General purges in the RKP(b)/VKP(b) in the 1920s-1930s in the Far Eastern Russia

The subject of the research is the mechanisms for implementing general purges of party ranks in the 1920s–1930s in the Far Eastern Russian regions, examined in the context of regulating social mobility and personnel policy in the RKP(b)/VKP(b). The focus is on the processes of institutionalizing party control through the system of control commissions, changes in the qualitative and quantitative composition of the Far Eastern party organization, and the evolution of the grounds for expulsion from the party—from the struggle against "random" and "class-alien elements" in the 1920s to the strengthening of political criteria ("passivity," "degeneration," affiliation with supporters of the "right" and "left" factions) in the 1930s. Special attention is paid to the influence of the border status of the territory and the change in regional leadership on the course and results of the purges in the Far Eastern regions. The research is based on the principles of historicism and systemic analysis. The source base includes archival documents from the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History (RGASPI), the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History (RGANI), the State Archive of the Primorsky Krai (GAPK), and the State Archive of the Khabarovsk Krai (GAHK), as well as published materials from regional party conferences. The comparative-historical method allowed for the identification of the dynamics of expulsion indicators during the purges, comparison of regional data with nationwide figures, and determination of the degree of influence of subjective factors on the results of the checks. The novelty of the research is defined by the comprehensive analysis of the regional specifics of party purges in the Far East as a tool of descending social mobility. Unlike existing works, the emphasis is placed not only on the quantitative indicators of party ranks but also on the contradictions in personnel policy: it is shown that the purges of 1929 and 1933 were aimed not only at identifying "class-alien elements" but also against workers "from the machine," including some promoted individuals. It is proven that purges were a key regulator of social dynamics: while the party served as a social lift, the purges legitimized descending mobility, creating a mechanism of conditionality of party status. The conclusion is made that the practice of general purges, tested in the 1920s and the first half of the 1930s, prepared the institutional and personnel groundwork for the transition to political repressions of 1937-1938.