The formation of the soviet civilization (on the example of Tyumen 1920-1930)

The main purpose of the paper is to analyze the cultural processes in Russia in 1920s -1930s, based on the research of Tyumen - a small provincial town in Western Siberia. It changed its administrative status several times: it was a gubernskii, okruzhnoi, regional centre of Tyumen Region, Ural Region, and Omsk Region in that period. We consider it was the time when change of people's cultural code took place, and the former subjects of the Russian Empire were transformed into a new social-cultural community - citizens of the Soviet Republic, later called the Soviet people. Compare to the scientists who studied the evident changes in the citizens' cultural code, we focused on everyday activities of common people. It might be the first attempt to research the corresponding cultural processes in this way. Citizens' vital activity and survival in hard life conditions were analysed, transformation of the Bolshevik agitation and propaganda, the requirements of the state to a person of a new type, division of the population to proponents and enemies of the new regime, the hidden ideas of the people were researched. The article considers mythologized knowledge of people on the revolution and the Civil War, as well as the general tendency to forget the events, urbanization of the country and ruralization of the town. Self-isolation of the country and only official information coverage, preventive measures to the citizens who might be dangerous for authorities were researched in the article. Having survived three anthropological catastrophes (1914 - 1921, 1929 - 1933, 1941 - 1945), mental psychological type of a person living in Russia in the first half of 20th century changed greatly. The research is based on the published and archival sources, the periodicals, but especially valuable are private sources, the unique records from private libraries, memoirs, diaries, family correspondence. People were afraid of writing something down, discussing the topics connected with political or social system, so some sources exist only in one copy. As the result of the research we should recognize the great impact of mythology to the people' consciousness when all positive changes in their life were connected with the Great October Socialist Revolution in 1917. The new strata have been easily formed within the population: udarniki, stakhanovtsy, peredoviki. The marginal groups were transformed into urban intelligentsia and working class. The young state had a lack of managers, so rather wide range of vacancies was formed. That promoted the authority of the ruling regime. The lower classes felt social injustice, so the repressions of the leaders satisfied them though both upper and lower layers seemed to be formally equal. We should conclude that the complete change of the ruling elite took place, and the new generation was formed. The population was represented by new psychological types of people: activists, poputchiki (companions) and marginal people (off-mainstream people). They were united by life-preservation instinct and the seemed ability to rule the country as well as ability to become a victim for the future generations and the powerful industrial state. Their distinctive features such as enthusiasm, optimism, survival, vigilance, cruelty, indifference were completely illustrated during the Great Patriotic War.

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