A. I. Rupasov. The Election of People’s Judges in Leningrad in 1950 and 1953 // Petersburg
Historical Journal, no. 1, 2026, pp. 83–92.

DOI: 10.51255/2311–603X_2026_1_83

Abstract:

The article analyzes the reasons for the procedural violations in the election of people’s judges
in Leningrad in 1950 and 1953. In both cases, the election campaigns were repeatedly postponed, a practice that was no longer permitted from the mid‑1950s onward. As a result, the significant shortage of qualified legal personnel became even more severe. The postwar restoration and development of Leningrad led to an increase in citizens’ lawsuits filed with the courts (especially in civil cases). The improper conduct of judicial election campaigns, which consequently prevented the timely establishment of new judicial districts, had detrimental
effects, including not only delays in court proceedings but also a considerable number of judicial errors. The procedural violations in the election of people’s judges were driven by political reasons: in 1950, due to the campaign to purge the party-administrative apparatus related to the so-called “Leningrad Affair”, and in 1953, the death of I. V. Stalin created a situation of uncertainty for the city leadership. In both instances, the city authorities had reason to exercise additional caution in selecting candidates for the position of people’s judge.

Key words: Leningrad, judicial proceedings, elections, department of justice, electoral campaign,
procedural irregularities, early 1950s.

Author:

Rupasov, Aleksandr Ivanovich — Dr. of Sci. in History, Leading Researcher, St. Petersburg
Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg, Russia).
E-mail: rupasov_ai@mail.ru
ORCID: 0000-0002-3172-6205

References:
Boldovskii, K. A. Padenie “blokadnykh sekretarei”. Partapparat Leningrada do i posle “leningradskogo dela” [The Purge of the “Blockade Secretaries”. Leningrad’s Party Apparatus: Pre- and Post-“Leningrad Affair”. In Russ.]. St. Petersburg, Nestor-Istoriya publ., 2018. 310 p.

Il’ina, T. N., Bogdanova, N. A. Vybory narodnykh sudei v kontse 1940-kh — nachale 1950-kh godov: organizatsiya, provedenie, itogi (na primere Kurskoi oblasti) [Elections of People’s Judges in the Late 1940s — Early 1950s: Organization, Conduct, and Outcomes (Using the Kursk Region as an Example). In Russ.]. In Aktual’nye problemy gosudarstva i prava. 2024. Vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 357–365.

Ivanov, V. A., Dolgopolova, E. A. Leningradskii gorodskoi sud vo vtoroi polovine 1940-kh — nachale 1990-kh godov [The Leningrad City Court in the Second Half of the 1940s — Early 1990s. In Russ.]. In Trudy Istoricheskogo fakul’teta Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. 2013. No. 14, pp. 224–259.

Kodintsev, A. Ya. Vybory narodnykh sudei SSSR v 1948–1954 gg. [Elections of People’s Judges of the USSR in 1948–1954. In Russ.]. In Administrator suda. 2008. No. 3, pp. 43–47.

Mumleva, M. I. Zakonodatel’noe reglamentirovanie pravovogo polozheniya sovetskikh sudei v pervye gody posle okonchaniya Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny [Legislative Regulation of the Legal Status of Soviet Judges in the First Years After the End of the Great Patriotic War. In Russ.]. In Vestnik Saratovskoi yuridicheskoi akademii. 2012. No. 2, pp. 93–98.

Seryukov, D. S. Organizatsionno-pravovoi mekhanizm nadeleniya polnomochiyami narodnykh sudei v RSFSR vo vtoroi polovine 40-kh — nachale 50-kh gg. XX v. [Organizational and Legal Mechanism for Empowering People’s Judges in the RSFSR in the Second Half of the 1940s — Early 1950s of the 20th Century. In Russ.]. In Pravo i politika. 2014. No. 1 (169), pp. 80–85.

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