The Activism of Tomsk Societies: Dependency on the Changing Social and Political Situation n Tomsk and TomskProvince in 1905-1910

At the turn of the 20th century local societies were one of the majorvenues for social contacts of the most active citizens of Tomsk. In the pre-1905 period at least 26 local societies were established, the mostwell-known and numerous being the Tomsk Charities Society, the Tomsk Society of Primary Education Guardianship, the Tomsk Society ofShopmen Mutual Assistance etc. There are plenty of documents on various Tomsk societies in the State Archive of Tomsk Region. Most ofthem are the documents on their establishment. It is because the authorities rigidly regulated and controlled the establishment and activitiesof societies. The statutes of societies were approved by the Tomsk Governor. Regretfully, the archives contain less documents about the concreteactivities of Tomsk societies. Useful information on Tomsk societies is provided by the Memorable Books of Tomsk Province for1908 and 1910. They list all the societies active in Tomsk and Tomsk Province and mention their chairmen, secretaries and members. Thetimeframe of 1905 to 1910 has not been chosen by occasion. It is connected with the fact that it was the time of dramatic events in the publiclife of Tomsk, and the changes in the social and political situation in the city made a notable influence on the activities of Tomsk societies.After the martial law had been imposed in Tomsk in January 1906 the administration of K.S. von Nolken pursued the policies of severe limitationson the activities of public organizations and persons who were in opposition or simply not controlled by the authorities. This situationis reflected in various archive documents. Comparing the quantities of societies in Tomsk I 1908 and 1910 based on the Memorable Booksof Tomsk Province, the materials of the Sibirskaya Zhizn newspaper and the list of Tomsk public organizations issued in 1913 and providingthe dates of the societies foundation, it may be concluded that their amount increased sharply in 1908 - 1910. The associations ofstudents coming from different regions began to be actively established in 1980 - 1909 at Tomsk State University. The main reasons for thebooming public life in Tomsk in 1908 - 1910 was the abrogation of the martial law since May 1, 1908 and the appointment since September1908 of the new governor, N.L. Gondatti, a former scholar and an author of a number of works on anthropology, ethnography and sericulture.At the beginning of 1911 N.L. Gondatti was succeeded by the former Irkutsk Governor P.K. Gran. He took a benevolent attitude to theactivities of various public associations in Tomsk and even chaired 5 of them.

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