The daily life of the Karelians in the Novgorod region through the eyes of a communist student (a study of 1928 village practice diary)

This research article delves into the lesser-explored history of the Novgorod Karelians. It introduces a previously untapped document, shedding light on the daily lives of the Karelian population in the Novgorod District of the Leningrad Region in the late 1920s. A village practice diary of a student from the Leningrad Branch of the Communist University of National Minorities of the West is unveiled, documenting observations made in settlements near Lake Velyo (the territory of the present-day Demyansk District of the Novgorod Region). The significance of this study lies in the necessity of broadening the sources for understanding the daily lives of the Russian peoples in the early Soviet era, specifically the Novgorod Karelians. The document provides insights into everyday life, social relations, cultural and religious traditions, attitudes, historical memory, and community involvement in the socialist transformation of villages. Additionally, it provides a glimpse into the worldview of the diary’s author, a representative of the younger generation of Russian communists from the post-revolutionary era. The published diary’s contents can complement existing ethnographic, statistical, clerical and other materials for a deeper comprehensive study of the Karelian population in northwestern Russia during the first decade of the establishment of Soviet power.