Подлоги, коррупция и непотизм в хрущевскую эпоху. «Дело» руководящих работников Новосибирской области
Forgery, Сorruption and Nepotism in the Khrushchev Era. The “Case” of Novosibirsk Oblast Executives

Summary/Abstract: The article analyzes one of the little-studied phenomena of abuse of power and corruption at the regional level during the Khrushchev Thaw. It describes the use of mass forgery and distortion of reporting during the grain procurement campaign of the late 1950s in the Novosibirsk region to imitate the successful activities of regional authorities in the management of agriculture. The mechanism of the widespread use of fraud in grain procurement and the importance of administrative pressure on grassroots (district) workers by the party apparatus are shown. In this connection, the scale of the spread of eyewash in the region and its economic consequences are noted, the reasons for the long use of machinations by the leaders of the regional committee of the CPSU and the regional executive committee are explained. A special place in the article is given to the nature of exposing the main perpetrators of official forgery and the ways of their punishment in the post-Stalin era in the form of removal from office without criminal measures and with secrecy. Cases of corruption and nepotism among regional leaders are also revealed. The main schemes of embezzlement of budgetary sums of money and illegal distribution of material resources in the circle of trusted persons are shown. It is concluded that the ‘case’ of the Novosibirsk leaders clearly reflected the new features and defects of the management system of the Khrushchev period: the reduction of the centralised leadership of the CPSU Central Committee apparatus in solving regional affairs, the softening of punishment of the bureaucracy for gross misdemeanours, the expansion of the freedom of action of regional chiefs, and at the same time the emergence of additional conditions for abuse of office and irresponsibility.

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