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Index

Armenia

The Urartu Civilisation

Victory for Independence

Artashisian Dynasty on the Armenian Throne

Armenia caught between Rome and the Arsacids

The Acceptance of Christianity

Defending Christianity

Armenia Under the Bagratouni Dynasty

Cilicia - the New Armenia

Armenia Under Turanian Rule

The Renaissance or the Resurrection of Armenia

The Eastern Question

Russia in the Caucasus

The Armenian Question

Battle on Two Fronts

Tsarist Russia Against the Armenians

The Revolution of the Young Turks and the Armenian People on the Eve of World War I

The First World War

The Resurrection of Armenia

Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

- Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

Eastern Armenia

Western Armenia

"The Fateful Years" (1914-1917)

"Hopes and Emotions" (March-October, 1917)

The Bolshevik Revolution and Armenia

Transcaucasia Adrift (November, 1917

Dilemmas (March-April, 1918)

War and Independence (April-May, 1918)

The Republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia

The Suppliants (June-October, 1918)

In conclusion

Soviet Armenia

The Second Independent Republic of Armenia

Epilogue

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The Bolshevik Revolution and Armenia

Revolution, the Sovnarkom, and Self-Determination

The inability of Kerensky's Provisional Government to cope with the military, economic, and social crisis was climaxed by the Bolshevik Revolution on November 7, 1917. the so-called Democratic Conference and Pre-Parliament, which had been assembled in the preceding weeks, also failed to satisfy the demands of the war-weary soldiers and the land-hungry peasants. Determined to remain loyal to democratic procedures during such unpropitious times, the moderate socialist elements reserved for that illusionary panacea, the Constituent Assembly, all major policy decisions. Meanwhile, Lenin gathered enough party support to convince the Central Committee on October 23 that the time for the uprising was at hand. Against the bitter opposition of Lenin's old associates, L. B. Kamenev and G. E. Zinoviev, who argued for victory through legal means, the meeting declared: "So, recognising that armed insurrection is inevitable, and that the time is quite ripe for it, the Central Committee, proposes to all Party organisations to be guided by this and solve all practical problems…from this standpoint." 1 The Bolshevik-left Social Revolutionary coalition of the Petrograd Soviet was prepared to follow Lenin's directives. On November 2, L. D. Trotsky was named to command the Military Revolution Committee, which intensified anti-governmental agitation among the Petrograd garrison. The great arsenal within the Peter-Paul fortress was occupied by Trotsky's men on November 5. Kerensky responded by declaring a state of siege on the following day, but the Pre-Parliament, while denouncing the insurrection, nonetheless indicted him for the critical state of affairs. Belatedly, the socialists demanded immediate transferral of the land to the peasantry, and decisive measures to end Russian involvement in the war. Such resolutions, however, were worthless, for within a few hours the Bolshevik militia had occupied the strategic points in the capital and shortly after midnight moved into the Winter Palace, Provisional Government headquarters. Kerensky, in search of loyal soldiers, had already fled the city. By the morning of November 7, news of the nearly bloodless Bolshevik coup was broadcast to the world. 2

The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets convened that same day. In contrast with the First Congress in June, it was controlled by the Bolshevik-Left SR coalition. The assembly called for a "just and democratic" peace without annexations or indemnities and repudiated secret diplomacy, especially the Entente agreements apportioning the spoils of war. 3 On November 8 the new cabinet, Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom), was confirmed, with Lenin as Chairman, Trotsky as Foreign Commissar, and Stalin (I. V. Djugashvili) as Commissar for Nationalities. 4

Among the first acts of the Sovnarkom was the publication of the "Declaration of People's Rights," which guaranteed equality to all peoples in Russia, offered each nationality self-determination up to and including complete separation and establishment of independent states, abolished all privileges and restrictions based on religion or nationality, and promised all minority groups of Russia unhindered development. 5 Apparently, Lenin, by subscribing to "national self-determination," had altered the orthodox Marxist tenet that nations and nationalities were vestiges of the "ancien régime" and would be swept away by the formation of an international army of working peoples. It has been asserted that Lenin utilised the principle of self-determination whenever it might further the goal of world revolution or lead to the destruction of anti-Soviet governments. Nationalism, long the object of Bolshevik curses, now was fostered in order to win the confidence of the oppressed minorities and to enervate the opponents of communism. 6 While offering the peoples of Russia the right to secede, Lenin nevertheless consistently advocated the unity of all the former Romanov Empire.