The dynamics of social boundaries: power in the memories of forced laborers

The purpose of the article is to determine to what extent and under the influence of what factors the boundaries between the workers belonging to the category of special settlers deported to the Kola Peninsula and the institutionalized government as their antagonist are subject to situational and retrospective historical dynamics. The sources used are the memories of the special settlers. The methodological basis comprises the theories of identification, social figuration, and social memory. The concept of frontier is applicable to the characteristics of the studied territory and the socio-political processes during the period of its modernization. The factors of the dynamics of the attitude to the “authorities” include their structural differentiation, identification of “power” and “superiors” by the forced laborers, distinction between functional contacts with the executive authorities at various stages of the resettlement, evaluation of the results of the activities of Soviet power in the country, and evaluation of the quality of life of the diarist at the moment, as well as ethnic and other social identifiers of the subject of discourse. The configurations of relations between the authorities and the supervised people consisted of routine interactions and various events when the life and health of the displaced persons depended on the personal choice and behavior of the authorities. The social status scale of relations is adjusted by traditional ethical views. The specifics of the power structure under the frontier conditions, the high popular reputation of individual local authorities' representatives, the reduction of social distance, the adjustment of goals and values in the process of work on the development of a new territory, as well as interpersonal mutual assistance contributed to a balance of relations between the authorities and the subordinate forced workers.