“Tactics of the City Committee Prompt Uezd Communists to Shift Away from Left Social Revolutionaries”: Conflict in the Yaroslavl Gubernia Party Organization of the RCP (B) in the Context of Interaction between the Bolsheviks and the Left Social Revolution

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УДК 94(47)+94(470.316)+930.253

DOI 10.28995/2073-0101-2020-4-1070-1082

Ilya A. Kontsevoy

State Archive of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation

“Tactics of the City Committee Prompt Uezd Communists to Shift Away from Left Social Revolutionaries”: Conflict in the Yaroslavl Gubernia Party Organization of the RCP (B) in the Context of Interaction between the Bolsheviks and the Left Social Revolutionaries in Summer 1918

Abstract

Drawing on archival materials from the State Archive of Russian Federation and the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History, the article studies activities of the Yaroslavl gubernia organization of the RCP (B) and its interactions with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries on various political issues in June–July 1918. During this period, numerous conflicts occurred between representatives of two Soviet parties, which was reflected in the policies of local Bolsheviks, among whom there sprung several groups with different views on cooperation with the Left Socialist Revolutionary party. Studying the conflict in the Yaroslavl party organization and identifying its causes and main participants has its novelty. Archival documents are being introduces into scientific use that shed light on the circumstances of this conflict in the context of socio-political situation of summer 1918. The author examines the attitude of local leaders of the RCP (B) to regional representatives of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries and explores the relationship between the leadership of the Bolshevik Party and the Yaroslavl Bolsheviks on local politics issues. The analysis of archival documents suggests the existence of two opposing points of view on relations between the Bolsheviks and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries in the Yaroslavl party organization of the RCP (B), which caused controversy among Yaroslavl Bolsheviks. A significant role in strengthening of the controversy in the Yaroslavl party organization was played by the military commissar S. M. Nakhimson who succeeded in changing rules for electing delegates to the Congress of Soviets of the Yaroslavl province. The conflict in the Yaroslavl party organization was closely connected with activities of the Left Social Revolutionaries who had great influence in the gubernia. Some Yaroslavl Bolsheviks sought to continue cooperation and opposed strengthening confrontation. However, in early July, Nakhimson’s position prevailed among the members of the Yaroslavl organization of the RCP (B). Having studied the archival documents, the author concludes that it was the irreconcilable position of Nakhimson on Bolsheviks and Left Socialist Revolutionaries cooperation that caused the split of the provincial Congress of Soviets and the crisis of power, which the White Guard used to organize the Yaroslavl insurgency.

Keywords

Archival documents, historical sources, Bolsheviks, Left Socialist Revolutionaries, Yaroslavl province, Soviets, political struggle, elections.

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References

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About the authors

Kontsevoy Ilya Anatolyevich, PhD in History, State Archive of the Russian Federation, department of scientific, technical, and reference work, specialist, Moscow, Russian Federation, +7-916-327-71-56, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Submitted 5.10.2019, published (for citation):

KONTSEVOY, I. A. “Blagodarya taktike gorodskogo komiteta kommunisty ot uezdov otkhodyat k levym eseram”. Konflikt v Yaroslavskoi gubernskoi organizatsii RKP(b) v kontekste vzaimodeistviya politicheskikh partii letom 1918 g. [“Tactics of the City Committee Prompt Uezd Communists to Shift Away from Left Social Revolutionaries”: Conflict in the Yaroslavl Gubernia Party Organization of the RCP (B) in the Context of Interaction between the Bolsheviks and the Left Social Revolutionaries in Summer 1918. In Russ.]. IN: Vestnik arhivista / Herald of an Archivist, 2020, no. 4, pp. 1070-1082. doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2020-4-1070-1082

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