The Peasants’ Congress
It was on November 18th that the snow came. In the morning we woke to
window-ledges heaped white, and snowflakes falling so whirling thick
that it was impossible to see ten feet ahead. The mud was gone; in a
twinkling the gloomy city became white, dazzling. The _droshki_ with
their padded coachmen turned into sleights, bounding along the uneven
street at headlong speed, their drivers’ beards stiff and frozen…. In
spite of Revolution, all Russia plunging dizzily into the unknown and
terrible future, joy swept the city with the coming of the snow.
Everybody was smiling; people ran into the streets, holding out their
arms to the soft, falling flakes, laughing. Hidden was all the
greyness; only the gold and coloured spires and cupolas, with
heightened barbaric splendour, gleamed through the white snow.
Even the sun came out, pale and watery, at noon. The colds and
rheumatism of the rainy months vanished. The life of the city grew gay,
and the very Revolution ran swifter….
I sat one evening in a _traktir_—a kind of lower-class inn—across the
street from the gates of Smolny; a low-ceilinged, loud place called
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” much frequented by Red Guards. They crowded it
now, packed close around the little tables with their dirty
table-cloths and enormous china tea-pots, filling the place with foul
cigarette-smoke, while the harassed waiters ran about crying
_“Seichass! Seichass!_ In a minute! Right away!”
In one corner sat a man in the uniform of a captain, addressing the
assembly, which interrupted him at every few words.
“You are no better than murderers!” he cried. “Shooting down your
Russian brothers on the streets!”
“When did we do that?” asked a worker.
“Last Sunday you did it, when the _yunkers_—”
“Well, didn’t they shoot us?” One man exhibited his arm in a sling.
“Haven’t I got something to remember them by, the devils?”
The captain shouted at the top of his voice. “You should remain
neutral! You should remain neutral! Who are you to destroy the legal
Government? Who is Lenin? A German—”
“Who are you? A counter-revolutionist! A provocator!” they bellowed at
him.
When he could make himself heard the captain stood up. “All right!”
said he. “You call yourselves the people of Russia. But you’re _not_
the people of Russia. The _peasants_ are the people of Russia. Wait
until the peasants—”
“Yes,” they cried, “wait until the peasants speak. We know what the
peasants will say…. Aren’t they workingmen like ourselves?”
In the long run, everything depended upon the peasants. While the
peasants had been politically backward, still they had their own
peculiar ideas, and they constituted more than eighty per cent of the
people of Russia. The Bolsheviki had a comparatively small following
among the peasants; and a permanent dictatorship of Russia by the
industrial workers was impossible…. The traditional peasant party was
the Socialist Revolutionary party; of all the parties now supporting
the Soviet Government, the Left Socialist Revolutionaries were the
logical inheritors of peasant leadership—and the Left Socialist
Revolutionaries, who were at the mercy of the organised city
proletariat, desperately needed the backing of the peasants….
Meanwhile Smolny had not neglected the peasants. After the Land decree,
one of the first actions of the new _Tsay-ee-kah_ had been to call a
Congress of Peasants, over the head of the Executive Committee of the
Peasants’ Soviets. A few days later was issued detailed Regulations for
the _Volost_ (Township) Land Committees, followed by Lenin’s
“Instruction to Peasants,” (See App. XII, Sect. 1) which explained the
Bolshevik revolution and the new Government in simple terms; and on
November 16th, Lenin and Miliutin published the “Instructions to
Provincial Emissaries,” of whom thousands were sent by the Soviet
Government into the villages.
1. Upon his arrival in the province to which he is accredited, the
emissary should call a joint meeting of the Central Executive
Committees of the Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’
Deputies, to whom he should make a report on the agrarian laws, and
then demand that a joint plenary session of the Soviets be summoned….
2. He must study the aspects of the agrarian problem in the province.
a. Has the land-owners’ property been taken over, and if so, in what
districts?
b. Who administers the confiscated land—the former proprietor, or the
Land Committees?
c. What has been done with the agricultural machinery and with the
farm-animals?
3. Has the ground cultivated by the peasants been augmented?
4. How much and in what respect does the amount of land now under
cultivation differ from the amount fixed by the Government as an
average minimum?
5. The emissary must insist that, after the peasants have received the
land, it is imperative that they increase the amount of cultivated land
as quickly as possible, and that they hasten the sending of grain to
the cities, as the only means of avoiding famine.
6. What are the measures projected or put into effect for the transfer
of land from the land-owners to the Land Committees and similar bodies
appointed by the Soviets?
7. It is desirable that agricultural properties well appointed and well
organised should be administered by Soviets composed of the regular
employees of those properties, under the direction of competent
agricultural scientists.
All through the villages a ferment of change was going on, caused not
only by the electrifying action of the Land decree, but also by
thousands of revolutionary-minded peasant-soldiers returning from the
front…. These men, especially, welcomed the call to a Congress of
Peasants.
Like the old _Tsay-ee-kah_ in the matter of the second Congress of
Workers’ and Soldiers’ Soviets, the Executive Committee tried to
prevent the Peasant Congress summoned by Smolny. And like the old
_Tsay-ee-kah,_ finding its resistance futile, the Executive Committee
sent frantic telegrams ordering the election of Conservative delegates.
Word was even spread among the peasants that the Congress would meet at
Moghilev, and some delegates went there; but by November 23d about four
hundred had gathered in Petrograd, and the party caucuses had begun….
The first session took place in the Alexander Hall of the Duma
building, and the first vote showed that more than half of all the
delegates were Left Socialist Revolutionaries, while the Bolsheviki
controlled a bare fifth, the conservative Socialist Revolutionaries a
quarter, and all the rest were united only in their opposition to the
old Executive Committee, dominated by Avksentiev, Tchaikovsky and
Peshekhonov….
The great hall was jammed with people and shaken with continual
clamour; deep, stubborn bitterness divided the delegates into angry
groups. To the right was a sprinkling of officers’ epaulettes, and the
patriarchal, bearded faces of the older, more substantial peasants; in
the centre were a few peasants, non-commissioned officers, and some
soldiers; and on the left almost all the delegates wore the uniforms of
common soldiers. These last were the young generation, who had been
serving in the army…. The galleries were thronged with workers—who, in
Russia, still remember their peasant origin….
Unlike the old _Tsay-ee-kah,_ the Executive Committee, in opening the
session, did not recognise the Congress as official; the official
Congress was called for December 13th; amid a hurricane of applause and
angry cries, the speaker declared that this gathering was merely
“Extraordinary Conference”… But the “Extraordinary Conference” soon
showed its attitude toward the Executive Committee by electing as
presiding officer Maria Spiridonova, leader of the Left Socialist
Revolution aries.
Most of the first day was taken up by a violent debate as to whether
the representatives of _Volost_ Soviets should be seated, or only
delegates from the Provincial bodies; and just as in the Workers’ and
Soldiers’ Congress, an overwhelming majority declared in favour of the
widest possible representation. Whereupon the old Executive Committee
left the hall….
Almost immediately it was evident that most of the delegates were
hostile to the Government of the People’s Commissars. Zinoviev,
attempting to speak for the Bolsheviki, was hooted down, and as he left
the platform, amid laughter, there were cries, “There’s how a People’s
Commissar sits in a mudpuddle!”
“We Left Socialist Revolutionaries refuse,” cried Nazariev, a delegate
from the Provinces, “to recognise this so-called Workers’ and Peasants’
Government until the peasants are represented in it. At present it is
nothing but a dictatorship of the workers…. We insist upon the
formation of a new Government which will represent the entire
democracy!”
The reactionary delegates shrewdly fostered this feeling, declaring, in
the face of protests from the Bolshevik benches, that the Council of
People’s Commissars intended either to control the Congress or dissolve
it by force of arms—an announcement which was received by the peasants
with bursts of fury….
On the third day Lenin suddenly mounted the tribune; for ten minutes
the room went mad. “Down with him!” they shrieked. “We will not listen
to any of your People’s Commissars! We don’t recognise your
Government!”
Lenin stood there quite calmly, gripping the desk with both hands, his
little eyes thoughtfully surveying the tumult beneath. Finally, except
for the right side of the hall, the demonstration wore itself out
somewhat.
“I do not come here as a member of the Council of People’s Commissars,”
said Lenin, and waited again for the noise to subside, “but as a member
of the Bolshevik faction, duly elected to this Congress.” And he held
his credentials up to that all might see them.
“However,” he went on, in an unmoved voice, “nobody will deny that the
present Government of Russia has been formed by the Bolshevik party—”
he had to wait a moment, “so that for all purposes it is the same
thing….” Here the right benches broke into deafening clamour, but the
centre and left were curious, and compelled silence.
Lenin’s argument was simple. “Tell me frankly, you peasants, to whom we
have given the lands of the _pomieshtchiki;_ do you want now to prevent
the workers from getting control of industry? This is class war. The
_pomieshtchiki_ of course oppose the peasants, and the manufactures
oppose the workers. Are you going to allow the ranks of the proletariat
to be divided? Which side will you be on?
“We, the Bolsheviki, are the party of the proletariat—of the peasant
proletariat as well as the industrial proletariat. We, the Bolsheviki,
are the protectors of the Soviets—of the Peasants’ Soviets as well as
those of the Workers and Soldiers. The present Government is a
Government of Soviets; we have not only invited the Peasants’ Soviets
to join that Government, but we have also invited representatives of
the Left Socialist Revolutionaries to enter the Council of People’s
Commissars….
“The Soviets are the most perfect representatives of the people—of the
workers in the factories and mines, of the workers in the fields.
Anybody who attempts to destroy the Soviets is guilty of an
anti-democratic and counter-revolutionary act. And I serve notice here
on you, comrades _Right_ Socialist Revolutionaries—and on you, Messrs.
Cadets—that if the Constituent Assembly attempts to destroy the
Soviets, we shall not permit the Constituent Assembly to do this
thing!”
On the afternoon of November 25th Tchernov arrived in hot haste from
Moghilev, summoned by the Executive Committee. Only two months before
considered an extreme revolutionist, and very popular with the
peasants, he was now called to check the dangerous drift of the
Congress toward the Left. Upon his arrival Tchernov was arrested and
taken to Smolny, where, after a short conversation, he was released.
His first act was to bitterly rebuke the Executive Committee for
leaving the Congress. They agreed to return, and Tchernov entered the
hall, welcomed with great applause by the majority, and the hoots and
jeers of the Bolsheviki.
“Comrades! I have been away. I participated in the Conference of the
Twelfth Army on the question of calling a Congress of all the Peasant
delegates of the armies of the Western Front, and I know very little
about the insurrection which occurred here—”
Zinoviev rose in his seat, and shouted, “Yes, you were away—for a few
minutes!” Fearful tumult. Cries, “Down with the Bolsheviki!”
Tchernov continued. “The accusation that I helped lead an army on
Petrograd has no foundation, and is entirely false. Where does such an
accusation come from? Show me the source!”
Zinoviev: “_Izviestia_ and _Dielo Naroda_—your own paper—that’s where
it comes from!”
Tchernov’s wide face, with the small eyes, waving hair and greyish
beard, became red with wrath, but he controlled himself and went on. “I
repeat, I know practically nothing about what has happened here, and I
did not lead any army except this army, (he pointed to the peasant
delegates), which I am largely responsible for bringing here!”
Laughter, and shouts of “Bravo!”
“Upon my return I visited Smolny. No such accusation was made against
me there…. After a brief conversation I left—and that’s all! Let any
one present make such an accusation!”
An uproar followed, in which the Bolsheviki and some of the Left
Socialist Revolutionaries were on their feet all at once, shaking their
fists and yelling, and the rest of the assembly tried to yell them
down.
“This is an outrage, not a session!” cried Tchernov, and he left the
hall; the meeting was adjourned because of the noise and disorder….
Meanwhile, the question of the status of the Executive Committee was
agitating all minds. By declaring the assembly “Extraordinary
Conference,” it had been planned to block the reelection of the
Executive Committee. But this worked both ways; the Left Socialist
Revolutionists decided that if the Congress had no power over the
Executive Committee, then the Executive Committee had no power over the
Congress. On November 25th the assembly resolved that the powers of the
Executive Committee be assumed by the Extraordinary Conference, in
which only members of the Executive who had been elected as delegates
might vote….
The next day, in spite of the bitter opposition of the Bolsheviki, the
resolution was amended to give all the members of the Executive
Committee, whether elected as delegates or not, voice and vote in the
assembly.
On the 27th occurred the debate on the Land question, which revealed
the differences between the agrarian programme of the Bolsheviki and
the Left Socialist Revolutionaries.
Kolchinsky, for the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, outlined the
history of the Land question during the Revolution. The first Congress
of Peasants’ Soviets, he said, had voted a precise and formal
resolution in favour of putting the landed estates immediately into the
hands of the Land Committees. But the directors of the Revolution, and
the bourgeois in the Government, had insisted that the question could
not be solved until the Constituent Assembly met…. The second period of
the Revolution, the period of “compromise,” was signalled by the
entrance of Tchernov into the Cabinet. The peasants were convinced that
now the practical solution of the Land question would begin; but in
spite of the imperative decision of the first Peasant Congress, the
reactionaries and conciliators in the Executive Committee had prevented
any action. This policy provoked a series of agrarian disorders, which
appeared as the natural expression of impatience and thwarted energy on
the part of the peasants. The peasants understood the exact meaning of
the Revolution—they tried to turn words into action….
“The recent events,” said the orator, “do not indicate a simple riot,
or a ‘Bolshevik adventure,’ but on the contrary, a real popular rising,
which has been greeted with sympathy by the whole country….
“The Bolsheviki in general took the correct attitude toward the Land
question; but in recommending that the peasants seize the land by
force, they committed a profound error…. From the first days, the
Bolsheviki declared that the peasants should take over the land ‘by
revolutionary mass action.’ This is nothing but anarchy; the land can
be taken over in an organised manner…. For the Bolsheviki it was
important that the problems of the Revolution should be solved in the
quickest possible manner—but the Bolsheviki were not interested in
_how_ these problems were to be solved….
“The Land decree of the Congress of Soviets is identical in its
fundamentals with the decisions of the first Peasants’ Congress. Why
then did not the new Government follow the tactics outlined by that
Congress? Because the Council of People’s Commissars wanted to hasten
the settlement of the Land question, so that the Constituent Assembly
would have nothing to do….
“But also the Government saw that it was necessary to adopt practical
measures, so without further reflection, it adopted the Regulations for
Land Committees, thus creating a strange situation; for the Council of
People’s Commissars abolished private property in land, but the
Regulations drawn up by the Land Committees are based on private
property…. However, no harm has been done by that; for the Land
Committees are paying no attention to the Soviet decrees, but are
putting into operation their own practical decisions—decisions based on
the will of the vast majority of the peasants….
“These Land Committees are not attempting the legislative solution of
the Land question, which belongs to the Constituent Assembly alone….
But will the Constituent Assembly desire to do the will of the Russian
peasants? Of that we cannot be sure…. All we can be sure of is that the
revolutionary determination of the peasants is now aroused, and that
the Constituent will be _forced_ to settle the Land question the way
the peasants want it settled…. The Constituent Assembly will not dare
to break with the will of the people….”
Followed him Lenin, listened to now with absorbing intensity. “At this
moment we are not only trying to solve the Land question, but the
question of Social Revolution—not only here in Russia, but all over the
world. The Land question cannot be solved independently of the other
problems of the Social Revolution…. For example, the confiscation of
the landed estates will provoke the resistance not only of Russian
land-owners, but also of foreign capital—with whom the great landed
properties are connected through the intermediary of the banks….
“The ownership of the land in Russia is the basis for immense
oppression, and the confiscation of the land by the peasants is the
most important step of our Revolution. But it cannot be separated from
the other steps, as is clearly manifested by the stages through which
the Revolution has had to pass. The first stage was the crushing of
autocracy and the crushing of the power of the industrial capitalists
and land-owners, whose interests are closely related. The second stage
was the strengthening of the Soviets and the political compromise with
the bourgeoisie. The mistake of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries lies
in the fact that at that time they did not oppose the policy of
compromise, because they held the theory that the consciousness of the
masses was not yet fully developed….
“_If Socialism can only be realised when the intellectual development
of all the people permits it, then we shall not see Socialism for at
least five hundred years_…. The Socialist political party—this is the
vanguard of the working-class; it must not allow itself to be halted by
the lack of education of the mass average, but it must lead the masses,
using the Soviets as organs of revolutionary initiative…. But in order
to lead the wavering, the comrades Left Socialist Revolutionaries
themselves must stop hesitating….
“In July last a series of open breaks began between the popular masses
and the ‘compromisers’; but now, in November, the Left Socialist
Revolutionaries are still holding out their hand to Avksentiev, who is
pulling the people with his little finger…. If Compromise continues,
the Revolution disappears. No compromise with the bourgeoisie is
possible; its power must be absolutely crushed….
“We Bolsheviki have not changed our Land programme; we have not given
up the abolition of private property in the land, and we do not intend
to do so. We adopted the Regulations for Land Committees,—which are
_not_ based on private property at all—because we want to accomplish
the popular will in the way the people have themselves decided to do
it, so as to draw closer the coalition of all the elements who are
fighting for the Social Revolution.
“We invite the Left Socialist Revolutionaries to enter that coalition,
insisting, however, that they cease looking backward, and that they
break with the ‘conciliators’ of their party….
“As far as the Constituent Assembly is concerned, it is true, as the
preceding speaker has said, that the work of the Constituent will
depend on the revolutionary determination of the masses. I say, ‘Count
on that revolutionary determination, but don’t forget your gun!’”
Lenin then read the Bolshevik resolution:
The Peasants’ Congress, fully supporting the Land decree of November
8th… approves of the Provisional Workers’ and Peasants’ Government of
the Russian Republic, established by the second All-Russian Congress of
Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies.
The Peasants’ Congress… invites all peasants unanimously to sustain
that law, and to apply it immediately themselves; and at the same time
invites the peasants to appoint to posts and positions of
responsibility only persons who have proved, not by words but by acts,
their entire devotion to the interests of the exploited
peasant-workers, their desire and their ability to defend these
interests against all resistance on the part of the great land-owners,
the capitalists, their partisans and accomplices….
The Peasants’ Congress, at the same time, expresses its conviction that
the complete realisation of all the measures which make up the Land
decree can only be successful through the triumph of the Workers’
Social Revolution, which began November 7th, 1917; for only the Social
Revolution can accomplish the definite transfer, without possibility of
return, of the land to the peasant-workers, the confiscation of model
farms and their surrender to the peasant communes, the confiscation of
agricultural machinery belonging to the great land-owners, the
safe-guarding of the interests of the agricultural workers by the
complete abolition of wage-slavery, the regular and methodical
distribution among all regions of Russia of the products of agriculture
and industry, and the seizure of the banks (without which the
possession of land by the whole people would be impossible, after the
abolition of private property), and all sorts of assistance by the
State to the workers….
For these reasons the Peasants’ Congress sustains entirely the
Revolution of November 7th… as a social revolution, and expresses its
unalterable will to put into operation, with whatever modifications are
necessary, but without any hesitation, the social transformation of the
Russian Republic.
The indispensable conditions of the victory of the Social Revolution,
which alone will secure the lasting success and the complete
realisation of the Land decree, is the close union of the
peasant-workers with the industrial working-class, with the proletariat
of all advanced countries. From now on, in the Russian Republic, all
the organisation and administration of the State, from top to bottom,
must rest on that union. That union, crushing all attempts, direct or
indirect, open or dissimulated, to return to the policy of conciliation
with the bourgeoisie—conciliation, damned by experience, with the
chiefs of bourgeois politics—can alone insure the victory of Socialism
throughout the world….
The reactionaries of the Executive Committee no longer dared openly to
appear. Tchernov, however, spoke several times, with a modest and
winning impartiality. He was invited to sit on the platform…. On the
second night of the Congress an anonymous note was handed up to the
chairman, requesting that Tchernov be made honorary President. Ustinov
read the note aloud, and immediately Zinoviev was on his feet,
screaming that this was a trick of the old Executive Committee to
capture the convention; in a moment the hall was one bellowing mass of
waving arms and angry faces, on both sides…. Nevertheless, Tchernov
remained very popular.
In the stormy debates on the Land question and the Lenin resolution,
the Bolsheviki were twice on the point of quitting the assembly, both
times restrained by their leaders…. It seemed to me as if the Congress
were hopelessly deadlocked.
But none of us knew that a series of secret conferences were already
going on between the Left Socialist Revolutionaries and the Bolsheviki
at Smolny. At first the Left Socialist Revolutionaries had demanded
that there be a Government composed of all the Socialist parties in and
out of the Soviets, to be responsible to a People’s Council, composed
of an equal number of delegates from the Workers’ and Soldiers’
organisation, and that of the Peasants, and completed by
representatives of the City Dumas and the Zemstvos; Lenin and Trotzky
were to be eliminated, and the Military Revolutionary Committee and
other repressive organs dissolved.
Wednesday morning, November 28th, after a terrible all-night struggle,
an agreement was reached. The _Tsay-ee-kah,_composed of 108 members,
was to be augumented by 108 members elected proportionally from the
Peasants’ Congress; by 100 delegates elected directly from the Army and
the Fleet; and by 50 representatives of the Trade Unions (35 from the
general Unions, 10 Railway Workers, and 5 from the Post and Telegraph
Workers). The Dumas and Zemstvos were dropped. Lenin and Trotzky
remained in the Government, and the Military Revolutionary Committee
continued to function.
The sessions of the Congress had now been removed to the Imperial Law
School building, Fontanka 6, headquarters of the Peasants’ Soviets.
There in the great meeting-hall the delegates gathered on Wednesday
afternoon. The old Executive Committee had withdrawn, and was holding a
rump convention of its own in another room of the same building, made
up of bolting delegates and representatives of the Army Committees.
Tchernov went from one meeting to the other, keeping a watchful eye on
the proceedings. He knew that an agreement with the Bolsheviki was
being discussed, but he did not know that it had been concluded.
He spoke to the rump convention. “At present, when everybody is in
favour of forming an all-Socialist Government, many people forget the
first Ministry, which was _not_ a coalition Government, and in which
there was only one Socialist—Kerensky; a Government which, in its time,
was very popular. Now people accuse Kerensky; they forget that he was
raised to power, not only by the Soviets, but also by the popular
masses….
“Why did public opinion change toward Kerensky? The savages set up gods
to which they pray, and which they punish if one of their prayers is
not answered…. That is what is happening at this moment…. Yesterday
Kerensky; to-day Lenin and Trotzky; another to-morrow….
“We have proposed to both Kerensky and the Bolsheviki to retire from
the power. Kerensky has accepted—to-day he announced from his
hiding-place that he has resigned as Premier; but the Bolsheviki wish
to retain the power, and they do not know how to use it….
“If the Bolsheviki succeed, or if they fail, the fate of Russia will
not be changed. The Russian villages understand perfectly what they
want, and they are now carrying out their own measures…. The villages
will save us in the end….”
In the meanwhile, in the great hall Ustinov had announced the agreement
between the Peasants’ Congress and Smolny, received by the delegates
with the wildest joy. Suddenly Tchernov appeared, and demanded the
floor.
“I understand,” he began, “that an agreement is being concluded between
the Peasants’ Congress and Smolny. Such an agreement would be illegal,
seeing that the true Congress of Peasants’ Soviets does not meet until
next week….
“Moreover, I want to warn you now that the Bolsheviki will never accept
your demands….”
He was interrupted by a great burst of laughter; and realising the
situation, he left the platform and the room, taking his popularity
with him….
Late in the afternoon of Thursday, November 16th, the Congress met in
extraordinary session. There was a holiday feeling in the air; on every
face was a smile…. The remainder of the business before the assembly
was hurried through, and then old Nathanson, the white-bearded dean of
the left wing of the Socialist Revolutionaries, his voice trembling and
tears in his eyes, read the report of the “wedding” of the Peasants’
Soviets with the Workers’ and Soldiers’ Soviets. At every mention of
the word “union” there was ecstatic applause…. At the end Ustinov
announced the arrival rival of a delegation from Smolny, accompanied by
representatives of the Red Army, greeted with a rising ovation. One
after another a workman, a soldier and a sailor took the floor, hailing
them.
Then Boris Reinstein, delegate of the American Socialist Labor Party:
“The day of the union of the Congress of Peasants and the Soviets of
Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies is one of the great days of the
Revolution. The sound of it will ring with resounding echoes throughout
the whole world—in Paris, in London, and across the ocean—in New York.
This union will fill with happiness the hearts of all toilers.
“A great idea has triumphed. The West, and America, expected from
Russia, from the Russian proletariat, something tremendous…. The
proletariat of the world is waiting for the Russian Revolution, waiting
for the great things that it is accomplishing….”
Sverdlov, president of the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ greeted them. And with the
shout, “Long live the end of civil war! Long live the United
Democracy!” the peasants poured out of the building.
It was already dark, and on the ice—covered snow glittered the pale
light of moon and star. Along the bank of the canal were drawn up in
full marching order the soldiers of the Pavlovsky Regiment, with their
band, which broke into the _Marseillaise._ Amid the crashing
full-throated shouts of the soldiers, the peasants formed in line,
unfurling the great red banner of the Executive Committee of the
All-Russian Peasants’ Soviets, embroidered newly in gold, “Long live
the union of the revolutionary and toiling masses!” Following were
other banners; of the District Soviets—of Putilov Factory, which read,
“We bow to this flag in order to create the brotherhood of all people!”
From somewhere torches appeared, blazing orange in the night, a
thousand times reflected in the facets of the ice, streaming out
smokily over the throng as it moved down the bank of the Fontanka
singing, between crowds that stood in astonished silence.
“Long live the Revolutionary Army! Long live the Red Guard! Long live
the Peasants!”
So the great procession wound through the city, growing and unfurling
ever new red banners lettered in gold. Two old peasants, bowed with
toil, were walking hand in hand, their faces illumined with child-like
bliss.
“Well,” said one, “I’d like to see them take away our land again,
_now!_”
Near Smolny the Red Guard was lined up on both sides of the street,
wild with delight. The other old peasant spoke to his comrade, “I am
not tired,” he said. “I walked on air all the way!”
On the steps of Smolny about a hundred Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies
were massed, with their banner, dark against the blaze of light
streaming out between the arches. Like a wave they rushed down,
clasping the peasants in their arms and kissing them; and the
procession poured in through the great door and up the stairs, with a
noise like thunder….
In the immense white meeting-room the _Tsay-ee-kah_ was waiting, with
the whole Petrograd Soviet and a thousand spectators beside, with that
solemnity which attends great conscious moments in history.
Zinoviev announced the agreement with the Peasants’ Congress, to a
shaking roar which rose and burst into storm as the sound of music
blared down the corridor, and the head of the procession came in. On
the platform the presidium rose and made place for the Peasants’
presidium, the two embracing; behind them the two banners were
intertwined against the white wall, over the empty frame from which the
Tsar’s picture had been torn….
Then opened the “triumphal session.” After a few words of welcome from
Sverdlov, Maria Spiridonova, slight, pale, with spectacles and hair
drawn flatly down, and the air of a New England school-teacher, took
the tribune—the most loved and the most powerful woman in all Russia.
“… Before the workers of Russia open now horizons which history has
never known…. All workers’ movements in the past have been defeated.
But the present movement is international, and that is why it is
invincible. There is no force in the world which can put out the fire
of the Revolution! The old world crumbles down, the new world begins….”
Then Trotzky, full of fire: “I wish you welcome, comrades peasants! You
come here not as guests, but as masters of this house, which holds the
heart of the Russian Revolution. The will of millions of workers is now
concentrated in this hall…. There is now only one master of the Russian
land: the union of the workers, soldiers and peasants….”
With biting sarcasm he went on to speak of the Allied diplomats, till
then contemptuous of Russia’s invitation to an armistice, which had
been accepted by the Central Powers.
“A new humanity will be born of this war…. In this hall we swear to
workers of all lands to remain at our revolutionary post. If we are
broken, then it will be in defending our flag….”
Krylenko followed him, explaining the situation at the front, where
Dukhonin was preparing to resist the Council of People’s Commissars.
“Let Dukhonin and those with him understand well that we shall not deal
gently with those who bar the road to peace!”
Dybenko saluted the assembly in the name of the Fleet, and Krushinsky,
member of the _Vikzhel,_ said, “From this moment, when the union of all
true Socialists is realised, the whole army of railway workers places
itself absolutely at the disposition of the revolutionary democracy!”
And Lunatcharsky, almost weeping, and Proshian, for the Left Socialist
Revolutionaries, and finally Saharashvili, for the United Social
Democrats Internationalists, composed of members of the Martov’s and of
Gorky’s groups, who declared:
“We left the _Tsay-ee-kah_ because of the uncompromising policy of the
Bolsheviki, and to force them to make concessions in order to realise
the union of all the revolutionary democracy. Now that that union is
brought about, we consider it a sacred duty to take our places once
more in the _Tsay-ee-kah_…. We declare that all those who have
withdrawn from the _Tsay-ee-kah_ should now return.”
Stachkov, a dignified old peasant of the presidium of the Peasants’
Congress, bowed to the four corners of the room. “I greet you with the
christening of a new Russian life and freedom!”
Gronsky, in the name of the Polish Social Democracy; Skripnik, for the
Factory-Shop Committees; Tifonov, for the Russian soldiers at Salonika;
and others, interminably, speaking out of full hearts, with the happy
eloquence of hopes fulfilled….
It was late in the night when the following resolution was put and
passed unanimously:
“The _Tsay-ee-kah,_ united in extraordinary session with the Petrograd
Soviet and the Peasants’ Congress, confirms the Land and Peace decrees
adopted by the second Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’
Deputies, and also the decree on Workers’ Control adopted by the
_Tsay-ee-kah._
“The joint session of the _Tsay-ee-kah_ and the Peasants’ Congress
expresses its firm conviction that the union of workers, soldiers and
peasants, this fraternal union of all the workers and all exploited,
will consolidate the power conquered by them, that it will take all
revolutionary measures to hasten the passing of the power into the
hands of the working-class in other countries, and that it will assure
in this manner the lasting accomplishment of a just peace and the
victory of Socialism.” (See App. XI, Sect. 2)
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER I
1.
_Oborontsi_—“Defenders.” All the “moderate” Socialist groups adopted or
were given this name, because they consented to the continuation of the
war under Allied leadership, on the ground that it was a war of
National Defence. The Bolsheviki, the Left Socialist Revolutionaries,
the Mensheviki Internationalists (Martov’s faction), and the Social
Democrats Internationalists (Gorky’s group) were in favour of forcing
the Allies to declare democratic war-aims, and to offer peace to
Germany on those terms….
2.
WAGES AND COST OF LIVING BEFORE AND DURING THE REVOLUTION
The following tables of wages and costs were compiled, in October,
1917, by a joint Committee from the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and the
Moscow section of the Ministry of Labour, and published in _Novaya
Zhizn,_ October 26th, 1917:
_Wages Per Day_—(_Rubles and kopeks_)
_Trade_ _July_ 1914 _July_ 1916 _August_ 1917
Carpenter, Cabinet maker 1.60—2. 4. —6. 8.50
Terrassier 1.30—1.50 3. —3.50
Mason, plasterer 1.70—2.35 4. —6. 8.
Painter, upholsterer 1.80—2.20 3. —5.50 8.
Blacksmith 1. —2.25 4. —5. 8.50
Chimney sweep 1.50—2. 4. —5.50 7.50
Locksmith .90—2. 3.50—6. 9.
Helper 1. —1.50 2.50—4.50 8.
In spite of numerous stories of gigantic advances in wages immediately
following the Revolution of March, 1917, these figures, which were
published by the Ministry of Labour as characteristic of conditions all
over Russia, show that wages did not rise immediately after the
Revolution, but little by little. On an average, wages increased
slightly more than 500 per cent….
But at the same time the value of the ruble fell to less than one-third
its former purchasing power, and the cost of the necessities of life
increased enormously.
The following table was compiled by the Municipal Duma of Moscow, where
food was cheaper and more plentiful than in Petrograd:
_Cost of Food—(Rubles and Kopeks)_
_August_ 1914 _August_ 1917 _% Increase_ Black
bread _(Fund)_ .02 1/2 .12 330 White
bread _(Fund)_ .05 .20 300 Beef _(Fund)_ .22
1.10 400 Veal _(Fund)_ .26 2.15 727
Pork _(Fund)_ .23 2. 770
Herring _(Fund)_ .06 .52 767
Cheese _(Fund)_ .40 3.50 754
Butter _(Fund)_ .48 3.20 557
Eggs (Doz.) .30 1.60 443
Milk _(Krushka)_ .07 .40 471
On an average, food increased in price 556 per cent, or 51 per cent
more than wages.
As for the other necessities, the price of these increased
tremendously.
The following table was compiled by the Economic section of the Moscow
Soviet of Workers’ Deputies, and accepted as correct by the Ministry of
Supplies of the Provisional Government.
_Cost of Other Necessities_—(_Rubles and Kopeks_)
_August_ 1914 _August_ 1917 % _Increase_ Calico _(Arshin)_
.11 1.40 1173 Cotton cloth _(Arshin)_ .15 2. 1233
Dress Goods _(Arshin)_ 2. 40. 1900 Castor
Cloth _(Arshin)_ 6. 80. 1233 Men’s
Shoes (Pair) 12. 144. 1097 Sole
Leather 20. 400. 1900
Rubbers (Pair) 2.50 15. 500 Men’s
Clothing (Suit) 40. 400.–455. 900–1109
Tea _(Fund)_ 4.50 18. 300
Matches (Carton) .10 .50 400
Soap _(Pood)_ 4.50 40. 780
Gasoline _(Vedro)_ 1.70 11. 547
Candles _(Pood)_ 8.50 100. 1076
Caramel _(Fund)_ .30 4.50 1400 Fire
Wood (Load) 10. 120. 1100
Charcoal .80 13. 1525 Sundry Metal
Ware 1. 20. 1900
On an average, the above categories of necessities increased about
1,109 per cent in price, more than twice the increase of salaries. The
difference, of course, went into the pockets of speculators and
merchants.
In September, 1917, when I arrived in Petrograd, the average daily wage
of a skilled industrial worker—for example, a steel-worker in the
Putilov Factory—was about 8 rubles. At the same time, profits were
enormous…. I was told by one of the owners of the Thornton Woollen
Mills, an English concern on the outskirts of Petrograd, that while
wages had increased about 300 per cent in his factory, his profits had
gone up _900 per cent._
3.
THE SOCIALIST MINISTERS
The history of the efforts of the Socialists in the Provisional
Government of July to realise their programme in coalition with the
bourgeois Ministers, is an illuminating example of class struggle in
politics. Says Lenin, in explanation of this phenomenon:
“The capitalists, … seeing that the position of the Government was
untenable, resorted to a method which since 1848 has been for decades
practised by the capitalists in order to befog, divide, and finally
overpower the working-class. This method is the so-called ‘Coalition
Ministry,’ composed of bourgeois and of renegades from the Socialist
camp.
“In those countries where political freedom and democracy have existed
side by side with the revolutionary movement of the workers—for example
in England and France—the capitalists make use of this subterfuge, and
very successfully too. The ‘Socialist’ leaders, upon entering the
Ministries, invariably prove mere figure-heads, puppets, simply a
shield for the capitalists, a tool with which to defraud the workers.
The ‘democratic’ and ‘republican’ capitalists in Russia set in motion
this very same scheme. The Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviki
fell victim to it, and on June 1st a ‘Coalition’ Ministry, with the
participation of Tchernov, Tseretelli, Skobeliev, Avksentiev, Savinkov,
Zarudny and Nikitin became an accomplished fact….”—_Problems of the
Revolution._
4.
SEPTEMBER MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS IN MOSCOW
In the first week of October, 1917, _Novaya Zhizn_ published the
following comparative table of election results, pointing out that this
meant the bankruptcy of the policy of Coalition with the propertied
classes. “If civil war can yet be avoided, it can only be done by a
united front of all the revolutionary democracy….”
_Elections for the Moscow Central and Ward Dumas._
June 1917 September 1917
Socialist Revolutionaries 58 Members 14 Members
Cadets 17 Members 30 Members
Mensheviki 12 Members 4 Members
Bolsheviki 11 Members 47 Members
5.
GROWING ARROGANCE OF THE REACTIONARIES
September 18th. The Cadet Shulgin, writing in a Kiev newspaper, said
that the Provisional Government’s declaration that Russia was a
Republic constituted a gross abuse of its powers. “We cannot admit
either a Republic, or the present Republican Government…. And we are
not sure that we want a Republic in Russia….”
October 23d. At a meeting of the Cadet party held at Riazan, M.
Dukhonin declared, “On March 1st we must establish a Constitutional
Monarchy. We must not reject the legitimate heir to the throne, Mikhail
Alexandrovitch….”
October 27th. Resolution passed by the Conference of Business Men at
Moscow:
“The Conference… insists that the Provisional Government take the
following immediate measures in the Army:
“1. Forbidding of all political propaganda; the Army must be out of
politics.
“2. Propaganda of antinational and international ideas and theories
deny the necessity for armies, and hurt discipline; it should be
forbidden, and all propagandists punished….
“3. The function of the Army Committees must be limited to economic
questions exclusively. All their decisions should be confirmed by their
superior officers, who have the right to dissolve the Committees at any
time….
“4. The salute to be reestablished, and made obligatory. Full
reestablishment of disciplinary power in the hands of officers, with
right of review of sentence….
“5. Expulsion from the Corps of Officers of those who dishonour it by
participating in the movement of the soldier-masses, which teaches them
disobedience…. Reestablishment for this purpose of the Courts of
Honor….
“6. The Provisional Government should take the necessary measures to
make possible the return to the army of Generals and other officers
unjustly discharged under the influence of Committees, and other
irresponsible organisations….”
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER II
1.
The Kornilov revolt is treated in detail in my forthcoming volume,
“Kornilov to Brest-Litovsk.” The responsibility of Kerensky for the
situation which gave rise to Kornilov’s attempt is now pretty clearly
established. Many apologists for Kerensky say that he knew of
Kornilov’s plans, and by a trick drew him out prematurely, and then
crushed him. Even Mr. A. J. Sack, in his book, “The Birth of the
Russian Democracy,” says:
“Several things… are almost certain. The first is that Kerensky knew
about the movement of several detachments from the Front toward
Petrograd, and it is possible that as Prime Minister and Minister of
War, realising the growing Bolshevist danger, he called for them….”
The only flaw in that argument is that there was no “Bolshevist danger”
at that time, the Bolsheviki still being a powerless minority in the
Soviets, and their leaders in jail or hiding.
2.
DEMOCRATIC CONFERENCE
When the Democratic Conference was first proposed to Kerensky, he
suggested an assembly of all the elements in the nation—“the live
forces,” as he called them—including bankers, manufacturers,
land-owners, and representatives of the Cadet party. The Soviet
refused, and drew up the following table of representation, which
Kerensky agreed to:
100 delegates All-Russian Soviets Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies
100 delegates All-Russian Soviets Peasants’ Deputies
50 delegates Provincial Soviets Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies
50 delegates Peasants’ District Land Committees
100 delegates Trade Unions
84 delegates Army Committees at the Front
150 delegates Workers’ and Peasants’ Cooperative Societies
20 delegates Railway Workers’ Union
10 delegates Post and Telegraph Workers’ Union
20 delegates Commercial Clerks
15 delegates Liberal Professions—Doctors, Lawyers, Journalists, etc.
50 delegates Provincial Zemstvos
59 delegates Nationalist Organisations—Poles, Ukraineans, etc.
This proportion was altered twice or three times. The final disposition
of delegates was:
300 delegates All-Russian Soviets Workers’, Soldiers’ & Peasants’ Deputies
300 delegates Cooperative Societies
300 delegates Municipalities
150 delegates Army Committees at the Front
150 delegates Provincial Zemstvos
200 delegates Trade Unions
100 delegates Nationalist Organisations
200 delegates Several small groups
3.
THE FUNCTION OF THE SOVIETS IS ENDED
On September 28th, 1917, _Izviestia,_ organ of the _Tsay-ee-kah,_
published an article which said, speaking of the last Provisional
Ministry:
“At last a truly democratic government, born of the will of all classes
of the Russian people, the first rough form of the future liberal
parliamentary régime, has been formed. Ahead of us is the Constituent
Assembly, which will solve all questions of fundamental law, and whose
composition will be essentially democratic. The function of the Soviets
is at an end, and the time is approaching when they must retire, with
the rest of the revolutionary machinery, from the stage of a free and
victorious people, whose weapons shall hereafter be the peaceful ones
of political action.”
The leading article of _Izviestia_ for October 23d was called, “The
Crisis in the Soviet Organisations.” It began by saying that travellers
reported a lessening activity of local Soviets everywhere. “This is
natural,” said the writer. “For the people are becoming interested in
the more permanent legislative organs—the Municipal Dumas and the
Zemstvs….
“In the important centres of Petrograd and Moscow, where the Soviets
were best organised, they did not take in all the democratic elements….
The majority of the intellectuals did not participate, and many workers
also; some of the workers because they were politically backward,
others because the centre of gravity for them was in their Unns…. We
cannot deny that these organisations are firmly united with the masses,
whose everyday needs are better served by them….
“That the local democratic administrations are being energetically
organised is highly important. The City Dumas are elected by universal
suffrage, and in purely local matters have more authority than the
Soviets. Not a single democrat will see anything wrong in this….
“… Elections to the Municipalities are being conduct in a better and
more democratic way than the elections to the Soviets… All classes are
represented in the Municipalities…. And as soon as the local
Self-Governments begin to organise life in the Municipalities, the rôle
of the local Soviets naturally ends….
“… There are two factors in the falling off of interest in the Soviets.
The first we may attribute to the lowering of political interest in the
masses; the second, to the growing effort of provincial and local
governing bodies to organise the building of new Russia…. The more the
tendency lies in this latter direction, the sooner disappears the
significance of the Soviets….
“We ourselves are being called the ‘undertakers’ of our own
organisation. In reality, we ourselves are the hardest workers in
constructing the new Russia….
“When autocracy and the whole bureaucratic régime fell, we set up the
Soviets as a barracks in which all the democracy cod find temporary
shelter. Now, instead of barracks, we are building the permanent
edifice of a new system, and naturally the people will gradually leave
the barracks for more comfortable quarters.”
4.
TROTZKY’S SPEECH AT THE COUNCIL OF THE RUSSIAN REPUBLIC
“The purpose of the Democratic Conference, which was called by the
_Tsay-ee-kah,_ was to do away with the irresponsible personal
government which produced Kornilov, and to establish a responsible
government which would be capable of finishing the war, and ensure the
calling of the Constituent Assembly at the given time. In the meanwhile
behind the back of the Democratic Conference, by trickery, by deals
between Citizen Kerensky, the Cadets, and the leaders of the Menshevik
and Socialist Revolutionary parties, we received the opposite result
from the officially announced purpose. A power was created around which
and in which we have open and secret Kornilovs playing leading parts.
The irresponsibility of the Government is offically proclaimed, when it
is announced that the Council of the Russian Republic is to be a
_consultative_ and not _legislative_ body. In the eighth month of the
Revolution, the irresponsible Government creates a cover for itself in
this new edition of Bieligen’s Duma.
“The propertied classes have entered this Provision Council in a
proportion which clearly shows, from elections all over the country,
that many of them have no right here whatever. In spite of that the
Cadet party, which until yesterday wanted the Provisional Government to
be responsible to the State Duma—this same Cadet party secured the
independence Assembly the propertied classes will no doubt have as
favourable position than they have in this Council, and they will not
be able to be irresponsible to the Constituent Assembly.
“If the propertied classes were really getting ready for the
Constituent Assembly six weeks from now, there could be no reason for
establishing the irresponsibility of the Government at this time. The
whole truth is that the bourgeoisie, which directs the policies of the
Provisional Government, has for its aim to break the Constituent
Assembly. At present this is the main purpose of the propertied
classes, which control our entire national policy—external and
internal. In the industrial, agrarian and supply departments the
politics of the propertied classes, acting with the Government,
increases the natural disorganisation caused by the war. The propertied
classes, which are provoking a peasants’ revolt! The propertied
classes, which are provoking civil war, and openly hold their course on
the bony hand of hunger, with which they intend to overthrow the
Revolution and finish with the Constituent Assembly!
“No less criminal also is the international policy of the bourgeoisie
and its Government. After forty months of war, the capital is
threatened with mortal danger. In reply to this arises a plan to move
the Government to Moscow. The idea of abandoning the capital does not
stir the indignation of the bourgeoisie. Just the opposite. It is
accepted as a natural part of the general policy designed to promote
counter-revolutionary conspiracy. … Instead of recognising that the
salvation of the country lies in concluding peace, instead of throwing
openly the idea of immediate peace to all the worn-out peoples, over
the heads of diplomats and imperialists, and making the continuation of
the war impossible,—the Provisional Government, by order of the Cadets,
the Counter-Revolutionists and the Allied Imperialists, without sense,
without purpose and without a plan, continues to drag on the murderous
war, sentencing to useless death new hundreds of thousands of soldiers
and sailors, and preparing to give up Petrograd, and to wreck the
Revolution. At a time when Bolshevik soldiers and sailors are dying
with other soldiers and sailors as a result of the mistakes and crimes
of others, the so-called Supreme Commander (Kerensky) continues to
suppress the Bolshevik press. The leading parties of the Council are
acting as a voluntary cover for these policies.
“We, the faction of Social Democrats Bolsheviki, announce that with
this Government of Treason to the People we have nothing in common. We
have nothing in common with the work of these Murderers of the People
which goes on behind official curtains. We refuse either directly or
indirectly to cover up one day of this work. While Wilhelm’s troops are
threatening Petrograd, the Government of Kerensky and Kornilov is
preparing to run away from Petrograd and turn Moscow into a base of
counter-revolution!
“We warn the Moscow workers and soldiers to be on their guard. Leaving
this Council, we appeal to the manhood and wisdom of the workers,
peasants and soldiers of all Russia. Petrograd is in danger! The
Revolution is in danger! The Government has increased the danger—the
ruling classes intensify it. Only the people themselves can save
themselves and the country.
“We appeal to the people. Long live immediate, honest, democratic
peace! All power to the Soviets! All land to the people! Long live the
Constituent Assembly!”
5.
THE “NAKAZ” TO SKOBELIEV
_Resumé_
(Passed by the _Tsay-ee-kah_ and given to Skobeliev as an instruction
for the representative of the Russian Revolutionary democracy at the
Paris Conference.)
The peace treaty must be based on the principle, “No annexations, no
indemnities, the right of self-determination of peoples.”
_Territorial Problems_
(1) Evacuation of German troops from invaded Russia. Full right of
self-determination to Poland, Lithuania and Livonia.
(2) For Turkish Armenia autonomy, and later complete
self-determination, as soon as local Governments are established.
(3) The question of Alsace-Lorraine to be solved by a plebiscite, after
the withdrawal of all foreign troops.
(4) Belgium to be restored. Compensation for damages from an
international fund.
(5) Serbia and Montenegro to be restored, and aided by an international
relief fund. Serbia to have an outlet on the Adriatic. Bosnia and
Herzegovina to be autonomous.
(6) The disputed provinces in the Balkans to have provisional autonomy,
followed by a plebiscite.
(7) Rumania to be restored, but forced to give complete
self-determination to the Dobrudja…. Rumania must be forced to execute
the clauses of the Berlin Treaty concerning the Jews, and recognise
them as Rumanian citizens.
(8) In Italia Irridenta a provisional autonomy, followed by a
plebiscite to determine state dependence.
(9) The German colonies to be returned.
(10) Greece and Persia to be restored.
_Freedom of the Seas_
All straits opening into inland seas, as well as the Suez and Panama
Canals, are to be neutralised. Commercial shipping to be free. The
right of privateering to be abolished. The torpedoing of commercial
ships to be forbidden.
_Indemnities_
All combatants to renounce demands for any indemnities, either direct
or indirect—as, for instance, charges for the maintenance of prisoners.
Indemnities and contributions collected during the war must be
refunded.
_Economic Terms_
Commercial treaties are not to be a part of the peace terms. Every
country must be independent in its commercial relations, and must not
be obliged to, or prevented from, concluding an economic treaty, by the
Treaty of Peace. Nevertheless, all nations should bind themselves, by
the Peace Treaty, not to practise an economic blockade after the war,
nor to form separate tariff agreements. The right of most favoured
nation must be given to all countries without distinction.
_Guarantees of Peace_
Peace is to be concluded at the Peace Conference by delegates elected
by the national representative institutions of each country. The peace
terms are to be confirmed by these parliaments.
Secret diplomacy is to be abolished; all parties are to bind themselves
not to conclude any secret treaties. Such treaties are declared in
contradiction to international law, and void. All treaties, until
confirmed by the parliaments of the different nations, are to be
considered void.
Gradual disarmament both on land and sea, and the establishment of a
militia system. The “League of Nations” advanced by President Wilson
may become a valuable aid to international law, provided that (a), all
nations are to be obliged to participate in it with equal rights, and
(b), international politics are to be democratised.
_Ways to Peace_
The Allies are to announce immediately that they are willing to open
peace negotiations as soon as the enemy powers declare their consent to
the renunciation of all forcible annexations.
The Allies must bind themselves not to begin any peace negotiations,
nor to conclude peace, except in a general Peace Conference with the
participation of delegates from all the neutral countries.
All obstacles to the Stockholm Socialist Conference are to be removed,
and passports are to be given immediately to all delegates of parties
and organisations who wish to participate.
(The Executive Committee of the Peasants’ Soviets also issued a
_nakaz,_ which differs little from the above.)
6.
PEACE AT RUSSIA’S EXPENSE
The Ribot revelations of Austria’s peace-offer to France; the so-called
“Peace Conference” at Berne, Switzerland, during the summer of 1917, in
which delegates participated from all belligerent countries,
representing large financial interests in all these countries; and the
attempted negotiations of an English agent with a Bulgarian church
dignitary; all pointed to the fact that there were strong currents, on
both sides, favourable to patching up a peace at the expense of Russia.
In my next book, “Kornilov to Brest-Litovsk,” I intend to treat this
matter at some length, publishing several secret documents discovered
in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Petrograd.
7.
RUSSIAN SOLDIERS IN FRANCE
_Official Report of the Provisional Government._
“From the time the news of the Russian Revolution reached Paris,
Russian newspapers of extreme tendencies immediately began to appear;
and these newspapers, as well as individuals, freely circulated among
the soldier masses and began a Bolshevik propaganda, often spreading
false news which appeared in the French journals. In the absence of all
official news, and of precise details, this campaign provoked
discontent among the soldiers. The result was a desire to return to
Russia, and a hatred toward the officers.
“Finally it all turned into rebellion. In one of their meetings, the
soldiers issued an appeal to refuse to drill, since they had decided to
fight no more. It was decided to isolate the rebels, and General
Zankievitch ordered all soldiers loyal to the Provisional Government to
leave the camp of Courtine, and to carry with them all ammunition. On
June 25th the order was executed; there remained at the camp only the
soldiers who said they would submit ‘conditionally’ to the Provisional
Government. The soldiers at the camp of Courtine received several times
the visit of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armies abroad, of
Rapp, the Commissar of the Ministry of War, and of several
distinguished former exiles who wished to influence them, but these
attempts were unsuccessful, and finally Commissar Rapp insisted that
the rebels lay down their arms, and, in sign of submission, march in
good order to a place called Clairvaux. The order was only partially
obeyed; first 500 men went out, of whom 22 were arrested; 24 hours
later about 6,000 followed…. About 2,000 remained….
“It was decided to increase the pressure; their rations were
diminished, their pay was cut off, and the roads toward the village of
Courtine were guarded by French soldiers. General Zankievitch, having
discovered that a Russian artillery brigade was passing through France,
decided to form a mixed detachment of infantry and artillery to reduce
the rebels. A deputation was sent to the rebels; the deputation
returned several hours later, convinced of the futility of the
negotiations. On September 1st General Zankievitch sent an ultimatum to
the rebels demanding that they lay down their arms, and menacing in
case of refusal to open fire with artillery if the order was not obeyed
by September 3d at 10 o’clock.
“The order not being executed, a light fire of artillery was opened on
the place at the hour agreed upon. Eighteen shells were fired, and the
rebels were warned that the bombardment would become more intense. In
the night of September 3d 160 men surrendered. September 4th the
artillery bombardment recommenced, and at 11 o’clock, after 36 shells
had been fired, the rebels raised two white flags and began to leave
the camp without arms. By evening 8,300 men had surrendered. 150
soldiers who remained in the camp opened fire with machine-guns that
night. The 5th of September, to make an end of the affair, a heavy
barrage was laid on the camp, and our soldiers occupied it little by
little. The rebels kept up a heavy fire with their machine-guns.
September 6th, at 9 o’clock, the camp was entirely occupied…. After the
disarmament of the rebels, 81 arrests were made….”
Thus the report. From secret documents discovered in the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, however, we know that the account is not strictly
accurate. The first trouble arose when the soldiers tried to form
Committees, as their comrades in Russia were doing. They demanded to be
sent back to Russia, which was refused; and then, being considered a
dangerous influence in France, they were ordered to Salonika. They
refused to go, and the battle followed…. It was discovered that they
had been left in camp without officers for about two months, and badly
treated, before they became rebellious. All attempts to find out the
name of the “Russian artillery brigade” which had fired on them were
futile; the telegrams discovered in the Ministry left it to be inferred
that French artillery was used….
After their surrender, more than two hundred of the mutineers were shot
in cold blood.
8.
TERESTCHENKO’S SPEECH (_Resumé_)
“… The questions of foreign policy are closely related to those of
national defence…. And so, if in questions of national defence you
think it is necessary to hold session in secret, also in our foreign
policy we are sometimes forced to observe the same secrecy….
“German diplomacy attempts to influence public opinion…. Therefore the
declarations of directors of great democratic organisations who talk
loudly of a revolutionary Congress, and the impossibility of another
winter campaign, are dangerous…. All these declarations cost human
lives….
“I wish to speak merely of governmental logic, without touching the
questions of the honour and dignity of the State. From the point of
view of logic, the foreign policy of Russia ought to be based on a real
comprehension of the _interests_ of Russia…. These interests mean that
it is impossible that our country remain alone, and that the present
alignment of forces with us, (the Allies), is satisfactory…. All
humanity longs for peace, but in Russia no one will permit a
humiliating peace which would violate the State interests of our
fatherland!”
The orator pointed out that such a peace would for long years, if not
for centuries, retard the triumph of democratic principles in the
world, and would inevitably cause new wars.
“All remember the days of May, when the fraternisation on our Front
threatened to end the war by a simple cessation of military operations,
and lead the country to a shameful separate peace… and what efforts it
was necessary to use to make the soldier masses at the front understand
that it was not by this method that the Russian State must end the war
and guarantee its interest….”
He spoke of the miraculous effect of the July offensive, what strength
it gave to the words of Russian ambassadors abroad, and the despair in
Germany caused by the Russian victories. And also, the disillusionment
in Allied countries which followed the Russian defeat….
“As to the Russian Government, it adhered strictly to the formula of
May, ‘No annexations and no punitive indemnities.’ We consider it
essential not only to proclaim the self-determination of peoples, but
also to renounce imperialist aims….”
Germany is continually trying to make peace. The only talk in Germany
is of peace; she knows she cannot win.
“I reject the reproaches aimed at the Government which allege that
Russian foreign policy does not speak clearly enough about the aims of
the war….
“If the question arises as to what ends the Allies are pursuing, it is
indispensable first to demand what aims the Central Powers have agreed
upon….
“The desire is often heard that we publish the details of the treaties
which bind the Allies; but people forget that, up to now, we do not
know the treaties which bind the Central Powers….”
Germany, he said, evidently wants to separate Russia from the West by a
series of weak buffer-states.
“This tendency to strike at the vital interests of Russia must be
checked….
“And will the Russian democracy, which has inscribed on its banner the
rights of nations to dispose of themselves, allow calmly the
continuation of oppression upon the most civilised peoples (in
Austria-Hungary)?
“Those who fear that the Allies will try to profit by our difficult
situation, to make us support more than our share of the burden of war,
and to solve the questions of peace at our expense, are entirely
mistaken…. Our enemy looks upon Russia as a market for its products.
The end of the war will leave us in a feeble condition, and with our
frontier open the flood of German products can easily hold back for
years our industrial development. Measures must be taken to guard
against this….
“I say openly and frankly: the combination of forces which unites us to
the Allies is _favourable to the interests of Russia…._ It is therefore
important that our views on the questions of war and peace shall be in
accord with the views of the Allies as clearly and precisely as
possible…. To avoid all misunderstanding, I must say frankly that
Russia must present at the Paris Conference _one point of view…._”
He did not want to comment on the _nakaz_ to Skobeliev, but he referred
to the Manifesto of the Dutch-Scandinavian Committee, just published in
Stockholm. This Manifesto declared for the autonomy of Lithuania and
Livonia; “but that is clearly impossible,” said Terestchenko, “for
Russia must have free ports on the Baltic all the year round….
“In this question the problems of foreign policy are also closely
related to interior politics, for if there existed a strong sentiment
of unity of all great Russia, one would not witness the repeated
manifestations, everywhere, of a desire of peoples to separate from the
Central Government…. Such separations are contrary to the interests of
Russia, and the Russian delegates cannot raise the issue….”
9.
THE BRITISH FLEET (_etc._)
At the time of the naval battle of the Gulf of Riga, not only the
Bolsheviki, but also the Ministers of the Provisional Government,
considered that the British Fleet had deliberately abandoned the
Baltic, as one indication of the attitude so often expressed publicly
by the British press, and semi-publicly by British representatives in
Russia, “Russia’s finished! No use bothering about Russia!”
See interview with Kerensky (Appendix 13).
GENERAL GURKO was a former Chief of Staff of the Russian armies under
the Tsar. He was a prominent figure in the corrupt Imperial Court.
After the Revolution, he was one of the very few persons exiled for his
political and personal record. The Russian naval defeat in the Gulf of
Riga coincided with the public reception, by King George in London, of
General Gurko, a man whom the Russian Provisional Government considered
dangerously pro-German as well as reactionary!
10.
APPEALS AGAINST INSURRECTION
_To Workers and Soldiers_
“Comrades! The Dark Forces are increasingly trying to call forth in
Petrograd and other towns DISORDERS AND _Pogroms._ Disorder is
necessary to the Dark Forces, for disorder will give them an
opportunity for crushing the revolutionary movement in blood. Under the
pretext of establishing order, and of protecting the inhabitants, they
hope to establish the domination of Kornilov, which the revolutionary
people succeeded in suppressing not long ago. Woe to the people if
these hopes are realised! The triumphant counter-revolution will
destroy the Soviets and the Army Committees, will disperse the
Constituent Assembly, will stop the transfer of the land to the Land
Committees, will put an end to all the hopes of the people for a speedy
peace, and will fill all the prisons with revolutionary soldiers and
workers.
“In their calculations, the counter-revolutionists and Black Hundred
leaders are counting on the serious discontent of the unenlightened
part of the people with the disorganisation of the food-supply, the
continuation of the war, and the general difficulties of life. They
hope to transform every demonstration of soldiers and workers into a
_pogrom,_ which will frighten the peaceful population and throw it into
the arms of the Restorers of Law and Order.
“Under such conditions every attempt to organise a demonstration in
these days, although for the most laudable object, would be a crime.
All conscious workers and soldiers who are displeased with the policy
of the Government will only bring injury to themselves and to the
Revolution if they indulge in demonstrations.
“THEREFORE THE _Tsay-ee-kah_ ASKS ALL WORKERS NOT TO OBEY ANY CALLS TO
DEMONSTRATE.
“WORKERS AND SOLDIERS! DO NOT YIELD TO PROVOCATION! REMEMBER YOUR DUTY
TO YOUR COUNTRY AND TO THE REVOLUTION! DO NOT BREAK THE UNITY OF THE
REVOLUTIONARY FRONT BY DEMONSTRATIONS WHICH ARE BOUND TO BE
UNSUCCESSFUL!”
_The Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Workers’ and
Soldiers’ Deputies (Tsay-ee-kah)_
_Russian Social Democratic Labour Party_ THE DANGER IS NEAR! To All
Workers and Soldiers (_Read and Hand to Others_)
_Comrades Workers and Soldiers!_
“Our country is in danger. On account of this danger our freedom and
our Revolution are passing through difficult days. The enemy is at the
gates of Petrograd. The disorganisation is growing with every hours. It
becomes more and more difficult to obtain bread for Petrograd. All, of
from the smallest to the greatest, must redouble their efforts, must
endeavour to arrange things properly…. We must save our country, save
freedom…. More arms and provisions for the Army! Bread—for the great
cities. Order and organisation in the country….
“And in these terrible critical days rumours creep about that SOMEWHERE
a demonstration is being prepared, that SOME ONE is calling on the
soldiers and workers to destroy revolutionary peace and order….
_Rabotchi Put,_ the newspaper of the Bolsheviki, is pouring oil on the
flames: it flattering, trying to please the unenlightened people,
tempting the worker and soldiers, urging them on against the
Government, promising them mountains of good things…. The confiding,
ignorant men believe, they do not reason…. And from the other side come
also rumours—rumours that the Dark Forces, the friends of the Tsar, the
German spies, are rubbing their hands with glee. They are ready to join
the Bolsheviki, and with them fan the disorders into civil war.
“The Bolsheviki and the ignorant soldiers and workers seduced by them
cry senselessly: ‘Down with the Government! All power to the Soviets!’
And the Dark servants of the Tsar and the spies of Wilhelm will egg the
on; ‘Beat the Jews, beat the shopkeepers, rob the markets, devastate
the shops, pillage the wine stores! Slay, burn, rob!’
“And then will begin a terrible confusion, a war between one part of
the people and the other. All will become still more disorganised, and
perhaps once more blood will be shed on the streets of the capital. And
then what then?
“Then, the road to Petrograd will be open to Wilhelm. Then, no bread
will come to Petrograd, the children will die of hunger. Then, the Army
as the front will remain without support, our brothers in the trenches
will be delivered to the fire of the enemy. Then, Russia will lose all
prestige in other countries, our money will lose its value; everything
will be so dear as to make life impossible. Then, the long awaited
Constituent Assembly will be postponed—it will be impossible to convene
it in time. And then—Death to the Revolution, Death to our Liberty….
“Is it this that you want, workers and soldiers? No! If you do not then
go, go to the ignorant people seduced by the betrayers, and tell them
the whole truth, which we have told you!
“Let all know that EVERY MAN WHO IN THESE TERRIBLE DAYS CALLS ON YOU TO
COME OUT IN THE STREETS AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT, IS EITHER A SECRET
SERVANT OF THE TSAR, A PROVOCATOR, OR AN UNWISE ASSISTANT OF THE
ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE, OR A PAID SPY OF WILHELM!
“Every conscious worker revolutionist, every conscious peasant, every
revolutionary soldier, all who understand what harm a demonstration or
a revolt against the Government might cause to the people, must join
together and not allow the enemies of the people to destroy our
freedom.”
_The Petrograd Electoral Committee of the Mensheviki-oborontzi._
11.
LENIN’s “LETTER TO THE COMRADES”
This series of articles appeared in _Rabotchi Put_ several days
running, at the end of October and beginning of November, 1917. I give
here only extracts from two instalments:
1. Kameniev and Riazanov say that we have not a majority among the
people, and that without a majority insurrection is hopeless.
“Answer: People capable of speaking such things are falsifiers,
pedants, or simply don’t want to look the real situation in the face.
In the last elections we received in all the country more than fifty
per cent of all thevotes….
“The most important thing in Russia to-day is the peasants’ revolution.
In Tambov Government there has been a real agrarian uprising with
wonderful political results…. Even _Dielo Naroda_ has been scared into
yelling that the land must be turned over to the peasants, and not only
the Socialist Revolutionaries in the Council of the Republic, but also
the Government itself, has been similarly affected. Another valuable
result was the bringing of bread which had been hoarded by the
_pomieshtchiki_ to the railroad stations in that province. The
_Russkaya Volia_ had to admit that the stations were filled with bread
after the peasants’ rising….
“2. We are not sufficiently strong to take over the Government, and the
bourgeoisie is not sufficiently strong to prevent the Constituent
Assembly.
“Answer: This is nothing but timidity, expressed by pessimism as
regards workers and soldiers, and optimism as regards the failure of
the bourgeoisie. If _yunkers_ and Cossacks say they will fight, you
believe them; if workmen and soldiers say so, you doubt it. What is the
distinction between such doubts and siding politically with the
bourgeoisie?
“Kornilov proved that the Soviets were really a power. To believe
Kerensky and the Council of the Republic, if the bourgeoisie is not
strong enough to break the Soviets, it is not strong enough to break
the Constituent. But that is wrong. The bourgeoisie will break the
Constituent by sabotage, by lock-outs, by giving up Petrograd, by
opening the front to the Germans. This has already been done in the
case of Riga….
“3. The Soviets must remain a revolver at the head of the Government to
force the calling of the Constituent Assembly, and to suppress any
further Kornilov attempts.
“Answer: Refusal of insurrection is refusal of ‘All Power to the
Soviets.’ Since September the Bolshevik party has been discussing the
question of insurrection. Refusing to rise means to trust our hopes in
the faith of the good bourgeoisie, who have ‘promised’ to call the
Constituent Assembly. When the Soviets have all the power, the calling
of the Constituent is guaranteed, and its success assured.
“Refusal of insurrection means surrender to the ‘Lieber-Dans.’ Either
we must drop ‘All Power to the Soviets’ or make an insurrection; there
is no middle course.”
“4. The bourgeoisie cannot give up Petrograd, although the Rodziankos
want it, because it is not the bourgeoisie who are fighting, but our
heroic soldiers and sailors.
“Answer: This did not prevent two admirals from running away at the
Moonsund battle. The Staff has not changed; it is composed of
Kornilovtsi. If the Staff, with Kerensky at its head, wants to give up
Petrograd, it can do it doubly or trebly. It can make arrangements with
the Germans or the British; open the fronts. It can sabotage the Army’s
food supply. At all these doors has it knocked.
“We have no right to wait until the bourgeoisie chokes the Revolution.
Rodzianko is a man of action, who has faithfully and truthfully served
the bourgeoisie for years…. Half the Lieber-Dans are cowardly
compromisers; half of them simple fatalists….”
“5. We’re getting stronger every day. We shall be able to enter the
Constituent Assembly as a strong opposition. Then why should we play
everything on one card?”
“Answer: This is the argument of a sophomore with no practical
experience, who reads that the Constituent Assembly is being called and
trustfully accepts the legal and constitutional way. Even the voting of
the Constituent Assembly will not do away with hunger, or beat
Wilhelm…. The issue of hunger and of surrendering Petrograd cannot be
decided by waiting for the Constituent Assembly. Hunger is not waiting.
The peasants’ Revolution is not waiting. The Admirals who ran away did
not wait.
“Blind people are surprised that hungry people, betrayed by admirals
and generals, do not take an interest in voting.
“6. If the Kornilovtsi make an attempt, we would show them our
strength. But why should we risk everything by making an attempt
ourselves?
“Answer: History doesn’t repeat. ‘Perhaps Kornilov will some day make
an attempt!’ What a serious base for proletarian action! But suppose
Kornilov waits for starvation, for the opening of the fronts, what
then? This attitude means to build the tactics of a revolutionary party
on one of the bourgeoisie’s former mistakes.
“Let us forget everything except that there is no way out but by the
dictatorship of the proletariat—either that or the dictatorship of
Kornilov.
“Let us wait, comrades, for—a miracle!”
12.
MILIUKOV’s SPEECH (_Resumé_)
“Every one admits, it seems, that the defence of the country is our
principal task, and that, to assure it, we must have discipline in the
Army and order in the rear. To achieve this, there must be a power
capable of daring, not only by persuasion, but also by force…. The germ
of all our evils comes from the point of view, original, truly Russian,
concerning foreign policy, which passes for the Internationalist point
of view.
“The noble Lenin only imitates the noble Keroyevsky when he holds that
from Russia will come the New World which shall resuscitate the aged
West, and which will replace the old banner of doctrinary Socialism by
the new direct action of starving masses—and that will push humanity
forward and force it to break in the doors of the social paradise….”
These men sincerely believed that the decomposition of Russia would
bring about the decomposition of the whole capitalist régime. Starting
from that point of view, they were able to commit the unconscious
treason, in wartime, of calmly telling the soldiers to abandon the
trenches, and instead of fighting the external enemy, creating internal
civil war and attacking the proprietors and capitalists….
Here Miliukov was interrupted by furious cries from the Left, demanding
what Socialist had ever advised such action….
“Martov says that only the revolutionary pressure of the proletariat
can condemn and conquer the evil will of imperialist cliques and break
down the dictatorship of these cliques…. Not by an accord between
Governments for a limitation of armaments, but by the disarming of
these Governments and the radical democratisation of the military
system….”
He attacked Martov viciously, and then turned on the Mensheviki and
Socialist Revolutionaries, whom he accused of entering the Government
as Ministers with the avowed purpose of carrying on the class struggle!
“The Socialists of Germany and of the Allied countries contemplated
these gentlemen with ill-concealed contempt, but they decided that it
was for Russia, and sent us some apostles of the Universal
Conflagration….
“The formula of our democracy is very simple; no foreign policy, no art
of diplomacy, an immediate democratic peace, a declaration to the
Allies, ‘We want nothing, we haven’t anything to fight with!’ And then
our adversaries will make the same declaration, and the brotherhood of
peoples will be accomplished!”
Miliukov took a fling at the Zimmerwald Manifesto, and declared that
even Kerensky has not been able to escape the influence of “that
unhappy document which will forever be your indictment.” He then
attacked Skobeliev, whose position in foreign assemblies, where he
would appear as a Russian delegate, yet opposed to the foreign policy
of his Government, would be so strange that people would say, “What’s
that gentleman carrying, and what shall we talk to him about?” As for
the _nakaz,_ Miliukov said that he himself was a pacifist; that he
believed in the creation of an International Arbitration Board, and the
necessity for a limitation of armaments, and parliamentary control over
secret diplomacy, which did not mean the abolition of secret diplomacy.
As for the Socialist ideas in the _nakaz,_ which he called “Stockholm
ideas”—peace without victory, the right of self-determination of
peoples, and renunciation of the economic war—
“The German successes are directly proportionate to the successes of
those who call themselves the revolutionary democracy. I do not wish to
say, ‘to the successes of the Revolution,’ because I believe that the
defeats of the revolutionary democracy are victories for the
Revolution….
“The influence of the Soviet leaders abroad is not unimportant. One had
only to listen to the speech of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to be
convinced that, in this hall, the influence of the revolutionary
democracy on foreign policy is so strong, that the Minister does not
dare to speak face to face with it about the honour and dignity of
Russia!
“We can see, in the _nakaz_ of the Soviets, that the ideas of the
Stockholm Manifesto have been elaborated in two direction—that of
Utopianism, and that of German interests….”
Interrupted by the angry cries of the Left, and rebuked by the
President, Miliukov insisted that the proposition of peace concluded by
popular assemblies, not by diplomats, and the proposal to undertake
peace negotiations as soon as the enemy had renounced annexations, were
pro-German. Recently Kuhlman said that a personal declaration bound
only him who made it…. “Anyway, we will imitate the Germans before we
will imitate the Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies….”
The sections treating of the independence of Lithuania and Livonia were
symptoms of nationalist agitation in different parts of Russia,
supported, said Miliukov, by German money…. Amid bedlam from the Left,
he contrasted the clauses of the _nakaz_ concerning Alsace-Lorraine,
Rumania, and Serbia, with those treating of the nationalities in
Germany and Austria. The _nakaz_ embraced the German and Austrian point
of view, said Miliukov.
Passing to Terestchenko’s speech, he contemptuously accused him of
being afraid to speak the thought in his mind, and even afraid to think
in terms of the greatness of Russia. The Dardanelles must belong to
Russia….
“You are continually saying that the soldier does not know why he is
fighting, and that when he does know, he’ll fight…. It is true that the
soldier doesn’t know why he is fighting, but now you have told him that
there is no reason for him to fight, that we have no national
interests, and that we are fighting for alien ends….”
Paying tribute to the Allies, who, he said, with the assistance of
America, “will yet save the cause of humanity,” he ended:
“Long live the light of humanity, the advanced democracies of the West,
who for a long time have been travelling the way we now only begin to
enter, with ill-assured and hesitating steps! Long live our brave
Allies!”
13.
INTERVIEW WITH KERENSKY
The Associated Press man tried his hand. “Mr. Kerensky,” he began, “in
England and France people are disappointed with the Revolution——”
“Yes, I know,” interrupted Kerensky, quizzically. “Abroad the
Revolution is no longer fashionable!”
“What is your explanation of why the Russians have stopped fighting?”
“That is a foolish question to ask.” Kerensky was annoyed. “Russia
entered the war first of all the Allies, and for a long time she bore
the whole brunt of it. Her losses have been inconceivably greater than
those of all the other nations put together. Russia has now the right
to demand of the Allies that they bring greater force of arms to bear.”
He stopped for a moment and stared at his interlocutor. “You are asking
why the Russians have stopped fighting, and the Russians are asking
where is the British fleet—with German battle-ships in the Gulf of
Riga?” Again he ceased suddenly, and as suddenly burst out. “The
Russian Revolution hasn’t failed and the revolutionary Army hasn’t
failed. It is not the Revolution which caused disorganisation in the
army—that disorganisation was accomplished years ago, by the old
regime. Why aren’t the Russians fighting? I will tell you. Because the
masses of the people are economically exhausted,—and because they are
disillusioned with the Allies!”
The interview of which this is an excerpt was cabled to the United
States, and in a few days sent back by the American State Department,
with a demand that it be “altered.” This Kerensky refused to do; but it
was done by his secretary, Dr. David Soskice—and, thus purged of all
offensive references to the Allies, was given to the press of the
world….
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER III
1.
RESOLUTION OF THE FACTORY-SHOP COMMITTEES
_Workers’ Control_
1. (See page 43)
2. The organisation of Workers’ Control is a manifestation of the same
healthy activity in the sphere of industrial production, as are party
organisations in the sphere of politics, trade unions in employment,
Cooperatives in the domain of consumption, and literary clubs in the
sphere of culture.
3. The working-class has much more interest in the proper and
uninterrupted operation of factories… than the capitalist class.
Workers’ Control is a better security in this respect for the interests
of modern society, of the whole people, than the arbitrary will of the
owners, who are guided only by their selfish desire for material
profits or political privileges. Therefore Workers’ Control is demanded
by the proletariat not only in their own interest, but in the interest
of the whole country, and should be supported by the revolutionary
peasantry as well as the revolutionary Army.
4. Considering the hostile attitude of the majority of the capitalist
class toward the Revolution, experience shows that proper distribution
of raw materials and fuel, as well as the most efficient management of
factories, is impossible without Workers’ Control.
5. Only Workers’ Control over capitalist enterprises, cultivating the
workers’ conscious attitude toward work, and making clear its social
meaning, can create conditions favourable to the development of a firm
self-discipline in labour, and the development of all labour’s possible
productivity.
6. The impending transformation of industry from a war to a peace
basis, and the redistribution of labour all over the country, as well
as among the different factories, can be accomplished without great
disturbances only by means of the democratic self-government of the
workers themselves…. Therefore the realisation of Workers’ Control is
an indispensable preliminary to the demobilisation of industry.
7. In accordance with the slogan proclaimed by the Russian Social
Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviki), Workers’ Control on a national
scale, in order to bring results, must extend to all capitalist
concerns, and not be organised accidentally, without system; it must be
well-planned, and not separated from the industrial life of the country
as a whole.
8. The economic life of the country—agriculture, industry, commerce and
transport—must be subjected to one unified plan, constructed so as to
satisfy the individual and social requirements of the wide masses of
the people; it must be approved by their elected representatives, and
carried out under the direction of these representatives by means of
national and local organisations.
9. That part of the plan which deals with land-labour must be carried
out under supervision of the peasants’ and land-workers’ organisations;
that relating to industry, trade and transport operated by
wage-earners, by means of Workers’ Control; the natural organs of
Workers’ Control inside the industrial plant will be the Factory-Shop
and similar Committees; and in the labour market, the Trade Unions.
10. The collective wage agreements arranged by the Trade Unions for the
majority of workers in any branch of labour, must be binding on all the
owners of plants employing this kind of labour in the given district.
11. Employment bureaus must be placed under the control and management
of the Trade Unions, as class organisations acting within the limits of
the whole industrial plan, and in accordance with it.
12. Trade Unions must have the right, upon their own initiative, to
begin legal action against all employers who violate labour contracts
or labour legislation, and also in behalf of any individual worker in
any branch of labour.
13. On all questions relating to Workers’ Control over production,
distribution and employment, the Trade Unions must confer with the
workers of individual establishments through their Factory-Shop
Committees.
14. Matters of employment and discharge, vacations, wage scales,
refusal of work, degree of productivity and skill, reasons for
abrogating agreements, disputes with the administration, and similar
problems of the internal life of the factory, must be settled
exclusively according to the findings of the Factory-Shop Committee,
which has the right to exclude from participation in the discussion any
members of the factory administration.
15. The Factory-Shop Committee forms a commission to control the
supplying of the factory with raw materials, fuel, orders, labour power
and technical staff (including equipment), and all other supplies and
arrangements, and also to assure the factory’s adherence to the general
industrial plan. The factory administration is obliged to surrender to
the organs of Workers’ Control, for their aid and information, all data
concerning the business; to make it possible to verify this data, and
to produce the books of the company upon demand of the Factory-Shop
Committee.
16. Any illegal acts on the part of the administration discovered by
the Factory-Shop Committees, or any suspicion of such illegal acts,
which cannot be investigated or remedied by the workers alone, shall be
referred to the district central organisation of Factory-Shop
Committees charged with the particular branch of labour involved, which
shall discuss the matter with the institutions charged with the
execution of the general industrial plan, and find means to deal with
the matter, even to the extent of confiscating the factory.
17. The union of the Factory-Shop Committees of different concerns must
be accomplished on the basis of the different trades, in order to
facilitate control over the whole branch of industry, so as to come
within the general industrial plan; and so as to create an effective
plan of distribution among the different factories of orders, raw
materials, fuel, technical and labour power; and also to facilitate
cooperation with the Trade Unions, which are organised by trades.
18. The central city councils of Trade Unions and Factory-Shop
Committees represent the proletariat in the corresponding provincial
and local institutions formed to elaborate and carry out the general
industrial plan, and to organise economic relations between the towns
and the villages (workers and peasants). They also possess final
authority for the management of Factory-Shop Committees and Trade
Unions, so far as Workers’ Control in their district is concerned, and
they shall issue obligatory regulations concerning workers’ discipline
in the routine of production—which regulations, however, must be
approved by vote of the workers themselves.
2.
THE BOURGEOIS PRESS ON THE BOLSHEVIKI
_Russkaya Volia,_ October 28. “The decisive moment approaches…. It is
decisive for the Bolsheviki. Either they will give us… a second edition
of the events of July 16-18, or they will have to admit that with their
plans and intentions, with their impertinent policy of wishing to
separate themselves from everything consciously national, they have
been definitely defeated….
“What are the chances of Bolshevik success?
“It is difficult to answer that question, for their principal support
is the… ignorance of the popular masses. They speculate on it, they
work upon it by a demagogy which nothing can stop….
“The Government must play its part in this affair. Supporting itself
morally by the Council of the Republic, the Government must take a
clearly-defined attitude toward the Bolsheviki….
“And if the Bolsheviki provoke an insurrection against the legal power,
and thus facilitate the German invasion, they must be treated as
mutineers and traitors….”
_Birzhevya Viedomosti,_ October 28. “Now that the Bolsheviki have
separated themselves from the rest of the democracy, the struggle
against them is very much simpler—and it is not reasonable, in order to
fight against Bolshevism, to wait until they make a manifestation. The
Government should not even allow the manifestation….
“The appeals of the Bolsheviki to insurrection and anarchy are acts
punishable by the criminal courts, and in the freest countries, their
authors would receive severe sentences. For what the Bolsheviki are
carrying on is not a political struggle against the Government, or even
for the power; it is propaganda for anarchy, massacres, and civil war.
This propaganda must be extirpated at its roots; it would be strange to
wait, in order to begin action against an agitation for _pogroms,_
until the _pogroms_ actually occurred….”
_Novoye Vremya,_ November 1. “… Why is the Government excited only
about November 2d (date of calling of the Congress of Soviets), and not
about September 12th, or October 3d?
“This is not the first time that Russia burns and falls in ruins, and
that the smoke of the terrible conflagration makes the eyes of our
Allies smart….
“Since it came to power, has there been a single order issued by the
Government for the purpose of halting anarchy, or has any one attempted
to put out the Russian conflagration?
“There were other things to do….
“The Government turned its attention to a more immediate problem. It
crushed an insurrection (the Kornilov attempt) concerning which every
one is now asking, ‘Did it ever exist?”
3.
MODERATE SOCIALIST PRESS ON THE BOLSHEVIKI
_Dielo Naroda,_ October 28 (Socialist Revolutionary). “The most
frightful crime of the Bolsheviki against the Revolution is that they
impute exclusively to the bad intentions of the revolutionary
Government all the calamities which the masses are so cruelly
suffering; when as a matter of fact these calamities spring from
objective causes.
“They make golden promises to the masses, knowing in advance that they
can fulfil none of them; they lead the masses on a false trail,
deceiving them as to the source of all their troubles….
“The Bolsheviki are the most dangerous enemies of the Revolution….”
_Dien,_ October 30 (Menshevik). “Is this really ‘the freedom of the
press’? Every day _Novaya Rus_ and _Rabotchi Put_ openly incite to
insurrection. Every day these two papers commit in their columns actual
crimes. Every day they urge _pogroms_…. Is that ‘the freedom of the
press’?…
“The Government ought to defend itself and defend us. We have the right
to insist that the Government machinery does not remain passive while
the threat of bloody riots endangers the lives of its citizens….”
4.
“YEDINSTVO”
Plekhanov’s paper, _Yedinstvo,_ suspended publication a few weeks after
the Bolsheviki seized the power. Contrary to popular report,
_Yedinstvo_ was not suppressed by the Soviet Government; an
announcement in the last number admitted that it was unable to continue
_because there were too few subscribers_….
5.
WERE THE BOLSHEVIKI CONSPIRATORS?
The French newspaper _Entente_ of Petrograd, on November 15th,
published an article of which the following is a part:
“The Government of Kerensky discusses and hesitates. The Government of
Lenin and Trotzky attacks and acts.
“This last is called a Government of Conspirators, but that is wrong.
Government of usurpers, yes, like all revolutionary Governments which
triumph over their adversaries. Conspirators—no!
“No! They did not conspire. On the contrary, openly, audaciously,
without mincing words, without dissimulating their intentions, they
multiplied their agitation, intensified their propaganda in the
factories, the barracks, at the Front, in the country, everywhere, even
fixing in advance the date of their taking up arms, the date of their
seizure of the power….
“_They_—conspirators? Never….”
6.
APPEAL AGAINST INSURRECTION
_From the Central Army Committee_
“… Above everything we insist upon the inflexible execution of the
organised will of the majority of the people, expressed by the
Provisional Government in accord with the Council of the Republic and
the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ as organ of the popular power….
“Any demonstration to depose this power by violence, at a moment when a
Government crisis will infallibly create disorganisation, the ruin of
the country, and civil war, will be considered by the Army as a
counter-revolutionary act, and repressed by force of arms….
“The interests of private groups and classes should be submitted to a
single interest—that of augmenting industrial production, and
distributing the necessities of life with fairness….
“All who are capable of sabotage, disorganisation, or disorder, all
deserters, all slackers, all looters, should be forced to do auxiliary
service in the rear of the Army….
“We invite the Provisional Government to form, out of these violators
of the people’s will, these enemies of the Revolution, labour
detachments to work in the rear, on the Front, in the trenches under
enemy fire….”
7.
EVENTS OF THE NIGHT, NOVEMBER 6TH
Toward evening bands of Red Guards began to occupy the printing shops
of the bourgeois press, where they printed _Rabotchi Put, Soldat,_ and
various proclamations by the hundred thousand. The City Militia was
ordered to clear these places, but found the offices barricaded, and
armed men defending them. Soldiers who were ordered to attack the
print-shops refused.
About midnight a Colonel with a company of _yunkers_ arrived at the
club “Free Mind,” with a warrant to arrest the editor of _Rabotchi
Put._ Immediately an enormous mob gathered in the street outside and
threatened to lynch the _yunkers._ The Colonel thereupon begged that he
and the _yunkers_ be arrested and taken to Peter-Paul prison for
safety. This request was granted.
At 1 A. M. a detachment of soldiers and sailors from Smolny occupied
the Telegraph Agency. At 1.35 the Post Office was occupied. Toward
morning the Military Hotel was taken, and at 5 o’clock the Telephone
Exchange. At dawn the State Bank was surrounded. And at 10 A. M. a
cordon of troops was drawn about the Winter Palace.
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER IV
1.
EVENTS OF NOVEMBER 7TH
From 4 A. M. until dawn Kerensky remained at the Petrograd Staff
Headquarters, sending orders to the Cossacks and to the _yunkers_ in
the Officers’ Schools in and around Petrograd—all of whom answered that
they were unable to move.
Colonel Polkovnikov, Commandant of the City, hurried between the Staff
and the Winter Palace, evidently without any plan. Kerensky gave an
order to open the bridges; three hours passed without any action, and
then an officer and five men went out on their own initiative, and
putting to flight a picket of Red Guards, opened the Nicolai Bridge.
Immediately after they left, however, some sailors closed it again.
Kerensky ordered the print-shop of _Rabotchi Put_ to be occupied. The
officer detailed to the work was promised a squad of soldiers; two
hours later he was promised some _yunkers;_ then the order was
forgotten.
An attempt was made to recapture the Post Office and the Telegraph
Agency; a few shots were fired, and the Government troops announced
that they would no longer oppose the Soviets.
To a delegation of _yunkers_ Kerensky said, “As chief of the
Provisional Government and as Supreme Commander I know nothing, I
cannot advise you; but as a veteran revolutionist, I appeal to you,
young revolutionists, to remain at your posts and defend the conquests
of the Revolution.”
Orders of Kishkin, November 7th:
“By decree of the Provisional Government…. I am invested with
extraordinary powers for the reestablishment of order in Petrograd, in
complete command of all civil and military authorities….”
“In accordance with the powers conferred upon me by the Provisional
Government, I herewith relieve from his functions as Commandant of the
Petrograd Military District Colonel George Polkovnikov….”
* * * * *
_Appeal to the Population_ signed by Vice-Premier Konovalov, November
7th:
“Citizens! Save the fatherland, the republic and your freedom. Maniacs
have raised a revolt against the only governmental power chosen by the
people, the Provisional Government….
“The members of the Provisional Government fulfil their duty, remain at
their post, and continue to work for the good of the fatherland, the
reestablishment of order, and the convocation of the Constituent
Assembly, future sovereign of Russia and of all the Russian peoples….
“Citizens, you must support the Provisional Government. You must
strengthen its authority. You must oppose these maniacs, with whom are
joined all enemies of liberty and order, and the followers of the
Tsarist régime, in order to wreck the Constituent Assembly, destroy the
conquests of the Revolution, and the future of our dear fatherland….
“Citizens! Organise around the Provisional Government for the defence
of its temporary authority, in the name of order and the happiness of
all peoples….”
* * * * *
_Proclamation of the Provisional Government._
“The Petrograd Soviet…. has declared the Provisional Government
overthrown, and has demanded that the Governmental power be turned over
to it, under threat of bombarding the Winter Palace with the cannon of
Peter-Paul Fortress, and of the cruiser _Avrora,_ anchored in the Neva.
“The Government can surrender its authority only to the Consituent
Assembly; for that reason it has decided not to submit, and to demand
aid from the population and the Army. A telegram has been sent to the
_Stavka;_ and an answer received says that a strong detachment of
troops is being sent….
“Let the Army and the People reject the irresponsible attempts of the
Bolsheviki to create a revolt in the rear….”
About 9 A. M. Kerensky left for the Front….
Toward evening two soldiers on bicycles presented themselves at the
Staff Headquarters, as delegates of the garrison of Peter-Paul
Fortress. Entering the meeting-room of the Staff, where Kishkin,
Rutenburg, Paltchinski, General Bagratouni, Colonel Paradielov and
Count Tolstoy were gathered, they demanded the immediate surrender of
the Staff; threatening, in case of refusal, to bombard headquarters….
After two panicky conferences the Staff retreated to the Winter Palace,
and the headquarters were occupied by Red Guards….
Late in the afternoon several Bolshevik armoured cars cruised around
the Palace Square, and Soviet soldiers tried unsuccessfully to parley
with the _yunkers_….
Firing on the Palace began about 7 o’clock in the evening….
At 10 P. M. began an artillery bombardment from three sides, in which
most of the shells were blanks, only three small shrapnels striking the
façade of the Palace….
2.
KERENSKY IN FLIGHT
Leaving Petrograd in the morning of November 7th, Kerensky arrived by
automobile at Gatchina, where he demanded a special train. Toward
evening he was in Ostrov, Province of Pskov. The next morning,
extraordinary session of the local Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’
Depulies, with participation of Cossack delegates—there being 6,000
Cossacks at Ostrov.
Kerensky spoke to the assembly, appealing for aid against the
Bolsheviki, and addressed himself almost exclusively to the Cossacks.
The soldier delegates protested.
“Why did you come here?” shouted voices. Kerensky answered, “To ask the
Cossacks’ assistance in crushing the Bolshevik insurrection!” At this
there were violent protestations, which increased when he continued, “I
broke the Kornilov attempt, and I will break the Bolsheviki!” The noise
became so great that he had to leave the platform….
The soldier deputies and the Ussuri Cossacks decided to arrest
Kerensky, but the Don Cossacks prevented them, and got him away by
train…. A Military Revolutionary Committee, set up during the day,
tried to inform the garrison of Pskov; but the telephone and telegraph
lines were cut….
Kerensky did not arrive at Pskov. Revolutionary soldiers had cut the
railway line, to prevent troops being sent against the capital. On the
night of November 8th he arrived by automobile at Luga, where he was
well received by the Death Battalions stationed there.
Next day he took train for the South-West Front, and visited the Army
Committee at headquarters. The Fifth Army, however, was wild with
enthusiasm over the news of the Bolshevik success, and the Army
Committee was unable to promise Kerensky any support.
From there he went to the _Stavka,_ at Moghilev, where he ordered ten
regiments from different parts of the Front to move against Petrograd.
The soldiers almost unanimously refused; and those regiments which did
start halted on the way. About five thousand Cossacks finally followed
him….
3.
LOOTING OF THE WINTER PALACE
I do not mean to maintain that there was no looting, in the Winter
Palace. Both after and _before_ the Winter Palace fell, there was
considerable pilfering. The statement of the Socialist Revolutionary
paper _Narod,_ and of members of the City Duma, to the effect that
precious objects to the value of 500,000,000 rubles had been stolen,
was, however, a gross exaggeration.
The most important art treasures of the Palace—paintings, statues,
tapestries, rare porcelains and armorie,—had been transferred to Moscow
during the month of September; and they were still in good order in the
basement of the Imperial Palace there ten days after the capture of the
Kremlin by Bolshevik troops. I can personally testify to this….
Individuals, however, especially the general public, which was allowed
to circulate freely through the Winter Palace for several days after
its capture, made away with table silver, clocks, bedding, mirrors and
some odd vases of valuable porcelain and semi-precious stone, to the
value of about $50,000.
The Soviet Government immediately created a special commission,
composed of artists and archæologists, to recover the stolen objects.
On November 1st two proclamations were issued:
“CITIZENS OF PETROGRAD!
“We urgently ask all citizens to exert every effort to find whatever
possible of the objects stolen from the Winter Palace in the night of
November 7-8, and to forward them to the Commandant of the Winter
Palace.
“Receivers of stolen goods, antiquarians, and all who are proved to be
hiding such objects will be held legally responsible and punished with
all severity.
“_Commissars for the Protection of Museums and Artistic Collections,_
“G. YATMANOV, B. MANDELBAUM.”
* * * * *
“TO REGIMENTAL AND FLEET COMMITTEES
“In the night of November 7-8, in the Winter Palace, which is the
inalienable property of the Russian people, valuable objects of art
were stolen.
“We urgently appeal to all to exert every effort, so that the stolen
objects are returned to the Winter Palace.
“_Commissars_….
“G. YATMANOV, B. MANDELBAUM.”
About half the loot was recovered, some of it in the baggage of
foreigners leaving Russia.
A conference of artists and archæologists, held at the suggestion of
Smolny, appointed a commission of make an inventory of the Winter
Palace treasures, which was given complete charge of the Palace and of
all artistic collections and State museums in Petrograd. On November
16th the Winter Palace was closed to the public while the inventory was
being made….
During the last week in November a decree was issued by the Council of
People’s Commissars, changing the name of the Winter Palace to
“People’s Museum,” entrusting it to the complete charge of the
artistic-archæological commission, and declaring that henceforth all
Governmental activities within its wall were prohibited….
4.
RAPE OF THE WOMEN’S BATTALION
Immediately following the taking of the Winter Palace all sorts of
sensational stories were published in the anti-Bolshevik press, and
told in the City Duma, about the fate of the Women’s Battalion
defending the Palace. It was said that some of the girl-soldiers had
been thrown from the windows into the street, most of the rest had been
violated, and many had committed suicide as a result of the horrors
they had gone through.
The City Duma appointed a commission to investigate the matter. On
November 16th the commission returned from Levashovo, headquarters of
the Women’s Battalion. Madame Tyrkova reported that the girls had been
at first taken to the barracks of the Pavlovsky Regiment, and that
there some of them had been badly treated; but that at present most of
them were at Levashovo, and the rest scattered about the city in
private houses. Dr. Mandelbaum, another of the commission, testified
drily that _none_ of the women had been thrown out of the windows of
the Winter Palace, that _none_ were wounded, that three had been
violated, and that one had committed suicide, leaving a note which said
that she had been “disappointed in her ideals.”
On November 21st the Military Revolutionary Committee officially
dissolved the Women’s Battalion, at the request of the girls
themselves, who returned to civilian clothes.
In Louise Bryant’s book, “Six Red Months in Russia,” there is an
interesting description of the girl-soldiers during this time.
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER V
1.
APPEALS AND PROCLAMATIONS
_From the Military Revolutionary Committee,_ November 8:
“To All Army Committees and All Soviets of Soldiers’ Deputies.
“The Petrograd garrison has overturned the Government of Kerensky,
which had risen against the Revolution and the People…. In sending this
news to the Front and the country, the Military Revolutionary Committee
requests all soldiers to keep vigilant watch on the conduct of
officers. Officers who do not frankly and openly declare for the
Revolution should be immediately arrested as enemies.
“The Petrograd Soviet interprets the programme of the new Government
as: immediate proposals of a general democratic peace, the immediate
transfer of great landed estates to the peasants, and the honest
convocation of the Constituent Assembly. The people’s revolutionary
Army must not permit troops of doubtful morale to be sent to Petrograd.
Act by means of arguments, by means of moral suasion—but if that fails,
halt the movement of troops by implacable force.
“The present order must be immediately read to all military units of
every branch of the service. Whoever keeps the knowledge of this order
from the soldier-masses…. commits a serious crime against the
Revolution, and will be punished with all the rigour of revolutionary
law.
“Soldiers! For peace, bread, land, and popular government!”
* * * * *
“To All Front and Rear Army, Corps, Divisional, Regimental and Company
Committees, and All Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’
Deputies.
“Soldiers and Revolutionary Officers!
“The Military Revolutionary Committee, by agreement with the majority
of the workers, soldiers, and peasants, has decreed that General
Kornilov and all the accomplices of his conspiracy shall be brought
immediately to Petrograd, for incarceration in Peter-Paul Fortress and
arraignment before a military revolutionary court-martial….
“All who resist the execution of this decree are declared by the
Committee to be traitors to the Revolution, and their orders are
herewith declared null and void.”
_The Military Revolutionary Committee Attached to the Petrograd Soviet
of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies._
* * * * *
“To all Provincial and District Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and
Peasants’ Deputies.
“By resolution of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, all arrested
members of Land Committees are immediately set free. The Commissars who
arrested them are to be arrested.