Olga Vyacheslavovna Filippenko,
PhD (Dr. Phil.), Novosibirsk State University of Economics and Management, Novosibirsk, Russia, e-maill: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Special Settlers in the Elections of 1946/1947
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2024-1-14
This article analyzes typical behavioral patterns used by Western Siberian special settlers during their participation in the 1946 Soviet Union Supreme Soviet and 1947 RSFSR Supreme Soviet elections (demonstrative activism, conformity, protest). The elections are considered a typical mobilization campaign of the Stalinist period, accompanied by large-scale ideological work aimed at bringing society into an active state. The study is based on reports from district and regional NKVD/MVD departments, special settlement departments of the MVD, and local Communist Party committees. The author concludes that the elections were a ritual in which not only special settlers but also representatives of the authorities participated. The former were ready to participate in government performances, avoiding extreme forms of activism and protest, while the latter confirmed their loyalty, outwardly demonstrating their maximum interest in achieving party goals. Based on this, the author evaluates the effectiveness of Stalinist mobilization campaigns – over time, they became an element of everyday life and no longer aroused enthusiasm among the population. The above allowed the author to present the process of adaptation and integration of discriminated groups into Soviet society as a school of conformity.
Publishing: 28/02/2024
The article has been received by the editor on 28/10/2023
How to cite: Filippenko O.V. Special Settlers in the Elections of 1946/1947 // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 1 (33), pp. 201–213. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-1-14.pdf]
Links: Issue 1 2024
Keywords: special settlers; elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1946; elections to the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR in 1947; Western Siberia; Stalinism; mobilization campaigns; election campaigns