Northern Commune

(full name, the Union of Communes of the Northern Region), an administrative unit active during the years 1918–19 and consisting of the northern and northwestern provinces of Soviet Russia. The Northern Commune was established as a form of the Soviet state system during the period when Soviet power was consolidating. It included Petrograd, Novgorod, Pskov, Olonets, Arkhangel’sk, and Vologda provinces. Severodvinsk and Cherepovets provinces later became part of the commune, having separated from Archangel’sk and Vologda provinces.

The Northern Commune was created at the First Congress of Soviets of the Northern Region, held in Petrograd on Apr. 26–29, 1918. The congress elected a central executive committee and confirmed an executive body, the Council of Commissars of the Northern Commune, which was based on departments of the Petrograd soviet. A decree of the Central Executive Committee of the Northern Commune of May 30, 1918, established the Northern Commune Press Agency, which published the periodicals Severnaia kommuna, Novyiput’, and Krasnaiagazeta.

As the central bodies of Soviet power became stronger, the existence of the Northern Commune was found to be impractical. On Feb. 24, 1919, the Third Congress of Soviets of the Northern Region passed a resolution abolishing the Northern Commune.