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When the Bolshevik leaders came to power in October 1917, they decided to create a Statistics State administration in Moscow and in all the other regions of the State. The first census was carried out at the end of 1918, with several others conducted in 1919 and 1920 during the Civil War. Statisticians had to face all sort of operational difficulties to complete the surveys on the ground, and in particular, in a region heavily affected by fighting. It shows how difficult it was to organise a State administration in a region situated far away from Moscow, which was marked by chaos and a deep disorganization of daily life. Plagued by epidemies and famine, the province of Saratov, situated in the Middle Volga region, provides an interesting case study.