A socio-political and cultural movement, a variation of Russian regionalism of the late 19th – first quarter of the 20th century, based on the views of part of the Siberian intelligentsia on the past, present, and future of Siberia as a specific region (oblast) within the Russian state.

In the late 19th – early 20th century, it existed in the form of scattered and heterogeneous circles of the urban intelligentsia. The first Regionalists (Grigory Potanin, Aleksander Adrianov, Vladimir Krutovsky) considered it possible to overcome the lag of Siberia in terms of economic and cultural development from the European part of the country by obtaining the status of autonomy with its own legislative institution, the Siberian Regional Duma. The idea was formalized in the “Basic Provisions of the Siberian Regional Union”, adopted at the illegal congress of Regionalists in Tomsk in the apartment Pyotr Vologodsky (August 1905).

After the February Revolution of 1917, a possibility to put those ideas into practice had emerged. In May, the Tomsk Governorate People’s Assembly decided that while maintaining its connection with the Russian Republic, Siberia should have its own All-Siberian Regional Duma, which would issue laws regarding the internal life of Siberia. It was decided to develop the provisions of the regional self-determination of Siberia for submission to the All-Russian Constituent Assembly. During 1917, the slogan of an autonomous organization was filled with political content. Siberian Regionalism had become a socio-political movement. The leading roles in it were taken mainly by Socialist Revolutionaries (Pyotr Derber, Evgeny Zakharov, Yusuf Saiev, Vladimir Sizikov, Mikhail Shatilov, Ivan Yakushev).

In December 1917, an Extraordinary Siberian Congress was held, which expressed the views of the revolutionary democracy of the region on the October coup. As an alternative to the Bolsheviks, the congress proclaimed a provisional autonomous power in Siberia. The Siberian Regional Duma became the legislative body, the Provisional Siberian Regional Council became the executive body.

On January 26, 1918, the Presidium of the Executive Committee of the Tomsk Governorate Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies issued a resolution on the dissolution of the Regional Duma and the trial of the members of the Regional Council by the revolutionary tribunal for establishing power that was hostile to the Workers’ and Peasants’ Soviets. Some Regionalists were arrested. Those who weren’t, held a meeting and declared that until the All-Siberian Constituent Assembly was convened, all power within Siberia belonged to the Provisional Siberian Regional Duma. The Provisional Siberian Government of 20 ministers headed by Pyotr Derber was elected.

After the overthrow of the Soviet government in Siberia in May–June 1918, an attempt was made to revive Regionalism as a social movement. Members of the Siberian Regional Duma returned to Tomsk. In August–October, the Duma resumed its work, but in November 1918, under the pressure of the Provisional All-Russian Government (Ufa Directorate) it decided to self-dissolve. After that, Siberian oblast movement lost its organizational unity and again turned into disparate groups, in which the members shared different political positions.

Some Regionalists got positions in the Council of Ministers of the Russian Government of Aleksander Kolchak (Taras Butov, Pyotr Vologodsky, Nikolay Kozmin, Ivan Mikhailov, Nikolay Petrov, Georg Telberg, Leonid Shumilovsky). Others were engaged in journalism (Aleksander Adrianov, Vladimir Krutovsky, Ivan Serebrennikov). Valerian Moravsky and Ivan Yakushev took an active part in the anti-Kolchak uprising in Vladivostok (the Gajda Coup). In January 1920, Grigory Patushinsky headed the Department of Justice of the Irkutsk Political Center. Members of the movement in exile tried to revive interest in Siberian oblast movement by publishing relevant newspapers and magazines in Prague and Harbin.