«The Official Position of Mr. Rychkov is Still a Mystery»: Centre’s Emissary K.M. Rychkov in the Altai Okrug (1917-1918)

Abstract

The article is devoted to an unknown episode in the biography of ethnographer and journalist K.M. Rychkov during his service in Altai in 19171918. Using historical-biographical method, the author reconstructs for the first time the official and sociopolitical activities of K.M. Rychkov in the Altai Province. Based on extensive sources, the author reveals the role of ethnographer in the administrative and economic reforms in the Altai Okrug in 1917 — first half of 1918. As a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Provisional Government and then of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, K.M. Rychkov joined the bodies of the economic management of the region. When Soviet power was temporarily established in Altai, K.M. Rychkov was a member of the Revision Commission of Altai Provincial Land Committee, headed the Department of State Property Management at the Provincial Council, became one of the developers of instructions for reorganization of management in the Altai Okrug, promoted removal from power of pre-revolutionary bureaucracy. The author concludes that the ethnographer made a significant contribution to the process of reorganizing the administration in the Altai Okrug and influenced the nature and direction of transformations in the economy of the region.