During the Russian Revolution of 1905 armed revolutionaries under the leadership of the RSDLP headed by Viktor Kurnatovsky, Anton Kostiushko-Voliuzhanich, and Ivan Babushkin[1] organized themselves into a "Soviet of Soldiers' and Cossacks' Deputies" and took control over the city, declaring the Chita Republic in December 1905.

In July, agitation by the RSDLP led to a group of 20 craftsmen presenting demands to local authorities.

In the wake of the general strike of October 1905, Transbaikal railway telegraph employees voiced their demands, including radical land reform.

[3] On November 16, 1905, around 4,000 workers rallied under the RSDLP to create a republic fighting against the autocracy of the Russian government.

On December 18, a mass rally called for the convening of the Congress of Delegates of Transbaikalia, an organization comprising the Chita Municipal Duma and the representatives from local unions and political parties.

Sanctioned by Governor-General Kholshchelvnikov, the Chita Post and Telegraph Office came under the jurisdiction of an elected committee.

[4] The "Joint Committee of Railway Workers and Service Personnel" extended the Chita Republic's power through much of the surrounding Transbaikal region.

The workers and soldiers of Chita who controlled the railroads were so well-armed, the local Siberian units passing through the city did not wish to fight them.

General Rennenkampf, the pacifier of Siberia, carried the condemned man in his train so that he might witness with his own eyes the executions of workers at every railway station.