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SOCIAL PRACTICES OF SUPPORTING RED ARMY SOLDIERS DURING THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR (ON THE EXAMPLE OF NORTH OSSETIA 1941-1942)

Zaseev, Georgy A.
Kavkaz Forum. 2025. Issue 24.
Abstract:

This article analyzes the organization and implementation of social work in support of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. During the war, the Soviet people had to fight for victory not only on the front lines but also in the rear. Large numbers of the proletariat, intellectuals, and agricultural workers of the USSR were deployed to assist the Red Army soldiers. Warm clothing, gifts, and footwear were collected. Funds were donated en masse for the production of heavy military equipment. It shows how the North Ossetian Autonomous Republic participated in the campaign to support Red Army soldiers during the most difficult years – from 1941 to 1942. Collection points for winter and summer equipment, as well as gifts for the army, operated throughout North Ossetia. Students, cultural workers, and industrialists in Ossetia also made large-scale donations to the Defense Fund. The relevance of this issue lies in the need to expand the source base of studies on the activities of the rear of the North Ossetian ASSR during the war. Soviet-era scholarly works on frontline assistance often ignored the negative aspects of social practices supporting the front lines. The article’s novelty is achieved by introducing archival materials into scholarly discourse. For example, a study of documents from the Central State Archives of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania allows us to conclude that the crucial work of collecting warm clothing during the first years of the war was unsatisfactory in many areas of the North Ossetian Republic. This was largely due to the fact that Soviet and Party organizations were forced to radically restructure their entire operations at an accelerated pace in the face of the sudden outbreak of war, which inevitably led to errors and miscalculations. The conclusion is that despite the sometimes unorganized nature of frontline support activities, the rearguard of North Ossetia succeeded in fulfilling their national duty. Along with citizens of other national republics of the USSR, the people of Ossetia, through their labor and material support, made a significant contribution to the common cause of defeating the Nazi occupiers.

Keywords: USSR, Great Patriotic War, All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), assistance to the front, Red Army, North Ossetia, mass political work.
Language: Russian Download the full text  
For citation: Zaseev, G.A. Social Practices of Supporting Red Army Soldiers during the Great Patriotic War
(on the Example of North Ossetia 1941-1942). KAVKAZ-FORUM. 2025, iss. 24 (31), pp.160-173 (In Russian).
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