Origin of Soviets The first
soviets appeared during the
1905 Russian Revolution as councils (soviets) of workers in those cities that were captured by mass strikes (
strike action). Enterprises that were participating in those strikes had delegated to those councils their delegates to coordinate joint actions. In various locations those councils carried different names such as "Soviet of workers deputies", "Delegate assembly", "Assembly of deputies", "Commission of elected", and others. It was a
political regime that had combined in itself the dictatorship of the Communist Party and the power of soviets (councils) (see:
Dictatorship of the Proletariat). At the conference, 480 delegates out of 139 Soviets, 13 military rear area garrisons, 7 of regular army, and 26 separate frontline councils attended. On the agenda were • attitude towards the
War • attitude towards the
Russian Provisional Government • organizational issues • organization of revolutionary forces • preparation to the
Russian Constituent Assembly • food issue • land issue • issues of peasants' life • workers' issues • others Majority was composed of
Mensheviks and
SRs. The
Bolshevik group introduced its own resolution drafts on key issues of agenda. In its resolution on war that was rather defensive, presented by Menshevik-SR
Petrograd Soviet Executive Committee, the conference approved the declaration of the Provisional Government about the war (of 28 March) as if it abandoned aggressive goals. The Bolshevik group, on behalf of which
Lev Kamenev had been speaking, took "a wrong position" by taking off own resolution draft and voting for the Menshevik-SR resolution after it was added with resolutions about "control and impact" of revolutionary democracy on the Provisional Government and its local authorities. Recognizing the need for a legislative establishment of 8 hour workday, the conference did not call the workers upon its immediate establishment by revolutionary means. On peasant and land issues, the conference adopted its resolution about support in the Constituent Assembly for gratuitous alienation from all privately owned lands and transferring them to working people, but spoke against "arbitrary resolution of land issue at local level", leaving, thus, the land in hands of landowners. On 16 April 1917 the conference elected 10 delegates from oblasts and 6 from the Army and the Navy to the Petrograd Soviet Executive Committee turning it in this way in central authority of Soviets of the whole country until the opening of First All-Russian Congress of Soviets of workers and soldiers deputies. On 17 April 1917,
Vladimir Lenin made a report about war and revolution in which he outlined his
April theses to that conference. The same day he repeated his report at a joint conference of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks who took part.
First Congress The First All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies (June 16 – July 7, 1917) was convened by the National Conference of the Soviets. It was dominated by pro-government parties (
Socialist-Revolutionaries, etc.) and confirmed the supremacy of the
Russian Provisional Government. There were 1090 delegates, 822 acting as voting delegates, representing 305 workers', soldiers' and peasant soviets, and 53 regional, provincial and district soviets. The breakdown of delegates by party was thus: 285
Socialist-Revolutionaries, 248
Mensheviks, 105
Bolsheviks, 32
Menshevik Internationalists, and others. The right to vote was given to these soviets containing at least 25,000 persons, and each representative from 10,000 to 25,000 members was asked to speak on behalf of the Soviet of his locality or employment.
Second Congress {{Piechart|[ {"label": "
Bolsheviks: $v", "value": 300, "color":"#CD0000"}, {"label": "
Left SRs: $v", "value": 97, "color":"#910909"}, {"label": "
Other SRs: $v", "value": 96, "color":"#1A644D"}, {"label": "
Mensheviks: $v", "value": 68, "color":"orange"}, {"label": "
Menshevik-Internationalists: $v", "value": 14, "color":"purple"}, {"label": "Others: $v", "value": 95, "color":"white"} ] }} Following the overthrow of the Provisional Government of Russia in the
October Revolution, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (November 7–9, 1917) ratified the revolutionary transfer of state power. Precise numbers are difficult to determine, but the Credentials Committee of the Congress reported that there were about 300
Bolsheviks, 193
SRs (more than half of which were
Left SRs), and 82
Mensheviks (of which 14 were
Internationalists) with 670 delegates total. Other sources state that there were 338 Bolsheviks, 98 Left SRs, 40 Centre SRs, 33
Menshevik-Internationalists, 32 unaffiliated SRs, 22
Menshevik-Defencists, 16 Right SRs, 11 National Social Democrats, 4 National SRs, 1
Popular Socialist, and 23 non-partisans. However, this count is likely based on incomplete data and includes some double-counts and other errors. On the first day of the Congress, the
Socialist Revolutionaries split into two groups – the Left Social Revolutionaries and the Right Social Revolutionaries. Also on the first day, the
Menshevik delegation and Right
Socialist Revolutionary deputies walked out in protest. 505 delegates voted in favour of the transfer of power to the Soviets. The
All-Russian Central Executive Committee and
Council of People's Commissars was elected by the Congress, naming
Vladimir Lenin the Chairman, and thus making him the head of government.
Third Congress {{Piechart|[ {"label": "
Bolsheviks and sympathizers: $v", "value": 647, "color":"#CD0000"}, {"label": "
Left SRs and sympathizers: $v", "value": 281, "color":"#910909"}, {"label": "
Centre and Right SRs and sympathizers: $v", "value": 41, "color":"#1A644D"}, {"label": "
Mensheviks: $v", "value": 24, "color":"orange"}, {"label": "
SR Maximalists: $v", "value": 19, "color":"brown"}, {"label": "
Menshevik-Internationalists: $v", "value": 18, "color":"purple"}, {"label": "
Anarchists: $v", "value": 9, "color":"black"}, {"label": "Nationalist parties: $v", "value": 5, "color":"pink"}, {"label": "
Popular Socialists: $v", "value": 2, "color":"green"}, {"label": "Nonpartisans: $v", "value": 84, "color":"gray"}, {"label": "Did not answer the Congress questionnaire: $v", "value": 668, "color":"white"} ] }} The Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies (January 23–31, 1918) was attended by delegates from 317 Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' with a further 110 delegates from army, corps and divisional committees. According to the Congress questionnaire, there were 647
Bolsheviks (and sympathizers), 281
Left SRs (and sympathizers), 41
Right SRs (and sympathizers), 24
Mensheviks, 19
SR Maximalists, 18
SD Internationalists, 9
anarchists (and their sympathizers), 5 from nationalist groups (e.g.
Polish Socialist Party), and 2
Popular Socialists. In addition, there were 84 non-partisans. Furthermore, about 668 did not answer the Congress questionnaire. The Congress had a Presidium composed of ten Bolsheviks and three Left Socialist-Revolutionaries with a further delegate from each other group (Right Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, etc.). The Swiss, Romanian, Swedish and Norwegian Social-Democratic parties, the British Socialist Party and the Socialist Party of America sent messages of solidarity. Occurring shortly after the
Constituent Assembly had been dissolved by order of the
All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK), the Congress resolved to expunge any references to the forthcoming Constituent Assembly from all new editions of decrees and laws of the Soviet Government. The Congress received: •
Yakov Sverdlov's report on the activity of the
All-Russian Central Executive Committee. •
Vladimir Lenin's report on the activity of the
Council of People's Commissars. •
Joseph Stalin's report from the
People's Commissariat of Nationalities on the principles of federation and the nationalities' policy for the emerging Soviet state. The nationalities policy was agreed. The Mensheviks, Right Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Menshevik internationalists used the Congress to indicate their opposition to the domestic and foreign policy which the Bolsheviks passed. The
Declaration of Rights of the Working and Exploited People was passed and this went on to become the basis of the Soviet Constitution. It was also agreed to establish the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic on the basis of a free union of the peoples of Russia. The Congress also approved the Decree on Land which provided the basic provisions of the redistribution and nationalization of land.
Fourth Congress At the Fourth Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of Soviets (March 14–16, 1918), the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was ratified. This marked a rift between the Bolsheviks and the
Left Socialist Revolutionaries, who voted against the treaty and whose ministers quit the Sovnarkom in protest.
Fifth Congress The Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’ Peasants’, Soldiers’ and Red Army Deputies was held July 4–10, 1918. A decree that "linked citizenship to military service and obliged all healthy men aged 18–40 years to come forward" and fight for the
Red Army in the
Russian Civil War was passed. The Left Socialist-Revolutionaries had 352 delegates compared to 745 Bolsheviks out of 1132 total. The Left SRs raised disagreements on the suppression of rival parties, the death penalty, and mainly, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The
Left SR Uprising broke out on during this Congress. Its suppression marked the end of Left SR participation in the Congress of Soviets.
Sixth Congress The Sixth Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’, Peasants’, Cossacks’ and Red Army Deputies was held November 6–9, 1918.
Seventh Congress The Seventh All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’, Peasants’, Cossacks’ and Red Army Deputies was held December 5–9, 1919.
Eighth Congress Officially called the
Eighth All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’, Peasants’, Red Army and Cossack Deputies was held in Moscow on December 22–29, 1920. It was at this Congress that
Gleb Krzhizhanovsky presented his report on the
GOELRO plan. This was the first economic plan which focused on significant electrification of Russian industry. Lenin criticised
Trotsky's pamphlet,
The Role and Tasks of the Trade Unions at the subsequent preliminary joint meeting of
Bolshevik delegates. The Congress also established the
Sowing Committee (posevkomy).
Ninth Congress The Ninth All-Russian Congress of Soviets was held in Moscow from December 23–28, 1921. It was attended by 1,991 delegates, of whom 1,630 held voting status.
Tenth Congress The Tenth All-Russian Congress of Soviets was held in Moscow from December 23–27, 1922. It was attended by 1,727 delegates and 488 guests. At this Congress, 488 were from the
Bolshevik-controlled states of
Ukraine,
Belorussia and
Transcaucasia and
Joseph Stalin announced the union of the
Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic,
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic,
Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, and the
Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic into the
Soviet Union, endorsed by the Congress. In his speech before the Congress, Stalin, as final words, said that: "Let us hope, comrades, that by forming our Union Republic we shall create a reliable bulwark against international capitalism, and that the new Union State will be another decisive step towards the union of the working people of the whole world into a World Soviet Socialist Republic."
Eleventh Congress The Eleventh All-Russian Congress of Soviets was held in Moscow from January 19–29, 1924. It was attended by 1,637 delegates, of whom 1,143 held voting status.
Twelfth Congress The Twelfth All-Russian Congress of Soviets was held in Moscow from May 7–16, 1925. It was attended by 1,634 delegates, of whom 1,084 held voting rights. ==See also==