State bodies’ formation for ensuring railway safety in Russia (October 1917 – July 1918)
Authors: Petrykin N. N. 
Published: February 2024

Importance. Scientific interest in studying the turning points of history contributes to the development of the most effective mechanisms for organizing the activities of state law enforcement agencies in modern conditions. The conduct of a special military operation and the current geopolitical situation require the state to take special measures to ensure law and order at key elements of government, including transport facilities. After the February and then the October Revolutions of 1917, the continuity of law enforcement at railway transport facilities was lost. Armed formations of various kinds were spontaneously created on the railways to commit crimes, seize and retain power. The experience of developing measures to ensure law and order in the context of armed interference in the railways’ activities, measures taken to stabilize the situation, is of scientific and practical importance. The purpose of the study is to determine the formation sequence of state agencies for ensuring the safety of railways during the formation of Soviet power, their competence and competence.

Research Methods. The historicism principle along with the application of the historical and genetic method, make it possible to analyze the formation sequence of state agencies to ensure the safety of railways in the period from October 1917 to July 1918 and, based on individual facts, identify the special. The comparative method shows the general and special features of the phenomena considered within the framework of the formation of the entire law enforcement system of the Soviet state. Based on the analytical method, it is possible to compare the activities of the agencies created by the Soviet state to ensure law and order at railway transport facilities with the gendarmerie police units of the railways that operated before the February Revolution of 1917.

Results and Discussion. Based on the conducted research, the reasons why the Soviet authority created centralized law enforcement agencies at railway transport facilities are clarified. The description of the events against which these organizations and services were created is given. Steps have been taken to explain the contradictions between the interests of local and central authorities in the period under review, as well as the prerequisites for which the Soviet authority went from completely denying the experience of previous agencies to the need to use it.

Conclusions. It is concluded that the creation by the Soviet authoruty of law enforcement units and services and ensuring the safety of transport infrastructure facilities took place situationally, initially without any plan, through the denial of the legacy of tsarist Russia, centralization and resumption of the linear principle of the work of agencies, taking into account the military-political, economic situation in the country and the specifics of the object of law enforcement. The workers’ militsiya could not cope with the tasks of ensuring human and civil rights and freedoms at railway transport facilities at the first stage of its formation.