Vol 16, No 1 (2017)

The article deals with the problems of the falling of the soldiers’ military literacy of the National Home Guard reserve forces and troops during World War I and their susceptibility to the revolution agitation influence. There are used the records from the State Archive of Khabarovsk Region (SAKR) and the Russian State Historical Archive of the Far East (RSHA FE). The author analyzes the condition of the troops of the Amur Military District including Vladivostok Fortress, where real carrier-oriented fortress troops were deployed. It was found that these troops served as a base for reservists’ military training and education. Using the documents of everyday life of the Amur Military District, there were found the objective and subjective causes of falling of the soldiers’ educational level and military training in 1915-1917, which were the primary factors of the success of the 1917 revolutions. The author concludes that a great number of illiterate and non-initiative people paralyze the army, especially in a crisis time. There was no effective mechanism for the adaptation of oriental reservists who were not native Russian speakers. All this made reservists and the soldiers of the Nation Home Guard very susceptible to the antiwar and antigovernment agitation which appealed to people’s most important needs. As for the troops on the side of the revolution in 1917, it should be emphasized that these “troops” were not a real army, but illiterate, poorly armed people, who were mobilized for defending the Homeland without the clear explanation that this war had critical signifi cance for the state survival.

The article deals with the relationship between the Bolshevik government and the Muslim ummah of the Soviet Russia in the first decades of the Bolshevik period through the example of the Muslim community of Moscow. Besides, there is considered the issue of the level of religiosity among the Muslim population of Moscow in connection with the anti-religious campaigns and the implementation of the program “atheistic five-year plan” in 1932-1937.The author emphasizes two steps in the relations of the state and Islam. The first period, 1917 - the early 1920s, was characterized by the intensification of the spiritual life of the Muslim community and its willingness of cooperation with the Bolshevik government. It was the reaction to the implementation of the Bolshevik slogan of the right of religious freedom. The second period, the early 1920s - 1930s, was associated with conducting anti-religious campaigns, including the ones against Islam. Most mosques were closed. These events were based on the new socialist values. In 1937 all national organizations were recognized wrecking, whereupon most national cultural institutions in Moscow were closed.The author admits that under the influence of thedaily socialist propaganda pressure, the Muslim population of Moscow hid their religious feelings. At the same time, the author points out that the belief in people’s minds still occupied an important place. This conclusion is based on the documents from the Central Municipal Archives of Moscow (TSMAM), as well as the statistics showing a high rate of Muslims in Moscow. The greatest attention of the Soviet Government during the period was paid to the atheistic education of children. In this regardthe atheistic propaganda was asuccess, but it does not mean that many people abandoned their faith. Under the circumstances, people learned to hide their religion. Despite the efforts to fi ght against Islam in schools, the faith of many pupils of the capital, especially of the Tatar nationality, was strong thanks to family education.

The activities of the liberal newspaper “Russkiye Vedomosti” were mainly focused on the struggle for social modernization of Russia and implementation of the liberal reforms of the 1860-1870s. The newspaper actively defended the liberal principles for the implementation of the judicial reform and the education system. The editorial staff members were well-known liberal scholars N.S.Skvortsov, A.I. Chuprov, A. Postnikov, and others. N.S. Skvortsov’s “liberal team” believed that it was necessary to consistently implement the Judicial statutes of 1864 and develop the jury system. “Russkiye Vedomosti” was opposed to the idea of “people’s trial”, proposed by M.N. Katkov. The lack of lawyers hampered the development of the legal profession, so the newspaper made a project on the involvement of lawyers and their assistants. The newspaper consistently defended the principles of the Charter of 1863, it supported the autonomy of universities. “Russkiye Vedomosti” informed in detail its readers of the conflict of liberal professors Dmitriev and Chicherin with the leadership of the Moscow University. The newspaper actively campaigned for the prison reform. The liberal paper’s staff believed that the main obstacle to the development of the judicial - legal system was the cultural backward-ness of the country and the despotic form of government. The newspaper actively defended freedom of expression. Liberal commentators denounced revolutionary terror, because it violated the law and the right, but the political sympathies of the newspaper were on the side of the students.

The author considers thatthe emergence of the phenomenon of phantom organizations in the Central Chernozemregion was connected with the aggravation of the conflict between the government and the society in the period of the 1920-1930s in the USSR, when the political power eliminated the active and passive resistance ofthe public. Simultaneously, in order to make repression legal, the law enforcement authorities falsifi ed the presence of non-governmental organizations, relating some of their suspectsto them. Thejudicial or extra-judicial authorities with the same powers on the basis of such fraud passed sentences in which pseudo-participation in phantom organizations was seen as a real fault and the basis for conviction. Thus, phantom organizations became a fact of real life.The author has found out that the phantom-governmental organizations were established by the Central Office of the NKVD and simultaneously functioned in the territory of several regions of the country. Such centralization simultaneously solved several problems - the scale of the chimeric affairs gave them more credence than local ideas; inexperienced local investigators got the necessary practice of fabrication of criminal cases in collective work under the direction of the centre; the central governance of the law enforcement authorities got additional tool of control over the activities of regional offices.

The article deals with the legal status of the Russian emigrants in the USA in the post-war period. There are considered the peculiarities of the new immigration and refugee law, its features and influence on the new Russian emigration wave to America. The author analyzes «Truman Directive», the Law about displaced persons («DP») of 1948 and the amendments to the Law. The directive envisaged special immigration quotas for DP (more than 11 million in the post-war Europe). The number of migrants to the USA extremely increased after the enactment of the Refugee Law. The author shows the key role of the Refugee factor in the US policy during the Cold War and in the USSR - USA bilateral relations in particular. The article presents the scheme of collaboration between special Refugee organizations (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and Committee of International Relief Association ) to provide selection, transfer and adaptation of DP in the US. The author provides examples from the reports of public, charity and religious organizations on the successful adaptation of Russian emigrants. There is shown how these organizations helped Russian emigrants in resettlement, job hunting, adaptation and socialization. It was the first time in the American history, when the migration law had exercised these functions.The principal issues of the post-war wave of the Russian emigration were the ones of recognition of their refugee status, obtaining residency as well as citizenship. Legal assistance in this issue, as well as in the study of the language and cultural adaptation was provided by emigration charity organizations. An important role in the field of information support of immigrants was played by the Russian-language press. The article is based on some statistics and sources from Bakhmeteff Archive at Columbia University, as well as emigrant newspapers “The Modern Time”, “New Russian Word”, “Russia” of 1949-1970.

The present research is dedicated to the initial period of the academic career of Grigory I. Spassky (the editor of the first magazine about Siberia in Russia). The main issue studied in the present article is Grigory I. Spassky’s participation in the activity of the Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Science and the Arts (VOLSNKh) in 1803-1823. This particular issue has never been studied; in the Russian historiography there are a few works where this fact was only mentioned. The author has been considered and analyzed the correspondence of Grigory I. Spassky with the members of VOLSNKh, as well as the contents of periodicals of the time, which were connected with VOLSNKh, such as “Severny Vestnik” [Northern Bulletin], “Tsvetnik” [Flower Garden], “Vestnik Evropy” [European Bulletin]. The research has revealed the facts of Grigory I. Spassky’s close collaboration with the Free Society; and in the beginning the Society played a leading role in the choice of the young scientist’s research areas. Through the VOLSNKh, on the pages of the Society’s periodicals there were published Spassky’s first articles, which brought him fame in the literary and research circles. Under the infl uence of the VOLSNKh banders’ recommendations, Grigory I. Spassky got the idea to publish his Siberian Sketchbook. This idea transformed into the plan of a periodical about Siberia and “some countries adjacent to it”. The publication made by Grigory I. Spassky on his return from Siberia in 1817 was called “Sibirsky Vestnik [Siberian Bulletin]”, and Spassky’s co-editor was one of the VOLSNKh members, Vasily V. Dmitriev. Thus, the analysis of the correspondence and the articles of some periodicals, connected with the VOLSNKh undoubtedly convinces that the members of the VOLSNKh made a great influence on the formation of the scientific worldview of the explorer of Siberia, Grigory I. Spassky.

This article presents a retrospective analysis of Libya’s domestic and foreign policy in the period starting from the government headed by Gaddafi in 1969 until the lifting of international sanctions against Libya in 2003. The author gives a generalized description of the development of Libya during the given period, analyzes some features of its relations with Arab countries, West European countries and the USA, as well as with the United Nations. Particular attention is paid to the assessment of the Libyan-Soviet/Russian relations, and in connection with the imposing of sanctions and their lifting. The author shows that the Russian-Libyan trade-economic and scientific-technological cooperation was reduced to almost zero since the sanctions were imposed. From then on, Russia could not supply to Libya aviation equipment (both military and civilian) and spare parts for military technology. There was stopped the training of the Libyan military and civilian personnel in the Russian Federation, there were withdrawn the Russian military and technical experts and advisers from Libya. Libya became insolvent. Russia pulled out of the regime of international sanctions in May 1999. The total lifting of sanctions against Libya took place 12 September 2003. It gave a new impetus to the development of the political dialogue between Libya and Russia, there were intensified meetings at various levels and there began the implementation of many contracts signed earlier.