TWO CASES. RUSSIAN PROVINCES AND THE POLITICAL POWER STRUGGLE BEFORE AND AFTER I.V. STALIN'S DEATH
The paper treats two political campaigns of 1953, namely the doctors' plot and the Beriya case, which involved millions of Soviet people. The paper shows the organization and the peculiarities of these mass campaigns at the example of the Gorky Region. The Gorky Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union together with the Municipal Committee of the Communist Party used the political campaign against the “murderers in white robes” in order to redirect people's indignation and dissatisfaction and to arouse resentment against Jews rather than against the government. The political campaign against Lavrentiy Beriya, who was accused of being a traitor and spy, was not treated unanimously. The reaction of Soviet people to the abrupt dropping of the Doctors' plot affair, as well as to the dismissal, trial and execution of the Minister of Interior Beriya show that the USSR experienced inner contradictions and the deterioration of the communist ideology and moral values.