The People's Commissariat of Nationalities of the RSFSR (, ''Narodny komissariat po delam natsional'nostey RSFSR''), abbreviated NKNats () or Narkomnats (), an organisation functioning from 1917 to 1924 in the early Soviet period of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n and

Soviet history The history of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (USSR) reflects a period of change for both Russia and the world. Though the terms "Soviet Russia" and "Soviet Union" often are synonymous in everyday speech (either acknowledging the dominance ...

, tasked with dealing with non-

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

nationalities. Its head,

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

, as the People's Commissar of Nationalities (1917–23), served as a member of the

Council of People's Commissars The Councils of People's Commissars (SNK; russian: Совет народных комиссаров (СНК), ''Sovet narodnykh kommissarov''), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (Совнарком), were the highest executive authorities of ...

Origins

It was established even before the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

on 11 June 1917 by the

Petrograd Soviet The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (russian: Петроградский совет рабочих и солдатских депутатов, ''Petrogradskiy soviet rabochikh i soldatskikh deputatov'') was a city council of P ...

as part of three measures to create state forms that would guarantee

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

and

autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...

solutions to national questions in the Russian Revolution: * complete civil equality for all citizens * the right to use the mother tongue in official business, on par with

* the formation of a Soviet of nationality affairs – Narkomnats. This decision was made in response to the crisis triggered by 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 ...

's demands for autonomy for national territories and a seat at any peace conference. These demands were rejected by

Alexander Kerensky Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky, ; original spelling: ( – 11 June 1970) was a Russian lawyer and revolutionary who led the Russian Provisional Government and the short-lived Russian Republic for three months from late July to early Nove ...

. Narkomnats was set up as an organ of the Soviets to prepare for the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

, particularly in regards to how Ukrainian autonomy could be handled. It provided for the organisation of a congress of representatives from all of Ukraine, which in turn would set up a Ukrainian Constituent Assembly. At this time the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

s opposed any national autonomy; however, on 13 August,

published a tract that floated the idea of the

Party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often featur ...

might set up an agency for nationality affairs. This came at a time when Kerensky and

Mensheviks The Mensheviks (russian: меньшевики́, from меньшинство 'minority') were one of the three dominant factions in the Russian socialist movement, the others being the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. The factions em ...

Nikolay Chkheidze Nikoloz Chkheidze ( ka, ნიკოლოზ (კარლო) ჩხეიძე; russian: Никола́й (Карло) Семёнович Чхеи́дзе, translit=Nikolay (Karlo) Semyonovich Chkheidze) commonly known as Karlo Chkheidze ( � ...

were arguing for a unified state. Kerensky told Latvian representatives that they could only hope for the status of

Zemstvo A ''zemstvo'' ( rus, земство, p=ˈzʲɛmstvə, plural ''zemstva'' – rus, земства) was an institution of local government set up during the great emancipation reform of 1861 carried out in Imperial Russia by Emperor Alexande ...

. In 1918

as commissar presided over five or six of the first seven meetings of the Narkomnats Collegium, but failed to attend the next twenty one.

Specific commissariats related to Narkomnats

* Belnatskom was the Belarusian commissariat established 31 January 1918 *Evkom was the Jewish commissariatZvi Y. Gitelman, ''Jewish Nationality and Soviet Politics: The Jewish Sections of the CPSU, 1917-1930'' (1972). *

Muskom Muskom was the ''Central Commissariat of Muslim affairs in Inner Russia and Siberia'' set up by the Bolsheviks in January 1918 as part of Narkomnats. Mullanur Waxitov was appointed as chair, although he was not a member of the Communist Party. Mir ...

was the Muslim commissariat, chaired by Mullanur Waxitov

Origins

Specific commissariats related to Narkomnats

References

Further reading