In January 1918, Avtonomov was made Commander of the South-Eastern Revolutionary Army, then based near the city of Tikhoretsk in the Krasnodar Krai.

[2] For a short period in April and May 1918, Avtonomov was commander of the Army of the Northern Caucasus and Chief of the Armed Forces of the Kuban Soviet Republic.

[3] He waged a bitter struggle with the civil authorities of the Kuban-Black Sea Soviet Republic, in which he supported the military commanders, including Ivan Sorokin.

[4] His place as head of the Army of the North Caucasus was taken by Major General Andrei Snesarev, who had defected to the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution, and who was replaced in turn by Sorokin.

After this, Avtonomov commanded a detachment in the fighting on the Terek River, and at Svyatoy Krest (Holy Cross, now named Budyonnovsk) in January 1919.