 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
Siberian regionalism Сибирское областничество | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founder | Grigory Potanin |
| Founded | in the end of 1850s |
| Legalized | in the October of 1905 |
| Dissolved | 1923 (in Siberia) 1935 (in exile) |
| Headquarters | Tomsk |
| Newspaper | Vostochnoe obozrenie Sibirskaya zhizn' |
| Ideology | Regionalism: •autonomism (majority) •separatism (minority) Subsidiarity Home rule (in 1905–1917) Federalism (since 1917) Revolutionary democracy (in 1860s) Narodnism (in 19th c.) Anti-communism Big tent: •Liberalism (right wing) •Democratic socialism (left wing) |
| Political position | Centre |
| Religion | Secularism |
| National affiliation |  Russian Empire Russian Republic Siberian RepublicRussian State |
| Regional affiliation | Siberia |
| Slogan | "Through Autonomous Siberia to the Revival of Free Russia" (in 1918) |
Siberian regionalism (Russian:Сибирское областничество,romanized: Sibirskoye oblastnichestvo,lit. 'Siberianoblast movement') was a political movement that advocated for the formation of anautonomousSiberian state inNorth Asia. The idea originated in the mid-19th century and reached a high tide with theWhite movement military activities ofAleksandr Kolchak (1874–1920) andViktor Pepelyayev (1885–1920) during theRussian Civil War of 1917–1922.[1]
Those who support Siberian regionalism can be called both Siberian Regionalists, Oblastniks, or Oblastniki.
According to Susan Smith-Peter, Siberianregionalism in Imperial Russia was the first political regionalist movement in a European country.[2] Following the activities ofAfanasy Shchapov (1830–1876) in Siberia, a movement advocating a far-ranging autonomy for the region took shape under the name of "regionalism" (oblastnichestvo). In the 19th century Siberian students inSaint Petersburg: Grigory Potanin (1835–1920),Nikolay Yadrintsev (1842–1894) and people with other backgrounds founded the movement.[3]
Some radical members in 1863 presumably[original research?] prepared a revolt in Siberia together withexiled Poles andUkrainians, trying to achieve independence and to begin the development of a Siberian state, similar to theUnited States.[citation needed] Tsarist authorities arrested and imprisoned forty-four members of the group in May 1865, after watch-officers of the SiberianCadet Corps searched cadet Arseny Samsonov, aged 16, for illicit items and found a proclamation entitled "To Patriots of Siberia", attributed to a collective authorship ofGrigory Potanin,Nikolay Yadrintsev,Serafim Serafimovich Shashkov [ru] (1841–1882), et al.[4]
The Russian revolutionaryMikhail Bakunin (1814–1876) supported the idea of an autonomous Siberia in the hope it would become a democratic state, prosperous within a union with United States and leading to the collapse ofImperial Russia.[5] Local thinkers and settlers saw Siberia as means of escape from the oppression of the Russian Empire, and as the seed of a possible free and democratic country that would spread freedom across Asia.[citation needed]
In the end of the 19th and at beginning of the 20th century, Siberian regionalists led by Potanin and Yadrintsev formed a legal opposition toRussian colonialism in Siberia; they wrote many books and articles, and organized research into Siberian cultures, economics, ethnicities, races, etc. Yadrintsev's greatest book,Siberia as a colony (Сибирь как колония),[6] envisaged the future of Siberia as domination of thewhite race and a European way of development, similar to the U.S., claiming that theSiberians already had many differences from their Russian and East-Slavic ancestors — especially cultural differences such as love of freedom and private initiative.[3]
After theFebruary Revolution, the development ofoblastnichestvo gained momentum, as on May 21, 1917, when the Oblastniks convened their first general meeting inIrkutsk, where they heard and discussed the report delivered byI.I. Serebrennikov "On the autonomy of Siberia". In August, the Oblastniks convened the Conference of Public Organizations based on the decision ofTomsk Provincial People's Assembly as of May 18, 1917.[7] 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:
The National Siberian Banner shall be a combination of two colours: white and green. White colour means Siberian snow, whilst green colour – Siberiantaiga. The banner shall be rectangular, split into two parts diagonally from the left top to right bottom. thus, the upper triangle shall be of green colour, and the lower one – of white colour.[8][9][10]
On January 28, 1918, theSiberian Regional Duma was convened in Tomsk in secret, fearing suppression by theBolsheviks, who occupied the city. The members elected the members of theProvisional Government of Autonomous Siberia from four political factions:
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 fromthe Bolsheviks by the Czechs.[7]
Meanwhile, on May 27, 1918, Colonel A.N. Grishin-Almazov, who undertook his best efforts to unite the officer resistance againstthe 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.
Under the control of the regionalists, there was a short-term state formation, so-called "Siberian Republic".[3][7] 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 theUfa Directory, forming aProvisional All-Russian Government.[7]
In 2014, an artist,Artyom Loskutov, wrote in his blog about an idea to create aSiberian Republic within the Russian Federation[11] and attempted to organize a mock demonstration calledMonstration for Siberianfederalisation to take place on August 17 inNovosibirsk. Russian authorities banned the march and attempted to censor media coverage about the event, citing a recently passed law against "calls to mass unrest, extremist activities or participation in illegal public events."[12] Loskutov denies accusation of separatism.[11] The purpose of the protest was to "ridicule theKremlin's claimed hypocrisy in theannexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and to raise the issue of Siberia's delayed development".[13] He claimed thatWestern Siberia provides most of Russia's oil and gas, but the region gets very little benefit since the taxes go toMoscow.[13][14]
TheSibir Battalion, a unit in theUkrainian International Legion, formed during theRussian invasion of Ukraine and claims to be fighting for the independence of minorities in Siberia, namely Yakuts and Buryats. The unit uses the flag of the 1918 provisional government.[15]
Separatist andautonomist movements in Russia | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protests | .jpg) | ||||
| Unrest and conflicts |
| ||||
| Terrorist attacks after 2017 | |||||
| Coalitions | |||||
| Current organizations |
| ||||
| Inactive organizations | |||||
| Active armed groups and units | |||||
| People | |||||
| Related | |||||
