Sibirica

The article examines the reception of the Russian revolutionary movement and the revolution of 1905 by Chinese reformers and revolutionaries. It reveals how events in Russia were refracted through the imperatives of the Chinese political situation and used to support indigenous political attitudes. It also brings to light relationships between Russian, Chinese and Japanese history which are not apparent when these countries are studied individually.

This article seeks partly to redress the neglect of international relations, especially concerning the Far East, in recent Western writing on Soviet Russia. It concentrates on the sequel to the Paris Peace Conference, the Washington Conference of 1921-2, suggesting that Soviet Russia played the role of 'Banquo's ghost' at both meetings. Making use for the most part of documents from the US National Archive, the article concentrates on the problem of bringing the Japanese intervention to an end, with special reference to the use made for this purpose by the Soviet government of the Far Eastern Republic or DVR. The DVR enjoyed considerable success as a 'democratic' buffer state, while its Special Trade Delegation acted as unofficial representative for Soviet Russia at the Washington Conference. As the Japanese intervention came to an end, the DVR was dissolved.

The artist Nicholas Roerich, famous for his expeditions (1925-1928 and 1934-1936) to Central Asia and the Himalayas, was deeply fascinated by the Altai Mountains, which he visited in 1926 (even though he had emigrated from Soviet Russia in 1918). His interest in the region had partly to do with his scholarly theories about the origin of Eurasian cultures. Even more important were Roerich's occult beliefs. Ostensibly artistic and academic in nature, Roerich's expeditions were part of a larger effort to create a pan-Buddhist state that was to include southern Siberia, Mongolia, and Tibet. In the Altai, Roerich aimed to locate the legendary land of White Waters (Belovod'e) and build his capital there. Support for this 'Great Plan' came from American followers of Roerich's mystical teachings. In addition, by representing himself to Soviet authorities as someone who might foster anti-British resentment and pro-Russian feelings among the populations of Central Asia and Tibet, Roerich briefly piqued their interest. The Great Plan was never realised, but Roerich continued to believe in the Altai's magical properties.

In the immediate post-Soviet communist period, investigators were eager to expose the privileged and wealthy life-style of Communist Party (CP) officials, lumping them all together both sociologically and chronologically. This created a false impression that all CP workers had always enjoyed material and other advantages ever since the Revolution. Using material from Siberian archives, the author suggests that, on the contrary, during the early 1920s, workers in the CP provincial, district and regional committees experienced severe material hardship, and often received no wages at all for long periods. The parlous condition of the Soviet economy as a whole at this time was reflected in the low, or non-existent, pay of Party functionaries, and in the inefficiency, confusions and tensions between the central authorities and regional officials struggling to carry out their Party work on a shoe-string, often living at barely subsistence levels. Various 'Party perks' - for example, in the form of free medical provision or low-cost housing - often existed on paper only. The small gains that were made, however, whetted an appetite for their enlargement and consolidation.

This article explores an important aspect of the developing relations between the post-Soviet Russian Far East and its neighbours on the Pacific Rim. It concentrates on South Korean economic activity in the Nakhodka Free Economic Zone, and the development of the Korean-Russian industrial park project.

Urgunge Onon, The Secret History of the Mongols: The Life and Times of Chingis Khan (Richmond: Curzon Press, 2001) 298pp. ISBN 0-7007-1335-2

Paddy Linehan, Trans-Siberia: Inside the Grey Area (Chichester: Summersdale Publishers, 2000) 318pp. map. £7.99/$US40. ISBN 1-84024-114-4

Wieland Hintzsche et al ., eds, Georg Wilhelm Steller: Briefe und Dokumente, 1739 (Halle: Verlag der Franckeschen Stiftungen, 2001) xli + 535pp. indexes, map. ISBN 3-930195-67-4. Quellen zur Geschiichte Sibiriens und Alaskas aus russischen Archiven, Band 3

International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, The Indigenous World 2000/ 2001 (Copenhagen: IWGIA, 2001) 472pp. maps, photographs. $40US (with newsletter). ISBN 87-90730-48-8

The following list continues the entries published in the previous issue of Sibirica. It includes items from late 1993 to 1995 and some earlier publications discovered since the list was published. I would be very grateful for information about any items which have escaped my attention, so that they can be included later.