Crime and its control in Krasnoyarsk during the years of the Revolution and the Civil War

The aim of the article is to identify the impact of crime on daily life of Krasnoyarsk in the extreme conditions of the 1917 Revolution and the ensuing Civil War. The following tasks have been set: to consider the crime situation in the city, to characterize the protection order, to analyze the activities of the authorities in combatting crime in Krasnoyarsk. The works of Z.P. Zvyagin, A.N. Nikitin, M. D. Severyanov, A.I. Sych and others represent the research methodology. Zvyagin considers the structure and activities of the city and county police during the Kolchak rule. He sees the limited powers of the police and the concentration of the power to guide the police in the hands of the leaders of the provinces, and in Yenisei Province of P.S. Troitsky. In his works, Nikitin analyzes the problem of law enforcement of the white regime, citizens’ perception of law enforcement. Severyanov and Sych in their studies reflect the relations between people, giving examples of abuse of irreconcilable sides. The source base for the study is periodicalss: Svobodnaya Sibir' (Krasnoyarsk, 1917-1919), Krasnoyarskiy rabochiy (Krasnoyarsk, 1918), Nashe slovo (Krasnoyarsk, 1918), Golos momenta (Eniseysk, 1918), Volya Sibiri (Krasnoyarsk, 1918), Delo rabochego (Krasnoyarsk, 1918), Eniseyskiy vestnik (Krasnoyarsk, 1919). The author came to the following conclusions: 1. In the conditions of the Revolution and the Civil War, crime was on the rise in the city, as evidenced by the reports in the periodicals. 2. With the Bolsheviks’ coming to power in Krasnoyarsk measures were taken to combat crime, but they did not give efficient results. 3. Crime and violence, which Krasnoyarsk residents constantly faced in the street and which were actually elements of everyday life during the Bolsheviks’ power, were not eradicated with the Provisional Siberian Government coming to power. 4. Punitive measures taken by the authorities did not result in public order in Krasnoyarsk. Average people did not feel protected by the state power from the arbitrariness of officials and various military chiefs. After the restoration of the Soviet power, the consequences of the Revolution and the Civil War in the form of various crimes affected the lives of Krasnoyarsk residents for a long time.

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