The Kiev Bolshevik Uprising (November 8–13, 1917) was a military struggle for power in

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

after the fall of the

Russian Provisional Government The Russian Provisional Government was a provisional government of the Russian Empire and Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately after the abdication of Nicholas II on 2 March, O.S. New_Style.html" ;"title="5 ...

in the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

. It ended in victory for the Kievan Committee of the

Bolshevik Party The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

and the Central Rada.

Chronology

In the autumn of 1917, shortly after the Bolshevik Great

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

, Ukrainian Bolsheviks attempted to overthrow the Kiev government. Unlike in the Russian capital, however, the rebellion in Kiev failed. The Ukrainian

Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It was led by Vladimir L ...

came as a surprise to the leaders of the new Central Rada. Like most of the Russian public, Ukrainian officials were sure that the

would not remain in power for more than a few weeks.Kovalchuk, M.
Unfortunate October: Bolshevik Uprising attempt in Kiev in 1917 (Невдалий Жовтень: спроба більшовицького повстання в Києві у 1917-му)
'.

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' is a Ukrainian socio-political online media outlet founded by Heorhii Gongadze in April 2000. After Gongadze’s death in September 2000, the editorial team was led by co-founder Olena Prytula, who remained the editor-in ...

(Istorychna Pravda). 5 September 2012 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 any uprising in Ukraine. 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. 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 Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

. A

Kiev Military District The Kiev Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its exist ...

(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. Ten members of the Kiev Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers Party (Bolsheviks) had joined the Central Rada. On November 8, at the initiative of the Central Rada, the

Regional Committee in Protection of Revolution in Ukraine Regional Committee in Protection of Revolution in Ukraine () was a short lived revolutionary organization preceding the Kiev revolutionary committee of Bolsheviks. It declared itself the supreme authority in Ukraine after the October Revolution. The ...

was created as a temporary government in Kiev. The committee, consisting of representatives of political parties, councils, and the city Duma, met in the Ukrainian Club building. The KMD headquarters supported the

and did not trust the State Committee, because it included the Bolsheviks. On November 9, the Central Rada defined its negative position in relation to the Petrograd coup, condemned Bolshevik actions, and said that "it would decisively fight against all attempts to support such uprisings in Ukraine". The Rada expressed agreement with the creation of a Russian homogeneous socialist government with representatives of all socialist parties. The Kievan

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

s, headed by Central Rada member

Georgy Pyatakov Georgy Leonidovich Pyatakov (; ; 6 August 1890 – 30 January 1937) was a Ukrainian revolutionary and Soviet politician. He was a leading Bolshevik in Ukraine during and after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Born in Kiev Governorate, Pyatakov wa ...

, firmly adhered to Lenin's principles and did not agree with the Central Rada. That day, they left the State Committee for the Protection of the Revolution and held a joint meeting at the Bourgogne Theatre with representatives of workers' and soldiers' councils, trade unions, factory committees, and military units. Participants approved a resolution supporting the

in Petrograd, and affirmed the Soviet government. The congress elected a revkom consisting of Bolsheviks such as Jan Hamarnyk, Oleksandr Horwits, Andriy Ivanov, Isaac Kreysberg,

Volodymyr Zatonsky Volodymyr Petrovych Zatonsky (; July 27, 1888 – July 29, 1938) was a Soviet Union, Soviet politician, academic, Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Communist Party activist, full member of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences (from 1929) ...

, and Ivan Kulyk, to whom they planned to transfer power. The same group instigated the

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

two months later to support the sack of Kiev by the advancing Bolshevik forces from the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

and the installation of a

Soviet government The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was the executive and administrative organ of the highest body of state authority, the All-Union Supreme Soviet. It was formed on 30 December 1922 and abolished on 26 December 199 ...

in Ukraine. In response to Bolshevik activities, KMD military forces were ordered to its center on November 10, 1917. They surrounded

Mariinskyi Palace The Mariinskyi Palace () is the official residence of the president of Ukraine. The Elizabethan baroque palace is sited on the right bank of the Dnipro River in Kyiv, Ukraine, adjoining the Neoclassical architecture, neo-classical Verkhovna Rada ...

, 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

. The Bolsheviks responded by reinstating the revkom (which included

, Andriy Ivanov, and Ivan Kudrin) the following day, and began military operations against the KMD forces. The seventh session of the Central Rada was taking place, and the deputies formed a committee to find ways to stop the mayhem in Kiev. The session also authorized all power in Ukraine to be transferred to the Central Rada. For the next few days, street firefights occurred in some parts of the city (including Pechersk and Demiivka). On November 13, KMD headquarters on Bankova Street signed a cease-fire agreement with the Kiev revkom and withdrew from the city.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. On November 16, 1917, at a joint meeting of the Central Rada and the executive committee of the

soviets The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...

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 The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) was a short-lived state in Eastern Europe. Prior to its proclamation, the Central Council of Ukraine was elected in March 1917 Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, as a result of the February Revolution, ...

was created on November 20, declaring Ukraine an autonomous part of the Russian state with its capital in Kiev.

References

External links

Kiev October Armed Uprising in 1917
at the

Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia'' () was a multi-purpose encyclopedia of Ukraine, issued in the USSR. First attempt Following the publication of the first volume of the in Lviv, then in Poland, in 1930, the ''Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia ...

{{Communism in Ukraine Russian Revolution in Ukraine 1910s in Kyiv 1917 in Ukraine Military operations of the Russian Civil War in 1917 Bolshevik uprisings Communism in Ukraine Kiev in the Russian Civil War November 1917 Battles involving the Ukrainian People's Republic

Chronology

See also

References

Further reading

External links