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PHJ № 3 (47) 2025 — V. A. Veremenko, Ju. V. Sutula. “THE ART OF PERSUASION” — FOREIGN INFANT FORMULA ON THE RUSSIAN MARKET IN THE LATE 19TH — EARLY 20TH CENTURIES

The article, drawing upon a comprehensive array of sources including advertising materials, professional literature by hygienists and physicians, publications from the specialist and women’s press, as well as corporate records, undertakes a thorough analysis of the pivotal role of advertising agencies in the dissemination of foreign infant formula within the domestic market during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During this period, more than 20 foreign companies offering breast milk surrogates were represented in Russia. The significant cost of these products meant that they were accessible only to the wealthy segment of the country’s population. The advertisement, which promised high-quality, useful and easy-to-use products, was aimed at this educated public. The position of doctors, some of whom participated in the formulas’ advertising, the presence of these companies’ products at all hygiene exhibitions, with the attribution of “proper nutrition”, as well as a well-thought-out advertising campaign, provided foreign manufacturers with an almost monopoly position in the artificial baby food market.

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PHJ №1 (45) 2025 — T. V. Kudryavtseva. ABORTIONS AND ABORTIFACIENTS IN ANCIENT PRACTICE, PUBLIC OPINION AND MAGIC

The article, which is based on information from the Hippocratic Corpus, the works of Pliny the Elder, Dioscorides, Galen, Pseudo-Galen and Soranus, examines various forms of abortion used in ancient society. The most prevalent method was the utilisation of various potions and pessaries, with several case studies provided for illustration. Moreover, it is evident that ancient Greek and Roman medical practitioners were cognisant of the fact that external factors, such as injury, physical impact, or exertion, could potentially result in miscarriage and could be employed as abortifacient agents. The surgical abortion was also described in detail in their treatises, evidently for medical reasons. The article emphasises that, given the potions were the primary abortifacient, the topic of abortion acquired a magical context and subtext, because everything related to potions in antiquity was largely referred to magical practices, usually associated with women — witches and healers. A thorough examination of the sources reveals a plethora of abortive recipes and instructions that are imbued with a magical undertone. The ancient authors reported examples of dubious manipulations and exotic potions, but their accounts were more focused on folk beliefs and superstitions rather than on medical facts. They concealed the improbability and absurdity of these beliefs by referencing public opinion and the saying “it is said”, “reportedly”, and “it is known”. On occasion, these learned authors engaged in discourse with “folk medicine” and articulated reservations concerning the efficacy of the proposed remedies. However, they were unable to entirely dispel the gullibility or the hope for a miraculous outcome, instead endeavouring to systemize and partially rationalize the fantastical recipes and rituals.

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PHJ №1 (45) 2025 — M. D. Novikov. DEVIATIONS IN THE PROCESS OF CONDUCTING INTERNAL GOVERNMENT LOANS IN THE USSR IN 1946–1957

The present article investigates the problem of deviations during the state domestic loan campaigns of 1946–1957 in the USSR. Existing studies have not considered this subject as an independent one. To address this lacuna, an extensive array of documents from federal and regional archives was analysed. A comprehensive analysis was conducted, encompassing both positive and negative manifestations of deviant behaviour. Additionally, the study delved into the intricacies of criminal activities within the Soviet financial sector. The study revealed that deviations were caused by organisational imperfections in loan campaigns, where the state itself, by establishing a norm, prompted citizens to engage in positive deviations, using informational influence as means to this end. In instances where these measures proved ineffective, recourse was headed to methods that, while not always fully legal, did not constitute a breach of criminal law. The necessity to accomplish the designated objectives necessitated a degree of persistence from the actors responsible for implementing state directives, which can be conceptualised as deviant behaviour. Furthermore, the article provides a detailed exposition of criminal activities that were prevalent during the mass-political campaigns under scrutiny. The documents of law enforcement agencies demonstrate a variety of methods of violating socialist legality, as well as an extensive list of citizens from different socio-professional groups who resorted to criminal methods of interaction with Soviet security forces. However, these materials pay little attention to the reasons that motivated citizens to commit such acts, thereby emphasised the problematic nature of the practice of state borrowing in the USSR.

PHJ No 4 (36) 2022 – Z.V. Dmitrieva. Mikhail Borisovich Sverdlov (1939–2022)

On April 21, 2022, Mikhail Borisovich Sverdlov, an outstanding historian, source specialist, archaeographer and historiographer, died. The scientist’s entire scientific life was connected with the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where he went a long way from graduate student to chief researcher. Mikhail Borisovich was not only Russia’s leading specialist in history, Ancient Rus` and Russian historiography, but also the author of manuals on the history, theory and practice of studying the history of Russia of the 6th–13th centuries.

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PHJ № 2 (34) 2022 — E. F. Sinelnikova. SPEECH OF THE RUSSIAN NATURE AMATEURS SOCIETY SECRETARY ON THE SIMPLIFICATION OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES REPORTING FORMS, 1926

The article discusses the speech of the Russian Nature Amateurs Society secretary V. A. Kazitsyn, discovered in the Central State Archives of St. Petersburg in the fund of the Leningrad Branch of the Main Directorate of Scientific Institutions of the Academic Center of the People’s Commissariat of Enlightenment of the RSFSR (F. 2555). It raised the question of simplifying the reporting of scientific societies to administrative bodies, scientific administrative and financial control institutions. V. A. Kazitsyn’s speech focused on the difficulties that are caused by redundant reporting and control over the activities of scientific societies. This problem was one of the most important in the relationship between the authorities and scientific societies in the mid‑1920s. The published document is dated 1926. The report was intended for a meeting of directors of scientific institutions subordinate to Glavnauka, which took place in Leningrad on April 1, 1926. Undoubtedly, V. A. Kazitsyn was the spokesman not only for the opinion of the council of the Russian Nature Amateurs Society, but also for other scientific societies. The ways of solving problems in relations between the authorities and scientific societies, proposed in the speech, testify to the fact that scientists were striving to democratize these relations. However, the proposed adjustments to the system of state regulation of the activities of scientific institutions and organizations in the conditions of the formation of a totalitarian system in the country could not be implemented. We believe that the published document is an interesting source on the social history of Russian science in the 1920s.

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PHJ № 2 (34) 2022 — M. D. Novikov. RATIONALIZATION PROPOSALS OF CITIZENS ON SOVIET MASS BONDS 1946–1957 AND PROJECTS OF “PEACE LOTTERIES” AS AN ATTEMPT OF SOCIETAL INFLUENCE ON THE STATE FINANCIAL POLICY

The article examines the letters of Soviet citizens to the state authorities on the subject of changing the practice of state compulsory bonds. These letters had a specific nature of content, so their addressees designated them as “rationalization proposals”. Among the documents considered there were both letters from ordinary employees of financial bodies (mainly savings banks and financial departments of districts and regions) and letters from people in no way connected with financial structures. All of these letters were aimed at solving the problems that were of concern to citizens in connection with the implementation of Soviet internal mass bonds. They included both organizational and operational nuances, as well as the issue of bonds and the payment of winnings. Among the documents studied were proposals for additional bonds or for reformatting the existing procedure for selling and circulating government bonds. Citizens did not propose any options to stop these campaigns because they had already become part of the usual order of things, but attempts to propose any changes to the current financial policy were also unsuccessful. Writing rationalization proposals provided citizens with an opportunity to engage in a dialogue with the government. They could try to pay attention to the actual problems of the Soviet people and try to solve them not with emotional statements, but with some concrete actions. People were able to enter into a dialogue with the state, but it did not develop further. The only thing that changed during the 12 years of massive loan campaigns was the ratio and amount of winnings, but despite the existence of such proposals, their influence on the decisions taken was not decisive. The materials studied in this paper allow us to take a broader look at the practice of mass bonds and the attitude of the population of the Soviet Union to these campaigns.