FIGHT AGAINST NEGATIVE MANIFESTATIONS IN INTERETHNIC RELATIONS AMONG WORKERS IN 1928–1932 (based on the materials of the Chuvash ASSR)
Authors: Yustus Tatiana V. 
Published: July 2023

Turning to the experience of Soviet national politics as a subject of research is very relevant. The scientific novelty of the work consists in an attempt to conceptualize topical and important issues of interethnic relations (in particular, negative manifestations on interethnic grounds in labor collectives) in specific historical periods of establishing the Soviet society.

The purpose of the study is to study the problem of negative manifestations among workers living in the territory of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Chuvash ASSR) during establishment of early socialism and the experience of overcoming such problems in the specified historical period of 1928–1932 on the basis of the national policy of the Soviet state.

Materials and methods. Materials from the State Archive of Modern History of the Chuvash Republic and publications of the republican periodical press were used, which served as a source base for analyzing the issues of interaction and coordination in implementing the decisions of the center, regional authorities and public organizations related to emerging problems in interethnic contacts among the working population.

Study results. The policy pursued by the state in the field of national relations affected all spheres of social development, it was in a special way in the manufacturing sector, which plays a system-forming role for establishing a new type of society. In the national autonomies, there was a weak level of the population’s involvement in industrial production due to the absence of large factories in these territories. To solve this problem, additional training programs for working specialties were actively developed and used. To a large extent, new approaches to involving national enclaves in establishing a new society were largely associated with greater conservatism, and everything new was perceived as alien.

From 1929 to 1936 the Chuvash ASSR was part of Nizhny Novgorod Region (after 1932 – Gorky Region), initially indigenous peoples lived in the region – the Russians, the Chuvash, the Mari, the Mordovians, the Tatars and other ethnic groups. And that is why increased attention was paid to issues of national policy, especially within the framework of korenization policy carried out throughout the state. The changes taking place in multinational territories aroused additional interest on the part of the central government, which directly contributed to allocating additional resources and opportunities for solving many socio-economic issues.

The article presents some problems of interethnic communications, issues of behavior in deviant actions in the labor collectives of various industrial centers of the ChASSR, which in the studied years were assessed as “chauvinistic”.

Conclusions. In the issues of industrial development in the years under study, the party and the state carried out a wide political and educational work, which was aimed at spreading the ideology of proletarian internationalism, which ensured active involvement of workers of all nationalities in socialist work on the basis of socio-economic and cultural transformations. Mandatory implementation of regulatory measures to stabilize national relations among the working masses, as well as condemnation and suppression of discriminatory manifestations at the enterprises of the republic had a positive impact on solving this problem.