Celebration of the five-year anniversary of the restoration of Soviet power in Yeniseysk Governorate

Tishkina Kseniya Alekseevna ORCID: 0000-0002-2342-0548 PhD in History Research Fellow, Siberian Federal University 79 Svobodny Ave., Krasnoyarsk Territory, 660049, Russia ksetishkina@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Since the establishment of a new political regime, not only the rethinking of the already established ones is carried out, but also the formation of new traditions. This is most noticeably reflected in the example of the festive calendar, which is expanded by honoring dates related to the history of the state. So, starting from the end of 1924, solemn events related to the five-year date of the restoration of Soviet power in the region began to take place in Siberia. The celebration of the anniversaries of historical events was of great importance for the establishment of the legitimacy of the power of the Bolshevik Party, and was also one of the reasons for the intensification of propaganda work among the population.

The methodology of this work is based on a socio-cultural approach, which is based on the idea of a "dialogue of the past", the preservation of historical memory ^{[16, p. 84]}. The research is based on the principles of historicism, which made it possible to establish cause-and–effect relationships between events and phenomena, and objectivity - to avoid politicization of statements and conclusions. The research is based on chronological, historical-genetic and historical-systemic methods.

The subject of the study is the process of preparing and holding celebrations on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the restoration of Soviet power in the Yenisei province.

The formation and implementation of the Soviet holiday calendar in Siberia is one of the current trends in domestic research, reflected in a number of publications ^{[3, 10, 11, 12]}. Nevertheless, the theme dedicated to the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the restoration of Soviet power in Siberia is poorly reflected in modern literature.

The source base of the research was unpublished documents stored in the funds of the State Archive of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, and materials of the Siberian periodical press (newspapers "Soviet Siberia", "Krasnoyarsk Worker", "Power of Labor", the magazine "Siberia"). The revealed information contributes to the formation of a holistic picture of festive events in the Yenisei province in 1924-1925.

In the first half of the 1920s, the tradition of annual celebration of September 13 was established in Minusinsk, Yenisei province, as the day of the liberation of the city from the Russian army and the establishment of Soviet power in the county. On this day in 1919, the partisan army, formed from detachments under the command of A.D. Kravchenko and P.E. Shchetinkin, drove the White Guard troops out of the city ^{[20, p. 91]}. Already in 1920, in honor of the perpetuation of this event, Sretenskaya Street was renamed into September Morning Street. In 1922, on the "anniversary of the capture of Minusinsk by the red partisans", a solemn meeting was held in the city with the participation of P.E. Shchetinkin and the head of the partisan detachment operating in the Taseevsky direction, F.Ya. Babkin ^{[17, p. 1]}.

According to the resolution of the Minusinsk district executive committee of September 5, 1923, September 13 was approved as "... an annual proletarian holiday for the mountains. Minusinsk and its county" ^{[9, p. 1]}. Classes in schools and the work of institutions in the county were not carried out on this day. It was recommended to hang flags on all buildings, and decorate the facades with banners, posters, etc.

In 1924, events dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the restoration of Soviet power were held in the city and the county. To solve organizational problems, a special commission was created from among representatives from local authorities, the party and public associations. On September 10, 1924, an Order was issued for the Minusinsk garrison, according to which all military units of the city should arrive at Sovetskaya Square on September 13 to take part in the parade. The uniform of the audience is sentry. The order of the procession of the columns was determined as follows: first, soldiers of the 15th special purpose Minusinsk Separate battalion, the OGPU border guard, the convoy team, then a company of pre-conscripts, police, RLKSM, athletes, professional organizations, an orphanage and a fire brigade. The parade was hosted by the head of the garrison Prokopyev together with the chairman of the county executive committee, the responsible secretaries of the ukoma of the RCP(b), the RLKSM and the Federal Bureau of Defense, representatives from the women's department and the partisans ^{[7, L. 2]}.

By the festive date, a tribune decorated with portraits of red partisans A.D. Kravchenko and P.E. Shchetinkin and posters was installed on Sovetskaya Square. The celebrations began on September 13, 1924 at 10:00 a.m. After the end of the rally, the column moved towards the mass grave to honor the memory of the fallen fighters for Soviet power. At 14:00, the performance of physical education students began on Sovetskaya Square: 1500 m running, long jump, tug of war, etc. Sports events ended with a football match.

In the evening, solemn meetings were held in the local cinema and theater, where reports on the partisan movement in the Minusinsk district were presented and the veterans of the Civil War were honored. Then, a performance on the theme of the French Revolution, "Revolutionary Wedding", was shown to the people gathered in the theater, and a free movie screening was organized in the cinema.

On the festive day, P.E. Shchetinkin, who lived in Novonikolaevsk and held the position of Chief of Staff of the OGPU troops of the Siberian Border District, received a traditional solemn telegram with the following content:

"Today Minusinsk celebrates the fifth anniversary of the liberation of the city and county by the Red Partisans under your direct leadership. The working people of the city, as well as Local Soviet Party Professional organizations, send their warm greetings to you as the leader of the former Red Partisans and hope that the workers of Minusinsk, in difficult moments for the Soviet government, will again go under your leadership to achieve complete victory over all mercenaries of capital" ^{[7, l. 3]}.

Following the example of previous years, the issue of the local newspaper "The Power of Labor" by September 13, 1924 was thematic and covered the history of the partisan movement in the county. A number of memoirs of the participants of the events were published. The newspaper's editorial office also honored the memory of A.D. Kravchenko, who died in 1923, with an obituary, which stated: "Military life undermined his health, he fell ill with consumption, but all the time continued to work as Head of the Provincial Land Administration in Pyatigorsk until death took him to his grave" ^{[19, p. 2]}. The newspaper "The Power of Labor" On September 13, Minusinsk called on residents to "... go outside to honor the memory and return a certain debt to the survivors" ^{[4, p. 1]}.

In November 1924, the newspaper Sovetskaya Sibir reported that this year marks the fifth anniversary of the restoration of Soviet power in Siberia. Attention was drawn to the fact that the process of changing the political regime itself took place unevenly in the region. In particular, it was pointed out that some "... Siberian cities themselves hesitate, not knowing exactly what date to coincide with the day of their liberation" ^{[1, p. 1]}. In this regard, it was proposed to establish a single official date for all residents of Siberia – December 14 – the day of the liberation of Novonikolaevsk by the Red Army troops

At the end of November 1924, an appeal was issued from the Sibkraikom to all the gubernatorial committees of the RCP (b) "On celebrating the day of the liberation of Siberia from Kolchakism." According to the document, the day of the celebrations was determined on December 14, 1924. It was planned that the celebration of the anniversary would be an occasion to strengthen campaigning among the population. To do this, it was recommended, using periodicals, to highlight the heroic work of underground cells, to display the significance of the partisan movement in Siberia and the heroic exploits of the Red Army soldiers, to present reports at festive meetings, to intensify the work of literacy centers, etc. It was recommended to pay special attention to highlighting the role of women and the Komsomol in the "fight against Kolchakism" ^{[14, p. 8]}. On the solemn day, members of the cells of the RCP(b), especially in rural areas, had to organize themed remembrance evenings with the invitation of participants in the Civil War who fought on the side of the Soviet government. In cities, solemn meetings were held in local organizations and institutions ^{[8, L. 15]}.

In early December 1924, an article "December 14 – Siberian holiday" was posted on the editorial page of the Minusinsk newspaper "The Power of Labor", which noted that in previous years the anniversary celebration was not given due importance. This was explained by the fact that for each territorial administrative unit, the day of the restoration of Soviet power was different. The example was Minusinsk, for which the annual solemn day was September 13. The newspaper's editorial staff hoped that in the future a single holiday would take on a large-scale character. As events on this day, it was proposed to visit mass graves, work with children and youth to explain the main reasons that led to the events of five years ago, etc. ^{[1, p. 1]}.

On December 14, 1924, a thematic issue of "Soviet Siberia" was published, on the pages of which detailed information was published for the first time in the Siberian press about the arrest and execution of the Supreme Ruler of Russia, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (the order of execution, memoirs of the chairman of the first investigative commission, S.D. Chudnovsky).

Despite the date of the celebrations announced in advance, no active preparatory actions were taken in the Yenisei province for the celebration. At a meeting of the Bureau of the RCP (b) Engubkom on December 11, 1924, the issue of "Celebrating the day of liberation from the yoke of Kolchak" was discussed. The audience decided to postpone the solemn event, because by December 14, "for a short period of time" it was not possible to prepare ^{[5, l. 132]}. The day of the holiday was determined on January 6, 1925 – the anniversary of the liberation of Krasnoyarsk.

In the settlements of the Yenisei province, preparations for the event began in December 1924. For example, in the village of Kurai, Yenisei province, a special commission was established to hold the holiday. It consisted of: a representative from the agricultural cooperative – I. Makheev, from the consumer cooperative – M. Mashukov, from the district council – A. Kuznetsov, from the local cell of the CPSU (b) – I. Mashukov, from the local cell of the RLKSM – I. Petrushch and accountant O. Kozlov. The topics of speeches on the situation of the Red Army, on the partisan detachments of the North Kansk Front during the Civil War, on the work of the party after the October Revolution, etc. were distributed among them. On the day of the holiday, it was planned to hang flags on the buildings of institutions and commercial enterprises, and in the evening in the local reading room to hold a general meeting and presentations by speakers ^{[6, l. 2 vol.]}.

On January 6, 1925, the thematic issue of the Krasnoyarsk Worker newspaper was published. It includes: the article by Y. Diman "What did Kolchakism teach?", the order to shoot A.V. Kolchak and V.N. Pepelyaev, material under the general heading "The last days of the Whites in Krasnoyarsk", etc. In addition, the memoirs of the partisans of the Taseevskaya Republic Sukhotin and Rastoropov and the partisan P.E. Shchetinkin about the battles with the White Guards that took place on the territory of the Yenisei province were published.

In the evening, a number of solemn events took place in the city. Thus, a solemn meeting dedicated to the anniversary of the liberation of Krasnoyarsk was held in the assembly and locomotive workshop of the Krasnoyarsk Main Railway workshops. After the meeting, a concert was held, prepared by teachers and students of the music college and employees of the Karl Liebknecht Club ^{[18, C. 7]}.

In early January 1925, the premiere of the film "Red Gas" was announced in the cinemas of Krasnoyarsk. The film was specially shot for the fifth anniversary of the restoration of Soviet power in Siberia and told about the partisan movement during the Civil War. Full–scale filming was carried out on the territory of the Novonikolaevsky and Altai provinces, the Oirot Autonomous Region, and the rest of the scenes were in the pavilions of Goskino in Moscow ^{[13, p. 14]}. However, the film was criticized almost immediately. The creators of the film were accused of a weak plot and naivety in displaying some scenes ^{[15, p. 24]}. Nevertheless, the film was the first Siberian feature film and was very popular with the audience. By now, the tape is considered lost.

The celebration of the events related to the fifth anniversary of the restoration of Soviet power in the region did not take on an all-Siberian scale. Despite the approved single date – December 14, 1924 – solemn events were held in some settlements in accordance with the day of their liberation from the White Guard troops. These days, there were honoring veterans of the Civil War, visiting mass graves, conducting thematic productions, etc. In addition, the agitation work among the population was strengthened, aimed at displaying the merits of the RCP(b) and the Red Army in the "fight against Kolchakism", and the importance of historical events was emphasized.

The day of celebration established in 1924 – December 14 – could not be fixed in the festive calendar as the main one for the whole of Siberia. In 1929, the date of the tenth anniversary of the restoration of Soviet power was November 14 – the day of the liberation of Omsk.