“Breaches” in the VKP(b) Okrug Organization in the Summer of 1929 – Summer of 1930 (Based on the Materials of Vyatka Okrug of Nizhny Novgorod Krai)

Abstract

The article examines the formation and functioning of the Vyatka Okrug VKP(b) organization in 1929–30, when radical transformations began in the country, primarily in the socio-economic sphere. Unpublished archival materials from the collection of the Central State Archive of Kirov Oblast constitute the main source of the research. Within the framework of the institutional approach, the above-mentioned party organization is considered by the author of the article as the leading political institution of the okrug, designed to become the “mover” of radical change in the country. An analysis of the entire complex of archival materials, which are introduced into scientific discourse for the first time, shows that the activities of the okrug party organization were accompanied by a series of “breaches,” that is, violations of the plan of transformation that was hatched by the country’s leaders. Particular attention is paid to the shortcomings in staff and staffing, level of education, and the state of the raion level of the party organization. The analysis of the topic under consideration showed that the staffing of rural raion committees did not correspond at all to the complexity and novelty of the tasks to be solved, the territorial size of the raions, the dispersion of party cells, and the level of education of responsible party workers allowed them to be nothing more than simple executors of higher-level directives. Various aspects of selection and placement of personnel in party committees, which bore the main burden of responsibility for the course of reforms, need further research. The article draws conclusions about the contradictory nature of the okrug level in the party organization and its inability to prevent “breaches” in the activities of raion party organization in the first place.

Keywords

• vkp(b) okrug organization
• 1929–1930
• vyatka
• raion committee
• okrug committee
• staffing
• personnel
• “breaches