Filimonchik, S. N. HOW THE FORTRESS PARTY WAS CREATED IN KARELIA: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE 1930s // Proceedings of Petrozavodsk State University. 2020. Vol. 42. No 6. P. 91–99. DOI: 10.15393/uchz.art.2020.521


Russian history

HOW THE FORTRESS PARTY WAS CREATED IN KARELIA: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE 1930s

Filimonchik
S. N. 		Petrozavodsk State University
Keywords:
Karelia
the Communist Party
industrialization
ideology
elections
repressions		 Summary: Studying the history of the regional party organization, which played a key role in the political life of Karelia, is important for understanding the functioning of the Stalinist model of power at the regional level. The article considers the dynamics of the size of the regional party organization in 1933–1939 and the main areas of work of the leading party bodies in Karelia. For the first time the interaction of these bodies with the councils (the Soviets) and intelligence services in the context of political reform and mass repressions was studied. This is the first article that characterizes the increase in control over the social composition of the party organization and the public position of the communists. The regional politicians who formed the idea of Karelian autonomy as an outpost of socialism in the North of Europe during the Civil War were physically eliminated. The managers sent by the Leningrad Regional Party Committee to replace the “Red Finns” sought to unify work with the request of the center, but since the Leningraders actively searched for Trotskyists and Zinovievites, the new elite was soon subjected to severe persecution. Due to the proximity of the border, massive lawlessness was cynically justified by rising military threat. Management powers were given to the activists who made a career after the defeat of the opposition in the era of Stalin’s leadership and were personally loyal to the leader. The articles uses chronological and historical-critical methods.



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