DESERTION AND THE FIGHT AGAINST IT IN THE TERRITORY OF THE MARI TERRITORY IN 1919–1920 (based on the materials of the State Archive of the Republic of Mari El)

Desertion, as an element of the Russian army’s disintegration at the beginning of the 20th century, was finally formed during the First World War. Lack of motivation, depressed morale and abandoned battlefield positions became the main reasons for Russia’s military and political failures at the final stage of the war. That is why, in the conditions of the Civil War outbreak in Russia, an important task for the new Soviet government was to strengthen discipline and revive the combat capability of the army. The fight against desertion was the key to preserve and establish the Soviet power on the ground, including in the Mari Territory. The purpose of the study is to study desertion as a phenomenon of the Civil War period in Russia in 1919–1920 in the Mari Territory, as well as to identify the main forms and methods of combating it. Materials and methods. The research used general scientific and special historical methods and approaches. When working with archival materials on the topic of desertion in the Mari Territory, a collection of documents that had not previously appeared in scientific circulation was formed. Research results. The authority responsible for the search and capture of deserters was the Central Commission for Combating Desertion. The Mari Territory in this matter fell under the jurisdiction of governorate commissions for combating desertion, located in the cities of Kazan and Vyatka. To carry out local tasks in each uyezd of the Mari Territory its own commission for combating desertion was formed under the uyezd military commissariat. They actively cooperated and carried out joint work with both the military commissariat and the uyezd commission for combating counterrevolution. Village councils were also supposed to provide active assistance.The Soviet government toughened penalties for desertion, but also used soft methods to combat this phenomenon. The study conclusions. During the Russian Civil War, six forms of combating desertion operated in the Mari Territory, all of them functioned together and formed a single integrated system to eradicate and prevent this kind of crime.