Wright, Alistair S. (2012) the Establishment of Bolshevik Power on the Russian Periphery: Soviet Karelia, 1918-1919. Phd Thesis
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Wright, Alistair S. (2012) The establishment of Bolshevik power on the Russian periphery: Soviet Karelia, 1918-1919. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3105/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] The Establishment of Bolshevik Power on the Russian Periphery: Soviet Karelia, 1918-1919 Alistair S. Wright Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Social and Political Sciences College of Social Sciences University of Glasgow Deposited to the Library January 2012 ii Abstract Using an array of original materials from Russian regional and central archives this detailed study of Soviet Karelia from 1918-1919 is the first to appear in English after the fall of the Soviet Union. It adds to the still limited number of regional studies of the civil war period and using the Karelian districts as a case study discusses how the Bolsheviks consolidated power on the periphery, what factors hindered this process and what were the sources of resistance. Karelia is unique for a combination of reasons. First, it is a grain deficit region and so was always in need of help with the supply of grain from the Volga and other parts of central Russia. Second, the political influence of the Left Socialist Revolutionary party (Left SRs) continued for a considerable time after the events of July 1918. The thesis explores how power was transferred in the region following the October revolution and how the planned political objectives of the Bolsheviks were stalled by the lack of political control in the districts not least of all, for most of 1918, because of the influence of the Left SRs. However, despite political, economic, social and military crises the Bolsheviks gained more experience in power as the civil war progressed and a semblance of order emerged from the chaos. They gained enough control over the food supply shortages for the population to subsist and increased their control in key Soviet institutions, such as the provincial security police (the Cheka) and the Red Army, which ultimately ensured the survival of the Bolshevik regime and victory in the civil war. iii Table of contents List of tables iv Maps v ote on dates and transliteration viii ote on terms ix Acknowledgements x Author’s declaration xiii Introduction 1 Chapter 1. Karelia’s October: Winter 1917-1918 19 Chapter 2. The Left SR-Bolshevik Alliance: Cooperation Amidst Crisis, March-June 1918 37 Chapter 3. The Left SR-Bolshevik Alliance: From Compromise to Collapse March-July 1918 78 Chapter 4. Problems in the Periphery: Politics and Resources, July-November 1918 110 Chapter 5. Consolidating Power (I): Failing to Control the Countryside, July-December 1918 154 Chapter 6. Consolidating Power (II): The Role of the Cheka, August-December 1918 196 Chapter 7. The Hindrance of War, January-July 1919 221 Chapter 8. The Fine Lines of Victory, January-November 1919 258 Conclusion 301 Bibliography 309 iv Tables 1. Distance between stations on the Murmansk railway line 16 2. Dispatch of food supply detachments from Petrozavodsk, 24 August- 9 September 1918 136 3. Troops mobilised in Olonets province, 28 November 1918-1 June 1919 226 4. Reasons for non-entry into the Red Army in Olonets province, 28 November 1918-1 June 1919 227 5. A comparison of grain received (in puds ) by deficit provinces in January, February and March 1919 250 6. Number of rations and the sum of money issued to families of Red Army men in Karelia, January-1 August 1919 293 7. Deserters detained in Olonets province, March-September 1919 295 8. Destination of deserters in Olonets Province, 16 August-30 September 1919 298 Guberniia border Uezd border Guberniia centre Kola N Uezd centre 100 km White Sea Kem’ Arkhangelsk Onega ARKHANGELSK Povenets OLONETS Petrozavodsk Lake Onega Pudozh Kargopol’ Olonets Lake Vytegra Ladoga r. Svir’ Lodeinoe Pole VOLOGDA ST NOVGOROD PETERSBURG l Murmansk l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l Kandalaksha l l l l l l l l l l l l M l u l rm a l White Sea n l s k l R a l i l Solovetskii lw Ukhta a l y Islands Lousalma l l Kem’ l Panozero l Uskozero l Mashlozero l l Soroka Archangel l l r . l N l Sumskii D l Onega Posad v FINLAND Rebola l in l a r. Onega l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l SOVIET l l Lake Petrozavodsk l RUSSIA l Onega l l l Olonets l Lake Ladoga l l l r. Svir’ l l l l l l l N l l l l l l l l l 100 km Petrograd l l l l viii Note on dates and transliteration All dates referred to up to February 1918 are given from the Julian calendar which ran thirteen days behind the Gregorian calendar, but dates for the corresponding Gregorian calendar are given in brackets. All dates from February onwards are from the Gregorian calendar which Russia adopted as of midnight on the 31 January 1918. I use the Library of Congress system of transliteration for Russian except for names commonly known in English, for example, Trotsky instead of Trotskii and Archangel instead of Arkhangel’sk. The following abbreviations are used for Russian archive materials: f. for collection ( fond ), op. for inventory ( opis’ ), d. for file ( delo ) and l. for page ( list ), and ob. for verso ( oborot ). ix Note on Terms The Bolshevik party renamed itself the Communist party in March 1918 and I use the terms Bolshevik(s) and Communist(s) interchangeably throughout the text. For ease of use I have chosen to use the nominative form of the Russian adjective for the naming of parishes i.e. Shungskaia parish, not Shun’ga parish. I chose to translate all territorial administrative units used in the text into English but for foreign words used in the text (e.g. weights and measures) I have anglicised the plurals with the exception of the Committees of the Rural Poor which are referred to as kombedy , not kombeds . All foreign words used in the text are italicized with the exception of more commonly known words e.g. Sovnarkom, Cheka. Translated territorial units used in the text Village ( Derevnia ) Settlement ( Selo ) Society ( Obshchestvo ) Parish ( Volost’ ) District ( Uezd ) Province ( Guberniia ) County ( Okrug ) Region ( Oblast’ ) Russian weights and measures used in the text Verst (s) 0.66 miles or 1.06 kilometres Arshins(s) 28 inches or 0.71 metres Puds (s) 36.11 pounds or 16.38 kilograms Dessiatinas (s) 2.7 acres or 10,900 square metres Funts (s) 0.9 pounds or 0.36 kilograms Vedros (s) 2.7 gallons or 12.3 litres x Acknowledgements It is with great pleasure that I have the opportunity to thank those who have helped me to complete this study. I was fortunate to receive a scholarship from the Centre for Russian, Central and East European Studies for the undertaking of my research in Russia and the UK. A small BASEES research grant also facilitated my attendance at an archive training scheme in Moscow and I would like to thank my fellow postgraduates and the small group of senior academics who made this such a worthwhile and useful experience. Thanks are also due to the members of the Study Group on the Russian Revolution and the organisers of its annual conference which provided a platform to present parts of my thesis and gain useful feedback. I am grateful to the staff in the libraries and archives in the UK and Russia. Glasgow University library proved to be an excellent resource for more general and specialist materials on the Russian civil war and the inter-library loan department was always prompt in the processing of my requests. I also thank the archivists who helped me in Moscow and Petrozavodsk. I especially found the time spent in the National Archive of the Republic of Karelia (NARK) all the more productive because of the efficiency and kindness of the staff there. My research in Russia was also made easier by the families that I stayed with and the friends I made. I thank Irina Arkhangel’skaia and family for their kind hospitality in Petrozavodsk, the experiences of living there will always remain with me. Ilja Solomeshch was very helpful in assisting with the administrative process of getting me to Petrozavodsk and acquainting me with the archives there. I also thank Ilja for introducing me to Alexei Golubev who became a good friend and was always willing to introduce me to others, meet up for a chat over a few beers or to organise a game of football. I also owe a debt to Mikhail Shumilov for his willingness and enthusiasm to meet a young researcher from xi Scotland and to answer the various questions I had for him about the civil war in Soviet Karelia. I was always made welcome in Petrozavodsk by Nastya Moskvina whom I met on my very first visit to the city in 2007 and then again in my consecutive trips to there.