Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2021 number

This article is the first attempt to study the political biography of Pyotr Zahkarovich Ozernykh (1886-1919), a Siberian poet, journalist, social and public activist. It considers P.Z. Ozernykh’s participation in political processes in February and October Revolutions in 1917, as well as his role in the anti-Bolshevik underground and Soviet regime overthrow on June 19, 1918 based on a wide range of various historical sources. Moreover, the paper analyzes P.Z. Ozernykh’s activity as a member of Yeniseisk governorate commissariat, circumstances of his assignment to the position of Yeniseisk Governorate commissar of the Provisional Siberian Government on August, 1, 1918, characterizes his work holding this position, as well as causes of his dismissal on October, 28, 1918. As the result, it was concluded that P.Z. Ozernykh’s political behavior under the conditions of Revolutions and Civil War was consistent and logical. He was devoted to his ideals and bosom comrades headed by V.M. Krutovsky, a famous Siberian regional activist. It was a foundation for his rapid career. Political enlightener, whose main activity direction in 1917 was to manage a cooperative journal called “Narodnoe Delo”, became an active participant of the anti-Bolshevik underground. Later, due to exceptional insufficiency of political basis for democratic counterrevolution in Yeniseisk governorate, P.Z. Ozernykh became the member of Yeniseisk Governorate Commissariat of the Provisional Siberian Government, then he was assigned the head of the governorate with emergency powers. As the democratic policy government was collapsing, these circumstances predetermined the downfall of his career and life. During the Civil War, P.Z. Ozernykh was a political idealist at an administrative position. This role was not typical, and after a short period of democratic counterrevolution, it became unacceptable for the political counterrevolution system which evolved toward authoritarianism.