Andrey Lvovich Belonogov,
Postgraduate Student, Saint-Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Senior Cadres of the Leningrad Party Organization in 1935–1940
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2023-1-11
The article analyses the staff of the Leningrad party organization in 1935–1940. The sample group includes approximately 50 senior party cadres, holding within this timeframe the positions of department heads and bureau members of the city party committee. By analyzing their personal characteristics the “collective portrait” of the leading Leningrad party worker was shown in its dynamics. The article evaluates and compares the mobility of the personnel of two types of senior staff party officials. The evaluation of their previous career advancement enables to find out the basic principles and recruitment criteria in the Leningrad city party committee and to define what social institutions can be regarded as primary recruitment sources. The article also clarifies to what extent such characteristics as professional and party experience as well as social background of the employees were being taken into consideration. Tracing the career advancement and further destiny of the party functionaries, the article defines to what extent the Leningrad party institutions were affected by political repressions and how active the leading regional party officials were in conducting the purges within their own ranks. Party employees that had the highest risk of falling victims of political repressions were also identified. The study concludes that the general trend of constant personnel replacement and rapid pace of cadre mobility did not lead to forming the regional Leningrad party elite.
Publishing: 28/02/2023
The article has been received by the editor on 01.12.2022
How to cite: Belonogov A.Yu. Senior Cadres of the Leningrad Party Organization in 1935–1940 // Historical Courier, 2023, No. 1 (27), pp. 141–153. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2023/ISTKURIER-2023-1-11.pdf]
Links: Issue 1 2023
Keywords: Leningrad city Communist party committee; party apparatus; senior party cadres; characteristics of personnel; personnel mobility; collective portrait; political repressions and purges