February Revolution Research Articles

The translators who shook the world: journalists and translators in the Russian Revolution

ABSTRACT Shortly after the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in February 1917, foreign newspapers and news agencies dispatched some of their best journalists, including a group of highly rated women reporters, to send their chronicles from a conflict which left an enduring memory in their lives. Most correspondents who travelled to Russia soon realised that their news coverage would depend on their recruitment of translators, interpreters, or other language mediators. Drawing on a selection of historical, journalistic and translation research sources, as well as on a number of memoirs, personal accounts and biographies of foreign correspondents, in this article we examine a number of unexplored topics related to the complementary and sometimes contradictory relationship between journalists and translators and interpreters during the Russian Revolution: (a) the demanding communication issues faced by foreign correspondents on their arrival in the country; (b) the meaningful contribution, frequently obscured in journalistic accounts, of translators or interpreters in the newsgathering process; (c) the ambivalent relationship between journalists and translators and how their divergent political ideologies might have interfered with their bond of trust; and (d) the role of correspondents within activist networks, especially in the Bolshevik party, when performing propaganda activities, which included diverse translation assignments.

Начальник Петроградского губернского жандармского управления Иван Дмитриевич Волков: фрагменты биографии и фотопортрет

The article is devoted to the description of individual pages of the bi-ography of a prominent figure in the law enforcement system of the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. Lieutenant General of the Separate Corps of Gendarmes Ivan Dmitrievich Volkov (1854–1917), a participant in the events related to ensuring the security of the Russian state, and the February Revolution of 1917, which became the final chord not only in the history of the monarchy in Russia, but also in the life of himself general.
 The article presents the results of a long-term search for biographical information about I. D. Volkov, who on the eve of the February Revolution held the post of head of the Petrograd provincial gendarme department. The fate of I. D. Volkov, about which there was extremely little information in the scientific literature, is eloquent evidence of the tragedy of the breakdown of the state and global changes in the life of Russia in 1917.
 Based on the study of sources of various types, the use of methods of system analysis, structuralfunctional and the method of legal comparative studies, materials were studied that made it possible to fill in the gaps in the biography of I. D. Volkov: it was possible to clarify the circumstances of death (date, cause, place) and the place of burial former head of the Petrograd GZhU. The study made it possible to introduce into scientific circulation not only sources that were not previously used by scientists, characterizing the organization and activities of the Separate Corps of Gendarmes and its ranks, but also a portrait of Ivan Dmitrievich Volkov, which will now be an attributed source on the history of the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. The portrait of I. D. Volkov was discovered in the fund of P. A. Stolypin of the Saratov Regional Museum of Local Lore and is published in this article for the first time.

تحديات المصالحة الوطنية في ليبيا بعد عام 2011-2021

Abstract The protests were in Libya in 2011 and began in certain areas and then spread to include all segments of the people on February 17, 2011, The revolution was carried out by the youth who revolted against the regime of dictator Muammar Gaddafi, and with the support of all Libyan society, which was based on belonging to the tribe before belonging to the state and preferred Customs and traditions to civil laws, in particular. After the control of the rebels and the defection of Interior Minister Abdel Fattah Younis from Muammar Gaddafi and his regime, and since the establishment of the National Transitional Council as the sole legitimate representative of the revolution of February 17, 2011, the process of democratic transition began in a new stage that the Libyan people had not witnessed before, and the National Transitional Council was established under the leadership of Mustafa Abdel Jalil In which representatives of the various local councils in the different regions of Libya participate, and differences emerged between the internationally recognized government resulting from the democratically elected House of Representatives, and armed groups outside the government’s authority, which negatively affected national reconciliation in Libya. For the success of the national reconciliation process in Libya, real actors should be present at the negotiating table, militia leaders, tribal leaders, political leaders and army representatives in the former regime, as well as disarmament and the integration of fighters into society, and state institutions should be supported by supporting transitional justice institutions, applying the principles of fairness to victims, and not employing eradication (Isolation Law political) towards revenge, and dismantling social and historical grievances.

The Political Rivalry for Belarus Between Belarusian Socialists and Bolsheviks in 1917 – 1919. The Establishment of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Belarus

The aim of the article is to study the peculiarities of the rivalry between Bolsheviks and Belarusian socialists for the future of the Belarusian lands in 1918-1920. The research methodology is based on the principles of scholarship, historicism, systematism and historical analysis. The scientific novelty of the results of this study lies in the reconstruction of the events related to the creation of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Belarus. Conclusions: At the end of World War I, after the February Revolution, the process of formation of an independent Belarusian state by Belarusian socialists began. Although the Belarusian People's Republic was proclaimed on March 25, 1918, Belarusians did not manage to create their own state. It was determined by many internal and external factors. One of them being the political and territorial aspirations of the Bolsheviks and a rivalry between them and the Belarusian socialists for the future of the Belarusian lands. Conclusions: Belarusians, and therefore the Belarusian national movement, found themselves in a specific situation during the war. In the years 1915-1918, the Belarusian lands were divided by the Russian-German front line. As a result, military and civilians from the depths of Russia came to the frontier zone. After the February Revolution, the Russian army in the Western District and the Front began to become strongly politicized, focusing on various political and national programs. Belarusian socialists, including the military, gathered in the Central Belarusian Military Council opted for the creation of a Belarusian republic, first in a federation with Russia, and soon (after the Bolshevik coup) they leaned towards its independence. The military Bolsheviks were in favor of the incorporation of Belarusian lands into Russia as the West District. The conflict of interest between the Belarusian socialists and the Russian Bolsheviks was revealed at the All-Belarusian Congress held in Minsk in December, when Congress was brutally dispersed by the military Bolsheviks. The aspirations of the Belarusian socialists and position of the Belarusian communists were determined, among others, by the creation of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Belarus proclaimed twice on January 1, 1919 and July 31, 1920 just before the offensive against Warsaw. It was supported by Soviet Russia as a counterbalance to the activities of the Belarusian independence camp and Polish influence in Belarus

Public Health and Prostitution in Revolutionary Petrograd, 1917–1918

Abstract The February revolution of 1917 brought about the complete collapse of the tsarist autocracy and offered multiple possibilities for the reorganisation of society based on new principles of democracy, equality and citizenship. Amid societal reconfiguration, the tsarist system for the regulation of prostitution was repealed in July 1917. After this, the Provisional Government and later the Bolshevik Party looked for new methods to prevent the spread of venereal diseases (VD), which had reached epidemic proportions. The regulation of prostitution had been the tsarist government’s main form of VD control and it was frequently attacked by commentators across the political spectrum on both medical and moral grounds in the decades preceding February 1917. Therefore, its abolition was a political project that was interconnected with broader discourses of liberation and efforts to rid society of the unwanted remnants of the old regime. Physicians rallied around the issue of prostitution, and its eternal bedfellow VD, as part of their broader efforts to dominate the public health agenda of the new revolutionary state. In the Russian capital of Petrograd, the February revolution did not disrupt well-established class or gender stereotypes, which had profound implications for the way in which medical professionals and the police dealt with the issues of prostitution and VD. This article examines how experts, state bureaucrats and the police approached prostitution and VD in Petrograd throughout 1917 and 1918. In doing so, it traces continuities in administrative-bureaucratic regimes and informal policing practices across collapsing regimes and governments in revolutionary Russia.

Belarus in Polish eastern policy during the Polish-Soviet War (1919–1920)

Abstract The late 19th century saw a national awakening of the Belarusian people. During World War I, under German occupation, the Catholic Belarusian national movement intended to create a sovereign Belarusian state (the Belarusian People;s Republic) or in union with Lithuania (a revived Grand Duchy of Lithuania). After the February Revolution of 1917 in Russia, Orthodox national activists wanted a sovereign Belarus within a federal and democratic Russia. The Belarusian People’s Republic, established in March 1918, was not recognized by any state. Poland, Lithuania and Soviet Russia intended to incorporate the Belarusian lands on an autonomous basis. As a result of the Riga Peace Treaty (1921), the Belarusian lands were divided between Poland and Soviet Russia.

Le projet d’une société savante aliéniste dans la France du milieu du XIXe siècle

A learned society composed of alienists was supposed to be established in 1848, but because of the February Revolution, the founders postponed the project until the spring of 1852 when the political and intellectual context had become quite different. This article traces the options of the alienists and their involvement in political and intellectual life in the mid-19th century in a Europe confronted by many challenges.

The Path from the Idea Of Social Truth to Compromise with the Bolsheviks in the Publications of the Ideologist of the Renovationist Split, Prof. B.V. Titlinov

The article discusses the development of the idea of the “social truth of the Gospel” in the works of Professor of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy B.V. Titlinov, who, after the February Revolution of 1917, became one of the active supporters of the new liberal government, and in 1922 veered into the Renovationist schism in the Russian Orthodox Church, became a key figure in Renovationism, one of the ideologists of the Renovationist schism. The author of the study, based on the texts of Titlinov from different years, proposes to identify the point that made it possible to establish a certain compromise between the renovation movement and the Bolshevik authorities of socialist Russia. A feature of this historical moment was the situation in which what for B.V. Titlinov and other Renovationists was an attempt to reconcile Christianity and revolutionary socialism, for the Bolsheviks themselves it was exclusively a tool for the defeat of Christianity in Russia. The antagonism of these two views — Christianity and Bolshevism — was manifested even at the time of the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907, although the desire for social truth was also expressed by church liberal democrats of these years, to which Titlinov can be attributed, and the leader of the Bolshevik socialists V.I. Lenin.

La naissance de la Société Médico-Psychologique. Mise en perspective et regard sur la naissance de l’American Psychiatric Association

The authors retrace the various stages of the birth of the Société Médico-Psychologique (SMP), which celebrated its 170th anniversary in 2022. They recall the context, notably a law enacted in 1838 that was considered as a foundation text for what was then called alienism and which would eventually become psychiatry. The work of Philippe Pinel and Jean Étienne Esquirol played an essential role in the founding of the SMP, and more broadly in the genesis of the discipline. Three phases can be distinguished in the foundation of the SMP: (1) the creation of the Annales Médico-Psychologiques (AMP), in 1843, a journal that would become the SMP bulletin; (2) the first constitution of the SMP which was announced by Jules Baillarger in the first issue of the AMP in 1848 and which included the first organizational rules and a first list of members; (3) For political reasons (The revolution of February 1848, a political coup d’état on December 2, 1851), the foundation of the SMP would officially first take place in 1852. A commission of members modified the first internal rules. A principle was established whereby the Society would be composed of physicians, philosophers, magistrates, clergymen, moralists, teachers, poets, etc. The professional journals announced at the time the establishment of a Society where “all the instruments of psychological analysis will be gathered and applied simultaneously”. The first meeting of the Society was held on the 26th of April 1852. The authors provide a list of the founding members, although there were some notable absences. The relations between the SMP and the Academy of Medicine, founded in 1820, are detailed. The first international members are mentioned. They came from The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Russia, Austria and Germany, and at the end of the 19th century, from America as well During the same time period, similar learned societies were established, notably in the United Kingdom, Germany and Russia. The authors describe in detail the creation of the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane (ASAMSAII), the future American Psychiatric Association (APA), and of its Journal which would become the American Journal of Psychiatry. The details of joint meetings between the APA and the SMP in 1978 are reported. The birth of the SMP and of other learned societies in Germany, France and the United Kingdom marked the beginning of a discipline which was then called alienism and which would become Psychiatry.

The Activity of Chinese Healers in Irkutsk at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century

The study explored the professional activity of representatives of traditional Chinese medicine in Irkutsk in the early twentieth century. In the Russian Empire, traditional medicine of the Celestial Empire was not recognized, since its methods and means were not known to European science. The medical community saw the actions of Chinese doctors as quackery. They were associated with sorcerers, healers and shamans. To escape from the law, Chinese healers preferred to settle in the suburbs where the urban poor lived. Exotic healers attracted quite a lot of wealthy citizens to the representatives of the Celestial Empire. For many poor people, they were preferred because of the affordability of their services. Informal methods of communication, posting ads, as well as veiled advertising in periodicals were widely used to attract patients. Chinese doctors actively used pharmacotherapy for treatment, as well as acupuncture. At the same time, Russian doctors were outraged by the disregard for the rules of personal hygiene and sanitation. Patient reviews of doctors were contradictory. The informal nature of the activities of Chinese doctors, as well as their huge popularity, led to imitation by the criminal world. Sometimes the activities of such deceivers ended sadly, which led to litigation. After the February Revolution of 1917, Chinese doctors switched to a legal status. The excessively strict legislation of the Russian Empire led to the fact that it became impossible to distinguish Chinese doctors from various kinds of scammers. In the conditions of personnel shortage in Siberia, Chinese doctors could benefit in the medical field. To do this, it was necessary to formalize the process of recognition of education received in China and limit the scope of their activities to certain areas of medical practice. In addition, oblige them to comply with sanitary and hygienic standards. Such an approach attracted Chinese doctors to the Russian service. Thus, it would be possible to study the methods of Chinese medicine.

A Story with Characters and Action

A Story with Characters and Action

Food supply in the unoccupied territory of Belarus during the First World War

The article deals with the problem of organising food supply for the civilian population of unoccupied Belarusian provinces during the First World War. It is noted that in 1914 traditional method of price regulation through the issuance of rates was used to resolve it. Starting from 1915, food committees and commissions began to be created in the structure of the local self-government institutions to prevent shortage of goods and speculative trade. They were entrusted with the organisation of the purchase of food and its distribution, the maintenance of food warehouses and the development of rates. To provide financial support for their activities, there were used funds from local budgets and credits received from banks under the guarantees of the treasury or from government institutions. However, local authorities could not solve the problem of food supply for the civilian population effectively due to the lack of a unified concept of food policy at the state level and the lack of coordination between the actions of central departments. To the greatest extent, it manifested itself in the organisation of food supplies from the central regions of the Russian Empire to the front-line provinces. The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Empire, when determining the supply areas, did not coordinate the transportation plan with the War Ministry of the Russian Empire, which controlled the railways. The department also faced opposition from the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Empire. It contributed food shortages, speculation and rising prices. As a result in late 1916 – early 1917 in the Belarusian provinces, not occupied by German troops, the food crisis worsened and turned into one of the main factors of destabilisation of the internal situation, which led to the February Revolution and a change in the state system.

Muslim Clergy’s Activities in the Volga-Ural Region in 1917

The article is devoted to the role of Muslim religious leaders of the Volga- Ural region in the social movement of 1917. After the February Revolution of 1917, the participation of the clergy in the change of leadership of the Orenburg Mohammedan Spiritual Assembly (OMDS), as well as the creation of clergy societies, in the work of All- Russian Muslim and provincial Muslim congresses could be seen. The paper is intended to investigation of this phenomenon in a number of regions. It should be noted that the OMDS clergy for more than a century of its activity (1788–1917) set an example of civic loyalty and loyalty to the authorities of the Russian Empire. At the same time, especially starting from the revolution of 1905–7, it became concerned about the role of the OMDS in relations with the authorities and its own flock, issues of self-organization of the clergy, ways of organizing the system of Muslim religious education. Therefore, the presence of representatives of the Muslim clergy was noted not only at their own professional venues, but also at general civic events of Muslims. The paper deals with the role of religious leaders in the social movement of Muslims in the Volga- Ural region in 1917. and their contribution to it.

The Travelling of News in 1848: The February Revolution, European News Flows, and the Finnish Press

This article explores media coverage of the European revolutionary turbulence of 1848, particularly the outbreak of the February Revolution in France. By utilizing several European newspaper repositories, the article sheds light on the role of newspapers in the spread of revolutionary news in the European media space across various political borders and language barriers. In our case study, we examine how information on the February Revolution travelled to the Grand Duchy of Finland, an area situated at the crossroads of different communication networks, that was influenced by the reactionary politics of Russia but still culturally connected with Sweden. Benefitting from digitized collections of Finnish, Swedish, Austrian, German, and British newspapers, this article provides a transnational perspective on the mid-nineteenth-century European media landscape. Instead of trying to encompass a comprehensive outlook on news reporting during the European upheaval in 1848, we are focusing on the emergence of early reports of the outbreak of the February Revolution in various countries, and looking at how the circulation of news was extending or going beyond national boundaries, as news about the revolution arrived in Northern Europe and at the borders of the Russian Empire.

THE POLISH PRESS AS A SOURCE OF RESEARCH ON THE HISTORY OF POLES IN UKRAINE IN THE FIRST DECADES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Insufficient coverage of the history of Poles in Ukraine during the war and the revolution is largely due to a narrow source base. The Polish press is an important source for studying the history of the Polish community in Ukraine at the beginning of the twentieth century. The aim of the study is to clarify the importance, ideological orientation, thematic informativeness, representativeness and characteristics of the functioning of the Polish press in Ukraine. The research methodology is based on the analysis of the existing Polish press in Ukraine on the basis of the criteria of popularity and publication period, their genre, thematic and ideological orientation, audience, editorial policy, authors, and content. System-analytical and comparative-historical methods have been applied, thanks to which the characteristics of certain periods of the Polish press functioning have been determined. The scientific novelty lies in the disclosure of the source aspect of the study of the Polish press in Ukraine. It was found out that the Polish press in Ukraine in the first decades of the twentieth century is a significant, often unique source of reliable information about the events of Poles' socio-political, socio-economic, and cultural life. Conclusions. The emergence, development and functioning of the Polish press can be divided into three periods: 1905-1914, 1914-1916, and 1917-1921, which are defined by the beginning of its existence, the significance of the events that influenced the development of society – World War I, the Russian February Revolution and the Ukrainian National Revolution. This influenced the content, character and ideological orientation of materials, and the formation of the editorial staff.

Economic Problems of Russia on the Eve of the Events of February 1917 on the Pages of the Newspaper “Rech”

Introduction. The history of periodicals in Russia has a rather long period – from the beginning of the 18th century. This story had its good and bad periods, but the demand for newspapers and magazines has always been high. Through publications in the press, one can trace the issues and problems that were discussed in society in society on a particular day and year. It is not without reason that the famous philosopher A. Schopenhauer noted: “Newspapers are the second hands of history”. 1917 is the cornerstone of the history of the Russian state, which divided it into “before” and “after”. Among the reasons that led to the February Revolution of 1917 are the economic problems that existed in the state before entering the First World War and aggravated and supplemented after August 1914: an archaic tax system, monopolization of the economy, a reduction in the number of workers in the countryside and the city, shortage of goods. These issues could not be covered in the periodical press. The materials on the situation in the economic sphere published in the liberal newspaper “Rech” arose the interest. Besides the newspaper was a kind of mouthpiece for the Cadet Party. The purpose of the article is to analyze the published material on the problems of the Russian economy on the eve of the February Revolution in order to clarify the understanding of the situation in the country by the Cadets. Materials and Methods. Certain goals were solved using general scientific, idiographic (description of the history of the issue), problem-analytical (consideration of the situation in Russia on the eve of February 1917 through the problems of the economy), synchronous (allowing to establish links between various phenomena in the economic sphere). Results. The economic issues discussed in the daily printed publication were varied: from possible personnel changes and military loans to reforms of taxation and the economic situation in the country. Discussion and Conclusion. Considering the various problems of the country, including economic ones, the staff of the liberal newspaper “Rech” did not see signs of cardinal changes in the country and the impending revolution. These events were not reflected in the materials of the newspaper.

ПЕТРОГРАДСКАЯ КОНФЕРЕНЦИЯ СОЮЗНИКОВ 1917 ГОДА КАК ЭТАП СОТРУДНИЧЕСТВА СТРАН АНТАНТЫ

The article deals with the conference of the Allies, which took place in Petrograd in early 1917, on the eve of the February Revolution. This conference was one of the last stages of serious cooperation between the member countries of the Entente and Russia. The article is an attempt to analyze the tasks of the French, British and Russian delegations, which largely determined their positions at this meeting. Each side pursued its own goals. The tasks of the allies were, first of all, to confirm the common interests of the members of the Entente, to coordinate the actions of the military command, and most importantly, to encourage Russia to start new active military operations on the Eastern Front as soon as possible. The goal of Russia, which confirmed its loyalty to its allied duty, was, first of all, to receive the maximum possible volume of military-technical assistance from partners in the alliance. In addition, the allies were very interested in the general state of affairs in Russia, the mood of the elites and the prospects for the development of political life in Russia. The paper examines the course of negotiations, notes the main issues and problems that caused the most heated discussions, summarizes the results of the conference, which determined the further prospects for cooperation between the allies in the framework of the 1917 campaign of the First World War.

«ДАЛЬНЕЙШЕЕ НАБЛЮДЕНИЕ ЗА НИМ УСТАНОВЛЕНО». АХМЕТ БАЙТУРСЫНОВ ПОД НАДЗОРОМ ЦАРСКОЙ ОХРАНКИ (1907-1910 ГОДЫ)

This article examines the period of Akhmet Baitursynov's life from 1907 to 1910, when he was under the supervision of the tsarist secret police, labeled “politically unreliable”.The article provides data from such sources as a letter from Baitursynov's wife Badrisafa to the Steppe Governor-General Shmit E. O. and articles by Alikhan Bukeikhanov, which provide arguments about the need to release Akhmet Baitursynov from the walls of the Semipalatinsk prison. Archival documents of the office of the Orenburg Governor are also subjected to scientific analysis, including data from the Orenburg gendarmerie about the need for “special supervision” of A. Baitursynov, as a result of his political calls to stop paying taxes and taxes to representatives ofthe colonial regime. The article indicates the reason why Baitursynov's surname was distorted in the police archives of the tsarist period. Thus, even before the events of the February Revolution of 1917 began, Akhmet Baitursynov aroused well-founded fears of the tsarist secret police.

Healthcare in Dagestan during the Civil war

Based on a wide range of both published and newly introduced documents, the article examines the development of the health care system in Dagestan during the 1917 Revolution and the Civil War. The health care system in Dagestan, not very developed at the beginning of the 20th century, underwent a number of serious changes during the years of radical breakdown in Russian history with a negative impact on the state of public health in the region. The author considers the specifics of the changes in mangement of health care after the February revolution. The measures proposed by the Provisional Government proved inapplicable to Dagestan. Therefore, a special provision was developed, according to which the medical and sanitary case was assigned to a special city commission. During the period under review, there was an acute shortage of qualified medical personnel in Dagestan. In order to fill this deficit, a paramedic school was established in the city of Temir-Khan-Shura at the infirmary. Despite the fact that special manuals were issued to prevent infectious diseases, and also special sanitary commissions, it was not possible to avoid the high mortality rate from typhoid and typhus. This was due to the low effectiveness of antiepidemic measures. The author comes to the conclusion that, despite the difficult political situation, all political players in the region without exception turned to transformations in the field of management, of medical care.

Summer election campaign for the city duma in Siberia in 1917

The article is devoted to the electoral process in the city Duma of Siberia, which took place in the summer of 1917. The author notes that the fall of autocracy and the transition of power to bourgeois democracy led to the search for new forms of organization of public administration. The revolutionary events of 1917-1918 had a noticeable impact on the existence and functioning of municipal self-government bodies in Russia. After the February Revolution of 1917, the role of the Institute of urban self-government increased markedly. Dumas in many Siberian cities have become not only the center of the association of public organizations, but also the support of the central government on the ground. Under the influence of socio-political processes, city authorities in 1917 increasingly went beyond the narrow scope of economic functions. The paper presents the desire of political forces to accumulate the socio-political interests of their urban electorate, since in the revolutionary events, the city Duma, as a self-governing body, on the one hand, and on the other the administrative authorities, found themselves in the center of events, and took the position of liberal reformism. Thus, the de facto powers of the city self-government bodies were expanded, but de jure they remained unchanged. In reality, their influence has increased, including on the formation of public opinion. The author, relying on the legislative acts of the Provisional Government, minutes of meetings of city dumas and administrations, conducted his research and tried to recreate a concrete historical picture of the political life of Siberian cities in the inter-revolutionary period. In this regard, the politicization of city self-government bodies is traced, which reached its maximum in 1917, expressed in the election of vowels on party lists and in the identification of city dumas as a public support of the new government. The author characterizes the changes that occurred in the legal status of Siberian municipalities during the revolutionary transformations of 1917, which vividly manifested the process of transformation of the institution of central government and city self-government. The new government, represented by the Provisional Government, saw its support in the democratized system of public self-government of cities and zemstvos, and the self-government bodies, in turn, expected the Provisional Government to expand its legal framework. As the Provisional Government suggested, it was the democratized city Duma that was to become the basis of civil society. The author, analyzing the process of development of the institution of urban self-government, notes the transformation of city bodies into local state authorities, the creation of a support for a new democratic government in their person. However, in 1917, the city Duma in its renewed composition, in which many vowels had no experience of city work and were bound by party discipline, completely lost continuity with the former city government and largely turned into a political platform for party speakers. The article examines the causes, course and results of the election campaign to the city Duma in Siberia in the inter-revolutionary period. The pre-election platforms and tactical positions of political forces are analyzed, which reflect the political vicissitudes of the development of the revolutionary process in the country and the regional peculiarities of their perception by various party and social forces. It was determined that first of all on the agenda were pressing issues that had accumulated during the First World War. At the same time, the issues of a political nature caused by the events that took place in the European part of Russia were of little interest to the inhabitants of Siberian cities, which testified to the relative apolitical nature of the main part of Siberian society and a more calm, measured life in the city than in the central regions during this period.