Political and educational activities of the Taganrog Group of the All-Union Society of Former Political Prisoners and Exiled Settlers in 1925–1930

The article is devoted to the political and educational activities of the Taganrog group of the Society of Political Prisoners and exiled settlers. The role of society in the political education of the population of Taganrog, its character during the period of
greatest activity in the conditions of the NEP is revealed. Based on the analysis of archival materials, the main directions, mechanisms and content of political and educational activities are reconstructed, as well as the forms and nature of relationships with other public organizations, party structures and authorities are revealed.
It was established that the educational activities of the organization had a fairly wide range and included public lectures, organization of exhibitions, mass events, arrangement of museums, sponsored work. The author notes that on the basis of socialist, but mostly non-Bolshevik narratives, members of society formed their own version of revolutionary events, which does not always coincide with official guidelines.
It is revealed that the Taganrog group of the Society of Political Prisoners and exiled settlers made a signifi cant contribution to the education of the population of Taganrog and the surrounding territories, primarily among workers and students, actively interacting with local Soviet, party and other public organizations. The greatest activity of the Taganrog group occurred during the NEP period. In the 1920s, Taganrog political prisoners conducted quite active educational activities among the broad masses of the population, which had the character of political enlightenment and was aimed at popularizing the revolutionary heritage - the formation
of peculiar "places of memory". While not allowing criticism of the legitimacy of the regime in its work, the TSOPK nevertheless defended its line of historical memory, focusing on the unifying narrative of the revolutionary past, the struggle against the tsarist regime and the prospects for the development of the international revolutionary movement. It is noted that in the conditions of relative
freedom of the new economic policy period, the authorities saw former political prisoners as allies in the ideological enlightenment of the masses, but as the internal and foreign policy agenda of the country's development changed, disagreements began to manifest themselves more and more clearly, which was expressed in various interpretations of the revolutionary past. While the members of the Society defended the thesis of the unity of the socialist front in the struggle against autocracy and counter-revolution, the Bolsheviks sought to emphasize their decisive role as the organizing force of the revolution. As the "canonical" version of the history of the Russian Revolution developed at the official ideological level, the representation of the Taganrog group of political prisoners in the socio-political space of Taganrog steadily declined.