BUREAUCRATISM AND THE FIGHT AGAINST IT IN THE YEARS OF PERESTROIKA ON THE PAGES OF THE NEWSPAPER “KIROVSKAYA PRAVDA”

Abstract

Background. The glasnost policy pursued in the USSR in the second half of the 1980s made it possible to weaken censorship restrictions. At party conferences, in newspapers, television programs, previously forbidden topics began to be raised. One of them is the spread of bureaucracy in the organs of power in the Soviet Union. The fight against this phenomenon in the Soviet Union during the years of perestroika was practically not considered as a phenomenon in post-Soviet historiography within the Kirov region. The paper analyzes the articles of the newspaper “Kirovskaya Pravda”, condemning bureaucracy. The headings that highlighted the negative impact of red tape on society were studied. Purpose. Consider and analyze the articles of the newspaper “Kirovskaya Pravda” of the perestroika period, which denounce bureaucracy. Materials and methods. The basis for the study was the archival materials of the Central State Archive of the Kirov Region and the issue of the newspaper “Kirovskaya Pravda” – the organ of the Kirov Regional Committee of the CPSU and the Regional Council of People’s Deputies in the period under review. When analyzing sources, the method of content analysis was used. Results. The appearance in the newspaper “Kirovskaya Pravda” of columns devoted to exposing bureaucracy in the Kirov region was associated with the political trend set by M. S. Gorbachev in 1986. Most of the articles published in the periodical within the framework of sections “Bureaucratism - out of the way” and “Addresses of red tape”, were associated with complaints from tenants of apartment buildings about the work of housing and communal services enterprises. The reason for the irregular publication of articles was a change in the interest of the country’s leadership in this topic. The results of the content analysis allow us to conclude that both headings that denounced formalism contained similar stories of residents of the Kirov region who faced bureaucracy. The problems associated with the sphere of housing and communal services were the basis for articles related to red tape. Practical implications. The results of the study can be used to study the phenomenon of “bureaucracy” during the years of perestroika.