To the characteristics of crime and banditry in Western Siberia (early 1920-s)

Thearticle is devoted to the actual social problems of crime and gangsterism of the 1920s. It should be noted that the general historicaldescription on the history of crime in West Siberia at this period does not exist yet. The author considers the motives of origin and expansionof mass criminality and banditry in the region against the backdrop of tumultuous social upheaval of the revolution and civil war, insurgencyand the tragic consequences of social fractures in Russian history. Based on little-known representative sources, the author made aconclusion that the development of crime and banditry in the first half of the 1920s appeared mainly due to largely predetermined weaknessof the regional authorities and the political regime, lack of coordination between government agencies of the not firmly established Sovietpower, as well as all kinds of abuse of its representatives. The atmosphere of lawlessness, without any doubts, was only reinforced with thelow-level forensic investigation and overall justice system, low level of culture, drunkenness and mismanagement of the county militia. Ofthe particular concern to some of the most principled and honest Communists was the fact that the military units and local Communistauthorities carried out an execution of the persons suspected of banditry without any charge or a court trial. In fact, it was simply asystematic killing of the local upraises participants or a settling of the personal scores. In turn, the repression of the rebels was largely due torevenge arising from the very course of the peasant movement of 1920-1921. The characteristic feature of this movement was quite apronounced destructive protest against the Communists and employees of Soviet institutions. The crime situation was significantly complexuntil 1924 due an existence of the small gang formations committing the brutal murders of local Communists, members of Soviet institutionsand their families, and looting of their property. The scale of theft and murder has been increased especially in the first half of 1922 due to awidespread famine. Especially acute criminal situation has been developed on the border with the Kyrgyz edge (Kazakh SSR) regions, whereflourished the armed robbery leaded by the local authorities who steal the horses and cattle mostly with the groups of Kazakhs. County lawenforcement agencies were quite powerless to fight this problem. The author concludes that the crime situation has been gradually improved,especially in the second half of the 1920s, in connection to stabilization of justice administration and the strengthening of the local Sovietpower representatives managed to stop the development of crime and reduce its incidence in the future.

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