выборы

In the article the results of election of the heads of Volost Zemskiy Assemblies taken place in the South-Eastern provinces of Russia at the end of the February Revolution are analyzed. The author has considered the social and political structure of Volost Zemskiy members, has classified the Zemskiy Assemblies according to the level of democracy and presence as well as has emphasized the importance of the results of the corresponding election campaign for the development of the Zemstvos and Russian society at the end of 1917 and later.

The article gives the analysis of moral state of society, increased self-consciousness of the  nation-winner, ideological campaigns and relations between the state and the church in the region, commitment of the party and public administration to former methods of government on the basis of archive documents and local periodicals.

The paper focuses on one of the important aspects of zemsky reform preparation - N. A. Milyutin's observations on Valuev's preliminary draft of zemstvo establishment (Preliminary Essay). The polemic sharpness of Milyutin's “observations” that occured due to promoting his own self-governance model has been traced.

This article aims to analyze the process of preparing and holding elections to volost zemstvo of the Saratov province in 1917. The author comes to the conclusion that reform of the volost zemstvo by Temporary Government did not achieve the desirable result due to the lack of development of the legislation in the sphere of competence of volost zemstvo and the lack of financial independence of the new structure and absenteeism among peasants.