Ethnic Unrest and Its Determinants in Terms of the Irkutsk Society of the Pre-Soviet Time

Specific criminal associations formed along ethnic lines on the territory of the Irkutsk Province had a direct impact on aggravation of social relations between various ethnic groups of the Siberian population. The article examines the features of implementing the corrective policy of autocracy in the context of development of the Eastern outskirts of the Russian Empire. On the basis of previously unpublished archival sources, the article reconstructs the events that accompanied the movement of criminals and socially unstable people from the territories of the North Caucasus to the Irkutsk Province and their further integration into the Siberian society. It contains a comprehensive analysis of the ethnic crime causes in Siberia, and the consequences of its manifestation in major administrative centers of the region.