Providing financial assistance to prisoners of war of the Russian army who returned home in the Bryansk district of the Oryol province.

Abstract

The article deals with the organization and provision of financial assistance by state bodies to former Russian prisoners of war upon their arrival at home in the territory of the Bryansk district of the Oryol province. This was one of the directions of the social policy of the Bolsheviks who came to power, in addition to organizing the return of prisoners of war, assistance in treatment, food and clothing. Special attention is paid to the payment of monetary benefits, both to prisoners of war and their families, as well as the conditionsand procedure forissuing material assistance, the assignment of pensions to those categories of citizens that the Soviet leadership attributed to the status of "prisoner of war", "semi-disabled" and "disabled". The relevance of the study is due not only to the study of the level of material support of the Soviet government to Russian soldiers who returned from captivity at the regional level, but also in the whole country during the First World war. The author compares the financial policy of Nicholas II with the monetary assistance of the Soviet leadership in relation to Russian prisoners of war, as far as it was effective. A review of the documents Of the state archive of the Bryansk region was made: orders, circulars and petitions transferring various kinds of monetary payments to prisoners of war and their families of the Soviet authorities in the territory of the Oryol province. Referring to the documents studied and research works of Russian historians, the author comes to the conclusion that the Soviet leadership was forced to conduct a social policy for Russian prisoners of war, proving and actively promoting the advantage of the Soviet power over the tsarist one. Despite the sufficient number of decrees and government regulations on determining the status of prisoners of war and payment of monetary benefits, Russian soldiers in practice, in real life, monetary assistance was not provided, but declared only on paper due to the difficult political situation and the acute shortage of money, food and uniforms. Thus, Russian prisoners of war lacked financial assistance under both Nicholas II and the Soviet government.