 The Jewish population of the city grew considerably in those years because of the pogroms committed by the White Army in Ukraine Belarus and Russia that led many Jews to find shelter in Azerbaijan, a country without an antisemitic tradition.The fact that the Jewish population had grown up to 13,700 persons helped the EKP (as well as the Communist Bund, the Yevsektsiya and the Zionist parties) to enlarge its membership in the area.The EKP promoted many cultural activities and struggled for the eliminination of illiteracy, in particular among the Mountain Jews.