Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926

The movement stultified after the 1905 Revolution and became divided into a left faction (including P. Ia. Derber) and a right faction (which included A. N. Gattenberger and I. I. Serebrennikov), but it was given a new lease of life in 1917 and during the Democratic Counter-Revolution. On 5 August 1917, a Conference of Public Organizations, convened at Tomsk by the oblastniki, approved the “Regulations for the Autonomy of Siberia” and the design of a regional flag: a rectangular banner, differentiated diagonally into a green triangle (for Siberia’s woods) and a white triangle (for the snow). Subsequently, an Extraordinary All-Siberian Regional Congress at Tomsk, on 6–19 December 1917, proclaimed the Siberian Regional Duma to be the highest legislative authority east of the Urals. That body would have considerable influence over subsequent events in Siberia, although many oblastniki, notably Potanin, came to argue that the movement had been hijacked by all-Russian parties, especially the Party of Socialists-Revolutionaries.

When the Whites, under Admiral A. V. Kolchak, came to power following the Omsk Coup of 18 November 1918 and began the struggle to resurrect a “Russia, One and Indivisible,” Siberian regionalism suffered a heavy blow, although some trappings of its symbolism were retained in the white and green cockades of the Siberian Army and the white and green adornments of the “Free Siberia” military awards that were introduced by Kolchak on 27 June 1919. After the fall of Kolchak, the threat of Siberian separatism was one factor leading the Soviet government to maintain for several years rule through an imposed (from Moscow) Siberian Revolutionary Committee and Sibbiuro, rather than locally elected soviets.

SIBERIAN REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE. The Sibrevkom, one of a number of such revolutionary committees, was the extraordinary and provisional body charged by Moscow with governing Siberia until circumstances were such that formal Soviet institutions could be created. It was established by a decree of VTsIK of 27 August 1919 and was initially a troika, consisting of I. M. Smirnov (chairman), V. M. Kosarev, and M. I. Frunkin. The Sibrevkom served as the plenipotentiary organ of VTsIK in Siberia, and in theory, enjoyed full authority over all political and administrative structures across the Omsk, Tomsk, Altai, Semipalatinsk, Irkutsk, and Iakutsk gubernii. In fact, of course, most of these regions remained in the hands of White forces until early 1920. Thus, the Sibrevkom’s authority advanced eastward only gradually, in the wake of the Red Army, with the institution basing itself initially at Cheliabinsk and then (from November 1919) at Omsk. In June 1921, it moved once more, to Novonikolaevsk. Moreover, real authority resided in the regional bureau of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), the Sibbiuro. Nevertheless, the Sibrevkom functioned from 18 September 1919 until 1 December 1925, making it the longest lasting of such institutions.

SICH RIFLEMEN.See UKRAINIAN SICH RIFLEMEN.

SIdorin, Vladmir Il′ich (3 February 1882–20 May 1943). Colonel (1917), major general (5 May 1918), lieutenant general (2 February 1919). The man destined to lead the army of the Don Cossack Host during the “Russian” Civil Wars (and to leave that post under a cloud), V. I. Sidorin, the son of an impoverished noble Cossack officer, was born at Esaulovsk stanitsa, in the Second District of the Don territory. A graduate of the Don Cadet Corps (1900), the Nicholas Engineering School (1902), the Russian Aviation School (1907), and the Academy of the General Staff (1910), Sidorin served with the 4th Amur Railway Battalion in the Russo–Japanese War, and in the First World War occupied a number of staff positions, rising to the posts of deputy chief of staff of the 2nd Army (March 1916–March 1917), chief of staff of the Caucasian Corps (April–June 1917), and chief of staff of the Western Front (June–October 1917).