 In October 1917 he was organizer of a military coup-d'etat in Kharkiv and the whole Donets basin region.At the 1st congress of Soviets in Ukraine he was elected to the Central Executive Committee of Ukraine and later appointed the Ukrainian Narkom of Trade and Industry.In 1918, while Ukraine was under German occupation, Artyom was a chairman of the Sovnarkom of the unrecognized Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic in Ukraine and Narkom of Public Economy.