The infringements of liberty in the working-men's quarters lasted but a
little while and were followed by accessions of revolutionary spirit,
not only among the proletariat, but also in the Petrograd garrison. The
coalitionists were losing all influence. The wave of Bolshevism began to
spread from the urban centers to every part of the country and, despite
all obstacles, penetrated into the army ranks. The new coalition
government, with Kerensky at its head, had already openly embarked upon
a policy of repression. The ministry had restored the death penalty in
the army. Our papers were suppressed and our agitators were arrested;
but this only increased our influence. In spite of all the obstacles
involved in the new elections for the Petrograd Soviet, the distribution
of power in it had become so changed that on certain important questions
we already commanded a majority vote. The same was the case in the
Moscow Soviet.
At that time I, together with many others, was imprisoned at Kresty,
having been arrested for instigating and organizing the armed revolt of
July 3-5, in collusion with the German authorities, and with the object
of furthering the military ends of the Hohenzollerns. The famous
prosecutor of the Czarist regime, Aleksandrov, who had prosecuted
numerous revolutionists, was now entrusted with the task of protecting
the public from the counter-revolutionary Bolsheviki. Under the old
regime the inmates of prisons used to be divided into political
prisoners and criminals. Now a new terminology was established:
Criminals and Bolsheviks. Great perplexity reigned among the
imprisoned soldiers. The boys came from the country and had previously
taken no part in political life. They thought that the revolution had
set them free, once and for all. Hence they viewed with amazement their
doorlocks and grated windows. While taking their exercise in the
prison-yard, they would always ask me what all this meant and how it
would end. I comforted them with the hope of our ultimate victory.
Toward the end of August occurred the revolt of Korniloff; this was the
immediate result of the mobilization of the counter-revolutionary forces
to which a forceful impulse had been imparted by the attack of July
18th. At the celebrated Moscow Congress, which took place in the middle
of August, Kerensky attempted to take a middle ground between the
propertied elements and the democracy of the small bourgeoisie. The
Maximalists were on the whole considered as standing beyond the bounds
of the "legal." Kerensky threatened them with blood and iron, which met
with vehement applause from the propertied half of the gathering, and
treacherous silence on the part of the bourgeois democracy. But the
hysterical outcries and threats of Kerensky did not satisfy the chiefs
of the counter-revolutionary interests. They had only too clearly
observed the revolutionary tide flooding every portion of the country,
among the working class, in the villages, in the army; and they
considered it imperative to adopt without any delay the most extreme
measures to curb the masses. After reaching an understanding with the
property-owning bourgeoisie--who saw in him their hero--Korniloff took
it upon himself to accomplish this hazardous task. Kerensky, Savinkoff,
Filonenko and other Socialist-Revolutionists of the government or
semi-government class participated in this conspiracy, but each and
every one of them at a certain stage of the altering circumstances
betrayed Korniloff, for they knew that in the case of his defeat, they
would turn out to have been on the wrong side of the fence. We lived
through the events connected with Korniloff, while we were in jail, and
followed them in the newspapers; the unhindered delivery of newspapers
was the only important respect in which the jails of Kerensky differed
from those of the old regime. The Cossack General's adventure
miscarried; six months of revolution had created in the consciousness of
the masses and in their organization a sufficient resistance against an
open counter-revolutionary attack. The conciliable Soviet parties were
terribly frightened at the prospect of the possible results of the
Korniloff conspiracy, which threatened to sweep away, not only the
Maximalists, but also the whole revolution, together with its governing
parties. The Social-Revolutionists and the Minimalists proceeded to
legalize the Maximalists--this, to be sure, only retrospectively and
only half-way, inasmuch as they scented possible dangers in the future.
The very same Kronstadt sailors--whom they had dubbed burglars and
counter-revolutionists in the days following the July uprising--were
summoned during the Korniloff danger to Petrograd for the defence of the
revolution. They came without a murmur, without a word of reproach,
without recalling the past, and occupied the most responsible posts.
I had the fullest right to recall to Tseretelli these words which I had
addressed to him in May, when he was occupied in persecuting the
Kronstadt sailors: "When a counter-revolutionary general attempts to
throw the noose around the neck; of the revolution, the Cadets will
grease the rope with soap, while the Kronstadt sailors will come to
fight and die together with us."
The Soviet organizations had revealed everywhere, in the rear and at the
front, their vitality and their power in the struggle with the Korniloff
uprising. In almost no instance did things ever come to a military
conflict. The revolutionary masses ground into nothingness the general's
conspiracy. Just as the moderates in July found no soldiers among the
Petrograd garrison to fight against us, so now Korniloff found no
soldiers on the whole front to fight against the revolution. He had
acted by virtue of a delusion and the words of our propaganda easily
destroyed his designs.
According to information in the newspapers, I had expected a more rapid
unfolding of subsequent events in the direction of the passing of the
power into the hands of the Soviets. The growth of the influence and
power of the Maximalists became indubitable and had gained an
irresistable momentum. The Maximalists had warned against the coalition,
against the attack of the 18th of July, they predicted the Korniloff
affair--the masses of the people became convinced by experience that we
were right. During the most terrifying moments of the Korniloff
conspiracy, when the Caucasian division was approaching Petrograd, the
Petrograd Soviet was arming the workingmen with the extorted consent of
the authorities. Army divisions which had been brought up against us had
long since achieved their successful rebirth in the stimulating
atmosphere of Petrograd and were now altogether on our side. The
Korniloff uprising was destined to open definitely the eyes of the army
to the inadmissibility of any continued policy of conciliation with the
bourgeois counter-revolution. Hence it was possible to expect that the
crushing of the Korniloff uprising would prove to be only an
introduction to an immediate aggressive action on the part of the
revolutionary forces under the leadership of our party for the purpose
of seizing sole power. But events unfolded more slowly. With all the
tension of their revolutionary feeling, the masses had become more
cautious after the bitter lesson of the July days, and renounced all
isolated demonstrations, awaiting a direct instruction and direction
from above. And, also, among the leadership of our party there developed
a "watchful-waiting" policy. Under these circumstances, the liquidation
of the Korniloff adventure, irrespective of the profound regrouping of
forces to our advantage, did not bring about any immediate political
changes.