Ukrainian Nationalism and ‘Soviet Power’: Kharkiv, 1917

Abstract

The October Revolution in Petrograd ignited a complex struggle for power in Kharkiv which sheds light on both the process of the spread of ‘Soviet power’ in 1917 and the development of Ukrainian nationalism. The two were intrinsically intertwined in the events in Kharkiv between 26 October and 9 December 1917, when Bolsheviks took power by means of an armed seizure. This was the result of both a prolonged political struggle within the city, during which Ukrainian national assertiveness rose markedly, and the appearance of outside armed forces, both Ukrainian and ‘Muscovite’. The successful establishment of Soviet-based power set the stage for the Bolsheviks’ declaration of a Ukrainian Soviet Republic on 13 December, after the arrival in Kharkiv of Bolshevik leaders fleeing Kiev.