Специфіка формування радянської гілки влади в західних областях УРСР повоєнного періоду

The process of formation of the Soviet branch of power in the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR in the postwar period is highlighted. It is emphasized that the establishment of Soviet power in the region was modeled on the Stalinist Bolshevik-Soviet administrative system that functioned throughout the USSR. The author identifies the national and local factors that influenced the process of selection and training of personnel (reduction in the number of professional managers, the activities of a powerful national liberation movement led by the OUN and UPA, the lack of continuity of Soviet traditions in the field of party-state governance, anti-regime sentiments of the population and etc.).

The author emphasizes the imported nature of the Bolshevik government in the region, as its representatives were primarily party functionaries from the eastern regions of the Ukrainian SSR. At best, people from the local population were assigned the role of deputy heads of executive committees and heads of departments. The local element was most strongly represented in village councils, as there were not enough seconded emissaries to fill the lowest management positions. In the end, the latter were reluctant to accept these positions because of the threat from the OUN underground. After 1945, as a result of the «indigenization» policy, the authorities began to involve locals more actively in the governance of the region, but the highest administrative positions remained in the hands of newly arrived communists, which negatively affected the perception of Soviet power by the local population.

The author points to the low educational and professional level of the visiting party functionaries, which was a consequence of the regime's specific personnel policy, when the main condition for appointment was not the qualitative characteristics of the applicant, but the presence of a party ticket. The low professional and moral qualities of the newly arrived managers, their ignorance of local conditions and the Ukrainian language, and their unwillingness to work in the context of a permanent armed political conflict did not help officials to fulfill their duties, resulting in an extremely high staff turnover in the region. People from the local population also lacked education and managerial skills, as it was primarily the marginalized who agreed to cooperate with the Soviet authorities. Aware of the problem, the authorities set up a network of training courses for officials at various levels, but personnel problems plagued the authorities in the following years, albeit on a smaller scale.

Ukrainian SSR, western region, postwar period, Soviet authorities, personnel policy.