Elections of local state authorities in Tomsk Province in 1920

The collapse of the Kolchak regime on the territory of Siberia allowed the Bolsheviks to form a system of Soviet bodies of state power. Revolutionary Committees as emergency power structures were first created. However, in the spring of 1920 guidance the Siberian Revolutionary Committee and the Siberian Bureau of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party of the Bolsheviks estimating the military-political situation found it possible to begin a successive transition from revolutionary committees to councils and executive committees. The process of elections to councils on the territory of Siberia and, in particular, in Tomsk Province was characterized by the deprivation of the right to vote of additional categories of the population apart from those fixed in the Constitution of the RSFSR. Thus, people who could not vote and be elected were former officers and officials of Kolchak's Army, former clerks and officials of establishments of Kolchak's government serving for less than a year in Soviet establishments and in the Red Army; former officers of Kolchak's police and counter-intelligence and some other groups. Transition to the constitutional bodies of power in Tomsk Province began from the end of April, 1920, when the City Council of Novonikolaevsk was elected. During May - beginning of June City Councils were elected in Tomsk, Shcheglovsk, Kainsk, Barabinsk and Narym. Mariinsk had no election to the City Council due to the small number of its population. All functions of the Council were later given to the Executive Committee of the city and the district. Obviously, the same decision was made in Kuznetsk. Practically all city councils first worked in very unfavorable conditions lacking skilled staff, periodic mobilizations of members to the food front, to fight against insurgent movements. In addition, many deputies performed numerous party, public and soldiery duties besides working in the councils. After electing city councils, elections of councils began in the country. They took place in the situation of scale deprivation of voting rights, for example, 13 people in Berezkino Village of Zorkaltsevo Volost were not allowed to vote due to their old age. On the whole, the number of members of the Russian Communist Party of the Bolsheviks in rural councils on the territory of the province was not big, notedly smaller that the number of non-party members. The next step in the process of transition from the emergency bodies of power to the constitutional ones was the convocation of the volost council congresses and election of volost executive committees. By the results of the elections most communists were elected to the executive committees of Shcheglovsk District, which was explained by the strong party organization in the district, and by the decision of the district non-party conference in the beginning of May 1920 to assist in electing to councils of members of the Russian Communist Party of the Bolsheviks only. Finally the hierarchical body of power in the province was formed after the district and province congresses of councils.

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