The Re-Radicalization of Baku Provincial Workers in 1916

Abstract

This article studies police reports in Baku province in 1915–16 housed in the State Historical Archive of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The reports written by the detectives of Baku province’s gendarmerie reflect larger trends in Baku’s changing socio-economic and political dynamics during the First World War. The gendarmerie expressed concern that the rising cost of living was hurting the population, especially the working-class in Baku. The reports warn that the economic troubles could make Baku’s population support revolutionary forces. These warnings were gradually realized, especially following the Russian government’s decision in 1916 to divert the railways away from Baku city, resulting in rising food prices and shortages, and even hunger.