Siberian power elite in the time of “the first soviet rule” (October 1917 - August 1918)

In this paper, the author presents a collective image of the chairmen of executive committees of the governorate, regional, uyezd, and municipal councils (Soviets) in Siberia. The Soviets were the essential part of the promising regional power elite in October 1917 - August 1918. The research focuses on five Siberian governorates and two regions (oblasts). They consisted of about 50 uyezds and more than 50 cities. The study is based on both published and non-published archival records, materials from the periodicals, publications by historians and local history experts. Along with the traditional methods of historical research, the author uses such methods as prosopography and historical elitology. The author identifies 92 names of heads of the main Soviet authorities in Siberia, 83 profiles of these leaders include such biographical data as party affiliation, revolutionary activity before 1917, social background and status, age, education, nationality, marital status, army service, activity during and after the Russian Civil War, awards, publications (memoirs), circumstances around their death, memorialization. The author finds that in the vast majority of cases (except six of them), heads of the Siberian councils (Soviets) executive committees were the members of the extreme-left parties (mostly RSDLP(b)-RCP(b)). About half of them were professional revolutionists who have had a long-term experience of being in prisons, forced labor camps (katorga) and in political exile before the Revolution. 42 served in the Russian army, 9 of them were officers. Many Soviets' chairmen took part in the First World War. The average age is 33 years old. The educational level ranges from home and elementary education (in most of cases) to higher education (two cases). Nationality-wise, the majority of chairmen are Russians but there were also Ukrainians, Jews, Latvians, Estonians, and Poles. For the most part, the heads of the Siberian Soviets came from the European part of Russia and were strangers to the locals. At that time, the formation of the Soviet power elite in Siberia was half-closed. The representatives of the elite had a simplified political and legal consciousness and used simple management schemes and power-based methods to solve political, social, and economical issues and the beginning of the Civil war led to the militarization of power. More than half of the Siberian councils (Soviets) executive committees heads died during the Russian Civil War, never having had a chance to fulfill their life potential. Most of those who survived became a part of the Soviet and party governing establishment (Nomenklatura) and worked in various positions in government agencies, industry, or education. In the second half of the 1930s, about half of them became the victims of "the Great Terror". Later, the names of at least 33 heads of the executive committees were assigned to streets, lanes, and squares.

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