Abstract: The existing in historical sciences evolutionary models of historical processes cannot find space within themselves for historical chance, which manifests itself as the activity of a particular person or group, or as a singular fact seemingly uninfluenced by anything. This article substantiates the possibility of applying the methodology of synergetics to the study of events that at first appear accidental, but that had a decisive influence on the course of historical processes. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the heuristic possibilities provided by the use of synergetics in the study of separate historical events. Particular attention is given to the question of how the use of synergetics helps to find the causal place in the general historical scheme of separate, seemingly random events-fluctuations that have significant influence on the course of the historical process overall. The source base for this article consists of the works of Russian and foreign scholars on the subject. The research’s methodological base comprises the comparative historical method and the approach of synergetics. The author addresses the question of which heuristic capacities are provided by the synergetics of history. The author comes to the conclusion that it finds the place of the most difficult problem – that of chance. Thus, it is demonstrated how and under which circumstances seemingly insignificant events, new controversial ideas, and persons deviating from norms suddenly come to define the consequent course of history. Synergetics with the aid of its proper methodological instruments and categorical apparatus outlines the logic of events, showing how the growth of entropy, system deviation, disintegration, the rise of autonomous elements lead to a point of bifurcation where the smallest fluctuation that appears accidental can bring about its break-down. What the new system order will be depends on the structures-attractors that form in the environment of the development of the self-organisational processes.

Keywords: entropy, attractor, fluctuation, bifurcation, determinism, nonlinearity, historical chance, synergetics, alternativeness, role of individual

Abstract: Recently in France two new books have been published by Yves Cohen on power in Contemporary history (2013) and by Stefan Van Damme on the philosophy of Modern history (2014), which although are focused on different time periods and themes, but both, in the words of the authors, belong to the movement of pragmatic history. What is pragmatic history? What does it entail from the point of view of a historian’s practical work? The aim of this cross review is to demonstrate the existing methodological similarities between the two books. We see that two authors arrive at pragmatic history from different historiographical traditions, but in both cases their adherence to this direction is signalled by three original research approaches: the aim to understand phenomena in the process of their problematisation, to gain access to social and cultural practices, and to understand the circulation mechanisms of ideas and knowledge through their produced results. This type of approach necessarily implies a change of a scholar’s methodological stance, forcing him to refute the often inherent positions of superiority and of the regressive method. Opening new research horizons, pragmatic history is capable of contributing to historiographical debates on many important topics. In conclusion, the review presents as an example the question of modernity: it is examined not so much in itself, as with the aim of demonstrating the possibilities of studying the public sphere of Modern and Contemporary times from the point of view of pragmatic history.

Keywords: phenomenon reproblematisation, pragmatic history, Modern history philosophy, modernity, methodological approaches, leader, authority, social practices, circulation, historical epistemology

Abstract: This article reviews the main model of chronology and periodization proposed for archaeological epochs, which is based on the heuristically-established Fibonacci sequence and numbers that are the concrete mathematical expression of the “golden ratio”. The use of the Fibonacci sequence required the overall clarification of the structures of archaeological epochs: archaeological sub-epochs, periods, phases, nodal moments, as well as of its logical-conceptual apparatus and terminology (with term definitions) in general. The model chronology and periodization of archaeological epochs was correlated to the chronology of the generally accepted “system of three centuries” and verified with the chronology and periodization of the corresponding time interval of the informational-cybernetic model. The first two models reliably (the coupling coefficient f=0.57) describe the evolution and history of one and the same organism – of an archaeological epoch. The model chronology and periodization gains authority because it corresponds with the general laws of development, better completeness, precision, simplicity, perspective, and combination possibilities. The most significant results derived from applying the model of chronology and periodization of an archaeological epoch for its study are: evolutionary processing within an archaeological epoch – a coherent phenomenon that contains in itself archaeological sub-epochs; the visible part of an archaeological sub-epoch is the evolutionary triad – genesis (becoming) – flowering – dying (involution) – with hidden phases preceding and succeeding it. Digitalised chronology and periodization allow to process new non-verbal, but numerical information, studying and comparing not only the absolute and relative continuances, but also the multiplicity of “centuries”, archaeological epochs and periods, etc. Digitalised chronology and periodization has aided to see the harmony within the structures of archaeological epochs, their functions and dynamics, strictly (as following studies have shown) corresponding to the general harmony of universe.

Keywords: “golden ratio”, periodization, chronology, Fibonacci numbers, Fibonacci sequence, archaeological sub-epoch, archaeological epoch, archaeological culture, material culture, multidisciplinarity

Abstract: The object of this study is the author’s family lineage, currently numbering more than a thousand recovered names with direct ancestry. The research subject is focused specifically on the Archugov family, which has been successfully traced through documents to the middle of the 17th century in the Kaigorodskiy and Kungursky uesdzs of Great Perm. The author examines various hypotheses pertaining to the etymology of the family name “Archugov”, traces the settlement paths of members of the Archugov family in the Ural and Siberia, and gives a short list of his own ancestors from the line of Archugovs using archival primary sources (RSAAA, SAPK). The article uses such research methods as the genealogical, hermeneutical, historical, source criticism, chronological, etymological, as well as the method on anti-linguistic reconstruction. For the first time the Perm family of “the Archugovs” is described in great detail, the origin of which is traced to the middle of the 17th century. During the course of the genealogical examination the author was able to establish that the family of the Archugovs divided itself already at the end of the 17th century, part of it remaining in the Perm governorate, while the other part moved to the Tobol governorate. In the middle of the 20th century one of the Kungursky members of the family – the author’s grandfather Ilya Vasilyevich Archugov – intermarried with the Siberian Aleksandra Ivanovna Trunova.

Keywords: Archugovs, genealogy, Kungursky uezd, RSAAA, Sukhaya river, SAPK, Perm governorate, scribe book, audit records, census book

Abstract: The object of this article’s research is the history of the symbols of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In view of the fact that heraldry was not inherent to the culture of nomadic people, the first symbols were brought into the territory of modern Kazakhstan by the Russian Empire. The further development of heraldry in Kazakhstan, which was part of the Russian Empire and later of the USSR, occurred synchronically with the development of heraldry in these states. The Republic of Kazakhstan got its first independent symbols after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. However, unlike other countries of the former Soviet Union, these symbols were formalised, registered in a separate law, and described by a standard. Thus, the issue of the ambiguous symbol interpretations was resolved and the nation’s flag and coat of arms were made to correspond in colour, thereby allowing them to be seen as a unified artistic composition. This article demonstrates not only the strong sides in the composition of the Kazakhstan coat of arms and flag, but also examines their chief inaccuracies, which are of a dogmatic nature. This research utilised the historical approach which illuminated the geopolitical phenomena and prerequisites in creating the coat of arms of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The historical and comparative method – along with the historical-genetic method – exposed the possible continuity from old territorial coats of arms to the state’s modern coat of arms. All of the above listed methods have allowed to identify the main reference points of this research. The main conclusion of the article amounts to the observation that the Kazakhstan coat of arms, despite having a number of dogmatic mistakes, nonetheless was made with scrupulousness and artistic taste. It symbolises peace, welfare, and prosperity of the people. The symbolics of the coat of arms show an integrative vector in the state’s development. The coat of arms and the flag of Kazakhstan in their structure and symbolism are similar to the symbols of the Republic of Belarus – the author notes their same continuity from the symbols of the Soviet era. The heraldry of the Republic of Kazakhstan leans toward its development within the framework of the Euroasian Union, and the Kazakhstan experience of heraldic standardisation can be used as a model for other states in this integrative association.

Keywords: symbols of Kazakhstan, territory of Kazakhstan, flag, emblem mistakes, history of Kazakhstan, coat of arms, heraldry, political system, heraldic prognostic aspects, symbol standardisation

Abstract: This article considers the interpretations by the Party of Socialists Revolutionaries, given by the SRs themselves in the final, emigrant period of their existence. The discussion includes a presentation of the features specific to the SRs’ emigration after October 1917, and the key moments in its formation and development. The author highlights the analysis of the problems pertaining to the party’s history at the time of the controversy surrounding the trial in 1922 of the PSR leaders, as well as at the conference of the party’s Prague group in 1931. The main approaches of the SRs-émigrés to the party’s activity in 1917–1920s, the period of revolution and the Civil war, are studied and the reasons of the PSR’s failures in the political struggle are also outlined. The views of the Socialits Revolutionaries in emigration are examined from the point of view of intellectual history on the basis of the comparative historical method from the position of scientism and multifactualism. The premise is the realisation of the undivided link between the history of ideas and concepts, on the one hand, and of the history of conditions and forms of intellectual activity, on the other hand. For the first time the materials from the party forums of the Socialists Revolutionaries in emigration are analysed, and the author notes the numerous attempts at writing a history of the party and the attention to this given by prominent members of this party. Overall, the SRs (as well as the Mensheviks) authors, admitting their political mistakes, nonetheless considered the main reason for their defeat to be the weakness of those social forces on which Democratic Socialism should rely on in Russia. The author also notes the influence of the SRs’ views on the consequent development of foreign historiography.

Keywords: social democracy, repression, the party of socialists-revolutionaries, emigration, revolution, third way, civil war, democracy, the working class, the peasantry

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the study of the daily life and management organisation in one of the first female coenobitic monasteries in Karelia during the period of Peter the Great’s reforms. On the example of the conflict that arose in 1719–1720 among the nuns of the Voznesensky monastery, located by the confluence of the Svir river into Lake Onega and part of the Zaonezhskaya tithe of the Novgorod metropolis, the author examines the questions related to the nominations for the post of monastery builder and contributors, and the general organisation of the household. This research is based on a comparative analysis of the documents from the legal case: petitions, interrogation speeches, accounts, formal replies, ordinances. The additional information derived from literature, acts of writ proceedings, and census books has allowed to broaden our perception of the circumstances and consequences of the litigation. It was discovered that within the community’s inner order of life different traditions became intertwined, ascendants of two diverse ways of organising monastic life. On the one hand, nuns possessed common property and sought to follow the coenobitic principle of collegiality in the monastery’s management. Nonetheless, some chance individuals came to head the community and, seeking to get out of its control, became despotic temporary workers. On the other hand, the monastery was also inhabited by archaic traditions of idiorrythmic monasticism that were introduced by the elders who had previously lived near parish churches and constituted the core of the community. The lack of unity among the sisters and the weakening of the moral and spiritual discipline were commonplace occurrences not only for the Voznesensky monastery, but also for other monasteries of the Novgorod metropolis and Kholmogory diocese in the last third of the 17th – first third of the 18th centuries. Ecclesiastical and secular authorities undertook measures to eradicate and order some of the ancient practices, but their efforts, however, were not marked by consistency.

Keywords: traditions of community self-government, local communities, institute of priest elders, idiorrythmic monasticism, coenobitic monastery, female Orthodox monasticism, Novgorod metropolis, Zaonezhskaya tithe, Olonetsky Uyezd, Russian Orthodox Church

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the sanction features of the human resource policy of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (Komsomol) during the period of the Great Patriotic War. The author’s attention is focused on the extreme form of corporate sanctions – expulsion, which is examined as part of the regulating mechanisms of the group’s quality and quantity composition consisting of the civilian Komsomol under the conditions of membership shortages in 1941–1945. The author presents a comparative time-spatial analysis of the sanction mechanisms’ work of expelling members during the pre-War period and during the war, on the scale of the whole USSR and on the regional level, while identifying the differences in implementation practices and reasons of substantiation. The study of the sanction policy in the Komsomol is carried out considering the governmental nature of this organisation. The article’s methodology is primarily based on the use of the historical-comparative method, including synchronic and diachronic material analysis, as well as the method of statistical data processing. In presenting the material the author adheres to the principle of historism. The article’s scientific novelty lies in its comparative examination of the questions of the sanction policy of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League during the period of the Great Patriotic War on the basis of modern methodological approaches. The sanction policy of the Komsomol during the period of the Great Patriotic War was accompanied by an absolute and a relative reduction of the proportion of expelled members in the total body of the Komsomol compared to the pre-War period, which is explained by the aim of the Komsomol authorities to maintain to the highest degree the organisational and executive potential of the organisation under the conditions of a precipitous reduction of its number and the complication of its functional responsibilities. The nature of expulsion during the period of war demonstrates the organisation’s direct link with law enforcement standards and with the objectives of strengthening social stability among the civilian population.

Keywords: disciplinary measures, expulsion, composition regulation, human resource policy, sanctions, Komsomol, youth, Great Patriotic War, Tambov region, Russian schoolchildren movement

Abstract: The subject of this article’s study is the sphere of public foodservice in Russia from the 17th century to 1861–1863 (before the reform of the trade system in general and of the tavern business in particular). The article systematises the legislative material of the named period. It further analyses the terminology concerning gastronomy in its public aspect and characterises the main organisational forms of public foodservice, their legal status and evolution. The author gives particular attention to the particularities of their functioning from within the legal framework of the state monopoly on food sale. In this study only one type of source is selected for analysis – legislative documents – and carries out a comparative analysis on a significant time interval. During the studied period the evolution of public foodservice depended on the development and organisation of the foodservice production and trade, especially on the conditions of repurchase. A hierarchy of tavern establishments was formed from the 1770s up to 1861 that strictly correlated to the general estate structure of society. It is impossible to carry onto the trade of edibles the concepts of private property, free commodity-monetary relations, and even less so of a competitive market.

Keywords: history of the tavern, history of restaurants, history of social strata, history of the Meshanstvo, history of Russian towns, history of business, history of everyday life, history of products, history of catering, history of hotels

Abstract: This article examines the conflict between the poet V. K. Trediakovsky and the Russian statesman A. P. Volynsky. After physically assaulting the poet in public, Volynsky was arrested on charges of conspiracy and misconduct and was later beheaded. The tragic death of the cabinet minister was then associated in public opinion with the figure of the poet. The public’s attitude towards V. K. Trediakovsky changed only years later: from the culprit of the patriot-minister’s death he came to be seen as a victim of tyranny and violence from the high-ranking official. These circumstances determined the poet’s literary tradition. In this study the author used the historical-genetic research method, which is one of the principle methods of acquiring historical knowledge. It is primarily based on descriptive means. The main goal of this method is to explain facts and to identify their causes, development, and consequences. The main sources used were historical novels and literary works. The novelty and relevance of this research is the author’s attempt, on the basis of working with original sources, to understand how society’s attitude changed towards its history, and how society itself and its ideals changed. The article not only refers to the historiography of the conflict, but also touches upon the question of the phenomenon of historical memory.

Keywords: artistic image, literary tradition, V.K. Trediakovsky, A.P. Volynsky, ice palace, poet, cabinet minister, Bironism, historical novel, historical memory

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the examination of the specifics of Russia’s management system in place during the first half of the 17th century, which formed as a result of the dynastic crisis at the end of the 16th – beginning of the 17th centuries. The author analyses the legal documents that limited the monarchy during this period, such as the “Cross record of Vasiliy Shuyskiy” (1606) and election agreement of the prince Vladislav from the 4th of February 1610 and from the 17th of August 1610. Additionally, significant attention is allocated to the problem of the “Restrictive record of Mikhail Romanov”, which has been subject of debate in Russian historical sciences from the 19th century onwards. Using the systematic analysis and the historical genetic method, the author carried out a study of the principal properties and features of the established political and legal regime during this period. Based on this research, the author came to the conclusion of the prospects of the undertaken changes, which could have contributed to the formation of the principle of power separation and of alternative institutions of power to autocracy. On the basis of comparing this with the analogous process in Western Europe, the failure of the set constitutional tendencies is tied to the slow development in Russia of a strong, independent in property class, similar to the European bourgeoisie, and also of the particularities of the mental mode of the Russian people.

Keywords: Zemsky Sobor, Michael Romanov, Time of Troubles, intervention, dynastic crisis, Rurik dynasty, serving nobility, Boyar Duma, Granted Charter, Tushino camp

Abstract: The subject of this research is the normative judicial system of the Russian Empire concerning the termination of employment contracts for agricultural works. The author studies the grounds for dismissal prescribed in the “Regulations concerning employment for agricultural works” of the 12th of June 1886 and the practice of their actual implementation. The article presents a comparative analysis with legislative norms regarding contract termination for factory employment as the main branch of the hired labour market in the 1880–1910s. The author describes the technical and judicial shortcomings of the studied regulations and analyses the social and economic context of adopting the “Regulations concerning employment for agricultural works”. The research’s methodology is the following: historical-judicial, legalistic, historical, comparative, analysis, deduction, induction, dialectical. On the basis of the research results the author comes to the principal conclusion according to which the legislative regulation of contract termination for agricultural works corresponded to the world’s and Russia’s levels of legislation of the time. The general direction of the studied norms was of a conservative-protective nature and corresponded to the direction of the internal politics of the 1880–1890s. At the same time certain prescriptions and approaches were caused by both the objective needs of households and the particularities of working in the agricultural sphere. Moreover, some of the established laws differed into the direction of softening the workers’ position in comparison to the norms of factory-plant legislation. The existing technical judicial shortcomings regarding the practice of dismissal concerned equally the level of judicial technique of the end of the 19th century and the law-makers’ subjective aims of preserving the employers’ wide ranging powers.

Keywords: Russian Empire, normative judicial system, history of labour law, employee dismissal, employment contract, factory-plant legislation, employee, employer, law enforcement, agricultural law

Abstract: This review presents a critical analysis of A. A. Tikhomirov’s newest study dedicated to the cult of Stalin in Eastern Germany during the formation period of party and government structures. The review’s author notes that the monograph is a worthy contribution to the current discussions regarding the transnational measurement of late Stalinism history, to the reconstruction of the peripheries of the Soviet empire’s symbolic mechanisms of assimilation, and to the study of the working specifics of the “discourse dictatorship” and (self)creation of “dictatorial subject”. The key points of the analysis are the specifics behind the creation of Stalinist symbolic space in Central and Eastern Europe, its homogenisation and encapsulation, as well as the role of government, group, and individual actors. The most significant conclusions the author comes to are his comments on the decisive role of the “patriarch generation”, which lived for a long time in Soviet emigration and thoroughly studied the rules of the Soviet discourse games and sought to follow them for securing and strengthening their own power, and on the mutual beneficial creation of a structure to subordinate the peripheries to the centre of the empire. The reviewer criticises the part of the author’s argument that is based on initially ideologised materials of the West German Social Democratic Party of Germany, logical contradictions, and unbalanced national and transnational perspectives. Valuating positively the book author’s research overall, the reviewer notes possible direction for its continuation as a detailed analysis of the competition of the imperial peripheries between themselves before of Moscow regarding questions of the correct symbolisation of the cult community.

Keywords: cult of Stalin, SUPG, SMAG, history of USSR, history of GDR, visual anthropology, new political history, cultural transfer, generation of patriarchs, dictatorial subject