Restoration and Activity of the Land Committees in the Perm Province under the Government of A. V. Kolchak: November 1918 – July 1919

Abstract

During the Civil war, A. V. Kolchak's government had no time to resolve numerous practical issues. That is why his government restored the former public authority and self-government institutions. The local population was concerned about the land issue, but the government provided no answer. Instead, they restored land committees as per the legislation of the Provisional government. Their main task was to elaborate on the land reform. However, the status of the institutions was uncertain, and they were not easily restored in the region after the Soviet rule. Following the necessity to regulate land relations on the spot, the authorities had to reform the restored committees. The Decree of the Provisional government dated April 21, 1917, attributed these structures with both elements of public authority and local self-government. Kolchak's government tried to apply the experience of the Perm province in Siberia, so the local committees were transferred completely to the local self-government system as departments of the regional "zemstvos", or municipalities. Lacking respective powers, the local self-government failed to solve the land issue within the short period of Kolchak’s rule. In the wake of military losses, Kolchak's government set up the Land Council in May 1919. However, the Perm region was re-occupied by the bolshevists in June-July 1919, and all the institutions were replaced by the Soviet ones. Unfortunately, A. V. Kolchak’s agrarian policy received almost no scientific attention. This article features the activities of the land authorities in the Perm province during the regime of Kolchak’s government. Its scientific novelty lies in a comprehensive systematic study of the restoration of land committees in the Perm province and their further transformation. Archival data made it possible to define the place of land authorities in the system of state and public structures under the brief rule of A. V. Kolchak.