Participation in the process federalization of the eastern and south-eastern territories of post-autocratic Russia (historical and state analysis) 

Aleksandr D. Gulyakov, Doctor of juridical sciences, rector, Penza State University (40 Krasnaya street, Penza, Russia), rector@pnzgu.ru
Aleksey Yu. Salomatin, Doctor of juridical sciences, doctor of historical sciences, professor, head of the sub-department of theory of state and law and political science, Penza State University (40 Krasnaya street, Penza, Russia), valeriya_zinovev@mail.ru

Background. The question of creating a federal state has enduring theoretical and practical value. The eastern and southeastern regions of the future USSR presented a complex case of ethnic diversity, which makes the study of the events of 1917–1923 particularly relevant. The article examines the degree of readiness of the eastern and south-eastern territories of the former Russian Empire for federalization. The question is raised about the validity of the refusal to allocate separate union republics in these territories in 1922. Mate-rials and methods. Historical data on the course of the Civil War and the establishment of Soviet power in these territories were used. Comparative historical and historical-political methods are used. Results. The article shows that due to the communication importance of the Trans-Siberian Railway, captured by the White Czechs, the vastness of Siberia and the convenience of the Far East for foreign intervention, anti-Bolshevik forces may have had the illusion for a long time about the key role of the eastern territories in the struggle against Soviet power. Nevertheless, the Urals were liberated in August 1919, and in March 1920 the Red Army occupied Irkutsk. In order to prevent a collision with foreign interven-tionists, a buffer Far Eastern Republic was created in April 1920 (it became part of the RSFSR in November 1922). On the south-eastern borders (in Kazakhstan and Turkestan) there are serious objective difficulties for the organization of Soviet power and national demarcation. There were not so much Russians. And yet, the autonomous Kirghiz Socialist Soviet Republic within the RSFSR was established in August 1920, and the Turkestan Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic, also part of the RSFSR, existed since April 1918. Conclusions. It should be assumed that at the time of the formation of the USSR, the territories to the east of the Urals and the southeastern territories of Kazakhstan and Central Asia were not considered as objects for granting them the status of union republics. At the same time, it should be emphasized that the plans of the national communist and separatist M. Sultan-Galiev to form a separate union republic from the Muslim Turkic-speaking family were not only adventuristic, but also unfair. They could have led to the sad outcome of confederalization and the collapse of the country, which the Bolshevik leadership categori-cally could not allow.

prerequisites for the creation of the USSR; the process of federalization of post-autocratic Russia; the Volga region and the Urals 1918–1922; the struggle for Soviet power in Siberia and the Far East; the Sovietization of Kazakhstan; the Sovietization of Central Asia

Gulyakov A.D., Salomatin A.Yu. Participation in the process federalization of the eastern and south-eastern territories of post-autocratic Russia (historical and state analysis). Izvestiya vysshikh uchebnykh zavedeniy. Povolzhskiy region. Obshchestvennye nauki = University proceedings. Volga region. Social sciences. 2024;(2):81–94. (In Russ.). doi: 10.21685/2072-3016-2024-1-7