The national issues in the activities of engineering and construction squads of the Main Army Supply Committee of the All-Russian Zemstvo and city unions 

Anatoliy A. Mayorov, Doctor of historical sciences, acting head of the sub-department of history, philosophy and russian language, Orel State Agrarian University named after N.V. Parakhin (69 Generala Rodina street, Orel, Russia), E-mail: aamajorov@rambler.ru 

Background. At present, there are no special studies that generally consider the details of the work of the Main Army Supply Committee (Zemgor) with the national minor-ities who worked in its engineering and construction squads. The purpose of this study is to identify a number of specific features of the interaction of Zemgor, as a public organization, with a non-Russian and belonging to a different cultural and religious tradition, the contin-gent of the lower level of these construction teams in the process of their recruitment and functioning to solve national tasks, which, against the background of the coming general crisis, seems very relevant. Materials and methods. This study is based on archival materi-als, organization reports, memoirs and the results of a number of contemporary works. This made it possible to consider aspects of this issue that had not previously attracted the atten-tion of researchers. The article is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, and complexity. As a methodological basis, general scientific methods of collecting, analyzing and synthesizing historical data, comparative historical and historical genetic methods were used. Results. The features of Zemgor’s work with national minorities are described and considered. Conclusions. The work of the Main Army Supply Committee of the All-Russian Zemstvo and city unions (Zemgor) took place as part of solving an acute nation-wide problem to overcome the shortage of workers. The preparation of the procedure and the subsequent involvement by Zemgor of national minorities in the work was carried out taking into account a wide range of issues necessary for their effective application. 

World War I, public organizations, Zemgor, engineering and construction, squads, work teams, national minorities  

Mayorov A.A. The national issues in the activities of engineering and con-struction squads of the Main Army Supply Committee of the All-Russian Zemstvo and city unions. Izvestiya vysshikh uchebnykh zavedeniy. Povolzhskiy region. Gumanitarnye nauki = University proceedings. Volga region. Humanities. 2024;(1):21–32. (In Russ.). doi: 10.21685/2072-3024-2024-1-3