The Establishment of The Soviet Regime In Northern Azerbaijan. Resistance Against The Invaders

The Establishment of The Soviet Regime In Northern Azerbaijan.

Resistance Against The Invaders

The Establishment of the Soviet Power In Azerbaijan. In 1920, the most important in the aggressive foreign policy of Soviet Russia, “the problem of Azerbaijan” has been resolved by an open military intervention. The aggressive 11th Red Army entered Baku and on April 28, 1920, announced the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Azerbaijan SSR) was organized. The Azerbaijani Communist (Bolsheviks) Party declared the Azerbaijan Provisional Revolutionary Committee (AzRevKom), as the highest authority in the country, which formed a new government, the Council of People's Commissars of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Sovnarkom) on April 28. Nariman Narimanov was appointed the Chairman of People's Commissars. The new government was, almost, fully consisted of Azerbaijanis.

The Emergency Commission and the Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal, created in the early days of Sovietization in Azerbaijan, was as brutal as the Special Branch. Narimanov, who led the legislative and executive authorities, was powerless before Soveit terror and plunder.

The Soviet punitive bodies, from April of 1920 until August of 1921, shot the majority of educated personnel by the 48000 people for political reasons in Azerbaijan. The last Prime Minister of the Republic Nasib Bey Usubbeyli was killed in Kurdamir. Prime minister Fatali Khan Khoyski, who immigrated to Georgia after the April occupation and Hasan Bey Aghayev, who headed all sessions of Parliament of Azerbaijan were killed in Tbilisi by the Armenian terrorists. The Bolshevik punitive body, along with massacres, was engaged in an open robbery and brigandage. The soldiers and officers of the 11th Red Army broke into the homes of local residents, appropriated their property, shot and detained, whom they could.

The real power in the country was not under control of the government, led by Narimanov, but the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, whose leadership was dominated by the Armenian and Georgian Bolsheviks. After the April coup, Moscow had granted the emergency powers to the Baku Committee of the Azerbaijan Communist Party. The former Dashnak party member and now a Bolshevik, A. Mikoyan led the Baku Committee. Then this post was transferred to Sarkis, and then moved to L. Mirzoyan. Turned into a Bolshevik-Dashnak nest, the Baku Committee was empowered to abolish even the decisions of the Soviet People’s Committee of Azerbaijan with the Chairman N. Narimanov. Leader of the Azerbaijani communists Nariman Narimanov, who played an important role in the overthrow of ADR, now clearly understood that independence of the Soviet Azerbaijan is a fake promise but it was late. Plenipotentiary Representative of Azerbaijan SSR in Russia Behbud Bey Shahtakhtinsky, on September 20, 1920, addressed a message to Lenin: “At the time seizure of power manifested itself perfectly the Red Army now turned into a destructive force. Azeri farmer pleads only one thing: “Take what you wish, but do not break into our homes on a daily basis and do not insult the family hearth.” Always providing itself with bread Azerbaijan is now without it. Having constantly food shortages, Armenia and Georgia are now well supplied with bread.”

“Revolutionary” Measures of the Soviet Government. Acting in accordance with the directives of Soviet Russia and under the dictation of the Azerbaijan Communist (Bolshevik) Party, Revolutionary Committee of Azerbaijan started the “revolutionary” measures in the social and economic life and in the “nation-building” in Azerbaijan, based on the Russian experience.

According to the Azerbaijan Revolutionary Committee’s decree on the land, signed on May 5, 1920, “all the lands of khans, beks, mulkadars, all the land of monasteries, churches, mosques and waqf, working animals, tools without compensation were distributed under the terms of equitable use of the working people, that means the peasants.” In August of 1920, implementation of the “war communism” policy started, although the land committees had not yet launched to implement the decree on land to the uyezds and villages of Azerbaijan. The war communism policy implemented in the Soviet Russia during the civil war and foreign military intervention, and it was applied in the Azerbaijani village without any necessity. Due to this policy, peasants had to pay a tax, prodrastvestka (sapalaq _in Azerbaijani), which meant that they could keep only a small part of their crops for themselves, in order not to die of hunger, and the rest of the crop must be handed over to the state.