Kiev Bolshevik Uprising
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Ukrainian theatre, part of the October Revolution | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Tsentralna Rada | Kiev Military District | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Georgy Pyatakov Yan Gamarnik Volodymyr Zatonsky | Lieutenant-General Mikhail Kvetsinsky | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
6,000 Bolshevik supporters 8,000 Central Rada supporters | 10,000 |
History of Ukraine |
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Ukraine portal |
The Kiev Bolshevik Uprising (November 8–13, 1917) was a military struggle for power in
Chronology
In the autumn of 1917, shortly after the Bolshevik Great
The day after the events in Petrograd, the Ukrainian Central Council declared that it considered the transfer of power to the Council of Workers and Soldiers deputies unacceptable because the council was "only a part of the organized revolutionary democracy." Condemning the coup as undemocratic, the Central Council promised to fight to support[verification needed] any uprising in Ukraine.[1]
The news of the Petrograd coup caused a surge in armed struggles in the capital of Ukraine. For the next three days, street fighting was waged in Kiev between supporters of the Soviet government and government forces; the latter were eventually forced to surrender. Despite its declarations, the Ukrainian Central Council adopted a position of friendly neutrality towards the Bolsheviks in this fight. The Bolsheviks seemed less dangerous to many Ukrainian politicians than the toppled Provisional Government, which had begun to express increasing hostility towards the Ukrainian national movement during the last weeks of its existence.[1]
Taking advantage of the defeat of government forces, Ukrainian units took control of the city's main governmental institutions. Power in Kiev and Ukraine was transferred to the Central Council and its executive body, the General Secretariat. A Kiev Military District (KMD) commander was appointed: Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Pavlenko, a participant in the Ukrainian National movement. Kiev Bolsheviks did not object to the actions of the Central Council; both sides considered their main opponent to be the toppled Russian government, which seemed as if it could still return to power. However, soon afterwards it became obvious that the provisional government had finally descended from the political forefront. On the daily agenda, before the "proletarian revolution", rose the question of establishment of Soviet power in Ukraine.[1] Ten members of the Kiev Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers Party (Bolsheviks) had joined the Central Rada.[2]
On November 8, at the initiative of the Central Rada, the
The Kievan
In response to Bolshevik activities, KMD military forces were ordered to its center on November 10, 1917. They surrounded Mariinskyi Palace, where the local revkom was located, and searched the building containing the Kievan Duma Executive Committee and the Bolshevik Committee. Nearly all of the Kievan Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Worker's Party (Bolsheviks) and the revkom, a total of 14 people, were arrested. That day, the State Committee for the Protection of the Revolution ceased to exist because KMD commander Mikhail Kvetsinsky refused to take orders from it; the committee's functions were transferred to the General Secretariat.
The Bolsheviks responded by reinstating the revkom (which included
On November 16, 1917, at a joint meeting of the Central Rada and the Executive Committee of the soviets of the workers' and soldiers' deputies in Kiev, both bodies acknowledged the Rada as Ukraine's regional council. The III Universal of the Ukrainian People's Republic was created on November 20, declaring Ukraine an autonomous part of the Russian state with its capital in Kiev.
See also
References
- ^ Ukrayinska Pravda(Istorychna Pravda). 5 September 2012
- ^ Orest Subtelny, History of Ukraine
- ^ In 1921, the new Soviet KMD was installed in its place. Its last commander refused to pledge allegiance to Ukraine, and the district was dissolved in 1991.
Further reading
- Kiev. Historical encyclopedia. 1917–2000.
- Doroshenko, D. Історія України 1917—1923" (History of Ukraine 1917–23). Vol I. "Доба Центральної Ради" (The times of the Central Rada). Uzhhorod 1932.