This was an anti-Bolshevik peasants’ revolt in Tambov governorate headed by Aleksander Antonov, a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs) (Antonovschina).

 

The main cause for this rebellion was that many peasants were largely discontented with the policy of War Communism adopted by the Bolsheviks, especially Prodrazvyorstka [food requisition]. In August of 1920, peasants in the villages of Khitrovo and Kamenka in Tambov district refused to give up their grain and disarmed the members of the prodotryads [food squads]. These events marked the outbreak of the rebellion. Soon after, the rebellion spread almost throughout all the Tambov governorate.

 

The rebels blocked railways and raided the nearby districts of Penza, Saratov, and Voronezh governorates. By February–March of 1921 the rebels counted several dozens of thousands. They have formed three armies. Every regular regiment had a red standard bearing its name and the motto of the SRs “Through Struggle You Will Attain Your Rights!”

 

The SR Aleksander Antonov and his “combat squad” actively contributed to the spreading of the rebellion. Aleksander Antonov was a reputable commander and a member of the League of Working Peasants, a political organization that opposed Prodrazvyorstka and promoted political and economic freedom. Antonov actually was the organizer and leader of the uprising. He headed the General Staff of the rebels from November 1920 to July 1921 and also commanded the Second Rebel Army. On May 20, 1921, the rebels have proclaimed their Provisional Democratic Republic of Tambov Guerrilla Territory. Though the SRs have taken an active part in the uprising, the leaders of the Socialist Revolutionary Party did not approve of it officially at the party conference held in September of 1920 as at that time they opposed any armed form of counteracting the Bolsheviks.

 

Having fully realized the scale of the rebel, the Bolshevik leaders mobilized considerable armed forces to suppress the Antonovschina. In late February and early March of 1921, a Plenipotentiary Commission of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) headed by Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko became the main tool to suppress the rebellion. Mikhail Tukhachevsky took command of Red Army troops in the Tambov area and Ieronim Uborevich was his deputy. Grigory Kotovsky, Ivan Fedko, and other eminent Soviet military leaders took part in punitive expeditions. As the Red Army had more troops and better supply support, it used the tactics of total occupation of the rebelling areas taking the most violent measures (like barraging villages and rebels who sheltered in the woods, etc.), by July 1921 the main rebel forces were defeated. Total casualties of the rebels exceeded 11,000 people. The losses of the Red Army in killed were about 6,000 people. For about one year, Aleksander Antonov, the rebels' leader, was hiding in the woods. On June 24, 1922, he was killed as a result of an operation organized by the State Political Directorate (GPU).

 

The Tambov Rebellion and other peasants’ revolts that took place in 1920–1921 made the 10th Congress of Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) adopt a decree replacing Prodrazvyorstka with prodnalog [Tax in Kind].