The Provisional Siberian Government (, later the Provisional Government of Autonomous Siberia), was an ephemeral government for

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

created by the

White movement The White movement,. The old spelling was retained by the Whites to differentiate from the Reds. also known as the Whites, was one of the main factions of the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. It was led mainly by the Right-wing politics, right- ...

History

Background

The seizure of power by the

Bolshevik Party The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

in the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

of November 1917 was followed by the dispersal of the

Russian Constituent Assembly The All Russian Constituent Assembly () was a constituent assembly convened in Russia after the February Revolution of 1917. It met for 13 hours, from 4 p.m. to 5 a.m., , whereupon it was dissolved by the Bolshevik-led All-Russian Central Ex ...

early in the morning of January 19, 1918 (N.S.), a body which had been dominated by the elected representatives of the Party of Socialists-Revolutionaries (PSR), directed by Victor Chernov. This usurpation of authority by the

Council of People's Commissars The Council of People's Commissars (CPC) (), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (), were the highest executive (government), executive authorities of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the Soviet Union (USSR), and the Sovi ...

and the 2nd

All-Russian Congress of Soviets The All-Russian Congress of Soviets evolved from 1917 to become the supreme governing body of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1918 until 1936, effectively. The 1918 Constitution of the Russian SFSR mandated that Congress s ...

did not end opposition to the Bolshevik regime, however. In December 1917 elections were held to select a Siberian Regional Duma which was to be convened in the city of

Tomsk Tomsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, on the Tom (river), Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. It has six univers ...

. Owing to the revolutionary temper of the times, the middle class and the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

had been excluded from the elections to this body, a decision which was denounced by the centrist

Constitutional Democratic Party The Constitutional Democratic Party (, K-D), also called Constitutional Democrats and formally the Party of People's Freedom (), was a political party in the Russian Empire that promoted Western constitutional monarchy—among other policies� ...

(known as the K-D, or Kadets).N.G.O. Pereira, ''White Siberia: The Politics of Civil War.'' Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1996; pg. 51. Additionally the Bolsheviks considered the Siberian effort as an attempt to reduce the sovereignty of their own regime and refused to participate with the elections to this Siberian Regional Duma or to recognize the body's legitimacy. With the

Monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. C ...

Right and the Center both effectively excluded, and the Bolshevik Left boycotting, the delegates elected to the Siberian regional parliament were dominated by members of Chernov's PSR.Pereira, ''White Siberia,'' pg. 50. After a delay necessitated by the inability to assemble a quorum of elected representatives, on the night of January 28/29, 1918, some forty delegates finally succeeded in gathering in Tomsk to perform their business. This body expeditiously elected a government known as the Provisional Siberian Government (PSG), with young Socialist-Revolutionary Piotr Derber elected president. Of the PSG's twenty ministers, only six had been present at the founding meeting of January 28–29. Two had been in Bolshevik prison, and the rest were scattered throughout Siberia and north China and were chosen in absentia, without their prior consent. Soon afterward, Derber and many other PSG officials went to Vladivostok in the more secure Pacific region. On 1 June 1918, after the

Revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion The revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion comprised the armed actions of the Czechoslovak Legion in the Russian Civil War against Bolshevik authorities, beginning in May 1918 and persisting through evacuation of the Legion from Siberia to Europe in ...

, the formation of the West Siberian Commissariat was announced. According to

William Henry Chamberlin William Henry Chamberlin (February 17, 1897 – September 12, 1969) was an American historian and journalist. He was the author of several books about the Cold War, communism, and foreign policy, including ''The Russian Revolution 1917-1921'' (1 ...

, "It derived its claim to authority from the Government, headed by a

Socialist Revolutionary Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolut ...

named Derber, which had been elected in February by the Siberian Regional Duma, a body which had been chosen on the basis of universal suffrage and which, like the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

, had been dispersed by the Bolsheviki." Derber didn't agree with the formation of this new government, and during a meeting at

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

his PSG was renamed as the Provisional Government of Autonomous Siberia (PGAS). PGAS and the new PSG didn't recognize each other and each claimed itself as the only government of Siberia, but Derber's government didn't have armed forces. Soon afterward, Derber resigned and left Vladivostok; his successor was I.A.Lavrov of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. In September 1918,

Pyotr Vologodsky Pyotr Vasilievich Vologodsky (January 18, 1863 – November 19, 1925, ) was a Russian statesman, public figure, and mason. He was the first chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian State (1918—1920), Russian state and the second an ...

, representing the

Provisional All-Russian Government The Provisional All-Russian Government, informally known as the Directory, the Ufa Directory, or the Omsk Directory, was a short-lived government of the Russian State during the Russian Civil War, formed on 23 September 1918 at the State Confe ...

, traveled to Eastern Siberia according to Chamberlin, "...and obtained the abdication of the phantom Derber Cabinet in Vladivostok."

Footnotes

{{reflist, 2

Other sources consulted

* ''The Russian Civil War'' by

Evan Mawdsley Evan Mawdsley (born 1945) is a British historian and former Professor of International History at the University of Glasgow's School of Humanities. He is currently a Professorial Research Fellow. He specialises in Russian history and the history ...

(2008) Edinburgh, Birlinn pp 143–8
Kommersant: Primorye (Maritime) Territory
States and territories established in 1918 History of Siberia 1918 disestablishments in Asia Siberian Government (Vladivostok) Siberian Government (Vladivostok) Provisional governments of the Russian Civil War