Despite the gradual transformation and adaptation to local conditions, the Mongol military-administrative system, based on the decimal organization, continued to function for a long time. The widespread opinion about the lack of information about the Mongol Temniks and Thousanders operating in the Rus’ lands after the censuses of the taxable population in the mid-13th century requires revision, since it does not agree with the data of the Golden Horde and early Crimean documents. The inclusion of Temniks, Thousanders, Centurions and Tens (Desyatyniks) in the standard form of the khan’s yarlyk was not just a tribute to tradition, but also reflected the real structure of governance. Regular references to Tumens and decimal chiefs in the various documents of the 14th–15th centuries testify to the stability of this system. Yarlyks issued by the Horde khans to their subjects, including in Rus’ lands, secured the exemption of a charter recipients from paying taxes and performing various duties, the collection of which was directly carried out by decimal chiefs who governed the taxable population, organized according to the decimal principle. The Moscow princes, who sought to concentrate the collection of the khan’s tribute in their own hands and ultimately achieve liberation from the Horde power, consistently excluded from official documents any mention of the khan’s administrators responsible for fiscal measures. At the same time, the Golden Horde and post-Horde states rulers insisted on preserving the territorial-administrative units associated with the decimal system and their former chiefs, thereby striving to demonstrate a continuous connection with their powerful predecessors and ultimately legitimize claims to their legacy.
The study of the history of individual industrial sectors in the first decade of Soviet power allows for a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of economic development of Soviet Armenia and the specific ways in which the Soviet model of management was adapted to local conditions. The New Economic Policy (NEP), which marked the transition from “war communism” to a hybrid system incorporating market elements, created conditions for a combination of state regulation and limited private initiative, which was particularly evident in the food industry. The article analyzes the features of the restoration and functioning of Soviet Armenia’s brewing industry during the 1920s within the context of the socio-economic transformations of the NEP era. Using the examples of the Yerevan and Leninakan breweries, it demonstrates how pre-revolutionary industrial experience and local initiatives were integrated into the system of socialist administration and the emerging planned economy, while also examining administrative, financial, and personnel management mechanisms. The study is based on the principles of historicism and scientific objectivity; historical-genetic, historical-comparative, and historical-economic methods were applied, enabling the tracing the dynamics of the restoration and development of breweries during the NEP period. In the historiography of industrial development in Soviet Armenia, scholarly attention has traditionally focused on heavy and chemical industries, as well as sectors of light industry with large workforces, while small-scale enterprises remained on the periphery of research interest. Consequently, the history of Armenian brewing has not been the subject of specialized study until now. The research draws on archival documents, legal and regulatory acts, statistical data, and periodical publications of the 1920s, a significant portion of which is introduced into academic circulation for the first time.
The article analyzes the problems of organizing the production of motorized vehicles for disabled people in the USSR. The study is based on paperwork from the funds of the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Archives of Economics and the Russian State Archives of Contemporary History. The technical and operational characteristics of motorized wheelchair are known to specialists, however, the specifics of production at the Serpukhov Motorcycle Plant, which since 1951 was the only plant in the USSR to produce motorized vehicles, are not sufficiently covered by scholars. The studied materials indicate the impossibility of the plant to master the production of a technically complex machine. The motorized vehicles, in addition to design flaws, were distinguished by poor workmanship. Their cost remained high and caused the unprofitability of the plant. The article clarifies the circumstances of the beginning of the micro-cars design in the USSR with the possibilities of their using for the needs of people with physical injuries. The author presents the materials of the discussion on the feasibility of developing a full-fledged car or constructive improvement of motorized wheelchairs. It is concluded that the reason for the slow reconstruction of the Serpukhov Motorcycle Plant and the “non-technological” production of motorized wheelchairs was the reluctance of the Ministry of Automotive Industry and the plant’s administration to seriously engage in the introduction of labor-intensive operations against the background of the parallel development of a fundamentally different vehicle project for the disabled. As a result, instead of developing a functional specialized car, the country’s leadership made a choice in favor of releasing a general model of a micro-car and modifying it for the needs of disabled people.
The article focuses on reconstructing the stages in the development of Tyumen’s fortification system from in the late 16th–18th century, based on archaeological excavation materials from 2023–2024, written sources, and dendrochronological dating of the wood from cultural layers. The research has established the location and recorded the metric characteristics of the earliest defensive line — a palisade and ditch — that protected the Tyumen ostrog from its foundation in 1586. Following a major fire in 1687, which completely destroyed the wooden fortifications, the town was re-enclosed by a “standing ostrog”; its palisade trench was identified during the 2023 excavations. Additionally, the existence of a “lying ostrog”, protecting the posad from the field side since 1628, was archaeologically confirmed. These walls were constructed using the “zaplot” technique — two parallel timber walls made of horizontally laid planks, with the space between them filled with earth. Along the Tyumenka River, remains of a sparse palisade were documented, representing the latest known episode of riverside fortification of the posad and dated to the first half of the 18th century. These findings refine the chronology, topography, and structural features of Tyumen’s fortifications and make a significant contribution to the history of the city’s development.
Big-time sports necessarily implies the organization of large and expensive competitions, the issues of competent creative design of which are currently under the close attention of specialists studying the economics of sports. For the early Soviet era, the commercial component receded into the background, giving way to the demands of agitation and demonstration of the beauty and achievements of Soviet society, made possible thanks to the new government. Large-scale sports festivals began to be organized regularly from the late 1920s, and by the mid-1930s we can talk about developing their unique style. The present study is devoted to the identification and analysis of the components that made up the original design of Soviet sports competitions in the 1930s and, mainly, the economic aspects of their organization and holding. It focuses on the All-Union Spartakiad of Trade Unions, held in Leningrad in 1932. The Spartakiad was positioned as a dress rehearsal for a planned exemplary event, the 1933 Spartakiad in Moscow. The source base of the work was mainly made up of unpublished materials from the Central Bureau of Physical Culture of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, the central and regional trade union committees that participated in the Spartakiad, and the Leningrad Regional Council of Trade Unions, dedicated to its organization, conduct, and results. It is concluded that along with the overall positive assessment of the level of the games, there was a whole range of shortcomings that required prompt correction. In particular, problems arose with planning, lack of time for preparation, attracting spectators to most competitions, a suboptimal system of incentives for athletes, and insufficient media coverage. At the same time, the development of an ideal competition design forced to look for answers to questions that are still relevant today: the distribution of teams, promptness of financing provision, the optimal number of participants, possible quotas, for example, for national minorities. The situation was significantly corrected by the desire to militarize the sports movement, introduce a political and propaganda component, and focus on the development of those competitions that were recognized as useful, but were not necessarily popular among athletes and public.
The article analyzes the status of yasaul, an official who was in charge of troops disposition during military campaigns as well as for placing of the representatives of power elite at feasts and official arrangements in the Mongol Empire and its uluses. The functions of yasauls and requirements to candidates for this office are examined. The article includes the first Russian translation of valuable historical legal source — yarlyk (khan’s edict) on the appointment of yasaul from the “Dastur alkatib”, the medieval Persian treaty written by Muhammad b. Hindushah Nakhchivani, an official of Ilkhanate, ca. 1360. There are also the characteristics of specific historical figures who obtained office or rank of yasauls and played an important role in one or another Turkic-Mongol state. The authors trace the evolution of the status of yasaul for ages and try to find the reasons of transformation of these military administrators into courtiers and petty officers. The research is based on historical sources: legal and other official acts, contemporaries’ notes, historical chronicles. The analysis of information on yasauls proves an important role of these officials in the medieval Turkic-Mongol states and saving the institution later on, but with substantial transformation of status.
This article addresses the problem of interpreting the term “rubleny gorod” (literally “hewn town”) in the context of the history of Russian fortification during the 17th and 18th centuries. In modern his toriography, this concept is traditionally viewed as a generic term for wooden fortresses with walls composed of gorodni (log cribs) or tarasy (log frameworks). The author challenges this approach, pointing to the inadmissibility of terminological modernization and the groundless equation of distinct structural schemes. The study aims to determine the authentic meaning of the term based on a comprehensive analysis of written and archaeological sources from the indicated period. The research employs methods of statistical lexical analysis, chronological modeling of term usage, and geographical mapping of fortresses. The author analyzes the co-occurrence frequency of the terms “rubleny gorod”, “tarasy,” and “gorodni,” and verifies the findings using ethnographic materials and data from archaeological excavations (Yakutsk, Mangazeya, Turukhansk, Tomsk, and Udinsky Ostrog). The results demonstrate that the terms “rubleny gorod” and “tarasy” are almost never used together in sources to describe a single object, which suggests a semantic distinction between them. It is established that the widespread use of the term “rubleny gorod” chronologically coincides with the emergence of a new construction technology in the 1620s: erecting of two parallel horizontal log walls connected by cross-ties (pereruby). It is proven that it was precisely this structure, which replaced the archaic gorodni (separate log cribs), that was designated as a “rubleny gorod”. Thus, the author substantiates the need of revising established scientific notions: “rubleny gorod” is a strict term for a specific type of wall (two walls with cross-ties), rather than a synonym for any log fortress.
Based on the analysis of the biography of Terenty Semenovich Mal’tsev, a Soviet grain grower and innovator, twice awarded as Hero of Socialist Labour, the article demonstrates the role of philosophy in shaping his worldview and solving practical issues related to agriculture. It illustrates how T. S. Mal’tsev utilized philosophical concepts such as “possibility” and “reality” to challenge stereotypes in agronomy by testing various theories in practice. A key insight that T. S. Mal’tsev gained from his engagement with philosophy was the understanding that scientific progress should not be hindered by dogmas or perceived final truths. His pivotal conclusion emphasized the necessity for modern agricultural workers to possess both scientific and philosophical aptitudes while perceiving nature holistically, recognizing its intricate dialectical interdependencies. It is noted that, along with his knowledge of the works of Marxist philosophers, T. S. Mal’tsev was also well acquainted with other philosophical schools, which significantly enriched him as a person. For the first time in historical scholarship, the article argues that much of T. S. Mal’tsev’s success can largely be explained by the fact that his lifestyle and actions were consistent with the ethics of Russian Old Believer peasants. This was evident in his asceticism, modesty, diligence, and other qualities.
The article studies the situation that arose in the city community of Moscow because of a series of fires in the spring–summer of 1748. In contrast to other Moscow fires, the one in question has received virtually no coverage in historiography. However, in the fond of the Sysknoi Prikaz (Investigative Chancellery) a set of court cases was discovered, demonstrating that there was an atmosphere of suspicion and fear among Muscovites during those months. These previously unexplored cases form the basis of the study. The article aims to show how Muscovites took advantage of the circumstances to resolve conflicts within the community, as well as to get rid of outsiders. As the cases show, these were migrants, often foreigners, who were usually blamed for arson and theft from fires. ‘Praise words’ involving the fires in one way or another were also a valid reason for accusation. The author proposes to use the sociological term ‘moral panic’ as an explanatory model of the city dwellers’ behavior. In addition, the article explores the actions and reactions of the authorities to the dire situation in Moscow. A special commission under the leadership of Fyodor Ivanovich Ushakov was set up to search for ‘incendiaries’. The commission accepted and investigated all the petitions submitted by the citizens. On the one hand, it allowed the authorities to prevent lynching and direct the negative emotions of ordinary people in a controlled direction. On the other hand, by taking seriously every accusation, including those known to be groundless, the authorities fueled panic and stimulated baseless suspicions of Muscovites.
The article is devoted to the history of the formation of the police in 18th century Russia. Despite a significant number of works devoted to this topic, some issues related to the history of the emergence and functioning of police structures in the Russian Empire remain understudied. The analysis of historiography demonstrates that the problem of the introduction of police authorities throughout the country has not received adequate coverage. The article aims at identifying the extent and foundations of the functioning of the police structures created because of Peter I’s transformations. The study was based on the normative legal acts of the mid-17th — first quarter of the 18th century, as well as the records of the regional authorities in the 1720s–1750s. A comparative comparison of the texts of the legislative acts of the Moscow state of the second half of the 17th century, devoted to the protection of law and order, and Peter I’s legislation enables to conclude that they were similar in content, but differed in the rhetoric used. The paperwork documents showed that police officers did not operate in all administrative centers. It was not until 1733 that a decree was issued on the establishment of police chief’s offices in all governorate and several provincial cities. In the settlements that had fortifications, the police functions continued to be performed by the city officials. In addition, representatives from community structures were actively involved in law enforcement activities. It is noteworthy that the instructions to the city officials and the elected representatives of the communities were based on the provisions of the new legislative acts. Thus, there is continuity in the organization of the police in 18th century Russia. The new structures, built on the basis of the ideas of a regular state, were inevitably based on the foundations of the Moscow state’s security system.
The article examines the problem of overspending wage funds, which emerged in the Soviet economy during the second five-year plan. Its aim is to study, in the context of the wage reforms carried out during the second five-year plan, the causes and mechanisms of exceeding the wage fund on the example of a specific industrial enterprise. The object of the study was the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, the most advanced enterprise in the mid-1930s industry. The sources of the study were the materials from inspections on the correctness of wage calculations at this enterprise conducted in 1934 and 1935. These materials are stored in the United State Archives of the Chelyabinsk Region. The over-all growth of wages in relation to the growth of labour productivity is described from the perspective of the cost growth concept known as the Baumol effect. This concept explains the growth of labour costs by the presence of external and internal competition. It is concluded that the excess of wage funds during the period under consideration could only be partially explained by government policies. The “Baumol effect” was a much more significant factor, as it led to an increase in wages for all workers when one category of workers received higher earnings. The article also examined the forms of wage increases, both legal and manipulative.
The article is devoted to the discussion of the reliability of the harvest statistics of the Central Statistical Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In the previous articles by S. A. Nefedov and M. Ellman it was shown that in 1893 a reform of crop yield accounting was carried out, which led to a formal increase in the average five-year crop yield by 19 %. The introduction of the corresponding amendment to the pre-reform data leads to a change in traditional ideas about the development of agriculture in the Russian Empire, about the growth rates of the gross domestic product, about the dynamics of the consumption level — and ultimately affects the understanding of the causes of the Russian Revolution. This caused objections from I. A. Kuznetsov, who argued that the jump of 19 % was natural. In this article, using the Mann–Whitney U test, evidence is provided of the unnatural nature of this jump. Data are provided on the magnitude of the jump in crop yield in various provinces. In some cases, the average yield increased by 50 and even 70 %, which also indicates the incomparability of the CSC data before and after 1893. A comparison of the data from the Central Statistical Committee and the zemstvo statistics shows that in the 1880s there was an underestimation of crop yields, which was eliminated after the 1893 reform.
The paper examines the incident with Doctor Belopolsky, who was detained by peasants in Olonets Governorate during the cholera outbreak in the summer of 1831. It first entered public knowledge through the memoir of a government official by the name of Sokolov, published back in the 19th century. The memoir states that the peasants mistook Belopolsky for the “Polish Emperor”, believing that he was plotting against them. They intended to put him to death, but the doctor was rescued by the local ispravnik. However, this incident can be reconstructed in more detail on the basis of the investigation case file, which has been preserved in the archives. According to the case file, Belopolsky was indeed detained by peasants on suspicion of malicious intent. However, in other respects, the investigators’ version diverges from Sokolov’s story. The peasants suspected that, en route to their community, Belopolsky had poisoned the water in the Svir River. The mob attempted to find poison among Belopolsky’s belongings. The main instigators were peasants in charge of piloting ships along the Svir. The authorities managed to calm the peasants, and the doctor avoided any serious consequences. The Belopolsky incident was part of the cholera panic that gripped the European part of Russia in the summer of 1831, when members of the public accused one another, particularly strangers passing through their communities, of spreading poison under the guise of cholera. The archive-based reconstruction of what happened to Belopolsky shows serious discrepancies with Sokolov’s version, which significantly exaggerated the danger posed to the doctor by the peasants.
The article is devoted to a comprehensive study of clay toy pottery based on the analysis of written sources and archaeological collections obtained during the research of the cultural layer of the city of Ekaterinburg in the modern period (late 19th — early 20th century). The study of written data (statistical collections, exhibition catalogues, scientific research and ethnographic descriptions) made it possible to identify different types of toy tableware: pots, cranks, patches, jugs and teapots. These items were made both by craftsmen for sale and within the family by fathers or brothers for girls, and were part of the household goods when playing with dolls. According to ethnographers, toy household items were an important part of girls’ education in traditional culture. In addition, it was possible to trace the geography of the distribution of clay toy dishes and identify the main pottery centers for their production. Among the archaeological collections from the cultural layer of Ekaterinburg, 24 pieces of clay toy dishes were identified. They are either in an archaeologically intact state or in the form of fragments. These items replicate the main functional types of regular dishes, but do not exceed 10 cm in height. The study provides a description and classification of the findings. It identifies the manufacturing techniques and correlates them with the production of standard household ceramics. The study suggests a chronological range for the emergence of these items in the area under consideration. The article includes illustrations.
The article analyzes the 1950–1959 diary entries of Soviet citizens and aims at identifying the value judgments and reflections of citizens about new household appliances (refrigerators, televisions, vacuum cleaners, washing machines), as well as the practices of their use. The chronological dynamics of the severity of the topic in the diaries is outlined, and its causes are detected. The research was based on the diaries of 65 citizens of various professions (25 women and 40 men). Qualitative and qualitative-quantitative (content analysis) methods were applied to the diary entries, the results are visualized in two tables and three graphs. In total, 347 entries containing 374 mentions of household appliances were found in the diaries. Plots on the topic under study were more often found in the records of young people under the age of 30. In the chronological range, the theme was more pronounced in the entries of the second half of the 1950s, which was due to an increase in the production of household goods and an increase in the purchasing power of citizens. The spread of new household appliances in the USSR, a part of the urban standard of consumption of the 1950s, formed new practices of everyday life and leisure for citizens, reflected in the language and folklore of the period. The television enjoyed the greatest attention of the population, combining the practices of cultural recreation (both individual and collective) and the desire for technological progress. At the same time, this standard of material consumption was not available to the majority of the country’s population, especially in the first half of the 1950s.
The study focuses on the poorly studied issues of reforming the Soviet sports management system and the formation of communicative practices of the institute of public administration in this sphere of social life. The chronological framework of the study: from the establishment of the Sports Committee in 1936 to its abolition in 1959. The novelty of the study lies in the use of a neo-institutional approach and the expansion of the source base through new archival documents from the State Archives of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Archives of Contemporary History and the Russian State Archives of Socio-Political History. The study found that the plans and goals of the 1936 reform (to create a departmental body for managing physical education and sports, to quickly increase the coverage of sports among the population, to raise the level of high-performance sports) turned out to be difficult to achieve. The 1930s political repressions and the interference of Stalin’s entourage in the sphere of sports were the reason for frequent changes in the leadership of the Sports Committee, which did not have the necessary symbolic capital to achieve the objectives. It was revealed that trade unions and the Komsomol retained an active independent role in sports management. The Sports Committee’s zone of influence gradually expanded after the USSR joined the international sports movement and in connection with preparations for the 1952 Olympic Games. It was established that the reforms of 1953–1954 and 1959 were determined not by physical culture and sports factors, but by the political context and ideological attitudes.
The article analyzes the key technological changes in the USSR pulp and paper industry in the 1920s — early 1940s and their impact on the potential of the Stakhanov movement and the economic policy of the state. It is noted that the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, possessing large reserves of forest resources, lacked technologies for their deep processing. The key task was to create institutional, material and social conditions for borrowing and developing technologies: the acquisition of imported technologies, the deployment of specialists to leading countries in the pulp and paper industry, the creation of a training system, scientific institutions, machine-building enterprises. The successes and contradictions in the development of the industry were caused by the long-term construction of enterprises, underestimation of advanced technologies, and the authorities’ desire to increase workers’ productivity and improve product quality. Analyzing the features of the Stakhanov movement in the pulp and paper industry made it possible to establish that its tasks could not be fully realized in a technologically complex industry. At the turn of the 1930s and 1940s, due to the military threat, party-state and economic bodies, scientific research institutions, having many technologies, relied on improving product quality. The development and implementation of technological modes became the main way to solve the problem. They contributed to the transformation of the Stakhanovite movement in the industry: Stakhanovites began to be required to slightly exceed the standards for the quantity and quality of production.
