Abstract: The paper considers important and changing ideas about the qualitative characteristics of various periods of time and of the transitions between them. Soon after the Second World War a new social science theory emerged in the United States. It gained a hegemonic position in Western social thinking for the following decades until at least the 1970s. And some of its basic assumptions proved even more enduring. Here I try to assess the meaning of modernization theory on how we think of historical time. Historical time is a difficult concept (as are all concepts of time), because it is used implicitly. For me it means collective ideas about time that differ from physical time and calendar time. Often we discuss notions of historical time as periodization and use quite abstract labels for long periods of time (e.g. Middle Ages, the Renaissance, Modern Times). In addition, we have important and changing ideas about the qualitative characteristics of various periods of time and of the transitions between them

Keywords: Modernization theory, historical time, modern society, industrialization, World-Economy.

Abstract: The name of P.S. Uvarova has a special place of honour in the history of Russian science and culture. Upon becoming the chairman of the Moscow Archeological Society, she spared no effort in expanding its work, enriching Russian history and contributing to the wide spread of knowledge, and the preservation and research of antiquities in Russia. Countess P.S. Uvarova belonged to a generation, the work of which constituted the basis of a social uplift which defined Russia’s intensive growth in XIX-early XX centuries. Uvarova’s life can be viewed as an example of the forming of a new generation of women – independent, educated, concerned about the public sphere. The result of her fruitful life and work is the discovery of various sources, the informational potential of which is not discovered till the present time, because Russian historiography has not yet conducted their intensive, complex research. The article provides the experience in systematization of documents and materials, relevant to P.S. Uvarova’s life and work. Defining the problems regarding the study of source material, which are closely related to researching documentary sources, will allow not only to look a little deeper into Uvarova’s life, but to appreciate the scale and practical significance of her work.

Keywords: history, source study, archeology, P.S. Uvarova, Moscow Archeological Society, State Historical Museum, archives, historic science community, science communities.

Abstract: The article describes the experience of content analysis of the “For Industrialization” newspaper editorials from 1932 to 1937 – the closing years of respective five-year plans. Quantitative analysis of articles content showed the changes from the first five-year plan to the second: during the first five years, the majority of entries were related to economy, while the second five-year plan seems to have increased the popularity of the issues of social and political nature, as well as those related to ideological upbringing. On the one hand the article contains realistic descriptions of industrialization process and on the other hand it reveals the main vectors of ideological influence on the reader’s mass consciousness.

Keywords: history, USSR, industrialization, 1930s, content analysis, press, Soviet periodic, first five-year plans, USSR Supreme Economic Council.

Abstract: The article is dedicated to exploring the practice of scientific and bibliographical department of Russian State Public History Library, related to the creation of auxiliary scientific bibliographical indexes on history and culture. It analyzes the methods for creating of fundamental anointed thematic bibliographies. The author views the latest biographic projects more closely: «Public authority of pre-Revolution Russia in bibliographic research of its contemporaries (XIX–early XX century)», «Soviet society in memoires and diaries». The author researches the «World War II in the Soviet Union» separately, speaking of the closest plans of the bibliography department: «Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin: anniversary publication», «History of pre-Revolution Russia in diaries and memoires», etc. The author narrates about novelties which were introduced into the Department’s work, as computerization progressed. The goal of the article is to demonstrate the importance of the existence of bibliographic indexes during history.

Keywords: history, bibliographic index, scientific and bibliographical department of Russian State Public Library, methods for creation of fundamental bibliographies, diaries, memoires, N.M. Karamzin, public authority of pre-Revolutionary Russia, Soviet society in memoirs, World War II.

Abstract: The article is related to the acquired artillery epigraphy of XVI-XIX centuries. For the first time, the term “cannon graffiti” is being used in research. The author substantiates the use of this term in relevance to illegitimate writings on artillery barrels. Graffiti on cannons is viewed as an unofficial form of communication of the Army’s artillery community in the environment of conflict. The author attempted to classify cannon graffiti by type by analyzing several dozens of surviving samples in the museums of Eurasia, Northern and Central America. The author provides concrete examples by group and nature of the specimens and voices suppositions concerning the authors of the graffiti and points out the low informativeness of those writings as historical sources. The author criticizes certain approaches to cannon graffiti research (thematic, motivational). Significant attention is drawn to the functional traits of the graffiti (“magical”, integrative, special functions). The author draws conclusions about the prospective value for this sort of epigraphic material for the purpose of historical study using the anthropocentric approach.

Keywords: history, epigraphy, graffiti, informative, typologization, anthropocentrism, communication, manifestations, museums.

Abstract: The article examines the issues of creation and organization and personnel-based reforms of Public Political Security of Far-Eastern Republic in the central (Verhneudinsk, Chita), Pribaylakskiy, Zabaikalskiy, Amurskiy, Priamurskiy, Primorskiy regions. Moreover, the article explores the issues of organization and intelligence practices of the Public Political Security’s branches in China, Mongolia, and Primorskiy region in 1920–1922.

Keywords: history, Far Eastern Republic, Public Political Security, military control organs, authoritative representative of Cheka (Russian Emergency Commission) in Siberia, foreign intelligence, foreign intelligence residency, Innokentiy Angarskiy, Matvei Berman, Ivan Pavlunovxkiy, Konstantin Pshenitsin, Yevgeniy Fortunatov

Abstract: The history of Bavarian Soviet Republic, proclaimed by anarchists and leftist socialists («independents») on the 6th of April 1919, and brought back to life a week later, and then decimated by government forces in early May 1919, was considered a controversial topic in Soviet media and historiography. A broad spectrum of ideological opponents of the Soviet experiment in Southern Bavaria used those events as means of proving the utopic nature of Revolutionary plans of exiting the post-World War I crisis. The evaluation of historical experience by both opponents and proponents of the Bavarian Soviet Republic, had one thing in common – the evaluation of its historical experience in comparison to the Bolshevik dictatorship, its social and economic politics, the struggle between the Bavarian Red Army and the white movement. Outside scholarly interest, the everyday life of the vast majority of the population remained – those that were involved into the Revolutionary process passively, instead of actively. However, it was its mood and sway, action and inaction that determined the tragic face of the Soviet Bavarian Republic in the end. Addressing the topic of revolutionary everyday life and accenting its importance for the effort to reconstruct the complex picture of Bavarian Soviet Republic’s history, the author keeps the scarce source base of such research in mind. Along with the brief existence of the Republic itself, with its capital city situated in Munich, and the deliberate eradication of its documentary heritage, largely due to the fact that the Communists forbade the publication of newspapers, independent of the central authority, and classified as Bourgeoisie press. Yet still, not all is lost. The author’s research was saved by the numerous diaries of contemporaries and witnesses, the majority of which were published as early as 1960—1970s, as well as rich memoire based which emerged in the period between the World Wars. Lastly, a significant amount of information about the life in Bavarian Soviet Republic was contributed by judicial practice, which was preserved in the State’s attorney funds and archives.

Keywords: German Revolution, Bavarian Soviet Republic, German Communist party, Red Army, food confiscation

Abstract: The article is dedicated to Nikita Ivanovich Krylov, Professor of the Roman Law department of Moscow University (1807–1879). Krylov worked for almost 40 years, with no less than 40 graduations of Russian legists, who have him to thank for their knowledge in Roman law. Krylov didn’t leave a printed version of his lectures, yet his students left notes, and consolidated them to reconstitute his lecturing course, and some of those consolidations survived to our time. The author of this article aimed at reconstructing the image of N.I Krylov, as he was depicted by the writers of memoires, to accent his most prominent features: artistic manner, skill of capturing the attention of the audience, colourful and distinct manner of speech. Krylov was considered one of the best professors, and many of his students left memoires of him – among those students are such prominent public individuals as S.A. Muromtsev and A.F. Koni.

Keywords: history, history of the Law faculty of Moscow University, N.I. Krilov, S.A. Muromtsev, A.F. Koni, Roman Law, lithographic publications, memoires, lectures, eloquence

Abstract: The paper is focused on the problems of professional education of workers at Soviet Mechanical Engineering enterprises during the first five-year plans, treating them as one of the key elements of social and cultural system of the Soviet society. Analysis of the main problems associated with workers’ factory-based education allows us to trace the connection between the general processes expressed by legislative regulations and their implementation at particular plants.

Keywords: industrialization, mechanical engineering, education, qualification factory-based specialized schools, elimination of illiteracy, technical schools, education courses, profession.

Abstract: During the years 1941-1945, Soviet laborers were subject to increased coercion. Two new categories of forced laborers appeared: the “labor soldiers” and the POWs. They added to the categories already present in the thirties: the concentration camp prisoners and the “special settlers”. The aim of this article is to describe as precisely as possible the situation of these unfree laborers. The four categories were not separated by clear boundaries, but overlapped, with almost imperceptible transitions. This article examines forced labor in the Urals during World War II. Forced labor was an important part of Soviet war economy. The Urals region was a great industrial region, which played a great role in the production of weapons during the war and contributed very much to the Soviet victory. It was also a zone of camps and “special settlements”, where people named “special settlers”, deported according to social or ethnic criteria, lived.

Keywords: USSR, Urals, World War II, forced labor, Gulag, concentration camps, prisoners of war, special settlers, labor soldiers.

Abstract: This work studies the influence of the Chinese civilization on the processes of forming and development of the cultures of the peoples of Parthia, Bactria, Margu, Sogdiana and Ostrushana between II century B.C. and early XIII century A.D. In the interactions between China and the neighboring peoples, the former’s material and spiritual cultural aspects were absorbed simultaneously, but the material culture was more obvious, and attracted greater attention from its neighbors. This manifested in intense exchange, imitation and burrowing of cultural traits – arts, crafts, clothes, food, architecture, transport, etc.

Keywords: history, civilization, istoriya, tsivilizatsiya, China, Parthia, Bactria, Margu, Sogdiana, Ostrushana, material culture, pre-Mongolian period

Abstract: This article examines the history and development of the intracity river transport (“river trams”) in Moscow. The author provides information on the types of vessels used in both city and suburban passengers transportation, brief overview of their creators and shipyards, drawing attention to 1930s, when Moscow river passenger transport, tourism and recreation culture started to form.

Keywords: history, Moscow, Moskva river, transport, river tram, motor ship, vessel, motor boat, navigation, tourism.