On the nature and value of the Kolchak propaganda in the Civil War

The article dwells upon the discourse created by the Kolchak regime propaganda; it analyzes its character and population reactions to determine its prominence for the ideological support of activities of the White Siberia authorities. The ideology of the military dictate of Admiral Kolchak was developed by intelligentsia from the Cadet Party, with an active involvement of the military elite and Kolchak himself; and it was based on the historical traditions of the Russian Empire. The regime ideologists could not use generally acknowledged ideas and values of Russian nationalistic discourse because of the absence of a generally acknowledged essence of the Russian nation. That is why ideological reasoning for the regime was gradually developed based on current internal and external political environment. At a conference of the Cadet Party in Omsk, which took place in May 1919, the political elite of the White Siberia aligned the image of the Russian nation as of a multinational institution connected by supremacy of the Russian Orthodox culture. It was used for the propaganda of nationalism in anti-bolshevik print media and became a fundamental base for ideological education in the White Army. Kolchak's Russian nationalism represented a typical etatist model. It was based on the fear effect. Nationalistic propaganda tried to create the fear of the diminishing of Russian culture, of Orthdox Russia among the population and, this way, to mobilize people for a fight with the enemies of the Russian nation - the Bolsheviks. This propaganda was connected with the contraposition of Russians to other nations of Russia, for example, to Jews, and caused resistance to the White Movement among them, helping the rise of Bolshevism popularity and provoking, in turn, nationalism of non-Russian nations. The victory of counterrevolution could fatally destroy the stability of multicultural and multi-confessional relations in the multinational and multi-confessional Russian state. Ideologists of Kolchak's regime were leading Russian society to "totalitarian nationalism". The White Siberia became a cradle for Russian fascism. However, for the majority of the population the nationalistic discourse the White propaganda used was very abstract and created very little response. It was communicated in words hardly understandable for most of people, was far from their real interests, and hardly matched what they saw with their own eyes. An attempt to mobilize population by creating a fear effect, showing the risk of the fall of Russian culture and the state, was not really successful. The emotional factor played a very significant role in the failure of Kolchak's supporters in their ideological war with the Bolsheviks to influence the masses. It was one of the main reasons of the White Movement defeat in the Civil war.

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