Viktor Krupyna
Historian, Candidate of Historical Sciences (2005), Researcher at the Institute of History of Ukraine at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Dr. Krupyna defended his PhD thesis on the Russian White Movement in Ukraine in 1917-1920. His research interests include political and social history of Ukraine in 1945-1991, Ukrainian nomenclature, history of everyday life.
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A satirical report by the Soviet magazine Perets on the use of official vehicles for private Affairs, 1960
The humorous and satirical magazine Perets, published (albeit intermittently) since 1922, served as a supplementary weapon for the government in its fight against social issues. Its editorial board frequently aligned with various official campaigns, wielding its sharp wit to expose violations, shortcomings, and vices, thereby shaping public attitudes. Hryhorii Bezborodko, an experienced feuilletonist for Perets, often targeted the “antipodes of Soviet morality,” such as indifference, mismanagement, careerism, and other societal flaws. His report was no coincidence; it aimed to bolster the campaign against the misuse of official vehicles. Despite the 1959 restrictions on the use of state cars, members of the nomenklatura continued to exploit loopholes, necessitating public shaming rather than relying solely...
Corruption in Kolomyia, Stanislav (Ivano-Frankivsk) Oblast, 1962
In the early 1960s, the Ukrainian prosecutor's office reported to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine about “exposed groups of large-scale embezzlers of socialist property and bribe-takers who had long been operating within various sectors of the national economy.” The scale of the defendants' shadow income was staggering: during investigations into four cases, authorities seized hundreds of thousands of rubles, single-story houses, kilograms of gold, dozens of cars, and other assets. Such wealth was enabled by a well-developed “shadow economy.” Despite inflated economic plans, strict resource controls, and rigorous oversight, resourceful producers consistently found ways to generate “surplus” production, which they used to enhance their own comfort and secure patronage....
Illegal Construction of Dachas in Kherson, 1970
The satisfaction of Soviet citizens’ basic needs led to a growing demand for an improved quality of life, with one key indicator being access to comfortable recreation. Members of the nomenklatura became active participants in the establishment of “gardening societies,” which involved allocating land plots to factory workers for gardening and horticulture. However, the widely publicized “Kherson case” revealed that their interest lay less in gardening and more in personal comfort. Instead of allowing the construction of simple “summer-type buildings,” the nomenklatura opted for “permanent brick large summer cottages, often equipped with heating.” These practices not only violated the 1960 government decree banning the construction of such dachas but also involved the illegal...
Abuses of a Sugar Factory Director and his Party Rehabilitation, 1953
The case of H. illustrates the activities of the Party Control Commission under the Central Committee of the Communist Party, which reviewed appeals for reinstatement into the party. H. had been expelled for “the use of his official position for mercenary purposes and illegal spending of public funds” while heading a sugar factory. Specifically, he exchanged his old cow for a younger one and fed his pig on the farm of the Division of Workers' Supply (rus. Отдел рабочего снабжения), which was under his supervision. Additionally, he had two employees in excess of the factory’s staffing needs and persecuted the chief accountant for exposing his abuses. H. was also accused of selling sugar...
“Connections” as a Preventive Measure of Punishment for Abuse, 1985
The discussion of Case N at the Party Control Commission under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine was initiated by letters from citizens—a typical occurrence in Soviet realities. What was unusual, however, was that these appeals eventually proved effective, leading to the punishment of a high-ranking official and his patrons. The central issue under the party commission’s consideration was N’s flawed management style, which resulted in a subjective personnel policy and adversely impacted the economic performance of the main department (abbreviated as Glavk), which had accumulated substantial receivables. Case N underscores the pervasive influence of patron-client relationships and sycophancy within the Soviet system. Despite repeated deficiencies in performance between 1981...
Financial Fraud by High-Ranking Party Officials in the Voroshylovhrad Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR, Early 1970s
Nelia Nemyrynska, born in 1930 in Odesa, worked as a lawyer at the Luhansk Bar Association beginning in 1954. Over her career, she defended and provided moral support to dissidents such as Mykola Rudenko, Yosyp Zisels, and others. In her memoirs, written in 1995, she exposed the darker side of Soviet justice: backroom deals, the political dependence of judges, the dictates of the CPSU, the impunity of the nomenklatura, and more. A fragment of her memoirs recounts two cases she deemed “not quite ordinary for the period of communist rule in Ukraine and the former USSR.” These cases vividly illustrate the interplay between the nomenklatura and the legal system. The first case involves...
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The Soviet Union positioned itself as a society of social equality, where the elimination of human exploitation was said to have achieved harmony in class relations. The eradication of social contradictions between the “top” and “bottom” (in Soviet terminology, the “exploiters” and “exploited”) was widely promoted as an indisputable and irreversible achievement of the Soviet state. Yet, this created a paradox: while this ideal was publicly championed, the significant social gap between the people and the so-called “people's power” was a reality that remained unacknowledged. This module by Viktor Krupyna focuses on the financial privileges of the Ukrainian Soviet nomenklatura.