From Conquest to Revolution: The Historical Dimension

Abstract

The growth of the Siberian exile system went hand-in-hand with Russia’s conquest and consolidation of power over the region, and as early as the seventeenth century it was well-established as a central feature of the tsarist penal system. By far the largest category in the Russian population of Siberia during the early period of its settlement was represented by military personnel. More recent Soviet historiography has attempted to square the ideologically sound criticisms of tsarist colonial practices with what is regarded, from a nationalist point of view, as the beneficial consequences flowing from the inevitable, historically predetermined ‘fusion’ of the Russian and Siberian native peoples. Despite the pressure of public opinion — local, national and international — and despite a sympathetic government inquiry followed by an Exile Reform Law of 1900, the practice of punitive banishment to Siberia for both criminal and, political offences remained in existence until the revolutions of 1917 when it was abolished by the Provisional Government.