Attributes of the Ideology of Communism in the Old Believer Village of the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR in 1920s-1930s

Khomyakov Sergei Vasil'evich PhD in History Junior Research Associate, Institute of Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetian Studies, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences  670045, Russia, respublika Buryatiya, g. Ulan-Ude, ul. Tret'yakova, 25A, kv. 29 khomyakov777@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

 The article was prepared within the framework of the state task (project XII.191.1.1. "Russia and Inner Asia: dynamics of geopolitical, socio-economic and intercultural interaction (XVII-XXI centuries)", No. 121031000243-5. 

 The real situation of the institutions of Soviet power in the countryside was a frequent subject of discussion during the speeches of the "leaders of the party" – V.I. Lenin and I.V. Stalin ^{[17, 25]}, recorded in their collected works. For them, the hostile attitude of the overwhelming majority of the peasantry, with a small initial significance of local party members and their initiatives, was the usual state of the village, accepted conditions for starting ideological work. As for the Old Believers of the BMASSR directly in this context, a number of modern researchers (F.F. Bolonev, V.M. Pykin, S.V. Vasilyeva ^{[1, 21, 3]}), studying the 1920s-1930s, place greater emphasis on the policy of dispossession of the wealthy and middle class of the Semeyskys, which a priori indicates an administrative attack on their the existence and, accordingly (with an understandable all–Union tendency), including the weakness of ideologization as a "soft power" for community management. A.V. Kostrov ^[15] speaks of the constant general restrictive nature of the relations of the Old Believers and the authorities, which can also explain the non-acceptance by the Semeyskys in their inner life of elements of Soviet ideology as attempts to compromise, and not a violent invasion.                                              Minutes of meetings, reports on party and mass work, memos of the Buryat-Mongolian regional Committee of the CPSU (b), Komsomol, reports of district executive committees of the party, minutes of meetings of village councils stored in the State Archive of the Republic of Buryatia (GARB) and the State Archive of the Trans-Baikal Territory (GAZK), as well as materials of the periodic seals ("Buryat-Mongol truth", "The Way of Youth"). They made it possible to show the state of Soviet power "on the ground", in the specific conditions of the Old Believer community of the late 1920s.   The approval of the primary institutions of Soviet power in the countryside – the party cell in the village councils and the Komsomol organization, first of all, allowed for the implementation of multi-time economic directives of the Central Committee of the RCP (VKP)

(b) – from the tasks of the new economic policy of the first half of the 1920s, to the unification of individual farms into collective farms at the turn of the 1920s-1930s. However, the main task of cultural transformations in the USSR is the formation of a homogeneous society in general and the Soviet personality type in particular, in difficult conditions of relations with a diverse and traditionally religious peasantry, it also seemed to be one of the main ones for the power structures. To move in this direction, numerous initiatives emanated from them, approving new forms of existence in the village. The Soviet peasant (with the exception of the well-to-do "kulaks"), "freed from religious prejudices" ^{[19, p. 4]}, but left unchanged the communal principle useful for the Soviet government, had to concentrate his new life on collective economic activity. Being, in the view of the regional party committees, a natural, but still ideologically "dark" ally for local cells, he had to strive with their support to self-organize and maintain labor discipline (friendly courts), not to be afraid of technical re-equipment in agriculture, as well as the help and mentoring of bosses-workers (overcoming the established distrust of citizens and outsiders in general), celebrate new Soviet holidays instead of the religious calendar and much more.

     Old Believers, "family" people – as they were called in Transbaikalia after their arrival here in large families, have been known here since the XVIII century. "Who arrived in November 1766 – September 1767 in numerous parties of "newly settled from Poland with their family" were settled in Russian villages along Chikoyu, Khilka, in the villages of Tarbagatai sloboda" ^{[21, p. 10]}. Since the beginning of the 1920s, they have been one of the most difficult for the ideological work of the rural communities of Buryat-Mongolia. This was noted by both party members themselves and city activists, participants of cultural and anti-religious campaigns in villages and uluses of the republic. "The Old Believers have a negative attitude to the Soviet government, to the strengthening of the Soviet apparatus and to various innovations, considering them a temptation of the Antichrist. An important role in this regard is played by the charters, who in prayer houses make speeches directed against the Soviet government and the Communist Party, point out the apostasy of communists from religion, intimidate the dark mass with the punishment of God" ^{[8, d. 1318. l. 7]}. Despite the differences in the interpretations of the Old Orthodox belief, by the 1930s. they represented a fairly homogeneous, although transformed over decades of life here, religious identity. "Despite the fact that the Semeyskys came from different districts and regions of Russia, different territories of the Polish borders, in Transbaikalia they sought to overcome ethnic and cultural differences. In this case, they were united by ethno-confessional self-consciousness and the specific ethnonym "semeyskie"" ^{[3, p. 13]}. It was (and is) a great social force that should definitely be made its own, "ideological", which explains the much stronger invasion of the authorities into the Old Believers' way of life than in the pre-revolutionary period. Although it should be noted that such a close attitude on the part of the autocracy, or the Bolsheviks, was not new for the Semeyskys. "It can be argued that the state policy towards the Old Believers throughout its existence (with some exceptions) was restrictive" ^{[15, p. 10]}.        

   The expected actions of the CPSU (b) party in the Old Believer village, like any political event of the early Soviet period, can be linked to the statements of V.I. Lenin, in this case in a speech of 1919, because of the complex relationship between peasants and the Bolsheviks, who understood this work as another front of struggle. "And we will act like in the Red Army: we will be beaten a hundred times, and for the hundred and first time we will defeat everyone. But for this it is necessary that the work in the village be conducted amicably, harmoniously, in the same strict order as the work was carried out in the Red Army and as it is conducted in other areas of the economy" ^{[17, p. 314]}. Since the 1920s, such harmony and efficiency in the work of the Semeysky party cell was supposed to be created due to its staffing from among local Old Believers-activists. This was explained not only by the logic common to rural areas of the population's trust in local authorities in the person of fellow villagers, but also by the long-standing specific feature of the Semeyskys not to allow gentiles into the inner life of their communities (with sufficiently active contacts with neighbors on land issues). However, by the second half of the 1920s, reports of provincial and regional party committees appeared, where, along with fixing the insignificant number of party members in the "Semey" districts, there was a weak desire for ideological enlightenment of those who themselves should be the conductor of the political, economic and social ideas of the party, as well as the lack of desire for confrontation with their community, in particular including in the religious issue (the most painful for her). "The majority of party members are employees of rural and township offices. The peasants who are part of the cells are mostly illiterate, among them there are those who have icons and visit the charters. Moreover, in villages with the majority of the Old Believer population, there are either absolutely no cells, or they are very small, for example, in the village of Bichure with a population of six thousand people in a cell of 12 people" ^{[8, d. 1318. l. 8]}. It is worth noting that the situation with the small number of party cadres in the countryside was a common problem for the Soviet Union, as I.V. Stalin said at the plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) in 1924. "What is the weakness of our party work in the countryside. The fact is that the party does not have a broad layer of non-party activists among the peasants in the village. How is the business built in the villages? There is a thin thread of party cells in the villages. Then there is an equally thin thread of non-party peasants sympathizing with the party. And behind it stretches the ocean of non-partisanship, tens of millions of peasants" ^{[25, p. 305]}. So the main emphasis here should still be made on the facts of a more stable religious habit among Semey party members.

     At the turn of the 1920s-1930s, such a situation in the Semey districts is only getting worse, which necessitates a purposeful struggle of the Regional Committee of the CPSU (b) with the district communists' misunderstanding of the task of being such a model of a new everyday life, looking at which ordinary Old Believers could get a real (and not newspaper-article) idea of who they themselves should become in the near future. "Among the party members of the "Semey" districts, it is necessary to wage a decisive struggle against the rejection of anti-religious work with passive adaptation to the environment, there should be no prayer "for display", icons in the homes of communists living as independent owners should be removed, a communist should be an active atheist, whose duty is to conduct anti-religious work in their families, and in the masses" ^{[23, d. 1420, l. 100]}. Local communists continued to live in the old-fashioned way, often reducing their power functions in village councils with the role of a headman, a contact with the outside world, a representative from the people, of which he continues to be a mental part. Moreover, the involvement in the practices of the Old Orthodox doctrine was already weakened (as well as in the Old Believer community of the 1920s-1930s as a whole), due to the objective crisis of the religious identity of the Semeyskys, a certain influence on party members and an atheistic agenda – however, they could not abandon external religious attributes, as well as everyday habits (prayers, advice of the local charter, etc.) they could, either due to the inertial nature of the tradition, or not wanting to lose authority among the masses by such actions.

    As a result, in the conditions of the "purges" of the party in the first half of the 1930s, such a state of affairs in the party organizations of the Old Believer districts, among others, could be reflected in the decisions of the IV Plenum of the East Siberian Regional Committee of the CPSU (b) in 1935, on the issue of the work of district committees on the cultivation, selection and promotion of personnel. "To study all communists in the shortest possible time on the basis of the quality of their work and establish systematic monitoring of their work, political and cultural growth" ^{[22, p. 1]}. It is also worth noting that in the following decades of Soviet power, many village communists of the Tarbagatai district will not remove (or return back to the walls) icons and new members of their families will continue to be secretly baptized at home by the charters (as an example, all the children and grandchildren of the grandfather of the author of the work, Trofim Kuzmich Khomyakov, born in 1935, a communist party organizer of the Iskra collective farm, S. Nadezhino).

      The Komsomol organization, "the Union of Youth and all youth in general who want to switch to communism and should study communism" ^{[16, p. 299]}, the reserve of the Bolshevik Party, was naturally formed here from among the Old Believers youth of the districts. Taking into account the often indifferent and hostile attitude towards their presence on the part of the older generation (and not only wealthy individuals, but also middle peasants), the formal approach to the duties of local party cadres (from among mature people again), the Buryat-Mongolian Regional Committee of the CPSU (b) by the 1930s rightly believed that promising success in creating the foundations of an active, ideological, atheistic Soviet society among the Old Believers can be achieved only with the help of the younger generation. "In the "Semey" districts, it is necessary to take a bet on young people. Semey youth is the most active, amenable to our influence. We should not forget the interests of adults either, but we should put the issue of work among young people as a basis" ^{[20, d. 1420, l.73]}. Such an assessment was also helped by party officials by field researchers-ethnographers, for example, an employee of the Irkutsk Regional Museum A.M. Popova, who visited the Tarbagatai district in 1925-1927. She noted the fundamental strengthening of the gap in generational ties among the family, both in religious and domestic terms, which was strongly supported by the authorities, who sought to organize Komsomol activists from the most radical youth in this regard. "During the years of the revolution, sections of a new order appeared: very young people are divided from their father, which did not happen before: this step is caused by major family troubles on the basis of ideological differences" ^{[18, p. 25]}.

   It seems that this "ideological divergence" with parents should be understood as an ordinary desire to live independently, study, work, start families according to their interest and decision, which was not necessarily identified with joining the youth union. The memos of 1929 from the Buryat-Mongolian Regional Committee of the Komsomol show a picture of the small number of cells here and the same gaps in the ideological training of Komsomol members as the senior party members, as well as the lack of link communication with them, as well as doubts about the need to join the organization. "In Kunalei, 5 Komsomol members walked and prayed during Easter. Desyatnikovo. The party cell has existed since 1920, but it has not shown the way, there are no communes, probably the Komsomol will not work out what our guys can do in the Komsomol. It's better for them to live like a peasant or another well-to–do guy came out, "why sign up for the Komsomol - they'll still be expelled for one drink"" ^{[6, d. 542. l. 103]}. Attention to the Komsomol members of the village at a distance, in the form of reports and reports, visits of the city asset for conversations, etc., did not fundamentally change the established reality. This could only be done by an everyday example of ideological growth on the part of rural communists, their help to young people, a public indication of disciplinary mistakes, the introduction of the practice of self-characterization (triggering the process of reflection on their actions and inaction), but Komsomol members very often copied directly opposite models of behavior of party members, the result of which was, for example, the position of the primary cells of the Komsomol in villages Mukhorshibirsky district in 1932, "Komsomol cells in the "Semey" villages are 9, the cells are small (in Khonholoye – 15, in Nikolsk – 7 people), a number of cells did not gather for 3 months and when the secretary of the Komsomol district committee came to them on the issue of "Komsomol ticket exchange", somehow collected half cells. The influence and leadership of the entire mass of young people are not carried out by the cells, there are exits from the Komsomol" ^{[14, d. 2106, l. 59]}.

      It should be noted that this refers to the slow adaptation of communist ideology as such, characteristic of the Old Believers of Buryatia (who traditionally distanced themselves from power initiatives), a prominent example of which is the lack of understanding of its essence and necessity (the final construction of a classless society as a result of class struggle) by the local party and Komsomol cadres themselves, which had a deplorable effect on the ideological viability of cells. In fact, while working in village councils, they became the conductors of such major initiatives of the Soviet government in the countryside as the construction and launch of schools, the functioning of reading rooms, houses of culture, cultural camps on collective farms and, in general, the collectivization of peasant farms. Just in such a practical space, they demonstrated a well-known natural diligence, sharpness, concern for fellow villagers and their leadership qualities, often "giving up" on the ideological support of their working days.  

      The process of collectivization that began at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s in the Old Believer villages had the potential to create a real space for various forms of ideologization of the population. Leisure activities for educational purposes (in the hut-reading room), new holidays and, in general, cultural life itself – were just beginning (with varying degrees of success) to be established in the Old Believers' way of life. But the practice of maintaining labor discipline, cooperation with patron city enterprises, the introduction of technical means into the work, the organization of cultural camps in the familiar for the family sphere of work in fields and gardens, could become more effective means of communist education. It cannot be said that the district authorities did not try to train personnel who were supposed to begin ideological work on collective farms, including in the Old Believers' area, special courses were held for this. "Bichura. District organizations have started training personnel for the harvest according to their plan. The courses will have to produce 45 chairmen of collective farms, 121 foremen, 120 brigade speakers and newspaper readers, 121 editors of brigade newspapers, 50 party collective farm organizers, 47 Komsomol organizers" ^{[22, p. 1]}. However, first of all it was necessary to create the main condition – the pace of joining collective farms, which in this period of time were quite low. "1932 Mukhorshibirsky district. Collective farm construction in the “Semey” villages is extremely slow. If, as of April 30, the district is collectivized by 46%, then there are 23 collective farms with 711 yards in the “Semey” village councils and villages, which is 16.9% of the total number of farms of “Semey” village councils and villages. According to individual village councils, the percentage of collectivization is even lower, for example: Honholoi has 940 yards, 4% are collectivized, Nikolsk has 720 yards, collectivized by 7%" ^{[14, d. 2106, l.56]}.

     Such a cautious position of people can easily be explained by the unwillingness of the local authorities themselves to join collective farms, in most cases consisting of a party element or a non-party asset, which again well shows the nature of its real functioning as the main ideological force in the village. "So the biggest obstacle is the non-entry of the village Council's assets, the poor and the red partisans into the collective farms. The sole proprietor Romanov S. Z. expressed the following opinion: "the chairman of the agricultural cartel "Krasny May" comrade Mikhailov, when asked by the latter about the reasons for not joining the collective farm: "I'll walk a little, let the activists and red partisans come forward, and then I'll go"" ^{[9, d. 2138, l. 20]}. Even in a later period of time, when collective farms were already receiving their first practical experience, many village councils remained far from organizing any intelligible ideological work there. "Nizhne-Zhirimsky Village Council: from November 11 to November 14, 1934, there was no "Soviet power" in the village, that is, there was no organizational plenum with the selection of the new composition of the village council, and the presidium of the village council was not chosen, since, on the recommendation of the district leadership, the chairman should be a comrade from Verkhny Zhirim, but on the occasion of his "illness" (he was drunk and was injured in a fight with his son) could not come to the village council; work with the village council has been going by gravity lately, the village council did not manage collective farms, and in general formally treated the performance of its immediate duties" ^{[7, d. 846, l.116]}. It should also be noted cases when the morale of representatives of rural authorities could be such that they not only contributed poorly to the ongoing ideological campaign, but could also directly harm it by being "bored" in the workplace. "1935. Noting that in a number of village councils (Bichura, Okino-Keys and others) there are cases of organizing evenings, as well as card games organized by Kulak and hooliganist elements seeking to disrupt the studies of illiterate and illiterate, the plenum obliges Comrade Zhukov, village councils and collective farm boards to expose such facts and bring the matter to the involvement of organizers to judicial responsibility" ^{[24, d. 913, l.134]}.

     Thus, the organization of the work of the same friendly courts could not always be associated with the participation of village councils and ideological "assets", who, in theory, were supposed to lead the process, but in fact were in no hurry to even join collective farms, or did not show themselves in them from this side (although they could be excellent workers). "There is a candidate group in the collective farm "Krasny Partizan", but there is absolutely no work as a group, by the way, the candidates of the party are very active in production. The cell is weakly fighting for labor discipline, here is one example: a Komsomol member worked on the delivery of wort (several sheaves of hay), for a whole day of work he did one turn, while all the other carriers turned 4-5. The cell did not react to this until the collective farm board discussed this issue" ^{[10, d. 2138, l. 8]}. Often the support of labor discipline could be the initiative of ordinary workers, who for the most part were accustomed to high labor standards and could not tolerate absenteeism and shortcomings. And according to V.V. Suyazov, the friendly courts were initially "... approved in order to raise and strengthen production discipline. The main category of cases dealt with by friendly courts in the early 1920s were absenteeism" ^{[26, p. 476]}. With the inaction of the party cell and with the help of the collective farm leadership, such violations were solved precisely by the practice of such courts. "Recently, a court convicted a collective farmer for violating labor discipline right on the field during a break. All the drivers turned around 4-5 times a day, and Ivanov once or twice, went to work late and left early. the court decided to exclude him from the brigade. Ivanov moved from brigade to brigade for 4 days, but no one accepted him, Ivanov had to ask in his old brigade to restore him, promised that there would be no more actions on his part, the brigade discussed his application and decided to restore him as a member of the brigade and now Ivanov is one of the best drummers" ^{[10, d. 2138, L. 9]}. As can be seen, this practice really worked, appealing to the consciousness of the laggard through fear of repetition of collective condemnation, but on the other hand, the autonomous activity of the friendly courts demonstrated the uselessness of an inert party "superstructure" in the eyes of the Old Believer - since all pressing problems could be solved among themselves, in a brigade. But it should be borne in mind that this was not the case everywhere and the lack of clear leadership on the part of the authorities often leveled the practical significance of such courts in collective farms (as well as rural public courts), as noted in the reports of the district executive committees. "The inactivity of some of the courts is explained by the formal attitude to the selection of the composition and in the absence of leadership from the collective farms and village councils over it" ^{[12, d. 857, l. 22]}.

      As for the institution of patronage, as in the 1920s, this practice continued, not just Old Believer communities in settlements became sponsored, but collective farm collectives that were more convenient in terms of organizing political chits and conversations. But as in the previous decade, the formal approach, and often the lack of communication with the bosses continued, which caused a serious reaction at the level of the Ulan-Ude city Committee of the CPSU (b). "1935 To organize, not in words, but in deeds, patronage of city organizations over collective farms, daily to help the village and collective farms in mass political work. The plenum of the City Committee attached exceptional importance to the patronage of urban organizations over the collective farms of the suburban area. A serious warning for city patronage organizations is the decision of the plenum to remove the patronage of the collective of the People's Commissariat of Trade over the collective farm "Comintern" for the inactivity of the party and trade union organization" ^{[22, p. 3]}. Working in some cases, starting an active activity, but eventually losing interest in the villagers, the institution of patronage could not yet completely overcome the existing distrust of Old Believers to people coming from the city and did not become a full-fledged help and alternative to local authorities in matters of ideologization. The beginning of the technical equipment of collective farms could clearly show people positive changes in their new existence. "Tarbagatai. In addition to the existing 14 radio installations in collective farms, 20 more radio installations are being installed for cleaning at cultural and field camps. They are preparing a radio hub in the artel named after. Stalin's 28 service points. Widespread repair of wires and telephone sets has been carried out, quite good audibility has been achieved" ^{[22, p. 1]}.

     As in the entire Soviet space, in the Old Believer settlements there were campaigns to cancel Christmas, Easter and other religious holidays, the alternative to which were the January Lenin Memorial days, May 1 and November 7. "Ancient songs have ceased, rituals, folk games have disappeared, old holidays that form the basis of the agricultural calendar have been banned. New songs appeared and sounded, clearly inferior to the old ones in the beauty of melodies, content and artistic dignity" ^{[1, p. 112]}. The party's regional committee formed an opinion about the old holidays as a concentration of all the social ills of the village, which was partly true, since even before the arrival of Soviet power, the unchanged state of Old Believers' religiosity was lost, which was reflected in the modern understanding of the holiday as a rare opportunity for a fun holiday. "In Novaya Bryan, drunken "semeyskys" on Petrov Day 29/VII of the old style had a fight so that one man was severely wounded with a knife, several people ended up with broken heads" ^{[2, d. 961, l. 18]}. Revolutionary holidays, provided that people were immersed in their essence, represented a powerful channel of ideological influence ("To expand the campaign to turn traditional village holidays into days of revolutionary construction, into labor holidays, putting new content into them" ^{[19, p. 1]}). However, given the weak work in this regard on the part of the closest party authorities, they could not move from the sphere of administrative necessity into an organic part of the national calendar. "Revolutionary celebrations in the "Semey" villages are poorly instilled in some villages, the population does not participate at all, with the exception of single activists" ^{[13, d. 1420, l. 60]}. The more obvious (and long-standing in duration) request from the population was not about new holidays (as they continued to celebrate the old ones), but rather to raise their cultural level. For the sake of this, the Old Believers agreed to the conversion of empty prayer houses into houses of culture ^{[4, 5]} (which was demonstrated by the authorities as a victory of atheization, although the believers understood the senselessness of the parish standing without a mentor), and also sought to organize cultural leisure on collective farms, in fact building the best sides of the new way of life independently. "Mukhorshibirsky district, which lagged behind at the beginning, has recently tightened up somewhat. The collective farmers themselves show creative initiative to create cultural centers. So, for example, in Kalinovka, a collective farm club was built in the Kalinin collective farm, in which work is deployed, newspapers are read, a drama club works, literature is written out" ^{[11, d. 2586, l. 63]}.

    Auxiliary, connecting elements of communist ideology at the everyday level – the celebration of memorable dates for the revolution, communication with the city not only through subordination to the authorities, but also equal communication with visiting workers – were diligently introduced into the Old Believers' environment by the republican authorities. However, their further development largely depended on the work of the main institutions of Sovietization of the village – party and Komsomol cells, as well as the activity of patronage organizations and for the most part was declarative. Applied elements of ideologization (evaluation of behavior and practice of monitoring "underachievers" directly during the labor process) they worked more efficiently, as they dealt with the traditional high labor qualities of the Old Believers.

    The establishment of Soviet power in the Old Believer areas of the Verkhneudinsky district of the BMASSR found some support among the Semey youth (who became Komsomol members, or ready to join) and in smaller numbers from the older generation (party members or non–party activists, sympathizers). At the turn of the 1920s-1930s, there was an impressive re–installation of material life, which met the needs of that part of the family, which since the beginning of the century wanted changes in their lives, freedom of individual action, and many - power in the settlements, shifting aside the spiritual institution of the charter and the authority of the elderly. However, it should be concluded that such life motivations, quite correlating for the local asset with the cultural transformations of the old way of life, did not carry the obligatory ideological accompaniment, primarily the ideas of a classless society and atheistic consciousness. This was met with passive protest among the rest of the population, which is often an opponent of the positive initiatives of the authorities (in the field of education and culture), not to mention the pressure on faith in God and criticism of the natural sense of the owner-proprietor for the Old Believer. Wanting to preserve both the newly acquired statuses and positive images of "one's own" in the community, rural party members were the conductors of a visual change in life, trying not to stand out from the mainstream by deviant behavior for her, or being good workers and leaders in practice, sincerely did not perceive the essence of communist ideology, as well as Komsomol members who copied the ideological passivity of the senior organization. We can talk about the attempts of activists on the ground to change their lives and the way of life of fellow villagers without any opposition to the stable religious archetypes of the community.  The inert position of the local authorities did not allow the emerging diverse practices of the new everyday life (representing channels of ideologization in simple forms) to work to their full potential. Holidays did not leave the sphere of mandatory installations, patronage of collective farms was often superficial, and friendly courts had a real result due to the initiatives of the workers themselves, who did not want to tolerate a number of "tailers". In matters of economic necessity, increasing work consciousness, the practice of ideologization coincided with the traditional orientation of the Semeyskys to success in work.

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