Russian State (1918–1920)


The Russian State was a White Army anti-Bolshevik state proclaimed by the Act of the Ufa State Conference of September 23, 1918, "On the formation of the all-Russian supreme power" in the name of "restoring state unity and independence of Russia" affected by the revolutionary events of 1917, the October Revolution and the signing of the treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany.

Ufa State Conference act

The delegations from Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly, the Provisional Siberian Government, the Provisional Regional Government of the Urals, Cossack Troops governments, governments of a number of national-state entities, several all-Russian political parties that were present at the meeting formed the Provisional All-Russian Government, which was headed by Nikolai Avksentiev. It was found that the Provisional All-Russian Government "until the convening of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly is the sole bearer of the supreme power in the whole space of the Russian state". The act provided for “the transfer to the Provisional All-Russian Government, as soon as it requires it,” “all the functions of the supreme power.” Thus, the sovereignty of regional entities was abolished, which was replaced by the “wide autonomy of the regions”, the limits of which were completely dependent on the “wisdom of the Provisional All-Russian Government”.
The All-Russian government was charged with helping to speed up the convocation of the Constituent Assembly and subsequently unconditionally submit to it "as the only supreme power in the country".
The fundamentals of the national-state structure of Russia should have proceeded from federal principles: “the organization of liberating Russia on the basis of recognition of its individual areas of the rights of broad autonomy, due to both geographical and economic, and ethnic characteristics, suggesting the final establishment of a federal organization on federal principles by the full Constituent Assembly..., recognition for national minorities that do not occupy a separate territory, the rights to cultural-national self definition.
With regard to the Russian Army, the Act spoke of the need to “re-create a strong, combat-ready, unified Russian army, delivered outside the influence of political parties” and, at the same time, “the inadmissibility of the political organizations of servicemen and the elimination of the army from politics”.
The following tasks were identified as urgent tasks for restoring state unity and independence of Russia:

  1. The struggle for the liberation of Russia from Soviet power;
  2. The reunification of the rejected, fallen and scattered regions of Russia;
  3. The non-recognition of Brest and all other treaties of an international character, concluded both on behalf of Russia and its separate parts after the February Revolution, by any authority other than the Russian Provisional Government, and the restoration of the actual strength of the treaty relations with the powers of accord;
  4. Continuation of the war against the Central Powers.

Centralization of management

On October 9, 1918, the Provisional All-Russian Government moved from Ufa to Omsk in connection with the approach of the Red Army to Ufa.
On November 4, the Provisional All-Russian Government appealed to all regional governments with a request to immediately dissolve “all without exception Regional Governments and Regional Representative Institutions” and to transfer all powers to manage the All-Russian Government. On the same day, on the basis of the ministries and central administrations of the Provisional Siberian Government, the executive body of the Directory was formed - the All-Russian Council of Ministers, headed by Pyotr Vologdsky. Such centralization of state power was due to the need, first of all, to “recreate the combat power of the motherland, so necessary in the struggle for the revival of Great and United Russia”, “to create the conditions necessary for supplying the army and organizing the rear on an All-Russia scale”.
Thanks to this, it was possible to achieve the abolition of all regional, national and Cossack governments in the east of Russia and thereby consolidate the forces of anti-Bolshevik resistance.

The November 18 coup

On November 18, 1918, the members of the Directory who were in Omsk were arrested, the Council of Ministers announced the assumption of full supreme power and then decided to transfer it to one person, conferring on him the title of Supreme Leader. Admiral Alexander Kolchak was elected by secret ballot to members of the Council of Ministers for this post. The admiral accepted the offer and announced the assumption of the rank of Supreme Commander. A new Russian government was formed, which went down in history as Omsk government, or the Kolchak government, which existed until January 4, 1920.
All commanders of the White armies in the south and west of Russia as well as in Siberia and the Far East recognized the supreme ruler of Admiral Kolchak; at the turn of May — June 1919, the generals Anton Denikin, Yevgeny Miller, Nikolai Yudenich voluntarily submitted to Alexander Kolchak and officially recognized his Supreme Command over all armies in Russia. The Supreme Commander at the same time confirmed the powers of commanders. By order of the supreme leader Miller and Yudenich received the status of governor-general.
From this point on, the Armed Forces of South Russia, the Northwestern Army, the Northern Army and the Eastern Front acted on the fronts of this united army.
The name “Russian Army” was approved as the unification of all the white fronts, the status of the front commanders formally from the commander-in-chief was given to the commanders of the Northern and North-Western armies generals Yudenich and Miller.
Alexander Kolchak continued the economic and political course of the Provisional Siberian Government, the former head of which - Pyotr Vologodsky, who became for the supreme ruler a symbol of the legitimacy of his rule, was left as chairman of the Council of Ministers. In the very first statements after the “November 18 coup”, both the Russian government, the supreme leader himself, and the white rulers and governments of other Russian regions that recognized his authority confirmed the need to convene a National Constituent Assembly, which was to become a truly unifying center, without any participation of "Revolutionary radicals". For this, a new electoral law was developed.

State symbols

Anthem

On November 19, 1918, the Council of Ministers adopted a resolution at the suggestion of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Yury Klyuchnikov to consider the oldest spiritual anthem of the Russian Empire, How Glorious Is Our Lord in Zion, to be the national anthem of Russia. The rules of the anthem repeated the order of the hymn God Save the Tsar!.

Coat of arms

In January - April 1919, in Omsk, on the initiative of the Society of Artists and Fine Art Lovers of the Steppe Territory, competitions were held to create a new text of the national anthem and a new state coat of arms. It was announced that, under the terms of the competition, the state coat of arms, “preserving the image of the two-headed eagle, should be compiled in more artistic forms, in the basics of the ancient Russian style, and should correspond to the modern understanding of decorativeness”, and “instead of the removed emblems of the tsarist era the coat of arms should be decorated with emblems characteristic of the new reviving statehood".
During the competition, 210 versions of the text of the anthem and 97 projects of the State coat of arms were proposed. The most likely contender for victory was considered a project created by an artist from Kazan, Gleb Ilyin, a two-headed eagle, above which stood a cross with the motto “In this, conquer!”. The regional coats of arms of the Russian Empire were removed from the wings of the eagle, but the Moscow arms with Saint George was kept, the crowns were also removed, and the scepter was replaced by the sword. Although none of the submitted projects of the coat of arms was finally approved by the jury, the submission of Gleb Ilyin was often shown on stationery stamps, on the pages of the Siberian press, and was used on banknotes.
On May 9, 1919, the decree of the Council of Ministers of the Russian government approved the symbolism of the Supreme leader is a flag and a pennant with a double-headed eagle, but without signs of “imperial” authority.

State awards

Simultaneously with the competition for a new anthem and emblem, a competition was held for new State Orders - “Revival of Russia” and “Liberation of Siberia”. The submitted drafts Order of the Revival of Russia did not receive the approval of the jury. Only the draft of the Order of the Liberation of Siberia, approved by the same Gleb Ilyin, was approved.
The main reason for the lack of competition results was considered the “ideological inopportunity” of such events. As a jury member, writer Sergei Auslender, recalled: “The main content of the overwhelming majority of projects was the idea of“ Russia on the march ”, which, of course, did not correspond to the task set - to create the sovereign symbolism of the updated Russian state”. The jury also expressed doubts about the lack of monarchical symbolism in the submitted projects, which went against the principle of “non-denial” declared by the white government.

State-political structure

The state consisted of three separate parts, only the Omsk and Arkhangelsk governments for some time were able to connect their territories.
Laws that were passed in Omsk became binding for all territories of the Russian State.
The Omsk government provided financial assistance to the South. To address the issue of lack of bread, Miller's northern government made purchases in Siberia.
The structure of government consisted of temporary government bodies. These authorities were limited to the duration of the wartime and the restoration of the full order in the country.