Vol 22, No 4 (2023): Volga-Vyatsk and Ural Regions in the Retrospective Focus of History

The author examines the mythological aspect of the entoregional identity of the modern Mari population in the Kirov oblast’ (the Vyatka, the Urzhum-Vyatka Mari) living in the Malmyzhsky and Urzhumsky districts. The author identifies the role of heroic images in modern ethno-cultural activism and the representation of the Vyatka Mari as the main problem of the study. Due to the multidimensional aspect of the problem, the article includes thematic sub-items: Features of the ethnic and religious identity of the Vyatka Mari - Images of folklore rulers in the perception of local residents - Legendary rulers in ethno-cultural activism and commemorative practices - Sacralization of folklore characters. The author considers this problem on the basis of the field materials (interview texts) collected during his expeditions to the Kirov oblast’ in 2015, 2017, 2021, and the regional media. In a multicultural region, inhabited by different ethnic groups, the Mari represent their identity through festive and sacred practices, as well as the veneration of local legendary rulers and heroes: Princes Akpatyr, Akmazik, Boltush (Poltysh) and others. Folklore heroes are objects of the religious cult of the Mari traditional religion, which is manifested in the ethnoregional self-consciousness of the Mari population. Legendary heroes are perceived by the local population as real historical characters. It is revealed that the beliefs in reality of the Mari heroes reflect the idea of the “golden age” of the history of the Vyatka Mari and their heroized past. The images of Boltush, Akpatyr are actively broadcast through the media, the ethnic component in education, local history literature. Thanks to the efforts of local activists, new objects of the cultural landscape emerge in the Malmyzhsky district - monuments at the sites of the symbolic burials of the Mari rulers. The conclusion is formulated that cultural activism, which appeals to the images of Mari folklore, plays a significant role in marking the ethnoregional identity of the Vyatka Mari people. In the text of the article the characters of the Mari folklore of Vyatka are considered in the context of identity. The obtained result allows to apply this theoretical framework for the study of folklore images in relation to the identities of ethnographic groups of the Mari and other peoples of the Volga region. The article is based on the dissertation “The system of mythological characters in the representation of the identities of modern Mari” for the degree of Candidate of Historical Sciences, defended in 2022 in the N.N. Miklukho-Maklay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The author reconstructs the regional historical experience of the anti-alcohol struggle in pre-revolutionary Russia. There is emphasized important practical significance of the problem under study in the context of solving problems of promoting a healthy lifestyle in modern Russian society. A wide range of historiographical literature and sources is involved, on the basis of which it is shown that by the beginning of the XX century in the work of the Ural guardianships of national sobriety there dominated the cultural and educational trend. The author comes to the conclusion that in late XIX - early XX centuries the guardianships of national sobriety failed to stop the spread of drunkenness in the region. However, despite the limited material resources allocated from the treasury, these institutions made a significant contribution to the organization of “reasonable” leisure for the Ural residents and to the development of the culture of the Ural society as a whole. The social support of guardianships of national sobriety in the Urals was one of the prerequisites for strengthening the temperance movement in the region during the period under review. Under the harsh conditions of the state-owned wine monopoly, the temperance movement was the spiritual and mental response of the public (secular and church) to the challenges of the time, and the promotion of the idea of sobriety was a palliative means of resolving this issue.

The author considers the influence of the main social institutions of the state and society on the socialization of school youth in the post-war decades. The use of archival materials and sources of private origin allows highlighting the behavior and leisure activities of adolescents aged 14-18 years. Based on the materials of the RSFSR, there is analyzed the contradictory impact of social reality on the moral and ethical standards of Soviet schoolchildren’s behavior declared by the Soviet state. At the same time, the focus is on urban school youth of the Southern Urals - the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Kurgan, Orenburg, Chelyabinsk regions during the Khrushchev Thaw. In addition to the high moral stability of the younger generation, which was required in the conditions of the ideological confrontation between the two systems, Soviet schoolchildren were seen as a powerful labor resource for restoring the economy and building the communist future. The author identifies numerous difficulties that hindered the formation of the “new man” of communist society. There are revealed the main activities of schools and out-of-school institutions for the education of Soviet youth. Special attention is paid to the study of social problems and offences among young people. The main reasons for the shift in moral and ethical standards of adolescents’ behavior are determined. It is concluded that in the conditions of contradictions of the state, society and school, a significant role in the socialization of youth was played by education in a team. The main institutions of the state and society formed in schoolchildren such moral qualities as honor, dignity, friendship, and mutual assistance.

The author analyzes the indicators reflecting the level of combat training of the units of the Moscow Military District in 1934-1940. There is considered the organization of the training process of units as one of the main components of effective military training. The data collection on the level of training of the Red Army personnel and headquarters commanders in the framework of tactical and marksmanship training is studied. The source base of the work was the office documents stored in the Russian State Military Archive. It is concluded that in the course of implementing the process of combat training of the Moscow Military District units, some progress was made. In particular, individual training of soldiers and small units increased; the results of shooting improved. At the same time, there were constant problems, such as the organization of the training, the shortage of qualified personnel, as well as the level of tactical training.

Based on the example of the history of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps and the 1st Yugoslav Infantry Brigade created on the territory of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War, there are revealed the peculiarities of the effectiveness of “foreign” military units on the territory of a third country. To date, these issues have not been sufficiently studied in historical science. The source base used in the research includes both published and unpublished documents from the funds of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, the Russian State Military Archive and Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. It is shown that despite similar conditions of the formation and assistance from the USSR, the destinies of the Czechoslovak army corps and the Yugoslav brigade were different. The former became a symbol of Czechoslovakia’s struggle against Nazism and the basis of the new Czechoslovak army, whereas the Yugoslav brigade underwent “reformatting”, “dissolved” in the People’s Liberation Army of Yugoslavia; it did not become the basis of the new Yugoslav army and then practically passed into oblivion. The author concludes that with regard to the effectiveness of the Czechoslovak army corps and the Yugoslav brigade, the decisive role was played by the relationship of their command with the main political participant in the process of creating these military units, on whose will both the achievement of the goals set and their very existence depended; the other factors were indirect.

The author has examined the correspondence of socio-religious figure and founder of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS) V.N. Khitrovo with Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod K.P. Pobedonostsev in the 1880s; the problem of propaganda of the Catholic and Protestant churches in the Holy Land is explored. It is shown that in his detailed reports, historical essays and letters V.N. Khitrovo informed K.P. Pobedonostsev about threats to Orthodoxy in the Holy Land. V.N. Khitrovo rightly supposed that the success of Western propaganda was due to the Western powers’ implementation of their national interests. The religious policy of France and the Protestant powers (England and Germany) was a “tool” for promoting their national interests. “Propaganda” and religious penetration of Western faiths manifested themselves in religious and political forms, which was embodied in the creation of educational institutions, hospitals, the spread of semi-secular women’s orders, and the education of the local population. V.N. Khitrovo associated the success of Catholicism with the activities of Latin Patriarch I. Valerga. A special way of penetration into the Holy Land was biblical research, one example of which was the activities of Victorian General Gordon. V.N. Khitrovo considered that the weakening of Orthodoxy in the Holy Land was due to not only modest funding, but also insufficient coordination of secular and church institutions of the Russian Empire in the implementation of state religious policy. The author comes to the conclusion that the correspondents had trust-based relations and similar views on major religious and political issues.