The Vilnius Soviet of Workers Deputies (Lithuanian: Vilniaus darbininkų atstovų taryba, abbreviated VDAT, Russian: Вильнюсский Совет рабочих депутатов) was a soviet (council) in the city of Vilnius. Following end of the First World War on November 11, 1918, a political vacuum emerged in Vilnius, as the German Ober Ost project crumbled.[1] The pro-communist Vilnius Soviet became one of the political forces seeking to govern the city competing with the Lithuanian Taryba and the Polish Samoobrona.[1] A total of 202 deputies were elected to the soviet in December 1918. Whilst the communists formed the largest faction, the Vilnius Soviet was politically diverse. Bundists and communists clashed at the first meeting of the soviet.[2] The soviet also did not welcome the Provisional Revolutionary Workers and Peasants Government of Lithuania headed by Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas. As such, new elections were organized after Vilnius was captured by the Red Army on January 5, 1919 during the Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919. By allowing Red Army soldiers to vote, the communist reinforced their control of the Vilnius Soviet.[3]