in contrast to higher figures. The paper suggests that Razumikhin’s “minority” is a deceptive evaluation that overlooks the real value of the character. His importance is shown by the author through Razumikhin’s extraordinary deeds and through many complimentary remarks about him, which are very unusual for Dostoevsky’s poetics. In the novel, the opposition between the two poor students who have come to the capital from Russian provinces, have left the university as they could not pay for it, and must face their fate alone, is determined by their choices of social behavior. Raskolnikov breaks through the circumstances, trying to get everything at once by committing a terrible crime. Razumikhin is resolved to overcome his poverty by way of petty earnings, complete his university education, become a professional and a financially independent person. Choosing the way of a crime, Raskolnikov rejects the ways of Razumikhin. Of special importance is Razumikhin’s love story. He loves as a noble knight, ready to serve his lady selflessly. For Razumikhin, his love for Raskolnikov’s sister entails an all-embracing care not only for his sweetheart but for all her relatives as well, whatever might happen to them. Razumikhin’s love is a transforming and creative feeling. Dostoevsky, who knew very well the saving mission of work, saw to it that Rodion Romanovich, after his prison term, had someone to come to for advice and support. Sonya Marmeladova promised Raskolnikov her devoted love, but only the Razumikhins, Dunya and Dmitry, could help him recover and find his way in new circumstances.

Demographic changes in the Russian province caused by the First World War (by the materials of the Penza province)

Demographic changes in the Russian province caused by the First World War (by the materials of the Penza province)

КУЛЬТУРНОЕ НАСЛЕДИЕ СОВРЕМЕННОГО ГОРОДА: КАТЕГОРИИ И ОБЪЕКТЫ

The article attempts to identify the structure of the cultural heritage of a modern city, primarily its Siberian version with all its specific features. The categories of cultural heritage are considered on specific groups of monuments, in relation to the epochs that created them and their ideological manifestations. The differences between the cultural heritage of megacities as cultural centers and small and medium-sized cities of the Russian province are analyzed. The authors defend the modern understanding of the historical and cultural heritage, in contrast to the traditional one, which consists in the fact that the heritage is connected not only with the historical past, but also reflects the cultural life of a relatively recent period, moreover: it is formed in the immediate modernity by people now living.

Theft in the Russian Province of the 18th Century: How Was the Stolen Disposed of?

Theft in the Russian Province of the 18th Century: How Was the Stolen Disposed of?