The article is devoted to the formation of «scientific» expertise in historical knowledge in the USSR as an integral part of the shaping Bolshevik ideology. History, abolished in 1920-ies as an academic discipline, served to prove the logical victory of the socialist revolution in Russia, which opposed Marx’s vision. At first the two prominent par-ty leaders – Trotsky and Pokrovsky – fought for the role of the chief expert. Pokrovsky’s victory was not the result of his scientific achievements, but of the mass campaign to discredit Trotsky. The next step was made against Pokrovsky and closely connected with Stalin's decision to open historical faculties and teach history at schools. And though Stalin, unlike Trotsky and Pokrovsky, did not openly claim the role of the chief expert in historical knowledge, he created the multilevel scientific expertise, fully controlled by him.
ideology, history, the Bolsheviks, Trotsky, Pokrovsky, Stalin.