Tambov Rebellion
Encyclopedia
The Tambov Rebellion which occurred between 1920 and 1921 was one of the largest and best-organized peasant rebellions challenging the Bolshevik
regime during the Russian Civil War
. The uprising took place in the territories of the modern Tambov Oblast
and part of the Voronezh Oblast
, less than 300 miles southeast of Moscow. The leader of the rebellion, Pyotr Mikhailovich Tokmakov, was a former officer of the Russian Imperial Army, who had earlier been decorated with the highest Order of St. George
. In Soviet history
the rebellion was referred to as Antonov's mutiny or the Antonovschina, although Aleksandr Antonov, a former official of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party
, was only the Chief of Staff
of one of the rebel armies. The movement was later portrayed by the Soviets as a sort of anarchical banditry like other anti-Soviet movements who opposed them during this period.
authorities, a policy known in Russian as "prodrazvyorstka
". In 1920 the requisitions were increased from 18 million to 27 million pood
s in the region. This caused the peasants to reduce their grain production knowing that anything they did not consume themselves would be immediately confiscated. Filling the state quotas meant death for many by starvation. The revolt began on 19 August 1920 in a small town of Khitrovo where a military requisitioning detachment of the Red Army
appropriated everything they could and "beat up elderly men of seventy in full view of the public". The peasant army was known as the Antonovtsi or "Blue Army", as opposed to the "White Army" (anti-communist army), "Red Army" (communist army), "Green Army" (armed peasant groups) and "Black Army
" (anarchists of Ukraine
and Russia
)—all taking part in the Civil War.
A distinctive feature of this rebellion, among the many of these times, was that it was led by a political organization, the Union of Toiling Peasants
(Soyuz Trudovogo Krestyanstva). A Congress of Tambov rebels abolished Soviet power and created a Constituent Assembly that called for universal suffrage and land reform. A major tenet proposed by them was returning all land to the peasants.
On February 2, 1921, the Bolshevik leadership announced the end of the "prodrazvyorstka", and issued a special decree directed at peasants from the region implementing the "prodnalog
" policy. The new policy was essentially a tax on grain and other foodstuffs. This was done prior to the X Party Congress, where the measure was officially adopted. The announcement began circulating in the Tambov area on February 9, 1921. The Tambov uprising and unrest elsewhere were significant reasons that the "prodnalog" policy was implemented and the "prodrazvyorstka" was abandoned.
, had sided with the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution
in 1917, but he became disenchanted with them after the Bolshevik's requisition of grain policy was implemented in 1918. Antonov became a popular hero to the people of the Tambov
region of central Russia where he started his campaigns.
In October 1920 the peasant army numbered over 50,000 fighters, and was joined by numerous deserters from the Red Army
. The rebel militia was highly effective and infiltrated even the Tambov Cheka
. Alexander Schlichter
, Chairman of the Tambov
Gubernia Executive Committee, contacted Lenin, who ordered Red Army reinforcements for the area. In January 1921 peasant revolts spread to Samara
, Saratov
, Tsaritsyn, Astrakhan
, and Siberia
. In February the peasant army reached its peak, numbering up to 70,000 and successfully defending the area against Bolshevik expeditions.
On May 20, 1921 the Republic of the Lands of Tambov was proclaimed at the public gathering that was initiated by the Union of the Working Peasants, the town's administration, and the command of the United Guerilla Army of the Lands of Tambov. The meeting took place in the village of Karay-Saltyki, Kirsanov Uyezd, Tambov Governorate
. The meeting elected Shendiapin as head of the new republic. The seriousness of the uprising called for the creation of the "Plenipotentiary Commission of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Bolshevik Party for the Liquidation of Banditry in the Gubernia of Tambov ". With the end of the Polish-Soviet War
and the defeat of General Wrangel
, the RKKA
could divert its regular troops into the area - in total over 100,000 Red Army soldiers were deployed, including special Cheka
detachments. The army used heavy artillery and armored trains. The Red Army, under the command of Tukhachevsky, also engaged in the summary execution of civilians. Tukhachevsky and Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko
signed an order, dated June 12, 1921, that stipulated:
Chemical weapons were used "from end of June 1921 until apparently the fall of 1921", by direct order from leadership of Red Army
and Communist party
. Publications in local Communist newspapers openly glorified liquidations of "bandits" with the poison gas.
Seven Concentration camps were set up. At least 50,000 people were interned, mostly women, children, and the elderly, some of them sent there as hostages. The mortality rate in the camps was 15-20 percent a month.
The uprising was gradually quelled in 1921. Antonov was killed in 1922 during an attempt to arrest him. Total losses among the population of Tambov region in 1920-1922 resulting from the war, executions, and imprisonment in concentration camps have been estimated as at least 240,000.
In 1933 the local government decided to burn documents that could compromise the Soviet regime. However, during the process, the fire grew out of control and had to be extinguished by water and, crucially, sand. All documents in the archive were believed to be destroyed; as the church altar was not used by the archive the surviving documents, covered by a layer of sand, were never found. In 1982 the local archive changed its address and the church became abandoned. When Sennikov found the documents, the Tambov department of the Committee for the State Security
opened a criminal case against him. Later the case was closed, although Sennikov did lose his job.
In 2004, the publishing house Posev published the Sennikov archive as part of The Tambov Rebellion and the Liquidation of Russian Peasantry along with documents relating to the Governate Military Commissariat (including those dealing with Konstantin Mamontov's 1919 anti-Bolshevik raid, and those describing the Great Purge
of the 1920-30s. The documents also included Red Army orders issued during the rebellion, correspondence, reports of the use of chemical weapons against the peasant rebels, and documents of the Union of the Working Peasants.
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....
regime during the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
. The uprising took place in the territories of the modern Tambov Oblast
Tambov Oblast
Tambov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Tambov. Population: down from 1,178,443 recorded by the 2002 Census.Tambov Oblast is situated in forest steppe.-Birth rate:...
and part of the Voronezh Oblast
Voronezh Oblast
Voronezh Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It was established on June 13, 1934.-Main rivers:*Don*Voronezh*Bityug*Khopyor-Economy:...
, less than 300 miles southeast of Moscow. The leader of the rebellion, Pyotr Mikhailovich Tokmakov, was a former officer of the Russian Imperial Army, who had earlier been decorated with the highest Order of St. George
Order of St. George
The Military Order of the Holy Great-Martyr and the Triumphant George The Military Order of the Holy Great-Martyr and the Triumphant George The Military Order of the Holy Great-Martyr and the Triumphant George (also known as Order of St. George the Triumphant, Russian: Военный орден Св...
. In Soviet history
Soviet historiography
Soviet historiography is the methodology of history studies by historians in the Soviet Union . In the USSR, the study of history was marked by alternating periods of freedom allowed and restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , and also by the struggle of historians to...
the rebellion was referred to as Antonov's mutiny or the Antonovschina, although Aleksandr Antonov, a former official of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party
Socialist-Revolutionary Party
thumb|right|200px|Socialist-Revolutionary election poster, 1917. The caption in red reads "партия соц-рев" , short for Party of the Socialist Revolutionaries...
, was only the Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff
The title, chief of staff, identifies the leader of a complex organization, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a Principal Staff Officer , who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide to an important individual, such as a president.In general, a chief of...
of one of the rebel armies. The movement was later portrayed by the Soviets as a sort of anarchical banditry like other anti-Soviet movements who opposed them during this period.
Background
The rebellion was caused by the forced confiscation of grain by the BolshevikBolshevik
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....
authorities, a policy known in Russian as "prodrazvyorstka
Prodrazvyorstka
Prodrazvyorstka , translated as food apportionment or surplus appropriation system, was a governmental program in Russia which obliged peasantry to surrender the surpluses of almost any kind of agricultural produce for a fixed price...
". In 1920 the requisitions were increased from 18 million to 27 million pood
Pood
Pood , is a unit of mass equal to 40 funt . It is approximately 16.38 kilograms . It was used in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Pood was first mentioned in a number of documents of the 12th century....
s in the region. This caused the peasants to reduce their grain production knowing that anything they did not consume themselves would be immediately confiscated. Filling the state quotas meant death for many by starvation. The revolt began on 19 August 1920 in a small town of Khitrovo where a military requisitioning detachment of 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...
appropriated everything they could and "beat up elderly men of seventy in full view of the public". The peasant army was known as the Antonovtsi or "Blue Army", as opposed to the "White Army" (anti-communist army), "Red Army" (communist army), "Green Army" (armed peasant groups) and "Black Army
Black Guards
Black Guards were armed groups of workers formed after the Russian Revolution and before the Third Russian Revolution. They were the main strike force of the anarchists...
" (anarchists of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
)—all taking part in the Civil War.
A distinctive feature of this rebellion, among the many of these times, was that it was led by a political organization, the Union of Toiling Peasants
Union of Toiling Peasants
The Union of Toiling Peasants was a counter-revolutionary political organization that emerged out of the Tambov Rebellion in 1920, in the midst of the Russian Civil War. The organization was led by the former Social-Revolutionary politician Aleksandr Antonov. The self-professed goal of the...
(Soyuz Trudovogo Krestyanstva). A Congress of Tambov rebels abolished Soviet power and created a Constituent Assembly that called for universal suffrage and land reform. A major tenet proposed by them was returning all land to the peasants.
On February 2, 1921, the Bolshevik leadership announced the end of the "prodrazvyorstka", and issued a special decree directed at peasants from the region implementing the "prodnalog
Prodnalog
Prodnalog or Продналог is the Russian word for a tax on food production, paid in kind in Soviet Russia, and sometimes known as "the Tax in Kind"...
" policy. The new policy was essentially a tax on grain and other foodstuffs. This was done prior to the X Party Congress, where the measure was officially adopted. The announcement began circulating in the Tambov area on February 9, 1921. The Tambov uprising and unrest elsewhere were significant reasons that the "prodnalog" policy was implemented and the "prodrazvyorstka" was abandoned.
Timeline
Aleksandr Antonov, a radical member of the Left Socialist-RevolutionariesLeft Socialist-Revolutionaries
In 1917, Russia the Socialist-Revolutionary Party split between those who supported the Provisional Government, established after the February Revolution, and those who supported the Bolsheviks who favoured a communist insurrection....
, had sided with the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
in 1917, but he became disenchanted with them after the Bolshevik's requisition of grain policy was implemented in 1918. Antonov became a popular hero to the people of the Tambov
Tambov
Tambov is a city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tsna and Studenets Rivers southeast of Moscow...
region of central Russia where he started his campaigns.
In October 1920 the peasant army numbered over 50,000 fighters, and was joined by numerous deserters from 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...
. The rebel militia was highly effective and infiltrated even the Tambov Cheka
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...
. Alexander Schlichter
Alexander Schlichter
Alexander Grigorievich Schlichter was a Ukrainian Bolshevik politician.Schlichter's grandfather, originally from western Germany, settled in what is the present-day Poltava Oblast of Ukraine in 1818...
, Chairman of the Tambov
Tambov Oblast
Tambov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Tambov. Population: down from 1,178,443 recorded by the 2002 Census.Tambov Oblast is situated in forest steppe.-Birth rate:...
Gubernia Executive Committee, contacted Lenin, who ordered Red Army reinforcements for the area. In January 1921 peasant revolts spread to Samara
Samara, Russia
Samara , is the sixth largest city in Russia. It is situated in the southeastern part of European Russia at the confluence of the Volga and Samara Rivers. Samara is the administrative center of Samara Oblast. Population: . The metropolitan area of Samara-Tolyatti-Syzran within Samara Oblast...
, Saratov
Saratov
-Modern Saratov:The Saratov region is highly industrialized, due in part to the rich in natural and industrial resources of the area. The region is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia...
, Tsaritsyn, Astrakhan
Astrakhan
Astrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...
, and Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. In February the peasant army reached its peak, numbering up to 70,000 and successfully defending the area against Bolshevik expeditions.
On May 20, 1921 the Republic of the Lands of Tambov was proclaimed at the public gathering that was initiated by the Union of the Working Peasants, the town's administration, and the command of the United Guerilla Army of the Lands of Tambov. The meeting took place in the village of Karay-Saltyki, Kirsanov Uyezd, Tambov Governorate
Tambov Governorate
Tambov Governorate was the administrative unit of the Russian Empire, Russian Republic, and later the Russian SFSR with the center in the city of Tambov. The governorate was located between 51°14' and 55°6' of north latitude and between 38°9' and 43°38' east longitude...
. The meeting elected Shendiapin as head of the new republic. The seriousness of the uprising called for the creation of the "Plenipotentiary Commission of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Bolshevik Party for the Liquidation of Banditry in the Gubernia of Tambov ". With the end of the Polish-Soviet War
Polish-Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine and the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic—four states in post–World War I Europe...
and the defeat of General Wrangel
Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel
Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel or Vrangel was an officer in the Imperial Russian army and later commanding general of the anti-Bolshevik White Army in Southern Russia in the later stages of the Russian Civil War.-Life:Wrangel was born in Mukuliai, Kovno Governorate in the Russian Empire...
, the RKKA
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...
could divert its regular troops into the area - in total over 100,000 Red Army soldiers were deployed, including special Cheka
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...
detachments. The army used heavy artillery and armored trains. The Red Army, under the command of Tukhachevsky, also engaged in the summary execution of civilians. Tukhachevsky and Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko
Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko
Vladimir Alexandrovich Antonov-Ovseyenko , real surname Ovseyenko, party aliases the 'Bayonet' and 'Nikita' , a literary pseudonym A. Gal , was a prominent Soviet Bolshevik leader and diplomat. He was born in Chernigov into an officer's family.In 1903, Antonov-Ovseyenko joined the Menshevik party...
signed an order, dated June 12, 1921, that stipulated:
Chemical weapons were used "from end of June 1921 until apparently the fall of 1921", by direct order from leadership of 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...
and Communist party
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....
. Publications in local Communist newspapers openly glorified liquidations of "bandits" with the poison gas.
Seven Concentration camps were set up. At least 50,000 people were interned, mostly women, children, and the elderly, some of them sent there as hostages. The mortality rate in the camps was 15-20 percent a month.
The uprising was gradually quelled in 1921. Antonov was killed in 1922 during an attempt to arrest him. Total losses among the population of Tambov region in 1920-1922 resulting from the war, executions, and imprisonment in concentration camps have been estimated as at least 240,000.
Recovery of documents
Documents relating to the rebellion were found by the local ethnographer Boris Sennikov in 1982 while he was engaged in clearing sand from the altar of the Winter Church of the Kazan monastery - during the 1920s the monastery had been requisitioned for use as the local Cheka headquarters and the church had served as the archive of the Tambov Military Commissariat.In 1933 the local government decided to burn documents that could compromise the Soviet regime. However, during the process, the fire grew out of control and had to be extinguished by water and, crucially, sand. All documents in the archive were believed to be destroyed; as the church altar was not used by the archive the surviving documents, covered by a layer of sand, were never found. In 1982 the local archive changed its address and the church became abandoned. When Sennikov found the documents, the Tambov department of the Committee for the State Security
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
opened a criminal case against him. Later the case was closed, although Sennikov did lose his job.
In 2004, the publishing house Posev published the Sennikov archive as part of The Tambov Rebellion and the Liquidation of Russian Peasantry along with documents relating to the Governate Military Commissariat (including those dealing with Konstantin Mamontov's 1919 anti-Bolshevik raid, and those describing the Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
of the 1920-30s. The documents also included Red Army orders issued during the rebellion, correspondence, reports of the use of chemical weapons against the peasant rebels, and documents of the Union of the Working Peasants.
External links
- Tukhachvsky role in the Tambov revolt, including the text of commands given to the red army concerning the use of war gases, taking and executing hostages, deporting of peasant families to Concentration camps. (In Russian)
- Programme of Union of Toiling Peasants
- (in Russian) Antonovshchina: a wealth of historical documents, including the documents from the rebel side
- Great site with lots of bibliography for further research