On the night of May 26–27, 1918, an uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps took place in Chelyabinsk. The Czechs did not aim to overthrow Bolshevik power in the city. Formally, it remained in place for another four days. But anti-Bolshevik forces took advantage of the Czechoslovak Corps’ action. This uprising allowed them to consolidate and begin to act. Thus, 112 Russian officers out of 120 registered immediately joined the Czechs. Cossack detachments from Verkhneuralsk, Troitsk, and Yemanzhelinka approached Chelyabinsk. The Czechs handed all weapons over to them. Having overthrown Soviet power on June 1, the officers transferred authority to a new body—the Committee of People’s Power, the Provisional Government of Chelyabinsk—which set about restoring order and normal life in the city.
On July 15, 1918, the People’s House hosted the first meeting on creating a single responsible Russian government. It was attended by representatives of Komuch, the liberal government formed in Samara, and the more right-wing Provisional Siberian Government led by military figures and major entrepreneurs. The meeting was a working, preliminary session. Soon, Chelyabinsk also hosted a second meeting, bringing together representatives of various groups, estates, and nationalities: Cossacks, Bashkirs, Mensheviks, and Socialist Revolutionaries. The Chelyabinsk meetings became an important step toward creating a unified government of Russia. A little later, a new Provisional Government with broad powers was formed in Ufa.
But already in November 1918, Admiral Kolchak came to power and declared himself the Supreme Ruler of Russia.
In 1918–1919, passions over self-determination ran high in Chelyabinsk. Local Orthodox believers tried to pursue their own political line. The institution of the Orthodox Church had not been renewed since the time of Peter the Great. Both clergy and laity wanted reforms. The Chelyabinsk clergy, dissatisfied with the policies of the Orenburg clerical leadership, also put forward their demands, declaring their desire to create an independent Chelyabinsk diocese, though without much success: the appointed ruling bishop, because of the raging Civil War, was never able to come to the city. Only on September 30, 1919 did the independent Chelyabinsk diocese receive its hierarch—Bishop Dionysius. The life of the diocese changed. A temporary diocesan council was created, taking on all authority for administering parishes in our region. In Chelyabinsk, another important spiritual organization was also being formed—the church administration of the western armies of the Whites.
In August, as the Reds drew closer, an evacuation began. The last city head, Prokopiy Vladimirovich Ivanov, who supported the city’s economy during the Civil War, left the city together with the retreating White Army. He made it to Omsk, but in December 1919 he was arrested by the Bolshevik government and executed by firing squad.