Soviet authority. The establishment of Soviet power

After the end of the October Revolution, the first Soviet power was established in most of the country. This happened in a fairly short time - until March 1918. In most provincial and other major cities, the establishment of Soviet power was peaceful. In the article we will consider how this happened.

The establishment of Soviet power

First of all, the victory of the revolutionary forces was entrenched in the Central District. The active army at the front congresses determined the subsequent events. It was here that Soviet power began to be affirmed. 1917 was quite bloody. In the support of the revolution in the Baltic and Petrograd, the main role belonged to the Baltic Fleet. By November 1917 the seamen-Black Sea Fleetmen had overcome the resistance of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries and had adopted a resolution by which they recognized the Council of People's Commissars headed by Lenin. At the same time, the Soviet government did not receive much support in the Far East and the North of the country. This contributed to the beginning of the intervention in these areas.

Cossacks

It had rather active resistance. On the Don formed the core of the army of volunteers and the center of whites was created. The latter was attended by the leaders of the Cadets and the Octobrists, Miliukov, Struve, and also the Socialist Savinkov. They developed a political program. They advocated the indivisibility of Russia, the Constituent Assembly, as well as the liberation of the country from the dictatorship of the Bolsheviks. "White Movement" in a short time was supported by 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 taking prisoners. It was with this that the "white terror" began.

Victory of the Red Guards on the Don

In the tenth day of January 1918, at the Cossack Front Congress supporters of the Soviet government formed a military revolutionary committee. Its head was F. G. Podtyolkov. A large part 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 Sal'sk steppes. Volunteer army went to the Kuban. On March 23, the Soviet Don Republic was established.

The Orenburg Cossacks

It was headed by Ataman Dutov. In early November, the Orenburg Council was disarmed, mobilization was announced. After that, Dutov, along with the Kazakh and Bashkir nationalists moved to Verkhneuralsk and Chelyabinsk. From that moment, the connection between Moscow and Petrograd was cut off from Central Asia and the Southern Territory of Siberia. By the decision of the Soviet government, detachments of the Red Guards from the Urals, Ufa, Samara and Petrograd were sent against Dutov. They were supported by groups of 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 power won in Estonia, the unoccupied regions of Belarus and Latvia. The resistance in Baku was also suppressed. Here Soviet power existed until August 1918. The rest of Transcaucasia was influenced by the separatists. So, in Georgia power was in the hands of the Mensheviks, in Armenia and Azerbaijan - Musavatists and Dashnaks (petty-bourgeois parties). By May 1918, bourgeois-democratic republics were formed on these territories.

Changes have occurred 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 Kiev, Rada settled in Zhitomir. There she was under the protection of German troops. By March 1918, Soviet power was established in Central Asia and the Crimea, except for the Bukhara emirate and Khiva Khanate.

Political struggle in the central regions

Despite the fact that during the first years of the Soviet power, volunteer and rebel armies were broken up in the main regions of the country, the confrontation in the center was still going on. The culmination of the political struggle was the convening of the Third Congress and the Constituent Assembly. The provisional government of the Soviets was formed. It had to act before the Constituent Assembly. With him, broad masses associated the formation of a new system in the state on a democratic basis. At the same time, the hopes of the Constituent Assembly were placed also by opponents of the power of the Soviets. It was advantageous for the Bolsheviks, since their consent would destroy the political foundation of the militia.

After Romanov abdicated, the form of government in the country was to be determined by the Constituent Assembly. However, the Provisional Government postponed his convocation. It tried to find a replacement for the Assembly, creating a Democratic and State Conference, a Pre-parliament. All this was due to the uncertainty of the Cadets in obtaining a majority of votes. The Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, meanwhile, satisfied their positions in the Provisional Government. However, after the Revolution, they also began to seek the convocation of the Constituent Assembly in the hope of seizing power.

Elections

Their terms were established on November 12 by the Provisional Government. The date of the meeting was determined on January 5, 1918. By that time, the Soviet government included two parties - Left Socialist-Revolutionaries and Bolsheviks. The first separated into an independent association at the First Congress. Voting was conducted according to party lists. The composition of the Constituent Assembly elected democratically from the entire population of the country is very indicative. The lists were compiled before the revolution began. As part of the Constituent Assembly were:

• The Socialist-Revolutionaries (52.5%) - 370 seats.
• The Bolsheviks (24.5%) are 175.
• Left SRs (5.7%) - 40.
• Cadets - 17 seats.
• The Mensheviks (2.1%) - 15.
• Enesy (0.3%) - 2.
• Representatives from different national associations - 86 seats.

The Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, who formed a new party at the time of the election, participated in the elections on a single list drawn up before the revolution. In them, the Right Socialist-Revolutionaries included a large number of their representatives. From these figures it becomes clear that the population of the country gave preference to the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, the number of whose representatives in the Constituent Assembly amounted to more than 86%. Thus, the citizens of Russia quite clearly indicated the choice of the way forward. From this began the speech at the opening of the Constituent Assembly Chernov - leader of the Socialist-Revolutionaries. The evaluation 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 liquidate its gains could be approved. The opposing forces, who had a majority in the congregation, refused to compromise. At the meeting of 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 Socialist-Revolutionary-bourgeois regime. In response, the delegation of the Bolsheviks, followed by the Left SRs, left the meeting. The remaining members stayed until five in the morning. In the hall, 160 delegates from 705 attended. At 5 am, the sailor-anarchist Zheleznyakov, the head of the guard, approached Chernov and said: "The guard is tired!". This phrase went down in history. Chernov announced that the meeting was postponed the next day. However, already on January 6 the All-Russian Central Executive Committee issued a decree dissolving the Constituent Assembly. The situation, which was organized by the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, could not change the situation. There were also no victims in Moscow and Petrograd. These events initiated the split in the socialist parties into two opposing camps.

Ending the confrontation

The final decision regarding the Constituent Assembly and the further state organization of the country was adopted 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.

Finally

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-were approved, and the dissolution of the assembly. Also at the meeting, constitutional acts were approved that legitimized the Soviet power. Among the most important of them are the Declaration on the Rights of Workers and Exploited People, On Federal Institutions of the Republic, and the Law on the Socialization of the Land. The Provisional Government of Workers and Peasants was renamed the SNK. Before that, the Declaration on the Rights of Russian Peoples was adopted. In addition, the Council of People's Commissars appealed to working Muslims in the East and in Russia. They, in turn, proclaimed the rights and freedoms of citizens, attracted workers of different nationalities to the common cause of the establishment of socialism. In 1921, coins of Soviet power were minted.