The article analyzes the process of attempts to introduce in the late 1920searly 1930s the historiographical concept of «History of the Peoples of the USSR» as an alternative to «History of Russia / Russian History», which was considered a hallmark of «great-power» and «chauvinistic». Initially, this was implemented at the First All-Union Conference of Marxist Historians (1928–1929), and was seen as an important step towards updating historical knowledge, a path to creating an «equal» history and a tool for fighting both «Great Russian chauvinism» and «local nationalism». An attempt to introduce a new format is associated with the so-called great turning point and the accompanying «mobilization of nations» and their accelerated development. However, since the mid-1930s, there has been a drift of Soviet ideology towards consolidation and statist attitudes. In historical science, this was reflected in the fact that the «History of the peoples of the USSR» was gradually replaced by another historiographical concept – the «History of the USSR», in which the implicit emphasis was placed on the state and unification. Moreover, this was implemented at the educational, scientific, conceptual and institutional levels. The idea of national diversity of the USSR was replaced by the idea of a single socialist state and a great power. The All-Union competition of school textbooks played an important role in the transition. Finally, this trend was consolidated in 1937 with the appearance of the «Short Course of the History of the USSR» edited by A.V. Shestakov. The transformation of the content of the historical narrative in the 1930s is examined drawing from the example of the national history course programs deposited in the A.V. Shestakov Foundation in the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences (f. 638) and prepared by various specialists for students of historical and non-historical specialties.
Soviet historical narrative; history of the peoples of the USSR; history of the USSR; Stalinism; M.N. Pokrovsky; A.V. Shestakov.