History / 1. Russian History

Alexander V. Kostrov, Doctor of Science (History)

Irkutsk State University, Russia

Political Processes in Russia in 1917 and «Union of Zabaykalsky Old Believers”

In 1917 there was a peak of political activity in Russia. The clash of imperial principle in the state foundation and spontaneous democratization of Russian society led to development of old political organizations and formation of new ones. One of the first motives to set up such an organization was participation in elections of the Constituent Assembly. To participate in the elections Zabaykalsky old believers established “Union of Zabaykalsky Old Believers”. In fact, it was a political organization formed under confessional principle. According to lists sent to the election committee, there were 118 persons in the organization [1]. All the persons were the followers of the White Krinitsa denomination that was not widespread but active in the region.

The confessional situation among Zabaykalsky Old Believers could be characterized by an inclination of various denominations to minimize their contacts with each other. Not only popovtsy ("priested ones") and bespopovtsy (“priestless”) tried to minimize a number of contacts between their groups, but also representatives of minor groups (soglasie) within the denominations followed the same way. Thus, people belonged to Belokrinitskoe Soglasie did not recognize beglopopovtsy group, which, in its turn, did not recognize followers of Belokrinitskoe Soglasie. Bespopovtsy-Fedoseyans did not recognize the group of bespopovtsy- self-baptized, and both these groups could not recognize bespopovtsy-temnovertsy followers. Generally speaking, a number of minor groups within denominations equaled to 30. This variety was due to the fact that local old believers were exiles. It was inherent to a large group of semeiskie old believers brought in Zabaikalie at the second half of XVIII as well as other groups deported under guard in other periods of time. It is significant that local authorities tried to accommodate new-comers in villages where representatives of other denominations were living in. This measure was implemented to guarantee that in these villages there would be no powerful consolidated communities able to oppose local authorities. As a result, in one village followers of different minor groups could live together. And it kept local old believers from consolidating.

Besides it, the way of economic activity also did not advance political consolidation of Zabaykalsky Old Believers. The case is that the initial economic reason to deport Old Believers in this region was an agrarian colonization with a purpose to use regional lands for agricultural activities. Remoteness from economic centers of the country also resulted in preserving traditional day-to-day life.

The exception group included traders and prosperous peasants – participants of local economic relations. At the end of 70-s XIX traders and prosperous peasants had interactions with politically active people of Belokrinitskoe Soglasie that intensively developed in economic centers of the Russian Empire before the Revolution. However, overall number of this group followers did not exceed 450 people in 1917. The representatives-traditionalists preferred to join the Neokruzhniki community and did not take part in activities held by liberal representatives of Belokrinitskoe Soglasie, including the formation of “Union of Zabaykalsky Old Believers”.

The “Union” nominated 4 persons as candidates. The first one to be nominated was Iosif V. Potemkin, a business owner from Verkhnyaya Uda settlement. The other candidates were representatives of large village communities: Yevstigney A. Zaigraev (Novo-Bryanskoe settlement), Ivan I. Semenov (Kunaleyskoe settlement), Trofim A.Borisov (Kuytunskoe settlement). An authorized representative of “Union of Old Believers” to local commission was Ivan A. Glebov, a member of Chita’s old believers group, a veterinarian. Yevstigney F. Petrov from Verkhneudinsk settlement became an authorized representative to the district (uyezd) commission.

It is a glaring trait that only followers of the White Krynitsa denomination took part in forming a political organization. Other small and large groups of local old believers (the total number of groups up to 30, total number of old believers up to 90-100 thousand people) did not participate in political life even after the February Revolution [2]. The reason for it was an agrarian traditionalism that differed local old believers from those groups lived in developed regions and centers. It could not allow old believers to give away their denomination contradictions and form a united political organization. As a result, “Union of Zabaykalsky Old Believers” did not become a public movement having wide support and failed to play an important role in the elections to the Constituent Assembly in the region.

References:

1. State Archives of Zabaykalsky Region. F. 318. R. 1. C. 1. L. 153-156, 160-162, 230

2. Костров А.В. Старообрядчество Байкальской Сибири в «переходный» период отечественной истории (1905-1930-е гг.). Иркутск: Изд-во ИГУ, 2010. 444 с.