Сreating the Narrative on the Cossacks’ History of the Civil War Era in the South of Russia in the System of the Soviet Ideology of the 1920s – 1930s

• Main Author: Vasilina S. Klopikhina
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Volgograd State University 2019-08-01
• Series: Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriâ 4. Istoriâ, Regionovedenie, Meždunarodnye Otnošeniâ
• Subjects: istpart; historical memory; historical narrative; soviet ideology; north caucasus; history of the cossacks; civil war
• Online Access: https://hfrir.jvolsu.com/index.php/en/component/attachments/download/2013

Introduction. The article is devoted to the problem of forming the narrative on the history of the Don, Kuban and Terek Cossacks during the Civil war in the system of Istparts (Commissions on the history of the October revolution and the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)) of the North Caucasus. The experts had not only the task to write a “different” history of modern times, but also to form a historical narrative, which was to reflect the interpretation of events permitted by the authorities as the basis for a new model of historical memory. Creating the narrative in the operation system of Istparts determined the principles of selecting material and formulating key research issues. Methods and materials. The study is based on the methodology of “new local history”. The author analyzes local historical narratives as images of the past created by Istparts of the North Caucasus with the help of discursive analysis. Analysis. The paper analyzes the interpretation of the Cossacks’ history in the period of the socio-political crisis. It was found that in the 1920s the attention of researchers was focused on the search for class differentiation and struggle in the Cossacks’ history. As a result, local historical narratives present an original interpretation of the Cossack stratification, which demonstrates the authors’ desire to present the history of the Cossacks in accordance with the methodological instructions of the Commission on the history of the October Revolution and the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). At the same time, they reflect judgments that are not limited to the ideological paradigm. This is due to the fact that in local historical narratives it was not always possible to combine the peculiarities of the historical process in the region with the proposed scheme and settings of the center. In the 1930s, there was a change in substantial aspects of constructing a new model of historical memory and historical narrative as its basis associated with the assertion of Stalin’s sole power. Published works were publicly criticized and banned. The authors of such works were repressed in the era of the Great terror. At this time there appeared new ideological interpretations of the Cossacks’ history. Since 1936, the political campaign “for the Soviet Cossacks” had been reflecting in creating the narrative in the system of Istparts. Results. Scientific analysis of sources and coverage of complexity and ambiguity of the historical process in the region were replaced by simple but “correct” ideological statements. With the help of interpreting the past focusing research attention on class stratification and explanation of the Cossacks’ place in the history of the Civil war a new image of the Cossacks was formed in public consciousness.