Tavrida Soviet Socialist Republic

(official name, Soviet Socialist Republic of Tavrida), a Soviet republic that existed in the Crimea in March and April 1918 and was part of the RSFSR. On Mar. 19 and 21,1918, the Tavrida Central Executive Committee, which had been elected in Simferopol’ at the First Constituent Congress of Soviets, Revolutionary Committees, and Land Committees of Tavrida Guberniia (Province; Mar. 7–10, 1918), adopted decrees on the formation of the Tavrida SSR. A Council of People’s Commissars was organized; it consisted of eight Bolsheviks and four left-wing Socialist Revolutionaries, and its chairman was A. I. Slutskii. The Central Executive Committee and Council of People’s Commissars of the Tavrida SSR implemented several decrees of the Soviet government, including those on confiscation of the holdings of pomeshchiki (landlords), the nationalization of industry, and workers control. In March and April 1918 the Tavrida Central Executive Committee sent more than 5 million poods (81.9 million kg) of foodstuffs to the central regions of Soviet Russia. Measures were also taken to protect historical monuments, museums, and libraries.

On Apr. 18, 1918, German troops, violating the conditions of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty of 1918, invaded the Tavrida SSR. A revolt of White Guards and Tatar nationalists began in Alushta, and in late April 1918 the rebels shot to death most of the members of the Central Executive Committee and Council of People’s Commissars of the Tavrida SSR, including Slutskii and the chairman of the Provincial Committee of the RCP(B), Ia. Iu. Tarvat-skii. The Tavrida SSR fell on Apr. 30,1918.