New facets of topical problems of contemporary history (materials of the round table – presentations of the monograph "Leafing through the pages of history... to the 100th anniversary of the formation of the USSR” in the center of socio-political history, February 14, 2024)

Aim. To present the results of the latest research into the problems of the Soviet stage of catch-up modernization.

Methodology. The study is based on a representative source base that allows us to identify various facets of the development of the USSR: from the genesis and transformation of the economic model to the controversial aspects of national and cultural policy, as well as to outline the hierarchy of factors that contributed to the collapse of the country. Historical-genetic and problem-chronological methods were used. The study of the USSR collapse causes was based on methods of classification and hierarchy.

Results. The study of the features of the indigenization policy as part of the national policy of the Bolsheviks, aimed at the formation of the Soviet political nation, allowed the researcher to draw a conclusion about the combination of its positive and negative consequences both for the 1920– 1930s and for the entire subsequent history of the USSR. The “Stalinist” economic model, which successfully solved the problem of a modernization breakthrough, was criticized by contemporaries and needed systemic adjustment. Based on the materials of the XVIII Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the XVIII Party Conference and the XVIII Plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, we can talk about the request formation for adjustment of the existing economic mechanism. Analysis on a wide source base of archival documents involved in scientific circulation for the first time made it possible to demonstrate the mechanism for solving economic problems closely related to problems of cultural development, confirming that the evacuation of industry, a number of cultural and scientific institutions to the east, including Kazakhstan, became the reason for the accelerated industrialization of the region and at the same time the basis for the emergence of new literary genres, the enrichment of theatrical art and especially the development of cinema. Analysis of the draft Program of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of 1947 allows, by identifying the unresolved problems of interaction between the individual and the state, to consider them as an important factor influencing the further development of the country. The solution to the question of the relationship between the causes of the collapse of the USSR according to their significance over the past more than 30 years is not stable. It changes both as a result of updating the source base, but more often as a consequence of the changing socio-political situation and new trends in science itself.

Research implications. The study of the genesis and evolution of the Soviet socio-economic system, problems of national and cultural policy, the hierarchy of factors of the collapse of the USSR on the principles of objectivity and historicism with the involvement of a wide range of sources deepens the understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of domestic catch-up modernization and makes an important contribution to the analysis of the relationship between factors historically significant processes.

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