© 2008 ARMENICA.ORG
|
Print
|
|
|
Formation of Soviets in Transcaucasia
Even before the ecstatic popular outbursts had subsided, liberal and socialist political elements responded to the possibility of greater governmental participation. On the day of Nicholas' abdication, the Tiflis City Duma recognised the jurisdiction of the Petrograd Temporary Committee and petitioned that body to proclaim a general amnesty, guarantee the inviolability of the basic rights of all citizens, and restore freedom of expression to the press. 6 A week later, the Executive Committee of the Tiflis Duma selected N. Zhordania, Georgian Menshevik theorist, A. Khatisian, mayor of the city, and D. Popov, representative of the Russian Army of the Caucasus, to assume the administrative functions of the recalled Grand Duke. 7 Similar measures to assure the continuity of local government were taken by other Transcaucasian cities as well. On March 19, the Baku Soviet of Soldiers' Deputies established liaison with the Petrograd Soviet and Provisional Government. Like action was approved on the following day by the Soviet of Workers' Deputies, which elected Stepan Shahoumian, just released from exile and en route to Baku, chairman. Attesting to the irresistible popularity and awe which Shahoumian commanded even among his political opponents was the fact that only four of the fifty-two voting delegates were Bolsheviks. 8
Socialist parties in Tiflis, the Transcaucasian capital, also organised a workers' soviet, and in the following weeks local councils of workers, soldiers, and peasants sprang up in every province. To coordinate the activities of the many groups, regional bodies were instituted. All followed the formulas prescribed by the central Petrograd Soviet. Though councils emerged in the Yerevan guberniia as well, these had little representation or influence in the regional soviets, all of which met in Tiflis. For example, during the May session of the Regional Soviet of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies, there were from the Yerevan guberniia no villagers and only sic workers, five of whom spoke for the railway employees of Alexandropol. 9 Usually the soviets heard reports on the "current moment," accepted resolutions demanding a "honourable peace without annexation or indemnities," and recognised the critical need for agrarian reform, but evaded the potentially explosive nationality question. While advocating unhindered cultural development and even the principle of self-determination, they circumvented the main issues by declaring that the forthcoming Constituent Assembly of Russia alone was vested with the powers to formulate a nationality policy. Especially averse to discussing the question was the Regional Soviet of Soldiers' Deputies, overwhelmingly Social Revolutionary and Russian in composition. Moreover, the military representatives, though pledging to defend the front, demanded that the Provisional Government publicly repudiate the imperialistic designs of the tsarist regime. 10
|
|
6) S. E. Sef, "Revoliutsiia 1917 goda v Zakavkaz'i (dokumenty, materialy)" (Tbilisi, 1927), pp. 57-63; Mamiia Orakhelashvili, "Zakavkazskie bol'shevikistskie organizatsii v 1917 godu" (Tbilisi, [1927]), p. 63.
7) A. Khatisian, "Kaghakapeti me hishataknere" [The Memoirs of a Mayor], Hairenik Amsagir, XI (February, 1933), 125-126; Kavkazskoe slovo (Tbilisi), March 8 and 9, 1917, in S. E. Sef, "Revoliutsiia 1917 goda v Zakavkaz'i (dokumenty, materialy)" (Tbilisi, 1927), pp. 57-63; Mamiia Orakhelashvili, "Zakavkazskie bol'shevikistskie organizatsii v 1917 godu" (Tbilisi, [1927]), pp. 66-67; Marxism-Leninism Institute, Armenian Filial Archive, Fund 33, folder 2, work 3, p. 7, in S. Vartanian, "Pobeda sovetskoi vlasti v Armenii" (Yerevan, 1959), p. 48.
8) G. M. Mneyan, "Stepan Shahoumiani partiakan yev petakan gortzenoutyoune (1900-1918)" [Stepan Shahoumian's Party and Governmental Activity (1900-1918)] (Yerevan, 1958), p. 153; S. E. Sef, "Revoliutsiia 1917 goda v Zakavkaz'i (dokumenty, materialy)" (Tbilisi, 1927), pp. 57-63; Mamiia Orakhelashvili, "Zakavkazskie bol'shevikistskie organizatsii v 1917 godu" (Tbilisi, [1927]), pp. 70-71; L. A. Khurshudian, "Stepan Shahoumian: Petakan yev partiakan gortzenoutyoune 1917-1918 tvakannerin" [Stepan Shahoumian: Governmental and Party Activity, 1917-1918] (Yerevan, 1959), pp. 18-19.
9) S. E. Sef, "Revoliutsiia 1917 goda v Zakavkaz'i (dokumenty, materialy)" (Tbilisi, 1927), pp. 57-63; Mamiia Orakhelashvili, "Zakavkazskie bol'shevikistskie organizatsii v 1917 godu" (Tbilisi, [1927]), p. 140.
10) S. E. Sef, "Revoliutsiia 1917 goda v Zakavkaz'i (dokumenty, materialy)" (Tbilisi, 1927), pp. 57-63; Mamiia Orakhelashvili, "Zakavkazskie bol'shevikistskie organizatsii v 1917 godu" (Tbilisi, [1927]), pp. 94-97, 112-114, 124.
|