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TRANSCRIPT
A SHORT OUTLINE
OF THE H ISTORY
of the
FA R EA STE R N
R E PU B L IC
Publi shed by
The Spec ia l oDelegation of the Far Eastern Repub liche Uni ted S tates of Americca,
Washington , D . C .
1922
A SHORT OUTLINE
OF THE H ISTORY
of the
FA R EA STE R N
R E PU B L IC
Publ i shed by
Republic
Washington , D . C .
A Short Outline of the History of the
Far Eastern Republic.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTIONPurpose o f this outl ine . The pol itical situation in the FarEast at the time o f Kolchak’s downfall in S iberia . Thepopular movement against the reactionary government .Forms o f the movement. The origins of the idea of ademocratic government in the Russian Far East .
CHAPTER I .—FROM - THE OVERTHROW OF THE
REACTIONARY GOVERNMENT TO THE JAPANESE ATTACK OF APRIL
Creation o f a democratic government in the MaritimeProvince . The revolution in the Amur region ; Ataman Kalmykov
’
s expulsion from Khabarovsk . The firstnegotiations for the purpose o f uniting the various re
gions . Japanese mil itary authori ties and the revolution .
Japanese evacuation o f the Amur region and its suspicions character. The note o f the government o f theMaritime Province to Japan concerning a speedier cvacnation by the Japanese troops . The N ikolayevsk events .The overthrow of Semenov
’s power in Western Transbaikalia and the formation of the Government of Verkhne-Ud insk. Declaration o f the Conference o f VerkhneUd insk o f April 6, concerning the formation o f the FarEastern Republ ic . The significance o f thi s declaration .
The recognition o f the Far Eastern Republ ic by SovietRussia .
CHAPTER II .— FROM THE JAPANESE ATTACK
ON APRIL 4-5 TO THE CONCLUSION OF AGENERAL ARMISTICE AT THE STATION OF
Japanese attack against Russian troops and civilians inthe Maritime Province on April 4-5 . Murder, Violence
and plundering . The obj ect o f the attacks and the resultsachieved . The agreement of April 29 concerning disarmam ent . The struggle in the Amur region . Convocation of the National Assembly of the Maritime Provinceand the rallying o f the population against the Japaneseperil . Declaration issued by General Oi on May 1 . Arm istice on the Khabarovsk front . The Amur region recognizes the declaration of April 6 and the Governmentof Verkhne-Udinsk . The various regions begin to unite .
Preliminary negotiations of the Verkhne-Udinsk Government with the Japanese at Gongotta and their failure .
Work of unity impeded by the Japanese . Kill ing of thetruce-bearers , Utkin and Grazhensky. Japanese militarypressure against the authorities of the Amur region inconsequence of their recognition of the Government o fVerkhne-Ud insk . Japanese preparations for an attackagainst the Amur region . S ending of delegations toVladivostok to negotiate about unity . The general pol itical s ituation favorable to unity . The declaration of theJapanese Government
,of July 3 , as to evacuation of
Transbaikalia and the temporary occupation of Sakhal inand the N ikolayevsk district .
CHAPTER III — FROM THE GONGOTTA ARMIS
TICE TO THE CHITA UNITY CONFERENCE OF
THE REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS
Agreement of July 1 5 , between the Japanese and theVerkhne-Udinsk Governments concerning an arm i sticeon all fronts . S emenov calls a National Assembly inChita . The population of S retensk and Nerchinsk drivesout S emenov
’s troop s and recognizes the Verkhne-UdinskGovernm ent . Prel iminary conference of three regionsin Verkhne-Ud insk . Japanese attemp ts to force the recognition o f S emenov as the legal authority in Transbaikal ia . S emenov leads away his main forces to Dauren '
and prep ares his attacks against the democratic institutions . The Jap anese mil itary command is compelled tomitigate the aggressiveness o f i ts pol icy and evacuatesKhabarovsk and the whole d i strict . Semenov driven outo f Ch ita . Defeat of hi s army at B orsa Daura . S emenov ’s men driven out of Transbaikal ia.
CHAPTER IV .
— FROM THE UNITY CONFERENCE
TO THE CONCLUSION OF THE W ORK OF THE
CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
The Chita Unity Conference of all regional governm entsand its results . Dangers and threats hampering
.
the‘
worko f unity
.Japanese help to Semenov
’s army on its retreat
to Manchuria and i ts trans fer to the Maritime Province .Ungern
’
s departure to Mongolia . Recognition of theUnity Conference by the National Assembly of the Maritime Province and Japanese threats . The Grodekovo incident . Seizure of fisheries by the Japanese . Electionsto and convocation o f the Constituent Assembly . Adoption of the declaration and the communications to the varions governments . Fundamental laws . Election of theGovernment and term ination of the work of the Assembly .
CHAPTER V .
— FROM THE CONCLUSION OF THEW ORK OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY TOTHE NEGOTIATIONS AT DAIREN
Japanese support to the S emenov-Kappel forces in theMaritime Province . Participation in the preparation ofa reactionary coup d ’etat . S eizure o f power by the reactionaries at Vladivostok and Nikolsk-U ssurisk and thepart played therein by the Japanese mil itary command .
Plan of a general attack against the Far Eastern Republicby all reactionary forces for the purpose o f crushing thedemocratic regime . Failure of the reactionaries in theMaritime and the Amur regions . Ungern
’
s defeat . Praetical work for the enforcement of the constitution afterthe close o f the Constituent Assembly . Formation of theCabinet . Activity of the Government and of the Councilof Ministers . Regional Popular Assemblies . The t eactionary government in the Maritime Province . The indignation of the population o f the seized region , andMerkulov
’
s policy of bloody repression . Negotiations atDairen .
APPENDI"— DOCUMENTS
INTRODUCTION
The history of the Far Eastern Republic i s the hi story of thestruggle of the population o f the Russian Far East for its independence, the hi s to ry o f two years of inces san t eff ort to unite—in
sp ite of the obstacles p laced by the mil i taris ts of a neighboringcountry and by their own reactionari es— the various separa tedand dis connected region s and to form a new s tate founded on thebas i s of a tru e democracy and popular ru le.Official documents prove beyond any doubt that the entire population of the country has asserted its firm determination to attainthi s aim .
They also bear testimony to the obstacles which the population continually had to overcome in this endeavor .The purpose o f this outline is to establish the inner connection between these documents ; to relate briefly the fundamental featuresof the struggle of the population of the Far East for a democraticrepublic .In order to elucidate in detail the conditions under which thereoriginated the idea o f the formation o f an independent democraticstate in the Russian Far East , it i s necessary to dwel l on the pol itical situation in which the Far Eastern regions found themselvesat the moment of the final downfall o f the reactionary governmentof Admiral Kolchak in Western and Eastern Siberia , i .e.,
in February of 1920.
The representatives and agents of that government in the FarEast— General Rozanov in Vladivostok, Ataman" Semenov in Transbaikalia, Kalmykov in Khabarovsk and so on —employing like everywhere else in S iberia a system o f incredible despoti sm and cruel t epressions
,violating all civil liberties and popular rights —brought
upon their heads in this part of the country and at the ind icatedtime a general upheaval and revolt of numerous partisan bands .I t will be sufficient to call attention to some individual facts suchas the murder and robbery committed by Ataman Kalmykov inKhabarovsk on a number o f persons , among whom were severalforeign subj ects
,such as Dr. Hedeblum , representative o f the Swed
ish Red Cross ; the strangling, in Chita, by Ataman S emenov, o fBogdanov
,the Chairman o f the Board of the Zemstvo ; the establish
ment by his f ellow henchmen Ungern and others of torture chambers at the stations of the Transbaikal Railway in Makkaveyevo and
"Cossack chieftain.
7
Dauren, where they robbed , tortured to death and murdered not onlyseveral thousand champions o f the revolution but also a number ofmembers o f the Kolchak government.The whole borderland was submerged in blood by those criminal agents of reaction.
I t i s easy to understand why such a regime aroused against itsel feven the moderately minded democratic zemstvos and the antonomous municipal administrations which j oined hands with the " partisan" movement , and that in the partisan detachments began totake part not only the workers and the "middle" peasants
,but also
the wealthiest peasants , owners o f big land tracts .To this attitude contributed still more the behavior of the inter
ventionist tr0 0ps , mainly the Japanese , which were helping the re
actionaries, and l ike them did not hesitate at perpetrating the worstoutrages on the peace ful population .
As a characterist ic example o f their atti tude we may mentionthe fact confirmed in the official report o f the Japanese GeneralS taff , concerning the burning, in March, 1919, by Japanese soldiers ,o f Ivanovka, the largest and richest settl ement in the Amur regi on .
In this case,for alleged support given to the Bolsheviks
,196 house
holders were completely ruined and 232 peace ful inhabitants werekilled
,among them a great number of the wealthiest farmers . A
great number o f women and children perished when the Japanese setthe houses on fire , as the soldiers were shooting at the persons whotri ed to escape from the burning dwellings .Eighty- six houses and more than 200 other buidlings were destroyed by the flames , as well as large quantities o f grain , agricultura l machinery and o ther property valued at s evera l hundredthousand dollars ; the des troyed agricultu ra l mach inery aloneb eing est imated at more than
This event stirred up the peasant population o f the whole regionand imprinted i tsel f deeply in the memory of the people .
As a result of al l these facts the revolutionary movement spreadall over the Far East , and took the form mainly of partisan warfare against the government of Kolchak and the interventionists .This warfare was entirely conducted by the whole peasant population of three regions o f the border- land , which was disgusted withthe reactionary goverment and with foreign intervention .
This movement was j oined in the cities by the labor organizationsand democratic bod ies , by the zemstvos and the autonomous municipal authorities . The partisan movement, having brought aboutthe isolation of the reactionary goverment by confining i t to thelarge citi es , was at this period one of the factors which contributedto the further isolation o f the different regions of the country fromeach other .At the period in question
, i .e. , in the beginning o f 1920, there weretwo main regions in which the popular revolutionary movement
8
against the goverment o f Kolchak was asserting itsel f —the Amurand the Maritime Province .But at the same time the conditions of the dev0 10 pment o f the
movement were not quite identical in both provinces .The diff erence was rooted in the peculiarities o f the interventionin each o f the two provinces , in the relations between the popularmovement on the one hand of the troops of the various interveningcountries on the other hand . In the Amur region there were atthat time exclusively Japanese military forces . As was alreadymentioned above , they were in every respect adding the reactionariesin subduing the movement, not only not lagging behind them , buteven surpassing them in the cruelty with which they were treating the local population . I t i s natural that the revolutionary population on the Amur, expecting no help from anywhere againstthese atrocities , became accustomed to the thought that only unitywith al l the remaining Rus s ian popu lat ion waging war agains t react ion , that only union with kindred Soviet Russia will assure thesuccess of thei r eff orts to f ree themselves from their native andforeign oppressors .In the Maritime Province there were in addition to the Japanesealso troops of other all ied countries .The Americans and partly the Czecho- S lovaks , in their behavior
and their attitude towards the population and its struggle for l iberty at that period were prompted mainly by the principle of non- interference into the internal aff airs of the Russian p eople , as wasstated by the governm ents at the beginning o f their intervention .
Moreover,through their mere presence they retained the Jap
anese when they were showing too obviously their intention to violate these principles
,by Openly supporting the reactionary govern
ment in i ts struggle against the popular movement . Owing to thisstate o f affairs the elements with revolutionary and democrati c inclinations in the Maritime Province came to the conclusion that successful results in thei r struggle against the reactionary and'
oppres
sive rule o f General Rozanov,a henchman of the Kolchak govern
ment , they could fully obtain only i f they would secure the sym
pathies and friendship of at l east some of the all ied countri es .Obviously such an attitude was p ossible only on condition that themovement and its aims take on a democratic character and recognizethe p rinciples of democratic government in the Far East .Thus was originated and strengthened in the Far East the ideaof its organization into an independent democratic state , founded onthe recogniti on o f civil l ibert ies .
CHAPTER I .
It i s natural that these democratic princip l es were laid down asa basis for building up the new li f e af ter the downfall o f GeneralRozanov
’
s rule , and the power was given over by the victoriouspeople to the Board o f the Zemstvo of the Maritime Province which
9
was the organ of the local autonomous administration, the repre
sentatives of all pol itical parties and organizations o f citizens beinginvited to participation in the government .The new power immed ia
‘
etly proclaimed the introduction o f democratic principles in the Maritime Province
,and entered upon the
road o f a further struggle for uniting with the other regions of theFar East on the basis o f democracy .
The decrepit reactionary government whose agents in the Maritime Province have disgraced themselves by openly trying to betray thei r people and by their agreement with the foreign militarycommanders to d i sa rm the Russian army and to hand over almostthe enti re Far East to Japan , finally crumbled down
,having lost
the confidence even o f its own troops,and having been compelled to
surrender one city after another.
On January 30, 1920, an upheaval took place in Vlad ivostok . OnFebruary 4, the Kolchak regime fell in the Amur region , and theregional administration passed into the hands of the Executive Comm ittee that was at the head of the revolutionary movement .On February 12 , Ataman Kalmykov, pressed by the popular revo
lutionary troops o f the Maritime Province , fled from Khabarovsk .
burning entire peasant villages and Cossack settl ements on his way ,hanging and shooting his own subordinates who d id not want tofollow him , and finally taking re fuge on Chinese territory where hewas d i sa rmed .
On February 1 5 , 1920, Khabarovsk was already occupied by revolutionary troops and a revolutionary autonomous administration wasestabl i shed there .
Thus in the beginning o f March already the entire Far East upto the borders o f Transbaikalia,
where Semenov, with the helpo f the Japanese, was still holding out by means of an unheard o freign o f terror, was already l iberated from the rule o f the agentso f Kolchak’s government .
In all l iberated local ities order was gradually being establishedand regional as well as autonomous municipal administrations wereorganized .
And everywhere the principles of democratic government and therecognit ion o f the rights o f the people were laid down as the basi so f the framework o f the new government .
And at the same t ime, the regional authoriti es , af ter shaking off
the old reactionary rule immed iately set to the task o f uniting thecountry into one pol i tical enti ty.
Already in March,1920, there began negotiati ons between the
Amour region and the Maritime Province concerning the creation ofa single government for the whole l iberated Far East .
But there appeared obstacles standing in the way o f thi s union
10
and of the democratic form of government— obstacles which werenot only and not so much due to the forces o f internal reaction , asto the pol icy of the mil i tary command o f the Japanese expeditionaryforces which from the very fi rst days o f the democratic revolu
tion endeavored to hamper i ts progress and to prevent the union o fthe regions o f the Russian Far East that were separated from eachother by the reaction . In order to illustrate the position taken bythe Japanese mili tary authorities i t i s necessary to mention here acharacteristic episode which took place in Vladivostok in the firstmonth o f the revolution . At the moment when the revolut ionarytroop s had already seized the city and had surrounded the last refuge o f the old government , v iz ., General Rozanov
’
s house, wherehe fort ified himsel f with the last remainders o f his adherents
,the de
tachment of the popular revolutionary army that had received theorder to take that house , all of a sudden found itsel f face to facewith a detachment o f Japanese troops . The offi cer of that detachment declared that he would not allow the popular revolutionaryarmy to enter that house and that he would order his sold iers toopen fire as soon as such an attempt would be made .The revolutionary troops were inst ructed to
'
avoid absolutely anyclashes with the foreign troops , but in any case to attai n the obj ectupon which depended the success o f the revolut ion, even i f it werenecessary to employ force for that purpose.And it seemed as i f from both sides the firing would start anysecond, which, had it happened, would have changed the course ofevents in many respects , as was the case at the time o f the revolto f General Gaida, in the fall of 1919, when the Japanese helpedRozanov to crush the revolt .But at the critical moment there appeared on the spot an Ameri
can detachment, the commander of which declared to the Japanesethat i f they would inter fere in favor o f Rozanov, the M ericans, inturn,
would also be compelled to break the neutral ity .
The Japanese detachment retired, and the revolutiona ry tr00 pscould occupy the last fortified position o f the revolutionary power .Thi s episode was already a significant forebod ing of what the att itude o f the Japanese military command would be toward the victorious revolution .
The same thing was to be expected in other places as well . Thus ,according to the admission of General Yamada, the commander ofthe Japanese troops in Khabarovsk, the bridge before Khabarovskdestroyed upon his orders, for the purpose o f staying the at
tack oi the popular-revolutionary forces against Ataman Kalmykov
.In B lagovyeshchensk
,in the Amur region, after a revolution
aryadministration had been formed in the city, the Japanese mi l i
tary command drew up the soldiers in battle array, placed the cannons on the heights surround ing the city and began to serve uponthe new adm ini stration all kinds of ultimatums and demands whiclthey knew could not be fulfilled .
l l
Only the power ful rise of revolutionary enthusiasm which unitedthe whole population of the city and the district in readiness todefend the conquered freedom W ith al l their power
,as well as an im
portant number o f resolutions adopted by all civil organizations ,including even the moderately liberal S ociety of Physicians and theAssociation of Gold Operators, and the threatening atti tude of thepeasantry in the entire region , forced the Japanese military commandto the recognition o f the fact that it was impossible to crush thepopular movement there, as at the given moment it was not in aposition to concentrate larger forces in that region.
Thereupon the Japanese declared that they were friendly towardthe Russian people and that the Japanese troops wer going to leavethe region of Amur.The triumph o f the Amur population, however, was soon marredby the behavior of the Japanese at the time o f the evacuation . Theirattitude was extremely provocative ; they plundered the quarterswhich they gave up, and in spite of the protests o f the local authorities carried away valuable railroad equipment . S tranger still wasthe character o f the evacuation itsel f .The Japanese troops were evacuated from the Amur region
,not
in order to return to Jauan, as they had stated in their declaration,but were sent
,instead, in three diff erent directions ; part of them
went westward to Transbaikalia, part eastward to Khabarovsk, andthe artillery detachment was simply transferred to the other bankof the Amur River , on Chinese territory .
All thi s spelled rather sinister foreboding, as the evacuated re
gion was now threatened with an attack from three sides . Thesame defiant character marked also the atti tude of the Japanese inthe Maritime Province, where they d id not show the sl ightest intention of ending the intervention, although with the evacuation ofthe Czecho-S lovaks all the pretexts there for were already exhaustedand the tr0 0ps o f the other all ies were already getting ready to leavethe Russian Far East.The Japanese officers insulted the Russian civil population andsold iers
,they arrested and beat up without any reason Russian citi
zens , and _committed all kinds of outrages .At that time the Japanese mili tary authorities Openly supportedSemenov’s rule
,which was the only obstacle in the way of unity o f
the entire Far East on the basis of the principles o f democraticgovernment.Their tr0 0ps crushed there al l the efforts o f the local populationto shake off the hated rule o f the Ataman, preventing the alreadyl iberated population o f the neighboring places from helping theirfellow countrymen .
In consideration o f such an attitude o f the Japanese tr0 0 ps, theBoard of the Zemstvo of the Maritime Province which was the t egional government of that province , bel ieving that the continuation
12
of the intervention was the only obstacle preventing the unification o fthe country and its organization on the basis o f a democratic government, addressed , on March 20, 1920, a note to the Japanese Government , in which it insisted upon the necessity of an immediate wi thdrawal o f the Japanese tr0 0 ps .
The note pointed out that all formal grounds for an interventionhad been removed ; it showed how the pol icy of the Japanese government was in striking contradict ion to this fact, as , far from evacu
ating its tr00 ps , i t even increased their number in the Far East ; thenote also called attention to the fact that the Japanese were act ivelysupporting the reactionary elements , and solemnly declared that anyfurther independent interventionist act ivity by Japan, will be considered by the Maritime Government as a violation of its sovereignrights in the Far East . The answer was a landing o f new Japanesedivisions in Vladivostok .
An entirely isolated episode which was not connected with thegeneral course of events , was the incident in N ikolayevsk on theAmur which occurred at the same time. The events o f which theJapanese Government later on took advantage in order to justi fythe intervention and for the purpose o f seizing Sakhal in and thedistrict o f N ikolayevsk, were mainly brought about by the state ofisolation from the other centers of the Far East , owing partly toJapanese eff orts to prevent that district entering into communica
tion with.the other regions . Already in February, 1920, the whole
district,swept by the partisan movement, had freed itsel f from the
rul e o f Kolchak’s creatures . In a daring attack the parti sans then
took the fortress of Chnyrakh, which was near the city , was provided wi th heavy cannon and was garrisoned by Japanese and re
actionaries.
A fter the occupation of the fortress the parti sans twice sent trucebearers to the city
,asking the reactionaries to give up their adminis
tration and to disarm their detachments .. In both cases the truce bearers were bestially tortured to deathby the Japanese and the Kolchakists.
Only a fter the threat was expressed that the city would be bombarded from the fortress was an agreement concluded accord ing towhich the administration was to pass into the hands of the Revolut ionary S taff , the Kolchak soldiers to be disarmed , and the Japanese to remain neutral .The Japanese troops solemnly promi sed to abide by the terms ofthe agreement and during the first days endeavored by
'
all means toobtain the confidence of the parti sans .S everal days afterwards , late at night, without any cause orwarning
,the Janpanese and the reactionaries who were armed by
them,attacked the parti sans in their sleep ; they opened machine
gun and cannon fire against thei r barracks and put the torch to thestaff headquarters , from which the chie f o f the staff and his sub
13
ordinates barely escaped, he and many o f his companions beingwounded .
In the mean time the parti sans recovering from the first surprisebegan to repulse the attackers .Then the Japanese armed all thei r res idents
,ga thered in the
house o f the Consulate, and in spite o f the terms off ered them fortheir surrender continued to fight fiercely .
On their part, the embittered partisans, concentrated a strong fireagainst the house from which bullets were flying
,and in a desperate
struggle almost all the Japanese pe ri shed , except a small band thatsurrendered .
The senselessness of this treacherous at tack o f a smal l detachment which the Japanese military command had left behind without strengthening it at the proper tim e, impels the thought thatei ther the Japanese mili tary authorities expected too much f rom thesuddenness of the attack, or tha t this mad attack was part Of thehigher pol icy o f the Japanese supreme mil itary command .
Later on, af ter large mil itary forces had occupied Sakhalin and
the mouth o f the Amur River, and were approaching Nikolayevsk,the partisans lef t the ci ty .
Knowing from experience that the Japanese would take atrociousrevenge for their de feat in the month of March, and having receivedinformation that they had already begun thei r bloody repressionsagainst the inhabitants o f the v illages occupied by them, the par
tisans, prompted by revenge and losing thei r sel f-control, executeda few scores o f Japanese prisoners whom they had taken in March.
Thi s action, like other atrocities occurring in c ivil war, can, o fcourse, not be j ustified .
But the activi ties of the Japanese authorities , in the whole N ikolayevsk incident, are the immediate cause o f all tha t followed .
At any event, the N ikolayevsk incident tu rned out to be such a
convenient excuse in the hands of the Japanese m il itary command ,for the justification o f its whol e aggressive pol icy, for intens i fyingthe intervention and for seizure of the most important regions o fthe Russian Far East that one cannot refrain from thinking that i fthat incident had not happened, the Japanese mi l itari sts would havehad to bring i t about.Thus were events taki ng their course in the Far East.In the meantime, in the western part o f the country. the pop
ulation of Western Transbaikalia, unable to endure any longer themadness and the lawlessness of Ataman Semenov, rose l ike one
man,and at the end of March , 1920, shook off hi s rule in the region
of Verkhne-Udinsk in the Pribaikal district.Here
,in Verkhne-Udinsk, was then organized the democratic
adm inistration o f Pribaikalia formed by the autonomous Zemstvoorganizations and the representatives o f the social i st and democrat icorganizations . Thi s admini stration al so made it its task to bring
14
uliarities of the situation , she understood the aspirations of the Russian population o f the Far East, and— we must s tate right here
,
even i f we have to anticipate a l ittle the course of events— thatin reply to the declaration o f independence of April 6,
she sent,
on May 14, a note signed by the People’s Commissar Chicherin
,in
the name o f the Russian S ociali st Federated S oviet Republic , recognizing the Far Eastern Republic and its provisional goverment .
CHAPTER I I .
From the very beginning when there were laid the foundations ofthe uni ty and the democratic state organization of the Far East ,this idea of a democratic organization had to undergo very serioustrials , and the population of the Far Eastern Republic had tobring many sacrifices before it could carry into eff ect the principlesof the declaration .
The text o f the declaration of April 6 was not signed yet inVerkhne-Udinsk, when the sound of Japanese cannons was alreadyheard in the East .In the face of the contemplated organization of a united democratic state the Japanese mili tary command o f the expeditionaryforces not only d id not show: any intentions of meeting the popularaspirations , but on the contrary, its reply to the notification o f thegovernment of the Maritime Province of March 2 ,
concerning thespeed ing up of the evacuation— consisted in the dispatching of newJapanese divisions to the Maritime Province .
The increasingly defiant and suspicious attitude of the Japanesewas shown by a great number o f incidents insulting to Russian sovereign rights , as well as by demands incompatible with the nationaldignity o f the Russian people
,which were made by the military au
thorities upon the government of the Maritime Province .In the first days o f April the Japanese command began negot iations with the representatives of the Maritime governm ent withreference to these demands .And in the night o f April 4 and 5 , interrupting these negotiations ,the Japanese tr0 0 ps , without any reason or warning , upon the ordersof the Supreme Command of the Expeditionary Forces , attackedthe Russian troops and the peaceful population , almost simultaneiusly in Vlad ivostok , N ikolsk-U surisk , Khabarovsk and along theentire Usuri railroad .
This sudden attack had the eff ect of a bloody slaughter and was accompanied by an artillery and machine gun bombardment not only ofthe troops and the barracks
,but also of the civilian population and
their dwellings,by arson and massacre of all those who in the first
moment happened to fall into the hands o f the Japanese soldiers .In Vlad ivostok a
\
Japanese battleship took part in the bombardment o f the city ; government structures were fired at and the bu ild
16
ings o f the Board o f Zemstvo of the Maritime Province were hal fdestroyed .
The Japanese troops showed especial fury in Khabarovsk and insome small stations of the Usuri railroad , in Okeanska, S edankaetc . , where there were no representatives of other foreign governments . Khabarovsk was completely devastated
,being for two days
bombarded by heavy cannon . Machine guns were trained uponthe population which on account o f the impending hol idays was going
{ptthemarket, including a great number of women , school-children,
a res.
Then the Japanese soldiers went from house,
to house,robbing
,
rap ing, and kill ing everybody whom they met wearing a Russianmil itary uni form . In the same way they ran amuck on the railroadstations , kill ing Russian soldiers and all those whom they suspectedo f being sympathizers of the revolution ; scores of those whomthey cap tured they drowned in the sea into which , also, they threwthe bodies of those whom they had killed with thei r bayonets . Incredible acts o f violence , insul ts and brutal ities were committed on Russian soldiers and plain citizens who fell into the hands o f the Japanese sold iers .Thousands of Russians who had been taken p risoner were throwninto the dark, damp , underground prisons where , in some places .they were kept up to July .
In order to justi fy this treacherous attack the Japanese militaryauthorities put into circulation a report that in several places inVladivostok, Russian soldiers had attacked the Japanese army , whichwas not at all the case .
The obvious improbabil ity of th i s rep ort becomes .cl ear i f only
from the fact that everywhere,from Vladivostok to Khabarovsk ,
the Japanese almost simultaneously Op ened fire against the Russians from cannons and machine guns that had be forehand been pre
pared for this purp ose . And this i s with still greater cleam ess es
tablished by the following fact , which i s confirmed by documentsAs early as 24 hours before April 4 the Japanese local authori tiesp osted up in small stations and mailed to the Russian garri sons theirdemand to surrender their arm s immed iately , threatening to bombard them in the case o f refusal .
The Russian pop ular revolutionary forces had already previously received orders from their government that in the case of a Japanese attack , in consideration of the inequal ity o f the forces , thevshould not off er any resi stance . Thus it can be easily understoodthat an attack on their part against the Japanese army was out o fthe question .
The result of the Jap anese attack o f Ap ril 4- 5 was the disarming or removal o f the Russian armed forces from the railroad zoneand from the cities Of the Maritime Province .
The Japanese availed themselves also of thi s Opportunity to t e
17
move all those who seemed to them to be most dangerous .Laze and Lutzky , members o f the Military Council who had beenarrested by them , were not l iberated . The Japanese authorities ,which first concealed them , subsequently del ivered them into thehands of the reactionary bands , and the best de fenders o f thepeople
’
s independence and of its rights were thrown into the furnace o f a locomotive .I f such an unheard o f act in violation o f international law andcivil ization , i f such a treacherous attack against a foreign countryde fend ing its independence , i ts revolution and democratic govern ;
ment ; an attack accompanied by the most disgusting acts o f vi olence and murder, did not meet with an unanimous protest on the partof all civil ized nations and all their various classes
,then the people
o f the Far Eastern Republ ic cannot explain i t otherwise than by theremoteness of the theatre o f the Japanese intervention and by thecomplete lack o f information on the part o f other nations o f suchacts o f the violent and bloody pol icy of the Japanese militari sts asthe above mentioned attack Of April 4- 5 and many others .The very existence of the achievements of the revolution , the very
possibil ity of a democratic state reorganization was endangered .
But the people rose unanimously to the defense of the revolutionand o f its rights . All classes and organizations of Vladivostok, includ ing the upper classes of the bourgeoi s ie , protested againstthe Japanese attack . In this region the detachments o f the revolut ionary troops which still had remained , as well as the populationthat was joining them
,again prepared to start a parti san war against
the invaders .At the same time the Japanese armed forces which had l e ft
Khabarovsk in order to advance against the Amur region and tooverthrow there the popular administration , met with an energetic ,desperate resistance o f the young revolutionary army of the peopleto whose support aros e first the peasant population o f the Amurregion and subsequently all the remaining population .
Having convinced themselves of the impossibil ity o f crushingwith one blow the popular adm inistration formed in the Far Eastand to re-establ ish the influence Of the reacti onary elements , theJapanese command of the expeditionary forces began negotiat ionswith the regional government of the Maritime Province as to theestabl i shment o f peace ful relations and concerning an agreement onmutual rights.
Deprived o f the possibil i ty of off ering resi stance , the regionaladministrat ion o f the Maritime Province was compelled to enterinto an agreement
,accord ing to which all Russian armed forces
were to be removed to a d i stance of 30 kilometers from the city o fVlad ivostok and from the zone of the rail road o f Khabarovsk , exceptsmal l detachments o f m il itia . Thi s agreement o f Apri l 29 , confained also some other po ints which in the grossest way violated
18
the sovereign rights‘
of the Russian regional government and praetically converted it into a powerless prisoner of the Japanese mil itary command .
The work o f unity had thus received a serious blow ; there arosealso new obstacles to unity as a consequence of the seizure
,aecom
plished with Japanese help , Of Khabarovsk and some points of theUsuri rail road by the bands of the Ataman . These bands committed gruesome acts o f violence upon the democratically incl inedpopulation and the representatives o f the democratic administration .
These circumstances held up the process o f uniting the variousregions, by prevent ing them from communicating with each otherand by handing an important part o f the country into the handsof the interventionists .The Japanese troops continued their attacks against the Amurregion , and its population , cut off from all the remaining country ,had to resis t on two fronts —at Khabarovsk in the east
,and at the
frontier of Transbaikalia in the west— the pressure of the Japanese troops and the detachments of S emenov .
All the efforts Of the enemies to break the resistance o f the popular revolutionary army Of the Amur region remained
,however
,
without success and the Japanese were unable to penetrate the re
gion .
The work o f strengthening the democratic administration in theMaritime Province was going on . Having recovered from the consequences o f the heavy blow of the April attack, the administration o f the Maritime Province , in order to strengthen the popularrevolutionary power , proceeded to call the National Assembly, representing all classes oi the population o f the Maritime Province .Impressed by the determined resistance to al l attempts to overthrow the revolutionary government and to crush the aspirationstowards uniting the Far East on the basis o f democratic princ iples ,the Japanese military command , represented by General O i , published a declaration on May 1 1 , in which , a fter stating that Japanwas not interested in the territories of the Far East , and that sherecognizes the principle Of non- interference in Russian aff airs, hesays that Japan does not intend to support groups that are Opposing the will O f the people , that she has no obj ections against unitingthe Far East into a single republic organized on the principles o fa democratic constitution
,and is ready to conclude peace and to
give its assistance to the work of unification .
The declaration of General O i , of May 1 1 , was the second turningpoint in the development of the events .Its first consequence Was the conclusion o f an arm i stice on theKhabarovsk front and the arresting of the advance against the Amurregion from this side .Immediately afterwards , on May 25 , the revolutionary adminis
19
f ration of the Amur region passed a resolution o f adherence to thedeclaration of the Verkhne-Udinsk conference o f April 6 concerning the creation of an independent democratic republ ic
,in which i t
recognized the authority o f the Verkhne-Udinsk governm ent as theCentral Government Of the Far Eastern Republic
,because Vlad i
vostok, which after the events o f April and the April agreementcame directly under the pressure o f the interventionists
,could not
any longer remain the center o f the struggle for independenceand unity .
This act constituted the beginning o f the eff ective unification ofthe regional governments .Subsequently, relying on the declaration o f General O i of May
1 1 , the Government of Verkhne-Udinsk proposed to the Japanesemil itary command to begin peace negotiations on the basis o f thestatements expressed in that declaration .
The prel im inary negotiations betw een the Verkhne-Udinsk government and the representat ives o f the Japanese military commandtook place on May 24 and 25 at Gongotta, a station of the Transbaikal railroad betwen Chita and Verkhne-Udinsk.
But these negotiations did not bring about any results,because
the Japanese delegates did not show a suffi ci ent desire to establish peaceful relations and to remove the obstacles standing in theway o f unit ing the regions .On the contrary, while the declaration o f General O i , of May 1 1 ,
categorically asserted that Japan was not will ing " to complicate thepol i tical situation of the country by oflering support to Russian individuals, acting in complete disregard o f the will of the Russianpeople ,
" and promised that in regard to putting into eff ect the unionof the regions on the bas is o f sel f-governm ent, the Japanese military command would not exert any interference whatsoever—exactlyat that moment the Japanese m il itary authorities undertook stepsaiming at the creation o f the most serious obstacles to that union ,and developing a new pressure against the authority o f the people,prepared their plans for aggression against the Amur region .
Already during the negotiations in Gongotta this pol icy was re
vea led with suffi cient clearness ; the Japanese delegates decidedlyrefusing to accept all proposals tending at the union o f the regions,and declaring that they wanted to deal exclusively with the separate regional adm inistrat ions .Thus they re fused to d iscuss the inclusion in the armi stice termsof the eastern Transbaikal f ront, they refused to grant the delegateso f the Verkhne-Udinsk government pe rmi ssion to pass throughChi ta to the western Amur front for clearing up the question ofthe d iscontinuance of the mil itary activi ties on that front— in everyway emphat ically denying to the Amur region the right to recognize the Verkhne-Udinsk government as the central governmentof the Far Eastern Republic . As counterweight to the unifica
20
tion of the popular governments on a democratic basis,the Japanese
delegates upheld the reactionary government o f S emenov in Chitaas the legitimate authority of Transbaikalia .
At the same time the Japanese military command increased itssupport to the reactionary groups in the east
,in the Maritime Prov
ince .
These groups undertook anew the seizure Of a number of junction points on the Usuri railroad, in consequence Of which the various regions became separated . In Khabarovsk the react ionaryLikhoidov attempts a complete separation o f the ci ty and the distriet from the Maritime Province, by declaring it an independentterritory.
And so great d id the impudence of the bands o f black-hundredsbecome that on the station Iman an unheard Of crime was committ ed ,a crime which by the law of nations o f all times has been consid
ered" as the gravest violation of international law : Two citizens ,Mr . Utkin and Mr . Grazhensky, who were under the protection o fthe Jaanese mili tary command , in their quality as truce-bearers,and were the representatives of the government of the MaritimeProvince
,were killed in the train of the commander o f the 14th
Japanese divis ion , by the henchm en of Ataman S emenov who wereacting under the protection o f the Japanese authori ties .With reference to the Amur regional administration which rec
ognized the Verkhne-Udinsk government as the central government for the Far Eastern Republic, the Japanese military commandused a determined form o f pressure by threatening it with military actions should this recognition not be annulled .
‘
And in order to prevent a success ful coalescing of the republicaround Verkhne-Udinsk as a center , the Japanese military command arbitrarily put forth the question of the priori ty either ofS emenov
’s Chita or Of Vladivostok which was under the pressureof the Japanese army .
A fter the Amur administration had shown itsel f unwill ing tosubmit to the threats of the Japanese s taff and continued firmly inits recognition of Verkhne-Udinsk as the center o f the united re
gions,and in refusing to negotiate with S emenov as i f he were a
party with equal rights , more or less Open preparations werebegun to attack this region .
In Khabarovsk there were concentrated the artillery and the en
gineering detachments , the transport equipment, etc .
Later on became known the secret orders of the Ministry of Warin Tokio as to the necessity of bringing the troops into a state o ffighting preparedness for a punitive expedition against the Amurre on .gi
l
l nder these circumstances the adm inistration of the Amur and ofsome other regions agreed to accept the insistent prOposal
-of theJapanese command to start unity negotiations in Vlad ivostok, but st il l
21
refusing to enter into any agreement with the administration o f Ata~man S emenov, which was persistently requested by the Japanese.The representatives o f the democratic governments declared to thedelegation o f Semenov, which arrived f rom Chita , that the surrender o f his power was absolutely the imperative cond ition for starting negotiations with the Chita delegation .
The general international situation was at that moment favor~able to the aspirat ions of the Russian people in the Far Ea zt , to
its struggle for freedom , unity and a democratThe S oviet armies on the Polish front
,after a temporary advance
o f the Poles , began in turn to attack , and after develop ing thei r 8ccesses, proved that the Russian na tion was able to resist the aggress ion o f the mi l itarists .At the same time, in Japan itsel f , in the public Opinion o f thecountry and in the parliament, Opposition developed to the Siberianexpediti on , which was costing the country great amounts withoutprom i se of returns . In the same direction was al so efiective theunanim ity with which all classes of the population o f the Far Eastdeclared their readiness to defend the independence o f the countryaga inst the danger of a Japanese annexation, and to protec t thenew democrat ic order against the attempts on the part of the rmt ionaries.
In Vladivostok various classes of the population, including al sothe bourgeoi s ie
,united against the Japanese peril , and there was
formed a coal ition cabinet which derived its authority from the
National Assembly,with the watch-word of saving the country
for the Russian people .Great popular masses in the Amur region and in Transbaikaliawere ready to make all sacrifices in the de fense o f the achi evementso f the Revolution .
As a result of all this , there was published on’
July 3, 1920, adeclaration of the Japanese government announcing the forthcoming evacuation by the Japanese troops o f Transbaikalia, and at thesame time announcing the temporary occupation o f Sakhal in andthe d istrict o f Nikolayevsk as a re tal iation for the events in N ikol
CHAPTER III .
The peace negotiations between the representatives o f the Japanese mil itary command and the Verkhne-Udinsk government weresoon renewed at the station o f Gongota .
The negotiations were success fully term inated b concludingnonJuly 15 , an agreement concerning the cessation o military activ1
ties in Western Transbaikal ia as well a on the Amur front.
Since this moment the Japanese cannons ceased to roar, and thet ribute o f blood ofiered by the Russ ian population o f the Far Eastfor the unification of the country was ended .
22
In speaking o f the d i sagreement of the local governments , theorgan o f the Japanese staff meant the unwillingness _
of the democratic governments to l eave the power in Chita , in the hands o f theAtaman and to allow him to exert his criminal influence on the
.work
o f uni ty.
These new attempts of brutal interference in the internal af
fairs oi the Russian peopl e had no other aim but to prevent thecreation o f a democratic state organization .
For the very name of Ataman S emenov , whose rule the Japan
lgse military command wanted to preserve , spoke already for it
seThe hangman of Transbaikalia. who had aroused against himsel f .by the most inhuman acts in hi s torture chambers
,by his brutal
murders Of hi s opp onents , all the population Of Transbaikalia, whichhad sent against him eight regiments o f Argun Cossacks . a robher who had thrown aside every trace of respect towards
,the rights
and interests o f the peopl e , could not . of course . be admitted toparticip ation in the construction of a democratic state .
It i s al so easy to understand that the support given him by theJapanese can be exp lained by their intention to maintain a constantObstacle to the creation of a singl e democratic republ ic .
Having imp lanted himsel f in Chita , S emenov p revented .the communicat ion between the various regi ons , by p rohibiting the passageo f the delegates of the democrat ic governments , and a fter the cvacuation of Chita bv the Japanese . he l ed his main forces to theeast. toward the Chinese border . in the region o f the station, BorzaDauria. where he prep ared himsel f again for an armed attack againstthe democratic revolut ionary organs with the intention of
.
d i sp ersing the National Assembly o f Chita which had been called by himsel f .However
,the sit uation again turned out unp rop i tious to to the
enemies of the revolutionary p eopl e and thei r asp i rations for unit y .
The American government p rotests ag ainst the occup ation o fSakhal in
,the successes of the Soviet armies reach thei r highest
p oint. in China the p arty of the friends Of Jap an suff ers defeat ,and in the p ubl ic Op inion of Japan grows the hostile att itude towards the S iberian exp ed it ion .
The occupational authorities in S ib eria have to relent a l i ttle intheir brutal and aggressive policy , by ceasing to openly supportthe p ower of the Ataman .
On S ep tember 18 the commander of the Jap anese‘troop s in S i
beria announces that the d i strict of Khabarovsk i s_
going to becleared . And a month later the p easant p op ulation of the regionof Chita rises in a wave of anger against the crim inal doing s of theAtaman’s creat ures .
and under the p ressure o f the p artisan detachments . S emenov is forced to abandon Chita .
fleeing in an aerop lane .
On October 20 the capital of Transbaikal ia i s occupied by therevolut ionary troop s .
24
In a number of stubborn and famous battles at Borza, Sharasu
nam , Dauria, the popular revolutionary army completely routs theenemy, who attempted to restore his rule over Chita and to takerevenge on the population that had risen against him .
On November 18 some detachments of the revolutionary armytook the station Dauria, the last bulwark o f Semenov in Transbaikalia, and his troops , pursued towards Manchuria, were compelledto disarm .
CHAPTER IV.
In the meantime, immediately after Chita was occupied by therevolutionary troops, there assembled in that city the Unity Conference, this time, o f all the various regional governments of the FarEast .In i ts declaration of November 9, the Uni ty Conference, in thename o f the representatives o f all regions
,endorsed the declara
tion of April 6, concerning the independence of the republic, the es
tablishment of a democratic administration the basis of which was tobe the introduction of all civil libert i es and the preservation of theprinciple of private property .
The declaration announced that in the course of the next two orthree months there was to be called a Constituent Assembly of theFar East on the basi s of a universal , equal , direct and secret suffrage and that out of the memberhip o f thi s conference there was tobe elected a single provisional government of the Republic ; that inthe moment in which it i s elected , all exi sting governments have togive up their s tate prerogatives and shall become organs of the 10cal autonomous administration until new elections take place on thebasis of the law concerning the autonomous local adm inistration .
The declaration granted to the las t remainders of the army of Kolchak
,Kappel and S emenov, who had surrendered their arms, personal
sa fety; permitting them to return to peace ful work.
Immediately a fterwards the con ference elected the ProvisionalGovernment of the Far Eastern Republic, the main task o f whichwas the call ing of the Constituent Assembly .
Thus the task of uniting the Far East in one single state was formally accomplished ; and the enti re territory with the exception o fSakhal in and the district o f Nikolayevsk which were occupied by theinterventionists , were united under the rule of the Provi sionalGovernment.Thus the people of the Far East, having overcome all obstaclesand difficulties by their tremendous eff orts and sacrifices, attainedthe aim o f unity which they had set for themselves .From that time on it was necessary to strengthen the consum
mated uni ty by giving i t a sol id basis o f democratic state organization and to find the force to conquer also all eff orts Of the enemiesof the democratic government and o f the adversaries of the unityof the Russian Far East who were aiming at the destruct ion of the
25
results obtained and who systematically violated the right o f the Russxan population of the Far East to their independ ent exi stence .To the number o f these enemies did not belong Soviet Russia ,which is national ly akin to the Far Eastern Republ ic. Its govemment had already on October 28 sent a greeting addres s to the Conference in which it expressed the hope that the unity would besuccess ful ly attained and that the friendly relations between theyoung republic and the mother country would be strengthened .
The unity j ust achieved was endangered and strengt hened fromanother side, i .e. , from the side of the same foreign intervention .
These menaces against the united republ ic,the hostile attitude
o f the Japanese mil itary command against it,appeared immediately
after the real ization of unity.
Not expecting that the revolutionary troops would so quickly defeat S emenov, whom they dil igently supplied with military equipment and provi sions, the Japanese mil itary authorities were unableto assist him wi th active military co—opera tion .
" But they took him immediately under their protection a fter hisarmy was dispersed at Dant en, and they proceeded to disarm it insuch a way that his mai n forces should remain armed . These forces
,
according to the plan of S emenov and the Japanese mil itarists whohelped him, were afterwards to be trans ferred to the Maritime Province with the purpose o f seiz ing the power there and starting a newc ivi l war against the people and its democratic government .
The best proo f that this plan exi sted and that the Japanese military command took part in the transport o f Semenov
’s armed handsinto the Maritim e Province, in order to create a new obstacle to thestrengthening o f the obtained unity of the republ ic, exists in the lastcommand of Ataman Semenov i ssued after the defeat of his armywhen he retreated behind the Chinese border. Thi s command contains
,l iterally, the following passage :
"The Japanese mil itary com
mand guarantees to the Far Eastern ( S emenov’s ) army the trans fer
to the Maritime Province, but at the present time Col . Isome does nothave at his disposal a sufficient number of armed forces to cover ourretreat. Therefore , in order to create a precedent o f internationalcharacter
,and to give to the Japanese command a reason to decidedly
advance its troops,and to close the frontier to the Reds , a fter t e
moving the Chinese who would stand in the way, it is necessary, i fthe situation on the front will force us to do so, to penetrate as faras possible into alien territory without paying any attention to theChinese troops on the border .
"
There is nothing to be added to a document which so eloquentlytestifies that the transfer o f the armed men of S emenov to theMaritirne Province was accomplished with the direct part icipation of theJapanese mil itary authorities .Thi s transfer became the source of new violations of peace and order within the borders of the Far Eastern Republic, a source. of all
26
further obstacles to the strengthening of the unity of the republ icand its democratic organization. At the same time the fai thful servant and right-hand man of Semenov, Baron Ungern , provided by thesame hand with equipment, arms and money, a man who had d i sgraced himsel f by the most repell ing crimes , advanced with a bando f cutthroats from Transbaikalia to the south
,into the heart of Mon
gol ia , in order to serve there the interests of Japanese interventionand to prepare hi s criminal adventure against the interests Of Ch inaand the population o f the Far Eastern Republ ic .In the meantime the Japanese military command continued creating, within the republ ic i tsel f , obstacles to the consol idation o f thecomponent parts of the Republic that had united at the Novemberconference in Ch i ta, and to the establ i shment of a sol id democraticorder in the enti re territory o f the Republic . By means of memorandums and unoffi cial communications the Japanese military command in Vlad ivostok tri ed to restrain the Vladivostok administration and the National Assembly from the recognition of the decisions o f the Unity Conference and from submitting to the singlegovernment that was elected there.Matters went so far that General O i , the Commander of the Ex
peditionary Troops , sent for the deputies o f the National Assemblyof the Maritime Province and pronouncing coarse threats menacedthem with repressions in the event that the Maritime Province shouldsubmit to the government that was elected at the conference .At the same time agents o f the Japenese General Staff in Vladivostok were conducting an underground activity with a view tocreating general confusion and were spread ing rumors about the possibility of a reactionary coup with the help of the Japanese .But all this was o f no avail , and the National Assembly of theMaritime Province recognized all the decisions o f the Unity Conference and o f the Provi sional Government o f the entire Republ ic .Th is deci sion o f the National Assembly o f Vladivostok greatlystrengthened the work o f unity .
Thereupon the Japanese authorities brought Semenov from Manchuria to Vlad ivostok, from wh ich they escorted him with an honorary guard to thei r own territory , namely , Port Arthur .In the meantfme the d ispersed detachments o f Semenov
’
s armywh ich in Spite o f all the protests o f the Central Government and o fthe local administration o f the Maritime Province had been transferred to that Province— seized the station Grodekovo as well
.asother points of the Usuri railroad , creating there a new Ch ita W iththei r particular laws and authorities without any regard to the democratic organs of the administration and the law o f the Far EasternRepublic .Locomotives and whole trains were held up . Agents of the democratic government as well as other citizens were taken downto besubjected to all kinds o f injuries and tortures by the sold1ers o fSeme and Kappel .‘10"
27
All eff orts o f the democratic authorities to introduce order and toput an end to the misdeeds o f the Semenov-Kappel men werethwarted by the Oppositi on o f the Japanese authorities .Subsequently the Japanese diplomatic representative in Vladivostok i ssued to the regional authorities a notice by which almost allfisheries o f the Maritime Province came under the jurisd iction o f theJapanese mil itary command .
But notwithstand ing all obstacles and d ifficulties placed in the wayo f the democratic state organization of the Russian Far East, theCentral Government , created at the Unity Conference in Chita , unflinchingly continued to lay the foundations o f a new l i fe and towork at the fulfillment Of the task entrusted to it, nam ely, the convocat ion of the Constituent Assembly of the Republic .This work was brought to a successful conclusion , and on December 12 , 1920,
the Provisional Government published a decision ac
cord ing to which the elections to the Constituent Assembly over. theenti re territory of the Far Eastern Republic were to take place onJanuary 9, 192 1 , and the Assembly was to convene on January 25 .
The elections were held everywhere at the fixed period , but theOpening o f the Constituent Assembly was delayed some two -Or
three weeks , until February 12 ,192 1 , when the Constituent Assembly
o f the Republ ic convened in Chita and began its work .
In both the voting procedure and the composition of the electedbody the rights and the interests of the peop le and the introductionof a strict democratic order and constitution , were fully guaranteed .
The elections were held on the basis of the most democratic suffrage , according to the system of proportional representation .
The election campaign took place with complete freedom of .written and oral propaganda for all parties and groups of the pOpulation.
Suffice it to say that p art i cipation in the voting was even allowedto the soldiers of Kappel ’s army
,who a short time ago had struggled
against the revolution in Transbaikalia ; they settled down in theMaritime Province and sent as their representatives to the Constituent Assembly two generals
, Verzhbitsky and Molchanov , who wereat thei r head during the autumn ( 1920) struggles against the revolutionary army .
These two delegates , however , did not take part in the activitiesof the Constituent Assembly
,and preferred to stay in their locali
ties where,under the protection of Japanese bayonets . . they or
gani zed conspiracies and prepared reactionary upheavals against theAssembly.
The number "of voters who participated in the elections was verylarge ; the percentage of the voters was in many d i stricts as high , as80 p er cent , nowhere lower than 60 per cent . 0
The largest number of representatives was sent by the revolution
ary and democratic peasantry,which forms the prevail ing part o f
28
the population o f the Far East , and wh ich had borne on its shoulders the whole burden of the struggle for the emancipation o f thecountry from the reactionaries and the interventionists .The representatives o f this peasantry formed in the ConstituentAssembly the largest parl iamentary group , counting about 220 deputies , 60 per cent o f the general number o f all members , which i scalled the group of the revolutionary toil ing peasantry, or the groupo f the maj ority , as it was called in the Assembly .
The next largest group was the communist group compri sing 80to 90 delegates and rep resenting the working class and the most revolutionary elements of the cities who saw in the communists thestanchest enemies of intervention and defenders o f the rights o f thepeop le .The third group consisted of the representatives o f the wealthiestpeasants , called the group o f the peasant m inority . It had 30 delegates .Then followed the less numerous group s of the Social Demo
crats, o f the Social Revolutioni sts o f the Right and of the wealthybourgeoisie , who had all together 58 delegates .The group o f the peasant maj ori ty form ing the fundamentalforce o f the Constituent Assembly, by its votes . often predeterminesthe result o f the voting . But it must be pointed out that in many o fthe most important questions o f principle the deci sions of the Constituent Assembly were taken by an unanimous vote .
The first achievement o f the Constituent Assembly after hearingthe reports of the Provisional Government and the various ministries , and after every group had made its declaration , was the unanimous adop tion o f a general ed ict recognizing the decisions o f all re
gional representative organs and of the conferences o f the regionalgovernments concerning the formation o f an independent statethe democratic Far Eastern Republic . In a special art icle o f the declaration o f the Constituent Assembly it was stated that the p resenceof whatsoever armed forces of foreign governments within the borders of the republic . and the interference of whatsoever foreignforces in the internal affairs o f the country . and any other violationOf the rights of the Russian p eople in the Far East , i s considered as abrutal outrage
,and as a violat ion of basic international law and civil i
zation.
The declaration stated that the foundations of the state organization of the republ ic should be the p rincip les o f real democracy andsel f government . put into eff ect by pop ular representation on thebasis of universal . eq ual . d i rec t and secret suff rage. guaranteeing toall citizens p ol itical l iberty and the preservation o f the principle ofprivate p rop erty .
In a separate article the declaration also stated that the republ ic intended to take measures for the invitation of foreign cap ital and ini
tiative for the development o f the naturall resources o f the country .
The ensuing act of the Constituent Assembly was the adoption ofsolemn appeals to the governments and the nations o f the wholeworld , and particularly to the governments of the larger powers ,the United S tates o f America , England , France and Japan , whichpart icipated in the landing of thei r troops in 19 18 on the territorywhich became part of the Far Eastern Republic .In the first o f these appeals
,the Consti tuent Assembly informs
the governments and the nations o f the creati on o f an independentFar Eastern Republic and declares that i t i s necessary for the successful development o f the new democratic country that the FarEastern Republ ic should be accepted with equal rights in the family of the other independent nations and that its territory shouldbe l iberated from foreign troops and intervention .
In i ts appeal to the nations which took part in the intervention ,the Constituent Assembly declared that the purpose for which theysent thei r troops on Siberian territory was to co-Operate with theCzecho—Slovaks and help the Russian people to
.
res i st German ag
gression ; that in their declarations all governments solemnly promised to withdraw their troops as soon as these tasks would be fulfilled , adhering all the time to the principle of non- interference inthe internal aff airs of the nation .
Call ing further att ention to the fact that the intervention wascontinued even a fter the above mentioned aims were attained , it putbefore all the governm ents that had participated in it , the questiono f
,the responsibil ity for the continued presence and the activities
o f the Japanese troops on the territory of the Far Eastern Republic ,in full contradiction to the lofty and solemn declarations of thesecountries .In particular
,in its note to the Japanese Government , the Con
stituent Assembly characterized the situation which was created as aresult o f the activities Of the Japanese mil i tary command on the territory o f the republ ic .
In the memorandum to the Government of the United S tates OfAmerica the Constituent Assembly referred to the declaration o fthe American Government of August 5 , 1918 , which
"
most sincerely and solemnly
" declared to the Russian people that the intervention d id not mean any attempt against the political sovereignty ,that i t d id not mean any interference in its internal or even localmatters
,that the exclusive and only aim of the intervention was to
ofl’er such help as would be acceptable to . the Russian people them
selves in thei r aspiration again to become masters o f their ownaff airs , o f thei r own territory and of their own , dest iny . In t e
call ing these promises the Constituent Assembly raised the question o f the responsibil ity for those real , actual concom itants o f thesti ll existing mil itary intervention which expressed itsel f in a contintions brutal interference in the internal
‘af fairs on the part o fthe Japanese mil itary command , in Open assistance to reactionary
30
Even during the del iberations of the Constituent Assembly, theambitions of the adversaries o f democratic institutions and of theuni ty of the Far Eastern Republic found thei r concrete expressionin the activities of the Japanese mi l itary authoriti es and thei r agentsamong the Russian react ionaries . From these quarters the eff ortsto check the organization o f democratic insti tutions on the territoryoccupied by the Japanese never relaxed .
The pol icy o f the seizure o f separate localit ies by reactionaries andof the overthrow o f the organs o f the democratic adm ini strationestablished by the Constituent Assembly was continued .
Thus, in Vlad ivostok, the Japanese mil itary command, even afterthe union of the various regions had been eff ected
,compelled the 10
cal popular authorities to comply with the agreement of January 29,1920, and not to admit any armed forces of the government of theFar Eastern Republ ic into the city and within 30 versts from thezone o f the Usuri railway from the station Iman, except a negligi bledetachment o f mi l itia .Thus the men of S emenov and Kappel who had settled down inthat region were ensured full l iberty to violate public order and toprepare the reactionary coup in the Maritime Province .Not only was the democratic regional adm ini stration unable toundertake any measures for preventing the attack s on the part o f thereactionary elements , owing to the fact that they were supportedand aided by the Japanese mil itary authorities , but it was even de
prived of the possibil i ty of off ering any resi stance in the event o fsuch an occurrence .Some time be fore , on March 30, 192 1 , the Japanese had disarmedthat tiny reserve of m il itia that was at the disposal o f the regionaladm inistration.
Thereupon,headed by General Lokhvitsky , the men of S emenov
and Kappel,who had taken refuge under the protecting wings o f
the Japanese authorities, made an attempt to seize the government,which at that t ime did not succeed . Then the leaders of the revolt ,who had been arrested but were l iberated at the demand of the Japanese authori ties , began actively to arm their adherents and to prepare a new attack.
The circumstances accompanying the second and successful attempt of May 26-27, which ended with the seizure of the MaritimeProvince by the reactionary adventurers , form new evidence of anunexampled
,impudent intervention of foreign mil itari sts in the in
ternal aff airs of the republic, evidence which ought to make thepart played by Japanese intervention in the Russian Far Eas t perfectly clear to all who do not want to close their eyes knowinglyto these matters .About the 20th o f May news reached Vlad ivostok that in spiteof the insistence o f the mili tarists the Tokio government had decidedto begin the evacuation o f the Maritime Province .
32
Immediately the local regional administration was given the trustworthy in formation that the military authorities
,in thei r endeavor
at any price to prevent the evacuation, are making eff orts to provoke any kind of disorders in order to have apretext to postpone theevacuation .
Two days a fterwards the organs of the government learned thatin one o f the houses o f Vladivostok was a gathering of armed consp irators who were preparing a new insurrection for the next night .The regional administration sent its agents in order to have thishouse searched .
A Japanese flag, however, was hoi sted on the house and theowner re fused to allow the representatives o f the governm ent toproceed with the search .
When the agents nevertheless entered the house they found al
ready in the first room grenades, rifles , cartridges and a group o farmed men .
They were unable to enter the other rooms , as at that very moment there appeared a detachment o f Japanese gendarmes which forcibly compelled the representatives o f the government to leave .The Japanese declared that they themselves would proceed withthe search .
The next day they in formed the organs o f the regional government that as a result of the search they had really found at that placetwo machine guns and a great quantity of other weapons and thatthe guilty parties would be prosecuted .
Meanwhile two hours later the last armed forces o f the Far Eastern Republic in the Maritime Province , the escort of the mil itarycommander and the detachments of the militia
,were surrounded by
the Japanese troops .They were requested to surrender their arms in order to havethem checked up . Only part was returned in the evening .
And the following day, on May 26, the armed men o f Semenov’s
and Kappel ’s forces invaded the city, occupied the representativeinstitutions and proclaimed the formation o f a new , reactionary ad
ministration headed by Merkulov .
And when the last remainders of the armed forces of the FarEastern Republic , as well as the population , attempted to off er resistance, they were immediately surrounded by Japanese soldiers anddisarmed .
The Japanese military command , after this had happened, gave outa statement about the " bloodless revolution , and about its (Japanese ) neutrality .
History hardly knows of a more unexampled case o f a shockinginterference in the aff airs of a foreign people .Again the unity of the territory of the Far Eastern Republic wasviolated . Again within its borders there was created by the interventionists a reactionary stronghold which was hindering the demo
33
cratic development o f the state organization and became a new rallying ground o f civi l war .Coupled with the Japanese occupation o f Sakhalin and the distriet o f Nikolayevsk, the passing of the Maritime Province into thehands o f the interventioni sts and reactionaries now in control
,Opened
a wound in the body o f a weak democratic country,still drip
ping with the blood o f the Russian people .
But the attack o f the enemies o f the young Far Eastern Republicagainst the rights of the people and the unity that was attained a f terso many eff orts , did not stop there . Baron Ungern
,a faith ful tool
o f the Japanese mil itarists , who immediately a fter S emenov wasdriven out from Transbaikalia, went to Mongol ia , was to commenceactivities there against the republic .
As far back as February , 192 1 , avail ing himsel f o f the dissaffect ion o f the Mongolians to the Chinese adm inistraton, he arousedthem to a revolt againt the Chinese , took Urga , the capital o f Mongolia
,drove out the Chinese troops and government officials and in
stituted his own rule over the Mongolians .He displayed there a savage
,inhuman cruelty in his deal ings with
all those who for any reason whatsoever arose hi s suspicion or whoseruin could enrich him or his satellites .Having taken firm hold in Urga
,Ungern mobil ized hi s forces and
prepared an attack against the Far Eastern Republic from the west ,thus menacing also the Russian Soviet Republic .
He started hi s advance in May . Encouraged by the success inVladivostok
,the reactionary groups
,which were serving only as tool s
in the hands o f foreign intervention , conceived a broad plan o f aggression against the Far Eastern Republ ic aiming at the total destruction o f the democratic state organization in the Far East .
Ungern was to attack the Republic from the west to cut Off i t scommunication with Soviet Russia ; Ataman S emenov , brought bythe Japanese from Port Arthur to Grodekovo , was forming herehis forces for an attack against Khabarovsk , and tried at the sametime to bring about a revolt of the Cossack population in the Amurregion
,for which purpose his agents , richly supplied with Japanese
money,were gathering their forces on Chinese territory on the i ight
bank of the Amur River .
Thus the Far Eastern Republic was to be attacked from all sides .But the enterpri se did not succeed as smoothly as the enemies o fthe republic expected
.In the Maritime Province the leaders o f the
reaction quarreled with each other in the struggle for influence andover the divis ion o f the plundered national property . Ataman S emenov
,whom the new reactionary government o f the Maritime Prov
ince did not provide with any money , in vain complained to Gen
eral Tachibana , commander o f the Japanese expeditionary forces ,saying that he i s being prevented from accompl ish ing the great work
34
o f crushing the popular revolution and thus strengthening the position o f the Japanese in the forthcoming conflict with America .
His piti ful detachments , in thei r very first attempts to invade theregion where the people ’s revolutionary army was stationed
,became
aware o f their powerlessness and withdrew under the protection ofthe interventionists .The agents o f S emenov were unsuccess ful in their attempts tobring about a revolt on the Amur
,a fter having wasted Japanese
money .
The population Of the Amur region rallied around its democraticpopular administration and even the wealthy Cossack populationtook a hostile attitude towards thi s adventure .
Only one madman,Ungern
,miscalculating his forces
,started to
advance against both the Far Eastern Republic and S oviet Russia ,under the watchword o f re- establ ishing the monarchy .
But already in the first serious battle,at the city o f Troitskosavsk ,
on the road to Verkhne-Udinsk,at the end o f June 192 1 , Ungern
suff ered a terrible de feat at the hands of the people s revolutionaryarmy . And he succeeded only in disgracing himsel f again by committing new bestial i ties against the peace ful peasant population ofthe villages which he met on his way
,thus arousing immediately
against himsel f a general partisan warfare .
In July , on Mongolian territory , he was finally routed ; on July20 , Urga , the cap ital o f Mongolia , was liberated from the grip o f themad Baron , and was temporarily occupied by the united forces o fthe Soviet army and the popular revolutionary army .
Finally,in August , Ungern , who like Semenov , had in Mongolia
played the part o f a Japanese mercenary,abandoned by his troops ,
which dispersed in all d i rections,was taken prisoner by the Red
S oviet army .
The advance o f the reactionary adventurers against the Republicended in complete failure . The republic had shown its force and itspopulation once more showed its attachment to the revolution and todemocratic institutions .Besides these successes in the open struggle against the enemieso f the democratic system
,there was no interrup tion , during all this
time , of the activities within the republic , undertaken to strengthenand develop the democratic order and the institutions o f the re
publ ic .Intensified organic activity for the appl ication of the Constitutionand for constructive work on the economic and administrative field ,followed the closing o f the Constituent Assembly .
Immediately after the establishment o f the government there wasformed the Council o f Ministers
,which according to the Consti
tution i s responsible to the Government and to the National Assembly .
The Council of Ministers was formed on a coal i tion basis with
35
the participation o f the Opposition, i .e. ,the right and moderate So
cialists. For the period beginning May 1 the Council o f Ministerselaborated and submitted for sanct ion by the government a numbero f very important laws and measures referring to the most variedconcerns o f s tate policy .
Under this head are to be mentioned the laws establ ishing thefunctions o f the administrative organs ; those governing the elections to the regional Assemblies o f Representatives and those proyiding for the people’s control , regional emissaries and local autonomous administrative organs ; also measures covering the levying andcollection o f taxes and the regulation o f the financial system
,among
which the most important are the statutes instituting the national ,progressive income and property tax , the grain tax , the tax in kindon the commercial and industrial enterprises
,as part o f a funda
mental industrial tax ; regulations governing the estimate and therecords of general state revenues ; regulations concerning the unityof the
'
treasury .
We may mention further statutes regulating the economic li fe,
among which are the statutes relating to the private gold industry ,the government commission for the regulation of the land-propertyrelations between the Buryat-Mongol and the Russian populations ;the separation of the industrial establ ishments of the state , as a separate category to be treated accord ing to particular commercial principles, and the elaboration of a stat ute concerning the granting o f concessions on the territory o f the Far Eastern Republ ic for the exploitat ion o f mineral resources and forest areas .
In consideration of the extraord inary pol itical events in the Maritime Province a special law was i ssued
,prohibiting arrangements and
agreements with the insurgents call ing themselves" the Pri-Amur
(Merkulov) Government," and suspending payments to the treasury
in the territory occupied by the insurgents .In conclusion are to be mentioned local remedial measures such asthe statute covering housing needs and many others .These are only the outstand ing measures of the legi slation en
dorsed by the government of the Republic in the p eriod that elap sedsince the ad j ournm ent Of the Constituent Assembly . Among the act ivities of the central government organs , the bringing about Of orderin the various local ities was al so included .
In the regional and district centers there were organized adm inis
trative bodies ; reform s were introduced in accordance with the fundamental statutes o f the Constitution which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly .
The most imp ortant mani festations of this reorganization of thepubl ic l i fe in the various local ities were the elections and the del iberations of the regional National Assemblies that took place in Julyand Augu st
, 192 1 .
Everywhere the elections to and the del iberations of the As
36
semblies were inspired by the idea o f strengthening o f the instituteddemocratic order, of putting into eff ect the fundamental laws of theConstituent Assembly governing the economic reconstruction of thecountry .
The Popular Assemblies of all the regions expressed their readiness to give energetic support to the government , and announcedagain their urgent protests against foreign intervention and againstthe support given by foreign armed forces to the criminal aspirations o f the reactionaries to destroy the unity of the republic . Whilein that part of the republ ic that was free from the presence o f theinterventionist troops , the constructive work and the strengtheningof the basis o f the democratic system was going on smoothly, ac
companied by'
the establishment of complete peace and order ; inthose parts o f the Maritime Province which were seized by the reactionaries almost the enti re population of the occupied territorystarted an active struggle against the usurpers .Again there began the partisan movement among the peasants ,labor strikes and protests on the part of all classes .The reactionary authorities lost their heads and answered with astorm o f bloody repressions and atroc iti es .All newspapers which were not favorable to the administrationwere suppressed
,among them even the organs of the liberal bour
georsie.
Numerous arrests forced the publ ic and labor organizations underground .
The persecutions of the pol itical Opponents revived again the oldbloody methods of the Ataman’s torture chambers and a number ofthe most p rominent men , active in the publ ic l i fe o f Vladivostok,were murdered by the agents o f the reactionary administration .
This pol icy aroused a still greater mani festation of popular indignat ion ; the activity oi the partisan bands increased in the country ,while in the city itsel f a new outbreak o f the revolutionists was heldback only by the pressure of the Japanese armed forces and the attitude o f the Japanese mil itary command
,which after having called
into l i fe the reactionary government and a fter having at the timeparticipated in the overthrow o f the legitimate democratic administration , declared now that it would not permi t of any disturbance in theregi on in which its troops are stationed .
In order to find some way out of the intolerable situation thuscreated for the population of the Maritime Province and the entireRepubl ic , a situation which was brought about by foreign interferencein the internal aff airs of the Republic
,the Government of the Far
Eastern Republ ic , ready to explore any possibil ity o f a peaceful i ssue, entered peace negotiations with the representatives of the Tokiogovernment and agreed to conduct these negotiations in B eiren .
These negotiations in Deiren constitute another eff ort to obtainthrough peaceful means , d irectly from Japan , the cessation of mil i
37
tary intervention and inter ference in its internal affairs, i .e. ,
the removal of the main obstacle standing in the way o f consol idating theunity of the republic and of firmly establi shing its democratic order .
Thus we may end the present outline o f the history o f the FarEastern Republic , and repeat what was said in the introduction tothis outline— that the history o f the Far Eastern Republic i s thehi story of the heroic efforts o f a part of the Russian people to defend its independence
,and its right to exist as a democratic country
,
governed in the interests of the whole population ; a history o f continuous trials , more than once accompanied by the bloodiest andgravest sacrifices ; of the people o f a small country , standing face toface with the pretensions and the brutal policy o f a foreign militarism whose ways of frankly trampling under its feet the stipulationsof international law and the interests o f weak nations are hardly surpassed by the worst forms o f militarism known to history .
The pages of thi s history are full o f the suff erings o f a peoplecompelled under un favorable circumstances to de fend i tsel f and thecause of its unity, against the attacks of a stronger adversary .
And they abound in such incidents as the burning of defenselessvillages and towns
,the deaths o f mothers and children in the flames
o f their dwellings,set on fire by the invaders , the throwing of the
best defenders of the country’s independence into the furnaces o f locomotives . They are marked by incredible bestial ities , inhuman pains and tortures infl icted upon hundreds o f people whofell into the hands of the interventionists or their Russian hirel ings , by cemeteries o f death and horrors around the torture chambers instituted by the tool s o f foreign annexationists , treacherous attacks from ambush
,the assassination o f truce bearers , whose per
sons are inviolable by immemorial law .
But these pages are also full o f heroic courage , o f unflinching devotion o f the same people , displayed in the de fence of its republic ,of i ts unity and democratic insti tutions .
And from this history the people o f the Far Eastern Republicdraw the conviction that their eff orts will not be in vain , that a fterall the time will come when they will be l iberated from the bloodyblight of armed foreign intervention
,when they will be in a position
to undertake the peaceful economic reconstruction of their entireterritory .
38
was to confirm the princ ip le Of popular rul e throughout thecountry .
The last local remnants Of the fallen rule o f Kolchak,
while fal sely dec laring in favor of the reestabl i shment Of the V i llage Zemstvo , which had already been organiz ed by populardecision, are trying to destroy the only real representative government engaged in the defense of the people’s interests
,hav ing,
by the arres t Of thei r members already des troyed the Prov inc ialand County Zem s tvo s .That local government, abandoned even by its own mil itaryforces , at the present t ime can depend only on an insignificantgroup Of armed gangsters and can res i st p erhap s o ne or two moreoutbreaks ; it is doomed to faliure as is clearly evident fromthe events Of the las t few days .The garrisons Of N ikolsk-U surisk and Vladivostok expressedtheir readines s to recognize only the popular governments andhave organ ized Revo lut ionary Mil i tary Staff s in order to aid i nestabli shing them . S everal public organizations , in their resolut ions , al so definitely declared themselve s in favor of a temporary as sumption of government power by the Zemstvo a s i t i sunder the present conditions the only government insti tutionelected by the people. Under these condit ions th e Maritime Provincial Zemstvo as an in stitut ion elected by the populat ion , cons iders i tsel f compel led to adop t immediately al l measure s necessary for the organizati on o f a temporary government of the prov i nce
, to end the prevalent anarchy and c iv i l war, and estab l ishpeace among the people .Tak ing into cons ideration al l the above stated extraordinaryc i rcumstances
,th e Zemstvo reso lved : to aid in every pos sible
manner in end ing c ivi l war in the provnce and in e stabl i shingorder and normal cond it ions O f l i fe, and to accompl i sh th i s1 . TO a ssume temporari ly ful l authori ty w ith in the entireMaritime Province
,ask ing the friendly cooperation of al l other
in stitutions Of popular government in the c iti es and counti es , andto request the aid Of al l local government Officers .2 . TO i s sue an appeal to the population of the provi nce.3 . To in form the All ied Command o f th e above dec i s ion .
(S igned)A
.MEDVEDEV, Chairman Of the Zemstvo ; A . RU SAN OV, P .
POPOV,S . AFANASEV, A . MENSH IKOV, Members o f the Zem
stvo ; BELK IN,S ecretary .
DECLARATION OF THE PROVIS IONAL ZEMSTVOGOVERNMENT OF THE MAR ITIME PROVINCE
On January 3 1 , 1920 , under the pressure Of the unanimousOp inion Of the m i l itary
,l abor and c iv i l organizat ions the Mari
40
t ime Prov inc ia l Zem stvo as sumed al l governmenta l powerswith i n the l im its o f the Maritime Prov ince .Upon its acces sion , the Prov i s ional Government, during thetwo months of i t s control found its el f supported by al l the democrati c groups a s well a s by the to i l ing masses who at theirnumerous convent ions rei terated thei r recognit ion and supportOf th e Provi s ional Government . Thi s recognition of the Prov i s ional Government came not only from the populat ion Of th eMaritime Prov ince, but also from the Amur Prov ince and fromthe Russ ian popul at ion l iving within the zone of the Chines eEastern Rai lroad and al so from other sect ion s of the Far East .In their statements , reso lutions and memoranda , the greatmass Of the to i l ers Of the Far East declared their unswervingloyalty to the Prov i s ional Government Of the Marit ime Prov incial Zem stvo as the Prov i s ional Government of the who l e FarEas t i n order to achi eve the s ettl ement Of national prob lem s , andunti l the reunion with Central Russ ia .
Tak ing into consideration th i s tendency of the to il ers of theFar East and in Obed i ence to thei r w il l , the Prov is ional Government of the Mari tim e Prov incial Zem stvo declares that fromnow on i t extend s its authority to the ent i re terri tory Of the FarEast— Maritime, Amur , Sakhal in and Kamchatka Prov i nces , aswell a s th e Ru ss ian population within the rai lroad zone of theCh ines e Eastern Rai l road .
Extending it s authority th roughout the ent i re territory of theFar Eas t
,the Prov incia l Government finds it neces sary under
thes e cond it ion s to summon to the government, with ful l representative rights , delegates from the convent ions of the to i lersa s follows :Two each from the Maritime and Amur Prov inces .One each from Kamchatka and Sakhal in .
The Prov i s ional Government wi shing to give ful l express ionto the wil l O f the ent ire populat ion , cons iders it it s duty to ca l lwithin the nearest future
,a territorial convention of toilers for the
purpo se o f establ i sh ing an understand ing and s ettl ement of thenationa l probl ems in al l the prov inces Of the territory , organizing a homogeneous form Of government, and s trengthening theties between the government and the population .
Reaff i rming its previous decision to make its principal aim inth i s work the reerection of a s tate in ful l agreement w ith thewil l of the toi lers , the Prov i s ional Government declare s thatwh i l e guarding the sovereign rights Of the Rus s ian s tate , i t w i l lrecognize and protect the legal right s Of foreign c iti zens i n theFar East .The Provi sional Zemstvo Government Of the Marit ime Pro
V ince .The .Original is signed
41
A . MEDVEDEV, Chairman ; A . RU SANOV,A . MENSH IKOV
,S .
AFANASEV, P . POPOV, Members ; S . BELK IN,Secretary of
Provisional Governm ent .
TO THE POPULATION OF -PRIBAIKALIA
The overthrow o f the reactionary forces in the Pribaikal district and the unfini shed struggle w i th the remnants of the defeated S emenov bands have put before the whole revolutionarydemocracy the task o f estab li sh ing a local people ’s authority ,capabl e Of restoring order in the regi on devastated by the re
treat ing bands, of bringi ng to a success ful i s sue the s truggle for
the l iberation of Transbaikal ia and the restorat ion Of theeconomic l i fe Of the region . The Provisional Zemstvo Government of Pribaikalia hav ing been increased by representativ
‘és Of
the Social i st parti es,the S ocial Democrats
,Social Revolution
ari e s and Communi s ts,by representatives of the trade union s
and Of the working population , has set itsel f the following task :
1 . TO protect and defend the interest s Of the working populati on of Pribaikalia.
2 . TO protect the country from any foreign in fringementupon i t s rights .
3 . To continue the struggle w ith the react ionary forces inthe East until they are crushed .
Real iz ing the difficult i es which s tand i n th e way of the ac
comp lishment O f the above task and appeal ing to the entire working popu lation for actual suppo rt, the Prov i s i onal Zem stvo Government hereby declares , that i t wi l l not recede from it s program and wil l resolutely suppres s al l separati st a ttempts and alleff ort s to injure i t s authori ty .
Th e Provi s ional Zem s tvo Government bel i eves that the urbanand rural work ing populat ion , real iz ing the d ifficul ty o f the present moment
,will gather its strength around the Provisional Gov
ernment , to ass i st the Government i n its s truggle for the inde
pendence o f the di strict against domestic and foreign reactionaries , and to res tore the economic l i fe O f the l ib erated region s .
THE PROVIS IONAL ZEMSTVO ,
GOVERNMENT OF PRIBAIKALIA .
March , 1920.
DECLARATION
Of the Working Populat ion Of the Transbaikal Region to theGovernments of the United S tates of North America, Grea tB ri tain , Japan , China , France, I taly , Russian S ocial i s t FederatedSovie t R epublic and al l Governments and Nations of the World .
42
We , the empowered representatives of al l the people of theTransba ikal terri tory , in Cons ti tuent Convention as sembled , atthe c i ty Of Verkhne-Udinsk , addres s ourse lves in the name Of thep eopl e who elected us , to al l the nations Of the world and theirgovernments and solemnly declare :Two years of internal fratri c ida l war have devastated our
rich country and made pos s ib le the re- es tab l ishment of reaction ,hateful to the peop le , and the rul e of the robber-atamans andtheir hirel ings . A black cloud of v iolence
,robbery and murder
oppres sed us,the whirr of knouts , the b laze Of incend iary fires ,
p it i les s execut ion s made l ife unbearabl e to us,made peace ful
intercours e w ith our neighbors imposs ib le and b rought upon our
territory al l ied occupation . Our peopl e,in desperati on , rebel led ,
writing on their banners the end O f c iv i l war" and " the unionO f al l the peop le for l iberty and peace .
"
Having overthrown the Government of the usurpers Ko l
chak and S emenov , the peop le Of the Transba ikal territory ,through its repres en tatives , procla im :
1 . The Far Eas tern terri tories , inc lud ing the terr i tories Of
Transbaikal ia, Amur, Marit ime Province, S akhal in , Kamchatkaand the Right of Way O f the Ch ines e Eas tern Rai lway , due totheir geographical and economic s i tuat ion
,their extended fron
t ier l ine, remotenes s from the pol it ical center Of the Russ ianRepubl ic
,are hereby procla imed an Independen t State under a
Republ ican form of government .2 . Upon the terri tory of the Far Eas tern Republ ic sha l l b eestab l ished a democratic Government
,representing the w i l l of
the whole peop le, as expres sed through i ts duly elected rep re
sentat ives and guarantee ing to al l the clas ses Of soc iety the democrati c l iberties which are th e sa feguards Of peace ful developmentOf socia l forces .3 . In order to accompl i sh its a ims the Convention elects from
its midst a P rovis ional Government in which shal l parti cipaterepres entat ives O f al l po l it ical part ies and national i t ies
,res id
ing in the territory Of the Republic . To this Government the Convent ion delegates full pol i t ica l and mil itary authori ty and empowers i t to continue relentles s ly the fight agains t the las tremnants Of reactionary admini s trat ion , to es tab l ish the ru le oflaw and order, to organize local democratic governments , todraft a law and prepare for the convocation Of a genera l Const itutent Ass emb ly for the purpose of lay ing down the fundamental law and working ou t the Const itution O f the Far Eas ternRepub l i c , to convene as s oon as al l the terri tori es are reunited .
4 . The Convention urgently appeal s to al l the Officers andso ld iers of the former army Of Kolchak and Semenov to pu t anend to th e rul e O f v iolence and lawles snes s
,to lay down their
arm s , guaranteeing them ,in th e name Of the people
,complete
43
safety and the Opportunity of return ing to their homes and peaceful
.labor. The Convention hereby procla ims the abo l i t ion Ofcap ita l pun ishment a s b eing in contradict ion to th e asp irat ions Ofour peop le .5 . Addres s ing its elf to the nations Of the World throughtheir Governments , the Convention dec lares that the Far Eas ternRepub lic asp ires to es tab l ish friendly rela tions with al l countries
,
esp ec ial ly w ith thos e that l ie on its front ier and the c i t izens ofwhich l ive in great numbers upon its terri tory . The internal warhas shaken our economic l ife to i ts very foundation , has ru inedour indus try and transportat ion and has brought the spectre of
s tarvation before our eyes . Our a im is peace, peacefu l lab or andfriend ly relat ions toward al l p eop le
,and the reconstructi on Of our
l i fe upon the foundation o f democrat i c order. Guaranteeing toal l the c it iz ens Of foreign countries the ful l r ight Of personalsafety and property
,the Convent ion inv i tes a l l Governments to
enter into relations with our newly elected Government by sending their offi cial representatives for the purpos e of cO-Operatingin the interes ts Of peace, as suring them that al l Of the p eopl eof our territory w il l uphold the Government in its work Ofes tab l ish ing order and creating cond i t ions favorab l e for peacefu lcreat ive l ife and labor.Apri l 6, 1920.
PRESID IUMCons ti tuent Convent ion
COMMUNICATION OF THE RUSS IAN SOVIETGOVERNMENT
Mr. Krasnoshchekov ,Min is ter of Foreign Aff a irs of the Far Eas tern Repub l ic .
On behalf of the Government of the Rus s ian Soc i al i s t Federated Soviet Repub lic
,I have the honor to inform you that , tak ing
into cons ideration the dec laration Of the Prov i s ional Government of the Far Eas tern Republ ic w ith regard to the form ationOf an independen t democrat ic repub l ic on the bas i s s tated in thesa id declarat ion
,the Russ ian S oc ia l i s t Federated Sov i et Repub
l i c hereby recogn izes the es tab l i shmen t of the said democraticRepubl ic w ith the P rov is ional Governmen t a t its head .
The Sov i et Government i s ready to enter immed iately intooffic ia l d ip lomatic relat ions w ith the Governmen t of the newRepub l i c in order to conc lude commerc ia l and pol it ical agreements .In communicating the foreging to you , I cons ider i t my duty
on behalf of the Russ ian Soc ial is t Federated S ov iet Repub l icto express my des ires
.to see the Fat Eas tern
.Repub l icprosp er
ous and a t peace w ith the neighbor ing countries .
(Signed ) CH ICHERIN ,
People’s Comm issar for Foreign Aff a irs .
Moscow ,May 14, 1920.
DECLARATION OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE
UNITED PROVINCES OF THE RUS S IAN FAR EAST
We , the delegated repres en tat ives Of al l the peop le and Of al lthe provin ces of the Russ ian Far Eas t
,in the name Of the
p eopl e who elected us, s ol emnly declare :Two years of in ternal fratric idal war have devas tated our
ri ch country. and made pos s ib le the re- es tab l i shment Of re
action , hateful to the p eop le , in the rul e of the robber atamansand their h irel ings . A black cloud Of v iolence
,robbery and
murder oppres sed us,th e whirr of knouts
,the b laz e of in
cend iary fires,p it il es s executions made l i fe unbearab le to us ,
made peaceful intercours e w ith our neighbors impos s ib le andbrought upon our territory all ied in tervent i on . Our people , indesp eration , rebel led , writ ing on thei r banners— "
the end O fc iv i l war" and " th e un ion of al l the peop l e for l ib erty and peace ."
Having l iberated the who l e of the Russ ian Far Eas t, thepeop l e through their repres entatives procla im :
l . The entire terri tory O f the former Rus s ian Emp ire eas t ofthe River Selenga and Lake Baikal
,in cluding Western Tran s
baikal ia,Eastern Transbaikalia,
the Amur Region , the Marit imeProvince
,Sakhal in and Kamchatka
,shal l b e declared an inde
pendent Repub li c,from the date Of the pub l icat ion of the dec lara
t ion of independence Of 6th Apri l .2 . The border between the Russ ian S ocial i s t Federated
Soviet Republ ic and the Far Eastern Republ ic shal l‘
be : TheRiver Selenga from its exit from Mongol ia to i ts mouth , them iddle Of Lake Baikal
,and the former border of the Yakutsk
Province to the east and north to the Arctic Ocean .
3 . The Far Eas tern Republ i c inherits al l the rights o f theformer Russ ian Emp ire in the zone Of th e Chines e Eas ternRailway .
4 . A democratic Government shal l b e es tabl ished i n th e territory Of the Far Eas tern Republ ic , repres ent ing the w i l l of thewhole p eople , and expres sed through their duly elected repre
sentat ives .
5 . A ll the armed forces of the country and every provinceshal l b e subordinated to the command Of the Central Government .6. All th e Officers and s old i ers of the remnants of the arm ieso f
'
Kolchak, Kappel and S emenov are guaranteed personalsafety and the Opportun ity Of return ing to their homes andpeaceful labor.7. In order to work out the fundamental laws Of the country ,a Consti tuent Assembly shal l b e convoked in the very nearfuture
,in accordance with the law which shal l b e worked out
by the Conference and based on the princ ipl e of proport ional
45
representation , by universal , equal , s ecret and direct vote , without dis t inct ion Of sex and rel igion .
8 . In order to accompl ish its a im the Conference elects fromits mids t a Government o f the Far Eastern Republ ic to whom itdelegates ful l p ol it i ca l and m il i tary authori ty . This Governmentshal l exi s t unti l the convocation o f the Cons ti tuent As semb ly o fthe Far Eas tern Republ ic
,and shal l b e gu ided by democratic
princ ip les . Al l l ib erties wh ich are th e safeguards Of peace fu ldevelopment Of s oc ia l order shal l b e maintained
,the ins t itut i on
of p rivate property pres erved,but the Government shal l make
such changes as are necessary for th e protect ion Of labor , asshown from the experience Of o ther c ivi l ized nations .From the date of the elect ion Of the new Government by
the Con ference al l the other Provi s ional Governments in the
Russ ian Far Eas t sha l l b e deprived of their s tate p rerogativesand shal l b ecome loca l admin is trat ive bod ies
,pending the elect ion
Of such bodies .Addres s ing i ts el f to the nations of the world through their
Governments,the Conference declares that the Far Eas tern Re
pub l ic asp ires to estab l i sh friendly relat ions w ith a l l countrie s ,esp ec ia l ly w ith thos e bordering on i t and whos e c i ti zens res idein the terri tory o f the Far Eas tern Repub l ic . The internal s tr ifehas shaken our economic l ife , has ru ined our indus try and tran s
portation and has brought the spectre o f starvation before oureyes . Our a im is peace and peacefu l labor . In c lo s e co-Operation w ith other nations we want to recons truct our l i fe ondemocrat ic bases . Guarantee ing to al l foreign c it iz ens ful linv iolab il ity O f pers on and property
,the Conference invi tes all
Governments to enter in to relat ions w ith the Government o f theFar Eas tern Repub l i c and to s end their authorized represen tat ives in order to es tab l i sh mutual relat ions in the interes ts o f
peace,and i t des ires to as sure them that the people o f the terri
tory wholly support th e Government in its ceas eles s eff orts toes tab l i sh order and create conditions favorab l e to peaceful l i feand labor.
9th November , 1920 .
A RESOLUTION OF THE MARITIME ZEMSTVO BOARD
The Zems tvo Board , mindful that i t as sumed S tate au thori ty in the province p ending the expres s ion Of the wi l l of theenti re population Of the province , declares that the t ime has nowcome when i t n ot only may
,but must
,in accordance w ith the
law , res ign its State authori ty , and transfer i t to the Centra lGovernment . The Zemstvo Board has therefore decided : tocons ider i ts sovereign authority in the Far Eastern Republ i c asterm inated , and from thi s date to commence the performance
46
adm istrat ive border betw een the Verkhne-Udinsk and S eleginskCounties , fol lows that border , and then the border between theS eleginsk and Barguz insk Counties to Lake Baikal . I t d ividesequally Lake Baikal , runs along the former border o f the Province of Irkutsk and the Prov inc e of Transbaikal ia to the northern part of Lake Baikal
,and then to the border o f the Prov ince o f
Yakutsk and the borders Of Transbaikalia,the Amur District and
the Maritime Prov ince , to the watershed between the RiversKiran and Pesmun and the watershed of the said rivers to theOkhotsk Sea at Cap e Medjelnd . All the is lands o f the OkhotskSea south Of the said cape , including the northern part Of Sakhal in , belong to the Far Eas tern Repub l ic .Note : The frontiers of the two countries shal l b e demarked
and boundary pos ts shall b e erected by a j oint commis s i on of th etwo Repub l ics , having an equal number Of members . When thefront ier l ine pas ses through rivers and lakes
,i t shal l coinc ide
w ith the middle of the navigabl e part of th es e rivers and lakes .
The pres en t agreement b ecomes val id from the date o f i tss ignature .In witnes s whereof the representatives Of the two countri es
have s igned the pres en t agreement and have attached theirrespect iv e seals .Executed in tw o cop ies . Mo s cow
,December 1 5 , 1920.
( Signed ) L. I . KARAHAN .
Act ing P eop le’s Commis sar for Foreign Aff airs .Ch ita , 30th December, 1920.
( S igned ) A . KRASNOSH CH EKOW,
Minis ter of Foreign Aff a irs .
Approved by th e Government Of the Far Eastern Repub l icon the 24th Of January , 192 1 .
A RESOLUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FAREASTERN REPUBLIC
Announc ing the date for th e Opening of th e Cons tituent Assembly of the Far Eastern R epub l ic .
THE GOVERNMENT HAS DECIDED :
1 . To convene th e Cons ti tuent Ass embly Of the Far Eas ternRepublic on the 12th day Of February, at 6 O
’clock in the evening .
2 . TO proc la im the day of the open ing of the Cons ti tuentAs sembly a nationa l hol iday3 . To order the presen t regu lat i ons into immediate e ffect bytel egraph .
KRASNOSHCHEKOV,President Of the Government .P . FEDOREz,
Director of Affa irs of the Government .Chita, February 8, 192 1 .
48
DECLARATION OF THE CONSTITUENT AS SEMBLY
OF THE FAR EASTERN REPUBLIC.
The two and a hal f years of hero i c s t ruggle by the revolut ionary people Of the Rus sian Far
‘
Eas t agains t the hated regimeo f the usurp ing Atamans and thei r henchmen has ended in a
complete victory . Owing to the international s i tuation and witha vi ew to prevent ing the Far Eas t from becoming a permanentbase of warfare agains t S ovi et Russ ia , the people Of the Russ ianFar Eas t have given up thei r sacred wi sh of an immediate re
union w ith their mother country , Russ ia , and have entered uponthe cours e O f es tabl i shing an independent sovere ign republ i c onthe terri tory o f the Russ ian Far Eas t . The independence Of thi srepubl ic was recognized by the Soc ial i s t Federa ted Sovie t Republi c Of Russ i a in i ts declarat ion Of May 14, 1920.
To form a government and to enact the fundamental lawsof
‘the Repub l i c , the Cons ti tuent Assemb ly was elected by thefree will o f the people O f the Far Eastern Republ ic
,expressed
by universal; equal , di rect and s ecre t bal lot and by proport ionalrepre s entation wi th no d i s t inct ion of nat ional ity, s ex o r rel i gion .
Cons idering the creat ion Of such a government as will s ecure the ful l ri gh ts Of the people by promot ing stab i l i ty andcomplete freedom of creat ive ini tiat ive o f al l cit izen s in the territory of the Far Eas tern Repub lic , to b e i ts so l emn task , theCons ti tuent As sembly hereby solemnly declares to the enti reworld that1 . The whole Of the terri tory of the former Empire Of Russ ia ,eas t o f the Rive r S el enga and Lake Baikal to the Pacific Ocean ,includ ing th e p rov inces of Pribaikal ia,
Transbaikal ia, the Amurand Priamur regions and the Marit ime Province , and the northe rn part Of Sakhal in Island, i s hereby declared under the j uri sdict ion of the independent sovere ign, democrat ic S tate , the FarEas tern Republ ic .2 . By v i rtue O f an agreemen t th e demarca t ion l ine betweenthe Soviet Repub l i c of Russia and the Far Eastern Repub l i c i sdrawn as fo l lowsFrom the River S elenga from i ts exi t from Mongol ia to the
adminis trat ive boundary Of the fo rmer Selenginsk. Barguz inskand Verkhne -Udinsk counti es , following the boundary o f tho secounties to Lake Baikal , al ong the o ld b oundary between theYakutsk
,Transba ikal and Amur d i s tricts to the watershed be~
tween the Rivers Kiran and Pesmun, along the watershed o f
these r ivers to the shore s of the Okhotsk Sea at Cape Mejelnd ,
in cluding al l the i s land s south of the Cape Mejelnd .
3 . The sol e masters exerc i s ing the sovereign rights wi thinthiS '
territory are the people who inhabi t i t and consequentlythe presence o f any armed force of a forei gn power in thei r territory ,
or interference by a fore ign power w ith the internal
49
aff airs o f the country i s not only regarded as an encroachmentupon the rights of the Russ ian peopl e in the Far East
,but a s an
act of gros s v i ol ence and usurpation , and as a v i olation of fundamental int ernationa l rights .4. All the treaty right s Of the former Empire Of Russ ia in thel eas ed territory of the Chinese Eastern Railway revert to th eGovernment O f the Far Eastern Republ i c and are , there fore , subject to revi s ion conjo in tly by the Governments o f the Far
‘ Eastern Republ i c , the S ocial i s t Federated S oviet Republ ic of Russ iaand the Republ i c of Ch ina .
5 . Hereafte r the supreme power in the terri to ry Of the FarEastern Republ i c belongs to the peopl e and no one el s e .
6. The form Of Government,the foundation Of which the
Const i tuent Ass embly has been cal l ed to lay , wil l re s t on theprincipl es of rea l democracy and s el f- government
,ensuring the
sovere ignty O f the enti re populat ion and the i rrevocabl e rightsOf the to i l ing maj or i ty whos e wil l has been expres sed d i rectlythrough the ir repres entat ive s el ected according to the principl eO f universal , d i rect , equal and secret bal lo t and with due considerat ion to the principl e Of proport ional representat ion and guaranteeing the rights of the minori ty .
7. Considering the independent sel f- as s ert ion Of the communi ty and the free express i on O f in i t ia t ive whether by ind ividuals or groups as a neces sary condi tion Of the developmento f the country
,the Cons ti tuent As s embly , by abol i shing al l clas s
dis t inct ions and privi l eges , guarantees ful l pol i t i cal freedom tothe populat i on
,such as invi olab i l i ty of person , freedom of speech
and pres s,Of as sembly , th e right to organize and to s trike , freedom
of cons cience and movement .8 . Co rporal and capi tal puni shment , the rel ics of the Old re
gime , are hereby abo l i shed .
9 . Having set upon th e peaceful recons truction o f the economic and po l i t i cal l i fe o f the country , the Consti tuent As semb lydeclares c iv il s tri fe at an end and that al l pol it ical Off ences are
pardoned by a decree Of amnes ty which the Consti tuent Assemblyi s proceeding to i s sue without delay .
10. The ins titut ion Of private ownership remains untouched ,the Government guaranteeing full l iberty to all citizens Of theRepubl ic and to the ci ti zens O f foreign countrie s who may cometo l ive there . The l imi tation Of the rights o f private propertymay be extended on ly in the interes t Of the general publ i c andonly in cases provided by law .
1 1 . Land bein g the vi tal po s se ss ion Of the enti re populat ion .
the natural resources of land and water are hereby declaredthe property of the peopl e and therefore cannot become privateproperty . Pursu ing the economic pol icy of the Open door andequal Opportunit i e s for fore ign industry and trad e , and endeav
oring to re sume economic relat i ons wi th o ther nat ions on a bas i s
50
o f mutual exchange , the Government Of the Far Eas tern Republ ic wil l take every pos sible measure to at tract fore ign capitaland foreign in itiat ive to the development of the natural resource sOf the country , without violating the sovereign right s o f thepeopl e of the Russian Far Eas t and the laws fo r the preservat ionOf the rights o f the workmen .
12 . All smal l indigenous national i t ie s and national m inori t ie sin the terri tory Of the Far Eas tern Republi c are hereby grantedthe right Of autonomy which i s cons idered as a neces sary measure for the independent development Of their national ind iv idual i ty .
Firmly ins i s t ing upon thei r sovereign rights and inces santlyendeavoring to re- es tab l i sh peaceful condi tion s in their country
,
the peopl e o f the Far Eastern Republi c wil l build thei r relat ionswith neighboring nations upon the foundation of mutual unders tanding and respect , confidence and peaceful co - Operation .
The Cons ti tuent Ass embly continues i t s task , with the bel i e fin the creative power O f the revolut ionary people Of the FarEas t and in the i r readines s to defend thei r r ights and theirpeaceful labo r .TH E CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OF THE FAR EASTERN REPUBLIC.
April,192 1 .
TO ALL THE GOVERNMENTS AND NATIONS OF THEa WORLD
In the name o f the peopl e who elected us,we
,the represen
tat ives Of the Rus s ian Far Eastern provinces , from Lake Baikalto the Pacific Ocean , make the following appeal to al l thegovernments and nat ions O f the world :
For more than two and a hal f years the Russ ian Far Eas tha s fel t the pres sure O f fore ign intervention . For more thantwo and a hal f years the Russ ian Far Eas t has been torn asunderby internal s truggle , a s truggle o f the peopl e w ith the remnantsof the Old regime and the counte r- revolutionary bands thatattemp ted to enslave the peopl e aga in afte r they had with thegreates t diffi culty broken thei r fetters .But the hardships the peopl e of the Russ ian Far Eas t were
fo rced to endure , convinced them that unles s they united, thei rwel fare would no t be es tabl ished nor protected .
Regardles s o f the Obstacle s which the peopl e of the Russ ianFar Eas t have met in thei r way , Obs tacl es not so numerous fromwithin a s from outs ide the country , the peopl e have achi evedthei r union .
The Constituent Assembly which , elected on the prinOf universal suff rage , has now been convened at Ch i ta , is thegreat symbol Of that un ion .
The Cons ti tuent Assemb ly has approved the union Of the
5 1
Russ ian Far Eas tern provinces , that have a lways been a part o fthe Russ ian Empi re , a s wel l a s the es tabl i shment Of a unitedFar Eas tern Republ i c, which has laid a s the founda tion Of i tsexistence the principl es of democracy
,civ i l l ibert i e s and the
pres ervation of private property , both Ru s s ian and foreign . TheMo scow Government has expres s ed i ts approval Of the formationof the Fa r Ea stern Republ ic .The united people Of the Russ ian Far Eas t have now a wide
field O f act iv i ty in the i r fre e and independent Republ i c .But fo r the succes s Of the young Republ i c
,certain prel im
inary condi tions must be es tabl ished, without wh i ch the eff orts o fthe people may be in vain .
1 . I t i s neces sa ry that the Far Ea stern Republi c should beaccepted in the fam i ly o f independent nat ions
,as one Of i ts duly
recognized members .2 . It is necessary that the territo ry o f the Far Eastern Republ i c should be freed from fo rei gn troops and fore ign interference .The Const ituen t Assemb ly bel i eves that the Gove rnment s
and thei r p eop les , i n the nam e o f jus t ice and in the interes ts Ofpeace , will respond to th e appea l o f the representat ives Of theRus s ian Far East and will as s is t the ful ly empowered Governmen t in creat ing cond i t ions favo rab l e for peaceful labor andcommerc ia l intercours e wi th o ther nations , by acco rd ing recognit ion and by es tabl i sh ing normal relat ions with the Far EasternRepubl ic.
Chairman of th e Cons t i tuen t Assemb ly .
Secretary o f th e Cons t i tuent As s embly .
Chi ta , Apri l , 1921 .
THE NOTE ADDRESSED BY THE CONSTITUENT AS
SEMBLY OF THE FAR EASTERN REPUBLIC TOTHE PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT OF CHINA
The peop le o f the Rus s ian Far East have after long efiorts
overcome the intrigue s Of the enemies o f democ racy and haveaccompli shed the union o f the Far Eas tern Prov inces . Throughthe duly elected representat ives in the Constituent As semblythey have now taken thei r fate into their own hands . TO thepeople of the Rus s ian Far Eas t who have suff ered much in thei rs truggle for freedom , the presen t moment i s one Of tr iumphwh ich can be ful ly unders tood only by a nat ion beginning a new ,
free and independent l i fe . In thi s joyful and solemn moment weinvo luntari ly turn to our Old and tr i ed friends , the people ofChina and thei r chos en representat ives . Grea t Ch ina , which i shersel f experienc ing many shocks in her struggle fo r nationalunity
,can unders tand the joy o f the uni ted people Of the Rus
s ian Far Ea s t and can apprec ia te the s incere fri endship and sym
52
pathy o f the Cons t ituent Assemb ly towards the Ch inese peoplein the i r eff orts to bring about the union O f the country and todefend thei r nat ional independence .Ch ina and Russ ia have had a common frontier s tretch ing for
s evera l thousand miles . To the Far Eas tern Republ i c a considerable part O f th i s common frontier has devolved . It i s naturalthat d i so rders on one s ide O f thi s border line are immediatelyfelt on the o ther. For this reason China di sarmed the bands OfSemenov for the protection Of her own interests . This i s significantly demonstrated by the pres ence O f the counter- revo lut ionary bands o f Ungern in the terri tory of Ch ina . Were therelat ions o f the two Republ ic s defined, the Chines e people andtheir Governmen t would not be l iab le to suff er injury from thecounte r- revolut ionary band i t s who have forced the i r way intothe terri tory o f Ch ina . The peop le and the Governm ent o f theFa r Eas tern Repub l ic could, act ing under an agreement withCh ina, eas ily find means for cO-operat ion in the removal o f thecommon danger . The fre e peopl e of the Far Eas tern Republ ica re endeavo ring to establ i sh and s trengthen the friendly , neighborly relat ions on a sound bas i s Of mutual es teem , just i ce andwel fare . The Fa r Eas tern Repub l ic and China have a v ita l common interest in the de fence o f their indpendence againstaggres s ion and in the development Of their commerc ia l in tercours e .The Const ituent As sembly hereby so l emnly declares that
aggress ive des igns and racial prejud ic e are al ike forei gn to theideas of the Rus s ian Far Eas t. Cons idering th e former Russ oChines e relations and tha t the pol icy Of the Russ ian ImperialGovernment tended to encroach upon Ch ina’s sovereign righ ts ,the Consti tuent As s embly i s ready to recons ider al l treati e s concluded in the past
,including thos e relating to the Ch ines e Eas t
ern Railway , on a bas i s o f equal i ty to China and the Far EasternRepubl i c. The Rus s ian peopl e des ire the es tab l i shment of d ip lomat ic relat ions which wil l enab le the people of China and the FarEas tern Repub l ic to resume commerc ia l intercours e , thus increasing the pro speri ty o f both nations . Having adop ted a newcreat ive po l icy of s incere intercours e w ith a l l nati ons and theirgovernments
,the Cons t i tuen t A s sembly reques ts the Govern
ment of the Repub l ic Of China to accord th e Far Eas tern Republ ic due recognition and to estab l i sh with i t Officia l relat ion s .
TH E CON STITUENT ASSEM BLY OF THE FAR EASTERN REPUBLIC.
TO THE‘IMPERIAL JAPANESE GOVERNMENT
In the early part Of August, 1918, the Japanes e Imperia lGovernmen t i s sued a dec laration to the Rus s ian people in whichi t was sa id : "The Government of the United States recogn iz ingthe seriousness of the s ituat ion , has late ly addres sed the Japan
53
es e Governmen t asking i t for a prompt despatch of troops in orderto rel i eve the pos i t ion Of the CzechO-S lovak forces . In order tomeet the w ishes Of the American Government and to co-operatc
with the All ies in th is expedi ti on , the Japanes e Government hasdec ided to make immediate preparations for the despatch Of theneces sary troops . A detachment O f troop s w i l l b e immediatelys ent to Vlad ivos tok . Although choos ing thi s cours e Of action ,the Japanes e Government
,nevertheles s
,remains firm in i ts des ire
to mainta in i ts friendly relat ion s w i th Russ ia and her p eopl e , andconfirms the dec lara tion Of i ts pol icy to respect the terri toria lintegri ty o f Rus s ia and to refra in from interfering in Russ iandomes tic aff a irs . Furthermore , the Japanes e Government declares that a fter having accompl ished the above task i t w illimmediately withdraw its troop s from Russ ian terri tory .
"
I t wou ld appear from th is declarat ion tha t w ith the departure of the CzechO-S lovaks the Japanes e forces should als o havegone . However , in the declarat ion of the Japanes e Government ,made on August 13
, 1918 , only a few days after the solemndeclaration Of Japan referred to above was i s su ed
,add it ional rea
sons were given to j us ti fy the despatch of Japanes e troops ; theSovi et troop s headed , according to in formation which reachedJapan , by Austrians and Germans , were a menace to Japan andChina . In the declarat ion of March 3 1 , 1920, at the t ime whenthe CzechO-S lovak evacuation had been completed
,the new
reasons given in the declaration of Augus t 13 , 1918, appeared withmuch greater emphas i s . The CzechO—S l ovak quest ion b ecame amatter o f s econdary importance and the a lleged menace to Koreaand Manchuria , and the proxim i ty O f S iberia to Japan werebrought out to the foreground . In th is declaration nothing wassaid defin itely about the w ithdrawal of the Japanes e troops a fterthe evacuati on o f the CzechO- S l ovaks . I t w as s tated only thatthe Japanes e troops would b e withdrawn from S ib eria and Transbaikalia as s oon as pos s ib le a fter the evacuation of the CzechoS l ovak forces had been completed . At the same t ime was an
p ounced the o ccupation of the Russ ian part O f Sakhal in , on theground that there were no legal ly cons ti tu ted Russ ian authori
ti es w ith whom it w as poss ibl e to negotiate for a settl ementof the N ikolayevsk affair . The evacuation of the Japanes e troopsfrom the Khabarovsk d is tri c t was announced on S eptember 18
,
1920. In the declaration s igned by General O i,the Commander
in-Chief Of the Japanes e forces in S iberia,i t wa s said : " I want to
expres s my s incere w ish for an early un ion o f the Rus s ian FarEast, which w il l s ecure p eace and prosperi ty to the peop le andw il l s trengthen the friendly neighborly relat ions b etween theRus s ian and Japanes e peop les ." The same wish has been re
peated in al l th e s tatements and declarat ions Of the Imperia lJapanese Government and Japanes e M i l itary Command
,made
54
independence i s p eacefu l neighborly relat ionsh ip w ith othercoun tries .I f we recal l that the CzechO-Slovak forces have long s ince
evacuated S iberia,then accord ing to the s tatements made by the
Japanes e Government , there is no reason why Japanese troopsshould remain longer in the terri tory of the Far Eas tern Republ ie. The time has come for the Japanes e Government to provethat , in s end ing troops to Russ ia in 1918, i t d id not intend toannex Russ ian terri tory by tak ing advantage Of the temporaryweaknes s of the Ru s s ian peop le du e to the war
,the sub sequen t
d isorgan ization and th e revolution . A great h is torical opportunity has come to the Japanes e Government to determ ine formany years or even hundreds Of years to come , the mutual relat ions between the two great nat ions Of Rus s ia and JapanExpres s ing the will of the who l e Of th e peop le of th e Russ ianFar Eas t to free the country Of foreign intervention
,the Con
st ituent Assemb ly emphatical ly ins is ts upon the evacuation Ofthe Japanes e Expediti onary Forces from the entire terri tory o fthe Far Eas tern Repub li c . The Cons tituent A s s emb ly bel i evesthat the w ithdrawal Of the Japanes e troop s w il l b e an importan tfactor in re- es tab l ishing relat ions between the Japanes e andRuss ian p eop le . The proximity of th e two countries , the importance of the Russ ian Far Eas t to Japanes e industry
,the im
mens e natura l resources which awa it foreign cap ital for theirdevelopment , all are a p ledge Of the future clos e and peacefu lrelat ions , which , when the pas t sad memories are gone and thep eop le return to their ord inary occupat i ons
,shal l exis t b etween
Japan and the Far Eas tern Repub l ic .
The Cons tituen t Assemb ly expres s es the hope that in thenear future the Japanes e Government
,having des is ted from
intervent ion in Rus s ian aff a irs,wil l accord recognit ion to the
Far Eas tern Republ ic and enter into formal relat ions w ith it .For the Cons t ituen t Assembly of the Far Eas tern Repub l ic .
(Signed ) SH ILOV, President.( Signed) SUCHOVY, Secretary.
Apri l, 192 1 .
TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OFAMERICA
In the officia l dec lara t ion of the American Government,wh i ch was received a t Vlad ivo s tok on Augus t 5. 1918, it wass tated tha t the Uni ted States and Japan were the only countri esa t the t imewh i ch were in a po s i t ion to act in Siberia w ith suffi
c i ent fo rces,even to achieve such a modes t task a s
‘
the one theGovernment Of the United Sta te s has put before it sel f . TheGovernment Of the United States has propo s ed, therefore, to theGovernment o f Japan, that both countries should send a m i l itary
56
force o f several thousand men to Vlad ivostok to co- opera te inthe occupat ion o f the c ity with the vi ew o f guarding the rearfo r the CzechO-Slovak tr
‘
oops advancing eas tward . The Japanes e Government agreed to tha t proposal . The Government ofthe Uni ted Sta tes declared to the Russ ian peopl e in a mo s t frankand so l emn manner tha t it d id not aim a t in fr ingement upon thepo l it i ca l soverei gn ty o f Rus s ia , that i t d id not intend to int erfere wi th her domes tic aff ai rs even within those l imited area swhich the American troops m i ght be forced to occupy
,and tha t
i t had no des i re to encroach upon the integrity of Russ ian territory at that t ime o r in the future ; that the American Government a imed exclusively at helping the Russ ian peop le in themanner most acceptabl e to them in thei r eff o rt s to regain contro l Of thei r own aff airs , thei r t erritory and their dest iny . Itwas unders tood that the Japanes e Government would i ssue as imilar statement .The declaration of th e American Government es tabl i shed the
fo l lowing facts : That the American troops landed at Vladivostok to as s is t the CzechO-Slovak s ; tha t the American Government propos ed to the Japanes e Government to send i ts t roopsinto Russ ian terr i to ry and that the former i s , there fore , respons ible , for the further s tay Of the Japanes e troops in the terri to ryO f the Far Eastern Republ ic ; that the American Government hassolemnly guaranteed its non- interference in Russ ian a ff airs andthe invi o lab i l ity Of Rus s ian terri to ry .
Under the se cond it ions America inv ited Japan to co-Opera tein ass i s t ing the Czecho-S lovaks . At about the same time ( inAugus t) , the Japanes e Governm ent, in i ts Official declara tion ,repeated the above s tatement s . Not go ing into the detai l s of thesad h i s tory Of the in tervent ion i t i s enough to say that a t theend o f 1919 and at the beginn ing o f 1920, the Alli e s have one
after ano ther w ithdrawn thei r t roops from S iberia . The las ttransport o f Ameri can troops left Vlad ivos tok in March , 1920,and soon afte r that the remainder of the CzechO-Slovak forcesle ft our country . The Japanes e troops have not been withdrawn ;Japan has pu t forth pretext after pretext to just i fy theirs tay : Japanes e interes ts in Eastern Siberia , the poss ib le menaceto Korea and Manchuria and the unsa fe cond i t ions menacingthe l i fe and property Of her cit i zens . Instead Of the evacuationOf the Japanes e troops we witnes sed the events of Apri l 4 and
5 1920 ,with al l the later results , and in Ju ly, 1920, Japan occu
p ied the Sakhal in District . The Japanes e t roops were withdrawnfrom Transbaikalia and the d i strict around Khabarovsk , whilethe Mari t im e Province is s t i l l occupied by them . The MaritimeProv ince i s now the only p lace where the criminal counterrevolut ionary bands of Semenov are murdering and terroriz ingthe populat ion . There , as in Sakha l in , the peopl e do no t feelthemselve s any longer the mas ters Of thei r own land . The Jap
57
anese activi ty in the Marit ime Province , especial ly the i r interference with the rai lway traffi c
,forced the members Of the
Inte r-Allied Technical Board to adopt a resoluti on , asking thei rrespect ive Governments whether i t would be expedient to continne thei r work in view of the interference O f the JapaneseCommand .
The American Government made no s tatement to the Russ ian peopl e of the Far Eas t at the t ime Of the departure o f theAmerican troops . I t i s there fore no t qui te cl ear to the peopl e o fthe Russ ian Far Eas t whether the American Government hadachi eved the purpose for which i t s ent troops to S iberia . Doesthe American Government cons ider that the All i ed inte rvent ionhas come to an end ? In the declarat ion Of March 14, 1919 , withregard to the es tabl i shment O f the Inter-All ied Technical Boardi t was s tated tha t thi s arrangement for the Board w ould become inval id as soon as the Alli ed troops should be recal led fromS iberia . The fact of the Inter-Alli ed Technical B oard remainingin S iberia would indi cate that the intervent ion continues withAmerican parti c ipat ion . The repres en tatives o f the Russ ian peo ~
ple in the Far Eas t are compell ed by the present ci rcums tancesto reques t O f the American Government an explanation Of the
following :1 . Does the American Government adhere to its declarat ion of August 5 , 1918 ?2 . I f it does , then how does the American Governmentexplain the continuance of the intervent ion after the evacuationOf the CzechO- S lovak t roops ?3 . I f i t does not adhere to that declarat i on , then when wil lthe American Government declare with the same solemnitythat the intervention has ended ?4 . When will the American Government
,which invited
the Japanese Government to a mil i tary co—oper‘
a tion in the Rus~s ian Far Eas t , decla re a defini te end to the intervention whichbegan in 1918
,by that invi tat ion ?
In Spite of the numerous Obs tacl es which have been put andare being put b efore th e p eopl e of the Russ ian Far Eas t in theirefforts to unite , they have found s trength enough to ach ieve theira im . By the wi l l of the ent ir e peop le of the Rus s ian Far Eas t , without di st inct ion Of clas s and nat ional i ty
,the Cons ti tuent Assem
bly has now been convoked on the principl e O f universal su f~frage . The Cons ti tuent As sembly has confi rmed the independence of the Russian Far East and the formation Of a democrati c Far Eastern Republi c .
The Russian S ocial i s t Federated S ovi e t Republ i c has recognized the independence Of the democrati c Far Eastern Republ icand now the Cons ti tuent As sembly which repres en ts th e peopl eand expre s ses thei r wil l
,expects the Uni ted S tates o f America
to accord recognit iOn to the Far Eastern Republ ic .
58
For the Consti tuent Assembly o f the Far Eastern Republ ic .
( Signed ) SH ILOV,President .
( S igned ) S UCHOVY,S ecretary .
Apri l , 1921 .
TO THE GOVERNMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN
In connect ion with the landing of American troops in Russ ian terri tory the American Government made the fol lowingsolemn declara tion to the Russian people
"The United S tates and Japan are the only countri e s whicha t the presen t moment are in a pos i t ion to act in S iberia withsuff i c i ent forces
,even to achi eve such a modes t task as the one
the Government o f the United S tates ha s put be fore i ts el f . TheGovernm ent O f the Uni ted S tate s ha s proposed , there fore , to theGovernment O f Japan
,that both countri e s should s end a mil itary
force O f s everal thousand men to Vladivo stok to co - Operate inthe occupation o f the ci ty and in the protect i on Of the rear , asmuch as poss ibl e , Of the CzechO- S lovak troops advancing eastward . The Japanes e Government agreed to that proposal . TheGovernment o f the Uni ted S tates wishes to declare to the Russ ian peopl e in a most frank and solemn manner that i t does notaim at in fringement upon th e pol i t ical s overeignty of Russ ia .
that i t does not des i re to interfere with her‘
domes tic aff a irs evenw i thin thos e l im i ted area s which the Ameri can troops might beforced to occupy , and that i t ha s no intention to encroach uponthe integri ty o f Russ ian terri tory at th e present t ime or in thefuture ; that the American Government aims exclus ively a t helping the Russ ian peopl e in the manner most acceptabl e to themin thei r eff orts to regain control O f the i r own aff ai rs , thei r territory and thei r dest iny . I t i s unders tood that the Japanes e Governm ent will i s sue a s imila r s tat ement .The Governments of Great B rita in , France and Italy have
been in formed Of the aims and intent ions Of the Government ofthe Uni ted S tates and those Governments have notified the S tateDepartm ent that they have agreed to i t on prin c ip le .
In a S im i lar declaration the Japanese Government s tated :The Governm ent Of the United S tates , recognizing the
seriousnes s O f the s i tuat ion,has lately addres sed the Japanese
Government , a sk ing i t for a p r ompt di sp atch Of troops in orderto rel i eve the pos i t ion of the CzechO- S l ovak forces . In orderto meet the wishes of the American Government and to cO-Operate wi th the Al l i e s in thi s expedi tion , the Japanes e Governmenthas decided to make immedia te prep arati ons for the di spatch O fthe neces sary t roops . A number o f troops wil l b e immediatelys ent to Vladivostok . Although choosing th i s cours e o f action ,
the Japanes e Government , neverthel es s , remains firm in i t s des i re to maintain fri endly relations with Russ ia and her peopl e
59
and confi rm s its declara t ion o f the po l icy to respect the terr itorial in tegri ty o f Rus s ia and to refrain from interfe ring inRus s ian domest ic aff ai rs . Furthermore , the Japanese Governmen t declares that after hav ing accompl i shed the above task itwil l immed ia tely w ithdraw i ts t roops from Russian territory .
"
The fo l lowing was s tated i n a s im ilar declarat ion Of theB rit i sh Governm ent , s ign ed by Balfour and addres s ed
" to thepeople of Russia
"Your A l l i e s have not forgotten you . We remember thes ervice rendered by your hero i c army in the fi rs t years o f thewar, and we come to you as fri ends to help you , to save youfrom being dismembered and cru shed by Germany
,wh ich i s try
ing to subdue your people and to exploit the immense riches o fyour country for her own benefit . We solemn ly dec lare , however,that help ing Russ ia in her s truggle aga ins t Germany we w il l notreta in a S ingle foot of Ru s s ian territory .
"
These so l emn and Official decla rat ions of the Governmentso f the Uni ted S tate s , Japan and Great B ri tain quit e defini tely establish the fol lowing facts w ithou t pos s ibi l i ty o f a double interpretat ion :
1 . Tha t the A l l i ed t roops landed in Russ ian territo ry toach i eve the fo l lowing two a imsa . To as s is t the CzechO-S lovaks ( the a im of America and
Japan) .
b . To help the Ru s s ian s agains t the aggres s ion o f Germany (the a im Of Great B rita in
,France and I taly) .
2 . That a fter that task had been accompl ished the Al l iedt roops would be withdrawn from Russ ian territo ry .
3 . That the sovere ign righ ts O f the Russ i an people over the i rterri to ry were not to be infringed upon .
4. That in cas e any of the All ies v iolated th e so l emn declarations made by them the respons ib i l ity would res t w ith al l theAl l i es .The Cons t ituen t As sembly Of the Far Eastern Democrat ic
Republ ic having been convened in o rder to work out the fina lform o f the new sys tem of governmen t of the Russ ian Far East ,based on democrat i c princip les and freedom , in peaceful intercours e w ith al l the nations
,s ol emnly address es the Governmen t
and through i t th e p eopl e of Great B ri tain , cal l ing attent ion tothe fo l low ing facts1 . The CzechO- Slovak fo rces have le ft Russ ian terri tory asfar back a s March and Apri l Of la st year.2 . The war with Germany has ended long ago .
3 . All the All i ed t roops wi th the exception o f the Japanesehave been wi thdrawn from Rus s ian territo ry .
4. The Japanese troops have not only no t been withdrawn ,but with the departure o f the Al l i ed troops the Japanese have
60
Off ered pretext a fter pretext to j us t i fy th e continuat ion o f theintervent ion .
5 . Entirely ignoring the sovere ign ty o f the Russ ian peopleove r thei r Own territo ry , the Japanes e are constantly interfering in the domest i c aff a irs of Rus s ia , preventing the resumptionO f peaceful economic l i fe and are help ing to in c ite a new civi lwar by their pers i s tent support of the rufli ans and criminal s o fthe counter- revo lut ionary groups .6. The Japanes e troops have occupied th e Sakhal in di s tri ctand have fo rcibly seized almo s t the enti re fi sh ing trade of theRuss ian Far Eas t .In v i ew of the above facts the Const i tuent As sembly i s con
s tra ined to reques t of the B ri ti sh Government an explanationof the fo l lowing1 . Does the B ri t i sh Governmen t adhere to i ts declarat ion Of
Augus t , 1918 ?2 . Doe s the B ri t i sh Government cons ider that the task whichwas se t at the beginning of the intervention has been accom
p lished ?
3 . I f i t does , (a) how are we to explain the fact tha t theB ri t i sh Government has not so declared ? (b) How are we toexplain the pres ence Of Japanes e troops in Rus s ian terri tory ?(c) And how are we to explain the si l ent sanct ion on the partO f the B rit i sh Government O f the activi ty Of the Japanes e Government in the terri tory Of the Russ ian Far East ?4. I f the above task has been accompli shed , will not theB ri t i sh Government make to the
‘ Russ ian peopl e a decl arat i onto tha t eff ect wi th the same so l emnity as that w ith which itmade i t s declarat ion of Augus t , 1918 ?
The Chai rman of the Const ituent As s embly ,(Signed ) DM ITRY SH ILOV,
Secretary Of the Const i tuent As s embly ,(Signed ) SUCHOVY.
Chi ta , April 18, 192 1 .
TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF
FRANCE
In connect ion with the landing Of American troops in Russian terri tory the American Government made the fol lowingsolemn dec laration to the Rus s ian people
"The United S tat es and Japan are the only countri es whichat the present moment are in a pos i t ion to act in Siberi a withsufficient forces
,even to achieve such a modes t task as the one
the Government o f the United S tates has put before i ts el f . TheGovernment o f the United States has propo sed, therefo re, to theGovernment o f Japan that bo th countri e s should send a m il itary
61
force o f s everal thousand men to Vlad ivo s tok to cO- Operate inthe occupat ion o f the ci ty and in the protect ion Of the rear
,as
much as po s s ibl e , O f the CzechO-Slovak t roops advancing eastward . The Japanes e Government agreed to that propo sal . TheGovernment of the United States wi shes to declare to the Russ ian peopl e in a mos t frank and solemn manner that it does notaim at in fringement upon the pol i t i cal s overeignty Of Rus sia
,
that i t doe s not des i re to int er fere w ith her domes ti c aff a irseven w ith in thos e l im ited areas which th e American troopsmight be fo rced to occupy , and that i t has no intention to en
croach upon the integri ty of Russian terri tory at the pres entt ime or in the future ; that the American Government a im s exelus ively at helping the Russ ian peopl e in the manner mos t accep table to them in the i r eff orts to regain control Of thei r ownaff a irs , their territory and their des tiny . I t i s unders tood that theJapanes e Government w i l l i s sue a s imilar s tatement .
"The Governments O f Great B ri tain,France and Italy have
been in formed Of the aims and intentions o f th e Government o fthe United S tate s and those Governments have notified theS tat e Department that they have agreed to i t on principl e .
In a s imilar declara ti on the Japanes e Government s tat ed :"The Governmen t O f the United S tates , recogn i z ing the
seriousnes s Of the S i tuat ion , has lat ely addres s ed the JapaneseGove rnment
,asking it for a prompt di spatch Of troops in order
t o rel i eve the pos it i on of the CzechO- S lovak force s . In orderto meet the wishe s O f the American Government and to co - opera te with the All i e s in th i s expedit ion , the Japanes e Governmenthas decided to make immediate preparat ions for the di spatch o f
the nece s sary troops . A number o f t roops wil l be immediatelysent to Vladivo stok . Although choosing thi s cours e O f acti on ,the Japanes e Government
,neverthel es s , remains firm in i t s de
s i re to ma in tain fri endly relat i ons w i th Rus s ia and her peopl eand confi rms i ts decla rat ion of the pol i cy to respect the territorial in tegri ty Of Russ ia and to re frain from interfering inRuss ian domes ti c aff airs . Furthermore , the Japanese Government declare s that a fte r
'
having accompl i shed the above task i twill immediately withdraw i t s troops from Russ ian terri t ory .
Thes e s tatements were repeated . in the declaration s madeby Great B ri ta in , France and Italy .
These sol emn and O fficial declara tions O f the Alli e s quitedefinitely e stab l i sh the fol low ing facts without any poss ib i l i tyOf a double interpretation :1 . That the Alli ed t roops landed in Russ ian terr i to ry to
achi eve the fo l l ow ing two a ims :a . To a s s i s t the CzechO- S lovak s ( the aim o f America and
Japan) .b . TO help the Russ ians against the aggres s ion of Germany
( the a im o f Great B ri ta in , France and I taly ) .
62
French Government make to the Russ ian people a dec lara tion totha t eff ect with the same sol emnity as that w ith which i t madeit s declarat ion of Augu s t , 1918 ?
The Chai rman Of the Const i tuent Assemb ly ,( S igned ) SH ILOV.
Secretary Of the Const itugnt Assembly .
( S igned ) SUCHOVY,
April 18 , 192 1 , Chita .
DECLARATION BY COUNCIL OF M INISTERS .
In a period Of extreme economic dis organ ization , when,
in sp ite of the conclus ion of c iv i l war , foreign intervention inits flagrant occupation Of very important and valuabl e p ortionsOf the Repub l ic
,s t i l l continued
,the Far Eas tern Government
elected by the Cons tituent Assembly , formed th e Counci l Of
Minis ters,entru st ing i t w ith the task of direct ing and managing
the a ffa irs Of the Repub lic .Being compell ed under the p res sure O f h i storical neces s ity
to es tab li sh an independent S tate , the working peopl e o f theRus s ian Far Eas t , in their long , s tubborn and hard res i s tanceagains t reaction and intervention
,and amid th e flames of civ i l
war, conceived a s trong determ ination to ach ieve un ity and
defend their right and pres erve their country . The unificat ionof the Far Eas t ended w ith the elect ion of the Cons ti tuent Assembly , which has adop ted the Cons ti tu t ion Of the Repub li c andhas formulated the general s tate pol icy Of the country .
Now the Counci l Of Min i s ters is faced with the task Of putt ing the Const i tution into pract i c e
, of reorgan iz ing th e s tateeconomy , of real iz ing the princip les of c ivil and pol i t ical freedomand democracy , and of bringing abou t the final and rea l unionof th e provinces Of the Far Eas t i n a s ingle s tate organ izat ion ,thereby ending civi l war
,intervention
,and econom ic d isorgani
zat ion of d iff erent parts Of the Repub l ic .For the tasks enumerated above the maj ori ty of the pOpula
tion , and al l the workers are respons ibl e , and thei r accompl ishmen t i s po ss ib l e only through the cO-Operation and exertion O fal l groups and parties of the peopl e . The Government of theRepublic has there fore invited all pol itical parties and groupsthat are w il l ing to devote their energy and knowledge to the rees tab l i shment Of the pol iti cal and economic l i fe Of the country .
to parti cipate in the important work of the Counci l Of Min is ters .
Having defined the task of s tate recons truct ion and determ ined upon a genera l p lan for its attainment , the maj ori ty Ofthe working peopl e has been gu ided by th e interes ts Of thenati on as a whol e , and no t of s ingl e groups , thus real iz ing the
64
genera l national ta sk which i s before the Repub l ic . Hav ing’
been cal led upon to carry into eff ect th e w il l of the maj ori ty of
the peop le , the Counci l Of M in i s ters , b ea ring in m ind the generalinterests Of the working peop le of th e Republ ic
,will a t th e same
t ime fulfi l l the asp irat ions Of the nat i on as a whole . The Counc i lof Min isters , has, therefore , the right not only of demandingObedience in accordance w ith th e Cons titution , but has al so theright of expect ing the friendly support Of al l c lasses regard lessO f party a ffi l iat ion .
The Counci l Of M in i s ters i s en t irely respons ib l e to the peop le
,whose representative body is the National As sembly of the
Republ ic . Being in c los e connection w ith the people Of theRepub l ic
,rely ing upon the confidence Of the National A s sembly
and upon the active support Of the masses,the Counc i l Of M in i s
ters w il l not abandon the cours e o f s ta te recons truction i t hasadop ted
,whatever Obstac l e or Oppos i tion i t may meet from forces
hos ti l e to the peop le.Hoping to make in the future a detai led statement o f the
p lan of i ts act iv it i es in the diff eren t departments o f governmen tadm in i stration and national economy , the Counc i l o f Minis tersa t the pres en t moment cons iders i t neces sary to d iscus s onlysuch general ques t ions on i ts program a s are o f immed iate andparamount importance and of spec ia l interes t.
The recons truct ion Of the Republ ic and the res torat i on Ofnormal l ife in i t w i l l be pos s ib le on ly when the separate prov incesare c los ely connected w ith the Central Government , under absolute submiss ion to the economic-adminis trat ive authorit ies o f theGovernment of the Repub li c and when activ i t ies are conductedin ful l accord w ith the genera l interest s Of th e coun try .
Gran t ing an un l im ited field o f in it iat ive and independen tactiv ity to the loca l autonomous bodies , the Counc i l Of M in is ters ,nevertheles s
,makes it it s firs t duty to el im inate any tendency
toward s eparat ion in any department Of provinc ia l l i fe whichi s of nat i ona l importance , and to b ring about a fu l l agreementb etween th e local adm inis trat ive b odies and the general lawsof the Repub lic and to bring local admini stration into consonancew ith the ins truct ions and genera l po l icy Of the Centra l Government.With tha t end in v i ew and guided by the instruct ions Of the
Government,the Counci l Of Minis ters w il l s ee that a uniform
sys tem o f loca l government i s establ ished throughou t the territory of the Republ ic in accordance w ith the Const itution.
I t i s th e Op in ion Of the Counci l Of M in i sters that th e workOf es tab l ish ing un ion between the Central Government and thelocal administrative bodies
,as well as the introduction o f law and
democrat ic order w il l b e greatly fac i l itated by the inst i tu t ion ofthe prov inc ia l Emissaries prov ided for in the Const i tut ion .
65
In the interes t Of democracy and order in th e Repub l ic ,the Counci l Of M inisters cons iders i t its task to organ ize a normaljud ic ial sys tem
,tak ing into cons ideration that the jud ic ial b odies
have no t only to main ta in law ,but to b e th e exponents Of the new
concep t ion o f order fo r the mass es which Should reflect the newlyes tab l ished correlation of soc ial forces .Hav ing occup ied their prop er place in the general s cheme
o f governmen t inst i tut ions , the j ud ic ia l bod i es should be themain guarantee to the citi zens of unres tricted enjoyment O f theirc iv i l and po l itical r igh ts .Tak ing into cons ideration tha t under th e pres ent c ircum
s tances w e mus t count not only with the crim inals , who v io latethe rights of the c it iz ens
,bu t a lso with the coun ter-revo lutionary
el em en ts,which d irec t their activ i ty agains t the po l i t i ca l l ib erty
Of the c i tiz ens and the democra t ic order, the Counc i l Of M in isters , in order to p rotect the c iv i l l ib ert ies of the c i t iz ens in str ictaccordance w ith the Constitution Of the Repub l ic, will reorgan iz ethe m il i t ia and s tab i l iz e p ol i t ical s ecurity .
However, the bes t p rotectors and p res ervers o f civ i l and pOl it ical freedom are the consc ious peop le themselves , ,and there~
fore, al l the comb ined measures here ment ioned w il l not sufficient ly guarantee the main tenance of democra t i c order if thestandard o f cu l ture Of the peop l e i s not ra is ed . The Council o fMinis ters
,therefore , hav ing adopted concrete m easures for the
genera l educa tion of th e p eop le o f the Republ ic, has set for i ts el fthe task o f the early so lut ion of the prob lems , as defined by theConst itu ent Ass emb ly : TO provide al l the c i t i z ens of the Re
publ ic, and firs t Of a l l the working peop le , with a genera l freeeduca t ion , compulsory and universa l for al l ch i ldren of schoolage , and to es tab l ish a un iform sys tem of educat i on in al l theschoo l s o f the Republ ic .Due attention w il l be pa id to the health Of the peop le
,and
the Governm en t undertakes to prov ide th e p eop le w ith freem edical and veterinary as s is tance.Bu t the main task before the Counc i l o f M in is ters
,upon the
performance Of which depends the future Of our young Repub l ic,
is the t e- estab l i shment and organ izat ion o f a sound financ ia l andindus trial sy s tem . TO augmen t the creat ive forces Of indus tryand agr icu lture, to es tabl i sh norma l trade, and to fac i l i ta te trans~
portat ion, th e pres en t cond it ions Of th e Repub l ic demand thefree emp loyment Of cap ita l, not only Rus s ian , cO-Operat ive or
private, but a lso foreign .
Touch ing upon the d iff eren t branches Of nat ional economy , th e Counci l Of M in is ters , act ing in s tric t accordance withthe articles of the Const i tut ion
,wil l b e gu ided by the fol lowing
cons iderat ionIn the domain Of indus try
66
1 . In ful l a ccordance w ith th e w il l Of the Cons tituen t Assembly , and in the interes t of the economic developmen t of thecountry , th e freedom of private in itiative is es tab l i shed in al ldepartmen ts of indus try , for both Rus s ian and foreign cap ital .res tricted only by the righ ts of ownersh ip Of the resources Of
th e land , a s p rescrib ed in the Const i tu t ion .
2 . A im ing at th e cO-Operation Of the large mas ses of theworkers in th e es tabl ishment Of national indus try , th e Counc i lo f Minis ters w il l a s s i s t in every pos s ib l e way the exis ting co
operative and pub l i c en terpri s es and wil l encourage th e es tabl ishment of new enterpri s es , by part i cipat ing in them and bygrant ing them certa in p rivi l eges .3 . The Counci l Of Min is ters will exert every eff ort to improve and extend the government indus tria l enterpris es , suchimprovem ent and extens ion being the main prob l em o f theM in is try of Indus try .
The majority o f the peasan t population are now in a verydiffi cult pos iti on , owing to the fact that their homes and propertyhave in many p laces b een plundered
,s e t on fire or en ti rely de
s troyed . In order to re-estab l i sh rura l economy to a certaindegree
, great sum s of money and the utmos t exertion s Of thework ing peopl e are requ ired . The Council of M in i s ters w il ladop t a l l measures to increas e the product iv ity of the land , bysupply ing the populat i on w ith agricul tural mach inery and s eedgrain ; and by organ iz ing agronom ical a id ; i t wil l al so developrura l indus tri es by s t imulating the w idest partic ipat ion on thepart Of cO- Operative
,rura l and pub l i c organ izat ions .
In order to supply the peop le w ith the neces sary prov i s ion sand commod i t ies
,th e Counci l Of M in i sters w il l act in c los e as so
ciat ion with co-Opera t ive organ izat ion s . But in order to com eto a sat i s factory solution of th e problem ,
under th e presen t d i sorgan ized state of the econom ic l i fe of th e country , the partic ipatiou Of al l the sound forces of the Repub l ic i s n eces sary .
The Council of M in i s ters guarantees fu l l freedom for the partic i
pat ion o f private cap ital , and w il l endeavor to create such con
d itions in its relat ions w ith foreign powers , as to aff ord foreigncap ita l an oppo rtunity to partic ipate largely in th e indus tria land commerc ia l l i fe Of the country .
At the same t ime , taking into con s ideration the d i sorgan izeds tate of the econom ic l ife of th e country and th e prevalenceof specula tive cap ital , th e Counc i l Of M in i s ters cons iders i t p ecessary to adop t measures regu la t ing export and import , in order toprotect the interest s Of the s tate and to concen trate in the hand sof the Government al l raw materials which are of importance tothe country , and also to regu late the domes tic trade , wh i l e by nomean s res trict ing the in itiat ive o f private or co-operative cap ital .Being anxious to create favorabl e cond i t ion s for normal
trade in the country , the Counci l of Min isters cons iders it nec
67
essary to annu l al l currency wh ich i s not guaranteed and to
adopt a s tabl e monetary uni t.A t the same t ime
,taking into cons idera tion the l im ited re
sources of the Repub lic , the Counc i l o f Minis ters cons iders i tof great importance to adopt the fol low ing measures :
(a) To l im it to a minimum the expenditures of the Repub l i cand to reduce the staff Of government in st itut ion s and enterr i ses .p(b ) To increas e the income of the S tate by rev i s ing theexis t ing taxes
,by in troduc ing new taxes
,dut ies and exc i s e , and
al so rev i s ing trade monopol ies on arti cl es Of un iversal consumpt ion , th i s b eing w ith in the j uri sd ict ion Of the M in is try of Finance .The Counci l of M in i s ters cons iders i t necessary to re- es tabl i sh th e transport sys tem Of the Repub l i c , adapting it to the grea tneeds Of th e country . In the pol i t i cal and stra tegic interes ts ofthe S tate , the rail and water ways , as well as the mines , whichdirectly and ch i efly support th e rai l and water transport serv i cew ith coal , shal l be under the contro l Of the Government .
In organ iz ing the protect ion of lab or , th e Counci l o f Ministers has undertaken the task of mak ing eff ect ive th e fundamentallaws pertain ing to labor , adop ted by the Const i tuent As s emblyand wil l endeavor firs t of al l :(a) In order to guarantee to the lab or organ izat ions a rea linfluence upon the l ife of the State , to invite th e trade unionsto part ic ipate in the active recons truction of the economic l i feOf the Republ i c, by co-Operat i on in the admini s trat ion of government enterpri ses and by thei r as s istance in regulat ing the wagesof the workers .(b) In order to protect th e interes ts Of labor , the Govern
men t w i l l formulate leg i s lat ion granting to the trade un ions theright to d i spos e of suppl ies and arti cles Of primary and s econdary importance , intended for the workers , as a wage in kind ,in creas ing the supply to the normal ratio of consump t ion .
(c) TO organ ize workers’ assoc iat ions for the protection o f
labor , and firs t of al l , for th e protection Of ch i ld labor , forb iddingthe emp loym en t Of children in industries detrimenta l to thehea lth of m inors , es tab l i sh ing a t the same t im e educat ional in s t itut ions.
(d ) To es tabl i sh insurance organ iza ti on s w ith the ful l rightof co-Opera t ion therein Of the insured
,to prov ide
,firs t of al l ,
agains t d isab i l i ty , acc iden t or ch i ldb irth .
In its foreign pol icy the Counci l Of M in i s ters , act ing underthe ins truct ions of the Governm en t of th e Repub l i c and in cO
operat ion w ith it, wil l endeavor to es tabl i sh the po s i t ion O f ouryoung Republic, as a ful ly recogn ized member Of th e com i tyof nat ion s . Hav ing s ettled its relat ions with Sov ie t Russ ia ,every eff ort wi l l be exerted to estab l i sh relations w ith foreign
68
countries , firs t of al l with Ch ina and Japan , on the bas i s of
peace, mu tual respect for the sovereign righ t of each country ,non- interference in their domes tic aff a irs
,and a fri endly att itude
to econom ic interes ts on the princip l e of rec iproc i ty , and s trongly ins i s ting upon the evacuation of foreign troops from the
territory O f the Repub li c,and upon abs tent ion from further in
terference in the domestic aff airs of -the Republ i c by foreignpowers .
TO s ecure order in the Republ i c,to pro tect the country from
any foreign encroachment,and to defend the cit i zen s from the
attacks of counter- revolutionary groups, w h ich are largely con
centrated beyond the borders of the Repub l ic , the Counci l ofM in is ters , acting under the in s truct ion s of the Government , wil ladop t measures neces sary for the re organ izat ion of the army .
The Counci l of Minis ters b el i eves that the accompli shmen tin part a t l eas t of the aforemen ti oned tasks , w i th th e friendlyco-operation Of the peopl e Of the Repub l i c w i ll further the es tablishment Of normal condit ions
,under which the carry ing out of
the Cons ti tut ion,establ i shed by the Cons ti tuen t Assembly , and
the election of a new National Assembly , will b e made pos s ible .The Pres ident of the Counc i l Of M in is ters : Nikiforov .
Min is ter O f Jus tice : B inasik .
Minis ter o f Domes t i c Aff a irs : Matveyev .
Minis ter Of War : Burov .
M inisted Of Commerce : Grossman .
Minis ter of Supp l ies : Poletayev.
Minister of Education : Shreiber.
Minis ter of Labor and S ocial Welfare : S liulikov.
Mini s ter of Agricul ture : Bessonov.
Mini ster of Indus try . Anis imov .
Min is ter of Communicat i on : Shatov .
May , 1921 .