Reflecting the psychology of the rest of Russia, the lands beyond the Caucasus Mountains also swayed toward the left. To combat "counter-revolution," the dictatorial Committee for Public Safety reared its head in Tiflis, while the in the Regional Centre of Soviets Zhordania demanded the expulsion of the Kadets from the Petrograd government and the substitution of the discredited coalition with a pure socialist cabinet. The Tiflis City Duma and most of the revolutionary societies echoed the Menshevik orator's ultimatum. On the regional administrative level, the Ozakom was now attacked openly. Numerous Soviet and Public Safety meetings, all dominated by the Mensheviks, insisted that Ozakom membership include socialist, democratic, revolutionary, but no national elements and that Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries control the reconstituted body, whose jurisdiction, the proposed, would extend to the North Caucasus and the occupied territories of the Ottoman Empire. Representatives of Dashnaktsoutiun, having little influence in these gatherings, and even Armenian Mensheviks were wary of the Georgian proposals. When Zhordania and E. P. Gegechkori advised non-compliance with Kerensky's order to disband the special safety and revolutionary committees formed during the Kornilov "mutiny," they were criticised by their Armenian political comrades, Zohrabian and Nazarov, who suggested moderation. The Armenian Mensheviks attempted to disguise their alarm about the radical tendencies of their Georgian colleagues by postulating that the preservation of revolutionary order necessitated a single administrative organ – the Ozakom. By mid-October, passions had subsided sufficiently to permit a compromise. No longer did the Mensheviks attempt to exclude from Ozakom membership the representatives of Moslem organisations or Dashnaktsoutiun. Furthermore, to avoid duality in government, it was agreed that the Committee for Public Safety, campaigner against anarchy, would serve as a commission subordinate to the Ozakom. 86 The compromise remained on paper, however, for the November Revolution directed the current of Transcaucasian administrative concern into another channel.
The First Regional Conference of Caucasian Bolshevik Organisations
While the soviets of Transcaucasia discussed Kornilovshchina and reorganisation of the Ozakom, two other assemblies that were to affect the course of Armenian history convened. One, the First Regional Conference of Caucasian Bolshevik organisations, was directed by an Armenian Social Democrat; the other, the Armenian national Congress, was controlled by the leaders of Dashnaktsoutiun. After the "July Days," Bolshevism was discredited in Transcaucasia even more than in other parts of Russia, but the resilience of Lenin's disciples was amazing. Their local press chastised those who spoke of retribution against participants on the Petrograd demonstrations and lashed out with acerbic attacks against the leading parties of Transcaucasia. These organisations' support of coalition government, condoned by the Petrograd Soviet prior to Kornilovshchina, was ridiculed by Shahoumian and his comrades. Elected to the Bolshevik Central Committee by the party's Sixth Congress, Shahoumian laboured with superhuman energy to place Transcaucasia under the banner of Bolshevism. 87
When the Regional Conference of Bolsheviks convened at Tiflis on October 15, the Petrograd Soviet had already accepted several Bolshevik-sponsored resolutions. 88 Assured of victory, Shahoumian exhorted the delegates to prepare for the armed revolution decreed by the party Congress. He rebuked those local Bolsheviks who continued to preach collaboration and compromise with the Mensheviks. During the five-day meeting, his resolutions proposing nationalisation of the land its immediate transferral to the peasantry were adopted. 89 As the climax to a bitter debate, and yielding to the insistence of Shahoumian and Mikoyan, the Conference also agreed that the party should participate in the Constituent Assembly, if only to appease the masses and let them see for themselves that the Assembly would be unable to solve the nation's basic problems. A slate of thirty-six Transcaucasian candidates was prepared for the approaching elections; significantly, most were from the Caucasus Army, indicating the primary sphere of Communist influence. 90
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