USSR Local Elections in the Early 1930s: Electoral Procedures and Practice

The article examines the issue of organizing and conducting election campaigns in the early 1930s using the example of Vologda, a provincial town in the European North of Russia. The article analyzes the specifics of the organization of elections to the Vologda Town Council and the methods of Soviet propaganda and agitation of that time, which is important for understanding the mechanisms of manipulation of the election process by Soviet and party authorities. The electoral behavior of Vologda residents in the election campaigns of 1929 and 1930/1931 is compared. The study used dialectical, historical, comparative legal, formal legal, logical, analytical, as well as methods of legal modeling and synergetic analysis. A special feature of the organization of the 1930/1931 election campaign was the desire to solve the problem of under-registration of voters that had occurred in previous years and to formalize the compilation of voter lists as much as possible. During the election campaign, new forms of campaigning were used: conducting regular radio broadcasts, creating special campaign teams, holding relay races, traveling exhibitions, evenings of friendly meetings, organizing self-verification of voter orders, etc. In order to actively attract voters to the Town Council’s reporting and re-election campaign, kinder rooms and kindergartens with meals were opened, where parents could leave their children for the duration of the meeting, as well as “cold snack bars”. In the context of food difficulties, obtaining additional access to food resources became a significant factor in election campaigning. The regulation of representation norms played a significant role in Soviet electoral legislation. The norms of representation were one of the important and effective tools for forming “obedient” councils. Thus, the number of women in the Town Council increased compared to the 1929 election campaign, and the working and party core strengthened. The analysis of historical facts makes it possible to identify a number of categories of citizens deprived of voting rights. The number of such “losers” was almost twice as high as the union figures, which dramatically affected the results of the Vologda Town Council elections. However, the townspeople at that time had their own opinion about who should represent them in government. The desire to nominate their candidates reflects the preservation of faith in the effectiveness of the Soviet government, in its popular character.