FROM THE TREATY OF PORTSMOUTH TO THE SOVIET-JAPANESE WAR

NORTHERN SAKHALIN 1905-1945

Upon signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, the Japanese side, having won southern Sakhalin from Russia, demanded that the Russian side either abolish penal servitude on the north half of the island or take steps to prevent escapees from reaching the southern half. The Russians, while emphasizing that preservation or abolition of the practice of penal servitude in north Sakhalin was strictly an internal matter of Russia, nonetheless took upon itself the responsibility to see that Sakhalin prisons would not become a source of trouble for its neighbors.

On 10 April 1906 the Council of Ministers of Russia resolved to abolish penal servitude and deportation to Sakhalin. As grounds for this decision, the government pointed to external reasons for the abolition of Sakhalin penal servitude (Japanese demands) as well as internal ones (failure of agricultural and industrial colonization of the island).

After the abolition of the prison system, the Russian government made attempts to interest people in settling on Sakhalin. In 1908 the island was declared open to free settlement. In 1914, those who settled on Sakhalin and found work were relieved of compulsory military service. All the same, the population of the north half of the island grew exceedingly slowly: from 7500 at the end of 1905 to 9000 in 1917.

The majority of the population of northern Sakhalin was engaged in agriculture or the fishing industry. The fishing industry of northern Sakhalin took on a pronounced commercial aspect. The fisheries not only supplied the island with fish and marine products, but also shipped off a significant portion of their catch to the mainland and export (principally to Japan).

The coal industry of northern Sakhalin worked on a very irregular basis following the abolition of penal servitude. Thus 33 thousand tons of coal were extracted from all mines in the north of Sakhalin in 1913, followed by 17 thousand tons in 1916, and 13 thousand tons in 1917.

Geological prospecting continued in the north of Sakhalin following the RussoJapanese War. Survey expeditions were led by Eduard Anert, Nikolay Tikhonovich, and Pyotr Polevoy. In the course of their investigations a number of oil deposits were revealed and studied in detail. Russian and foreign (especially Japanese) entrepreneurs took an immediate interest in the results of these geological surveys.

The overwhelming majority of the population of northern Sakhalin took no part in the terrible Civil War that shook the Russian government from 1917-20. This is explained by the island's relative isolation from the primary centers of the revolutionary movement, by its tiny population, and by the unique characteristics of its social structure.

The largest share of the population of north Sakhalin was engaged in agriculture. Sakhalin peasants (as compared to the peasants in European Russia) were moderately well-supplied with land and catde. There was never a land-owning gentry on the island. Everything that was needed to work the land and raise livestock was already within the grasp of the peasant himself. Social stratification in the Sakhalin countryside was negligible. In 1917, of 766 peasant households in the north of Sakhalin only 50 used hired help. There were in all 70 farm hands (1.9 percent of the rural population of north Sakhalin). Much more numerous and influential in the north Sakhalin countryside were the "middle-class peasants."

The peasant of north Sakhalin was completely and wholly absorbed in the work on his own farm and by and large was litde interested in politics. The overwhelming majority of peasants did not even suspect there was such a thing as a "class enemy." Events taking place in Aleksandrovsk (the administrative center) had practically no effect on their interests. The Sakhalin peasants cared even less about events taking place on the far-off mainland. The slogans of me revolutionary party — "Land to the Peasants!" and "Peace to the Nation!" —which so stirred all of Russia, hardly caused a ripple here. Anyone who wanted to work could have land, and they didn't take men into the army from the north of Sakhalin.

There was a moderate number of working class with regular jobs in the north half of the island, scattered among the small coal mines, lumber camps, construction brigades, the modest wharves, the tiny factories and workshops, the numerous fishing brigades and geological survey parties. More than half of all hired labor was in the extreme north of the island, where they played no significant role in the political life of north Sakhalin because of their isolation from the political center.

On 15 March 1917 (2 March by the old Russian calendar), word reached north Sakhalin of the revolutionary events in Petrograd and the renunciation of the throne by the Emperor Nicholas ?. A demonstration took place in Aleksandrovsk on 19 March (with only 200 people taking part), at which a Sakhalin Committee for Community Safety was elected. The chairman of the Committee was the director of the local radio station, Aleksandr Tsapko. A few days later the Committee swept away the former administration of north Sakhalin and took power into its own hands. A Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was formed in Aleksandrovsk in April 1917.

October 1917 saw the first elections in the history of north Sakhalin on the basis of equal suffrage for all members of society, at which were elected new institutions for local self-government: a municipal Duma in Aleksandrovsk, and zemstvos in Mikhailovsk and Ty-movsk. Until 1920, all real power in the regions of north Sakhalin was held by diese democratically elected organs. Power changed hands in Russia, Siberia, and die Amur valley, but in die villages of north Sakhalin tilings were much the same as always. The changes were insignificant even in Aleksandrovsk, die administrative center of Sakhalin uyezd (district). The local authorities formally submitted to whatever power controlled die Amur region at any given time.

The transfer of all power in me regions to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies was proclaimed by the Second Congress of Soviets on 8 November 1917 (26 October, according to the old Russian calendar). However, it took two years and four months for this decision to take effect in northern Sakhalin.

Commissar I.K-Ruslanov, appointed by the Provisional Government, headed the administration of Sakhalin uyezd until March of 1918. After he surrendered his authority, power in the district was transferred to a Collective for the Self-Governance of Sakhalin, composed of representatives from the Aleksandrovsk Municipal Duma and the Mikhailovsk and Tymovskzemyftw. The Sakhalin Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, elected by an insignificant minority of the population, enjoyed little respect or support. It had practically ceased all activities by the spring of 1918. Later that summer there was an attempt by Bolsheviks in Nikolayevsk-na-Amure (the administrative center of Sakhalin oblast', which at that time included the Udsk uyezd in addition to northern Sakhalin) to disband all local administrative bodies on the island and hand over power to the Soviets. The attempt was unsuccessful.

At the end of summer and fall of 1918, the Civil War which had begun in Russia rolled into Sakhalin as well, with the first arrests of Bolsheviks and their supporters on the island. The Aleksandrovsk Municipal Duma announced that it would not recognize Soviet authority. Soon after, the authority of the administration of Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak was extended to the island. Kolchak's commissar was G.V. Reut.

Interest in north Sakhalin on the part of foreign (especially Japanese) entrepreneurs increased dramatically during this period. In 1919 the Mitsubishi and Itoko-rada companies conducted geological surveys of the coal and oil deposits here. In spring 1919 the Kolchak government looked into the question of the desirability of attracting foreign capital to northern Sakhalin. However, in making this decision, the Kolchak government went to great lengths to preventJapanese predominance on the Russian part of the island. It was to be an "open door" policy, in which free competition betweenJapanese, American and British capital would hinder the establishment of purely Japanese economic dominance.

A small opposition group was forming in Aleksandrovsk, probably already by the end of 1918 or early 1919. It was made up largely of representatives of the Sakhalin intelligentsia, as well as some workers and soldiers. Their spokesman was Aleksandr Tsapko, who was widely respected on the island. They used mostly legal means in their battle with the Kolchak administration. Most of their work was carried out in the zem-stvos, whose elected membership included many who were inclined to oppose the Kolchak regime. Thezem-stvos issued protests against the actions of the government, and prevented the mobilization of young Sakhaliners into the army.

The Kolchak administration was removed from power by a coup in Aleksandrovsk during the night of 13/14 January 1920. All power on the island was now in the hands of the Provisional Revolutionary Committee headed by Tsapko. However, its authority was not well-established. On 1 February the Sakhalin Revolutionary Committee and organs of municipal and zemstvo self-administration on the basis of equal parity founded a Coalition Executive Committee, which was

given absolute power over north Sakhalin. A Sakhalin Island Congress of Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Red Army Deputies was held in March of 1920, at which all power on north Sakhalin was then transferred to the Soviets.

On 22 April 1920, a 2000-man Japanese military contingent was landed at Aleksandrovsk. Some of the supporters of Soviet power left for the mainland while others were repressed by the Japanese. Tsapko, the most influential supporter of Soviet power in north Sakhalin, was arrested, carried off to a Japanese ship and, most probably, killed. Power on Sakhalin then shifted into the hands of the Japanese military government.

After occupying north Sakhalin, Japan immediately set about exploiting its natural resources. Sakhalin's oil in particular attracted the interest of Japanese businessmen. There was a renewal of geological surveys of the island, which had been interrupted at the beginning of 1920. The work was financed by the Kuhara Mining Co. and the Naval Ministry. Full-scale production at the Okha oilfields commenced in 1921. Soon after this, Kuhara, Mitsubishi Mining, Okura Mining, and the Nippon Oil Co. formed the Hokushinkai joint-stock consortium. This consortium conducted operations on eight oil reserves. The most productive was the Okha field, which produced approximately 20 thousand tons of oil from 1920 to the first half of 1925, of which less than 5.5 thousand tons was exported to Japan.

Practically all coal deposits on Sakhalin passed into the hands of Japanese companies during the period of occupation. The largest share of the mining was controlled by Mitsubishi. In all the period of occupation of north Sakhalin, they extracted approximately 317 thousand tons of coal.

From 1920-25, practically all fishing and timber was also under the control of Japanese business.

As Japan began intensive development of the natural resources of north Sakhalin, the governments of the Far Eastern Republic and the Russian Federation, and later (after 1922) of the USSR, waged a diplomatic battle to return these territories. In this, Soviet diplomacy took advantage of the growing rift between America and Japan. The U.S., not wishing a further strengthening of Japan's position, came out against the annexation of north Sakhalin. The issue of north Sakhalin was discussed at the Washington Arms Limitation Conference, and other conferences on Pacific and Far East issues, as well as conferences in Dairen and Changchun, and during negotiations between the Japanese and Soviets in Tokyo and Peking. Finally, a "Convention of Fundamental Principles for Mutual Relations between the USSR and Japan" was signed on 20 January, 1925 in Peking.

The Peking Convention restored the Portsmouth peace accord and returned north Sakhalin to the USSR. The Convention further stipulated that the government of the USSR would grant concessions for Japanese exploitation of oil and coal deposits in north Sakhalin for periods of 40 to 50 years.

The last Japanese detachments withdrew from Sakhalin on 14 May 1925. The authority of the Soviet government was established on the northern half of the island. From 1925 to early 1929 it was ruled by the Sakhalin Revolutionary Committee. From January 1929, all power in north Sakhalin belonged officially to the Soviets. In fact however, authority rested in the hands of the Okrug (Oblast, after 1932) Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), headed by an "elected" secretary (who was, in fact, assigned by the center).

State security agencies (OGPU, NKVD) enjoyed enormous influence on the island. The search for enemies of the regime commenced as soon as the territory was returned to the USSR. This search became more intensive and more devastating with each passing year. Thousands of persons were arrested in north Sakhalin in the 1920's and 30's. Many of these were executed. More than 2000 were shot in 1932-1938 alone. Special targets of the security agencies were people from the indigenous population, long-time Russian inhabitants, workers at Japanese concessions, and persons of "capitalistic" ethnicity (in which category the NKVD classified Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Poles, Germans, Latvians, and others). From 1936 to 1938, the de facto dictator of the north half of the island was the head of the Sakhalin Oblast directorate of the NKVD, brigade commander Vladimir Drekov.

From the outset the Soviet government viewed north Sakhalin as a source of natural resources and hard-currency income for the growing industry of the Far East and the USSR as a whole. Thus, having achieved the return of the north half of the island, the Soviet administration immediately set about colonizing it industrially. A scientific expedition was sent to study the natural wealth of north Sakhalin (especially notable was the combined mining and geological expedition for investigating the island's oil, coal and timber resources, led by Nikolay Khudyakov).

Work on industrial resettlement to north Sakhalin began with an eye toward solving the island's problems with labor resources. Throughout the USSR, workers were recruited for Sakhalin's mines, oil fields, timber processing centers and fishing collectives. The recruiters' success was facilitated significantly by the collectivization, starvation and massive poverty of peasants in the countryside. From 1926 to 1940 the population of north Sakhalin grew by almost a factor of 12 (from 10,000 to 117,000 ).

As per the Peking Accord, a treaty was signed in Moscow in December of 1925 which granted concessions for exploitation, over a period of 45 years, of the oil and coal deposits of north Sakhalin. The treaty divided eight of the oil fields in the north half of the island into sections. Fifty percent of these sections, in alternating checkerboard fashion, were to be given to the Japanese, and fifty percent to the Soviets. In 1926 Japanese entrepreneurs founded the North Sakhalin Oil Co., a joint-stock company, for exploiting these oil reserves. Over the period of existence of these concessions (until 1944), the Japanese extracted from north Sakhalin and exported to Japan more than 2 million tons of oil.

A North Sakhalin Mining Co. was formed for exploiting the coal deposits which were granted to the Japanese party in the concession agreement. However, due to friction with the Soviet side, the Japanese company was unable to make full use of the rights granted by the concession agreement, and for all practical purposes operations were at a standstill from 1939 on.

The Soviet government founded the Sakhalinneft Trust in 1928 for exploitation of the Soviet half of the oil fields. The Trust extracted only 296 tons of oil in 1928. After that there was an sharp growth in output 188,900 tons in 1932, 505,000 in 1940, and 695,100 in 1945. In total, from 1928 to 1945 Sakhalinneft Trust produced almost 6 million tons of oil. Almost all the Sakhalin oil was exported beyond the^borders of north Sakhalin. Part of it went to the mainland (primarily Khabarovsk Kray), and part in exports to Japan. In all, from 1929 to 1937, 740,000 tons of Sakhalin oil was purchased and shipped to Japan. Oil exports toJapan were curtailed in 1937. Up until 1942, Sakhalin oil was exported from the island only during the navigation period for tankers. Using the forced-labor of prisoners from camps on the lower Amur, an oil pipeline was laid from Okha to Sofiyskoye-na-Amur in 1941^-2, via which oil flowed to the mainland for only one year.

State-owned coal mining in north Sakhalin developed at a brisk pace. Thus, although in 1928 only 10,100 tons of coal were produced by all the state-run mines in the north of the island, by 1932 this figure was 135,400 tons, and grew to 485,600 tons by 1940. However, after a peak in excess of 580,000 tons in 1941, output began to decline. The total output of all state-run mines in 1944 was 228,700 tons.

Development of the state-run timber industry was extremely irregular. Production peaked in 1932 with a harvest of 450,900 cubic meters for north Sakhalin. Then the volume of harvested timber in the north declined sharply:

in 1940 it was a total of only 130,000 cubic meters. A substantial fraction of this timber went to the mainland or for export (mainly toJapan).

The growth of the fishing industry was also unstable. Total catch peaked in 1934, when Sakhalin fishermen harvested 26,800 tons of fish.

    SOUTHERN SAKHALIN AND THE KURILS IN THE JAPANESE EMPIRE

After obtaining possession of the Kurils and occupying south Sakhalin, the Japanese government created administrative subdivisions, self-government agencies, and electoral systems identical to those in Japan. The Kurils were incorporated into Hokkaido prefecture. A separate prefecture, Karafuto, was created in 1907 from the territory of south Sakhalin. In 1908 a prefectural capital was established at Toyohara (Vladimirovka and later, from 1946, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk).

During the period ofJapanese domination, the Kurils and south Sakhalin were settled from Japan and, later, from Korea as well (primarily from South Korea). The civil population of the Kurils grew extremely slowly. By 1939, there were only 18,000 people living there. The population of south Sakhalin grew significantly faster. Thus even though there were less than 2000 people living in the south of the island in 1905, only two years later this had grown to more than 20,000, and by 1940 the population of south Sakhalin was more than 415,000.

South Sakhalin and the Kurils became a sphere of investment for major Japanese companies. By 1939, Japanese investment in the economy of south Sakhalin was calculated at 700 million yen, comprising approximately 5 percent of the total overseas assets of Japan. By 1945 Japanese investment had grown by yet another 100 million yen.

The Japanese government was attentive to the construction of roads and railroads in south Sakhalin. By 1945, the following rail lines had been constructed:

Otomari (Korsakov)-Toyohara-Shikuka (Poronaysk)-Koton (Pobedino), Honto (Nevel'sk)-Maoka (Khol-msk)-Kushunnai (Ilyinskiy), and Toyohara-Maoka, plus a number of spurs and other lines.

South Sakhalin and the Kurds held a remarkable status among the other colonies of Japan. First and foremost, this territory was an extremely important source of raw materials for Japanese industry. The Japanese conducted research on the valuable mineral and biological resources found on land and sea during the entire period of their rule here.

The timber industry played an especially important role in the economy of south Sakhalin. One third of all the timber traded in Japan came from south Sakhalin. The primary consumers of this timber were the cellulose and paper factories set up by Japanese entrepreneurs. Ten such factories were built in south Sakhalin, beginning in 1914. They provided as much as 70 percent of Japan's cellulose production. Production in 1941 stood at 214,000 tons of cellulose and 201,000 tons of paper. The largest share of the production was exported to Japan.

Industrial coal production began in south Sakhalin in 1909. Mining output grew at a brisk pace: 4600 tons in 1909, 154,000 tons in 1920, 645,000 tons in 1930, and 6.3 million tons in 1940. In all, the Japanese output from south Sakhalin up to 1945 was more than 48 million tons of coal, of which 18 million tons was exported to Japan.

One of the most important sectors of the economy of south Sakhalin was the fishing industry. Harvests of fish and marine products in the waters around the southern half of the island were irregular. The largest catch occurred in 1931, with approximately 620,000 tons. After this the harvests in the waters of south Sakhalin fell off sharply. During the War in the Pacific (1941-1945), the catch varied between 250,000 and 370,000 tons. From 30,000 to 80,000 tons were caught in the waters off the Kuril islands. Whaling was also significant.

Possession of south Sakhalin and the Kurils was also extremely important from a strategic standpoint, allowing Japan to almost completely control the primary sea lanes connecting the southern half of the Russian Far East with the rest of the world, and to threaten the Pacific possessions of the U.S. Japan constructed numerous military installations on south Sakhalin and the Kurils, and stationed a relatively large military garrison (increasing up to 100,000 soldiers and officers by the summer of 1945). In fact, although Japan only once used the Kurils as a base for launching a major attack, it was an operation of enormous strategic significance. A Japanese carrier task force set sail for the Hawaiian islands from Hitokappu Bay on the island of Iturup on 26 November 1941. On 7 December, the aircraft from these carriers devastated a major part of the U.S. naval forces in the Pacific at Pearl Harbor.