The Chita Republic () was a workers' republic based from Chita from 1905-1906. Chita, a city in eastern Siberia, Russia, and a place of exile for early revolutionaries and combatants of the Russo-Japanese War, was a center for worker unrest in the early 1900s. During the Russian Revolution of 1905 armed revolutionaries under the leadership of the RSDLP headed by Viktor Kurnatovsky, Anton Kostiushko-Voliuzhanich, and Ivan Babushkin organized themselves into a "Soviet of Soldiers' and Cossacks' Deputies" and took control over the city, declaring the Chita Republic in December 1905. Background The Transbaikal region on the eve of the 1905 Russian Revolution was a hotbed for workers' unrest. Although Siberian wages were high (on average, 30% higher than wages in European Russia), there was much inflation in the region. Food prices jumped in the decade before the revolution by 40-50%, but incomes only rose by half that. Poor harvests in 1901 and 1902 led to up to 200% increases in prices for food. On the Trans-Siberian Railroad, the number of new workers coming in could not keep up with the increase in the number of people using the railway. There was little medical care for workers who had to work in the cold, and accidents were common due to the climate and the lack of workers. Thus, left-wing influence grew rapidly in the Transbaikal region. Chita, in particular, was more influenced by the Bolsheviks than by the Mensheviks. By 1904, serious unrest began caused by inflation from the Russo-Japanese War. The RSDLP started agitating against the war in various cities along the Trans-Siberian Railroad, with major strikes starting in January 1905. Revolution in Chita Initially, railway workers in Chita reacted to Bloody Sunday with a one-day walkout. In late January, there was a three-day strike by the railway workers over late wages. In July, agitation by the RSDLP led to a group of 20 craftsmen presenting demands to local authorities. Negotiations devolved into strikes from July 25 and 26. Workshops were closed on the 27th, and on the 28th, workers came up with 33 new demands, including a demand for an eight-hour work day. It is noted that speeches by local Social-Democratic leaders received up to 2,000 listeners from the striking workers. These strikes spread along the Trans-Siberian Railway to cities like Irkutsk, Innokenty, Zima and Verkhneudinsk. In September, Chita Social Democrats convened a congress of Transbaikal activists, with 18