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Asoviet republic (fromRussian:советская республика,romanized: sovetskaya respublika), also called acouncil republic,conciliar republic orsovietic republic, is arepublic in which the government is formed ofsoviets (workers' councils) and politics are based onsoviet democracy. During theRevolutions of 1917–1923, various revolutionary workers' movements across Europe declared independence or otherwise formed governments as soviet republics.[1] Although the term is usually associated with therepublics of the Soviet Union, it was not initially used to represent the political organisation of theSoviet Union, but merely a system of government.
The earliest known examples of workers' councils on a smaller scale occurred during theRussian Revolution of 1905, including theRevolution in the Kingdom of Poland (1905–1907), which spread throughout the lands of theRussian Empire; early soviets were active particularly inCentral Russia andCongress Poland, where workers took over factories, districts, and sometimes even entire towns or regions before the tsarist authorities reclaimed control.[2][3]
Near the end of theFirst World War, soviet republics started appearing on a larger scale as short-lived communist revolutionary governments that were established in what had been the Russian Empire after theOctober Revolution and under its influence. These states included some such as theLithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic and theLatvian Socialist Soviet Republic which won independence from Russia during thecivil war period. Others such as theUkrainian Soviet Republic and theSocialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia later becameunion republics of the Soviet Union and are now independent states. Still others such as theKuban Soviet Republic and theBukharan People's Soviet Republic were absorbed into other polities and no longer formally exist under those names.
In the turmoil following World War I, the Russian example inspired the formation of Soviet republics in other areas of Europe includingHungary,Bavaria,Slovakia andBremen.[4] Soviets also appeared within towns throughout Poland, known asrady delegatów robotniczych (councils of workers' delegates), mostly throughout 1918 and 1919. One year later aProvisional Polish Revolutionary Committee was created under the patronage of Soviet Russia with the goal to establish a Soviet republic withinPoland (it was later dissolved following theRed Army's defeat in thePolish–Soviet War). Short-livedIrish Soviets also briefly emerged during theIrish War of Independence, most notably theLimerick Soviet. Soviet republics, most notably theChinese Soviet Republic (Jiangxi Soviet), later appeared in China during the early stages of theChinese Civil War. Other than these cases, "soviet republic" typically refers to the administrativerepublics of the Soviet Union.