However, as Professor Aleksandr Vasilenko, doctor of political science, emphasized in his study, “Caspian Oil in the Geopolitical Strategy of the Leaders of Soviet Russia (1917–1922)” in the anthology Soviet Union’s Oil [Neft strany Sovetov], the progress of political processes in the Transcaucasus in a relatively short time after October 1917 raised a number of substantial obstacles to the realization of Soviet Russian strategic interests in the region. Throughout the peripheral provinces of the former Russian Empire, a variety of ethnic states began to appear: the Transcaucasian Commissariat (November 1917), and then the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (April 1918), as well as the Mountain Republic (November 1917) and the North Caucasus Mountaineers Republic (May 1918), etc.
The creation on January 18 (31), 1918, of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic was “founded on the basis of a voluntary union of the peoples of Russia as a Federation of the Soviet Republics of those peoples.” The term “voluntary union” was understood by the Bolshevik leadership only in terms of class. However, just as the interpretation of the principle of ethnic self-determination was to be “the means of fighting for socialism and must be subordinate to the principles of socialism,” the leaders of Soviet Russia were “for autonomy, but for such autonomy where all power would be in the hands of the workers and peasants, where the bourgeois of all ethnic groups would be removed both from power and from participation in elections to government bodies.”8
On March 15, 1918, the Fourth Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of Soviets ratified the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk between Russia and the Quadruple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey). Under Article 4 of the treaty, several Transcaucasian territories, including Batumi, Ardahan, and Kars, passed to Turkey. For the leaders of Soviet Russia, Article 14 of a Supplemental Agreement to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was extremely important; it recognized Baku District as unconditional Russian territory, and required the delivery of a portion of the crude oil and petroleum products produced on the peninsula to Germany.
In his memoirs, the noted Georgian revolutionary Noe Zhordania (1869–1953) later wrote: “After the Constituent Assembly dispersed, we remained alone and had to think about ourselves. In practice, this meant secession from Russia and creating our life as we saw fit. This conclusion flowed from the following well-known facts: the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, whose authority we did not recognize; and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which deprived us of part of our territory.”
On February 10 (23), 1918, the first meeting of the Transcaucasian Sejm, the region’s legislature, was held in Tiflis. The Sejm included deputies elected to the All-Russian Constituent Assembly from the Transcaucasian region. The Sejm was opened by Nikoloz Chkheidze (1864–1929), a noted politician and deputy to the third and fourth State Dumas and former chairman of the executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies. At the second session, Chkheidze was elected chairman of the Sejm. The Azerbaijani delegation consisted of 44 deputies representing the parties Musavat (“Equality”), Hummet (“Energy”), and Ittihad (“Union”), as well as a Muslim socialist bloc. The delegation was led by the noted politician Mammed Amin Rasulzade (1884–1955).
The region’s value was no doubt obvious to the Sejm, especially in light of the fact that, despite the burden of wartime and post-October unrest, the oil fields of the Absheron Peninsula produced 48.7 million barrels of crude in 1917, amounting to 77.8% of all Russian production.
Naturally, the Sejm’s discussion of Caspian oil did not escape the attention of the leaders of Soviet Russia. Based on directives from Moscow, the Bolsheviks switched tactics from direct boycott of the Sejm to organizing mass rallies and other activities in Tiflis, in an effort to impede and undermine its work.
On March 15, 1918, learning of a possible compromise between the Sejm blocs, the Baku Soviet decided to take preemptive offensive measures. The Soviet’s meeting resolution stated: “The Baku Soviet considers it its revolutionary duty to come to the aid of the fraternal working class and peasantry of the entire Transcaucasus and join with them to overthrow this counterrevolutionary criminal rule of the Sejm.” This position was immediately supported by the Soviet government. A telegram from Lenin to Stepan Shaumian in Baku read, “In ecstasy over your firm and decisive policy. Strive to combine it with most careful diplomacy, grounded, naturally, by the present difficult situation, and we will win.”9
In late March 1918, armed conflicts broke out in Baku between the soldiers of the “wild division”—armed units of the Dashnaktsutiun (“Armenian Revolutionary Federation”)—and detachments of the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Baku Soviet. On March 30, 1918, the Baku Committee of Revolutionary Struggle was formed in Baku as a Bolshevik organization. It was led by Stepan Shaumian, and proclaimed itself the city’s supreme military-political body. All oil workers were assembled in the Baku Soviet building, where the committee announced the imposition of a tax of 50 million rubles to organize armed units of the Red Army in Baku.
The centralization of power and skillful coordination of actions between military units ended with the destruction of the opposition forces and consolidation of Soviet rule in the city. By decision of the executive committee of the Baku Soviet in early April 1918, a military mobilization was declared in the city, enabling a considerable increase in the manpower of the armed units.
Around the same time, however, on April 22, 1918, the Transcaucasian Sejm proclaimed the creation of the independent Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (TDFR), consisting of Baku, Tiflis, Kutaisi, and Yelizavetpol Provinces and the Batumi Region. The republic soon formed a government headed by Akaki Chkhenkeli, a noted politician, deputy to the Fourth State Duma, and former member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The government also included five representatives of Baku: Fatali Khan Isgender oglu Khoyski (minister of justice), Khudadat bey Aghabey oglu Malik-Aslanov (minister of railroads), Nasib bey Usubbeyov (minister of education), Mammad Hasan Jafargulu oglu Hajinski (minister of trade and industry), and Ibrahim bey Heydarov (minister of state inspection).
Commenting on the formation of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, Stalin wrote: “The Sejm ‘s declaration of the independence of the Transcaucasus (April 22), intended to give a free hand to the Tiflis ‘government,’ has actually thrown it into a trap of international predators.... One thing is clear: the independence of the Tiflis Mensheviks and their government from the Russian revolution will inevitably end in their enslavement to Turkish-German ‘civilized predators.”
One key point on the agenda of the meeting of the TDFR government was the question of establishing control over the Absheron Peninsula and its oil fields. At the suggestion of the Bolshevik faction, in order to counteract any actions by the TDFR government on this issue, a meeting of the Baku Soviet of Workers’, Soldiers’, and Sailors’ Deputies on April 25, 1918 resulted in the formation of a Board (Council) of People’s Commissars headed by Stepan Shaumian. The new governing body immediately declared that it did not recognize the jurisdiction of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic over the territory of Baku Province.