American immigrant communes of Kirsanovsky uyezd, Tambov province, 1920s-1930s: main sources and peculiarities of the study

Scientific article

doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2024-4-1070-1082

For citation

Romanov, Vladimir V., Nikolashin, Vadim P. (2024) American immigrant communes of Kirsanovsky uyezd, Tambov province, 1920s-1930s: main sources and peculiarities of the study, Herald of an Archivist, no. 4, pp. 1070-1082, doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2024-4-1070-1082

Romanov, Vladimir V., Nikolashin, Vadim P., G. R. Derzhavin Tambov State University, Tambov, Russia

American immigrant communes of Kirsanovsky uyezd, Tambov province, 1920s-1930s: main sources and peculiarities of the study

Abstract

The article assesses the research potential of the history of immigration agricultural communes that were created in Soviet Russia after the Civil War. Tambov Province was one of the first regions where re-emigrants who wanted to work for the idea of building a just socialist society began to arrive. Of the 16 immigrant agrarian communes established in 1918-1925, the vast majority were founded by natives of the United States, and two communes - “Put” and “Ira” - were territorially located in Kirsanovsky uyezd of Tambov province. The Irskaya commune, later named after V. I. Lenin, became one of the most famous in the country. It was able to achieve certain successes and even received the status of a “model” commune, becoming a kind of platform for demonstrating “socialist achievements” not only for the residents of Soviet Russia, but also for numerous foreign guests. The second commune, “Put”, created by the Americans on the territory of Kirsanovsky uyezd, was less successful and therefore practically unstudied. The history of the Irskaya commune at various stages of historiography was covered in a rather fragmentary manner and its interpretations were most seriously influenced by ideological stamps characteristic of each period. As a result, many aspects of the topic are still understudied. An extensive layer of archival sources has not yet been fully introduced into the scientific turnover. The authors analyze the fonds of the State Archive of Social and Political History of the Tambov Region (GASPITO) and the State Archive of the Tambov Region (GATO), which allow to highlight such aspects of the history of American communes as their daily life, the peculiarities of interaction with higher party and economic bodies. A relevant area for further research could be the goal-setting of numerous foreign visitors to the Irsk commune and the specifics of their perception of the Soviet reality. Among the foreign guests of the commune were well-known political and public figures, scientists, and journalists. It is quite obvious that all of them came to the Irsk commune not just for some exciting adventures. Rather, most of the foreign guests were trying to familiarize themselves with the new vector of Soviet Russia's development and, to some extent, to counteract Western Russophobia. The new research, as the authors conclude, given the vast base of documents not yet introduced into the scientific circulation, has great potential for the formation of new knowledge about the social experiments of the era of early Soviet society.

Keywords

Agricultural commune, American immigrants, Ira, The Way, Tambov Province, archival sources.

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About authors

Romanov Vladimir V., Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, G. R. Derzhavin Tambov State University, Department of History, World Politics and Sociology, Professor, Tambov, Russia, +7-915-870-71-77, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Nikolashin Vadim P., Doctor of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, G. R. Derzhavin, Faculty of History, World Politics and Sociology, Department of History and Philosophy, Professor, Tambov, Russia, 8-905-121-95-13, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The article was received in the editorial office on 13.03.2024, recommended for publication on 20.09.2024.