War memoirs of Soviet specialists, published in the 1920s, as a source on the history of the Chinese revolution of 1925–1927

The study has considered war memoirs of N.K. Kostarev, B.A. Pohvalinsky and S.A. Dalin who took part in the Chinese revolution of 1925–1927. We have set the following tasks: comparative analysis of the texts of first publication with subsequent reissues; study of changes in these texts; assessment of the accents placed by the authors depending on the changing political situation within the country and on the relations of Soviet Union and China. The study also includes the memoirs of V.M. Shtein and F.S. Borodina that were published only once. The article partially traces the process of creating a memoir source, i.e., notes and articles containing memoirs about the Chinese revolution, which were subsequently included in the main text of the memoir. Conclusions are drawn regarding the specifics and general features of the memoirs published in the USSR in 1928; the content of the memoirs has been found to depend on the politics and ideology of the state.