In mid-November they created a unified leadership and launched an attack on Minusinsk to defeat the punitive detachment of General Shilnikov there and establish Soviet power.
On November 19, 7 detachments (about 10.000 people) under command of the Chief of the General Staff, V. Oshchepkov (a Corporal in the Tsarist army), attacked Minusinsk from three sides.
However, the detachment of Shilnikov (about 3.000 soldiers) managed to repulse the persistent attacks of the rebels between 19 – 21 of November.
The defeat of the rebellion was due to poor armament (no artillery, only 2,000 rifles and a small number of cartridges) and inconsistent actions by the rebel detachments.
The White military field court dealt brutally with the rebels: 87 people were shot, 50 forced into servitude, about 200 sentenced to imprisonment, and some 300 to a large fine.