Aleksandrovsk Bolshevik Uprising
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The Oleksandrivsk Uprising ( uk, Олександрівське Повстання) was an armed workers' rebellion that broke out against the
Central Council of Ukraine The Central Council of Ukraine ( uk, Українська Центральна Рада, ) (also called the Tsentralna Rada or the Central Rada) was the All-Ukrainian council (soviet) that united deputies of soldiers, workers, and peasants deputie ...
in the city of
Oleksandrivsk Oleksandrivsk ( uk, Олекса́ндрівськ ) or Aleksandrovsk (russian: Алекса́ндровск ) is a small city in Luhansk Municipality, Luhansk Oblast (region) of Ukraine. Population: Demographics Native language as of the Ukr ...
on . Led by local Bolsheviks, detachments of the Red Guards and
Black Sea Fleet Chernomorskiy flot , image = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet , dates = May 13, ...
managed to occupy much of the city for 3 days, but were defeated by the forces of the Ukrainian People's Army. Despite the initial UPA victory, on , the Red Guards returned to Oleksandrivsk, captured the city and establishing "soviet power".


Background

After the occupation of Kharkiv by the Bolsheviks, the Red Guards and sailors of the
Black Sea Fleet Chernomorskiy flot , image = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet , dates = May 13, ...
were tasked with capturing Synelnykove and
Oleksandrivsk Oleksandrivsk ( uk, Олекса́ндрівськ ) or Aleksandrovsk (russian: Алекса́ндровск ) is a small city in Luhansk Municipality, Luhansk Oblast (region) of Ukraine. Population: Demographics Native language as of the Ukr ...
, which were important railway junctions in the region. Facing reports that 8,000 heavily-armed Bolsheviks were advancing towards Synelnykove, with the aim of cutting off Ukraine from the Don Host, Symon Petliura ordered that the railway track in Oleksandrivsk be dismantled and the city's sailors be detained. On , Petliura began transferring his troops of the Ukrainian People's Army (UPA) to eastern Ukraine, in order to maintain its connection with its allies in the Don Host. This alarmed local Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, who desperately attempted to establish a defensive line through the region, marking the capture of Oleksandrivsk as a necessity to prevent the UPA from linking up with the Don Cossacks. On , the Red Guards captured Lozova and began advancing on Oleksandrivsk. By this time, a conflict between the local Bolsheviks and the Ukrainian authorities was already brewing in Oleksandrivsk, with 40
Free Cossacks Free Cossacks ( uk, Вільне козацтво) were Ukrainian Cossacks that were organized as volunteer militia units in the spring of 1917 in the Ukrainian People's Republic. The Free Cossacks are seen as precursors of the modern Ukrainian ...
, 13 UPA soldiers and a dozen officers facing off against 300 Red Guards. 250
Haydamak The haidamakas, also haidamaky or haidamaks (singular ''haidamaka'', ua, Гайдамаки, ''Haidamaky'') were Ukrainian paramilitary outfits composed of commoners (peasants, craftsmen), and impoverished noblemen in the eastern part of the ...
s of the 3rd Haydamatsky Kuren were sent from
Katerynoslav Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...
to reinforce the city's garrison, with whom they captured a number of armored vehicles from the Bolsheviks of the 3rd Rear Auto Repair Shop. On , the Bolsheviks captured Synelnykove and began preparations to attack Oleksandrivsk.


Battle

On the evening of , a detachment of sailors of the
Black Sea Fleet Chernomorskiy flot , image = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet , dates = May 13, ...
(led by ) arrived from Crimea to assist the local Bolsheviks, occupying the city's southern railway station. The city's administration attempted to send delegates to negotiate with the sailors and convince them not to enter the city. But the sailors refused, moving into the city center, where the city's garrison fired on them, killing some and taking the rest as prisoner. After that, the parties exchanged terms for a peaceful settlement of the conflict, with the mayor of Oleksandrivsk acting as a mediator. But the terms proposed were untenable to both sides and fighting continued. By , the Bolsheviks had occupied a large portion of Oleksandrivsk, having seized the post office and the power plant. Despite pleas by the mayor for the Bolsheviks to leave the power plant, due to fears it would stop working and shut down the city's water and energy supply, fighting broke out there and it was shut down. The city council continued trying to broker a peace between the two sides, but was largely unsuccessful. At this time, the UPA units were largely held up in the Kateryninsky railway station and workshops, which the Bolsheviks themselves failed to capture, with five sailors being killed and the rest taken prisoner. The sailors attempted another offensive against the Kateryninsky workshops, but the UPA troops managed to hold their ground until the arrival of reinforcements from the 17th, 49th and 63rd regiments. Eventually, the Red Forces were completely surrounded. The city government again attempted to mediate the conflict, aiming to organise ambulances for the wounded and restore the power plant. It eventually negotiated the withdrawal of the sailors from the city and the disarmament of the local Red Guards. After three days of fighting, the uprising had finally been defeated by the combined forces of the UPA and the Cossacks. As a result of the fighting, 13 Red Guards and 5 sailors were killed, while only 1 soldier of the UPA was killed.


Aftermath

The city council reconvened the following week, on , and condemned the sailors' uprising. It brought together all of the city's democratic organisations, in an attempt to prevent another armed conflict from breaking out. It also decided to treat the wounded, bury the dead, and not prosecute the participants in the conflict. But the victory of the Ukrainian forces could not be consolidated. On , Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko's Red Guards, together with anarchist
Black Guards Black Guards (russian: Чёрная гвардия, ) were armed groups of workers formed after the February Revolution and before the final Bolshevik suppression of other leftwing groups. They were the main strike force of the anarchists. They ...
from Huliaipole, captured Oleksandrivsk with ease. Some of the Haydamaks and Free Cossacks retreated over the Dnieper, while others remained in the city in order to prepare an anti-Bolshevik uprising. The Bolshevik occupation of the city brought with it a wave of
political repression Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereb ...
, as the new authorities outlawed the church and destroyed monuments to Taras Shevchenko.


References


Bibliography

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External links

*{{cite encyclopedia, url=https://leksika.com.ua/14690623/ure/oleksandrivske_povstannya_1917, title=Олександрівське Повстання 1917, trans-title=1917 Oleksandrivsk Uprising, encyclopedia= Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia, language=uk, access-date=22 November 2022 History of Zaporizhzhia 1917 in Ukraine Conflicts in 1917 Bolshevik uprisings Communism in Ukraine Military history of Ukraine December 1917 events Ukrainian–Soviet War