Historical and Cultural Heritage Protection in the RSFSR and BSSR: Administration Practices, Financing, and Boundaries of Possibilities (Second Half of the 1960s — mid-1970s)

In the USSR in the second half of the 1960s the institutionalization of historical and cultural heritage protection intensified. Societies for the protection of monuments appeared in several Soviet republics, including Lithuania (1965), Kyrgyziya, Moldavia, Ukraine, Belarussia and Russia (1966). This article analyses the differences in the administrative and financial capacities of two republican structures — the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Monuments of History and Culture (VOOPIiK) and the Belarusian Voluntary Society for the Protection of Monuments of History and Culture (BDOOPIiK). The findings based on a wide range of archival documents, suggest that the network of voluntary societies for the protection of monuments established in the USSR in the post-war period was a system of resource allocation. An integral part of such structures was a mechanism aimed, in the broad sense of the word, at regulating public statement. The functionality of this mechanism exhibited significant variations from republic to republic. The pivotal factor in this regard was the socio-economic conditions in which the members of the societies found themselves. The article demonstrates that the administration of the Russian and Belarusian Societies formed a system in which the BDOOPIiK had serious advantages over the VOOPIiK in terms of promoting its agenda and ability to influence decision-making process. The BSSR had a stable system of funding for the Republican Society for the Protection of Monuments, while VOOPIiK in the central regions of the RSFSR faced a constant lack of resources.