“Tobolsk period” of the governor N.L. Gondatti

The paper reviewed the activity of the Tsarist nobleman N.L. Gondatti during his tenure as Governor of the Tobolsk province (January 1906 - September 1908). The research focused on the consideration of views by N.L. Gondatti who was confident in the necessity of reforms being carried out by the government including the resettlement policies, development of new lands, regulation of land tenure and land use, enabling peasants to leave their community, development of free enterprise and self-administration. The study of the central and local authorities’ interaction, the officials’ role in management analysis made it possible to assess the significance and effectiveness of reforms being conducted in the country. Not all activities planned were implemented in full and supported by the population. There was an opposition in the region represented by prominent liberal public figures, revolutionary-minded citizens, community peasants, entrepreneurs who objected to government decisions. Nevertheless, this circumstance did not stop the confident official. N.L. Gondatti succeeded in strengthening the central government in the East of the country, developing the local economy, education and healthcare facilities. However, being a convinced monarchist, he did not support the ideas of further liberalization of the autocratic rule. Governor’s zeal in carrying out the measures introduced by the central authorities who has not always taken into consideration the needs and aspirations of Tobolsk region residents is perceived today as a duty of a person in the civil service to submit to managerial decisions. A personalized approach to the analysis of the 1906-1908 reforms explains the success and stagnation of the reforms, reveals the explicit and hidden motives of processes that do not always act in concert, determines the factors caused by the individual qualities of change agents both stimulating and constraining the reformers’ ideas.