74
clashes between the Chechen-Ingush and Cossacks erupted over land dispute and
these groups started to distance themselves from each other.
191
2-From Central Committee to Provisional Government: November 1917-
March 1918:
On 15 November1917, in response to the above mentioned developments,
the Central Committee of the Alliance of the Peoples of the North Caucasus,
depending on the provisions of the Second Congress and its Constitution, decided
to set up a republican-federal state structure in the territory of the North Caucasus.
In compliance with the principles of self-determination and self-government, this
new state structure was proclaimed one of the sovereign constituent members of the
newly established Russian Federal Republic. The Central Committee renamed
itself the ‘Provisional Government’ of this new state and elected Abdulmejid
Chermoev as its president. This Provisional Government, according to the
declaration, would have absolute executive power in the territory until such time as
a new democratic centralized government was set up in Russia and accepted by all
its component parts.
192
Throughout November and December 1917, the Provisional Government of
the North Caucasian Mountaineers tried to establish contact with its constituent
190
By issuing a Declaration on 1 December, the Cossacks of the Kuban Voiska were going to be
established the Kuban Republic and its government under the leadership of L. L. Bych. See James
Bunyan and H. H. Fisher, 404
191
Pipes, Formation, 97-98 and Stephen Blank, 1994. The Sorcerer as Apprentice, Stalin as
Commissar of Nationalities, 1917-1924, Westport: Greenwood Press, 37. Hereafter Sorcerer.
192
Vassan-Giray Cabaği [Jabagiev], 1967. Kafkas-Rus Mücadelesi, İstanbul: Bahar Matbaası, 84,
and Vassan-Giray Jabagi (Cabagi)[Jabagiev], 1991. “Revolution and Civil War in the North
Caucasus –End of the 19
th
- Beginning of the 20
th
Century,” Central Asian Survey, 10(1/2): 121.
Also see Meker, “Kafkasya,” 13.
75
members and with the Cossacks. It defined its borders as those along the territories
of Dagestan, six administrative units or the okrugs of the Tsarist Russia with a
significant Mountaineer population, Karanogay area ( uchastok) of the Terek district
and, Nogay and Turkmen territories of the Stavropol guberniya. Zakatala
193
and
Sukhum regions
194
were also defined as the natural parts of this new state but the
final decision was temporarily abandoned by the Zakatala and Abkhaz national
committees, which were under the control of Transcaucasian Government.
195
But in
fact, the newly established Mountaineer government was far from taking necessary
security measures and establishing law and order over its territories. The Central
Committee still had no insufficient military power and failed to establish its own
national army. Thus, in order to stop military clashes, secure its borders and
guarantee its citizens’ rights, the Mountaineer government tried to negotiate a
friendship treaty and alliance with the Cossacks. Nevertheless, both groups had
claims of sovereignty over the same territories, and thus, there was no excuse to
clash on other grounds.
Following the formation of the Bolshevik government in November,
throughout the last months of 1917, the course of events in the North Caucasus
changed seriously. In addition to the Mountaineer-Cossacks clashes, and the
193
In Zakatala region the overwhelming majority of the population was Avar who were settled in
the region by Shamil after his capture of the territory from the Georgians.
194
As it was pointed out above, Simon Basarya had joined the First Congress and placed in the
Central Committee as a representative of the Abkhaz. However, the situation was more complex.
The status of the Sukhum region still remained in question. Within the same period, the Abkhaz
were struggling for the establishment of politically independent Abkhazia by all means within the
Transcaucasian Federation. See Avtandil Menteshasvili, 1995. Trouble in the Caucasus, New York:
Nova Science Publishers.
195
Kurtatag, “Zadachi,” 7, and Sbornik, appendix no. 4, 76. Also see Cabaği, Kafkas-Rus
Mücadelesi, 85.
76
emerging Bolshevik Caucuses, the reality of the dominance of anti-Bolshevik
currents, particularly the Mensheviks and SRs, turned the Caucasus into the centre
of the counter-revolutionaries.
The elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly took place on 13
November 1917
196
. Nevertheless, because of the Cossack Russian majority, which
was enhanced by the participation of deserting soldiers, the North Caucasians failed
to win representation ın the Assembly.
197
It is important to note that this meant that
the Mountaineers’ did not have a voice at the Russian Constituent Assembly. This
contravened the principles of the congresses, and thus at the end of December, a
provisional government of the Mountaineers took a step further and issued a
declaration stating, that it had decided not to participate “… in the work of the
Russian Constituent Assembly, and refused to surrender the right to determine the
affairs of the North Caucasus to the Russian Constituent Assembly.”
198
Bolsheviks’
dismissal of the Constituent Assembly on 18 January 1918 strengthened this
decision and enhanced the estrangement of Mountaineers from the Bolsheviks and
their government. From this time on, they took up a position of active resistance
and independence.
196
These elections, because of the time shortage to make new arrangements for the Bolsheviks,
were based on arrangements made under the Provisional Government. Therefore, Right SRs, with
the peasant vote held the majority. The Constituent Assembly met on 18 January 1918 and refused
to support Soviet power or the Bolshevik Government. As a response, Bolsheviks with the support
of the Left SRs dispersed the Assembly. Related with the elections and the situation in the Caucasus
in general see U.S. Govrnment Intelligence Bureau’s memorandums “on the Political situation in
the Caucasus,” The National Archieves, (Washington DC), Records of Department of State, Inquiry
Documents, “Special Reports and Studies”, 1917-1919, MC 1107, Inquiry Documents: 768 and 770.
197
The North Caucasian Mountaineers joined the elections within the region of Terek-Dagestan
okrug, or election constituency. There were 11 different lists that were shaped by different political
currents. For the analysis of the elections and the candidates in the North Caucasus and Dagestan
see Kashkaev, Ot Fevralya, 197-199.
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