From the history of establishment and activities of the Mordovian working faculty (1929-1939)

Introduction. In the 1920s and 1930s, the USSR accumulated significant experience in pre-university training for young people, some elements of which remain relevant to this day. In domestic historical science, special attention was paid to the analysis of the phenomenon of workers' faculties, which played a huge role in our country in the formation of the Soviet intelligentsia. However, at the regional level, to date, there is not a single special study, which would comprehensively consider the issues of the emergence and activities of the Mordovian workers' faculty. This article attempts to partially fill this kind of “white spot” in the latest historiography of the history and culture of the Mordovian region and people. Materials and Methods. The main resource base of the study was made up of materials from the funds of the Central State Archives of the Republic of Mordovia (CSA RM), most of which are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The methodological basis for the analysis of the collected factual material was both general scientific research methods (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, etc.) and special historical methods: descriptive (ideographic), historical-genetic, problem-chronological, historical-systemic. Results. The author reveales the reasons for the creation of the Mordovian workers' faculty as the main form of pre-university training in Mordovia in the 1930s, shows the dynamics of its student body; analyzes the state of the educational process and extracurricular work at the workers' faculty; gives the characteristic features of the financial situation, everyday life and life of Mordovian students-workers of the faculty. Conclusion. The creation of the Mordovian Workers' Faculty at the end of the 20s of the last century was an adequate response to the urgent vital need of the young Mordovian statehood for its own highly qualified personnel. With all the minuses and shortcomings in its activities, the workers' faculty has become the main “forge of applicants” from workers and peasants for the higher school of Mordovia, a kind of “forerunner” of the preparatory department and the faculty of pre-university training and secondary vocational education of Ogarev Mordovia State University.