April 1917 saw the first Muslim Socialist Committee established in Kazan upon the initiative of representatives of the revolutionary-democratic Tatar youth. According to the charter, its goals were “to organize the Muslim proletariat and the working peasantry, to disseminate socialist ideas”. Mullanur Vakhitov became Chairman of the Committee. It consisted of workers, employees, and intelligentsia representatives. The Committee cooperated with all national organizations of the region, primarily with the Military Council (Harbi Shuro) and the Kazan Governorate National Council (Milli Shuro).

The Committee members supported the October Revolution, but many opposed the ideas of one-party government and economy centralization. The Committee called for the transfer of power from the Tatars to the Millet Majlis (National Assembly). After the revolution, Muslim Committees appeared in other cities. They played a significant role in the places of residence of Tatars and Bashkirs, cooperated with the Soviet authorities, and participated in the establishment of local Muslim commissariats. They included representatives of the Bolsheviks and Left SRs. Headed by Vakhitov, the pro-national group in the Committee actively supported the idea of creating Muslim autonomy in the Volga region between Kazan, Ufa, and Orenburg. A number of local national organizations wanted to independently proclaim such autonomy (the Idel-Ural State), but on March 22, 1918, Vakhitov and the People’s Commissar for Nationality Affairs Joseph Stalin signed the “Regulations on the Tatar-Bashkir Soviet Republic of the Russian Soviet Federation”.

In March 1918, together with the Central Commissariat for Muslim Affairs, the Muslim Socialist Committees of Kazan, Arkhangelsk, Moscow, Petrograd, Samara, and Kokand held a Conference of Muslim Workers of Russia in Moscow. The Conference formed the Central Muslim Socialist Committee. Mullanur Vakhitov was elected Chairman of the Executive Committee and Mirsaid Sultan-Galiev became Deputy Chairman. The Committees also operated in Orenburg, Vologda, Astrakhan, Perm, Saratov, Simbirsk, Tashkent, Tomsk, Tyumen, and other cities. Kyzyl Bairak (The Red Banner) newspaper was published.

In June 1918, the Kazan Meeting of Committee Representatives called for the formation of an independent Russian Muslim Communist Party, and the Muslim Socialist Committees were renamed the Muslim Communist Committees. After the power of the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch) was established in the Volga region and the death of Vakhitov on August 19, 1918, the factions of Bolshevik supporters began to strengthen and gain increasing influence in the Committees. In November 1918, the Committees were reorganized into Muslim Sections and Committees Bureau of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) – RCP(b).