Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic

History

After the October Revolution, the ethnic Tatar government proclaimed the Crimean People's Republic on 13 December 1917. Bolshevik forces overran it in January 1918. A guberniya revkom was established in Simferopol, but it lacked sufficient authority because the military center remained in Sevastopol. To resolve this dual authority, a conference of revkoms took place on February 10–12, 1918, with 44 delegates, including 27 Bolsheviks.

This conference was later recognized as an extraordinary congress of the Soviets of Workers and Soldiers Deputies. The congress decided to create 14 commissariats, confirmed the disbandment of the Council of People's Representatives and the Qurultay, and transformed local administration into a system of soviets. A 14-member Central Executive Committee was established, consisting of 10 Bolsheviks and the rest Left SRs, with Jan Miller as chairman.

By a vote of 23 for and 20 against, the congress made Simferopol the administrative center while the military center remained in Sevastopol. The congress approved drastic grain procurement measures, including requisition and armed force. On 19 and 21 March, decrees of the Taurida Central Executive Committee established the Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic. Areas north of Crimea were also claimed by the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic.

By the end of April 1918, most of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, including Anton Slutsky and Jan Tarwacki, were arrested and shot in Alushta by insurgent Crimean Tatars. The republic was abolished on 30 April.