Burnatskom

The Central National Committee of the Buryat-Mongols of Eastern Siberia (Russian: Центральный национальный комитет бурят-монголов Восточной Сибири), generally known by its Russian language abbreviation Burnatskom (Бурнацком), was an organization of Buryat people in Russia during the Russian Revolution.

Immediately following the February Revolution, Gombojab Tsybikov (chair of Mongol Philology at the Oriental Institute of Vladivostok) travelled to Buryatia and together with Bazar Baradin, Tsyben Zhamtsarano, Mikhail Bogdanov, Elbegdorj Rinchino, Dash Sampilon and others founded the nucleus of Burnatskom in March 1917.[1][2][3] The group gathered virtually all Buryat prominent leaders at the time.[2] Burnatskom supported Alexander Kerensky's Provisional Government and promoted national autonomy.[3] On April 25, 1917 the First All-Buryat Congress formalized the foundation of Burnatskom.[4] In April 1917 Burnatskom set up the autonomous State of Buryat-Mongolia.[1] Burnatskom had its headquarters in Chita and a branch in Irkutsk.[2]

The leaders of Burnatskom sympathised with the Socialist-Revolutionary Party and envisioned a socialist state compatible with Buddhism.[5] Burnatskom sought to reform and modernise Buddhist religious practices.[6] The organization promoted a regional parliament, education in Buryat language and pan-Mongolism.[7] However the organization also expressed its willingness to cooperate with the Soviet government if Buryat national institutions would remain intact.[8]

In the political strife of 1917, the Burnatskom competed with the Transbaikal Cossack Party for influence over the region.[2] As Buryat leaders were not given prominent positions on the Socialist-Revolutionary list, Burnatskom fielded its own list in the Transbaikal constituency in the 1917 Russian Constituent Assembly election, obtaining 17,083 votes (17.39%).[9][10][11][12][8] Burnatskom joined the Nationalities Council of the Provisional Siberian Government in Tomsk in December 1917.[6][13] Burnatskom organized military units, to "defend religion and national welfare", which the White ataman Grigory Mikhaylovich Semyonov used as rear-guard troops.[14][15] Nevertheless, relations between Burnatskom and Semyonov remained tense.[15]

Burnatskom continued to exist until 1919.[4] After the establishment of Soviet power in Buryatia, Burnatskom came to be branded as "bourgeois nationalists" and "anti-Soviet".[3] In 2017 the National Museum of the Republic of Bashkortostan organized an exhibition to celebrate the centenary of Burnatskom, highlight its role as the first expression of Buryat self-governance.[4]

References
  1. Rathcliffe, Jonathan. Becoming-Geser, Becoming Buryat: Oral Epic and the Politics of Navigating Four Identity Crises
  2. Uralic and Altaic Series. Indiana University. 1964. pp. 10, 130.
  3. Anya Bernstein (27 November 2013). Religious Bodies Politic: Rituals of Sovereignty in Buryat Buddhism. University of Chicago Press. pp. 53–54. ISBN 978-0-226-07269-2.
  4. Buryad Unen. 100 лет назад появился Бурнацком - первый официальный орган самоуправления бурят
  5. Graham Smith (1996). The Nationalities Question in the Post-Soviet States. Longman. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-582-21808-6.
  6. Schorkowitz, Dittmar. Imperial Formations and Ethnic Diversity: institutions, practices, and longue durée illustrated by the example of Russia
  7. Dominic Ziegler (10 November 2015). Black Dragon River: A Journey Down the Amur River Between Russia and China. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-698-41016-9.
  8. Erik Azulay; Allegra Harris Azulay (1995). The Russian Far East. Hippocrene Books. p. 167. ISBN 978-0-7818-0325-0.
  9. Ivan Sablin (5 February 2016). Governing Post-Imperial Siberia and Mongolia, 1911–1924: Buddhism, Socialism and Nationalism in State and Autonomy Building. Routledge. p. 82. ISBN 978-1-317-35894-7.
  10. 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.
  11. Б. В Базаров (2008). Бурятские национальные демократы и общественно-политическая мысль монгольских народов в первой трети ХХ века. IMBT. p. 107. ISBN 978-5-7925-0270-3.
  12. スラヴ研究. 北海道大学スラブ研究室. 1994. p. 190.
  13. Caroline Humphrey (1971). Magical Drawings in the Religion of the Buryat. University of Cambridge. p. 79.
  14. Phillips, G. D. R. (1943). Dawn in Siberia: The Mongols of Lake Baikal. F. Muller, Limited. p. 124.
  15. Jonathan D. Smele (19 November 2015). Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 247. ISBN 978-1-4422-5281-3.
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