Oleg Nikolaevich Argunov,
Candidate of Historical Science, Kursk State Archive, Kursk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Some Aspects of the Struggle for “Socialist Legality” in Agriculture in the Regions of the Central Black Earth Region in the First Post-War Years
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2024-4-8
Currently, domestic historiography approaches the understanding of the concept of “socialist legality” through the prism of its understanding in relation to the period of existence of the Soviet state before 1936, while by the post-war stage of the life of the USSR this concept had evolved significantly and began to be understood as the unity of political expediency and socialism, legal consciousness that gave priority to the needs of the state, identifying it with the ruling class. Therefore, the observance of “socialist legality” in the post-war years should be understood as the protection of the interests of the state. In relation to agriculture, this was expressed mainly in the fulfillment of obligations by collective farms and agricultural enterprises to the state and the preservation of state and collective farm property. Speaking about the Central Black Earth region, which included the Voronezh, Kursk and Tambov regions, it should be noted that the problem of observing “socialist legality” is inextricably linked with the issues of overcoming the consequences of military devastation, drought and famine that covered the region in 1946–1947. It was during this period that one could observe an explosive increase in the number of crimes related to the theft of socialist property. The main object of theft on collective farms was grain: it was the theft of bread that accounted for the vast majority of criminal cases opened during this period. However, archival documents record that due to the poor organization of the work of security agencies and prosecutors in the districts, as well as due to the involvement of their workers in additional work, the recording and detection of crimes was at a low level. At the same time, if cases were formed, they tried to investigate them quite thoroughly. Therefore, it can be stated that the work on the struggle for “socialist legality” in the agriculture of the Central Black Earth Region in the post-war years was carried out quite seriously and generally successful, but a full study of this issue is just beginning.
Publishing: 28/08/2024
The article has been received by the editor on 01/05/2024
How to cite: Argunov O.N. Some Aspects of the Struggle for “Socialist Legality” in Agriculture in the Regions of the Central Black Earth Region in the First Post-War Years // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 4 (36), pp. 102–111. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-4-08.pdf]
Links: Issue 4 2024
Keywords: post-war time; “socialist legality”; Agriculture; collective farms; the prosecutor’s office; Central Black Earth Region