Siberian officials in the Revolution: the example of the Dobrokhotov family

In the article, the author describes the fate of two generations of the Dobrokhotov family during the Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War. The work tells about the official and family situation of Nikolai V. Dobrokhotov, who served as a senior advisor of the Yenisei Provincial Administration from 1898 to 1917. The author concludes that Dobrokhotov belonged to the average Siberian bureaucracy, and actively participated in social activities. The family status of Dobrokhotov is described: four children, two of whom went to a gymnasium by 1917, and two received higher education. The main attention in the article is paid to the destinies of Do-brokhotov and his middle son Nikolai, who was drafted to the army and sent to the school of ensigns in 1916. The author draws attention to the fact that the position of Dobrokhotov Sr. practically did not change after February 1917: he became an assistant to the Yenisei Provincial Commissar. In October 1917, Dobrokhotov did not accept the Soviet power, and was dismissed from service. The article describes Dobrokhotov's social practices before the White power, namely: life at the expense of the sale of property and casual earnings. Under the White power, Dobrokhotov returned to civil service. In 1920, he was arrested by the Bolsheviks and sentenced to punishment in a concentration camp. Dobrokhotov Jr. served as ensign in the old Russian army; he took direct part in the fighting against Germany in the summer of 1917. After demobilization, he returned to Krasnoyarsk. In the autumn of 1918, he was mobilized in the White Army, but as a result of poisoning with military gases on the German front, Dobrokhotov spent most of his service in hospital. In 1920, he surrendered to the Red Army, was recruited into the labor army, in which he served until 1922. The author concludes that for Dobrokhotov Sr. ideological motives in actions played a greater role than for Dobrokhotov Jr.: while the father flatly refused to serve the Bolsheviks, the son voluntarily entered the Red Army. The motives for actions of Dobrokhotov Jr. look compelled: he did military service in the Tsarist, in the White, and in the Red Armies as a result of mobilization. The author points out that the important resource, which enabled the Dobrokhotovs to settle in the conditions of a new life, was the education that they had received before the revolution. Any government (the Provisional Government, the Whites, the Bolsheviks) needed literate people. Probably, it is this factor (as well as practical experience) that was the reason for the appointment of Dobrokhotov Jr. to command posts in the Red Labor Army. For the same reason, Dobrokhotov Sr. was able to continue his service under the Provisional Government and under the White power. Even in the camp, he was not engaged in heavy physical labor, but worked as a registrar.

Keywords

Authors

References