“Issues Related to the Shared Participation of the Union Ministries. . . Remained Unresolved”: Vladimir’s Anniversary in 1958 and Regional Lobbying

The article is devoted to the analysis of the process of lobbying regional interests in terms of financing the anniversary infrastructure dedicated to the celebration of the 850th anniversary of the city of Vladimir in 1958. It explores the role of the subjects of regional lobbying, which had a dualistic nature. Based on the study of archival documents, a thesis about the phenomenon of joint lobbying is put forward, according to which the actors of such lobbying were both the party (first secretary of the CPSU oblast committee) and the Soviet leadership (chairman of the oblast executive committee) in Vladimir Oblast. The author raises the question about the conflict of departmental and regional interests.
Based on archival sources (the unpublished office records and documents that were deposited in the fonds of the Vladimir Oblast CPSU Committee in the State Archive of Vladimir Oblast), vectors of communication of the regional authorities were identified in the conditions of departmental opposition to the regional petition. Evidence of oral history (interviews with the representatives of regional authorities of the 1950–80s) was used as additional sources. The article compares individual lobbying practices undertaken by the party nomenklatura of Vladimir Oblast with similar activities in other regions of the Upper Volga.
The author has identified the main institutions and structures of the central (union and/or republican) level with which the leaders of the regional authorities of Vladimir Oblast interacted in connection with the anniversary of the oblast city. The author calculated the key items of the funding requested by the regional authorities for the “future anniversary” to support the infrastructural development of Vladimir. The author also identified the main infrastructure facilities the lobbying of which required special effort of First Secretary of the Vladimir Oblast CPSU Committee K. Grishin and Chairman of the Vladimir Oblast Executive Committee V. Sporov.
The author comes to the conclusion that the lobbying activities of the leadership of Vladimir Oblast to promote the anniversary were distinguished by a high level of preparedness, multi-channel communication, and persistence in interaction with the union and republican ministries.

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