People's Secretariat
Encyclopedia
The People's Secretariat of Ukraine was the executive body of the Provisional Central Executive Committee of Soviets in Ukraine. It was formed in Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...

 on December 30, 1917 by the Russian and other local Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....

s as the Ukrainian
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...

 Soviet government and the opposition to the Central Rada and the General Secretariat of Ukraine
General Secretariat of Ukraine
The General Secretariat of Ukraine was the main executive institution of the Ukrainian People's Republic from June 28, 1917 to January 22, 1918.It closely related to the today's Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine...

. The Central Executive Committee that was elected by the First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets canceled the declaration of independence, declared that Ukraine is in a federal subordination to the Russian SFSR, and called on to fight against the separatists, the Ukrainian Central Rada and the General Secretariat of Ukraine.

Staff

All secretaries were members of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party , also known as Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or Russian Social Democratic Party, was a revolutionary socialist Russian political party formed in 1898 in Minsk to unite the various revolutionary organizations into one party...

 and the newly organized RSDRP(b) - Social-Democracy of Ukraine (RSDRP(b)-SDU) that was established on December 3, 1917 at the regional party congress in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

. The new party was directed by its Chief Committee (GK SDU) that was headed by Yevgenia Bosch. At first no agreement was reached who would be heading the government, however it was decided that for the time being the chair will belong to the Secretary of Internal Affairs. The following Secretariat was located in Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...

 and after taking Kiev by the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 in late January 1918 moved to Kiev.
Secretariat Head Notes
Internal Affairs Yevgenia Bosch presiding
Military Commissars Vasyl Shakhrai replaced with Yuriy Kotsyubynsky
Labor Affairs Mykola Skrypnyk
Mykola Skrypnyk
Mykola Oleksiyovych Skrypnyk was a Ukrainian Bolshevik leader who was a proponent of the Ukrainian Republic's independence, and led the cultural Ukrainization effort in Soviet Ukraine. When the policy was reversed and he was removed from his position, he committed suicide rather than be forced to...

Finance Volodymyr Aussem
International Affairs / Transportation Sergei Bakinsky replaced with Ivan Kulik
Ivan Kulik
Ivan Yulianovych Kulik was Jewish-Ukrainian poet, writer, translator, diplomat and Communist Party activist, . He also wrote under names "R. Rolinato" and "Vasyl Rolenko".-Biography:...

Agrarian Affairs Yevhen Terletsky
Justice Vladimir Lyuksemburg
Education Volodymyr Zatonsky
Volodymyr Zatonsky
Volodymyr Zatonsky was a Soviet politician, Communist Party activist, member of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences ....

Trade / Industry Fyodor Sergeyev
Fyodor Sergeyev
Fyodor Andreyevich Sergeyev , better known as Comrade Artyom , was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, agitator, and journalist. He was a close friend of Sergei Kirov and Stalin...

Office Affairs Ivan Kulik
Ivan Kulik
Ivan Yulianovych Kulik was Jewish-Ukrainian poet, writer, translator, diplomat and Communist Party activist, . He also wrote under names "R. Rolinato" and "Vasyl Rolenko".-Biography:...

replaced with Georgiy Lapchinskiy
Food Supply Ye. Luhanovskiy


On March 4, 1918 some changes took place in the cabinet as Bosch together with Shakhrai resigned in protest to the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. The same day finally was appointed the first chairman of People's Secretariat Skrypnyk. Skrypnyk was also appointed the Secretary of Trade and Industry. The secretary of Internal Affairs was elected Yevhen Neronovych
Yevhen Neronovych
Yevhen Neronovych was Ukrainian politician, Bolshevik activist, member of the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviet government.-Biography:...

, Labor Affairs - Ivan Klymenko, Social Security - Georgiy Lapchinsky, Foreign Affairs - Volodymyr Zatonsky
Volodymyr Zatonsky
Volodymyr Zatonsky was a Soviet politician, Communist Party activist, member of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences ....

 (temporarily). The Soviet government relocated to Yekaterinoslav
Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...

 and with the advance of the Central Powers to Taganrog
Taganrog
Taganrog is a seaport city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located on the north shore of Taganrog Bay , several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don River. Population: -History of Taganrog:...

 in April of 1918.
Secretariat Head Notes
Trade / Industry Mykola Skrypnyk
Mykola Skrypnyk
Mykola Oleksiyovych Skrypnyk was a Ukrainian Bolshevik leader who was a proponent of the Ukrainian Republic's independence, and led the cultural Ukrainization effort in Soviet Ukraine. When the policy was reversed and he was removed from his position, he committed suicide rather than be forced to...

presiding
Internal Affairs Yevhen Neronovych
Yevhen Neronovych
Yevhen Neronovych was Ukrainian politician, Bolshevik activist, member of the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviet government.-Biography:...

replaced with Yuriy Kotsyubynsky
Military Commissars Vladimir Antonov
Yuriy Kotsyubynsky
Yevhen Neronovych
Yevhen Neronovych
Yevhen Neronovych was Ukrainian politician, Bolshevik activist, member of the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviet government.-Biography:...

Labor Affairs Ivan Klymenko
Finance Volodymyr Aussem
Foreign Affairs Volodymyr Zatonsky
Volodymyr Zatonsky
Volodymyr Zatonsky was a Soviet politician, Communist Party activist, member of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences ....

(temporarily)
Agrarian Affairs Yevhen Terletsky
Justice Vladimir Lyuksemburg
Education Volodymyr Zatonsky
Volodymyr Zatonsky
Volodymyr Zatonsky was a Soviet politician, Communist Party activist, member of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences ....

Office Affairs Georgiy Lapchinskiy
Food Supply Ye. Luhanovskiy
Social Security Georgiy Lapchinskiy


Later also were added Ya. Martyanov (secretary of Postal and Telegraph). On March 7, 1918 the Secretariat of Military Affairs was reformed into the triumvirate as the Petrograd sovnarkom and included Vladimir Antonov and Yevhen Neronovych
Yevhen Neronovych
Yevhen Neronovych was Ukrainian politician, Bolshevik activist, member of the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviet government.-Biography:...

. Antonov was appointed the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Ukrainian military.

Although the government had its own Secretariat of Internal Affairs the state security was conducted by the All-Russian Extraordinary Committee
Cheka
Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...

.

Both Bosch and Antonov took orders only from Lenin as the last one performed duties of People's Commissar of Russia and Ukraine. At the Second All Ukrainian Congress of Soviets (see Central Executive Committee of Ukraine
Central Executive Committee of Ukraine
Central Executive Committee of Ukraine was a representative body of the All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets. It was the supreme legislative, administrative, executive controlling state power of the Soviet Ukraine between the sessions of the Congress of Soviets that acted between 1917 until 1938...

) that took place in March 1918 with the advance of the Central Powers armed forces across Ukraine the People's Commissariat declared Soviet Ukraine independent from Soviet Russia. However with the rapid advance of the forces of Central Rada and Central Powers, the Soviet government withdrew to Taganrog
Taganrog
Taganrog is a seaport city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located on the north shore of Taganrog Bay , several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don River. Population: -History of Taganrog:...

.

Stalin vs. Skrypnyk

On April 4, 1918 Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

 telegraphed Volodymyr Zatonsky
Volodymyr Zatonsky
Volodymyr Zatonsky was a Soviet politician, Communist Party activist, member of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences ....

 with the following:

The next day Zatonsky sent the copy of that notice to the Ukrainian representative in Russia Mykola Skrypnyk
Mykola Skrypnyk
Mykola Oleksiyovych Skrypnyk was a Ukrainian Bolshevik leader who was a proponent of the Ukrainian Republic's independence, and led the cultural Ukrainization effort in Soviet Ukraine. When the policy was reversed and he was removed from his position, he committed suicide rather than be forced to...

. On April 6 Skrypnyk sent his answer to the Sovnarkom and the All Russian Central Executive Committee where he recited the Stalin's words. He also mentioned that on April 3 Sovnarkom accepted the Extraordinary delegation of the Ukrainian Soviet Federation and accepted the decision to recognize the People's Secretariat and the Ukrainian Republic. Further Skrypnyk said, "We have to announce the most decisive protest against the speech of Narkom Stalin. We have to announce that the Central Executive Committee and the People's Secretariat as motive for their actions do not reflect any particular attitudes to whichever Narkom of the Russian Federation, but rather only the will of the toiling masses of Ukraine that is presented in the declaration of the II All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets. Announcements similar to the one presented by Narkom Stalin are directed to undermine the Soviet power in Ukraine and cannot be perceived by the representative of the Soviet government of neighboring republic. The toiling masses of Ukraine lead their struggle with the their bourgeoisie counterrevolutionary independently from any decisions of whichever Sovnarkom of the Russian Federation, yet the Soviet power right now is undermined by the bayonets of the German troops. And if somebody dares to call the struggle of the Ukrainian toiling masses the game that is time to leave while in actuality the same masses of Ukraine think otherwise and those delegations that turn to us even from the occupied by Germans territories of Ukraine confirm that as the same struggle that is led by our forces. The friendly relationship to which the Soviet of People's Commissars of the Russian Federation joined in regards to the Ukrainian Republic request not to allow such announcements aimed to undermine the Soviet power in Ukraine and directed to the benefits of enemies of the Ukrainian toiling masses.

Selected groups and parts of the Russian Federation that fragment away from it (Crimea, Don, etc.) now propose to the Ukrainian People's Republic to create the South Soviet Federation. However the People's Secretariat has always tried to unite for the struggle against the Central Rada the toiling masses of localities at which that Central Rada has laid its eye and has no intentions to involve in its fight the Russian Federation nor its separate parts.

In regards to the request of Narkom Stalin for the People's Secretariat evacuated out of Taganrog
Taganrog
Taganrog is a seaport city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located on the north shore of Taganrog Bay , several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don River. Population: -History of Taganrog:...

, we only underline that Taganrog is part of the Ukrainian People's Republic and only the population of this territory can decide to which particular Soviet Federation it wish to belong: Russian or Ukrainian.

According to the above declared we're asking the government of Russian Federation to make appropriate explanations in regards to the announcement of Narkom Stalin and with that cancel the consequences of his announcement which so adversely may influence the struggly of the Ukrainian toiling masses for socialism.

Extraordinary Authorized Embassy of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Federation.

Chairman of People's Secretary M.Skrypnyk
People's Secretaries Kotsiubynsky, Vrublevsky"

Note: The letter is translated from its original copy that can be found in the Ukrainian Central State Archives of the Supreme Bodies of Power.

Further developments

On April 18, 1918 it was disbanded and reorganized together with the Central Executive Committee
Central Executive Committee of Ukraine
Central Executive Committee of Ukraine was a representative body of the All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets. It was the supreme legislative, administrative, executive controlling state power of the Soviet Ukraine between the sessions of the Congress of Soviets that acted between 1917 until 1938...

 into Povstanburo (Insurgency Bureau). The bureau consisted of nine members: four were bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....

s (Andriy Bubnov, Volodymyr Zatonsky
Volodymyr Zatonsky
Volodymyr Zatonsky was a Soviet politician, Communist Party activist, member of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences ....

, Heorhiy Pyatakov, Mykola Skrypnyk
Mykola Skrypnyk
Mykola Oleksiyovych Skrypnyk was a Ukrainian Bolshevik leader who was a proponent of the Ukrainian Republic's independence, and led the cultural Ukrainization effort in Soviet Ukraine. When the policy was reversed and he was removed from his position, he committed suicide rather than be forced to...

), four - left SRs (Serhiy Mstyslavsky, Opanas Sieverov-Odoyevsky, M.Siomushkin, Yevhen Terletsky), and a borotbist Mykola Vrublevsky. With the organization of the Insurgency Bureau on the initiative of Mykola Skrypnyk
Mykola Skrypnyk
Mykola Oleksiyovych Skrypnyk was a Ukrainian Bolshevik leader who was a proponent of the Ukrainian Republic's independence, and led the cultural Ukrainization effort in Soviet Ukraine. When the policy was reversed and he was removed from his position, he committed suicide rather than be forced to...

 there was created the Communist Party (Bolshevik) of Ukraine. The Povstanburo last until July 1918 and was forced to move out to Moscow. There at the first congress of the Communist Party (Bolshevik) of Ukraine the Insurgency Bureau was reorganized into the All-Ukrainian Central Military-Revolutionary Committee (VTsVRK).

All-Ukrainian Central Military-Revolutionary Committee
  • Andrei Bubnov
    Andrei Bubnov
    Andrei Sergeyevich Bubnov was a Bolshevik revolutionary leader in Russia, and member of the Left Opposition.-Biography:...

     (chairman)
  • Volodymyr Aussem
  • Volodymyr Zatonsky
    Volodymyr Zatonsky
    Volodymyr Zatonsky was a Soviet politician, Communist Party activist, member of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences ....

  • Yuriy Kotsyubynsky
  • Georgiy Pyatakov (First Secretary of CP(b)U)


At the conclusion of the World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 in November 1918 the Committee was replaced by the Temporary Workers-Peasants Government of Ukraine that was created in Kursk
Kursk
Kursk is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym Rivers. The area around Kursk was site of a turning point in the Russian-German struggle during World War II and the site of the largest tank battle in history...

 and headed by Georgiy Pyatakov in order to restore the Soviet regime in Ukraine. Already in January 1919 Pyatakov was replaced with Christian Rakovsky
Christian Rakovsky
Christian Rakovsky was a Bulgarian socialist revolutionary, a Bolshevik politician and Soviet diplomat; he was also noted as a journalist, physician, and essayist...

 establishing the permanent government, Council of People's Commissars of Ukraine
Council of People's Commissars (Ukraine)
Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR was the highest governing body of executive power in Ukrainian SSR from January 1919 to 1946. The council replaced the Temporary Workers-Peasants Government of Ukraine...

 (Sovnarkom of UkrSSR). However with the advance of the Denikin's Army (Armed Forces of South Russia
Armed Forces of South Russia
The Armed Forces of South Russia was formed on the 8th of January 1919, it incorporated many of the smaller formations of the White army in that area under them, including the Volunteer Army ....

) in 1919 the government was merged with the Central Executive Committee of Ukraine
Central Executive Committee of Ukraine
Central Executive Committee of Ukraine was a representative body of the All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets. It was the supreme legislative, administrative, executive controlling state power of the Soviet Ukraine between the sessions of the Congress of Soviets that acted between 1917 until 1938...

 (headed by Grigoriy Petrovsky) into the All-Ukrainian Revolutionary Committee. During this time the First Secretary of the CP(b)U was Emanuel Kviring
Emanuel Kviring
Emanuel Kwiring was a Soviet politician.Born into a German family in Friesenthal Emanuel Kwiring (Kviring) (13 September 1888, Friesenthal, Russian Empire - 26 November 1937, Moscow, Soviet Union) was a Soviet politician.Born into a German family in Friesenthal Emanuel Kwiring (Kviring) (13...

. The new Soviet government of Ukraine managed to publish the first Soviet Constitution of Ukraine
Constitution of Ukraine
The Constitution of Ukraine is the nation's fundamental law. The constitution was adopted and ratified at the 5th session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 28 June 1996. The constitution was passed with 315 ayes out of 450 votes possible .Other laws and other normative legal acts of Ukraine...

 in 1919, which later was replaced by three other ones.

See also

  • List of Prime Ministers of Ukraine
  • Donetsk-Krivoi Rog Soviet Republic
  • General Secretariat of Ukraine
    General Secretariat of Ukraine
    The General Secretariat of Ukraine was the main executive institution of the Ukrainian People's Republic from June 28, 1917 to January 22, 1918.It closely related to the today's Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine...

  • Council of People's Ministers
    Council of People's Ministers
    The Council of People's Ministers was the main executive institution of the Ukrainian People's Republic. It was reorganized out of the General Secretariat of Ukraine upon the proclamation of the 4th Universal and Independence on January 25, 1918. As the General Secretariat it is a preceding...

  • Ukrainian SSR
    Ukrainian SSR
    The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...

  • Council of People's Commissars (Ukraine)
    Council of People's Commissars (Ukraine)
    Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR was the highest governing body of executive power in Ukrainian SSR from January 1919 to 1946. The council replaced the Temporary Workers-Peasants Government of Ukraine...


External links

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