ABSTRACT
The origin and development of the institution of second secretaries is inextricably linked to Moscow’s regional and nationality politics and the dispatching of cadres deeply involved in these politics to the national borderland. From as early as the October Revolution and the Russian Civil War, the Bolsheviks sought the control of the national periphery. The Soviet revolution and its desire to institutionalize and manage the former space of the tsarist empire are directly related to the activities of the Soviet ‘governor general’. The creation of boundaries of socialist state, the ideological relationship to the idea of permanent revolution, the extent of initiative permitted to ‘local’ comrades fighting their own bourgeoisie, whether they need directions or assistance – these were the issues to be solved theoretically, ideologically, and in politically. It is understandable that while the political space of the future Bolshevik state was in the process of formation, it would be complicated to speak about existing principle of democratic centralism.
