The present study examines Archbishop Anastasy (Dobradin)’s famous sermon «Слово на Новый годъ. Въ чемъ счастіе человѣка и гдѣ его найти?», dealing with the question of the dual understanding of “happiness” (philosophical, i.e. secular, and religious). Attention is paid to the means of verbalising the concept of happiness in the text under study. The text under analysis is a unique example of the homily, distinguished by its atypical for this genre appeal to a secular element, associated with the preacher’s dual understanding of “happiness”. The article presents the results of the analysis of etymology and development of semantics of the noun счастье. Its lexical compatibility in the text of a sermon is investigated. Full and short forms of adjectives, which serve to express positive and negative connotations, are identified. It has been proved that in the studied homily the preacher attributes the concept of “happiness” not only to the high register but also to the low register, which is related to the two concepts of “happiness” considered by him, reflected also on the graphic level (счастіе, счастье). Particular attention is paid to the most frequent attribute in the sermon, истинный, which has in common with the noun счастье the seme God. The epigraph of the homily, which usually presents the main point of the sermon, does not include the lexeme счастье because the entire sermon is devoted to redefining this concept.

The article is devoted to the pragma-axiological and partial psycholinguistic analysis of advertising videos of US universities in order to identify the productive manipulative potential of modern advertising university discourse. The relevance of the study is due to both extralinguistically — the great demand for quality education in the modern world, and linguistically — by the study of the processes of productive speech manipulation as one of the fundamental components of quality communication. The novelty of the research is seen in a qualitatively new pragma-axiological approach to the study of discourse and the value component of the suggestive influence exerted by this discourse. The author’s method of conducting pragma-axiological and partial psycholinguistic analysis, used to identify the pragma-axiological charge of the discursive space and its manipulative potential is presented in the article. Particular attention is paid to the interdependence of the addressee’s value-evaluative attitudes, the lexical units-verbalizers of these attitudes, their pragma-axiological charge and the suggestive (productive manipulative) impact provided. The results of the frequency analysis of part-of-speech indicators and the coefficients of discourse emotivity that depend on them are presented. The results, gained in the framework of the pragma-axiological analysis, are confirmed by the coefficients of the emotiveness of the discourse under study, obtained in the course of a partial psycholinguistic analysis. The key axiological components of productive speech manipulation in the modern advertising university discourse of US universities are presented.

A semantic-motivational and etymological analysis of two Russian dialectisms ‘utin’ and ‘chemer’ are carried out in the article, in the semantic structure of which (among others) meanings associated with diseases of various localization and etiology (the authors are mainly interested in the semantics of low back pain) are presented. The semantic organization of the corresponding etymological and derivational nests is reconstructed; nests are matched by value configuration. The authors show what semantic transitions determined the appearance of the meaning «lumbar pain» (and, secondarily, «lower back» and «spine») in the words ‘utin’ and ‘chemer’. Both designations for low back pain are analyzed in a broad ethnolinguistic context, which implies taking into account the practices of traditional medicine, which are due to archaic ideas about pain and disease. It is shown that etymological magic is repeatedly triggered in the nest of the word ‘utin’, and its action is carried out in two directions: from the generating verb *tęti, *tьnǫ «cut down, cut» to the derivative ‘utin’, and then from it to other words of the morphosemantic field (‘utyug’, ‘utin’ «boundary», ‘utinok’ «stump», ‘ovin’, ‘tyn’ etc.). In the nest of the word ‘chemer’, a nontrivial transition of botanical meaning («poisonous plant») to physiological one («poisoning» → «pain in case of poisoning» → «pain of various etiologies, including lumbar pain») is restored, then (in parallel) to somatic and demonic.

The article introduces the reader to the phenomenon of wordplay in the dialogues of classroom bilinguals with a high level of the English proficiency, who practice this foreign language either in classroom environment, or in real communication. It is emphasized that the dialogues around the facts of wordplay become the locus of metalinguistic utterances of the participants in this speech act. The purpose of this article is to identify the metalanguage utterances of the wordplay creator which open access to the creator’s metalanguage consciousness through the identification of his speech strategies. The novelty of the research is that a foreign language speech is used as the wordplay source, and the wordplay is equated with the phenomenon of the metalanguage nature. The author presents the concept of normema as a standard language unit of the target foreign language, which turns out to be a trigger for the creation of non-standard language units or igremas. It is noted that the wordplay creator uses both the purely formal and meaningful wordplay, and the non-standard language units created by him function as socially directed at a specific addressee. A detailed systematization of the creator’s metalanguage comments accompanying the wordplay input is given, namely, the linguistic and communicative comments, which demonstrates the metalanguage logic of constructing a speech act.

The vocabulary and phraseology are considered from the standpoint of embodying the idea of identity in them. The relevance of the study is due to the need to assess the dynamics of the vocabulary of the language. It is shown that the idea of identity is verbalized in the nominations of a person according to belonging to a certain social community, which has professional status, generational, class and other characteristics. It is noticed that new phraseological units appear in the language in open groups. The novelty of the research lies in the identification of new phraseological groups, which can be partially or completely subject to lexicography. It is noted that online communication has greatly increased attention to the words group, community and the idea of a publicly represented identity. It is shown that the analytical attitude of modern media has led to an orientation towards reflection and the construction of expert assessments in the form of bright, memorable idioms, the creative class, sofa fighters, etc. The intensification of the processes of the language game is shown by the example of expressions with the word collars, releasing a color code (white, gold, platinum collars, etc.). The Internet is said to have provided opportunities to show multiplying identities. The “fourth wave of words” (after the gangster, professional, glamorous) is proposed to be considered the youth, which is formed in Internet communication and expresses the desire of this age category (youth) to know themselves, their values, belonging, purpose and place in the world.

The practical experience of the vocabulary representation of the mechanisms of game phraseology is described, the difficulties of lexicography of phraseological units built on the game paradox are listed, the ways to solve the problem of etymologization of phraseological games in the educational dictionary are showed. The main positions of the innovative technology for constructing educational phraseological dictionaries in paper format are presented. The relevance of the research is due to the great developmental impact of phraseological games on the addressee-child and the need to improve the system of their lexicographic description for educational purposes. The novelty of the research lies in the appeal to the unexplored problematic of describing phraseological games and the development of a technique for etymological paraphrasing, including interpretive and plot-compositional techniques, which are implemented in a twolevel configurative structure of etymological paraphrase. Special attention is paid to lexicographic techniques that allow revealing the specifics of phraseological games built on false imagery, as well as phraseological games, the content plan of which is not opposed to the expression plan, and their actual meaning is logically justified and motivated. Examples of dictionary entries of new phraseographic projects of the Experimental Laboratory of Educational Lexicography of Pskov University are given — a quest dictionary and a phraseological puzzle dictionary, the genres of which adequately reveal the specifics of phraseological games.

The author presents the results of a multidimensional analysis of Internet news headlines based on the headings of the Yandex news aggregator. The issue of the text status of news headlines is considered. When solving this problem, special attention is paid to the formation of correlative paradigms of headings, united by a common denotative meaning. Methods of semantic interaction of heading paradigms based on different types of topic-rhematic deployment are described. It is proved that the paradigms of headings, complementing each other in informational and pragmatic aspects, form the discourse of Internet headings. It is concluded that this way of functioning of headlines enhances their semantic and visual autonomy from the news text, which allows us to consider Internet news headlines as minitext. The frequency methods of lexico-syntactic transformations of the original headings are analyzed, on the basis of which the constituents of paradigms are formed. At the same time, attention is focused on the orthological aspect of Internet headers. The author comes to the conclusion that the focus on the variability and efficiency of headings leads not only to the appearance of lexical and grammatical errors, but also to their replication and consolidation in the mind of the addressee as a result of changes in the structure of cognitive models.

We consider non-derivatives of the holophrastic type (holofrasemes), which are reduced to a generalized word-formation model «S₁ + zhe/zh + S₂». The relevance of the study is due to the noticeable productivity of this model in the informal segment of the Runet — a dynamically developing system that clearly reflects many active processes in the Russian national language and is capable of influencing the speech practice of native speakers in other communicative environments. Various approaches to understanding the method of creating the considered non-derivatives are indicated, as well as to the interpretation of the term “holophrasis”. Particular attention is paid to the lexemes yazhemat and onizhedeti, that have become entrenched in the Internet discourse, which can be regarded as the conceptual and structural basis of the model under consideration. The novelty of the research is seen in the detailed typologization of holophrasemes — the model representatives on a number of structural and functional-semantic grounds. The types of such units are presented by objects and grounds of nomination, by the degree of connectivity of the components. Varieties of the generalized model are given, distinguished by the morphological (and in some cases, syntactic) expression of the producing units; groups of structural and semantic anomalies accompanying the creation of holophrastic derivatives are considered. The questions about the inclusion of holophrasemes in derivational processes as producing words, as well as about the morphemization of components like yazhe, tyzhe are touched upon.

 The transformation of the women’s press during the NEP period is examined in the article, attention is paid to the specifics of the functioning of family and household magazines for women, on the pages of which both the reforms and events of the Soviet era and pre-revolutionary values were reflected. The authors strive to identify the role that the “Magazine for Housewives” and “Women’s Magazine” played during the NEP period, supporting the family world in all its diverse social and spiritual manifestations; to clarify the ratio of traditional and innovative journalistic approaches in the formation of family and everyday media discourse. The results of a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of the publications of the “Magazine for Housewives” and “Women’s Magazine” of the NEP period are presented in the article. The novelty of the research is seen in the analysis of the structural, thematic, functional features of women’s magazines of the NEP era. Special attention is paid to the author’s body, including the previously unexplored works of A. S. Voznesensky (real name — Brodsky), who signed his materials with the pseudonym “Ilya Rentz”. It is concluded that non-state women’s editions of family and household orientation appealed to the experience of pre-revolutionary journalism and, discussing the reform of everyday life and family, continued to write about traditional family values.

The article traces the intertextual layers of I. Brodsky’s poem “Gorbunov and Gorchakov” (Shakespeare, Goethe, Dante, A. Chekhov, L. Andreev, M. Bulgakov, etc.), establishes a connection with the sacred texts of the Old and New Testaments. The hidden disciple (apostolic) plot is revealed and, as a result, a different arrangement of characters is proposed than is traditionally accepted in Russian studies: the heroes Gorbunov and Gorchaks are considered not as opponentsantipodes, but as heroes closely connected, in particular, by the relations of the teacher and the follower. The three-part (conditional) composition of the poem, focused on the three days and three nights depicted in the text, with its symbolic trinity emphasizes the progressive apostolic path of Gorchakov and emphasizes his special role in the fate of Gorbunov (after L. Andreev, not Judas the traitor, but Judas the disciple). The inner “follower” layer of the poem allows Brodsky to move to the archetypal plot, metaphorizing details and symbolizing situations, translating them to a higher level, saturating them with a capacious philosophical and poetic meaning. The well-thought-out chronotopic structure of the poem — Easter Eve, Holy Week, madhouse — is based on complex allusions and the “internal semantics” of the sign, number, and letters. The theological function in Brodsky’s poem is assumed by the Word, the divine Verb.

The genre nature of the novel “Green House” by the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa is analyzed in the article. Special attention is paid to three approaches to the definition of the genre: “Green House” as a total novel, as a chivalric novel and as an Indianist novel. Definitions of each genre under consideration are given. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the prevailing approaches to defining the genre of the “Green House” in contemporary Latin American studies is analyzed in the paper. In the course of the work seven stable characteristics of the total novel are distinguished: a radically realistic author’s intention, a clear structural organization of the text, compositional and semantic unity, the consciousness of the infinity of language, the comprehensiveness of the novel, nonlinearity of narration, and the use of dialogue as a structure-forming device. The question of the presence in the novel “Green House” of signs of a chivalric romance is considered. The results of a comparative analysis of the “Green House” and the Catalan novel “Tyrant White” are presented. A comparison of the structure of the “Green House” and the generalized structure of the Indianist novel is given, the key features of this genre are analyzed. It is concluded that in the case of the “Green House” it is impossible to come to genre definiteness. The authors dwell on the fact that “Green House” is a work of fiction that combines elements of different genres, without any other restrictions in interpretations, except for those directly rejected by the text.

The article continues a series of works devoted to the Russian reception of the Scottish writer James Hogg (1770–1835), a famous interpreter of folk ballads and author of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824). Facts and materials related to the perception of J. Hogg in Russia in Soviet times are collected and summarized. It is indicated that during the period under review, in the studies of Russian literary scholars, separate judgments were made on the traditions of R. Burns in the works of J. Hogg, the role of W. Scott in his fate, etc. The Russian translations of the works of the English and American classics (in particular, J. G. Byron, E. A. Poe, J. F. Cooper) that appeared in the Soviet era, which contained references to the Scottish poet, are noted. The publications, which included information about J. Hogg, are comprehended, with special attention paid to S. Ya. Marshak’s epigram “Inscription on the Stone” mentioning J. Hogg’s name, the research of M. P. Alekseev, B. G. Reizov, R. M. Samarin and etc. The scientific works of A. D. Ivanova, first of all her Ph.D. thesis “The originality of the artistic work of James Hogg” (1990), which contributed, along with the changes in social life that occurred at the turn of the J. Hogg, the emergence of new translations of his works are analyzed.

The results of the study of the genre form of ekphrasis in the context of the “visual turn” in the 1990—2000s are presented in the article. A particular case — Shamshad Abdullaev’s poem “Two Films”, which combines the impressions of two films by Spanish director Jose Luis Guerin “En la ciudad de Sylvia” (2007) and “Tren de sombras” (1997) are examined in the article. It has been established that this text is both a narrative about reception and an experience of “poetological” utterance, in which the poet speaks about his understanding of the essence of art, the nature of the creative act, connections between poetry and visual imagery. This is a “complex ekphrasis”, involving the alignment of motives and plots of different works in a single semantic series. Ekphrastic description includes both the reproduction of plot-significant scenes and the peculiarities of the film language. It is proved that the reception of cinema is mediated by other artistic codes (photography, literature), complicated by reflection on the language of philosophy and aesthetics (“mono no aware”, “nunc stans”). The semiotics of the visual, therefore, arises at the intersection of different cultural codes and contexts.

The issue of secret commemoration of N. S. Gumilyov by his associates is discussed in the article. Attention is paid to the role of the frame text — titles, dedications, dating of poems — in the formation of the crypto text, hiding information. The results of a comparative analysis of the texts by M.A. Zenkevich, V.I. Narbut and S.M. Gorodetsky — the so-called “small” acmeists, who implicitly and explicitly reacted to the death of N.S. Gumilyov. The question is raised about the opposition of the hidden epitaph “for the initiated”, presented in the cycle of translations from A. Chenier, performed by M.A. Zenkevich, and in the unpublished collection of V.I. Narbut “Executed Seraphim”, an explicit lampoon epitaph created by S.M. Gorodetsky. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that the means of creating a “secret obituary”, the discourse of which was widespread during political repressions and executions is considers. The relevance of the study is due to the consideration of obituaries in the works of little-studied authors-acmeists. The authors dwell on the previously analyzed secret commemorations of N.S. Gumilyov in A.A. Akhmatova and O.E. Mandelstam, which in their content is closer to the enigmatic funeral, secret commemoration of loved ones. It is proved that Narbut and Zenkevich create a cryptonecrology, a hidden epitaph, closer to the genre of a funeral speech.

The history of the cult of Mahakala in Buryat Buddhism is considered. A short introduction to the history of the deity is presented. It is noted that this is one of the main patrons of the Geluk school, whose views and traditions have spread among the Buryats. A review of works containing the earliest information on the veneration of a deity in Buryat temples is carried out. It is reported that the cult of Mahakala in Buryatia is represented by the predominant veneration of its three forms: Six-armed, Four-faced and White Six-armed. The important role of the cult of Mahakala, which replaced the most revered shaman spirits-ongons in the common Mongolian world, is shown. It is reported that during the spread of Buddhism among the Buryats, the Sakyas direction with its main patron Gurgon Mahakala dominated among the Mongols. It is noted that, despite the Mongolian traditions, another — the Six-armed form of the deity — was established in Buryat Buddhism. The author believes that this is connected with the name of the first Pandito Khambo Lama Damba-Darzha Zayayev, who introduced veneration of this deity to Buryat Buddhism directly from Tibet and appointed him the patron of the first Buryat Buddhist temple. The conclusion is made about the significance of the Mahakala cult, which not only acquired great importance within the framework of its original religion, but also entered the system of shamanistic beliefs.

The socio-psychological characteristics of the behavior of the Russian military in Finland in the initial period of the 1917 revolution were revealed, including the formation of behavioral stereotypes, new “images of the enemy”, a change in their ideas about “friends” and “foes”, and the transformation of social and moral norms. The relevance of the study is due to the need to apply a relatively new historical and anthropological approach to the study of the role of the military factor in the history of Russia and Finland. Based on the materials of the revolutionary Helsingfors and non-capital garrisons, the process of ideological and organizational self-determination of the supporters of the Socialist-Revolutionary and Bolshevik parties is considered, information about the number and the beginning of the activities of these party organizations is systematized and analyzed. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that addressing the problem of “Revolution and man” and studying the images of “Friends”, “Foes”, “Other” in the perception of participants and eyewitnesses of events in connection with their participation in social transformations of a revolutionary time allows for the first time to get an idea of the mentality of privates and officers — the most active part of the Russian population of Finland. The author comes to the conclusion that the role of the Russian military in the events of the spring of 1917 is much more significant than was previously assumed.

The article is devoted to the problems of modernizing Iran’s foreign policy strategy on the eve of World War II, the implementation of a set of measures to diversify its relations with the leading world powers. The factors influencing the formation of the conflict relations of Iran with Great Britain and the USSR are revealed. The features of the nationalist policy of the Reza Shah regime, aimed at liberating the country from British control and weakening Soviet influence in the country, are traced. Particular attention is paid to the formation of a pro-German course in Iran’s foreign policy. The author emphasizes that the ideological factor (Nazi propaganda about the common Aryan origin of the Germans and Iranians) played an important role in the rapprochement of the Shah’s regime of Iran with the Nazi leadership of Germany. It is stated that the rapprochement of Iran with Germany contributed to the growth of tension in Europe, the intensification of the confrontation between the bloc of fascist states and the camp of anti-fascist forces. It is also noted that as a result of the Iranian-German rapprochement, Moscow’s relations with Tehran found themselves in a crisis situation: the strengthening of Nazi influence in Iran prompted the USSR leadership to take urgent measures to ensure reliable protection of the country’s southern borders against the threat of a German attack.

The article examines the initial period of the formation of penitentiary medicine on the example of the prison hospital of the Tobolsk prison castle (ostrog). The article is the first work on the history of penitentiary medicine in the Tobolsk province. The study was based on a wide range of sources, the most significant are documents from central and regional archives, introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. In the first half of the XIX century. The legal framework of penitentiary medicine is being formed, the execution of legislative and subordinate acts can be traced in the activities of the prison administration, its interaction with the West Siberian Governor-General, civil governors, and state institutions. Attention is drawn to the peculiarities of the organization of medical care for prisoners. The development of the hospital’s material base depended not only on the amount of state funds allocated, but to a greater extent on the contributions of the charitable foundation of the provincial prison trust committee, as well as private charity. The management of the hospital was carried out by doctors of the civil medical service, only in 1854, by the decision of the Governing Senate, the position of a doctor was introduced into the prison staff. The causes of morbidity and mortality of prisoners are analyzed, the sacrificial feat of prison doctors during the cholera epidemic of 1848 is noted.

The characteristics of land communications of the Upper Irtysh region in the structure of communications in the south of Western Siberia at the turn of the 17th—18th centuries, is described in the article according to the chorographic drawings of S. Remezov. The source corpus of the study is based on the atlases of the Tobolsk isographer, which retain heuristic significance, and the published information of Russian diplomats. The increasing importance of traffic routes in the Upper Irtysh region is considered in the context of the dynamics of the ethnosocial and political situation in the region. Special attention is paid to the correlation of specific trajectories of movement with physical-geographical (hydrological, geomorphological) and sociopolitical (monasteries, rulers’ rates) terrain objects. The authors propose their own interpretation of the category “way”, present an original map-scheme of communication routes in the upper and part of the middle reaches of the Irtysh. The existence of two key trajectories of movement in the Upper Irtysh region in early modern times is proved: the caravan paths that left the Irtysh and connected in the upper reaches of the Chara; the way from the Kalbinsky ridge along the western plain of the Zaisan past the Ortentau mountains to the Tarbagatai ridge and the Emel River.

The periodization of history and the definition of the framework of Antiquity and the Middle Ages were questions open for scientific discussion at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, when the Russian school of ancient and medieval studies was actively developing in Russia and especially in St. Petersburg. The concept of I. M. Grevs was that the Roman Empire marked the beginning of Late Antiquity with its special economic structure in the form of large land ownership, but this period ended with the onset of the era of barbarian kingdoms. I. M. Grevs separated the Roman Empire from the period of classical Antiquity and at the same time showed its difference from the way of the early Middle Ages. In his courses on general history, read after I. M. Grevs, N. I. Kareev described the ancient universal monarchies, which sought to extend their power to the limits of the ecumene and unite the various traditions of organizing power. It should be concluded that N. I. Kareev supplemented the periodization proposed by I. M. Grevs, finding in the Ancient world the same turning point in the form of the Hellenistic monarchy, similar to that found in Late Antiquity by I. M. Grevs.

The factors of preservation and intergenerational transmission of the traditional culture of the local group of Mari living in the territory of Udmurtia in a different ethnic environment is examined in the article. The source basis of the article was the field ethnographic materials collected in 2007 among the Mari of the Karakulinsky region of the Udmurt Republic and introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The socio-economic situation of the respondents, the established mechanisms of adaptation to market relations, the preservation of traditional rituals and holidays, material and spiritual culture, the use of the native language, ethno-demographic processes, the activities of the Mari community to support ethnic culture are showed in the work. The author notes that the historically formed mechanism for ensuring the viability of the Mari society includes practices of demographic behavior, ethnic socialization of youth, reproduction of elements of spiritual and religious culture (prayers, family and calendar rituals, songs) and the material world (national costume, elements of architecture, musical instruments, national cuisine), the use of the Mari language. It has been proven that the ritual sphere of the Mari is undergoing transformations, but at the same time it continues to remain an inseparable part of the life of the people. In the course of the work, it was also revealed that the local group of Mari in modern conditions for self-preservation needs to constantly generate ethnic markers based on traditional culture. The key role in this is assigned to the village community, educational institutions and public organizations.

Using mainly historical-comparative and historical-genetic methods, the issue of the development of the Vyatka and Slobodsk dioceses, which coincides within the borders with the Vyatka province, under Bishop Apollos (Belyaev), is considered in the article. The author pays special attention to the process of organizing religious, educational and missionary activities, and up to the appointment of Bishop Apollos, the results of this work were insignificant. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time it comprehensively examines the activities of the Vyatka Bishop Apollos in terms of the implementation of a nationwide religious course, which included active educational and missionary work of the local clergy. Under Bishop Apollos, to increase the influence of the clergy on the local population, including the Old Believers and non-Orthodox, important transformations were carried out: a separate vicariate was allocated in the diocese, the Vyatka Committee of the Orthodox Missionary Society and the Vyatka Brotherhood of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker were opened, and the work of the local clergy was also generally reorganized. This gave the first positive results in strengthening the position of the Russian Orthodox Church among the local population of the Vyatka diocese.

The article deals with the problem of identifying, describing and introducing into scientific circulation documents and materials on the history of the Russian naval officers who lived in the region of southern France in the 1920s—1930s. The relevance and novelty of the research is due to the introduction into scientific circulation of documentary complexes of regional, local and departmental archives containing information about the Russian naval emigration in France. The author draws attention to the specifics of identifying archival documents within the framework of the research topic. Attention is paid to the peculiarities of the collection of funds in the French archives. It is shown how knowledge of this specificity makes it possible to find and identify the required materials in the absence of thematic collections and indexes. The results of a study of archival collections and funds discovered by the author in regional, local and departmental archives containing information about the history of the Russian naval emigration in southern France are presented in the article. Contrary to the ideas of the marginality of this topic that have developed in French historiography, the potential of its development on the basis of the materials identified by the author is demonstrated. A review of the discovered archival funds is carried out from the point of view of the prospects for the reconstruction of collective and individual biographies of Russian naval officers-emigrants. The author’s classification of the identified documentary complexes is proposed.

The process of mobilization of Canadian volunteers, carried out by the Minister of Militia Sam Hughes during the First World War, is considered. The chronological framework is limited by the dates of Canada’s entry into the war (August 4, 1914) and the end of the active phase of the mobilization of Canadian volunteers (October 1915) in connection with the first symptoms of the army manning crisis. The relevance of the study is due to insufficient knowledge of the specifics of Canada's mobilization activity during the First World War. For the first time, ideas are formulated and the activities of the Minister of Militia S. Hughes in the process of mobilizing Canadian troops during the war years are analyzed. The sources for the study were Canadian historical and statistical collections, as well as a collection of official documents of the Canadian government and publications of the Canadian federal and provincial press for two military years (1914—1915). The article traces the views of S. Hughes on the issue of Canada's participation in the war and his activities in the field of recruiting the volunteer army (1914—1915). It is proved that the decisive character of S. Hughes and the authoritarian style of his leadership predetermined the nature of the Canadian mobilization. In fact, it got out of the control of the British authorities due to the minister's refusal from the official mobilization plan, which provided for a too slow pace of manning. Thus, the personal efforts of S. Hughes to organize the process of mobilization contributed to its complete success.

The formation of the institute of postgraduate studies in history in the USSR in the 1930s is examined in the article. The sources used are published legislative acts, journalistic materials, archival data. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the proposed problem was often considered in the context of the history of scientific and scientific and educational institutions or exclusively through regulatory legal acts without taking into account the practice that actually existed and developed under the influence of the community of scientists. Using the materials of curricula for the training of graduate students of Moscow University, Leningrad University, the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, as well as using the individual plans of graduate students, the author proves that the older generation of historians sought to integrate pre-revolutionary standards and mechanisms for training dissertation candidates into the new conditions of Soviet power. It is stated in the article that, despite the publication of numerous decrees, instructions, rules by government structures in relation to the institute of graduate school in the 1930s, there were no clear recommendations on the nature of the process of training scientific personnel. Supervisors of post graduate students, as a rule, themselves determined the scope of requirements for applicants. The author reveals the relative freedom of historians in determining the conditions and scientific criteria for entering the scientific community of neophytes.

The article is devoted to the history of creation and the first years of activity of the Ministry of Police Statistical Division in the context of the departmental scientists of Russian subdivisions activities. Based on a wide range of published and archival materials, the author examines the prerequisites for the organization of the institution, the legal framework that governed its work at an early stage, examines the evolution of the structure and staffing. It is noted that the idea of concentrating statistical functions in one department appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 18th century and acquired particular relevance during the reign of Alexander I. Analyzing the clerical documentation, the author corrects the date of creation of the department, established in historiography, and notes the peculiarities of its position within the Ministry of Police. It is concluded that the creation of the Statistical Office was in the nature of an administrative experiment, funding for its activities at an early stage was carried out from third-party sources, and employees were not part of the staff of the ministry. It was noted that the effectiveness of the department's work directly depended on the personal interest of the leaders — the Minister of Police A.D. Balashev and Professor K.F. Herman. They managed to prepare the basis for further improvements in the work of the department.

The article is devoted to the little-studied issue of the reaction of the Russian periodicals to changes in the zemstvo electoral legislation in accordance with the Regulations on zemstvo institutions in 1890. The positions of the leading conservative (“Moskovskie vedomosti”, “Grazhdanin”, “Russian Review”, “Russian Bulletin”, “Novoye Vremya”), liberal (“Novosti”, “Nedelya”, “Bulletin of Europe”, “Russian Thought”, “Russkie vedomosti”, “Sudebnaya Gazeta”) and populist (“Russian wealth”, “Novoye Slovo”, “Severny Vestnik”) editions. The attitude of periodicals to key changes in the system of zemstvo elections is shown: the establishment of estate electoral meetings, the privileged position of the nobility, a change in the order of representation from peasants, the deprivation of voting rights for Jews, a change in the procedure for approving members and chairmen of zemstvo councils. The authors argue that certain provisions of the new electoral law did not suit both conservative and liberal and populist publications. At the same time, there was no single approach within each of these groups. Some conservative publications in their proposals and criticism were close to the liberal ones (“Novoye Vremya”), and vice versa (“Novosti”, “Nedelya”). In general, each of the editions focused mainly on individual changes, criticizing or supporting them, as well as proposing their own versions of their changes.

The article is devoted to the elections to the city councils of the Kuban Territory, which took place in the spring and autumn of 1919. The author dwells in detail on the Kuban electoral law, according to which, for the first time in Russia, a rather rare electoral system — раnаchage — was used, and on the results of its application. Election campaigns in Yekaterinodar and other cities of the region are considered, the results of voting and the composition of councillors are analyzed. By the example of Yekaterinodar, the difference in electoral preferences of residents of “bourgeois” and “proletarian” regions is shown, as well as the influence of the educational and property level, occupation on the political preferences of the townspeople. Special attention is paid to the story of the murder in the editorial office of the newspaper “Utro Yuga”, which was caused by the struggle between moderately socialist electoral associations, and one of the immediate reasons was S. Ya. Marshak's election poems. The general results of the elections show that in most cities of the region the victory was won by the “right” homeowners' lists, but the author believes that the reason for this was not so much a change in the mood of the masses as the absenteeism of the left and centrist electorate.