MORALE AND DISCIPLINE OF THE SOVIET POLICE OFFICERS IN THE LATE 1940s – EARLY 1950s (on archival materials of the Sverdlovsk region)

The article is based on unpublished archival materials of the Center for Documentation of Public Organizations of the Sverdlovsk Region. The author examines the internal state of the Soviet police in the post-war period. It is emphasized that most of the citizens of the USSR didn’t consider the police service as a prestigious occupation because of low wages, lack of serious incentives to work, and great psychological stresses. Various violations of service discipline by the personnel of the Sverdlovsk police in the late 1940s and early 1950s are listed and commented. It is stated that the leadership of the regional police failed to rectify the situation in the studied period. The author concludes that the state of the police otherwise corresponded to the state of the whole Soviet society.