Political and educational work in the internal affairs bodies in the 1920s - early 1940s: towards the formulation of the problem

The relevance of the study is due, first of all, to the insufficiency of work on our chosen research object within the stated geographical and chronological framework, the need and possibility of further research. In addition, taking into account the experience of educational work in the internal affairs agencies in the difficult economic situation of the state, as well as during the period of hostilities, will be of undoubted social importance. Objectives: to consider the material conditions, basic forms and methods of cultural, educational and political work with police and criminal investigation officers. Objectives: to characterize the activities carried out within the framework of political and educational work, to consider the peculiarities of the moral and psychological state of employees of internal affairs bodies during the 1920s-1930s. Methodology. The work was prepared on the basis of archival data extracted from the state archives of Voronezh, Kursk, Lipetsk, Oryol. The work is based on the principles of objectivity and historicism. Historical-sociological and historical-genetic methods were used in the preparation of the study. Results. A brief overview of educational work with employees of the internal affairs bodies of the Chernozem regions, the moral and psychological state of personnel in the period under review is presented. Conclusions. Educational work in the internal affairs bodies was episodic, lacking proper consistency. The most popular forms of educational work were speeches to employees on political topics, festive evenings dedicated to the anniversaries of the formation of the militia. The difficulties in carrying out educational work include the organizational imperfection of educational activities and high staff turnover. The latter circumstance did not allow us to properly focus on the high-quality training of a cadre with high moral and business qualities and good political training. The weakness of educational work and the difficult financial situation of the police officers affected the level of service discipline and the attitude of employees to the service.