Afanasyeva, A. Forced relocations of the Kola Sámi people: background and consequences / by Anna Afanasyeva. - Tromsø: University of Tromsø, 2013. - 82 p.: ill., map, portr.

19 The assembly had an administration, which consisted of three people, who were recruited and paid by the assembly. 55 The following system, being an autonomous governing pattern, provided protection of the Sámi cultural interests and traditional customary laws. In the 1870’s the Sámi customary laws were collected and in 1878 published in the book of Efimenko A.I . Juridičeskije obyčai loparej. 56 The current book was aimed to provide assistance in governing and legal proceedings. The gathering of volost elected assembly was held annually on the 25 th of January of the old Gregorian calendar, which is the 6 th of February of our contemporary calendar. Kalstad mentions that the volost was established in 1866 and argues that it might be functioning some years after 1900 and up to the revolution time. 57 The assembly solved economic, social, and family questions as well as dealt with handling conflicts between communities. It is significant to touch upon the pre-revolutionary distribution of settlements on the Kola Peninsula. This Master’s study partially addresses the system of the Sámi settlements before the 1920’s and the harmful effect of the relocation measures on it after the 1930’s. The revolution in 1917 was a turning point in Russian history as well as in the history of all indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation and consequently the Sámi people. The main consequences of the October Revolution were the abolition of the monarchy, the collapse of the Russian Empire and rise of the Civil War in 1917- 1923, leading to another historical stage in the country’s development. It influenced all spheres and sectors of the state, which consequently involved a change in national political attitudes and ideologies towards the indigenous people. Allemann and Kiselev set out two separate historical periods - situation of the Kola Sámi people before the October revolution and after. 58 2.3 Sámi settlements on the Kola Peninsula after the 1930’s The study period from 1929 on is characterized by the state policy taking focus on intensive industrial and economic development of the country. The Soviet government argued that reaching the aim in establishing a socialist state and building a purely socialist society was not possible without overcoming the so-called ‘old patriarchal 55 Kalstad 2002: 5. 56 Efimenko, Aleksandra (1877): Narodnye Iuridicheskoe obychai loparei, korelov i samoiedov Arkhangelskoi gubernii [ Traditional Juridicial Customs of the Lapps, Karelians, and Samoeds of Archangel Province ]. St. Petersburg: Tip. V. Kirshbauma. 57 Kalstad 2009:31. 58 Allemann 2010:35, 65, Kiselev 1987:21.