Materials of Students of the Leningrad Polytechnic School of Communications on Work in the Countryside as a Historical Source

Aim . To reveal the information capabilities of a set of documents on the work in the village of students of the Leningrad Polytechnic school of Communications named after F.E. Dzerzhinsky in the context of the problems of socialist restructuring of the village in the first post-revolutionary decade. Methodology . The procedures of classification, systematization, structural analysis and scientific description of an array of archival documents are carried out. Results. The source characteristics of the materials are given. The specific composition of documents related to the work of students among peasants is considered. Their formal originality and specific features of the content are revealed. The possibilities of using these sources to study the life, economic structure and mentality of the peasantry, the problems of implementing the rural modernization program during the NEP period, as well as the participation of Soviet students in this process were discussed. Research implications . The documents make it possible to identify the main tasks assigned by the party and the government to persons sent to rural areas, to understand their role in ensuring communication between the Soviet state and the countryside and in implementing relevant political and economic guidelines.