First Secretaries of Kalmykia Komsomol Committee: 1921–1991

Abstract

The article deals with the history of Kalmykia Komsomol Committee in 1921–1991. Goals. The paper aims to investigate personnel policies towards First Secretaries of Kalmykia Committee of the RKSM/VLKSM between 1921 and 1991. Materials and methods. The work analyzes archival and published materials from the National Archive of Kalmykia. The key principles employed are those of objectivity and historicism that prove instrumental in examining the issue in certain historical circumstances and contexts. Results. The study concludes somewhat specific factor that influenced activities by First Secretaries of Kalmykia’s Komsomol was that their terms of tenure were not that long. The insights into their personal characteristics show in 1921–1991 the bulk of them came from poor peasant families and had no university degrees, though were experienced enough in party activities and tended to combine both Komsomol and party duties. The postwar period witnessed an increase in educational levels of Kalmykia’s Komsomol executives, all of them had diplomas of higher education. A candidate pool system also took shape. Komsomol activists were recommended for postgraduate programs, and the organization served as cadre training unit not only to the Communist Party but rather to Soviet agencies at large.