The Kiev Bolshevik Uprising (November 8–13, 1917) was a military struggle for power in Kiev (Kyiv) after the fall of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution. It ended in victory for the Kievan Committee of the Bolshevik Party and the Central Rada.
Chronology
In the autumn of 1917, shortly after the Bolshevik Great October Revolution in Petrograd, Ukrainian Bolsheviks attempted to overthrow the Kiev government. Unlike in the Russian capital, however, the rebellion in Kiev failed. The Ukrainian Bolshevik Revolution came as a surprise to the leaders of the new Central Rada. Like most of the Russian public, Ukrainian officials were sure that the Russian Provisional Government would not remain in power for more than a few weeks.
The day after the events in Petrograd, the Ukrainian Central Council declared that it considered the transfer of power to the Council of Workers and Soldiers deputies unacceptable because the council was "only a part of the organized revolutionary democracy." Condemning the coup as undemocratic, the Central Council promised to fight to support any uprising in Ukraine.
The news of the Petrograd coup caused a surge in armed struggles in the capital of Ukraine. For the next three days, street fighting was waged in Kiev between supporters of the Soviet government and government forces; the latter were eventually forced to surrender. Despite its declarations, the Ukrainian Central Council adopted a position of friendly neutrality towards the Bolsheviks in this fight. The Bolsheviks seemed less dangerous to many Ukrainian politicians than the toppled Provisional Government, which had begun to express increasing hostility towards the Ukrainian national movement during the last weeks of its existence.
Taking advantage of the defeat of government forces, Ukrainian units took control of the city's main governmental institutions. Power in Kiev and Ukraine was transferred to the Central Council and its executive body, the General Secretariat. A Kiev Military District (KMD) commander was appointed: Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Pavlenko, a participant in the Ukrainian National movement. Kiev Bolsheviks did not object to the actions of the Central Council; both sides considered their main opponent to be the toppled Russian government, which seemed as if it could still return to power. However, soon afterwards it became obvious that the provisional government had finally descended from the political forefront. On the daily agenda, before the "proletarian revolution", rose the question of establishment of Soviet power in Ukraine. Ten members of the Kiev Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers Party (Bolsheviks) had joined the Central Rada.
On November 8, at the initiative of the Central Rada, the Regional Committee in Protection of Revolution in Ukraine was created as a temporary government in Kiev. The committee, consisting of representatives of political parties, councils, and the city Duma, met in the Ukrainian Club building. The KMD headquarters supported the Russian Provisional Government and did not trust the State Committee, because it included the Bolsheviks. On November 9, the Central Rada defined its negative position in relation to the Petrograd coup, condemned Bolshevik actions, and said that "it would decisively fight against all attempts to support such uprisings in Ukraine". The Rada expressed agreement with the creation of a Russian homogeneous socialist government with representatives of all socialist parties.
The Kievan Bolsheviks, headed by Central Rada member Georgiy Pyatakov, firmly adhered to Lenin's principles and did not agree with the Central Rada. That day, they left the State Committee for the Protection of the Revolution and held a joint meeting at the Bourgogne Theatre with representatives of workers' and soldiers' councils, trade unions, factory committees, and military units. Participants approved a resolution supporting the Bolshevik Revolution in Petrograd, and affirmed the Soviet government. The congress elected a revkom consisting of Bolsheviks such as Jan Hamarnyk, Oleksandr Horwits, Andriy Ivanov, Isaac Kreysberg, Volodymyr Zatonsky, and Ivan Kulyk, to whom they planned to transfer power. The same group instigated the January Uprising two months later to support the sack of Kiev by the advancing Bolshevik forces from the Russian SFSR and the installation of a Soviet government in Ukraine.