These soviets acted independently from any central authority, excluding all political parties from participation, and met to self-manage the activities of workers and peasants through participatory democracy.
However, the conditions of the war meant that the Soviet model could only be implemented at scale during "periods of relative peace and territorial stability", as the populace was largely concerned with securing food or staying safe from the advancing armies.
[6] But the system was opposed by a number of other factions, with delegates to the Fourth Regional Congress from the Mensheviks and Right Socialist-Revolutionaries (both supporters of the Constituent Assembly) speaking out against a resolution which had called for "the universal and speediest possible creation of free local social and economic organizations in coordination with one another.
"[7] Following the victory of the Insurgent Army over the White movement in Ukraine, on 7 January 1920, they issued a declaration to Ukrainian workers and peasants, which proposed that they restart the construction of "free soviets" outside of political party control.
Mark Mratchny regarded the role of "free soviets" in a "transitional period" as being closer to the ideology of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, who proposed a decentralized "informal State", than it was to anarchist theory.
[20] These criticisms were rejected by Arshinov and Makhno, who claimed that the Makhnovshchina had "denied all statism" and ultimately "aspired to the building of a free society on the basis of the social independence, solidarity and self-direction of the toilers.