Russian local government during the war and the Union of Zemstvos

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1794855874

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-179223

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Polner, Tichon I. http://d-nb.info/gnd/172311195

Title:: Russian local government during the war and the Union of Zemstvos

Place of publication:: New Haven

Publisher:: Yale Univ. Press

Year of publication:: 1930

Scope:: XXV, 317 S.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter V. The Zemstvos and the Zemstvo Union

Collection:: Economics Books

THE ZEMSTVOS AND THE UNION 83 cost of living, in addition to dealing with a large number of highly important and urgent economic problems, it was necessary to devise some better organization and coérdination among these local bodies. The first attempt in this direction was made by the provincial zem- stvo of Perm, which, with the sanction of the governor, introduced the so-called volost economic councils. These included representa- tives of the local residents on an elective basis, and all the zemstvo officers living within the volost, and the principal officials of the volost peasant administration. According to the terms of reference, “the volost councils are granted the right to hire a secretary-in- structor, by agreement with, the district zemstvo board.” Three- fourths of his wages were to be paid by the provincial zemstvo, while the district zemstvo was to contribute the balance. The experiment of the Perm zemstvo proved very successful and was followed by other zemstvos. The War undoubtedly stimulated local enterprise and energy. Not only the zemstvos, but likewise the Government fully realized the necessity of mobilizing all available public forces. It was not, however, the intention of the authorities nor in accordance with the tradition of officialdom to link up the small government units with the zemstvo institutions and thus expand and consolidate the sphere of zemstvo activities. When an acute need was felt for smaller local organizations to conduct the food supply campaign, the Ministry of the Interior found it impossible to confine itself to the existing volost administration or committees for relief. It attempted, in con- formity with the law of October 10, 1916, to create special volost food supply committees on the same basis as the economic councils of Perm, with the participation of local representatives, but these were intended to be independent of the zemstvo organization. The exigencies of the War, however, were such as to demand im- peratively nothing short of volost zemstvos, to be formed on a uni- form plan as a small, elective unit. Hasty and thoughtless local enterprises, resulting in an endless and uncoordinated variety of committees, offices, and councils, threatened to dissipate zemstvo as well as government forces in a general chaos. In place of organiza- tion there was sometimes only improvisation. The Government at last realized the need of proper legislation for a final solution of the problem of volost administration reform, such as had been arged for a quarter of a century, only to be repeatedly deferred by

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