Legal Status of the Militia of the Provisional Government and the White Governments of Siberia

Abstract

The paper examines the period of the Great Russian Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent Civil War, their impact on government bodies, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The author points to the political upheavals accompanying the revolutionary transformations of Russian society, including changes in the law enforcement system. As a result, during the construction of an updated state apparatus based on bourgeois-democratic principles, new bodies were created, such as the People’s Militia of the Provisional Government, then the Siberian militia, to ensure law and order and the safety of citizens in the conditions of transition from one political power to another. Rapid changes in the political, social and economic situation were reflected in the adopted normative legal acts. The Provisional Government, formed by the liberal democratic forces, pursued the policy of decentralization of power, which corresponded to the prevailing historical conditions in spring, 1917. The outbreak of a full-scale armed confrontation between supporters and opponents of the Soviet government dramatically changed the internal political situation. The revolt of the Czechoslovak Corps in the spring of 1918 led, in fact, to the simultaneous overthrow of Soviet power along the entire Trans-Siberian Railway. The state formations formed in the East of Russia were consistently transformed into the All-Russian government, the supremacy of which was recognized by the other centers of the anti-Bolshevik struggle. It was on this territory that state authorities capable of being a full-fledged alternative to the system built by the Bolsheviks were formed. The paper analyzes the changes that took place in legislation concerning the organization of law and order, from the consolidation of the principle of decentralization to an attempt to build a new vertical of power. The author examines and resolves the issue related to the ever-increasing personnel shortage in the process of staffing the militia. The draws the conclusion concerning the overall effectiveness of the established system of law and order.