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77 
 
In the meantime, after the Bolshevik’s declaration of withdrawal from the 
war and proposal to start peace negotiations caused the self-demobilisation of the 
Russian Army on the Turkish front. Thousands of deserting soldiers started to 
return north to their homes in Russia.
199
 This made the situation in the Caucasus 
more complex. On the one hand, this had started to threaten public order in the 
Caucasus and caused an increase in the power of the Bolsheviks
200
, and on the 
other, it opened the way to the Caucasus for the Turkish Army and thus turned the 
struggle into an international one. 
 
A- The Bolsheviks: 
When the February Revolution took place in St. Petersburg, there was no 
Bolshevik organization of the Mountaineers in the North Caucasus. Moreover, 
nobody defined or declared himself as a Bolshevik.
201
 Therefore, throughout 1917 
it was very hard for the Bolsheviks to revolutionise the area, and the Bolsheviks 
sought to collaborate with any group that was available to form an alliance.
202
 Most 
branches of the Soviets of the Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies in the region were 
in fact set up in the cities, heavily populated by Russians and Cossacks, such as 
Rostov, Yekaterinodar, Grozny, Vladikavkaz and Pyatigorsk most of which were 
controlled by the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. 
                                                                                                                                        
198
 Jabagi, “Revolution”, 122. 
199
 For the Caucasian front and the detailed course of fighting see W.E.D. Allen and Paul Muratoff, 
1953. Caucasian Battlefields: A History of the Wars on the Turco-Caucasian Border, 1828-1921, 
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 447-450. 
200
 See Kosok, “Revolution and Sovietization II,”. 
201
 A. Magoma, “Katliam,” 6. Balo Bilatti, February/March 1966. “Şimali Kafkasya ve 11 Mayıs 
1918,” Birleşik Kafkasya, (İstanbul), 7: 8. 
202
 Blank, Sorcerer, 36. 

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78 
 
The first pro-Bolshevik socialist bloc was established under the leadership 
of Ulubiy Buynakskiy, with the participation of Makhach Dakhadayev, Celâl 
Korkmazov, Magomed Mirza Hizroev, Said Gabiev, Alibek Takho-Godi, Sultan 
Said Kazbekov, and some others in Temir Khan Shura in May 1917.
203
 As it was 
pointed above, this group had initially been working together with the other groups 
who played active part in the Alliance and, with the exception of Korkmazov they 
had no contacts with Bolshevik circles. 
During the summer of 1917 the Bolsheviks adopted flexible tactics to 
cooperate with the socialist and non-party Mountaineers through the intensive work 
of Segei Mironovich Kirov. Kirov laid the basis, primarily among the Ingush, by 
propagating on their land problem with the Cossacks. In order to attract the masses, 
in August 1917 under the leadership of Celâl Korkmazov he instigated the 
establishment of the Dagestan Land Committee (Zemel’niy Komitet) to fınd 
solutions to the problems of the Mountaineers and so managed to gain some 
support from the Mountaineers.
204
 Moreover, Kirov succeeded in organising a 
‘front’ party of Osetians, the Kermen, or Chermen to facilitate the process within 
the same period.
205
 Then he cooperated with the above mentioned bloc of local 
Muslim socialists, and turned them against Islamic conservatives, nationalists, and 
Tsarist groups. With the help of these names the Bolsheviks started to gain control 
                                                 
203
 Kashkaev, Ot Fevralya, 12 and Bor’ba, 35. 
204
 The other names that had been working in this Committee were M. Dakhadayev, S. Gabiev, and 
some other well-known pro-Bolshevik names. Kashkaev, Bor’ba, 77. 
205
  Kermen was the first revolutionary movement or the party of the Mountaineers. It had 
established by mainly Osetians. It took its name from the legendary Osetian hero, Kermen, a slave, 
who had fought for his rights but killed by the opponents. Although this organization had no definite 
political program, it exercised considerable influence among the Osetian peasants, in favour of the 
Bolsheviks. In May 1918, most of the members of the organization joined the Bolshevik Party and 
formed Osetian Bolshevik organization. The History of the Civil War in the USSR: The Great 

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of the Soviets in the region, by the end of September 1917, and by early 1918 they 
had a considerable amount of support in these organizations and the city centres.
 206
 
This was detrimental step for the functioning of the Alliance and the 
Central Committee. Through the activities and new organizations of the Bolsheviks 
the leading cadre of the Alliance was scattered and the hostilities began to emerge. 
 
At the end of January 1918, during a power struggle between the pro- and 
anti-Bolshevik Mountaineers, in order to consolidate their power in the North 
Caucasus, the Bolsheviks invited Russian political parties and Cossack 
representatives to a meeting called the First People’s Congress of the Terek Region 
in Mozdok.  Kirov and Buachidze organized this Congress, in order to combine 
forces against non-Bolshevik forces, the so-called ‘invaders from the mountains’. 
At this congress, Pipes pointed out that, all the Russian political parties of the 
Terek Region; Mensheviks; Socialist Revolutionaries; Bolsheviks, as well as some 
radical Osetian parties (this would be Kermen), took part and formed the Terek 
People’s Soviet (Terskiy Narodniy Sovet).
207
 The main concern in creating regional 
Soviet organs was to attract minorities and then to mobilize them against the anti-
Bolshevik forces. From then on, Kirov and Ordzhonikidze were styled as the new 
                                                                                                                                        
Proletarian Revolution (October-November 1917), 1946. (vol.2), Moscow: Foreign Languages 
Publishing House, 137. Also see Kashkaev, Ot Fevralya, 69. 
206
 For the emergence of Bolshevik supremacy see B. O. Kashkaev, Bor’ba and Ot Fevralya. Blank, 
Sorcerer, 36-7, and S. Blank, 1993. “The Formation of the Soviet North Caucasus 1918-24,” 
Central Asian Survey, 12(1): 13-32. 
207
 Pipes, Formation, 196 and, Betal Kalmık, 1980. Adiğe Devrim Hareketi Kabartay Balkar’da 
Devrim Mücadelesi, İstanbul: Nıbçeğu Yayınları, 19-20. 

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