Methodology of the census 1920-s and its significance for the socio-cultural policies the Bolsheviks (on the example of provincial Saratov)

The study deals with the methodology of conducting the Censuses of 1920, 1923 and 1926 as a statistical source of information about the changes in the society state of the first post-revolutionary decade based on the analysis of archive data. The author provides characteristics of each census, outlines key features and discusses the cases of citizens’ engagement in Census organization and participation. The special focus is on the data kept in the questions and answers and those ones revealing the socio-cultural improvement of the population of Saratov. The need for a new power to explore the social structure of the population is marked out. The study highlights the value of utilizing the data about professional occupation, public education, social security and other social aspects obtained as a result of the statistical authorities’ work and population censuses for the formation and implementation of socio-cultural policies.