The Revolutionary Democracy Government that operated in the Baikal region in late 1919 – early 1920.

 

It was established in Irkutsk at the All-Siberian Conference of Zemstvos and Cities on November 12, 1919. A Socialist Revolutionary (SR) Florian Fedorovich became the chairman of the Political Center, Ivan Akhmatov (Menshevik) and Boris Kosminsky (SR) became the Deputies of the Chairman. The Political Center included representatives of the All-Siberian Regional Committee of the SRs, the Bureau of the Siberian Menshevik Organizations, the Zemstvo Political Bureau, and the Siberian Central Committee of the Associations of the Working Peasantry. The Political Center declared the following tasks: to struggle against the rule of Aleksander Kolchak, to prevent Bolsheviks victory, to form a democratic state in Eastern Siberia.

 

After the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army took Omsk on November 15, 1919, the Russian government of Kolchak moved to Irkutsk. The Political Center began preparing an uprising against it under the slogan of convening a Constituent Assembly. The leaders of the Political Center established contact with the French, British, Japanese, and American military missions in Irkutsk and the command of the Czechoslovak Legion.

 

The night of December 21, 1919, saw the uprising organized by the Political Center began at the Cheremkhovo station, followed by revolts in Balagansk, Nizhneudinsk, and Krasnoyarsk. On the night of December 24, the rebelled soldiers and officers of the 53rd Infantry Regiment occupied the outskirts of Irkutsk. They were supported by detachments of workers and Red partisans (guerillas). On the night of January 5, 1920, Irkutsk was taken. On January 6, the Political Center published a manifesto about seizing power. Admiral Kolchak and his supporters were declared enemies of the people; local authority was transferred to city dumas and zemstvo assemblies. The command of the Czechoslovak Legion extradited Aleksander Kolchak and Viktor Pepelyaev, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian government, to the Political Center. On January 10–12, 1920, the Political Center tried to hold elections to the Provisional Siberian Council of People’s Government. The Council included 8 members of the Political Center, representatives of zemstvos and cooperatives.

 

The Political Center launched negotiations with the Revolutionary Military Council of the 5th Army of the Red Army on the creation of a buffer state in the Baikal region. The High Command and the Political Bureau of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) – RCP(b) agreed to negotiate. However, the Irkutsk Committee of the RCP(b) sought to prevent the creation of an SR and Menshevik state and worked to form armed detachments by actively recruiting Red partisans. The influence of the Political Center was rapidly decreasing. January 21, 1920, it surrendered power to the Bolshevik Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee and was dissolved on January 23.