On the Eve
In the relations of a weak Government and a rebellious people there
comes a time when every act of the authorities exasperates the masses,
and every refusal to act excites their contempt….
The proposal to abandon Petrograd raised a hurricane; Kerensky’s public
denial that the Government had any such intention was met with hoots of
derision.
Pinned to the wall by the pressure of the Revolution (cried _Rabotchi
Put),_ the Government of “provisional” bourgeois tries to get free by
giving out lying assurances that it never thought of fleeing from
Petrograd, and that it didn’t wish to surrender the capital….
In Kharkov thirty thousand coal miners organised, adopting the preamble
of the I. W. W. constitution: “The working class and the employing
class have nothing in common.” Dispersed by Cossacks, some were locked
out by the mine-owners, and the rest declared a general strike.
Minister of Commerce and Industry Konovalov appointed his assistant,
Orlov, with plenary powers, to settle the trouble. Orlov was hated by
the miners. But the _Tsay-ee-kah_ not only supported his appointment,
but refused to demand that the Cossacks be recalled from the Don
Basin….
This was followed by the dispersal of the Soviet at Kaluga. The
Bolsheviki, having secured a majority in the Soviet, set free some
political prisoners. With the sanction of the Government Commissar the
Municipal Duma called in troops from Minsk, and bombarded the Soviet
headquarters with artillery. The Bolsheviki yielded, but as they left
the building Cossacks attacked them, crying, “This is what we’ll do to
all the other Bolshevik Soviets, including those of Moscow and
Petrograd!” This incident sent a wave of panic rage throughout Russia….
In Petrograd was ending a regional Congress of Soviets of the North,
presided over by the Bolshevik Krylenko. By an immense majority it
resolved that all power should be assumed by the All-Russian Congress;
and concluded by greeting the Bolsheviki in prison, bidding them
rejoice, for the hour of their liberation was at hand. At the same time
the first All-Russian Conference of Factory-Shop Committees (See App.
III, Sect. 1) declared emphatically for the Soviets, and continued
significantly,
After liberating themselves politically from Tsardom, the working-class
wants to see the democratic régime triumphant in the sphere of its
productive activity. This is best expressed by Workers’ Control over
industrial production, which naturally arose in the atmosphere of
economic decomposition created by the criminal policy of the dominating
classes….
The Union of Railwaymen was demanding the resignation of Liverovsky,
Minister of Ways and Communications….
In the name of the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ Skobeliev insisted that the _nakaz_
be presented at the Allied Conference, and formally protested against
the sending of Terestchenko to Paris. Terestchenko offered to resign….
General Verkhovsky, unable to accomplish his reorganisation of the
army, only came to Cabinet meetings at long intervals….
On November 3d Burtzev’s _Obshtchee Dielo_ came out with great
headlines:
Citizens! Save the fatherland!
I have just learned that yesterday, at a meeting of the Commission for
National Defence, Minister of War General Verkhovsky, one of the
principal persons responsible for the fall of Kornilov, proposed to
sign a separate peace, independently of the Allies.
That is treason to Russia!
Terestchenko declared that the Provisional Government had not even
examined Verkhovsky’s proposition.
“You might think,” said Terestchenko, “that we were in a madhouse!”
The members of the Commission were astounded at the General’s words.
General Alexeyev wept.
No! It is not madness! It is worse. It is direct treason to Russia!
Kerensky, Terestchenko and Nekrassov must immediately answer us
concerning the words of Verkhovsky.
Citizens, arise!
Russia is being sold!
Save her!
What Verkhovsky really said was that the Allies must be pressed to
offer peace, because the Russian army could fight no longer….
Both in Russia and abroad the sensation was tremendous. Verkhovsky was
given “indefinite leave of absence for ill-health,” and left the
Government. _Obshtchee Dielo_ was suppressed….
Sunday, November 4th, was designated as the Day of the Petrograd
Soviet, with immense meetings planned all over the city, ostensibly to
raise money for the organisation and the press; really, to make a
demonstration of strength. Suddenly it was announced that on the same
day the Cossacks would hold a _Krestny Khod_—Procession of the Cross—in
honour of the Ikon of 1612, through whose miraculous intervention
Napoleon had been driven from Moscow. The atmosphere was electric; a
spark might kindle civil war. The Petrograd Soviet issued a manifesto,
headed “Brothers—Cossacks!”
You, Cossacks, are being incited against us, workers and soldiers. This
plan of Cain is being put into operation by our common enemies, the
oppressors, the privileged classes—generals, bankers, landlords, former
officials, former servants of the Tsar…. We are hated by all grafters,
rich men, princes, nobles, generals, including your Cossack generals.
They are ready at any moment to destroy the Petrograd Soviet and crush
the Revolution….
On the 4th of November somebody is organising a Cossack religious
procession. It is a question of the free consciousness of every
individual whether he will or will not take part in this procession. We
do not interfere in this matter, nor do we obstruct anybody…. However,
we warn you, Cossacks! Look out and see to it that under the pretext of
a _Krestni Khod,_ your Kaledins do not instigate you against workmen,
against soldiers….
The procession was hastily called off….
In the barracks and the working-class quarters of the town the
Bolsheviki were preaching, “All Power to the Soviets!” and agents of
the Dark Forces were urging the people to rise and slaughter the Jews,
shop-keepers, Socialist leaders….
On one side the Monarchist press, inciting to bloody repression—on the
other Lenin’s great voice roaring, “Insurrection!…. We cannot wait any
longer!”
Even the bourgeois press was uneasy. (See App. III, Sect. 2) _Birjevya
Viedomosti_ (Exchange Gazette) called the Bolshevik propaganda an
attack on “the most elementary principles of society—personal security
and the respect for private property.”
[Graphic, page 46: Appeal of the Petrograd Soviet]
Appeal of the Petrograd Soviet to the Cosacks to call off their
_Krestny Khod_—the religious procession planned for November 4th (our
calendar). “Brothers—Cossacks!” it begins. “The Petrograd Soviet of
Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies addresses you.”
But it was the “moderate” Socialist journals which were the most
hostile. (See App. III, Sect. 3) “The Bolsheviki are the most dangerous
enemies of the Revolution,” declared _Dielo Naroda._ Said the Menshevik
_Dien,_ “The Government ought to defend itself and defend us.”
Plekhanov’s paper, _Yedinstvo_ (Unity) (See App. III, Sect. 4), called
the attention of the Government to the fact that the Petrograd workers
were being armed, and demanded stern measures against the Bolsheviki.
Daily the Government seemed to become more helpless. Even the Municipal
administration broke down. The columns of the morning papers were
filled with accounts of the most audacious robberies and murders, and
the criminals were unmolested.
On the other hand armed workers patrolled the streets at night, doing
battle with marauders and requisitioning arms wherever they found them.
On the first of November Colonel Polkovnikov, Military Commander of
Petrograd, issued a proclamation:
Despite the difficult days through which the country is passing,
irresponsible appeals to armed demonstrations and massacres are still
being spread around Petrograd, and from day to day robbery and disorder
increase.
This state of things is disorganising the life of the citizens, and
hinders the systematic work of the Government and the Municipal
Institutions.
In full consciousness of my responsibility and my duty before my
country, I command:
1. Every military unit, in accordance with special instructions and
within the territory of its garrison, to afford every assistance to the
Municipality, to the Commissars, and to the militia, in the guarding of
Government institutions.
2. The organisation of patrols, in co-operation with the District
Commander and the representatives of the city militia, and the taking
of measures for the arrest of criminals and deserters.
3. The arrest of all persons entering barracks and inciting to armed
demonstrations and massacres, and their delivery to the headquarters of
the Second Commander of the city.
4. To suppress any armed demonstration or riot at its start, with all
armed forces at hand.
5. To afford assistance to the Commissars in preventing unwarranted
searches in houses and unwarranted arrests.
6. To report immediately all that happens in the district under charge
to the Staff of the Petrograd Military District.
I call upon all Army Committees and organisations to afford their help
to the commanders in fulfilment of the duties with which they are
charged.
In the Council of the Republic Kerensky declared that the Government
was fully aware of the Bolshevik preparations, and had sufficient force
to cope with any demonstration. (See App. III, Sect. 5) He accused
_Novaya Rus_ and _Robotchi Put_ of both doing the same kind of
subversive work. “But owing to the absolute freedom of the press,” he
added, “the Government is not in a position to combat printed
lies.[11]….” Declaring that these were two aspects of the same
propaganda, which had for its object the counter-revolution, so
ardently desired by the Dark Forces, he went on:
“I am a doomed man, it doesn’t matter what happens to me, and I have
the audacity to say that the other enigmatic part is that of the
unbelievable provocation created in the city by the Bolsheviki!”
[11] This was not quite candid. The Provisional Government had
suppressed Bolshevik papers before, in July, and was planning to do so
again.
On November 2d only fifteen delegates to the Congress of Soviets had
arrived. Next day there were a hundred, and the morning after that a
hundred and seventy-five, of whom one hundred and three were
Bolsheviki…. Four hundred constituted a quorum, and the Congress was
only three days off….
I spent a great deal of time at Smolny. It was no longer easy to get
in. Double rows of sentries guarded the outer gates, and once inside
the front door there was a long line of people waiting to be let in,
four at a time, to be questioned as to their identity and their
business. Passes were given out, and the pass system was changed every
few hours; for spies continually sneaked through….
[Graphic, page 49: Russian Pass to Reed, translation follows]
Pass to Smolny Institute, issued by the Military Revolutionary
Committee, giving me the right of entry at any time. (Translation)
Military Revolutionary Committee
attached to the
Petrograd Soviet of W. & S. D.
Commandant’s office
16th November, 1917
No. 955
Smolny Institute
PASS
Is given by the present to John Reed, correspondent of the American
Socialist press, until December 1, the right of free entry into Smolny
Institute. Commandant Adjutant
One day as I came up to the outer gate I saw Trotzky and his wife just
ahead of me. They were halted by a soldier. Trotzky searched through
his pockets, but could find no pass.
“Never mind,” he said finally. “You know me. My name is Trotzky.”
“You haven’t got a pass,” answered the soldier stubbornly.
“You cannot go in. Names don’t mean anything to me.”
“But I am the president of the Petrograd Soviet.”
“Well,” replied the soldier, “if you’re as important a fellow as that
you must at least have one little paper.”
Trotzky was very patient. “Let me see the Commandant,” he said. The
soldier hesitated, grumbling something about not wanting to disturb the
Commandant for every devil that came along. He beckoned finally to the
soldier in command of the guard. Trotzky explained matters to him. “My
name is Trotzky,” he repeated.
“Trotzky?” The other soldier scratched his head. “I’ve heard the name
somewhere,” he said at length. “I guess it’s all right. You can go on
in, comrade….”
In the corridor I met Karakhan, member of the Bolshevik Central
Committee, who explained to me what the new Government would be like.
“A loose organisation, sensitive to the popular will as expressed
through the Soviets, allowing local forces full play. At present the
Provisional Government obstructs the action of the local democratic
will, just as the Tsar’s Government did. The initiative of the new
society shall come from below…. The form of the Government will be
modelled on the Constitution of the Russian Social Democratic Labour
Party. The new _Tsay-ee-kah,_ responsible to frequent meetings of the
All-Russian Congress of Soviets, will be the parliament; the various
Ministries will be headed by _collegia_—committees—instead of by
Ministers, and will be directly responsible to the Soviets….”
On October 30th, by appointment, I went up to a small, bare room in the
attic of Smolny, to talk with Trotzky. In the middle of the room he sat
on a rough chair at a bare table. Few questions from me were necessary;
he talked rapidly and steadily, for more than an hour. The substance of
his talk, in his own words, I give here:
“The Provisional Government is absolutely powerless. The bourgeoisie is
in control, but this control is masked by a fictitious coalition with
the _oborontsi_ parties. Now, during the Revolution, one sees revolts
of peasants who are tired of waiting for their promised land; and all
over the country, in all the toiling classes, the same disgust is
evident. This domination by the bourgeoisie is only possible by means
of civil war. The Kornilov method is the only way by which the
bourgeoisie can control. But it is force which the bourgeoisie lacks….
The Army is with us. The conciliators and pacifists, Socialist
Revolutionaries and Mensheviki, have lost all authority—because the
struggle between the peasants and the landlords, between the workers
and the employers, between the soldiers and the officers, has become
more bitter, more irreconcilable than ever. Only by the concerted
action of the popular mass, only by the victory of proletarian
dictatorship, can the Revolution be achieved and the people saved….
“The Soviets are the most perfect representatives of the people—perfect
in their revolutionary experience, in their ideas and objects. Based
directly upon the army in the trenches, the workers in the factories,
and the peasants in the fields, they are the backbone of the
Revolution.
“There has been an attempt to create a power without the Soviets—and
only powerlessness has been created. Counter-revolutionary schemes of
all sorts are now being hatched in the corridors of the Council of the
Russian Republic. The Cadet party represents the counter-revolution
militant. On the other side, the Soviets represent the cause of the
people. Between the two camps there are no groups of serious
importance…. It is the _lutte finale._ The bourgeois counter-revolution
organises all its forces and waits for the moment to attack us. Our
answer will be decisive. We will complete the work scarcely begun in
March, and advanced during the Kornilov affair….”
He went on to speak of the new Government’s foreign policy:
“Our first act will be to call for an immediate armistice on all
fronts, and a conference of peoples to discuss democratic peace terms.
The quantity of democracy we get in the peace settlement depends on the
quantity of revolutionary response there is in Europe. If we create
here a Government of the Soviets, that will be a powerful factor for
immediate peace in Europe; for this Government will address itself
directly and immediately to all peoples, over the heads of their
Governments, proposing an armistice. At the moment of the conclusion of
peace the pressure of the Russian Revolution will be in the direction
of ‘no annexations, no indemnities, the right of self-determination of
peoples,’ and a _Federated Republic of Europe._…
“At the end of this war I see Europe recreated, not by the diplomats,
but by the proletariat. The Federated Republic of Europe—the United
States of Europe—that is what must be. National autonomy no longer
suffices. Economic evolution demands the abolition of national
frontiers. If Europe is to remain split into national groups, then
Imperialism will recommence its work. Only a Federated Republic of
Europe can give peace to the world.” He smiled—that fine, faintly
ironical smile of his. “But without the action of the European masses,
these ends cannot be realised—now….”
Now while everybody was waiting for the Bolsheviki to appear suddenly
on the streets one morning and begin to shoot down people with white
collars on, the real insurrection took its way quite naturally and
openly.
The Provisional Government planned to send the Petrograd garrison to
the front.
The Petrograd garrison numbered about sixty thousand men, who had taken
a prominent part in the Revolution. It was they who had turned the tide
in the great days of March, created the Soviets of Soldiers’ Deputies,
and hurled back Kornilov from the gates of Petrograd.
Now a large part of them were Bolsheviki. When the Provisional
Government talked of evacuating the city, it was the Petrograd garrison
which answered, “If you are not capable of defending the capital,
conclude peace; if you cannot conclude peace, go away and make room for
a People’s Government which can do both….”
It was evident that any attempt at insurrection depended upon the
attitude of the Petrograd garrison. The Government’s plan was to
replace the garrison regiments with “dependable” troops—Cossacks, Death
Battalions. The Army Committees, the “moderate” Socialists and the
_Tsay-ee-kah_ supported the Government. A wide-spread agitation was
carried on at the Front and in Petrograd, emphasizing the fact that for
eight months the Petrograd garrison had been leading an easy life in
the barracks of the capital, while their exhausted comrades in the
trenches starved and died.
Naturally there was some truth in the accusation that the garrison
regiments were reluctant to exchange their comparative comfort for the
hardships of a winter campaign. But there were other reasons why they
refused to go. The Petrograd Soviet feared the Government’s intentions,
and from the Front came hundreds of delegates, chosen by the common
soldiers, crying, “It is true we need reinforcements, but more
important, we must know that Petrograd and the Revolution are
well-guarded…. Do you hold the rear, comrades, and we will hold the
front!”
On October 25th, behind closed doors, the Central Committee of the
Petrograd Soviet discussed the formation of a special Military
Committee to decide the whole question. The next day a meeting of the
Soldiers’ Section of the Petrograd Soviet elected a Committee, which
immediately proclaimed a boycott of the bourgeois newspapers, and
condemned the _Tsay-ee-kah_ for opposing the Congress of Soviets. On
the 29th, in open session of the Petrograd Soviet, Trotzky proposed
that the Soviet formally sanction the Military Revolutionary Committee.
“We ought,” he said, “to create our special organisation to march to
battle, and if necessary to die….” It was decided to send to the front
two delegations, one from the Soviet and one from the garrison, to
confer with the Soldiers’ Committees and the General Staff.
At Pskov, the Soviet delegates were met by General Tcheremissov,
commander of the Northern Front, with the curt declaration that he had
ordered the Petrograd garrison to the trenches, and that was all. The
garrison committee was not allowed to leave Petrograd….
A delegation of the Soldiers’ Section of the Petrograd Soviet asked
that a representative be admitted to the Staff of the Petrograd
District. Refused. The Petrograd Soviet demanded that no orders be
issued without the approval of the Soldiers’ Section. Refused. The
delegates were roughly told, “We only recognise the _Tsay-ee-kah._ We
do not recognise you; if you break any laws, we shall arrest you.”
On the 30th a meeting of representatives of all the Petrograd regiments
passed a resolution: _“The Petrograd garrison no longer recognises the
Provisional Government. The Petrograd Soviet is our Government. We will
obey only the orders of the Petrograd Soviet, through the Military
Revolutionary Committee.”_ The local military units were ordered to
wait for instructions from the Soldiers’ Section of the Petrograd
Soviet.
Next day the _Tsay-ee-kah_ summoned its own meeting, composed largely
of officers, formed a Committee to cooperate with the Staff, and
detailed Commissars in all quarters of the city.
A great soldier meeting at Smolny on the 3d resolved:
Saluting the creation of the Military Revolutionary Committee, the
Petrograd garrison promises it complete support in all its actions, to
unite more closely the front and the rear in the interests of the
Revolution.
The garrison moreover declares that with the revolutionary proletariat
it assures the maintenance of revolutionary order in Petrograd. Every
attempt at provocation on the part of the Kornilovtsi or the
bourgeoisie will be met with merciless resistance.
Now conscious of its power, the Military Revolutionary Committee
peremptorily summoned the Petrograd Staff to submit to its control. To
all printing plants it gave orders not to publish any appeals or
proclamations without the Committee’s authorisation. Armed Commissars
visited the Kronversk arsenal and seized great quantities of arms and
ammunition, halting a shipment of ten thousand bayonets which was being
sent to Novotcherkask, headquarters of Kaledin….
Suddenly awake to the danger, the Government offered immunity if the
Committee would disband. Too late. At midnight November 5th Kerensky
himself sent Malevsky to offer the Petrograd Soviet representation on
the Staff. The Military Revolutionary Committee accepted. An hour later
General Manikovsky, acting Minister of war, countermanded the offer….
Tuesday morning, November 6th, the city was thrown into excitement by
the appearance of a placard signed, “Military Revolutionary Committee
attached to the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies.”
To the Population of Petrograd. Citizens!
Counter-revolution has raised its criminal head. The Kornilovtsi are
mobilising their forces in order to crush the All-Russian Congress of
Soviets and break the Constituent Assembly. At the same time the
_pogromists_ may attempt to call upon the people of Petrograd for
trouble and bloodshed. The Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’
Deputies takes upon itself the guarding of revolutionary order in the
city against counter-revolutionary and _pogrom_ attempts.
The Petrograd garrison will not allow any violence or disorders. The
population is invited to arrest hooligans and Black Hundred agitators
and take them to the Soviet Commissars at the nearest barracks. At the
first attempt of the Dark Forces to make trouble on the streets of
Petrograd, whether robbery or fighting, the criminals will be wiped off
the face of the earth!
Citizens! We call upon you to maintain complete quiet and
self-possession. The cause of order and Revolution is in strong hands.
List of regiments where there are Commissars of the Military
Revolutionary Committee….
On the 3rd the leaders of the Bolsheviki had another historic meeting
behind closed doors. Notified by Zalkind, I waited in the corridor
outside the door; and Volodarsky as he came out told me what was going
on.
Lenin spoke: “November 6th will be too early. We must have an
all-Russian basis for the rising; and on the 6th all the delegates to
the Congress will not have arrived…. On the other hand, November 8th
will be too late. By that time the Congress will be organised, and it
is difficult for a large organised body of people to take swift,
decisive action. We must act on the 7th, the day the Congress meets, so
that we may say to it, ‘Here is the power! What are you going to do
with it?’”
In a certain upstairs room sat a thin-faced, long-haired individual,
once an officer in the armies of the Tsar, then revolutionist and
exile, a certain Avseenko, called Antonov, mathematician and
chess-player; he was drawing careful plans for the seizure of the
capital.
On its side the Government was preparing. Inconspicuously certain of
the most loyal regiments, from widely-separated divisions, were ordered
to Petrograd. The _yunker_ artillery was drawn into the Winter Palace.
Patrols of Cossacks made their appearance in the streets, for the first
time since the July days. Polkovnikov issued order after order,
threatening to repress all insubordination with the “utmost energy.”
Kishkin, Minister of Public Instruction, the worst-hated member of the
Cabinet, was appointed Special Commissar to keep order in Petrograd; he
named as assistants two men no less unpopular, Rutenburg and
Paltchinsky. Petrograd, Cronstadt and Finland were declared in a state
of siege—upon which the bourgeois _Novoye Vremya_ (New Times) remarked
ironically:
Why the state of siege? The Government is no longer a power. It has no
moral authority and it does not possess the necessary apparatus to use
force…. In the most favourable circumstances it can only negotiate with
any one who consents to parley. Its authority goes no farther….
Monday morning, the 5th, I dropped in at the Marinsky Palace, to see
what was happening in the Council of the Russian Republic. Bitter
debate on Terestchenko’s foreign policy. Echoes of the
Burtzev-Verkhovski affair. All the diplomats present except the Italian
ambassador, who everybody said was prostrated by the Carso disaster….
As I came in, the Left Socialist Revolutionary Karelin was reading
aloud an editorial from the London _Times_ which said, “The remedy for
Bolshevism is bullets!” Turning to the Cadets he cried, “That’s what
_you_ think, too!”
Voices from the Right, “Yes! Yes!”
“Yes, I know you think so,” answered Karelin, hotly. “But you haven’t
the courage to try it!”
Then Skobeliev, looking like a matinée idol with his soft blond beard
and wavy yellow hair, rather apologetically defending the Soviet
_nakaz._ Terestchenko followed, assailed from the Left by cries of
“Resignation! Resignation!” He insisted that the delegates of the
Government and of the _Tsay-ee-kah_ to Paris should have a common point
of view—his own. A few words about the restoration of discipline in the
army, about war to victory…. Tumult, and over the stubborn opposition
of the truculent Left, the Council of the Republic passed to the simple
order of the day.
There stretched the rows of Bolshevik seats—empty since that first day
when they left the Council, carrying with them so much life. As I went
down the stairs it seemed to me that in spite of the bitter wrangling,
no real voice from the rough world outside could penetrate this high,
cold hall, and that the Provisional Government was wrecked—on the same
rock of War and Peace that had wrecked the Miliukov Ministry…. The
doorman grumbled as he put on my coat, “I don’t know what is becoming
of poor Russia. All these Mensheviki and Bolsheviki and Trudoviki….
This Ukraine and this Finland and the German imperialists and the
English imperialists. I am forty-five years old, and in all my life I
never heard so many words as in this place….”
In the corridor I met Professor Shatsky, a rat-faced individual in a
dapper frock-coat, very influential in the councils of the Cadet party.
I asked him what he thought of the much-talked-of Bolshevik
_vystuplennie._ He shrugged, sneering.
“They are cattle—_canaille,”_ he answered. “They will not dare, or if
they dare they will soon be sent flying. From our point of view it will
not be bad, for then they will ruin themselves and have no power in the
Constituent Assembly….
“But, my dear sir, allow me to outline to you my plan for a form of
Government to be submitted to the Constituent Assembly. You see, I am
chairman of a commission appointed from this body, in conjunction with
the Provisional Government, to work out a constitutional project…. We
will have a legislative assembly of two chambers, such as you have in
the United States. In the lower chamber will be territorial
representatives; in the upper, representatives of the liberal
professions, zemstvos, Cooperatives—and Trade Unions….”
Outside a chill, damp wind came from the west, and the cold mud
underfoot soaked through my shoes. Two companies of _yunkers_ passed
swinging up the Morskaya, tramping stiffly in their long coats and
singing an oldtime crashing chorus, such as the soldiers used to sing
under the Tsar…. At the first cross-street I noticed that the City
Militiamen were mounted, and armed with revolvers in bright new
holsters; a little group of people stood silently staring at them. At
the corner of the Nevsky I bought a pamphlet by Lenin, “Will the
Bolsheviki be Able to Hold the Power?” paying for it with one of the
stamps which did duty for small change. The usual street-cars crawled
past, citizens and soldiers clinging to the outside in a way to make
Theodore P. Shonts green with envy…. Along the sidewalk a row of
deserters in uniform sold cigarettes and sunflower seeds….
Up the Nevsky in the sour twilight crowds were battling for the latest
papers, and knots of people were trying to make out the multitudes of
appeals (See App. III, Sect. 6) and proclamations pasted in every flat
place; from the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ the Peasants’ Soviets, the “moderate”
Socialist parties, the Army Committees—threatening, cursing, beseeching
the workers and soldiers to stay home, to support the Government….
An armoured automobile went slowly up and down, siren screaming. On
every corner, in every open space, thick groups were clustered; arguing
soldiers and students. Night came swiftly down, the wide-spaced
street-lights flickered on, the tides of people flowed endlessly…. It
is always like that in Petrograd just before trouble….
The city was nervous, starting at every sharp sound. But still no sign
from the Bolsheviki; the soldiers stayed in the barracks, the workmen
in the factories…. We went to a moving picture show near the Kazan
Cathedral—a bloody Italian film of passion and intrigue. Down front
were some soldiers and sailors, staring at the screen in childlike
wonder, totally unable to comprehend why there should be so much
violent running about, and so much homicide….
From there I hurried to Smolny. In room 10 on the top floor, the
Military Revolutionary Committee sat in continuous session, under the
chairmanship of a tow-headed, eighteen-year-old boy named Lazimir. He
stopped, as he passed, to shake hands rather bashfully.
“Peter-Paul Fortress has just come over to us,” said he, with a pleased
grin. “A minute ago we got word from a regiment that was ordered by the
Government to come to Petrograd. The men were suspicious, so they
stopped the train at Gatchina and sent a delegation to us. ‘What’s the
matter?’ they asked. ‘What have you got to say? We have just passed a
resolution, “All Power to the Soviets.”’… The Military Revolutionary
Committee sent back word, ‘Brothers! We greet you in the name of the
Revolution. Stay where you are until further instructions!’”
All telephones, he said, were cut off: but communication with the
factories and barracks was established by means of military
telephonograph apparatus….
A steady stream of couriers and Commissars came and went. Outside the
door waited a dozen volunteers, ready to carry word to the farthest
quarters of the city. One of them, a gypsy-faced man in the uniform of
a lieutenant, said in French, “Everything is ready to move at the push
of a button….”
There passed Podvoisky, the thin, bearded civillian whose brain
conceived the strategy of insurrection; Antonov, unshaven, his collar
filthy, drunk with loss of sleep; Krylenko, the squat, wide-faced
soldier, always smiling, with his violent gestures and tumbling speech;
and Dybenko, the giant bearded sailor with the placid face. These were
the men of the hour—and of other hours to come.
Downstairs in the office of the Factory-Shop Committees sat Seratov,
signing orders on the Government Arsenal for arms—one hundred and fifty
rifles for each factory…. Delegates waited in line, forty of them….
In the hall I ran into some of the minor Bolshevik leaders. One showed
me a revolver. “The game is on,” he said, and his face was pale.
“Whether we move or not the other side knows it must finish us or be
finished….”
The Petrograd Soviet was meeting day and night. As I came into the
great hall Trotzky was just finishing.
“We are asked,” he said, “if we intend to have a _vystuplennie._ I can
give a clear answer to that question. The Petrograd Soviet feels that
at last the moment has arrived when the power must fall into the hands
of the Soviets. This transfer of government will be accomplished by the
All-Russian Congress. Whether an armed demonstration is necessary will
depend on… those who wish to interfere with the All-Russian Congress….
“We feel that our Government, entrusted to the personnel of the
Provisional Cabinet, is a pitiful and helpless Government, which only
awaits the sweep of the broom of History to give way to a really
popular Government. But we are trying to avoid a conflict, even now,
to-day. We hope that the All-Russian Congress will take… into its hands
that power and authority which rests upon the organised freedom of the
people. If, however, the Government wants to utilise the short period
it is expected to live—twenty-four, forty-eight, or seventy-two
hours—to attack us, then we shall answer with counter-attacks, blow for
blow, steel for iron!”
Amid cheers he announced that the Left Socialist Revolutionaries had
agreed to send representatives into the Military Revolutionary
Committee….
As I left Smolny, at three o’clock in the morning, I noticed that two
rapid-firing guns had been mounted, one on each side of the door, and
that strong patrols of soldiers guarded the gates and the near-by
street-corners. Bill Shatov[12] came bounding up the steps. “Well,” he
cried, “We’re off! Kerensky sent the _yunkers_ to close down our
papers, _Soldat_ and _Rabotchi Put._ But our troops went down and
smashed the Government seals, and now we’re sending detachments to
seize the bourgeois newspaper offices!” Exultantly he slapped me on the
shoulder, and ran in….
[12] Well known in the American labor movement.
On the morning of the 6th I had business with the censor, whose office
was in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Everywhere, on all the walls,
hysterical appeals to the people to remain “calm.” Polkovnikov emitted
_prikaz_ after _prikaz:_
I order all military units and detachments to remain in their barracks
until further orders from the Staff of the Military District…. All
officers who act without orders from their superiors will be
court-martialled for mutiny. I forbid absolutely any execution by
soldiers of instructions from other organisations….
The morning papers announced that the Government had suppressed the
papers _Novaya Rus, Zhivoye Slovo, Rabotchi Put_ and _Soldat,_ and
decreed the arrest of the leaders of the Petrograd Soviet and the
members of the Military Revolutionary Committee….
As I crossed the Palace Square several batteries of _yunker_ artillery
came through the Red Arch at a jingling trot, and drew up before the
Palace. The great red building of the General Staff was unusually
animated, several armoured automobiles ranked before the door, and
motors full of officers were coming and going…. The censor was very
much excited, like a small boy at a circus. Kerensky, he said, had just
gone to the Council of the Republic to offer his resignation. I hurried
down to the Marinsky Palace, arriving at the end of that passionate and
almost incoherent speech of Kerensky’s, full of self-justification and
bitter denunciation of his enemies.
“I will cite here the most characteristic passage from a whole series
of articles published in _Rabotchi Put_ by Ulianov-Lenin, a state
criminal who is in hiding and whom we are trying to find…. This state
criminal has invited the proletariat and the Petrograd garrison to
repeat the experience of the 16th-18th of July, and insists upon the
immediate necessity for an armed rising…. Moreover, other Bolshevik
leaders have taken the floor in a series of meetings, and also made an
appeal to immediate insurrection. Particularly should be noticed the
activity of the present president of the Petrograd Soviet,
Bronstein-Trotzky….
“I ought to bring to your notice… that the expressions and the style of
a whole series of articles in _Rabotchi Put_ and _Soldat_ resemble
absolutely those of _Novaya Rus…._ We have to do not so much with the
movement of such and such political party, as with the exploitation of
the political ignorance and criminal instincts of a part of the
population, a sort of organisation whose object it is to provoke in
Russia, cost what it may, an inconscient movement of destruction and
pillage; for given the state of mind of the masses, any movement at
Petrograd will be followed by the most terrible massacres, which will
cover with eternal shame the name of free Russia….
“… By the admission of Ulianov-Lenin himself, the situation of the
extreme left wing of the Social Democrats in Russia is very
favourable.” (Here Kerensky read the following quotation from Lenin’s
article.):
Think of it!… The German comrades have only one Liebknecht, without
newspapers, without freedom of meeting, without a Soviet…. They are
opposed by the incredible hostility of all classes of society—and yet
the German comrades try to act; while we, having dozens of newspapers,
freedom of meeting, the majority of the Soviets, we, the best-placed
international proletarians of the entire world, can we refuse to
support the German revolutionists and insurrectionary organisations?…
Kerensky then continued:
“The organisers of rebellion recognise thus implicitly that the most
perfect conditions for the free action of a political party obtain now
in Russia, administered by a Provisional Government at the head of
which is, in the eyes of this party, ‘a usurper and a man who has sold
himself to the bourgeoisie, the Minister-President Kerensky….’
“… The organisers of the insurrection do not come to the aid of the
German proletariat, but of the German governing classes, and they open
the Russian front to the iron fists of Wilhelm and his friends…. Little
matter to the Provisional Government the motives of these people,
little matter if they act consciously or unconsciously; but in any
case, from this tribune, in full consciousness of my responsibility, I
quality such acts of a Russian political party as acts of treason to
Russia!
“… I place myself at the point of view of the Right, and I propose
immediately to proceed to an investigation and make the necessary
arrests.” (Uproar from the Left.) “Listen to me!” he cried in a
powerful voice. “At the moment when the state is in danger, because of
conscious or unconscious treason, the Provisional Government, and
myself among others, prefer to be killed rather than betray the life,
the honour and the independence of Russia….”
At this moment a paper was handed to Kerensky.
“I have just received the proclamation which they are distributing to
the regiments. Here is the contents.” Reading: _“‘The Petrograd Soviet
of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies is menaced. We order immediately the
regiments to mobilise on a war footing and to await new orders. All
delay or non-execution of this order will be considered as an act of
treason to the Revolution. The Military Revolutionary Committee. For
the President, Podvoisky. The Secretary, Antonov.’_
“In reality, this is an attempt to raise the populace against the
existing order of things, to break the Constituent and to open the
front to the regiments of the iron fist of Wilhelm….
“I say ‘populace’ intentionally, because the conscious democracy and
its _Tsay-ee-kah,_ all the Army organisations, all that free Russia
glorifies, the good sense, the honour and the conscience of the great
Russian democracy, protests against these things….
“I have not come here with a prayer, but to state my firm conviction
that the Provisional Government, which defends at this moment our new
liberty—that the new Russian state, destined to a brilliant future,
will find unanimous support except among those who have never dared to
face the truth….
“… The Provisional Government has never violated the liberty of all
citizens of the State to use their political rights…. But now the
Provisional Government…. declares: in this moment those elements of the
Russian nation, those groups and parties who have dared to lift their
hands against the free will of the Russian people, at the same time
threatening to open the front to Germany, must be liquidated with
decision!…
“Let the population of Petrograd understand that it will encounter a
firm power, and perhaps at the last moment good sense, conscience and
honour will triumph in the hearts of those who still possess them….”
All through this speech, the hall rang with deafening clamour. When the
Minister-President had stepped down, pale-faced and wet with
perspiration, and strode out with his suite of officers, speaker after
speaker from the Left and Centre attacked the Right, all one angry
roaring. Even the Socialist Revolutionaries, through Gotz:
“The policy of the Bolsheviki is demagogic and criminal, in their
exploitation of the popular discontent. But there is a whole series of
popular demands which have received no satisfaction up to now…. The
questions of peace, land and the democratization of the army ought to
be stated in such a fashion that no soldier, peasant or worker would
have the least doubt that our Government is attempting, firmly and
infallibly, to solve them….
“We Mensheviki do not wish to provoke a Cabinet crisis, and we are
ready to defend the Provisional Government with all our energy, to the
last drop of our blood—if only the Provisional Government, on all these
burning questions, will speak the clear and precise words awaited by
the people with such impatience….”
Then Martov, furious:
“The words of the Minister-President, who allowed himself to speak of
‘populace’ when it is question of the movement of important sections of
the proletariat and the army—although led in the wrong direction—are
nothing but an incitement to civil war.”
The order of the day proposed by the Left was voted. It amounted
practically to a vote of lack of confidence.
1. The armed demonstration which has been preparing for some days past
has for its object a _coup d’etat,_ threatens to provoke civil war,
creates conditions favourable to _pogroms_ and counterrevolution, the
mobilization of counter-revolutionary forces, such as the Black
Hundreds, which will inevitably bring about the impossibility of
convoking the Constituent, will cause a military catastrophe, the death
of the Revolution, paralyse the economic life of the country and
destroy Russia;
2. The conditions favourable to this agitation have been created by
delay in passing urgent measures, as well as objective conditions
caused by the war and the general disorder. It is necessary before
everything to promulgate at once a decree transmitting the land to the
peasants’ Land Committees, and to adopt an energetic course of action
abroad in proposing to the Allies to proclaim their peace terms and to
begin peace-parleys;
3. To cope with Monarchist manifestations and _pogromist_ movements, it
is indispensable to take immediate measures to suppress these
movements, and for this purpose to create at Petrograd a Committee of
Public Safety, composed of representatives of the Municipality and the
organs of the revolutionary democracy, acting in contact with the
Provisional Government….
It is interesting to note that the Mensheviki and Socialist
Revolutionaries all rallied to this resolution…. When Kerensky saw it,
however, he summoned Avksentiev to the Winter Palace to explain. If it
expressed a lack of confidence in the Provisional Government, he begged
Avksentiev to form a new Cabinet. Dan, Gotz and Avksentiev, the leaders
of the “compromisers,” performed their last compromise…. They explained
to Kerensky that it was not meant as a criticism of the Government!
At the corner of the Morskaya and the Nevsky, squads of soldiers with
fixed bayonets were stopping all private automobiles, turning out the
occupants, and ordering them toward the Winter Palace. A large crowd
had gathered to watch them. Nobody knew whether the soldiers belonged
to the Government or the Military Revolutionary Committee. Up in front
of the Kazan Cathedral the same thing was happening, machines being
directed back up the Nevsky. Five or six sailors with rifles came
along, laughing excitedly, and fell into conversation with two of the
soldiers. On the sailors’ hat bands were _Avrora_ and _Zaria
Svobody,_—the names of the leading Bolshevik cruisers of the Baltic
Fleet. One of them said, “Cronstadt is coming!”… It was as if, in 1792,
on the streets of Paris, some one had said: “The Marseillais are
coming!” For at Cronstadt were twenty-five thousand sailors, convinced
Bolsheviki and not afraid to die….
_Rabotchi i Soldat_ was just out, all its front page one huge
proclamation: SOLDIERS! WORKERS! CITIZENS!
The enemies of the people passed last night to the offensive. The
Kornilovists of the Staff are trying to draw in from the suburbs
_yunkers_ and volunteer battalions. The Oranienbaum _yunkers_ and the
Tsarskoye Selo volunteers refused to come out. A stroke of high treason
is being contemplated against the Petrograd Soviet…. The campaign of
the counter-revolutionists is being directed against the All-Russian
Congress of Soviets on the eve of its opening, against the Constituent
Assembly, against the people. The Petrograd Soviet is guarding the
Revolution. The Military Revolutionary Committee is directing the
repulse of the conspirators’ attack. The entire garrison and
proletariat of Petrograd are ready to deal the enemy of the people a
crushing blow.
The Military Revolutionary Committee decrees:
1. All regimental, division and battle-ship Committees, together with
the Soviet Commissars, and all revolutionary organisations, shall meet
in continuous session, concentrating in their hands all information
about the plans of the conspirators.
2. Not one soldier shall leave his division without permission of the
Committee.
3. To send to Smolny at once two delegates from each military unit and
five from each Ward Soviet.
4. All members of the Petrograd Soviet and all delegates to the
All-Russian Congress are invited immediately to Smolny for an
extraordinary meeting.
Counter-revolution has raised its criminal head.
A great danger threatens all the conquests and hopes of the soldiers
and workers.
But the forces of the Revolution by far exceed those of its enemies.
The cause of the People is in strong hands. The conspirators will be
crushed.
No hesitation or doubts! Firmness, steadfastness, discipline,
determination!
Long live the Revolution!
_The Military Revolutionary Committee._
The Petrograd Soviet was meeting continuously at Smolny, a centre of
storm, delegates falling down asleep on the floor and rising again to
take part in the debate, Trotzky, Kameniev, Volodarsky speaking six,
eight, twelve hours a day….
I went down to room 18 on the first floor where the Bolshevik delegates
were holding caucus, a harsh voice steadily booming, the speaker hidden
by the crowd: “The compromisers say that we are isolated. Pay no
attention to them. Once it begins they must be dragged along with us,
or else lose their following….”
Here he held up a piece of paper. “We are dragging them! A message has
just come from the Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries! They say
that they condemn our action, but that if the Government attacks us
they will not oppose the cause of the proletariat!” Exultant shouting….
As night fell the great hall filled with soldiers and workmen, a
monstrous dun mass, deep-humming in a blue haze of smoke. The old
_Tsay-ee-kah_ had finally decided to welcome the delegates to that new
Congress which would mean its own ruin—and perhaps the ruin of the
revolutionary order it had built. At this meeting, however, only
members of the _Tsay-ee-kah_ could vote….
It was after midnight when Gotz took the chair and Dan rose to speak,
in a tense silence, which seemed to me almost menacing.
“The hours in which we live appear in the most tragic colours,” he
said. “The enemy is at the gates of Petrograd, the forces of the
democracy are trying to organise to resist him, and yet we await
bloodshed in the streets of the capital, and famine threatens to
destroy, not only our homogeneous Government, but the Revolution
itself….
“The masses are sick and exhausted. They have no interest in the
Revolution. If the Bolsheviki start anything, that will be the end of
the Revolution…” (Cries, “That’s a lie!)” “The counter-revolutionists
are waiting with the Bolsheviki to begin riots and massacres…. If there
is any _vystuplennie,_ there will be no Constituent Assembly….” (Cries,
“Lie! Shame!”)
“It is inadmissible that in the zone of military operations the
Petrograd garrison shall not submit to the orders of the Staff…. You
must obey the orders of the Staff and of the _Tsay-ee-kah_ elected by
you. All Power to the Soviets—that means death! Robbers and thieves are
waiting for the moment to loot and burn…. When you have such slogans
put before you, ‘Enter the houses, take away the shoes and clothes from
the bourgeoisie—’” (Tumult. Cries, “No such slogan! A lie! A lie!”)
“Well, it may start differently, but it will end that way!
“The _Tsay-ee-kah_ has full power to act, and must be obeyed…. We are
not afraid of bayonets…. The _Tsay-ee-kah_ will defend the Revolution
with its body….” (Cries, “It was a dead body long ago!”)
Immense continued uproar, in which his voice could be heard screaming,
as he pounded the desk, “Those who are urging this are committing a
crime!”
Voice: “You committed a crime long ago, when you captured the power and
turned it over to the bourgeoisie!”
Gotz, ringing the chairman’s bell: “Silence, or I’ll have you put out!”
Voice: “Try it!” (Cheers and whistling.)
“Now concerning our policy about peace.” (Laughter.) “Unfortunately
Russia can no longer support the continuation of the war. There is
going to be peace, but not permanent peace—not a democratic peace….
To-day, at the Council of the Republic, in order to avoid bloodshed, we
passed an order of the day demanding the surrender of the land to the
Land Committees and immediate peace negotiations….” (Laughter, and
cries, “Too late!”)
Then for the Bolsheviki, Trotzky mounted the tribune, borne on a wave
of roaring applause that burst into cheers and a rising house,
thunderous. His thin, pointed face was positively Mephistophelian in
its expression of malicious irony.
“Dan’s tactics prove that the masses—the great, dull, indifferent
masses—are absolutely with him!” (Titantic mirth.) He turned toward the
chairman, dramatically. “When we spoke of giving the land to the
peasants, you were against it. We told the peasants, ‘If they don’t
give it to you, take it yourselves!’ and the peasants followed our
advice. And now you advocate what we did six months ago….
“I don’t think Kerensky’s order to suspend the death penalty in the
army was dictated by his ideals. I think Kerensky was persuaded by the
Petrograd garrison, which refused to obey him….
“To-day Dan is accused of having made a speech in the Council of the
Republic which proves him to be a secret Bolshevik…. The time may come
when Dan will say that the flower of the Revolution participated in the
rising of July 16th and 18th…. In Dan’s resolution to-day at the
Council of the Republic there was no mention of enforcing discipline in
the army, although that is urged in the propaganda of his party….
“No. The history of the last seven months shows that the masses have
left the Mensheviki. The Mensheviki and the Socialist Revolutionaries
conquered the Cadets, and then when they got the power, they gave it to
the Cadets….
“Dan tells you that you have no right to make an insurrection.
Insurrection is the right of all revolutionists! When the down-trodden
masses revolt, it is their right….”
Then the long-faced, cruel-tongued Lieber, greeted with groans and
laughter.
“Engels and Marx said that the proletariat had no right to take power
until it was ready for it. In a bourgeois revolution like this…. the
seizure of power by the masses means the tragic end of the Revolution….
Trotzky, as a Social Democratic theorist, is himself opposed to what he
is now advocating….” (Cries, “Enough! Down with him!”)
Martov, constantly interrupted: “The Internationalists are not opposed
to the transmission of power to the democracy, but they disapprove of
the methods of the Bolsheviki. This is not the moment to seize the
power….”
Again Dan took the floor, violently protesting against the action of
the Military Revolutionary Committee, which had sent a Commissar to
seize the office of _Izviestia_ and censor the paper. The wildest
uproar followed. Martov tried to speak, but could not be heard.
Delegates of the Army and the Baltic Fleet stood up all over the hall,
shouting that the Soviet was _their_ Government….
Amid the wildest confusion Ehrlich offered a resolution, appealing to
the workers and soldiers to remain calm and not to respond to
provocations to demonstrate, recognising the necessity of immediately
creating a Committee of Public Safety, and asking the Provisional
Government at once to pass decrees transferring the land to the
peasants and beginning peace negotiations….
Then up leaped Volodarsky, shouting harshly that the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ on
the eve of the Congress, had no right to assume the functions of the
Congress. The _Tsay-ee-kah_ was practically dead, he said, and the
resolution was simply a trick to bolster up its waning power….
“As for us, Bolsheviki, we will not vote on this resolution!” Whereupon
all the Bolsheviki left the hall and the resolution was passed….
Toward four in the morning I met Zorin in the outer hall, a rifle slung
from his shoulder.
“We’re moving!” (See App. III, Sect. 7) said he, calmly but with
satisfaction. “We pinched the Assistant Minister of Justice and the
Minister of Religions. They’re down cellar now. One regiment is on the
march to capture the Telephone Exchange, another the Telegraph Agency,
another the State Bank. The Red Guard is out….”
On the steps of Smolny, in the chill dark, we first saw the Red Guard—a
huddled group of boys in workmen’s clothes, carrying guns with
bayonets, talking nervously together.
Far over the still roofs westward came the sound of scattered rifle
fire, where the _yunkers_ were trying to open the bridges over the
Neva, to prevent the factory workers and soldiers of the Viborg quarter
from joining the Soviet forces in the centre of the city; and the
Cronstadt sailors were closing them again….
Behind us great Smolny, bright with lights, hummed like a gigantic
hive….