Potanin's Circle" in Siberia during 135 the pre-revolutionary period

The article aims to reconstruct the history of the so-called "Potanin's Circle" - an informal group of Siberian intellectuals in Tomsk that gathered around the famous scientist, civic leader and the ideologist of Siberian oblastnichestvo (regionalism) Grigory Potanin. On the one hand, the work of the circle reflected the escalating socio-political instability in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century; on the other hand, it demonstrated the aspiration of the intellectual elite to have progressive influence on social, political and cultural life in Siberia. Thus far, Potatnin and the Siberian oblastnichestvo have been widely discussed in the historical literature. However, this discussion covers only a few aspects and subjects related to this circle. The history of Potanin's Circle can clearly be divided into two periods: the pre-revolutionary period and the period of the Revolution of 1917 and the Russian Civil War. This article discusses the pre-revolutionary period of the circle's history and focuses on such little-studied topics as the formation and the evolution of the circle, its size and social structure, the main directions and the forms of cultural-educational and socio-political work of its members, its role and place in the socio-political life of Tomsk and, on the whole, in the socio-cultural landscape of Siberia. The author uses a prosopographic method and a historical-anthropological approach along with the traditional principles and methods of the historical research. This research is mostly based on personal records (letters, memoirs) and periodicals from this period. The conducted research shows that the formation of the circle was related to Potanin's moving to Tomsk to reside there in 1902. A few factors became a bonding basis of the circle: the fact that Potanin was a well-known scientist, traveller and civic leader; his high moral authority among Siberian intellectuals; the idea of Siberian oblastnichestvo. Some members of the circle, like Grigory Potanin himself, were politically uncommitted, but there also were representatives of the political parties that Siberian regionalists were collaborating with at that time. Still, by its nature Potanin's Circle remained non-partisan although its members were leaning towards constitutional-democratic ideas. Due to various reasons, the members of the circle did not have the same understanding of the ideas of oblastnichestvo. The circle had a few prominent features: its informal character, its stable and active core consisting of Potanin's close friends and associates; its regular meetings that took place in various forms and circumstances (private apartments, public events and venues, newspaper editorial offices, etc.); its wide influence that went far beyond Tomsk; its mostly educational and propagandist tasks; its intensifying social and political activity against the background of the escalating systemic crisis in the Russian Empire.

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