People's Commissariat for Nationalities

It was established even before the October Revolution on 11 June 1917^[2] by the Petrograd Soviet as part of three measures to create state forms that would guarantee federal and autonomous solutions to national questions in the Russian Revolution:

• complete civil equality for all citizens
• the right to use the mother tongue in official business, on par with Russian
• the formation of a Soviet of nationality affairs – Narkomnats.

This decision was made in response to the crisis triggered by the Central Council of Ukraine's demands for autonomy for national territories and a seat at any peace conference. These demands were rejected by Alexander Kerensky. Narkomnats was set up as an organ of the Soviets to prepare for the Constituent Assembly, particularly in regards to how Ukrainian autonomy could be handled. It provided for the organisation of a congress of representatives from all of Ukraine, which in turn would set up a Ukrainian Constituent Assembly. At this time the Bolsheviks opposed any national autonomy; however, on 13 August, Joseph Stalin published a tract that floated the idea of the Party might set up an agency for nationality affairs.^[3]This came at a time when Kerensky and Mensheviks like Nikolay Chkheidze were arguing for a unified state. Kerensky told Latvian representatives that they could only hope for the status of Zemstvo.^[4]

In 1918 Joseph Stalin as commissar presided over five or six of the first seven meetings of the Narkomnats Collegium, but failed to attend the next twenty one.^[5]

• Belnatskom was the Belarusian commissariat established 31 January 1918^[6]
• Evkom was the Jewish commissariat^[7]
• Muskom was the Muslim commissariat, chaired by Mullanur Waxitov
• Volga Commissariat for German Affairs, charter approved by Narkomnat on May 29, 1918^[8]

• James R. Millar, Encyclopedia of Russian History (2004) 3: 1000–1027, 1158–59.