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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Criminal Strategies and Institutional Concerns in the Soviet Legal System: An Analysis of Criminal Appeals in Moscow Province, 1921-1928 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Daniel Asher Newman 2013 © Copyright by Daniel Asher Newman 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Criminal Strategies and Institutional Concerns in the Soviet Legal System: An Analysis of Criminal Appeals in Moscow Province, 1921-1928 by Daniel Asher Newman Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Professor J. Arch Getty, Chair Questions about the legal system in the Soviet Union during the first twenty years of Soviet power invariably evoke images of tribunals and show trials rigging cases to promote class warfare, persecute phantom enemies, and eliminate Joseph Stalin’s political opponents. As sensationalized as they have been, show trials and political tribunals were not the norm and the notion that Soviet justice was inherently corrupt has been overstated. The overwhelming majority of Soviet citizens who were accused of crimes during the 1920s were not hauled before tribunals or publicly denigrated in orchestrated show trials. Instead, they were presented with a tiered court system reliant on minutely worded criminal codes, judicial officials expected to follow procedural norms, and the legacies of Tsarist and French legal practices and institutions. ii It is this system of justice which most Soviet citizens accused of crimes encountered, and it is this system of justice which is the focus of this dissertation. Unlike previous scholarly work dealing with the Soviet judiciary during the period of the NEP, this dissertation employs an analytical framework based on close readings of criminal case records. From an institutional standpoint, case files of criminal appeals are examined to determine how different seats of power within the judiciary exerted their influences against each other in disputes over verdicts, and how different institutions challenged the judiciary over questions of jurisdiction and the application of sentences. From a legal standpoint, judicial decisions at both the court of initial instance and appellant instances are cross-referenced with legal codes and legislation to determine how well Soviet judges understood the wording and intent of codified law. From the standpoint of the criminals themselves, the wording of appeals is analyzed to determine how convicts understood the law, their place in Soviet society, and what they thought they needed to say to gain redemption. Ultimately, this dissertation shows how judges, procurators, investigators, and individuals brought before courts understood how Soviet power and justice functioned in the realm of criminal appeals during the infancy of the Soviet Union. iii The dissertation of Daniel Asher Newman is approved. Ivan T. Berend Stephen Frank Gail Kligman J. Arch Getty, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2013 iv To Mom, Dad, Mickey, TBT, and ML v Table of Contents Abstract ii List of Tables ix Glossary xi Acknowledgments xiii Vita xvi Introduction 1 I. Investigation and Trial: Prelude to an Appeal 4 II. The Soviet System of Appeals 8 III. A Brief Background of Soviet Appeals 13 IV. Argumentation 16 V. Chapter Summaries 18 VI. Archival Methodology 24 Chapter 1: Historiography and Scholarship Influencing the Arguments and 26 Perceptions of NEP-era courts I. Historiography of Late-Tsarist Era Courts 26 II. Historiography of Revolutionary Tribunals 31 III. Historiography of NEP-era Courts 40 IV. Petitions in the Soviet Union 54 V. Legal Knowledge and Courts 55 vi Chapter 2: Avenues of Appeal: The Backgrounds of Soviet Cassation and Supervision 58 I. Cassation from the French Revolution to the end of the Russian Empire 60 II. Cassation in the Soviet System 64 III. The Supervisory Appeal from Peter the Great’s Procuracy to the end of 79 the Tsars IV. The Supervisory Appeal in the Soviet System 90 Chapter 3: From Above and From Below: The Flow of Information between 98 County, Province, and Russian Republic Courts I. Important Legal Decrees Shaping Judicial Considerations and 99 Jurisdiction over Crimes II. Characteristics of Judicial Personnel, Convicts, and Crimes 112 III. The Movement of Information between Different Levels of Courts 134 Chapter 4: Cassation in Courts and Tribunals: Appellant Strategies, 154 Judicial Verdicts, and Cassation as an Expression of Power I. The Frequency and Importance of Cassation in the RSFSR 155 II. Framework of an Appeal 166 III. Case Studies of Cassational Appeals 172 Chapter 5: Appeals from Above Spurred from Below: Supervisory Review as a 212 Window into the World of High Court Decisions, Procedural Peculiarities, and Appellate Gridlock vii I. Supervisory Review Rectifies a Miscarriage of Justice 215 II. The Kalugin Embezzlement Ring, Tarasov’s Bribe, and Supervisory 221 Anomalies III. How Institutional Problems Led to Considerations of Supervisory 229 Appeals for the Worst Convicts Chapter 6: Informal Appeals: Petitions to Officials and Circumventions of the 241 Judicial Process I. The Case of Mikhailov and L’vov and the Influence of High Officials 242 in Criminal Cases II. The Vinogradov Case: Comrade Krylenko and the RSFSR Procuracy 250 vs. the OGPU III. The Procuracy’s Role in Exonerating Peter Bursevich 266 Conclusions 277 Bibliography 285 viii List of Tables Table 1: Samogon Cases Investigated by Moscow City Investigators from 1923 to 1924 117 Table 2: Statistics for Individuals Convicted in Courts at the Moscow Province 121-122 Level from January 1 to July 1, 1924 Table 3: Statistics for Individuals Convicted in Moscow People's and Province 123 Courts from July 1 to October 1, 1924 Table 4: Statistics for Ages of Convicts in Moscow City People's and Regional 124 Courts from July 1 to October 1, 1924 Table 5: Statistics for Ages and Sex of Individuals Convicted in Courts at the 124 Moscow Province Level from January 1 to July 1, 1924 Table 6: Types of Crimes Committed in Moscow City during the First Halves of 125 1924 and 1925 Table 7: Types of Crimes in Moscow Province outside the City of Moscow during 127-128 the First Halves of 1924 and 1925 Table 8: Caseloads of People's Courts in Moscow City from January 1 to March 15, 129 1923 Table 9: Caseloads of the First District of Zvenigorod County Courts from April to 130 June, 1927 Table 10: RSFSR Provincial Court Judges’ Social Status from 1923 to 1929 131 Table 11: RSFSR People’s Court Judges’ Social Status from 1923 to 1927 132 Table 12: Education of Judges of RSFSR Provincial Courts from 1923 to 1927 133 Table 13: Education of Judges of RSFSR People's Courts from 1923 to 1927 133 Table 14: Cases Processed by the RSFSR Cassational Division from 1927 to 1928 158 ix Table 15: Changes Made by Republican Supreme Court Cassational Panels to 159 Judicial Verdicts from 1927 to 1928 Table 16: Republican Supreme Court Cassational Board’s Review of Appeals 160-161 by Workers Organized by Crime from 1927 to 1928 Table 17: Republican Supreme Court Cassational Board’s Review of Appeals 162 by Peasants Organized by Crime from 1927 to 1928 Table 18: Republican Supreme Court Cassational Board’s Review of Appeals 163 by Managers Organized by Crime from 1927 to 1928 x Glossary Cassational review – first level of Soviet criminal appeals Cheka - Extraordinary Commission, political police from 1917 to 1922 Commissar - minister Commissariat - ministry GPU - State Political Directorate, political police from1922 to 1923 Guberniia – Russian geographical unit approximately equivalent to a province Gubsud – provincial court Kollegiia - collegium or board Komsomol – Union of Communist Youth Narkomiust – People’s Commissariat of Justice Narsled – People’s investigator Narsud – People’s court NEP – New Economic Policy, 1921-1928 Obzhalovanie – appeal against a judicial verdict OGPU – Joint State Political Directorate, political police from 1923 to 1934 Plenum – meeting attended by all members of an agency Procuracy – agency responsible for prosecutions and supervision of legality Procurator – legal official responsible for prosecutions and supervising legality Proshchenie – petition or plea Pud - obsolete Russian measurement of weight, with each pud equal to roughly 16.38 kilograms RSFSR – Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic Samogon – home-brewed alcohol xi Sovnarkom - Council of People’s Commissars, cabinet of the Soviet government Supervisory review – Second level of Soviet criminal appeals Uezd – Russian geographical unit approximately equivalent to a county VTsIK - All-Russian Central Executive Committee, highest level of state administration Wrecking – political crime undermining state industry, trade, or commerce Zaiavlenie – declaration or statement, often found as the header of appellants’ pleas, investigators’ reports, and messages sent between legal officials Zashchitnik – defense attorney Zhaloba – complaint or grievance xii Acknowledgments The completion of this dissertation would not have been possible without advice and support from colleagues and friends. First, I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee. Arch Getty has been a superb advisor throughout my graduate career. His willingness to share his knowledge of all things Soviet has shaped many of my notions of the Soviet system in general, and the Soviet system of justice in particular. His keen eye for detail and his ability to filter arguments down to their