The struggle to choose the path of modernization in the late 1920s at the regional level: at the Plenums and reporting conference of the Uralobkom of the CPSU(b) in April 1928 – April 1929
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Original Article|Power and Public Administration
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The dramatic events of 1928-1929 – a memorable milestone in the history of Russia. The “Stalinist revolution”, which gave way to totalitarianism in all areas of the life of the Soviet state. The impulse of these events, the generator of changes, was the clash of ideas and methods of public administration at the five Plenums of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) in April 1928-November 1929. The Plenum of the Central Committee ‒ “Quasiparlament” of those years – considered the most important socio-economic and socio-political issues of the USSR; transformed the foundations of relations between the authorities and society, the leadership of the CPSU (b) and the party of the masses. However, the Central Committee apparatus controlled by Stalin conducted a purposeful campaign to process the heads of Republican and regional party organizations in the right direction. Representatives of the Ural Regional Party Committee still had the opportunity to tell the truth about the problems of the economy and the situation of workers.
But the analysis of the causes that gave rise to the crisis was already beyond the bounds of possibility: it objectively turned into a criticism of the “general course”, qualified as “opportunism”, incompatible with participation in the party ranks. At the same time, the content of speeches at the Plenums and the reporting conference of the Uralobkom of the CPSU (b) spoke more about the reluctance of regional functionaries to participate in inciting internal party discussion. As a result of the internal party struggle, the topic of the first Five-Year-plan ‒ the main subject of the discussion in the ruling party – was practically not touched upon at the Plenums and conferences of the Uralobkom in the “capital” of the industrial region. The province had only to prepare for the implementation of the general tasks accepted in the center.
But the analysis of the causes that gave rise to the crisis was already beyond the bounds of possibility: it objectively turned into a criticism of the “general course”, qualified as “opportunism”, incompatible with participation in the party ranks. At the same time, the content of speeches at the Plenums and the reporting conference of the Uralobkom of the CPSU (b) spoke more about the reluctance of regional functionaries to participate in inciting internal party discussion. As a result of the internal party struggle, the topic of the first Five-Year-plan ‒ the main subject of the discussion in the ruling party – was practically not touched upon at the Plenums and conferences of the Uralobkom in the “capital” of the industrial region. The province had only to prepare for the implementation of the general tasks accepted in the center.
Keywords: Ural region, Uralobkom, conference, party, CPSU(b), professionals, laborers, the NEP
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© Article. Mikhail A. Feldman, 2020.