“The Mglin-Pochep Question” in the Administrative-Territorial Transformations of the Gomel Province
Elizarov S.A.
Within the pre-revolutionary Chernigov province, there existed the Mglin district with its center in the town of Mglin, part of 17 districts. In December 1917, the NKVD of Soviet Russia issued a statement to all Soviets, which, among other things, raised the question “of redistributing administrative functions between individual points of provinces and districts” and relocating administrative centers “to those cities whose councils were large, more active, and influential, i.e., to cities with developed industrial and commercial life.”
Considering this, after the establishment of Soviet power, the town of Pochep, located on the Moscow-Bryansk-Gomel railway line and having more small industrial enterprises (mainly brick and oil mills) than Mglin, laid claim to the role of district center. This last circumstance made Pochep a “proletarian center” of the entire district, and given the new government’s desire to move the centers of administrative-territorial units to economically more developed localities, Pochep had real prospects of becoming the district center. At the time of the formation of the Gomel province (May 1919), the dispute between Mglin and Pochep had not yet been resolved, which is why the NKVD RSFSR’s order on the formation of the province on July 11, 1919, included the wording “Mglin district with the Pochep region.”
In fact, as early as 1918, during the formation of Soviet power bodies, the district was divided into two separate districts – Mglin (controlling 7 volosts – Mglin, Balik, Kostenich, Nivnyan, Pavlovich, Romanovich, Shumatov) and Pochep (10 volosts – Pochep, Alexeyevsk, Krasnoslobodsk, Ivaytenov, Krasnorog, Vaskovich, Vorobein, Kulnev, Staroselsky, Kotlyakov) [1]. No official decision was made by the republican authorities; the division of the district occurred “by revolutionary means” based on “revolutionary expediency,” which, however, was a common phenomenon at that time. However, the central authorities of the RSFSR, which were trying to impose some order on the administrative-territorial changes, officially recognized only the existence of the Mglin district with its center in Mglin.
This situation did not satisfy the Pochep authorities, who sought to extend their influence over the entire former Mglin district. In the struggle between Pochep and Mglin, the Gomel provincial center increasingly leaned towards supporting the more industrially developed Pochep, which also had direct railway connections. By the end of May 1919, at the 1st Gomel provincial party conference, Pochep received support as the most expedient district center [2].
At the 4th district party conference of the RCP(b), held in Pochep on August 9-10, 1919 (attended by communists from Pochep and 10 volosts), a decision was made to merge the two districts into one with the center in Pochep, “finding the separate existence of the Mglin district inexpedient” [3]. At the same time, a commission from the Gomel GIK and the provincial committee was working in the Pochep and Mglin districts, which unequivocally supported the position of the Pochep leadership. As a result, at the unifying congress of the Soviets of the Pochep and Mglin districts held in September 1919, a decision was made to merge these districts into one – Pochep, in which Mglin with 7 volosts received the status of a “region” [4].
However, the Mglin leadership did not accept this decision, appealing for support to Moscow with a demand for the allocation of an independent Mglin district.
In response, the Pochep provincial committee on November 20, 1919, even instructed the “district Cheka to urgently investigate the matter of the meeting that took place at the Mglin Military Commissariat, the consequence of which was the sending of a delegation to the city of Moscow regarding the division of districts” [5].
In February 1920, the Pochep district authorities supported the proposal of the Bryansk provincial committee to include the district in the Bryansk province. This opportunity was used by the Mglin leadership in their struggle for an independent district. On March 2, 1920, a plenary session of the Mglin executive committee took place, attended by representatives of 7 volost executive committees, the Bureau of Trade Unions, and cooperative organizations. This plenary session, firstly, opposed the transition of the Mglin region to the Bryansk province, and secondly, decided “to immediately begin organizing a district center in Mglin.”
Relations with Pochep were characterized in the darkest tones: “The absence of a district center in the Mglin district over the past months has destroyed all work, and the unnecessary connection with Pochep was an excessive instance, a delay of time.”
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In fact, an ultimatum was presented to the provincial center: “The plenary session declares its full right to the district and begins its organization and demands immediate recognition of the Mglin region as a district. Otherwise, the Mglin region will strive by all means and efforts to achieve recognition of Mglin as a district before the central authority” [6].
The reaction of the provincial center was restrained – at that time, the provincial center did not exclude the possibility of transferring the entire Pochep district to Bryansk, and a resolution was imposed on the appeal of the Mglin district committee of the RCP(b) requesting the creation of the Mglin district: “Leave until necessary.”
To somewhat alleviate the sharpness of the issue, on June 14, 1920, a joint meeting of the provincial military revolutionary committee with representatives of provincial departments decided “to allocate Mglin with the surrounding 7 volosts into an independent administrative-economic unit,” and the provincial revolutionary committee was instructed “to formalize it legally,” i.e., to determine the form of this unit [7].
Despite the official formation of a single Pochep district, there still effectively existed 2 districts – Pochep and Mglin: parallel district bodies operated in Pochep and Mglin – district food committees, military commissariats, cooperative associations, departments of the national economy, etc.
This situation did not satisfy either Pochep or Mglin. In August 1920, the Pochep provincial committee noted that “the ambiguity in relationships negatively affects both the work of Pochep and Mglin” and proposed either to allocate Mglin as an independent district or to completely liquidate the Mglin region and turn Mglin into a non-staff city [8].
In turn, at the 6th Mglin district party conference on August 15, 1920, a decision was again made on the need to restore an independent district with its center in Mglin. Shortly before this, on August 8, the proposal to restore the Mglin district was supported by the Gomel provincial military revolutionary committee [9]. The question was referred to the restored GIK at the beginning of August. The provincial administrative commission also advocated the formation of an independent Mglin district. As a result, in November 1920, based on the Mglin region, the Mglin district was recreated, consisting of the city of Mglin and 7 volosts.
However, the position of the small Mglin district under the official policy of consolidating administrative-territorial units was clearly unstable.
On January 15, 1922, at its meeting, the provincial committee instructed the GIK to carry out the liquidation of the Mglin and Chausy districts, and this liquidation needed to be carried out “immediately before receiving sanction from the center” [10].
The urgency was explained by the tasks of preparing for the spring sowing campaign, and, according to the provincial leadership, there were no qualified personnel in these two districts for its organized conduct. The provincial administrative commission, and then the Plenary of the Gomel provincial committee and the provincial executive committee approved the project for the liquidation of the Chausy and Mglin districts [11].
However, the leadership of the Mglin district (and following its example, Chausy), which had rich experience in the struggle for independent existence, categorically disagreed with the disbandment of the districts. They began sending written protests to Moscow and obstructed the practical implementation of the provincial center’s decisions. To preserve the district, the Mglin authorities attempted to join the Bryansk province [12].
In early March 1922, a telegram from the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTSIK) arrived in Gomel demanding an immediate halt to the liquidation of the Chausy and Mglin districts until a decision from the center [13]. It is likely that the secretary of the Gomel provincial committee of the RCP(b), Khataevich, who was in Moscow at the end of April, managed to convince the Administrative Commission of the VTSIK to recognize the accomplished fact, and on May 4, 1922, the Presidium of the VTSIK adopted a resolution “On the Abolition of the Chausy and Mglin Districts of the Gomel Province.” The volosts of the Mglin district were redistributed between the Pochep (Romanovich, Balik, Shumatov) and Klintsy (Pavlovich, Kostenich, Nivnyan, Mglin and the city of Mglin) districts of the Gomel province.
At the end of May 1922, the leadership of the Bryansk province once again laid claim to part of the Gomel territories (including the Pochep district). Back in February and March 1920, the Presidium of the Gomel GIK recognized the transition of the Pochep district to the Bryansk province as “possible.” On July 4, 1922, the provincial administrative commission also agreed with this opinion. The Pochep district was peripheral, located much closer to Bryansk (60 versts) than to Gomel (180 versts), and “economically… does not represent any value for the Gomel province.”
The economic pull towards Bryansk was evident, and the existence of railway communication between Pochep and Bryansk, combined with repeated petitions from the Pochep UIK and the provincial committee of the Bolsheviks regarding the desirability of joining the Bryansk province, indicated the rationality of such a decision [14].
The 6th Gomel provincial congress of Soviets (December 10-15, 1922) noted that “the economic pull of Pochep towards Bryansk is indisputable,” and despite the good connection of Gomel with Pochep, “sufficient servicing” of the district by the provincial center, it still recognized “the possibility of transferring the Pochep district to the Bryansk province” [15]. On May 9, 1923, the Presidium of the VTSIK decided to transfer the Pochep district in full to the Bryansk province. The last remnants of the “Mglin-Pochep district” (along with Mglin) within the Klintsy district were transferred to the Bryansk province in December 1926 as a result of the second consolidation of Soviet Belarus.
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1 State Archive of the Gomel Region (GAGO). Fund 428. Op.1. Case 184. Page 152.
2 State Archive of Public Associations of the Gomel Region (GAOOGO). Fund 1.
3 Ibid. Page 43.
4 GAGO. Fund 428 Op.1. Case 184. Page 152.
5 Ibid. Page 87 ob.
6 Ibid. Case 736. Pages 14-17.
7 Ibid. Fund 119. Op.1. Case 40. Page 16.
8 Ibid. Case 205. Page 33.
9 GAOOGO. Fund 1. Op.1, Case 11. Page 17.
10 Ibid. Fund 1. Op.1. Case 857. Page 87.
11 GAGO. Fund 24. Op.1. Case 236. Pages 5, 7 ob.
12 Ibid. Fund 428. Op.1. Case 7. Page 228.
13 Ibid. Page 193.
14 Ibid. Fund 24. Op.1. Case 236. Pages 10-10 ob.
15 Ibid. Case 537. Page 39.
Elizarov, S.A. “The Mglin-Pochep Question” in the Administrative-Territorial Transformations of the Gomel Province / S.A. Elizarov // Russian-Belarusian-Ukrainian Borderland: Problems of Forming a Unified Socio-Cultural Space – History and Prospects: Materials of the International Scientific-Practical Conference, Bryansk, September 18-20, 2008 / Bryansk State University named after I.G. Petrovsky; editorial board: S.I. Mikhaylenko [et al.]. – Bryansk: Ladomir, 2008. – Pages 88–92.