The Conquest of Power (See App. XI, Sect. 1)
DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLES OF RUSSIA (See App. XI, Sect.
2)
… The first Congress of Soviets, in June of this year, proclaimed the
right of the peoples of Russia to self-determination.
The second Congress of Soviets, in November last, confirmed this
inalienable right of the peoples of Russia more decisively and
definitely.
Executing the will of these Congresses, the Council of People’s
Commissars has resolved to establish as a basis for its activity in the
question of Nationalities, the following principles:
(1) The equality and sovereignty of the peoples of Russia.
(2) The right of the peoples of Russia to free self-determination, even
to the point of separation and the formation of an independent state.
(3) The abolition of any and all national and national religious
privileges and disabilities.
(4) The free development of national minorities and ethnographic groups
inhabiting the territory of Russia.
Decrees will be prepared immediately upon the formation of a Commission
on Nationalities.
In the name of the Russian Republic,
People’s Commissar for Nationalities
YUSSOV DJUGASHVILI-STALIN
President of the Council of People’s Commissars
V. ULIANOV (LENIN)
The Central Rada at Kiev immediately declared Ukraine an independent
Republic, as did the Government of Finland, through the Senate at
Helsingfors. Independent “Governments” spring up in Siberia and the
Caucasus. The Polish Chief Military Committee swiftly gathered together
the Polish troops in the Russian army, abolished their Committees and
established an iron discipline….
All these “Governments” and “movements” had two characteristics in
common; they were controlled by the propertied classes, and they feared
and detested Bolshevism….
Steadily, amid the chaos of shocking change, the Council of People’s
Commissars hammered at the scaffolding of the Socialist order. Decree
on Social Insurance, on Workers’ Control, Regulations for Volost Land
Committees, Abolition of Ranks and Titles, Abolition of Courts and the
Creation of People’s Tribunals…. (See App. XI, Sect. 3)
Army after army, fleet after fleet, sent deputations, “joyfully to
greet the new Government of the People.”
In front of Smolny, one day, I saw a ragged regiment just come from the
trenches. The soldiers were drawn up before the great gates, thin and
grey-faced, looking up at the building as if God were in it. Some
pointed out the Imperial eagles over the door, laughing…. Red Guards
came to mount guard. All the soldiers turned to look, curiously, as if
they had heard of them but never seen them. They laughed good-naturedly
and pressed out of line to slap the Red Guards on the back, with
half-joking, half-admiring remarks….
The Provisional Government was no more. On November 15th, in all the
churches of the capital, the priests stopped praying for it. But as
Lenin himself told the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ that was “only the beginning of
the conquest of power.” Deprived of arms, the opposition, which still
controlled the economic life of the country, settled down to organise
disorganisation, with all the Russian genius for cooperative action—to
obstruct, cripple and discredit the Soviets.
The strike of Government employees was well organised, financed by the
banks and commercial establishments. Every move of the Bolsheviki to
take over the Government apparatus was resisted.
Trotzky went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the functionaries
refused to recognise him, locked themselves in, and when the doors were
forced, resigned. He demanded the keys of the archives; only when he
brought workmen to force the locks were they given up. Then it was
discovered that Neratov, former assistant Foreign Minister, had
disappeared with the Secret Treaties….
Shliapnikov tried to take possession of the Ministry of Labour. It was
bitterly cold, and there was no one to light the fires. Of all the
hundreds of employees, not one would show him where the office of the
Minister was….
Alexandra Kollontai, appointed the 13th of November Commissar of Public
Welfare—the department of charities and public institutions—was
welcomed with a strike of all but forty of the functionaries in the
Ministry. Immediately the poor of the great cities, the inmates of
institutions, were plunged in miserable want: delegations of starving
cripples, of orphans with blue, pinched faces, besieged the building.
With tears streaming down her face, Kollontai arrested the strikers
until they should deliver the keys of the office and the safe; when she
got the keys, however, it was discovered that the former Minister,
Countess Panina, had gone off with all the funds, which she refused to
surrender except on the order of the Constituent Assembly. (See App.
XI, Sect. 4)
In the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Supplies, the Ministry
of Finance, similar incidents occurred. And the employees, summoned to
return or forfeit their positions and their pensions, either stayed
away or returned to sabotage…. Almost all the _intelligentzia_ being
anti-Bolshevik, there was nowhere for the Soviet Government to recruit
new staffs….
The private banks remained stubbornly closed, with a back door open for
speculators. When Bolshevik Commissars entered, the clerks left,
secreting the books and removing the funds. All the employees of the
State Bank struck except the clerks in charge of the vaults and the
manufacture of money, who refused all demands from Smolny and privately
paid out huge sums to the Committee for Salvation and the City Duma.
Twice a Commissar, with a company of Red Guards, came formally to
insist upon the delivery of large sums for Government expenses. The
first time, the City Duma members and the Menshevik and Socialist
Revolutionary leaders were present in imposing numbers, and spoke so
gravely of the consequences that the Commissar was frightened. The
second time he arrived with a warrant, which he proceeded to read aloud
in due form; but some one called his attention to the fact that it had
no date and no seal, and the traditional Russian respect for
“documents” forced him again to withdraw….
The officials of the Credit Chancery destroyed their books, so that all
record of the financial relations of Russia with foreign countries was
lost.
The Supply Committees, the administrations of the Municipal-owned
public utilities, either did not work at all, or sabotaged. And when
the Bolsheviki, compelled by the desperate needs of the city
population, attempted to help or to control the public service, all the
employees went on strike immediately, and the Duma flooded Russia with
telegrams about Bolshevik “violation of Municipal autonomy.”
At Military headquarters, and in the offices of the Ministries of War
and Marine, where the old officials had consented to work, the Army
Committees and the high command blocked the Soviets in every way
possible, even to the extent of neglecting the troops at the front. The
_Vikzhel_ was hostile, refusing to transport Soviet troops; every
troop-train that left Petrograd was taken out by force, and railway
officials had to be arrested each time—whereupon the _Vikzhel_
threatened an immediate general strike unless they were released….
Smolny was plainly powerless. The newspapers said that all the
factories of Petrograd must shut down for lack of fuel in three weeks;
the _Vikzhel_ announced that trains must cease running by December
first; there was food for three days only in Petrograd, and no more
coming in; and the Army on the Front was starving…. The Committee for
Salvation, the various Central Committees, sent word all over the
country, exhorting the population to ignore the Government decrees. And
the Allied Embassies were either coldly indifferent, or openly
hostile….
The opposition newspapers, suppressed one day and reappearing next
morning under new names, heaped bitter sarcasm on the new regime. (See
App. XI, Sect. 5) Even _Novaya Zhizn_ characterised it as “a
combination of demagoguery and impotence.”
From day to day (it said) the Government of the People’s Commissars
sinks deeper and deeper into the mire of superficial haste. Having
easily conquered the power… the Bolsheviki can not make use of it.
Powerless to direct the existing mechanism of Government, they are
unable at the same time to create a new one which might work easily and
freely according to the theories of social experimenters.
Just a little while ago the Bolsheviki hadn’t enough men to run their
growing party—a work above all of speakers and writers; where then are
they going to find trained men to execute the diverse and complicated
functions of government?
The new Government acts and threatens, it sprays the country with
decrees, each one more radical and more “socialist” than the last. But
in this exhibition of Socialism on Paper—more likely designed for the
stupefaction of our descendants—there appears neither the desire nor
the capacity to solve the immediate problems of the day!
Meanwhile the _Vikzhel’s_ Conference to Form a New Government continued
to meet night and day. Both sides had already agreed in principle to
the basis of the Government; the composition of the People’s Council
was being discussed; the Cabinet was tentatively chosen, with Tchernov
as Premier; the Bolsheviki were admitted in a large minority, but Lenin
and Trotzky were barred. The Central Committees of the Menshevik and
Socialist Revolutionary parties, the Executive Committee of the
Peasant’s Soviets, resolved that, although unalterably opposed to the
“criminal politics” of the Bolsheviki, they would, “in order to halt
the fratricidal bloodshed,” not oppose their entrance into the People’s
Council.
The flight of Kerensky, however, and the astounding success of the
Soviets everywhere, altered the situation. On the 16th, in a meeting of
the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ the Left Socialist Revolutionaries insisted that the
Bolsheviki should form a coalition Government with the other Socialist
parties; otherwise they would withdraw from the Military Revolutionary
Committee and the _Tsay-ee-kah._ Malkin said, “The news from Moscow,
where our comrades are dying on both sides of the barricades,
determines us to bring up once more the question of organisation of
power, and it is not only our right to do so, but our duty…. We have
won the right to sit with the Bolsheviki here within the walls of
Smolny Institute, and to speak from this tribune. After the bitter
internal party struggle, we shall be obliged, if you refuse to
compromise, to pass to open battle outside…. We must propose to the
democracy terms of an acceptable compromise….”
After a recess to consider this ultimatum, the Bolsheviki returned with
a resolution, read by Kameniev:
The _Tsay-ee-kah_ considers it necessary that there enter into the
Government representatives of _all the Socialist parties composing the
Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies who recognise the
conquests of the Revolution of November 7th—that is to say, the
establishment of a Government of Soviets, the decrees on peace, land,
workers’ control over industry, and the arming of the working-class._
The _Tsay-ee-kah_ therefore resolves to propose negotiations concerning
the constitution of the Government to all parties _of the Soviet,_ and
insists upon the following conditions as a basis:
The Government is responsible to the _Tsay-ee-kah._ The _Tsay-ee-kah_
shall be enlarged to 150 members. To these 150 delegates of the Soviets
of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies shall be added 75 delegates of the
_Provincial_ Soviets of Peasants’ Deputies, 80 from the Front
organisations of the Army and Navy, 40 from the Trade Unions (25 from
the various All-Russian Unions, in proportion to their importance, 10
from the _Vikzhel,_ and 5 from the Post and Telegraph Workers), and 50
delegates from the Socialist groups in the Petrograd City Duma. In the
Ministry itself, at least one-half the portfolios must be reserved to
the Bolsheviki. The Ministries of Labour, Interior and Foreign Affairs
must be given to the Bolsheviki. The command of the garrisons of
Petrograd and Moscow must remain in the hands of delegates of the
Moscow and Petrograd Soviets.
The Government undertakes the systematic arming of the workers of all
Russia.
It is resolved to insist upon the candidature of comrades Lenin and
Trotzky.
Kameniev explained. “The so-called ‘People’s Council,’” he said,
“proposed by the Conference, would consist of about 420 members, of
which about 150 would be Bolsheviki. Besides, there would be delegates
from the counter-revolutionary old _Tsay-ee-kah,_ 100 members chosen by
the Municipal Dumas—Kornilovtsi all; 100 delegates from the Peasants’
Soviets—appointed by Avksentiev, and 80 from the old Army Committees,
who no longer represent the soldier masses.
“We refuse to admit the old _Tsay-ee-kah,_ and also the representatives
of the Municipal Dumas. The delegates from the Peasants’ Soviets shall
be elected by the Congress of Peasants, which we have called, and which
will at the same time elect a new Executive Committee. The proposal to
exclude Lenin and Trotzky is a proposal to decapitate our party, and we
do not accept it. And finally, we see no necessity for a ‘People’s
Council’ anyway; the Soviets are open to all Socialist parties, and the
_Tsay-ee-kah_ represents them in their real proportions among the
masses….”
Karelin, for the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, declared that his
party would vote for the Bolshevik resolution, reserving the right to
modify certain details, such as the representation of the peasants, and
demanding that the Ministry of Agriculture be reserved for the Left
Socialist Revolutionaries. This was agreed to….
Later, at a meeting of the Petrograd Soviet, Trotzky answered a
question about the formation of the new Government:
“I don’t know anything about that. I am not taking part in the
negotiations…. However, I don’t think that they are of great
importance….”
That night there was great uneasiness in the Conference. The delegates
of the City Duma withdrew….
But at Smolny itself, in the ranks of the Bolshevik party, a formidable
opposition to Lenin’s policy was growing. On the night of November 17th
the great hall was packed and ominous for the meeting of the
_Tsay-ee-kah._
Larin, Bolshevik, declared that the moment of elections to the
Constituent Assembly approached, and it was time to do away with
“political terrorism.”
“The measures taken against the freedom of the press should be
modified. They had their reason during the struggle, but now they have
no further excuse. The press should be free, except for appeals to riot
and insurrection.”
In a storm of hisses and hoots from his own party, Larin offered the
following resolution:
The decree of the Council of People’s Commissars concerning the Press
is herewith repealed.
Measures of political repression can only be employed subject to
decision of a special tribunal, elected by the _Tsay-ee-kah_
proportionally to the strength of the different parties represented;
and this tribunal shall have the right also to reconsider measures of
repression already taken.
This was met by a thunder of applause, not only from the Left Socialist
Revolutionaries, but also from a part of the Bolsheviki.
Avanessov, for the Leninites, hastily proposed that the question of the
Press be postponed until after some compromise between the Socialist
parties had been reached. Overwhelmingly voted down.
“The revolution which is now being accomplished,” went on Avanessov,
“has not hesitated to attack private property; and it is as private
property that we must examine the question of the Press….”
Thereupon he read the official Bolshevik resolution:
The suppression of the bourgeois press was dictated not only by purely
military needs in the course of the insurrection, and for the checking
of counter-revolutionary action, but it is also necessary as a measure
of transition toward the establishment of a new régime with regard to
the Press—a régime under which the capitalist owners of
printing-presses and of paper cannot be the all-powerful and exclusive
manufacturers of public opinion.
We must further proceed to the confiscation of private printing plants
and supplies of paper, which should become the property of the Soviets,
both in the capital and in the provinces, so that the political parties
and groups can make use of the facilities of printing in proportion to
the actual strength of the ideas they represent—in other words,
proportionally to the number of their constituents.
The reëstablishment of the so-called “freedom of the press,” the simple
return of printing presses and paper to the capitalists,—poisoners of
the mind of the people—this would be an inadmissible surrender to the
will of capital, a giving up of one of the most important conquests of
the Revolution; in other words, it would be a measure of unquestionably
counter-revolutionary character.
Proceeding from the above, the _Tsay-ee-kah_ categorically rejects all
propositions aiming at the reëstablishment of the old régime in the
domain of the Press, and unequivocally supports the point of view of
the Council of People’s Commissars on this question, against
pretentions and ultimatums dictated by petty bourgeois prejudices, or
by evident surrender to the interests of the counter-revolutionary
bourgeoisie.
The reading of this resolution was interrupted by ironical shouts from
the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, and bursts of indignation from the
insurgent Bolsheviki. Karelin was on his feet, protesting. “Three weeks
ago the Bolsheviki were the most ardent defenders of the freedom of the
Press… The arguments in this resolution suggest singularly the point of
view of the old Black Hundreds and the censors of the Tsarist
régime—for they also talked of ‘poisoners of the mind of the people.’”
Trotzky spoke at length in favour of the resolution. He distinguished
between the Press during the civil war, and the Press after the
victory. “During civil war the right to use violence belongs only to
the oppressed….” (Cries of “Who’s the oppressed now? Cannibal!”).
“The victory over our adversaries is not yet achieved, and the
newspapers are arms in their hands. In these conditions, the closing of
the newspapers is a legitimate measure of defence….” Then passing to
the question of the Press after the victory, Trotzky continued:
“The attitude of Socialists on the question of freedom of the Press
should be the same as their attitude toward the freedom of business….
The rule of the democracy which is being established in Russia demands
that the domination of the Press by private property must be abolished,
just as the domination of industry by private property…. The power of
the Soviets should confiscate all printing-plants.” (Cries, “Confiscate
the printing-shop of _Pravda!_”)
“The monopoly of the Press by the bourgeoisie must be abolished.
Otherwise it isn’t worth while for us to take the power! Each group of
citizens should have access to print shops and paper…. The ownership of
print-type and of paper belongs first to the workers and peasants, and
only afterwards to the bourgeois parties, which are in a minority…. The
passing of the power into the hands of the Soviets will bring about a
radical transformation of the essential conditions of existence, and
this transformation will necessarily be evident in the Press…. If we
are going to nationalise the banks, can we then tolerate the financial
journals? The old régime must die; that must be understood once and for
all….” Applause and angry cries.
Karelin declared that the _Tsay-ee-kah_ had no right to pass upon this
important question, which should be left to a special committee. Again,
passionately, he demanded that the Press be free.
Then Lenin, calm, unemotional, his forehead wrinkled, as he spoke
slowly, choosing his words; each sentence falling like a hammer-blow.
“The civil war is not yet finished; the enemy is still with us;
consequently it is impossible to abolish the measures of repression
against the Press.
“We Bolsheviki have always said that when we reached a position of
power we would close the bourgeois press. To tolerate the bourgeois
newspapers would mean to cease being a Socialist. When one makes a
Revolution, one cannot mark time; one must always go forward—or go
back. He who now talks about the ‘freedom of the Press’ goes backward,
and halts our headlong course toward Socialism.
“We have thrown off the yoke of capitalism, just as the first
revolution threw off the yoke of Tsarism. _If the first revolution had
the right to suppress the Monarchist papers,_ then we have the right to
suppress the bourgeois press. It is impossible to separate the question
of the freedom of the Press from the other questions of the class
struggle. We have promised to close these newspapers, and we shall do
it. The immense majority of the people is with us!
“Now that the insurrection is over, we have absolutely no desire to
suppress the papers of the other Socialist parties, except inasmuch as
they appeal to armed insurrection, or to disobedience to the Soviet
Government. However, we shall not permit them, under the pretence of
freedom of the Socialist press, to obtain, through the secret support
of the bourgeoisie, a monopoly of printing-presses, ink and paper….
These essentials must become the property of the Soviet Government, and
be apportioned, first of all, to the Socialist parties in strict
proportion to their voting strength….”
Then the vote. The resolution of Larin and the Left Socialist
Revolutionaries was defeated by 31 to 22; the Lenin motion was carried
by 34 to 24. Among the minority were the Bolsheviki Riazanov and
Lozovsky, who declared that it was impossible for them to vote against
any restriction on the freedom of the Press.
Upon this the Left Socialist Revolutionaries declared they could no
longer be responsible for what was being done, and withdrew from the
Military Revolutionary Committee and all other positions of executive
responsibility.
Five members—Nogin, Rykov, Miliutin, Teodorovitch and
Shiapnikov—resigned from the Council of People’s Commissars, declaring:
We are in favour of a Socialist Government composed of all the parties
in the Soviets. We consider that only the creation of such a Government
can possibly guarantee the results of the heroic struggle of the
working-class and the revolutionary army. Outside of that, there
remains only one way: the constitution of a purely Bolshevik Government
by means of political terrorism. This last is the road taken by the
Council of People’s Commissars. We cannot and will not follow it. We
see that this leads directly to the elimination from political life of
many proletarian organisations, to the establishment of an
irresponsible régime, and to the destruction of the Revolution and the
country. We cannot take the responsibility for such a policy, and we
renounce before the _Tsay-ee-kah_ our function as People’s Commissars.
Other Commissars, without resigning their positions, signed the
declaration—Riazanov, Derbychev of the Press Department, Arbuzov, of
the Government Printing-plant, Yureniev, of the Red Guard, Feodorov, of
the Commissariat of Labour, and Larin, secretary of the Section of
Elaboration of Decrees.
At the same time Kameniev, Rykov, Miliutin, Zinoviev and Nogin resigned
from the Central Committee of the Bolshevik party, making public their
reasons:
… The constitution of such a Government (composed of all the parties of
the Soviet) is indispensable to prevent a new flow of blood, the coming
famine, the destruction of the Revolution by the Kaledinists, to assure
the convocation of the Constituent Assembly at the proper time, and to
apply effectively the programme adopted by the Congress of Soviets….
We cannot accept the responsibility for the disastrous policy of the
Central Committee, carried on against the will of an enormous majority
of the proletariat and the soldiers, who are eager to see the rapid end
of the bloodshed between the different political parties of the
democracy…. We renounce our title as members of the Central Committee,
in order to be able to say openly our opinion to the masses of workers
and soldiers….
We leave the Central Committee at the moment of victory; we cannot
calmly look on while the policy of the chiefs of the Central Committee
leads toward the loss of the fruits of victory and the crushing of the
proletariat….
The masses of the workers, the soldiers of the garrison, stirred
restlessly, sending their delegations to Smolny, to the Conference for
Formation of the New Government, where the break in the ranks of the
Bolsheviki caused the liveliest joy.
But the answer of the Leninites was swift and ruthless. Shliapnikov and
Teodorovitch submitted to party discipline and returned to their posts.
Kameniev was stripped of his powers as president of the _Tsay-ee-kah,_
and Sverdlov elected in his place. Zinoviev was deposed as president of
the Petrograd Soviet. On the morning of the 5th, _Pravda_ contained a
ferocious proclamation to the people of Russia, written by Lenin, which
was printed in hundreds of thousands of copies, posted on the walls
everywhere, and distributed over the face of Russia.
The second All-Russian Congress of Soviets gave the majority to the
Bolshevik party. Only a Government formed by this party can therefore
be a Soviet Government. And it is known to all that the Central
Committee of the Bolshevik party, a few hours before the formation of
the new Government and before proposing the list of its members to the
All-Russian Congress of Soviets, invited to its meeting three of the
most eminent members of the Left Socialist Revolutionary group,
comrades Kamkov, Spiro and Karelin, and ASKED THEM to participate in
the new Government. We regret infinitely that the invited comrades
refused; we consider their refusal inadmissible for revolutionists and
champions of the working-class; we are willing at any time to include
the Left Socialist Revolutionaries in the Government; but we declare
that, as the party of the majority at the second All-Russian Congress
of Soviets, we are entitled and BOUND before the people to form a
Government….
… Comrades! Several members of the Central Committee of our party and
the Council of People’s Commissars, Kameniev, Zinoviev, Nogin, Rykov,
Miliutin and a few others left yesterday, November 17th, the Central
Committee of our party, and the last three, the Council of People’s
Commissars….
The comrades who left us acted like deserters, because they not only
abandoned the posts entrusted to them, but also disobeyed the direct
instructions of the Central Committee of our party, to the effect that
they should await the decisions of the Petrograd and Moscow party
organisations before retiring. We blame decisively such desertion. We
are firmly convinced that all conscious workers, soldiers and peasants,
belonging to our party or sympathising with it, will also disapprove of
the behaviour of the deserters….
Remember, comrades, that two of these deserters, Kameniev and Zinoviev,
even before the uprising in Petrograd, appeared as deserters and
strike-breakers, by voting at the decisive meeting of the Central
Committee, October 23d, 1917, against the insurrection; and even AFTER
the resolution passed by the Central Committee, they continued their
campaign at a meeting of the party workers…. But the great impulse of
the masses, the great heroism of millions of workers, soldiers and
peasants, in Moscow, Petrograd, at the front, in the trenches, in the
villages, pushed aside the deserters as a railway train scatters
saw-dust….
Shame upon those who are of little faith, hesitate, who doubt, who
allow themselves to be frightened by the bourgeoisie, or who succumb
before the cries of the latter’s direct or indirect accomplices! There
is NOT A SHADOW of hesitation in the MASSES of Petrograd, Moscow, and
the rest of Russia….
… We shall not submit to any ultimatums from small groups of
intellectuals which are not followed by the masses, which are
PRACTICALLY only supported by Kornilovists, Savinkovists, _yunkers,_
and so forth….
The response from the whole country was like a blast of hot storm. The
insurgents never got a chance to “say openly their opinion to the
masses of workers and soldiers.” Upon the _Tsay-ee-kah_ rolled in like
breakers the fierce popular condemnation of the “deserters.” For days
Smolny was thronged with angry delegations and committees, from the
front, from the Volga, from the Petrograd factories. “Why did they dare
leave the Government? Were they paid by the bourgeoisie to destroy the
Revolution? They must return and submit to the decisions of the Central
Committee!”
Only in the Petrograd garrison was there still uncertainty. A great
soldier meeting was held on November 24th, addressed by representatives
of all the political parties. By a vast majority Lenin’s policy was
sustained, and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries were told that they
must enter the government…. _See next page._
The Mensheviki delivered a final ultimatum, demanding that all
Ministers and _yunkers_ be released, that all newspapers be allowed
full freedom, that the Red Guard be disarmed and the garrison put under
command of the Duma. To this Smolny answered that all the Socialist
Ministers and also all but a very few _yunkers_ had been already set
free, that all newspapers were free except the bourgeois press, and
that the Soviet would remain in command of the armed forces…. On the
19th the Conference to Form a New Government disbanded, and the
opposition one by one slipped away to Moghilev, where, under the wing
of the General Staff, they continued to form Government after
Government, until the end….
[Graphic, page 276: Meeting announcement]
Announcement, posted on the walls of Petrograd, of the result of a
meeting of representatives of the garrison regiments, called to
consider the question of forming a new Government. For translation see
App. XI, Sect. 6.
Meanwhile the Bolsheviki had been undermining the power of the
_Vikzhel._ An appeal of the Petrograd Soviet to all railway workers
called upon them to force the _Vikzhel_ to surrender its powers. On the
15th, the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ following its procedure toward the peasants,
called an All-Russian Congress of Railway Workers for December 1st; the
_Vikzhel_ immediately called its own Congress for two weeks later. On
November 16th, the _Vikzhel_ members took their seats in the
_Tsay-ee-kah._ On the night of December 2d, at the opening session of
the All-Russian Congress of Railway Workers, the _Tsay-ee-kah_ formally
offered the post of Commissar of Ways and Communications to the
_Vikzhel_—which accepted….
Having settled the question of power, the Bolsheviki turned their
attention to problems of practical administration. First of all the
city, the country, the Army must be fed. Bands of sailors and Red
Guards scoured the warehouses, the railway terminals, even the barges
in the canals, unearthing and confiscating thousands of _poods_ of food
held by private speculators. Emissaries were sent to the provinces,
where with the assistance of the Land Committees they seized the
store-houses of the great grain-dealers. Expeditions of sailors,
heavily armed, were sent out in groups of five thousand, to the South,
to Siberia, with roving commissions to capture cities still held by the
White Guards, establish order, and _get food._ Passenger traffic on the
Trans-Siberian Railroad was suspended for two weeks, while thirteen
trains, loaded with bolts of cloth and bars of iron assembled by the
Factory-Shop Committees, were sent out eastward, each in charge of a
Commissar, to barter with the Siberian peasants for grain and
potatoes….
Kaledin being in possession of the coal-mines of the Don, the fuel
question became urgent. Smolny shut off all electric lights in
theatres, shops and restaurants, cut down the number of street cars,
and confiscated the private stores of fire-wood held by the
fuel-dealers…. And when the factories of Petrograd were about to close
down for lack of coal, the sailors of the Baltic Fleet turned over to
the workers two hundred thousand _poods_ from the bunkers of
battle-ships….
Toward the end of November occurred the “wine-pogroms” (See App. XI,
Sect. 7)—looting of the wine-cellars—beginning with the plundering of
the Winter Palace vaults. For days there were drunken soldiers on the
streets…. In all this was evident the hand of the
counter-revolutionists, who distributed among the regiments plans
showing the location of the stores of liquor. The Commissars of Smolny
began by pleading and arguing, which did not stop the growing disorder,
followed by pitched battles between soldiers and Red Guards…. Finally
the Military Revolutionary Committee sent out companies of sailors with
machine-guns, who fired mercilessly upon the rioters, killing many; and
by executive order the wine-cellars were invaded by Committees with
hatchets, who smashed the bottles—or blew them up with dynamite….
Companies of Red Guards, disciplined and well-paid, were on duty at the
headquarters of the Ward Soviets day and night, replacing the old
Militia. In all quarters of the city small elective Revolutionary
Tribunals were set up by the workers and soldiers to deal with petty
crime….
The great hotels, where the speculators still did a thriving business,
were surrounded by Red Guards, and the speculators thrown into jail.
(See App. XI, Sect. 8)…
Alert and suspicious, the working-class of the city constituted itself
a vast spy system, through the servants prying into bourgeois
households, and reporting all information to the Military Revolutionary
Committee, which struck with an iron hand, unceasing. In this way was
discovered the Monarchist plot led by former Duma-member Purishkevitch
and a group of nobles and officers, who had planned an officers’
uprising, and had written a letter inviting Kaledin to Petrograd. (See
App. XI, Sect. 9)…. In this way was unearthed the conspiracy of the
Petrograd Cadets, who were sending money and recruits to Kaledin….
Neratov, frightened at the outburst of popular fury provoked by his
flight, returned and surrendered the Secret Treaties to Trotzky, who
began their publication in _Pravda,_ scandalising the world….
[Graphic, page 279: Proclamation]
Bolshevik order. A proclamation of the Committee to Fight against
Pogroms, attached to the Petrograd Soviet. For translation see App. XI,
Sect. 11.
The restrictions on the Press were increased by a decree (See App. XI,
Sect. 10) making advertisements a monopoly of the official Government
newspaper. At this all the other papers suspended publication as a
protest, or disobeyed the law and were closed…. Only three weeks later
did they finally submit.
Still the strike of the Ministries went on, still the sabotage of the
old officials, the stoppage of normal economic life. Behind Smolny was
only the will of the vast, unorganised popular masses; and with them
the Council of People’s Commissars dealt, directing revolutionary
mass-action against its enemies. In eloquent proclamations, (See App.
XI, Sect. 12) couched in simple words and spread over Russia, Lenin
explained the Revolution, urged the people to take the power into their
own hands, by force to break down the resistance of the propertied
classes, by force to take over the institutions of Government.
Revolutionary order. Revolutionary discipline! Strict accounting and
control! No strikes! No loafing!
[Graphic, page 281: Appeal to work hard]
Appeal of the Petrograd Soviet, the Petrograd Council of Professional
Unions, and the Petrograd Council of Factory Shop Committees, to the
Workers of Petrograd, urging them to work hard and not to strike. For
translation see App. XI, Sect. 13.
On the 20th of November the Military Revolutionary Committee issued a
warning:
The rich classes oppose the power of the Soviets—the Government of
workers, soldiers and peasants. Their sympathisers halt the work of the
employees of the Government and the Duma, incite strikes in the banks,
try to interrupt communication by the railways, the post and the
telegraph….
We warn them that they are playing with fire. The country and the Army
are threatened with famine. To fight against it, the regular
functioning of all services is indispensable. The Workers’ and
Peasants’ Government is taking every measure to assure the country and
the Army all that is necessary. Opposition to these measures is a crime
against the People. We warn the rich classes and their sympathisers
that, if they do not cease their sabotage and their provocation in
halting the transportation of food, they will be the first to suffer.
They will be deprived of the right of receiving food. All the reserves
which they possess will be requisitioned. The property of the principal
criminals will be confiscated.
We have done our duty in warning those who play with fire.
We are convinced that in case decisive measures become necessary, we
shall be solidly supported by all workers, soldiers, and peasants.
On the 22d of November the walls of the city were placarded with a
sheet headed “EXTRAORDINARY COMMUNICATION”:
The Council of People’s Commissars has received an urgent telegram from
the Staff of the Northern Front….
“There must be no further delay; do not let the Army die of hunger; the
armies of the Northern Front have not received a crust of bread now for
several days, and in two or three days they will not have any more
biscuits—which are being doled out to them from reserve supplies until
now never touched…. Already delegates from all parts of the Front are
talking of a necessary removal of part of the Army to the rear,
foreseeing that in a few days there will be headlong flight of the
soldiers, dying from hunger, ravaged by the three years’ war in the
trenches, sick, insufficiently clothed, bare-footed, driven mad by
superhuman misery.”
The Military Revolutionary Committee brings this to the notice of the
Petrograd garrison and the workers of Petrograd. The situation at the
Front demands the most urgent and decisive measures. … Meanwhile the
higher functionaries of the Government institutions, banks, railroads,
post and telegraph, are on strike and impeding the work of the
Government in supplying the Front with provisions…. Each hour of delay
may cost the life of thousands of soldiers. The counter-revolutionary
functionaries are the most dishonest criminals toward their hungry and
dying brethren on the Front….
The MILITARY REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE GIVES THESE CRIMINALS A LAST
WARNING. In event of the least resistance or opposition on their part,
the harshness of the measures which will be adopted against them will
correspond to the seriousness of their crime….
The masses of workers and soldiers responded by a savage tremor of
rage, which swept all Russia. In the capital the Government and bank
employees got out hundreds of proclamations and appeals (See App. XI,
Sect. 14), protesting, defending themselves, such as this one:
TO THE ATTENTION OF ALL CITIZENS.
THE STATE BANK IS CLOSED!
WHY?
Because the violence exercised by the Bolsheviki against the State Bank
has made it impossible for us to work. The first act of the People’s
Commissars was to DEMAND TEN MILLION RUBLES, and on November 27th THEY
DEMANDED TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS, without any indication as to where this
money was to go.
… We functionaries cannot take part in plundering the people’s
property. We stopped work.
CITIZENS! The money in the State Bank is yours, the people’s money,
acquired by your labour, your sweat and blood. CITIZENS! Save the
people’s property from robbery, and us from violence, and we shall
immediately resume work.
EMPLOYEES OF THE STATE BANK.
From the Ministry of Supplies, the Ministry of Finance, from the
Special Supply Committee, declarations that the Military Revolutionary
Committee made it impossible for the employees to work, appeals to the
population to support them against Smolny…. But the dominant worker and
soldier did not believe them; it was firmly fixed in the popular mind
that the employees were sabotaging, starving the Army, starving the
people…. In the long bread lines, which as formerly stood in the iron
winter streets, it was not _the Government_ which was blamed, as it had
been under Kerensky, but the _tchinovniki,_ the sabotageurs; for the
Government was _their_ Government, _their_ Soviets—and the
functionaries of the Ministries were against it….
At the centre of all this opposition was the Duma, and its militant
organ, the Committee for Salvation, protesting against all the decrees
of the Council of People’s Commissars, voting again and again not to
recognise the Soviet Government, openly cooperating with the new
counter-revolutionary “Governments” set up at Moghilev…. On the 17th of
November, for example, the Committee for Salvation addressed “all
Municipal Governments, Zemstvos, and all democratic and revolutionary
organisations of peasants, workers, soldiers and other citizens,” in
these words:
Do not recognise the Government of the Bolsheviki, and struggle against
it.
Form local Committees for Salvation of Country and Revolution, who will
unite all democratic forces, so as to aid the All-Russian Committee for
Salvation in the tasks which it has set itself….
Meanwhile the elections for the Constituent Assembly in Petrograd (See
App. XI, Sect. 15) gave an enormous plurality to the Bolsheviki; so
that even the Mensheviki Internationalists pointed out that the Duma
ought to be re-elected, as it no longer represented the political
composition of the Petrograd population…. At the same time floods of
resolutions from workers’ organisations, from military units, even from
the peasants in the surrounding country, poured in upon the Duma,
calling it “counter-revolutionary, Kornilovitz,” and demanding that it
resign. The last days of the Duma were stormy with the bitter demands
of the Municipal workers for decent living wages, and the threat of
strikes….
On the 23d a formal decree of the Military Revolutionary Committee
dissolved the Committee for Salvation. On the 29th, the Council of
People’s Commissars ordered the dissolution and re-election of the
Petrograd City Duma:
In view of the fact that the Central Duma of Petrograd, elected
September 2d, … has definitely lost the right to represent the
population of Petrograd, being in complete disaccord with its state of
mind and its aspirations … and in view of the fact that the personnel
of the Duma majority, although having lost all political following,
continues to make use of its prerogatives to resist in a
counter-revolutionary manner the will of the workers, soldiers and
peasants, to sabotage and obstruct the normal work of the
Government—the Council of People’s Commissars considers it its duty to
invite the population of the capital to pronounce judgment on the
policy of the organ of Municipal autonomy.
To this end the Council of People’s Commissars resolves:
(1) To dissolve the Municipal Duma; the dissolution to take effect
November 30th, 1917.
(2) All functionaries elected or appointed by the present Duma shall
remain at their posts and fulfil the duties confided to them, until
their places shall be filled by representatives of the new Duma.
(3) All Municipal employees shall continue to fulfil their duties;
those who leave the service of their own accord shall be considered
discharged.
(4) The new elections for the Municipal Duma of Petrograd are fixed for
December 9th, 1917….
(5) The Municipal Duma of Petrograd shall meet December 11th, 1917, at
two o’clock.
(6) Those who disobey this decree, as well as those who intentionally
harm or destroy the property of the Municipality, shall be immediately
arrested and brought before the Revolutionary Tribunals….
The Duma met defiantly, passing resolutions to the effect that it would
“defend its position to the last drop of its blood,” and appealing
desperately to the population to save their “own elected City
Government.” But the population remained indifferent or hostile. On the
31st Mayor Schreider and several members were arrested, interrogated,
and released. That day and the next the Duma continued to meet,
interrupted frequently by Red Guards and sailors, who politely
requested the assembly to disperse. At the meeting of December 2d, an
officer and some sailors entered the Nicolai Hall while a member was
speaking, and ordered the members to leave, or force would be used.
They did so, protesting to the last, but finally “ceding to violence.”
The new Duma, which was elected ten days later, and for which the
“Moderate” Socialists refused to vote, was almost entirely Bolshevik….
There remained several centres of dangerous opposition, such as the
“republics” of Ukraine and Finland, which were showing definitely
anti-Soviet tendencies. Both at Helsingfors and at Kiev the Governments
were gathering troops which could be depended upon, and entering upon
campaigns of crushing Bolshevism, and of disarming and expelling
Russian troops. The Ukrainean Rada had taken command of all southern
Russia, and was furnishing Kaledin reinforcements and supplies. Both
Finland and Ukraine were beginning secret negotiations with the
Germans, and were promptly recognised by the Allied Governments, which
loaned them huge sums of money, joining with the propertied classes to
create counter-revolutionary centres of attack upon Soviet Russia. In
the end, when Bolshevism had conquered in both these countries, the
defeated bourgeoisie called in the Germans to restore them to power….
But the most formidable menace to the Soviet Government was internal
and two-headed—the Kaledin movement, and the Staff at Moghilev, where
General Dukhonin had assumed command.
[Graphic, page 287: Education Proclamation]
Proclamation of the Commission of Public Education attached to the City
Duma, concerning the strike of school-teachers, just before the
Christmas holidays. The Duma had been re-elected, and was composed
almost entirely of Bolsheviki. For translation see App. XI, Sect. 17.
The ubiquitous Muraviov was appointed commander of the war against the
Cossacks, and a Red Army was recruited from among the factory workers.
Hundreds of propagandists were sent to the Don. The Council of People’s
Commissars issued a proclamation to the Cossacks, (See App. XI, Sect.
16) explaining what the Soviet Government was, how the propertied
classes, the _tchin ovniki,_ landlords, bankers and their allies, the
Cossack princes, land-owners and Generals, were trying to destroy the
Revolution, and prevent the confiscation of their wealth by the people.
On November 27th a committee of Cossacks came to Smolny to see Trotzky
and Lenin. They demanded if it were true that the Soviet Government did
not intend to divide the Cossack lands among the peasants of Great
Russia? “No,” answered Trotzky. The Cossacks deliberated for a while.
“Well,” they asked, “does the Soviet Government intend to confiscate
the estates of our great Cossack land-owners and divide them among the
working Cossacks?” To this Lenin replied. “That,” he said, “is for
_you_ to do. We shall support the working Cossacks in all their
actions…. The best way to begin is to form Cossacks Soviets; you will
be given representation in the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ and then it will be
_your_ Government, too….”
The Cossacks departed, thinking hard. Two weeks later General Kaledin
received a deputation from his troops. “Will you,” they asked, “promise
to divide the great estates of the Cossack landlords among the working
Cossacks?”
“Only over my dead body,” responded Kaledin. A month later, seeing his
army melt away before his eyes, Kaledin blew out his brains. And the
Cossack movement was no more….
Meanwhile at Moghilev were gathered the old _Tsay-ee-kah_ the
“moderate” Socialist leaders—from Avksentiev to Tchernov—the active
chiefs of the old Army Committees, and the reactionary officers. The
Staff steadily refused to recognise the Council of People’s Commissars.
It had united about it the Death Battalions, the Knights of St. George,
and the Cossacks of the Front, and was in close and secret touch with
the Allied military attachès, and with the Kaledin movement and the
Ukrainean Rada….
The Allied Governments had made no reply to the Peace decree of
November 8th, in which the Congress of Soviets had asked for a general
armistice.
On November 20th Trotzky addressed a note to the Allied Ambassadors:
(See App. XI, Sect. 18)
I have the honour to inform you, Mr. Ambassador, that the All-Russian
Congress of Soviets… on November 8th constituted a new Government of
the Russian Republic, in the form of the Council of People’s
Commissars. The President of this Government is Vladimir Ilyitch Lenin.
The direction of Foreign Affairs has been entrusted to me, People’s
Commissar for Foreign Affairs….
In drawing your attention to the text, approved by the All-Russian
Congress, of the proposition for an armistice and a democratic peace
without annexations or indemnities, based on the right of
self-determination of peoples, I have the honour to request you to
consider that document as a formal proposal of an immediate armistice
on all fronts, and the opening of immediate peace negotiations; a
proposal which the authorised Government of the Russian Republic
addresses at the same time to all the belligerent peoples and their
Governments.
Please accept, Mr. Ambassador, the profound assurance of the esteem of
the Soviet Government toward your people, who cannot but wish for
peace, like all the other peoples exhausted and drained by this
unexampled butchery….
The same night the Council of People’s Commissars telegraphed to
General Dukhonin:
… The Council of People’s Commissars considers it indispensable without
delay to make a formal proposal of armistice to all the powers, both
enemy and Allied. A declaration conforming to this decision has been
sent by the Commissar for Foreign Affairs to the representatives of the
Allied powers at Petrograd.
The Council of People’s Commissars orders you, Citizen Commander,… to
propose to the enemy military authorities immediately to cease
hostilities, and enter into negotiations for peace.
In charging you with the conduct of these preliminary pourparlers, the
Council of People’s Commissars orders you:
1. To inform the Council by direct wire immediately of any and all
steps in the pourparlers with the representatives of the enemy armies.
2. Not to sign the act of armistice until it has been passed upon by
the Council of People’s Commissars.
The Allied Ambassadors received Trotzky’s note with contemptuous
silence, accompanied by anonymous interviews in the newspapers, full of
spite and ridicule. The order to Dukhonin was characterised openly as
an act of treason….
As for Dukhonin, he gave no sign. On the night of November 22nd he was
communicated with by telephone, and asked if he intended to obey the
order. Dukhonin answered that he could not, unless it emanated from “a
Government sustained by the Army and the country.”
By telegraph he was immediately dismissed from the post of Supreme
Commander, and Krylenko appointed in his place. Following his tactics
of appealing to the masses, Lenin sent a radio to all regimental,
divisional and corps Committees, to all soldiers and sailors of the
Army and the Fleet, acquainting them with Dukhonin’s refusal, and
ordering that “the regiments on the front shall elect delegates to
begin negotiations with the enemy detachments opposite their
positions….”
On the 23d, the military attaches of the Allied nations, acting on
instructions from their Governments, presented a note to Dukhonin, in
which he was solemnly warned not to “violate the conditions of the
treaties concluded between the Powers of the Entente.” The note went on
to say that if a separate armistice with Germany were concluded, that
act “would result in the most serious consequences” to Russia. This
communication Dukhonin at once sent out to all the soldiers’
Committees….
Next morning Trotzky made another appeal to the troops, characterising
the note of the Allied representatives as a flagrant interference in
the internal affairs of Russia, and a bald attempt “to force by threats
the Russian Army and the Russian people to continue the war in
execution of the treaties concluded by the Tsar….”
From Smolny poured out proclamation after proclamation, (See App. XI,
Sect. 19) denouncing Dukhonin and the counter-revolutionary officers
about him, denouncing the reactionary politicians gathered at Moghilev,
rousing, from one end of the thousand-mile Front to the other, millions
of angry, suspicious soldiers. And at the same time Krylenko,
accompanied by three detachments of fanatical sailors, set out for the
_Stavka,_ breathing threats of vengeance, (See App. XI, Sect. 20) and
received by the soldiers everywhere with tremendous ovations—a
triumphal progress. The Central Army Committee issued a declaration in
favour of Dukhonin; and at once ten thousand troops moved upon
Moghilev….
On December 2d the garrison of Moghilev rose and seized the city,
arresting Dukhonin and the Army Committee, and going out with
victorious red banners to meet the new Supreme Commander. Krylenko
entered Moghilev next morning, to find a howling mob gathered about the
railway-car in which Dukhonin had been imprisoned. Krylenko made a
speech in which he implored the soldiers not to harm Dukhonin, as he
was to be taken to Petrograd and judged by the Revolutionary Tribunal.
When he had finished, suddenly Dukhonin himself appeared at the window,
as if to address the throng. But with a savage roar the people rushed
the car, and falling upon the old General, dragged him out and beat him
to death on the platform….
So ended the revolt of the _Stavka_….
Immensely strengthened by the collapse of the last important stronghold
of hostile military power in Russia, the Soviet Government began with
confidence the organisation of the state. Many of the old functionaries
flocked to its banner, and many members of other parties entered the
Government service. The financially ambitious, however, were checked by
the decree on Salaries of Government Employees, fixing the salaries of
the People’s Commissars—the highest—at five hundred rubles (about fifty
dollars) a month…. The strike of Government Employees, led by the Union
of Unions, collapsed, deserted by the financial and commercial
interests which had been backing it. The bank clerks returned to their
jobs….
With the decree on the Nationalisation of Banks, the formation of the
Supreme Council of People’s Economy, the putting into practical
operation of the Land decree in the villages, the democratic
reorganisation of the Army, and the sweeping changes in all branches of
the Government and of life,—with all these, effective only by the will
of the masses of workers, soldiers and peasants, slowly began, with
many mistakes and hitches, the moulding of proletarian Russia.
Not by compromise with the propertied classes, or with the other
political leaders; not by conciliating the old Government mechanism,
did the Bolsheviki conquer the power. Nor by the organized violence of
a small clique. If the masses all over Russia had not been ready for
insurrection it must have failed. The only reason for Bolshevik success
lay in their accomplishing the vast and simple desires of the most
profound strata of the people, calling them to the work of tearing down
and destroying the old, and afterward, in the smoke of falling ruins,
cooperating with them to erect the frame-work of the new….