THE SECOND REVOLUTION
I
When the Duma assembled On November 14, 1916--new style--the approaching
doom of Czar Nicholas II was already manifest. Why the Revolution did not
occur at that time is a puzzle not easy to solve. Perhaps the mere fact
that the Duma was assembling served to postpone resort to drastic measures.
The nation waited for the Duma to lead. It is probable, also, that fear
lest revolution prove disastrous to the military forces exercised a
restraining influence upon the people. Certain it is that it would have
been easy enough to kindle the fires of revolution at that time. Never in
the history of the nation, not even in 1905, were conditions riper for
revolt, and never had there been a more solid array of the nation against
the bureaucracy. Discontent and revolutionary temper were not confined to
Socialists, nor to the lower classes. Landowners, capitalists, military
officials, and Intellectuals were united with the peasants and artisans, to
an even greater extent than in the early stages of the First Revolution.
Conservatives and Moderates joined with Social Democrats and
Socialist-Revolutionists in opposition to the corrupt and oppressive
régime. Even the president of the Duma, Michael Rodzianko, a conservative
landowner, assailed the government.
One of the principal reasons for this unexampled unity against the
government was the wide-spread conviction, based, as we have seen, upon the
most damning evidence, that Premier Sturmer and his Cabinet were not loyal
to the Allies and that they contemplated making a separate peace with
Germany. All factions in the Duma were bitterly opposed to a separate
peace. Rodzianko was loudly cheered when he denounced the intrigues against
the Allies and declared: "Russia gave her word to fight in common with the
Allies till complete and final victory is won. Russia will not betray her
friends, and with contempt refuses any consideration of a separate peace.
Russia will not be a traitor to those who are fighting side by side with
her sons for a great and just cause." Notwithstanding the intensification
of the class conflict naturally resulting from the great industrial
development since 1906, patriotism temporarily overshadowed all class
consciousness.
The cheers that greeted Rodzianko's declaration, and the remarkable ovation
to the Allied ambassadors, who were present, amply demonstrated that, in
spite of the frightful suffering and sacrifice which the nation had
endured, all classes were united in their determination to win the war.
Only a corrupt section of the bureaucracy, at one end of the social scale,
and a small section of extreme left-wing Socialists, at the other end of
the social scale, were at that time anti-war. There was this difference
between the Socialist pacifists and the bureaucratic advocates of peace
with Germany: the former were not pro-German nor anti-Ally, but sincere
internationalists, honest and brave--however mistaken--advocates of peace.
Outside of the bureaucracy there was no hostility to the Allies in Russia.
Except for the insignificant Socialist minority referred to, the masses of
the Russian people realized that the defeat of the Hohenzollern dynasty
was necessary to a realization of the ideal of a free Russia. The new and
greater revolution was already beginning, and determination to defeat the
Hohenzollern bulwark of the Romanov despotism was almost universal. The
whole nation was pervaded by this spirit.
Paul Miliukov, leader of the Constitutional Democrats, popularly known as
the "Cadets," furiously lashed Premier Sturmer and quoted the irrefutable
evidence of his pro-Germanism and of his corruption. Sturmer reeled under
the smashing attack. In his rage he forbade the publication of Miliukov's
speech, but hundreds of thousands of copies of it were secretly printed and
distributed. Every one recognized that there was war between the Duma and
the government, and notwithstanding the criticism of the Socialists, who
naturally regarded it as a bourgeois body, the Duma represented Russia.
Sturmer proposed to his Cabinet the dissolution of the Duma, but failed to
obtain the support of a majority. Then he determined to get the Czar's
signature to a decree of dissolution. But the Czar was at the General
Headquarters of the army at the time and therefore surrounded by army
officers, practically all of whom were with the Duma and inspired by a
bitter resentment of the pro-German intrigues, especially the neglect of
the army organization. The weak will of Nicholas II was thus beyond the
reach of Sturmer's influence for the time being. Meanwhile, the Ministers
of the Army and Navy had appeared before the Duma and declared themselves
to be on the side of the people and their parliament. On his way to visit
the Czar at General Headquarters, Premier Sturmer was met by one of the
Czar's messengers and handed his dismissal from office. The Duma had won.
The evil genius which inspired and controlled him led Nicholas II to
appoint as Sturmer's successor the utterly reactionary bureaucrat,
Alexander Trepov, and to retain in office as Minister of the Interior the
infamous Protopopov, associate of the unsavory Rasputin. When Trepov made
his first appearance as Premier in the Duma he was loudly hissed by the
Socialists. Other factions, while not concealing their disappointment, were
more tolerant and even became more hopeful when they realized that from the
first Trepov was fighting to oust Protopopov. That meant, of course, a
fight against Rasputin as well. Whatever Trepov's motives might be in
fighting Protopopov and Rasputin he was helping the opposition. But Trepov
was no match for such opponents. It soon became evident that as Premier he
was a mere figurehead and that Rasputin and Protopopov held the government
in their hands. Protopopov openly defied the Premier and the Duma.
In December it began to be rumored in political circles that Sturmer, who
was now attached in some not clearly defined capacity to the Foreign
Office, was about to be sent to a neutral country as ambassador. The rumor
created the utmost consternation in liberal circles in Russia and in the
Allied embassies. If true, it could only have one meaning, namely, that
arrangements were being made to negotiate a separate peace with
Germany--and that meant that Russia was to become Germany's economic
vassal.
The Duma demanded a responsible Ministry, a Cabinet directly responsible
to, and controlled by, the Duma as the people's representative. This demand
had been constantly made since the First Revolution. Even the Imperial
Council, upon which the Czar had always been able to rely for support
against revolutionary movements, now joined forces with the Duma in making
this demand. That traditionally reactionary, bureaucratic body, composed
of former Premiers, Cabinet Ministers, and other high officials, formally
demanded that the Czar take steps to make the government responsible to the
popularly elected assemblage. This was a small revolution in itself. The
fabric of Czarism had cracked.
II
There can be no doubt in the mind of any student of Russian affairs that
the unity of the Imperial Council and the Duma, like the unity of classes,
was due to the strong pro-Ally sentiment which at that time possessed
practically the entire nation. On December 12th--new style--Germany offered
Russia a separate peace, and three days later the Foreign Minister,
Pokrovsky, visited the Duma and announced that Russia would reject the
offer. The Duma immediately passed a resolution declaring that "the Duma
unanimously favors a categorical refusal by the Allied governments to
enter, under present conditions, into any peace negotiations whatever." On
the 19th a similar resolution was adopted by the Imperial Council, which
continued to follow the leadership of the Duma. Before adjourning for the
Christmas holidays the Duma passed another resolution, aimed chiefly at
Protopopov and Sturmer, protesting against the sinister activities which
were undermining the war-making forces of the nation, and praising the work
of the zemstvos and working-class organizations which had struggled bravely
to sustain the army, feed the people, care for the sick and wounded, and
avert utter chaos.
On December 30th, in the early hours of the morning, the monk Rasputin was
murdered and his body thrown into the Neva. The strangest and most evil of
all the actors in the Russian drama was dead, but the system which made
him what he was lived. Rasputin dead exercised upon the diseased mind of
the Czarina--and, through her, upon the Czar--even a greater influence than
when he was alive. Nicholas II was as powerless to resist the insane
Czarina's influence as he had proved himself to be when he banished the
Grand-Duke Nicholas for pointing out that the Czarina was the tool of evil
and crafty intriguers. Heedless of the warning implied in the murder of
Rasputin, and of the ever-growing opposition to the government and the
throne, the Czar inaugurated, or permitted to be inaugurated, new measures
of reaction and repression.
Trepov was driven from the Premiership and replaced by Prince Golitizin, a
bureaucrat of small brain and less conscience. The best Minister of
Education Russia had ever had, Ignatyev, was replaced by one of the
blackest of all reactionaries. The Czar celebrated the New-Year by issuing
an edict retiring the progressive members of the Imperial Council, who had
supported the Duma, and appointing in their stead the most reactionary men
he could find in the Empire. At the head of the Council as president he
placed the notorious Jew-hating Stcheglovitov. As always, hatred of the Jew
sprang from fear of progress.
As one reads the history of January, 1917, in Russia, as it was reported in
the press day by day, and the numerous accounts of competent and
trustworthy observers, it is difficult to resist the conclusion that
Protopopov deliberately sought to precipitate a revolution. Mad as this
hypothesis seems to be, it is nevertheless the only one which affords a
rational explanation of the policy of the government. No sooner was
Golitizin made Premier than it was announced that the opening of the Duma
would be postponed till the end of January, in order that the Cabinet
might be reorganized. Later it was announced that the Duma opening would be
again postponed--this time till the end of February. In the reorganization
of the Cabinet, Shuvaviev, the War Minister, who had loyally co-operated
with the zemstvos and had supported the Duma in November, was dismissed.
Pokrovsky, the Foreign Minister, who had announced to the Duma in December
the rejection of the German peace offer, was reported to be "sick" and
given "leave of absence." Other changes were made in the Cabinet, in every
case to the advantage of the reactionaries. It was practically impossible
for anyone in Russia to find out who the Ministers of the government were.
Protopopov released Sukhomlinov, the former Minister of War who had been
justly convicted of treason. This action, taken, it was said, at the
direction of the Czarina, added to the already wide-spread belief that the
government was animated by a desire to make peace with Germany. That the
Czar himself was loyal to the Allies was generally believed, but there was
no such belief in the loyalty of Protopopov, Sturmer, and their associates.
The nation meantime was drifting into despair and anarchy. The railway
system was deliberately permitted to become disorganized. Hunger reigned in
the cities and the food reserves for the army were deliberately reduced to
a two days' supply. The terror of hunger spread through the large cities
and through the army at the front like prairie fire.
It became evident that Protopopov was carrying out the plans of the
Germanophiles, deliberately trying to disorganize the life of the nation
and make successful warfare impossible. Socialists and labor leaders
charged that his agents were encouraging the pacifist minority and opposing
the patriotic majority among the workers. The work of the War Industries
Committee which controlled organizations engaged in the manufacture of
war-supplies which employed hundreds of thousands of workers was hampered
in every way. It is the testimony of the best-known and most-trusted
working-class leaders in Russia that the vast majority of the workers,
while anxious for a general democratic peace, were opposed to a separate
peace with Germany and favored the continuation of the war against
Prussianism and the co-operation of all classes to that end. The pacifists
and "defeatist" Socialists represented a minority. To the minority every
possible assistance was given, while the leaders of the working class who
were loyal to the war, and who sought to sustain the morale of the workers
in support of the war, were opposed and thwarted in their efforts and, in
many cases, cast into prison. The Black Hundreds were still at work.
Socialist leaders of the working class issued numerous appeals to the
workers, warning them that Protopopov's secret police agitators were trying
to bring about strikes, and begging them not to lend themselves to such
treacherous designs, which could only aid Germany at the expense of
democracy in Russia and elsewhere. It became known, too, that large numbers
of machine-guns were being distributed among the police in Petrograd and
placed at strategic points throughout the city. It was said that Protopopov
was mad, but it was the methodical madness of a desperate, reactionary,
autocratic régime.
III
Protopopov and Sturmer and their associates recognized as clearly as the
liberals did the natural kinship and interdependence of the three great
autocracies, the Romanov, Habsburg, and Hohenzollern dynasties. They knew
well that the crushing of autocracy in Austria-Hungary and Germany would
make it impossible to maintain autocracy in Russia. They realized,
furthermore, that while the nation was not willing to attempt revolution
during the war, the end of the war would inevitably bring with it
revolution upon a scale far vaster than had ever been attempted before,
unless, indeed, the revolutionary leaders could be goaded into making a
premature attempt to overthrow the monarchy. In that case, it might be
possible to crush them. Given a rebellion in the cities, which could be
crushed by the police amply provided with machine-guns, and by "loyal"
troops, with a vast army unprovided with food and no means of supplying it,
there would be abundant justification for making a separate peace with
Germany. Thus the Revolution would be crushed and the whole system of
autocracy, Russian, Austrian, and German, preserved.
The morning of the 27th of February--new style--was tense with an ominous
expectancy. In the Allied chancelleries anxious groups were gathered. They
realized that the fate of the Allies hung in the balance. In Petrograd
alone three hundred thousand workers went out on strike that day, and the
police agents did their level best to provoke violence. The large bodies of
troops massed at various points throughout the city, and the police with
their machine-guns, testified to the thoroughness with which the government
had prepared to crush any revolutionary manifestations. Thanks to the
excellent discipline of the workers, and the fine wisdom of the leaders of
the Social Democrats, the Socialist-Revolutionists, and the Labor Group,
who constantly exhorted the workers not to fall into the trap set for them,
there was no violence.
At the opening session of the Duma, Kerensky, leader of the Labor Group,
made a characteristic address in which he denounced the arrest of the Labor
Group members of the War Industries Committee. He directed his attack
against the "system," not against individuals:
"We are living in a state of anarchy unprecedented in our history. In
comparison with it the period of 1613 seems like child's play. Chaos has
enveloped not only the political, but the economic life of the nation as
well. It destroys the very foundations of the nation's social economic
structure.
"Things have come to such a pass that recently one of the Ministries,
shipping coal from Petrograd to a neighboring city, had armed the train
with a special guard so that other authorities should not confiscate the
coal on the way! We have arrived already at the primitive stage when each
person defends with all the resources at his command the material in his
possession, ready to enter into mortal combat for it with his neighbor. We
are witnessing the same scenes which France went through at the time of the
Revolution. Then also the products shipped to Paris were accompanied by
special detachments of troops to prevent their being seized by the
provincial authorities....
"Behold the Cabinet of Rittich-Protopopov-Golitizin dragging into the court
the Labor Group of the War Industries Committee, charged with aiming at the
creation of a Russian Social-Democratic republic! They did not even know
that nobody aims at a 'Social-Democratic' republic. One aiming at a
republic labors for popular government. But has the court anything to say
about all these distinctions? We know beforehand what sentences are to be
imposed upon the prisoners....
"I have no desire to criticize the individual members of the Cabinet. The
greatest mistake of all is to seek traitors, German agents, separate
Sturmers. _We have a still greater enemy than the German influence, than
the treachery and treason of individuals. And that enemy is the system--the
system of a medieval form of government_."
How far the conspiracy of the government of Russia against the war of
Russia and her Allies extended is shown by the revelations made in the Duma
on March 3d by one of the members, A. Konovalov. He reported that two days
previously, March 1st, the only two members of the Labor Group of the War
Industries Committee who were not in prison issued an appeal to the workers
not to strike. These two members of the Labor Group of the War Industries
Committee, Anosovsky and Ostapenko, took their exhortation to the bureau of
the War Industries Committee for its approval. But, although approved by
this great and important organization, the appeal was not passed by the
government censor. When Guchkov, president of the War Industries Committee,
attempted to get the appeal printed in the newspapers he was prevented by
action emanating from the office of Protopopov.
IV
Through all the early days of March there was labor unrest in Petrograd, as
well as in some other cities. Petrograd was, naturally, the storm center.
There were small strikes, but, fortunately, not much rioting. The extreme
radicals were agitating for the release of the imprisoned leaders of the
Labor Group and urging drastic action by the workers. Much of this
agitation was sincere and honest, but no little of it was due to the
provocative agents. These, disguised as workmen, seized every opportunity
to urge revolt. Any pretext sufficed them; they stimulated the honest
agitation to revolt as a protest against the imprisonment of the Labor
Group, and the desperate threat that unless food was forthcoming revolution
would be resorted to for sinister purposes. And all the time the police and
the troops were massed to crush the first rising.
The next few days were destined to reveal the fact that the cunning and
guile of Protopopov had overreached itself; that the soldiers could not be
relied upon to crush any uprising of the people. There was some rioting in
Petrograd on March 3d, and the next day the city was placed under martial
law. On March 7th the textile workers went out on strike and were quickly
followed by several thousand workers belonging to other trades. Next day
there was a tremendous popular demonstration at which the workers demanded
food. The strike spread during the next two or three days until there was a
pretty general stoppage of industry. Students from the university joined
with the striking workmen and there were numerous demonstrations, but
little disposition to violence. When the Cossacks and mounted police were
sent to break up the crowds, the Cossacks took great care not to hurt the
people, fraternizing with them and being cheered by them. It was evident
that the army would not let itself be used to crush the uprising of the
people. The police remained "loyal," but they were not adequate in numbers.
Protopopov had set in motion forces which no human agency could control.
The Revolution was well under way.
The Duma remained in constant session. Meantime the situation in the
capital was becoming serious in the extreme. Looting of stores began, and
there were many victims of the police efforts to disperse the crowds. In
the midst of the crisis the Duma repudiated the government and broke off
all relations with it. The resolution of the Duma declared that "The
government which covered its hands with the blood of the people should no
longer be admitted to the Duma. With such a government the Duma breaks all
relations forever." The answer of Czar Nicholas was an order to dissolve
the Duma, which order the Duma voted to ignore, remaining in session as
before.
On Sunday, March 11th, there was a great outpouring of people at a
demonstration. Police established on the roofs of some public buildings
attacked the closely packed throngs with machine-gun fire, killing and
wounding hundreds. One of the famous regiments, the Volynski, revolted,
killed its commander, and joined the people when ordered to fire into the
crowds. Detachments of soldiers belonging to other regiments followed their
example and refused to fire upon the people. One or two detachments of
troops did obey orders and were immediately attacked by the revolutionary
troops. There was civil war in Petrograd.
While the fighting was still going on, the president of the Duma sent the
following telegram to the Czar:
The situation is grave. Anarchy reigns in the capital. The
government is paralyzed. The transport of provisions and fuel is
completely disorganized. General dissatisfaction is growing.
Irregular rifle-firing is occurring in the streets. It is
necessary to charge immediately some person enjoying the
confidence of the people to form a new government. It is
impossible to linger. Any delay means death. Let us pray to God
that the responsibility in this hour will not fall upon a crowned
head.
RODZIANKO.
The Duma waited in vain that night for an answer from the Czar. The
bourgeois elements in the Duma were terrified. Only the leaders of the
different Socialist groups appeared to possess any idea of providing the
revolutionary movement with proper direction. While the leaders of the
bourgeois groups were proclaiming their conviction that the Revolution
would be crushed in a few hours by the tens of thousands of troops in
Petrograd who had not yet rebelled, the Socialist leaders were busy
preparing plans to carry on the struggle. Even those Social Democrats who
for various reasons had most earnestly tried to avert the Revolution gave
themselves with whole-hearted enthusiasm to the task of organizing the
revolutionary forces. Following the example set in the 1905 Revolution,
there had been formed a central committee of the working-class
organizations to direct the movement. This body, composed of elected
representatives of the unions and Socialist societies, was later known as
the Council of Workmen's Deputies. It was this body which undertook the
organization of the Revolution. This Revolution, unlike that of 1905, was
initiated by the bourgeoisie, but its originators manifested little desire
and less capacity to lead it.
When Monday morning came there was no longer an unorganized, planless mass
confusedly opposing a carefully organized force, but a compact,
well-organized, and skilfully led movement. Processions were formed, each
under responsible directors with very definite instructions. As on the
previous day, the police stationed upon roofs of buildings, and at various
strategic points, fired upon the people. As on the previous day, also, the
soldiers joined the Revolution and refused to shoot the people. The famous
Guards' Regiment, long the pet and pride of the Czar, was the first to
rebel. The soldiers killed the officer who ordered them to fire, and then
with cheers joined the rebels. When the military authorities sent out
another regiment to suppress the rebel Guards' Regiment they saw the new
force go over to the Revolution in a body. Other regiments deserted in the
same manner. The flower of the Russian army had joined the people in
revolting against the Czar and the system of Czarism.
On the side of the revolutionists were now many thousands of well-trained
soldiers, fully armed. Soon they took possession of the Arsenal, after
killing the commander. The soldiers made organized and systematic warfare
upon the police. Every policeman seen was shot down, police stations were
set on fire, and prisons were broken open and the prisoners released. The
numerous political prisoners were triumphantly liberated and took their
places in the revolutionary ranks. In rapid succession the great bastiles
fell! Peter and Paul Fortress, scene of infinite martyrdom, fell into the
hands of the revolutionary forces, and the prisoners, many of them heroes
and martyrs of other uprisings, were set free amid frenzied cheering. The
great Schlüsselburg Fortress was likewise seized and emptied. With
twenty-five thousand armed troops on their side, the revolutionists were
practically masters of the capital. They attacked the headquarters of the
hated Secret Service and made a vast, significantly symbolical bonfire of
its archives.
Once more Rodzianko appealed to the Czar. It is no reflection upon
Rodzianko's honesty, or upon his loyalty to the people, to say that he was
appalled by the development of the struggle. He sympathized with the people
in their demand for political democracy and would wage war to the end upon
Czarism, but he feared the effect of the Revolution upon the army and the
Allied cause. Moreover, he was a landowner, and he feared Socialism. In
1906 he had joined forces with the government when the Socialists led the
masses--and now the Socialist leaders were again at the head of the masses.
Perhaps the result would have been otherwise if the Duma had followed up
its repudiation of the government by openly and unreservedly placing itself
at the head of the uprising. In any other country than Russia that would
have been done, in all probability, but the Russian bourgeoisie was weak.
This was due, like so much else in Russia, to the backwardness of the
industrial system. There was not a strong middle class and, therefore, the
bourgeoisie left the fighting to the working class. Rodzianko's new appeal
to the Czar was pathetic. When hundreds of dead and dying lay in the
streets and in churches, hospitals, and other public buildings, he could
still imagine that the Czar could save the situation: "The situation is
growing worse. It is necessary to take measures immediately, for to-morrow
it will be too late," he telegraphed. "The last hour has struck to decide
the fate of the country and of the dynasty." Poor, short-sighted bourgeois!
It was already "too late" for "measures" by the weak-minded Nicholas II to
avail. The "fate of the country and of the dynasty" was already determined!
It was just as well that the Czar did not make any reply to the message.
The new ruler of Russia, King Demos, was speaking now. Workers and soldiers
sent deputations to the Taurida Palace, where the Duma was sitting.
Rodzianko read to them the message he had sent to the Czar, but that was
small comfort. Thousands of revolutionists, civilian and military, stormed
the Taurida Palace and clamored to hear what the Socialists in the Duma had
to say. In response to this demand Tchcheidze, Kerensky, Skobelev, and
other Socialists from various groups appeared and addressed the people.
These men had a message to give; they understood the ferment and were part
of it. They were of the Revolution--bone of its bone, flesh of its flesh,
and so they were cheered again and again. And what a triumvirate they made,
these leaders of the people! Tchcheidze, once a university professor, keen,
cool, and as witty as George Bernard Shaw, listened to with the deference
democracy always pays to intellect.
Kerensky, lawyer by profession, matchless as an orator, obviously the
prophet and inspirer rather than the executive type; Skobelev, blunt,
direct, and practical, a man little given to romantic illusions. It was
Skobelev who made the announcement to the crowd outside the Taurida Palace
that the old system was ended forever and that the Duma would create a
Provisional Committee. He begged the workers and the soldiers to keep
order, to refrain from violence against individuals, and to observe strict
discipline. "Freedom demands discipline and order," he said.
That afternoon the Duma selected a temporary committee to restore order.
The committee, called the Duma Committee of Safety, consisted of twelve
members, representing all the parties and groups in the Duma. The hastily
formed committee of the workers met and decided to call on the workmen to
hold immediate elections for the Council of Workmen's Deputies--the first
meeting of which was to be held that evening. That this was a perilous
thing to do the history of the First Revolution clearly showed, but no
other course seemed open to the workers, in view of the attitude of the
bourgeoisie. On behalf of the Duma Committee, Rodzianko issued the
following proclamation:
The Provisional Committee of the members of the Imperial Duma,
aware of the grave conditions of internal disorder created by the
measure of the old government, has found itself compelled to take
into its hands the re-establishment of political and civil order.
In full consciousness of the responsibility of its decision, the
Provisional Committee expresses its trust that the population and
the army will help it in the difficult task of creating a new
government which will comply with the wishes of the population,
and be able to enjoy its confidence.
MICHAIL RODZIANKO, _Speaker of the Imperial Duma_.
February 27, 1917.[4]
That night the first formal session of the Council of Workmen's Deputies
was held. Tchcheidze was elected president, Kerensky vice-president. The
deputies had been elected by the working-men of many factories and by the
members of Socialist organizations. It was not until the following day that
soldiers' representatives were added and the words "and Soldiers" added to
the title of the Council. At this first meeting the Council--a most
moderate and capable body--called for a Constituent Assembly on the basis
of equal, direct, and secret universal suffrage. This demand was contained
in an address to the people which read, in part:
To finish the struggle successfully in the interests of democracy,
the people must create their own powerful organization.
The Council of the Workmen's Deputies, holding its session in the
Imperial Duma, makes it its supreme task to organize the people's
forces and their struggle for a final securing of political
freedom and popular government in Russia.
We appeal to the entire population of the capital to rally around
the Council, to form local committees in the various boroughs, and
to take over the management of local affairs.
All together, with united forces, we will struggle for a final
abolition of the old system and the calling of a Constituent
Assembly on the basis of universal, equal, direct, and secret
suffrage.
This document is of the highest historical importance and merits close
study. As already noted, Tchcheidze, leader of the Mensheviki, was
president of the Council, and this appeal to the people shows how fully the
moderate views of his group prevailed. Indeed, the manner in which the
moderate counsels of the Mensheviki dominated the Council at a time of
great excitement and passion, when extremists might have been expected to
obtain the lead, is one of the most remarkable features of the whole story
of the Second Russian Revolution. It appeared at this time that the
Russian proletariat had fully learned the tragic lessons of 1905-06.
It is evident from the text of the appeal that at the time the Council
looked upon the Revolution as being primarily a political event, not as a
movement to reconstruct the economic and social system. There is no
reference to social democracy. Even the land question is not referred to.
How limited their purpose was at the moment may be gathered from the
statement, "The Council ... makes it its supreme task to organize the
people's forces and their struggle for a final securing of political
freedom and popular government." It is also clearly evident that,
notwithstanding the fact that the Council itself was a working-class
organization, a manifestation of the class consciousness of the workers,
the leaders of the Council did not regard the Revolution as a proletarian
event, nor doubt the necessity of co-operation on the part of all classes.
Proletarian exclusiveness came later, but on March 13th the appeal of the
Council was "to the entire population."
March 14th saw the arrest of many of the leading reactionaries, including
Protopopov and the traitor Sukhomlinov, and an approach to order. All that
day the representatives of the Duma and the representatives of the Council
of Workmen's and Soldiers' Deputies, as it was now called, embryo of the
first Soviet government, tried to reach an agreement concerning the future
organization of Russia. The representatives of the Duma were pitifully
lacking in comprehension of the situation. They wanted the Czar deposed,
but the monarchy itself retained, subject to constitutional limitations
analogous to those obtaining in England. They wanted the Romanov dynasty
retained, their choice being the Czar's brother, Grand-Duke Michael. The
representatives of the Soviet, on the other hand, would not tolerate the
suggestion that the monarchy be continued. Standing, as yet, only for
political democracy, they insisted that the monarchy must be abolished and
that the new government be republican in form. The statesmanship and
political skill of these representatives of the workers were immeasurably
superior to those possessed by the bourgeois representatives of the Duma.
V
Thursday, March 15, 1917--new style--was one of the most fateful and
momentous days in the history of mankind. It will always be remembered as
the day on which Czarism ceased to exist in Russia. At three o'clock in the
afternoon Miliukov, leader of the Constitutional Democrats, appeared in
front of the Taurida Palace and announced to the waiting throngs that an
agreement had been reached between the Duma and the Council of Workmen's
and Soldiers' Deputies; that it had been decided to depose the Czar, to
constitute immediately a Provisional Government composed of representatives
of all parties and groups, and to proceed with arrangements for the holding
of a Constituent Assembly at an early date to determine the form of a
permanent democratic government for Russia.
At the head of the Provisional Government, as Premier, had been placed
Prince George E. Lvov, who as president of the Union of Zemstvos had proved
himself to be a democrat of the most liberal school as well as an
extraordinarily capable organizer. The position of Minister of Foreign
Affairs was given to Miliukov, whose strong sympathy with the Allies was
well known. The position of Minister of Justice was given to Alexander
Kerensky, one of the most extraordinary men in Russia, a leader of the
Group of Toil, a party of peasant Socialists, vice-president of the Council
of Workmen's and Soldiers' Deputies. At the head of the War Department was
placed Alexander Guchkov, a soldier-politician, leader of the Octobrist
party, who had turned against the First Revolution in 1905, when it became
an economic war of the classes, evoking thereby the hatred of the
Socialists, but who as head of the War Industries Committee had achieved
truly wonderful results in the present war in face of the opposition of the
government. The pressing food problem was placed in the hands of Andrei
Shingarev. As Minister of Agriculture Shingarev belonged to the radical
left wing of the Cadets.
It cannot be said that the composition of the Provisional Government was
received with popular satisfaction. It was top-heavy with representatives
of the bourgeoisie. There was only one Socialist, Kerensky. Miliukov's
selection, inevitable though it was, and great as his gifts were, was
condemned by the radical working-men because he was regarded as a dangerous
"imperialist" on account of his advocacy of the annexation of
Constantinople. Guchkov's inclusion was equally unpopular on account of his
record at the time of the First Revolution. The most popular selection was
undoubtedly Kerensky, because he represented more nearly than any of the
others the aspirations of the masses. As a whole, it was the fact that the
Provisional Government was too fully representative of the bourgeois
parties and groups which gave the Bolsheviki and other radicals a chance to
condemn it.
The absence of the name of Tchcheidze from the list was a surprise and a
disappointment to most of the moderate Socialists, for he had come to be
regarded as one of the most capable and trustworthy leaders of the masses.
The fact that he was not included in the new government could hardly fail
to cause uneasy suspicion. It was said later that efforts had been made to
induce him to join the new government, but that he declined to do so.
Tchcheidze's position was a very difficult one. Thoroughly in sympathy with
the plan to form a coalition Provisional Government, and supporting
Kerensky in his position, Tchcheidze nevertheless declined to enter the new
Cabinet himself. In this he was quite honest and not at all the tricky
politician he has been represented as being.
Tchcheidze knew that the Duma had been elected upon a most undemocratic
suffrage and that it did not and could not represent the masses of the
peasants and wage-workers. These classes were represented in the Council of
Workmen's and Soldiers' Deputies, which continued to exist as a separate
body, independent of the Duma, but co-operating with it as an equal. From a
Socialist point of view it would have been a mistake to disband the
Council, Tchcheidze believed. He saw Soviet government as the need of the
critical moment, rather than as the permanent, distinctive type of Russian
Social democracy as the critics of Kerensky have alleged.
While the Provisional Government was being created, the Czar, at General
Headquarters, was being forced to recognize the bitter fact that the
Romanov dynasty could no longer live. When he could no more resist the
pressure brought to bear upon him by the representatives of the Duma, he
wrote and signed a formal instrument of abdication of the Russian throne,
naming his brother, Grand-Duke Michael, as his successor. The latter dared
not attempt to assume the imperial rôle. He recognized that the end of
autocracy had been reached and declined to accept the throne unless chosen
by a popular referendum vote. On March 16th, the day after the abdication
of Nicholas II, Michael issued a statement in which he said:
This heavy responsibility has come to me at the voluntary request
of my brother, who has transferred the Imperial throne to me
during a time of warfare which is accompanied by unprecedented
popular disturbances.
Moved by the thought, which is in the minds of the entire people,
that the good of the country is paramount, I have adopted the firm
resolution to accept the supreme power only if this be the will of
our great people, who, by a plebiscite organized by their
representatives in a Constituent Assembly, shall establish a form
of government and new fundamental laws for the Russian state.
Consequently, invoking the benediction of our Lord, I urge all
citizens of Russia to submit to the Provisional Government,
established upon the initiative of the Duma and invested with full
plenary powers, until such time which will follow with as little
delay as possible, as the Constituent Assembly, on a basis of
universal, direct, equal, and secret suffrage, shall, by its
decision as to the new form of government, express the will of the
people.
The hated Romanov dynasty was ended at last. It is not likely that
Grand-Duke Michael entertained the faintest hope that he would ever be
called to the throne, either by a Constituent Assembly or by a popular
referendum. Not only was the Romanov dynasty ended, but equally so was
monarchical Absolutism itself. No other dynasty would replace that of the
Romanovs. Russia had thrown off the yoke of autocracy. The Second
Revolution was an accomplished fact; its first phase was complete.
Thoughtful men among the revolutionists recognized that the next phase
would be far more perilous and difficult. "The bigger task is still before
us," said Miliukov, in his address to the crowd that afternoon. A
Constituent Assembly was to be held and that was bound to intensify the
differences which had been temporarily composed during the struggle to
overthrow the system of Absolutism. And the differences which existed
between the capitalist class and the working class were not greater than
those which existed within the latter.