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Reference:

Sources for the reconstruction of the "parade" and "non-parade" portraits of students of the state labor reserves (1904–1950s)

Larionova Marina Barievna

ORCID: 0000-0003-4969-0527

PhD in History

Associate professor; Head of the Department of Documentation, Law, History and Russian Language; Russian State Vocational Pedagogical University

620000, Russia, Sverdlovsk region, Yekaterinburg, Mashinostroiteley str., 11, office 2-511

marin.lar@mail.ru

DOI:

10.7256/2454-0609.2023.6.69119

EDN:

XGRVAU

Received:

25-11-2023


Published:

02-12-2023


Abstract: The socio-cultural appearance of students in the system of state labor reserves has not been the subject of special study by specialists. At the same time, the creation in 1940 of the system of state labor reserves of the USSR was accompanied by the formation of a specific social group, the study of the socio-cultural characteristics of which will complement the already existing ideas about the working youth of the Soviet period. The subject of the study are documents as historical sources. The object is students of the system of state labor reserves as a separate social group. The purpose of the article is to present a corpus of official documents and documents of personal origin, which are historical sources for the reconstruction of stable, integral images of students, forming the basis of "ceremonial" and "non–parade" portraits as a set of characteristics (markers) aimed at highlighting socio-demographic features, cultural values and mental characteristics, behavioral practices and appearance of representatives of this social group. The methodological basis of the research is the methods of source analysis and synthesis, which allow to reveal the content component of documents for the study of the declared topic. The results of the study are: 1) the allocation of six types of historical sources from the official records of the central and regional labor reserves management bodies to fiction, allowing to reconstruct the "parade" and "non-parade" portraits of students of the state labor reserves system as a separate social group; 2) disclosure of the information potential of these six types of historical sources, taking into account their source-study features for the reconstruction of the socio-cultural appearance of students.


Keywords:

state labor reserves, ceremonial portrait of a student, non-parade portrait of a student, factory training schools, vocational schools, railway schools, socio-cultural image, cultural values, appearance, behavioral practices

This article is automatically translated. You can find original text of the article here.

The system of state labor reserves created in the 1940s, aimed at training personnel to solve the problems of the country's economy, included a network of craft and railway schools, factory training schools, whose pupils received more attention from the state, especially noticeable in conditions of mass hunger and poverty. The students were fully supported by the state, they were provided with housing, food, and clothing. A specific socio-cultural environment was formed, artificially uniting representatives of different social groups with a paramilitary system, with different lifestyles and personal ideas, forced to coexist together for a long period of time. The established rules of behavior, norms, and traditions adopted and implemented among this social group, set by the Soviet ideology and the system of state labor reserves being implemented, led to the formation of an official, "ceremonial" image (portrait) of students, broadcast by official sources. At the same time, the real conditions in which teenagers found themselves were far from ideal, and individual manifestations of non–compliance with accepted norms caused censure from the leadership and the state and were suppressed in every possible way. But it was precisely such a demonstration of an atypical, individual, reflecting protest practices that led to the formation of an "unremarkable" image (portrait) of students.

The historiography of the study of the system of state labor reserves and its students is rich and diverse. The first works appeared back in the 1950s, mainly devoted to the economic efficiency of using trained labor for the needs of the state [1, 2], then the legal aspects of training young workers came to the attention of researchers [3]. The experience of the existence of this system in certain regions of the country was studied [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] and in the space of the former USSR: in Kazakhstan [12], Turkmenistan [13], Belarus [14, 15] and many others. In the early 2000s, a number of specialists came to conclusions about the ineffectiveness of this system in terms of training workers and providing them to industrial enterprises [11]. In recent years, the research field of scientific directions has expanded: the mechanisms of adaptation of students of educational institutions [16, 17], the organization of their nutrition [18], education [19, 20], accommodation [21], appearance [22] are being studied. Western historiography has also shown interest in students of the State labor reserve system. These are the works of British historians Donald Filtzer, who proved on the basis of sources "the reluctance of young people to work in a number of extractive, heavy and unhealthy industries" [23], and Olga Kucherenko, who presented the activities of state labor reserves as a process of "socialization and indoctrination of youth deprived of the right to choose a profession for the sake of meeting the needs of industry" [24]. Thus, we can talk about the emerging process of rethinking the role and importance of the state system of training qualified personnel formed in Soviet times and the emergence of interest in the socio-cultural appearance of students, especially in its non-paraded manifestations as elements of the subculture of this social group, influencing, among other things, the potential for updating the system itself.

The reconstruction of the portrait is based on a set of certain characteristics (markers) aimed at highlighting socio-demographic characteristics, cultural values and mental characteristics, behavioral practices and appearance of representatives of this social group, allowing to show the demographic, psychological and socio-cultural appearance of students of the system of state labor reserves. Considered in the context of compliance and non-compliance with accepted norms and traditions, these markers characterize the "ceremonial" and "non-parade" portraits of working youth [25].

To reconstruct the portrait of students of the state labor reserves, we used several groups of sources. These are office records, newspaper periodicals, posters and flyers, photographic documents, ego documents or sources of personal origin, fiction.

The office documentation includes official documents formed as a result of the activities of the central and regional labor reserve management bodies. These are the published resolutions of the central authorities that set the vectors for the development of the system. It all started with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "On State Labor Reserves", signed on October 02, 1940, which, among other things, also laid down gender and age requirements for conscripted (mobilized) youth, depending on the type of educational institutions [1]. A number of resolutions and orders of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) (for example, dated 01/27/1941 No. 204 "On additional measures for the preparation of state labor reserves in factory training schools in 1941" [2], dated May 24, 1944 No. 11249-r "On the distribution to People's Commissariats and departments of students graduating schools of factory training [3], dated October 4, 1943 No. 1083 "On the next call of young people to schools of the Federal Law, craft and railway schools" [4], etc.) were aimed at improving the efficiency of the functioning of the formed system of labor reserves.

More precise requirements for mobilized students, allowing to see how the process of selection and formation of a special social group of working youth took place, were specified at the level of the relevant department – the Main Directorate of Labor Reserves, the archival fund of which is stored in the State Archive of the Russian Federation [5]. They were recorded primarily in the orders. The order, as the main administrative document based on the adoption of a sole decision, contains important provisions for guidance to action. The established bureaucratic management system in the country implied a system of control and punishment for non-compliance. Copies of the orders of the Main Directorate of Labor Reserves were sent to regional departments, so we can find them in the archival collections of regional archives [6]. The orders were aimed at building up the established system of work of state labor reserves, touched upon the organization of the educational process, payment for teaching staff, construction and commissioning of new buildings and premises for training and living in dormitories. The orders preserved information directly related to students, allowing them to obtain information for socio-demographic and external appearance, behavioral practices set by the official ideology. For example, the joint order of the People's Commissariat of Health of the USSR and the Main Directorate of Labor Reserves under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR No. 510/15 dated October 22, 1940 obliged to undergo medical examinations before enrollment, approved a list of diseases and physical disabilities that prevent enrollment. All types of active tuberculosis, syphilis, pronounced spinal deformities, etc. were noted in the list of health restrictions. At the same time, this list was expanded for the professions of the metallurgical, chemical, oil industry, mining and construction, railway and water transport, heart disease, otitis media, bronchial asthma, etc. were added to common diseases [7]

The order of the Main Directorate of Labor Reserves dated 11/06/1940 No. 39 "On uniforms for students of craft and railway schools" established requirements for uniforms, which were to include a greatcoat with distinctive signs on buttonholes and buttons, and distinctive signs on a cap, tunic, trousers and belt. This laid down the requirements for the appearance of students. Order No. 81 of December 09, 1940 prescribed "to establish proper order in colleges and schools, Bolshevik discipline, constant supervision of students in their studies and industrial work, in everyday life, dormitories, ensuring accurate and consistent compliance with the instructions of administrative and pedagogical staff, caring, careful attitude to equipment, tools, teaching aids, inventory... The strengthening of educational and industrial discipline should be carried out on the basis of daily explanatory work among students" [8].

The orders serve as a source not only for identifying the rules established by the system, but they reflect the real situation in schools and the problems that were identified, especially after inspections, and which indicate violations, and in our case, they serve as a source for highlighting "non–standard" practices. This picture is especially vividly reflected on the basis of the orders of the Sverdlovsk regional Department of Labor Reserves. So, for example, in the order of the regional administration dated January 06, 1944, the revealed violations of the internal regulations by students in the city of Sverdlovsk and Nizhny Tagil are listed: for example, many thefts were committed at the vocational school No. 23, fights occur; at the school of the Federal Law No. 44, six people were handed over to the police for theft, "they began to rampage drunkenly", the other two girls committed thefts in private apartments; students of another school attacked workers of a shoe factory with weapons in their hands, from whom they took off coats, felt boots, etc. In response to these identified situations, the Department tightens the internal regulations: "visiting public places only in an organized manner ...", "immediately remove all cold weapons and sharp things (knives, hairpins, etc.), check all bedside tables and tables in dormitories, as well as personal belongings of students", "strengthen the political, mass and cultural educational work" [9].

Another group of sources consisted of organizational and legal documents, which include instructions, rules, and regulations that set certain standards for management and in accordance with which the work of departments and subordinate organizations is carried out. For example, the Instruction "On the arrangement of equipment and maintenance of dormitories of the bed type of vocational schools, railway schools and schools of factory training of the Main Directorate of Labor Reserves under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR", approved on November 20, 1940 by P. Moskatov, contained not only requirements for the arrangement and equipment of dormitories, but also set the rules that had to be observed: "regular visits to the sauna, a haircut for a typewriter once every three months... change of bed linen at least once every 10 days.... All rooms must be kept clean and tidy..." [10]. And the Rules of internal regulations and behavior of students of craft, railway schools and factory training schools of the Ministry of Labor Reserves of the USSR, approved on March 15, 1947, preserved in the fund of the Sverdlovsk Regional Department of Labor Reserves [11], set the boundaries of permissible "ceremonial" (ideal) behavior, following which was mandatory: "persistently and persistently to study in order to become a skilled and cultured worker and bring as much benefit to his Soviet Homeland as possible.... To protect the honor of your school... to protect the national heritage.... He must have a cheerful and fit appearance, always be neat and tidy, dressed in uniform and polite to everyone ..." [12].

Another group of office documentation consists of transcripts and minutes of meetings. Documents at the regional level turned out to be available, such as: minutes of meetings of the educational and production Council under the head of the Sverdlovsk Regional Department of the Ministry of Labor Reserves, held on February 26, 1948 [13], transcripts of meetings of school principals of the Federal Law of January 06, 1941, the main directorate of labor reserves with deputy directors for the political part of January 25, 1943.[14], verbatim report of the regional meeting of directors of vocational schools and schools of the Federal Law of March 12, 1945 [15] and many others. Transcripts and protocols have been preserved in the typewritten text in a single copy, externally there are no semantic or contextual edits, typos are rarely corrected. In the transcripts, unlike the dry, businesslike, "clerical" language of organizational and administrative documents, we come across a detailed colloquial speech of the speakers: the head of the regional department and school principals. Meetings were usually organized according to the following algorithm: the head defined tasks, gave instructions on what to pay attention to, and the directors present during the debate talked about the state of affairs in educational institutions, shared their experiences and voiced problems. Therefore, these documents for the reconstruction of the "ceremonial" and "non-ceremonial" portraits of students are the most important, despite the difficulty of analyzing the completeness and reliability of this information due to the lack of primary draft records. The meetings had a thematic focus, but almost always they talked about students, about the need to build and organize the educational process, extracurricular, educational work. For example, the first meeting of Alexander Filippovich Putintsev with the principals of the Federal Law Schools was devoted to the problem of the existing composition of schools: "I must say," Putintsev's words are noted in the transcript, "that we have it in a completely unsatisfactory state today. On January 2, out of a total of 8,200 people in the schools of the Federal District, we have only 6,642 people in classes, over one and a half thousand children are not present in classes" [16]. At the same meeting, the problems of organizing theoretical and practical training (lack of curricula), issues of remuneration for students, problems of providing workwear, organization of everyday life and many other issues were identified: "I must say," the words of the head of the Department are noted in the transcript, "that we have an alarm signal when a rash is found in one school [typhus, which is spread by lice – M. L.], and this, as you know, in the absence of sufficient hygiene, can lead to a general disease, because if there are lice, then you will not protect children from the disease. Of course, all this is a trifle, but everyday life is made up of small things..." [17]. There were problems with nutrition: "... For example, cabbage 400 gr. – he said, – they should have put it, and when they outweighed it turned out to be 200 gr. As a result, the guys did not eat enough for lunch, they leaned on bread, there was not enough bread. Of course, the calorie content is not high and the poet had to eat more bread. There are often complaints that you are missing 750 grams of bread. The check shows that the school for 200-250 people has 40 kg of bread waste. This leaves almost 200 grams of waste per pupil..." [18]. This information can be interpreted in different ways: the state knows about the problems, designates them and solves them, on the one hand, on the other, the real conditions in which teenagers lived and faced daily are shown, and it was from these little things that the everyday lives of working youth were built. Therefore, these transcripts are an important source for reconstructing the "non-paraded" everyday practices of students.

In general, this body of office documentation has a high level of relevance for the reconstruction of ideal and non-paraded images of students, gives a multidimensional and dynamic picture of the lifestyle of this social group, allows you to recreate a socio-demographic and gender portrait, behavioral practices, living conditions, and the appearance of students.

The following type of sources was compiled by newspaper periodicals. A specific feature of newspapers was its versatility: various genre materials were printed: official reports, reports, interviews, announcements, memoirs of students of educational institutions of State labor reserves. The question of the essential specifics of the press as an information source is not unambiguous. A number of researchers agree on a wide information potential and recommend using it to develop various scientific topics. Others note the bias of the press as a tool for forming an "ideologically correct picture of the world order" among the population [26], because "the press has never been free, and therefore objective", has always "had a master", that is, expressed the interests of the state in our case [27, p. 623].

The files of the regional press of the Great Patriotic War period have been reviewed. These are the newspapers of the organ of the Sverdlovsk regional and city committees of the CPSU (b) "Ural Worker" and small factory towns of the Sverdlovsk region – Pervouralsk – "Under the banner of Lenin", Polevsky – "For the Bolshevik pace", Reza – "Bolshevik". The use of the content analysis method of the identified newspaper articles and the analysis of the most frequently used words made it possible to complete the holistic "ceremonial" images associated with patriotic sentiments: ("There is no doubt that the newly conscripted youth will eagerly and enthusiastically master professions that are especially needed by the Motherland in wartime conditions. Young patriots will invest their labor in the sacred cause of the struggle against the fascist invaders, will help to defeat the bloody fascist hordes as soon as possible..." [19]), a hero of labor and an advanced innovator of production ("Already undergoing practical training at the factory, they showed samples of Stakhanov's work. Many of them during their studies not only fulfilled, but also exceeded the standards for the production of personnel workers" [20]; "In their statements they promise to study "well" and "excellent", observe labor discipline, be honest citizens of our Homeland" [21]; "At vocational school No. 6, many students in they have mastered the specialties perfectly and, having taken up production positions instead of those who went to the front, they fulfill and exceed the norms" [22]) and "excellent studies" ("Masters and students have committed themselves to master the theory and practice of industrial training only with "excellent" and "good" [23]; "Some of us have passed tests for "good" and "excellent" in all subjects [24]; "I have good grades in practice… Komsomolets Toptun from the group of master T. masters are mastering the business perfectly. Dunaeva. They have good grades..." [25]. But as part of the study of the topic related to the reconstruction of the image of students, newspaper articles are an indispensable source that allows you to describe the "ceremonial" portrait of students, set by the ideological attitudes of the state.

Posters and leaflets occupied a special place in the culture of the USSR. Source scientists believe that "they can be considered as a new type of sources" [27, p. 510]. They were widespread everywhere, including among students of educational organizations of the state labor reserves: they hung in the dining room, in dorm rooms, in the red corner, library, rest rooms and training rooms, "everywhere" accompanying the daily routine of a young future worker [28]. "The wide courtyard behind the entrance was lined with portraits and posters. From the portraits, the leaders, big as giants, looked at the guys, posters called for increasing the production of cast iron, steel and rolled products" [29]. The artistic image was a powerful visual and verbal tool that motivates students to take certain actions, was used as a means of educating and forming intellectual, ideological, political, spiritual, moral, and labor abilities [30]. The content of the posters correlated with national values, guidelines for the correct behavior of a young citizen and complemented the "ceremonial" images of a "patriot" ("Wear with honor", "Be a worthy son of the Motherland!"), "hero of labor and an advanced innovator of production" ("Learning skills is always useful!"; "It's good to have skillful hands. Love work!"; "Cultivate a love of work!"; "More metal, more tools"), "excellent student" ("Study perfectly!"; "Study for five!"; "I will learn!") and "ideal citizen" ("If you want to be healthy, get tough!", "Daily routine!"; "Help mom!"; "Learn to do everything yourself!").

In the Documentation Center of public organizations of the Sverdlovsk region, photo albums of students of the metallurgists school No. 5 in Serov, the railway school No. 1 in Kamyshlov, the craft school No. 25 in Nizhny Tagil, the craft school No. 20 in Novaya Lala, the school of the Federal Law No. 37 in Kamensk-Uralsky and others have been preserved [26]. The photographs depict scenes of students' lives: theoretical and practical training, meals in the dining room, morning exercises, performances on holidays, and more. The peculiarity of photographic documents is that this type of document arises at the time of events and at the place of events, they have inexhaustible information saturation. But the issues of their source analysis remain practically unexplored, without attention in modern textbooks on source studies. In fact, the only work devoted to the analysis of audiovisual documentation and photographic documents, as one of the types, at the junction of archival science and source studies, is the monograph by V. M. Magidov [31]. It becomes quite obvious that all the scenes captured in the photographs were staged, they were carefully thought out and selected for placement in "ceremonial" albums, where there was no place for random images. At the same time, these plots allow you to visualize the appearance of students, and highlight the given behavioral practices of working youth, thereby completing the integrity of the "ceremonial" portrait of students.

Information from official documents is supplemented with information from sources of personal origin or ego documents. These are mostly memoirs and diaries, less often letters, the authors of which were both the students themselves and persons who indirectly encountered working youth. Recently, special attention has been paid to these sources. This is due to the "obvious drift of the historian's research interest from the study of events to the study of states" [32, p. 6]. They are being actively introduced into scientific circulation. They are studied to understand the worldview, mental attitudes, and cultural values of the authors. The process of identifying them is complicated and incomplete.

The publications of the students are now available on the personal pages of the authors' websites: for example, a former military lieutenant colonelSlavkin S. devoted the third chapter of his memoirs "Grimaces of one Life" to studying at a vocational school [33]; they are exhibited on social networks: for example, the Aramil Museum published memoirs of local historian Alexander Vasilyevich Korovin about the school of the Federal Law of the Aramil Cloth Factory with photographs [34]. Memoirs are actively published on the pages of scientific journals: for example, a couple of historians Pavlenko from Chelyabinsk prepared and published Vladimir Denisovich's memoirs about studying at the technical school No. 1 in Chelyabinsk "Forge of workers" [35]. Finally, they are published in separate editions [36].

The youth's notes on their studies were published in the periodical press. So, a student of the school of the Federal Law No. 24 in Kamyshlov, welder Vladimir Korkin, told by his example how he turned from a violator and a slob into an excellent student and a professional in his field [27]. The fund of the State Archive of the Russian Federation also deposited personal testimonies of some pupils: for example, in a letter from a student of RU No. 4 (Nizhny Tagil) Serebryakov, illustrated by the military censorship of the NKGB of the USSR in 1943, contains an indication of possible ways to get rid of unbearable living and working conditions at the school: "They feed us rotten potatoes and cabbage. It's cold in the dorm. They don't give me shoes, I go to the factory almost barefoot. My legs are full of sores and boils, both at night and roaring. I'll run away anyway, if I don't run away, I'll kill myself, but I won't live here" [28].

The center "Lived through" has formed a digital archive of texts of memoirs and diaries of ordinary citizens, consisting of personal documents from private collections. Here we found records of people who came across students of the state labor reserves, and who on the pages of their works recorded images preserved in memory, their opinions, described what was happening around, including with students of vocational schools and factory training schools. The archive is publicly available and has a very convenient search engine [29].

For the reconstruction of the portrait of students, these sources of personal origin are invaluable and allow us to identify mental and value attitudes, the opinions of the students themselves, their assessment of what is happening and their place in the system, thereby seeing "non-paraded" manifestations in the images of students.

Finally, the last type of sources used was fiction. The issue of attracting fiction as a historical source has been repeatedly raised by source scientists. Obviously, any source is a product of people's social activity, any source is subjective, as it reflects the past in the form of personal, subjective images [37]. The fiction of the Soviet period has its own peculiarities and characteristic features: firstly, it worked exclusively for the interests of the state, therefore, it was an important tool of political and ideological propaganda. Secondly, according to researcher Anastasia Tambovtseva, "children's literature does not teach life, but offers options for self-realization" [38]. In Soviet times, an ideal reader was formed, the most important feature of which was "complete identification with the hero, turning into a desire to replace a literary character, turn life into literature." As E. Dobrenko's analysis of letters from readers of the Soviet period shows, the heroes of the books really served as a "sublimative" self-identification, when readers "really wanted to be with them (with the heroes), build a city with their own hands, endure all difficulties and become a real Komsomol member" [39, p. 263]. Finally, the complexity of the study, including the interweaving of literary and source techniques in its textual analysis, will allow achieving the desired result. "The peculiarity of literature consists in recognizing its ability to reflect intangible, sometimes elusive, but no less effective factors of the historical process" [38].

The used works of fiction are divided into two groups. To the first, we attributed literary works that were recommended to them by teachers and librarians for reading to students, contained in a series of methodical letters and instructions to help librarians of craft, railway schools and schools of the Federal District [40], reflected in the summary report on the work of libraries of craft, railway, special, mining schools, schools of the Federal District and mining schools of the Sverdlovsk region in 1951, compiled on the basis of library reports and stored in the State Archive of the Sverdlovsk region in the fund "Management of State Labor Reserves of the Sverdlovsk region" [30]. These are the works of A. Fadeev "The Young Guard"; N. Ostrovsky "How steel was tempered"; V. Kataev "Son of the Regiment"; V. A. Kaverin "Two Captains"; B. L. Gorbatov "The Unconquered"; N. Biryukov "The Seagull", S. A. Zarechnoy "The Warm Heart" and "Eaglet", P. K. Ignatova "The Ignatov Brothers" and many others. The main characters of the recommended works of fiction were supposed to be role models, and contribute to the formation of positive qualities of readers, higher values and ideas, and positively influence mental values: ideas about good and evil, about duty, ideas about the world; and contribute to the formation of correct and "necessary" personal qualities among students: to be modest, serious, fair, kind, disciplined, responsible, honest...

The second group consisted of works of art, the authors of which were people associated with craft, railway schools, schools of the Federal District, or who graduated from them, who described the life of students, canons of behavioral practices, life situations of the Soviet era. Thus, in the novels of I. M. Metter "Comrades" (1952) and V. I. Pistolenko with the same name (1956), the life of teenagers in vocational schools is presented; the work of artisans during the Great Patriotic War is shown in the story of I. I. Likstanov "Malyshok" (1949), and the work of young metallurgists at one of the The unfinished novel by A. Fadeev "Ferrous Metallurgy" is dedicated to the factories of the Southern Urals. Written under the influence of the prevailing Soviet ideology, the works of art contain elements that caused a negative attitude on the part of the state and which had to be eradicated, but which we consider from the perspective of today as manifestations of atypical, individual, reflecting protest practices. Therefore, works of fiction represent a variety of images of students based on their behavioral practices.

Thus, the identified multi-genre corpus of official sources and sources of personal origin, meaningfully interrelated and complementary, is representative and has a high level of relevance for the reconstruction of "ceremonial" and "non-ceremonial" portraits of students of the state labor reserves system. The relevance of the problem of the reliability of the designated different types of sources is beyond doubt, but for the study of psychological and socio-cultural images of students of the system of state labor reserves is not so important, since the subjectivity of information transmission forms the solidity of images through consciousness, perception and reception.

Notes

[1] On state labor reserves: Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated October 02, 1940 // Vedomosti of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. 1940. No. 37.

[2] On additional measures for the preparation of state labor reserves in factory training schools in 1941: Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) dated January 27, 1941 No. 204 // State labor reserves: Collection of official guidance materials. M., 1945. URL: http://docs.historyrussia.org/ru/nodes/245487-ob-odezhde-i-obuvi-uchaschihsya-shkol-fzo-iz-postanovleniya-snk-sssr-i-tsk-vkp-b-27-yanvarya-1941-g-204-o-dopolnitelnyh-meropriyatiyah-po-podgotovke-gosudarstvennyh-trudovyh-rezervov-v-shkolah-fabrichno-zavodskogo-obucheniya-v-1941-g.

[3] On the distribution of students graduating from factory training schools to People's commissariats and departments. From the order of the USSR Council of People's Commissars. May 24, 1944, No. 11249-r // State labor reserves: Collection of official guidance materials. M., 1945. URL: http://docs.historyrussia.org/ru/nodes/245472-o-raspredelenii-po-narkomatam-i-vedomstvam-uchaschihsya-okanchivayuschih-shkoly-fabrichno-zavodskogo-obucheniya-iz-rasporyazheniya-shk-sssr-24-maya-1944-g-11249-r.

[4] On the next call of young people to schools of the Federal Law on Education, handicraft and railway schools: Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated October 4, 1943 No. 1083. URL: https://statearchive.ru/snk/pp43.htm .

[5] The State Archive of the Russian Federation (hereinafter – the GA of the Russian Federation). F. R-9507.

[6] For example, the State Archive of the Sverdlovsk region (hereinafter – GASO). F. R-2033.

[7] GA RF. F. R-2033. Op. 1. D. 1. L. 12-18.

[8] GA RF. F. R-2033. Op. 1. D. 1. L. 54.

[9] GASO. F. R-2033. Op. 2. D. 6. L. 1-2.

[10] GA RF. F. R-2033. Op. 1. D. 44. L. 43-44.

[11] GASO. F. R-2033. Op. 1. D. 20. L. 1.

[12] Ibid.

[13] GASO. F. R-2033. Op. 1. D. 18. L. 1-23

[14] GASO. F. R-2033. Op. 1. D. 12. L. 1-158.

[15] GASO. F. R-2033. Op. 1. D. 14. L. 1-172.

[16] GASO. F. R-2033. Op. 1. D. 2. L. 3.

[17] GASO. F. R-2033. Op. 1. D. 2. L. 25.

[18] GASO. F. R-2033. Op. 1. D. 2. L. 26-27.

[19] The Bolshevik. 1942. ¹ 5.

[20] The Bolshevik. 1942. ¹ 5.

[21] Under the banner of Lenin. 1941. ¹ 130.

[22] Under the banner of Lenin. 1941. ¹ 217.

[23] Under the banner of Lenin. 1941. January 10th.

[24] Under the banner of Lenin. 1941. ¹ 152.

[25] Under the banner of Lenin. 1941. ¹ 186.

[26] Documentation Center of public organizations of the Sverdlovsk region (CDOOSO). F. 221. Op. 1. D. 238, 243, 261, 263, 265.

[27] Under the banner of Lenin. 1941. ¹ 120.

[28] GA RF. F. R-9507. Op. 5. D. 51. L. 87.

[29] See: https://prozhito.org/page/about .

[30] GASO. F. 2023-R. Op. 1. D. 522.

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Peer Review

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The history of the Soviet Union, spanning only seven decades, is full of so many events that even today they attract the attention of not only professional historians, but also all connoisseurs of our past. One of the interesting episodes of Soviet history was the organization of state labor reserves: created in the pre-war period, they were supposed to saturate the country's growing economy with labor. At the same time, although the state paid serious attention to the pupils of this system, the conditions in which they found themselves were often far from ideal. These circumstances determine the relevance of the article submitted for review, the subject of which is a "parade" and "non-parade" portrait of students in the system of state labor reserves. The author sets out to analyze the historiography of the study of the system of state labor reserves and its students, to give a general description of the working youth in 1940-1959. The work is based on the principles of analysis and synthesis, reliability, objectivity, the methodological basis of the research is a systematic approach, which is based on the consideration of the object as an integral complex of interrelated elements. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the very formulation of the topic: the author, based on various sources, seeks to reconstruct the portrait of students of the state labor reserves. Scientific novelty is also determined by the involvement of archival materials. Considering the bibliographic list of the article as a positive point, its versatility should be noted: in total, the list of references includes over 40 different sources and studies, which in itself indicates the amount of preparatory work that its author has done. The source base of the article is represented by documents from the collections of the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the State Archive of the Sverdlovsk region, materials of the periodical press, etc. From the research used, we will point to the works of L.V. Zakharovsky, M.A. Klinova, Ya.S. Mazurova and other specialists, whose focus is on various aspects of studying the system of state labor reserves of the Soviet Union. Note that the bibliography of the article is important both from a scientific and educational point of view: after reading the text of the article, readers can turn to other materials on its topic. In general, in our opinion, the integrated use of various sources and research to a certain extent contributed to the solution of the tasks facing the author. The style of writing the article can be attributed to scientific, at the same time understandable not only to specialists, but also to a wide readership, to anyone interested in both Soviet society in general and the system of state labor reserves in particular. The appeal to the opponents is presented at the level of the collected information received by the author during the work on the topic of the article. The structure of the work is characterized by a certain logic and consistency, it can be distinguished by an introduction, the main part, and conclusion. At the beginning, the author determines the relevance of the topic, shows that "the real conditions in which teenagers found themselves were far from ideal, and individual manifestations of non–compliance with accepted norms caused censure from the leadership and the state and were suppressed in every possible way." The author shows that "for the reconstruction of the portrait of students of the state labor reserves, we used several groups of sources": office records, newspaper periodicals, posters and leaflets, photographic documents, ego documents or sources of personal origin, fiction. It is noteworthy that the author of the reviewed article notes, "works of art written under the influence of the prevailing Soviet ideology contain elements that caused a negative attitude on the part of the state and which had to be eradicated, but which we consider from the perspective of today as manifestations of atypical, individual, reflecting protest practices." The main conclusion of the article is that "the identified multi-genre corpus of official sources and sources of personal origin, meaningfully interrelated and complementary, is representative and has a high level of relevance for the reconstruction of "ceremonial" and "non-ceremonial" portraits of students of the state labor reserves system." The article submitted for review is devoted to an urgent topic, will arouse readers' interest, and its materials can be used both in lecture courses on the history of Russia and in various special courses. In general, in our opinion, the article can be recommended for publication in the journal "Historical Journal: Scientific research".