A SHORT OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY of the FAR EASTERN REPUBLIC Published by The Special Delegation of the Far Eastern Republic to the United States of America, Washington, D. C. 1922 >» A SHORT OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY of the FAR EASTERN REPUBLIC Published by The Special Delegation of the Far Eastern Republic to the United States of America, Washington, D. C. 1922 vs Sit, 7 P37 "LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA A Short Outline of the History of the Far Eastern Republic. CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 7 Purpose of this outline. The political situation in the Far East at the time of Kolchak's downfall in Siberia. The popular movement against the reactionary government. Forms of the movement. The origins of the idea of a democratic government in the Russian Far East. CHAPTER I.— FROM THE OVERTHROW OF THE REACTIONARY GOVERNMENT TO THE JAP- ANESE ATTACK OF APRIL 4-5 9 Creation of a democratic government in the Maritime Province. The revolution in the Amur region; Ata- man Kalmykov's expulsion from Khabarovsk. The first negotiations for the purpose of uniting the various re- gions. Japanese military authorities and the revolution. Japanese evacuation of the Amur region and its suspi- cious character. The note of the government of the Maritime Province to Japan concerning a speedier evac- uation by the Japanese troops. The Nikolayevsk events. The overthrow of Semenov's power in Western Trans- baikalia and the formation of the Government of Ver- khne-Udinsk. Declaration of the Conference of Verkhne- Udinsk of April 6, concerning the formation of the Far Eastern Republic. The significance of this declaration. The recognition of the Far Eastern Republic by Soviet Russia. CHAPTER II.— FROM THE JAPANESE ATTACK ON APRIL 4-5 TO THE CONCLUSION OF A GENERAL ARMISTICE AT THE STATION OF GONGOTTA 16 Japanese attack against Russian troops and civilians in the Maritime Province on April 4-5. Murder, violence and plundering. The object of the attacks and the results achieved. The agreement of April 29 concerning dis- armament. The struggle in the Amur region. Convoca- tion of the National Assembly of the Maritime Province and the rallying of the population against the Japanese peril. Declaration issued by General Oi on May 1. Ar- mistice on the Khabarovsk front. The Amur region rec- ognizes the declaration of April 6 and the Government of Verkhne-Udinsk. The various regions begin to unite. Preliminary negotiations of the Verkhne-Udinsk Govern- ment with the Japanese at Gongotta and their failure. Work of unity impeded by the Japanese. Killing of the truce-bearers, Utkin and Grazhensky. Japanese military pressure against the authorities of the Amur region in consequence of their recognition of the Government of Verkhne-Udinsk. Japanese preparations for an attack against the Amur region. Sending of delegations to Vladivostok to negotiate about unitv. The general politi- cal situation favorable to unity. The declaration of the Japanese Government, of July 3, as to evacuation of Transbaikalia and the temporary occupation of Sakhalin and the Nikolayevsk district. CHAPTER III.— FROM THE GONGOTTA ARMIS- TICE TO THE CHITA UNITY CONFERENCE OF THE REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS 22 Agreement of July 15, between the Japanese and the Verkhne-Udinsk Governments concerning an armistice on all fronts. Semenov calls a National Assemblv in Chita. The population of Sretensk and Nerchinsk drives out Semenov's troops and recognizes the Verkhne-Udinsk Government. Preliminary conference of three regions in Verkhne-Udinsk. Japanese attempts to force the rec- ognition of Semenov as the legal authority in Transbai- kalia. Semenov leads away his main forces to Dauren and prepares his attacks against the democratic institu- tions. The Japanese military command is compelled to mitigate the aggressiveness of its policy and evacuates Khabarovsk and the whole district. Semenov driven out of Chita. Defeat of his army at Borsa Daura. Seme- nov's men driven out of Transbaikalia. CHAPTER IV.— FROM THE UNITY CONFERENCE TO THE CONCLUSION OF THE WORK OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY 25 The Chita Unity Conference of all regional governments and its results. Dangers and threats hampering the work of unity. Japanese help to Semenov's army on its retreat to Manchuria and its transfer to the Maritime Province. Ungern's departure to Mongolia. Recognition of the Unity Conference by the National Assembly of the Mari- time Province and Japanese threats. The Grodekovo in- cident. Seizure of fisheries by the Japanese. Elections to and convocation of the Constituent Assembly. Adop- tion of the declaration and the communications to the va- rious governments. Fundamental laws. Election of the Government and termination of the work of the As- sembly. CHAPTER V.— FROM THE CONCLUSION OF THE WORK OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY TO THE NEGOTIATIONS AT DAIREN 31 Japanese support to the Semenov-Kappel forces in the Maritime Province. Participation in the preparation of a reactionary coup d'etat. Seizure of power by the reac- tionaries at Vladivostok and Nikolsk-Ussurisk and the part played therein by the Japanese military command. Plan of a general attack against the Far Eastern Republic by all reactionary forces for the purpose of crushing the democratic regime. Failure of the reactionaries in the Maritime and the Amur regions. Ungern's defeat. Prac- tical work for the enforcement of the constitution after the close of the Constituent Assembly. Formation of the Cabinet. Activity of the Government and of the Council of Ministers. Regional Popular Assemblies. The reac- tionary government in the Maritime Province. The in- dignation of the population of the seized region, and Merkulov's policy of bloody repression. Negotiations at Dairen. APPENDIX— DOCUMENTS 39 INTRODUCTION The history of the Far Eastern Republic is the history of the struggle of the population of the Russian Far East for its indepen- dence, the history of two years of incessant effort to unite — in spite of the obstacles placed by the militarists of a neighboring country and by their own reactionaries — the various separated and disconnected regions and to form a new state founded on the basis of a true democracy and popular rule. Official documents prove beyond any doubt that the entire popu- lation of the country has asserted its firm determination to attain this aim. They also bear testimony to the obstacles which the population con- tinually had to overcome in this endeavor. The purpose of this outline is to establish the inner connection be- tween these documents; to relate briefly the fundamental features of the struggle of the population of the Far East for a democratic republic. In order to elucidate in detail the conditions under which there originated the idea of the formation of an independent democratic state in the Russian Far East, it is necessary to dwell on the poli- tical situation in which the Far Eastern regions found themselves at the moment of the final downfall of the reactionary government of Admiral Kolchak in Western and Eastern Siberia, i.e., in Feb- ruary of 1920. The representatives and agents of that government in the Far East — General Rozanov in Vladivostok, Ataman* Semenov in Trans- baikalia, Kalmykov in Khabarovsk and so on — employing like every- where else in Siberia a system of incredible despotism and cruel re- pressions, violating all civil liberties and popular rights — brought upon their heads in this part of the country and at the indicated time a general upheaval and revolt of numerous partisan bands. It will be sufficient to call attention to some individual facts such as the murder and robbery committed by Ataman Kalmykov in Khabarovsk on a number of persons, among whom were several foreign subjects, such as Dr. Hedeblum, representative of the Swed- ish Red Cross; the strangling, in Chita, by Ataman Semenov, of Bogdanov, the Chairman of the Board of the Zemstvo; the establish- ment by his fellow henchmen Ungern and others of torture cham- bers at the stations of the Transbaikal Railway in Makkaveyevo and ♦Cossack chieftain. Dauren, where they robbed, tortured to death and murdered not only several thousand champions of the revolution but also a number of members of the Kolchak government. The whole borderland was submerged in blood by those crimi- nal agents of reaction. It is easy to understand why such a regime aroused against itself even the moderately minded democratic zemstvos and the autono- mous municipal administrations which joined hands with the "par- tisan" movement, and that in the partisan detachments began to take part not only the workers and the "middle" peasants, but also the wealthiest peasants, owners of big land tracts. To this attitude contributed still more the behavior of the inter- ventionist troops, mainly the Japanese, which were helping the re- actionaries, and like them did not hesitate at perpetrating the worst outrages on the peaceful population. As a characteristic example of their attitude we may mention the fact confirmed in the official report of the Japanese General Staff, concerning the burning, in March, 1919, by Japanese soldiers, of Ivanovka, the largest and richest settlement in the Amur region. In this case, for alleged support given to the Bolsheviks, 196 house- holders were completely ruined and 232 peaceful inhabitants were killed, among them a great number of the wealthiest farmers. A great number of women and children perished when the Japanese set the houses on fire, as the soldiers were shooting at the persons who tried to escape from the burning dwellings. Eighty-six houses and more than 200 other buidlings were de- stroyed by the flames, as well as large quantities of grain, agricul- tural machinery and other property valued at several hundred thousand dollars; the destroyed agricultural machinery alone being estimated at more than $100,000. This event stirred up the peasant population of the whole region and imprinted itself deeply in the memory of the people. As a result of all these facts the revolutionary movement spread all over the Far East, and took the form mainly of partisan war- fare against the government of Kolchak and the interventionists. This warfare was entirely conducted by the whole peasant popula- tion of three regions of the border-land, which was disgusted with the reactionary goverment and with foreign intervention. This movement was joined in the cities by the labor organizations and democratic bodies, by the zemstvos and the autonomous mun- icipal authorities. The partisan movement, having brought about the isolation of the reactionary goverment by confining it to the large cities, was at this period one of the factors which contributed to the further isolation of the different regions of the country from each other. At the period in question, i.e., in the beginning of 1920, there were two main regions in which the popular revolutionary movement 8 against the goverment of Kolchak was asserting itself — the Amur and the Maritime Province. But at the same time the conditions of the devolopment of the movement were not quite identical in both provinces. The difference was rooted in the peculiarities of the intervention in each of the two provinces, in the relations between the popular movement on the one hand of the troops of the various intervening countries on the other hand. In the Amur region there were at that time exclusively Japanese military forces. As was already mentioned above, they were in every respect adding the reactionaries in subduing the movement, not only not lagging behind them, but even surpassing them in the cruelty with which they were treat- ing the local population. It is natural that the revolutionary pop- ulation on the Amur, expecting no help from anywhere against these atrocities, became accustomed to the thought that only unity with all the remaining Russian population waging war against re- action, that only union with kindred Soviet Russia will assure the success of their efforts to free themselves from their native and foreign oppressors. In the Maritime Province there were in addition to the Japanese also troops of other allied countries. The Americans and partly the Czecho- Slovaks, in their behavior and their attitude towards the population and its struggle for lib- erty at that period were prompted mainly by the principle of non-in- terference into the internal affairs of the Russian people, as was stated by the governments at the beginning of their intervention. Moreover, through their mere presence they retained the Jap- anese when they were showing too obviously their intention to vio- late these principles, by openly supporting the reactionary govern- ment in its struggle against the popular movement. Owing to this state of affairs the elements with revolutionary and democratic in- clinations in the Maritime Province came to the conclusion that suc- cessful results in their struggle against the reaction arv and oppres- sive rule of General Rozanov, a henchman of the Kolchak govern- ment, they could fully obtain only if they would secure the sym- pathies and friendship of at least some of the allied countries. Obviously such an attitude was possible only on condition that the movement and its aims take on a democratic character and recognize the principles of democratic government in the Far East. Thus was originated and strengthened in the Far East the idea of its organization into an independent democratic state, founded on the recognition of civil liberties. CHAPTER I. It is natural that these democratic principles were laid down as a basis for building up the new life after the downfall of General Rozanov's rule, and the power was given over by the victorious people to the Board of the Zemstvo of the Maritime Province which 9 was the organ of the local autonomous administration, the repre- sentatives of all political parties and organizations of citizens being invited to participation in the government. The new power immediaetly proclaimed the introduction of demo- cratic principles in the Maritime Province, and entered upon the road of a further struggle for uniting with the other regions of the Far East on the basis of democracy. The decrepit reactionary government whose agents in the Mari- time Province have disgraced themselves by openly trying to be- tray their people and by their agreement with the foreign military commanders to disarm the Russian army and to hand over almost the entire Far East to Japan, finally crumbled down, having lost the confidence even of its own troops, and having been compelled to surrender one city after another. On January 30, 1920, an upheaval took place in Vladivostok. On February 4, the Kolchak regime fell in the Amur region, and the regional administration passed into the hands of the Executive Com- mittee that was at the head of the revolutionary movement. On February 12, Ataman Kalmykov, pressed by the popular revo- lutionary troops of the Maritime Province, fled from Khabarovsk, burning entire peasant villages and Cossack settlements on his way. hanging and shooting his own subordinates who did not want to follow him, and finally taking refuge on Chinese territory where he was disarmed. On February 15, 1920, Khabarovsk was already occupied by revo- lutionary troops and a revolutionary autonomous administration was established there. Thus in the beginning of March already the entire Far East up to the borders of Transbaikalia, where Semenov, with the help of the Japanese, was still holding out by means of an unheard of reign of terror, was already liberated from the rule of the agents of Kolchak's government. In all liberated localities order was gradually being established and regional as well as autonomous municipal administrations were organized. And everywhere the principles of democratic government and the recognition of the rights of the people were laid down as the basis of the framework of the new government. And at the same time, the regional authorities, after shaking off the old reactionary rule immediately set to the task of uniting the country into one political entity. Already in March, 1920, there began negotiations between the Amour region and the Maritime Province concerning the creation of a single government for the whole liberated Far East. But there appeared obstacles standing in the way of this union 10 and of the democratic form of government — obstacles which were not only and not so much due to the forces of internal reaction, as to the policy of the military command of the Japanese expeditionary forces which from the very first days of the democratic revolu- tion endeavored to hamper its progress and to prevent the union of the regions of the Russian Far East that were separated from each other by the reaction. In order to illustrate the position taken by the Japanese military authorities it is necessary to mention here a characteristic episode which took place in Vladivostok in the first month of the revolution. At the moment when the revolutionary troops had already seized the city and had surrounded the last ref- uge of the old government, viz., General Rozanov's house, where he fortified himself with the last remainders of his adherents, the de- tachment of the popular revolutionary army that had received the order to take that house, all of a sudden found itself face to face with a detachment of Japanese troops. The officer of that detach- ment declared that he would not allow the popular revolutionary army to enter that house and that he would order his soldiers to open fire as soon as such an attempt would be made. The revolutionary troops were ins-tructed to avoid absolutely any clashes with the foreign troops, but in any case to attain the object upon which depended the success of the revolution, even if it were necessary to employ force for that purpose. And it seemed as if from both sides the firing would start any second, which, had it happened, would have changed the course of events in many respects, as was the case at the time of the revolt of General Gaida, in the fall of 1919, when the Japanese helped Rozanov 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 Japanese that if they would interfere in favor of Rozanov, the Americans, in turn, would also be compelled to break the neutrality. The Japanese detachment retired, and the revolutionary troops could occupy the last fortified position of the revolutionary power. This episode was already a significant foreboding of what the at- titude of the Japanese military command would be toward the vic- torious revolution. The same thing was to be expected in other places as well. Thus, according to the admission of General Yamada, the commander of the Japanese troops in Khabarovsk, the bridge before Khabarovsk was destroyed upon his orders, for the purpose of staying the at- tack of the popular-revolutionary forces against Ataman Kalmy- kov. In Blagovyeshchensk, in the Amur region, after a revolution- ary administration had been formed in the city, the Japanese mili- tary command drew up the soldiers in battle array, placed the can- nons on the heights surrounding the city and began to serve upon the new administration all kinds of ultimatums and demands whicl thev knew could not be fulfilled. 11 Only the powerful rise of revolutionary enthusiasm which united the whole population of the city and the district in readiness to defend the conquered freedom with all their power, as well as an im- portant number of resolutions adopted by all civil organizations, including even the moderately liberal Society of Physicians and the Association of Gold Operators, and the threatening attitude of the peasantry in the entire region, forced the Japanese military command to the recognition of the fact that it was impossible to crush the popular movement there, as at the given moment it was not in a position to concentrate larger forces in that region. Thereupon the Japanese declared that they were friendly toward the Russian people and that the Japanese troops wer going to leave the region of Amur. The triumph of the Amur population, however, was soon marred by the behavior of the Japanese at the time of the evacuation. Their attitude was extremely provocative; they plundered the quarters which they gave up, and in spite of the protests of the local authori- ties carried away valuable railroad equipment. Stranger still was the character of the evacuation itself. 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 different directions; part of them went westward to Transbaikalia, part eastward to Khabarovsk, and the artillery detachment was simply transferred to the other bank of the Amur River, on Chinese territory. All this spelled rather sinister foreboding, as the evacuated re- gion was now threatened with an attack from three sides. The same defiant character marked also the attitude of the Japanese in the Maritime Province, where they did not show the slightest in- tention of ending the intervention, although with the evacuation of the Czecho- Slovaks all the pretexts therefor were already exhausted and the troops of the other allies were already getting ready to leave the Russian Far East. The Japanese officers insulted the Russian civil population and soldiers, they arrested and beat up without any reason Russian citi- zens, and committed all kinds of outrages. At that time the Japanese military authorities openly supported Semenov's rule, which was the only obstacle in the way of unity of the entire Far East on the basis of the principles of democratic government. Their troops crushed there all the efforts of the local population to shake off the hated rule of the Ataman, preventing the already liberated population of the neighboring places from helping their fellow countrymen. In consideration of such an attitude of the Japanese troops, the Board of the Zemstvo of the Maritime Province which was the re- gional government of that province, believing that the continuation 12 of the intervention was the only obstacle preventing the unification of the country and its organization on the basis of a democratic govern- ment, addressed, on March 20, 1920, a note to the Japanese Govern- ment, in which it insisted upon the necessity of an immediate with- drawal of the Japanese troops. The note pointed out that all formal grounds for an intervention had been removed ; it showed how the policy of the Japanese govern- ment was in striking contradiction to this fact, as, far from evacu- ating its troops, it even increased their number in the Far East ; the note also called attention to the fact that the Japanese were actively supporting the reactionary elements, and solemnly declared that any further independent interventionist activity by Japan, will be con- sidered by the Maritime Government as a violation of its sovereign rights in the Far East. The answer was a landing of new Japanese divisions in Vladivostok. An entirely isolated episode which was not connected with the general course of events, was the incident in Nikolayevsk on the Amur which occurred at the same time. The events of which the Japanese Government later on took advantage in order to justify the intervention and for the purpose of seizing Sakhalin and the district of Nikolayevsk, were mainly brought about by the state of isolation from the other centers of the Far East, owing partly to Japanese efforts 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 itself from the rule of Kolchak's creatures. In a daring attack the partisans then took the fortress of Chnyrakh, which was near the city, was pro- vided with heavy cannon and was garrisoned by Japanese and re- actionaries. After the occupation of the fortress the partisans twice sent truce bearers 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 death by the Japanese and the Kolchakists. Only after the threat was expressed that the city would be bom- barded from the fortress was an agreement concluded according to which the administration was to pass into the hands of the Revolu- tionary Staff, the Kolchak soldiers to be disarmed, and the Japan- ese to remain neutral. The Japanese troops solemnly promised to abide by the terms of the agreement and during the first days endeavored by all means to obtain the confidence of the partisans. Several days afterwards, late at night, without any cause or warning, the Janpanese and the reactionaries who were armed by them, attacked the partisans in their sleep; they opened machine gun and cannon fire against their barracks and put the torch to the staff headquarters, from which the chief of the staff and his sub- 13 ordinates barely escaped, he and many of his companions being wounded. In the mean time the partisans recovering from the first surprise began to repulse the attackers. Then the Japanese armed all their residents, gathered in the house of the Consulate, and in spite of the terms offered them for their surrender continued to fight fiercely. On their part, the embittered partisans, concentrated a strong fire against the house from which bullets were flying, and in a desperate struggle almost all the Japanese perished, except a small band that surrendered. The senselessness of this treacherous attack of a small detach- ment which the Japanese military command had left behind with- out strengthening it at the proper time, impels the thought that either the Japanese military authorities expected too much from the suddenness of the attack, or that this mad attack was part of the higher policy of the Japanese supreme military command. Later on, after large military forces had occupied Sakhalin and the mouth of the Amur River, and were approaching Nikolayevsk, the partisans left the city. Knowing from experience that the Japanese would take atrocious revenge for their defeat in the month of March, and having received information that they had already begun their bloody repressions against the inhabitants of the villages occupied by them, the par- tisans, prompted by revenge and losing their self-control, executed a few scores of Japanese prisoners whom they had taken in March. This action, like other atrocities occurring in civil war, can, of course, not be justified. But the activities of the Japanese authorities, in the whole Nik- olayevsk incident, are the immediate cause of all that followed. At any event, the Nikolayevsk incident turned out to be such a convenient excuse in the hands of the Japanese military command, for the justification of its whole aggressive policy, for intensifying the intervention and for seizure of the most important regions of the Russian Far East that one cannot refrain from thinking that if that incident had not happened, the Japanese militarists would have had to bring it about. Thus were events taking their course in the Far East. In the meantime, in the western part of the country, the pop- ulation of Western Transbaikalia, unable to endure any longer the madness and the lawlessness of Ataman Semenov, rose like one man, and at the end of March, 1920, shook off his rule in the region of Verkhne-Udinsk in the Pribaikal district. Here, in Verkhne-Udinsk, was then organized the democratic administration of Pribaikalia formed by the autonomous Zemstvo organizations and the representatives of the socialist and democratic organizations. This administration also made it its task to bring 14 about democratic institutions in the entire territory of Transbaikalia. But the further spread of the democratic administration and the liberation of the remaining part of Transbaikalia from the re- actionary rule of the Ataman met with obstacles also on the part of Japanese military intervention. The Japanese armed forces actively went to the support of Ata- man Semenov, thus preventing the realization of the popular desire to unite the whole country and to establish a democratic or ler all over the whole territory of the Far East. The similarity of conditions in the West brought about the same political development as in the Maritime Province. The necessity to create an independent democratic state out of all the regions of the Far East, securing the realization of the people's hopes in the struggle with the last survivals of reaction, had, here to, possessed the consciousness of the population. Accordingly, the regional conference of the representatives of the population which gathered in Verkhne-Udinsk, proclaimed on April 6, the creation of an independent republic including Trasbaikalia, the Amur region, the Maritime Province and Sakhalin, with a democratic government and all civil liberties. Subsequently the conference formed a provisional government which was entrusted with the task of uniting all the regions into one republic and of appealing to all nations, through their governments, inviting them to establish friendly relations, the foreigners being guaranteed full inviolability of person and property. The declaration of April 6 played the central and the determining part in the subsequent struggle for unity of the Russian population of the Far East, serving as a basis for all subsequent effort aiming at the creation of a democratic state organization. The whole subsequent history of the Far Eastern Republic is the realization of the ideas expressed in the declaration of the Verkhne- Udinsk conference, the history of the most persistent efforts, of the greatest sacrifices made by the inhabitants of all regions to fulfill the principles of this declaration. The proclamation of the independence of the Far Eastern Republic was never conceived by the population of these regions as the break- ing of the national bonds uniting it with the remainder of the Rus- sian people. On the contrary, all the aspirations of the population of the Far East and all the acts referring to the creation of the republic are penetrated with the consciousness of the necessity of preserving close relations with the kindred Soviet Republic, from which the Far Eastern territory was separated only because of particular objective conditions of international character, and by its isolation from the mother country. This objective necessity to form an independent democratic republic was immediatly recognized by the goverment of Soviet Russia. The new Russia of the people realized the pec- 15 uliarities of the situation, she understood the aspirations of the Rus- sian population of the Far East, and — we must state right here, even if we have to anticipate a little the course of events — that in reply to the declaration of independence of April 6, she sent, on May 14, a note signed by the People's Commissar Chicherin, in the name of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic, recog- nizing the Far Eastern Republic and its provisional goverment. CHAPTER II. From the very beginning when there were laid the foundations of the unity and the democratic state organization of the Far East, this idea of a democratic organization had to undergo very serious trials, and the population of the Far Eastern Republic had to bring many sacrifices before it could carry into effect the principles of the declaration. The text of the declaration of April 6 was not signed yet in Verkhne-Udinsk, when the sound of Japanese cannons was already heard in the East. In the face of the contemplated organization of a united demo- cratic state the Japanese military command of the expeditionary forces not only did not show any intentions of meeting the popular aspirations, but on the contrary, its reply to the notification of the government of the Maritime Province of March 2, concerning the speeding up of the evacuation — consisted in the dispatching of new Japanese divisions to the Maritime Province. The increasingly defiant and suspicious attitude of the Japanese was shown by a great number of incidents insulting to Russian sov- ereign rights, as well as by demands incompatible with the national dignity of the Russian people, which were made by the military au- thorities upon the government of the Maritime Province. In the first days of April the Japanese command began negotiat- ions with the representatives of the Maritime government with reference to these demands. And in the night of April 4 and 5, interrupting these negotiations, the Japanese troops, without any reason or warning, upon the orders of the Supreme Command of the Expeditionary Forces, attacked the Russian troops and the peaceful population, almost simultane- iusly in Vladivostok, Nikolsk-Usurisk, Khabarovsk and along the entire Usuri railroad. This sudden attack had the effect of a bloody slaughter and was ac- companied by an artillery and machine gun bombardment not only of the 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 of the Japanese soldiers. In Vladivostok a Japanese battleship took part in the bombard- ment of the city ; government structures were fired at and the build- 16 ings of the Board of Zemstvo of the Maritime Province were half destroyed. The Japanese troops showed especial fury in Khabarovsk and in some small stations of the Usuri railroad, in Okeanska, Sedanka etc., where there were no representatives of other foreign govern- ments. Khabarovsk was completely devastated, being for two days bombarded by heavy cannon. Machine guns were trained upon the population which on account of the impending holidays was going to the market, including a great number of women, school-children, babies. Then the Japanese soldiers went from house to house, robbing, raping, and killing everybody whom they met wearing a Russian military uniform. In the same way they ran amuck on the railroad stations, killing Russian soldiers and all those whom they suspected of being sympathizers of the revolution; scores of those whom they captured they drowned in the sea into which, also, they threw the bodies of those whom they had killed with their bayonets. Incre- dible acts of violence, insults and brutalities were committed on Rus- sian soldiers and plain citizens who fell into the hands of the Japan- ese soldiers. Thousands of Russians who had been taken prisoner were thrown into the dark, damp, underground prisons where, in some places, thev were kept up to July. In order to justify this treacherous attack the Japanese military authorities put into circulation a report that in several places in Vladivostok, Russian soldiers had attacked the Japanese army, which was not at all the case. The obvious improbability of this report becomes clear if only from the fact that everywhere, from Vladivostok to Khabarovsk, the Japanese almost simultaneously opened fire against the Rus- sians from cannons and machine guns that had beforehand been pre- pared for this purpose. And this is with still greater clearness es- tablished by the following fact, which is confirmed by documents: As early as 24 hours before April 4 the Japanese local authorities posted up in small stations and mailed to the Russian garrisons their demand to surrender their arms immediately, threatening to bom- bard them in the case of refusal. The Russian popular revolutionary forces had already previous- ly received orders from their government that in the case of a Japan- ese attack, in consideration of the inequality of the forces, thev should not offer anv resistance. Thus it can be easily understood that an attack on their part against the Japanese army was out of the question. The result of the Japanese attack of April 4-5 was the disarm- in? or removal of the Russian armed forces from the railroad zone and from the cities of the Maritime Province. The Japanese availed themselves also of this opportunity to re- 17 move all those who seemed to them to be most dangerous. Laze and Lutzky, members of the Military Council who had been arrested by them, were not liberated. The Japanese authorities, which first concealed them, subsequently delivered them into the hands of the reactionary bands, and the best defenders of the people's independence and of its rights were thrown into the fur- nace of a locomotive. If such an unheard of act in violation of international law and civilization, if such a treacherous attack against a foreign country defending its independence, its revolution and democratic govern- ment; an attack accompanied by the most disgusting acts of vio- lence and murder, did not meet with an unanimous protest on the part of all civilized nations and all their various classes, then the people of the Far Eastern Republic cannot explain it otherwise than by the remoteness of the theatre of the Japanese intervention and by the complete lack of information on the part of other nations of such acts of the violent and bloody policy of the Japanese militarists as the above mentioned attack of April 4-5 and many others. The very existence of the achievements of the revolution, the very possibility of a democratic state reorganization was endangered. But the people rose unanimously to the defense of the revolution and of its rights. All classes and organizations of Vladivos- tok, including the upper classes of the bourgeoisie, protested against the Japanese attack. In this region the detachments of the revolu- tionary troops which still had remained, as well as the population that was joining them, again prepared to start a partisan war against the invaders. At the same time the Japanese armed forces which had left Khabarovsk in order to advance against the Amur region and to overthrow there the popular administration, met with an energetic, desperate resistance of the young revolutionary army of the people to whose support arose first the peasant population of the Amur region and subsequently all the remaining population. Having convinced themselves of the impossibility of crushing with one blow the popular administration formed in the Far East and to re-establish the influence of the reactionary elements, the Japanese command of the expeditionary forces began negotiations with the regional government of the Maritime Province as to the establishment of peaceful relations and concerning an agreement on mutual rights. Deprived of the possibility of offering resistance, the regional administration of the Maritime Province was compelled to enter into an agreement, according to which all Russian armed forces were to be removed to a distance of 30 kilometers from the city of Vladivostok and from the zone of the railroad of Khabarovsk, except small detachments of militia. This agreement of April 29, con- tained also some other points which in the grossest way violated 18 the sovereign rights' of the Russian regional government and prac- tically converted it into a powerless prisoner of the Japanese mili- tary command. The work of unity had thus received a serious blow; there arose also new obstacles to unity as a consequence of the seizure, accom- plished with Japanese help, of Khabarovsk and some points of the Usuri railroad by the bands of the Ataman. These bands com- mitted gruesome acts of violence upon the democratically inclined population and the representatives of the democratic administra- tion. These circumstances held up the process of uniting the various regions, by preventing them from communicating with each other and by handing an important part of the country into the hands of the interventionists. The Japanese troops continued their attacks against the Amur region, and its population, cut off from all the remaining country, had to resist on two fronts — at Khabarovsk in the east, and at the frontier of Transbaikalia in the west — the pressure of the Japan- ese troops and the detachments of Semenov. All the efforts of the enemies to break the resistance of the popu- lar revolutionary army of the Amur region remained, however, without success and the Japanese were unable to penetrate the re- gion. The work of strengthening the democratic administration in the Maritime Province was going on. Having recovered from the con- sequences of the heavy blow of the April attack, the administra- tion of the Maritime Province, in order to strengthen the popular revolutionary power, proceeded to call the National Assembly, rep- resenting all classes of the population of the Maritime Province. Impressed by the determined resistance to all attempts to over- throw the revolutionary government and to crush the aspirations towards uniting the Far East on the basis of democratic principles, the Japanese military command, represented by General Oi, pub- lished a declaration on May 11, in which, after stating that Japan was not interested in the territories of the Far East, and that she recognizes the principle of non-interference in Russian affairs, he says that Japan does not intend to support groups that are oppos- ing the will of the people, that she has no objections against uniting the Far East into a single republic organized on the principles of a democratic constitution, and is ready to conclude peace and to give its assistance to the work of unification. The declaration of General Oi, of May 11, was the second turning point in the development of the events. Its first consequence was the conclusion of an armistice on the Khabarovsk front and the arresting of the advance against the Amur region from this side. Immediately afterwards, on May 25, the revolutionary adminis- 19 tration of the Amur region passed a resolution of adherence to the declaration of the Verkhne-Udinsk conference of April 6 concern- ing the creation of an independent democratic republic, in which it recognized the authority of the Verkhne-Udinsk government as the Central Government of the Far Eastern Republic, because Vladi- vostok, which after the events of April 4-5 and the April agreement came directly under the pressure of the interventionists, could not any longer remain the center of the struggle for independence and unity. This act constituted the beginning of the effective unification of the regional governments. Subsequently, relying on the declaration of General Oi of May 11, the Government of Verkhne-Udinsk proposed to the Japanese military command to begin peace negotiations on the basis of the statements expressed in that declaration. The preliminary negotiations between the Verkhne-Udinsk gov- ernment and the representatives of the Japanese military command took place on May 24 and 25 at Gongotta, a station of the Trans- baikal railroad betwen Chita and Verkhne-Udinsk. But these negotiations did not bring about any results, because the Japanese delegates did not show a sufficient desire to estab- lish peaceful relations and to remove the obstacles standing in the way of uniting the regions. On the contrary, while the declaration of General Oi, of May 11, categorically asserted that Japan was not willing "to complicate the political situation of the country by offering support to Russian in- dividuals, acting in complete disregard of the will of the Russian people," and promised that in regard to putting into effect the union of the regions on the basis of self-government, the Japanese mili- tary command would not exert any interference whatsoever — exactly at that moment the Japanese military authorities undertook steps aiming at the creation of the most serious obstacles to that union, and developing a new pressure against the authority of the people, prepared their plans for aggression against the Amur region. Already during the negotiations in Gongotta this policy was re- vealed with sufficient clearness; the Japanese delegates decidedly refusing to accept all proposals tending at the union of the regions, and declaring that they wanted to deal exclusively with the sepa- rate regional administrations. Thus they refused to discuss the inclusion in the armistice terms of the eastern Transbaikal front, they refused to grant the delegates of the Verkhne-Udinsk government permission to pass through Chita to the western Amur front for clearing up the question of the discontinuance of the military activities on that front — in every way emphatically denying to the Amur region the right to recog- nize the Verkhne-Udinsk government as the central government of 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 of Semenov in Chita as the legitimate authority of Transbaikalia. At the same time the Japanese military command increased its support to the reactionary groups in the east, in the Maritime Prov- ince. These groups undertook anew the seizure of a number of junc- tion points on the Usuri railroad, in consequence of which the va- rious regions became separated. In Khabarovsk the reactionary Likhoidov attempts a complete separation of the city and the dis- trict from the Maritime Province, by declaring it an independent territory. And so great did the impudence of the bands of black-hundreds become that on the station Iman an unheard of crime was committed, a crime which by the law of nations of 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 of the Jaanese military command, in their quality as truce-bearers, and were the representatives of the government of the Maritime Province, were killed in the train of the commander of the 14th Japanese division, by the henchmen of Ataman Semenov who were acting under the protection of the Japanese authorities. With reference to the Amur regional administration which rec- ognized the Verkhne-Udinsk government as the central govern- ment for the Far Eastern Republic, the Japanese military command used a determined form of pressure by threatening it with mili- tary actions should this recognition not be annulled. And in order to prevent a successful coalescing of the republic around Verkhne-Udinsk as a center, the Japanese military com- mand arbitrarily put forth the question of the priority either of Semenov's Chita or of Vladivostok which was under the pressure of the Japanese army. After the Amur administration had shown itself unwilling to submit to the threats of the Japanese staff and continued firmly in its recognition of Verkhne-Udinsk as the center of the united re- gions, and in refusing to negotiate with Semenov as if he were a party with equal rights, more or less open preparations were begun 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 War in Tokio as to the necessity of bringing the troops into a state of fighting preparedness for a punitive expedition against the Amur region. Under these circumstances the administration of the Amur and of some other regions agreed to accept the insistent proposal of the Japanese command to start unity negotiations in Vladivostok, but still 21 refusing to enter into any agreement with the administration of Ata- man Semenov, which was persistently requested by the Japanese. The representatives of the democratic governments declared to the delegation of Semenov, which arrived from Chita, that the surren- der of his power was absolutely the imperative condition for start- ing negotiations with the Chita delegation. The general international situation was at that moment favor- able to the aspirations of the Russian people in the Far East, to its struggle for freedom, unity and a democratic administration. The Soviet armies on the Polish front, after a temporary advance of the Poles, began in turn to attack, and after developing their suc- cesses, proved that the Russian nation was able to resist the aggres- sion of the militarists. At the same time, in Japan itself, in the public opinion of the country and in the parliament, opposition developed to the Siberian expedition, which was costing the country great amounts without promise of returns. In the same direction was also effective the unanimity with which all classes of the population of the Far East declared their readiness to defend the independence of the country against the danger of a Japanese annexation, and to protect the new democratic order against the attempts on the part of the reac- tionaries. In Vladivostok various classes of the population, including also the bourgeoisie, united against the Japanese peril, and there was formed a coalition 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 Transbaikalia were ready to make all sacrifices in the defense of the achievements of the Revolution. As a result of all this, there was published on July 3, 1920, a declaration of the Japanese government announcing the forthcom- ing evacuation by the Japanese troops of Transbaikalia, and at the same time announcing the temporary occupation of Sakhalin and the district of Nikolayevsk as a retaliation for the events in Nikol- ayevsk. CHAPTER III. The peace negotiations between the representatives of the Japan- ese military command and the Verkhne-Udinsk government were soon renewed at the station of Gongota. The negotiations were successfully terminated by concluding, on July 15, an agreement concerning the cessation of military activi- ties in Western Transbaikalia as well a on the Amur front. Since this moment the Japanese cannons ceased to roar, and the tribute of blood offered by the Russian population of the Far East for the unification of the country was ended. 22 _ . Thereupon began the real evacuation of Transbaikalia by the Jap- anese troops. Deprived of the support of the Japanese whose faithful agent he was all the time, Ataman Semenov, feeling the inevitable downfall of his criminal rule, began to toss about in various directions, now sending a cable to the Japanese heir of the throne about the con- tinuance of the Japanese troops in Chita, now trying to play the democratic game by convoking the National Assembly in that city and declaring himself in his proclamations a figure-head in the hands of imperialists. After the Japanese departed, the population of the liberated locali- ties, first of all in the regions of Sretensk and Nerchinsk, in Eastern Transbaikalia, chased Semenov*s men and instituted a democratic, autonomous administration proclaiming that it recognizes the Verkhne-Udinsk government. The negotiations for uniting the various regions and for organiz- ing a single government were, in the meantime, transferred from Vladivostok to Verkhne-Udinsk, which was free from armed inter- vention, and the representatives of the Amur and the Maritime re- gions arrived there. At the preliminary conference of the representatives of all re- gional governments in Verkhne-Udinsk, in September, 1920, there was reached a full agreement as to the bases of unity and the for- mation of a single democratic authority. It was all the easier to reach this agreement as the recognition of democratic principles had alreadv been oreviously proclaimed in all parts of the country in al- most identical expressions in the representative organs of the re- gions. But all obstacles to the unity of the republic were by far not yet overcome. The reactionarv administration of Ataman Semenov in Chita, which, left to itself, was oowerless, became a convenient tool in the hands of the interventionists for the purpose of hampering the work of unity, in order to prevent the organization of a single demo- cratic organization for the entire rermblic. For this purpose the Japanese military command persisted in demanding the recognition of Ataman Semenov, asking the demo- cratic governments to consider him as an equal party in the nego- tiations and not refraining from open threats in order to give more weight to their insistent demands. Thus, on September 11, the Tapanese semi-official, information bureau issued a report under the heading "The treacherous atti- tude of the Verkhne-Udinsk government in connection with the proiect of the creation of a buffer state." containing accusations as to the eauivocal attitude and bad faith of the Verkhne-Udinsk gov- ernment and reproaching it for the disagreement between the various Russian local governments, which distrusting each other, are wag- ing a struggle for hegemony. 23 In speaking of the disagreement of the local governments, the organ of the Japanese staff meant the unwillingness of the demo- cratic governments to leave the power in Chita, in the hands of the Ataman and to allow him to exert his criminal influence on the work of unity. These new attempts of brutal interference in the internal af- fairs of the Russian people had no other aim but to prevent the creation of a democratic state organization. For the very name of Ataman Semenov, whose rule the Jap- anese military command wanted to preserve, spoke already for it- self. The hangman of Transbaikalia, who had aroused against himself, by the most inhuman acts in his torture chambers, bv his brutal murders of his opponents, all the population of Transbaikalia, which had sent against him eight regiments of Argun Cossacks, a rob- ber who had thrown aside every trace of respect towards the rights and interests of the people, could not. of course, be admitted to participation in the construction of a democratic state. It is also easy to understand that the support eiven him by the Japanese can be explained by their intention to maintain a constant obstacle to the creation of a single democratic republic. Having implanted himself in Chita, Semenov prevented the com- munication between the various regions, bv prohibiting the passage of the delegates of the democratic governments, and after the evac- uation of Chita bv the Japanese, he led his main forces to the east, toward the Chinese border, in the region of the station Borza- Dauria, where he prepared himself again for an armed attack against the democratic revolutionary organs with the intention of dispers- ing the National Assemblv of Chita which had been called bv him- self. However, the situation again turned out unoronitious to to the enemies of the revolutionary people and their aspirations for unitv. The American government protests against the occupation of Sakhalin, the successes of the Soviet armies reach their highest point, in China the partv of the friends of Tamn suffers defeat, and in the public opinion of Japan grows the hostile attitude to- wards the Siberian expedition. The occupational authorities in Siberia have to relent a little in their brutal and aggressive policy, by ceasing to openly support the power of the Ataman. On September 18 the commander of the Tananese troops in Si- beria announces that the district of Khabarovsk is coiner to be cleared. And a month later thp peasant population of the region of Chita rises in a wave of anger against the criminal doings of the Ataman's creatures, and under the nressure of the mrtisan detach- ments. Semenov is forced to abandon Chita, fleeing in an aeronlane. On October 20 the capital of Transbaikalia is occupied by the revolutionarv troops. 24 In a number of stubborn and famous battles at Borza, Sharasu- nam, Dauria, the popular revolutionary army completely routs the enemy, who attempted to restore his rule over Chita and to take revenge on the population that had risen against him. On November 18 some detachments of the revolutionary army took the station Dauria, the last bulwark of Semenov in Trans- baikalia, and his troops, pursued towards Manchuria, were compelled to disarm. CHAPTER IV. In the meantime, immediately after Chita was occupied by the revolutionary troops, there assembled in that city the Unity Con- ference, this time, of all the various regional governments of the Far East. In its declaration of November 9, the Unity Conference, in the name of the representatives of 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 to be the introduction of all civil liberties and the preservation of the principle of private property. The declaration announced that in the course of the next two or three months there was to be called a Constituent Assembly of the Far East on the basis of a universal, equal, direct and secret suf- frage and that out of the memberhip of this conference there was to be elected a single provisional government of the Republic; that in the moment in which it is elected, all existing governments have to give up their state prerogatives and shall become organs of the lo- cal autonomous administration until new elections take place on the basis of the law concerning the autonomous local administration. The declaration granted to the last remainders of the army of Kol- chak, Kappel and Semenov, who had surrendered their arms, personal safety, permitting them to return to peaceful work. Immediately afterwards the conference elected the Provisional Government of the Far Eastern Republic, the main task of which was the calling of the Constituent Assembly. Thus the task of uniting the Far East in one single state was for- mally accomplished; and the entire territory with the exception of Sakhalin and the district of Nikolayevsk which were occupied by the interventionists, were united under the rule of the Provisional Government. Thus the people of the Far East, having overcome all obstacles and difficulties by their tremendous efforts and sacrifices, attained the aim of unity which they had set for themselves. From that time on it was necessary to strengthen the consum- mated unity by giving it a solid basis of democratic state organiza- tion and to find the force to conquer also all efforts of the enemies of the democratic government and of the adversaries of the unity of the Russian Far East who were aiming at the destruction of the 25 results obtained and who systematically violated the right of the Rus- sian population of the Far East to their independent existence. To the number of these enemies did not belong Soviet Russia, which is nationally akin to the Far Eastern Republic. Its govern- ment had already on October 28 sent a greeting address to the Con- ference in which it expressed the hope that the unity would be successfully attained and that the friendly relations between the young republic and the mother country would be strengthened. The unity just achieved was endangered and strengthened from another side, i.e., from the side of the same foreign intervention. These menaces against the united republic, the hostile attitude of the Japanese military command against it, appeared immediately after the realization of unity. Not expecting that the revolutionary troops would so quickly de- feat Semenov, whom they diligently supplied with military equip- ment and provisions, the Japanese military authorities were unable to assist him with active military co-operation. .But they took him immediately under their protection after his army was dispersed at Dauren, and they proceeded to disarm it in such a way that his main forces should remain armed. These forces, according to the plan of Semenov and the Japanese militarists who helped him, were afterwards to be transferred to the Maritime Prov- ince with the purpose of seizing the power there and starting a new civil war against the people and its democratic government. The best proof that this plan existed and that the Japanese mili- tary command took part in the transport of Semenov's armed bands into the Maritime Province, in order to create a new obstacle to the strengthening of the obtained unity of the republic, exists in the last command of Ataman Semenov issued after the defeat of his army when he retreated behind the Chinese border. This command con- tains, literally, the following passage : "The Japanese military com- mand guarantees to the Far Eastern (Semenov's) army the transfer to the Maritime Province, but at the present time Col. Isome does not have at his disposal a sufficient number of armed forces to cover our retreat. Therefore, in order to create a precedent of international character, and to give to the Japanese command a reason to decidedly advance its troops, and to close the frontier to the Reds, after re- moving the Chinese who would stand in the way, it is necessary, if the situation on the front will force us to do so, to penetrate as far as possible into alien territory without paying any attention to the Chinese troops on the border." There is nothing to be added to a document which so eloquently testifies that the transfer of the armed men of Semenov to the Mari- time Province was accomplished with the direct participation of the Japanese military authorities. This transfer became the source of new violations of peace and or- der within the borders of the Far Eastern Republic, a source of all 26 further obstacles to the strengthening of the unity of the republic and its democratic organization. At the same time the faithful serv- ant and right-hand man of Semenov, Baron Ungern, provided by the same hand with equipment, arms and money, a man who had dis- graced himself by the most repelling crimes, advanced with a band of cutthroats from Transbaikalia to the south, into the heart of Mon- golia, in order to serve there the interests of Japanese intervention and to prepare his criminal adventure against the interests of China and the population of the Far Eastern Republic. In the meantime the Japanese military command continued creat- ing, within the republic itself, obstacles to the consolidation of the component parts of the Republic that had united at the November conference in Chita, and to the establishment of a solid democratic order in the entire territory of the Republic. By means of memo- randums and unofficial communications the Japanese military com- mand in Vladivostok tried to restrain the Vladivostok administra- tion and the National Assembly from the recognition of the deci- sions of the Unity Conference and from submitting to the single government that was elected there. Matters went so far that General Oi, the Commander of the Ex- peditionary Troops, sent for the deputies of the National Assembly of the Maritime Province and pronouncing coarse threats menaced them with repressions in the event that the Maritime Province should submit to the government that was elected at the conference. At the same time agents of the Japenese General Staff in Vladi- vostok were conducting an underground activity with a view to creating general confusion and were spreading rumors about the pos- sibility of a reactionary coup with the help of the Japanese. But all this was of no avail, and the National Assembly of the Maritime Province recognized all the decisions of the Unity Con- ference and of the Provisional Government of the entire Republic. This decision of the National Assembly of Vladivostok greatly strengthened the work of unity. Thereupon the Japanese authorities brought Semenov from Man- churia to Vladivostok, from which they escorted him with an hon- orary guard to their own territory, namely, Port Arthur. In the meantime the dispersed detachments of Semenov's army — which in spite of all the protests of the Central Government and of the local administration of the Maritime Province had been trans- ferred to that Province — seized the station Grodekovo as well as other points of the Usuri railroad, creating there a new Chita with their particular laws and authorities without any regard to the demo- cratic organs of the administration and the law of the Far Eastern Republic. Locomotives and whole trains were held up. Agents of the demo- cratic government as well as other citizens were taken down to be subjected to all kinds of injuries and tortures by the soldiers of Semenov and Kapf>el. 27 All efforts of the democratic authorities to introduce order and to put an end to the misdeeds of the Semenov-Kappel men were thwarted by the opposition of the Japanese authorities. Subsequently the Japanese diplomatic representative in Vladivos- tok issued to the regional authorities a notice by which almost all fisheries of the Maritime Province came under the jurisdiction of the Japanese military command. But notwithstanding all obstacles and difficulties placed in the way of the democratic state organization of the Russian Far East, the Central Government, created at the Unity Conference in Chita, un- flinchingly continued to lay the foundations of a new life and to work at the fulfillment of the task entrusted to it, namely, the con- vocation of the Constituent Assembly of the Republic. This work was brought to a successful conclusion, and on Decem- ber 12, 1920, the Provisional Government published a decision ac- cording to which the elections to the Constituent Assembly over the entire territory of the Far Eastern Republic were to take place on January 9, 1921, and the Assembly was to convene on January 25. The elections were held everywhere at the fixed period, but the opening of the Constituent Assembly was delayed some two or three weeks, until February 12, 1921, when the Constituent Assembly of the Republic convened in Chita and began its work. In both the voting procedure and the composition of the elected body the rights and the interests of the people and the introduction of a strict democratic order and constitution, were fully guaran- teed. The elections were held on the basis of the most democratic suf- frage, according to the system of proportional representation. The election campaign took place with complete freedom of writ- ten and oral propaganda for all parties and groups of the population. Suffice it to sav that participation in the voting was even allowed to the soldiers of Kappel's army, who a short time ago had struggled against the revolution in Transbaikalia ; they settled down in ihe Maritime Province and sent as their representatives to the Constitu- ent Assembly two generals, Verzhbitsky and Molchanov, who were at their head during the autumn (1920) struggles against the revo- lutionary army. These two delegates, however, did not take part in the activities of the Constituent Assembly, and preferred to stay in their locali- ties, where, under the protection of Japanese bayonets, they or- ganized conspiracies and prepared reactionary upheavals against the Assembly. The number of voters who participated in the elections was very large ; the percentage of the voters was in many districts as high, as 80 ner cent, nowhere lower than 60 per cent. The largest number of representatives was sent by the^ revolution- ary and democratic peasantry, which forms the prevailing part of 28 the population of the Far East, and which had borne on its should- ers the whole burden of the struggle for the emancipation of the country from the reactionaries and the interventionists. The representatives of this peasantry formed in the Constituent Assembly the largest parliamentary group, counting about 220 depu- ties, i.e., 60 per cent of the general number of all members, which is called the group of the revolutionary toiling peasantry, or the group of the majority, as it was called in the Assembly. The next largest group was the communist group comprising 80 to 90 delegates and representing the working class and the most revo- lutionary elements of the cities who saw in the communists the stanchest enemies of intervention and defenders of the rights of the people. '"* ""*' The third group consisted of the representatives of the wealthiest peasants, called the group of the peasant minority. It had 30 dele- gates. Then followed the less numerous groups of the Social Demo- crats, of the Social Revolutionists of the Right and of the wealthy bourgeoisie, who had all together 58 delegates. The group of the peasant majority, forming the fundamental force of the Constituent Assembly, by its votes, often predetermines the result of the voting. But it must be pointed out that in manv of the most important questions of principle the decisions of the Con- stituent Assembly were taken by an unanimous vote. The first achievement of the Constituent Assembly after hearing the reports of the Provisional Government and the various minis- tries, and after every group had made its declaration, was the unani- mous adoption of a general edict recognizine the decisions of all re- gional representative organs and of the conferences of the regional governments, concerning the formation of an independent state — the democratic Far Eastern Republic. In a special article of the dec- laration of the Constituent Assemblv it was stated that the presence of whatsoever armed forces of foreign governments within the bor- ders of the republic, and the interference of whatsoever foreign forces in the internal affairs of the countrv. and anv other violation of the rights of the Russian people in the Far East, is considered as a brutal outrage, and as a violation of basic international law and civili- zation. The declaration stated that the foundations of the state organiza- tion of the republic should be the principles of real democracy and self-?overnment. put into effect bv popular representation on the basis of universal, eoual, direct and secret suffrage, guaranteeing to all citizens political liberty and the preservation of the principle of private property. In a separate article the declaration also stated that the republic in- tended to take measures for the invitation of foreign capital and ini- tiative for the development of th* natural) resources of the country. 29 The ensuing act of the Constituent Assembly was the adoption of solemn appeals to the governments and the nations of the whole world, and particularly to the governments of the larger powers, the United States of America, England, France and Japan, which participated in the landing of their troops in 1918 on the territory which became part of the Far Eastern Republic. In the first of these appeals, the Constituent Assembly informs the governments and the nations of the creation of an independent Far Eastern Republic and declares that it is necessary for the suc- cessful development of the new democratic country that the Far Eastern Republic should be accepted with equal rights in the fam- ily of the other independent nations and that its territory should be liberated from foreign troops and intervention. In its appeal to the nations which took part in the intervention, the Constituent Assembly declared that the purpose for which they sent their troops on Siberian territory was to co-operate with the Czecho- Slovaks and help the Russian people to resist German ag- gression; that in their declarations all governments solemnly prom- ised to withdraw their troops as soon as these tasks would be ful- filled, adhering all the time to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of the nation. Calling further attention to the fact that the intervention was continued even after the above mentioned aims were attained, it put before all the governments that had participated in it, the question of the responsibility for the continued presence and the activities of the Japanese troops on the territory of the Far Eastern Republic, in full contradiction to the lofty and solemn declarations of these countries. In particular, in its note to the Japanese Government, the Con- stituent Assembly characterized the situation which was created as a result of the activities of the Japanese military command on the ter- ritory of the republic. In the memorandum to the Government of the United States of America the Constituent Assembly referred to the declaration of the American Government of August 5, 1918, which "most sin- cerely and solemnly" declared to the Russian people that the inter- vention did not mean any attempt against the political sovereignty, that it did not mean any interference in its internal or even local matters, that the exclusive and only aim of the intervention was to offer such help as would be acceptable to the Russian people them- selves in their aspiration again to become masters of their own affairs, of their own territory and of their own destiny. In re- calling these promises the Constituent Assembly raised the ques- tion of the responsibility for those real, actual concomitants of the still existing military intervention which expressed itself in a con- tinuous brutal interference in the internal: affairs on the part of the Japanese military command, in open assistance to reactionary 30 groups, and in endless violations of the rights and the interests of the population of the Far Eastern Republic. Finally the Constitu- ent Assembly expressed the hope that the government of the great democratic republic would recognize the independence of the Far Eastern Republic. With a feeling of bitterness it must be remarked that not one of the governments of the large countries, except China, answered the address and the appeals of the popular representation of the young democratic republic of the Far East to aid it in its efforts to defend its rights to an independent existence and to help it in the, develop- ment and strengthening of its democratic state organization. After the formulation of the above addresses the Constituent Assembly entered upon the elaboration of the fundamental laws which are the bases of the democratic constitution of the country. Tne deliberation and the adoption of the fundamental laws took up the greater part of the working time of the Constituent Assembly. The size and the purpose of the present outline do not permit us to enter into details as to the contents of the fundamental laws es- tablished by the Constituent Assembly. It will be sufficient if we mention that in their main, essential features they represent a de- velopment of the theses expressed in the declaration which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly in the very beginning of its deliberations. The full text of the Constitution, issued separately among other official documents, contains the following sections: General prin- ciples of the state organization of the republic; the domains of the republic ; the rights of the citizens ; the local organs of of the central government and of the autonomous administration; fundamental principles of the economical structure of the republic; the defense of the republic; revision of the fundamental laws; the emblem and the flag of the republic; statement about the first National As- sembly and the election of the government of the Republic. After completing the Constitution and after adopting the motion concerning the first National Assembly of the republic, the Constitu- ent Assembly, in accordance with the Constitution, instituted a per- manent government consisting of seven members which took over the full civil and military authority in the territory of the Far East- ern Republic subject to the fundamental laws of the country. Immediately afterwards, after issuing an appeal to the popula- tion of the country, the Constituent Assembly declared itself dis- solved on April 26, 1921. CHAPTER V. The conclusion of the work of the Constituent Assembly marked the final establishment of the foundation on which the young demo- cratic state of the Far East was to grow and become strong. But the end of the trials confronting the people of the Far Eastern Republic was still far away. 31 Even during the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly, the ambitions of the adversaries of democratic institutions and of the unity of the Far Eastern Republic found their concrete expression in the activities of the Japanese military authorities and their agents among the Russian reactionaries. From these quarters the efforts to check the organization of democratic institutions on the territory occupied by the Japanese never relaxed. The policy of the seizure of separate localities by reactionaries and of the overthrow of the organs of the democratic administration established by the Constituent Assembly was continued. Thus, in Vladivostok, the Japanese military command, even after the union of the various regions had been effected, compelled the lo- cal popular authorities to comply with the agreement of January 29, 1920, and not to admit any armed forces of the government of the Far Eastern Republic into the city and within 30 versts from the zone of the Usuri railway from the station Iman, except a negligible detachment of militia. Thus the men of Semenov and Kappel who had settled down in that region were ensured full liberty to violate public order and to prepare the reactionary coup in the Maritime Province. Not only was the democratic regional administration unable to undertake any measures for preventing the attacks on the part of the reactionary elements, owing to the fact that they were supported and aided by the Japanese military authorities, but it was even de- prived of the possibility of offering any resistance in the event of such an occurrence. Some time before, on March 30, 1921, the Japanese had disarmed that tiny reserve of militia that was at the disposal of the regional administration. Thereupon, headed by General Lokhvitsky, the men of Semenov and Kappel, who had taken refuge under the protecting wings of the Japanese authorities, made an attempt to seize the government, which at that time did not succeed. Then the leaders of the revolt, who had been arrested but were liberated at the demand of the Jap- anese authorities, began actively to arm their adherents and to pre- pare a new attack. The circumstances accompanying the second and successful at- tempt of May 26-27, which ended with the seizure of the Maritime Province by the reactionary adventurers, form new evidence of an unexampled, impudent intervention of foreign militarists in the in- ternal affairs of the republic, evidence which ought to make the part played by Japanese intervention in the Russian Far East per- fectly clear to all who do not want to close their eyes knowingly to these matters. About the 20th of May news reached Vladivostok that in spite of the insistence of the militarists the Tokio government had decided to begin the evacuation of the Maritime Province. 32 Immediately the local regional administration was given the trust- worthy information that the military authorities, in their endeavor at any price to prevent the evacuation, are making efforts to pro- voke any kind of disorders in order to have a pretext to postpone the evacuation. Two days afterwards the organs of the government learned that in one of the houses of Vladivostok was a gathering of armed con- spirators who were preparing a new insurrection for the next night. The regional administration sent its agents in order to have this house searched. A Japanese flag, however, was hoisted on the house and the owner refused to allow the representatives of the government to proceed with the search. When the agents nevertheless entered the house they found al- ready in the first room grenades, rifles, cartridges and a group of armed men. They were unable to enter the other rooms, as at that very mo- ment there appeared a detachment of Japanese gendarmes which for- cibly compelled the representatives of the government to leave. The Japanese declared that they themselves would proceed with the search. The next day they informed the organs of the regional govern- ment that as a result of the search they had really found at that place two machine guns and a great quantity of other weapons and that the guilty parties would be prosecuted. Meanwhile two hours later the last armed forces of the Far East- ern Republic in the Maritime Province, the escort of the military commander and the detachments of the militia, were surrounded by the Japanese troops. They were requested to surrender their arms in order to have them checked up. Only part was returned in the evening. And the following day, on May 26, the armed men of Semenov's and Kappel's forces invaded the city, occupied the representative institutions and proclaimed the formation of a new, reactionary ad- ministration headed by Merkulov. And when the last remainders of the armed forces of the Far Eastern Republic, as well as the population, attempted to offer re- sistance, they were immediately surrounded by Japanese soldiers and disarmed. The Japanese military command, after this had happened, gave out a statement about the "bloodless" revolution, and about its (Japan- ese) neutrality. History hardly knows of a more unexampled case of a shocking interference in the affairs of a foreign people. Again the unity of the territory of the Far Eastern Republic was violated. Again within its borders there was created by the inter- ventionists a reactionary stronghold which was hindering the demo- 33 cratic development of the state organization and became a new rally- ing ground of civil war. Coupled with the Japanese occupation of Sakhalin and the dis- trict of Nikolayevsk, the passing of the Maritime Province into the hands of the interventionists and reactionaries now in control, opened a wound in the body of a weak democratic country, still drip- ping with the blood of the Russian people. But the attack of the enemies of the young Far Eastern Republic against the rights of the people and the unity that was attained after so many efforts, did not stop there. Baron Ungern, a faithful tool of the Japanese militarists, who immediately after Semenov was driven out from Transbaikalia, went to Mongolia, was to commence activities there against the republic. As far back as February, 1921, availing himself of the dissaf- fection of the Mongolians to the Chinese administraton, he aroused them to a revolt againt the Chinese, took Urga, the capital of Mon- golia, 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 dealings with all those who for any reason whatsoever arose his suspicion or whose ruin could enrich him or his satellites. Having taken firm hold in Urga, Ungern mobilized his forces and prepared an attack against the Far Eastern Republic from the west, thus menacing also the Russian Soviet Republic. He started his advance in May. Encouraged by the success in Vladivostok, the reactionary groups, which were serving only as tools in the hands of foreign intervention, conceived a broad plan of ag- gression against the Far Eastern Republic aiming at the total de- struction of the democratic state organization in the Far East. Ungern was to attack the Republic from the west to cut off its communication with Soviet Russia ; Ataman Semenov, brought by the Japanese from Port Arthur to Grodekovo, was forming here his forces for an attack against Khabarovsk, and tried at the same time to bring about a revolt of the Cossack population in the Amur region, for which purpose his agents, richly supplied with Japanese money, were gathering their forces on Chinese territory on the right bank of the Amur River. Thus the Far Eastern Republic was to be attacked from all sides. But the enterprise did not succeed as smoothly as the enemies of the republic expected. In the Maritime Province the leaders of the reaction quarreled with each other in the struggle for influence and over the division of the plundered national property. Ataman Seme- nov, whom the new reactionary government of the Maritime Prov- ince did not provide with any money, in vain complained to Gen- eral Tachibana, commander of the Japanese expeditionary forces, saying that he is being prevented from accomplishing the great work 34 of crushing the popular revolution and thus strengthening the posi- tion of the Japanese in the forthcoming conflict with America. His pitiful detachments, in their very first attempts to invade the region where the people's revolutionary army was stationed, became aware of their powerlessness and withdrew under the protection of the interventionists. The agents of Semenov were unsuccessful in their attempts to bring about a revolt on the Amur, after having wasted Japanese money. The population of the Amur region rallied around its democratic popular administration and even the wealthy Cossack population took a hostile attitude towards this adventure. Only one madman, Ungern, miscalculating his forces, started to advance against both the Far Eastern Republic and Soviet Russia, under the watchword of re-establishing the monarchy. But already in the first serious battle, at the city of Troitskosavsk, on the road to Verkhne-Udinsk, at the end of June, 1921, Ungern suffered a terrible defeat at the hands' of the people's revolutionary army. And he succeeded only in disgracing himself again by com- mitting new bestialities against the peaceful peasant population of the villages which he met on his way, thus arousing immediately against himself a general partisan warfare. In July, on Mongolian territory, he was finally routed; on July 20, Urga, the capital of Mongolia, was liberated from the grip of the mad Baron, and was temporarily occupied by the united forces of the Soviet army and the popular revolutionary army. Finally, in August, Ungern, who like Semenov, had in Mongolia played the part of a Japanese mercenary, abandoned by his troops, which dispersed in all directions, was taken prisoner by the Red Soviet army. The advance of the reactionary adventurers against the Republic ended in complete failure. The republic had shown its force and its population once more showed its attachment to the revolution and to democratic institutions. Besides these successes in the open struggle against the enemies of the democratic svstem, there was no interruption, during all this time, of the activities within the republic, undertaken to strengthen and develop the democratic order and the institutions of the re- public. Intensified organic activity for the application of the Constitution and for constructive work on the economic and administrative field, followed the closing of the Constituent Assembly. Immediatelv after the establishment of the government there was formed the Council of Ministers, which according to the Consti- tution is responsible to the Government and to the National As- sembly. The Council of Ministers was formed on a coalition basis with 35 the participation of the opposition, i.e., the right and moderate So- cialists. For the period beginning May 1 the Council of Ministers elaborated and submitted for sanction by the government a number of very important laws and measures referring to the most varied concerns of state policy. Under this head are to be mentioned the laws establishing the functions of the administrative organs; those governing the elec- tions to the regional Assemblies of Representatives and those pro- viding for the people's control, regional emissaries and local autono- mous administrative organs; also measures covering the levying and collection of taxes and the regulation of 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 kind on the commercial and industrial enterprises, as part of a funda- mental industrial tax; regulations governing the estimate and the records of general state revenues; regulations concerning the unity of the treasury. We may mention further statutes regulating the economic life, among which are the statutes relating to the private gold industry, the government commission for the regulation of the land-property relations between the Buryat-Mongol and the Russian populations; the separation of the industrial establishments of the state, as a sep- arate category to be treated according to particular commercial prin- ciples, and the elaboration of a statute concerning the granting of con- cessions on the territory of the Far Eastern Republic for the exploi- tation of mineral resources and forest areas. In consideration of the extraordinary political events in the Mari- time Province a special law was issued, prohibiting arrangements and agreements with the insurgents calling 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 as the statute covering housing needs and many others. These are only the outstanding- measures of the legislation en- dorsed by the government of the Republic in the period that elapsed since the adjournment of the Constituent Assemblv. Among the ac- tivities of the central government organs, the bringing about of order in the various localities was also included. Tn the regional and district centers there were organized adminis- trative bodies ; reforms were introduced in accordance with the fun- damental statutes of the Constitution which was adopted by the Con- stituent Assembly. The most important manifestations of this reorganization of the public life in the various localities were the elections and the delib- erations of the regional National Assemblies that took place in July and August, 1921. Everywhere the elections to and the deliberations of the As- 36 semblies were inspired by the idea of strengthening of the instituted democratic order, of putting into effect the fundamental laws of the Constituent Assembly governing the economic reconstruction of the country. The Popular Assemblies of all the regions expressed their readi- ness to give energetic support to the government, and announced again their urgent protests against foreign intervention and against the support given by foreign armed forces to the criminal aspira- tions of the reactionaries to destroy the unity of the republic. While in that part of the republic that was free from the presence of the interventionist troops, the constructive work and the strengthening of the basis of the democratic system was going on smoothly, ac- companied by the establishment of complete peace and order; in those parts of the Maritime Province which were seized by the re- actionaries almost the entire population of the occupied territory started 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 a storm of bloody repressions and atrocities. All newspapers which were not favorable to the administration were suppressed, among them even the organs of the liberal bour- geoisie. Numerous arrests forced the public and labor organizations under- ground. The persecutions of the political opponents revived again the old bloody methods of the Ataman's torture chambers and a number of the most prominent men, active in the public life of Vladivostok, were murdered by the agents of the reactionary administration. This policy aroused a still greater manifestation of popular indig- nation; the activity of the partisan bands increased in the country, while in the city itself a new outbreak of the revolutionists was held back only by the pressure of the Japanese armed forces and the atti- tude of the Japanese military command, which after having called into life the reactionary government and after having at the time participated in the overthrow of the legitimate democratic administra- tion, declared now that it would not permit of any disturbance in the region in which its troops are stationed. In order to find some way out of the intolerable situation thus created for the population of the Maritime Province and the entire Republic, a situation which was brought about by foreign interference in the internal affairs of the Republic, the Government of the Far Eastern Republic, ready to explore any possibility of a peaceful is- sue, entered peace negotiations with the representatives of the Tokio government and agreed to conduct these negotiations in Deiren. These negotiations in Deiren constitute another effort to obtain through peaceful means, directly from Japan, the cessation of mili- 37 tary intervention and interference in its internal affairs, i.e., the re- moval of the main obstacle standing in the way of consolidating the unity of the republic and of firmly establishing its democratic order. Thus we may end the present outline of the history of the Far Eastern Republic, and repeat what was said in the introduction to this outline — that the history of the Far Eastern Republic is the history of the heroic efforts of a part of the Russian people to de- fend its independence, and its right to exist as a democratic country, governed in the interests of the whole population; a history of con- tinuous trials, more than once accompanied by the bloodiest and gravest sacrifices; of the people of a small country, standing face to face with the pretensions and the brutal policy of a foreign militar- ism whose ways of frankly trampling under its feet the stipulations of international law and the interests of weak nations are hardly sur- passed by the worst forms of militarism known to history. The pages of this history are full of the sufferings of a people compelled under unfavorable circumstances to defend itself and the cause of its unity, against the attacks of a stronger adversary. And they abound in such incidents as the burning of defenseless villages and towns, the deaths of mothers and children in the flames of their dwellings, set on fire by the invaders, the throwing of the best defenders of the country's independence into the fur- naces of locomotives. They are marked by incredible bestialities, in- human pains and tortures inflicted upon hundreds of people who fell into the hands of the interventionists or their Russian hire- lings, by cemeteries of death and horrors around the torture cham- bers instituted by the tools of foreign annexationists, treacherous at- tacks from ambush, the assassination of truce bearers, whose per- sons are inviolable by immemorial law. But these pages are also full of heroic courage, of unflinching de- votion of the same people, displayed in the defence of its republic, of its unity and democratic institutions. And from this history the people of the Far Eastern Republic draw the conviction that their efforts will not be in vain, that after all the time will come when they will be liberated from the bloody blight of armed foreign intervention, when they will be in a position to undertake the peaceful economic reconstruction of their entire territory. 38 APPENDIX RESOLUTION OF THE MARITIME PROVINCIAL ZEMSTVO January 31st, 1920 Resolution regarding the temporary assumption of full power, within the limits of the Maritime Province, by the Provincial Zemstvo for the purpose of establishing order. The arrest of A. Menshikov and S. Afanasev, members of the Maritime Provincial Zemstvo, and the attempt to arrest A. Medvedev, the Chairman, and A. Rusanov, the Vice-Chairman, as well as the other Zemstvo workers and other prominent pub- lic men, which followed immediately after the action of the Eger Battalion, definitely demonstrated the unvarying politi- cal mode of action of the fallen Kolchak Government. The dis- persal of the Siberian territorial Duma, the arrest of the All- Russian Directory, the murder and the shooting without trial or investigation of the elected representatives of the people and of peaceful citizens, the irresponsible actions of the military authorities, the militarization of the civil government and the systematic violation of the people's rights, were characteristic features of the fallen government. Typical of this policy, was the destruction of the local institu- tions of popular government. Elections to the Zemstvos were prevented. The old provincial rulers, governors and governor- generals, were made once more the rulers of the country. The institution of appointed overseers for the peasants was resur- rected. The militia was taken from the jurisdiction of the Zem- stvo and city governments, and Zemstvo funds were confiscated. The looting of the Maritime Provincial Zemstvo was the last act of this system — the irresponsible military dictatorship in our province. The policies of the Zemstvo of Siberia and particularly of the Maritime Provincial Zemstvo were discussed on many occasions at numerous Zemstvo and public meetings. The purpose of this 39 was to confirm the principle of popular rule throughout the country. The last local remnants of the fallen rule of Kolchak, while falsely declaring in favor of the reestablishment of the Vil- lage Zemstvo, which had already been organized by popular decision, are trying to destroy the only real representative gov- ernment engaged in the defense of the people's interests, having, by the arrest of their members already destroyed the Provincial and County Zemstvos. That local government, abandoned even by its own military forces, at the present time can depend only on an insignificant group of armed gangsters and can resist perhaps jone or two more outbreaks; it is doomed to faliure as is clearly evident from the events of the last few days. The garrisons of Nikolsk-Usurisk and Vladivostok expressed their readiness to recognize only the popular governments and have organized Revolutionary Military Staffs in order to aid in establishing them. Several public organizations, in their resolu- tions, also definitely declared themselves in favor of a tempor- ary assumption of government power by the Zemstvo as it is under the present conditions the only government institution elected by the people. Under these conditions the Maritime Pro- vincial Zemstvo as an institution elected by the population, con- siders itself compelled to adopt immediately all measures neces- sary for the organization of a temporary government of the pro- vince, to end the prevalent anarchy and civil war, and establish peace among the people. Taking into consideration all the above stated extraordinary circumstances, the Zemstvo resolved : to aid in every possible manner in ending civil war in the provnce and in establishing order and normal conditions of life, and to accomplish this : 1. To assume temporarily full authority within the entire Maritime Province, asking the friendly cooperation of all other institutions of popular government in the cities and counties, and to request the aid of all local government officers. 2. To issue an appeal to the population of the province. 3. To inform the Allied Command of the above decision. (Signed) A. Medvedev, Chairman of the Zemstvo; A. Rusanov, P. Popov, S. Afanasev, A. Menshikov, Members of the Zem- stvo; Belkin, Secretary. DECLARATION OF THE PROVISIONAL ZEMSTVO GOVERNMENT OF THE MARITIME PROVINCE On January 31, 1920, under the pressure of the unanimous opinion of the military, labor and civil organizations the Mari- 40 time Provincial Zemstvo assumed all governmental powers within the limits of the Maritime Province. Upon its accession, the Provisional Government, during the two months of its control found itself supported by all the demo- cratic groups as well as by the toiling masses who at their numerous conventions reiterated their recognition and support of the Provisional Government. This recognition of the Pro- visional Government came not only from the population of the Maritime Province, but also from the Amur Province and from the Russian population living within the zone of the Chinese Eastern Railroad and also from other sections of the Far East. In their statements, resolutions and memoranda, the great mass of the toilers of the Far East declared their unswerving loyalty to the Provisional Government of the Maritime Provin- cial Zemstvo as the Provisional Government of the whole Far East in order to achieve the settlement of national problems, and until the reunion with Central Russia. Taking into consideration this tendency of the toilers of the Far East and in obedience to their will, the Provisional Govern- ment of the Maritime Provincial Zemstvo declares that from now on it extends its authority to the entire territory of the Far East — Maritime, Amur, Sakhalin and Kamchatka Provinces, as well as the Russian population within the railroad zone of the Chinese Eastern Railroad. Extending its authority throughout the entire territory of the Far East, the Provincial Government finds it necessary under these conditions to summon to the government, with full repre- sentative rights, delegates from the conventions of the toilers as follows: Two each from the Maritime and Amur Provinces. One each from Kamchatka and Sakhalin. The Provisional Government wishing to give full expression to the will of the entire population, considers it its duty to call within the nearest future, a territorial convention of toilers for the purpose of establishing an understanding and settlement of the national problems in all the provinces of the territory, organiz- ing a homogeneous form of government, and strengthening the ties between the government and the population. Reaffirming its previous decision to make its principal aim in this work the reerection of a state in full agreement with the will of the toilers, the Provisional Government declares that while guarding the sovereign rights of the Russian state, it will recognize and protect the legal rights of foreign citizens in the Far East. The Provisional Zemstvo Government of the Maritime Pro- vince. The original is signed : 41 A. Medvedev, Chairman; A. Rusanov, A. Menshikov, S. Afanasev, P. Popov, Members; S. Belkin, Secretary of Provisional Government. TO THE POPULATION OF PRIBAIKALIA The overthrow of the reactionary forces in the Pribaikal dis- trict and the unfinished struggle with the remnants of the de- feated Semenov bands have put before the whole revolutionary democracy the task of establishing a local people's authority, capable of restoring order in the region devastated by the re- treating bands, of bringing to a successful issue the struggle for the liberation of Transbaikalia and the restoration of the economic life of the region. The Provisional Zemstvo Govern- ment of Pribaikalia having been increased by representatives of the Socialist parties, the Social Democrats, Social Revolution- aries and Communists, by representatives of the trade unions and of the working population, has set itself the following task: 1. To protect and defend the interests of the working popu- lation of Pribaikalia. 2. To protect the country from any foreign infringement upon its rights. 3. To continue the struggle with the reactionary forces in the East until they are crushed. Realizing the difficulties which stand in the way of the ac- complishment of the above task and appealing to the entire work- ing population for actual support, the Provisional Zemstvo Gov- ernment hereby declares, that it will not recede from its pro- gram and will resolutely suppress all separatist attempts and all efforts to injure its authority. The Provisional Zemstvo Government believes that the urban and rural working population, realizing the difficulty of the pres- ent moment, will gather its strength around the Provisional Gov- ernment, to assist the Government in its struggle for the inde- pendence of the district against domestic and foreign reaction- aries, and to restore the economic life of the liberated regions. THE PROVISIONAL ZEMSTVO, GOVERNMENT OF PRIBAIKALIA. March, 1920. DECLARATION of the Working Population of the Transbaikal Region to the Governments of the United States of North America, Great Britain, Japan, China, France, Italy, Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic and all Governments and Nations of the World. 42 We, the empowered representatives of all the people of the Transbaikal territory, in Constituent Convention assembled, at the city of Verkhne-Udinsk, address ourselves in the name of the people who elected us, to all the nations of the world and their governments and solemnly declare : Two years of internal fratricidal war have devastated our rich country and made possible the re-establishment of reaction, hateful to the people, and the rule of the robber-atamans and their hirelings. A black cloud of violence, robbery and murder oppressed us, the whirr of knouts, the blaze of incendiary fires, pitiless executions made life unbearable to us, made peaceful intercourse with our neighbors impossible and brought upon our territory allied occupation. Our people, in desperation, rebelled, writing on their banners — "the end of civil war" and "the union of all the people for liberty and peace." Having overthrown the Government of the usurpers Kol- chak and Semenov, the people of the Transbaikal territory, through its representatives, proclaim : 1. The Far Eastern territories, including the territories of Transbaikalia, Amur, Maritime Province, Sakhalin, Kamchatka and the Right of Way of the Chinese Eastern Railway, due to their geographical and economic situation, their extended fron- tier line, remoteness from the political center of the Russian Republic, are hereby proclaimed an Independent State under a Republican form of government. 2. Upon the territory of the Far Eastern Republic shall be established a democratic Government, representing the will of the whole people, as expressed through its duly elected repre- sentatives and guaranteeing to all the classes of society the demo- cratic liberties which are the safeguards of peaceful development of social forces. 3. In order to accomplish its aims the Convention elects from its midst a Provisional Government in which shall participate representatives of all political parties and nationalities, resid- ing in the territory of the Republic. To this Government the Con- vention delegates full political and military authority and em- powers it to continue relentlessly the fight against the last remnants of reactionary administration, to establish the rule of law and order, to organize local democratic governments, to draft a law and prepare for the convocation of a general Con- stituted Assembly for the purpose of laying down the funda- mental law and working out the Constitution of the Far Eastern Republic, to convene as soon as all the territories are reunited. 4. The Convention urgently appeals to all the officers and soldiers of the former army of Kolchak and Semenov to put an end to the rule of violence and lawlessness, to lay down their arms, guaranteeing them, in the name of the people, complete 43 safety and the opportunity of returning to their homes and peace- ful labor. The Convention hereby proclaims the abolition of capital punishment as being in contradiction to the aspirations of our people. 5. Addressing itself to the nations of the World through their Governments, the Convention declares that the Far Eastern Republic aspires to establish friendly relations with all countries, especially with those that lie on its frontier and the citizens of which live in great numbers upon its territory. The internal war has shaken our economic life to its very foundation, has ruined our industry and transportation and has brought the spectre of starvation before our eyes. Our aim is peace, peaceful labor and friendly relations toward all people, and the reconstruction of our life upon the foundation of democratic order. Guaranteeing to all the citizens of foreign countries the full right of personal safety and property, the Convention invites all Governments to enter into relations witii our newly elected Government by send- ing their official representatives for the purpose of co-operating in the interests of peace, assuring them that all of the people of our territory will uphold the Government in its work of establishing order and creating conditions favorable for peaceful creative life and labor. April 6, 1920. PRESIDIUM Constituent Convention COMMUNICATION OF THE RUSSIAN SOVIET GOVERNMENT Mr. Krasnoshchekov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Far Eastern Republic. On behalf of the Government of the Russian Socialist Feder- ated Soviet Republic, I have the honor to inform you that, taking into consideration the declaration of the Provisional Govern- ment of the Far Eastern Republic with regard to the formation of an independent democratic republic on the basis stated in the said declaration, the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Repub- lic hereby recognizes the establishment of the said democratic Republic with the Provisional Government at its head. The Soviet Government is ready to enter immediately into official diplomatic relations with the Government of the new Republic in order to conclude commercial and political agree- ments. In communicating the foreging to you, I consider it my duty on behalf of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic to express my desires to see the Far Eastern Republic prosper- ous and at peace with the neighboring countries. (Signed) Chicherin, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs. Moscow, May 14, 1920. 44 DECLARATION OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED PROVINCES OF THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST We, the delegated representatives of all the people and of all the provinces of the Russian Far East, in the name of the people who elected us, solemnly declare : Two years of internal fratricidal war have devastated our rich country and made possible the re-establishment of re- action, hateful to the people, in the rule of the robber atamans and their hirelings. A black cloud of violence, robbery and murder oppressed us, the whirr of knouts, the blaze of in- cendiary fires, pitiless executions made life unbearable to us, made peaceful intercourse with our neighbors impossible and brought upon our territory allied intervention. Our people, in desperation, rebelled, writing on their banners — "the end of civil war" and "the union of all the people for liberty and peace." Having liberated the whole of the Russian Far East, the people through their representatives proclaim : 1. The entire territory of the former Russian Empire east of the River Selenga and Lake Baikal, including Western Trans- baikalia, Eastern Transbaikalia, the Amur Region, the Maritime Province, Sakhalin and Kamchatka, shall be declared an inde- pendent Republic, from the date of the publication of the declara- tion of independence of 6th April. 2. The border between the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic and the Far Eastern Republic shall be: The River Selenga from its exit from Mongolia to its mouth, the middle of Lake Baikal, and the former border of the Yakutsk Province to the east and north to the Arctic Ocean. 3. The Far Eastern Republic inherits all the rights of the former Russian Empire in the zone of the Chinese Eastern Railway. 4. A democratic Government shall be established in the terri- tory of the Far Eastern Republic, representing the will of the whole people, and expressed through their duly elected repre- sentatives. 5. All the armed forces of the country and every province shall be subordinated to the command of the Central Govern- ment. 6. All the officers and soldiers of the remnants of the armies of Kolchak, Kappel and Semenov are guaranteed personal safety and the opportunity of returning to their homes and peaceful labor. 7. In order to work out the fundamental laws of the country, a Constituent Assembly shall be convoked in the very near future, in accordance with the law which shall be worked out by the Conference and based on the principle of proportional 45 representation, by universal, equal, secret and direct vote, with- out distinction of sex and religion. 8. In order to accomplish its aim the Conference elects from its midst a Government of the Far Eastern Republic to whom it delegates full political and military authority. This Government shall exist until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly of the Far Eastern Republic, and shall be guided by democratic principles. All liberties which are the safeguards of peaceful development of social order shall be maintained, the institution of private property preserved, but the Government shall make such changes as are necessary for the protection of labor, as shown from the experience of other civilized nations. From the date of the election of the new Government by the Conference all the other Provisional Governments in the Russian Far East shall be deprived of their state prerogatives and shall become local administrative bodies, pending the election of such bodies. Addressing itself to the nations of the world through their Governments, the Conference declares that the Far Eastern Re- public aspires to establish friendly relations with all countries, especially with those bordering on it and whose citizens reside in the territory of the Far Eastern Republic. The internal strife has shaken our economic life, has ruined our industry and trans- portation and has brought the spectre of starvation before our eyes. Our aim is peace and peaceful labor. In close co-opera- tion with other nations we want to reconstruct our life on democratic bases. Guaranteeing to all foreign citizens full inviolability of person and property, the Conference invites all Governments to enter into relations with the Government of the Far Eastern Republic and to send their authorized representa- tives in order to establish mutual relations in the interests of peace, and it desires to assure them that the people of the terri- tory wholly support the Government in its ceaseless efforts to establish order and create conditions favorable to peaceful life and labor. 9th November, 1920. A RESOLUTION OF THE MARITIME ZEMSTVO BOARD "The Zemstvo Board, mindful that it assumed State author- ity in the province pending the expression of the will of the entire population of the province, declares that the time has now come when it not only may, but must, in accordance with the law, resign its State authority, and transfer it to the Central Government. The Zemstvo Board has therefore decided : to consider its sovereign authority in the Far Eastern Republic as terminated, and from this date to commence the performance 46 of its direct duties in the capacity of the Provincial Zemstvo administration." Medvediev, Chairman. Russanov, Popov, Members. Vladivostok, 12th November, 1920. A RESOLUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FAR EASTERN REPUBLIC Concerning the date of the convocation of the Constituent As- sembly of the Far Eastern Republic and concerning the date of the elections. In accordance with the recommendation of the Commission for the Elections to the Constituent Assembly of the Far Eastern Republic, the Government has decided: 1. That the 25th of January, 1921, be appointed the date for the convocation of the Constituent Assembly of the Far Eastern Republic. 2. That the elections for the Constituent Assembly take place on the 9th of January, 1921. 3. That the present regulation be ordered into effect by tele- graph immediately. 12th December, 1920. AN AGREEMENT WITH REGARD TO THE FRONTIERS BETWEEN THE RUSSIAN SOCIALIST FEDER- ATED SOVIET REPUBLIC AND THE FAR EASTERN REPUBLIC The Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic, the party of the one side, and the Far Eastern Republic, the party of the other side, considering it necessary to determine definitely the boundaries of the two parties, have decided to conclude the present agreement, for which purpose the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Re- public has appointed L. I. Karahan, the Acting People's Com- missar for Foreign Affairs, as its representative, and the Govern- ment of the Far Eastern Republic has appointed Mr. A. M. Krasnoshchekov, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, as its repre- sentative. The said representatives after having mutually pre- sented to each other their credentials and having found them in good order and legally executed, agree to the following: Article first and the only one. The border between the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic and the Far East- ern Republic: Beginning at the point where the River Selenga crosses the Mongolian frontier, proceeds down the river to the 47 admistrative border between the Verkhne-Udinsk and Seleginsk Counties, follows that border, and then the border between the Seleginsk and Barguzinsk Counties to Lake Baikal. It divides equally Lake Baikal, runs along the former border of the Prov- ince of Irkutsk and the Province of Transbaikalia to the north- ern part of Lake Baikal, and then to the border of the Province of Yakutsk and the borders of Transbaikalia, the Amur District and the Maritime Province, to the watershed between the Rivers Kiran and Pesmun and the watershed of the said rivers to the Okhotsk Sea at Cape Medjelnd. All the islands of the Okhotsk- Sea south of the said cape, including the northern part of Sak- halin, belong to the Far Eastern Republic. Note : The frontiers of the two countries shall be demarked and boundary posts shall be erected by a joint commission of the two Republics, having an equal number of members. When the frontier line passes through rivers and lakes, it shall coincide with the middle of the navigable part of these rivers and lakes. The present agreement becomes valid from the date of its signature. In witness whereof the representatives of the two countries have signed the present agreement and have attached their respective seals. Executed in two copies. Moscow, December 15, 1920. (Signed) L. I. Karahan. Acting People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs. Chita, 30th December, 1920. (Signed) A. Krasnoshchekow, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Approved by the Government of the Far Eastern Republic on the 24th of January, 1921. A RESOLUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FAR EASTERN REPUBLIC Announcing the date for the opening of the Constituent As- sembly of the Far Eastern Republic. THE GOVERNMENT HAS DECIDED: 1. To convene the Constituent Assembly of the Far Eastern Republic on the 12th day of February, at 6 o'clock in the evening. 2. To proclaim the day of the opening of the Constituent Assembly a national holiday. 3. To order the present regulations into immediate effect by telegraph. Krasnoshchekov, President of the Government. P. Fedorez, Director of Affairs of the Government. Chita, February 8, 1921. 48 DECLARATION OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OP THE FAR EASTERN REPUBLIC. The two and a half years of heroic struggle by the revolu- tionary people of the Russian Far East against the hated regime of the usurping Atamans and their henchmen has ended in a complete victory. Owing to the international situation and with a view to preventing the Far East from becoming a permanent base of warfare against Soviet Russia, the people of the Russian Far East have given up their sacred wish of an immediate re- union with their mother country, Russia, and have entered upon the course of establishing an independent sovereign republic on the territory of the Russian Far East. The independence of this republic was recognized by the Socialist Federated Soviet Re- public of Russia in its declaration of May 14, 1920. To form a government and to enact the fundamental laws of the Republic, the Constituent Assembly was elected by the free will of the people of the Far Eastern Republic, expressed by universal, equal, direct and secret ballot and by proportional representation with no distinction of nationality, sex or religion. Considering the creation of such a government as will se- cure the full rights of the people by promoting stability and complete freedom of creative initiative of all citizens in the ter- ritory of the Far Eastern Republic, to be its solemn task, the Constituent Assembly hereby solemnly declares to the entire world that : 1. The whole of the territory of the former Empire of Russia, east of the River Selenga and Lake Baikal to the Pacific Ocean, including the provinces of Pribaikalia, Transbaikalia, the Amur and Priamur regions and the Maritime Province, and the north- ern part of Sakhalin Island, is hereby declared under the juris- diction of the independent sovereign, democratic State, the Far Eastern Republic. 2. By virtue of an agreement the demarcation line between the Soviet Republic of Russia and the Far Eastern Republic is drawn as follows: From the River Selenga from its exit from Mongolia to the administrative boundary of the former Selenginsk, Barguzinsk and Verkhne-Udinsk counties, following the boundary of those counties to Lake Baikal, along the old boundary between the Yakutsk, Transbaikal and Amur districts to the watershed be- tween the Rivers Kiran and Pesmun, along the watershed of these rivers to the shores of the Okhotsk Sea at Cape Mejelnd, including all the islands south of the Cape Mejelnd. 3. The sole masters exercising the sovereign rights within this territory are the people who inhabit it and consequently the presence of any armed force of a foreign power in their ter- ritory, or interference by a foreign power with the internal 49 affairs of the country is not only regarded as an encroachment upon the rights of the Russian people in the Far East, but as an act of gross violence and usurpation, and as a violation of fun- damental international rights. 4. All the treaty rights of the former Empire of Russia in the leased territory of the Chinese Eastern Railway revert to the Government of the Far Eastern Republic and are, therefore, sub- ject to revision conjointly by the Governments of the Far East- ern Republic, the Socialist Federated Soviet Republic of Russia and the Republic of China. 5. Hereafter the supreme power in the territory of the Far Eastern Republic belongs to the people and no one else. 6. The form of Government, the foundation of which the Constituent Assembly has been called to lay, will rest on the principles of real democracy and self-government, ensuring the sovereignty of the entire population and the irrevocable rights of the toiling majority whose will has been expressed directly through their representatives elected according to the principle of universal, direct, equal and secret ballot and with due consid- eration to the principle of proportional representation and guar- anteeing the rights of the minority. 7. Considering the independent self-assertion of the com- munity and the free expression of initiative whether by indi- viduals or groups as a necessary condition of the development of the country, the Constituent Assembly, by abolishing all class distinctions and privileges, guarantees full political freedom to the population, such as inviolability of person, freedom of speech and press, of assembly, the right to organize and to strike, freedom of conscience and movement. 8. Corporal and capital punishment, the relics of the old re- gime, are hereby abolished. 9. Having set upon the peaceful reconstruction of the eco- nomic and political life of the country, the Constituent Assembly declares civil strife at an end and that all political offences art pardoned by a decree of amnesty which the Constituent Assembh is proceeding to issue without delay. 10. The institution of private ownership remains untouched, the Government guaranteeing full liberty to all citizens of the Republic and to the citizens of foreign countries who may come to live there. The limitation of the rights of private property may be extended only in the interest of the general public and only in cases provided by law. 11. Land being the vital possession of the entire population, the natural resources of land and water are hereby declared the property of the people and therefore cannot become private property. Pursuing the economic policy of the open door and equal opportunities for foreign industry and trade, and endeav- oring to resume economic relations with other nations on a basis 50 of mutual exchange, the Government of the Far Eastern Re- public will take every possible measure to attract foreign capital and foreign initiative to the development of the natural resources of the country, without violating the sovereign rights of the people of the Russian Far East and the laws for the preservation of the rights of the workmen. 12. All small indigenous nationalities and national minorities in the territory of the Far Eastern Republic are hereby granted the right of autonomy which is considered as a necessary meas- ure for the independent development of their national individu- ality. Firmly insisting upon their sovereign rights and incessantly endeavoring to re-establish peaceful conditions in their country, the people of the Far Eastern Republic will build their relations with neighboring nations upon the foundation of mutual under- standing and respect, confidence and peaceful co-operation. The Constituent Assembly continues its task, with the belief in the creative power of the revolutionary people of the Far East, and in their readiness to defend their rights and their peaceful labor. The Constituent Assembly of the Far Eastern Republic. April, 1921. TO ALL THE GOVERNMENTS AND NATIONS OF THE * WORLD In the name of the people who electfed us, we, the represen- tatives of the Russian Far Eastern provinces, from Lake Baikal to the Pacific Ocean, make the following appeal to all the governments and nations of the world : For more than two and a half years the Russian Far East has felt the pressure of foreign intervention. For more than two and a half years the Russian Far East has been torn asunder by internal struggle, a struggle of the people with the remnants of the old regime and the counter-revolutionary bands that attempted to enslave the people again after they had with the greatest difficulty broken their fetters. But the hardships the people of the Russian Far East were forced to endure, convinced them that unless they united, their welfare would not be established nor protected. Regardless of the. obstacles which the people of the Russian Far East have met in their way, obstacles not so numerous from within as from outside the country, the people have achieved their union. The Constituent Assembly which, elected on the prin- of universal suffrage, has now been convened at Chita, is the great symbol of that union. The Constituent Assembly has approved the union of the 51 Russian Far Eastern provinces, that have always been a part of the Russian Empire, as well as the establishment of a united Far Eastern Republic, which has laid as the foundation of its existence the principles of democracy, civil liberties and the preservation of private property, both Russian and foreign. The Moscow Government has expressed its approval of the formation of the Far Eastern Republic. The united people of the Russian Far East have now a wide field of activity in their free and independent Republic. But for the success of the young Republic, certain prelim- inary conditions must be established, without which the efforts of the people may be in vain. 1. It is necessary that the Far Eastern Republic should be accepted in the family of independent nations, as one of its duly recognized members. 2. It is necessary that the territory of the Far Eastern Re- public should be freed from foreign troops and foreign inter- ference. The Constituent Assembly believes that the Governments and their peoples, in the name of justice and in the interests of peace, will respond to the appeal of the representatives of the Russian Far East and will assist the fully empowered Govern- ment in creating conditions favorable for peaceful labor and commercial intercourse with other nations, by according recog- nition and by establishing normal relations with the Far Eastern Republic. Chairman of the Constituent Assembly. Secretary of the Constituent Assembly. Chita, April, 1921. THE NOTE ADDRESSED BY THE CONSTITUENT AS- SEMBLY OF THE FAR EASTERN REPUBLIC TO THE PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT OF CHINA The people of the Russian Far East have after long efforts overcome the intrigues of the enemies of democracy and have accomplished the union of the Far Eastern Provinces. Through the duly elected representatives in the Constituent Assembly they have now taken their fate into their own hands. To the people of the Russian Far East who have suffered much in their struggle for freedom, the present moment is one of triumph which can be fully understood only by a nation beginning a new, free and independent life. In this joyful and solemn moment we involuntarily turn to our old and tried friends, the people of China and their chosen representatives. Great China, which is herself experiencing many shocks in her struggle for national unity, can understand the joy of the united people of the Rus- sian Far East and can appreciate the sincere friendship and sym- 52 pathy of the Constituent Assembly towards the Chinese people in their efforts to bring about the union of the country and to defend their national independence. China and Russia have had a common frontier stretching for several thousand miles. To the Far Eastern Republic a consid- erable part of this common frontier has devolved. It is natural that disorders on one side of this border line are immediately felt on the other. For this reason China disarmed the bands of Semenov for the protection of her own interests. This is signifi- cantly demonstrated by the presence of the counter-revolution- ary bands of Ungern in the territory of China. Were the relations of the two Republics defined, the Chinese people and their Government would not be liable to suffer injury from the counter-revolutionary bandits who have forced their way into the territory of China. The people and the Government of the Far Eastern Republic could, acting under an agreement with China, easily find means for co-operation in the removal of the common danger. The free people of the Far Eastern Republic are endeavoring to establish and strengthen the friendly, neigh- borly relations on a sound basis of mutual esteem, justice and welfare. The Far Eastern Republic and China have a vital com- mon interest in the defence of their indpendence against aggression and in the development of their commercial inter- course. The Constituent Assembly hereby solemnly declares that aggressive designs and racial prejudice are alike foreign to the ideas of the Russian Far East. Considering the former Russo- Chinese relations and that the policy of the Russian Imperial Government tended to encroach upon China's sovereign rights, the Constituent Assembly is ready to reconsider all treaties con- cluded in the past, including those relating to the Chinese East- ern Railway, on a basis of equality to China and the Far Eastern Republic. The Russian people desire the establishment of diplo- matic relations which will enable the people of China and the Far Eastern Republic to resume commercial intercourse, thus increas- ing the prosperity of both nations. Having adopted a new creative policy of sincere intercourse with all nations and their governments, the Constituent Assembly requests the Govern- ment of the Republic of China to accord the Far Eastern Re- public due recognition and to establish with it official relations. The Constituent Assembly of the Far Eastern Republic. TO THE IMPERIAL JAPANESE GOVERNMENT In the early part of August, 1918, the Japanese Imperial Government issued a declaration to the Russian people in which it was said : "The Government of the United States recognizing the seriousness of the situation, has lately addressed the Japan - 53 ese Government asking it for a prompt despatch of troops in order to relieve the position of the Czecho-Slovak forces. In order to meet the wishes of the American Government and to co-operate with the Allies in this expedition, the Japanese Government has decided to make immediate preparations for the despatch of the necessary troops. A detachment of troops will be immediately sent to Vladivostok. Although choosing this course of action, the Japanese Government, nevertheless, remains firm in its desire to maintain its friendly relations with Russia and her people, and confirms the declaration of its policy to respect the territorial integrity of Russia and to refrain from interfering in Russian domestic affairs. Furthermore, the Japanese Government de- clares that after having accomplished the above task it will immediately withdraw its troops from Russian territory." It would appear from this declaration that with the depart- ure of the Czecho-Slovaks the Japanese forces should also have gone. However, in the declaration of the Japanese Government, made on August 13, 1918, only a few days after the solemn declaration of Japan referred to above was issued, additional rea- sons were given to justify the despatch of Japanese troops ; the Soviet troops headed, according to information which reached Japan, by Austrians and Germans, were a menace to Japan and China. In the declaration of March 31, 1920, at the time when the Czecho-Slovak evacuation had been completed, the new reasons given in the declaration of August 13, 1918, appeared with much greater emphasis. The Czecho-Slovak question became a matter of secondary importance and the alleged menace to Korea and Manchuria, and the proximity of Siberia to Japan were brought out to the foreground. In this declaration nothing was said definitely about the withdrawal of the Japanese troops after the evacuation of the Czecho-Slovaks. It was stated only that the Japanese troops would be withdrawn from Siberia and Trans- baikalia as soon as possible after the evacuation of the Czecho- slovak forces had been completed. At the same time was an- nounced the occupation of the Russian part of Sakhalin, on the ground that there were no legally constituted Russian authori- ties with whom it was possible to negotiate for a settlement of the Nikolayevsk affair. The evacuation of the Japanese troops from the Khabarovsk district was announced on September 18, 1920. In the declaration signed by General Oi, the Commander- in-Chief of the Japanese forces in Siberia, it was said : "I want to express my sincere wish for an early union of the Russian Far East, which will secure peace and prosperity to the people and will strengthen the friendly neighborly relations between the Russian and Japanese peoples." The same wish has been re- peated in all the statements and declarations of the Imperial Japanese Government and Japanese Military Command, made 54 since August, 1918. The Constituent Assembly wants to sum up the present situation in the following words. Russian Sakhalin has been occupied. The Maritime Province occupied by Japanese troops no longer resembles Russian terri- tory, for the Japanese Command is conducting itself as if the Japanese and not the Russians were the masters of that territory. The Maritime Province, under the control of the Japanese, is the only district in the territory of the Far Eastern Republic where the remnants of the criminal counter-revolutionary bands of Semenov are murdering and pillaging the peaceful popula- tion. In the Maritime Province the Government of the Far Eastern Republic and the district authorities cannot control the affairs of the Russian people; they cannot ship food, goods or cars outside of the area occupied by the Japanese troops. The population of other parts of the Far Eastern Republic is therefore suffering from lack of food and clothing. Trains are searched and even cars in which representatives of the Russian authori- ties are riding are detained at the will of the Japanese Command. The latest notes sent by the Japanese Consul General to the authorities of the Maritime Province with regard to the fisheries, offer a sad comparison between the actual facts and the Japan- ese declarations. It is with great pain that the Constituent As- sembly thinks of the events of April 4-5, 1920, and the numer- ous innocent victims which fell as the result of the Japanese intervention. The Constituent Assembly is constrained to state that the presence of the Japanese troops in Siberia, which dis- tressed the Russian people, was responsible for those events. The representatives of the people of the Russian Far East solemn- ly declare that any aggressive designs against Japan, Korea and Manchuria, are foreign to the minds of the Russian people. The people of the Russian Far East wish to establish and to strengthen peaceful relations and look forward to the resump- tion of trade relations to the mutual advantage for the two countries. The Constituent Assembly states with great regret that even the people of those parts of the Russian Far East which have been freed from foreign intervention cannot go on with their peaceful labor and cannot establish permanent order, because the presence of the Japanese troops in Russian territory rouses their suspicion and makes them uncertain of the future. Nothwithstanding all the difficulties and obstacles, the Russian Far East has been united to the Far Eastern Republic. The lat- ter has been declared a democratic State, the foundations of which are the principles of civil liberties, the universal direct equal and secret ballot and the inviolability of private property, both of Russian and foreign citizens residing within its territory The sovereignty in the Republic belongs to the people, who are firmly convinced that the only solid basis for freedom and 55 independence is peaceful neighborly relationship with other countries. ' !j If we recall that the Czecho-Slovak forces have long since evacuated Siberia, then according to the statements made by the Japanese Government, there is no reason why Japanese troops should remain longer in the territory of the Far Eastern Repub lie. The time has come for the Japanese Government to prove that, in sending troops to Russia in 1918, it did not intend to annex Russian territory by taking advantage of the temporary weakness of the Russian people due to the war, the subsequent disorganization and the revolution. A great historical oppor- tunity has come to the Japanese Government to determine for many years or even hundreds of years to come, the mutual re- lations between the two great nations of Russia and Japan Expressing the will of the whole of the people of the Russian Far East to free the country of foreign intervention, the Con- stituent Assembly emphatically insists upon the evacuation of the Japanese Expeditionary Forces from the entire territory of the Far Eastern Republic. The Constituent Assembly believes that the withdrawal of the Japanese troops will be an important factor in re-establishing relations between the Japanese and Russian people. The proximity of the two countries, the im- portance of the Russian Far East to Japanese industry, the im- mense natural resources which await foreign capital for their development, all are a pledge of the future close and peaceful relations, which, when the past sad memories are gone and the people return to their ordinary occupations, shall exist between Japan and the Far Eastern Republic. The Constituent Assembly expresses the hope that in the near future the Japanese Government, having desisted from intervention in Russian affairs, will accord recognition to the Far Eastern Republic and enter into formal relations with it. For the Constituent Assembly of the Far Eastern Republic (Signed) Shilov, President. (Signed) Suchovy, Secretary. April, 1921. TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA In the official declaration of the American Government, which was received at Vladivostok on August 5, 1918, it was stated that the United States and Japan were the only countries at the time which were in a position to act in Siberia with suffi- cient forces, even to achieve such a modest task as the one the Government of the United States has put before itself. The Government of the United States has proposed, therefore, to the Government of Japan, that both countries should send a military 56 force of several thousand men to Vladivostok to co-operate in the occupation of the city with the view of guarding the rear for the Czecho-Slovak troops advancing eastward. The Japan- ese Government agreed to that proposal. The Government of the United States declared to the Russian people in a most frank and solemn manner that it did not aim at infringement upon the political sovereignty of Russia, that it did not intend to inter- fere with her domestic affairs even within those limited areas which the American troops might be forced to occupy, and that it had no desire to encroach upon the integrity of Russian terri- tory at that time or in the future ; that the American Govern- ment aimed exclusively at helping the Russian people in the manner most acceptable to them in their efforts to regain con- trol of their own affairs, their territory and their destiny. It was understood that the Japanese Government would issue a similar statement. The declaration of the American Government established the following facts : That the American troops landed at Vladivos- tok to assist the Czecho-Slovaks ; that the American Govern- ment proposed to the Japanese Government to send its troops into Russian territory and that the former is, therefore, respon- sible, for the further stay of the Japanese troops in the territory of the Far Eastern Republic ; that the American Government has solemnly guaranteed its non-interference in Russian affairs and the inviolability of Russian territory. Under these conditions America invited Japan to co-operate in assisting the Czecho-Slovaks. At about the same time (in August), the Japanese Government, in its official declaration, repeated the above statements. Not going into the details of the sad history of the intervention, it is enough to say that at the end of 1919 and at the beginning of 1920, the Allies have one after another withdrawn their troops from Siberia. The last transport of American troops left Vladivostok in March, 1920, and soon after that the remainder of the Czecho-Slovak forces left our country. The Japanese troops have not been withdrawn ; Japan has put forth pretext after pretext to justify their stay : Japanese interests in Eastern Siberia, the possible menace to Korea and Manchuria and the unsafe conditions menacing the life and property of her citizens. Instead of the evacuation of the Japanese troops we witnessed the events of April 4 and 5, 1920, with all the later results, and in July, 1920, Japan occu- pied the Sakhalin District. The Japanese troops were withdrawn from Transbaikalia and the district around Khabarovsk, while the Maritime Province is still occupied by them. The Maritime Province is now the only place where the criminal counter- revolutionary bands of Semenov are murdering and terrorizing the population. There, as in Sakhalin, the people do not feel themselves any longer the masters of their own land. The Jap- 57 anese activity in the Maritime Province, especially their inter- ference with the railway traffic, forced the members of the Inter-Allied Technical Board to adopt a resolution, asking their respective Governments whether it would be expedient to con- tinue their work in view of the interference of the Japanese Command. The American Government made no statement to the Rus- sian people of the Far East at the time of the departure of the American troops. It is therefore not quite clear to the people of the Russian Far East whether the American Government had achieved the purpose for which it sent troops to Siberia. Does the American Government consider that the Allied intervention has come to an end? In the declaration of March 14, 1919, with regard to the establishment of the Inter-Allied Technical Board, it was stated that this arrangement for the Board would be- come invalid as soon as the Allied troops should be recalled from Siberia. The fact of the Inter-Allied Technical Board remaining in Siberia would indicate that the intervention continues with American participation. The representatives of the Russian peo- ple in the Far East are compelled by the present circumstances to request of the American Government an explanation of the following: 1. Does the American Government adhere to its declara- tion of August 5, 1918? 2. If it does, then how does the American Government explain the continuance of the intervention after the evacuation of the Czecho-Slovak troops? 3. If it does not adhere to that declaration, then when will the American Government declare with the same solemnity that the intervention has ended? 4. When will the American Government, which invited the Japanese Government to a military co-operation in the Rus- sian Far East, declare a definite end to the intervention which began in 1918, by that invitation? In spite of the numerous obstacles which have been put and are being put before the people of the Russian Far East in their efforts to unite, they have found strength enough to achieve their aim. By the will of the entire people of the Russian Far East, with- out distinction of class and nationality, the Constituent Assem- bly has now been convoked on the principle of universal suf- frage. The Constituent Assembly has confirmed the indepen- dence of the Russian Far East and the formation of a demo- cratic Far Eastern Republic. The Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic has recog- nized the independence of the democratic Far Eastern Republic and now the Constituent Assembly which represents the people and expresses their will, expects the United States of America to accord recognition to the Far Eastern Republic. 58 For the Constituent Assembly of the Far Eastern Republic. (Signed) Shilov, President. (Signed) Suchovy, Secretary. April, 1921. TO THE GOVERNMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN In connection with the landing of American troops in Rus- sian territory the American Government made the following solemn declaration to the Russian people : "The United States and Japan are the only countries which at the present moment are in a position to act in Siberia with sufficient forces, even to achieve such a modest task as the one the Government of the United States has put before itself. The Government of the United States has proposed, therefore, to the Government of Japan, that both countries should send a military force of several thousand men to Vladivostok to co-operate in the occupation of the city and in the protection of the rear, as much as possible, of the Czecho-Slovak troops advancing east- ward. The Japanese Government agreed to that proposal. The Government of the United States wishes to declare to the Rus- sian people in a most frank and solemn manner that it does not aim at infringement upon the political sovereignty of Russia, that it does not desire to interfere with her domestic affairs even within those limited areas which the American troops might be forced to occupy, and that it has no intention to encroach upon the integrity of Russian territory at the present time or in the future ; that the American Government aims exclusively at help- ing the Russian people in the manner most acceptable to them in their efforts to regain control of their own affairs, their terri- tory and their destiny. It is understood that the Japanese Gov- ernment will issue a similar statement. The Governments of Great Britain, France and Italy have been informed of the aims and intentions of the Government of the United States and those Governments have notified the State Department that they have agreed to it on principle." In a similar declaration the Japanese Government stated : "The Government of the United States, recognizing the seriousness of the situation, has lately addressed the Japanese Government, asking it for a prompt dispatch of troops in order to relieve the position of the Czecho-Slovak forces. In order to meet the wishes of the American Government and to co-oper- ate with the Allies in this expedition, the Japanese Government has decided to make immediate preparations for the dispatch of the necessary troops. A number of troops will be immediately sent to Vladivostok. Although choosing this course of action, the Japanese Government, nevertheless, remains firm in its de- sire to maintain friendly relations with Russia and her people 59 and confirms its declaration of the policy to respect the terri- torial integrity of Russia and to refrain from interfering in Russian domestic affairs. Furthermore, the Japanese Govern- ment declares that after having accomplished the above task it will immediately withdraw its troops from Russian territory." The following was stated in a similar declaration of the British Government, signed by Balfour and addressed "to the people of Russia:" "Your Allies have not forgotten you. We remembef the service rendered by your heroic army in the first years of the war, and we come to you as friends to help you, to save you from being dismembered and crushed by Germany, which is try- ing to subdue your people and to exploit the immense riches of your country for her own benefit. We solemnly declare, however, that helping Russia in her struggle against Germany we will not retain a single foot of Russian territory." These solemn and official declarations of the Governments of the United States, Japan and Great Britain quite definitely es- tablish the following facts without possibility of a double inter- pretation : 1. That the Allied troops landed in Russian territory to achieve the following two aims : a. To assist the Czecho-Slovaks (the aim of America and Japan). b. To help the Russians against the aggression of Ger- many (the aim of Great Britain, France and Italy). 2. That after that task had been accomplished the Allied troops would be withdrawn from Russian territory. 3. That the sovereign rights of the Russian people over their territory were not to be infringed upon. 4. That in case any of the Allies violated the solemn declara- tions made by them the responsibility would rest with all the Allies. The Constituent Assembly of the Far Eastern Democratic Republic having been convened in order to work out the final form of the new system of government of the Russian Far East, based on democratic principles and freedom, in peaceful inter- course with all the nations, solemnly addresses the Government and through it the people of Great Britain, calling attention to the following facts : 1. The Czecho-Slovak forces have left Russian territory as far back as March and April of last year. 2. The war with Germany has ended long ago. 3. All the Allied troops with the exception of the Japanese have been withdrawn from Russian territory. 4. The Japanese troops have not only not been withdrawn, but with the departure of the Allied troops the Japanese have 60 offered pretext after pretext to justify the continuation of the intervention. 5. Entirely ignoring the sovereignty of the Russian people over their own territory, the Japanese are constantly interfer- ing in the domestic affairs of Russia, preventing the resumption of peaceful economic life and are helping to incite a new civil war by their persistent support of the ruffians and criminals of the counter-revolutionary groups. 6. The Japanese troops have occupied the Sakhalin district and have forcibly seized almost the entire fishing trade of the Russian Far East. In view of the above facts the Constituent Assembly is con- strained to request of the British Government an explanation of the following: 1. Does the British Government adhere to its declaration of August, 1918? 2. Does the British Government consider that the task which was set at the beginning of the intervention has been accom- plished? 3. If it does, (a) how are we to explain the fact that the British Government has not so declared? (b) How are we to explain the presence of Japanese troops in Russian territory? (c) And how are we to explain the silent sanction on the part of the British Government of the activity of the Japanese Gov- ernment in the territory of the Russian Far East? 4. If the above task has been accomplished, will not the British Government make to the Russian people a declaration to that effect with the same solemnity as that with which it made its declaration of August, 1918? The Chairman of the Constituent Assembly, (Signed) Dmitry Shilov, Secretary of the Constituent Assembly, (Signed) Suchovy. Chita, April 18, 1921. TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF FRANCE In connection with the landing of American troops in Rus- sian territory the American Government made the following solemn declaration to the Russian people : "The United States and Japan are the only countries which at the present moment are in a position to act in Siberia with sufficient forces, even to achieve such a modest task as the one the Government of the United States has put before itself. The Government of the United States has proposed, therefore, to the Government of Japan that both countries should send a military 61 force of several thousand men to Vladivostok to co-operate in the occupation of the city and in the protection of the rear, as much as possible, of the Czecho-Slovak troops advancing - east- ward. The Japanese Government agreed to that proposal. The Government of the United States wishes to declare to the Rus- sian people in a most frank and solemn manner that it does not aim at infringement upon the political sovereignty of Russia, that it does not desire to interfere with her domestic affairs even within those limited areas which the American troops might be forced to occupy, and that it has no intention to en- croach upon the integrity of Russian territory at the present time or in the future ; that the American Government aims ex- clusively at helping the Russian people in the manner most ac- ceptable to them in their efforts to regain control of their own affairs, their territory and their destiny. It is understood that the Japanese Government will issue a similar statement. "The Governments of Great Britain, France and Italy have been informed of the aims and intentions of the Government of the United States and those Governments have notified the State Department that they have agreed to it on principle." In a similar declaration the Japanese Government stated: "The Government of the United States, recognizing the seriousness of the situation, has lately addressed the Japanese Government, asking it for a prompt dispatch of troops in order to relieve the position of the Czecho-Slovak forces. In order to meet the wishes of the American Government and to co-oper- ate with the Allies in this expedition, the Japanese Government has decided to make immediate preparations for the dispatch of the necessary troops. A number of troops will be immediately sent to Vladivostok. Although choosing this course of action, the Japanese Government, nevertheless, remains firm in its de- sire to maintain friendly relations with Russia and her people and confirms its declaration of the policy to respect the terri- torial integrity of Russia and to refrain from interfering in Russian domestic affairs. Furthermore, the Japanese Govern- ment declares that after having accomplished the above task it will immediately withdraw its troops from Russian territory." These statements were repeated in the declarations made by Great Britain, France and Italy. These solemn and official declarations of the Allies quite definitely establish the following facts without any possibility of a double interpretation: 1. That the Allied troops landed in Russian territory to achieve the following two aims : a. To assist the Czecho-Slovaks (the aim of America and Japan). b. To help the Russians against the aggression of Germany (the aim of Great Britain, France and Italy). 62 2. That after that task had been accomplished the Allied troops would be withdrawn from Russian territory. 3. That the sovereign rights of the Russian people over their territory were not to be infringed upon. 4. That in case any of the Allies violated the solemn declara- tions made by them the responsibility would rest with all the Allies. The Constituent Assembly of the Far Eastern Democratic Republic having been assembled in order to work out the final form of the new system of government of the Russian Far East, based on democratic principles and freedom, in peaceful inter- course with all the nations, solemnly addresses the Government and through it the people of France, calling attention to the following facts : 1. The Czecho-Slovak forces have left the Russian territory as far back as March and April of last year. 2. The war with Germany has ended long ago. 3. All the Allied troops with the exception of the Japanese have been withdrawn from Russian territory. 4. The Japanese troops have not only not been withdrawn, but with the departure of the Allied troops the Japanese have offered pretext after pretext to justify the continuation of the intervention. 5. Entirely ignoring the sovereignty of the Russian people over their own territory, the Japanese are constantly interfer- ing in the domestic affairs of Russia, preventing the resumption of a peaceful life and are helping to incite a new civil war by their persistent support of the ruffians and criminals of the counter-revolutionary groups. 6. The Japanese troops have occupied the Sakhalin district and have forcibly seized almost the entire fishing trade of the Russian Far East. In view of the above facts the Constituent Assembly is con- strained to request of the French Government an explanation of the following: 1. Does the French Government adhere to its declaration of August, 1918? 2. Does the French Government consider that the task which was set at the beginning of the intervention has been accom- plished? 3. If it does (a) how are we to explain the fact that the French Government has not so declared? (b) How are we to explain the presence of Japanese troops on Russian territory? (c) How are we to explain the silent sanction on the part of the French Government of the activity of the Japanese Govern- ment in the territory of the Russian Far East? 4. If the above task has been accomplished, will not the 63 French Government make to the Russian people a declaration to that effect with the same solemnity as that with which it made its declaration of August, 1918? The Chairman of the Constituent Assembly, (Signed) Shilov, Secretary of the Constituent Assembly. (Signed) Suchovy, April 18, 1921, Chita. DECLARATION BY COUNCIL OF MINISTERS. In a period of extreme economic disorganization, when, in spite of the conclusion of civil war, foreign intervention in its flagrant occupation of very important and valuable portions of the Republic, still continued, the Far Eastern Government elected by the Constituent Assembly, formed the Council of Ministers, entrusting it with the task of directing and managing the affairs of the Republic. Being compelled under the pressure of historical necessity to establish an independent State, the working people of the Russian Far East, in their long, stubborn and hard resistance against reaction and intervention, and amid the flames of civil war, conceived a strong determination to achieve unity and defend their right and preserve their country. The unification of the Far East ended with the election of the Constituent As- sembly, which has adopted the Constitution of the Republic and has formulated the general state policy of the country. Now the Council of Ministers is faced with the task of put- ting the Constitution into practice, of reorganizing the state economy, of realizing the principles of civil and political freedom and democracy, and of bringing about the final and real union of the provinces of the Far East in a single state organization, thereby ending civil war, intervention, and economic disorgani- zation of different parts of the Republic. For the tasks enumerated above the majority of the popula tion, and all the workers are responsible, and their accomplish- ment is possible only through the co-operation and exertion oi all groups and parties of the people. The Government of the Republic has therefore invited all political parties and groups that are willing to devote their energy and knowledge to the re- establishment of the political and economic life of the country. to participate in the important work of the Council of Ministers. Having defined the task of state reconstruction and deter- mined upon a general plan for its attainment, the majority of the working people has been guided by the interests of the nation as a whole, and not of single groups, thus realizing the 64 general national task which is before the Republic. Having been called upon to carry into effect the will of the majority of the people, the Council of Ministers, bearing in mind the general interests of the working people of the Republic, will at the same time fulfill the aspirations of the nation as a whole. The Council of Ministers, has, therefore, the right not only of demanding obedience in accordance with the Constitution, but has also the right of expecting the friendly support of all classes regardless of party affiliation. The Council of Ministers is entirely responsible to the peo- ple, whose representative body is the National Assembly of the Republic. Being in close connection with the people of the Republic, relying upon the confidence of the National Assembly and upon the active support of the masses, the Council of Minis- ters will not abandon the course of state reconstruction it has adopted, whatever obstacle or opposition it may meet from forces hostile to the people. Hoping to make in the future a detailed statement of the plan of its activities in the different departments of government administration and national economy, the Council of Ministers at the present moment considers it necessary to discuss only such general questions on its program as are of immediate and paramount importance and of special interest. The reconstruction of the Republic and the restoration of normal life in it will be possible only when the separate provinces are closely connected with the Central Government, under abso- lute submission to the economic-administrative authorities of the Government of the Republic and when activities are conducted in full accord with the general interests of the country. Granting an unlimited field of initiative and independent activity to the local autonomous bodies, the Council of Ministers, nevertheless, makes it its first duty to eliminate any tendency toward separation in any department of provincial life which is of national importance, and to bring about a full agreement between the local administrative bodies and the general laws of the Republic and to bring local administration into consonance with the instructions and general policy of the Central Govern- ment. With that end in view and guided by the instructions of the Government, the Council of Ministers will see that a uniform system of local government is established throughout the terri- tory of the Republic in accordance with the Constitution. It is the opinion of the Council of Ministers that the work of establishing union between the Central Government and the local administrative bodies, as well as the introduction of law and democratic order will be greatly facilitated by the institution of the provincial Emissaries provided for in the Constitution. 65 In the interest of democracy and order in the Republic, the Council of Ministers considers it its task to organize a normal judicial system, taking into consideration that the judicial bodies have not only to maintain law, but to be the exponents of the new conception of order for the masses which should reflect the newly established correlation of social forces. Having occupied their proper place in the general scheme of government institutions, the judicial bodies should be the main guarantee to the citizens of unrestricted enjoyment of their civil and political rights. Taking into consideration that under the present circum- stances we must count not only with the criminals, who violate the rights of the citizens, but also with the counter-revolutionary elements, which direct their activity against the political liberty of the citizens and the democratic order, the Council of Minis- ters, in order to protect the civil liberties of the citizens in strict accordance with the Constitution of the Republic, will reorganize the militia and stabilize political security. However, the best protectors and preservers of civil and po- litical freedom are the conscious people themselves, „$nd there- fore, all the combined measures here mentioned will not suf- ficiently guarantee the maintenance of democratic order if the standard of culture of the people is not raised. The Council of Ministers, therefore, having adopted concrete measures for the general education of the people of the Republic, has set for itself the task of the early solution of the problems, as defined by the Constituent Assembly: To provide all the citizens of the Re- public, and first of all the working people, with a general free education, compulsory and universal for all children of school age, and to establish a uniform system of education in all the schools of the Republic. Due attention will be paid to the health of the people, and the Government undertakes to provide the people with free medical and veterinary assistance. But the main task before the Council of Ministers, upon the performance of which depends the future of our young Republic, is the re-establishment and organization of a sound financial and industrial system. To augment the creative forces of industry and agriculture, to establish normal trade, and to facilitate trans- portation, the present conditions of the Republic demand the free employment of capital, not only Russian, co-operative 01 private, but also foreign. Touching upon the different branches of national econ- omy, the Council of Ministers, acting in strict accordance with the articles of the Constitution, will be guided by the following consideration : In the domain of industry: 66 1. In full accordance with the will of the Constituent As- sembly, and in the interest of the economic development of the country, the freedom of private initiative is established in all departments of industry, for both Russian and foreign capital, restricted only by the rights of ownership of the resources of the land, as prescribed in the Constitution. 2. Aiming at the co-operation of the large masses of the workers in the establishment of national industry, the Council of Ministers will assist in every possible way the existing co- operative and public enterprises and will encourage the estab- lishment of new enterprises, by participating in them and by granting them certain privileges. 3. The Council of Ministers will exert every effort to im- prove and extend the government industrial enterprises, such improvement and extension being the main problem of the Ministry of Industry. The majority of the peasant population are now in a very difficult position, owing to the fact that their homes and property have in many places been plundered, set on fire or entirely de- stroyed. In order to re-establish rural economy to a certain degree, great sums of money and the utmost exertions of the working people are required. The Council of Ministers will adopt all measures to increase the productivity of the land, by supplying the population with agricultural machinery and seed- grain ; and by organizing agronomical aid ; it will also develop rural industries by stimulating the widest participation on the part of co-operative, rural and public organizations. In order to supply the people with the necessary provisions and commodities, the Council of Ministers will act in close asso- ciation with co-operative organizations. But in order to come to a satisfactory solution of the problem, under the present dis- organized state of the economic life of the country, the partici- pation of all the sound forces of the Republic is necessary. The Council of Ministers guarantees full freedom for the partici- pation of private capital, and will endeavor to create such con- ditions in its relations with foreign powers, as to afford foreign capital an opportunity to participate largely in the industrial and commercial life of the country. At the same time, taking into consideration the disorganized state of the economic life of the country and the prevalence of speculative capital, the Council of Ministers considers it neces- sary to adopt measures regulating export and import, in order to protect the interests of the state and to concentrate in the hands of the Government all raw materials which are of importance to the country, and also to regulate the domestic trade, while by no means restricting the initiative of private or co-operative capital. Being anxious to create favorable conditions for normal trade in the country, the Council of Ministers considers it nec- 67 essary to annul all currency which is not guaranteed and to adopt a stable monetary unit. At the same time, taking into consideration the limited re- sources of the Republic, the Council of Ministers considers it of great importance to adopt the following measures : (a) To limit to a minimum the expenditures of the Republic and to reduce the staff of government institutions and enter- prises. (b) To increase the income of the State by revising the existing taxes, by introducing new taxes, duties and excise, and also revising trade monopolies on articles of universal consump- tion, this being within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance. The Council of Ministers considers it necessary to re-estab- lish the transport system of the Republic, adapting it to the great needs of the country. In the political and strategic interests of the State, the rail and water ways, as well as the mines, which directly and chiefly support the rail and water transport service with coal, shall be under the control of the Government. In organizing the protection of labor, the Council of Minis- ters has undertaken the task of making effective the fundamental laws pertaining to labor, adopted by the Constituent Assembly and will endeavor first of all : (a) In order to guarantee to the labor organizations a real influence upon the life of the State, to invite the trade unions to participate in the active reconstruction of the economic life of the Republic, by co-operation in the administration of govern- ment enterprises and by their assistance in regulating the wages of the workers. (b) In order to protect the interests of labor, the Govern- ment will formulate legislation granting to the trade unions the right to dispose of supplies and articles of primary and second- ary importance, intended for the workers, as a wage in kind, increasing the supply to the normal ratio of consumption. (c) To organize workers' associations for the protection of labor, and first of all, for the protection of child labor, forbidding the employment of children in industries detrimental to the health of minors, establishing at the same time educational insti- tutions. (d) To establish insurance organizations with the full right of co-operation therein of the insured, to provide, first of all, against disability, accident or childbirth. In its foreign policy the Council of Ministers, acting under the instructions of the Government of the Republic and in co- operation with it, will endeavor to establish the position of our young Republic, as a fully recognized member of the comity of nations. Having settled its relations with Soviet Russia, every effort will be exerted to establish relations with foreign 68 countries, first of all with China and Japan, on the basis of peace, mutual respect for the sovereign right of each country, non-interference in their domestic affairs, and a friendly attitude to economic interests on the principle of reciprocity, and strong- ly insisting upon the evacuation of foreign troops from the territory of the Republic, and upon abstention from further in- terference in the domestic affairs of the Republic by foreign powers. To secure order in the Republic, to protect the country from any foreign encroachment, and to defend the citizens from the attacks of counter-revolutionary groups, which are largely con- centrated beyond the borders of the Republic, the Council of Ministers, acting under the instructions of the Government, will adopt measures necessary for the re-organization of the army. The Council of Ministers believes that the accomplishment in part at least of the aforementioned tasks, with the friendly co-operation of the people of the Republic will further the estab- lishment of normal conditions, under which the carrying out of the Constitution, established by the Constituent Assembly, and the election of a new National Assembly, will be made possible. The President of the Council of Ministers : Nikiforov. Minister of Justice: Binasik. Minister of Domestic Affairs: Matveyev. Minister of War: Burov. Ministed of Commerce : Grossman. Minister of Supplies : Poletayev. Minister of Education : Shreiber. Minister of Labor and Social Welfare: Shulikov. Minister of Agriculture: Bessonov. Minister of Industry. Anisimov. Minister of Communication : Shatov. May, 1921. 69 I.TBRAP.Y UNIVERSITY OF CALI 1 ~ ilNIA THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara Goleta, California THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. AVATL.Airn CIRCU! .." . MAR 2 5 20to-3,*59(A552s4)476 THE G-E-S PRESS. INC 176 PARK ROW NEW YORK