Review: The topic of the living standards of population during the World War I remains polemical, namely due to the fact that worsening of food insecurity was traditionally regarded by Soviet historiography as one of the factors of escalation of revolutionary moods in the society. The article describes the dynamics of industrial protests during the wartime, which were caused shortage and costliness of food products. The research is based on the 2019 edition of the chronicle of industrial protests during the World War I, which contains information on the higher number of conflicts than that of materials used in earlier research. Assessment of the severity of food insecurity through the prism of industrial strikes demonstrates that the situation becomes critical by the beginning of 1917, gradually changing for the worse during the wartime. In the initial stages of the war, the demands for food provision and lowering the prices were expressed during the strikes in the remote provinces. Although in 1916, the provinces of the Central Industrial District take on the leading positions, the Moscow province is not among them. The employees of light industry, and particularly textile industry, were engaged in the strikes more often. By the end of 1916, the escalation of protest activity due to food insecurity issue is observed in Moscow and Petrograd provinces, involving the workers of metal industry and defense enterprises.

Keywords: arrests, factory shops, prices, workers 'living standards, food issue, World War I, strikes, economic demands, industry, workers' protest

Review: The subject of this article is a historical-political research of the key vectors of state-confessional policy of the USSR in the countries of the “people's democracy”, which received practical implementation within the framework of prevailing legal practices. Special attention is given to the analysis of intervention of Soviet diplomacy into state-confessional relations in the territory of the socialist Yugoslavia. After the end of the World War II, one of the largest religious organizations of the Yugoslav State, the Serbian Orthodox Church, faced multiple historical challenges. The course of historical process yielded this religious organization to opposition against the political elite of Yugoslavia. The outside “actors”, including Soviet Union, which relations with Yugoslavia deteriorated significantly during this period, sought to benefit from such situation. The novelty of article consists in tracing the correlation between the political-ideological discourses of state-confessional relations of middle of the XX century and modern practices of state-confessional policy of the Russian Federation. Examination of the genesis and practical implementation of the key vectors of “confessional diplomacy” of the Soviet Union is first and foremost associated with the practical implementation of Marxist political legal ideas in the area of “political compromise” with the “capitalist world”. The conclusion is made that historically, in the international “confessional diplomacy” of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church promoted the interests of the prevailing in USSR political regime, which affected the position of the Russian Orthodox Church on the international arena, as well as its internal affairs.

Keywords: history, diplomacy, factor, conflict, peace, church, religion, power, politics, geopolitics

Review: The object of this research is the antirecession policy of the United States during the Great Depression. The subject of this research The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, process of its adoption, and consequences. Special attention is given to the history of increase of tariffs on imported goods. The legislative bill drafted by congressmen R. Smoot and W. Hawley is considered one of the unsuccessful economic reforms in the history of the United States. The tax reform was conceived before the recession and was called to protect local farmers from excess of cheap foreign agricultural products on American markets. However, there was no substantial benefit from the increased tariffs on imports. Most historians find that this measure worsened the position of the lower classes of the population. There is also an opposing opinion that the legislation did not play a serious role in deepening of the recession. The article analyzes the extent of the impact of this legislation in the U.S. during the 1930s. The scientific novelty of this research consists in utilization of the transcripts of addresses of the members of U.S. Congress as the sources for research of the process of passing the legislation, as well as press materials in order to examine opinions on the legislative bill and consequences of increased tariffs. It is established that the adoption of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act had negative consequences for the economy, although not as severe as commonly cited. The impact of the new law was not as substantial on the background of the ongoing Great Depression. Passing of the protection measures took place almost simultaneously with other countries, with some countries raising the tariffs before the United States. The tax reform greatly affected the political situation in the United States, playing its role in diminishing the ratings of the President and the Republican Party. 

Keywords: the US trade policy, statistics, international relations, Herbert C. Hoover, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, protectionism, the USA, the Great Depression, the US tax policy, the US Agricultural policy

Review: This article is first in historiography to set the subject of the analysis as the political language of the “Notebooks of the Upper Ural political detention center” – a body of texts written by the incarcerated oppositionists of Communism during 1932-1933. These documents became part of public domain only as recently as 2018. They have practically not been implemented into the scientific discourse, which complicates the task of authorship, detailed reconstruction of the practices of creation and proliferation of the “notebooks”, but at the same time raises the relevance of these texts from the political and cultural perspectives.  The author poses the question of rhetorical and pragmatic peculiarities of the texts of various genre. The texts are viewed in the context of the discourse on the language of the 1920s and early 1930s, canonic formulas of writing of the revolutionaries, as well as the factor of incarceration and internal discussions among the authors. The article highlights similarities and dissimilarities with the so-called “Soviet language” in the aspects of usage of clichés, citation techniques and stylistics eclectics. A hypothesis is advanced that the stylistics of texts carried an imprint of the cultural level of the authors and the conditions of incarceration, combination of which showed traces of the canonical political narratives of the revolutionaries, as well as bureaucratized depersonified language. The conclusion is made that the “notebooks” served as support of collective identity of the oppositionists, and can be viewed as the language of opposition.

Keywords: Soviet Socialism, Stalinism, Soviet political history, Trotskyism, Soviet political language, communist opposition, Bolshevik-Leninist, USSR, anti-stalinism, Soviet repressions

Review: The subject of this research is the preventive measures aimed against extremist activity in the conditions of falsification of history in youth environment. Leaning on students’ survey results, questionnaire materials of the student youth of Kemerovo Oblast, Novosibirsk Oblast, Chelyabinsk Oblast and Altai Krai, the author analyzes the factors that create favorable environment for falsification of history and growth of extremist manifestations. The article demonstrates the principle of organization of measures for countering the proliferation of extremist ideologies among youth. The experience of Kemerovo State Medical University on preventing extremist activity, which can be also use in other secondary and higher educational institutions, is described. Extremist ideology that is based on erroneous interpretation of historical facts and events, i.e. intentional distortion of history, underlied any extremist activity. These two phenomena and interrelated. Therefore, prevention of extremist manifestations is impossible without understanding and countering the mechanisms of falsification of history. Knowledge of the Russian history among youth is an important tool in prevention of falsification of history, and thus, extremist activity. A significant part of preventive work should be conducted starting from middle school history classes. The formation of fundamental knowledge on the key events of the Russian history, sense of patriotism, skills of working with information among youth is the property vector of anti-extremist activity, and is impossible without systematic and extensive implementation of this direction in educational institutions, beginning in grade school and continuing through university. The author underlines the need for training pedagogical personnel and changing approaches in teaching history.

Keywords: The Great Patriotic War, historical memory, students, young people, prevention, extremist activity, falsification of Russian history, teaching history, Information Technology, Mass culture

Review: The subject of this research is the examination of the first stage of reforms of camp economy: its transformation after adoption of the Decree “On the Changes to the Development Plan of 1953”. The goal of this work consists in determination of consequences of the large-scale reduction of the economic activity of the GULAG. The question of impact of the Decree on the Changes to the Development Plan upon economic activity of forced labor has not previously been the subject of a separate research. The author analyzes the incidence of reduction of economic activity of the GULAG, as well as generalizes the data on the activity and fate of the forced labor camps assigned to the constructions under liquidation. The conclusion is made that the changes to the development plan of 1953 became the first and crucial step in the GULAG reforms, which predetermines its final liquidation in 1960. After adoption of the decree, work was immediately halted on twenty largest construction objects of the GULAG, combined cost of which amounted to 49.2 billion rubles.

Keywords: construction program, reform, forced labor, camp system of the USSR, economic activity of the Ministry of Internal Affairs USSR, camp economy, GULAG, Great construction sites of communism, economic efficiency, historiography

Review: This article is first to examine one of the lists of chronicle that goes under the code name “The Chronicle of the Exodus of the ancestors of the tribe Nahci from the Settlement of Nahcivan" (N. S. Semenov). Iznaur Nesserhoev – scribe of the list – names the chronicle “Tarikh Chachan”, which is taken as the basis in this article. H. U. Basnukaev translated the text of this list of manuscript; Z. A. Tesaev compiled the commentaries on the translation and conducted scientific research relying on analysis of the contents of manuscript and its comparison with other lists. The author carries out a comparative analysis between this version of “Tarikh Chachan” and the previously published materials (N. Semenov, P. Takhnaeva, A. Salgiriev, etc.) is carried out. Publication of the translation and examination of the contents of the manuscript “Tarikh Chachan” are performed for the first time. This article reveals the similarities, discrepancies and new records on the content of a number of other lists of the chronicle under review. The examined text of “Tarikh Chachan” indicated the new, previously unpublished details in the narrative dedicated to the personalities of the Kalmyk Khan – Nowruz Khan along with other Caucasian rulers of Kakhar and Surakat. The author observes the identity of the introductory part of the text and the main plotline in the lists of the aformentioned authors (N. Semenov, P. Takhnaeva, A. Salgiriev, etc.). The conclusion is made that this list of the chronicles "Tarikh of Chachan" is an additional source on the medieval history of the North Caucasus.

Keywords: Argvani, Surak, Kahar, Navruz, Iznaur Nesserhoev, Chechens, Nakhchuvan, Sham, Nashkha, Dagestan