Plunging Ahead
Thursday, November 8th. Day broke on a city in the wildest excitement
and confusion, a whole nation heaving up in long hissing swells of
storm. Superficially all was quiet; hundreds of thousands of people
retired at a prudent hour, got up early, and went to work. In Petrograd
the street-cars were running, the stores and restaurants open, theatres
going, an exhibition of paintings advertised…. All the complex routine
of common life—humdrum even in war-time—proceeded as usual. Nothing is
so astounding as the vitality of the social organism—how it persists,
feeding itself, clothing itself, amusing itself, in the face of the
worst calamities….
The air was full of rumours about Kerensky, who was said to have raised
the Front, and to be leading a great army against the capital. _Volia
Naroda_ published a _prikaz_ launched by him at Pskov:
The disorders caused by the insane attempt of the Bolsheviki place the
country on the verge of a precipice, and demand the effort of our
entire will, our courage and the devotion of every one of us, to win
through the terrible trial which the fatherland is undergoing….
Until the declaration of the composition of the new Government—if one
is formed—every one ought to remain at his post and fulfil his duty
toward bleeding Russia. It must be remembered that the least
interference with existing Army organisations can bring on irreparable
misfortunes, by opening the Front to the enemy. Therefore it is
indispensable to preserve at any price the morale of the troops, by
assuring complete order and the preservation of the Army from new
shocks, and by maintaining absolute confidence between officers and
their subordinates. I order all the chiefs and Commissars, in the name
of the safety of the country, to stay at their posts, as I myself
retain the post of Supreme Commander, until the Provisional Government
of the Republic shall declare its will….
In answer, this placard on all the walls:
FROM THE ALL-RUSSIAN CONGRESS OF SOVIETS
“The ex-Ministers Konovalov, Kishkin, Terestchenko, Maliantovitch,
Nikitin and others have been arrested by the Military Revolutionary
Committee. Kerensky has fled. All Army organisations are ordered to
take every measure for the immediate arrest of Kerensky and his
conveyance to Petrograd.
“All assistance given to Kerensky will be punished as a serious crime
against the state.”
With brakes released the Military Revolutionary Committee whirled,
throwing off orders, appeals, decrees, like sparks. (See App. V, Sect.
1)… Kornilov was ordered brought to Petrograd. Members of the Peasant
Land Committees imprisoned by the Provisional Government were declared
free. Capital punishment in the army was abolished. Government
employees were ordered to continue their work, and threatened with
severe penalties if they refused. All pillage, disorder and speculation
were forbidden under pain of death. Temporary Commissars were appointed
to the various Ministries: Foreign Affairs, Vuritsky and Trotzky;
Interior and Justice, Rykov; Labor, Shliapnikov; Finance, Menzhinsky;
Public Welfare, Madame Kollontai; Commerce, Ways and Communications,
Riazanov; Navy, the sailor Korbir; Posts and Telegraphs, Spiro;
Theatres, Muraviov; State Printing Office, Gherbychev; for the City of
Petrograd, Lieutenant Nesterov; for the Northern Front, Pozern….
To the Army, appeal to set up Military Revolutionary Committees. To the
railway workers, to maintain order, especially not to delay the
transport of food to the cities and the front…. In return, they were
promised representation in the Ministry of Ways and Communications.
Cossack brothers! (said one proclamation). You are being led against
Petrograd. They want to force you into battle with the revolutionary
workers and soldiers of the capital. Do not believe a word that is said
by our common enemies, the land-owners and the capitalists.
At our Congress are represented all the conscious organisations of
workers, soldiers and peasants of Russia. The Congress wishes also to
welcome into its midst the worker-Cossacks. The Generals of the Black
Band, henchmen of the land-owners, of Nicolai the Cruel, are our
enemies.
They tell you that the Soviets wish to confiscate the lands of the
Cossacks. This is a lie. It is only from the great Cossack landlords
that the Revolution will confiscate the land to give it to the people.
Organise Soviets of Cossacks’ Deputies! Join with the Soviets of
Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies!
Show the Black Band that you are not traitors to the People, and that
you do not wish to be cursed by the whole of revolutionary Russia!…
Cossack brothers, execute no orders of the enemies of the people. Send
your delegates to Petrograd to talk it over with us…. The Cossacks of
the Petrograd garrison, to their honour, have not justified the hope of
the People’s enemies….
Cossack brothers! The All-Russian Congress of Soviets extends to you a
fraternal hand. Long live the brotherhood of the Cossacks with the
soldiers, workers and peasants of all Russia!
On the other side, what a storm of proclamations posted up, hand-bills
scattered everywhere, newspapers—screaming and cursing and prophesying
evil. Now raged the battle of the printing press—all other weapons
being in the hands of the Soviets.
First, the appeal of the Committee for Salvation of Country and
Revolution, flung broadcast over Russia and Europe:
TO THE CITIZENS OF THE RUSSIAN REPUBLIC!
Contrary to the will of the revolutionary masses, on November 7th the
Bolsheviki of Petrograd criminally arrested part of the Provisional
Government, dispersed the Council of the Republic, and proclaimed an
illegal power. Such violence committed against the Government of
revolutionary Russia at the moment of its greatest external danger, is
an indescribable crime against the fatherland.
The insurrection of the Bolsheviki deals a mortal blow to the cause of
national defence, and postpones immeasurably the moment of peace so
greatly desired.
Civil war, begun by the Bolsheviki, threatens to deliver the country to
the horrors of anarchy and counter-revolution, and cause the failure of
the Constituent Assembly, which must affirm the republican régime and
transmit to the People forever their right to the land.
Preserving the continuity of the only legal Governmental power, the
Committee for Salvation of Country and Revolution, established on the
night of November 7th, takes the initiative in forming a new
Provisional Government; which, basing itself on the forces of
democracy, will conduct the country to the Constituent Assembly and
save it from anarchy and counter-revolution. The Committee for
Salvation summons you, citizens, to refuse to recognise the power of
violence. Do not obey its orders!
Rise for the defence of the country and Revolution!
Support the Committee for Salvation!
Signed by the Council of the Russian Republic, the Municipal Duma of
Petrograd, the _Tsay-ee-kah (First Congress),_ the Executive Committee
of the Peasants’ Soviets, and from the Congress itself the Front group,
the factions of Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviki, Populist
Socialists, Unified Social Democrats, and the group “Yedinstvo.”
Then posters from the Socialist Revolutionary party, the Mensheviki
_oborontsi,_ Peasants’ Soviets again; from the Central Army Committee,
the _Tsentroflot_….
… Famine will crush Petrograd! (they cried). The German armies will
trample on our liberty. Black Hundred _pogroms_ will spread over
Russia, if we all—conscious workers, soldiers, citizens—do not unite….
Do not trust the promises of the Bolsheviki! The promise of immediate
peace—is a lie! The promise of bread—a hoax! The promise of land—a
fairy tale!…
They were all in this manner.
Comrades! You have been basely and cruelly deceived! The seizure of
power has been accomplished by the Bolsheviki alone…. They concealed
their plot from the other Socialist parties composing the Soviet….
You have been promised land and freedom, but the counter-revolution
will profit by the anarchy called forth by the Bolsheviki, and will
deprive you of land and freedom….
The newspapers were as violent.
Our duty (said the _Dielo Naroda_) is to unmask these traitors to the
working-class. Our duty is to mobilise all our forces and mount guard
over the cause of the Revolution!…
_Izviestia,_ for the last time speaking in the name of the old
_Tsay-ee-kah,_ threatened awful retribution.
As for the Congress of Soviets, we affirm that there has been no
Congress of Soviets! We affirm that it was merely a private conference
of the Bolshevik faction! And in that case, they have no right to
cancel the powers of the _Tsay-ee-kah_….
_Novaya Zhizn,_ while pleading for a new Government that should unite
all the Socialist parties, criticised severely the action of the
Socialist Revolutionaries and the Mensheviki in quitting the Congress,
and pointed out that the Bolshevik insurrection meant one thing very
clearly: that all illusions about coalition with the bourgeoisie were
henceforth demonstrated vain…
_Rabotchi Put_ blossomed out as _Pravda,_ Lenin’s newspaper which had
been suppressed in July. It crowed, bristling:
Workers, soldiers, peasants! In March you struck down the tyranny of
the clique of nobles. Yesterday you struck down the tyranny of the
bourgeois gang….
The first task now is to guard the approaches to Petrograd.
The second is definitely to disarm the counter-revolutionary elements
of Petrograd.
The third is definitely to organise the revolutionary power and assure
the realisation of the popular programme…
What few Cadet organs appeared, and the bourgeoisie generally, adopted
a detached, ironical attitude toward the whole business, a sort of
contemptuous “I—told—you—so” to the other parties. Influential Cadets
were to be seen hovering around the Municipal Duma, and on the
outskirts of the Committee for Salvation. Other than that, the
bourgeoisie lay low, biding its hour—which could not far off. That the
Bolsheviki would remain in power longer than three days never occurred
to anybody—except perhaps to Lenin, Trotzky, the Petrograd workers and
the simpler soldiers….
In the high, amphitheatrical Nicolai Hall that afternoon I saw the Duma
sitting in _permanence,_ tempestuous, grouping around it all the forces
of opposition. The old Mayer, Schreider, majestic with his white hair
and beard, was describing his visit to Smolny the night before, to
protest in the name of the Municipal Self-Government. “The Duma, being
the only existing legal Government in the city, elected by equal,
direct and secret suffrage, would not recognise the new power,” he had
told Trotzky. And Trotzky had answered, “There is a constitutional
remedy for that. The Duma can be dissolved and re-elected….” At this
report there was a furious outcry.
“If one recognises a Government by bayonet,” continued the old man,
addressing the Duma, “well, we have one; but I consider legitimate only
a Government recognised by the majority, and not one created by the
usurpation of a minority!” Wild applause on all benches except those of
the Bolsheviki. Amid renewed tumult the Mayor announced that the
Bolsheviki already were violating Municipal autonomy by appointing
Commissars in many departments.
The Bolshevik speaker shouted, trying to make himself heard, that the
decision of the Congress of Soviets meant that all Russia backed up the
action of the Bolsheviki.
“You!” he cried. “You are not the real representative of the people of
Petrograd!” Shrieks of “Insult! Insult!” The old Mayor, with dignity,
reminded him that the Duma was elected by the freest possible popular
vote. “Yes,” he answered, “but that was a long time ago—like the
_Tsay-ee-kah_—like the Army Committee.”
“There has been no new Congress of Soviets!” they yelled at him.
“The Bolshevik faction refuses to remain any longer in this nest of
counter-revolution—” Uproar. “—and we demand a re-election of the
Duma….” Whereupon the Bolsheviki left the chamber, followed by cries of
“German agents! Down with the traitors!”
Shingariov, Cadet, then demanded that all Municipal functionaries who
had consented to be Commissars of the Military Revolutionary Committee
be discharged from their position and indicted. Schreider was on his
feet, putting a motion to the effect that the Duma protested against
the menace of the Bolsheviki to dissolve it, and as the legal
representative of the population, it would refuse to leave its post.
Outside, the Alexander Hall was crowded for the meeting of the
Committee for Salvation, and Skobeliev was again speaking. “Never yet,”
he said, “was the fate of the Revolution so acute, never yet did the
question of the existence of the Russian state excite so much anxiety,
never yet did history put so harshly and categorically the question—is
Russia to be or not to be! The great hour for the salvation of the
Revolution has arrived, and in consciousness thereof we observe the
close union of the live forces of the revolutionary democracy, by whose
organised will a centre for the salvation of the country and the
Revolution has already been created….” And much of the same sort. “We
shall die sooner than surrender our post!”
Amid violent applause it was announced that the Union of Railway
Workers had joined the Committee for Salvation. A few moments later the
Post and Telegraph Employees came in; then some Mensheviki
Internationalists entered the hall, to cheers. The Railway men said
they did not recognise the Bolsheviki and had taken the entire railroad
apparatus into their own hands, refusing to entrust it to any
usurpatory power. The Telegraphers’ delegate declared that the
operators had flatly refused to work their instruments as long as the
Bolshevik Commissar was in the office. The Postmen would not deliver or
accept mail at Smolny…. All the Smolny telephones were cut off. With
great glee it was reported how Uritzky had gone to the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs to demand the secret treaties, and how Neratov had put
him out. The Government employees were all stopping work….
It was war—war deliberately planned, Russian fashion; war by strike and
sabotage. As we sat there the chairman read a list of names and
assignments; so-and-so was to make the round of the Ministries; another
was to visit the banks; some ten or twelve were to work the barracks
and persuade the soldiers to remain neutral—“Russian soldiers, do not
shed the blood of your brothers!”; a committee was to go and confer
with Kerensky; still others were despatched to provincial cities, to
form branches of the Committee for Salvation, and link together the
anti-Bolshevik elements.
The crowd was in high spirits. “These Bolsheviki _will_ try to dictate
to the _intelligentzia?_ We’ll show them!”… Nothing could be more
striking than the contrast between this assemblage and the Congress of
Soviets. There, great masses of shabby soldiers, grimy workmen,
peasants—poor men, bent and scarred in the brute struggle for
existence; here the Menshevik and Social Revolutionary
leaders—Avksentievs, Dans, Liebers,—the former Socialist
Ministers—Skobelievs, Tchernovs,—rubbed shoulders with Cadets like oily
Shatsky, sleek Vinaver; with journalists, students, intellectuals of
almost all camps. This Duma crowd was well-fed, well-dressed; I did not
see more than three proletarians among them all….
News came. Kornilov’s faithful _Tekhintsi_[14] had slaughtered his
guards at Bykhov, and he had escaped. Kaledin was marching north…. The
Soviet of Moscow had set up a Military Revolutionary Committee, and was
negotiating with the commandant of the city for possession of the
arsenal, so that the workers might be armed.
[14] See Notes and Explanations.
With these facts was mixed an astounding jumble of rumours,
distortions, and plain lies. For instance, an intelligent young Cadet,
formerly private secretary to Miliukov and then to Terestchenko, drew
us aside and told us all about the taking of the Winter Palace.
“The Bolsheviki were led by German and Austrian officers,” he affirmed.
“Is that so?” we replied, politely. “How do you know?”
“A friend of mine was there and saw them.”
“How could he tell they were German officers?”
“Oh, because they wore German uniforms!”
There were hundreds of such absurd tales, and they were not only
solemnly published by the anti-Bolshevik press, but believed by the
most unlikely persons—Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviki who had
always been distinguished by their sober devotion to facts….
But more serious were the stories of Bolshevik violence and terrorism.
For example, it was said printed that the Red Guards had not only
thoroughly looted the Winter Palace, but that they had massacred the
_yunkers_ after disarming them, had killed some of the Ministers in
cold blood; and as for the woman soldiers, most of them had been
violated, and many had committed suicide because of the tortures they
had gone through…. All these stories were swallowed whole by the crowd
in the Duma. And worse still, the mothers and fathers of the students
and of the women read these frightful details, _often accompanied by
lists of names,_ and toward nightfall the Duma began to be besieged by
frantic citizens….
A typical case is that of Prince Tumanov, whose body, it was announced
in many newspapers, had been found floating in the Moika Canal. A few
hours later this was denied by the Prince’s family, who added that the
Prince was under arrest so the press identified the dead man as General
Demissov. The General having also come to life, we investigated, and
could find no trace of any body found whatever….
As we left the Duma building two boy scouts were distributing
hand-bills (See App. V, Sect. 2) to the enormous crowd which blocked
the Nevsky in front of the door—a crowd composed almost entirely of
business men, shop-keepers, _tchinouniki,_ clerks. One read!
FROM THE MUNICIPAL DUMA
The Municipal Duma in its meeting of October 26th, in view of the
events of the day decrees: To announce the inviolability of private
dwellings. Through the House Committees it calls upon the population of
the town of Petrograd to meet with decisive repulse all attempts to
enter by force private apartments, not stopping at the use of arms, in
the interests of the self-defence of citizens.
Up on the corner of the Liteiny, five or six Red Guards and a couple of
sailors had surrounded a news-dealer and were demanding that he hand
over his copies of the Menshevik _Rabot-chaya Gazeta_ (Workers’
Gazette). Angrily he shouted at them, shaking his fist, as one of the
sailors tore the papers from his stand. An ugly crowd had gathered
around, abusing the patrol. One little workman kept explaining doggedly
to the people and the news-dealer, over and over again, “It has
Kerensky’s proclamation in it. It says we killed Russian people. It
will make bloodshed….”
Smolny was tenser than ever, if that were possible. The same running
men in the dark corridors, squads of workers with rifles, leaders with
bulging portfolios arguing, explaining, giving orders as they hurried
anxiously along, surrounded by friends and lieutenants. Men literally
out of themselves, living prodigies of sleeplessness and work-men
unshaven, filthy, with burning eyes, who drove upon their fixed purpose
full speed on engines of exaltation. So much they had to do, so much!
Take over the Government, organise the City, keep the garrison loyal,
fight the Duma and the Committee for Salvation, keep out the Germans,
prepare to do battle with Kerensky, inform the provinces what had
happened, Propagandise from Archangel to Vladivostok…. Government and
Municipal employees refusing to obey their Commissars, post and
telegraph refusing them communication, railroads stonily ignoring their
appeals for trains, Kerensky coming, the garrison not altogether to be
trusted, the Cossacks waiting to come out…. Against them not only the
organised bourgeoisie, but all the other Socialist parties except the
Left Socialist Revolutionaries, a few Mensheviki Internationalists and
the Social Democrat Internationalists, and even they undecided whether
to stand by or not. With them, it is true, the workers and the
soldier-masses—the peasants an unknown quantity—but after all the
Bolsheviki were a political faction not rich in trained and educated
men….
Riazanov was coming up the front steps, explaining in a sort of
humorous panic that he, Commissar of Commerce, knew nothing whatever of
business. In the upstairs cafe sat a man all by himself in the corner,
in a goat-skin cape and clothes which had been—I was going to say
“slept in,” but of course he hadn’t slept—and a three days’ growth of
beard. He was anxiously figuring on a dirty envelope, and biting his
pencil meanwhile. This was Menzhinsky, Commissar of Finance, whose
qualifications were that he had once been clerk in a French bank…. And
these four half-running down the hall from the office of the Military
Revolutionary Committee, and scribbling on bits of paper as they
run—these were Commissars despatched to the four corners of Russia to
carry the news, argue, or fight—with whatever arguments or weapons came
to hand….
The Congress was to meet at one o’clock, and long since the great
meeting-hall had filled, but by seven there was yet no sign of the
presidium…. The Bolshevik and Left Social Revolutionary factions were
in session in their own rooms. All the livelong afternoon Lenin and
Trotzky had fought against compromise. A considerable part of the
Bolsheviki were in favour of giving way so far as to create a joint
all-Socialist government. “We can’t hold on!” they cried.
“Too much is against us. We haven’t got the men. We will be isolated,
and the whole thing will fall.” So Kameniev, Riazanov and others.
But Lenin, with Trotzky beside him, stood firm as a rock. “Let the
compromisers accept our programme and they can come in! We won’t give
way an inch. If there are comrades here who haven’t the courage and the
will to dare what we dare, let them leave with the rest of the cowards
and conciliators! Backed by the workers and soldiers we shall go on.”
At five minutes past seven came word from the left Socialist
Revolutionaries to say that they would remain in the Military
Revolutionary Committee.
“See!” said Lenin. “They are following!”
A little later, as we sat at the press table in the big hall, an
Anarchist who was writing for the bourgeois papers proposed to me that
we go and find out what had become of the presidium. There was nobody
in the _Tsay-ee-kah_ office, nor in the bureau of the Petrograd Soviet.
From room to room we wandered, through vast Smolny. Nobody seemed to
have the slightest idea where to find the governing body of the
Congress. As we went my companion described his ancient revolutionary
activities, his long and pleasant exile in France…. As for the
Bolsheviki, he confided to me that they were common, rude, ignorant
persons, without aesthetic sensibilities. He was a real specimen of the
Russian _intelligentzia_…. So he came at last to Room 17, office of the
Military Revolutionary Committee, and stood there in the midst of all
the furious coming and going. The door opened, and out shot a squat,
flat-faced man in a uniform without insignia, who seemed to be
smiling—which smile, after a minute, one saw to be the fixed grin of
extreme fatigue. It was Krylenko.
My friend, who was a dapper, civilized-looking young man, gave a cry of
pleasure and stepped forward.
“Nicolai Vasilievitch!” he said, holding out his hand. “Don’t you
remember me, comrade? We were in prison together.”
Krylenko made an effort and concentrated his mind and sight. “Why yes,”
he answered finally, looking the other up and down with an expression
of great friendliness. “You are S—. _Zdra’stvuitye!_” They kissed.
“What are you doing in all this?” He waved his arm around.
“Oh, I’am just looking on…. You seem very successful.”
“Yes,” replied Krylenko, with a sort of doggedness, “The proletarian
Revolution is a great success.” He laughed. “Perhaps—perhaps, however,
we’ll meet in prison again!”
When we got out into the corridor again my friend went on with his
explanations. “You see, I’m a follower of Kropotkin. To us the
Revolution is a great failure; it has not aroused the patriotism of the
masses. Of course that only proves that the people are not ready for
Revolution….”
It was just 8.40 when a thundering wave of cheers announced the
entrance of the presidium, with Lenin—great Lenin—among them. A short,
stocky figure, with a big head set down in his shoulders, bald and
bulging. Little eyes, a snubbish nose, wide, generous mouth, and heavy
chin; clean-shaven now, but already beginning to bristle with the
well-known beard of his past and future. Dressed in shabby clothes, his
trousers much too long for him. Unimpressive, to be the idol of a mob,
loved and revered as perhaps few leaders in history have been. A
strange popular leader—a leader purely by virtue of intellect;
colourless, humourless, uncompromising and detached, without
picturesque idiosyncrasies—but with the power of explaining profound
ideas in simple terms, of analysing a concrete situation. And combined
with shrewdness, the greatest intellectual audacity.
Kameniev was reading the report of the actions of the Military
Revolutionary Committee; abolition of capital punishment in the Army,
restoration of the free right of propaganda, release of officers and
soldiers arrested for political crimes, orders to arrest Kerensky and
confiscation of food supplies in private store-houses…. Tremendous
applause.
Again the representative of the _Bund._ The uncompromising attitude of
the Bolsheviki would mean the crushing of the Revolution; therefore,
the _Bund_ delegates must refuse any longer to sit in the Congress.
Cries from the audience, “We thought you walked out last night! How
many times are you going to walk out?”
Then the representative of the Mensheviki Internationalists. Shouts,
“What! You here still?” The speaker explained that only part of the
Mensheviki Internationalists left the Congress; the rest were going
to stay—
“We consider it dangerous and perhaps even mortal for the Revolution to
transfer the power to the Soviets”—Interruptions—“but we feel it our
duty to remain in the Congress and vote against the transfer here!”
Other speakers followed, apparently without any order. A delegate of
the coal-miners of the Don Basin called upon the Congress to take
measures against Kaledin, who might cut off coal and food from the
capital. Several soldiers just arrived from the Front brought the
enthusiastic greetings of their regiments…. Now Lenin, gripping the
edge of the reading stand, letting his little winking eyes travel over
the crowd as he stood there waiting, apparently oblivious to the
long-rolling ovation, which lasted several minutes. When it finished,
he said simply, “We shall now proceed to construct the Socialist
order!” Again that overwhelming human roar.
“The first thing is the adoption of practical measures to realise
peace…. We shall offer peace to the peoples of all the belligerent
countries upon the basis of the Soviet terms—no annexations, no
indemnities, and the right of self-determination of peoples. At the
same time, according to our promise, we shall publish and repudiate the
secret treaties…. The question of War and Peace is so clear that I
think that I may, without preamble, read the project of a Proclamation
to the Peoples of All the Belligerent Countries….”
His great mouth, seeming to smile, opened wide as he spoke; his voice
was hoarse—not unpleasantly so, but as if it had hardened that way
after years and years of speaking—and went on monotonously, with the
effect of being able to go on forever…. For emphasis he bent forward
slightly. No gestures. And before him, a thousand simple faces looking
up in intent adoration.
PROCLAMATION TO THE PEOPLES AND GOVERNMENTS OF ALL THE BELLIGERENT
NATIONS.
The Workers’ and Peasants’ Government, created by the revolution of
November 6th and 7th and based on the Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’
and Peasants’ Deputies, proposes to all the belligerent peoples and to
their Governments to begin immediately negotiations for a just and
democratic peace.
The Government means by a just and democratic peace, which is desired
by the immense majority of the workers and the labouring classes,
exhausted and depleted by the war—that peace which the Russian workers
and peasants, after having struck down the Tsarist monarchy, have not
ceased to demand categorically—immediate peace without annexations
(that is to say, without conquest of foreign territory, without
forcible annexation of other nationalities), and without indemnities.
The Government of Russia Proposes to all the belligerent peoples
immediately to conclude such a peace, by showing themselves willing to
enter upon the decisive steps of negotiations aiming at such a peace,
at once, without the slightest delay, before the definitive
ratification of all the conditions of such a peace by the authorised
assemblies of the people of all countries and of all nationalities.
By annexation or conquest of foreign territory, the Government
means—conformably to the conception of democratic rights in general,
and the rights of the working-class in particular—all union to a great
and strong State of a small or weak nationality, without the voluntary,
clear and precise expression of its consent and desire; whatever be the
moment when such an annexation by force was accomplished, whatever be
the degree civilisation of the nation annexed by force or maintained
outside the frontiers of another State, no matter if that nation be in
Europe or in the far countries across the sea.
If any nation is retained by force within the limits of another State;
if, in spite of the desire expressed by it, (it matters little if that
desire be expressed by the press, by popular meetings, decisions of
political parties, or by disorders and riots against national
oppression), that nation is not given the right of deciding by free
vote—without the slightest constraint, after the complete departure of
the armed forces of the nation which has annexed it or wishes to annex
it or is stronger in general—the form of its national and political
organisation, such a union constitutes an annexation—that is to say,
conquest and an act of violence.
To continue this war in order to permit the strong and rich nations to
divide among themselves the weak and conquered nationalities is
considered by the Government the greatest possible crime against
humanity; and the Government solemnly proclaims its decision to sign a
treaty of peace which will put an end to this war upon the above
conditions, equally fair for all nationalities without exception.
The Government abolishes secret diplomacy, expressing before the whole
country its firm decision to conduct all the negotiations in the light
of day before the people, and will proceed immediately to the full
publication of all secret treaties confirmed or concluded by the
Government of land-owners and capitalists, from March until November
7th, 1917. All the clauses of the secret treaties which, as occur in a
majority of cases, have for their object to procure advantages and
privileges for Russian capitalists, to maintain or augment the
annexations of the Russian imperialists, are denounced by the
Government immediately and without discussion.
In proposing to all Governments and all peoples to engage in public
negotiations for peace, the Government declares itself ready to carry
on these negotiations by telegraph, by post, or by pourparlers between
the representatives of the different countries, or at a conference of
these representatives. To facilitate these pourparlers, the Government
appoints its authorised representatives in the neutral countries.
The Government proposes to all the governments and to the peoples of
all the belligerent countries to conclude an immediate armistice, at
the same time suggesting that the armistice ought to last three months,
during which time it is perfectly possible, not only to hold the
necessary pourparlers between the representatives of all the nations
and nationalities without exception drawn into the war or forced to
take part in it, but also to convoke authorised assemblies of
representatives of the people of all countries, for the purpose of the
definite acceptance of the conditions of peace.
In addressing this offer of peace to the Governments and to the peoples
of all the belligerent countries, the Provisional Workers’ and
Peasants’ Government of Russia addresses equally and in particular the
conscious workers of the three nations most devoted to humanity and the
three most important nations among those taking part in the present
war—England, France, and Germany. The workers of these countries have
rendered the greatest services to the cause of progress and of
Socialism. The splendid examples of the Chartist movement in England,
the series of revolutions, of world-wide historical significance,
accomplished by the French proletariat—and finally, in Germany, the
historic struggle against the Laws of Exception, an example for the
workers of the whole world of prolonged and stubborn action, and the
creation of the formidable organisations of German proletarians—all
these models of proletarian heroism, these monuments of history, are
for us a sure guarantee that the workers of these countries will
understand the duty imposed upon them to liberate humanity from the
horrors and consequences of war; and that these workers, by decisive,
energetic and continued action, will help us to bring to a successful
conclusion the cause of peace—and at the same time, the cause of the
liberation of the exploited working masses from all slavery and all
exploitation.
When the grave thunder of applause had died away, Lenin spoke again:
“We propose to the Congress to ratify this declaration. We address
ourselves to the Governments as well as to the peoples, for a
declaration which would be addressed only to the peoples of the
belligerent countries might delay the conclusion of peace. The
conditions of peace, drawn up during the armistice, will be ratified by
the Constituent Assembly. In fixing the duration of the armistice at
three months, we desire to give to the peoples as long a rest as
possible after this bloody extermination, and ample time for them to
elect their representatives. This proposal of peace will meet with
resistance on the part of the imperialist governments—we don’t fool
ourselves on that score. But we hope that revolution will soon break
out in all the belligerent countries; that is why we address ourselves
especially to the workers of France, England and Germany….
“The revolution of November 6th and 7th,” he ended, “has opened the era
of the Social Revolution…. The labour movement, in the name of peace
and Socialism, shall win, and fulfil its destiny….”
There was something quiet and powerful in all this, which stirred the
souls of men. It was understandable why people believed when Lenin
spoke….
By crowd vote it was quickly decided that only representatives of
political factions should be allowed to speak on the motion and that
speakers should be limited to fifteen minutes.
First Karelin for the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. “Our faction had
no opportunity to propose amendments to the text of the proclamation;
it is a private document of the Bolsheviki. But we will vote for it
because we agree with its spirit….”
For the Social Democrats Internationalists Kramarov, long,
stoop-shouldered and near-sighted—destined to achieve some notoriety as
the Clown of the Opposition. Only a Government composed of all the
Socialist parties, he said, could possess the authority to take such
important action. If a Socialist coalition were formed, his faction
would support the entire programme; if not, only part of it. As for the
proclamation, the Internationalists were in thorough accord with its
main points….
Then one after another, amid rising enthusiasm; Ukrainean Social
Democracy, support; Lithuanian Social Democracy, support; Populist
Socialists, support; Polish Social Democracy, support; Polish
Socialists support—but would prefer a Socialist coalition; Lettish
Social Democracy, support…. Something was kindled in these men. One
spoke of the “coming World-Revolution, of which we are the
advance-guard”; another of “the new age of brotherhood, when all the
peoples will become one great family….” An individual member claimed
the floor. “There is contradiction here,” he said. “First you offer
peace without annexations and indemnities, and then you say you will
consider all peace offers. To consider means to accept….”
Lenin was on his feet. “We want a just peace, but we are not afraid of
a revolutionary war…. Probably the imperialist Governments will not
answer our appeal—but we shall not issue an ultimatum to which it will
be easy to say no…. If the German proletariat realises that we are
ready to consider all offers of peace, that will perhaps be the last
drop which overflows the bowl—revolution will break out in Germany….
“We consent to examine all conditions of peace, but that doesn’t mean
that we shall accept them…. For some of our terms we shall fight to the
end—but possibly for others will find it impossible to continue the
war…. Above all, we want to finish the war….”
It was exactly 10:35 when Kameniev asked all in favour of the
proclamation to hold up their cards. One delegate dared to raise his
hand against, but the sudden sharp outburst around him brought it
swiftly down…. Unanimous.
Suddenly, by common impulse, we found ourselves on our feet, mumbling
together into the smooth lifting unison of the _Internationale._ A
grizzled old soldier was sobbing like a child. Alexandra Kollontai
rapidly winked the tears back. The immense sound rolled through the
hall, burst windows and doors and seared into the quiet sky. “The war
is ended! The war is ended!” said a young workman near me, his face
shining. And when it was over, as we stood there in a kind of awkward
hush, some one in the back of the room shouted, “Comrades! Let us
remember those who have died for liberty!” So we began to sing the
Funeral March, that slow, melancholy and yet triumphant chant, so
Russian and so moving. The _Internationale_ is an alien air, after all.
The Funeral March seemed the very soul of those dark masses whose
delegates sat in this hall, building from their obscure visions a new
Russia—and perhaps more.
You fell in the fatal fight
For the liberty of the people, for the honour of the people….
You gave up your lives and everything dear to you,
You suffered in horrible prisons,
You went to exile in chains….
Without a word you carried your chains because you could not ignore
your suffering brothers,
Because you believed that justice is stronger than the sword….
The time will come when your surrendered life will count
That time is near; when tyranny falls the people will rise, great and
free!
Farewell, brothers, you chose a noble path,
You are followed by the new and fresh army ready to die and to suffer….
Farewell, brothers, you chose a noble path,
At your grave we swear to fight, to work for freedom and the people’s
happiness….
For this did they lie there, the martyrs of March, in their cold
Brotherhood Grave on Mars Field; for this thousands and tens of
thousands had died in the prisons, in exile, in Siberian mines. It had
not come as they expected it would come, nor as the _intelligentzia_
desired it; but it had come—rough, strong, impatient of formulas,
contemptuous of sentimentalism; real….
Lenin was reading the Decree on Land:
(1.) All private ownership of land is abolished immediately without
compensation.
(2.) All land-owners’ estates, and all lands belonging to the Crown, to
monasteries, church lands with all their live stock and inventoried
property, buildings and all appurtenances, are transferred to the
disposition of the township Land Committees and the district Soviets of
Peasants’ Deputies until the Constituent Assembly meets.
(3.) Any damage whatever done to the confiscated property which from
now on belongs to the whole People, is regarded as a serious crime,
punishable by the revolutionary tribunals. The district Soviets of
Peasants’ Deputies shall take all necessary measures for the observance
of the strictest order during the taking over of the land-owners’
estates, for the determination of the dimensions of the plots of land
and which of them are subject to confiscation, for the drawing up of an
inventory of the entire confiscated property, and for the strictest
revolutionary protection of all the farming property on the land, with
all buildings, implements, cattle, supplies of products, etc., passing
into the hands of the People.
(4.) For guidance during the realisation of the great land reforms
until their final resolution by the Constituent Assembly, shall serve
the following peasant _nakaz_ (See App. V, Sect. 3) (instructions),
drawn up on the basis of 242 local peasant _nakazi_ by the editorial
board of the “_Izviestia_ of the All-Russian Soviet of Peasants’
Deputies,” and published in No.88 of said _“Izviestia”_ (Petrograd,
No.88, August 19th, 1917).
The lands of peasants and of Cossacks serving in the Army shall not be
confiscated.
“This is not,” explained Lenin, “the project of former Minister
Tchernov, who spoke of ‘erecting a frame-work’ and tried to realise
reforms from above. From below, on the spot, will be decided the
questions of division of the land. The amount of land received by each
peasant will vary according to the locality….
“Under the Provisional Government, the _pomieshtchiki_ flatly refused
to obey the orders of the Land Committees—those Land Committees
projected by Lvov, brought into existence by Shingariov, and
administered by Kerensky!”
Before the debates could begin a man forced his way violently through
the crowd in the aisle and climbed upon the platform. It was Pianikh,
member of the Executive Committee of the Peasants’ Soviets, and he was
mad clean through.
“The Executive Committee of the All-Russian Soviets of Peasants’
Deputies protests against the arrest of our comrades, the Ministers
Salazkin and Mazlov!” he flung harshly in the faces of the crowd, “We
demand their instant release! They are now in Peter-Paul fortress. We
must have immediate action! There is not a moment to lose!”
Another followed him, a soldier with disordered beard and flaming eyes.
“You sit here and talk about giving the land to the peasants, and you
commit an act of tyrants and usurpers against the peasants’ chosen
representatives! I tell you—” he raised his fist, “If one hair of their
heads is harmed, you’ll have a revolt on your hands!” The crowd stirred
confusedly.
Then up rose Trotzky, calm and venomous, conscious of power, greeted
with a roar. “Yesterday the Military Revolutionary Committee decided to
release the Socialist Revolutionary and Menshevik Ministers, Mazlov,
Salazkin, Gvozdov and Maliantovitch—on principle. That they are still
in Peter-Paul is only because we have had so much to do…. They will,
however, be detained at their homes under arrest until we have
investigated their complicity in the treacherous acts of Kerensky
during the Kornilov affair!”
“Never,” shouted Pianikh, “in any revolution have such things been seen
as go on here!”
“You are mistaken,” responded Trotzky. “Such things have been seen even
in this revolution. Hundreds of our comrades were arrested in the July
days…. When Comrade Kollontai was released from prison by the doctor’s
orders, Avksentiev placed at her door two former agents of the Tsar’s
secret police!” The peasants withdrew, muttering, followed by ironical
hoots.
The representative of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries spoke on the
Land Decree. While agreeing in principle, his faction could not vote on
the question until after discussion. The Peasants’ Soviets should be
consulted….
The Mensheviki Internationalists, too, insisted on a party caucus.
Then the leader of the Maximalists, the Anarchist wing of the peasants:
“We must do honour to a political party which puts such an act into
effect the first day, without jawing about it!”
A typical peasant was in the tribune, long hair, boots and sheep-skin
coat, bowing to all corners of the hall. “I wish you well, comrades and
citizens,” he said. “There are some Cadets walking around outside. You
arrested our Socialist peasants—why not arrest them?”
This was the signal for a debate of excited peasants. It was precisely
like the debate of soldiers of the night before. Here were the real
proletarians of the land….
“Those members of our Executive Committee, Avksentiev and the rest,
whom we thought were the peasants’ protectors—they are only Cadets too!
Arrest them! Arrest them!”
Another, “Who are these Pianikhs, these Avksentievs? They are not
peasants at all! They only wag their tails!”
How the crowd rose to them, recognising brothers!
The Left Socialist Revolutionaries proposed a half-hour intermission.
As the delegates streamed out, Lenin stood up in his place.
“We must not lose time, comrades! News all-important to Russia must be
on the press to-morrow morning. No delay!”
And above the hot discussion, argument, shuffling of feet could be
heard the voice of an emissary of the Military Revolutionary Committee,
crying, “Fifteen agitators wanted in room 17 at once! To go to the
Front!”…
It was almost two hours and a half later that the delegates came
straggling back, the presidium mounted the platform, and the session
recommenced by the reading of telegrams from regiment after regiment,
announcing their adhesion to the Military Revolutionary Committee.
In leisurely manner the meeting gathered momentum. A delegate from the
Russian troops on the Macedonian front spoke bitterly of their
situation. “We suffer there more from the friendship of our ‘Allies’
than from the enemy,” he said. Representatives of the Tenth and Twelfth
Armies, just arrived in hot haste, reported, “We support you with all
our strength!” A peasant-soldier protested against the release of “the
traitor Socialists, Mazlov and Salazkin”; as for the Executive
Committee of the Peasants’ Soviets, it should be arrested _en
masse!_Here was real revolutionary talk…. A deputy from the Russian
Army in Persia declared he was instructed to demand all power to the
Soviets…. A Ukrainean officer, speaking in his native tongue: “There is
no nationalism in this crisis…. _Da zdravstvuyet_ the proletarian
dictatorship of all lands!” Such a deluge of high and hot thoughts that
surely Russia would never again be dumb!
Kameniev remarked that the anti-Bolshevik forces were trying to stir up
disorders everywhere, and read an appeal of the Congress to all the
Soviets of Russia:
The All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies,
including some Peasants’ Deputies, calls upon the local Soviets to take
immediate energetic measures to oppose all counter-revolutionary
anti-Jewish action and all _pogroms,_ whatever they may be. The honour
of the Workers’, Peasants’ and Soldiers’ Revolution demands that no
_pogrom_ be tolerated.
The Red Guard of Petrograd, the revolutionary garrison and the sailors
have maintained complete order in the capital.
Workers, soldiers and peasants, you should follow everywhere the
example of the workers and soldiers of Petrograd.
Comrade soldiers and Cossacks, on us falls the duty of assuring real
revolutionary order.
All revolutionary Russia and the entire world have their eyes on us….
At two o’clock the Land Decree was put to vote, with only one against
and the peasant delegates wild with joy…. So plunged the Bolsheviki
ahead, irresistible, over-riding hesitation and opposition—the only
people in Russia who had a definite programme of action while the
others talked for eight long months.
Now arose a soldier, gaunt, ragged and eloquent, to protest against the
clause of the _nakaz_ tending to deprive military deserters from a
share in village land allotments. Bawled at and hissed at first, his
simple, moving speech finally made silence. “Forced against his will
into the butchery of the trenches,” he cried, “which you yourselves, in
the Peace decree, have voted senseless as well as horrible, he greeted
the Revolution with hope of peace and freedom. Peace? The Government of
Kerensky forced him again to go forward into Galicia to slaughter and
be slaughtered; to his pleas for peace, Terestchenko simply laughed….
Freedom? Under Kerensky he found his Committees suppressed, his
newspapers cut off, his party speakers put in prison…. At home in his
village, the landlords were defying his Land Committees, jailing his
comrades…. In Petrograd the bourgeoisie, in alliance with the Germans,
were sabotaging the food and ammunition for the Army…. He was without
boots, or clothes…. Who forced him to desert? The Government of
Kerensky, which you have overthrown!” At the end there was applause.
But another soldier hotly denounced it: “The Government of Kerensky is
not a screen behind which can be hidden dirty work like desertion!
Deserters are scoundrels, who run away home and leave their comrades to
die in the trenches alone! Every deserter is a traitor, and should be
punished….” Uproar, shouts of _“Do volno! Teesche!”_ Kameniev hastily
proposed to leave the matter to the Government for decision. (See App.
V, Sect. 4)
At 2.30 A. M. fell a tense hush. Kameniev was reading the decree of the
Constitution of Power:
Until the meeting of the Constituent Assembly, a provisional Workers’
and Peasants’ Government is formed, which shall be named the Council of
People’s Commissars. (See App. V, Sect. 5)
The administration of the different branches of state activity shall be
intrusted to commissions, whose composition shall be regulated to
ensure the carrying out of the programme of the Congress, in close
union with the mass-organisations of working-men, working-women,
sailors, soldiers, peasants and clerical employees. The governmental
power is vested in a _collegium_ made up of the chairmen of these
commissions, that is to say, the Council of People’s Commissars.
Control over the activities of the People’s Commissars, and the right
to replace them, shall belong to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets of
Workers’, Peasants’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, and its Central Executive
Committee.
Still silence; as he read the list of Commissars, bursts of applause
after each name, Lenin’s and Trotzky’s especially.
_President of the Council:_ Vladimir Ulianov _(Lenin)_
_Interior:_ A. E. Rykov
_Agriculture:_ V. P. Miliutin
_Labour:_ A. G. Shliapnikov
_Military and Naval Affairs_—a committee composed of V. A.
_Avseenko (Antonov),_ N. V. Krylenko, and F. M. Dybenko.
_Commerce and Industry:_ V. P. Nogin
_Popular Education:_ A. V. Lunatcharsky
_Finance:_ E. E. Skvortsov _(Stepanov)_
_Foreign Affairs:_ L. D. Bronstein _(Trotzky)_
_Justice:_ G. E. Oppokov _(Lomov)_
_Supplies:_ E. A. Teodorovitch
_Post and Telegraph:_ N. P. Avilov _(Gliebov)_
_Chairman for Nationalities:_ I. V. Djougashvili _(Stalin)_
_Railroads:_ To be filled later.
There were bayonets at the edges of the room, bayonets pricking up
among the delegates; the Military Revolutionary Committee was arming
everybody, Bolshevism was arming for the decisive battle with Kerensky,
the sound of whose trumpets came up the south-west wind…. In the
meanwhile nobody went home; on the contrary hundreds of newcomers
filtered in, filling the great room solid with stern-faced soldiers and
workmen who stood for hours and hours, indefatigably intent. The air
was thick with cigarette smoke, and human breathing, and the smell of
coarse clothes and sweat.
Avilov of the staff of _Novaya Zhizn_ was speaking in the name of the
Social Democrat Internationalists and the remnant of the Mensheviki
Internationalists; Avilov, with his young, intelligent face, looking
out of place in his smart frock-coat.
“We must ask ourselves where we are going…. The ease with which the
Coalition Government was upset cannot be explained by the strength of
the left wing of the democracy, but only by the incapacity of the
Government to give the people peace and bread. And the left wing cannot
maintain itself in power unless it can solve these questions….
“Can it give bread to the people? Grain is scarce. The majority of the
peasants will not be with you, for you cannot give them the machinery
they need. Fuel and other primary necessities are almost impossible to
procure….
“As for peace, that will be even more difficult. The allies refused to
talk with Skobeliev. They will never accept the proposition of a peace
conference from _you._ You will not be recognised either in London and
Paris, or in Berlin….
“You cannot count on the effective help of the proletariat of the
Allied countries, because in most countries it is very far from the
revolutionary struggle; remember, the Allied democracy was unable even
to convoke the Stockholm Conference. Concerning the German Social
Democrats, I have just talked with Comrade Goldenberg, one of our
delegates to Stockholm; he was told by the representatives of the
Extreme Left that revolution in Germany was impossible during the
war….” Here interruptions began to come thick and fast, but Avilov kept
on.
“The isolation of Russia will fatally result either in the defeat of
the Russian Army by the Germans, and the patching up of a peace between
the Austro-German coalition and the Franco-British coalition _at the
expense of Russia_—or in a separate peace with Germany.
“I have just learned that the Allied ambassadors are preparing to
leave, and that Committees for Salvation of Country and Revolution are
forming in all the cities of Russia….
“No one party can conquer these enormous difficulties. The majority of
the people, supporting a government of Socialist coalition, can alone
accomplish the Revolution….
“He then read the resolution of the two factions:
Recognising that for the salvation of the conquests of the Revolution
it is indispensable immediately to constitute a government based on the
revolutionary democracy organised in the Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’
and Peasants’ Deputies, recognising moreover that the task of this
government is the quickest possible attainment of peace, the transfer
of the land into the hands of the agrarian committees, the organisation
of control over industrial production, and the convocation of the
Constituent Assembly on the date decided, the Congress appoints an
executive committee to constitute such a government after an agreement
with the groups of the democracy which are taking part in the Congress.
In spite of the revolutionary exaltation of the triumphant crowd,
Avilov’s cool tolerant reasoning had shaken them. Toward the end, the
cries and hisses died away, and when he finished there was even some
clapping.
Karelin followed him—also young, fearless, whose sincerity no one
doubted—for the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, the party of Maria
Spiridonova, the party which almost alone followed the Bolsheviki, and
which represented the revolutionary peasants.
“Our party has refused to enter the Council of People’s Commissars
because we do not wish forever to separate ourselves from the part of
the revolutionary army which left the Congress, a separation which
would make it impossible for us to serve as intermediaries between the
Bolsheviki and the other groups of the democracy…. And that is our
principal duty at this moment. We cannot sustain any government except
a government of Socialist coalition….
“We protest, moreover, against the tyrannical conduct of the
Bolsheviki. Our Commissars have been driven from their posts. Our only
organ, _Znamia Truda_ (Banner of Labour), was forbidden to appear
yesterday….
“The Central Duma is forming a powerful Committee for Salvation of
Country and Revolution, to fight you. Already you are isolated, and
your Government is without the support of a single other democratic
group….
And now Trotzky stood upon the raised tribune, confident and
dominating, with that sarcastic expression about his mouth which was
almost a sneer. He spoke, in a ringing voice, and the great crowd rose
to him.
“These considerations on the dangers of isolation of our party are not
new. On the eve of insurrection our fatal defeat was also predicted.
Everybody was against us; only a faction of the Socialist
Revolutionaries of the left was with us in the Military Revolutionary
Committee. How is it that we were able to overturn the Government
almost without bloodshed?…. That fact is the most striking proof that
we _were not isolated._ In reality the Provisional Government was
isolated; the democratic parties which march against us were isolated,
are isolated, and forever cut off from the proletariat!
“They speak of the necessity for a coalition. There is only one
coalition possible—the coalition of the workers, soldiers and poorest
peasants; and it is our party’s honour to have realised that
coalition…. What sort of coalition did Avilov mean? A coalition with
those who supported the Government of Treason to the People? Coalition
doesn’t always add to strength. For example, could we have organised
the insurrection with Dan and Avksentiev in our ranks?” Roars of
laughter.
“Avksentiev gave little bread. Will a coalition with the _oborontsi_
furnish more? Between the peasants and Avksentiev, who ordered the
arrest of the Land Committees, we choose the peasants! Our Revolution
will remain the classic revolution of history….
“They accuse us of repelling an agreement with the other democratic
parties. But is it we who are to blame? Or must we, as Karelin put it,
blame it on a ‘misunderstanding’? No, comrades. When a party in full
tide of revolution, still wreathed in powder-smoke, comes to say, ‘Here
is the Power—take it!’—and when those to whom it is offered go over to
the enemy, that is not a misunderstanding…. that is a declaration of
pitiless war. And it isn’t we who have declared war….
“Avilov menaces us with failure of our peace efforts—if we remain
‘isolated.’ I repeat, I don’t see how a coalition with Skobeliev, or
even Terestchenko, can help us to get peace! Avilov tries to frighten
us by the threat of a peace at our expense. And I answer that in any
case, if Europe continues to be ruled by the imperialist bourgeoisie,
revolutionary Russia will inevitably be lost….
“There are only two alternatives; either the Russian Revolution will
create a revolutionary movement in Europe, or the European powers will
destroy the Russian Revolution!”
They greeted him with an immense crusading acclaim, kindling to the
daring of it, with the thought of championing mankind. And from that
moment there was something conscious and decided about the
insurrectionary masses, in all their actions, which never left them.
But on the other side, too, battle was taking form. Kameniev recognised
a delegate from the Union of Railway Workers, a hardfaced, stocky man
with an attitude of implacable hostility. He threw a bombshell.
“In the name of the strongest organisation in Russia I demand the right
to speak, and I say to you: the _Vikzhel_ charges me to make known the
decision of the Union concerning the constitution of Power. The Central
Committee refuses absolutely to support the Bolsheviki if they persist
in isolating themselves from the whole democracy of Russia!” Immense
tumult all over the hall.
“In 1905, and in the Kornilov days, the Railway Workers were the best
defenders of the Revolution. But you did not invite us to your
Congress—” Cries, “It was the old _Tsay-ee-kah_ which did not invite
you!” The orator paid no attention. “We do not recognise the legality
of this Congress; since the departure of the Mensheviki and Socialist
Revolutionaries there is not a legal quorum…. The Union supports the
old _Tsay-ee-Kah,_ and declares that the Congress has no right to elect
a new Committee….
“The Power should be a Socialist and revolutionary Power, responsible
before the authorised organs of the entire revolutionary democracy.
Until the constitution of such a power, the Union of Railway Workers,
which refuses to transport counter-revolutionary troops to Petrograd,
at the same time forbids the execution of any order whatever without
the consent of the _Vikzhel._ The _Vikzhel_ also takes into its hands
the entire administration of the railroads of Russia.”
At the end he could hardly be heard for the furious storm of abuse
which beat upon him. But it was a heavy blow—that could be seen in the
concern on the faces of the presidium. Kameniev, however, merely
answered that there could be no doubt of the legality of the Congress,
as even the quorum established by the old _Tsay-ee-Kah_ was exceeded—in
spite of the secession of the Mensheviki and Socialist Revolution
arises….
Then came the vote on the Constitution of Power, which carried the
Council of People’s Commissars into office by an enormous majority….
The election of the new _Tsay-ee-kah,_ the new parliament of the
Russian Republic, took barely fifteen minutes. Trotzky announced its
composition: 100 members, of which 70 Bolsheviki…. As for the peasants,
and the seceding factions, places were to be reserved for them. “We
welcome into the Government all parties and groups which will adopt our
programme,” ended Trotzky.
And thereupon the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets was dissolved,
so that the members might hurry to their homes in the four corners of
Russia and tell of the great happenings….
It was almost seven when we woke the sleeping conductors and motor-men
of the street-cars which the Street-Railway Workers’ Union always kept
waiting at Smolny to take the Soviet delegates to their homes. In the
crowded car there was less happy hilarity than the night before, I
thought. Many looked anxious; perhaps they were saying to themselves,
“Now we are masters, how can we do our will?”
At our apartment-house we were held up in the dark by an armed patrol
of citizens and carefully examined. The Duma’s proclamation was doing
its work….
The landlady heard us come in, and stumbled out in a pink silk wrapper.
The House Committee has again asked that you take your turn on
guard-duty with the rest of the men,” she said.
“What’s the reason for this guard-duty?”
“To protect the house and the women and children.”
“Who from?”
“Robbers and murderers.”
“But suppose there came a Commissar from the Military Revolutionary
Committee to search for arms?”
“Oh, that’s what they’ll _say_ they are…. And besides, what’s the
difference?”
I solemnly affirmed that the Consul had forbidden all American citizens
to carry arms—especially in the neighbourhood of the Russian
_intelligentzia_….