Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly | |||||||||
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| 1918 | |||||||||
| Capital | Samara | ||||||||
| Common languages | Russian | ||||||||
| Government | Republic | ||||||||
| Chairman | |||||||||
• 1918 | Vladimir Vol'skii | ||||||||
| Historical era | Russian Civil War | ||||||||
• Established | June 8, 1918 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | September 23, 1918 | ||||||||
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TheCommittee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Russian:Комитет членов Учредительного собрания) was ananti-Bolshevik government that operated inSamara, Russia, during theRussian Civil War of 1917–1922. It formed on June 8, 1918, after theCzechoslovak Legion had occupied the city.
In Russian, the committee was calledКомитет членов Учредительного собрания, transliterated asKomitet chlenov uchreditelnogo sobraniya. The initial consonants of the first and third words gave Комуч, transliterated asKomuch, as the shorthand name for the committee.
Komuch proclaimed itself the highest authority inRussia, temporarily acting on behalf of theRussian Constituent Assembly in the territory occupied by theinterventionists and theWhite Movement until the convocation of a new Assembly. Initially, Komuch consisted of fiveSocialist-Revolutionaries – Vladimir Vol'skii (chairman), Ivan Brushvit, Prokopiy Klimushkin, Boris Fortunatov and Ivan Nesterov – former members of the Constituent Assembly that had been dissolved by theBolsheviks. Two other members, N. Shmelev and V. Abramov, are named in a declaration issued by Komuch that reinstated freedoms and set forth fundamental principles.[3] Itsexecutive body was the "Council of Department Heads" led by Yevgeny Rogovsky.
The Committee grew in size as members, mainly Socialist-Revolutionaries, of the former Constituent Assembly travelled to Samara. By the end of September 1918, it numbered 96 members.
On 8 June 1918, after theRevolt of the Czechoslovak Legion, Brushvit convinced the legion to occupy Samara. According toWilliam Henry Chamberlin, "A committee of five members of the dissolvedConstituent Assembly, allSocialist Revolutionaries, Brushvit, Fortunatov, Klimushkin, Volsky and Nesterov, thereupon assumed civil and military power in Samara City and Province."[4]
Having seized power with the help of the Czech Legion, Komuch announced the "reinstatement" of various democraticfreedoms. An eight-hour working day was established andplant and factory committees (fabzavkomy, from "fabrichno-zavodskiye komitety") andtrade unions were permitted, as were conferences and congresses of workers and peasants.Soviet decrees wereabrogated and all industry and financial establishments returned to their former owners, along with the freedom to pursueprivate enterprise. City dumas,zemstva and other municipal institutions were also reinstated.
Paying lip service to thesocialization of land, Komuch provided landowners with an opportunity to recover their confiscated lands from peasants and harvest thewinter crops of 1917. Expeditions were sent to the rural areas of Russia to protect landowners,kulaks and their property and, later, tomobilize thePeople's Army of Komuch (the "People's Army").
From June to August 1918, Komuch's influence spread from Samara into the provinces ofSimbirsk,Kazan,Ufa andSaratov. In September, however, the People's Army suffered a number of defeats by the SovietRed Army and withdrew from much of the territory.
Komuch participated with theProvisional Siberian Government in the State Conference held inUfa held between 8 and 23 September 1918. Some of the 170 delegates present also represented other smaller regions. While the conference was in progress,Komuch suffered two significant defeats, losing control of Kazan on 10 September and of Simbirsk two days later. The conference, meanwhile, established the short-livedProvisional All-Russian Government.[5]
After AdmiralAleksandr Kolchak's coup, the provisional government and other institutions were dissolved by GeneralVladimir Kappel in November 1918.
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![Seal[1] of Samara Constituent Assembly](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aRussian_coa_1917.svg)
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