Abstract: This article is dedicated to the activity of the national security authorities of USSR aimed at information awareness of the leadership of the country during the pre-election campaign and elections of the 1937-1938. The author analyzes the normative legal acts of the described period, as well as the archive materials (including the introduced into the scientific discourse for the first time) for the purpose of determination of the main legal moments in the activity of the employees of the law enforcement agencies on implementation of the aforementioned direction of activity. The article raises questions with regards to the correspondence of the certain methods of criminal repressions to the realities of the described period, as well as the increase of the efficiency of law enforcement activity of the government authorities in the 1930’s. The scientific novelty is defined by the introduction into the scientific circulation of the new archive materials, as well as the conducted comparative legal analysis of the normative legal acts, which regulated one of the directions of the national security branches of USSR on protection of the constitutional structure in the 1930’s, and the achieved results.  The author attempted to comprehensively examine large volume of historical and legal sources, be as ideologically unbiased in analyzing these phenomena and processes as possible, and based on that substantiate the conclusions.

Abstract: The subjects of research are the legal rules governing liability for treason in Soviet legislation pre-war and war period. The authors consider the totality of social relations associated with the adoption, the further development and implementation of the enforcement provisions of the criminal legislation in the sphere of protection of security of the USSR. This article discusses the causes and conditions of formation of the Institute responsible for treason, criminal and legal description of the offences with treasonous activities, and are characterized by norms of emergency legislation wartime on the subject. Methodological basis of the study was the principles of historicism and objectivity, which helped the authors to conduct an in-depth study of the documentary sources and historical facts, to establish a causal connection between them. Scientific novelty of the research is determined not only by the comparative-legal analysis of the normative legal acts, regulating the Foundation of the prosecution for treason, but the fact that the authors identified a number of features of the legal Institute in its historical development, and outlined the main directions of law-making and enforcement in this area.