M. K. Dieterichs’ “Parish reform” in Priamursky Zemsky region (august–october 1922): theoretical foundations and an attempt of implementation
Abstract
The article examines the attempt of the anti-Bolshevik dictatorship of General M. K. Dieterichs, undertaken in August–October 1922, to rely on the Orthodox parish in the matter of state building in the White Primorye (“parish reform”). The intellectual origins of “parish building”, according to the author, are associated with Slavophilism and the activities of Archbishop Andrey (Ukhtomsky) in the East of Russia. It was Archbishop Andrew in 1918–1919 (and earlier) who put forward the thesis about the priority of the parish in the life of the Church and strove for “parish democracy” in practice. In his decrees, Dieterichs outlined the general principles of the reform, but developing the legislation on parishes was delegated to Priamurskaya Zemskaya Duma. The anti-Bolshevik community proposed various options to build the parish system, the main problem was the ratio of “the church” and “the civil” in the parish. The issue was raised during the National Congress in Nikolsk-Ussuriisky on September 15–20, 1922, where the project how to organise parishes was discussed in several speeches. The idea of organising social and political life on the basis of the parish was actively articulated in the press of White Primorye. Right-wing pro-government newspapers propagated the idea that creation of parishes would raise the consciousness of citizens of Priamursky Zemsky Krai and their initiative and would disaccustom them to rely on the state apparatus too much. The lack of normative legal acts clarifying the procedure of creating a parish together with poor informing were the reasons why by October 1922 only a very small number of parishioners were registered in the parishes. One of the aspects of the local self-government was self-defense, and the Dieterichs’ regime tried to encouraged the population to create it (the army forces were involved in the battlefront and could not maintain order in the rear). The stake on the parish led to an intensification of the campaign against Zemstvo, which was anti-Bolshevik. Thus, Dieterichs’ initiative became an extraordinary attempt to build a “white state” (and at the same time a project of the Russian political nation) on the basis of local selfgovernment and adherence to religion. The hopeless position of White Primorye by the autumn of 1922 prevented the implementation of these plans.
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