Siberian regionalism is a political movement to form an autonomous Siberia

Siberia

Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

n polity. It originated in the mid-19th century and reached a high tide with the military activities of Aleksandr Kolchak

Aleksandr Kolchak

Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Kolchak was a Russian naval commander, polar explorer and later - Supreme ruler . Supreme ruler of Russia , was recognized in this position by all the heads of the White movement, "De jure" - Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, "De facto" - Entente States...

 and Viktor Pepelyayev

Viktor Pepelyayev

Viktor Nikolayevich Pepelyayev was a Russian politician associated with the White movement. Brother of Anatoly Pepelyayev....

 during the Russian Civil War

Russian Civil War

The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...

.

19th century

On the heels of Afanasy Shchapov

Afanasy Shchapov

Afanasiy Prokopievich Shchapov was a Russian historian accused of "Siberian nationalism" and persecuted by tsarist authorities.- Life :...

's activities in Siberia, a movement advocating a far-ranging autonomy for the region took shape under the name of "regionalism" (oblastnichestvo). In the 19th century the movement was founded by Siberian students in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

: Grigory Potanin, Nikolay Yadrintsev and people with other backgrounds. Some radical members in 1863 presumably prepared a revolt in Siberia together with exiled Poles and Ukrainians, trying to achieve independence and to begin with the development of a Siberian state, similar to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Forty-four members of the group were arrested and taken to prison by the Czarist government in May 1865, after watch officers of the Siberian Cadet Corps searched cadet Arseny Samsonov, aged 16, for illicit items and found a proclamation entitled "To Patriots of Siberia," attributed to a collective authorship of Grigory Potanin

Grigory Potanin

Grigory Nikolayaevich Potanin was a Russian explorer of Inner Asia who aligned himself with the Siberian separatist movement...

, Nikolay Yadrintsev, S.S. Shashkov, et al.
The idea of an autonomous Siberia was supported by Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin

Mikhail Bakunin

Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a well-known Russian revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism. He has also often been called the father of anarchist theory in general. Bakunin grew up near Moscow, where he moved to study philosophy and began to read the French Encyclopedists,...

, hoping it would become a democratic state, prosperous within a union with United States and leading to the collapse of Imperial Russia. Siberia was seen by local thinkers and settlers as means of escape from the oppression of the Russian Empire, and the seed of a possible free and democratic country that would spread freedom across Asia.

In the end of the 19th and at beginning of the 20th century, Siberian regionalists led by Potanin and Yadrintsev formed a legal opposition to Russian colonialism in Siberia; they wrote many books and articles, and organized research into Siberian cultures, economics, races, nationalities, etc. Yadrintsev's greatest book is "Siberia As Colony" (Сибирь как колония), where he postulates that the future of Siberia is domination of the white race

White people

White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...

 and a European way of development, similar to the U.S., and that Siberians already have many differences from their Russian and East-Slavic ancestors - especially cultural differences such as love of freedom and private initiative.

During the Russian civil war

After the February Revolution, the development of oblastnichestvo gained momentum, as on May 21, 1917, when the oblastniks convened their first general meeting in Irkutsk

Irkutsk

Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...

, where they heard and discussed the report delivered by I.I. Serebrennikov On the autonomy of Siberia. In August, the oblastniks convened the Conference of Public Organizations based on the decision of Tomsk Provincial People's Assembly as of May 18, 1917. On August 5, 1917, the Conference approved "The Regulations for the Autonomy of Siberia" and heard the report by P.A. Kazantsev On the Siberian National Banner, which it also unanimously approved:

On January 28, 1918, the Siberian Regional Duma was convened in Tomsk in secret, fearing suppression by the Bolsheviks, who occupied the city. The members elected the members of the Provisional Government of Autonomous Siberia

Provisional Government of Autonomous Siberia

The Provisional Government of Autonomous Siberia , was an ephemeral government for Siberia created by the White movement.After the Bolsheviks' seizure of power in Petrograd, All-Siberian Extraordinary Congress of Delegates from Public Organizations, was convened in Tomsk on December 7, 1917...

 from the four political factions. Socialist-Revolutionary Party

Socialist-Revolutionary Party

thumb|right|200px|Socialist-Revolutionary election poster, 1917. The caption in red reads "партия соц-рев" , short for Party of the Socialist Revolutionaries...

 delegated P.Ya. Derber to be the Chairman of the Government, colonel A.A. Krakovetsky to take the Ministry of Defence, A.Ye. Novosyolov - Minister of Internal Affairs, N.Ye. Zhernakov - State Controller and Ye.V. Zakharov, S.A. Kudryavtsev and M.B. Shatilov to be ministers with no charge. The Oblastniks delegated P.V. Vologodsky to become the Minister of Foreign Affairs, V.M. Krutovsky - Minister of Public Health, G.B. Patushinsky - Minister of Justice, I.I. Serebrennikov - Minister of Supply and Food, I.A. Mikhailov - Minister of Finance, L.A. Ustrugov - Minister of Railways. The Nationalists and ethnic minorities delegated V.T. Tiber-Petrov to take the position of the Minister of Native Affairs, D.G. Sulima - Minister of Exterritorial Peoples, E.D. Rinchino - Minister of Public Education, G.S. Neometullov to be a minister with no charge. And at last, Mensheviks delegated two members: M.A. Kolobov to become the Minister of Trade and Industry and I.S. Yudin to become the Minister of Labour. Curiously enough, only a handful of them agreed to take part in the Government. Fairly soon, most of the ministers had to flee to the Far East and stayed there until July, when they went to Vladivostok after it was liberated from the Bolsheviks by the Czechs.

Meanwhile, on May 27, 1918, colonel A.N. Grishin-Almazov, who undertook his best efforts to unite the officer resistance against the Bolsheviks, ordered a full scale uprising, which proved to be a total success, as the Whites managed to defeat the Reds and cleared many Siberian cities of their presence. On June 13, 1918, colonel A.N. Grishin-Almazov issued an order to form the West Siberian Army (later to become Siberian Army). In a matter of months, he managed to accumulate over 10,000 volunteers across Siberia and Urals, which allowed some of the Siberian ministers headed by P.V. Vologodsky to come back.

On June 23, 1918, Vologodsky formed a new Provisional Siberian Government instead of the previously elected Government of Autonomous Siberia, which had virtually no influence and authority whatsoever. He took the chair and ministry of foreign affairs assisted by many of his former member ministers I.I. Serebrennikov, who again became the Minister of Supply, while I.A. Mikhailov was chosen to be the Minister of Finance and M.B. Shatilov - the Minister of Native Affairs. Colonel A.N. Grishin-Almazov was appointed Minister of Defence.

On July 11, 1918, the Provisional Siberian Government published the Declaration, declaring its authority over territory of Siberia, and restoration of the Russian state as the ultimate goal of the Siberian government. Decision on the status of Siberia was left to the future All-Russian and Siberian constituent assemblies.

On November 3, 1918, the Provisional Siberian Government merged with the Ufa Directory, forming Provisional All-Russian Government

Provisional All-Russian Government

The Provisional All-Russian Government or PA-RG was a short-lived government centred in Omsk during the Russian Civil War.It was principally formed from the Komuch, mainly Socialist-Revolutionary Party and Constitutional Democratic Party members based in Samara, and the Provisional Siberian...

.

External links

• Cornell University Press: The Conquest Of a Continent
• "The Search for a New Russian National Identity", The Second Colloquium, The American Center, Tomsk, Russia, November 5, 1998
• How America's conscience became a enemy of tsarism