ORGANIZATION OF RESIDENTS’ VOLUNTARY PEOPLE’S GUARDS IN THE TOWN OF NOVOKUZNETSK, KEMEROVO REGION (LATE 1980S)

Abstract

The paper focuses on the history and activities of residents’ voluntary people’s guards in Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo region, in the late 1980s. In such a formulation of the problem the topic is studied for the first time. The study is based on archival documents. The author analyzes the organization of the people’s guards program based on social and educational facilities of the city (SEC). Since December 1986, residents’ voluntary people’s guards were established at SEC. Initially, in some areas of the city, experiments were conducted to transfer teams to a new form of work. However, they were unsuccessful. Fruitful activities of voluntary guards were hindered by a number of socio-economic factors. The author concluded that the mistakes made in the process of reorganization of voluntary associations for the protection of law led to the failure of the program to re-orient voluntary people’s guards, and later – to stop their activities.