Training and Retraining of Personnel in the System of Soviet Authorities in the Lower Volga Region at the First Stage of Socialist Reconstruction (1928–1932)

Introduction. The success of the large-scale transformations carried out in the country at the first stage of socialist reconstruction largely depended on the solution of the personnel issue in the process of systematic training of qualified personnel both for the economic sphere and for the Soviet authorities. Methods and materials. The study was based on traditional methods (historical-comparative, historical-systemic, genetic) and principles (objectivity, historicism, consistency) of historical research. Most of the documents involved in the research process were unpublished archival sources from the State Regional Archive of the Volgograd Region and the Center for Documentation of the Recent History of the Volgograd Region. Analysis. The research is aimed at identifying the problems of training and retraining personnel of Soviet authorities in the Lower Volga Region. Results. The first stage of socialist reconstruction, the administrative-territorial reform, and the creation of the Lower Volga Region brought the problem of personnel training into the category of key problems, the success of solving which was directly linked to the implementation of major changes in the political, economic, and social spheres during the first five-year plan. The problem of training and retraining personnel of the Soviet authorities in the region had to be solved against the background of the systemic “processing” personnel, the low level of education of applicants and working Soviet managers, the lack of a systematic accounting the personnel link until 1929 and, as a result, high rates of personnel rotation, especially at the level of the district and village, which determined the main directions of activity of the regional authorities in this matter – the need to intensify efforts to introduce accounting, accurately identify “bottlenecks” in the process of training and retraining of personnel, systematic planning of educational activities for the training and retraining of personnel.