Article
Использование фальсификаций в деятельности пермских чекистов в годы Большого террора
The author shows motives and methods of falsifications in the activity of NKVD officers at the time of Great Terror. An
example of Perm NKVD officers is a focus of this micro-historical analysis. The main sources include the files of so
called «counterrevolutionary crimes’ trials» in the State Contemporary History Archives of Perm Region. The most
useful documents are examination testimonies of Perm NKVD officers. These sources correlate with a great number of
evidences of the victims of political repressions. Available sources permit revealing both the motives and methods of
falsification work of Perm NKVD officers.
The subject of inquiry is an illegal activity of executors who were NKVD officers of mean and lower rank. Using mass
falsification allowed them to construct fabulous plots which were supposedly hatched by “public enemies”. Those
NKVD officers, together with their leaders, became co-organizers of Great Terror.
The analysis of the sources permits stating that daily work of NKVD officers in the years of Great Terror was not in
conducting inquiries but in providing mass falsifications based on forgery, violence, etc.
This is a review of two recent books on Leon Trotsky, one of the most prominent Russian revolutionary leaders and an ardent critic of Stalin. The review analyses the main arguments of both books as well as their contribution to the study of Trotsky's personality and political legacy.
The article defines the concept, structure and contents of the intellectual potential of society and specifies the limits of the information space in which various crimes infringe on this potential. It also outlines the range of the said crimes and describes ways to enhance the efficiency of criminal law to counteract them. The author emphasizes the role of university scholarship in augmenting the aforementioned potential and in the innovative development of economy, as well as in the protection of creative workers' rights and lawful interests.
The article examines the main trends in the study of the Stalinist period and the phenomenon of Stalinism in connection with the mass opening of the archives.
The main theoretical approaches to the phenomenon of Stalinism within the Weberian tradition in historical sociology are discussed. Particular attention is devoted to Michael Mann's discussion of the "regimes of continuous revolution" and Johann Arnason's analysis of the Soviet model of modernity.
This paper is devoted to the explanation of selected bureaus’ behavior patterns in the soviet type of totalitarian dictatorships with the command economic model. It is a proven fact that the plan figures in the soviet economy were fabricated as a consequence of intrigues and secret negotiations between different interested parties. Generally, bureaus, as rational agents that minimize risk and maximize slack, should have been interested in reducing the plan figures, nevertheless, they strived to increase them. As examples, mass repression under dictatorships and overexpenditure of an administrative leverage at elections in non-democratic and quasi-democratic countries can be observed. In the article we develop a simple model of coordination between principal (dictator) and his agents (bureaus), which explain the mentioned paradoxical situation.
The Iron Curtain as Semi-Permeable Membrane: The Origins and Demise of the Stalinist Superiority Complex
In article on the basis of a case study examines the everyday life of the Stalinist system. Postwar political campaign was broadcast on the world of Soviet man. The study of conflict within the school community, helps to understand the strength of practices that used an ordinary Soviet people beyond the boundaries of the world of big politics. Professional conflict between the teacher of history and Director of the school suddenly acquired political resonance. The quarrel went outside educational institutions, and became the subject of discussion of various political and administrative authorities. The teacher of history and continued the fight in new institution.