Nikifor Grigoriev’s Uprising (Grigoriev Rebellion, Grigoriev Mutiny, Grigorievschina) was an anti-Soviet uprising that took place in Ukraine in May of 1919. This uprising was triggered by strong and mass-scale disapproval of the War Communism policy pursued by the Bolsheviks, especially of the Prodrazvyorstka [food requisition], persecution of peasants, and spreading of collective farming in Ukraine. Such collective farms were given about 10 million desyatinas of land (27 million acres).

 

The rebel army was mainly composed of the troops that formed the 6th Ukrainian Soviet Division of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army stationed in Kherson governorate. Nikifor Grigoriev who commanded this Division was one of the most eminent Atamans [commanders] in Ukraine of that period. In February of 1919, he allied with the Soviet power. In mid-April of 1919, the Red Army commanders ordered him to move his troops from the city of Odessa to the Romanian front in order to support the Hungarian Soviet Republic. However, Nikifor Grigoriev instead moved his troops eastward, allegedly to give his people some rest. His division was stationed in the cities of Yelisavetgrad, Aleksandriya, and the nearby districts. There on May 4–6, 1919 Grigoriev’s troops started  mass pogroms (more than 1,500 victims).

 

On May 8, 1919, Nikifor Grigoriev addressed the Ukrainian nation calling for the liquidation of the communist authorities and for setting the genuine democracy in the form of the Peasants' Soviets. Having started on May 9, 1919, the rebel spread over most of Yekaterinoslav and Kherson governorates with its center in the city of Aleksandriya. These areas were the rear of the Red Army troops that fought the Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR). Soldiers in Yekaterinoslav and sailors in Ochakov and Nikolaev took up this call. It took the troops commanded by Nikifor Grigoriev just a few days to capture Yelisavetgrad, Yekaterinoslav, Kherson, Nikolaev, Kremenchug, Cherkasy, Uman’ and other settlements. Having occupied a new territory, the rebels eliminated the Soviet authorities there, killed the members of the All-Russian Emergency Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage (VChK) and the prodotryads [food squads]. Besides, mass pillage and Jewish pogroms  took place in such regions.

 

However, it did not take much time for the Red Army troops to liberate the territories occupied by the rebels. On May 22, 1919, the Reds captured the city of Aleksandriya that was also known as Grigoriev’s capital. Grigoriev’s forces suffered heavy casualties (up to 3,000 people were killed). Heading the troops of 3,000 rebels, Grigoriev retreated towards the city of Kherson. In July of 1919, he entered into an alliance with Nestor Makhno against both the Reds and the Whites. Nestor Makhno chaired the Insurrectionary Council, whereas Nikifor Grigoriev commanded the armed forces. For three weeks they acted together, but on July 27, 1919, the Makhnovists killed Grigoriev under the pretext that the latter was in contact with Anton Denikin and took part in organizing anti-Jewish pogroms. The staff members and some of Grigoriev's followers were killed, but most of the rebels have joined the Makhno’s Insurrectionary Army.

 

The wave of anti-Soviet riots that followed Nikifor Grigoriev’s uprising is often defined as the May military and political crisis in Ukraine. The rebellion largely contributed to the disorganization of the Red Army rear and to the success achieved by the AFSR in 1919 as well as prevented the Russian SFSR from intervention in Romania and Hungary.