Vitebsk electoral district (Russian Constituent Assembly election, 1917)
The Vitebsk electoral district (Russian: Витебский избирательный округ) was a constituency created for the 1917 Russian Constituent Assembly election. The electoral district covered the Vitebsk Governorate.[3] White Russian separatism was a negligible force in the electoral district.[4]
Vitebsk | |
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Former Civilian Constituency for the All-Russian Constituent Assembly | |
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Former constituency | |
Created | 1917 |
Abolished | 1918 |
Number of members | 9 |
Number of Uyezd Electoral Commissions | 11 |
Number of Urban Electoral Commissions | 2 |
Number of Parishes | 195 |
Sources: | [1][2] |
On May 9–10, 1917 the 1st Latgallian Latvian Congress was held, which demanded the separation of Latgale from the Vitebsk governorate and integration with Latvia.[5] In the Latgale region, which had an ethnic Latvian population and would later get annexed to independent Latvia, the Bolsheviks received over 50% of the votes cast.[6] Nevertheless, Latgale had a notably weaker Bolshevik vote than neighbouring Livonia (with 72% Bolshevik vote) and the Latvian Rifles regiment (96% Bolshevik vote), possibly linked to opposition to Bolshevik policies from the Catholic Church and Jewish business sectors.[7] The socio-economic conditions were different in Latgale than other Latvian regions, having a less educated and more religiously oriented population.[8]
Candidatures
List 1 - Socialist-Revolutionary Party

Candidates of List 1 | ||
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1. | Alexander Gizetti | Petrograd, writer. Gizetti was nominated by the Central Committee of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party; |
2. | Maxim Boldysh | Bolshoye Pokotino village, Nikolaev Volost, Polotsky Uyezd, Peasant |
3. | Andrius Bulota | Petrograd, former member of the 2nd and 3rd State Dumas, member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies |
4. | Yuda Novakovsky | Petrograd, member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies |
5. | Iosif Ruskul | Skinchi village, Mikhailovsky Volost, Lutsinsky Uyezd, Peasant |
6. | Mikhail Tsetlin | Chairman of the Vitebsk Committee of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party |
7. | Daniil Vasilevsky | Representing the peasantry of Polotsky Uyezd. Popular educator. Chairman of Polotsky Uyezd Zemstvo Council. |
8. | Alexander Prokofiev | Vitebsk. Popular educator. Representing the peasants of the Gorodoksky Uyezd, member of the Vitebsk Provincial Executive committee of the Soviet of Peasants Deputies |
9. | Nerses Aslanov | Vitebsk. Deputy Chairman of the Vitebsk Provincial Soviet of Peasants Deputies |
10. | Grigory Katzenelenbogen | Rezhitsa. Chairman of the Rezhitsa Soviet of Workers, Soldiers and Peasants Deputies |
11. | Mark Lyakhovsky | Zaprudye village, Staroselskaya Volost, Vitebsky Uyezd. Peasant |
12. | Vasily Moiseev | Vitebsk. Chairman of the Provincial Soviet of Peasants Deputies |
List 2 - Trudovik Popular-Socialist Party

Candidates of List 2 | ||
---|---|---|
1. | Alexander Zarudny | |
2. | Leon Bramson | |
3. | Vladimir Karpov | |
4. | Mikhail Bogdanov | |
5. | Nikolai Kislyakov | |
6. | Alexander Likhnitsky | |
7. | Alexander Kyusse-Tyuz | |
8. | Alexander Shestov | |
9. | Evgeny Alonov | |
10. | Vasily Tretyakov | |
11. | Mikhail Demidov | |
12. | Vasily Stolpovsky | |
13. | Pavel Solovyov |
List 3 - Kadets

Candidates of List 3 | ||
---|---|---|
1. | Maxim Vinaver | |
2. | Vasily Stepanov | |
3. | Emmanuil Dubossarsky | |
4. | Olga Nechaeva | |
5. | Parfeniy Vasiliev | |
6. | Evgeny Senkovsky | |
7. | Semyon Burkov | |
8. | Alexey Luzgin | |
9. | Ivan Abmorshev |
List 4 - Latgale Socialist Party of Working People
Candidates of List 4 | ||
---|---|---|
1. | Francis Kemps | |
2. | Aloizijs Skruls | |
3. | Zenons Laizāns | |
4. | Francs Vilcāns |
List 5 - Bolsheviks
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Candidates of List 5 | ||
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1. | Lev Kamenev | Petrograd |
2. | Felix Dzerzhinsky | Petrograd |
3. | Sarkis Sarkisyants | Vitebsk |
4. | Stefan Chesheyko-Sokhatsky | Dvinsk |
5. | Boris Pinson | Vitebsk |
6. | Zalman Ryvkin | Velizh |
7. | Vilis Chunchin | Vitebsk |
8. | Zinovy Filippovsky | Kolyshki, Vitebsky Uyezd |
9. | Naum Lagovier | Velizh |
10. | Ivan Litvin | Dvinsk |
11. | Ephraim Sklyansky | 5th Army, 149th Black Sea Regiment |
12. | Nikolai Peskovsky | Rezhitsa |
13. | Aleksei Badaev | Petrograd |
List 6 - Bloc of the Vitebsk Belorussian People's Union and the Orthodox Parishes of the Faith of the Polotsk Diocese
Candidates of List 6 | ||
---|---|---|
1. | Georgy Polonsky | |
2. | Boris Byalynitsky-Birulya | |
3. | Foma Litvinov | |
4. | Mikhail Sokolov | |
5. | Alexey Sukharev | |
6. | Trofim Bavshuto | |
7. | Fedor Grigorovich | |
8. | Trofim Zaitsev | |
9. | Andrei Starovoitov | |
10. | Foma Podkhilko |
List 7 - Jewish National Electoral Committee

Candidates of List 7 | ||
---|---|---|
1. | Naphtali Friedman | |
2. | Grigorii Bruk | |
3. | Julius Brutzkus | |
4. | Isaac Berger | |
5. | Chaim Grinberg |
List 8 - Vitebsk Provincial Union of Land Owners and Society of Old Believers of Vitebsk Governorate

Candidates of List 8 | ||
---|---|---|
1. | Sergey Kotlyarevsky | |
2. | Gury Gusakov | |
3. | Leonid Kopatsinsky | |
4. | Andrey Kovalev | |
5. | Andrey Janson | |
6. | Varfolomey Saveliev | |
7. | Khristian Bigge | |
8. | Vatslav Kossov | |
9. | Bronislav Mirsky |
List 9 - Mensheviks and Bund

Candidates of List 9 | ||
---|---|---|
1. | Akaki Chkhenkeli | |
2. | Raphael Abramovitch | |
3. | Kuzma Gvozdev | |
4. | Malka Frumkina-Wichman | |
5. | Alexander Matskanov | |
6. | Grigory Aronson | |
7. | Vladimir Sivitsky | |
8. | Alexander Matskov | |
9. | Shmul Chizhevsky | |
10. | Pomorov | |
11. | Grigory Levin | |
12. | Mikhail Podashevsky |
List 10 - United Polish Organizations

Candidates of List 10 | ||
---|---|---|
1. | Eduard von der Ropp | |
2. | Henry Dymsha | |
3. | Stanisław Łopaciński | |
4. | Konrad Nedzvetsky | |
5. | Józef Czesnowicki | |
6. | Vikenty Baliul | |
7. | Adam Buynitsky | |
8. | Stanisław Zdanowicz |
List 11 - Socialists-Federalists and Peasants of Latgale
Candidates of List 11 | ||
---|---|---|
1. | Antons Skrinda | |
2. | Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics | |
3. | Antons Laizāns | |
4. | Valeriya Seyl' | |
5. | Aloīzijs Bojārs | |
6. | Nikolay Manuilov | |
7. | Pēteris Zalāns | |
8. | Doroško Donāts | |
9. | Eduards Kozlovskis | |
10. | Antons Zvidrins | |
11. | Viktors Gabranovs | |
12 . | Daniels Gabruševs |
Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics withdrew his candidature before the election, leaving 11 candidates on the list.[9]
List 12 - Lettish Democrats-Nationalists

Candidates of List 12 | ||
---|---|---|
1. | Jurijs Pabergs | |
2. | Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics | |
3. | Ivans Grišāns | |
4. | Iosifs Kindzuls | |
5. | Petrs Lazdans | |
6. | Staņislavs Kambala | |
7. | Donats Lačkajs-Lače |
List 13-Peasants of Vitebsk Governorate
Candidates of List 13 | ||
---|---|---|
1. | Alexander Lobus | |
2. | Nikolay Novikov | |
3. | Boris Tyasto (withdrew his candidature - replaced by Ivan Zagulov) | |
4. | Yakov Alekseev | |
5. | Vladimir Puzynya | |
6. | Semyon Gushchenko | |
7. | Tit Kovalenok |
List 14 - Citizens of the Bolets Volost, Gorodoksky Uyezd
Candidates of List 14 | ||
---|---|---|
1. | Ivan Kuzminsky |
Kuzminsky was member of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, peasant from Potashenskaya Volost, Gorodoksky Uyezd.[9]
Results
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Vitebsk town
In Vitebsk town, the Bolsheviks got 11,875 votes (34.8%), the Jewish National Electoral Committee 5,772 votes (16.9%), the Menshevik-Bund list 3,822 votes (11.3%), the White Russian/Orthodox list 3,058 votes (8.9%), the SRs 3,053 votes (8.9%), the Kadets 2,365 votes (6.9%), the Polish list 2,169 votes (6.4%), the Popular Socialists 958 votes (2.9%), the Lettish Democrats-Nationalists 395 votes (1.1%), the Landowners/Old Believers list 375 votes (1.1%), the peasants' list 197 votes (0.5%), Latgallian Socialist-Federalists 68 votes (0.2%), Latgallian nationalists 20 votes (0.1%) and 12 votes for the Boletsky volost citizens' list.[13]
References
- И. С. Малчевский (1930). Всероссийское учредительное собрание. Гос изд-во. pp. 140–142.
- Б. Ф Додонов; Е. Д Гринько; О. В.. Лавинская (2004). Журналы заседаний Временного правительства: Сентябрь-октябрь 1917 года. РОССПЭН. pp. 206–208.
- Татьяна Евгеньевна Новицкая (1991). Учредительное собрание: Россия 1918 : стенограмма и другие документы. Недра. p. 13.
- Oliver Henry Radkey (1989). Russia goes to the polls: the election to the all-Russian Constituent Assembly, 1917. Cornell University Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-8014-2360-4.
- Aija Brasliņa; Latvijas Nacional̄ais mak̄slas muzejs (2008). Latvijai topot no de facto līdz de iure: māksla un laikmets. Latvijas Nacionālais mākslas muzejs. p. 216.
- Andrew Ezergailis; Gert von Pistohlkors (1982). Die baltischen Provinzen Russlands zwischen den Revolutionen von 1905 und 1917: Internationales Marburger Symposium zu Problemen der baltischen Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte. Böhlau. p. 258. ISBN 978-3-412-01582-4.
- Josifs S̆teimanis (April 2002). History of Latvian Jews. East European Monographs. pp. 54–55. ISBN 978-0-88033-493-8.
- Revue Canadienne D'études Slaves. Sir George Williams University. 1969. p. 646.
- Гродзенскі дзяржаўны універсітэт імя Я. Купалы (2008). Веснік Гродзенскага дзяржаўнага універсітэта імя Янкі Купалы: Гісторыя, філасофія, паліталогія, сацыялогія. Серыя 1, Issue 2. Універсітэта. pp. 17–18. OCLC 301239049.
- Simon Rabinovitch (1 October 2016). Jewish Rights, National Rites: Nationalism and Autonomy in Late Imperial and Revolutionary Russia. Stanford University Press. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-8047-9303-2.
- Oliver Henry Radkey (1989). Russia goes to the polls: the election to the all-Russian Constituent Assembly, 1917. Cornell University Press. pp. 148–160. ISBN 978-0-8014-2360-4.
- Leonard Mikhaĭlovich Gavrilov; Institut istorii (Akademii︠a︡ nauk SSSR) (1962). Borʹba za ustanovlenie i uprochenie sovetskoĭ vlasti: khronika sobytiĭ, 26 okti︠a︡bri︠a︡ 1917 g.-10 i︠a︡nvari︠a︡ 1918 g. Izd-vo Akademii nauk SSSR. p. 337.
- Л. М Спирин (1987). Россия 1917 год: из истории борьбы политических партий. Мысль. pp. 273–328.
- Лев Григорьевич Протасов (2008). Люди Учредительного собрания: портрет в интерьере эпохи. РОССПЭН. ISBN 978-5-8243-0972-0.