Spaces of Revolution: The Spatial Tactics of Urban Socialism in a Siberian City, c. 1895–1905

Abstract

This article investigates the changing uses of urban space by socialists in the Siberian city of Krasnoiarsk between 1895 and 1905. Drawing on the memoirs of participants and contemporary police and newspaper reports, it reveals a shift in the ‘spatial tactics’ used by socialists, from clandestine ‘circles’ towards open gatherings and protests. These open actions constituted a key part of local revolutionary events in the summer and autumn of 1905 as socialist party activists, joined by workers from the railway workshops, sought to upturn the established political and economic order in the city by seizing and transforming prominent local places. However, at key moments space could be seized back by local authorities and anti-revolutionary groups, forcing socialists to reconsider and further improvise their spatial tactics. The article further highlights the role of the Krasnoiarsk Soviet that was established in December 1905, demonstrating that it contributed to socialists’ efforts to secure access to public space but did not, as previously suggested by some historians, seize outright power in the city.