After the end of the October Revolution, the first Soviet power established itself in most of the country. This happened in a fairly short time - until March 1918. In most provincial and other large cities, the establishment of Soviet power passed peacefully. In the article, we will consider how this happened.
Establishment of Soviet power
First of all, the victory of the revolutionary forces was entrenched in the Central region. The active army at the front-line congresses determined further events. It was here that Soviet power began to assert itself. 1917 was quite bloody. The main role in supporting the revolution in the B altic States and Petrograd belonged to the B altic Fleet. By November 1917, the Black Sea sailors overcame the resistance of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries and adopted a resolution that recognized the Council of People's Commissars headed by V. I. Lenin. At the same time, in the Far East and in the North of the country, the Soviet government did not receive much support. This contributed to the subsequent intervention in these areas.
Cossacks
It had enoughactive resistance. On the Don, the core of the army of volunteers was formed and the center of the whites was created. The leaders of the Cadets and Octobrists Milyukov and Struve, as well as the Socialist-Revolutionary Savinkov, took part in the latter. They developed a political program. They advocated the indivisibility of Russia, the Constituent Assembly, and the liberation of the country from the dictatorship of the Bolsheviks. The "White movement" in a short time received the support of French, British and American diplomatic representatives, as well as the Ukrainian Rada. The offensive of the volunteer army began in January 1918. The White Guards acted on the orders of Kornilov, who forbade the taking of prisoners. It was from this that the "white terror" began.
Victory of the Red Guards on the Don
In the tenth of January 1918, at the Cossack front-line congress, supporters of the Soviet government formed a military revolutionary committee. F. G. Podtelkov became its head. Most of the Cossacks followed him. At the same time, detachments of the Red Guards were sent to the Don, who immediately went on the offensive. The White Cossack troops had to retreat to the Salsky steppes. The volunteer army withdrew to the Kuban. On March 23, the Soviet Don Republic was created.
Orenburg Cossacks
It was headed by Ataman Dutov. In early November, he disarmed the Orenburg Soviet, and mobilization was announced. After that, Dutov, along with Kazakh and Bashkir nationalists, moved to Verkhneuralsk and Chelyabinsk. From that moment, the connection between Moscow and Petrograd with Central Asia and the Southern Territory was interrupted. Siberia. By decision of the Soviet government, detachments of Red Guards from the Urals, Ufa, Samara, and Petrograd were sent against Dutov. They were supported by groups of the Kazakh, Tatar and Bashkir poor. At the end of February 1918, Dutov's army was defeated.
Confrontation in national areas
In these territories, the Soviet government fought not only with the Provisional Government. The revolutionary forces tried to suppress the resistance of both the Socialist-Revolutionary Menshevik forces and the nationalist bourgeoisie. In October-November 1917, the Soviet government won a victory in Estonia, the unoccupied regions of Belarus and Latvia. The resistance in Baku was also crushed. Here, Soviet power lasted until August 1918. The rest of Transcaucasia came under the influence of the separatists. So, in Georgia, power was in the hands of the Mensheviks, in Armenia and Azerbaijan - the Musavatists and Dashnaks (petty-bourgeois parties). By May 1918, bourgeois-democratic republics were formed in these territories.
Changes have also taken place in Ukraine. So, in Kharkov in December 1917, the Soviet Ukrainian Republic was proclaimed. The revolutionary forces succeeded in overthrowing the Central Rada. She, in turn, announced the formation of a people's independent republic. After leaving Kyiv, the Rada settled in Zhytomyr. There she was under the protection of German troops. By March 1918, Soviet power had established itself in Central Asia and the Crimea, except for the Emirate of Bukhara and the Khanate of Khiva.
Political struggle incentral areas
Despite the fact that in the first years of Soviet power, volunteer and rebel armies were defeated in the main regions of the country, the confrontation in the center still continued. The culmination of the political struggle was the convocation of the Third Congress and the Constituent Assembly. A provisional government of the Soviets was formed. It was to be valid until the Constituent Assembly. With him, the broad masses associated the formation of a new system in the state on a democratic basis. At the same time, opponents of the power of the Soviets also pinned their hopes on the Constituent Assembly. It was beneficial for the Bolsheviks, since their consent would destroy the political foundation of the militias.
After Romanov abdicated, the form of government in the country was to be determined by the Constituent Assembly. However, the Provisional Government postponed its convocation. It tried to find a replacement for the Assembly by creating the Democratic and State Conferences, the Pre-Parliament. All this was due to the uncertainty of the Cadets in obtaining a majority of votes. The Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, meanwhile, were satisfied with their positions in the Provisional Government. However, after the Revolution, they also began to seek the convening of the Constituent Assembly in the hope of seizing power.
Elections
Their deadlines were set on November 12 by the Provisional Government. The date for the meeting was set for January 5, 1918. By that time, the Soviet government included 2 parties - the Left Social Revolutionaries and the Bolsheviks. The former separated into an independent association on the Firstcongress. Voting was based on party lists. The composition of the Constituent Assembly elected democratically from the entire population of the country is very indicative. The lists were compiled even before the start of the revolution. Members of the Constituent Assembly were:
- SRs (52.5%) - 370 seats.
- Bolsheviks (24.5%) – 175.
- Left SRs (5.7%) – 40.
- Cadets - 17 seats.
- Mensheviks (2.1%) – 15.
- Enesy (0.3%) – 2.
- Representatives from various national associations - 86 seats.
The Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, who had formed a new party by the time of the elections, participated in the elections on the basis of a single list drawn up before the revolution. The Right SRs included a large number of their representatives in them. From the above figures, it becomes clear that the population of the country gave preference to the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries - socialist associations, the number of representatives of which in the Constituent Assembly was more than 86%. Thus, the citizens of Russia quite unambiguously indicated the choice of the future path. With this, Chernov, the leader of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, began his speech at the opening of the Constituent Assembly. The assessment of this figure quite clearly illustrates the historical reality, refuting the words of a number of historians that the population rejected the socialist path.
Meeting
At the Constituent Assembly, either the chosen path of development at the Second Congress, the Decrees on Land and Peace, the activities of Soviet power, or attempts to eliminate its gains could be approved. opposingthe forces that had the majority in the assembly refused to compromise. At a meeting on January 5, the Bolshevik program was rejected, the activity of the government of the Soviets was not approved. In that situation, there was a threat of a return to the SR-bourgeois regime. In response to this, the Bolshevik delegation, followed by the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, left the meeting. The rest of its members stayed until five in the morning. There were 160 delegates out of 705 in the hall. At 5 am, the anarchist sailor Zheleznyakov, head of security, approached Chernov and said: "The guard is tired!" This phrase has gone down in history. Chernov announced that the meeting was adjourned to the next day. However, already on January 6, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee issued a Decree dissolving the Constituent Assembly. The situation could not be changed by the demonstrations that were organized by the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. Not without casu alties in Moscow and Petrograd. These events marked the beginning of a split in the socialist parties into two opposing camps.
End of confrontation
The final decision regarding the Constituent Assembly and the further state structure of the country was made at the Third Congress. On January 10, a meeting of soldiers' deputies and workers was convened. On the 13th, the All-Russian Congress of Peasant Representatives joined him. From that moment, the years of Soviet power began to count.
In conclusion
At the congress, both the policy and the activities carried out by the Soviet authorities - the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, and the dissolution of the assembly were approved. The meeting also approvedconstitutional acts that legitimized Soviet power. Among the most important of them are the Declaration "On the Rights of the Working People and the Exploited People", "On the Federal Institutions of the Republic", as well as the Law on the Socialization of the Land. The Provisional Government of Workers and Peasants was renamed the Council of People's Commissars. Before that, the Declaration on the Rights of the Russian Peoples was adopted. In addition, the Council of People's Commissars addressed the working Muslims in the East and in Russia. They, in turn, proclaimed the rights and freedoms of citizens, enlisted the workers of various nationalities in the common cause of establishing socialism. In 1921, Soviet coins began to be minted.
