THE MANAGERIAL STAFF OF NARKOMNATS (PEOPLE’S COMMISSARIAT FOR NATIONALITIES) OF THE RSFSR: THE ROLE OF PERSONALITY IN THE HISTORY OF NATION BUILDING

DOI: 10.47026/2712-9454-2025-6-1-14-18

УДК 93/94

ББК 74.03(235)6к22

Ilya V. DMITRIEV

Key words

S. Pestkovsky, People’s Commissariat for Nationalities of the RSFSR (Narkomnats), national policy.

Abstract

In order to implement the ideology of the country’s multinational nature and the federation corresponding to it, not only legislative acts began to be created in the authority bodies system of the Soviet country, but also state institutions that were given specific tasks for conducting national policy. One of these governing bodies, endowed with specific powers and certain tools, was the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities of the RSFSR (Narkomnats), established in 1917.

The purpose of the study is to use the example of S. Pestkovsky’s life and work to reveal insights into the role of personality in the history of Narkomnats development.

Materials and methods. The work was prepared on the basis of general scientific and special historical methods and approaches. The principles of historicism, objectivity and consistency, as well as historical-comparative and biographical methods were of the greatest value among them.

Results. Narkomnats was an unconventional administrative institution in the sphere of management, it was a fundamentally new institution of power that “shaped” the future of the peoples of Russia and implemented the national policy in the country of the Soviets. The commissariat was headed by its People’s Commissar I. Stalin. If a considerable number of publications have been published about the “leader of the peoples”, then there is far from complete information about his entourage. This article examines individual plots in the life and work of one of the representatives of Narkomnats leadership, namely the deputy People’s Commissar, a Polish and Russian revolutionary S. Pestkovsky (1882–1937). His biography is very multifaceted: an active participant in revolutionary activities, he joined the Social Democratic Party of Poland and Lithuania; at the end of 1917, he began active work in Narkomnats; in 1919, he was appointed chairman of the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Kyrgyz Territory; in 1924, he was the political representative of the USSR in Mexico; in 1926, he became deputy chairman and secretary of the Central Committee of the International Organization for Assistance to Fighters of the Revolution; he was repressed in 1937.

Conclusions. Narkomnats of the RSFSR became an important governing body that directly carried out the national state policy of the Soviet power. In many ways, the success and effectiveness of Narkomnats work depended on competent managers and revolutionaries who stood at the origins of the activities of the country’s first national institute in the history of Russia.

References

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About the author

Ilya V. Dmitriev – Post-Graduate Student, Department of Russian History, Chuvash State University, Russia, Cheboksary (ilya.dmitriev-btc@yandex.ru).

For citations

Dmitriev I.V. The Managerial Staff of Narkomnats (People’s Commissariat for Nationalities) of the RSFSR: the Role of Personality in the History of Nation Building. Historical Search, 2025, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 14–18. DOI: 10.47026/2712-9454-2025-6-1-14-18 (in Russian).

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