Authors

Discussion

The formation of the Soviet regime was born out of numerous discussions that covered both central political figures and actors on the ground. However, there were situations when territorial issues were discussed directly by the participants of the conflict outside the interests of the center. This paper discusses territorial issues between Yakutia and the Far East in the context of the early Soviet border-making. The discovery of gold deposits in the south of Yakutia (Aldan) in 1924 and the simultaneous depletion of gold deposits in the Far East led to the emergence of a new player in the early Soviet gold industry. Far Eastern experts began to actively publish materials about the historical and geographical belonging of the territory of South Yakutia to the Far East. Despite the lack of experience in the gold industry, the Yakut actors did not want to reduce the territory of the republic. Moscow did not participate in discussions about the “ownership” of Aldan and decided to leave this territory as part of Yakutia, however, the territorial dispute persisted until 1930. I argue that in the context of the early Soviet border-making personal initiative of the local actors led to the interregional discussions between Yakutia and the Far East that revealed not only the difference in perception of the territory of Aldan but also post-colonial subjectivity of the Yakut actors.