The article analyzes the problem of organizing the functioning of rural state administration bodies in the national regions of Russia in the 1920s. Over the previous twenty years, the issue of the formation and functioning of the Soviet power grassroots bodies in the 1920s has been addressed by an increasing number of researchers, which contributes to the growth in the number of publications (articles, monographs) and theses defences (both candidate and doctoral). Apparently, this process is associated with an increased interest of specialists in a thorough study of the experience of local authorities in the socio-economic and cultural development of the regions. The stages of organizing and the activity of the grassroots authorities of the 1920s are studied by historians on the examples of individual regions. An important area for specialists is the study of establishing and activities performed by rural Soviets. The problem of establishing power and implementing the Soviet model of local government is one of the key issues in the research of scientists. It was the 1920s that became crucial in building the Soviet political system and implementing new approaches to the interaction between the government and the population. The level of prior studies of the problem presented in this historiographical review makes it possible to raise the issue of the research practice passing to the next level, namely, carrying out a comparative analysis in the national-territorial subjects of the Russian Federation. The relevance of such raising the issue in our opinion is also determined by the fact that creation of national-territorial autonomies in the first decade of the Soviet power became a historical precedent for the peoples of Russia in the process of their real self-identification and self-government.