THE CHANGE OF GENERATIONS IN THE SOVIET REGIONAL ELITE (on the example of the Mordovian ASSR government in 1934–1991)

Pavel S. Uchvatov

DOI: 10.47026/2712-9454-2021-2-2-46-57

Key words

autonomous republic, the Mordovian ASSR, Soviet system of power, executive and administrative bodies, Soviet-party elite, the Council of People’s Commissars, the Council of Ministers

Annotation

The article examines the development of the regional elite in the Soviet historical era using the example of the supreme state administration authority of a one particular autonomous republic. Several transformation stages in the elite of functionaries that was in power in Mordovia from the 1930s to 1991:

1) early 1930s – mid-1937 The national elite, formed during the Mordovian statehood formation, consisted, first, of autonomy supporters who were active in the 1920s; secondly, of people who came to the system of power as a result of Soviet “localization policy” applied to the control organs. They held leading positions until mass political repressions of 1937–1938.;

2) the end of the 1930s – the first half of the 1950s. There was an advancement of representatives of the so-called Stalinist control organs. Soviet “localization policy” was curtailed, and the number of the Moravians in the Soviet authorities decreased; the majority in the Council of People’s Commissars of the Mordovian ASSR was relatively young managers aged 30–40 years. Despite a frequent change of personnel, already in the second half of the 1940s there was a tendency of relative stabilization in the government composition;

3) mid-1950s – late 1960s. A core of experienced leaders who were working in their positions for quite a long time formed in the Council of Ministers. Its chairman I.P. Astaykin, who held this position for more than 15 years, had a great influence on the government;

4) the 1970s – late 1980s. After the change in the Republican party leadership, representatives of a new generation came to power. However, renewal of personnel was subsequently replaced by “stagnant” phenomena: a long stay in power of individual managers, gradual aging of the Council of Ministers members, the growth of the total number of managers;

5) late 1980s – 1991 As a result of the union center’s initiatives, as well as attainment of the maximum age by many regional leaders, there was some renewal in the composition of the Council of Ministers. But the old party and economic nomenclature continued to maintain its position in the republic until the very end of the Soviet system.

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Information about the author

Pavel S. Uchvatov – Candidate of Historical Sciences, Principal Researcher – Head of Department of Regional Studies and Ethnology, Research Institute for the Humanities by the Government of the Republic of Mordovia, Russia, Saransk (uchvatov.pavel@yandex.ru, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9993-7415).

For citations

Uchvatov P.S. THE CHANGE OF GENERATIONS IN THE SOVIET REGIONAL ELITE (on the example of the Mordovian ASSR government in 1934–1991). Historical Search, 2021,  vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 46–57. DOI: 10.47026/2712-9454-2021-2-2-46-57 (in Russian).

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