The Nomenclature of the Ukrainian SSR: People and Practices

We invite you to a lecture by historian Viktor Krupyna, which will take place as part of the lecture series "Let's Have s City".

The term "nomenclature" refers to the system of appointments to and dismissals from leadership positions after approval by the relevant committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, as well as the people who occupy these positions. Who were these people who, according to the official Soviet three-tier stratification, belonged to the intelligentsia? In Soviet times, the nomenclature was shrouded in mystery, and its full-fledged study began only in the late 1990s.

Based on statistical data from personnel services on the composition and turnover of the nomenclature, the researcher characterizes the age, nationality, gender, education, party and work experience of regional and local party and Soviet leaders, party and state leaders.

During the lecture, Viktor Krupina will raise the following questions: how was it possible to get into the nomenclature, and how did personnel criteria change during the second half of the 20th century? He will also examine nomenclature practices, including abuse of power, the functioning of nomenclature communities, sycophancy, the "unsinkability" of the nomenclature, and so on. The lecturer will talk about the "hospitable" traditions of business meetings, the leisure activities of high-ranking officials, and the ethics of power relations. He will explain how nomenclature members who violated the rules were punished, whether the public could influence the fate of high-ranking officials, and why "perestroika" was destructive for the nomenclature system.

Credits

Cover Image: Still frame from television news about A. I. Mikoyan's visit to the Stalin Collective Farm, 1959 / State Archive of Lviv Region / City Media Archive of the Center for Urban History