Regional Soviet party elite in the 1920s-1930s: from deviation to corruption and further repression (a case of Kuban region)

The regional Soviet party elite emerged in Soviet Russia in the 1920s-1930s. Elites developed in Kuban region in the context of their deviant behavior followed by official misconduct and corruption. By the mid-1930s, regional elites were found guilty of malpractice that could be classified as a crime against people in the midst of a tense situation and a total mobilization of the country in the run-up to the war. Because of the intraparty strife and the Criminal Code of that time, malpractices stopped being criminal offenses and were regarded as political, anti-Soviet crimes followed by repression such as execution by firing squad. Repression affected innocent people who either worked with condemned regional elites or knew them. They fell into the category of accomplices and were exiled to the GULAG. At the same time, repression allowed Stalin’s elite to break down Trotsky project on world revolution and integration of the Soviet economy into the international capitalist economy and implement the project on socialism in a particular country that led to the political and ideological consolidation of the Soviet establishment. However, the elites could not abuse their authority, they had to work effectively and discharge their responsibilities according to the requirements of top officials.