First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets (Kharkiv)
First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets (Kharkiv) was a meeting of workers’, peasants’, and Red Guard deputies held in Kharkiv on December 24–25, 1917. Earlier, on December 21, Soviet Red Guards from Russia, led by Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko, occupied Kharkiv. By December 23 Bolsheviks had set up a revolutionary committee, and a Red Guard headquarters stood in the Stock Exchange building at Market Square (today Constitution Square).
About 964 people attended at first, growing to around 1,250. The Congress discussed Ukraine’s future and the war, relations with the Central Rada, military organization, land and finances, and other issues.
Key outcomes
- It approved the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers.
- It declared the Soviet Ukrainian People's Republic a federative part of Soviet Russia.
- It ratified the decree on socializing land, and supported the 8-hour workday, labor control, and the formation of the Workers-Peasant Red Army of Ukraine.
- It condemned the Central Council of Ukraine’s policy and called for the Austrian and German armies to withdraw from Ukraine.
The Congress elected a new Central Executive Committee of Ukraine (CVK), with a strong Bolshevik presence, and established the People’s Secretariat. Yukhym Medvedev was chosen as the head of the CVK. Members of the People’s Secretariat initially included Nikolay Skripnik, Vladimir Zatonsky, and Emmanuil Luganovsky; they were not elected to the CVK. Later additions were Yevgeniy Neronovich, Yuriy Kotsiubynsky, Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko, and Ivan Klimenko.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 10:51 (CET).