The establishing of gendarmerie supervision on private gold mines in Siberia in 1841-1842

The article is devoted to the establishing of permanent gendarme supervision on private gold mines in Siberia in 1841-1842. This subject has not been yet studied in historiography. The article reconstructs main stages of the formation of gendarmerie units in Siberia in the 1830s, as well as basic legislative acts which regulated the system of police surveillance in the mines. The article touches upon main discussions in government circles on how to enhance policing in the gold mines in the spread of various forms of social protest. Special attention is paid to the duties of gendarme officers in the mines which were set out in special secret instructions. Almost all Siberian mines were privately owned production. Exiles made up the bulk of workers in the private gold mines of Siberia in 1830-1840-ies. The authors conclude that the situation in the Siberian gold mines, the accumulation of large masses of exiles and first labor unrest drew the attention of the political police before the establishment of a permanent supervision of gendarmerie. Thus, already in the 1830s it became clear that special measures to maintain order in the gold mines in Siberia were needed. Strengthening of police activities should be also linked with the widespread of illegal mining and sale of gold. In this regard it is not surprising that the post of the gendarmerie officer in the gold mines of Eastern Siberia was set against the opinion of the East Siberian governor-general. The initiator of the establishing of a gendarmerie officer post to oversee the Siberian gold mines was the governor-general of Western Siberia P.D. Gorchakov. He was supported by the chief of gendarmes A.Kh.Benckendorff. On the 9 of May 1841 the post of gendarmerie officer in the goldfields of Western Siberia was established. In May 1842 a special secret instructions for this officer was prepared at the headquarters of the Corps of gendarmes. It assumed that the gendarme would not be vested with police powers, but watch the execution of the «Regulations on private gold mimes» of 1838. Gendarme staff officer in the mines of Eastern Siberia received additional police powers. The establishment of the gendarmerie control in the mines was prepared by the logic of the organizational development of the Russian political police and gendarmerie in general, the tendency to expand the scope of the gendarmerie and, more broadly, government control. Gendarmerie officers acted in the role of government agents and gendarmes surveillance system was conceived to ensure a high credibility in solving conflicts, their independence from the gold miners and higher administration of Siberia.

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