The dynamics of understanding lexical sets in theoretical and practical aspects over the past 50 years is provided, highlighting the main stages of their identification, study and interpretation features in the light of various scientific approaches: structural-semantic, functional-linguistic, cognitive-discourse, lexicographic, determining the system of principles of their identification, formation of the composition and description of the structural organization. The results of a multidimensional study of lexical sets of different types as an integral dynamic system, that have received multiple interpretations both in theoretical research and in ideographic dictionaries, are presented. The following types of sets are considered: lexical-semantic, functional-lexical, denotative-ideographic, semantic-syntactic, complex lexical-phraseological, synonymous-antonymic, conceptual-discursive. The research is carried out on the material of ideographic dictionaries created by lexicographers of the Ural Semantic School. Examples of descriptions of linguistic and speech sets with emotive semantics presented in a series of these dictionaries are used as illustrative material. The study showed that over half a century, lexical set theory has advanced significantly due to the situation of polyparadigmality in linguistics. It is noted that in such circumstances, different approaches to the study of sets of language and speech units were formed, the identification of fundamentally new semantic associations was substantiated, their typology was developed, the sources, factors and principles of their formation were characterized.

The interrogative speech acts presented in the linguistic material of the “Rig Veda” — one of the most ancient and culturally significant works that were a manifestation of ritual and mythological discourse, are researched. The language of Vedic texts is considered from the standpoint of the functional approach as a pragmatic system for which such communicative characteristics as intentions and illocutionary power of utterances are relevant. The system of norms and ideas that govern speech activity in the Vedic ritual interaction is taken into account. It has been proven that interrogative speech acts are one of the most important pragmatic elements of this type of discourse. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that all the interrogative structures of the monument extracted as a result of a continuous sampling are studied for the first time from the point of view of pragmatics, taking into account communicative intentions. Various types of questions are described and analyzed, including interrogative constants, interrogative directives, including questions with secondary illocution, as well as proper interrogative sentences. The author comes to the conclusion that, in addition to non-specific pragmatics for a given linguistic material, interrogative sentences in the text of the Rig Veda contribute to the realization of the magic-incantatory function of speech. The results are valuable both for studying the named type of discourse and for clarifying the understanding of the text of the monument and Vedic culture as a whole.

The article deals with the question of the lexicographic interpretation of the poetic language of V.A. Zhukovsky (1783—1852) in the form of the author’s dictionary, which became possible after the publication of the initial volumes of the “Complete Works and Letters” of the writer. Special attention is paid to poetic neologisms in the works of the first Russian romanticist. The question is raised about the typology of individual author’s lexemes. Occasionalisms properly, rare words and poetry, which became such as a result of the “replication” by many writers of successful and historically promising author’s neologisms of their predecessors are distinguished. The occasional units that are found in Zhukovsky’s translation of Homer’s poem “The Odyssey” and perform specific aesthetic functions are analyzed. The results of a comparative analysis of Zhukovsky’s poetic language with the lexicon of poets of the 18th — 20th centuries (N. M. Karamzin, I. I. Dmitriev, D. V. Davydov, K. N. Batyushkov, P. A. Vyazemsky, N. M. Yazykov , A. I. Polezhaev, D. V. Venevitinov, M. Yu. Lermontov and others) are presented in the article. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that for the first time the neological layer of Zhukovsky’s poetic language is comprehended. The relevance of the study is due to the possibility of using the observations, facts and conclusions stated in it in the theory and practice of lexicography — when compiling explanatory, historical and author’s dictionaries.

The relevance of the study is due to the interest of linguistics in the problems of the functioning of the English language in various genres of business communication from the point of view of cultural linguistics. The results of a comparative study of the verbal formulation of the valuemarked communicative situation of gratitude in the corpus of English-speaking Arabic (Learner Business Letter Corpus (LBCL)) and English-American business correspondence (Business Letter Corpus (BLC)) are presented in the article. It was found that the linguistic means of expressing gratitude in the BLC corpus demonstrate great lexical and grammatical variability, preference is given to implicit performatives. It is noted that a limited set of lexical and grammatical constructions is used in the corpus of the Arabic English-language business communication, and explicite performatives dominate. It is shown that in both corpuses, gratitude is used to formalize a request or demand; in Arabic English communication, flattery acts as a variation of the speech act rethinking of gratitude. It was revealed that when expressing a proactive gratitude implying a request in the Arabic linguistic culture, strategies of positive politeness are used, demonstrating the unity of interests of the communication participants, in contrast to theAnglo-American linguistic culture, which relies on the strategy of negative politeness, softening impositivity.

The article is devoted to the study of evaluative tools used in modern French media in order to form the media image of a representative of the political elite. The techniques used in the creation of a memorial media portrait of Jacques Chirac (1932—2019), President of France from 1995 to 2007 are considered. The research material was the most prestigious French print media of various political orientations, published in late September — early October 2019 in connection with the death of the ex-President of the French Republic. The relevance of the research topic is dictated by the close attention of modern linguistics to axiological phenomena, differently presented in different types of discursive practices. The novelty of the study is due to the appeal to the analysis of the complex of evaluation tools used in the French print media when characterizing the former leader of the state during the nation’s farewell period. The estimated potential of the title of the article and its influence on the formation of the estimated vector of the entire text of the publication are shown. A systematic analysis of the assessment expression means, reflected in the memorial media portrait of the politician, is given. The factors that influenced the peculiarities of their use in this type of media portrait are revealed.

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of the verbalization of values in the Englishlanguage popular scientific pedagogical discourse. The author provides a definition of this type of discourse, which is a set of communicative practices serving the learning process. The author proceeds from the fact that the result of such communication are texts of a popular science orientation, which in this case are the material of research. A comprehensive linguoaxiological and pragma-discourse analysis of text fragments dedicated to the processes of teaching and learning foreign languages is carried out. Special attention is paid to the axiologically loaded conceptual meanings of popular science pedagogical discourse. It is shown that the discursive behavior of representatives of an educational institution is based on such value-determined concepts as EDUCATION, LANGUAGE and CULTURE. The author of the article dwells on the linguistic mechanisms and methods of actualizing these concepts in discourse, as well as their pragmatic potential. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time, popular scientific pedagogical discourse is considered as a type of discourse that translates its own axiological attitudes. The relevance of the study is due to the need to create conditions, which enable rapid and reliable adaptation of society to the ongoing socio-economic and intercultural processes, as well as the changing criteria and requirements of personal and professional development of a person.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the state of the modern newspaper style. The author notes that the theory of newspaper style was developed in the 60s of the last century and since then has undergone a number of changes that have not received sufficient coverage in linguistics. Attention is paid to the changes in the modern newspaper style, among which one can single out the strengthening of emotionality and dialogue. It is emphasized that these features are generally characteristic of media texts and, correspondingly, newspaper-style texts included in the media space. According to the presented research results, these tendencies are realized in newspaper-style texts through the use of colloquial vocabulary, repetition, quotation and question in the narrative (or rhetorical question), word play. It is shown that, at the same time, the majority of news reports (81 %), which constitute the core of the newspaper style and most clearly reflect its features, retain the key style characteristics: the prevalence of the message function, conciseness, brevity, the desire for emotionless and non-judgmental presentation. It seems that the statements about the “blurring” and disappearance of the newspaper style are premature and are caused by its evolution and dynamics.

The ways of creating the country’s image in the texts of modern Russian commercial advertising, namely, such a variety, which is defined as nationally oriented advertising are discussed in the article. This type of advertising is considered as a multimodal complex, however, special attention is paid to the analysis of linguistic means that provide such advertising with a “reputation” base - it fulfills not only commercial, but also social tasks. The specificity of creating an image of the country in nationally oriented advertising by demonstrating the geographical and ethnographic features of “one’s own”, native, or “foreign” country and mythologizing “one’s own” or “foreign” national character is revealed. It is shown that the positive image of “own” country performs not only the function of promoting goods on the market, but also the function of persuasion and education. It has been established that the image of a “foreign” country ensures positioning in the domestic market of the producing country or the country with which the production tradition of the advertised product is associated. The conclusions and results of the study allow one to gain a more complete picture of the peculiarities of ethnomarketing, ways of manipulating a potential audience by appealing to national values and stereotypes, and contribute to advertology, political linguistics and linguoimagelogy.

The question of the use of the Spanish translingual idiom in the Twitter account of the American satirist of Puerto Rican origin, writing under the pseudonym Miguel Bloombito, is considered. Particular attention is paid to one of the main functions of such an idiom, which is used as a way to overcome language discrimination against Latin Americans living in the United States. Separately, a comprehensive analysis of this Spanish idiom, characteristic of the speech of Puerto Rican Americans, is offered. The issue of switching and mixing codes at different levels of Spanish is of interest. The author dwells on the graphic-phonetic, wordformation and lexical levels, at which a large number of contaminated elements containing allusion and based on the play of meanings are revealed. A level-by-level classification of the elements of the Spanish idiom is proposed. Evidence is given that this idiom has sufficient system stability for the language, regularity and productivity of the models for the formation of certain units, as well as a tendency towards standardization, including outside the analyzed texts. It is proved that the Spanish translingual idiom, which appeared as a result of the contact of linguistic cultures in a multi-ethnic state, demonstrates a high degree of convergence of prototype languages, expressed through switching and mixing codes.

The semantic structure of words that define the cardinal points is considered. Words of this type are of interest, on the one hand, as words embodying the most archetypal ideas about space, on the other hand, as lexemes in the structure of compound names of territories that have not received an official administrative status, but have distinct historical, cultural or socio-political characteristics (Russian North, East of Ukraine, etc.). The author proposes the classification of the components of the semantic structure of such words, developed by him, concludes that this structure is heterogeneous, that it is consistently realized in two meanings that are reflected in their lexicographic description: vector and territorial. The author draws attention to the fact that the territorial significance, in turn, is also subdivided into two types - general territorial and private territorial. The author emphasizes that the meaning of the names of the cardinal points should be considered private-territorial if they serve as a nomination for completely certain territorial entities that have a socio-political or cultural-historical originality. The author comes to the conclusion that, functioning in particular-territorial meanings, the names of the cardinal points are close to proper names: macrotoponyms and khoronyms, but they retain a special position among khoronyms and toponyms.

The article is devoted to “The Comedy about David and Galiad,” staged at the court of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich in 1676, in the context of Western European drama of the 16th–17th centuries. The material was a mounting sheet of the comedy of 1676, plays by French playwrights of the 16th century and texts of Russian court plays of the 1670s. The paper shows that the Russian comedy based on the story of David and Goliath fit well into the context of religious drama and could be correlated with the events of the Church reform in Russia. Special attention is paid to the comparative analysis of the plays of the French Calvinist playwrights Joachim de Coignac and Louis De Masur in order to identify common typological features of the Russian play and Western drama. The play ‘Temir-Aksakov Action” by Yu. M. Givner was brought to consideration in order to put forward a hypothesis about the possible author of the play of German origin. The author presents the latest development of the reconstruction of “The Comedy about David and Galiad,” based on a comparative approach and typological analysis of the literary and historical context of the 16th–17th centuries. The analysis shows the content aspect of the Russian play about David and Goliath, which incorporated the characteristic features of the Moscow court drama of the last third of the 17th century.

The article is devoted to the signs and superstitions collected in 2014-2019 in Vladivostok and stored in the archives of the Department of Russian Language and Literature of the Far Eastern Federal University. The respondents were representatives of a number of social and professional groups: schoolchildren, students, doctors, sailors, fishermen, divers, taxi drivers and drivers. The following are considered in the texts: signs of the other world, foreshadowing a favorable or unfavorable outcome of events; special words / phrases that must / must not be said so as not to scare or attract good luck; actions that must / must not be performed; cumulative realization of signs, words and actions. It is proved that the signs and superstitions recorded among the Russian-speaking residents of Vladivostok are directly related to the complex of traditional ideas about fate. It is noted that superstitions are also based on the idea that a person is the creator of his own destiny, capable of attracting and retaining good luck, and building a dialogue with the other world. The assumption is made that the identified and described signs and superstitions have regional specificity: the territory of their existence is an outpost of Russia in the Far East. The changes that occur in omens and superstitions under the influence of the peculiarities of life and the organization of life of native speakers in a situation of cultural borderland are commented on.

The translation of an excerpt from Shakespeare’s tragedy “Macbeth”, made by A.A. Akhmatova in 1933 is considered in the article. The results of a comparative analysis of the original text and the translation text are presented. The question of the purpose of translation is raised: it is proved that Akhmatova did not intend to translate the text of the tragedy in full, and the translation of the passage she performed was not a sketch for a failed translation, but an attempt to plunge into the semiosphere of “Macbeth”. The relevance of the study is due to a detailed analysis of the translation text, which had not previously been subjected to thorough literary research. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that in the translation performed by Akhmatova the authors highlight semiotic shifts concerning the image of Macbeth: it differs in Akhmatova’s interpretation from Shakespeare’s. The authors dwell on the textual gaps of translation and show their importance for understanding the image of Macbeth: Akhmatova eliminates in the text all the moments that could characterize Macbeth positively. Particular attention is paid to references to Macbeth that appeared in Akhmatova’s work after her translation of the above passage. It has been proven that this translation became the generator of Akhmatova’s own artistic ideas, developed in the “Shakespearean” key.

The problem of the development of a small literary genre of historical anecdote in Russia in the second half of the 18th century is researched. The question is raised on the manuscript of the translation of “Genuine anecdotes about Peter the Great” by Academician J. Shtelin (1709—1785) into Russian, which was made by the famous person of the Age of Enlightenment A. A. Nartov (1736/1737—1813) in 1785. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the article is the first study of the manuscript, which remained unpublished and was not the subject of research. It is proved that Nartov’s translation of Shtelin’s work became an impetus for him to create his own historical and literary work, now known as Nartov’s Tales of Peter the Great (1786). It is concluded that Nartov’s collection of historical anecdotes is a literary work, which was created with extensive use of Shtelin’s “Genuine anecdotes about Peter the Great”. The study of Nartov’s manuscript also made it possible to establish that the author of the first translation of Shtelin’s work published in Russia (1785) was the famous translator and publisher P. I. Bogdanovich.

The principles and techniques of spontaneous prose in the stories of the modern English writer J. McGregor are considered. The novelty of the research is determined by the insufficient study of the specifics of spontaneous prose in modern literature in general and the principles of spontaneity in the stories of J. McGregor, in particular. The relevance of the research is due to the fact that the new narrative forms that take place in the works of modern literature require close study, the development of special decoding methods. It is shown that spontaneous prose provides the writer with an opportunity for various kinds of experiments that relate to both the form of the narrative and the content of the work. It is concluded that the main tendencies of spontaneity, which are realized in the stories of J. McGregor, are the following elements: polyphony, the presence of a second implicit narrative plan, imitation of the stream of consciousness in the external and internal speech of characters, creation of sketch images of heroes, description of events in the form of sketches, a narrative collage technique reminiscent of a series of snapshots or still frames. It is proved that all of the above techniques provoke many implications, give rise to various associations and are aimed at involving the reader in the process of interpreting the work, his active co-creation.

The article examines the plot of guilt in refraction to the event of a dream from the early story of Fedor Dostoevsky “Mister Prokharchin” to “Brothers Karamazov”. The author of the article proceeds from the idea of the specific features of the writer’s work, characterized by the dynamics of comprehending the main problems for him and the relative stability of their figurative, motivational, plot-plot expression. It is emphasized that the development of the plot was determined by the increased in the 1840–1870s. public interest in the problems of the correlation of the general as a national and individual, the moral transformation of a person, in the peculiarities of folk life and the Russian national character. The constituent parts of the historical and cultural context of Dmitry Karamazov’s dream picture are commented: they determine the thematic structure of this dream, testify to the decisive concretization of the universal human image of “God’s people” (“Mister Prokharchin”) as national. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that in “Brothers Karamazov”, the writer’s reflections on the historical fate and role of the Russian people formed the basis for the epic reversal of the “plot of guilt”: feeling individual guilt, Dmitry Karamazov opens up to a feeling of compassion as a nationwide one.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the content of the literary concept of haipai (Shanghai school). It is pointed out that the term is actively used in modern literary studies in the Chinese language and is a basic concept for the classification of Chinese writers of the twentieth century. The question is raised about the legality of using this term for the analysis of works of art. It is noted that the literary polemic of 1933—1934 “The dispute about the Shanghai and Beijing schools” helps to clarify the meaning of the concept of “haipai”. As a result of the analysis of publications of this period, it is concluded that the term Shanghai school in modern literary practice has a different meaning than what the participants in the discussion put into it. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time in Russian the literary polemics of 1933—1934 are described in detail using primary sources. As a result of the study, it was concluded that in terms of its content, the term haipai is close to such a descriptive concept in European literary criticism as “decadence”. It sets a certain evaluative paradigm and evokes certain visual and sensory images, but it should be used with caution as a means of literary analysis.

The state of the trade cooperation in Siberia in 1926-1929 is described in the article. Such aspects as organizational building, economic development and regional specificity in the context of the transformation of associations of small industrial producers into an independent cooperative system is analyzed. Attention is paid to the peculiarities of the emergence and priority areas of activity of the Siberian Trading Union. The relevance of the study is due both to the ongoing discussion about the assessment of the state of industrial cooperation on the eve of the “great turning point”, as well as its scale and role in the development of the region. The author formulates her own approach to assess the socio-economic processes in small-scale industrial production. It is concluded that the overall result of the organizational and economic development of the Siberian trading cooperation in recent years of the new economic policy was its transformation into a force that could influence the further development of associations of handicraftsmen and artisans, but protectionist measures increased the dependence of artels on state bodies in terms of financing. supply, sales organization and created the prerequisites for the nationalization of the industrial cooperation of Siberia. The main sources of work were materials from the funds of the State Archives of the Russian Federation, the State Archives of the Novosibirsk Region, the State Archives of the Altai Territory, some of which are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time.

The dynamics of the quantity and quality of personnel employed in the agricultural production of the region during the first post-war five years is studied. The forms and methods of their preparation for professional activity and retraining, as well as advanced training of executives are researched. The main source for the research was the materials of the State Archives of the Irkutsk Region. The novelty is represented by the formulation and solution of the problem, which, taking into account the designated chronological and territorial framework, has not been considered previously. In addition, the author analyzes empirical material introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The relevance of the study is due to the need to ensure the country’s food security, which presupposes the availability of a sufficient number of professionally trained personnel. It is noted that the relevance of the study is also increasing due to the fact that since the 1990s, machine-technological stations have again begun to be created in Russia. As a result of the study, the structure and quantitative composition of personnel employed in agricultural production was revealed, depending on the place and type of their activity. The dynamics of personnel by years of the study period is analyzed. The presence and level of technical and general material base for training and retraining of machine operators, specialists and other workers have been studied. A comparison of the quantitative and qualitative parameters of the personnel potential at the end of the five-year period with the indicators of the pre-war 1940 and with the indicators of 1945 is made, the main indicators are given in comparison with the data for the whole country.

The plot, connected with attacks on the head of the Taurida diocese Dimitri (Abashidze), accused of Germanophilism during the First World War is examined in the article. These events are inscribed in the context of the aggravation of the national question that happened in the wake of the military confrontation between the Russian Empire and Germany. The relevance of this study is due to the insufficient elaboration of the issue of the involvement of the Orthodox clergy in resolving interethnic relations, as well as the participation of the clergy in the Russian nationalist movement. The novelty of the research lies in the introduction of a new corpus of sources into the scientific circulation, which makes it possible to consistently trace how the solution of the regional conflict on ethnic grounds, due to the attention of the capital’s newspapers, reached the state level and was used in the political struggle. It is noted that the appeal of Dimitri (Abashidze) to the priests was the reason for accusing the hierarch of Germanophilism, in which the «Vechernee Vremya» newspaper was most zealous. It is shown that priests and public figures spoke in defense of the bishop. It is proved that the attacks on the Tauride bishop contributed to the intensification of his activities in the right political camp.

The question of the relationship between the processes of modernization and the development of energy in Sweden and England in modern times is considered. The author investigates the problem of regional features of early industrialization in these countries. A review of modern English-language historiography on this topic is carried out. The author’s development of a model of the synergetic relationship of energy consumption, energy efficiency and economic growth in the 18th—19th centuries is presented. The question is raised about the typological similarity of the processes of economic and technological development of Sweden and England in modern times in the context of the capitalist world-system. At the same time, it is shown how the specific natural and socio-economic conditions in these countries influenced the historically determined differences in the use of firewood, coal, steam engines. Particular attention is paid to such factors of Sweden’s development as the early nature of proto-industrialization processes and the country’s semi-peripheral position in the capitalist world-economy. The author reveals the logical connection between the key positions of England in the international system of production and exchange and the dynamic introduction of new energy sources in modern times. It was concluded that factors related to the position of a particular country in the system of center-peripheral relations were of decisive importance for economic growth and energy.

Some theoretical aspects of the study of the traditional nature management of local Old Believer (Semei) communities living in Transbaikalia are considered. On the basis of the available theoretical works of cultural geography, ethnology, cultural studies, sociology and other related disciplines, the analysis of the concepts of “local community”, “life support”, “traditional nature management” in relation to Old Believer communities has been carried out. An attempt has been made to identify the merits of studying the Old Believers in Transbaikalia using the category of the local community. It is shown that in a comprehensive study of local communities of the Semeiskaya Transbaikalia, the following elements emerge: nature as the life environment of Old Believer communities, natural resources, traditions and a set of actions that regulate social and industrial life, the religious basis that determines the behavior of the community and its individual members, the main material and spiritual needs, to the satisfaction of which most of the energy of human collectives is directed. It is noted that the concept of “life support” is diverse, dynamic and has wide adaptive capabilities. The category of traditional nature management is used to study the cultural and geographical continuity of the Semeiskys and the specifics of their life support in the conditions of the Trans-Baikal geographic environment. In this regard, the traditional use of natural resources of Semeiskiye is presented as a set of strategies for the rational use of natural and land resources.

The financial situation and incomes of Simbirsk residents of the second half of the 19th — early 20th centuries are considered. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that understanding urban everyday life is impossible without an idea of the income that the citizens had. It is noted that in the period under review, class division is gradually turn to the division of society in the capitalist way, differentiation by income is confirmed, which is reflected in the mentality and administrative management. The difference between the population of Simbirsk and other Volga cities is shown: the share of the nobility among the urban population was twice as high as in neighboring cities, and the share of the peasantry was half that in Samara and four times less than in Saratov. A review of statistical information on the income of various classes and categories of employment is carried out. Particular attention is paid to the development of entrepreneurship and merchants and income in this area. It is noted that in Simbirsk, the development of entrepreneurship was slower than the average Russian values. The results of a comparative analysis of the standard of living and material situation of citizens living in Simbirsk with the indicators of other cities are presented. It is stated that for the sustainable development of capitalist relations, the introduction of financial organizations and entrepreneurship from the outside was necessary in Simbirsk.

The question of the crisis of the USSR economy on the eve of “perestroika” is considered. Attention is paid to archival documents, which are introduced into active scientific circulation for the first time. The question of political and ideological support for the transformation of society and economy in the late USSR is raised. The results of a comparative analysis of documents of the official authorities and the expert community are presented. The research focuses on declassified archival materials deposited in the fund of the former chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers N. I. Ryzhkov (F. 653 — Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov) of the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History (RGA SPI). The novelty of the study is seen in the fact that the analyzed documents allow shedding light on unknown crisis phenomena in the economic life of the USSR. In the course of the work, a circle of institutions was identified that monitored the socio-economic situation in the USSR in the first half of the 1980s. The relevance of the study is due to the problems of building a welfare state in modern Russia, improving the relationship between the center and regions in the Russian Federation. Analytical letters of representatives of the academic community and government agencies are studied. The theoretical basis of the work is connected with the ideas of M. A. Beznin and T. M. Dimoni about protobuzhuisia and state capitalism in the USSR, G. G. Popov about the latent conflict in the USSR between the power of experts and political functionaries.

Using mainly historical-comparative and historical-genetic methods, the question of the interaction of secular power in the person of the governor of the Vyatka province N. A. Troinitsky and the spiritual power in the person of Bishop of the Vyatka and Sloboda provinces Apollos (Belyaev) in terms of resolving the issue of opening a brotherhood in the Vyatka province to work with Old Believers, is raised in the article. In this work, on the basis of archival materials, the process of preparation for the opening of the Vyatka brotherhood of St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker in the city of Vyatka in 1882 is considered. Particular attention is paid to the consideration of the position of the Bishop of Vyatka and Sloboda Apollos regarding the creation of the Vyatka brotherhood. In the course of the study, the authors come to the conclusion that Bishop Apollos was a supporter of the initiative of Archpriest Stephen Kashmensky in terms of creating a brotherhood, but at the same time sought to limit the material base of the brotherhood and create a brotherhood without funding from the consistory. As a result, through the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod K. P. Pobedonostsev, the misunderstanding between the secular and spiritual authorities of the Vyatka province was eliminated, and in the fall of 1882, with the blessing of the Bishop of Vyatka and Sloboda Apollos, the Vyatka brotherhood of St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker was established.

For the first time, on the basis of published and archival documents, the issue of a hospital as an object of social infrastructure in early Yekaterinburg is considered. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the literature contains only fragmentary information about the organization of medical services at state-owned factories in the Urals in the 1720s—1734s. It is noted that the main reason for this lies in the absence of a set of documents devoted to this topic, even at the level of one case, in their dispersion among voluminous cases with factory documentation. The efforts of the heads of the Ural factories V. N. Tatishchev and V. I. Gennin to hire a doctor from the center are revealed. Information about the construction of the first hospital in Yekaterinburg in 1723—1724 and 1727 is researched. Special attention is paid to the regulation of medical services for the population by the local administration and the implementation of Russian legislation in the field of medicine on the territory of the mining department in the Urals. The questions about the orderlies of the hospital, the organization of treatment of patients, their delivery to the hospital are considered; financing the work of the hospital, participation of the population and payment for food for the inpatients; keeping records of people in the hospital and money, spent on medical care. Special attention is paid to the methods of drug delivery to Yekaterinburg from St. Petersburg and Moscow, the preparation of medical students.

For the first time in Russian historiography, the discussion that flared up soon after the conclusion of the Riga Peace Treaty in the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs and the People’s Commissariat of Trade on the possibility of granting Poland the right to transit trade with Persia and other countries of the East. It is noted that the head of the People’s Commissariat of Trade L.B. Krasin criticized the position of the plenipotentiary representative of the RSFSR in Warsaw L.L. Obolensky, who considered it possible to grant Poland the right of transit to the East and the most favored nation treatment in trade on reciprocity terms in order to strengthen Moscow’s position in the Polish-Soviet negotiations. It is shown that the People’s Commissariat for Trade did not consider such cooperation to be equivalent, since, according to L.B. Krasin, Poland needed more transit through the Soviet republics than the Soviet state needed transit through Poland. In the course of the study, it was found that the People’s Commissariat of Trade allowed such a situation only if Poland would additionally make political concessions, the nature of which had not yet been clear at that time. It is traced in the article how, as a result of the discussion, the line of the People’s Commissariat for Trade won and in fact the Soviet leadership adhered to it until mid-1923. The relevance and novelty of the research is due to the introduction into scientific circulation of archival materials declassified in the post-Soviet era and for the first time introduced into scientific circulation, which allow discovering new vicissitudes of Polish-Soviet relations, including the organization of transit trade.

Based on the analysis of a wide range of archival sources, which are first introduced into scientific circulation, the everyday problems of the post-war rural society of the Kuibyshev region are examined in the article. It is noted that the Soviet elections of the Stalinist period were symbolic and ritualistic. It is shown that the main goal of the elections was not the rotation of power structures, but the expression of public confidence in the existing political regime. The authors come to the conclusion that during the period of Stalinism, meetings of candidates or their representatives with the public became one of the most important attributes of the Soviet elections. It is pointed out that during these meetings, the “silent majority”, deprived in normal conditions of the opportunity to convey their aspirations to the ruling elite, got the opportunity to focus the authorities’ attention on pressing social issues, the solution of which largely depended on the activities of political institutions. Based on the analysis of the electorate orders of the Kuibyshev region, issued to candidates for the regional representative bodies of power during the election campaign of 1947, the article highlights the main complex of everyday problems that worried rural residents in the post-war period. The content of orders and proposals to the authorities testifies to the transformation of the traditional values of the rural-peasant society.