Revolutionary power perception by the Vladimir province population in March-October 1917: according to the district commissars and militia chiefs’ estimates

The paper deals with the analysis of the Vladimir province Provisional Government commissars and militia chiefs’ reports on the assessment of revolutionary power perception by the local population in March-October 1917. The author characterizes a complex of sources and methodology of working with them. The paper considers the Vladimir province inhabitants’ attitude to the change of power in February 1917, to the events in Petrograd in July, and to the October coup from the Provisional Government commissars’ point of view. Besides, the author characterizes a condition of the people’s militia, social behavior of rural and urban residents on the basis of official reports. The author concludes about an enormous information potential of such reports from the places, which, due to their structure and content, bear the imprint of the personal impression of the official from communicating with the inhabitants. The reports analysis has shown that their main topics were not political: unauthorized felling, seizure of forests, increasing robberies and hooliganism as well as disruption in food security. In general, the reports described the absolute apolitical nature of the peasants with their desire to solve the pressing issues of cold and hunger, as well as the open bellicosity of workers who were suspicious to all representatives of the government.