Following the February Revolution and the cessation of World War I hostilities, various meetings and congresses were organized throughout Bessarabia, discussing the future of the country. Led by teachers and intellectuals, meetings were held and committees were set up in virtually every village, after which county-wide and Bessarabia-wide congresses of professional corporations - peasants, teachers, cooperators, clergy - were held. On –, a congress of the representatives of the village cooperatives ("The First Congress of Cooperatives of Bessarabia") was held in Chișinău and voted a motion demanding political, administrative, educational, religious, and economic autonomy for Bessarabia and the formation of a legislative assembly "Sfatul Țării" (literally "The Council of the Country").