Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Peasants Deputies

a congress held from Nov. 11 (24) to Nov. 25 (Dec. 8), 1917, in Petrograd. The first session was attended by approximately 260 voting delegates. The session of November 18 (December 1) was attended by 330 delegates, among whom were 195 Left Socialist Revolutionaries (Left SR’s), 37 Bolsheviks, and 65 right-wing Socialist Revolutionaries and centrists. The number of delegates increased at subsequent sessions. Delegates from provincial, district, and volost (small rural district) soviets of peasants’ deputies and from front, army, corps, and division peasant committees were present at the congress. Points on the agenda included the agrarian question, the food-supply problem, and the consolidation of Soviet power.

On all major issues the congress supported the positions of the Second All-Russian Congress of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, held from October 25 (November 7) to October 27 (November 9) of the same year. After approving the policies of the Council of People’s Commissars, the delegates voted their support for the participation of the Left SR’s in the Soviet government. Taking the floor three times (twice on the agrarian question), V. I. Lenin stressed that an accord with the Left SR’s was possible only within the framework of a socialist platform. On the agrarian question the congress adopted the Left SR resolution, which called for leveling of land tenure.

The goals of the socialist revolution required the amalgamation of soviets of workers’, soldiers’, and peasants’ deputies. The congress adopted a resolution approving the convocation of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Peasants’ Deputies, which was held from November 26 (December 9) to December 10 (23). As a result, the provisional Executive Committee of the soviets of peasants’ deputies, elected by the extraordinary congress, merged with the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. On November 15 (28), a joint session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, and the Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Peasants’ Deputies was held in the Smol’nyi. The session approved the decrees of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets on peace and on land and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee’s decree of Nov. 14 (27), 1917, on workers’ control.