The 1905 Revolution on the Siberian Railroad
1988; Wiley; Volume: 47; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/130442
ISSN1467-9434
Autores Tópico(s)Soviet and Russian History
Resumoempire's peripheries than in central Russia. The provinces responded to events in St. Petersburg and Moscow, but local conditions frequently produced confrontations with the established order that were more militant and massive than those in the capitals, and with organized revolutionaries playing a larger part.1 From Krasnoiarsk east, Siberia experienced the most extensive breakdown of authority, culminating in defacto seizures of power by revolutionaries in several cities and towns. Central to these events was a massive mutiny among reserve and some garrison units mobilized for war with Japan.2 The military revolt was preceded, however, by emergence of the newly opened Siberian Railroad as a special hotbed of labor unrest. Three factors distinguished the revolt on the Siberian main line from the movement of railwaymen in European Russia. First was the semi-frontier character and relative underdevelopment of the region and the striking primitiveness and immaturity of the railroad itself. Second was the central role played by mobilization and demobilization for the war. When rebellious troops began to return from the Far East the question for striking railwaymen became not how to stop railroad traffic, but how to keep it moving. The third and most important factor was the peculiar character of the Siberian railroad work force. Although Siberian workers were more highly paid than railwaymen elsewhere, and though many had been recruited with promises of early promotion, labor relations were exceptionally chaotic. The very adventurousness that drew some workers to the
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