Chelyabinsk historian V.E. Chetin: Studying the history of the mining Urals in the context of Soviet historiography during the 1950s–1970s

N.N. Alevras^*, S.D. Batishchev^**

Chelyabinsk State University, Chelyabinsk, 454001 Russia

E-mail: ^*vhist@mail.ru, ^**batischew.sergey2015@yandex.ru

Received April 7, 2021

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

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DOI: 10.26907/2541-7738.2021.3.75-89

For citation: Alevras N.N., Batishchev S.D. Chelyabinsk historian V.E. Chetin: Studying the history of the mining Urals in the context of Soviet historiography during the 1950s–1970s. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2021, vol. 163, no. 3, pp. 75–89. doi: 10.26907/2541-7738.2021.3.75-89. (In Russian)

Abstract

The dissertation projects of Vasilii Egorovich Chetin, a Chelyabinsk historian, on the history of mining works in the pre-revolutionary Urals were analyzed. His versions of the history of the Ural workers and labor movement were interpreted with regard to the historiographic context of his research activity during the 1950s–1970s. The prototype of a provincial historian committed to the orthodox Marxist-Leninist methodology as exemplified by V.E. Chetin’s personality was identified. General trends in the development of Ural historiography over the period when V.E. Chetin worked on his dissertations were shown. He defended his candidate’s dissertation in 1953. It was devoted to the labor movement in the Perm governorate after the reform of 1861, one of the popular problems of Ural historiography. The doctoral dissertation that ensued was drafted and should have been defended by the end of 1970. It continued to ponder the same problem within the entire region of mining works in the Urals and covered the historical period up to the early 20th century. Here, an attempt was made to take into account a whole variety of factors, including the secondary ones, influencing the situation of Ural workers. It was concluded that the scope of tasks set by V.E. Chetin in the doctoral dissertation made it impossible for him to meet the deadline.

Keywords: V.E. Chetin, Chelyabinsk State Pedagogical Institute, Ural historiography, history of labor class, candidate’s dissertation, doctoral dissertation, Ural historians

Acknowledgments. The study was supported by the Foundation for Advanced Scientific Research of Chelyabinsk State University (project no. 72-1 “The origins on the modern culture of dissertation writing in Russia” of February 2, 2021).

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