The European North of Russia: Revisiting the Vologda Alternative to the Development of the Region at the Turn of the 1930s

The article presents a historical analysis of the formation and implementation of the Soviet economy modernization during the 1920s-1930s in the European North of Russia. The aim of the study is to analyze the options for the development of the region proposed by the central power and implemented by the Arkhangelsk Governorate Committee, the Regional Committee of the VKP(b) since 1929, and the leaders of Vologda Governorate. The article examines the transformation of the policy the central and regional authorities conducted and its implementation at the stage of the so-called "Great Turn". The primary focus of the study is on the alternative position of the leaders of Vologda Governorate on the prospects for the socioeconomic development of the European North of Russia and its contradictions with the center and Arkhangelsk on the composition of the emerging Northern Krai (1929-01936) and the location of its administrative center. The methodological foundation for the study is an integrated approach that allowed examining the conflict of interests between the center and the regions of the European North of Russia as an integral part of the history of the state policy. The study is based on archival sources from central and regional archives, materials published in periodicals of the 1920s-1930s. Their study was conducted on the principles of critical interpretation using comparative, problem-chronological, institutional, statistical, and other methods. The authors conclude that the implementation of the integrated development of the European North was hampered by a change in the sociopolitical course introduced by the VKP(b) leadership to depart from the NEP approach and to transform Northern Krai into a timber export zone-the "wooden Donbass"-as a source of funds for accelerated industrialization. The leadership of Vologda defended the need for a more comprehensive development of the territory. However, the sector-specific export specialization of the region with Arkhangelsk as a regional center gained the upper hand. As a result, Vologda Gover-norate became part of Northern Krai with an administrative center in Arkhangelsk. The disagreement of Vologda Governorate leaders with the "Moscow-Arkhangelsk" vision of the future development of the region, the opposition to its implementation in the formation of Northern Krai were the cause of the Vologda leaders' dismissal. Inclusion of Vologda Governorate into Northern Krai, the change of the regional elite led to a decrease in the administrative status of Vologda and to the social and economic crisis of the region. Today, in the context of elaborating a strategy for the spatial development of the Russian Federation, the Vologda alternative, rejected at the turn of the 1930s, not only continues to be relevant, but also deserves a deeper analysis on the part of regional and federal authorities.

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