Party Affiliation of Uyezd Zemstvo Members and the Problem of Its Correct Identification: The Case of Perm Governorate, 1909

The article represents the results of a study devoted to the party affiliation of the uyezd zemstvo members elected in 1909 in Perm Governorate. Interest in these zemstvo elections is explained by the fact that they were held in the context of post-revolutionary stabilization, the first stage of the Stolypin agrarian reform, and a new procedure for electing uyezd deputies from peasants, which, as the study showed, influenced the activity and preferences of the zemstvo electorate. The political results of the elections in Perm are analyzed in comparison with the results in other governorates, including the governorates with “peasant” zemstvos, such as Vologda, Vyatka and Olonets governorates. The source base for this research included official records from the Main Directorate for Local Economy and the Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire, the office of the Perm Governor, and the Perm Governorate Office for Zemstvo and City Affairs, stored in central and regional archives. The articles from the Permskaya Zemskaya Nedelya, the official organ of the Perm governorate zemstvo, were also used. The procedure of collecting information on the party affiliation of uyezd zemstvo members and the method of its identification were of particular interest for this research. The study showed that the official statistics reflected a general trend of public sentiment to incline to the right in the Russian province, which was typical of the period of post-revolutionary stabilization but involved no reaction or unconditional subordination of local self-government to the government authority. However, the authors of the article emphasize that the information on the party affiliation of the uyezd zemstvo members for the given period is introduced into scholarly discourse more and more often but may be considered as indicative rather than absolute because of a number of specific features in the formation of the sources containing that information.

Badanov, V.G. “Olonetskoe zemstvo v politicheskoi zhizni Rossiiskoi imperii (1867–1913)” [The Olonets zemstvo in the political life of the Russian Empire (1867–1913)]. Studia Humanitatis. Mezhdunarodnyi ehlektronnyi nauchnyi zhurnal, no. 1 (2025). Accessed March 7, 2026. https://st-hum.ru/content/badanov-vg-oloneckoe-zemstvo-v-politicheskoy-zhizni-rossiyskoy-imperii-1867-1913 (In Russian)
Barabanov, A.A., O.A. Bessonova, and A.A. Voitenko. Svod pamyatnikov istorii i kul'tury Sverdlovskoi oblasti [A collection of historical and cultural monuments of Sverdlovsk Oblast]. Vol. 2, Sverdlovskaya oblast' [Sverdlovsk Oblast]. Yekaterinburg: Sokrat, 2008. (In Russian)
Belokonskii, I.P. Zemskoe dvizhenie [The zemstvo movement]. Moscow: Zadruga, 1914. (In Russian)
Dyakin, V.S. “Zemstvo v treteiyun'skoi monarkhii (struktura izbiratelei i glasnykh)” [Zemstvo in the Third-June monarchy (structure of voters and members)]. Istoricheskie zapiski, vol. 115 (1987): 127–41. EDN: YUOLOU (In Russian)
Egorov, A.N. “Dokumenty gubernskikh zhandarmskikh upravlenii kak istochnik formirovaniya obraza provintsial'nogo liberala (po materialam Vologodskoi i Novgorodskoi gubernii)” [Documents of governorate gendarmerie departments as a source for forming the image of a provincial liberal (based on the materials from Vologda and Novgorod Governorates)]. Vestnik Cherepovetskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, no. 3 (49), vol. 1 (2013): 34–37. EDN: RULYOX (In Russian)
Egorov, A.N. “Election Campaigns to the First and Second State Dumas of the Russian Empire in Vologda Governorate: Power, Society, Electorate.” Historia Provinciae – the Journal of Regional History, vol. 9, no. 3 (2025): 699–752. https://doi.org/10.23859/2587-8344-2025-9-3-3; EDN: HFAFAQ (In Russian)
Ekhlakova, A.R., and I.K. Kir'yanov. “Imperskaya yubileemaniya nachala XX veka i organy mestnogo samoupravleniya: keis Permskoi gubernii” [Imperial jubileemania of the early 20th century and local government bodies: The case of Perm Governorate]. Vestnik Permskogo universiteta. Istoriya, no. 4 (71) (2025): 109–20. https://doi.org/10.17072/2219-3111-2025-4-109-120; EDN: DHKNZR (In Russian)
Ermolaev, A.N. “Uezdnyi ispravnik Sibiri v 1867–1917 gg.: kollektivnyi portret na primere Kuznetskogo i Mariinskogo uezdov” [Uyezd police chief of Siberia in 1867–1917: A collective portrait based on the case of Kuznetsk and Mariinsk uyezds]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Istoriya, no. 93 (2025): 38–46. https://doi.org/10.17223/19988613/93/5; EDN: GSUFZH (In Russian)
Karpachev, M.D. “Zemstvo v politicheskoi sisteme rossiiskogo samoderzhaviya” [The zemstvo in the political system of Russian autocracy]. Vestnik Voronezhskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Istoriya. Politologiya. Sotsiologiya, no. 4 (2023): 14–23. EDN: CXBSRB (In Russian)
Kobzeva, T.A. “Zemskaya izbiratel'naya sistema i vybory v mestnye organy samoupravleniya v 1907–1916 gg. (na materialakh Simbirskoi gubernii)” [The zemstvo electoral system and elections to local self-government bodies in 1907–1916 (based on the materials from Simbirsk Governorate)]. Vlast', no. 1 (2011): 113–17. EDN: NCNAXD (In Russian)
Kondrashin, D.V. “Politicheskaya bor'ba glasnykh v Elabuzhskom uezdnom zemstve Vyatskoi gubernii v period 1905–1910 gg.” [Political struggle of zemstvo members in Yelabuga Uyezd of Vyatka Governorate in 1905–1910]. Mezhdunarodnyi nauchno-issledovatel'skii zhurnal, no. 1 (127) (2023). Accessed March 7, 2026. https://cyberleninka.ru/article/ n/politicheskaya-borba-glasnyh-v-elabuzhskom-uezdnom-zemstve-vyatskoy-gubernii-v-period-1905-1910-gg (In Russian)
Koroleva, N.G. Zemstvo i Vserossiiskie politicheskie partii 1907–1914 gg. [The zemstvo and all-Russian political parties, 1907–1914]. St Petersburg: Petroglyph, 2025. EDN: YRTXGN (In Russian)
Ladygina, T.A., and N.I. Volkova. “Pereshagnuvshie cherez vremya (pamyatnye ob'ekty g. Krasnoufimska zemskogo perioda)” [Stepping over time (memorial objects of Krasnoufimsk from the zemstvo period)]. In Formirovanie i sokhranenie zemskikh traditsii zdravookhraneniya i obrazovaniya na Urale: materialy V Mizerovskikh istoriko-kraevedcheskikh chtenii (Krasnoufimsk, 17 fevralya 2015 g.) [Formation and preservation of zemstvo traditions of healthcare and education in the Urals: Proceedings of the 5th Mizerov local history readings (Krasnoufimsk, February 17, 2015)], edited by E.V. Saburova, 110–19. Yekaterinburg: Lift, 2015. (In Russian)
Manning, R.T. “The Zemstvo and Politics, 1864–1914.” In The Zemstvo in Russia. An Experiment in Local Self-government, edited by T. Emmons, and W.S. Vucinich, 133–76. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
Matsuzato, K., V.F. Abramov, and A.A. Yartsev. Zemskii fenomen: politologicheskii podkhod [The zemstvo phenomenon: A political science approach]. Sapporo: Slavic Research Center; Hokkaido University, 2001. (In Russian)
Narskii, I.V. Russkaya provintsial'naya partiinost': Politicheskie ob"edineniya na Urale do 1917 g. K voprosu o demokraticheskoi traditsii v Rossii [Russian provincial partisanship: Political associations in the Urals before 1917 (More on the democratic tradition in Russia)], 2 pts. Chelyabinsk: Chelyabinskii gosudarstvennyi universitet, 1995. (In Russian)
Pirumova, N.M. Zemskoe liberal'noe dvizhenie: sotsial'nye korni i evolyutsiya do nachala XX veka [The zemstvo liberal movement: Social roots and evolution until the early 20th century]. Moscow: Nauka, 1977. (In Russian)
Porter, T., and W. Gleason. “The Zemstvo and the Transformation of Russian Society.” In Emergent Democracy in Late Imperial Russia: Case Studies on Local Self-government (the Zemstvos), State Duma Elections, the Tsarist Government, and the State Council before and during World War I, edited by M.S. Conroy, 60–88. Niwot, CO: University Press of Colorado, 1998.
Ryazanov, S.M. “Nizhnie chiny uezdnoi politsii v rossiiskoi provintsii (vtoraya polovina XIX – nachalo XX v.)” [Lower ranks of the uyezd police in the Russian province (second half of the 19th – early 20th century)]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Istoriya, no. 91 (2024): 52–65. https://doi.org/10.17223/19988613/91/6; EDN: SZTDXA (In Russian)
Ryazanov, S.M. Politsiya Permskoi gubernii v gody Pervoi mirovoi voiny [The police of Perm Governorate during the First World War]. Perm: Rossiiskoe voenno-istoricheskoe obshchestvo, 2017. (In Russian)
Senina, A.V., and E.G. Turgenev. “Zemskie uchrezhdeniya kak sotsial'nye lifty: vertikal'naya mobil'nost' iz zemstv v vysshie predstavitel'nye organy zakonodatel'noi vlasti v pozdnei Rossiiskoi imperii” [Zemstvo institutions as social lifts: The vertical mobility from the zemstvo to higher representative bodies of legislative power in the late imperial Russia]. Vestnik Permskogo universiteta. Istoriya, no. 4 (63) (2023): 161–77. https://doi.org/10.17072/2219-3111-2023-4-161-177; EDN: AZCQIS (In Russian)
Shakhovskoi, D. “Politicheskie techeniya v russkom zemstve” [Political trends in the Russian zemstvo]. In Yubileinyi zemskii sbornik: 1864–1914 [Jubilee zemstvo collection: 1864–1914], edited by B.B. Veselovskii, and Z.G. Frenkel', 437–67. St Petersburg: Izdanie tovarishchestva O.N. Popovoi, 1914. (In Russian)
Shatsillo, K.F. Russkii liberalizm nakanune revolyutsii 1905–1907 gg. [Russian liberalism on the eve of the revolution of 1905–1907. Organization. Programs. Tactics]. Moscow: Nauka, 1985. (In Russian)
Shelokhaev, V.V., ed. Gosudarstvennaya duma Rossiiskoi imperii, 1906–1917. Entsiklopediya [The State Duma of the Russian Empire: 1906–1917. An encyclopedia]. Moscow: Rossiiskaya politicheskaya entsiklopediya (ROSSPEN), 2008. (In Russian)
Solov'ev, K.A. “Zemskie deyateli v Gosudarstvennoi dume (1907–1914)” [Zemstvo figures in the State Duma (1907–1914)]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 12: Politicheskie nauki, no. 4 (2014): 67–81. EDN: TJAACT (In Russian)
Veselovskii, B.B. Istoriya zemstva za sorok let [History of the zemstvo for forty years], 4 vols. Vol. 4. St Petersburg: Izdatelstvo O.N. Popovoi, 1911. (In Russian)
Veselovskii, B.B. Zemskie liberaly [Zemstvo liberals]. St Petersburg: Izdatel'stvo O.N. Popovoi, 1906. (In Russian)
Volgireva, G.P., S.I. Kornienko, and S.V. Pigaleva. “Istochnikovedcheskii analiz gazety ‘Permskie gubernskie vedomosti’ (XIX – nachalo XX v.) kak osnova dlya proektirovaniya i sozdaniya informatsionnoi sistemy” [Source-study analysis of the newspaper Permskie gubernskie vedomosti (19th – early 20th century) as a basis for designing and creating an information system]. Vestnik Permskogo universiteta. Istoriya, no. 3 (8) (2007): 79–88. EDN: HZTXEB (In Russian)
Zhuzhin, N.S., and I.P. Dvornikov. Sarana. Krasnoufimsk: [n. p.], 2009. (In Russian)