Struggle for Power in Mordovia at the Boundary Turn of the 1980-1990-ies

Abstract

The article deals with the struggle for power in Mordovian autonomy in the late 1980s – early 1990s, which took place between the old Communist local leaders and democratic organizations that emerged during «Perestroika». After the abolition in the Constitution of the USSR of the article proclaiming the leading role of the Communist party in life of the country, local leaders strived to gain a foothold in the legislative bodies, first in the Supreme Council of the Republic and then in the State Assembly.

The article is based on archival documents from the funds of the regional Committee of the CPSU, the Supreme Council of Mordovia, and memories of key figures of this historical process, namely, the former Chairman of the Supreme Council and President of Mordovia.

The media materials covering events of this political struggle are widely used. They depict the movement towards power of the Head of the "Democratic initiative", the methods of activities of his supporters, the reasons of the fall of his authority and the loss of public support, as a result of which former Communist leaders regained their positions in the legislative and executive structures of the Republic. In turn, however, their desire to stay on the "platform of socialism" weakened these structures letting the former Communist leaders of the district level to obtain power again. Those refused to revive the Communist system «in the Republic» and quickly moved to the ideology and practice of market relations. In this struggle the Mordovian national public organizations with which the so-called «Mordovians» acquired unexpectedly great importance, democratic leaders were unable to achieve cooperation due to the lack of management experience and misunderstanding of the role of interethnic, often latent relations in a multinational Republic.