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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Ten Days That Shook the World, by John Reed
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: Ten Days That Shook the World
+
+Author: John Reed
+
+Release Date: December 16, 2000 [eBook #3076]
+[Most recently updated: March 3, 2021]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: Norman Wolcott, with corrections by Andrew Sly and Stefan Malte Schumacher
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEN DAYS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD ***
+
+
+
+
+[Redactor’s Note: The book is composed of text, footnotes, and appendices. The
+footnotes are included at the end of each chapter, while the Appendix No. and
+Section are referred to in the text in parentheses, the Appendices following
+the book text. There are 17 graphic figures in the text. These are indicated by
+a reference to the page number in the original book.]
+
+
+
+
+Ten Days That Shook the World
+
+by John Reed
+
+
+Contents
+
+ Preface
+ Notes and Explanations
+ Chapter 1. Background
+ Chapter 2. The Coming Storm
+ Chapter 3. On the Eve
+ Chapter 4. The Fall of the Provisional Government
+ Chapter 5. Plunging Ahead
+ Chapter 6. The Committee for Salvation
+ Chapter 7. The Revolutionary Front
+ Chapter 8. Counter-Revolution
+ Chapter 9. Victory
+ Chapter 10. Moscow
+ Chapter 11. The Conquest of Power
+ Chapter 12. The Peasants’ Congress
+ Appendices I - XII
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+This book is a slice of intensified history—history as I saw it. It
+does not pretend to be anything but a detailed account of the November
+Revolution, when the Bolsheviki, at the head of the workers and
+soldiers, seized the state power of Russia and placed it in the hands
+of the Soviets.
+
+Naturally most of it deals with “Red Petrograd,” the capital and heart
+of the insurrection. But the reader must realize that what took place
+in Petrograd was almost exactly duplicated, with greater or lesser
+intensity, at different intervals of time, all over Russia.
+
+In this book, the first of several which I am writing, I must confine
+myself to a chronicle of those events which I myself observed and
+experienced, and those supported by reliable evidence; preceded by two
+chapters briefly outlining the background and causes of the November
+Revolution. I am aware that these two chapters make difficult reading,
+but they are essential to an understanding of what follows.
+
+Many questions will suggest themselves to the mind of the reader. What
+is Bolshevism? What kind of a governmental structure did the Bolsheviki
+set up? If the Bolsheviki championed the Constituent Assembly before
+the November Revolution, why did they disperse it by force of arms
+afterward? And if the bourgeoisie opposed the Constituent Assembly
+until the danger of Bolshevism became apparent, why did they champion
+it afterward?
+
+These and many other questions cannot be answered here. In another
+volume, “Kornilov to Brest-Litovsk,” I trace the course of the
+Revolution up to and including the German peace. There I explain the
+origin and functions of the Revolutionary organisations, the evolution
+of popular sentiment, the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, the
+structure of the Soviet state, and the course and outcome of the
+Brest-Litovsk negotiations….
+
+In considering the rise of the Bolsheviki it is necessary to understand
+that Russian economic life and the Russian army were not disorganised
+on November 7th, 1917, but many months before, as the logical result of
+a process which began as far back as 1915. The corrupt reactionaries in
+control of the Tsar’s Court deliberately undertook to wreck Russia in
+order to make a separate peace with Germany. The lack of arms on the
+front, which had caused the great retreat of the summer of 1915, the
+lack of food in the army and in the great cities, the break-down of
+manufactures and transportation in 1916—all these we know now were part
+of a gigantic campaign of sabotage. This was halted just in time by the
+March Revolution.
+
+For the first few months of the new régime, in spite of the confusion
+incident upon a great Revolution, when one hundred and sixty millions
+of the world’s most oppressed peoples suddenly achieved liberty, both
+the internal situation and the combative power of the army actually
+improved.
+
+But the “honeymoon” was short. The propertied classes wanted merely a
+political revolution, which would take the power from the Tsar and give
+it to them. They wanted Russia to be a constitutional Republic, like
+France or the United States; or a constitutional Monarchy, like
+England. On the other hand, the masses of the people wanted real
+industrial and agrarian democracy.
+
+William English Walling, in his book, “Russia’s Message,” an account of
+the Revolution of 1905, describes very well the state of mind of the
+Russian workers, who were later to support Bolshevism almost
+unanimously:
+
+They (the working people) saw it was possible that even under a free
+Government, if it fell into the hands of other social classes, they
+might still continue to starve….
+
+The Russian workman is revolutionary, but he is neither violent,
+dogmatic, nor unintelligent. He is ready for barricades, but he has
+studied them, and alone of the workers of the world he has learned
+about them from actual experience. He is ready and willing to fight his
+oppressor, the capitalist class, to a finish. But he does not ignore
+the existence of other classes. He merely asks that the other classes
+take one side or the other in the bitter conflict that draws near….
+
+They (the workers) were all agreed that our (American) political
+institutions were preferable to their own, but they were not very
+anxious to exchange one despot for another (i.e., the capitalist
+class)….
+
+The workingmen of Russia did not have themselves shot down, executed by
+hundreds in Moscow, Riga and Odessa, imprisoned by thousands in every
+Russian jail, and exiled to the deserts and the arctic regions, in
+exchange for the doubtful privileges of the workingmen of Goldfields
+and Cripple Creek….
+
+And so developed in Russia, in the midst of a foreign war, the Social
+Revolution on top of the Political Revolution, culminating in the
+triumph of Bolshevism.
+
+Mr. A. J. Sack, director in this country of the Russian Information
+Bureau, which opposes the Soviet Government, has this to say in his
+book, “The Birth of the Russian Democracy”: The Bolsheviks organised
+their own cabinet, with Nicholas Lenine as Premier and Leon
+Trotsky—Minister of Foreign Affairs. The inevitability of their coming
+into power became evident almost immediately after the March
+Revolution. The history of the Bolsheviki, after the Revolution, is a
+history of their steady growth….
+
+Foreigners, and Americans especially, frequently emphasise the
+“ignorance” of the Russian workers. It is true they lacked the
+political experience of the peoples of the West, but they were very
+well trained in voluntary organisation. In 1917 there were more than
+twelve million members of the Russian consumers’ Cooperative societies;
+and the Soviets themselves are a wonderful demonstration of their
+organising genius. Moreover, there is probably not a people in the
+world so well educated in Socialist theory and its practical
+application.
+
+William English Walling thus characterises them:
+
+The Russian working people are for the most part able to read and
+write. For many years the country has been in such a disturbed
+condition that they have had the advantage of leadership not only of
+intelligent individuals in their midst, but of a large part of the
+equally revolutionary educated class, who have turned to the working
+people with their ideas for the political and social regeneration of
+Russia….
+
+Many writers explain their hostility to the Soviet Government by
+arguing that the last phase of the Russian Revolution was simply a
+struggle of the “respectable” elements against the brutal attacks of
+Bolshevism. However, it was the propertied classes, who, when they
+realised the growth in power of the popular revolutionary
+organisations, undertook to destroy them and to halt the Revolution. To
+this end the propertied classes finally resorted to desperate measures.
+In order to wreck the Kerensky Ministry and the Soviets, transportation
+was disorganised and internal troubles provoked; to crush the
+Factory-Shop Committees, plants were shut down, and fuel and raw
+materials diverted; to break the Army Committees at the front, capital
+punishment was restored and military defeat connived at.
+
+This was all excellent fuel for the Bolshevik fire. The Bolsheviki
+retorted by preaching the class war, and by asserting the supremacy of
+the Soviets.
+
+Between these two extremes, with the other factions which
+whole-heartedly or half-heartedly supported them, were the so-called
+“moderate” Socialists, the Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries,
+and several smaller parties. These groups were also attacked by the
+propertied classes, but their power of resistance was crippled by their
+theories.
+
+Roughly, the Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries believed that
+Russia was not economically ripe for a social revolution—that only a
+_political_ revolution was possible. According to their interpretation,
+the Russian masses were not educated enough to take over the power; any
+attempt to do so would inevitably bring on a reaction, by means of
+which some ruthless opportunist might restore the old régime. And so it
+followed that when the “moderate” Socialists were forced to assume the
+power, they were afraid to use it.
+
+They believed that Russia must pass through the stages of political and
+economic development known to Western Europe, and emerge at last, with
+the rest of the world, into full-fledged Socialism. Naturally,
+therefore, they agreed with the propertied classes that Russia must
+first be a parliamentary state—though with some improvements on the
+Western democracies. As a consequence, they insisted upon the
+collaboration of the propertied classes in the Government.
+
+From this it was an easy step to supporting them. The “moderate”
+Socialists needed the bourgeoisie. But the bourgeoisie did not need the
+“moderate” Socialists. So it resulted in the Socialist Ministers being
+obliged to give way, little by little, on their entire program, while
+the propertied classes grew more and more insistent.
+
+And at the end, when the Bolsheviki upset the whole hollow compromise,
+the Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries found themselves fighting
+on the side of the propertied classes…. In almost every country in the
+world to-day the same phenomenon is visible.
+
+Instead of being a destructive force, it seems to me that the
+Bolsheviki were the only party in Russia with a constructive program
+and the power to impose it on the country. If they had not succeeded to
+the Government when they did, there is little doubt in my mind that the
+armies of Imperial Germany would have been in Petrograd and Moscow in
+December, and Russia would again be ridden by a Tsar….
+
+It is still fashionable, after a whole year of the Soviet Government,
+to speak of the Bolshevik insurrection as an “adventure.” Adventure it
+was, and one of the most marvellous mankind ever embarked upon,
+sweeping into history at the head of the toiling masses, and staking
+everything on their vast and simple desires. Already the machinery had
+been set up by which the land of the great estates could be distributed
+among the peasants. The Factory-Shop Committees and the Trade Unions
+were there to put into operation workers’ control of industry. In every
+village, town, city, district and province there were Soviets of
+Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies, prepared to assume the task
+of local administration.
+
+No matter what one thinks of Bolshevism, it is undeniable that the
+Russian Revolution is one of the great events of human history, and the
+rise of the Bolsheviki a phenomenon of world-wide importance. Just as
+historians search the records for the minutest details of the story of
+the Paris Commune, so they will want to know what happened in Petrograd
+in November, 1917, the spirit which animated the people, and how the
+leaders looked, talked and acted. It is with this in view that I have
+written this book.
+
+In the struggle my sympathies were not neutral. But in telling the
+story of those great days I have tried to see events with the eye of a
+conscientious reporter, interested in setting down the truth.
+
+J. R.
+
+
+New York, January 1st 1919.
+
+
+
+Notes and Explanations
+
+
+To the average reader the multiplicity of Russian
+organisations—political groups, Committees and Central Committees,
+Soviets, Dumas and Unions—will prove extremely confusing. For this
+reason I am giving here a few brief definitions and explanations.
+
+Political Parties
+
+In the elections to the Constituent Assembly, there were seventeen
+tickets in Petrograd, and in some of the provincial towns as many as
+forty; but the following summary of the aims and composition of
+political parties is limited to the groups and factions mentioned in
+this book. Only the essence of their programmes and the general
+character of their constituencies can be noticed….
+
+1. _Monarchists,_ of various shades, _Octobrists,_ etc. These
+once-powerful factions no longer existed openly; they either worked
+underground, or their members joined the _Cadets,_ as the _Cadets_ came
+by degrees to stand for their political programme. Representatives in
+this book, Rodzianko, Shulgin.
+
+2. _Cadets._ So-called from the initials of its name, Constitutional
+Democrats. Its official name is “Party of the People’s Freedom.” Under
+the Tsar composed of Liberals from the propertied classes, the _Cadets_
+were the great party of _political_ reform, roughly corresponding to
+the Progressive Party in America. When the Revolution broke out in
+March, 1917, the _Cadets_ formed the first Provisional Government. The
+_Cadet_ Ministry was overthrown in April because it declared itself in
+favour of Allied imperialistic aims, including the imperialistic aims
+of the Tsar’s Government. As the Revolution became more and more a
+_social economic_ Revolution, the _Cadets_ grew more and more
+conservative. Its representatives in this book are: Miliukov, Vinaver,
+Shatsky.
+
+2a. _Group of Public Men._ After the _Cadets_ had become unpopular
+through their relations with the Kornilov counter-revolution, the
+_Group of Public Men_ was formed in Moscow. Delegates from the _Group
+of Public Men_ were given portfolios in the last Kerensky Cabinet. The
+_Group_ declared itself non-partisan, although its intellectual leaders
+were men like Rodzianko and Shulgin. It was composed of the more
+“modern” bankers, merchants and manufacturers, who were intelligent
+enough to realise that the Soviets must be fought by their own
+weapon—economic organisation. Typical of the _Group:_ Lianozov,
+Konovalov.
+
+3. _Populist Socialists,_ or _Trudoviki_ (Labour Group). Numerically a
+small party, composed of cautious intellectuals, the leaders of the
+Cooperative societies, and conservative peasants. Professing to be
+Socialists, the _Populists_ really supported the interests of the petty
+bourgeoisie—clerks, shopkeepers, etc. By direct descent, inheritors of
+the compromising tradition of the Labour Group in the Fourth Imperial
+Duma, which was composed largely of peasant representatives. Kerensky
+was the leader of the _Trudoviki_ in the Imperial Duma when the
+Revolution of March, 1917, broke out. The _Populist Socialists_ are a
+nationalistic party. Their representatives in this book are:
+Peshekhanov, Tchaikovsky.
+
+4. _Russian Social Democratic Labour Party._ Originally Marxian
+Socialists. At a party congress held in 1903, the party split, on the
+question of tactics, into two factions—the Majority (Bolshinstvo), and
+the Minority (Menshinstvo). From this sprang the names “Bolsheviki” and
+“Mensheviki”—“members of the majority” and “members of the minority.”
+These two wings became two separate parties, both calling themselves
+“Russian Social Democratic Labour Party,” and both professing to be
+Marxians. Since the Revolution of 1905 the Bolsheviki were really the
+minority, becoming again the majority in September, 1917.
+
+a. _Mensheviki._ This party includes all shades of Socialists who
+believe that society must progress by natural evolution toward
+Socialism, and that the working-class must conquer political power
+first. Also a nationalistic party. This was the party of the Socialist
+intellectuals, which means: all the means of education having been in
+the hands of the propertied classes, the intellectuals instinctively
+reacted to their training, and took the side of the propertied classes.
+Among their representatives in this book are: Dan, Lieber, Tseretelli.
+
+b. _Mensheviki Internationalists._ The radical wing of the
+_Mensheviki,_ internationalists and opposed to all coalition with the
+propertied classes; yet unwilling to break loose from the conservative
+Mensheviki, and opposed to the dictatorship of the working-class
+advocated by the Bolsheviki. Trotzky was long a member of this group.
+Among their leaders: Martov, Martinov.
+
+c. _Bolsheviki._ Now call themselves the _Communist Party,_ in order to
+emphasise their complete separation from the tradition of “moderate” or
+“parliamentary” Socialism, which dominates the Mensheviki and the
+so-called Majority Socialists in all countries. The _Bolsheviki_
+proposed immediate proletarian insurrection, and seizure of the reins
+of Government, in order to hasten the coming of Socialism by forcibly
+taking over industry, land, natural resources and financial
+institutions. This party expresses the desires chiefly of the factory
+workers, but also of a large section of the poor peasants. The name
+“Bolshevik” can _not_ be translated by “Maximalist.” The Maximalists
+are a separate group. (See paragraph 5b). Among the leaders: Lenin,
+Trotzky, Lunatcharsky.
+
+d. _United Social Democrats Internationalists._ Also called the _Novaya
+Zhizn_ (New Life) group, from the name of the very influential
+newspaper which was its organ. A little group of intellectuals with a
+very small following among the working-class, except the personal
+following of Maxim Gorky, its leader. Intellectuals, with almost the
+same programme as the _Mensheviki Internationalists,_ except that the
+_Novaya Zhizn_ group refused to be tied to either of the two great
+factions. Opposed the Bolshevik tactics, but remained in the Soviet
+Government. Other representatives in this book: Avilov, Kramarov.
+
+e. _Yedinstvo._ A very small and dwindling group, composed almost
+entirely of the personal following of Plekhanov, one of the pioneers of
+the Russian Social Democratic movement in the 80’s, and its greatest
+theoretician. Now an old man, Plekhanov was extremely patriotic, too
+conservative even for the Mensheviki. After the Bolshevik _coup d’etat,
+Yedinstvo_ disappeared.
+
+5. _Socialist Revolutionary party._ Called _Essaires_ from the initials
+of their name. Originally the revolutionary party of the peasants, the
+party of the Fighting Organisations—the Terrorists. After the March
+Revolution, it was joined by many who had never been Socialists. At
+that time it stood for the abolition of private property in land only,
+the owners to be compensated in some fashion. Finally the increasing
+revolutionary feeling of peasants forced the _Essaires_ to abandon the
+“compensation” clause, and led to the younger and more fiery
+intellectuals breaking off from the main party in the fall of 1917 and
+forming a new party, the _Left Socialist Revolutionary party._ The
+_Essaires,_ who were afterward always called by the radical groups
+_“Right Socialist Revolutionaries,”_ adopted the political attitude of
+the Mensheviki, and worked together with them. They finally came to
+represent the wealthier peasants, the intellectuals, and the
+politically uneducated populations of remote rural districts. Among
+them there was, however, a wider difference of shades of political and
+economic opinion than among the Mensheviki. Among their leaders
+mentioned in these pages: Avksentiev, Gotz, Kerensky, Tchernov,
+“Babuschka” Breshkovskaya.
+
+a. _Left Socialist Revolutionaries._ Although theoretically sharing the
+Bolshevik programme of dictatorship of the working-class, at first were
+reluctant to follow the ruthless Bolshevik tactics. However, the _Left
+Socialist Revolutionaries_ remained in the Soviet Government, sharing
+the Cabinet portfolios, especially that of Agriculture. They withdrew
+from the Government several times, but always returned. As the peasants
+left the ranks of the _Essaires_ in increasing numbers, they joined the
+_Left Socialist Revolutionary party,_ which became the great peasant
+party supporting the Soviet Government, standing for confiscation
+without compensation of the great landed estates, and their disposition
+by the peasants themselves. Among the leaders: Spiridonova, Karelin,
+Kamkov, Kalagayev.
+
+b. _Maximalists._ An off-shoot of the _Socialist Revolutionary party_
+in the Revolution of 1905, when it was a powerful peasant movement,
+demanding the immediate application of the maximum Socialist programme.
+Now an insignificant group of peasant anarchists.
+
+Parliamentary Procedure
+
+Russian meetings and conventions are organised after the continental
+model rather than our own. The first action is usually the election of
+officers and the _presidium._
+
+The _presidium_ is a presiding committee, composed of representatives
+of the groups and political factions represented in the assembly, in
+proportion to their numbers. The _presidium_ arranges the Order of
+Business, and its members can be called upon by the President to take
+the chair _pro tem._
+
+Each question (_vopros_) is stated in a general way and then debated,
+and at the close of the debate resolutions are submitted by the
+different factions, and each one voted on separately. The Order of
+Business can be, and usually is, smashed to pieces in the first half
+hour. On the plea of “emergency,” which the crowd almost always grants,
+anybody from the floor can get up and say anything on any subject. The
+crowd controls the meeting, practically the only functions of the
+speaker being to keep order by ringing a little bell, and to recognise
+speakers. Almost all the real work of the session is done in caucuses
+of the different groups and political factions, which almost always
+cast their votes in a body and are represented by floor-leaders. The
+result is, however, that at every important new point, or vote, the
+session takes a recess to enable the different groups and political
+factions to hold a caucus.
+
+The crowd is extremely noisy, cheering or heckling speakers,
+over-riding the plans of the _presidium._ Among the customary cries
+are: _“Prosim!_ Please! Go on!” _“Pravilno!”_ or _“Eto vierno!_ That’s
+true! Right!” _“Do volno!_ Enough!” _“Doloi!_ Down with him!” _“Posor!_
+Shame!” and _“Teesche!_ Silence! Not so noisy!”
+
+Popular Organisations
+
+1. _Soviet._ The word _soviet_ means “council.” Under the Tsar the
+Imperial Council of State was called _Gosudarstvennyi Soviet._ Since
+the Revolution, however, the term _Soviet_ has come to be associated
+with a certain type of parliament elected by members of working-class
+economic organisations—the Soviet of Workers’, of Soldiers’, or of
+Peasants’ Deputies. I have therefore limited the word to these bodies,
+and wherever else it occurs I have translated it “Council.”
+
+Besides the local _Soviets,_ elected in every city, town and village of
+Russia—and in large cities, also Ward _(Raionny) Soviets_—there are
+also the _oblastne_ or _gubiernsky_ (district or provincial) _Soviets,_
+and the Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian _Soviets_ in the
+capital, called from its initials _Tsay-ee-kah._ (See below, “Central
+Committees”).
+
+Almost everywhere the _Soviets_ of Workers’ and of Soldiers’ Deputies
+combined very soon after the March Revolution. In special matters
+concerning their peculiar interests, however, the Workers’ and the
+Soldiers’ Sections continued to meet separately. The _Soviets_ of
+Peasants’ Deputies did not join the other two until after the Bolshevik
+_coup d’etat._ They, too, were organised like the workers and soldiers,
+with an Executive Committee of the All-Russian Peasants’ _Soviets_ in
+the capital.
+
+2. _Trade Unions._ Although mostly industrial in form, the Russian
+labour unions were still called Trade Unions, and at the time of the
+Bolshevik Revolution had from three to four million members. These
+Unions were also organised in an All-Russian body, a sort of Russian
+Federation of Labour, which had its Central Executive Committee in the
+capital.
+
+3. _Factory-Shop Committees._ These were spontaneous organisations
+created in the factories by the workers in their attempt to control
+industry, taking advantage of the administrative break-down incident
+upon the Revolution. Their function was by revolutionary action to take
+over and run the factories. The _Factory-Shop Committees_ also had
+their All-Russian organisation, with a Central Committee at Petrograd,
+which co-operated with the Trade Unions.
+
+4. _Dumas._ The word _duma_ means roughly “deliberative body.” The old
+Imperial Duma, which persisted six months after the Revolution, in a
+democratised form, died a natural death in September, 1917. The _City
+Duma_ referred to in this book was the reorganised Municipal Council,
+often called “Municipal Self-Government.” It was elected by direct and
+secret ballot, and its only reason for failure to hold the masses
+during the Bolshevik Revolution was the general decline in influence of
+all purely _political_ representation in the fact of the growing power
+of organisations based on _economic_ groups.
+
+5. _Zemstvos._ May be roughly translated “county councils.” Under the
+Tsar semi-political, semi-social bodies with very little administrative
+power, developed and controlled largely by intellectual Liberals among
+the land-owning classes. Their most important function was education
+and social service among the peasants. During the war the _Zemstvos_
+gradually took over the entire feeding and clothing of the Russian
+Army, as well as the buying from foreign countries, and work among the
+soldiers generally corresponding to the work of the American Y. M. C.
+A. at the Front. After the March Revolution the _Zemstvos_ were
+democratized, with a view to making them the organs of local government
+in the rural districts. But like the _City Dumas,_ they could not
+compete with the _Soviets._
+
+6. _Cooperatives._ These were the workers’ and peasants’ Consumers’
+Cooperative societies, which had several million members all over
+Russia before the Revolution. Founded by Liberals and “moderate”
+Socialists, the Cooperative movement was not supported by the
+revolutionary Socialist groups, because it was a substitute for the
+complete transference of means of production and distribution into the
+hands of the workers. After the March Revolution the _Cooperatives_
+spread rapidly, and were dominated by Populist Socialists, Mensheviki
+and Socialist Revolutionaries, and acted as a conservative political
+force until the Bolshevik Revolution. However, it was the
+_Cooperatives_ which fed Russia when the old structure of commerce and
+transportation collapsed.
+
+7. _Army Committees._ The _Army Committees_ were formed by the soldiers
+at the front to combat the reactionary influence of the old regime
+officers. Every company, regiment, brigade, division and corps had its
+committee, over all of which was elected the _Army Committee._ The
+_Central Army Committee_ cooperated with the General Staff. The
+administrative break-down in the army incident upon the Revolution
+threw upon the shoulders of the _Army Committees_ most of the work of
+the Quartermaster’s Department, and in some cases, even the command of
+troops.
+
+8. _Fleet Committees._ The corresponding organisations in the Navy.
+
+Central Committees
+
+In the spring and summer of 1917, All-Russian conventions of every sort
+of organisation were held at Petrograd. There were national congresses
+of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Soviets, Trade Unions,
+Factory-Shop Committees, Army and Fleet Committees—besides every branch
+of the military and naval service, Cooperatives, Nationalities, etc.
+Each of these conventions elected a Central Committee, or a Central
+Executive Committee, to guard its particular interests at the seat of
+Government. As the Provisional Government grew weaker, these Central
+Committees were forced to assume more and more administrative powers.
+
+The most important Central Committees mentioned in this book are:
+
+_Union of Unions._ During the Revolution of 1905, Professor Miliukov
+and other Liberals established unions of professional men—doctors,
+lawyers, physicians, etc. These were united under one central
+organisation, the _Union of Unions._ In 1905 the _Union of Unions_
+acted with the revolutionary democracy; in 1917, however, the _Union of
+Unions_ opposed the Bolshevik uprising, and united the Government
+employees who went on strike against the authority of the Soviets.
+
+_Tsay-ee-kah._ All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Soviets
+of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies. So called from the initials of its
+name.
+
+_Tsentroflot._ “Centre-Fleet”—the Central Fleet Committee.
+
+_Vikzhel._ All-Russian Central Committee of the Railway Workers’ Union.
+So called from the initials of its name.
+
+Other Organisations
+
+_Red Guards._ The armed factory workers of Russia. The _Red Guards_
+were first formed during the Revolution of 1905, and sprang into
+existence again in the days of March, 1917, when a force was needed to
+keep order in the city. At that time they were armed, and all efforts
+of the Provisional Government to disarm them were more or less
+unsuccessful. At every great crisis in the Revolution the _Red Guards_
+appeared on the streets, untrained and undisciplined, but full of
+Revolutionary zeal.
+
+_White Guards._ Bourgeois volunteers, who emerged in the last stages of
+the Revolution, to defend private property from the Bolshevik attempt
+to abolish it. A great many of them were University students.
+
+_Tekhintsi._ The so-called “Savage Division” in the army, made up of
+Mohametan tribesmen from Central Asia, and personally devoted to
+General Kornilov. The _Tekhintsi_ were noted for their blind obedience
+and their savage cruelty in warfare.
+
+_Death Battalions._ Or _Shock Battalions._ The Women’s Battalion is
+known to the world as the _Death Battalion,_ but there were many _Death
+Battalions_ composed of men. These were formed in the summer of 1917 by
+Kerensky, for the purpose of strengthening the discipline and combative
+fire of the army by heroic example. The _Death Battalions_ were
+composed mostly of intense young patriots. These came for the most part
+from among the sons of the propertied classes.
+
+_Union of Officers._ An organisation formed among the reactionary
+officers in the army to combat politically the growing power of the
+Army Committees.
+
+_Knights of St. George._ The Cross of St. George was awarded for
+distinguished action in battle. Its holder automatically became a
+_“Knight of St. George.”_ The predominant influence in the organisation
+was that of the supporters of the military idea.
+
+_Peasants’ Union._ In 1905, the _Peasants’ Union_ was a revolutionary
+peasants’ organisation. In 1917, however, it had become the political
+expression of the more prosperous peasants, to fight the growing power
+and revolutionary aims of the Soviets of Peasants’ Deputies.
+
+Chronology and Spelling
+
+I have adopted in this book our Calendar throughout, instead of the
+former Russian Calendar, which was thirteen days earlier.
+
+In the spelling of Russian names and words, I have made no attempt to
+follow any scientific rules for transliteration, but have tried to give
+the spelling which would lead the English-speaking reader to the
+simplest approximation of their pronunciation.
+
+Sources
+
+Much of the material in this book is from my own notes. I have also
+relied, however, upon a heterogeneous file of several hundred assorted
+Russian newspapers, covering almost every day of the time described, of
+files of the English paper, the _Russian Daily News,_ and of the two
+French papers, _Journal de Russie_ and _Entente._ But far more valuable
+than these is the _Bulletin de la Presse_ issued daily by the French
+Information Bureau in Petrograd, which reports all important
+happenings, speeches and the comment of the Russian press. Of this I
+have an almost complete file from the spring of 1917 to the end of
+January, 1918.
+
+Besides the foregoing, I have in my possession almost every
+proclamation, decree and announcement posted on the walls of Petrograd
+from the middle of September, 1917, to the end of January, 1918. Also
+the official publication of all Government decrees and orders, and the
+official Government publication of the secret treaties and other
+documents discovered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when the
+Bolsheviki took it over.
+
+Ten Days That Shook The World
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+Background
+
+
+Toward the end of September, 1917, an alien Professor of Sociology
+visiting Russia came to see me in Petrograd. He had been informed by
+business men and intellectuals that the Revolution was slowing down.
+The Professor wrote an article about it, and then travelled around the
+country, visiting factory towns and peasant communities—where, to his
+astonishment, the Revolution seemed to be speeding up. Among the
+wage-earners and the land-working people it was common to hear talk of
+“all land to the peasants, all factories to the workers.” If the
+Professor had visited the front, he would have heard the whole Army
+talking Peace….
+
+The Professor was puzzled, but he need not have been; both observations
+were correct. The property-owning classes were becoming more
+conservative, the masses of the people more radical.
+
+There was a feeling among business men and the _intelligentzia_
+generally that the Revolution had gone quite far enough, and lasted too
+long; that things should settle down. This sentiment was shared by the
+dominant “moderate” Socialist groups, the _oborontsi_ (See App. I,
+Sect. 1) Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries, who supported the
+Provisional Government of Kerensky.
+
+On October 14th the official organ of the “moderate” Socialists said:
+
+The drama of Revolution has two acts; the destruction of the old régime
+and the creation of the new one. The first act has lasted long enough.
+Now it is time to go on to the second, and to play it as rapidly as
+possible. As a great revolutionist put it, “Let us hasten, friends, to
+terminate the Revolution. He who makes it last too long will not gather
+the fruits….”
+
+
+Among the worker, soldier and peasant masses, however, there was a
+stubborn feeling that the “first act” was not yet played out. On the
+front the Army Committees were always running foul of officers who
+could not get used to treating their men like human beings; in the rear
+the Land Committees elected by the peasants were being jailed for
+trying to carry out Government regulations concerning the land; and the
+workmen (See App. I, Sect. 2) in the factories were fighting
+black-lists and lockouts. Nay, furthermore, returning political exiles
+were being excluded from the country as “undesirable” citizens; and in
+some cases, men who returned from abroad to their villages were
+prosecuted and imprisoned for revolutionary acts committed in 1905.
+
+To the multiform discontent of the people the “moderate” Socialists had
+one answer: Wait for the Constituent Assembly, which is to meet in
+December. But the masses were not satisfied with that. The Constituent
+Assembly was all well and good; but there were certain definite things
+for which the Russian Revolution had been made, and for which the
+revolutionary martyrs rotted in their stark Brotherhood Grave on Mars
+Field, that must be achieved Constituent Assembly or no Constituent
+Assembly: Peace, Land, and Workers’ Control of Industry. The
+Constituent Assembly had been postponed and postponed—would probably be
+postponed again, until the people were calm enough—perhaps to modify
+their demands! At any rate, here were eight months of the Revolution
+gone, and little enough to show for it….
+
+Meanwhile the soldiers began to solve the peace question by simply
+deserting, the peasants burned manor-houses and took over the great
+estates, the workers sabotaged and struck…. Of course, as was natural,
+the manufacturers, land-owners and army officers exerted all their
+influence against any democratic compromise….
+
+The policy of the Provisional Government alternated between ineffective
+reforms and stern repressive measures. An edict from the Socialist
+Minister of Labour ordered all the Workers’ Committees henceforth to
+meet only after working hours. Among the troops at the front,
+“agitators” of opposition political parties were arrested, radical
+newspapers closed down, and capital punishment applied—to revolutionary
+propagandists. Attempts were made to disarm the Red Guard. Cossacks
+were sent to keep order in the provinces….
+
+These measures were supported by the “moderate” Socialists and their
+leaders in the Ministry, who considered it necessary to cooperate with
+the propertied classes. The people rapidly deserted them, and went over
+to the Bolsheviki, who stood for Peace, Land, and Workers’ Control of
+Industry, and a Government of the working-class. In September, 1917,
+matters reached a crisis. Against the overwhelming sentiment of the
+country, Kerensky and the “moderate” Socialists succeeded in
+establishing a Government of Coalition with the propertied classes; and
+as a result, the Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries lost the
+confidence of the people forever.
+
+An article in _Rabotchi Put_ (Workers’ Way) about the middle of
+October, entitled “The Socialist Ministers,” expressed the feeling of
+the masses of the people against the “moderate” Socialists:
+
+Here is a list of their services.(See App. I, Sect. 3)
+
+Tseretelli: disarmed the workmen with the assistance of General
+Polovtsev, checkmated the revolutionary soldiers, and approved of
+capital punishment in the army.
+
+Skobeliev: commenced by trying to tax the capitalists 100% of their
+profits, and finished—and finished by an attempt to dissolve the
+Workers’ Committees in the shops and factories.
+
+Avksentiev: put several hundred peasants in prison, members of the Land
+Committees, and suppressed dozens of workers’ and soldiers’ newspapers.
+
+Tchernov: signed the “Imperial” manifest, ordering the dissolution of
+the Finnish Diet.
+
+Savinkov: concluded an open alliance with General Kornilov. If this
+saviour of the country was not able to betray Petrograd, it was due to
+reasons over which he had no control.
+
+Zarudny: with the sanction of Alexinsky and Kerensky, put some of the
+best workers of the Revolution, soldiers and sailors, in prison.
+
+Nikitin: acted as a vulgar policeman against the Railway Workers.
+
+Kerensky: it is better not to say anything about him. The list of his
+services is too long….
+
+A Congress of delegates of the Baltic Fleet, at Helsingfors, passed a
+resolution which began as follows:
+
+We demand the immediate removal from the ranks of the Provisional
+Government of the “Socialist,” the political adventurer—Kerensky, as
+one who is scandalising and ruining the great Revolution, and with it
+the revolutionary masses, by his shameless political blackmail on
+behalf of the bourgeoisie….
+
+
+The direct result of all this was the rise of the Bolsheviki….
+
+Since March, 1917, when the roaring torrents of workmen and soldiers
+beating upon the Tauride Palace compelled the reluctant Imperial Duma
+to assume the supreme power in Russia, it was the masses of the people,
+workers, soldiers and peasants, which forced every change in the course
+of the Revolution. They hurled the Miliukov Ministry down; it was their
+Soviet which proclaimed to the world the Russian peace terms—“No
+annexations, no indemnities, and the right of self-determination of
+peoples”; and again, in July, it was the spontaneous rising of the
+unorganised proletariat which once more stormed the Tauride Palace, to
+demand that the Soviets take over the Government of Russia.
+
+The Bolsheviki, then a small political sect, put themselves at the head
+of the movement. As a result of the disastrous failure of the rising,
+public opinion turned against them, and their leaderless hordes slunk
+back into the Viborg Quarter, which is Petrograd’s _St. Antoine._ Then
+followed a savage hunt of the Bolsheviki; hundreds were imprisoned,
+among them Trotzky, Madame Kollontai and Kameniev; Lenin and Zinoviev
+went into hiding, fugitives from justice; the Bolshevik papers were
+suppressed. Provocators and reactionaries raised the cry that the
+Bolsheviki were German agents, until people all over the world believed
+it.
+
+But the Provisional Government found itself unable to substantiate its
+accusations; the documents proving pro-German conspiracy were
+discovered to be forgeries;[1] and one by one the Bolsheviki were
+released from prison without trial, on nominal or no bail-until only
+six remained. The impotence and indecision of the ever-changing
+Provisional Government was an argument nobody could refute. The
+Bolsheviki raised again the slogan so dear to the masses, “All Power to
+the Soviets!”—and they were not merely self-seeking, for at that time
+the majority of the Soviets was “moderate” Socialist, their bitter
+enemy.
+
+[1] Part of the famous “Sisson Documents”.
+
+But more potent still, they took the crude, simple desires of the
+workers, soldiers and peasants, and from them built their immediate
+programme. And so, while the _oborontsi_ Mensheviki and Socialist
+Revolutionaries involved themselves in compromise with the bourgeoisie,
+the Bolsheviki rapidly captured the Russian masses. In July they were
+hunted and despised; by September the metropolitan workmen, the sailors
+of the Baltic Fleet, and the soldiers, had been won almost entirely to
+their cause. The September municipal elections in the large cities (See
+App. I, Sect. 4) were significant; only 18 per cent of the returns were
+Menshevik and Socialist Revolutionary, against more than 70 per cent in
+June….
+
+There remains a phenomenon which puzzled foreign observers: the fact
+that the Central Executive Committees of the Soviets, the Central Army
+and Fleet Committees,[2] and the Central Committees of some of the
+Unions—notably, the Post and Telegraph Workers and the Railway
+Workers—opposed the Bolsheviki with the utmost violence. These Central
+Committees had all been elected in the middle of the summer, or even
+before, when the Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries had an
+enormous following; and they delayed or prevented any new elections.
+Thus, according to the constitution of the Soviets of Workers’ and
+Soldiers’ Deputies, the All-Russian Congress _should have been called
+in September;_ but the _Tsay-ee-kah_[2] would not call the meeting, on
+the ground that the Constituent Assembly was only two months away, at
+which time, they hinted, the Soviets would abdicate. Meanwhile, one by
+one, the Bolsheviki were winning in the local Soviets all over the
+country, in the Union branches and the ranks of the soldiers and
+sailors. The Peasants’ Soviets remained still conservative, because in
+the sluggish rural districts political consciousness developed slowly,
+and the Socialist Revolutionary party had been for a generation the
+party which had agitated among the peasants…. But even among the
+peasants a revolutionary wing was forming. It showed itself clearly in
+October, when the left wing of the Socialist Revolutionaries split off,
+and formed a new political faction, the Left Socialist Revolutionaries.
+
+[2] See Notes and Explanations.
+
+At the same time there were signs everywhere that the forces of
+reaction were gaining confidence.(See App. I, Sect. 5) At the Troitsky
+Farce theatre in Petrograd, for example, a burlesque called _Sins of
+the Tsar_ was interrupted by a group of Monarchists, who threatened to
+lynch the actors for “insulting the Emperor.” Certain newspapers began
+to sigh for a “Russian Napoleon.” It was the usual thing among
+bourgeois _intelligentzia_ to refer to the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies
+(Rabotchikh Deputatov) as _Sabatchikh_ Deputatov—Dogs’ Deputies.
+
+On October 15th I had a conversation with a great Russian capitalist,
+Stepan Georgevitch Lianozov, known as the “Russian Rockefeller”—a Cadet
+by political faith.
+
+“Revolution,” he said, “is a sickness. Sooner or later the foreign
+powers must intervene here—as one would intervene to cure a sick child,
+and teach it how to walk. Of course it would be more or less improper,
+but the nations must realise the danger of Bolshevism in their own
+countries—such contagious ideas as ‘proletarian dictatorship,’ and
+‘world social revolution’… There is a chance that this intervention may
+not be necessary. Transportation is demoralised, the factories are
+closing down, and the Germans are advancing. Starvation and defeat may
+bring the Russian people to their senses….”
+
+Mr. Lianozov was emphatic in his opinion that whatever happened, it
+would be impossible for merchants and manufacturers to permit the
+existence of the workers’ Shop Committees, or to allow the workers any
+share in the management of industry.
+
+“As for the Bolsheviki, they will be done away with by one of two
+methods. The Government can evacuate Petrograd, then a state of siege
+declared, and the military commander of the district can deal with
+these gentlemen without legal formalities…. _Or if, for example, the
+Constituent Assembly manifests any Utopian tendencies, it can be
+dispersed by force of arms….”_
+
+Winter was coming on—the terrible Russian winter. I heard business men
+speak of it so: “Winter was always Russia’s best friend. Perhaps now it
+will rid us of Revolution.” On the freezing front miserable armies
+continued to starve and die, without enthusiasm. The railways were
+breaking down, food lessening, factories closing. The desperate masses
+cried out that the bourgeoisie was sabotaging the life of the people,
+causing defeat on the Front. Riga had been surrendered just after
+General Kornilov said publicly, “Must we pay with Riga the price of
+bringing the country to a sense of its duty?”[3]
+
+[3] See “Kornilov to Brest-Litovsk” by John Reed. Boni and Liveright
+N.Y., 1919.
+
+To Americans it is incredible that the class war should develop to such
+a pitch. But I have personally met officers on the Northern Front who
+frankly preferred military disaster to cooperation with the Soldiers’
+Committees. The secretary of the Petrograd branch of the Cadet party
+told me that the break-down of the country’s economic life was part of
+a campaign to discredit the Revolution. An Allied diplomat, whose name
+I promised not to mention, confirmed this from his own knowledge. I
+know of certain coal-mines near Kharkov which were fired and flooded by
+their owners, of textile factories at Moscow whose engineers put the
+machinery out of order when they left, of railroad officials caught by
+the workers in the act of crippling locomotives….
+
+A large section of the propertied classes preferred the Germans to the
+Revolution—even to the Provisional Government—and didn’t hesitate to
+say so. In the Russian household where I lived, the subject of
+conversation at the dinner table was almost invariably the coming of
+the Germans, bringing “law and order.”… One evening I spent at the
+house of a Moscow merchant; during tea we asked the eleven people at
+the table whether they preferred “Wilhelm or the Bolsheviki.” The vote
+was ten to one for Wilhelm…
+
+The speculators took advantage of the universal disorganisation to pile
+up fortunes, and to spend them in fantastic revelry or the corruption
+of Government officials. Foodstuffs and fuel were hoarded, or secretly
+sent out of the country to Sweden. In the first four months of the
+Revolution, for example, the reserve food-supplies were almost openly
+looted from the great Municipal warehouses of Petrograd, until the
+two-years’ provision of grain had fallen to less than enough to feed
+the city for one month…. According to the official report of the last
+Minister of Supplies in the Provisional Government, coffee was bought
+wholesale in Vladivostok for two rubles a pound, and the consumer in
+Petrograd paid thirteen. In all the stores of the large cities were
+tons of food and clothing; but only the rich could buy them.
+
+In a provincial town I knew a merchant family turned
+speculator—_maradior_ (bandit, ghoul) the Russians call it. The three
+sons had bribed their way out of military service. One gambled in
+foodstuffs. Another sold illegal gold from the Lena mines to mysterious
+parties in Finland. The third owned a controlling interest in a
+chocolate factory, which supplied the local Cooperative societies—on
+condition that the Cooperatives furnished him everything he needed. And
+so, while the masses of the people got a quarter pound of black bread
+on their bread cards, he had an abundance of white bread, sugar, tea,
+candy, cake and butter…. Yet when the soldiers at the front could no
+longer fight from cold, hunger and exhaustion, how indignantly did this
+family scream “Cowards!”—how “ashamed” they were “to be Russians”… When
+finally the Bolsheviki found and requisitioned vast hoarded stores of
+provisions, what “Robbers” they were.
+
+Beneath all this external rottenness moved the old-time Dark Forces,
+unchanged since the fall of Nicholas the Second, secret still and very
+active. The agents of the notorious _Okhrana_ still functioned, for and
+against the Tsar, for and against Kerensky—whoever would pay…. In the
+darkness, underground organisations of all sorts, such as the Black
+Hundreds, were busy attempting to restore reaction in some form or
+other.
+
+In this atmosphere of corruption, of monstrous half-truths, one clear
+note sounded day after day, the deepening chorus of the Bolsheviki,
+“All Power to the Soviets! All power to the direct representatives of
+millions on millions of common workers, soldiers, peasants. Land,
+bread, an end to the senseless war, an end to secret diplomacy,
+speculation, treachery…. The Revolution is in danger, and with it the
+cause of the people all over the world!”
+
+The struggle between the proletariat and the middle class, between the
+Soviets and the Government, which had begun in the first March days,
+was about to culminate. Having at one bound leaped from the Middle Ages
+into the twentieth century, Russia showed the startled world two
+systems of Revolution—the political and the social—in mortal combat.
+
+What a revelation of the vitality of the Russian Revolution, after all
+these months of starvation and disillusionment! The bourgeoisie should
+have better known its Russia. Not for a long time in Russia will the
+“sickness” of Revolution have run its course….
+
+Looking back, Russia before the November insurrection seems of another
+age, almost incredibly conservative. So quickly did we adapt ourselves
+to the newer, swifter life; just as Russian politics swung bodily to
+the Left—until the Cadets were outlawed as “enemies of the people,”
+Kerensky became a “counter-revolutionist,” the “middle” Socialist
+leaders, Tseretelli, Dan, Lieber, Gotz and Avksentiev, were too
+reactionary for their following, and men like Victor Tchernov, and even
+Maxim Gorky, belonged to the Right Wing….
+
+About the middle of December, 1917, a group of Socialist Revolutionary
+leaders paid a private visit to Sir George Buchanan, the British
+Ambassador, and implored him not to mention the fact that they had been
+there, because they were “considered too far Right.”
+
+“And to think,” said Sir George. “One year ago my Government instructed
+me not to receive Miliukov, because he was so dangerously Left!”
+
+September and October are the worst months of the Russian
+year—especially the Petrograd year. Under dull grey skies, in the
+shortening days, the rain fell drenching, incessant. The mud underfoot
+was deep, slippery and clinging, tracked everywhere by heavy boots, and
+worse than usual because of the complete break-down of the Municipal
+administration. Bitter damp winds rushed in from the Gulf of Finland,
+and the chill fog rolled through the streets. At night, for motives of
+economy as well as fear of Zeppelins, the street-lights were few and
+far between; in private dwellings and apartment-houses the electricity
+was turned on from six o’clock until midnight, with candles forty cents
+apiece and little kerosene to be had. It was dark from three in the
+afternoon to ten in the morning. Robberies and housebreakings
+increased. In apartment houses the men took turns at all-night guard
+duty, armed with loaded rifles. This was under the Provisional
+Government.
+
+Week by week food became scarcer. The daily allowance of bread fell
+from a pound and a half to a pound, then three quarters, half, and a
+quarter-pound. Toward the end there was a week without any bread at
+all. Sugar one was entitled to at the rate of two pounds a month—if one
+could get it at all, which was seldom. A bar of chocolate or a pound of
+tasteless candy cost anywhere from seven to ten rubles—at least a
+dollar. There was milk for about half the babies in the city; most
+hotels and private houses never saw it for months. In the fruit season
+apples and pears sold for a little less than a ruble apiece on the
+street-corner….
+
+For milk and bread and sugar and tobacco one had to stand in _queue_
+long hours in the chill rain. Coming home from an all-night meeting I
+have seen the _kvost_ (tail) beginning to form before dawn, mostly
+women, some with babies in their arms…. Carlyle, in his _French
+Revolution,_ has described the French people as distinguished above all
+others by their faculty of standing in _queue._ Russia had accustomed
+herself to the practice, begun in the reign of Nicholas the Blessed as
+long ago as 1915, and from then continued intermittently until the
+summer of 1917, when it settled down as the regular order of things.
+Think of the poorly-clad people standing on the iron-white streets of
+Petrograd whole days in the Russian winter! I have listened in the
+bread-lines, hearing the bitter, acrid note of discontent which from
+time to time burst up through the miraculous goodnature of the Russian
+crowd….
+
+Of course all the theatres were going every night, including Sundays.
+Karsavina appeared in a new Ballet at the Marinsky, all dance-loving
+Russia coming to see her. Shaliapin was singing. At the Alexandrinsky
+they were reviving Meyerhold’s production of Tolstoy’s “Death of Ivan
+the Terrible”; and at that performance I remember noticing a student of
+the Imperial School of Pages, in his dress uniform, who stood up
+correctly between the acts and faced the empty Imperial box, with its
+eagles all erased…. The _Krivoye Zerkalo_ staged a sumptuous version of
+Schnitzler’s “Reigen.”
+
+Although the Hermitage and other picture galleries had been evacuated
+to Moscow, there were weekly exhibitions of paintings. Hordes of the
+female _intelligentzia_ went to hear lectures on Art, Literature and
+the Easy Philosophies. It was a particularly active season for
+Theosophists. And the Salvation Army, admitted to Russia for the first
+time in history, plastered the walls with announcements of gospel
+meetings, which amused and astounded Russian audiences….
+
+As in all such times, the petty conventional life of the city went on,
+ignoring the Revolution as much as possible. The poets made verses—but
+not about the Revolution. The realistic painters painted scenes from
+mediæval Russian history—anything but the Revolution. Young ladies from
+the provinces came up to the capital to learn French and cultivate
+their voices, and the gay young beautiful officers wore their
+gold-trimmed crimson _bashliki_ and their elaborate Caucasian swords
+around the hotel lobbies. The ladies of the minor bureaucratic set took
+tea with each other in the afternoon, carrying each her little gold or
+silver or jewelled sugar-box, and half a loaf of bread in her muff, and
+wished that the Tsar were back, or that the Germans would come, or
+anything that would solve the servant problem…. The daughter of a
+friend of mine came home one afternoon in hysterics because the woman
+street-car conductor had called her “Comrade!”
+
+All around them great Russia was in travail, bearing a new world. The
+servants one used to treat like animals and pay next to nothing, were
+getting independent. A pair of shoes cost more than a hundred rubles,
+and as wages averaged about thirty-five rubles a month the servants
+refused to stand in _queue_ and wear out their shoes. But more than
+that. In the new Russia every man and woman could vote; there were
+working-class newspapers, saying new and startling things; there were
+the Soviets; and there were the Unions. The _izvoshtchiki_
+(cab-drivers) had a Union; they were also represented in the Petrograd
+Soviet. The waiters and hotel servants were organised, and refused
+tips. On the walls of restaurants they put up signs which read, “No
+tips taken here—” or, “Just because a man has to make his living
+waiting on table is no reason to insult him by offering him a tip!”
+
+At the Front the soldiers fought out their fight with the officers, and
+learned self-government through their committees. In the factories
+those unique Russian organisations, the Factory-Shop Committees,[4]
+gained experience and strength and a realisation of their historical
+mission by combat with the old order. All Russia was learning to read,
+and _reading_—politics, economics, history—because the people wanted to
+_know…._ In every city, in most towns, along the Front, each political
+faction had its newspaper—sometimes several. Hundreds of thousands of
+pamphlets were distributed by thousands of organisations, and poured
+into the armies, the villages, the factories, the streets. The thirst
+for education, so long thwarted, burst with the Revolution into a
+frenzy of expression. From Smolny Institute alone, the first six
+months, went out every day tons, car-loads, train-loads of literature,
+saturating the land. Russia absorbed reading matter like hot sand
+drinks water, insatiable. And it was not fables, falsified history,
+diluted religion, and the cheap fiction that corrupts—but social and
+economic theories, philosophy, the works of Tolstoy, Gogol, and Gorky….
+
+[4] See Notes and Explanations.
+
+Then the Talk, beside which Carlyle’s “flood of French speech” was a
+mere trickle. Lectures, debates, speeches—in theatres, circuses,
+school-houses, clubs, Soviet meeting-rooms, Union headquarters,
+barracks…. Meetings in the trenches at the Front, in village squares,
+factories…. What a marvellous sight to see Putilovsky Zavod (the
+Putilov factory) pour out its forty thousand to listen to Social
+Democrats, Socialist Revolutionaries, Anarchists, anybody, whatever
+they had to say, as long as they would talk! For months in Petrograd,
+and all over Russia, every street-corner was a public tribune. In
+railway trains, street-cars, always the spurting up of impromptu
+debate, everywhere….
+
+And the All-Russian Conferences and Congresses, drawing together the
+men of two continents—conventions of Soviets, of Cooperatives,
+Zemstvos,[5] nationalities, priests, peasants, political parties; the
+Democratic Conference, the Moscow Conference, the Council of the
+Russian Republic. There were always three or four conventions going on
+in Petrograd. At every meeting, attempts to limit the time of speakers
+voted down, and every man free to express the thought that was in him….
+
+[5] See Notes and Explanations.
+
+We came down to the front of the Twelfth Army, back of Riga, where
+gaunt and bootless men sickened in the mud of desperate trenches; and
+when they saw us they started up, with their pinched faces and the
+flesh showing blue through their torn clothing, demanding eagerly, “Did
+you bring anything to _read?”_
+
+What though the outward and visible signs of change were many, what
+though the statue of Catharine the Great before the Alexandrinsky
+Theatre bore a little red flag in its hand, and others—somewhat
+faded—floated from all public buildings; and the Imperial monograms and
+eagles were either torn down or covered up; and in place of the fierce
+_gorodovoye_ (city police) a mild-mannered and unarmed citizen militia
+patrolled the streets—still, there were many quaint anachronisms.
+
+For example, Peter the Great’s _Tabel o Rangov—_Table of Ranks—which he
+rivetted upon Russia with an iron hand, still held sway. Almost
+everybody from the school-boy up wore his prescribed uniform, with the
+insignia of the Emperor on button and shoulder-strap. Along about five
+o’clock in the afternoon the streets were full of subdued old gentlemen
+in uniform, with portfolios, going home from work in the huge,
+barrack-like Ministries or Government institutions, calculating perhaps
+how great a mortality among their superiors would advance them to the
+coveted _tchin_ (rank) of Collegiate Assessor, or Privy Councillor,
+with the prospect of retirement on a comfortable pension, and possibly
+the Cross of St. Anne….
+
+There is the story of Senator Sokolov, who in full tide of Revolution
+came to a meeting of the Senate one day in civilian clothes, and was
+not admitted because he did not wear the prescribed livery of the
+Tsar’s service!
+
+It was against this background of a whole nation in ferment and
+disintegration that the pageant of the Rising of the Russian Masses
+unrolled….
+
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+The Coming Storm
+
+
+In September General Kornilov marched on Petrograd to make himself
+military dictator of Russia. Behind him was suddenly revealed the
+mailed fist of the bourgeoisie, boldly attempting to crush the
+Revolution. Some of the Socialist Ministers were implicated; even
+Kerensky was under suspicion. (See App. II, Sect. 1) Savinkov, summoned
+to explain to the Central Committee of his party, the Socialist
+Revolutionaries, refused and was expelled. Kornilov was arrested by the
+Soldiers’ Committees. Generals were dismissed, Ministers suspended from
+their functions, and the Cabinet fell.
+
+Kerensky tried to form a new Government, including the Cadets, party of
+the bourgeoisie. His party, the Socialist Revolutionaries, ordered him
+to exclude the Cadets. Kerensky declined to obey, and threatened to
+resign from the Cabinet if the Socialists insisted. However, popular
+feeling ran so high that for the moment he did not dare oppose it, and
+a temporary Directorate of Five of the old Ministers, with Kerensky at
+the head, assumed the power until the question should be settled.
+
+The Kornilov affair drew together all the Socialist groups—“moderates”
+as well as revolutionists—in a passionate impulse of self-defence.
+There must be no more Kornilovs. A new Government must be created,
+responsible to the elements supporting the Revolution. So the
+_Tsay-ee-kah_ invited the popular organisations to send delegates to a
+Democratic Conference, which should meet at Petrograd in September.
+
+In the _Tsay-ee-kah_ three factions immediately appeared. The
+Bolsheviki demanded that the All-Russian Congress of Soviets be
+summoned, and that they take over the power. The “centre” Socialist
+Revolutionaries, led by Tchernov, joined with the Left Socialist
+Revolutionaries, led by Kamkov and Spiridonova, the Mensheviki
+Internationalists under Martov, and the “centre” Mensheviki,[6]
+represented by Bogdanov and Skobeliev, in demanding a purely Socialist
+Government. Tseretelli, Dan and Lieber, at the head of the right wing
+Mensheviki, and the right Socialist Revolutionaries under Avksentiev
+and Gotz, insisted that the propertied classes must be represented in
+the new Government.
+
+[6] See Notes and Explanations.
+
+Almost immediately the Bolsheviki won a majority in the Petrograd
+Soviet, and the Soviets of Moscow, Kiev, Odessa and other cities
+followed suit.
+
+Alarmed, the Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries in control of the
+_Tsay-ee-kah_ decided that after all they feared the danger of Kornilov
+less than the danger of Lenin. They revised the plan of representation
+in the Democratic Conference, (See App. II, Sect. 2) admitting more
+delegates from the Cooperative Societies and other conservative bodies.
+Even this packed assembly at first voted for a _Coalition Government
+without the Cadets._ Only Kerensky’s open threat of resignation, and
+the alarming cries of the “moderate” Socialists that “the Republic is
+in danger” persuaded the Conference, by a small majority, to declare in
+favour of the principle of coalition with the bourgeoisie, and to
+sanction the establishment of a sort of consultative Parliament,
+without any legislative power, called the Provisional Council of the
+Russian Republic. In the new Ministry the propertied classes
+practically controlled, and in the Council of the Russian Republic they
+occupied a disproportionate number of seats.
+
+The fact is that the _Tsay-ee-kah_ no longer represented the rank and
+file of the Soviets, and had illegally refused to call another
+All-Russian Congress of Soviets, due in September. It had no intention
+of calling this Congress or of allowing it to be called. Its official
+organ, _Izviestia_ (News), began to hint that the function of the
+Soviets was nearly at an end, (See App. II, Sect. 3) and that they
+might soon be dissolved… At this time, too, the new Government
+announced as part of its policy the liquidation of “irresponsible
+organisations”—i.e. the Soviets.
+
+The Bolsheviki responded by summoning the All-Russian Soviets to meet
+at Petrograd on November 2, and take over the Government of Russia. At
+the same time they withdrew from the Council of the Russian Republic,
+stating that they would not participate in a “Government of Treason to
+the People.” (See App. II, Sect. 4)
+
+The withdrawal of the Bolsheviki, however, did not bring tranquillity
+to the ill-fated Council. The propertied classes, now in a position of
+power, became arrogant. The Cadets declared that the Government had no
+legal right to declare Russia a republic. They demanded stern measures
+in the Army and Navy to destroy the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Committees,
+and denounced the Soviets. On the other side of the chamber the
+Mensheviki Internationalists and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries
+advocated immediate peace, land to the peasants, and workers’ control
+of industry—practically the Bolshevik programme.
+
+I heard Martov’s speech in answer to the Cadets. Stooped over the desk
+of the tribune like the mortally sick man he was, and speaking in a
+voice so hoarse it could hardly be heard, he shook his finger toward
+the right benches:
+
+“You call us defeatists; but the real defeatists are those who wait for
+a more propitious moment to conclude peace, insist upon postponing
+peace until later, until nothing is left of the Russian army, until
+Russia becomes the subject of bargaining between the different
+imperialist groups…. You are trying to impose upon the Russian people a
+policy dictated by the interests of the bourgeoisie. The question of
+peace should be raised without delay…. You will see then that not in
+vain has been the work of those whom you call German agents, of those
+Zimmerwaldists[7] who in all the lands have prepared the awakening of
+the conscience of the democratic masses….”
+
+[7] Members of the revoloutionary internationalist wing of the
+Socialists of Europe, so-called because of their participation in the
+International Conference held at Zimmerwald, Switzerland, in 1915.
+
+Between these two groups the Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries
+wavered, irresistibly forced to the left by the pressure of the rising
+dissatisfaction of the masses. Deep hostility divided the chamber into
+irreconcilable groups.
+
+This was the situation when the long-awaited announcement of the Allied
+Conference in Paris brought up the burning question of foreign policy….
+
+Theoretically all Socialist parties in Russia were in favour of the
+earliest possible peace on democratic terms. As long ago as May, 1917,
+the Petrograd Soviet, then under control of the Mensheviki and
+Socialist Revolutionaries, had proclaimed the famous Russian
+peace-conditions. They had demanded that the Allies hold a conference
+to discuss war-aims. This conference had been promised for August; then
+postponed until September; then until October; and now it was fixed for
+November 10th.
+
+The Provisional Government suggested two representatives—General
+Alexeyev, reactionary military man, and Terestchenko, Minister of
+Foreign Affairs. The Soviets chose Skobeliev to speak for them and drew
+up a manifesto, the famous _nakaz_—(See App. II, Sect. 5) instructions.
+The Provisional Government objected to Skobeliev and his _nakaz;_ the
+Allied ambassadors protested and finally Bonar Law in the British House
+of Commons, in answer to a question, responded coldly, “As far as I
+know the Paris Conference will not discuss the aims of the war at all,
+but only the methods of conducting it….”
+
+At this the conservative Russian press was jubilant, and the Bolsheviki
+cried, “See where the compromising tactics of the Mensheviki and
+Socialist Revolutionaries have led them!”
+
+Along a thousand miles of front the millions of men in Russia’s armies
+stirred like the sea rising, pouring into the capital their hundreds
+upon hundreds of delegations, crying “Peace! Peace!”
+
+I went across the river to the Cirque Moderne, to one of the great
+popular meetings which occurred all over the city, more numerous night
+after night. The bare, gloomy amphitheatre, lit by five tiny lights
+hanging from a thin wire, was packed from the ring up the steep sweep
+of grimy benches to the very roof—soldiers, sailors, workmen, women,
+all listening as if their lives depended upon it. A soldier was
+speaking—from the Five Hundred and Forty-eight Division, wherever and
+whatever that was:
+
+“Comrades,” he cried, and there was real anguish in his drawn face and
+despairing gestures. “The people at the top are always calling upon us
+to sacrifice more, sacrifice more, while those who have everything are
+left unmolested.
+
+“We are at war with Germany. Would we invite German generals to serve
+on our Staff? Well we’re at war with the capitalists too, and yet we
+invite them into our Government….
+
+“The soldier says, ‘Show me what I am fighting for. Is it
+Constantinople, or is it free Russia? Is it the democracy, or is it the
+capitalist plunderers? If you can prove to me that I am defending the
+Revolution then I’ll go out and fight without capital punishment to
+force me.’
+
+“When the land belongs to the peasants, and the factories to the
+workers, and the power to the Soviets, then we’ll know we have
+something to fight for, and we’ll fight for it!”
+
+In the barracks, the factories, on the street-corners, end less soldier
+speakers, all clamouring for an end to the war, declaring that if the
+Government did not make an energetic effort to get peace, the army
+would leave the trenches and go home.
+
+The spokesman for the Eighth Army:
+
+“We are weak, we have only a few men left in each company. They must
+give us food and boots and reinforcements, or soon there will be left
+only empty trenches. Peace or supplies… either let the Government end
+the war or support the Army….”
+
+For the Forty-sixth Siberian Artillery:
+
+“The officers will not work with our Committees, they betray us to the
+enemy, they apply the death penalty to our agitators; and the
+counter-revolutionary Government supports them. We thought that the
+Revolution would bring peace. But now the Government forbids us even to
+talk of such things, and at the same time doesn’t give us enough food
+to live on, or enough ammunition to fight with….”
+
+From Europe came rumours of peace at the expense of Russia. (See App.
+II, Sect. 6)…
+
+News of the treatment of Russian troops in France added to the
+discontent. The First Brigade had tried to replace its officers with
+Soldiers’ Committees, like their comrades at home, and had refused an
+order to go to Salonika, demanding to be sent to Russia. They had been
+surrounded and starved, and then fired on by artillery, and many
+killed. (See App. II, Sect. 7)…
+
+On October 29th I went to the white-marble and crimson hall of the
+Marinsky palace, where the Council of the Republic sat, to hear
+Terestchenko’s declaration of the Government’s foreign policy, awaited
+with such terrible anxiety by all the peace-thirsty and exhausted land.
+
+A tall, impeccably-dressed young man with a smooth face and high
+cheek-bones, suavely reading his careful, non-committal speech. (See
+App. II, Sect. 8) Nothing…. Only the same platitudes about crushing
+German militarism with the help of the Allies—about the “state
+interests” of Russia, about the “embarrassment” caused by Skobeliev’s
+_nakaz._ He ended with the key-note:
+
+“Russia is a great power. Russia will remain a great power, whatever
+happens. We must all defend her, we must show that we are defenders of
+a great ideal, and children of a great power.”
+
+Nobody was satisfied. The reactionaries wanted a “strong” imperialist
+policy; the democratic parties wanted an assurance that the Government
+would press for peace…. I reproduce an editorial in _Rabotchi i Soldat_
+(Worker and Soldier), organ of the Bolshevik Petrograd Soviet:
+
+THE GOVERNMENT’S ANSWER TO THE TRENCHES
+
+
+The most taciturn of our Ministers, Mr. Terestchenko, has actually told
+the trenches the following:
+
+1. We are closely united with our Allies. (Not with the peoples, but
+with the Governments.)
+
+2. There is no use for the democracy to discuss the possibility or
+impossibility of a winter campaign. That will be decided by the
+Governments of our Allies.
+
+3. The 1st of July offensive was beneficial and a very happy affair.
+(He did not mention the consequences.)
+
+4. It is not true that our Allies do not care about us. The Minister
+has in his possession very important declarations. (Declarations? What
+about deeds? What about the behaviour of the British fleet? (See App.
+II, Sect. 9) The parleying of the British king with exiled
+counter-revolutionary General Gurko? The Minister did not mention all
+this.)
+
+5. The _nakaz_ to Skobeliev is bad; the Allies don’t like it and the
+Russian diplomats don’t like it. In the Allied Conference we must all
+‘speak one language.’
+
+And is that all? That is all. What is the way out? The solution is,
+faith in the Allies and in Terestchenko. When will peace come? When the
+Allies permit.
+
+That is how the Government replied to the trenches about peace!
+
+Now in the background of Russian politics began to form the vague
+outlines of a sinister power—the Cossacks. _Novaya Zhizn_ (New Life),
+Gorky’s paper, called attention to their activities:
+
+At the beginning of the Revolution the Cossacks refused to shoot down
+the people. When Kornilov marched on Petrograd they refused to follow
+him. From passive loyalty to the Revolution the Cossacks have passed to
+an active political offensive (against it). From the back-ground of the
+Revolution they have suddenly advanced to the front of the stage….
+
+
+Kaledin, _ataman_ of the Don Cossacks, had been dismissed by the
+Provisional Government for his complicity in the Kornilov affair. He
+flatly refused to resign, and surrounded by three immense Cossack
+armies lay at Novotcherkask, plotting and menacing. So great was his
+power that the Government was forced to ignore his insubordination.
+More than that, it was compelled formally to recognise the Council of
+the Union of Cossack Armies, and to declare illegal the newly-formed
+Cossack Section of the Soviets….
+
+In the first part of October a Cossack delegation called upon Kerensky,
+arrogantly insisting that the charges against Kaledin be dropped, and
+reproaching the Minister-President for yielding to the Soviets.
+Kerensky agreed to let Kaledin alone, and then is reported to have
+said, “In the eyes of the Soviet leaders I am a despot and a tyrant….
+As for the Provisional Government, not only does it not depend upon the
+Soviets, but it considers it regrettable that they exist at all.”
+
+At the same time another Cossack mission called upon the British
+ambassador, treating with him boldly as representatives of “the free
+Cossack people.”
+
+In the Don something very like a Cossack Republic had been established.
+The Kuban declared itself an independent Cossack State. The Soviets of
+Rostov-on-Don and Yekaterinburg were dispersed by armed Cossacks, and
+the headquarters of the Coal Miners’ Union at Kharkov raided. In all
+its manifestations the Cossack movement was anti-Socialist and
+militaristic. Its leaders were nobles and great land-owners, like
+Kaledin, Kornilov, Generals Dutov, Karaulov and Bardizhe, and it was
+backed by the powerful merchants and bankers of Moscow….
+
+Old Russia was rapidly breaking up. In Ukraine, in Finland, Poland,
+White Russia, the nationalist movements gathered strength and became
+bolder. The local Governments, controlled by the propertied classes,
+claimed autonomy, refusing to obey orders from Petrograd. At
+Helsingfors the Finnish Senate declined to loan money to the
+Provisional Government, declared Finland autonomous, and demanded the
+withdrawal of Russian troops. The bourgeois Rada at Kiev extended the
+boundaries of Ukraine until they included all the richest agricultural
+lands of South Russia, as far east as the Urals, and began the
+formation of a national army. Premier Vinnitchenko hinted at a separate
+peace with Germany—and the Provisional Government was helpless.
+Siberia, the Caucasus, demanded separate Constituent Assemblies. And in
+all these countries there was the beginning of a bitter struggle
+between the authorities and the local Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’
+Deputies….
+
+Conditions were daily more chaotic. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers
+were deserting the front and beginning to move in vast, aimless tides
+over the face of the land. The peasants of Tambov and Tver Governments,
+tired of waiting for the land, exasperated by the repressive measures
+of the Government, were burning manor-houses and massacring
+land-owners. Immense strikes and lock-outs convulsed Moscow, Odessa and
+the coal-mines of the Don. Transportation was paralysed; the army was
+starving and in the big cities there was no bread.
+
+The Government, torn between the democratic and reactionary factions,
+could do nothing: when forced to act it always supported the interests
+of the propertied classes. Cossacks were sent to restore order among
+the peasants, to break the strikes. In Tashkent, Government authorities
+suppressed the Soviet. In Petrograd the Economic Council, established
+to rebuild the shattered economic life of the country, came to a
+deadlock between the opposing forces of capital and labour, and was
+dissolved by Kerensky. The old régime military men, backed by Cadets,
+demanded that harsh measures be adopted to restore discipline in the
+Army and the Navy. In vain Admiral Verderevsky, the venerable Minister
+of Marine, and General Verkhovsky, Minister of War, insisted that only
+a new, voluntary, democratic discipline, based on cooperation with the
+soldiers’ and sailors’ Committees, could save the army and navy. Their
+recommendations were ignored.
+
+The reactionaries seemed determined to provoke popular anger. The trial
+of Kornilov was coming on. More and more openly the bourgeois press
+defended him, speaking of him as “the great Russian patriot.” Burtzev’s
+paper, _Obshtchee Dielo_ (Common Cause), called for a dictatorship of
+Kornilov, Kaledin and Kerensky!
+
+I had a talk with Burtzev one day in the press gallery of the Council
+of the Republic. A small, stooped figure with a wrinkled face, eyes
+near-sighted behind thick glasses, untidy hair and beard streaked with
+grey.
+
+“Mark my words, young man! What Russia needs is a Strong Man. We should
+get our minds off the Revolution now and concentrate on the Germans.
+Bunglers, bunglers, to defeat Kornilov; and back of the bunglers are
+the German agents. Kornilov should have won….”
+
+On the extreme right the organs of the scarcely-veiled Monarchists,
+Purishkevitch’s _Narodny Tribun_ (People’s Tribune), _Novaya Rus_ (New
+Russia), and _Zhivoye Slovo_ (Living Word), openly advocated the
+extermination of the revolutionary democracy….
+
+On the 23rd of October occurred the naval battle with a German squadron
+in the Gulf of Riga. On the pretext that Petrograd was in danger, the
+Provisional Government drew up plans for evacuating the capital. First
+the great munitions works were to go, distributed widely throughout
+Russia; and then the Government itself was to move to Moscow. Instantly
+the Bolsheviki began to cry out that the Government was abandoning the
+Red Capital in order to weaken the Revolution. Riga had been sold to
+the Germans; now Petrograd was being betrayed!
+
+The bourgeois press was joyful. “At Moscow,” said the Cadet paper
+_Ryetch_ (Speech), “the Government can pursue its work in a tranquil
+atmosphere, without being interfered with by anarchists.” Rodzianko,
+leader of the right wing of the Cadet party, declared in _Utro Rossii_
+(The Morning of Russia) that the taking of Petrograd by the Germans
+would be a blessing, because it would destroy the Soviets and get rid
+of the revolutionary Baltic Fleet:
+
+Petrograd is in danger (he wrote). I say to myself, “Let God take care
+of Petrograd.” They fear that if Petrograd is lost the central
+revolutionary organisations will be destroyed. To that I answer that I
+rejoice if all these organisations are destroyed; for they will bring
+nothing but disaster upon Russia….
+    With the taking of Petrograd the Baltic Fleet will also be
+    destroyed…. But there will be nothing to regret; most of the
+    battleships are completely demoralised….
+
+
+In the face of a storm of popular disapproval the plan of evacuation
+was repudiated.
+
+Meanwhile the Congress of Soviets loomed over Russia like a
+thunder-cloud, shot through with lightnings. It was opposed, not only
+by the Government but by all the “moderate” Socialists. The Central
+Army and Fleet Committees, the Central Committees of some of the Trade
+Unions, the Peasants’ Soviets, but most of all the _Tsay-ee-kah_
+itself, spared no pains to prevent the meeting. _Izviestia_ and _Golos
+Soldata_ (Voice of the Soldier), newspapers founded by the Petrograd
+Soviet but now in the hands of the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ fiercely assailed it,
+as did the entire artillery of the Socialist Revolutionary party press,
+_Dielo Naroda_ (People’s Cause) and _Volia Naroda_ (People’s Will).
+
+Delegates were sent through the country, messages flashed by wire to
+committees in charge of local Soviets, to Army Committees, instructing
+them to halt or delay elections to the Congress. Solemn public
+resolutions against the Congress, declarations that the democracy was
+opposed to the meeting so near the date of the Constituent Assembly,
+representatives from the Front, from the Union of Zemstvos, the
+Peasants’ Union, Union of Cossack Armies, Union of Officers, Knights of
+St. George, Death Battalions,[8] protesting…. The Council of the
+Russian Republic was one chorus of disapproval. The entire machinery
+set up by the Russian Revolution of March functioned to block the
+Congress of Soviets….
+
+[8] See Notes and Explanations.
+
+On the other hand was the shapeless will of the proletariat—the
+workmen, common soldiers and poor peasants. Many local Soviets were
+already Bolshevik; then there were the organisations of the industrial
+workers, the _Fabritchno-Zavodskiye Comitieti_—Factory-Shop Committees;
+and the insurgent Army and Fleet organisations. In some places the
+people, prevented from electing their regular Soviet delegates, held
+rump meetings and chose one of their number to go to Petrograd. In
+others they smashed the old obstructionist committees and formed new
+ones. A ground-swell of revolt heaved and cracked the crust which had
+been slowly hardening on the surface of revolutionary fires dormant all
+those months. Only an spontaneous mass-movement could bring about the
+All-Russian Congress of Soviets….
+
+Day after day the Bolshevik orators toured the barracks and factories,
+violently denouncing “this Government of civil war.” One Sunday we
+went, on a top-heavy steam tram that lumbered through oceans of mud,
+between stark factories and immense churches, to _Obukhovsky Zavod,_ a
+Government munitions-plant out on the Schlüsselburg Prospekt.
+
+The meeting took place between the gaunt brick walls of a huge
+unfinished building, ten thousand black-clothed men and women packed
+around a scaffolding draped in red, people heaped on piles of lumber
+and bricks, perched high upon shadowy girders, intent and
+thunder-voiced. Through the dull, heavy sky now and again burst the
+sun, flooding reddish light through the skeleton windows upon the mass
+of simple faces upturned to us.
+
+Lunatcharsky, a slight, student-like figure with the sensitive face of
+an artist, was telling why the power must be taken by the Soviets.
+Nothing else could guarantee the Revolution against its enemies, who
+were deliberately ruining the country, ruining the army, creating
+opportunities for a new Konilov.
+
+A soldier from the Rumanian front, thin, tragical and fierce, cried,
+“Comrades! We are starving at the front, we are stiff with cold. We are
+dying for no reason. I ask the American comrades to carry word to
+America, that the Russians will never give up their Revolution until
+they die. We will hold the fort with all our strength until the peoples
+of the world rise and help us! Tell the American workers to rise and
+fight for the Social Revolution!”
+
+Then came Petrovsky, slight, slow-voiced, implacable: “Now is the time
+for deeds, not words. The economic situation is bad, but we must get
+used to it. They are trying to starve us and freeze us. They are trying
+to provoke us. But let them know that they can go too far—that if they
+dare to lay their hands upon the organisations of the proletariat we
+will sweep them away like scum from the face of the earth!”
+
+The Bolshevik press suddenly expanded. Besides the two party papers,
+_Rabotchi Put_ and _Soldat_ (Soldier), there appeared a new paper for
+the peasants, _Derevenskaya Byednota_ (Village Poorest), poured out in
+a daily half-million edition; and on October 17th, _Rabotchi i Soldat._
+Its leading article summed up the Bolshevik point of view:
+
+The fourth year’s campaign will mean the annihilation of the army and
+the country…. There is danger for the safety of Petrograd….
+Counter-revolutionists rejoice in the people’s misfortunes…. The
+peasants brought to desperation come out in open rebellion; the
+landlords and Government authorities massacre them with punitive
+expeditions; factories and mines are closing down, workmen are
+threatened with starvation…. The bourgeoisie and its Generals want to
+restore a blind discipline in the army…. Supported by the bourgeoisie,
+the Kornilovtsi are openly getting ready to break up the meeting of the
+Constituent Assembly….
+
+
+The Kerensky Government is against the people. He will destroy the
+country…. This paper stands for the people and by the people—the poor
+classes, workers, soldiers and peasants. The people can only be saved
+by the completion of the Revolution… and for this purpose the full
+power must be in the hands of the Soviets….
+
+This paper advocates the following: All power to the Soviets—both in
+the capital and in the provinces.
+
+Immediate truce on all fronts. An honest peace between peoples.
+
+Landlord estates—without compensation—to the peasants.
+
+Workers’ control over industrial production.
+
+A faithfully and honestly elected Constituent Assembly.
+
+It is interesting to reproduce here a passage from that same paper—the
+organ of those Bolsheviki so well known to the world as German agents:
+
+The German kaiser, covered with the blood of millions of dead people,
+wants to push his army against Petrograd. Let us call to the German
+workmen, soldiers and peasants, who want peace not less than we do, to…
+stand up against this damned war!
+
+This can be done only by a revolutionary Government, which would speak
+really for the workmen, soldiers and peasants of Russia, and would
+appeal over the heads of the diplomats directly to the German troops,
+fill the German trenches with proclamations in the German language….
+Our airmen would spread these proclamations all over Germany….
+
+In the Council of the Republic the gulf between the two sides of the
+chamber deepened day by day.
+
+“The propertied classes,” cried Karelin, for the Left Socialist
+Revolutionaries, “want to exploit the revolutionary machine of the
+State to bind Russia to the war-chariot of the Allies! The
+revolutionary parties are absolutely against this policy….”
+
+Old Nicholas Tchaikovsky, representing the Populist Socialists, spoke
+against giving the land to the peasants, and took the side of the
+Cadets: “We must have immediately strong discipline in the army…. Since
+the beginning of the war I have not ceased to insist that it is a crime
+to undertake social and economic reforms in war-time. We are committing
+that crime, and yet I am not the enemy of these reforms, because I am a
+Socialist.”
+
+Cries from the Left, “We don’t believe you!” Mighty applause from the
+Right….
+
+Adzhemov, for the Cadets, declared that there was no necessity to tell
+the army what it was fighting for, since every soldier ought to realise
+that the first task was to drive the enemy from Russian territory.
+
+Kerensky himself came twice, to plead passionately for national unity,
+once bursting into tears at the end. The assembly heard him coldly,
+interrupting with ironical remarks.
+
+Smolny Institute, headquarters of the _Tsay-ee-kah_ and of the
+Petrograd Soviet, lay miles out on the edge of the city, beside the
+wide Neva. I went there on a street-car, moving snail-like with a
+groaning noise through the cobbled, muddy streets, and jammed with
+people. At the end of the line rose the graceful smoke-blue cupolas of
+Smolny Convent outlined in dull gold, beautiful; and beside it the
+great barracks like façade of Smolny Institute, two hundred yards long
+and three lofty stories high, the Imperial arms carved hugely in stone
+still insolent over the entrance….
+
+Under the old régime a famous convent-school for the daughters of the
+Russian nobility, patronised by the Tsarina herself, the Institute had
+been taken over by the revolutionary organisations of workers and
+soldiers. Within were more than a hundred huge rooms, white and bare,
+on their doors enamelled plaques still informing the passerby that
+within was “Ladies’ Class-room Number 4” or “Teachers’ Bureau”; but
+over these hung crudely-lettered signs, evidence of the vitality of the
+new order: “Central Committee of the Petrograd Soviet” and
+_“Tsay-ee-kah”_ and “Bureau of Foreign Affairs”; “Union of Socialist
+Soldiers,” “Central Committee of the All-Russian Trade Unions,”
+“Factory-Shop Committees,” “Central Army Committee”; and the central
+offices and caucus-rooms of the political parties….
+
+The long, vaulted corridors, lit by rare electric lights, were thronged
+with hurrying shapes of soldiers and workmen, some bent under the
+weight of huge bundles of newspapers, proclamations, printed propaganda
+of all sorts. The sound of their heavy boots made a deep and incessant
+thunder on the wooden floor…. Signs were posted up everywhere:
+“Comrades! For the sake of your health, preserve cleanliness!” Long
+tables stood at the head of the stairs on every floor, and on the
+landings, heaped with pamphlets and the literature of the different
+political parties, for sale….
+
+The spacious, low-ceilinged refectory downstairs was still a
+dining-room. For two rubles I bought a ticket entitling me to dinner,
+and stood in line with a thousand others, waiting to get to the long
+serving-tables, where twenty men and women were ladling from immense
+cauldrons cabbage soup, hunks of meat and piles of _kasha,_ slabs of
+black bread. Five kopeks paid for tea in a tin cup. From a basket one
+grabbed a greasy wooden spoon…. The benches along the wooden tables
+were packed with hungry proletarians, wolfing their food, plotting,
+shouting rough jokes across the room….
+
+[Graphic, page 33: text of placard in russian, translation follows]
+
+COMRADES FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR HEALTH, PRESERVE CLEANLINESS.
+
+
+Upstairs was another eating-place, reserved for the _Tsay-ee-kah—_
+though every one went there. Here could be had bread thickly buttered
+and endless glasses of tea….
+
+In the south wing on the second floor was the great hall of meetings,
+the former ball-room of the Institute. A lofty white room lighted by
+glazed-white chandeliers holding hundreds of ornate electric bulbs, and
+divided by two rows of massive columns; at one end a dais, flanked with
+two tall many-branched light standards, and a gold frame behind, from
+which the Imperial portrait had been cut. Here on festal occasions had
+been banked brilliant military and ecclesiastical uniforms, a setting
+for Grand Duchesses….
+
+Just across the hall outside was the office of the Credentials
+Committee for the Congress of Soviets. I stood there watching the new
+delegates come in—burly, bearded soldiers, workmen in black blouses, a
+few long-haired peasants. The girl in charge—a member of Plekhanov’s
+_Yedinstvo_[9] group—smiled contemptuously. “These are very different
+people from the delegates to the first _Siezd_ (Congress),” she
+remarked. “See how rough and ignorant they look! The Dark People….” It
+was true; the depths of Russia had been stirred, and it was the bottom
+which came uppermost now. The Credentials Committee, appointed by the
+old _Tsay-ee-kah,_ was challenging delegate after delegate, on the
+ground that they had been illegally elected. Karakhan, member of the
+Bolshevik Central Committee, simply grinned. “Never mind,” he said,
+“When the time comes we’ll see that you get your seats….”
+
+[9] See Notes and Explanations.
+
+_Rabotchi i Soldat_ said:
+
+The attention of delegates to the new All-Russian Congress is called to
+attempts of certain members of the Organising Committee to break up the
+Congress, by asserting that it will not take place, and that delegates
+had better leave Petrograd…. Pay no attention to these lies…. Great
+days are coming….
+
+It was evident that a quorum would not come together by November 2, so
+the opening of the Congress was postponed to the 7th. But the whole
+country was now aroused; and the Mensheviki and Socialist
+Revolutionaries, realising that they were defeated, suddenly changed
+their tactics and began to wire frantically to their provincial
+organisations to elect as many “moderate” Socialist delegates as
+possible. At the same time the Executive Committee of the Peasants’
+Soviets issued an emergency call for a Peasants’ Congress, to meet
+December 13th and offset whatever action the workers and soldiers might
+take…
+
+What would the Bolsheviki do? Rumours ran through the city that there
+would be an armed “demonstration,” a _vystuplennie_—“coming out” of the
+workers and soldiers. The bourgeois and reactionary press prophesied
+insurrection, and urged the Government to arrest the Petrograd Soviet,
+or at least to prevent the meeting of the Congress. Such sheets as
+_Novaya Rus_ advocated a general Bolshevik massacre.
+
+Gorky’s paper, _Novaya Zhizn,_ agreed with the Bolsheviki that the
+reactionaries were attempting to destroy the Revolution, and that if
+necessary they must be resisted by force of arms; but all the parties
+of the revolutionary democracy must present a united front.
+
+As long as the democracy has not organised its principal forces, so
+long as the resistance to its influence is still strong, there is no
+advantage in passing to the attack. But if the hostile elements appeal
+to force, then the revolutionary democracy should enter the battle to
+seize the power, and it will be sustained by the most profound strata
+of the people….
+
+Gorky pointed out that both reactionary and Government newspapers were
+inciting the Bolsheviki to violence. An insurrection, however, would
+prepare the way for a new Kornilov. He urged the Bolsheviki to deny the
+rumours. Potressov, in the Menshevik _Dien_ (Day), published a
+sensational story, accompanied by a map, which professed to reveal the
+secret Bolshevik plan of campaign.
+
+As if by magic, the walls were covered with warnings, (See App. II,
+Sect. 10) proclamations, appeals, from the Central Committees of the
+“moderate” and conservative factions and the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ denouncing
+any “demonstrations,” imploring the workers and soldiers not to listen
+to agitators. For instance, this from the Military Section of the
+Socialist Revolutionary party:
+
+Again rumours are spreading around the town of an intended
+_vystuplennie._ What is the source of these rumours? What organisation
+authorises these agitators who preach insurrection? The Bolsheviki, to
+a question addressed to them in the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ denied that they
+have anything to do with it…. But these rumours themselves carry with
+them a great danger. It may easily happen that, not taking into
+consideration the state of mind of the majority of the workers,
+soldiers and peasants, individual hot-heads will call out part of the
+workers and soldiers on the streets, inciting them to an uprising…. In
+this fearful time through which revolutionary Russia is passing, any
+insurrection can easily turn into civil war, and there can result from
+it the destruction of all organisations of the proletariat, built up
+with so much labour…. The counter-revolutionary plotters are planning
+to take advantage of this insurrection to destroy the Revolution, open
+the front to Wilhelm, and wreck the Constituent Assembly…. Stick
+stubbornly to your posts! Do not come out!
+
+On October 28th, in the corridors of Smolny, I spoke with Kameniev, a
+little man with a reddish pointed beard and Gallic gestures. He was not
+at all sure that enough delegates would come. “If there _is_ a
+Congress,” he said, “it will represent the overwhelming sentiment of
+the people. If the majority is Bolshevik, as I think it will be, we
+shall demand that the power be given to the Soviets, and the
+Provisional Government must resign….”
+
+Volodarsky, a tall, pale youth with glasses and a bad complexion, was
+more definite. “The ‘Lieber-Dans’ and the other compromisers are
+sabotaging the Congress. If they succeed in preventing its
+meeting,—well, then we are realists enough not to depend on _that!_”
+
+Under date of October 29th I find entered in my notebook the following
+items culled from the newspapers of the day:
+
+Moghilev (General Staff Headquarters). Concentration here of loyal
+Guard Regiments, the Savage Division, Cossacks and Death Battalions.
+
+The _yunkers_ of the Officers’ Schools of Pavlovsk, Tsarskoye Selo and
+Peterhof ordered by the Government to be ready to come to Petrograd.
+Oranienbaum _yunkers_ arrive in the city.
+
+Part of the Armoured Car Division of the Petrograd garrism stationed in
+the Winter Palace.
+
+
+Upon orders signed by Trotzky, several thousand rifles delivered by the
+Government Arms Factory at Sestroretzk to delegates of the Petrograd
+workmen.
+
+At a meeting of the City Militia of the Lower Liteiny Quarter, a
+resolution demanding that all power be given to the Soviets.
+
+This is just a sample of the confused events of those feverish days,
+when everybody knew that something was going to happen, but nobody knew
+just what.
+
+At a meeting of the Petrograd Soviet in Smolny, the night of October
+30th, Trotzky branded the assertions of the bourgeois press that the
+Soviet contemplated armed insurention as “an attempt of the
+reactionaries to discredit and wreck the Congress of Soviets…. The
+Petrograd Soviet,” he declared, “had not ordered any _uystuplennie._ If
+it is necessary we shall do so, and we will be supported by the
+Petrogruad garrison…. They (the Government) are preparing a
+counter-revolution; and we shall answer with an offensive which will be
+merciless and decisive.”
+
+It is true that the Petrograd Soviet had not ordered a demonstration,
+but the Central Committee of the Bolshevik party was considering the
+question of insurrection. All night long the 23d they met. There were
+present all the party intellectuals, the leaders—and delegates of the
+Petrograd workers and garrison. Alone of the intellectuals Lenin and
+Trotzky stood for insurrection. Even the military men opposed it. A
+vote was taken. Insurrection was defeated!
+
+Then arose a rough workman, his face convulsed with rage. “I speak for
+the Petrograd proletariat,” he said, harshly. “We are in favour of
+insurrection. Have it your own way, but I tell you now that if you
+allow the Soviets to be destroyed, _we’re through with you!_” Some
+soldiers joined him…. And after that they voted again—insurrection
+won….
+
+However, the right wing of the Bolsheviki, led by Riazanov, Kameniev
+and Zinoviev, continued to campaign against an armed rising. On the
+morning of October 31st appeared in _Rabotchi Put_ the first instalment
+of Lenin’s “Letter to the Comrades,” (See App. II, Sect. 11) one of the
+most audacious pieces of political propaganda the world has ever seen.
+In it Lenin seriously presented the arguments in favour of
+insurrection, taking as text the objections of Kameniev and Riazonov.
+
+“Either we must abandon our slogan, ‘All Power to the Soviets,’” he
+wrote, “or else we must make an insurrection. There is no middle
+course….”
+
+That same afternoon Paul Miliukov, leader of the Cadets, made a
+brilliant, bitter speech (See App. II, Sect. 12) in the Council of the
+Republic, branding the Skobeliev _nakaz_ as pro-German, declaring that
+the “revolutionary democracy” was destroying Russia, sneering at
+Terestchenko, and openly declaring that he preferred German diplomacy
+to Russian…. The Left benches were one roaring tumult all through….
+
+On its part the Government could not ignore the significance of the
+success of the Bolshevik propaganda. On the 29th joint commission of
+the Government and the Council of the Republic hastily drew up two
+laws, one for giving the land temporarily to the peasants, and the
+other for pushing an energetic foreign policy of peace. The next day
+Kerensky suspended capital punishment in the army. That same afternoon
+was opened with great ceremony the first session of the new “Commission
+for Strengthening the Republican Régime and Fighting Against Anarchy
+and Counter-Revolution”—of which history shows not the slightest
+further trace…. The following morning with two other correspondents I
+interviewed Kerensky (See App. II, Sect. 13)—the last time he received
+journalists.
+
+“The Russian people,” he said, bitterly, “are suffering from economic
+fatigue—and from disillusionment with the Allies! The world thinks that
+the Russian Revolution is at an end. Do not be mistaken. The Russian
+Revolution is just beginning….” Words more prophetic, perhaps, than he
+knew.
+
+Stormy was the all-night meeting of the Petrograd Soviet the 30th of
+October, at which I was present. The “moderate” Socialist
+intellectuals, officers, members of Army Committees, the _Tsay-ee-kah,_
+were there in force. Against them rose up workmen, peasants and common
+soldiers, passionate and simple.
+
+A peasant told of the disorders in Tver, which he said were caused by
+the arrest of the Land Committees. “This Kerensky is nothing but a
+shield to the _pomieshtchiki_ (landowners),” he cried. “They know that
+at the Constituent Assembly we will take the land anyway, so they are
+trying to destroy the Constituent Assembly!”
+
+A machinist from the Putilov works described how the superintendents
+were closing down the departments one by one on the pretext that there
+was no fuel or raw materials. The Factory-Shop Committee, he declared,
+had discovered huge hidden supplies.
+
+“It is a _provocatzia,”_ said he. “They want to starve us—or drive us
+to violence!”
+
+Among the soldiers one began, “Comrades! I bring you greetings from the
+place where men are digging their graves and call them trenches!”
+
+Then arose a tall, gaunt young soldier, with flashing eyes, met with a
+roar of welcome. It was Tchudnovsky, reported killed in the July
+fighting, and now risen from the dead.
+
+“The soldier masses no longer trust their officers. Even the Army
+Committees, who refused to call a meeting of our Soviet, betrayed us….
+The masses of the soldiers want the Constituent Assembly to be held
+exactly when it was called for, and those who dare to postpone it will
+be cursed—and not only platonic curses either, for the Army has guns
+too….”
+
+He told of the electoral campaign for the Constituent now raging in the
+Fifth Army. “The officers, and especially the Mensheviki and the
+Socialist Revolutionaries, are trying deliberately to cripple the
+Bolsheviki. Our papers are not allowed to circulate in the trenches.
+Our speakers are arrested—”
+
+“Why don’t you speak about the lack of bread?” shouted another soldier.
+
+“Man shall not live by bread alone,” answered Tchudnovsky, sternly….
+
+Followed him an officer, delegate from the Vitebsk Soviet, a Menshevik
+_oboronetz._ “It isn’t the question of who has the power. The trouble
+is not with the Government, but with the war…. and the war must be won
+before any change—” At this, hoots and ironical cheers. “These
+Bolshevik agitators are demagogues!” The hall rocked with laughter.
+“Let us for a moment forget the class struggle—” But he got no farther.
+A voice yelled, “Don’t you wish we would!”
+
+Petrograd presented a curious spectacle in those days. In the factories
+the committee-rooms were filled with stacks of rifles, couriers came
+and went, the Red Guard[10] drilled…. In all the barracks meetings
+every night, and all day long interminable hot arguments. On the
+streets the crowds thickened toward gloomy evening, pouring in slow
+voluble tides up and down the Nevsky, fighting for the newspapers….
+Hold-ups increased to such an extent that it was dangerous to walk down
+side streets…. On the Sadovaya one afternoon I saw a crowd of several
+hundred people beat and trample to death a soldier caught stealing….
+Mysterious individuals circulated around the shivering women who waited
+in _queue_ long cold hours for bread and milk, whispering that the Jews
+had cornered the food supply—and that while the people starved, the
+Soviet members lived luxuriously….
+
+[10] See Notes and Explanations.
+
+At Smolny there were strict guards at the door and the outer gates,
+demanding everybody’s pass. The committee-rooms buzzed and hummed all
+day and all night, hundreds of soldiers and workmen slept on the floor,
+wherever they could find room. Upstairs in the great hall a thousand
+people crowded to the uproarious sessions of the Petrograd Soviet….
+
+Gambling clubs functioned hectically from dusk to dawn, with champagne
+flowing and stakes of twenty thousand rubles. In the centre of the city
+at night prostitutes in jewels and expensive furs walked up and down,
+crowded the cafés….
+
+Monarchist plots, German spies, smugglers hatching schemes….
+
+And in the rain, the bitter chill, the great throbbing city under grey
+skies rushing faster and faster toward—what?
+
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+On the Eve
+
+
+In the relations of a weak Government and a rebellious people there
+comes a time when every act of the authorities exasperates the masses,
+and every refusal to act excites their contempt….
+
+The proposal to abandon Petrograd raised a hurricane; Kerensky’s public
+denial that the Government had any such intention was met with hoots of
+derision.
+
+Pinned to the wall by the pressure of the Revolution (cried _Rabotchi
+Put),_ the Government of “provisional” bourgeois tries to get free by
+giving out lying assurances that it never thought of fleeing from
+Petrograd, and that it didn’t wish to surrender the capital….
+
+In Kharkov thirty thousand coal miners organised, adopting the preamble
+of the I. W. W. constitution: “The working class and the employing
+class have nothing in common.” Dispersed by Cossacks, some were locked
+out by the mine-owners, and the rest declared a general strike.
+Minister of Commerce and Industry Konovalov appointed his assistant,
+Orlov, with plenary powers, to settle the trouble. Orlov was hated by
+the miners. But the _Tsay-ee-kah_ not only supported his appointment,
+but refused to demand that the Cossacks be recalled from the Don
+Basin….
+
+This was followed by the dispersal of the Soviet at Kaluga. The
+Bolsheviki, having secured a majority in the Soviet, set free some
+political prisoners. With the sanction of the Government Commissar the
+Municipal Duma called in troops from Minsk, and bombarded the Soviet
+headquarters with artillery. The Bolsheviki yielded, but as they left
+the building Cossacks attacked them, crying, “This is what we’ll do to
+all the other Bolshevik Soviets, including those of Moscow and
+Petrograd!” This incident sent a wave of panic rage throughout Russia….
+
+In Petrograd was ending a regional Congress of Soviets of the North,
+presided over by the Bolshevik Krylenko. By an immense majority it
+resolved that all power should be assumed by the All-Russian Congress;
+and concluded by greeting the Bolsheviki in prison, bidding them
+rejoice, for the hour of their liberation was at hand. At the same time
+the first All-Russian Conference of Factory-Shop Committees (See App.
+III, Sect. 1) declared emphatically for the Soviets, and continued
+significantly,
+
+After liberating themselves politically from Tsardom, the working-class
+wants to see the democratic régime triumphant in the sphere of its
+productive activity. This is best expressed by Workers’ Control over
+industrial production, which naturally arose in the atmosphere of
+economic decomposition created by the criminal policy of the dominating
+classes….
+
+The Union of Railwaymen was demanding the resignation of Liverovsky,
+Minister of Ways and Communications….
+
+In the name of the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ Skobeliev insisted that the _nakaz_
+be presented at the Allied Conference, and formally protested against
+the sending of Terestchenko to Paris. Terestchenko offered to resign….
+
+General Verkhovsky, unable to accomplish his reorganisation of the
+army, only came to Cabinet meetings at long intervals….
+
+On November 3d Burtzev’s _Obshtchee Dielo_ came out with great
+headlines:
+
+Citizens! Save the fatherland!
+
+I have just learned that yesterday, at a meeting of the Commission for
+National Defence, Minister of War General Verkhovsky, one of the
+principal persons responsible for the fall of Kornilov, proposed to
+sign a separate peace, independently of the Allies.
+
+That is treason to Russia!
+
+Terestchenko declared that the Provisional Government had not even
+examined Verkhovsky’s proposition.
+
+“You might think,” said Terestchenko, “that we were in a madhouse!”
+
+The members of the Commission were astounded at the General’s words.
+
+General Alexeyev wept.
+
+No! It is not madness! It is worse. It is direct treason to Russia!
+
+Kerensky, Terestchenko and Nekrassov must immediately answer us
+concerning the words of Verkhovsky.
+
+Citizens, arise!
+
+Russia is being sold!
+
+Save her!
+
+What Verkhovsky really said was that the Allies must be pressed to
+offer peace, because the Russian army could fight no longer….
+
+Both in Russia and abroad the sensation was tremendous. Verkhovsky was
+given “indefinite leave of absence for ill-health,” and left the
+Government. _Obshtchee Dielo_ was suppressed….
+
+Sunday, November 4th, was designated as the Day of the Petrograd
+Soviet, with immense meetings planned all over the city, ostensibly to
+raise money for the organisation and the press; really, to make a
+demonstration of strength. Suddenly it was announced that on the same
+day the Cossacks would hold a _Krestny Khod_—Procession of the Cross—in
+honour of the Ikon of 1612, through whose miraculous intervention
+Napoleon had been driven from Moscow. The atmosphere was electric; a
+spark might kindle civil war. The Petrograd Soviet issued a manifesto,
+headed “Brothers—Cossacks!”
+
+You, Cossacks, are being incited against us, workers and soldiers. This
+plan of Cain is being put into operation by our common enemies, the
+oppressors, the privileged classes—generals, bankers, landlords, former
+officials, former servants of the Tsar…. We are hated by all grafters,
+rich men, princes, nobles, generals, including your Cossack generals.
+They are ready at any moment to destroy the Petrograd Soviet and crush
+the Revolution….
+
+On the 4th of November somebody is organising a Cossack religious
+procession. It is a question of the free consciousness of every
+individual whether he will or will not take part in this procession. We
+do not interfere in this matter, nor do we obstruct anybody…. However,
+we warn you, Cossacks! Look out and see to it that under the pretext of
+a _Krestni Khod,_ your Kaledins do not instigate you against workmen,
+against soldiers….
+
+The procession was hastily called off….
+
+In the barracks and the working-class quarters of the town the
+Bolsheviki were preaching, “All Power to the Soviets!” and agents of
+the Dark Forces were urging the people to rise and slaughter the Jews,
+shop-keepers, Socialist leaders….
+
+On one side the Monarchist press, inciting to bloody repression—on the
+other Lenin’s great voice roaring, “Insurrection!…. We cannot wait any
+longer!”
+
+Even the bourgeois press was uneasy. (See App. III, Sect. 2) _Birjevya
+Viedomosti_ (Exchange Gazette) called the Bolshevik propaganda an
+attack on “the most elementary principles of society—personal security
+and the respect for private property.”
+
+[Graphic, page 46: Appeal of the Petrograd Soviet]
+
+Appeal of the Petrograd Soviet to the Cosacks to call off their
+_Krestny Khod_—the religious procession planned for November 4th (our
+calendar). “Brothers—Cossacks!” it begins. “The Petrograd Soviet of
+Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies addresses you.”
+
+But it was the “moderate” Socialist journals which were the most
+hostile. (See App. III, Sect. 3) “The Bolsheviki are the most dangerous
+enemies of the Revolution,” declared _Dielo Naroda._ Said the Menshevik
+_Dien,_ “The Government ought to defend itself and defend us.”
+Plekhanov’s paper, _Yedinstvo_ (Unity) (See App. III, Sect. 4), called
+the attention of the Government to the fact that the Petrograd workers
+were being armed, and demanded stern measures against the Bolsheviki.
+
+Daily the Government seemed to become more helpless. Even the Municipal
+administration broke down. The columns of the morning papers were
+filled with accounts of the most audacious robberies and murders, and
+the criminals were unmolested.
+
+On the other hand armed workers patrolled the streets at night, doing
+battle with marauders and requisitioning arms wherever they found them.
+
+On the first of November Colonel Polkovnikov, Military Commander of
+Petrograd, issued a proclamation:
+
+Despite the difficult days through which the country is passing,
+irresponsible appeals to armed demonstrations and massacres are still
+being spread around Petrograd, and from day to day robbery and disorder
+increase.
+
+This state of things is disorganising the life of the citizens, and
+hinders the systematic work of the Government and the Municipal
+Institutions.
+
+In full consciousness of my responsibility and my duty before my
+country, I command:
+
+1. Every military unit, in accordance with special instructions and
+within the territory of its garrison, to afford every assistance to the
+Municipality, to the Commissars, and to the militia, in the guarding of
+Government institutions.
+
+2. The organisation of patrols, in co-operation with the District
+Commander and the representatives of the city militia, and the taking
+of measures for the arrest of criminals and deserters.
+
+3. The arrest of all persons entering barracks and inciting to armed
+demonstrations and massacres, and their delivery to the headquarters of
+the Second Commander of the city.
+
+4. To suppress any armed demonstration or riot at its start, with all
+armed forces at hand.
+
+5. To afford assistance to the Commissars in preventing unwarranted
+searches in houses and unwarranted arrests.
+
+6. To report immediately all that happens in the district under charge
+to the Staff of the Petrograd Military District.
+
+I call upon all Army Committees and organisations to afford their help
+to the commanders in fulfilment of the duties with which they are
+charged.
+
+In the Council of the Republic Kerensky declared that the Government
+was fully aware of the Bolshevik preparations, and had sufficient force
+to cope with any demonstration. (See App. III, Sect. 5) He accused
+_Novaya Rus_ and _Robotchi Put_ of both doing the same kind of
+subversive work. “But owing to the absolute freedom of the press,” he
+added, “the Government is not in a position to combat printed
+lies.[11]….” Declaring that these were two aspects of the same
+propaganda, which had for its object the counter-revolution, so
+ardently desired by the Dark Forces, he went on:
+
+“I am a doomed man, it doesn’t matter what happens to me, and I have
+the audacity to say that the other enigmatic part is that of the
+unbelievable provocation created in the city by the Bolsheviki!”
+
+[11] This was not quite candid. The Provisional Government had
+suppressed Bolshevik papers before, in July, and was planning to do so
+again.
+
+On November 2d only fifteen delegates to the Congress of Soviets had
+arrived. Next day there were a hundred, and the morning after that a
+hundred and seventy-five, of whom one hundred and three were
+Bolsheviki…. Four hundred constituted a quorum, and the Congress was
+only three days off….
+
+I spent a great deal of time at Smolny. It was no longer easy to get
+in. Double rows of sentries guarded the outer gates, and once inside
+the front door there was a long line of people waiting to be let in,
+four at a time, to be questioned as to their identity and their
+business. Passes were given out, and the pass system was changed every
+few hours; for spies continually sneaked through….
+
+[Graphic, page 49: Russian Pass to Reed, translation follows]
+
+Pass to Smolny Institute, issued by the Military Revolutionary
+Committee, giving me the right of entry at any time. (Translation)
+
+  Military Revolutionary Committee
+           attached to the
+  Petrograd Soviet of W. & S. D.
+        Commandant’s office
+  16th November, 1917
+               No. 955
+           Smolny Institute
+
+PASS
+
+
+Is given by the present to John Reed, correspondent of the American
+Socialist press, until December 1, the right of free entry into Smolny
+Institute. Commandant Adjutant
+
+One day as I came up to the outer gate I saw Trotzky and his wife just
+ahead of me. They were halted by a soldier. Trotzky searched through
+his pockets, but could find no pass.
+
+“Never mind,” he said finally. “You know me. My name is Trotzky.”
+
+“You haven’t got a pass,” answered the soldier stubbornly.
+
+“You cannot go in. Names don’t mean anything to me.”
+
+“But I am the president of the Petrograd Soviet.”
+
+“Well,” replied the soldier, “if you’re as important a fellow as that
+you must at least have one little paper.”
+
+Trotzky was very patient. “Let me see the Commandant,” he said. The
+soldier hesitated, grumbling something about not wanting to disturb the
+Commandant for every devil that came along. He beckoned finally to the
+soldier in command of the guard. Trotzky explained matters to him. “My
+name is Trotzky,” he repeated.
+
+“Trotzky?” The other soldier scratched his head. “I’ve heard the name
+somewhere,” he said at length. “I guess it’s all right. You can go on
+in, comrade….”
+
+In the corridor I met Karakhan, member of the Bolshevik Central
+Committee, who explained to me what the new Government would be like.
+
+“A loose organisation, sensitive to the popular will as expressed
+through the Soviets, allowing local forces full play. At present the
+Provisional Government obstructs the action of the local democratic
+will, just as the Tsar’s Government did. The initiative of the new
+society shall come from below…. The form of the Government will be
+modelled on the Constitution of the Russian Social Democratic Labour
+Party. The new _Tsay-ee-kah,_ responsible to frequent meetings of the
+All-Russian Congress of Soviets, will be the parliament; the various
+Ministries will be headed by _collegia_—committees—instead of by
+Ministers, and will be directly responsible to the Soviets….”
+
+On October 30th, by appointment, I went up to a small, bare room in the
+attic of Smolny, to talk with Trotzky. In the middle of the room he sat
+on a rough chair at a bare table. Few questions from me were necessary;
+he talked rapidly and steadily, for more than an hour. The substance of
+his talk, in his own words, I give here:
+
+“The Provisional Government is absolutely powerless. The bourgeoisie is
+in control, but this control is masked by a fictitious coalition with
+the _oborontsi_ parties. Now, during the Revolution, one sees revolts
+of peasants who are tired of waiting for their promised land; and all
+over the country, in all the toiling classes, the same disgust is
+evident. This domination by the bourgeoisie is only possible by means
+of civil war. The Kornilov method is the only way by which the
+bourgeoisie can control. But it is force which the bourgeoisie lacks….
+The Army is with us. The conciliators and pacifists, Socialist
+Revolutionaries and Mensheviki, have lost all authority—because the
+struggle between the peasants and the landlords, between the workers
+and the employers, between the soldiers and the officers, has become
+more bitter, more irreconcilable than ever. Only by the concerted
+action of the popular mass, only by the victory of proletarian
+dictatorship, can the Revolution be achieved and the people saved….
+
+“The Soviets are the most perfect representatives of the people—perfect
+in their revolutionary experience, in their ideas and objects. Based
+directly upon the army in the trenches, the workers in the factories,
+and the peasants in the fields, they are the backbone of the
+Revolution.
+
+“There has been an attempt to create a power without the Soviets—and
+only powerlessness has been created. Counter-revolutionary schemes of
+all sorts are now being hatched in the corridors of the Council of the
+Russian Republic. The Cadet party represents the counter-revolution
+militant. On the other side, the Soviets represent the cause of the
+people. Between the two camps there are no groups of serious
+importance…. It is the _lutte finale._ The bourgeois counter-revolution
+organises all its forces and waits for the moment to attack us. Our
+answer will be decisive. We will complete the work scarcely begun in
+March, and advanced during the Kornilov affair….”
+
+He went on to speak of the new Government’s foreign policy:
+
+“Our first act will be to call for an immediate armistice on all
+fronts, and a conference of peoples to discuss democratic peace terms.
+The quantity of democracy we get in the peace settlement depends on the
+quantity of revolutionary response there is in Europe. If we create
+here a Government of the Soviets, that will be a powerful factor for
+immediate peace in Europe; for this Government will address itself
+directly and immediately to all peoples, over the heads of their
+Governments, proposing an armistice. At the moment of the conclusion of
+peace the pressure of the Russian Revolution will be in the direction
+of ‘no annexations, no indemnities, the right of self-determination of
+peoples,’ and a _Federated Republic of Europe._…
+
+“At the end of this war I see Europe recreated, not by the diplomats,
+but by the proletariat. The Federated Republic of Europe—the United
+States of Europe—that is what must be. National autonomy no longer
+suffices. Economic evolution demands the abolition of national
+frontiers. If Europe is to remain split into national groups, then
+Imperialism will recommence its work. Only a Federated Republic of
+Europe can give peace to the world.” He smiled—that fine, faintly
+ironical smile of his. “But without the action of the European masses,
+these ends cannot be realised—now….”
+
+Now while everybody was waiting for the Bolsheviki to appear suddenly
+on the streets one morning and begin to shoot down people with white
+collars on, the real insurrection took its way quite naturally and
+openly.
+
+The Provisional Government planned to send the Petrograd garrison to
+the front.
+
+The Petrograd garrison numbered about sixty thousand men, who had taken
+a prominent part in the Revolution. It was they who had turned the tide
+in the great days of March, created the Soviets of Soldiers’ Deputies,
+and hurled back Kornilov from the gates of Petrograd.
+
+Now a large part of them were Bolsheviki. When the Provisional
+Government talked of evacuating the city, it was the Petrograd garrison
+which answered, “If you are not capable of defending the capital,
+conclude peace; if you cannot conclude peace, go away and make room for
+a People’s Government which can do both….”
+
+It was evident that any attempt at insurrection depended upon the
+attitude of the Petrograd garrison. The Government’s plan was to
+replace the garrison regiments with “dependable” troops—Cossacks, Death
+Battalions. The Army Committees, the “moderate” Socialists and the
+_Tsay-ee-kah_ supported the Government. A wide-spread agitation was
+carried on at the Front and in Petrograd, emphasizing the fact that for
+eight months the Petrograd garrison had been leading an easy life in
+the barracks of the capital, while their exhausted comrades in the
+trenches starved and died.
+
+Naturally there was some truth in the accusation that the garrison
+regiments were reluctant to exchange their comparative comfort for the
+hardships of a winter campaign. But there were other reasons why they
+refused to go. The Petrograd Soviet feared the Government’s intentions,
+and from the Front came hundreds of delegates, chosen by the common
+soldiers, crying, “It is true we need reinforcements, but more
+important, we must know that Petrograd and the Revolution are
+well-guarded…. Do you hold the rear, comrades, and we will hold the
+front!”
+
+On October 25th, behind closed doors, the Central Committee of the
+Petrograd Soviet discussed the formation of a special Military
+Committee to decide the whole question. The next day a meeting of the
+Soldiers’ Section of the Petrograd Soviet elected a Committee, which
+immediately proclaimed a boycott of the bourgeois newspapers, and
+condemned the _Tsay-ee-kah_ for opposing the Congress of Soviets. On
+the 29th, in open session of the Petrograd Soviet, Trotzky proposed
+that the Soviet formally sanction the Military Revolutionary Committee.
+“We ought,” he said, “to create our special organisation to march to
+battle, and if necessary to die….” It was decided to send to the front
+two delegations, one from the Soviet and one from the garrison, to
+confer with the Soldiers’ Committees and the General Staff.
+
+At Pskov, the Soviet delegates were met by General Tcheremissov,
+commander of the Northern Front, with the curt declaration that he had
+ordered the Petrograd garrison to the trenches, and that was all. The
+garrison committee was not allowed to leave Petrograd….
+
+A delegation of the Soldiers’ Section of the Petrograd Soviet asked
+that a representative be admitted to the Staff of the Petrograd
+District. Refused. The Petrograd Soviet demanded that no orders be
+issued without the approval of the Soldiers’ Section. Refused. The
+delegates were roughly told, “We only recognise the _Tsay-ee-kah._ We
+do not recognise you; if you break any laws, we shall arrest you.”
+
+On the 30th a meeting of representatives of all the Petrograd regiments
+passed a resolution: _“The Petrograd garrison no longer recognises the
+Provisional Government. The Petrograd Soviet is our Government. We will
+obey only the orders of the Petrograd Soviet, through the Military
+Revolutionary Committee.”_ The local military units were ordered to
+wait for instructions from the Soldiers’ Section of the Petrograd
+Soviet.
+
+Next day the _Tsay-ee-kah_ summoned its own meeting, composed largely
+of officers, formed a Committee to cooperate with the Staff, and
+detailed Commissars in all quarters of the city.
+
+A great soldier meeting at Smolny on the 3d resolved:
+
+Saluting the creation of the Military Revolutionary Committee, the
+Petrograd garrison promises it complete support in all its actions, to
+unite more closely the front and the rear in the interests of the
+Revolution.
+
+The garrison moreover declares that with the revolutionary proletariat
+it assures the maintenance of revolutionary order in Petrograd. Every
+attempt at provocation on the part of the Kornilovtsi or the
+bourgeoisie will be met with merciless resistance.
+
+Now conscious of its power, the Military Revolutionary Committee
+peremptorily summoned the Petrograd Staff to submit to its control. To
+all printing plants it gave orders not to publish any appeals or
+proclamations without the Committee’s authorisation. Armed Commissars
+visited the Kronversk arsenal and seized great quantities of arms and
+ammunition, halting a shipment of ten thousand bayonets which was being
+sent to Novotcherkask, headquarters of Kaledin….
+
+Suddenly awake to the danger, the Government offered immunity if the
+Committee would disband. Too late. At midnight November 5th Kerensky
+himself sent Malevsky to offer the Petrograd Soviet representation on
+the Staff. The Military Revolutionary Committee accepted. An hour later
+General Manikovsky, acting Minister of war, countermanded the offer….
+
+Tuesday morning, November 6th, the city was thrown into excitement by
+the appearance of a placard signed, “Military Revolutionary Committee
+attached to the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies.”
+
+To the Population of Petrograd. Citizens!
+
+Counter-revolution has raised its criminal head. The Kornilovtsi are
+mobilising their forces in order to crush the All-Russian Congress of
+Soviets and break the Constituent Assembly. At the same time the
+_pogromists_ may attempt to call upon the people of Petrograd for
+trouble and bloodshed. The Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’
+Deputies takes upon itself the guarding of revolutionary order in the
+city against counter-revolutionary and _pogrom_ attempts.
+
+The Petrograd garrison will not allow any violence or disorders. The
+population is invited to arrest hooligans and Black Hundred agitators
+and take them to the Soviet Commissars at the nearest barracks. At the
+first attempt of the Dark Forces to make trouble on the streets of
+Petrograd, whether robbery or fighting, the criminals will be wiped off
+the face of the earth!
+
+Citizens! We call upon you to maintain complete quiet and
+self-possession. The cause of order and Revolution is in strong hands.
+
+List of regiments where there are Commissars of the Military
+Revolutionary Committee….
+
+On the 3rd the leaders of the Bolsheviki had another historic meeting
+behind closed doors. Notified by Zalkind, I waited in the corridor
+outside the door; and Volodarsky as he came out told me what was going
+on.
+
+Lenin spoke: “November 6th will be too early. We must have an
+all-Russian basis for the rising; and on the 6th all the delegates to
+the Congress will not have arrived…. On the other hand, November 8th
+will be too late. By that time the Congress will be organised, and it
+is difficult for a large organised body of people to take swift,
+decisive action. We must act on the 7th, the day the Congress meets, so
+that we may say to it, ‘Here is the power! What are you going to do
+with it?’”
+
+In a certain upstairs room sat a thin-faced, long-haired individual,
+once an officer in the armies of the Tsar, then revolutionist and
+exile, a certain Avseenko, called Antonov, mathematician and
+chess-player; he was drawing careful plans for the seizure of the
+capital.
+
+On its side the Government was preparing. Inconspicuously certain of
+the most loyal regiments, from widely-separated divisions, were ordered
+to Petrograd. The _yunker_ artillery was drawn into the Winter Palace.
+Patrols of Cossacks made their appearance in the streets, for the first
+time since the July days. Polkovnikov issued order after order,
+threatening to repress all insubordination with the “utmost energy.”
+Kishkin, Minister of Public Instruction, the worst-hated member of the
+Cabinet, was appointed Special Commissar to keep order in Petrograd; he
+named as assistants two men no less unpopular, Rutenburg and
+Paltchinsky. Petrograd, Cronstadt and Finland were declared in a state
+of siege—upon which the bourgeois _Novoye Vremya_ (New Times) remarked
+ironically:
+
+Why the state of siege? The Government is no longer a power. It has no
+moral authority and it does not possess the necessary apparatus to use
+force…. In the most favourable circumstances it can only negotiate with
+any one who consents to parley. Its authority goes no farther….
+
+Monday morning, the 5th, I dropped in at the Marinsky Palace, to see
+what was happening in the Council of the Russian Republic. Bitter
+debate on Terestchenko’s foreign policy. Echoes of the
+Burtzev-Verkhovski affair. All the diplomats present except the Italian
+ambassador, who everybody said was prostrated by the Carso disaster….
+
+As I came in, the Left Socialist Revolutionary Karelin was reading
+aloud an editorial from the London _Times_ which said, “The remedy for
+Bolshevism is bullets!” Turning to the Cadets he cried, “That’s what
+_you_ think, too!”
+
+Voices from the Right, “Yes! Yes!”
+
+“Yes, I know you think so,” answered Karelin, hotly. “But you haven’t
+the courage to try it!”
+
+Then Skobeliev, looking like a matinée idol with his soft blond beard
+and wavy yellow hair, rather apologetically defending the Soviet
+_nakaz._ Terestchenko followed, assailed from the Left by cries of
+“Resignation! Resignation!” He insisted that the delegates of the
+Government and of the _Tsay-ee-kah_ to Paris should have a common point
+of view—his own. A few words about the restoration of discipline in the
+army, about war to victory…. Tumult, and over the stubborn opposition
+of the truculent Left, the Council of the Republic passed to the simple
+order of the day.
+
+There stretched the rows of Bolshevik seats—empty since that first day
+when they left the Council, carrying with them so much life. As I went
+down the stairs it seemed to me that in spite of the bitter wrangling,
+no real voice from the rough world outside could penetrate this high,
+cold hall, and that the Provisional Government was wrecked—on the same
+rock of War and Peace that had wrecked the Miliukov Ministry…. The
+doorman grumbled as he put on my coat, “I don’t know what is becoming
+of poor Russia. All these Mensheviki and Bolsheviki and Trudoviki….
+This Ukraine and this Finland and the German imperialists and the
+English imperialists. I am forty-five years old, and in all my life I
+never heard so many words as in this place….”
+
+In the corridor I met Professor Shatsky, a rat-faced individual in a
+dapper frock-coat, very influential in the councils of the Cadet party.
+I asked him what he thought of the much-talked-of Bolshevik
+_vystuplennie._ He shrugged, sneering.
+
+“They are cattle—_canaille,”_ he answered. “They will not dare, or if
+they dare they will soon be sent flying. From our point of view it will
+not be bad, for then they will ruin themselves and have no power in the
+Constituent Assembly….
+
+“But, my dear sir, allow me to outline to you my plan for a form of
+Government to be submitted to the Constituent Assembly. You see, I am
+chairman of a commission appointed from this body, in conjunction with
+the Provisional Government, to work out a constitutional project…. We
+will have a legislative assembly of two chambers, such as you have in
+the United States. In the lower chamber will be territorial
+representatives; in the upper, representatives of the liberal
+professions, zemstvos, Cooperatives—and Trade Unions….”
+
+Outside a chill, damp wind came from the west, and the cold mud
+underfoot soaked through my shoes. Two companies of _yunkers_ passed
+swinging up the Morskaya, tramping stiffly in their long coats and
+singing an oldtime crashing chorus, such as the soldiers used to sing
+under the Tsar…. At the first cross-street I noticed that the City
+Militiamen were mounted, and armed with revolvers in bright new
+holsters; a little group of people stood silently staring at them. At
+the corner of the Nevsky I bought a pamphlet by Lenin, “Will the
+Bolsheviki be Able to Hold the Power?” paying for it with one of the
+stamps which did duty for small change. The usual street-cars crawled
+past, citizens and soldiers clinging to the outside in a way to make
+Theodore P. Shonts green with envy…. Along the sidewalk a row of
+deserters in uniform sold cigarettes and sunflower seeds….
+
+Up the Nevsky in the sour twilight crowds were battling for the latest
+papers, and knots of people were trying to make out the multitudes of
+appeals (See App. III, Sect. 6) and proclamations pasted in every flat
+place; from the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ the Peasants’ Soviets, the “moderate”
+Socialist parties, the Army Committees—threatening, cursing, beseeching
+the workers and soldiers to stay home, to support the Government….
+
+An armoured automobile went slowly up and down, siren screaming. On
+every corner, in every open space, thick groups were clustered; arguing
+soldiers and students. Night came swiftly down, the wide-spaced
+street-lights flickered on, the tides of people flowed endlessly…. It
+is always like that in Petrograd just before trouble….
+
+The city was nervous, starting at every sharp sound. But still no sign
+from the Bolsheviki; the soldiers stayed in the barracks, the workmen
+in the factories…. We went to a moving picture show near the Kazan
+Cathedral—a bloody Italian film of passion and intrigue. Down front
+were some soldiers and sailors, staring at the screen in childlike
+wonder, totally unable to comprehend why there should be so much
+violent running about, and so much homicide….
+
+From there I hurried to Smolny. In room 10 on the top floor, the
+Military Revolutionary Committee sat in continuous session, under the
+chairmanship of a tow-headed, eighteen-year-old boy named Lazimir. He
+stopped, as he passed, to shake hands rather bashfully.
+
+“Peter-Paul Fortress has just come over to us,” said he, with a pleased
+grin. “A minute ago we got word from a regiment that was ordered by the
+Government to come to Petrograd. The men were suspicious, so they
+stopped the train at Gatchina and sent a delegation to us. ‘What’s the
+matter?’ they asked. ‘What have you got to say? We have just passed a
+resolution, “All Power to the Soviets.”’… The Military Revolutionary
+Committee sent back word, ‘Brothers! We greet you in the name of the
+Revolution. Stay where you are until further instructions!’”
+
+All telephones, he said, were cut off: but communication with the
+factories and barracks was established by means of military
+telephonograph apparatus….
+
+A steady stream of couriers and Commissars came and went. Outside the
+door waited a dozen volunteers, ready to carry word to the farthest
+quarters of the city. One of them, a gypsy-faced man in the uniform of
+a lieutenant, said in French, “Everything is ready to move at the push
+of a button….”
+
+There passed Podvoisky, the thin, bearded civillian whose brain
+conceived the strategy of insurrection; Antonov, unshaven, his collar
+filthy, drunk with loss of sleep; Krylenko, the squat, wide-faced
+soldier, always smiling, with his violent gestures and tumbling speech;
+and Dybenko, the giant bearded sailor with the placid face. These were
+the men of the hour—and of other hours to come.
+
+Downstairs in the office of the Factory-Shop Committees sat Seratov,
+signing orders on the Government Arsenal for arms—one hundred and fifty
+rifles for each factory…. Delegates waited in line, forty of them….
+
+In the hall I ran into some of the minor Bolshevik leaders. One showed
+me a revolver. “The game is on,” he said, and his face was pale.
+“Whether we move or not the other side knows it must finish us or be
+finished….”
+
+The Petrograd Soviet was meeting day and night. As I came into the
+great hall Trotzky was just finishing.
+
+“We are asked,” he said, “if we intend to have a _vystuplennie._ I can
+give a clear answer to that question. The Petrograd Soviet feels that
+at last the moment has arrived when the power must fall into the hands
+of the Soviets. This transfer of government will be accomplished by the
+All-Russian Congress. Whether an armed demonstration is necessary will
+depend on… those who wish to interfere with the All-Russian Congress….
+
+“We feel that our Government, entrusted to the personnel of the
+Provisional Cabinet, is a pitiful and helpless Government, which only
+awaits the sweep of the broom of History to give way to a really
+popular Government. But we are trying to avoid a conflict, even now,
+to-day. We hope that the All-Russian Congress will take… into its hands
+that power and authority which rests upon the organised freedom of the
+people. If, however, the Government wants to utilise the short period
+it is expected to live—twenty-four, forty-eight, or seventy-two
+hours—to attack us, then we shall answer with counter-attacks, blow for
+blow, steel for iron!”
+
+Amid cheers he announced that the Left Socialist Revolutionaries had
+agreed to send representatives into the Military Revolutionary
+Committee….
+
+As I left Smolny, at three o’clock in the morning, I noticed that two
+rapid-firing guns had been mounted, one on each side of the door, and
+that strong patrols of soldiers guarded the gates and the near-by
+street-corners. Bill Shatov[12] came bounding up the steps. “Well,” he
+cried, “We’re off! Kerensky sent the _yunkers_ to close down our
+papers, _Soldat_ and _Rabotchi Put._ But our troops went down and
+smashed the Government seals, and now we’re sending detachments to
+seize the bourgeois newspaper offices!” Exultantly he slapped me on the
+shoulder, and ran in….
+
+[12] Well known in the American labor movement.
+
+On the morning of the 6th I had business with the censor, whose office
+was in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Everywhere, on all the walls,
+hysterical appeals to the people to remain “calm.” Polkovnikov emitted
+_prikaz_ after _prikaz:_
+
+I order all military units and detachments to remain in their barracks
+until further orders from the Staff of the Military District…. All
+officers who act without orders from their superiors will be
+court-martialled for mutiny. I forbid absolutely any execution by
+soldiers of instructions from other organisations….
+
+The morning papers announced that the Government had suppressed the
+papers _Novaya Rus, Zhivoye Slovo, Rabotchi Put_ and _Soldat,_ and
+decreed the arrest of the leaders of the Petrograd Soviet and the
+members of the Military Revolutionary Committee….
+
+As I crossed the Palace Square several batteries of _yunker_ artillery
+came through the Red Arch at a jingling trot, and drew up before the
+Palace. The great red building of the General Staff was unusually
+animated, several armoured automobiles ranked before the door, and
+motors full of officers were coming and going…. The censor was very
+much excited, like a small boy at a circus. Kerensky, he said, had just
+gone to the Council of the Republic to offer his resignation. I hurried
+down to the Marinsky Palace, arriving at the end of that passionate and
+almost incoherent speech of Kerensky’s, full of self-justification and
+bitter denunciation of his enemies.
+
+“I will cite here the most characteristic passage from a whole series
+of articles published in _Rabotchi Put_ by Ulianov-Lenin, a state
+criminal who is in hiding and whom we are trying to find…. This state
+criminal has invited the proletariat and the Petrograd garrison to
+repeat the experience of the 16th-18th of July, and insists upon the
+immediate necessity for an armed rising…. Moreover, other Bolshevik
+leaders have taken the floor in a series of meetings, and also made an
+appeal to immediate insurrection. Particularly should be noticed the
+activity of the present president of the Petrograd Soviet,
+Bronstein-Trotzky….
+
+“I ought to bring to your notice… that the expressions and the style of
+a whole series of articles in _Rabotchi Put_ and _Soldat_ resemble
+absolutely those of _Novaya Rus…._ We have to do not so much with the
+movement of such and such political party, as with the exploitation of
+the political ignorance and criminal instincts of a part of the
+population, a sort of organisation whose object it is to provoke in
+Russia, cost what it may, an inconscient movement of destruction and
+pillage; for given the state of mind of the masses, any movement at
+Petrograd will be followed by the most terrible massacres, which will
+cover with eternal shame the name of free Russia….
+
+“… By the admission of Ulianov-Lenin himself, the situation of the
+extreme left wing of the Social Democrats in Russia is very
+favourable.” (Here Kerensky read the following quotation from Lenin’s
+article.):
+
+Think of it!… The German comrades have only one Liebknecht, without
+newspapers, without freedom of meeting, without a Soviet…. They are
+opposed by the incredible hostility of all classes of society—and yet
+the German comrades try to act; while we, having dozens of newspapers,
+freedom of meeting, the majority of the Soviets, we, the best-placed
+international proletarians of the entire world, can we refuse to
+support the German revolutionists and insurrectionary organisations?…
+
+Kerensky then continued:
+
+“The organisers of rebellion recognise thus implicitly that the most
+perfect conditions for the free action of a political party obtain now
+in Russia, administered by a Provisional Government at the head of
+which is, in the eyes of this party, ‘a usurper and a man who has sold
+himself to the bourgeoisie, the Minister-President Kerensky….’
+
+“… The organisers of the insurrection do not come to the aid of the
+German proletariat, but of the German governing classes, and they open
+the Russian front to the iron fists of Wilhelm and his friends…. Little
+matter to the Provisional Government the motives of these people,
+little matter if they act consciously or unconsciously; but in any
+case, from this tribune, in full consciousness of my responsibility, I
+quality such acts of a Russian political party as acts of treason to
+Russia!
+
+“… I place myself at the point of view of the Right, and I propose
+immediately to proceed to an investigation and make the necessary
+arrests.” (Uproar from the Left.) “Listen to me!” he cried in a
+powerful voice. “At the moment when the state is in danger, because of
+conscious or unconscious treason, the Provisional Government, and
+myself among others, prefer to be killed rather than betray the life,
+the honour and the independence of Russia….”
+
+At this moment a paper was handed to Kerensky.
+
+“I have just received the proclamation which they are distributing to
+the regiments. Here is the contents.” Reading: _“‘The Petrograd Soviet
+of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies is menaced. We order immediately the
+regiments to mobilise on a war footing and to await new orders. All
+delay or non-execution of this order will be considered as an act of
+treason to the Revolution. The Military Revolutionary Committee. For
+the President, Podvoisky. The Secretary, Antonov.’_
+
+“In reality, this is an attempt to raise the populace against the
+existing order of things, to break the Constituent and to open the
+front to the regiments of the iron fist of Wilhelm….
+
+“I say ‘populace’ intentionally, because the conscious democracy and
+its _Tsay-ee-kah,_ all the Army organisations, all that free Russia
+glorifies, the good sense, the honour and the conscience of the great
+Russian democracy, protests against these things….
+
+“I have not come here with a prayer, but to state my firm conviction
+that the Provisional Government, which defends at this moment our new
+liberty—that the new Russian state, destined to a brilliant future,
+will find unanimous support except among those who have never dared to
+face the truth….
+
+“… The Provisional Government has never violated the liberty of all
+citizens of the State to use their political rights…. But now the
+Provisional Government…. declares: in this moment those elements of the
+Russian nation, those groups and parties who have dared to lift their
+hands against the free will of the Russian people, at the same time
+threatening to open the front to Germany, must be liquidated with
+decision!…
+
+“Let the population of Petrograd understand that it will encounter a
+firm power, and perhaps at the last moment good sense, conscience and
+honour will triumph in the hearts of those who still possess them….”
+
+All through this speech, the hall rang with deafening clamour. When the
+Minister-President had stepped down, pale-faced and wet with
+perspiration, and strode out with his suite of officers, speaker after
+speaker from the Left and Centre attacked the Right, all one angry
+roaring. Even the Socialist Revolutionaries, through Gotz:
+
+“The policy of the Bolsheviki is demagogic and criminal, in their
+exploitation of the popular discontent. But there is a whole series of
+popular demands which have received no satisfaction up to now…. The
+questions of peace, land and the democratization of the army ought to
+be stated in such a fashion that no soldier, peasant or worker would
+have the least doubt that our Government is attempting, firmly and
+infallibly, to solve them….
+
+“We Mensheviki do not wish to provoke a Cabinet crisis, and we are
+ready to defend the Provisional Government with all our energy, to the
+last drop of our blood—if only the Provisional Government, on all these
+burning questions, will speak the clear and precise words awaited by
+the people with such impatience….”
+
+Then Martov, furious:
+
+“The words of the Minister-President, who allowed himself to speak of
+‘populace’ when it is question of the movement of important sections of
+the proletariat and the army—although led in the wrong direction—are
+nothing but an incitement to civil war.”
+
+The order of the day proposed by the Left was voted. It amounted
+practically to a vote of lack of confidence.
+
+1. The armed demonstration which has been preparing for some days past
+has for its object a _coup d’etat,_ threatens to provoke civil war,
+creates conditions favourable to _pogroms_ and counterrevolution, the
+mobilization of counter-revolutionary forces, such as the Black
+Hundreds, which will inevitably bring about the impossibility of
+convoking the Constituent, will cause a military catastrophe, the death
+of the Revolution, paralyse the economic life of the country and
+destroy Russia;
+
+2. The conditions favourable to this agitation have been created by
+delay in passing urgent measures, as well as objective conditions
+caused by the war and the general disorder. It is necessary before
+everything to promulgate at once a decree transmitting the land to the
+peasants’ Land Committees, and to adopt an energetic course of action
+abroad in proposing to the Allies to proclaim their peace terms and to
+begin peace-parleys;
+
+3. To cope with Monarchist manifestations and _pogromist_ movements, it
+is indispensable to take immediate measures to suppress these
+movements, and for this purpose to create at Petrograd a Committee of
+Public Safety, composed of representatives of the Municipality and the
+organs of the revolutionary democracy, acting in contact with the
+Provisional Government….
+
+It is interesting to note that the Mensheviki and Socialist
+Revolutionaries all rallied to this resolution…. When Kerensky saw it,
+however, he summoned Avksentiev to the Winter Palace to explain. If it
+expressed a lack of confidence in the Provisional Government, he begged
+Avksentiev to form a new Cabinet. Dan, Gotz and Avksentiev, the leaders
+of the “compromisers,” performed their last compromise…. They explained
+to Kerensky that it was not meant as a criticism of the Government!
+
+At the corner of the Morskaya and the Nevsky, squads of soldiers with
+fixed bayonets were stopping all private automobiles, turning out the
+occupants, and ordering them toward the Winter Palace. A large crowd
+had gathered to watch them. Nobody knew whether the soldiers belonged
+to the Government or the Military Revolutionary Committee. Up in front
+of the Kazan Cathedral the same thing was happening, machines being
+directed back up the Nevsky. Five or six sailors with rifles came
+along, laughing excitedly, and fell into conversation with two of the
+soldiers. On the sailors’ hat bands were _Avrora_ and _Zaria
+Svobody,_—the names of the leading Bolshevik cruisers of the Baltic
+Fleet. One of them said, “Cronstadt is coming!”… It was as if, in 1792,
+on the streets of Paris, some one had said: “The Marseillais are
+coming!” For at Cronstadt were twenty-five thousand sailors, convinced
+Bolsheviki and not afraid to die….
+
+_Rabotchi i Soldat_ was just out, all its front page one huge
+proclamation: SOLDIERS! WORKERS! CITIZENS!
+
+The enemies of the people passed last night to the offensive. The
+Kornilovists of the Staff are trying to draw in from the suburbs
+_yunkers_ and volunteer battalions. The Oranienbaum _yunkers_ and the
+Tsarskoye Selo volunteers refused to come out. A stroke of high treason
+is being contemplated against the Petrograd Soviet…. The campaign of
+the counter-revolutionists is being directed against the All-Russian
+Congress of Soviets on the eve of its opening, against the Constituent
+Assembly, against the people. The Petrograd Soviet is guarding the
+Revolution. The Military Revolutionary Committee is directing the
+repulse of the conspirators’ attack. The entire garrison and
+proletariat of Petrograd are ready to deal the enemy of the people a
+crushing blow.
+
+The Military Revolutionary Committee decrees:
+
+1. All regimental, division and battle-ship Committees, together with
+the Soviet Commissars, and all revolutionary organisations, shall meet
+in continuous session, concentrating in their hands all information
+about the plans of the conspirators.
+
+2. Not one soldier shall leave his division without permission of the
+Committee.
+
+3. To send to Smolny at once two delegates from each military unit and
+five from each Ward Soviet.
+
+4. All members of the Petrograd Soviet and all delegates to the
+All-Russian Congress are invited immediately to Smolny for an
+extraordinary meeting.
+
+Counter-revolution has raised its criminal head.
+
+A great danger threatens all the conquests and hopes of the soldiers
+and workers.
+
+But the forces of the Revolution by far exceed those of its enemies.
+
+The cause of the People is in strong hands. The conspirators will be
+crushed.
+
+No hesitation or doubts! Firmness, steadfastness, discipline,
+determination!
+
+Long live the Revolution!
+
+_The Military Revolutionary Committee._
+
+The Petrograd Soviet was meeting continuously at Smolny, a centre of
+storm, delegates falling down asleep on the floor and rising again to
+take part in the debate, Trotzky, Kameniev, Volodarsky speaking six,
+eight, twelve hours a day….
+
+I went down to room 18 on the first floor where the Bolshevik delegates
+were holding caucus, a harsh voice steadily booming, the speaker hidden
+by the crowd: “The compromisers say that we are isolated. Pay no
+attention to them. Once it begins they must be dragged along with us,
+or else lose their following….”
+
+Here he held up a piece of paper. “We are dragging them! A message has
+just come from the Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries! They say
+that they condemn our action, but that if the Government attacks us
+they will not oppose the cause of the proletariat!” Exultant shouting….
+
+As night fell the great hall filled with soldiers and workmen, a
+monstrous dun mass, deep-humming in a blue haze of smoke. The old
+_Tsay-ee-kah_ had finally decided to welcome the delegates to that new
+Congress which would mean its own ruin—and perhaps the ruin of the
+revolutionary order it had built. At this meeting, however, only
+members of the _Tsay-ee-kah_ could vote….
+
+It was after midnight when Gotz took the chair and Dan rose to speak,
+in a tense silence, which seemed to me almost menacing.
+
+“The hours in which we live appear in the most tragic colours,” he
+said. “The enemy is at the gates of Petrograd, the forces of the
+democracy are trying to organise to resist him, and yet we await
+bloodshed in the streets of the capital, and famine threatens to
+destroy, not only our homogeneous Government, but the Revolution
+itself….
+
+“The masses are sick and exhausted. They have no interest in the
+Revolution. If the Bolsheviki start anything, that will be the end of
+the Revolution…” (Cries, “That’s a lie!)” “The counter-revolutionists
+are waiting with the Bolsheviki to begin riots and massacres…. If there
+is any _vystuplennie,_ there will be no Constituent Assembly….” (Cries,
+“Lie! Shame!”)
+
+“It is inadmissible that in the zone of military operations the
+Petrograd garrison shall not submit to the orders of the Staff…. You
+must obey the orders of the Staff and of the _Tsay-ee-kah_ elected by
+you. All Power to the Soviets—that means death! Robbers and thieves are
+waiting for the moment to loot and burn…. When you have such slogans
+put before you, ‘Enter the houses, take away the shoes and clothes from
+the bourgeoisie—’” (Tumult. Cries, “No such slogan! A lie! A lie!”)
+“Well, it may start differently, but it will end that way!
+
+“The _Tsay-ee-kah_ has full power to act, and must be obeyed…. We are
+not afraid of bayonets…. The _Tsay-ee-kah_ will defend the Revolution
+with its body….” (Cries, “It was a dead body long ago!”)
+
+Immense continued uproar, in which his voice could be heard screaming,
+as he pounded the desk, “Those who are urging this are committing a
+crime!”
+
+Voice: “You committed a crime long ago, when you captured the power and
+turned it over to the bourgeoisie!”
+
+Gotz, ringing the chairman’s bell: “Silence, or I’ll have you put out!”
+
+Voice: “Try it!” (Cheers and whistling.)
+
+“Now concerning our policy about peace.” (Laughter.) “Unfortunately
+Russia can no longer support the continuation of the war. There is
+going to be peace, but not permanent peace—not a democratic peace….
+To-day, at the Council of the Republic, in order to avoid bloodshed, we
+passed an order of the day demanding the surrender of the land to the
+Land Committees and immediate peace negotiations….” (Laughter, and
+cries, “Too late!”)
+
+Then for the Bolsheviki, Trotzky mounted the tribune, borne on a wave
+of roaring applause that burst into cheers and a rising house,
+thunderous. His thin, pointed face was positively Mephistophelian in
+its expression of malicious irony.
+
+“Dan’s tactics prove that the masses—the great, dull, indifferent
+masses—are absolutely with him!” (Titantic mirth.) He turned toward the
+chairman, dramatically. “When we spoke of giving the land to the
+peasants, you were against it. We told the peasants, ‘If they don’t
+give it to you, take it yourselves!’ and the peasants followed our
+advice. And now you advocate what we did six months ago….
+
+“I don’t think Kerensky’s order to suspend the death penalty in the
+army was dictated by his ideals. I think Kerensky was persuaded by the
+Petrograd garrison, which refused to obey him….
+
+“To-day Dan is accused of having made a speech in the Council of the
+Republic which proves him to be a secret Bolshevik…. The time may come
+when Dan will say that the flower of the Revolution participated in the
+rising of July 16th and 18th…. In Dan’s resolution to-day at the
+Council of the Republic there was no mention of enforcing discipline in
+the army, although that is urged in the propaganda of his party….
+
+“No. The history of the last seven months shows that the masses have
+left the Mensheviki. The Mensheviki and the Socialist Revolutionaries
+conquered the Cadets, and then when they got the power, they gave it to
+the Cadets….
+
+“Dan tells you that you have no right to make an insurrection.
+Insurrection is the right of all revolutionists! When the down-trodden
+masses revolt, it is their right….”
+
+Then the long-faced, cruel-tongued Lieber, greeted with groans and
+laughter.
+
+“Engels and Marx said that the proletariat had no right to take power
+until it was ready for it. In a bourgeois revolution like this…. the
+seizure of power by the masses means the tragic end of the Revolution….
+Trotzky, as a Social Democratic theorist, is himself opposed to what he
+is now advocating….” (Cries, “Enough! Down with him!”)
+
+Martov, constantly interrupted: “The Internationalists are not opposed
+to the transmission of power to the democracy, but they disapprove of
+the methods of the Bolsheviki. This is not the moment to seize the
+power….”
+
+Again Dan took the floor, violently protesting against the action of
+the Military Revolutionary Committee, which had sent a Commissar to
+seize the office of _Izviestia_ and censor the paper. The wildest
+uproar followed. Martov tried to speak, but could not be heard.
+Delegates of the Army and the Baltic Fleet stood up all over the hall,
+shouting that the Soviet was _their_ Government….
+
+Amid the wildest confusion Ehrlich offered a resolution, appealing to
+the workers and soldiers to remain calm and not to respond to
+provocations to demonstrate, recognising the necessity of immediately
+creating a Committee of Public Safety, and asking the Provisional
+Government at once to pass decrees transferring the land to the
+peasants and beginning peace negotiations….
+
+Then up leaped Volodarsky, shouting harshly that the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ on
+the eve of the Congress, had no right to assume the functions of the
+Congress. The _Tsay-ee-kah_ was practically dead, he said, and the
+resolution was simply a trick to bolster up its waning power….
+
+“As for us, Bolsheviki, we will not vote on this resolution!” Whereupon
+all the Bolsheviki left the hall and the resolution was passed….
+
+Toward four in the morning I met Zorin in the outer hall, a rifle slung
+from his shoulder.
+
+“We’re moving!” (See App. III, Sect. 7) said he, calmly but with
+satisfaction. “We pinched the Assistant Minister of Justice and the
+Minister of Religions. They’re down cellar now. One regiment is on the
+march to capture the Telephone Exchange, another the Telegraph Agency,
+another the State Bank. The Red Guard is out….”
+
+On the steps of Smolny, in the chill dark, we first saw the Red Guard—a
+huddled group of boys in workmen’s clothes, carrying guns with
+bayonets, talking nervously together.
+
+Far over the still roofs westward came the sound of scattered rifle
+fire, where the _yunkers_ were trying to open the bridges over the
+Neva, to prevent the factory workers and soldiers of the Viborg quarter
+from joining the Soviet forces in the centre of the city; and the
+Cronstadt sailors were closing them again….
+
+Behind us great Smolny, bright with lights, hummed like a gigantic
+hive….
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IV
+The Fall of the Provisional Government
+
+
+Wednesday, November 7th, I rose very late. The noon cannon boomed from
+Peter-Paul as I went down the Nevsky. It was a raw, chill day. In front
+of the State Bank some soldiers with fixed bayonets were standing at
+the closed gates.
+
+“What side do you belong to?” I asked. “The Government?”
+
+“No more Government,” one answered with a grin, “_Slava Bogu!_ Glory to
+God!” That was all I could get out of him….
+
+The street-cars were running on the Nevsky, men, women and small boys
+hanging on every projection. Shops were open, and there seemed even
+less uneasiness among the street crowds than there had been the day
+before. A whole crop of new appeals against insurrection had blossomed
+out on the walls during the night—to the peasants, to the soldiers at
+the front, to the workmen of Petrograd. One read:
+
+FROM THE PETROGRAD MUNICIPAL DUMA:
+
+
+The Municipal Duma informs the citizens that in the extraordinary
+meeting of November 6th the Duma formed a Committee of Public Safety,
+composed of members of the Central and Ward Dumas, and representatives
+of the following revolutionary democratic organizations: The
+_Tsay-ee-kah,_ the All-Russian Executive Committee of Peasant Deputies,
+the Army organisations, the _Tsentroflot,_ the Petrograd Soviet of
+Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies (!), the Council of Trade Unions, and
+others.
+
+Members of the Committee of Public Safety will be on duty in the
+building of the Municipal Duma. Telephones No. 15-40, 223-77, 138-36.
+
+November 7th, 1917.
+
+Though I didn’t realize it then, this was the Duma’s declaration of war
+against the Bolsheviki.
+
+I bought a copy of _Rabotchi Put,_ the only newspaper which seemed on
+sale, and a little later paid a soldier fifty kopeks for a second-hand
+copy of _Dien._ The Bolshevik paper, printed on large-sized sheets in
+the conquered office of the _Russkaya Volia,_ had huge headlines: “ALL
+POWER—TO THE SOVIETS OF WORKERS, SOLDIERS AND PEASANTS! PEACE! BREAD!
+LAND!” The leading article was signed “Zinoviev,”—Lenin’s companion in
+hiding. It began:
+
+Every soldier, every worker, every real Socialist, every honest
+democrat realises that there are only two alternatives to the present
+situation.
+
+Either—the power will remain in the hands of the bourgeois-landlord
+crew, and this will mean every kind of repression for the workers,
+soldiers and peasants, continuation of the war, inevitable hunger and
+death….
+
+Or—the power will be transferred to the hands of the revolutionary
+workers, soldiers and peasants; and in that case it will mean a
+complete abolition of landlord tyranny, immediate check of the
+capitalists, immediate proposal of a just peace. Then the land is
+assured to the peasants, then control of industry is assured to the
+workers, then bread is assured to the hungry, then the end of this
+nonsensical war!…
+
+_Dien_ contained fragmentary news of the agitated night. Bolsheviki
+capture of the Telephone Exchange, the Baltic station, the Telegraph
+Agency; the Peterhof _yunkers_ unable to reach Petrograd; the Cossacks
+undecided; arrest of some of the Ministers; shooting of Chief of the
+City Militia Meyer; arrests, counter-arrests, skirmishes between
+clashing patrols of soldiers, _yunkers_ and Red Guards. (See App. IV,
+Sect. 1)
+
+On the corner of the Morskaya I ran into Captain Gomberg, Menshevik
+_oboronetz,_ secretary of the Military Section of his party. When I
+asked him if the insurrection had really happened he shrugged his
+shoulders in a tired manner and replied, “_Tchort znayet!_ The devil
+knows! Well, perhaps the Bolsheviki can seize the power, but they won’t
+be able to hold it more than three days. They haven’t the men to run a
+government. Perhaps it’s a good thing to let them try—that will furnish
+them….”
+
+The Military Hotel at the corner of St. Isaac’s Square was picketed by
+armed sailors. In the lobby were many of the smart young officers,
+walking up and down or muttering together; the sailors wouldn’t let
+them leave….
+
+Suddenly came the sharp crack of a rifle outside, followed by a
+scattered burst of firing. I ran out. Something unusual was going on
+around the Marinsky Palace, where the Council of the Russian Republic
+met. Diagonally across the wide square was drawn a line of soldiers,
+rifles ready, staring at the hotel roof.
+
+“_Provacatzia!_ Shot at us!” snapped one, while another went running
+toward the door.
+
+At the western corner of the Palace lay a big armoured car with a red
+flag flying from it, newly lettered in red paint: “S.R.S.D.” (_Soviet
+Rabotchikh Soldatskikh Deputatov_); all the guns trained toward St.
+Isaac’s. A barricade had been heaped up across the mouth of Novaya
+Ulitza—boxes, barrels, an old bed-spring, a wagon. A pile of lumber
+barred the end of the Moika quay. Short logs from a neighbouring
+wood-pile were being built up along the front of the building to form
+breastworks….
+
+“Is there going to be any fighting?” I asked.
+
+“Soon, soon,” answered a soldier, nervously. “Go away, comrade, you’ll
+get hurt. They will come from that direction,” pointing toward the
+Admiralty.
+
+“Who will?”
+
+“That I couldn’t tell you, brother,” he answered, and spat.
+
+Before the door of the Palace was a crowd of soldiers and sailors. A
+sailor was telling of the end of the Council of the Russian Republic.
+“We walked in there,” he said, “and filled all the doors with comrades.
+I went up to the counter-revolutionist Kornilovitz who sat in the
+president’s chair. ‘No more Council,’ I says. ‘Run along home now!’”
+
+There was laughter. By waving assorted papers I managed to get around
+to the door of the press gallery. There an enormous smiling sailor
+stopped me, and when I showed my pass, just said, “If you were Saint
+Michael himself, comrade, you couldn’t pass here!” Through the glass of
+the door I made out the distorted face and gesticulating arms of a
+French correspondent, locked in….
+
+Around in front stood a little, grey-moustached man in the uniform of a
+general, the centre of a knot of soldiers. He was very red in the face.
+
+“I am General Alexeyev,” he cried. “As your superior officer and as a
+member of the Council of the Republic I demand to be allowed to pass!”
+The guard scratched his head, looking uneasily out of the corner of his
+eye; he beckoned to an approaching officer, who grew very agitated when
+he saw who it was and saluted before he realised what he was doing.
+
+“_Vashe Vuisokoprevoskhoditelstvo_—your High Excellency—” he stammered,
+in the manner of the old régime, “Access to the Palace is strictly
+forbidden—I have no right—”
+
+An automobile came by, and I saw Gotz sitting inside, laughing
+apparently with great amusement. A few minutes later another, with
+armed soldiers on the front seat, full of arrested members of the
+Provisional Government. Peters, Lettish member of the Military
+Revolutionary Committee, came hurrying across the Square.
+
+“I thought you bagged all those gentlemen last night,” said I, pointing
+to them.
+
+“Oh,” he answered, with the expression of a disappointed small boy.
+“The damn fools let most of them go again before we made up our
+minds….”
+
+Down the Voskressensky Prospect a great mass of sailors were drawn up,
+and behind them came marching soldiers, as far as the eye could reach.
+
+We went toward the Winter Palace by way of the Admiralteisky. All the
+entrances to the Palace Square were closed by sentries, and a cordon of
+troops stretched clear across the western end, besieged by an uneasy
+throng of citizens. Except for far-away soldiers who seemed to be
+carrying wood out of the Palace courtyard and piling it in front of the
+main gateway, everything was quiet.
+
+We couldn’t make out whether the sentries were pro-Government or
+pro-Soviet. Our papers from Smolny had no effect, however, so we
+approached another part of the line with an important air and showed
+our American passports, saying “Official business!” and shouldered
+through. At the door of the Palace the same old _shveitzari,_ in their
+brass-buttoned blue uniforms with the red-and-gold collars, politely
+took our coats and hats, and we went up-stairs. In the dark, gloomy
+corridor, stripped of its tapestries, a few old attendants were
+lounging about, and in front of Kerensky’s door a young officer paced
+up and down, gnawing his moustache. We asked if we could interview the
+Minister-president. He bowed and clicked his heels.
+
+“No, I am sorry,” he replied in French. “Alexander Feodorvitch is
+extremely occupied just now….” He looked at us for a moment. “In fact,
+he is not here….”
+
+“Where is he?”
+
+“He has gone to the Front. (See App. IV, Sect. 2) And do you know,
+there wasn’t enough gasoline for his automobile. We had to send to the
+English Hospital and borrow some.”
+
+“Are the Ministers here?”
+
+“They are meeting in some room—I don’t know where.’
+
+“Are the Bolsheviki coming?”
+
+“Of course. Certainly, they are coming. I expect a telephone call every
+minute to say that they are coming. But we are ready. We have _yunkers_
+in the front of the Palace. Through that door there.”
+
+“Can we go in there?”
+
+“No. Certainly not. It is not permitted.” Abruptly he shook hands all
+around and walked away. We turned to the forbidden door, set in a
+temporary partition dividing the hall and locked on the outside. On the
+other side were voices, and somebody laughing. Except for that the vast
+spaces of the old Palace were silent as the grave. An old _shveitzar_
+ran up. “No, _barin,_ you must not go in there.”
+
+“Why is the door locked?”
+
+“To keep the soldiers in,” he answered. After a few minutes he said
+something about having a glass of tea and went back up the hall. We
+unlocked the door.
+
+Just inside a couple of soldiers stood on guard, but they said nothing.
+At the end of the corridor was a large, ornate room with gilded
+cornices and enormous crystal lustres, and beyond it several smaller
+ones, wainscoted with dark wood. On both sides of the parquetted floor
+lay rows of dirty mattresses and blankets, upon which occasional
+soldiers were stretched out; everywhere was a litter of
+cigarette-butts, bits of bread, cloth, and empty bottles with expensive
+French labels. More and more soldiers, with the red shoulder-straps of
+the _yunker_-schools, moved about in a stale atmosphere of
+tobacco-smoke and unwashed humanity. One had a bottle of white
+Burgundy, evidently filched from the cellars of the Palace. They looked
+at us with astonishment as we marched past, through room after room,
+until at last we came out into a series of great state-salons, fronting
+their long and dirty windows on the Square. The walls were covered with
+huge canvases in massive gilt frames—historical battle-scenes…. “12
+October 1812” and “6 November 1812” and “16/28 August 1813.” … One had
+a gash across the upper right hand corner.
+
+The place was all a huge barrack, and evidently had been for weeks,
+from the look of the floor and walls. Machine guns were mounted on
+window-sills, rifles stacked between the mattresses.
+
+As we were looking at the pictures an alcoholic breath assailed me from
+the region of my left ear, and a voice said in thick but fluent French,
+“I see, by the way you admire the paintings, that you are foreigners.”
+He was a short, puffy man with a baldish head as he removed his cap.
+
+“Americans? Enchanted. I am Stabs—Capitan Vladimir Artzibashev,
+absolutely at your service.” It did not seem to occur to him that there
+was anything unusual in four strangers, one a woman, wandering through
+the defences of an army awaiting attack. He began to complain of the
+state of Russia.
+
+“Not only these Bolsheviki,” he said, “but the fine traditions of the
+Russian army are broken down. Look around you. These are all students
+in the officers’ training schools. But are they gentlemen? Kerensky
+opened the officers’ schools to the ranks, to any soldier who could
+pass an examination. Naturally there are many, many who are
+contaminated by the Revolution….”
+
+Without consequence he changed the subject. “I am very anxious to go
+away from Russia. I have made up my mind to join the American army.
+Will you please go to your Consul and make arrangements? I will give
+you my address.” In spite of our protestations he wrote it on a piece
+of paper, and seemed to feel better at once. I have it
+still—“_Oranien-baumskaya Shkola Praporshtchikov 2nd, Staraya
+Peterhof._”
+
+“We had a review this morning early,” he went on, as he guided us
+through the rooms and explained everything. “The Women’s Battalion
+decided to remain loyal to the Government.”
+
+“Are the women soldiers in the Palace?”
+
+“Yes, they are in the back rooms, where they won’t be hurt if any
+trouble comes.” He sighed. “It is a great responsibility,” said he.
+
+For a while we stood at the window, looking down on the Square before
+the Palace, where three companies of long-coated _yunkers_ were drawn
+up under arms, being harangued by a tall, energetic-looking officer I
+recognised as Stankievitch, chief Military Commissar of the Provisional
+Government. After a few minutes two of the companies shouldered arms
+with a clash, barked three sharp shouts, and went swinging off across
+the Square, disappearing through the Red Arch into the quiet city.
+
+“They are going to capture the Telephone Exchange,” said some one.
+Three cadets stood by us, and we fell into conversation. They said they
+had entered the schools from the ranks, and gave their names—Robert
+Olev, Alexei Vasilienko and Erni Sachs, an Esthonian. But now they
+didn’t want to be officers any more, because officers were very
+unpopular. They didn’t seem to know what to do, as a matter of fact,
+and it was plain that they were not happy.
+
+But soon they began to boast. “If the Bolsheviki come we shall show
+them how to fight. They do not dare to fight, they are cowards. But if
+we should be overpowered, well, every man keeps one bullet for
+himself….”
+
+At this point there was a burst of rifle-fire not far off. Out on the
+Square all the people began to run, falling flat on their faces, and
+the _izvoshtchiki,_ standing on the corners, galloped in every
+direction. Inside all was uproar, soldiers running here and there,
+grabbing up guns, rifle-belts and shouting, “Here they come! Here they
+come!” … But in a few minutes it quieted down again. The _izvoshtchiki_
+came back, the people lying down stood up. Through the Red Arch
+appeared the _yunkers,_ marching a little out of step, one of them
+supported by two comrades.
+
+It was getting late when we left the Palace. The sentries in the Square
+had all disappeared. The great semi-circle of Government buildings
+seemed deserted. We went into the Hotel France for dinner, and right in
+the middle of soup the waiter, very pale in the face, came up and
+insisted that we move to the main dining-room at the back of the house,
+because they were going to put out the lights in the café. “There will
+be much shooting,” he said.
+
+When we came out on the Morskaya again it was quite dark, except for
+one flickering street-light on the corner of the Nevsky. Under this
+stood a big armored automobile, with racing engine and oil-smoke
+pouring out of it. A small boy had climbed up the side of the thing and
+was looking down the barrel of a machine gun. Soldiers and sailors
+stood around, evidently waiting for something. We walked back up to the
+Red Arch, where a knot of soldiers was gathered staring at the
+brightly-lighted Winter Palace and talking in loud tones.
+
+“No, comrades,” one was saying. “How can we shoot at them? The Women’s
+Battalion is in there—they will say we have fired on Russian women.”
+
+As we reached the Nevsky again another armoured car came around the
+corner, and a man poked his head out of the turret-top.
+
+“Come on!” he yelled. “Let’s go on through and attack!”
+
+The driver of the other car came over, and shouted so as to be heard
+above the roaring engine. “The Committee says to wait. They have got
+artillery behind the wood-piles in there….”
+
+Here the street-cars had stopped running, few people passed, and there
+were no lights; but a few blocks away we could see the trams, the
+crowds, the lighted shop-windows and the electric signs of the
+moving-picture shows—life going on as usual. We had tickets to the
+Ballet at the Marinsky Theatre—all theatres were open—but it was too
+exciting out of doors….
+
+In the darkness we stumbled over lumber-piles barricading the Police
+Bridge, and before the Stroganov Palace made out some soldiers wheeling
+into position a three-inch field-gun. Men in various uniforms were
+coming and going in an aimless way, and doing a great deal of talking….
+
+Up the Nevsky the whole city seemed to be out promenading. On every
+corner immense crowds were massed around a core of hot discussion.
+Pickets of a dozen soldiers with fixed bayonets lounged at the
+street-crossings, red-faced old men in rich fur coats shook their fists
+at them, smartly-dressed women screamed epithets; the soldiers argued
+feebly, with embarrassed grins…. Armoured cars went up and down the
+street, named after the first Tsars—Oleg, Rurik, Svietoslav—and daubed
+with huge red letters, “R. S. D. R. P.” _(Rossiskaya Partia_)[13]. At
+the Mikhailovsky a man appeared with an armful of newspapers, and was
+immediately stormed by frantic people, offering a rouble, five roubles,
+ten roubles, tearing at each other like animals. It was _Rabotchi i
+Soldat,_ announcing the victory of the Proletarian Revolution, the
+liberation of the Bolsheviki still in prison, calling upon the Army
+front and rear for support… a feverish little sheet of four pages,
+running to enormous type, containing no news….
+
+[13] (Russian Social Democratic Labor Party).
+
+On the corner of the Sadovaya about two thousand citizens had gathered,
+staring up at the roof of a tall building, where a tiny red spark
+glowed and waned.
+
+“See!” said a tall peasant, pointing to it. “It is a provocator.
+Presently he will fire on the people….” Apparently no one thought of
+going to investigate.
+
+The massive façade of Smolny blazed with lights as we drove up, and
+from every street converged upon it streams of hurrying shapes dim in
+the gloom. Automobiles and motorcycles came and went; an enormous
+elephant-coloured armoured automobile, with two red flags flying from
+the turret, lumbered out with screaming siren. It was cold, and at the
+outer gate the Red Guards had built themselves a bon-fire. At the inner
+gate, too, there was a blaze, by the light of which the sentries slowly
+spelled out our passes and looked us up and down. The canvas covers had
+been taken off the four rapid-fire guns on each side of the doorway,
+and the ammunition-belts hung snakelike from their breeches. A dun herd
+of armoured cars stood under the trees in the court-yard, engines
+going. The long, bare, dimly-illuminated halls roared with the thunder
+of feet, calling, shouting…. There was an atmosphere of recklessness. A
+crowd came pouring down the staircase, workers in black blouses and
+round black fur hats, many of them with guns slung over their
+shoulders, soldiers in rough dirt-coloured coats and grey fur _shapki_
+pinched flat, a leader or so—Lunatcharsky, Kameniev—hurrying along in
+the centre of a group all talking at once, with harassed anxious faces,
+and bulging portfolios under their arms. The extraordinary meeting of
+the Petrograd Soviet was over. I stopped Kameniev—a quick moving little
+man, with a wide, vivacious face set close to his shoulders. Without
+preface he read in rapid French a copy of the resolution just passed:
+
+The Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, saluting the
+victorious Revolution of the Petrograd proletariat and garrison,
+particularly emphasises the unity, organisation, discipline, and
+complete cooperation shown by the masses in this rising; rarely has
+less blood been spilled, and rarely has an insurrection succeeded so
+well.
+
+The Soviet expresses its firm conviction that the Workers’ and
+Peasants’ Government which, as the government of the Soviets, will be
+created by the Revolution, and which will assure the industrial
+proletariat of the support of the entire mass of poor peasants, will
+march firmly toward Socialism, the only means by which the country can
+be spared the miseries and unheard-of horrors of war.
+
+The new Workers’ and Peasants’ Government will propose immediately a
+just and democratic peace to all the belligerent countries.
+
+It will suppress immediately the great landed property, and transfer
+the land to the peasants. It will establish workmen’s control over
+production and distribution of manufactured products, and will set up a
+general control over the banks, which it will transform into a state
+monopoly.
+
+The Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies calls upon the
+workers and the peasants of Russia to support with all their energy and
+all their devotion the Proletarian Revolution. The Soviet expresses its
+conviction that the city workers, allies of the poor peasants, will
+assure complete revolutionary order, indispensable to the victory of
+Socialism. The Soviet is convinced that the proletariat of the
+countries of Western Europe will aid us in conducting the cause of
+Socialism to a real and lasting victory.
+
+“You consider it won then?”
+
+He lifted his shoulders. “There is much to do. Horribly much. It is
+just beginning….”
+
+On the landing I met Riazanov, vice-president of the Trade Unions,
+looking black and biting his grey beard. “It’s insane! Insane!” he
+shouted. “The European working-class won’t move! All Russia—” He waved
+his hand distractedly and ran off. Riazanov and Kameniev had both
+opposed the insurrection, and felt the lash of Lenin’s terrible
+tongue….
+
+It had been a momentous session. In the name of the Military
+Revolutionary Committee Trotzky had declared that the Provisional
+Government no longer existed.
+
+“The characteristic of bourgeois governments,” he said, “is to deceive
+the people. We, the Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’
+Deputies, are going to try an experiment unique in history; we are
+going to found a power which will have no other aim but to satisfy the
+needs of the soldiers, workers, and peasants.”
+
+Lenin had appeared, welcomed with a mighty ovation, prophesying
+world-wide Social Revolution…. And Zinoviev, crying, “This day we have
+paid our debt to the international proletariat, and struck a terrible
+blow at the war, a terrible body-blow at all the imperialists and
+particularly at Wilhelm the Executioner….”
+
+Then Trotzky, that telegrams had been sent to the front announcing the
+victorious insurrection, but no reply had come. Troops were said to be
+marching against Petrograd—a delegation must be sent to tell them the
+truth.
+
+Cries, “You are anticipating the will of the All-Russian Congress of
+Soviets!”
+
+Trotzky, coldly, “The will of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets has
+been anticipated by the rising of the Petrograd workers and soldiers!”
+
+So we came into the great meeting-hall, pushing through the clamorous
+mob at the door. In the rows of seats, under the white chandeliers,
+packed immovably in the aisles and on the sides, perched on every
+window-sill, and even the edge of the platform, the representatives of
+the workers and soldiers of all Russia waited in anxious silence or
+wild exultation the ringing of the chairman’s bell. There was no heat
+in the hall but the stifling heat of unwashed human bodies. A foul blue
+cloud of cigarette smoke rose from the mass and hung in the thick air.
+Occasionally some one in authority mounted the tribune and asked the
+comrades not to smoke; then everybody, smokers and all, took up the cry
+“Don’t smoke, comrades!” and went on smoking. Petrovsky, Anarchist
+delegate from the Obukhov factory, made a seat for me beside him.
+Unshaven and filthy, he was reeling from three nights’ sleepless work
+on the Military Revolutionary Committee.
+
+On the platform sat the leaders of the old _Tsay-ee-kah_—for the last
+time dominating the turbulent Soviets, which they had ruled from the
+first days, and which were now risen against them. It was the end of
+the first period of the Russian revolution, which these men had
+attempted to guide in careful ways…. The three greatest of them were
+not there: Kerensky, flying to the front through country towns all
+doubtfully heaving up; Tcheidze, the old eagle, who had contemptuously
+retired to his own Georgian mountains, there to sicken with
+consumption; and the high-souled Tseretelli, also mortally stricken,
+who, nevertheless, would return and pour out his beautiful eloquence
+for a lost cause. Gotz sat there, Dan, Lieber, Bogdanov, Broido,
+Fillipovsky,—white-faced, hollow-eyed and indignant. Below them the
+second _siezd_ of the All-Russian Soviets boiled and swirled, and over
+their heads the Military Revolutionary Committee functioned white-hot,
+holding in its hands the threads of insurrection and striking with a
+long arm…. It was 10.40 P. M.
+
+Dan, a mild-faced, baldish figure in a shapeless military surgeon’s
+uniform, was ringing the bell. Silence fell sharply, intense, broken by
+the scuffling and disputing of the people at the door….
+
+“We have the power in our hands,” he began sadly, stopped for a moment,
+and then went on in a low voice. “Comrades! The Congress of Soviets in
+meeting in such unusual circumstances and in such an extraordinary
+moment that you will understand why the _Tsay-ee-kah_ considers it
+unnecessary to address you with a political speech. This will become
+much clearer to you if you will recollect that I am a member of the
+_Tsay-ee-kah,_ and that at this very moment our party comrades are in
+the Winter Palace under bombardment, sacrificing themselves to execute
+the duty put on them by the _Tsay-ee-kah.”_ (Confused uproar.)
+
+“I declare the first session of the Second Congress of Soviets of
+Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies open!”
+
+The election of the presidium took place amid stir and moving about.
+Avanessov announced that by agreement of the Bolsheviki, Left Socialist
+Revolutionaries and Mensheviki Internationalists, it was decided to
+base the presidium upon proportionality. Several Mensheviki leaped to
+their feet protesting. A bearded soldier shouted at them, “Remember
+what you did to us Bolsheviki when _we_ were the minority!” Result—14
+Bolsheviki, 7 Socialist Revolutionaries, 3 Mensheviki and 1
+Internationalist (Gorky’s group). Hendelmann, for the right and centre
+Socialist Revolutionaries, said that they refused to take part in the
+presidium; the same from Kintchuk, for the Mensheviki; and from the
+Mensheviki Internationalists, that until the verification of certain
+circumstances, they too could not enter the presidium. Scattering
+applause and hoots. One voice, “Renegades, you call yourselves
+Socialists!” A representative of the Ukrainean delegates demanded, and
+received, a place. Then the old _Tsay-ee-kah_ stepped down, and in
+their places appeared Trotzky, Kameniev, Lunatcharsky, Madame
+Kollentai, Nogin…. The hall rose, thundering. How far they had soared,
+these Bolsheviki, from a despised and hunted sect less than four months
+ago, to this supreme place, the helm of great Russia in full tide of
+insurrection!
+
+The order of the day, said Kameniev, was first, Organisation of Power;
+second, War and Peace; and third, the Constituent Assembly. Lozovsky,
+rising, announced that upon agreement of the bureau of all factions, it
+was proposed to hear and discuss the report of the Petrograd Soviet,
+then to give the floor to members of the _Tsay-ee-kah_ and the
+different parties, and finally to pass to the order of the day.
+
+But suddenly a new sound made itself heard, deeper than the tumult of
+the crowd, persistent, disquieting,—the dull shock of guns. People
+looked anxiously toward the clouded windows, and a sort of fever came
+over them. Martov, demanding the floor, croaked hoarsely, “The civil
+war is beginning, comrades! The first question must be a peaceful
+settlement of the crisis. On principle and from a political standpoint
+we must urgently discuss a means of averting civil war. Our brothers
+are being shot down in the streets! At this moment, when before the
+opening of the Congress of Soviets the question of Power is being
+settled by means of a military plot organised by one of the
+revolutionary parties—” for a moment he could not make himself heard
+above the noise, “All of the revolutionary parties must face the fact!
+The first _vopros_ (question) before the Congress is the question of
+Power, and this question is already being settled by force of arms in
+the streets!… We must create a power which will be recognised by the
+whole democracy. If the Congress wishes to be the voice of the
+revolutionary democracy it must not sit with folded hands before the
+developing civil war, the result of which may be a dangerous outburst
+of counter-revolution…. The possibility of a peaceful outcome lies in
+the formation of a united democratic authority…. We must elect a
+delegation to negotiate with the other Socialist parties and
+organisation….”
+
+Always the methodical muffled boom of cannon through the windows, and
+the delegates, screaming at each other…. So, with the crash of
+artillery, in the dark, with hatred, and fear, and reckless daring, new
+Russia was being born.
+
+The Left Socialist Revolutionaries and the United Social Democrats
+supported Martov’s proposition. It was accepted. A soldier announced
+that the All-Russian Peasants’ Soviets had refused to send delegates to
+the Congress; he proposed that a committee be sent with a formal
+invitation. “Some delegates are present,” he said. “I move that they be
+given votes.” Accepted.
+
+Kharash, wearing the epaulets of a captain, passionately demanded the
+floor. “The political hypocrites who control this Congress,” he
+shouted, “told us we were to settle the question of Power—and it is
+being settled behind our backs, before the Congress opens! Blows are
+being struck against the Winter Palace, and it is by such blows that
+the nails are being driven into the coffin of the political party which
+has risked such an adventure!” Uproar. Followed him Gharra: “While we
+are here discussing propositions of peace, there is a battle on in the
+streets…. The Socialist Revolutionaries and the Mensheviki refuse to be
+involved in what is happening, and call upon all public forces to
+resist the attempt to capture the power….” Kutchin, delegate of the
+12th Army and representative of the Troudoviki: “I was sent here only
+for information, and I am returning at once to the Front, where all the
+Army Committees consider that the taking of power by the Soviets, only
+three weeks before the Constituent Assembly, is a stab in the back of
+the Army and a crime against the people—!” Shouts of “Lie! You lie!”…
+When he could be heard again, “Let’s make an end of this adventure in
+Petrograd! I call upon all delegates to leave this hall in order to
+save the country and the Revolution!” As he went down the aisle in the
+midst of a deafening noise, people surged in upon him, threatening….
+Then Khintchuk, an officer with a long brown goatee, speaking suavely
+and persuasively: “I speak for the delegates from the Front. The Army
+is imperfectly represented in this Congress, and furthermore, the Army
+does not consider the Congress of Soviets necessary at this time, only
+three weeks before the opening of the Constituent—” shouts and
+stamping, always growing more violent. “The Army does not consider that
+the Congress of Soviets has the necessary authority—” Soldiers began to
+stand up all over the hall.
+
+“Who are you speaking for? What do you represent?” they cried.
+
+“The Central Executive Committee of the Soviet of the Fifth Army, the
+Second F— regiment, the First N— Regiment, the Third S— Rifles….”
+
+“When were you elected? You represent the officers, not the soldiers!
+What do the soldiers say about it?” Jeers and hoots.
+
+“We, the Front group, disclaim all responsibility for what has happened
+and is happening, and we consider it necessary to mobilise all
+self-conscious revolutionary forces for the salvation of the
+Revolution! The Front group will leave the Congress…. The place to
+fight is out on the streets!”
+
+Immense bawling outcry. “You speak for the Staff—not for the Army!”
+
+“I appeal to all reasonable soldiers to leave this Congress!”
+
+“Kornilovitz! Counter-revolutionist! Provocator!” were hurled at him.
+
+On behalf of the Mensheviki, Khintchuk then announced that the only
+possibility of a peaceful solution was to begin negotiations with the
+Provisional Government for the formation of a new Cabinet, which would
+find support in all strata of society. He could not proceed for several
+minutes. Raising his voice to a shout he read the Menshevik
+declaration:
+
+“Because the Bolsheviki have made a military conspiracy with the aid of
+the Petrograd Soviet, without consulting the other factions and
+parties, we find it impossible to remain in the Congress, and therefore
+withdraw, inviting the other groups to follow us and to meet for
+discussion of the situation!”
+
+“Deserter!” At intervals in the almost continuous disturbance
+Hendelman, for the Socialist Revolutionaries, could be heard protesting
+against the bombardment of the Winter Palace…. “We are opposed to this
+kind of anarchy….”
+
+Scarcely had he stepped down than a young, lean-faced soldier, with
+flashing eyes, leaped to the platform, and dramatically lifted his
+hand:
+
+“Comrades!” he cried and there was a hush. “My _familia_ (name) is
+Peterson—I speak for the Second Lettish Rifles. You have heard the
+statements of two representatives of the Army committees; these
+statements would have some value _if their authors had been
+representatives of the Army_—” Wild applause. _“But they do not
+represent the soldiers!”_ Shaking his fist. “The Twelfth Army has been
+insisting for a long time upon the re-election of the Great Soviet and
+the Army Committee, but just as your own _Tsay-ee-kah,_ our Committee
+refused to call a meeting of the representatives of the masses until
+the end of September, so that the reactionaries could elect their own
+false delegates to this Congress. I tell you now, the Lettish soldiers
+have many times said, ‘No more resolutions! No more talk! We want
+deeds—the Power must be in our hands!’ Let these impostor delegates
+leave the Congress! The Army is not with them!”
+
+The hall rocked with cheering. In the first moments of the session,
+stunned by the rapidity of events, startled by the sound of cannon, the
+delegates had hesitated. For an hour hammer-blow after hammer-blow had
+fallen from that tribune, welding them together but beating them down.
+Did they stand then alone? Was Russia rising against them? Was it true
+that the Army was marching on Petrograd? Then this clear-eyed young
+soldier had spoken, and in a flash they knew it for the truth…. _This_
+was the voice of the soldiers—the stirring millions of uniformed
+workers and peasants were men like them, and their thoughts and
+feelings were the same…
+
+More soldiers … Gzhelshakh; for the Front delegates, announcing that
+they had only decided to leave the Congress by a small majority, and
+that _the Bolshevik members had not even taken part in the vote,_ as
+they stood for division according to political parties, and not groups.
+“Hundreds of delegates from the Front,” he said, “are being elected
+without the participation of the soldiers because the Army Committees
+are no longer the real representatives of the rank and file….”
+Lukianov, crying that officers like Kharash and Khintchuk could not
+represent the Army in this congress,—but only the high command. “The
+real inhabitants of the trenches want with all their hearts the
+transfer of Power into the hands of the Soviets, and they expect very
+much from it!”… The tide was turning.
+
+Then came Abramovitch, for the _Bund,_ the organ of the Jewish Social
+Democrats—his eyes snapping behind thick glasses, trembling with rage.
+
+“What is taking place now in Petrograd is a monstrous calamity! The
+_Bund_ group joins with the declaration of the Mensheviki and Socialist
+Revolutionaries and will leave the Congress!” He raised his voice and
+hand. “Our duty to the Russian proletariat doesn’t permit us to remain
+here and be responsible for these crimes. Because the firing on the
+Winter Palace doesn’t cease, the Municipal Duma together with the
+Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries, and the Executive Committee
+of the Peasants’ Soviet, has decided to perish with the Provisional
+Government, and we are going with them! Unarmed we will expose our
+breasts to the machine guns of the Terrorists…. We invite all delegates
+to this Congress—” The rest was lost in a storm of hoots, menaces and
+curses which rose to a hellish pitch as fifty delegates got up and
+pushed their way out….
+
+Kameniev jangled the bell, shouting, “Keep your seats and we’ll go on
+with our business!” And Trotzky, standing up with a pale, cruel face,
+letting out his rich voice in cool contempt, “All these so-called
+Socialist compromisers, these frightened Mensheviki, Socialist
+Revolutionaries, _Bund_—let them go! They are just so much refuse which
+will be swept into the garbage-heap of history!”
+
+Riazanov, for the Bolsheviki, stated that at the request of the City
+Duma the Military Revolutionary Committee had sent a delegation to
+offer negotiations to the Winter Palace. “In this way we have done
+everything possible to avoid blood-shed….”
+
+We hurried from the place, stopping for a moment at the room where the
+Military Revolutionary Committee worked at furious speed, engulfing and
+spitting out panting couriers, despatching Commissars armed with power
+of life and death to all the corners of the city, amid the buzz of the
+telephonographs. The door opened, a blast of stale air and cigarette
+smoke rushed out, we caught a glimpse of dishevelled men bending over a
+map under the glare of a shaded electric-light…. Comrade
+Josephov-Dukhvinski, a smiling youth with a mop of pale yellow hair,
+made out passes for us.
+
+When we came into the chill night, all the front of Smolny was one huge
+park of arriving and departing automobiles, above the sound of which
+could be heard the far-off slow beat of the cannon. A great motor-truck
+stood there, shaking to the roar of its engine. Men were tossing
+bundles into it, and others receiving them, with guns beside them.
+
+“Where are you going?” I shouted.
+
+“Down-town—all over—everywhere!” answered a little workman, grinning,
+with a large exultant gesture.
+
+We showed our passes. “Come along!” they invited. “But there’ll
+probably be shooting—” We climbed in; the clutch slid home with a
+raking jar, the great car jerked forward, we all toppled backward on
+top of those who were climbing in; past the huge fire by the gate, and
+then the fire by the outer gate, glowing red on the faces of the
+workmen with rifles who squatted around it, and went bumping at top
+speed down the Suvorovsky Prospect, swaying from side to side…. One man
+tore the wrapping from a bundle and began to hurl handfuls of papers
+into the air. We imitated him, plunging down through the dark street
+with a tail of white papers floating and eddying out behind. The late
+passerby stooped to pick them up; the patrols around bonfires on the
+corners ran out with uplifted arms to catch them. Sometimes armed men
+loomed up ahead, crying “_Shtoi!_” and raising their guns, but our
+chauffeur only yelled something unintelligible and we hurtled on….
+
+I picked up a copy of the paper, and under a fleeting street-light
+read:
+
+TO THE CITIZENS OF RUSSIA!
+
+
+The Provisional Government is deposed. The State Power has passed into
+the hands of the organ of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and
+Soldiers’ Deputies, the Military Revolutionary Committee, which stands
+at the head of the Petrograd proletariat and garrison.
+
+The cause for which the people were fighting: immediate proposal of a
+democratic peace, abolition of landlord property-rights over the land,
+labor control over production, creation of a Soviet Government—that
+cause is securely achieved.
+
+LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION OF WORKMEN, SOLDIERS AND PEASANTS!
+
+
+_Military Revolutionary Committee_
+
+_Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies._
+
+[Graphic, page 96: Proclamation in Russian, title follows]
+
+Proclamation of the Fall of the Provisional Government issued by the
+Military Revolutionary Committee on the night of November 7th (our
+calendar), which we helped to distribute from a motor-truck just after
+the surrender of the Winter Palace.
+
+A slant-eyed, Mongolian-faced man who sat beside me, dressed in a
+goat-skin Caucasian cape, snapped, “Look out! Here the provocators
+always shoot from the windows!” We turned into Znamensky Square, dark
+and almost deserted, careened around Trubetskoy’s brutal statue and
+swung down the wide Nevsky, three men standing up with rifles ready,
+peering at the windows. Behind us the street was alive with people
+running and stooping. We could no longer hear the cannon, and the
+nearer we drew to the Winter Palace end of the city the quieter and
+more deserted were the streets. The City Duma was all brightly lighted.
+Beyond that we made out a dark mass of people, and a line of sailors,
+who yelled furiously at us to stop. The machine slowed down, and we
+climbed out.
+
+It was an astonishing scene. Just at the corner of the Ekaterina Canal,
+under an arc-light, a cordon of armed sailors was drawn across the
+Nevsky, blocking the way to a crowd of people in column of fours. There
+were about three or four hundred of them, men in frock coats,
+well-dressed women, officers—all sorts and conditions of people. Among
+them we recognised many of the delegates from the Congress, leaders of
+the Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries; Avksentiev, the lean,
+red-bearded president of the Peasants’ Soviets, Sarokin, Kerensky’s
+spokesman, Khintchuk, Abramovitch; and at the head white-bearded old
+Schreider, Mayor of Petrograd, and Prokopovitch, Minister of Supplies
+in the Provisional Government, arrested that morning and released. I
+caught sight of Malkin, reporter for the _Russian Daily News._ “Going
+to die in the Winter Palace,” he shouted cheerfully. The procession
+stood still, but from the front of it came loud argument. Schreider and
+Prokopovitch were bellowing at the big sailor who seemed in command.
+
+“We demand to pass!” they cried. “See, these comrades come from the
+Congress of Soviets! Look at their tickets! We are going to the Winter
+Palace!”
+
+The sailor was plainly puzzled. He scratched his head with an enormous
+hand, frowning. “I have orders from the Committee not to let anybody go
+to the Winter Palace,” he grumbled. “But I will send a comrade to
+telephone to Smolny….”
+
+“We Insist upon passing! We are unarmed! We will march on whether you
+permit us or not!” cried old Schreider, very much excited.
+
+“I have orders—” repeated the sailor sullenly.
+
+“Shoot us if you want to! We will pass! Forward!” came from all sides.
+“We are ready to die, if you have the heart to fire on Russians and
+comrades! We bare our breasts to your guns!”
+
+“No,” said the sailor, looking stubborn, “I can’t allow you to pass.”
+
+“What will you do if we go forward? Will you shoot?”
+
+“No, I’m not going to shoot people who haven’t any guns. We won’t shoot
+unarmed Russian people….”
+
+“We will go forward! What can you do?”
+
+“We will do something,” replied the sailor, evidently at a loss. “We
+can’t let you pass. We will do something.”
+
+“What will you do? What will you do?”
+
+Another sailor came up, very much irritated. “We will spank you!” he
+cried, energetically. “And if necessary we will shoot you too. Go home
+now, and leave us in peace!”
+
+At this there was a great clamour of anger and resentment, Prokopovitch
+had mounted some sort of box, and, waving his umbrella, he made a
+speech:
+
+“Comrades and citizens!” he said. “Force is being used against us! We
+cannot have our innocent blood upon the hands of these ignorant men! It
+is beneath our dignity to be shot down here in the street by
+switchmen—” (What he meant by “switchmen” I never discovered.) “Let us
+return to the Duma and discuss the best means of saving the country and
+the Revolution!”
+
+Whereupon, in dignified silence, the procession marched around and back
+up the Nevsky, always in column of fours. And taking advantage of the
+diversion we slipped past the guards and set off in the direction of
+the Winter Palace.
+
+Here it was absolutely dark, and nothing moved but pickets of soldiers
+and Red Guards grimly intent. In front of the Kazan Cathedral a
+three-inch field-gun lay in the middle of the street, slewed sideways
+from the recoil of its last shot over the roofs. Soldiers were standing
+in every doorway talking in low tones and peering down toward the
+Police Bridge. I heard one voice saying: “It is possible that we have
+done wrong….” At the corners patrols stopped all passersby—and the
+composition of these patrols was interesting, for in command of the
+regular troops was invariably a Red Guard…. The shooting had ceased.
+
+Just as we came to the Morskaya somebody was shouting: “The _yunkers_
+have sent word they want us to go and get them out!” Voices began to
+give commands, and in the thick gloom we made out a dark mass moving
+forward, silent but for the shuffle of feet and the clinking of arms.
+We fell in with the first ranks.
+
+Like a black river, filling all the street, without song or cheer we
+poured through the Red Arch, where the man just ahead of me said in a
+low voice: “Look out, comrades! Don’t trust them. They will fire,
+surely!” In the open we began to run, stooping low and bunching
+together, and jammed up suddenly behind the pedestal of the Alexander
+Column.
+
+“How many of you did they kill?” I asked.
+
+“I don’t know. About ten….”
+
+After a few minutes huddling there, some hundreds of men, the army
+seemed reassured and without any orders suddenly began again to flow
+forward. By this time, in the light that streamed out of all the Winter
+Palace windows, I could see that the first two or three hundred men
+were Red Guards, with only a few scattered soldiers. Over the barricade
+of firewood we clambered, and leaping down inside gave a triumphant
+shout as we stumbled on a heap of rifles thrown down by the _yunkers_
+who had stood there. On both sides of the main gateway the doors stood
+wide open, light streamed out, and from the huge pile came not the
+slightest sound.
+
+Carried along by the eager wave of men we were swept into the right
+hand entrance, opening into a great bare vaulted room, the cellar of
+the East wing, from which issued a maze of corridors and stair-cases. A
+number of huge packing cases stood about, and upon these the Red Guards
+and soldiers fell furiously, battering them open with the butts of
+their rifles, and pulling out carpets, curtains, linen, porcelain
+plates, glassware…. One man went strutting around with a bronze clock
+perched on his shoulder; another found a plume of ostrich feathers,
+which he stuck in his hat. The looting was just beginning when somebody
+cried, “Comrades! Don’t touch anything! Don’t take anything! This is
+the property of the People!” Immediately twenty voices were crying,
+“Stop! Put everything back! Don’t take anything! Property of the
+People!” Many hands dragged the spoilers down. Damask and tapestry were
+snatched from the arms of those who had them; two men took away the
+bronze clock. Roughly and hastily the things were crammed back in their
+cases, and self-appointed sentinels stood guard. It was all utterly
+spontaneous. Through corridors and up stair-cases the cry could be
+heard growing fainter and fainter in the distance, “Revolutionary
+discipline! Property of the People….”
+
+We crossed back over to the left entrance, in the West wing. There
+order was also being established. “Clear the Palace!” bawled a Red
+Guard, sticking his head through an inner door. “Come, comrades, let’s
+show that we’re not thieves and bandits. Everybody out of the Palace
+except the Commissars, until we get sentries posted.”
+
+Two Red Guards, a soldier and an officer, stood with revolvers in their
+hands. Another soldier sat at a table behind them, with pen and paper.
+Shouts of “All out! All out!” were heard far and near within, and the
+Army began to pour through the door, jostling, expostulating, arguing.
+As each man appeared he was seized by the self-appointed committee, who
+went through his pockets and looked under his coat. Everything that was
+plainly not his property was taken away, the man at the table noted it
+on his paper, and it was carried into a little room. The most amazing
+assortment of objects were thus confiscated; statuettes, bottles of
+ink, bed-spreads worked with the Imperial monogram, candles, a small
+oil-painting, desk blotters, gold-handled swords, cakes of soap,
+clothes of every description, blankets. One Red Guard carried three
+rifles, two of which he had taken away from _yunkers;_ another had four
+portfolios bulging with written documents. The culprits either sullenly
+surrendered or pleaded like children. All talking at once the committee
+explained that stealing was not worthy of the people’s champions; often
+those who had been caught turned around and began to help go through
+the rest of the comrades. (See App. IV, Sect. 3)
+
+_Yunkers_ came out, in bunches of three or four. The committee seized
+upon them with an excess of zeal, accompanying the search with remarks
+like, “Ah, Provocators! Kornilovists! Counter-revolutionists! Murderers
+of the People!” But there was no violence done, although the _yunkers_
+were terrified. They too had their pockets full of small plunder. It
+was carefully noted down by the scribe, and piled in the little room….
+The _yunkers_ were disarmed. “Now, will you take up arms against the
+People any more?” demanded clamouring voices.
+
+“No,” answered the _yunkers,_ one by one. Whereupon they were allowed
+to go free.
+
+We asked if we might go inside. The committee was doubtful, but the big
+Red Guard answered firmly that it was forbidden. “Who are you anyway?”
+he asked. “How do I know that you are not all Kerenskys? (There were
+five of us, two women.)
+
+“_Pazhal’st’, touarishtchi!_ Way, Comrades!” A soldier and a Red Guard
+appeared in the door, waving the crowd aside, and other guards with
+fixed bayonets. After them followed single file half a dozen men in
+civilian dress—the members of the Provisional Government. First came
+Kishkin, his face drawn and pale, then Rutenberg, looking sullenly at
+the floor; Terestchenko was next, glancing sharply around; he stared at
+us with cold fixity…. They passed in silence; the victorious
+insurrectionists crowded to see, but there were only a few angry
+mutterings. It was only later that we learned how the people in the
+street wanted to lynch them, and shots were fired—but the sailors
+brought them safely to Peter-Paul….
+
+In the meanwhile unrebuked we walked into the Palace. There was still a
+great deal of coming and going, of exploring new-found apartments in
+the vast edifice, of searching for hidden garrisons of _yunkers_ which
+did not exist. We went upstairs and wandered through room after room.
+This part of the Palace had been entered also by other detachments from
+the side of the Neva. The paintings, statues, tapestries and rugs of
+the great state apartments were unharmed; in the offices, however,
+every desk and cabinet had been ransacked, the papers scattered over
+the floor, and in the living rooms beds had been stripped of their
+coverings and ward-robes wrenched open. The most highly prized loot was
+clothing, which the working people needed. In a room where furniture
+was stored we came upon two soldiers ripping the elaborate Spanish
+leather upholstery from chairs. They explained it was to make boots
+with….
+
+The old Palace servants in their blue and red and gold uniforms stood
+nervously about, from force of habit repeating, “You can’t go in there,
+_barin!_ It is forbidden—” We penetrated at length to the gold and
+malachite chamber with crimson brocade hangings where the Ministers had
+been in session all that day and night, and where the _shveitzari_ had
+betrayed them to the Red Guards. The long table covered with green
+baize was just as they had left it, under arrest. Before each empty
+seat was pen and ink and paper; the papers were scribbled over with
+beginnings of plans of action, rough drafts of proclamations and
+manifestos. Most of these were scratched out, as their futility became
+evident, and the rest of the sheet covered with absent-minded
+geometrical designs, as the writers sat despondently listening while
+Minister after Minister proposed chimerical schemes. I took one of
+these scribbled pages, in the hand writing of Konovalov, which read,
+“The Provisional Government appeals to all classes to support the
+Provisional Government—”
+
+All this time, it must be remembered, although the Winter Palace was
+surrounded, the Government was in constant communication with the Front
+and with provincial Russia. The Bolsheviki had captured the Ministry of
+War early in the morning, but they did not know of the military
+telegraph office in the attic, nor of the private telephone line
+connecting it with the Winter Palace. In that attic a young officer sat
+all day, pouring out over the country a flood of appeals and
+proclamations; and when he heard that the Palace had fallen, put on his
+hat and walked calmly out of the building….
+
+Interested as we were, for a considerable time we didn’t notice a
+change in the attitude of the soldiers and Red Guards around us. As we
+strolled from room to room a small group followed us, until by the time
+we reached the great picture-gallery where we had spent the afternoon
+with the _yunkers,_ about a hundred men surged in after us. One giant
+of a soldier stood in our path, his face dark with sullen suspicion.
+
+[Graphic, page 104: Doodling by Konavalov, title follows]
+
+Facsimile of the beginning of a proclamation, written in pencil by A.I.
+Konovalov, Minister of Commerce and Industry in he Provisional
+Government, and then scratched out as the hopelessness of the situation
+became more and more evident. The geometrical figure beneath was
+probably idly drawn while the Ministers were waiting for the end.
+
+“Who are you?” he growled. “What are you doing here?” The others massed
+slowly around, staring and beginning to mutter. _“Provocatori!”_ I
+heard somebody say. “Looters!” I produced our passes from the Military
+Revolutionary Committee. The soldier took them gingerly, turned them
+upside down and looked at them without comprehension. Evidently he
+could not read. He handed them back and spat on the floor. _“Bumagi!_
+Papers!” said he with contempt. The mass slowly began to close in, like
+wild cattle around a cowpuncher on foot. Over their heads I caught
+sight of an officer, looking helpless, and shouted to him. He made for
+us, shouldering his way through.
+
+“I’m the Commissar,” he said to me. “Who are you? What is it?” The
+others held back, waiting. I produced the papers.
+
+“You are foreigners?” he rapidly asked in French. “It is very
+dangerous….” Then he turned to the mob, holding up our documents.
+“Comrades!” he cried. “These people are foreign comrades—from America.
+They have come here to be able to tell their countrymen about the
+bravery and the revolutionary discipline of the proletarian army!”
+
+“How do you know that?” replied the big soldier. “I tell you they are
+provocators! They say they came here to observe the revolutionary
+discipline of the proletarian army, but they have been wandering freely
+through the Palace, and how do we know they haven’t got their pockets
+full of loot?”
+
+_“Pravilno!”_ snarled the others, pressing forward.
+
+“Comrades! Comrades!” appealed the officer, sweat standing out on his
+forehead. “I am Commissar of the Military Revolutionary Committee. Do
+you trust me? Well, I tell you that these passes are signed with the
+same names that are signed to my pass!”
+
+He led us down through the Palace and out through a door opening onto
+the Neva quay, before which stood the usual committee going through
+pockets… “You have narrowly escaped,” he kept muttering, wiping his
+face.
+
+“What happened to the Women’s Battalion?” we asked.
+
+“Oh—the women!” He laughed. “They were all huddled up in a back room.
+We had a terrible time deciding what to do with them—many were in
+hysterics, and so on. So finally we marched them up to the Finland
+Station and put them on a train for Levashovo, where they have a camp.
+(See App. IV, Sect. 4)….”
+
+We came out into the cold, nervous night, murmurous with obscure armies
+on the move, electric with patrols. From across the river, where loomed
+the darker mass of Peter-Paul, came a hoarse shout…. Underfoot the
+sidewalk was littered with broken stucco, from the cornice of the
+Palace where two shells from the battleship _Avrora_ had struck; that
+was the only damage done by the bombardment….
+
+It was now after three in the morning. On the Nevsky all the
+street-lights were again shining, the cannon gone, and the only signs
+of war were Red Guards and soldiers squatting around fires. The city
+was quiet—probably never so quiet in its history; on that night not a
+single hold-up occurred, not a single robbery.
+
+But the City Duma Building was all illuminated. We mounted to the
+galleried Alexander Hall, hung with its great, gold-framed,
+red-shrouded Imperial portraits. About a hundred people were grouped
+around the platform, where Skobeliev was speaking. He urged that the
+Committee of Public Safety be expanded, so as to unite all the
+anti-Bolshevik elements in one huge organisation, to be called the
+Committee for Salvation of Country and Revolution. And as we looked on,
+the Committee for Salvation was formed—that Committee which was to
+develop into the most powerful enemy of the Bolsheviki, appearing, in
+the next week, sometimes under its own partisan name, and sometimes as
+the strictly non-partisan Committee of Public Safety….
+
+Dan, Gotz, Avkesntiev were there, some of the insurgent Soviet
+delegates, members of the Executive Committee of the Peasants’ Soviets,
+old Prokopovitch, and even members of the Council of the Republic—among
+whom Vinaver and other Cadets. Lieber cried that the convention of
+Soviets was not a legal convention, that the old _Tsay-ee-kah_ was
+still in office…. An appeal to the country was drafted.
+
+We hailed a cab. “Where to?” But when we said “Smolny,” the
+_izvoshtchik_ shook his head. _“Niet!”_ said he, “there are devils….”
+It was only after weary wandering that we found a driver willing to
+take us—and he wanted thirty rubles, and stopped two blocks away.
+
+The windows of Smolny were still ablaze, motors came and went, and
+around the still-leaping fires the sentries huddled close, eagerly
+asking everybody the latest news. The corridors were full of hurrying
+men, hollow-eyed and dirty. In some of the committee-rooms people lay
+sleeping on the floor, their guns beside them. In spite of the seceding
+delegates, the hall of meetings was crowded with people, roaring like
+the sea. As we came in, Kameniev was reading the list of arrested
+Ministers. The name of Terestchenko was greeted with thunderous
+applause, shouts of satisfaction, laughter; Rutenburg came in for less;
+and at the mention of Paltchinsky, a storm of hoots, angry cries,
+cheers burst forth…. It was announced that Tchudnovsky had been
+appointed Commissar of the Winter Palace.
+
+Now occurred a dramatic interruption. A big peasant, his bearded face
+convulsed with rage, mounted the platform and pounded with his fist on
+the presidium table.
+
+“We, Socialist Revolutionaries, insist upon the immediate release of
+the Socialist Ministers arrested in the Winter Palace! Comrades! Do you
+know that four comrades who risked their lives and their freedom
+fighting against tyranny of the Tsar, have been flung into Peter-Paul
+prison—the historical tomb of Liberty?” In the uproar he pounded and
+yelled. Another delegate climbed up beside him, and pointed at the
+presidium.
+
+“Are the representatives of the revolutionary masses going to sit
+quietly here while the _Okhrana_ of the Bolsheviki tortures their
+leaders?”
+
+Trotzky was gesturing for silence. “These ‘comrades’ who are now caught
+plotting the crushing of the Soviets with the adventurer Kerensky—is
+there any reason to handle them with gloves? After July 16th and 18th
+they didn’t use much ceremony with us!” With a triumphant ring in his
+voice he cried, “Now that the _oborontsi_ and the faint-hearted have
+gone, and the whole task of defending and saving the Revolution rests
+on our shoulders, it is particularly necessary to work—work—work! We
+have decided to die rather than give up!”
+
+Followed him a Commissar from Tsarskoye Selo, panting and covered with
+the mud of his ride. “The garrison of Tsarskoye Selo is on guard at the
+gates of Petrograd, ready to defend the Soviets and the Military
+Revolutionary Committee!” Wild cheers. “The Cycle Corps sent from the
+front has arrived at Tsarskoye, and the soldiers are now with us; they
+recognise the power of the Soviets, the necessity of immediate transfer
+of land to the peasants and industrial control to the workers. The
+Fifth Battalion of Cyclists, stationed at Tsarskoye, is ours….”
+
+Then the delegate of the Third Cycle Battalion. In the midst of
+delirious enthusiasm he told how the cycle corps had been ordered
+_three days before_ from the South-west front to the “defence of
+Petrograd.” They suspected, however, the meaning of the order; and at
+the station of Peredolsk were met by representatives of the Fifth
+Battalion from Tsarskoye. A joint meeting was held, and it was
+discovered that “among the cyclists not a single man was found willing
+to shed the blood of his brothers, or to support a Government of
+bourgeois and land-owners!”
+
+Kapelinski, for the Mensheviki Internationalists, proposed to elect a
+special committee to find a peaceful solution to the civil war. “There
+isn’t any peaceful solution!” bellowed the crowed. “Victory is the only
+solution!” The vote was overwhelmingly against, and the Mensheviki
+Internationalists left the Congress in a Whirlwind of Jocular insults.
+There was no longer any panic fear…. Kameniev from the platform shouted
+after them, “The Mensheviki Internationalists claimed ‘emergency’ for
+the question of a ‘peaceful solution,’ but they always voted for
+suspension of the order of the day in favour of declarations of
+factions which wanted to leave the Congress. It is evident,” finished
+Kameniev, “that the withdrawal of all these renegades was decided upon
+beforehand!”
+
+The assembly decided to ignore the withdrawal of the factions, and
+proceed to the appeal to the workers, soldiers and peasants of all
+Russia:
+
+TO WORKERS, SOLDIERS AND PEASANTS
+
+
+The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’
+Deputies has opened. It represents the great majority of the Soviets.
+There are also a number of Peasant deputies. Based upon the will of the
+great majority of the workers’, soldiers and peasants, based upon the
+triumphant uprising of the Petrograd workmen and soldiers, the Congress
+assumes the Power.
+
+The Provisional Government is deposed. Most of the members of the
+Provisional Government are already arrested.
+
+The Soviet authority will at once propose an immediate democratic peace
+to all nations, and an immediate truce on all fronts. It will assure
+the free transfer of landlord, crown and monastery lands to the Land
+Committees, defend the soldiers rights, enforcing a complete
+democratisation of the Army, establish workers’ control over
+production, ensure the convocation of the Constituent Assembly at the
+proper date, take means to supply bread to the cities and articles of
+first necessity to the villages, and secure to all nationalities living
+in Russia a real right to independent existence.
+
+The Congress resolves: that all local power shall be transferred to the
+Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies, which must
+enforce revolutionary order.
+
+The Congress calls upon the soldiers in the trenches to be watchful and
+steadfast. The Congress of Soviets is sure that the revolutionary Army
+will know how to defend the Revolution against all attacks of
+Imperialism, until the new Government shall have brought about the
+conclusion of the democratic peace which it will directly propose to
+all nations. The new Government will take all necessary steps to secure
+everything needful to the revolutionary Army, by means of a determined
+policy of requisition and taxation of the propertied classes, and also
+to improve the situation of soldiers’ families.
+
+The Kornilovitz-Kerensky, Kaledin and others, are endeavouring to lead
+troops against Petrograd. Several regiments, deceived by Kerensky, have
+sided with the insurgent People.
+
+Soldiers! Make active resistance to the Kornilovitz-Kerensky! Be on
+guard!
+
+Railway men! Stop all troop-trains being sent by Kerensky against
+Petrograd!
+
+Soldiers, Workers, Clerical employees! The destiny of the Revolution
+and democratic peace is in your hands!
+
+Long live the Revolution!
+
+_The All-Russian Congress of Soviets of_ _Workers’ and Soldiers’
+Deputies._ _Delegates from the Peasants’ Soviets._
+
+It was exactly 5:17 A.M. when Krylenko, staggering with fatigue,
+climbed to the tribune with a telegram in his hand.
+
+“Comrades! From the Northern Front. The Twelfth Army sends greetings to
+the Congress of Soviets, announcing the formation of a Military
+Revolutionary Committee which has taken over the command of the
+Northern Front!” Pandemonium, men weeping, embracing each other.
+“General Tchermissov has recognised the Committee-Commissar of the
+Provisional Government Voitinsky has resigned!”
+
+So. Lenin and the Petrograd workers had decided on insurrection, the
+Petrograd Soviet had overthrown the Provisional Government, and thrust
+the _coup d’etat_ upon the Congress of Soviets. Now there was all great
+Russia to win—and then the world! Would Russia follow and rise? And the
+world—what of it? Would the peoples answer and rise, a red world-tide?
+
+Although it was six in the morning, night was yet heavy and chill.
+There was only a faint unearthly pallor stealing over the silent
+streets, dimming the watch-fires, the shadow of a terrible dawn
+grey-rising over Russia….
+
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+Plunging Ahead
+
+
+Thursday, November 8th. Day broke on a city in the wildest excitement
+and confusion, a whole nation heaving up in long hissing swells of
+storm. Superficially all was quiet; hundreds of thousands of people
+retired at a prudent hour, got up early, and went to work. In Petrograd
+the street-cars were running, the stores and restaurants open, theatres
+going, an exhibition of paintings advertised…. All the complex routine
+of common life—humdrum even in war-time—proceeded as usual. Nothing is
+so astounding as the vitality of the social organism—how it persists,
+feeding itself, clothing itself, amusing itself, in the face of the
+worst calamities….
+
+The air was full of rumours about Kerensky, who was said to have raised
+the Front, and to be leading a great army against the capital. _Volia
+Naroda_ published a _prikaz_ launched by him at Pskov:
+
+The disorders caused by the insane attempt of the Bolsheviki place the
+country on the verge of a precipice, and demand the effort of our
+entire will, our courage and the devotion of every one of us, to win
+through the terrible trial which the fatherland is undergoing….
+
+Until the declaration of the composition of the new Government—if one
+is formed—every one ought to remain at his post and fulfil his duty
+toward bleeding Russia. It must be remembered that the least
+interference with existing Army organisations can bring on irreparable
+misfortunes, by opening the Front to the enemy. Therefore it is
+indispensable to preserve at any price the morale of the troops, by
+assuring complete order and the preservation of the Army from new
+shocks, and by maintaining absolute confidence between officers and
+their subordinates. I order all the chiefs and Commissars, in the name
+of the safety of the country, to stay at their posts, as I myself
+retain the post of Supreme Commander, until the Provisional Government
+of the Republic shall declare its will….
+
+In answer, this placard on all the walls:
+
+FROM THE ALL-RUSSIAN CONGRESS OF SOVIETS
+
+
+“The ex-Ministers Konovalov, Kishkin, Terestchenko, Maliantovitch,
+Nikitin and others have been arrested by the Military Revolutionary
+Committee. Kerensky has fled. All Army organisations are ordered to
+take every measure for the immediate arrest of Kerensky and his
+conveyance to Petrograd.
+
+“All assistance given to Kerensky will be punished as a serious crime
+against the state.”
+
+With brakes released the Military Revolutionary Committee whirled,
+throwing off orders, appeals, decrees, like sparks. (See App. V, Sect.
+1)… Kornilov was ordered brought to Petrograd. Members of the Peasant
+Land Committees imprisoned by the Provisional Government were declared
+free. Capital punishment in the army was abolished. Government
+employees were ordered to continue their work, and threatened with
+severe penalties if they refused. All pillage, disorder and speculation
+were forbidden under pain of death. Temporary Commissars were appointed
+to the various Ministries: Foreign Affairs, Vuritsky and Trotzky;
+Interior and Justice, Rykov; Labor, Shliapnikov; Finance, Menzhinsky;
+Public Welfare, Madame Kollontai; Commerce, Ways and Communications,
+Riazanov; Navy, the sailor Korbir; Posts and Telegraphs, Spiro;
+Theatres, Muraviov; State Printing Office, Gherbychev; for the City of
+Petrograd, Lieutenant Nesterov; for the Northern Front, Pozern….
+
+To the Army, appeal to set up Military Revolutionary Committees. To the
+railway workers, to maintain order, especially not to delay the
+transport of food to the cities and the front…. In return, they were
+promised representation in the Ministry of Ways and Communications.
+
+Cossack brothers! (said one proclamation). You are being led against
+Petrograd. They want to force you into battle with the revolutionary
+workers and soldiers of the capital. Do not believe a word that is said
+by our common enemies, the land-owners and the capitalists.
+
+At our Congress are represented all the conscious organisations of
+workers, soldiers and peasants of Russia. The Congress wishes also to
+welcome into its midst the worker-Cossacks. The Generals of the Black
+Band, henchmen of the land-owners, of Nicolai the Cruel, are our
+enemies.
+
+They tell you that the Soviets wish to confiscate the lands of the
+Cossacks. This is a lie. It is only from the great Cossack landlords
+that the Revolution will confiscate the land to give it to the people.
+
+Organise Soviets of Cossacks’ Deputies! Join with the Soviets of
+Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies!
+
+Show the Black Band that you are not traitors to the People, and that
+you do not wish to be cursed by the whole of revolutionary Russia!…
+
+Cossack brothers, execute no orders of the enemies of the people. Send
+your delegates to Petrograd to talk it over with us…. The Cossacks of
+the Petrograd garrison, to their honour, have not justified the hope of
+the People’s enemies….
+
+Cossack brothers! The All-Russian Congress of Soviets extends to you a
+fraternal hand. Long live the brotherhood of the Cossacks with the
+soldiers, workers and peasants of all Russia!
+
+On the other side, what a storm of proclamations posted up, hand-bills
+scattered everywhere, newspapers—screaming and cursing and prophesying
+evil. Now raged the battle of the printing press—all other weapons
+being in the hands of the Soviets.
+
+First, the appeal of the Committee for Salvation of Country and
+Revolution, flung broadcast over Russia and Europe:
+
+TO THE CITIZENS OF THE RUSSIAN REPUBLIC!
+
+
+Contrary to the will of the revolutionary masses, on November 7th the
+Bolsheviki of Petrograd criminally arrested part of the Provisional
+Government, dispersed the Council of the Republic, and proclaimed an
+illegal power. Such violence committed against the Government of
+revolutionary Russia at the moment of its greatest external danger, is
+an indescribable crime against the fatherland.
+
+The insurrection of the Bolsheviki deals a mortal blow to the cause of
+national defence, and postpones immeasurably the moment of peace so
+greatly desired.
+
+Civil war, begun by the Bolsheviki, threatens to deliver the country to
+the horrors of anarchy and counter-revolution, and cause the failure of
+the Constituent Assembly, which must affirm the republican régime and
+transmit to the People forever their right to the land.
+
+Preserving the continuity of the only legal Governmental power, the
+Committee for Salvation of Country and Revolution, established on the
+night of November 7th, takes the initiative in forming a new
+Provisional Government; which, basing itself on the forces of
+democracy, will conduct the country to the Constituent Assembly and
+save it from anarchy and counter-revolution. The Committee for
+Salvation summons you, citizens, to refuse to recognise the power of
+violence. Do not obey its orders!
+
+Rise for the defence of the country and Revolution!
+
+Support the Committee for Salvation!
+
+Signed by the Council of the Russian Republic, the Municipal Duma of
+Petrograd, the _Tsay-ee-kah (First Congress),_ the Executive Committee
+of the Peasants’ Soviets, and from the Congress itself the Front group,
+the factions of Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviki, Populist
+Socialists, Unified Social Democrats, and the group “Yedinstvo.”
+
+Then posters from the Socialist Revolutionary party, the Mensheviki
+_oborontsi,_ Peasants’ Soviets again; from the Central Army Committee,
+the _Tsentroflot_….
+
+… Famine will crush Petrograd! (they cried). The German armies will
+trample on our liberty. Black Hundred _pogroms_ will spread over
+Russia, if we all—conscious workers, soldiers, citizens—do not unite….
+
+Do not trust the promises of the Bolsheviki! The promise of immediate
+peace—is a lie! The promise of bread—a hoax! The promise of land—a
+fairy tale!…
+
+They were all in this manner.
+
+Comrades! You have been basely and cruelly deceived! The seizure of
+power has been accomplished by the Bolsheviki alone…. They concealed
+their plot from the other Socialist parties composing the Soviet….
+
+You have been promised land and freedom, but the counter-revolution
+will profit by the anarchy called forth by the Bolsheviki, and will
+deprive you of land and freedom….
+
+The newspapers were as violent.
+
+Our duty (said the _Dielo Naroda_) is to unmask these traitors to the
+working-class. Our duty is to mobilise all our forces and mount guard
+over the cause of the Revolution!…
+
+_Izviestia,_ for the last time speaking in the name of the old
+_Tsay-ee-kah,_ threatened awful retribution.
+
+As for the Congress of Soviets, we affirm that there has been no
+Congress of Soviets! We affirm that it was merely a private conference
+of the Bolshevik faction! And in that case, they have no right to
+cancel the powers of the _Tsay-ee-kah_….
+
+_Novaya Zhizn,_ while pleading for a new Government that should unite
+all the Socialist parties, criticised severely the action of the
+Socialist Revolutionaries and the Mensheviki in quitting the Congress,
+and pointed out that the Bolshevik insurrection meant one thing very
+clearly: that all illusions about coalition with the bourgeoisie were
+henceforth demonstrated vain…
+
+_Rabotchi Put_ blossomed out as _Pravda,_ Lenin’s newspaper which had
+been suppressed in July. It crowed, bristling:
+
+Workers, soldiers, peasants! In March you struck down the tyranny of
+the clique of nobles. Yesterday you struck down the tyranny of the
+bourgeois gang….
+
+The first task now is to guard the approaches to Petrograd.
+
+The second is definitely to disarm the counter-revolutionary elements
+of Petrograd.
+
+The third is definitely to organise the revolutionary power and assure
+the realisation of the popular programme…
+
+What few Cadet organs appeared, and the bourgeoisie generally, adopted
+a detached, ironical attitude toward the whole business, a sort of
+contemptuous “I—told—you—so” to the other parties. Influential Cadets
+were to be seen hovering around the Municipal Duma, and on the
+outskirts of the Committee for Salvation. Other than that, the
+bourgeoisie lay low, biding its hour—which could not far off. That the
+Bolsheviki would remain in power longer than three days never occurred
+to anybody—except perhaps to Lenin, Trotzky, the Petrograd workers and
+the simpler soldiers….
+
+In the high, amphitheatrical Nicolai Hall that afternoon I saw the Duma
+sitting in _permanence,_ tempestuous, grouping around it all the forces
+of opposition. The old Mayer, Schreider, majestic with his white hair
+and beard, was describing his visit to Smolny the night before, to
+protest in the name of the Municipal Self-Government. “The Duma, being
+the only existing legal Government in the city, elected by equal,
+direct and secret suffrage, would not recognise the new power,” he had
+told Trotzky. And Trotzky had answered, “There is a constitutional
+remedy for that. The Duma can be dissolved and re-elected….” At this
+report there was a furious outcry.
+
+“If one recognises a Government by bayonet,” continued the old man,
+addressing the Duma, “well, we have one; but I consider legitimate only
+a Government recognised by the majority, and not one created by the
+usurpation of a minority!” Wild applause on all benches except those of
+the Bolsheviki. Amid renewed tumult the Mayor announced that the
+Bolsheviki already were violating Municipal autonomy by appointing
+Commissars in many departments.
+
+The Bolshevik speaker shouted, trying to make himself heard, that the
+decision of the Congress of Soviets meant that all Russia backed up the
+action of the Bolsheviki.
+
+“You!” he cried. “You are not the real representative of the people of
+Petrograd!” Shrieks of “Insult! Insult!” The old Mayor, with dignity,
+reminded him that the Duma was elected by the freest possible popular
+vote. “Yes,” he answered, “but that was a long time ago—like the
+_Tsay-ee-kah_—like the Army Committee.”
+
+“There has been no new Congress of Soviets!” they yelled at him.
+
+“The Bolshevik faction refuses to remain any longer in this nest of
+counter-revolution—” Uproar. “—and we demand a re-election of the
+Duma….” Whereupon the Bolsheviki left the chamber, followed by cries of
+“German agents! Down with the traitors!”
+
+Shingariov, Cadet, then demanded that all Municipal functionaries who
+had consented to be Commissars of the Military Revolutionary Committee
+be discharged from their position and indicted. Schreider was on his
+feet, putting a motion to the effect that the Duma protested against
+the menace of the Bolsheviki to dissolve it, and as the legal
+representative of the population, it would refuse to leave its post.
+
+Outside, the Alexander Hall was crowded for the meeting of the
+Committee for Salvation, and Skobeliev was again speaking. “Never yet,”
+he said, “was the fate of the Revolution so acute, never yet did the
+question of the existence of the Russian state excite so much anxiety,
+never yet did history put so harshly and categorically the question—is
+Russia to be or not to be! The great hour for the salvation of the
+Revolution has arrived, and in consciousness thereof we observe the
+close union of the live forces of the revolutionary democracy, by whose
+organised will a centre for the salvation of the country and the
+Revolution has already been created….” And much of the same sort. “We
+shall die sooner than surrender our post!”
+
+Amid violent applause it was announced that the Union of Railway
+Workers had joined the Committee for Salvation. A few moments later the
+Post and Telegraph Employees came in; then some Mensheviki
+Internationalists entered the hall, to cheers. The Railway men said
+they did not recognise the Bolsheviki and had taken the entire railroad
+apparatus into their own hands, refusing to entrust it to any
+usurpatory power. The Telegraphers’ delegate declared that the
+operators had flatly refused to work their instruments as long as the
+Bolshevik Commissar was in the office. The Postmen would not deliver or
+accept mail at Smolny…. All the Smolny telephones were cut off. With
+great glee it was reported how Uritzky had gone to the Ministry of
+Foreign Affairs to demand the secret treaties, and how Neratov had put
+him out. The Government employees were all stopping work….
+
+It was war—war deliberately planned, Russian fashion; war by strike and
+sabotage. As we sat there the chairman read a list of names and
+assignments; so-and-so was to make the round of the Ministries; another
+was to visit the banks; some ten or twelve were to work the barracks
+and persuade the soldiers to remain neutral—“Russian soldiers, do not
+shed the blood of your brothers!”; a committee was to go and confer
+with Kerensky; still others were despatched to provincial cities, to
+form branches of the Committee for Salvation, and link together the
+anti-Bolshevik elements.
+
+The crowd was in high spirits. “These Bolsheviki _will_ try to dictate
+to the _intelligentzia?_ We’ll show them!”… Nothing could be more
+striking than the contrast between this assemblage and the Congress of
+Soviets. There, great masses of shabby soldiers, grimy workmen,
+peasants—poor men, bent and scarred in the brute struggle for
+existence; here the Menshevik and Social Revolutionary
+leaders—Avksentievs, Dans, Liebers,—the former Socialist
+Ministers—Skobelievs, Tchernovs,—rubbed shoulders with Cadets like oily
+Shatsky, sleek Vinaver; with journalists, students, intellectuals of
+almost all camps. This Duma crowd was well-fed, well-dressed; I did not
+see more than three proletarians among them all….
+
+News came. Kornilov’s faithful _Tekhintsi_[14] had slaughtered his
+guards at Bykhov, and he had escaped. Kaledin was marching north…. The
+Soviet of Moscow had set up a Military Revolutionary Committee, and was
+negotiating with the commandant of the city for possession of the
+arsenal, so that the workers might be armed.
+
+[14] See Notes and Explanations.
+
+With these facts was mixed an astounding jumble of rumours,
+distortions, and plain lies. For instance, an intelligent young Cadet,
+formerly private secretary to Miliukov and then to Terestchenko, drew
+us aside and told us all about the taking of the Winter Palace.
+
+“The Bolsheviki were led by German and Austrian officers,” he affirmed.
+
+“Is that so?” we replied, politely. “How do you know?”
+
+“A friend of mine was there and saw them.”
+
+“How could he tell they were German officers?”
+
+“Oh, because they wore German uniforms!”
+
+There were hundreds of such absurd tales, and they were not only
+solemnly published by the anti-Bolshevik press, but believed by the
+most unlikely persons—Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviki who had
+always been distinguished by their sober devotion to facts….
+
+But more serious were the stories of Bolshevik violence and terrorism.
+For example, it was said printed that the Red Guards had not only
+thoroughly looted the Winter Palace, but that they had massacred the
+_yunkers_ after disarming them, had killed some of the Ministers in
+cold blood; and as for the woman soldiers, most of them had been
+violated, and many had committed suicide because of the tortures they
+had gone through…. All these stories were swallowed whole by the crowd
+in the Duma. And worse still, the mothers and fathers of the students
+and of the women read these frightful details, _often accompanied by
+lists of names,_ and toward nightfall the Duma began to be besieged by
+frantic citizens….
+
+A typical case is that of Prince Tumanov, whose body, it was announced
+in many newspapers, had been found floating in the Moika Canal. A few
+hours later this was denied by the Prince’s family, who added that the
+Prince was under arrest so the press identified the dead man as General
+Demissov. The General having also come to life, we investigated, and
+could find no trace of any body found whatever….
+
+As we left the Duma building two boy scouts were distributing
+hand-bills (See App. V, Sect. 2) to the enormous crowd which blocked
+the Nevsky in front of the door—a crowd composed almost entirely of
+business men, shop-keepers, _tchinouniki,_ clerks. One read!
+
+FROM THE MUNICIPAL DUMA
+
+
+The Municipal Duma in its meeting of October 26th, in view of the
+events of the day decrees: To announce the inviolability of private
+dwellings. Through the House Committees it calls upon the population of
+the town of Petrograd to meet with decisive repulse all attempts to
+enter by force private apartments, not stopping at the use of arms, in
+the interests of the self-defence of citizens.
+
+Up on the corner of the Liteiny, five or six Red Guards and a couple of
+sailors had surrounded a news-dealer and were demanding that he hand
+over his copies of the Menshevik _Rabot-chaya Gazeta_ (Workers’
+Gazette). Angrily he shouted at them, shaking his fist, as one of the
+sailors tore the papers from his stand. An ugly crowd had gathered
+around, abusing the patrol. One little workman kept explaining doggedly
+to the people and the news-dealer, over and over again, “It has
+Kerensky’s proclamation in it. It says we killed Russian people. It
+will make bloodshed….”
+
+Smolny was tenser than ever, if that were possible. The same running
+men in the dark corridors, squads of workers with rifles, leaders with
+bulging portfolios arguing, explaining, giving orders as they hurried
+anxiously along, surrounded by friends and lieutenants. Men literally
+out of themselves, living prodigies of sleeplessness and work-men
+unshaven, filthy, with burning eyes, who drove upon their fixed purpose
+full speed on engines of exaltation. So much they had to do, so much!
+Take over the Government, organise the City, keep the garrison loyal,
+fight the Duma and the Committee for Salvation, keep out the Germans,
+prepare to do battle with Kerensky, inform the provinces what had
+happened, Propagandise from Archangel to Vladivostok…. Government and
+Municipal employees refusing to obey their Commissars, post and
+telegraph refusing them communication, railroads stonily ignoring their
+appeals for trains, Kerensky coming, the garrison not altogether to be
+trusted, the Cossacks waiting to come out…. Against them not only the
+organised bourgeoisie, but all the other Socialist parties except the
+Left Socialist Revolutionaries, a few Mensheviki Internationalists and
+the Social Democrat Internationalists, and even they undecided whether
+to stand by or not. With them, it is true, the workers and the
+soldier-masses—the peasants an unknown quantity—but after all the
+Bolsheviki were a political faction not rich in trained and educated
+men….
+
+Riazanov was coming up the front steps, explaining in a sort of
+humorous panic that he, Commissar of Commerce, knew nothing whatever of
+business. In the upstairs cafe sat a man all by himself in the corner,
+in a goat-skin cape and clothes which had been—I was going to say
+“slept in,” but of course he hadn’t slept—and a three days’ growth of
+beard. He was anxiously figuring on a dirty envelope, and biting his
+pencil meanwhile. This was Menzhinsky, Commissar of Finance, whose
+qualifications were that he had once been clerk in a French bank…. And
+these four half-running down the hall from the office of the Military
+Revolutionary Committee, and scribbling on bits of paper as they
+run—these were Commissars despatched to the four corners of Russia to
+carry the news, argue, or fight—with whatever arguments or weapons came
+to hand….
+
+The Congress was to meet at one o’clock, and long since the great
+meeting-hall had filled, but by seven there was yet no sign of the
+presidium…. The Bolshevik and Left Social Revolutionary factions were
+in session in their own rooms. All the livelong afternoon Lenin and
+Trotzky had fought against compromise. A considerable part of the
+Bolsheviki were in favour of giving way so far as to create a joint
+all-Socialist government. “We can’t hold on!” they cried.
+
+“Too much is against us. We haven’t got the men. We will be isolated,
+and the whole thing will fall.” So Kameniev, Riazanov and others.
+
+But Lenin, with Trotzky beside him, stood firm as a rock. “Let the
+compromisers accept our programme and they can come in! We won’t give
+way an inch. If there are comrades here who haven’t the courage and the
+will to dare what we dare, let them leave with the rest of the cowards
+and conciliators! Backed by the workers and soldiers we shall go on.”
+
+At five minutes past seven came word from the left Socialist
+Revolutionaries to say that they would remain in the Military
+Revolutionary Committee.
+
+“See!” said Lenin. “They are following!”
+
+A little later, as we sat at the press table in the big hall, an
+Anarchist who was writing for the bourgeois papers proposed to me that
+we go and find out what had become of the presidium. There was nobody
+in the _Tsay-ee-kah_ office, nor in the bureau of the Petrograd Soviet.
+From room to room we wandered, through vast Smolny. Nobody seemed to
+have the slightest idea where to find the governing body of the
+Congress. As we went my companion described his ancient revolutionary
+activities, his long and pleasant exile in France…. As for the
+Bolsheviki, he confided to me that they were common, rude, ignorant
+persons, without aesthetic sensibilities. He was a real specimen of the
+Russian _intelligentzia_…. So he came at last to Room 17, office of the
+Military Revolutionary Committee, and stood there in the midst of all
+the furious coming and going. The door opened, and out shot a squat,
+flat-faced man in a uniform without insignia, who seemed to be
+smiling—which smile, after a minute, one saw to be the fixed grin of
+extreme fatigue. It was Krylenko.
+
+My friend, who was a dapper, civilized-looking young man, gave a cry of
+pleasure and stepped forward.
+
+“Nicolai Vasilievitch!” he said, holding out his hand. “Don’t you
+remember me, comrade? We were in prison together.”
+
+Krylenko made an effort and concentrated his mind and sight. “Why yes,”
+he answered finally, looking the other up and down with an expression
+of great friendliness. “You are S—. _Zdra’stvuitye!_” They kissed.
+“What are you doing in all this?” He waved his arm around.
+
+“Oh, I’am just looking on…. You seem very successful.”
+
+“Yes,” replied Krylenko, with a sort of doggedness, “The proletarian
+Revolution is a great success.” He laughed. “Perhaps—perhaps, however,
+we’ll meet in prison again!”
+
+When we got out into the corridor again my friend went on with his
+explanations. “You see, I’m a follower of Kropotkin. To us the
+Revolution is a great failure; it has not aroused the patriotism of the
+masses. Of course that only proves that the people are not ready for
+Revolution….”
+
+It was just 8.40 when a thundering wave of cheers announced the
+entrance of the presidium, with Lenin—great Lenin—among them. A short,
+stocky figure, with a big head set down in his shoulders, bald and
+bulging. Little eyes, a snubbish nose, wide, generous mouth, and heavy
+chin; clean-shaven now, but already beginning to bristle with the
+well-known beard of his past and future. Dressed in shabby clothes, his
+trousers much too long for him. Unimpressive, to be the idol of a mob,
+loved and revered as perhaps few leaders in history have been. A
+strange popular leader—a leader purely by virtue of intellect;
+colourless, humourless, uncompromising and detached, without
+picturesque idiosyncrasies—but with the power of explaining profound
+ideas in simple terms, of analysing a concrete situation. And combined
+with shrewdness, the greatest intellectual audacity.
+
+Kameniev was reading the report of the actions of the Military
+Revolutionary Committee; abolition of capital punishment in the Army,
+restoration of the free right of propaganda, release of officers and
+soldiers arrested for political crimes, orders to arrest Kerensky and
+confiscation of food supplies in private store-houses…. Tremendous
+applause.
+
+Again the representative of the _Bund._ The uncompromising attitude of
+the Bolsheviki would mean the crushing of the Revolution; therefore,
+the _Bund_ delegates must refuse any longer to sit in the Congress.
+Cries from the audience, “We thought you walked out last night! How
+many times are you going to walk out?”
+
+Then the representative of the Mensheviki Internationalists. Shouts,
+“What! You here still?” The speaker explained that only part of the
+Mensheviki Internationalists left the Congress; the rest were going
+to stay—
+
+“We consider it dangerous and perhaps even mortal for the Revolution to
+transfer the power to the Soviets”—Interruptions—“but we feel it our
+duty to remain in the Congress and vote against the transfer here!”
+
+Other speakers followed, apparently without any order. A delegate of
+the coal-miners of the Don Basin called upon the Congress to take
+measures against Kaledin, who might cut off coal and food from the
+capital. Several soldiers just arrived from the Front brought the
+enthusiastic greetings of their regiments…. Now Lenin, gripping the
+edge of the reading stand, letting his little winking eyes travel over
+the crowd as he stood there waiting, apparently oblivious to the
+long-rolling ovation, which lasted several minutes. When it finished,
+he said simply, “We shall now proceed to construct the Socialist
+order!” Again that overwhelming human roar.
+
+“The first thing is the adoption of practical measures to realise
+peace…. We shall offer peace to the peoples of all the belligerent
+countries upon the basis of the Soviet terms—no annexations, no
+indemnities, and the right of self-determination of peoples. At the
+same time, according to our promise, we shall publish and repudiate the
+secret treaties…. The question of War and Peace is so clear that I
+think that I may, without preamble, read the project of a Proclamation
+to the Peoples of All the Belligerent Countries….”
+
+His great mouth, seeming to smile, opened wide as he spoke; his voice
+was hoarse—not unpleasantly so, but as if it had hardened that way
+after years and years of speaking—and went on monotonously, with the
+effect of being able to go on forever…. For emphasis he bent forward
+slightly. No gestures. And before him, a thousand simple faces looking
+up in intent adoration.
+
+PROCLAMATION TO THE PEOPLES AND GOVERNMENTS OF ALL THE BELLIGERENT
+NATIONS.
+
+
+The Workers’ and Peasants’ Government, created by the revolution of
+November 6th and 7th and based on the Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’
+and Peasants’ Deputies, proposes to all the belligerent peoples and to
+their Governments to begin immediately negotiations for a just and
+democratic peace.
+
+The Government means by a just and democratic peace, which is desired
+by the immense majority of the workers and the labouring classes,
+exhausted and depleted by the war—that peace which the Russian workers
+and peasants, after having struck down the Tsarist monarchy, have not
+ceased to demand categorically—immediate peace without annexations
+(that is to say, without conquest of foreign territory, without
+forcible annexation of other nationalities), and without indemnities.
+
+The Government of Russia Proposes to all the belligerent peoples
+immediately to conclude such a peace, by showing themselves willing to
+enter upon the decisive steps of negotiations aiming at such a peace,
+at once, without the slightest delay, before the definitive
+ratification of all the conditions of such a peace by the authorised
+assemblies of the people of all countries and of all nationalities.
+
+By annexation or conquest of foreign territory, the Government
+means—conformably to the conception of democratic rights in general,
+and the rights of the working-class in particular—all union to a great
+and strong State of a small or weak nationality, without the voluntary,
+clear and precise expression of its consent and desire; whatever be the
+moment when such an annexation by force was accomplished, whatever be
+the degree civilisation of the nation annexed by force or maintained
+outside the frontiers of another State, no matter if that nation be in
+Europe or in the far countries across the sea.
+
+If any nation is retained by force within the limits of another State;
+if, in spite of the desire expressed by it, (it matters little if that
+desire be expressed by the press, by popular meetings, decisions of
+political parties, or by disorders and riots against national
+oppression), that nation is not given the right of deciding by free
+vote—without the slightest constraint, after the complete departure of
+the armed forces of the nation which has annexed it or wishes to annex
+it or is stronger in general—the form of its national and political
+organisation, such a union constitutes an annexation—that is to say,
+conquest and an act of violence.
+
+To continue this war in order to permit the strong and rich nations to
+divide among themselves the weak and conquered nationalities is
+considered by the Government the greatest possible crime against
+humanity; and the Government solemnly proclaims its decision to sign a
+treaty of peace which will put an end to this war upon the above
+conditions, equally fair for all nationalities without exception.
+
+The Government abolishes secret diplomacy, expressing before the whole
+country its firm decision to conduct all the negotiations in the light
+of day before the people, and will proceed immediately to the full
+publication of all secret treaties confirmed or concluded by the
+Government of land-owners and capitalists, from March until November
+7th, 1917. All the clauses of the secret treaties which, as occur in a
+majority of cases, have for their object to procure advantages and
+privileges for Russian capitalists, to maintain or augment the
+annexations of the Russian imperialists, are denounced by the
+Government immediately and without discussion.
+
+In proposing to all Governments and all peoples to engage in public
+negotiations for peace, the Government declares itself ready to carry
+on these negotiations by telegraph, by post, or by pourparlers between
+the representatives of the different countries, or at a conference of
+these representatives. To facilitate these pourparlers, the Government
+appoints its authorised representatives in the neutral countries.
+
+The Government proposes to all the governments and to the peoples of
+all the belligerent countries to conclude an immediate armistice, at
+the same time suggesting that the armistice ought to last three months,
+during which time it is perfectly possible, not only to hold the
+necessary pourparlers between the representatives of all the nations
+and nationalities without exception drawn into the war or forced to
+take part in it, but also to convoke authorised assemblies of
+representatives of the people of all countries, for the purpose of the
+definite acceptance of the conditions of peace.
+
+In addressing this offer of peace to the Governments and to the peoples
+of all the belligerent countries, the Provisional Workers’ and
+Peasants’ Government of Russia addresses equally and in particular the
+conscious workers of the three nations most devoted to humanity and the
+three most important nations among those taking part in the present
+war—England, France, and Germany. The workers of these countries have
+rendered the greatest services to the cause of progress and of
+Socialism. The splendid examples of the Chartist movement in England,
+the series of revolutions, of world-wide historical significance,
+accomplished by the French proletariat—and finally, in Germany, the
+historic struggle against the Laws of Exception, an example for the
+workers of the whole world of prolonged and stubborn action, and the
+creation of the formidable organisations of German proletarians—all
+these models of proletarian heroism, these monuments of history, are
+for us a sure guarantee that the workers of these countries will
+understand the duty imposed upon them to liberate humanity from the
+horrors and consequences of war; and that these workers, by decisive,
+energetic and continued action, will help us to bring to a successful
+conclusion the cause of peace—and at the same time, the cause of the
+liberation of the exploited working masses from all slavery and all
+exploitation.
+
+When the grave thunder of applause had died away, Lenin spoke again:
+
+“We propose to the Congress to ratify this declaration. We address
+ourselves to the Governments as well as to the peoples, for a
+declaration which would be addressed only to the peoples of the
+belligerent countries might delay the conclusion of peace. The
+conditions of peace, drawn up during the armistice, will be ratified by
+the Constituent Assembly. In fixing the duration of the armistice at
+three months, we desire to give to the peoples as long a rest as
+possible after this bloody extermination, and ample time for them to
+elect their representatives. This proposal of peace will meet with
+resistance on the part of the imperialist governments—we don’t fool
+ourselves on that score. But we hope that revolution will soon break
+out in all the belligerent countries; that is why we address ourselves
+especially to the workers of France, England and Germany….
+
+“The revolution of November 6th and 7th,” he ended, “has opened the era
+of the Social Revolution…. The labour movement, in the name of peace
+and Socialism, shall win, and fulfil its destiny….”
+
+There was something quiet and powerful in all this, which stirred the
+souls of men. It was understandable why people believed when Lenin
+spoke….
+
+By crowd vote it was quickly decided that only representatives of
+political factions should be allowed to speak on the motion and that
+speakers should be limited to fifteen minutes.
+
+First Karelin for the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. “Our faction had
+no opportunity to propose amendments to the text of the proclamation;
+it is a private document of the Bolsheviki. But we will vote for it
+because we agree with its spirit….”
+
+For the Social Democrats Internationalists Kramarov, long,
+stoop-shouldered and near-sighted—destined to achieve some notoriety as
+the Clown of the Opposition. Only a Government composed of all the
+Socialist parties, he said, could possess the authority to take such
+important action. If a Socialist coalition were formed, his faction
+would support the entire programme; if not, only part of it. As for the
+proclamation, the Internationalists were in thorough accord with its
+main points….
+
+Then one after another, amid rising enthusiasm; Ukrainean Social
+Democracy, support; Lithuanian Social Democracy, support; Populist
+Socialists, support; Polish Social Democracy, support; Polish
+Socialists support—but would prefer a Socialist coalition; Lettish
+Social Democracy, support…. Something was kindled in these men. One
+spoke of the “coming World-Revolution, of which we are the
+advance-guard”; another of “the new age of brotherhood, when all the
+peoples will become one great family….” An individual member claimed
+the floor. “There is contradiction here,” he said. “First you offer
+peace without annexations and indemnities, and then you say you will
+consider all peace offers. To consider means to accept….”
+
+Lenin was on his feet. “We want a just peace, but we are not afraid of
+a revolutionary war…. Probably the imperialist Governments will not
+answer our appeal—but we shall not issue an ultimatum to which it will
+be easy to say no…. If the German proletariat realises that we are
+ready to consider all offers of peace, that will perhaps be the last
+drop which overflows the bowl—revolution will break out in Germany….
+
+“We consent to examine all conditions of peace, but that doesn’t mean
+that we shall accept them…. For some of our terms we shall fight to the
+end—but possibly for others will find it impossible to continue the
+war…. Above all, we want to finish the war….”
+
+It was exactly 10:35 when Kameniev asked all in favour of the
+proclamation to hold up their cards. One delegate dared to raise his
+hand against, but the sudden sharp outburst around him brought it
+swiftly down…. Unanimous.
+
+Suddenly, by common impulse, we found ourselves on our feet, mumbling
+together into the smooth lifting unison of the _Internationale._ A
+grizzled old soldier was sobbing like a child. Alexandra Kollontai
+rapidly winked the tears back. The immense sound rolled through the
+hall, burst windows and doors and seared into the quiet sky. “The war
+is ended! The war is ended!” said a young workman near me, his face
+shining. And when it was over, as we stood there in a kind of awkward
+hush, some one in the back of the room shouted, “Comrades! Let us
+remember those who have died for liberty!” So we began to sing the
+Funeral March, that slow, melancholy and yet triumphant chant, so
+Russian and so moving. The _Internationale_ is an alien air, after all.
+The Funeral March seemed the very soul of those dark masses whose
+delegates sat in this hall, building from their obscure visions a new
+Russia—and perhaps more.
+
+You fell in the fatal fight
+
+For the liberty of the people, for the honour of the people….
+
+You gave up your lives and everything dear to you,
+
+You suffered in horrible prisons,
+
+You went to exile in chains….
+
+Without a word you carried your chains because you could not ignore
+your suffering brothers,
+
+Because you believed that justice is stronger than the sword….
+
+The time will come when your surrendered life will count
+
+That time is near; when tyranny falls the people will rise, great and
+free!
+
+Farewell, brothers, you chose a noble path,
+
+You are followed by the new and fresh army ready to die and to suffer….
+
+Farewell, brothers, you chose a noble path,
+
+At your grave we swear to fight, to work for freedom and the people’s
+happiness….
+
+For this did they lie there, the martyrs of March, in their cold
+Brotherhood Grave on Mars Field; for this thousands and tens of
+thousands had died in the prisons, in exile, in Siberian mines. It had
+not come as they expected it would come, nor as the _intelligentzia_
+desired it; but it had come—rough, strong, impatient of formulas,
+contemptuous of sentimentalism; real….
+
+Lenin was reading the Decree on Land:
+
+(1.) All private ownership of land is abolished immediately without
+compensation.
+
+(2.) All land-owners’ estates, and all lands belonging to the Crown, to
+monasteries, church lands with all their live stock and inventoried
+property, buildings and all appurtenances, are transferred to the
+disposition of the township Land Committees and the district Soviets of
+Peasants’ Deputies until the Constituent Assembly meets.
+
+(3.) Any damage whatever done to the confiscated property which from
+now on belongs to the whole People, is regarded as a serious crime,
+punishable by the revolutionary tribunals. The district Soviets of
+Peasants’ Deputies shall take all necessary measures for the observance
+of the strictest order during the taking over of the land-owners’
+estates, for the determination of the dimensions of the plots of land
+and which of them are subject to confiscation, for the drawing up of an
+inventory of the entire confiscated property, and for the strictest
+revolutionary protection of all the farming property on the land, with
+all buildings, implements, cattle, supplies of products, etc., passing
+into the hands of the People.
+
+(4.) For guidance during the realisation of the great land reforms
+until their final resolution by the Constituent Assembly, shall serve
+the following peasant _nakaz_ (See App. V, Sect. 3) (instructions),
+drawn up on the basis of 242 local peasant _nakazi_ by the editorial
+board of the “_Izviestia_ of the All-Russian Soviet of Peasants’
+Deputies,” and published in No.88 of said _“Izviestia”_ (Petrograd,
+No.88, August 19th, 1917).
+
+The lands of peasants and of Cossacks serving in the Army shall not be
+confiscated.
+
+“This is not,” explained Lenin, “the project of former Minister
+Tchernov, who spoke of ‘erecting a frame-work’ and tried to realise
+reforms from above. From below, on the spot, will be decided the
+questions of division of the land. The amount of land received by each
+peasant will vary according to the locality….
+
+“Under the Provisional Government, the _pomieshtchiki_ flatly refused
+to obey the orders of the Land Committees—those Land Committees
+projected by Lvov, brought into existence by Shingariov, and
+administered by Kerensky!”
+
+Before the debates could begin a man forced his way violently through
+the crowd in the aisle and climbed upon the platform. It was Pianikh,
+member of the Executive Committee of the Peasants’ Soviets, and he was
+mad clean through.
+
+“The Executive Committee of the All-Russian Soviets of Peasants’
+Deputies protests against the arrest of our comrades, the Ministers
+Salazkin and Mazlov!” he flung harshly in the faces of the crowd, “We
+demand their instant release! They are now in Peter-Paul fortress. We
+must have immediate action! There is not a moment to lose!”
+
+Another followed him, a soldier with disordered beard and flaming eyes.
+“You sit here and talk about giving the land to the peasants, and you
+commit an act of tyrants and usurpers against the peasants’ chosen
+representatives! I tell you—” he raised his fist, “If one hair of their
+heads is harmed, you’ll have a revolt on your hands!” The crowd stirred
+confusedly.
+
+Then up rose Trotzky, calm and venomous, conscious of power, greeted
+with a roar. “Yesterday the Military Revolutionary Committee decided to
+release the Socialist Revolutionary and Menshevik Ministers, Mazlov,
+Salazkin, Gvozdov and Maliantovitch—on principle. That they are still
+in Peter-Paul is only because we have had so much to do…. They will,
+however, be detained at their homes under arrest until we have
+investigated their complicity in the treacherous acts of Kerensky
+during the Kornilov affair!”
+
+“Never,” shouted Pianikh, “in any revolution have such things been seen
+as go on here!”
+
+“You are mistaken,” responded Trotzky. “Such things have been seen even
+in this revolution. Hundreds of our comrades were arrested in the July
+days…. When Comrade Kollontai was released from prison by the doctor’s
+orders, Avksentiev placed at her door two former agents of the Tsar’s
+secret police!” The peasants withdrew, muttering, followed by ironical
+hoots.
+
+The representative of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries spoke on the
+Land Decree. While agreeing in principle, his faction could not vote on
+the question until after discussion. The Peasants’ Soviets should be
+consulted….
+
+The Mensheviki Internationalists, too, insisted on a party caucus.
+
+Then the leader of the Maximalists, the Anarchist wing of the peasants:
+“We must do honour to a political party which puts such an act into
+effect the first day, without jawing about it!”
+
+A typical peasant was in the tribune, long hair, boots and sheep-skin
+coat, bowing to all corners of the hall. “I wish you well, comrades and
+citizens,” he said. “There are some Cadets walking around outside. You
+arrested our Socialist peasants—why not arrest them?”
+
+This was the signal for a debate of excited peasants. It was precisely
+like the debate of soldiers of the night before. Here were the real
+proletarians of the land….
+
+“Those members of our Executive Committee, Avksentiev and the rest,
+whom we thought were the peasants’ protectors—they are only Cadets too!
+Arrest them! Arrest them!”
+
+Another, “Who are these Pianikhs, these Avksentievs? They are not
+peasants at all! They only wag their tails!”
+
+How the crowd rose to them, recognising brothers!
+
+The Left Socialist Revolutionaries proposed a half-hour intermission.
+As the delegates streamed out, Lenin stood up in his place.
+
+“We must not lose time, comrades! News all-important to Russia must be
+on the press to-morrow morning. No delay!”
+
+And above the hot discussion, argument, shuffling of feet could be
+heard the voice of an emissary of the Military Revolutionary Committee,
+crying, “Fifteen agitators wanted in room 17 at once! To go to the
+Front!”…
+
+It was almost two hours and a half later that the delegates came
+straggling back, the presidium mounted the platform, and the session
+recommenced by the reading of telegrams from regiment after regiment,
+announcing their adhesion to the Military Revolutionary Committee.
+
+In leisurely manner the meeting gathered momentum. A delegate from the
+Russian troops on the Macedonian front spoke bitterly of their
+situation. “We suffer there more from the friendship of our ‘Allies’
+than from the enemy,” he said. Representatives of the Tenth and Twelfth
+Armies, just arrived in hot haste, reported, “We support you with all
+our strength!” A peasant-soldier protested against the release of “the
+traitor Socialists, Mazlov and Salazkin”; as for the Executive
+Committee of the Peasants’ Soviets, it should be arrested _en
+masse!_Here was real revolutionary talk…. A deputy from the Russian
+Army in Persia declared he was instructed to demand all power to the
+Soviets…. A Ukrainean officer, speaking in his native tongue: “There is
+no nationalism in this crisis…. _Da zdravstvuyet_ the proletarian
+dictatorship of all lands!” Such a deluge of high and hot thoughts that
+surely Russia would never again be dumb!
+
+Kameniev remarked that the anti-Bolshevik forces were trying to stir up
+disorders everywhere, and read an appeal of the Congress to all the
+Soviets of Russia:
+
+The All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies,
+including some Peasants’ Deputies, calls upon the local Soviets to take
+immediate energetic measures to oppose all counter-revolutionary
+anti-Jewish action and all _pogroms,_ whatever they may be. The honour
+of the Workers’, Peasants’ and Soldiers’ Revolution demands that no
+_pogrom_ be tolerated.
+
+The Red Guard of Petrograd, the revolutionary garrison and the sailors
+have maintained complete order in the capital.
+
+Workers, soldiers and peasants, you should follow everywhere the
+example of the workers and soldiers of Petrograd.
+
+Comrade soldiers and Cossacks, on us falls the duty of assuring real
+revolutionary order.
+
+All revolutionary Russia and the entire world have their eyes on us….
+
+At two o’clock the Land Decree was put to vote, with only one against
+and the peasant delegates wild with joy…. So plunged the Bolsheviki
+ahead, irresistible, over-riding hesitation and opposition—the only
+people in Russia who had a definite programme of action while the
+others talked for eight long months.
+
+Now arose a soldier, gaunt, ragged and eloquent, to protest against the
+clause of the _nakaz_ tending to deprive military deserters from a
+share in village land allotments. Bawled at and hissed at first, his
+simple, moving speech finally made silence. “Forced against his will
+into the butchery of the trenches,” he cried, “which you yourselves, in
+the Peace decree, have voted senseless as well as horrible, he greeted
+the Revolution with hope of peace and freedom. Peace? The Government of
+Kerensky forced him again to go forward into Galicia to slaughter and
+be slaughtered; to his pleas for peace, Terestchenko simply laughed….
+Freedom? Under Kerensky he found his Committees suppressed, his
+newspapers cut off, his party speakers put in prison…. At home in his
+village, the landlords were defying his Land Committees, jailing his
+comrades…. In Petrograd the bourgeoisie, in alliance with the Germans,
+were sabotaging the food and ammunition for the Army…. He was without
+boots, or clothes…. Who forced him to desert? The Government of
+Kerensky, which you have overthrown!” At the end there was applause.
+
+But another soldier hotly denounced it: “The Government of Kerensky is
+not a screen behind which can be hidden dirty work like desertion!
+Deserters are scoundrels, who run away home and leave their comrades to
+die in the trenches alone! Every deserter is a traitor, and should be
+punished….” Uproar, shouts of _“Do volno! Teesche!”_ Kameniev hastily
+proposed to leave the matter to the Government for decision. (See App.
+V, Sect. 4)
+
+At 2.30 A. M. fell a tense hush. Kameniev was reading the decree of the
+Constitution of Power:
+
+Until the meeting of the Constituent Assembly, a provisional Workers’
+and Peasants’ Government is formed, which shall be named the Council of
+People’s Commissars. (See App. V, Sect. 5)
+
+The administration of the different branches of state activity shall be
+intrusted to commissions, whose composition shall be regulated to
+ensure the carrying out of the programme of the Congress, in close
+union with the mass-organisations of working-men, working-women,
+sailors, soldiers, peasants and clerical employees. The governmental
+power is vested in a _collegium_ made up of the chairmen of these
+commissions, that is to say, the Council of People’s Commissars.
+
+Control over the activities of the People’s Commissars, and the right
+to replace them, shall belong to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets of
+Workers’, Peasants’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, and its Central Executive
+Committee.
+
+Still silence; as he read the list of Commissars, bursts of applause
+after each name, Lenin’s and Trotzky’s especially.
+
+_President of the Council:_ Vladimir Ulianov _(Lenin)_
+
+_Interior:_ A. E. Rykov
+
+_Agriculture:_ V. P. Miliutin
+
+_Labour:_ A. G. Shliapnikov
+
+_Military and Naval Affairs_—a committee composed of V. A.
+
+_Avseenko (Antonov),_ N. V. Krylenko, and F. M. Dybenko.
+
+_Commerce and Industry:_ V. P. Nogin
+
+_Popular Education:_ A. V. Lunatcharsky
+
+_Finance:_ E. E. Skvortsov _(Stepanov)_
+
+_Foreign Affairs:_ L. D. Bronstein _(Trotzky)_
+
+_Justice:_ G. E. Oppokov _(Lomov)_
+
+_Supplies:_ E. A. Teodorovitch
+
+_Post and Telegraph:_ N. P. Avilov _(Gliebov)_
+
+_Chairman for Nationalities:_ I. V. Djougashvili _(Stalin)_
+
+_Railroads:_ To be filled later.
+
+There were bayonets at the edges of the room, bayonets pricking up
+among the delegates; the Military Revolutionary Committee was arming
+everybody, Bolshevism was arming for the decisive battle with Kerensky,
+the sound of whose trumpets came up the south-west wind…. In the
+meanwhile nobody went home; on the contrary hundreds of newcomers
+filtered in, filling the great room solid with stern-faced soldiers and
+workmen who stood for hours and hours, indefatigably intent. The air
+was thick with cigarette smoke, and human breathing, and the smell of
+coarse clothes and sweat.
+
+Avilov of the staff of _Novaya Zhizn_ was speaking in the name of the
+Social Democrat Internationalists and the remnant of the Mensheviki
+Internationalists; Avilov, with his young, intelligent face, looking
+out of place in his smart frock-coat.
+
+“We must ask ourselves where we are going…. The ease with which the
+Coalition Government was upset cannot be explained by the strength of
+the left wing of the democracy, but only by the incapacity of the
+Government to give the people peace and bread. And the left wing cannot
+maintain itself in power unless it can solve these questions….
+
+“Can it give bread to the people? Grain is scarce. The majority of the
+peasants will not be with you, for you cannot give them the machinery
+they need. Fuel and other primary necessities are almost impossible to
+procure….
+
+“As for peace, that will be even more difficult. The allies refused to
+talk with Skobeliev. They will never accept the proposition of a peace
+conference from _you._ You will not be recognised either in London and
+Paris, or in Berlin….
+
+“You cannot count on the effective help of the proletariat of the
+Allied countries, because in most countries it is very far from the
+revolutionary struggle; remember, the Allied democracy was unable even
+to convoke the Stockholm Conference. Concerning the German Social
+Democrats, I have just talked with Comrade Goldenberg, one of our
+delegates to Stockholm; he was told by the representatives of the
+Extreme Left that revolution in Germany was impossible during the
+war….” Here interruptions began to come thick and fast, but Avilov kept
+on.
+
+“The isolation of Russia will fatally result either in the defeat of
+the Russian Army by the Germans, and the patching up of a peace between
+the Austro-German coalition and the Franco-British coalition _at the
+expense of Russia_—or in a separate peace with Germany.
+
+“I have just learned that the Allied ambassadors are preparing to
+leave, and that Committees for Salvation of Country and Revolution are
+forming in all the cities of Russia….
+
+“No one party can conquer these enormous difficulties. The majority of
+the people, supporting a government of Socialist coalition, can alone
+accomplish the Revolution….
+
+“He then read the resolution of the two factions:
+
+Recognising that for the salvation of the conquests of the Revolution
+it is indispensable immediately to constitute a government based on the
+revolutionary democracy organised in the Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’
+and Peasants’ Deputies, recognising moreover that the task of this
+government is the quickest possible attainment of peace, the transfer
+of the land into the hands of the agrarian committees, the organisation
+of control over industrial production, and the convocation of the
+Constituent Assembly on the date decided, the Congress appoints an
+executive committee to constitute such a government after an agreement
+with the groups of the democracy which are taking part in the Congress.
+
+In spite of the revolutionary exaltation of the triumphant crowd,
+Avilov’s cool tolerant reasoning had shaken them. Toward the end, the
+cries and hisses died away, and when he finished there was even some
+clapping.
+
+Karelin followed him—also young, fearless, whose sincerity no one
+doubted—for the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, the party of Maria
+Spiridonova, the party which almost alone followed the Bolsheviki, and
+which represented the revolutionary peasants.
+
+“Our party has refused to enter the Council of People’s Commissars
+because we do not wish forever to separate ourselves from the part of
+the revolutionary army which left the Congress, a separation which
+would make it impossible for us to serve as intermediaries between the
+Bolsheviki and the other groups of the democracy…. And that is our
+principal duty at this moment. We cannot sustain any government except
+a government of Socialist coalition….
+
+“We protest, moreover, against the tyrannical conduct of the
+Bolsheviki. Our Commissars have been driven from their posts. Our only
+organ, _Znamia Truda_ (Banner of Labour), was forbidden to appear
+yesterday….
+
+“The Central Duma is forming a powerful Committee for Salvation of
+Country and Revolution, to fight you. Already you are isolated, and
+your Government is without the support of a single other democratic
+group….
+
+And now Trotzky stood upon the raised tribune, confident and
+dominating, with that sarcastic expression about his mouth which was
+almost a sneer. He spoke, in a ringing voice, and the great crowd rose
+to him.
+
+“These considerations on the dangers of isolation of our party are not
+new. On the eve of insurrection our fatal defeat was also predicted.
+Everybody was against us; only a faction of the Socialist
+Revolutionaries of the left was with us in the Military Revolutionary
+Committee. How is it that we were able to overturn the Government
+almost without bloodshed?…. That fact is the most striking proof that
+we _were not isolated._ In reality the Provisional Government was
+isolated; the democratic parties which march against us were isolated,
+are isolated, and forever cut off from the proletariat!
+
+“They speak of the necessity for a coalition. There is only one
+coalition possible—the coalition of the workers, soldiers and poorest
+peasants; and it is our party’s honour to have realised that
+coalition…. What sort of coalition did Avilov mean? A coalition with
+those who supported the Government of Treason to the People? Coalition
+doesn’t always add to strength. For example, could we have organised
+the insurrection with Dan and Avksentiev in our ranks?” Roars of
+laughter.
+
+“Avksentiev gave little bread. Will a coalition with the _oborontsi_
+furnish more? Between the peasants and Avksentiev, who ordered the
+arrest of the Land Committees, we choose the peasants! Our Revolution
+will remain the classic revolution of history….
+
+“They accuse us of repelling an agreement with the other democratic
+parties. But is it we who are to blame? Or must we, as Karelin put it,
+blame it on a ‘misunderstanding’? No, comrades. When a party in full
+tide of revolution, still wreathed in powder-smoke, comes to say, ‘Here
+is the Power—take it!’—and when those to whom it is offered go over to
+the enemy, that is not a misunderstanding…. that is a declaration of
+pitiless war. And it isn’t we who have declared war….
+
+“Avilov menaces us with failure of our peace efforts—if we remain
+‘isolated.’ I repeat, I don’t see how a coalition with Skobeliev, or
+even Terestchenko, can help us to get peace! Avilov tries to frighten
+us by the threat of a peace at our expense. And I answer that in any
+case, if Europe continues to be ruled by the imperialist bourgeoisie,
+revolutionary Russia will inevitably be lost….
+
+“There are only two alternatives; either the Russian Revolution will
+create a revolutionary movement in Europe, or the European powers will
+destroy the Russian Revolution!”
+
+They greeted him with an immense crusading acclaim, kindling to the
+daring of it, with the thought of championing mankind. And from that
+moment there was something conscious and decided about the
+insurrectionary masses, in all their actions, which never left them.
+
+But on the other side, too, battle was taking form. Kameniev recognised
+a delegate from the Union of Railway Workers, a hardfaced, stocky man
+with an attitude of implacable hostility. He threw a bombshell.
+
+“In the name of the strongest organisation in Russia I demand the right
+to speak, and I say to you: the _Vikzhel_ charges me to make known the
+decision of the Union concerning the constitution of Power. The Central
+Committee refuses absolutely to support the Bolsheviki if they persist
+in isolating themselves from the whole democracy of Russia!” Immense
+tumult all over the hall.
+
+“In 1905, and in the Kornilov days, the Railway Workers were the best
+defenders of the Revolution. But you did not invite us to your
+Congress—” Cries, “It was the old _Tsay-ee-kah_ which did not invite
+you!” The orator paid no attention. “We do not recognise the legality
+of this Congress; since the departure of the Mensheviki and Socialist
+Revolutionaries there is not a legal quorum…. The Union supports the
+old _Tsay-ee-Kah,_ and declares that the Congress has no right to elect
+a new Committee….
+
+“The Power should be a Socialist and revolutionary Power, responsible
+before the authorised organs of the entire revolutionary democracy.
+Until the constitution of such a power, the Union of Railway Workers,
+which refuses to transport counter-revolutionary troops to Petrograd,
+at the same time forbids the execution of any order whatever without
+the consent of the _Vikzhel._ The _Vikzhel_ also takes into its hands
+the entire administration of the railroads of Russia.”
+
+At the end he could hardly be heard for the furious storm of abuse
+which beat upon him. But it was a heavy blow—that could be seen in the
+concern on the faces of the presidium. Kameniev, however, merely
+answered that there could be no doubt of the legality of the Congress,
+as even the quorum established by the old _Tsay-ee-Kah_ was exceeded—in
+spite of the secession of the Mensheviki and Socialist Revolution
+arises….
+
+Then came the vote on the Constitution of Power, which carried the
+Council of People’s Commissars into office by an enormous majority….
+
+The election of the new _Tsay-ee-kah,_ the new parliament of the
+Russian Republic, took barely fifteen minutes. Trotzky announced its
+composition: 100 members, of which 70 Bolsheviki…. As for the peasants,
+and the seceding factions, places were to be reserved for them. “We
+welcome into the Government all parties and groups which will adopt our
+programme,” ended Trotzky.
+
+And thereupon the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets was dissolved,
+so that the members might hurry to their homes in the four corners of
+Russia and tell of the great happenings….
+
+It was almost seven when we woke the sleeping conductors and motor-men
+of the street-cars which the Street-Railway Workers’ Union always kept
+waiting at Smolny to take the Soviet delegates to their homes. In the
+crowded car there was less happy hilarity than the night before, I
+thought. Many looked anxious; perhaps they were saying to themselves,
+“Now we are masters, how can we do our will?”
+
+At our apartment-house we were held up in the dark by an armed patrol
+of citizens and carefully examined. The Duma’s proclamation was doing
+its work….
+
+The landlady heard us come in, and stumbled out in a pink silk wrapper.
+
+The House Committee has again asked that you take your turn on
+guard-duty with the rest of the men,” she said.
+
+“What’s the reason for this guard-duty?”
+
+“To protect the house and the women and children.”
+
+“Who from?”
+
+“Robbers and murderers.”
+
+“But suppose there came a Commissar from the Military Revolutionary
+Committee to search for arms?”
+
+“Oh, that’s what they’ll _say_ they are…. And besides, what’s the
+difference?”
+
+I solemnly affirmed that the Consul had forbidden all American citizens
+to carry arms—especially in the neighbourhood of the Russian
+_intelligentzia_….
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VI
+The Committee for Salvation
+
+
+Friday, November 9th….
+
+Novotcherkask, November 8th.
+
+In view of the revolt of the Bolsheviki, and their attempt to depose
+the Provisional Government and to seize the power in Petrograd… the
+Cossack Government declares that it considers these acts criminal and
+absolutely inadmissible. In consequence, the Cossacks will lend all
+their support to the Provisional Government, which is a government of
+coalition. Because of these circumstances, and until the return of the
+Provisional Government to power, and the restoration of order in
+Russia, I take upon myself, beginning November 7th, all the power in
+that which concerns the region of the Don.
+
+Signed: ATAMAN KALEDIN
+
+_President of the Government of the Cossack Troops._
+
+_Prikaz_ of the Minister-President Kerensky, dated at Gatchina:
+
+I, Minister-President of the Provisional Government, and Supreme
+Commander of all the armed forces of the Russian Republic, declare that
+I am at the head of regiments from the Front who have remained faithful
+to the fatherland.
+
+I order all the troops of the Military District of Petrograd, who
+through mistake or folly have answered the appeal of the traitors to
+the country and the Revolution, to return to their duty without delay.
+
+This order shall be read in all regiments, battalions and squadrons.
+
+Signed: _Minister-President of the Provisional_
+_Government and Supreme Commander_
+A. F. KERENSKY.
+
+
+Telegram from Kerensky to the General in Command of the Northern Front:
+
+The town of Gatchina has been taken by the loyal regiments without
+bloodshed. Detachments of Cronstadt sailors, and of the Semionovsky and
+Ismailovsky regiments, gave up their arms without resistance and joined
+the Government troops.
+
+I order all the designated units to advance as quickly as possible. The
+Military Revolutionary Committee has ordered its troops to retreat….
+
+Gatchina, about thirty kilometers south-west, had fallen during the
+night. Detachments of the two regiments mentioned—not the sailors—while
+wandering captainless in the neighbourhood, had indeed been surrounded
+by Cossacks and given up their arms; but it was not true that they had
+joined the Government troops. At this very moment crowds of them,
+bewildered and ashamed, were up at Smolny trying to explain. They did
+not think the Cossacks were so near…. They had tried to argue with the
+Cossacks….
+
+Apparently the greatest confusion prevailed along the revolutionary
+front. The garrisons of all the little towns southward had split
+hopelessly, bitterly into two factions—or three: the high command being
+on the side of Kerensky, in default of anything stronger, the majority
+of the rank and file with the Soviets, and the rest unhappily wavering.
+
+Hastily the Military Revolutionary Committee appointed to command the
+defence of Petrograd an ambitious regular Army Captain, Muraviov, the
+same Muraviov who had organised the Death Battalions during the summer,
+and had once been heard to advise the Government that “it was too
+lenient with the Bolsheviki; they must be wiped out.” A man of military
+mind, who admired power and audacity, perhaps sincerely….
+
+Beside my door when I came down in the morning were posted two new
+orders of the Military Revolutionary Committee, directing that all
+shops and stores should open as usual, and that all empty rooms and
+apartments should be put at the disposal of the Committee….
+
+For thirty-six hours now the Bolsheviki had been cut off from
+provincial Russia and the outside world. The railway men and
+telegraphers refused to transmit their despatches, the postmen would
+not handle their mail. Only the Government wireless at Tsarskoye Selo
+launched half-hourly bulletins and manifestoes to the four corners of
+heaven; the Commissars of Smolny raced the Commissars of the City Duma
+on speeding trains half across the earth; and two aeroplanes, laden
+with propaganda, fled high up toward the Front….
+
+But the eddies of insurrection were spreading through Russia with a
+swiftness surpassing any human agency. Helsingfors Soviet passed
+resolutions of support; Kiev Bolsheviki captured the arsenal and the
+telegraph station, only to be driven out by delegates to the Congress
+of Cossacks, which happened to be meeting there; in Kazan, a Military
+Revolutionary Committee arrested the local garrison staff and the
+Commissar of the Provisional Government; from far Krasnoyarsk, in
+Siberia, came news that the Soviets were in control of the Municipal
+institutions; at Moscow, where the situation was aggravated by a great
+strike of leather-workers on one side, and a threat of general lock-out
+on the other, the Soviets had voted overwhelmingly to support the
+action of the Bolsheviki in Petrograd…. Already a Military
+Revolutionary Committee was functioning.
+
+Everywhere the same thing happened. The common soldiers and the
+industrial workers supported the Soviets by a vast majority; the
+officers, _yunkers_ and middle class generally were on the side of the
+Government—as were the bourgeois Cadets and the “moderate” Socialist
+parties. In all these towns sprang up Committees for Salvation of
+Country and Revolution, arming for civil war….
+
+Vast Russia was in a state of solution. As long ago as 1905 the process
+had begun; the March Revolution had merely hastened it, and giving
+birth to a sort of forecast of the new order, had ended by merely
+perpetuating the hollow structure of the old regime. Now, however, the
+Bolsheviki, in one night, had dissipated it, as one blows away smoke.
+Old Russia was no more; human society flowed molten in primal heat, and
+from the tossing sea of flame was emerging the class struggle, stark
+and pitiless—and the fragile, slowly-cooling crust of new planets….
+
+In Petrograd sixteen Ministries were on strike, led by the Ministries
+of Labour and of Supplies—the only two created by the all-Socialist
+Government of August.
+
+If ever men stood alone the “handful of Bolsheviki” apparently stood
+alone that grey chill morning, with all storms towering over them. (See
+App. VI, Sect. 1) Back against the wall, the Military Revolutionary
+Committee struck—for its life. “_De l’audace, encore de l’audace, et
+toujours de l’audace_….” At five in the morning the Red Guards entered
+the printing office of the City Government, confiscated thousands of
+copies of the Appeal-Protest of the Duma, and suppressed the official
+Municipal organ—the _Viestnik Gorodskovo Samoupravleniya_ (Bulletin of
+the Municipal Self-Government). All the bourgeois newspapers were torn
+from the presses, even the _Golos Soldata,_ journal of the old
+_Tsay-ee-kah_—which, however, changing its name to _Soldatski Golos,_
+appeared in an edition of a hundred thousand copies, bellowing rage and
+defiance:
+
+The men who began their stroke of treachery in the night, who have
+suppressed the newspapers, will not keep the country in ignorance long.
+The country will know the truth! It will appreciate you, Messrs. the
+Bolsheviki! We shall see!…
+
+As we came down the Nevsky a little after midday the whole street
+before the Duma building was crowded with people. Here and there stood
+Red Guards and sailors, with bayonetted rifles, each one surrounded by
+about a hundred men and women—clerks, students, shopkeepers,
+_tchinovniki_—shaking their fists and bawling insults and menaces. On
+the steps stood boy-scouts and officers, distributing copies of the
+_Soldatski Golos._ A workman with a red band around his arm and a
+revolver in his hand stood trembling with rage and nervousness in the
+middle of a hostile throng at the foot of the stairs, demanding the
+surrender of the papers…. Nothing like this, I imagine, ever occurred
+in history. On one side a handful of workmen and common soldiers, with
+arms in their hands, representing a victorious insurrection—and
+perfectly miserable; on the other a frantic mob made up of the kind of
+people that crowd the sidewalks of Fifth Avenue at noon-time, sneering,
+abusing, shouting, “Traitors! Provocators! _Opritchniki!_”[15]
+
+[15] Savage body-guards if Ivan the Terrible, 17th century.
+
+The doors were guarded by students and officers with white arm-bands
+lettered in red, “Militia of the Committee of Public Safety,” and half
+a dozen boy-scouts came and went. Upstairs the place was all commotion.
+Captain Gomberg was coming down the stairs. “They’re going to dissolve
+the Duma,” he said. “The Bolshevik Commissar is with the Mayor now.” As
+we reached the top Riazanov came hurrying out. He had been to demand
+that the Duma recognise the Council of peoples’ Commissars, and the
+Mayor had given him a flat refusal.
+
+In the offices a great babbling crowd, hurrying, shouting,
+gesticulating—Government officials, intellectuals, journalists, foreign
+correspondents, French and British officers…. “The City Engineer
+pointed to them triumphantly. “The Embassies recognise the Duma as the
+only power now,” he explained. “For these Bolshevik murderers and
+robbers it is only a question of hours. All Russia is rallying to us….
+
+In the Alexander Hall a monster meeting of the Committee for Salvation.
+Fillipovsky in the chair and Skobeliev again in the tribune, reporting,
+to immense applause, new adhesions to the Committee; Executive
+Committee of Peasants’ Soviets, old _Tsay-ee-kah,_ Central Army
+Committee, _Tsentroflot,_ Menshevik, Socialist Revolutionary and Front
+group delegates from the Congress of Soviets, Central Committees of the
+Menshevik, Socialist Revolutionary, Populist Socialist parties.
+“Yedinstvo” group, Peasants’ Union, Cooperatives, Zemstvos,
+Municipalities, Post and Telegraph Unions, _Vikzhel,_ Council of the
+Russian Republic, Union of Unions,[16] Merchants’ and Manufacturers’
+Association….
+
+[16] See Notes and Explanations.
+
+“…. The power of the Soviets is not democratic power, but a
+dictatorship—and not the dictatorship of the proletariat, but _against_
+the proletariat. All those who have felt or know how to feel
+revolutionary enthusiasm must join now for the defence of the
+Revolution….
+
+“The problem of the day is not only to render harmless irresponsible
+demagogues, but to fight against the counter-revolution…. If rumours
+are true that certain generals in the provinces are attempting to
+profit by events in order to march on Petrograd with other designs, it
+is only one more proof that we must establish a solid base of
+democratic government. Otherwise, troubles with the Right will follow
+troubles from the Left….
+
+“The garrison of Petrograd cannot remain indifferent when citizens
+buying the _Golos Soldata_ and newsboys selling the _Rabotchaya Gazeta_
+are arrested in the streets….
+
+“The hour of resolutions has passed…. Let those who have no longer
+faith in the Revolution retire…. To establish a united power, we must
+again restore the prestige of the Revolution….
+
+“Let us swear that either the Revolution shall be saved—or we shall
+perish!”
+
+The hall rose, cheering, with kindling eyes. There was not a single
+proletarian anywhere in sight….
+
+Then Weinstein:
+
+“We must remain calm, and not act until public opinion is firmly
+grouped in support of the Committee for Salvation—then we can pass from
+the defensive to action!”
+
+The _Vikzhel_ representative announced that his organisation was taking
+the initiative in forming the new Government, and its delegates were
+now discussing the matter with Smolny…. Followed a hot discussion: were
+the Bolsheviki to be admitted to the new Government? Martov pleaded for
+their admission; after all, he said, they represented an important
+political party. Opinions were very much divided upon this, the right
+wing Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries, as well as the Populist
+Socialists, the Cooperatives and the bourgeois elements being bitterly
+against….
+
+“They have betrayed Russia,” one speaker said. “They have started civil
+war and opened the front to the Germans. The Bolsheviki must be
+mercilessly crushed….”
+
+Skobeliev was in favor of excluding both the Bolsheviki and the Cadets.
+
+We got into conversation with a young Socialist Revolutionary, who had
+walked out of the Democratic Conference together with the Bolsheviki,
+that night when Tseretelli and the “compromisers” forced Coalition upon
+the democracy of Russia.
+
+“You here?” I asked him.
+
+His eyes flashed fire. “Yes!” he cried. “I left the Congress with my
+party Wednesday night. I have not risked my life for twenty years and
+more to submit now to the tyranny of the Dark People. Their methods are
+intolerable. But they have not counted on the peasants…. When the
+peasants begin to act, then it is a question of minutes before they are
+done for.”
+
+“But the peasants—will they act? Doesn’t the Land decree settle the
+peasants? What more do they want?”
+
+“Ah, the Land decree!” he said furiously. “Yes, do you know what that
+Land decree is? It is _our_ decree—it is the Socialist Revolutionary
+programme, intact! My party framed that policy, after the most careful
+compilation of the wishes of the peasants themselves. It is an
+outrage….”
+
+“But if it is your own policy, why do you object? If it is the
+peasants’ wishes, why will they oppose it?”
+
+“You don’t understand! Don’t you see that the peasants will immediately
+realise that it is all a trick—that these usurpers have stolen the
+Socialist Revolutionary programme?”
+
+I asked if it were true that Kaledin was marching north.
+
+He nodded, and rubbed his hands with a sort of bitter satisfaction.
+“Yes. Now you see what these Bolsheviki have done. They have raised the
+counter-revolution against us. The Revolution is lost. The Revolution
+is lost.”
+
+“But won’t you defend the Revolution?”
+
+“Of course we will defend it—to the last drop of our blood. But we
+won’t cooperate with the Bolsheviki in any way….”
+
+“But if Kaledin comes to Petrograd, and the Bolsheviki defend the city.
+Won’t you join with them?”
+
+“Of course not. We will defend the city also, but we won’t support the
+Bolsheviki. Kaledin is the enemy of the Revolution, but the Bolsheviki
+are equally enemies of the Revolution.”
+
+“Which do you prefer—Kaledin or the Bolsheviki?”
+
+“It is not a question to be discussed!” he burst out impatiently. “I
+tell you, the Revolution is lost. And it is the Bolsheviki who are to
+blame. But listen—why should we talk of such things? Kerensky is
+coming…. Day after to-morrow we shall pass to the offensive…. Already
+Smolny has sent delegates inviting us to form a new Government. But we
+have them now—they are absolutely impotent…. We shall not cooperate….”
+
+Outside there was a shot. We ran to the windows. A Red Guard, finally
+exasperated by the taunts of the crowd, had shot into it, wounding a
+young girl in the arm. We could see her being lifted into a cab,
+surrounded by an excited throng, the clamour of whose voices floated up
+to us. As we looked, suddenly an armoured automobile appeared around
+the corner of the Mikhailovsky, its guns sluing this way and that.
+Immediately the crowd began to run, as Petrograd crowds do, falling
+down and lying still in the street, piled in the gutters, heaped up
+behind telephone-poles. The car lumbered up to the steps of the Duma
+and a man stuck his head out of the turret, demanding the surrender of
+the _Soldatski Golos._ The boy-scouts jeered and scuttled into the
+building. After a moment the automobile wheeled undecidedly around and
+went off up the Nevsky, while some hundreds of men and women picked
+themselves up and began to dust their clothes….
+
+Inside was a prodigious running-about of people with armfuls of
+_Soldatski Golos,_ looking for places to hide them….
+
+A journalist came running into the room, waving a paper.
+
+“Here’s a proclamation from Krasnov!” he cried. Everybody crowded
+around. “Get it printed—get it printed quick, and around to the
+barracks!”
+
+By the order of the Supreme Commander I am appointed commandant of the
+troops concentrated under Petrograd.
+
+Citizens, soldiers, valorous Cossacks of the Don, of the Kuban, of the
+Transbaikal, of the Amur, of the Yenissei, to all you who have remained
+faithful to your oath I appeal; to you who have sworn to guard
+inviolable your oath of Cossack—I call upon you to save Petrograd from
+anarchy, from famine, from tyranny, and to save Russia from the
+indelible shame to which a handful of ignorant men, bought by the gold
+of Wilhelm, are trying to submit her.
+
+The Provisional Government, to which you swore fidelity in the great
+days of March, is not overthrown, but by violence expelled from the
+edifice in which it held its meetings. However the Government, with the
+help of the Front armies, faithful to their duty, with the help of the
+Council of Cossacks, which has united under its command all the
+Cossacks and which, strong with the morale which reigns in its ranks,
+and acting in accordance with the will of the Russian people, has sworn
+to serve the country as its ancestors served it in the Troublous Times
+of 1612, when the Cossacks of the Don delivered Moscow, menaced by the
+Swedes, the Poles, and the Lithuanians. Your Government still exists….
+
+The active army considers these criminals with horror and contempt.
+Their acts of vandalism and pillage, their crimes, the German mentality
+with which they regard Russia—stricken down but not yet
+surrendered—have alienated from them the entire people.
+
+Citizens, soldiers, valorous Cossacks of the garrison of Petrograd;
+send me your delegates so that I may know who are traitors to their
+country and who are not, that there may be avoided an effusion of
+innocent blood.
+
+Almost the same moment word ran from group to group that the building
+was surrounded by Red Guards. An officer strode in, a red band around
+his arm, demanding the Mayor. A few minutes later he left and old
+Schreider came out of his office, red and pale by turns.
+
+“A special meeting of the Duma!” he cried. “Immediately!”
+
+In the big hall proceedings were halted. “All members of the Duma for a
+special meeting!”
+
+“What’s the matter?”
+
+“I don’t know—going to arrest us—going to dissolve the Duma—arresting
+members at the door—” so ran the excited comments.
+
+In the Nicolai Hall there was barely room to stand. The Mayor announced
+that troops were stationed at all the doors, prohibiting all exit and
+entrance, and that a Commissar had threatened arrest and the dispersal
+of the Municipal Duma. A flood of impassioned speeches from members,
+and even from the galleries, responded. The freely-elected City
+Government could not be dissolved by _any_ power; the Mayor’s person
+and that of all the members were inviolable; the tyrants, the
+provocators, the German agents should never be recognised; as for these
+threats to dissolve us, let them try—only over our dead bodies shall
+they seize this chamber, where like the Roman senators of old we await
+with dignity the coming of the Goths….
+
+Resolution, to inform the Dumas and Zemstvos of all Russia by
+telegraph. Resolution, that it was impossible for the Mayor or the
+Chairman of the Duma to enter into any relations whatever with
+representatives of the Military Revolutionary Committee or with the
+so-called Council of People’s Commissars. Resolution, to address
+another appeal to the population of Petrograd to stand up for the
+defence of their elected town government. Resolution, to remain in
+permanent session….
+
+In the meanwhile one member arrived with the information that he had
+telephoned to Smolny, and that the Military Revolutionary Committee
+said that no orders had been given to surround the Duma, that the
+troops would be withdrawn….
+
+As we went downstairs Riazanov burst in through the front door, very
+agitated.
+
+“Are you going to dissolve the Duma?” I asked.
+
+“My God, no!” he answered. “It is all a mistake. I told the Mayor this
+morning that the Duma would be left alone….”
+
+Out on the Nevsky, in the deepening dusk, a long double file of
+cyclists came riding, guns slung on their shoulders. They halted, and
+the crowd pressed in and deluged them with questions.
+
+“Who are you? Where do you come from?” asked a fat old man with a cigar
+in his mouth.
+
+“Twelfth Army. From the front. We came to support the Soviets against
+the damn’ bourgeoisie!”
+
+“Ah!” were furious cries. “Bolshevik gendarmes! Bolshevik Cossacks!”
+
+A little officer in a leather coat came running down the steps. “The
+garrison is turning!” he muttered in my ear. “It’s the beginning of the
+end of the Bolsheviki. Do you want to see the turn of the tide? Come
+on!” He started at a half-trot up the Mikhailovsky, and we followed.
+
+“What regiment is it?”
+
+“The _brunnoviki_….” Here was indeed serious trouble. The _brunnoviki_
+were the Armoured Car troops, the key to the situation; whoever
+controlled the _brunnoviki_ controlled the city. “The Commissars of the
+Committee for Salvation and the Duma have been talking to them. There’s
+a meeting on to decide….
+
+“Decide what? Which side they’ll fight on?”
+
+“Oh, no. That’s not the way to do it. They’ll never fight against the
+Bolsheviki. They will vote to remain neutral—and then the _yunkers_ and
+Cossacks—”
+
+The door of the great Mikhailovsky Riding-School yawned blackly. Two
+sentinels tried to stop us, but we brushed by hurriedly, deaf to their
+indignant expostulations. Inside only a single arc-light burned dimly,
+high up near the roof of the enormous hall, whose lofty pilasters and
+rows of windows vanished in the gloom. Around dimly squatted the
+monstrous shapes of the armoured cars. One stood alone in the centre of
+the place, under the light, and round it were gathered some two
+thousand dun-colored soldiers, almost lost in the immensity of that
+imperial building. A dozen men, officers, chairmen of the Soldiers’
+Committees and speakers, were perched on top of the car, and from the
+central turret a soldier was speaking. This was Khanjunov, who had been
+president of last summer’s all-Russian Congress of _Brunnoviki._ A
+lithe, handsome figure in his leather coat with lieutenant’s
+shoulder-straps, he stood pleading eloquently for neutrality.
+
+“It is an awful thing,” he said, “for Russians to kill their Russian
+brothers. There must not be civil war between soldiers who stood
+shoulder to shoulder against the Tsar, and conquered the foreign enemy
+in battles which will go down in history! What have we, soldiers, got
+to do with these squabbles of political parties? I will not say to you
+that the Provisional Government was a democratic Government; we want no
+coalition with the bourgeoisie—no. But we must have a Government of the
+united democracy, or Russia is lost! With such a Government there will
+be no need for civil war, and the killing of brother by brother!”
+
+This sounded reasonable—the great hall echoed to the crash of hands and
+voices.
+
+A soldier climbed up, his face white and strained, “Comrades!” he
+cried, “I came from the Rumanian front, to urgently tell you all: there
+must be peace! Peace at once! Whoever can give us peace, whether it be
+the Bolsheviki or this new Government, we will follow. Peace! We at the
+front cannot fight any longer. We cannot fight either Germans or
+Russians—” With that he leaped down, and a sort of confused agonised
+sound rose up from all that surging mass, which burst into something
+like anger when the next speaker, a Menshevik _oboronetz,_ tried to say
+that the war must go on until the Allies were victorious.
+
+“You talk like Kerensky!” shouted a rough voice.
+
+A Duma delegate, pleading for neutrality. Him they listened to,
+muttering uneasily, feeling him not one of them. Never have I seen men
+trying so hard to understand, to decide. They never moved, stood
+staring with a sort of terrible intentness at the speaker, their brows
+wrinkled with the effort of thought, sweat standing out on their
+foreheads; great giants of men with the innocent clear eyes of children
+and the faces of epic warriors….
+
+Now a Bolshevik was speaking, one of their own men, violently, full of
+hate. They liked him no more than the other. It was not their mood. For
+the moment they were lifted out of the ordinary run of common thoughts,
+thinking in terms of Russia, of Socialism, the world, as if it depended
+on them whether the Revolution were to live or die….
+
+Speaker succeeded speaker, debating amid tense silence, roars of
+approval, or anger: should we come out or not? Khanjunov returned,
+persuasive and sympathetic. But wasn’t he an officer, and an
+_oboronotz,_ however much he talked of peace? Then a workman from
+Vasili Ostrov, but him they greeted with, “And are _you_ going to give
+us peace, working-man?” Near us some men, many of them officers, formed
+a sort of _claque_ to cheer the advocates of Neutrality. They kept
+shouting, “Khanjunov! Khanjunov!” and whistled insultingly when the
+Bolsheviki tried to speak.
+
+Suddenly the committeemen and officers on top of the automobile began
+to discuss something with great heat and much gesticulation. The
+audience shouted to know what was the matter, and all the great mass
+tossed and stirred. A soldier, held back by one of the officers,
+wrenched himself loose and held up his hand.
+
+“Comrades!” he cried, “Comrade Krylenko is here and wants to speak to
+us.” An outburst of cheers, whistlings, yells of _“Prosim! Prosim!
+Dolby!_ Go ahead! Go ahead! Down with him!” in the midst of which the
+People’s Commissar for Military Affairs clambered up the side of the
+car, helped by hands before and behind, pushed and pulled from below
+and above. Rising he stood for a moment, and then walked out on the
+radiator, put his hands on his hips and looked around smiling, a squat,
+short-legged figure, bare-headed, without insignia on his uniform.
+
+The _claque_ near me kept up a fearful shouting, “Khanjunov! We want
+Khanjunov! Down with him! Shut up! Down with the traitor!” The whole
+place seethed and roared. Then it began to move, like an avalanche
+bearing down upon us, great black-browed men forcing their way through.
+
+“Who is breaking up our meeting?” they shouted. “Who is whistling
+here?” The _claque,_ rudely burst asunder, went flying—nor did it
+gather again….
+
+“Comrade soldiers!” began Krylenko, in a voice husky with fatigue. “I
+cannot speak well to you; I am sorry; but I have not had any sleep for
+four nights….
+
+“I don’t need to tell you that I am a soldier. I don’t need to tell you
+that I want peace. What I must say is that the Bolshevik party,
+successful in the Workers’ and Soldiers’ Revolution, by the help of you
+and of all the rest of the brave comrades who have hurled down forever
+the power of the blood-thirsty bourgeoisie, promised to offer peace to
+all the peoples, and that has already been done—to-day!” Tumultuous
+applause.
+
+“You are asked to remain neutral—to remain neutral while the _yunkers_
+and the Death Battalions, who are _never_ neutral, shoot us down in the
+streets and bring back to Petrograd Kerensky—or perhaps some other of
+the gang. Kaledin is marching from the Don. Kerensky is coming from the
+front. Kornilov is raising the _Tekhintsi_ to repeat his attempt of
+August. All these Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries who call
+upon you now to prevent civil war—how have they retained the power
+except by civil war, that civil war which has endured ever since last
+July, and in which they constantly stood on the side of the
+bourgeoisie, as they do now?
+
+“How can I persuade you, if you have made up your minds? The question
+is very plain. On one side are Kerensky, Kaledin, Kornilov, the
+Mensheviki, Socialist Revolutionaries, Cadets, Dumas, officers…. They
+tell us that their objects are good. On the other side are the workers,
+the soldiers and sailors, the poorest peasants. The Government is in
+your hands. You are the masters. Great Russia belongs to you. Will you
+give it back?”
+
+While he spoke, he kept himself up by sheer evident effort of will, and
+as he went on the deep sincere feeling back of his words broke through
+the tired voice. At the end he totered, almost falling; a hundred hands
+reached up to help him down, and the great dim spaces of the hall gave
+back the surf of sound that beat upon him.
+
+Khanjunov tried to speak again, but “Vote! Vote! Vote!” they cried. At
+length, giving in, he read the resolution: that the _brunnoviki_
+withdraw their representative from the Military Revolutionary
+Committee, and declare their neutrality in the present civil war. All
+those in favour should go to the right; those opposed, to the left.
+There was a moment of hesitation, a still expectancy, and then the
+crowd began to surge faster and faster, stumbling over one another, to
+the left, hundreds of big soldiers in a solid mass rushing across the
+dirt floor in the faint light…. Near us about fifty men were left
+stranded, stubbornly in favour, and even as the high roof shook under
+the shock of victorious roaring, they turned and rapidly walked out of
+the building—and, some of them, out of the Revolution….
+
+Imagine this struggle being repeated in every barracks of the city, the
+district, the whole front, all Russia. Imagine the sleepless Krylenkos,
+watching the regiments, hurrying from place to place, arguing,
+threatening, entreating. And then imaging the same in all the locals of
+every labour union, in the factories, the villages, on the battle-ships
+of the far-flung Russian fleets; think of the hundreds of thousands of
+Russian men staring up at speakers all over the vast country, workmen,
+peasants, soldiers, sailors, trying so hard to understand and to
+choose, thinking so intensely—and deciding so unanimously at the end.
+So was the Russian Revolution….
+
+Up at Smolny the new Council of People’s Commissars was not idle.
+Already the first decree was on the presses, to be circulated in
+thousands through the city streets that night, and shipped in bales by
+every train southward and east:
+
+In the name of the Government of the Russian Republic, chosen by the
+All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies with
+participation of peasant deputies, the Council of People’s Commissars
+decrees:
+
+1. The elections for the Constituent Assembly shall take place at the
+date determined upon—November 12.
+
+2. All electoral commissions, organs of local self-government, Soviets
+of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies, and soldiers’
+organisations on the front should make every effort to assure free and
+regular elections at the date determined upon.
+
+In the name of the Government of the Russian Republic, _The President
+of the Council of People’s Commissars_,
+
+VLADIMIR ULIANOV-LENIN.
+
+
+In the Municipal building the Duma was in full blast. A member of the
+Council of the Republic was talking as we came in. The Council, he
+said, did not consider itself dissolved at all, but merely unable to
+continue its labours until it secured a new meeting-place. In the
+meanwhile, its Committee of Elders had determined to enter _en masse_
+the Committee for Salvation…. This, I may remark parenthetically, is
+the last time history mentions the Council of the Russian Republic….
+
+Then followed the customary string of delegates from the Ministries,
+the _Vikzhel,_ the Union of Posts and Telegraphs, for the hundredth
+time reiterating their determination not to work for the Bolshevik
+usurpers. A _yunker_ who had been in the Winter Palace told a
+highly-coloured tale of the heroism of himself and his comrades, and
+disgraceful conduct of the Red Guards—all of which was devoutly
+believed. Somebody read aloud an account in the Socialist Revolutionary
+paper _Narod,_ which stated that five hundred million rubles’ worth of
+damage had been done in the Winter Palace, and describing in great
+detail the loot and breakage.
+
+From time to time couriers came from the telephone with news. The four
+Socialist Ministers had been released from prison. Krylenko had gone to
+Peter-Paul to tell Admiral Verderevsky that the Ministry of Marine was
+deserted, and to beg him, for the sake of Russia, to take charge under
+the authority of the Council of People’s Commissars; and the old seaman
+had consented…. Kerensky was advancing north from Gatchina, the
+Bolshevik garrisons falling back before him. Smolny had issued another
+decree, enlarging the powers of the City Dumas to deal with food
+supplies.
+
+This last piece of insolence caused an outburst of fury. He, Lenin, the
+usurper, the tyrant, whose Commissars had seized the Municipal garage,
+entered the Municipal ware houses, were interfering with the Supply
+Committees and the distribution of food—he presumed to define the
+limits of power of the free, independent, autonomous City Government!
+One member, shaking his fist, moved to cut off the food of the city if
+the Bolsheviki dared to interfere with the Supply Committees…. Another,
+representative of the Special Supply Committee, reported that the food
+situation was very grave, and asked that emissaries be sent out to
+hasten food trains.
+
+Diedonenko announced dramatically that the garrison was wavering. The
+Semionovsky regiment had already decided to submit to the orders of the
+Socialist Revolutionary party; the crews of the torpedo-boats on the
+Neva were shaky. Seven members were at once appointed to continue the
+propaganda….
+
+Then the old Mayor stepped into the tribune: “Comrades and citizens! I
+have just learned that the prisoners in Peter Paul are in danger.
+Fourteen _yunkers_ of the Pavlovsk school have been stripped and
+tortured by the Bolshevik guards. One has gone mad. They are
+threatening to lynch the Ministers!” There was a whirlwind of
+indignation and horror, which only grew more violent when a stocky
+little woman dressed in grey demanded the floor, and lifted up her
+hard, metallic voice. This was Vera Slutskaya, veteran revolutionist
+and Bolshevik member of the Duma.
+
+“That is a lie and a provocation!” she said, unmoved at the torrent of
+abuse. “The Workers’ and Peasants’ Government, which has abolished the
+death penalty, cannot permit such deeds. We demand that this story be
+investigated, at once; if there is any truth in it, the Government will
+take energetic measures!”
+
+A commission composed of members of all parties was immediately
+appointed, and with the Mayor, sent to Peter Paul to investigate. As we
+followed them out, the Duma was appointing another commission to meet
+Kerensky—to try and avoid bloodshed when he entered the capital….
+
+It was midnight when we bluffed our past the guards at the gate of the
+fortress, and went forward under the faint glimmer of rare electric
+lights along the side of the church where lie the tombs of the Tsars,
+beneath the slender golden spire and the chimes, which, for months,
+continued to play _Bozhe Tsaria Khrani_[17] every day at noon…. The
+place was deserted; in most of the windows there were not even lights.
+Occasionally we bumped into a burly figure stumbling along in the dark,
+who answered questions with the usual, _“Ya nieznayu.”_
+
+[17] “God Save the Tsar.”
+
+[Graphic, page 166: Pass to Reed from Department of Prisons translation
+follows]
+
+Pass from the Department of Prisons of the Soviet Government to visit
+freely all prisons of Petrograd and Cronstadt. (Translation)
+
+  Commissar
+  Chief Bureau of Prisons
+  6th of November, 1917.
+        No. 213
+  Petrograd, Smolny
+  Institute, room No. 56—
+
+PASS To the representative of the American Socialist press, JOHN REED,
+to visit all places of confinement in the cities of Petrograd and
+Cronstadt, for the purpose of generally investigating the condition of
+the prisoners, and for thorough social information for the purpose of
+stopping the flood of newspaper lies against demorcracy. Chief
+Commissar Secretary
+
+On the left loomed the low dark outline of Trubetskoi Bastion, that
+living grave in which so many martyrs of liberty had lost their lives
+or their reason in the days of the Tsar, where the Provisional
+Government had in turn shut up the Ministers of the Tsar, and now the
+Bolsheviki had shut up the Ministers of the Provisional Government.
+
+A friendly sailor led us to the office of the commandant, in a little
+house near the Mint. Half a dozen Red Guards, sailors and soldiers were
+sitting around a hot room full of smoke, in which a samovar steamed
+cheerfully. They welcomed us with great cordiality, offering tea. The
+commandant was not in; he was escorting a commission of
+_“sabotazhniki”_ (sabotageurs) from the City Duma, who insisted that
+the _yunkers_ were all being murdered. This seemed to amuse them very
+much. At one side of the room sat a bald-headed, dissipated-looking
+little man in a frock-coat and a rich fur coat, biting his moustache
+and staring around him like a cornered rat. He had just been arrested.
+Somebody said, glancing carelessly at him, that he was a Minister or
+something…. The little man didn’t seem to hear it; he was evidently
+terrified, although the occupants of the room showed no animosity
+whatever toward him.
+
+I went across and spoke to him in French. “Count Tolstoy,” he answered,
+bowing stiffly. “I do not understand why I was arrested. I was crossing
+the Troitsky Bridge on my way home when two of these—of these—persons
+held me up. I was a Commissar of the Provisional Government attached to
+the General Staff, but in no sense a member of the Government…”
+
+“Let him go,” said a sailor. “He’s harmless….”
+
+“No,” responded the soldier who had brought the prisoner. “We must ask
+the commandant.”
+
+“Oh, the commandant!” sneered the sailor. “What did you make a
+revolution for? To go on obeying officers?”
+
+A _praporshtchik_ of the Pavlovsky regiment was telling us how the
+insurrection started. “The _polk_ (regiment) was on duty at the General
+Staff the night of the 6th. Some of my comrades and I were standing
+guard; Ivan Pavlovitch and another man—I don’t remember his name—well,
+they hid behind the window-curtains in the room where the Staff was
+having a meeting, and they heard a great many things. For example, they
+heard orders to bring the Gatchina _yunkers_ to Petrograd by night, and
+an order for the Cossacks to be ready to march in the morning…. The
+principal points in the city were to be occupied before dawn. Then
+there was the business of opening the bridges. But when they began to
+talk about surrounding Smolny, then Ivan Pavlovitch couldn’t stand it
+any longer. That minute there was a good deal of coming and going, so
+he slipped out and came down to the guard-room, leaving the other
+comrade to pick up what he could.
+
+“I was already suspicious that something was going on. Automobiles full
+of officers kept coming, and all the Ministers were there. Ivan
+Pavlovitch told me what he had heard. It was half-past two in the
+morning. The secretary of the regimental Committee was there, so we
+told him and asked what to do.
+
+“‘Arrest everybody coming and going!’ he says. So we began to do it. In
+an hour we had some officers and a couple of Ministers, whom we sent up
+to Smolny right away. But the Military Revolutionary Committee wasn’t
+ready; they didn’t know what to do; and pretty soon back came the order
+to let everybody go and not arrest anybody else. Well, we ran all the
+way to Smolny, and I guess we talked for an hour before they finally
+saw that it was war. It was five o’clock when we got back to the Staff,
+and by that time most of them were gone. But we got a few, and the
+garrison was all on the march….”
+
+A Red Guard from Vasili Ostrov described in great detail what had
+happened in his district on the great day of the rising. “We didn’t
+have any machine-guns over there,” he said, laughing, “and we couldn’t
+get any from Smolny. Comrade Zalking, who was a member of the _Uprava_
+(Central Bureau) of the Ward Duma, remembered all at once that there
+was lying in the meeting-room of the _Uprava_ a machinegun which had
+been captured from the Germans. So he and I and another comrade went
+there. The Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries were having a
+meeting. Well, we opened the door and walked right in on them, as they
+sat around the table—twelve or fifteen of them, three of us. When they
+saw us they stopped talking and just stared. We walked right across the
+room, uncoupled the machine-gun; Comrade Zalkind picked up one part, I
+the other, we put them on our shoulders and walked out—and not a single
+man said a word!”
+
+“Do you know how the Winter Palace was captured?” asked a third man, a
+sailor. “Along about eleven o’clock we found out there weren’t any more
+_yunkers_ on the Neva side. So we broke in the doors and filtered up
+the different stairways one by one, or in little bunches. When we got
+to the top of the stairs the _yunkers_ held us up and took away our
+guns. Still our fellows kept coming up, little by little, until we had
+a majority. Then we turned around and took away the _yunkers’_ guns….”
+
+Just then the commandant entered—a merry-looking young non-commissioned
+officer with his arm in a sling, and deep circles of sleeplessness
+under his eyes. His eye fell first on the prisoner, who at once began
+to explain.
+
+“Oh, yes,” interrupted the other. “You were one of the committee who
+refused to surrender the Staff Wednesday afternoon. However, we don’t
+want you, citizen. Apologies—” He opened the door and waved his arm for
+Count Tolstoy to leave. Several of the others, especially the Red
+Guards, grumbled protests, and the sailor remarked triumphantly,
+_“Vot!_ There! Didn’t I say so?”
+
+Two soldiers now engaged his attention. They had been elected a
+committee of the fortress garrison to protest. The prisoners, they
+said, were getting the same food as the guards, when there wasn’t even
+enough to keep a man from being hungry. “Why should the
+counter-revolutionists be treated so well?”
+
+“We are revolutionists, comrades, not bandits,” answered the
+commandant. He turned to us. We explained that rumours were going about
+that the _yunkers_ were being tortured, and the lives of the Ministers
+threatened. Could we perhaps see the prisoners, so as to be able to
+prove to the world—?”
+
+“No,” said the young soldier, irritably. “I am not going to disturb the
+prisoners again. I have just been compelled to wake them up—they were
+sure we were going to massacre them…. Most of the _yunkers_ have been
+released anyway, and the rest will go out to-morrow.” He turned
+abruptly away.
+
+“Could we talk to the Duma commission, then?”
+
+The Commandant, who was pouring himself a glass of tea, nodded. “They
+are still out in the hall,” he said carelessly.
+
+Indeed they stood there just outside the door, in the feeble light of
+an oil lamp, grouped around the Mayor and talking excitedly.
+
+“Mr. Mayor,” I said, “we are American correspondents. Will you please
+tell us officially the result of your investigations?”
+
+He turned to us his face of venerable dignity.
+
+“There is no truth in the reports,” he said slowly. “Except for the
+incidents which occurred as the Ministers were being brought here, they
+have been treated with every consideration. As for the _yunkers,_ not
+one has received the slightest injury….”
+
+Up the Nevsky, in the empty after-midnight gloom, an interminable
+column of soldiers shuffled in silence—to battle with Kerensky. In dim
+back streets automobiles without lights flitted to and fro, and there
+was furtive activity in Fontanka 6, headquarters of the Peasants’
+Soviet, in a certain apartment of a huge building on the Nevsky, and in
+the _Injinierny Zamok_ (School of Engineers); the Duma was
+illuminated….
+
+In Smolny Institute the Military Revolutionary Committee flashed
+baleful fire, pounding like an over-loaded dynamo….
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VII
+The Revolutionary Front
+
+
+Saturday, November 10th….
+
+Citizens!
+
+The Military Revolutionary Committee declares that it will not tolerate
+any violation of revolutionary order….
+
+Theft, brigandage, assaults and attempts at massacre will be severely
+punished….
+
+Following the example of the Paris Commune, the Committee will destroy
+without mercy any looter or instigator of disorder….
+
+Quiet lay the city. Not a hold-up, not a robbery, not even a drunken
+fight. By night armed patrols went through the silent streets, and on
+the corners soldiers and Red Guards squatted around little fires,
+laughing and singing. In the daytime great crowds gathered on the
+sidewalks listening to interminable hot debates between students and
+soldiers, business men and workmen.
+
+Citizens stopped each other on the street.
+
+“The Cossacks are coming?”
+
+“No….”
+
+“What’s the latest?”
+
+“I don’t know anything. Where’s Kerensky?”
+
+“They say only eight versts from Petrograd…. Is it true that the
+Bolsheviki have fled to the battleship _Avrora?”_
+
+“They say so….”
+
+Only the walls screamed, and the few newspapers; denunciation, appeal,
+decree….
+
+An enormous poster carried the hysterical manifesto of the Executive
+Committee of the Peasants’ Soviets:
+
+….They (the Bolsheviki) dare to say that they are supported by the
+Soviets of Peasants’ Deputies, and that they are speaking on behalf of
+the Soviets of Peasants’ Deputies….
+
+Let all working-class Russia know that this is a LIE, AND THAT ALL THE
+WORKING PEASANTS—in the person of—the EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE
+ALL-RUSSIAN SOVIETS OF PEASANTS’ DEPUTIES—refutes with indignation all
+participation of the organised peasantry in this criminal violation of
+the will of the working-classes….
+
+From the Soldier Section of the Socialist Revolutionary party:
+
+The insane attempt of the Bolsheviki is on the eve of collapse. The
+garrison is divided…. The Ministries are on strike and bread is getting
+scarcer. All factions except the few Bolsheviki have left the Congress.
+The Bolsheviki are alone….
+
+We call upon all sane elements to group themselves around the Committee
+for Salvation of Country and Revolution, and to prepare themselves
+seriously to be ready at the first call of the Central Committee….
+
+In a hand-bill the Council of the Republic recited its wrongs:
+
+Ceding to the force of bayonets, the Council of the Republic has been
+obliged to separate, and temporarily to interrupt its meetings.
+
+The usurpers, with the words “Liberty and Socialism” on their lips,
+have set up a rule of arbitrary violence. They have arrested the
+members of the Provisional Government, closed the newspapers, seized
+the printing-shops….This power must be considered the enemy of the
+people and the Revolution; it is necessary to do battle with it, and to
+pull it down….
+
+The Council of the Republic, until the resumption of its labours,
+invites the citizens of the Russian Republic to group themselves around
+the….local Committees for Salvation of Country and Revolution, which
+are organising the overthrow of the Bolsheviki and the creation of a
+Government capable of leading the country to the Constituent Assembly.
+
+_Dielo Naroda_ said:
+
+A revolution is a rising of all the people…. But here what have we?
+Nothing but a handful of poor fools deceived by Lenin and Trotzky….
+Their decrees and their appeals will simply add to the museum of
+historical curiosities….
+
+And _Narodnoye Slovo_(People’s Word-Populist Socialist):
+
+“Workers’ and Peasants’ Government?” That is only a pipedream; nobody,
+either in Russia or in the countries of our Allies, will recognise this
+“Government”—or even in the enemy countries….
+
+The bourgeois press had temporarily disappeared…._Pravada_ had an
+account of the first meeting of the new _Tsay-ee-kah,_ now the
+parliament of the Russian Soviet Republic. Miliutin, Commissar of
+Agriculture, remarked that the Peasants’ Executive Committee had called
+an All-Russian Peasant Congress for December 13th.
+
+“But we cannot wait,” he said. “We must have the backing of the
+peasants. I propose that _we_ call the Congress of Peasants, and do it
+immediately….” The Left Socialist Revolutionaries agreed. An Appeal to
+the Peasants of Russia was hastily drafted, and a committee of five
+elected to carry out the project.
+
+The question of detailed plans for distributing the land, and the
+question of Workers’ Control of Industry, were postponed until the
+experts working on them should submit a report.
+
+Three decrees (See App. VII, Sect. 1) were read and approved: first,
+Lenin’s “General Rules For the Press,” ordering the suppression of all
+newspapers inciting to resistance and disobedience to the new
+Government, inciting to criminal acts, or deliberately perverting the
+news; the Decree of Moratorium for House-rents; and the Decree
+Establishing a Workers’ Militia. Also orders, one giving the Municipal
+Duma power to requisition empty apartments and houses, the other
+directing the unloading of freight cars in the railroad terminals, to
+hasten the distribution of necessities and to free the badly-needed
+rolling-stock….
+
+Two hours later the Executive Committee of the Peasants’ Soviets was
+sending broadcast over Russia the following telegram:
+
+The arbitrary organisation of the Bolsheviki, which is called “Bureau
+of Organisation for the National Congress of Peasants,” is inviting all
+the Peasants’ Soviets to send delegates to the Congress at Petrograd….
+
+The Executive Committee of the Soviets of Peasants’ Deputies declares
+that it considers, now as well as before, that it would be dangerous to
+take away from the provinces at this moment the forces necessary to
+prepare for elections to the Constituent Assembly, which is the only
+salvation of the working-class and the country. We confirm the date of
+the Congress of Peasants, _December 13th._
+
+At the Duma all was excitement, officers coming and going, the Mayor in
+conference with the leaders of the Committee for Salvation. A
+Councillor ran in with a copy of Kerensky’s proclamation, dropped by
+hundreds from an aeroplane low flying down the Nevsky, which threatened
+terrible vengeance on all who did not submit, and ordered soldiers to
+lay down their arms and assemble immediately in Mars Field.
+
+The Minister-President had taken Tsarskoye Selo, we were told, and was
+already in the Petrograd campagna, five miles away. He would enter the
+city to-morrow—in a few hours. The Soviet troops in contact with his
+Cossacks were said to be going over to the Provisional Government.
+Tchernov was somewhere in between, trying to organise the “neutral”
+troops into a force to halt the civil war.
+
+In the city the garrison regiments were leaving the Bolsheviki, they
+said. Smolny was already abandoned…. All the Governmental machinery had
+stopped functioning. The employees of the State Bank had refused to
+work under Commissars from Smolny, refused to pay out money to them.
+All the private banks were closed. The Ministries were on strike. Even
+now a committee from the Duma was making the rounds of business houses,
+collecting a fund to pay the salaries of the strikers….
+
+Trotzky had gone to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ordered the
+clerks to translate the Decree on Peace into foreign languages; six
+hundred functionaries had hurled their resignations in his face….
+Shliapnikov, Commissar of Labour, had commanded all the employees of
+his Ministry to return to their places within twenty-four hours, or
+lose their places and their pension-rights; only the door-servants had
+responded…. Some of the branches of the Special Food Supply Committee
+had suspended work rather than submit to the Bolsheviki…. In spite of
+lavish promises of high wages and better conditions, the operators at
+the Telephone Exchange would not connect Soviet headquarters….
+
+The Socialist Revolutionary Party had voted to expel all members who
+had remained in the Congress of Soviets, and all who were taking part
+in the insurrection….
+
+News from the provinces. Moghilev had declared against the Bolsheviki.
+At Kiev the Cossacks had overthrown the Soviets and arrested all the
+insurrectionary leaders. The Soviet and garrison of Luga, thirty
+thousand strong, affirmed its loyalty to the Provisional Government,
+and appealed to all Russia to rally around it. Kaledin had dispersed
+all Soviets and Unions in the Don Basin, and his forces were moving
+north….
+
+Said a representative of the Railway Workers: “Yesterday we sent a
+telegram all over Russia demanding that war between the political
+parties cease at once, and insisting on the formation of a coalition
+Socialist Government. Otherwise we shall call a strike to-morrow
+night…. In the morning there will be a meeting of all factions to
+consider the question. The Bolsheviki seem anxious for an agreement….”
+
+“If they last that long!” laughed the City Engineer, a stout, ruddy
+man….
+
+As we came up to Smolny—not abandoned, but busier than ever, throngs of
+workers and soldiers running in and out, and doubled guards
+everywhere—we met the reporters for the bourgeois and “moderate”
+Socialist papers.
+
+“Threw us out!” cried one, from _Volia Naroda._ “Bonch-Bruevitch came
+down to the Press Bureau and told us to leave! Said we were spies!”
+They all began to talk at once: “Insult! Outrage! Freedom of the
+press!”
+
+In the lobby were great tables heaped with stacks of appeals,
+proclamations and orders of the Military Revolutionary Committee.
+Workmen and soldiers staggered past, carrying them to waiting
+automobiles.
+
+One began:
+
+TO THE PILLORY!
+
+
+In this tragic moment through which the Russian masses are living, the
+Mensheviki and their followers and the Right Socialist Revolutionaries
+have betrayed the working-class. They have enlisted on the side of
+Kornilov, Kerensky and Savinkov….
+
+They are printing orders of the traitor Kerensky and creating a panic
+in the city, spreading the most ridiculous rumours of mythical
+victories by that renegade….
+
+Citizens! Don’t believe these false rumours. No power can defeat the
+People’s Revolution…. Premier Kerensky and his followers await speedy
+and well-deserved punishment….
+
+We are putting them in the Pillory. We are abandoning them to the
+enmity of all workers, soldiers, sailors and peasants, on whom they are
+trying to rivet the ancient chains. They will never be able to wash
+from their bodies the stain of the people’s hatred and contempt.
+
+Shame and curses to the traitors of the People!…
+
+The Military Revolutionary Committee had moved into larger quarters,
+room 17 on the top floor. Red Guards were at the door. Inside, the
+narrow space in front of the railing was crowded with well-dressed
+persons, outwardly respectful but inwardly full of murder—bourgeois who
+wanted permits for their automobiles, or passports to leave the city,
+among them many foreigners…. Bill Shatov and Peters were on duty. They
+suspended all other business to read us the latest bulletins.
+
+The One Hundred Seventy-ninth Reserve Regiment offers its unanimous
+support. Five thousand stevedores at the Putilov wharves greet the new
+Government. Central Committee of the Trade Unions—enthusiastic support.
+The garrison and squadron at Reval elect Military Revolutionary
+Committees to cooperate, and despatch troops. Military Revolutionary
+Committees control in Pskov and Minsk. Greetings from the Soviets of
+Tsaritzin, Rovensky-on-Don, Tchernogorsk, Sevastopol…. The Finland
+Division, the new Committees of the Fifth and Twelfth Armies, offer
+allegiance….
+
+From Moscow the news is uncertain. Troops of the Military Revolutionary
+Committee occupy the strategic points of the city; two companies on
+duty in the Kremlin have gone over to the Soviets, but the Arsenal is
+in the hands of Colonel Diabtsev and his _yunkers._ The Revolutionary
+Committee demanded arms for the workers, and Riabtsev parleyed with
+them until this morning, when suddenly he sent an ultimatum to the
+Committee, ordering Soviet troops to surrender and the Committee to
+disband. Fighting has begun….
+
+In Petrograd the Staff submitted to Smolny’s Commissars at once. The
+_Tsentroflot,_ refusing, was stormed by Dybenko and a company of
+Cronstadt sailors, and a new _Tsentroflot_ set up, supported by the
+Baltic and the Black Sea battleships….
+
+But beneath all the breezy assurance there was a chill premonition, a
+feeling of uneasiness in the air. Kerensky’s Cossacks were coming fast;
+they had artillery. Skripnik, Secretary of the Factory-Shop Committees,
+his face drawn and yellow, assured me that there was a whole army corps
+of them, but he added, fiercely, “They’ll never take us alive!”
+Petrovsky laughed weariedly, “To-morrow maybe we’ll get a sleep—a long
+one….” Lozovsky, with his emaciated, red-bearded face, said, “What
+chance have we? All alone…. A mob against trained soldiers!”
+
+South and south-west the Soviets had fled before Kerensky, and the
+garrisons of Gatchina, Pavlovsk, Tsarskoye Selo were divided—half
+voting to remain neutral, the rest, without officers, falling back on
+the capital in the wildest disorder.
+
+In the halls they were pasting up bulletins:
+
+FROM KRASNOYE SELO, NOVEMBER 10TH, 8 A.M.
+
+
+_To be communicated to all Commanders of Staffs, Commanders in Chief,
+Commanders, everywhere and to all, all, all._
+
+The ex-Minister Kerensky has sent a deliberately false telegram to
+every one everywhere to the effect that the troops of revolutionary
+Petrograd have voluntarily surrendered their arms and joined the armies
+of the former Government, the Government of Treason, and that the
+soldiers have been ordered by the Military Revolutionary Committee to
+retreat. The troops of a free people do not retreat nor do they
+surrender.
+
+Our troops have left Gatchina in order to avoid bloodshed between
+themselves and their mistaken brother-Cossacks, and in order to take a
+more convenient position, which is at present so strong that if
+Kerensky and his companions in arms should even increase their forces
+ten times, still there would be no cause for anxiety. The spirit of our
+troops is excellent.
+
+In Petrograd all is quiet.
+
+_Chief of the Defence of Petrograd and the Petrograd District,_
+
+Lieutenant-Colonel Muraviov.
+
+As we left the Military Revolutionary Committee Antonov entered, a
+paper in his hand, looking like a corpse.
+
+“Send this,” said he.
+
+TO ALL DISTRICT SOVIETS OF WORKERS’ DEPUTIES AND FACTORYSHOP COMMITTEES
+
+
+The Kornilovist bands of Kerensky are threatening the approaches to the
+capital. All the necessary orders have been given to crush mercilessly
+the counter-revolutionary attempt against the people and its conquests.
+
+The Army and the Red Guard of the Revolution are in need of the
+immediate support of the workers.
+
+WE ORDER THE WARD SOVIETS AND FACTORY-SHOP COMMITTEES:
+
+
+1. To move out the greatest possible number of workers for the digging
+of trenches, the erection of barricades and reinforcing of wire
+entanglements.
+
+2. Wherever it shall be necessary for this purpose to stop work at the
+factories this shall be done immediately.
+
+3. All common and barbed wire available must be assembled, and also all
+implements for the digging of trenches and the erection of barricades.
+
+4. All available arms must be taken.
+
+5. THE STRICTEST DISCIPLINE IS TO BE OBSERVED, AND EVERY ONE MUST BE
+READY TO SUPPORT THE ARMY OF THE REVOLUTION BY ALL MEANS.
+
+
+_Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet of Worker’s and Soldiers’ Deputies,_
+
+People’s Commissar LEON TROTZKY.
+
+_Chairman of the Military Revolutionary Committee,_
+
+Commander in Chief PODVOISKY.
+
+As we came out into the dark and gloomy day all around the grey horizon
+factory whistles were blowing, a hoarse and nervous sound, full of
+foreboding. By tens of thousands the working-people poured out, men and
+women; by tens of thousands the humming slums belched out their dun and
+miserable hordes. Red Petrograd was in danger! Cossacks! South and
+southwest they poured through the shabby streets toward the Moskovsky
+Gate, men, women and children, with rifles, picks, spades, rolls of
+wire, cartridge-belts over their working clothes…. Such an immense,
+spontaneous outpouring of a city never was seen! They rolled along
+torrent-like, companies of soldiers borne with them, guns,
+motor-trucks, wagons—the revolutionary proletariat defending with its
+breast the capital of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Republic!
+
+Before the door of Smolny was an automobile. A slight man with thick
+glasses magnifying his red-rimmed eyes, his speech a painful effort,
+stood leaning against a mud-guard with his hands in the pockets of a
+shabby raglan. A great bearded sailor, with the clear eyes of youth,
+prowled restlessly about, absently toying with an enormous blue-steel
+revolver, which never left his hand. These were Antonov and Dybenko.
+
+Some soldiers were trying to fasten two military bicycles on the
+running-board. The chauffeur violently protested; the enamel would get
+scratched, he said. True, he was a Bolshevik, and the automobile was
+commandeered from a bourgeois; true, the bicycles were for the use of
+orderlies. But the chauffeur’s professional pride was revolted…. So the
+bicycles were abandoned….
+
+The People’s Commissars for War and Marine were going to inspect the
+revolutionary front—wherever that was. Could we go with them? Certainly
+not. The automobile only held five—the two Commissars, two orderlies
+and the chauffeur. However, a Russian acquaintance of mine, whom I will
+call Trusishka, calmly got in and sat down, nor could any argument
+dislodge him….
+
+I see no reason to doubt Trusishka’s story of the journey. As they went
+down the Suvorovsky Prospect some one mentioned food. They might be out
+three or four days, in a country indifferently well provisioned. They
+stopped the car. Money? The Commissar of War looked through his
+pockets—he hadn’t a kopek. The Commissar of Marine was broke. So was
+the chauffeur. Trusishka bought the provisions….
+
+Just as they turned into the Nevsky a tire blew out.
+
+“What shall we do?” asked Antonov.
+
+“Commandeer another machine!” suggested Dybenko, waving his revolver.
+Antonov stood in the middle of the street and signalled a passing
+machine, driven by a soldier.
+
+“I want that machine,” said Antonov.
+
+“You won’t get it,” responded the soldier.
+
+“Do you know who I am?” Antonov produced a paper upon which was written
+that he had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of all the armies of the
+Russian Republic, and that every one should obey him without question.
+
+“I don’t care if you’re the devil himself,” said the soldier, hotly.
+“This machine belongs to the First Machine-Gun Regiment, and we’re
+carrying ammunition in it, and you can’t have it….”
+
+The difficulty, however, was solved by the appearance of an old
+battered taxi-cab, flying the Italian flag. (In time of trouble private
+cars were registered in the name of foreign consulates, so as to be
+safe from requisition.) From the interior of this was dislodged a fat
+citizen in an expensive fur coat, and the party continued on its way.
+
+Arrived at Narvskaya Zastava, about ten miles out, Antonov called for
+the commandant of the Red Guard. He was led to the edge of the town,
+where some few hundred workmen had dug trenches and were waiting for
+the Cossacks.
+
+“Everything all right here, comrade?” asked Antonov.
+
+“Everything perfect, comrade,” answered the commandant.
+
+“The troops are in excellent spirits…. Only one thing—we have no
+ammunition….”
+
+“In Smolny there are two billion rounds,” Antonov told him. “I will
+give you an order.” He felt in his pockets. “Has any one a piece of
+paper?”
+
+Dybenko had none—nor the couriers. Trusishka had to offer his
+note-book….
+
+“Devil! I have no pencil!” cried Antonov. “Who’s got a pencil?”
+Needless to say, Trusishka had the only pencil in the crowd….
+
+We who were left behind made for the Tsarskoye Selo station. Up the
+Nevsky, as we passed, Red Guards were marching, all armed, some with
+bayonets and some without. The early twilight of winter was falling.
+Heads up they tramped in the chill mud, irregular lines of four,
+without music, without drums. A red flag crudely lettered in gold,
+“Peace! Land!” floated over them. They were very young. The expression
+on their faces was that of who know they are going to die….
+Half-fearful, half-contemptuous, the crowds on the sidewalk watched
+them pass, in hateful silence….
+
+[Graphic, page 184: Pass to the Northern Front]
+
+This pass was issued upon the recommendation of Trotzky three days
+after the Bolshevik Revolution. It gives me the right of free travel to
+the Northern front—and an added note on the back extends the permission
+to all fronts. It will be noticed that the speaks of the _Petersburg_,
+instead of the _Petrograd_ Soviet; it was the fashion among
+thorough-going internationalists to abolish all names which smacked of
+“patriotism”; but at the same time, it would not do to restore the
+“Saint.”…
+                      (Translation)
+  Executive Committee
+  Petrograd Soviet of
+  Workers’ and Soldiers’
+       Deputies
+    Military Section
+  28th October, 1917
+      No. 1435
+                      CERTIFICATE
+
+The present certificate is given to the representative of the American
+Social Democracy, the internationalist comrade JOHN REED. The Military
+Revolutionary Committee of the Petersburg Soviet of Workers’ and
+Soldiers’ Deputies gives him the right of free travel through the
+entire Northern front, for the purpose of reporting to our American
+comrades—internationalists concerning events in Russia.
+                              For the President
+                              For the Secretary
+
+At the railroad station nobody knew just where Kerensky was, or where
+the front lay. Trains went no further, however, than Tsarskoye….
+
+Our car was full of commuters and country people going home, laden with
+bundles and evening papers. The talk was all of the Bolshevik rising.
+Outside of that, however, one would never have realised that civil war
+was rending mighty Russia in two, and that the train was headed into
+the zone of battle. Through the window we could see, in the
+swiftly-deepening darkness, masses of soldiers going along the muddy
+road toward the city, flinging out their arms in argument. A
+freight-train, swarming with troops and lit up by huge bonfires, was
+halted on a siding. That was all. Back along the flat horizon the glow
+of the city’s lights faded down the night. A street-car crawled
+distantly along a far-flung suburb….
+
+Tsarskoye Selo station was quiet, but knots of soldiers stood here and
+there talking in low tones and looking uneasily down the empty track in
+the direction of Gatchina. I asked some of them which side they were
+on. “Well,” said one, “we don’t exactly know the rights of the matter….
+There is no doubt that Kerensky is a provocator, but we do not consider
+it right for Russian men to be shooting Russian men.”
+
+In the station commandant’s office was a big, jovial, bearded common
+soldier, wearing the red arm-band of a regimental committee. Our
+credentials from Smolny commanded immediate respect. He was plainly for
+the Soviets, but bewildered.
+
+“The Red Guards were here two hours ago, but they went away again. A
+Commissar came this morning, but he returned to Petrograd when the
+Cossacks arrived.”
+
+“The Cossacks are here then?”
+
+He nodded, gloomily. “There has been a battle. The Cossacks came early
+in the morning. They captured two or three hundred of our men, and
+killed about twenty-five.”
+
+“Where are the Cossacks?”
+
+“Well, they didn’t get this far. I don’t know just where they are. Off
+that way….” He waved his arm vaguely westward.
+
+We had dinner—an excellent dinner, better and cheaper than could be got
+in Petrograd—in the station restaurant. Nearby sat a French officer who
+had just come on foot from Gatchina. All was quiet there, he said.
+Kerensky held the town. “Ah, these Russians,” he went on, “they are
+original! What a civil war! Everything except the fighting!”
+
+We sallied out into the town. Just at the door of the station stood two
+soldiers with rifles and bayonets fixed. They were surrounded by about
+a hundred business men, Government officials and students, who attacked
+them with passionate argument and epithet. The soldiers were
+uncomfortable and hurt, like children unjustly scolded.
+
+A tall young man with a supercilious expression, dressed in the uniform
+of a student, was leading the attack.
+
+“You realise, I presume,” he said insolently, “that by taking up arms
+against your brothers you are making yourselves the tools of murderers
+and traitors?”
+
+“Now brother,” answered the soldier earnestly, “you don’t understand.
+There are two classes, don’t you see, the proletariat and the
+bourgeoisie. We—”
+
+“Oh, I know that silly talk!” broke in the student rudely. “A bunch of
+ignorant peasants like you hear somebody bawling a few catch-words. You
+don’t understand what they mean. You just echo them like a lot of
+parrots.” The crowd laughed. “I’m a Marxian student. And I tell you
+that this isn’t Socialism you are fighting for. It’s just plain
+pro-German anarchy!”
+
+“Oh, yes, I know,” answered the soldier, with sweat dripping from his
+brow. “You are an educated man, that is easy to see, and I am only a
+simple man. But it seems to me—”
+
+“I suppose,” interrupted the other contemptuously, “that you believe
+Lenin is a real friend of the proletariat?”
+
+“Yes, I do,” answered the soldier, suffering.
+
+“Well, my friend, do you know that Lenin was sent through Germany in a
+closed car? Do you know that Lenin took money from the Germans?”
+
+“Well, I don’t know much about that,” answered the soldier stubbornly,
+“but it seems to me that what he says is what I want to hear, and all
+the simple men like me. Now there are two classes, the bourgeoisie and
+the proletariat—”
+
+“You are a fool! Why, my friend, I spent two years in Schlüsselburg for
+revolutionary activity, when you were still shooting down
+revolutionists and singing ‘God Save the Tsar!’ My name is Vasili
+Georgevitch Panyin. Didn’t you ever hear of me?”
+
+“I’m sorry to say I never did,” answered the soldier with humility.
+“But then, I am not an educated man. You are probably a great hero.”
+
+“I am,” said the student with conviction. “And I am opposed to the
+Bolsheviki, who are destroying our Russia, our free Revolution. Now how
+do you account for that?”
+
+The soldier scratched his head. “I can’t account for it at all,” he
+said, grimacing with the pain of his intellectual processes. “To me it
+seems perfectly simple—but then, I’m not well educated. It seems like
+there are only two classes, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie—”
+
+“There you go again with your silly formula!” cried the student.
+
+“—only two classes,” went on the soldier, doggedly.
+
+“And whoever isn’t on one side is on the other…”
+
+We wandered on up the street, where the lights were few and far
+between, and where people rarely passed. A threatening silence hung
+over the place—as of a sort of purgatory between heaven and hell, a
+political No Man’s Land. Only the barber shops were all brilliantly
+lighted and crowded, and a line formed at the doors of the public bath;
+for it was Saturday night, when all Russia bathes and perfumes itself.
+I haven’t the slightest doubt that Soviet troops and Cossacks mingled
+in the places where these ceremonies were performed.
+
+The nearer we came to the Imperial Park, the more deserted were the
+streets. A frightened priest pointed out the headquarters of the
+Soviet, and hurried on. It was in the wing of one of the Grand Ducal
+palaces, fronting the Park. The windows were dark, the door locked. A
+soldier, lounging about with his hands in the top of his trousers,
+looked us up and down with gloomy suspicion. “The Soviet went away two
+days ago,” said he. “Where?” A shrug. _“Nie znayu._ I don’t know.”
+
+A little further along was a large building, brightly illuminated. From
+within came a sound of hammering. While we were hesitating, a soldier
+and a sailor came down the street, hand in hand. I showed them my pass
+from Smolny. “Are you for the Soviets?” I asked. They did not answer,
+but looked at each other in a frightened way.
+
+“What is going on in there?” asked the sailor, pointing to the
+building.
+
+“I don’t know.”
+
+Timidly the soldier put out his hand and opened the door a crack.
+Inside a great hall hung with bunting and evergreens, rows of chairs, a
+stage being built.
+
+A stout woman with a hammer in her hand and her mouth full of tacks
+came out. “What do you want?” she asked.
+
+“Is there a performance to-night?” said the sailor, nervously.
+
+“There will be private theatricals Sunday night,” she answered
+severely. “Go away.”
+
+We tried to engage the soldier and sailor in conversation, but they
+seemed frightened and unhappy, and drew off into the darkness.
+
+We strolled toward the Imperial Palaces, along the edge of the vast,
+dark gardens, their fantastic pavilions and ornamental bridges looming
+uncertainly in the night, and soft water splashing from the fountains.
+At one place, where a ridiculous iron swan spat unceasingly from an
+artificial grotto, we were suddenly aware of observation, and looked up
+to encounter the sullen, suspicious gaze of half a dozen gigantic armed
+soldiers, who stared moodily down from a grassy terrace. I climbed up
+to them. “Who are you?” I asked.
+
+“We are the guard,” answered one. They all looked very depressed, as
+undoubtedly they were, from weeks and weeks of all-day all-night
+argument and debate.
+
+“Are you Kerensky’s troops, or the Soviets’?”
+
+There was silence for a moment, as they looked uneasily at each other.
+Then, “We are neutral,” said he.
+
+We went on through the arch of the huge Ekaterina Palace, into the
+Palace enclosure itself, asking for headquarters. A sentry outside a
+door in a curving white wing of the Palace said that the commandant was
+inside.
+
+In a graceful, white, Georgian room, divided into unequal parts by a
+two-sided fire-place, a group of officers stood anxiously talking. They
+were pale and distracted, and evidently hadn’t slept. To one, an oldish
+man with a white beard, his uniform studded with decorations, who was
+pointed out as the Colonel, we showed our Bolshevik papers.
+
+He seemed surprised. “How did you get here without being killed?” he
+asked politely. “It is very dangerous in the streets just now.
+Political passion is running very high in Tsarskoye Selo. There was a
+battle this morning, and there will be another to-morrow morning.
+Kerensky is to enter the town at eight o’clock.”
+
+“Where are the Cossacks?”
+
+“About a mile over that way.” He waved his arm.
+
+“And you will defend the city against them?”
+
+“Oh dear no.” He smiled. “We are holding the city for Kerensky.” Our
+hearts sank, for our passes stated that we were revolutionary to the
+core. The Colonel cleared his throat. “About those passes of yours,” he
+went on. “Your lives will be in danger if you are captured. Therefore,
+if you want to see the battle, I will give you an order for rooms in
+the officers’ hotel, and if you will come back here at seven o’clock in
+the morning, I will give you new passes.”
+
+“So you are for Kerensky?” we said.
+
+“Well, not exactly _for_ Kerensky.” The Colonel hesitated. “You see,
+most of the soldiers in the garrison are Bolsheviki, and to-day, after
+the battle, they all went away in the direction of Petrograd, taking
+the artillery with them. You might say that none of the _soldiers_ are
+for Kerensky; but some of them just don’t want to fight at all. The
+_officers_ have almost all gone over to Kerensky’s forces, or simply
+gone away. We are—ahem—in a most difficult position, as you see….”
+
+We did not believe that there would be any battle…. The Colonel
+courteously sent his orderly to escort us to the railroad station. He
+was from the South, born of French immigrant parents in Bessarabia.
+“Ah,” he kept saying, “it is not the danger or the hardships I mind,
+but being so long, three years, away from my mother….”
+
+Looking out of the window of the train as we sped through the cold dark
+toward Petrograd, I caught glimpses of clumps of soldiers gesticulating
+in the light of fires, and of clusters of armoured cars halted together
+at cross-roads, the chauffeurs hanging out of the turrets and shouting
+to each other….
+
+All the troubled night over the bleakflats leaderless bands of soldiers
+and Red Guards wandered, clashing and confused, and the Commissars of
+the Military Revolutionary Committee hurried from one group to another,
+trying to organise a defence….
+
+Back in town excited throngs were moving in tides up and down the
+Nevsky. Something was in the air. From the Warsaw Railway station could
+be heard far-off cannonade. In the _yunker_ schools there was feverish
+activity. Duma members went from barracks to barracks, arguing and
+pleading, narrating fearful stories of Bolshevik violence—massacre of
+the _yunkers_ in the Winter Palace, rape of the women soldiers, the
+shooting of the girl before the Duma, the murder of Prince Tumanov…. In
+the Alexander Hall of the Duma building the Committee for Salvation was
+in special session; Commissars came and went, running…. All the
+journalists expelled from Smolny were there, in high spirits. They did
+not believe our report of conditions in Tsarskoye. Why, everybody knew
+that Tsarskoye was in Kerensky’s hands, and that the Cossacks were now
+at Pulkovo. A committee was being elected to meet Kerensky at the
+railway station in the morning….
+
+One confided to me, in strictest secrecy, that the counter-revolution
+would begin at midnight. He showed me two proclamations, one signed by
+Gotz and Polkovnikov, ordering the _yunker_ schools, soldier
+convalescents in the hospitals, and the Knights of St. George to
+mobilise on a war footing and wait for orders from the Committee for
+Salvation; the other from the Committee for Salvation itself, which
+read as follows:
+
+To the Population of Petrograd!
+
+Comrades, workers, soldiers and citizens of revolutionary Petrograd!
+
+The Bolsheviki, while appealing for peace at the front, are inciting to
+civil war in the rear.
+
+Do not dig their provocatory appeals!
+
+Do not dig trenches!
+
+Down with the traitorous barricades!
+
+Lay down your arms!
+
+Soldiers, return to your barracks!
+
+The war begun in Petrograd—is the death of the Revolution!
+
+In the name of liberty, land, and peace, unite around the Committee for
+Salvation of Country and Revolution!
+
+As we left the Duma a company of Red Guards, stern-faced and desperate,
+came marching down the dark, deserted street with a dozen
+prisoners—members of the local branch of the Council of Cossacks,
+caught red-handed plotting counter-revolution in their headquarters….
+
+A soldier, accompanied by a small boy with a pail of paste, was
+sticking up great flaring notices:
+
+By virtue of the present, the city of Petrograd and its suburbs are
+declared in a state of siege. All assemblies or meetings in the
+streets, and generally in the open air, are forbidden until further
+orders.
+
+N. PODVOISKY, President of the Military
+
+Revolutionary Committee.
+
+As we went home the air was full of confused sound—automobile horns,
+shouts, distant shots. The city stirred uneasily, wakeful.
+
+In the small hours of the morning a company of _yunkers,_ disguised as
+soldiers of the Semionovsky Regiment, presented themselves at the
+Telephone Exchange just before the hour of changing guard. They had the
+Bolshevik password, and took charge without arousing suspicion. A few
+minutes later Antonov appeared, making a round of inspection. Him they
+captured and locked in a small room. When the relief came it was met by
+a blast of rifle-fire, several being killed.
+
+Counter-revolution had begun…
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+Counter-Revolution
+
+
+Next morning, Sunday the 11th, the Cossacks entered Tsarskoye Selo,
+Kerensky (See App. VIII, Sect. 1) himself riding a white horse and all
+the church-bells clamouring. From the top of a little hill outside the
+town could be seen the golden spires and many-coloured cupolas, the
+sprawling grey immensity of the capital spread along the dreary plain,
+and beyond, the steely Gulf of Finland.
+
+There was no battle. But Kerensky made a fatal blunder. At seven in the
+morning he sent word to the Second Tsarskoye Selo Rifles to lay down
+their arms. The soldiers replied that they would remain neutral, but
+would not disarm. Kerensky gave them ten minutes in which to obey. This
+angered the soldiers; for eight months they had been governing
+themselves by committee, and this smacked of the old régime…. A few
+minutes later Cossack artillery opened fire on the barracks, killing
+eight men. From that moment there were no more “neutral” soldiers in
+Tsarskoye….
+
+Petrograd woke to bursts of rifle-fire, and the tramping thunder of men
+marching. Under the high dark sky a cold wind smelt of snow. At dawn
+the Military Hotel and the Telegraph Agency had been taken by large
+forces of _yunkers,_ and bloodily recaptured. The Telephone Station was
+besieged by sailors, who lay behind barricades of barrels, boxes and
+tin sheets in the middle of the Morskaya, or sheltered themselves at
+the corner of the Gorokhovaya and of St. Isaac’s Square, shooting at
+anything that moved. Occasionally an automobile passed in and out,
+flying the Red Cross flag. The sailors let it pass….
+
+Albert Rhys Williams was in the Telephone Exchange. He went out with
+the Red Cross automobile, which was ostensibly full of wounded. After
+circulating about the city, the car went by devious ways to the
+Mikhailovsky _yunker_ school, headquarters of the counter-revolution. A
+French officer, in the court-yard, seemed to be in command…. By this
+means ammunition and supplies were conveyed to the Telephone Exchange.
+Scores of these pretended ambulances acted as couriers and ammunition
+trains for the _yunkers._
+
+Five or six armoured cars, belonging to the disbanded British Armoured
+Car Division, were in their hands. As Louise Bryant was going along St.
+Isaac’s Square one came rolling up from the Admiralty, on its way to
+the Telephone Exchange. At the corner of the Gogolia, right in front of
+her, the engine stalled. Some sailors ambushed behind wood-piles began
+shooting. The machine-gun in the turret of the thing slewed around and
+spat a hail of bullets indiscriminately into the wood-piles and the
+crowd. In the archway where Miss Bryant stood seven people were shot
+dead, among them two little boys. Suddenly, with a shout, the sailors
+leaped up and rushed into the flaming open; closing around the monster,
+they thrust their bayonets into the loop-holes, again and again,
+yelling… The chauffeur pretended to be wounded, and they let him go
+free—to run to the Duma and swell the tale of Bolshevik
+atrocities….Among the dead was a British Officer….
+
+Later the newspapers told of another French officer, captured in a
+_yunker_ armoured car and sent to Peter-Paul. The French Embassy
+promptly denied this, but one of the City Councillors told me that he
+himself had procured the officer’s release from prison….
+
+Whatever the official attitude of the Allied Embassies, individual
+French and British officers were active these days, even to the extent
+of giving advice at executive sessions of the Committee for Salvation.
+
+All day long in every quarter of the city there were skirmishes between
+_yunkers_ and Red Guards, battles between armoured cars…. Volleys,
+single shots and the shrill chatter of machine-guns could be heard, far
+and near. The iron shutters of the shops were drawn, but business still
+went on. Even the moving-picture shows, all outside lights dark, played
+to crowded houses. The street-cars ran. The telephones were all
+working; when you called Central, shooting could be plainly heard over
+the wire…. Smolny was cut off, but the Duma and the Committee for
+Salvation were in constant communication with all the _yunker_ schools
+and with Kerensky at Tsarskoye.
+
+At seven in the morning the Vladimir _yunker_ school was visited by a
+patrol of soldiers, sailors and Red Guards, who gave the _yunkers_
+twenty minutes to lay down their arms. The ultimatum was rejected. An
+hour later the _yunkers_ got ready to march, but were driven back by a
+violent fusillade from the corner of the Grebetskaya and the Bolshoy
+Prospekt. Soviet troops surrounded the building and opened fire, two
+armoured cars cruising back and forth with machine guns raking it. The
+_yunkers_ telephoned for help. The Cossacks replied that they dare not
+come, because a large body of sailors with two cannon commanded their
+barracks. The Pavlovsk school was surrounded. Most of the Mikhailov
+_yunkers_ were fighting in the streets….
+
+At half-past eleven three field-pieces arrived. Another demand to
+surrender was met by the _yunkers_ shooting down two of the Soviet
+delegates under the white flag. Now began a real bombardment. Great
+holes were torn in the walls of the school. The _yunkers_ defended
+themselves desperately; shouting waves of Red Guards, assaulting,
+crumpled under the withering blast…. Kerensky telephoned from Tsarskoye
+to refuse all parley with the Military Revolutionary Committee.
+
+Frenzied by defeat and their heaps of dead, the Soviet troops opened a
+tornado of steel and flame against the battered building. Their own
+officers could not stop the terrible bombardment. A Commissar from
+Smolny named Kirilov tried to halt it; he was threatened with lynching.
+The Red Guards’ blood was up.
+
+At half-past two the _yunkers_ hoisted a white flag; they would
+surrender if they were guaranteed protection. This was promised. With a
+rush and a shout thousands of soldiers and Red Guards poured through
+windows, doors and holes in the wall. Before it could be stopped five
+_yunkers_ were beaten and stabbed to death. The rest, about two
+hundred, were taken to Peter-Paul under escort, in small groups so as
+to avoid notice. On the way a mob set upon one party, killing eight
+more _yunkers_…. More than a hundred Red Guards and soldiers had
+fallen….
+
+Two hours later the Duma got a telephone message that the victors were
+marching toward the _Injinierny Zamok_—the Engineers’ school. A dozen
+members immediately set out to distribute among them armfuls of the
+latest proclamation of the Committee for Salvation. Several did not
+come back…. All the other schools surrendered without resistance, and
+the _yunkers_ were sent unharmed to Peter-Paul and Cronstadt….
+
+The Telephone Exchange held out until afternoon, when a Bolshevik
+armoured car appeared, and the sailors stormed the place. Shrieking,
+the frightened telephone girls ran to and fro; the _yunkers_ tore from
+their uniforms all distinguishing marks, and one offered Williams
+_anything_ for the loan of his overcoat, as a disguise…. “They will
+massacre us! They will massacre us!” they cried, for many of them had
+given their word at the Winter Palace not to take up arms against the
+People. Williams offered to mediate if Antonov were released. This was
+immediately done; Antonov and Williams made speeches to the victorious
+sailors, inflamed by their many dead—and once more the _yunkers_ went
+free…. All but a few, who in their panic tried to flee over the roofs,
+or to hide in the attic, and were found and hurled into the street.
+
+Tired, bloody, triumphant, the sailors and workers swarmed into the
+switchboard room, and finding so many pretty girls, fell back in an
+embarrassed way and fumbled with awkward feet. Not a girl was injured,
+not one insulted. Frightened, they huddled in the corners, and then,
+finding themselves safe, gave vent to their spite. “Ugh! The dirty,
+ignorant people! The fools!”… The sailors and Red Guards were
+embarrassed. “Brutes! Pigs!” shrilled the girls, indignantly putting on
+their coats and hats. Romantic had been their experience passing up
+cartridges and dressing the wounds of their dashing young defenders,
+the _yunkers,_ many of them members of noble families, fighting to
+restore their beloved Tsar! These were just common workmen, peasants,
+“Dark People.”…
+
+The Commissar of the Military Revolutionary Committee, little Vishniak,
+tried to persuade the girls to remain. He was effusively polite. “You
+have been badly treated,” he said. “The telephone system is controlled
+by the Municipal Duma. You are paid sixty rubles a month, and have to
+work ten hours and more…. From now on all that will be changed. The
+Government intends to put the telephones under control of the Ministry
+of Posts and Telegraphs. Your wages will be immediately raised to one
+hundred and fifty rubles, and your working-hours reduced. As members of
+the working-class you should be happy—”
+
+Members of the _working-class_ indeed! Did he mean to infer that there
+was anything in common between these—these animals—and _us?_ Remain?
+Not if they offered a thousand rubles!… Haughty and spiteful the girls
+left the place….
+
+The employees of the building, the line-men and labourers—they stayed.
+But the switch-boards must be operated—the telephone was vital…. Only
+half a dozen trained operators were available. Volunteers were called
+for; a hundred responded, sailors, soldiers, workers. The six girls
+scurried backward and forward, instructing, helping, scolding…. So,
+crippled, halting, but _going,_ the wires slowly began to hum. The
+first thing was to connect Smolny with the barracks and the factories;
+the second, to cut off the Duma and the _yunker_ schools…. Late in the
+afternoon word of it spread through the city, and hundreds of bourgeois
+called up to scream, “Fools! Devils! How long do you think you will
+last? Wait till the Cossacks come!”
+
+Dusk was already falling. On the almost deserted Nevsky, swept by a
+bitter wind, a crowd had gathered before the Kazan Cathedral,
+continuing the endless debate; a few workmen, some soldiers and the
+rest shop-keepers, clerks and the like.
+
+“But Lenin won’t get Germany to make peace!” cried one.
+
+A violent young soldier replied. “And whose fault is it? Your damn
+Kerensky, dirty bourgeois! To hell with Kerensky! We don’t want him! We
+want Lenin….”
+
+Outside the Duma an officer with a white arm-band was tearing down
+posters from the wall, swearing loudly. One read:
+
+To the Population of Petrograd!
+
+At this dangerous hour, when the Municipal Duma ought to use every
+means to calm the population, to assure it bread and other necessities,
+the Right Socialist Revolutionaries and the Cadets, forgetting their
+duty, have turned the Duma into a counter-revolutionary meeting, trying
+to raise part of the population against the rest, so as to facilitate
+the victory of Kornilov-Kerensky. Instead of doing their duty, the
+Right Socialist Revolutionaries and the Cadets have transformed the
+Duma into an arena of political attack upon the Soviets of Workers’,
+Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies, against the revolutionary Government
+of peace, bread and liberty.
+
+Citizens of Petrograd, we, the Bolshevik Municipal Councillors elected
+by you—we want you to know that the Right Socialist Revolutionaries and
+the Cadets are engaged in counter-revolutionary action, have forgotten
+their duty, and are leading the population to famine, to civil war. We,
+elected by 183,000 votes, consider it our duty to bring to the
+attention of our constituents what is going on in the Duma, and declare
+that we disclaim all responsibility for the terrible but inevitable
+consequences….
+
+Far away still sounded occasional shots, but the city lay quiet, cold,
+as if exhausted by the violent spasms which had torn it.
+
+In the Nicolai Hall the Duma session was coming to an end. Even the
+truculent Duma seemed a little stunned. One after another the
+Commissars reported—capture of the Telephone Exchange, street-fighting,
+the taking of the Vladimir school…. “The Duma,” said Trupp, “is on the
+side of the democracy in its struggle against arbitrary violence; but
+in any case, whichever side wins, the Duma will always be against
+lynchings and torture….”
+
+Konovski, Cadet, a tall old man with a cruel face: “When the troops of
+the legal Government arrive in Petrograd, they will shoot down these
+insurgents, and that will not be lynching!” Protests all over the hall,
+even from his own party.
+
+Here there was doubt and depression. The counter-revolution was being
+put down. The Central Committee of the Socialist Revolutionary party
+had voted lack of confidence in its officers; the left wing was in
+control; Avksentiev had resigned. A courier reported that the Committee
+of Welcome sent to meet Kerensky at the railway station had been
+arrested. In the streets could be heard the dull rumble of distant
+cannonading, south and southwest. Still Kerensky did not come…
+
+Only three newspapers were out—_Pravda, Dielo Naroda_ and _Novaya
+Zhizn._ All of them devoted much space to the new “coalition”
+Government. The Socialist Revolutionary paper demanded a Cabinet
+without either Cadets or Bolsheviki. Gorky was hopeful; Smolny had made
+concessions. A purely Socialist Government was taking shape—all
+elements except the bourgeoisie. As for _Pravda,_ it sneered:
+
+We ridicule these coalitions with political parties whose most
+prominent members are petty journalists of doubtful reputation; our
+“coalition” is that of the proletariat and the revolutionary Army with
+the poor peasants…
+
+On the walls a vainglorious announcement of the _Vikzhel,_ threatening
+to strike if both sides did not compromise:
+
+The conquerors of these riots, the saviours of the wreck of our
+country, these will be neither the Bolsheviki, nor the Committee for
+Salvation, nor the troops of Kerensky—but we, the Union of Railwaymen…
+
+Red Guards are incapable of handling a complicated business like the
+railways; as for the Provisional Government, it has shown itself
+incapable of holding the power…
+
+We refuse to lend our services to any party which does not act by
+authority of … a Government based on the confidence of all the
+democracy….
+
+Smolny thrilled with the boundless vitality of inexhaustible humanity
+in action.
+
+In Trade Union headquarters Lozovsky introduced me to a delegate of the
+Railway Workers of the Nicolai line, who said that the men were holding
+huge mass-meetings, condemning the action of their leaders.
+
+“All power to the Soviets!” he cried, pounding on the table. “The
+_oborontsi_ in the Central Committee are playing Kornilov’s game. They
+tried to send a mission to the Stavka, but we arrested them at Minsk….
+Our branch has demanded an All-Russian Convention, and they refuse to
+call it….”
+
+The same situation as in the Soviets, the Army Committees. One after
+another the various democratic organisations, all over Russia, were
+cracking and changing. The Cooperatives were torn by internal
+struggles; the meetings of the Peasants’ Executive broke up in stormy
+wrangling; even among the Cossacks there was trouble….
+
+On the top floor the Military Revolutionary Committee was in full
+blast, striking and slacking not. Men went in, fresh and vigorous;
+night and day and night and day they threw themselves into the terrible
+machine; and came out limp, blind with fatigue, hoarse and filthy, to
+fall on the floor and sleep…. The Committee for Salvation had been
+outlawed. Great piles of new proclamations (See App. VIII, Sect. 2)
+littered the floor:
+
+… The conspirators, who have no support among the garrison or the
+working-class, above all counted on the suddenness of their attack.
+Their plan was discovered in time by Sub-Lieutenant Blagonravov, thanks
+to the revolutionary vigilance of a soldier of the Red Guard, whose
+name shall be made public. At the centre of the plot was the Committee
+for Salvation. Colonel Polkovnikov was in command of their forces, and
+the orders were signed by Gotz, former member of the Provisional
+Government, allowed at liberty on his word of honour….
+
+Bringing these facts to the attention of the Petrograd population, the
+Military Revolutionary Committee orders the arrest of all concerned in
+the conspiracy, who shall be tried before the Revolutionary Tribunal….
+
+From Moscow, word that the _yunkers_ and Cossacks had surrounded the
+Kremlin and ordered the Soviet troops to lay down their arms. The
+Soviet forces complied, and as they were leaving the Kremlin, were set
+upon and shot down. Small forces of Bolsheviki had been driven from the
+Telephone and Telegraph offices; the _yunkers_ now held the centre of
+the city. … But all around them the Soviet troops were mustering.
+Street-fighting was slowly gathering way; all attempts at compromise
+had failed…. On the side of the Soviet, ten thousand garrison soldiers
+and a few Red Guards; on the side of the Government, six thousand
+_yunkers,_ twenty-five hundred Cossacks and two thousand White Guards.
+
+The Petrograd Soviet was meeting, and next door the new _Tsay-ee-kah,_
+acting on the decrees and orders (See App. VIII, Sect. 3) which came
+down in a steady stream from the Council of People’s Commissars in
+session upstairs; on the Order in Which Laws Are to be Ratified and
+Published, Establishing an Eight hour Days for Workers, and
+Lunatcharsky’s “Basis for a System of Popular Education.” Only a few
+hundred people were present at the two meetings, most of them armed.
+Smolny was almost deserted, except for the guards, who were busy at the
+hall windows, setting up machine-guns to command the flanks of the
+building.
+
+In the _Tsay-ee-kah_ a delegate of the _Vikzhel_ was speaking: “We
+refuse to transport the troops of either party…. We have sent a
+committee to Kerensky to say that if he continues to march on Petrograd
+we will break his lines of communication….”
+
+He made the usual plea for a conference of all the Socialist parties to
+form a new Government….
+
+Kameniev answered discreetly. The Bolsheviki would be very glad to
+attend the conference. The centre of gravity, however, lay not in
+composition of such a Government, but in its acceptance of the
+programme of the Congress of Soviets.
+
+… The _Tsay-ee-kah_ had deliberated on the declaration made by the Left
+Socialist Revolutionaries and the Social Democrats Internationalists,
+and had accepted the proposition of proportional representation at the
+conference, even including delegates from the Army Committees and the
+Peasants’ Soviets….
+
+In the great hall, Trotzky recounted the events of the day.
+
+“We offered the Vladimir _yunkers_ a chance to surrender,” he said. “We
+wanted to settle matters without bloodshed. But now that blood has been
+spilled there is only one way—pitiless struggle. It would be childish
+to think we can win by any other means…. The moment is decisive.
+Everybody must cooperate with the Military Revolutionary Committee,
+report where there are stores of barbed wire, benzine, guns…. We’ve won
+the power; now we must keep it!”
+
+The Menshevik Yoffe tried to read his party’s declaration, but Trotzky
+refused to allow “a debate about principle.”
+
+“Our debates are now in the streets,” he cried. “The decisive step has
+been taken. We all, and I in particular, take the responsibility for
+what is happening….”
+
+Soldiers from the front, from Gatchina, told their stories. One from
+the Death Battalion, Four Hundred Eighty-first Artillery: “When the
+trenches hear of this, they will cry, ‘This is _our_ Government!’” A
+_yunker_ from Peterhof said that he and two others had refused to march
+against the Soviets; and when his comrades had returned from the
+defence of the Winter Palace they appointed him their Commissar, to go
+to Smolny and offer their services to the _real_ Revolution….
+
+Then Trotzky again, fiery, indefatigable, giving orders, answering
+questions.
+
+“The petty bourgeoisie, in order to defeat the workers, soldiers and
+peasants, would combine with the devil himself!” he said once. Many
+cases of drunkenness had been remarked the last two days. “No drinking,
+comrades! No one must be on the streets after eight in the evening,
+except the regular guards. All places suspected of having stores of
+liquor should be searched, and the liquor destroyed. (See App. VIII,
+Sect. 4) No mercy to the sellers of liquor….”
+
+The Military Revolutionary Committee sent for the delegation from the
+Viborg section; then for the members from Putilov. They clumped out
+hurriedly.
+
+“For each revolutionist killed,” said Trotzky, “we shall kill five
+counter-revolutionists!”
+
+Down-town again. The Duma brilliantly illuminated and great crowds
+pouring in. In the lower hall wailing and cries of grief; the throng
+surged back and forth before the bulletin board, where was posted a
+list of _yunkers_ killed in the day’s fighting—or supposed to be
+killed, for most of the dead afterward turned up safe and sound…. Up in
+the Alexander Hall the Committee for Salvation held forth. The gold and
+red epaulettes of officers were conspicuous, the familiar faces of the
+Menshevik and Socialist Revolutionary intellectuals, the hard eyes and
+bulky magnificence of bankers and diplomats, officials of the old
+régime, and well-dressed women….
+
+The telephone girls were testifying. Girl after girl came to the
+tribune—over-dressed, fashion-aping little girls, with pinched faces
+and leaky shoes. Girl after girl, flushing with pleasure at the
+applause of the “nice” people of Petrograd, of the officers, the rich,
+the great names of politics—girl after girl, to narrate her sufferings
+at the hands of the proletariat, and proclaim her loyalty to all that
+was old, established and powerful….
+
+The Duma was again in session in the Nicolai Hall. The Mayor said
+hopefully that the Petrograd regiments were ashamed of their actions;
+propaganda was making headway.
+
+[Graphic, page 205: Proclamation for “wine pogroms”]
+
+Revolutionary law and order. A proclamation of the Finland Regiment, in
+December, 1917, announcing desperate remedies for “wine pogroms.” For
+translation see Appendix 5.
+
+… Emissaries came and went, reporting horrible deeds by the Bolsheviki,
+interceding to save the _yunkers,_ busily investigating….
+
+“The Bolsheviki,” said Trupp, “will be conquered by moral force, and
+not by bayonets…..”
+
+Meanwhile all was not well on the revolutionary front. The enemy had
+brought up armoured trains, mounted with cannon. The Soviet forces,
+mostly raw Red Guards, were without officers and without a definite
+plan. Only five thousand regular soldiers had joined them; the rest of
+the garrison was either busy suppressing the _yunker_ revolt, guarding
+the city, or undecided what to do. At ten in the evening Lenin
+addressed a meeting of delegates from the city regiments, who voted
+overwhelmingly to fight. A Committee of five soldiers was elected to
+serve as General Staff, and in the small hours of the morning the
+regiments left their barracks in full battle array…. Going home I saw
+them pass, swinging along with the regular tread of veterans, bayonets
+in perfect alignment, through the deserted streets of the conquered
+city….
+
+At the same time, in the headquarters of the _Vikzhel_ down on the
+Sadovaya, the conference of all the Socialist parties to form a new
+Government was under way. Abramovitch, for the centre Mensheviki, said
+that there should be neither conquerors nor conquered—that bygones
+should be bygones. …In this were agreed all the left wing parties. Dan,
+speaking in the name of the right Mensheviki, proposed to the
+Bolsheviki the following conditions for a truce: The Red Guard to be
+disarmed, and the Petrograd garrison to be placed at the orders of the
+Duma; the troops of Kerensky not to fire a single shot or arrest a
+single man; a Ministry of all the Socialist parties _except the
+Bolsheviki._ For Smolny Riazanov and Kameniev declared that a coalition
+ministry of all parties was acceptable, but protested at Dan’s
+proposals. The Socialist Revolutionaries were divided; but the
+Executive Committee of the Peasants’s Soviets and the Populist
+Socialists flatly refused to admit the Bolsheviki…. After bitter
+quarrelling a commission was elected to draw up a workable plan….
+
+All that night the commission wrangled, and all the next day, and the
+next night. Once before, on the 9th of November, there had been a
+similar effort at conciliation, led by Martov and Gorky; but at the
+approach of Kerensky and the activity of the Committee for Salvation,
+the right wing of the Mensheviki, Socialist Revolutionaries and
+Populist Socialists suddenly withdrew. Now they were awed by the
+crushing of the _yunker_ rebellion…
+
+Monday the 12th was a day of suspense. The eyes of all Russia were
+fixed on the grey plain beyond the gates of Petrograd, where all the
+available strength of the old order faced the unorganised power of the
+new, the unknown. In Moscow a truce had been declared; both sides
+parleyed, awaiting the result in the capital. Now the delegates to the
+Congress of Soviets, hurrying on speeding trains to the farthest
+reaches of Asia, were coming to their homes, carrying the fiery cross.
+In wide-spreading ripples news of the miracle spread over the face of
+the land, and in its wake towns, cities and far villages stirred and
+broke, Soviets and Military Revolutionary Committees against Dumas,
+Zemstvos and Government Commissars—Red Guards against White—street
+fighting and passionate speech…. The result waited on the word from
+Petrograd….
+
+Smolny was almost empty, but the Duma was thronged and noisy. The old
+Mayor, in his dignified way, was protesting against the Appeal of the
+Bolshevik Councillors.
+
+“The Duma is not a centre of counter-revolution,” he said, warmly. “The
+Duma takes no part in the present struggle between the parties. But at
+a time when there is no legal power in the land, the only centre of
+order is the Municipal Self-Government. The peaceful population
+recognises this fact; the foreign Embassies recognise only such
+documents as are signed by the Mayor of the town. The mind of a
+European does not admit of any other situation, as the Municipal
+self-government is the only organ which is capable of protecting the
+interests of the citizens. The City is bound to show hospitality, to
+all organisations which desire to profit by such hospitality, and
+therefore the Duma cannot prevent the distribution of any newspapers
+whatever within the Duma building. The sphere of our work is
+increasing, and we must be given full liberty of action, and our rights
+must be respected by both parties….
+
+“We are perfectly neutral. When the Telephone Exchange was occupied by
+the _yunkers_ Colonel Polkovnikov ordered the telephones to Smolny
+disconnected, but I protested, and the telephones were kept going….”
+
+At this there was ironic laughter from the Bolshevik benches, and
+imprecations from the right.
+
+“And yet,” went on Schreider, “they look upon us as
+counter-revolutionaries and report us to the population. They deprive
+us of our means of transport by taking away our last motor-cars. It
+will not be our fault if there is famine in the town. Protests are of
+no use….”
+
+Kobozev, Bolshevik member of the Town Board, was doubtful whether the
+Military Revolutionary Committee had requisitioned the Municipal
+automobiles. Even granting the fact, it was probably done by some
+unauthorised individual, in the emergency.
+
+“The Mayor,” he continued, “tells us that we must not make political
+meetings out of the Duma. But every Menshevik and Socialist
+Revolutionary here talks nothing but party propaganda, and at the door
+they distribute their illegal newspapers, _Iskri_ (Sparks), _Soldatski
+Golos_ and _Rabotchaya Gazeta,_ inciting to insurrection. What if we
+Bolsheviki should also begin to distribute our papers here? But this
+shall not be, for we respect the Duma. We have not attacked the
+Municipal Self-Government, and we shall not do so. But you have
+addressed an Appeal to the population, and we are entitled also to do
+so….”
+
+Followed him Shingariov, Cadet, who said that there could be no common
+language with those who were liable to be brought before the Attorney
+General for indictment, and who must be tried on the charge of
+treason…. He proposed again that all Bolshevik members should be
+expelled from the Duma. This was tabled, however, for there were no
+personal charges against the members, and they were active in the
+Municipal administration.
+
+Then two Mensheviki Internationalists, declaring that the Appeal of the
+Bolshevik Councillors was a direct incitement to massacre. “If
+everything that is against the Bolsheviki is counter-revolutionary,”
+said Pinkevitch, “then I do not know the difference between revolution
+and anarchy…. The Bolsheviki are depending upon the passions of the
+unbridled masses; we have nothing but moral force. We will protest
+against massacres and violence from both sides, as our task is to find
+a peaceful issue.”
+
+“The notice posted in the streets under the heading ‘To the Pillory,’
+which calls upon the people to destroy the Mensheviki and Socialist
+Revolutionaries,” said Nazariev, “is a crime which you, Bolsheviki,
+will not be able to wash away. Yesterday’s horrors are but a preface to
+what you are preparing by such a proclamation…. I have always tried to
+reconcile you with the other parties, but at present I feel for you
+nothing but contempt!”
+
+The Bolshevik Councillors were on their feet, shouting angrily,
+assailed by hoarse, hateful voices and waving arms….
+
+Outside the hall I ran into the City Engineer, the Menshevik Gomberg
+and three or four reporters. They were all in high spirits.
+
+“See!” they said. “The cowards are afraid of us. They don’t dare arrest
+the Duma! Their Military Revolutionary Committee doesn’t dare to send a
+Commissar into this building. Why, on the corner of the Sadovaya
+to-day, I saw a Red Guard try to stop a boy selling _Soldatski Golos_….
+The boy just laughed at him, and a crowd of people wanted to lynch the
+bandit. It’s only a few hours more, now. Even if Kerensky wouldn’t come
+they haven’t the men to run a Government. Absurd! I understand they’re
+even fighting among themselves at Smolny!”
+
+A Socialist Revolutionary friend of mine drew me aside. “I know where
+the Committee for Salvation is hiding,” he said. “Do you want to go and
+talk with them?”
+
+By this time it was dusk. The city had again settled down to
+normal—shop-shutters up, lights shining, and on the streets great
+crowds of people slowly moving up and down and arguing….
+
+At Number 86 Nevsky we went through a passage into a courtyard,
+surrounded by tall apartment buildings. At the door of apartment 229 my
+friend knocked in a peculiar way. There was a sound of scuffling; an
+inside door slammed; then the front door opened a crack and a woman’s
+face appeared. After a minute’s observation she led us in—a
+placid-looking, middle-aged lady who at once cried, “Kyril, it’s all
+right!” In the dining-room, where a samovar steamed on the table and
+there were plates full of bread and raw fish, a man in uniform emerged
+from behind the window-curtains, and another, dressed like a workman,
+from a closet. They were delighted to meet an American reporter. With a
+certain amount of gusto both said that they would certainly be shot if
+the Bolsheviki caught them. They would not give me their names, but
+both were Socialist Revolutionaries….
+
+“Why,” I asked, “do you publish such lies in your newspapers?”
+
+Without taking offence the officer replied, “Yes, I know; but what can
+we do?” He shrugged. “You must admit that it is necessary for us to
+create a certain frame of mind in the people….”
+
+The other man interrupted. “This is merely an adventure on the part of
+the Bolsheviki. They have no intellectuals…. The Ministries won’t
+work…. Russia is not a city, but a whole country…. Realising that they
+can only last a few days, we have decided to come to the aid of the
+strongest force opposed to them—Kerensky—and help to restore order.”
+
+“That is all very well,” I said. “But why do you combine with the
+Cadets?”
+
+The pseudo-workman smiled frankly. “To tell you the truth, at this
+moment the masses of the people are following the Bolsheviki. We have
+no following—now. We can’t mobilise a handful of soldiers. There are no
+arms available…. The Bolsheviki are right to a certain extent; there
+are at this moment in Russia only two parties with any force—the
+Bolsheviki and the reactionaries, who are all hiding under the
+coat-tails of the Cadets. The Cadets think they are using us; but it is
+really we who are using the Cadets. When we smash the Bolsheviki we
+shall turn against the Cadets….”
+
+“Will the Bolsheviki be admitted into the new Government?”
+
+He scratched his head. “That’s a problem,” he admitted. “Of course if
+they are not admitted, they’ll probably do this all over again. At any
+rate, they will have a chance to hold the balance of power in the
+Constituent—that is, if there _is_ a Constituent.”
+
+“And then, too,” said the officer, “that brings up the question of
+admitting the Cadets into the new Government—and for the same reasons.
+You know the Cadets do not really want the Constituent Assembly—not if
+the Bolsheviki can be destroyed now.” He shook his head. “It is not
+easy for us Russians, politics. You Americans are born politicians; you
+have had politics all your lives. But for us—well, it has only been a
+year, you know!”
+
+“What do you think of Kerensky?” I asked.
+
+“Oh, Kerensky is guilty of the sins of the Provisional Government,”
+answered the other man. “Kerensky himself forced us to accept coalition
+with the bourgeoisie. If he had resigned, as he threatened, it would
+have meant a new Cabinet crisis only sixteen weeks before the
+Constituent Assembly, and that we wanted to avoid.”
+
+“But didn’t it amount to that anyway?”
+
+“Yes, but how were we to know? They tricked us—the Kerenskys and
+Avksentievs. Gotz is a little more radical. I stand with Tchernov, who
+is a real revolutionist…. Why, only to-day Lenin sent word that he
+would not object to Tchernov entering the Government.
+
+“We wanted to get rid of the Kerensky Government too, but we thought it
+better to wait for the Constituent…. At the beginning of this affair I
+was with the Bolsheviki, but the Central Committee of my party voted
+unanimously against it—and what could I do? It was a matter of party
+discipline….
+
+“In a week the Bolshevik Government will go to pieces; if the Socialist
+Revolutionaries could only stand aside and wait, the Government would
+fall into their hands. But if we wait a week the country will be so
+disorganised that the German imperialists will be victorious. That is
+why we began our revolt with only two regiments of soldiers promising
+to support us—and they turned against us…. That left only the
+_yunkers_….”
+
+“How about the Cossacks?”
+
+The officer sighed. “They did not move. At first they said they would
+come out if they had infantry support. They said moreover that they had
+their men with Kerensky, and that they were doing their part…. Then,
+too, they said that the Cossacks were always accused of being the
+hereditary enemies of democracy…. And finally, ‘The Bolsheviki promise
+that they will not take away our land. There is no danger to us. We
+remain neutral.’”
+
+During this talk people were constantly entering and leaving—most of
+them officers, their shoulder-straps torn off. We could see them in the
+hall, and hear their low, vehement voices. Occasionally, through the
+half-drawn portières, we caught a glimpse of a door opening into a
+bath-room, where a heavily-built officer in a colonel’s uniform sat on
+the toilet, writing something on a pad held in his lap. I recognised
+Colonel Polkovnikov, former commandant of Petrograd, for whose arrest
+the Military Revolutionary Committee would have paid a fortune.
+
+“Our programme?” said the officer. “This is it. Land to be turned over
+to the Land Committees. Workmen to have full representation in the
+control of industry. An energetic peace programme, but not an ultimatum
+to the world such as the Bolsheviki issued. The Bolsheviki cannot keep
+their promises to the masses, even in the country itself. We won’t let
+them…. They stole our land programme in order to get the support of the
+peasants. That is dishonest. If they had waited for the Constituent
+Assembly—”
+
+“It doesn’t matter about the Constituent Assembly!” broke in the
+officer. “If the Bolsheviki want to establish a Socialist state here,
+we cannot work with them in any event! Kerensky made the great mistake.
+He let the Bolsheviki know what he was going to do by announcing in the
+Council of the Republic that he had ordered their arrest….
+
+“But what,” I said, “do you intend to do now?”
+
+The two men looked at one another. “You will see in a few days. If
+there are enough troops from the front on our side, we shall not
+compromise with the Bolsheviki. If not, perhaps we shall be forced
+to….”
+
+Out again on the Nevsky we swung on the step of a streetcar bulging
+with people, its platforms bent down from the weight and scraping along
+the ground, which crawled with agonising slowness the long miles to
+Smolny.
+
+Meshkovsky, a neat, frail little man, was coming down the hall, looking
+worried. The strikes in the Ministries, he told us, were having their
+effect. For instance, the Council of People’s Commissars had promised
+to publish the Secret Treaties; but Neratov, the functionary in charge,
+had disappeared, taking the documents with him. They were supposed to
+be hidden in the British Embassy….
+
+Worst of all, however, was the strike in the banks. “Without money,”
+said Menzhinsky, “we are helpless. The wages of the railroad men, of
+the postal and telegraph employees, must be paid…. The banks are
+closed; and the key to the situation, the State Bank, is also shut. All
+the bank-clerks in Russia have been bribed to stop work….
+
+“But Lenin has issued an order to dynamite the State Bank vaults, and
+there is a Decree just out, ordering the private banks to open
+to-morrow, or we will open them ourselves!”
+
+The Petrograd Soviet was in full swing, thronged with armed men,
+Trotzky reporting:
+
+“The Cossacks are falling back from Krasnoye Selo.” (Sharp, exultant
+cheering.) “But the battle is only beginning. At Pulkovo heavy fighting
+is going on. All available forces must be hurried there….
+
+“From Moscow, bad news. The Kremlin is in the hands of the _yunkers,_
+and the workers have only a few arms. The result depends upon
+Petrograd.
+
+“At the front, the decrees on Peace and Land are provoking great
+enthusiasm. Kerensky is flooding the trenches with tales of Petrograd
+burning and bloody, of women and children massacred by the Bolsheviki.
+But no one believes him….
+
+“The cruisers _Oleg, Avrora_ and _Respublica_ are anchored in the Neva,
+their guns trained on the approaches to the city….”
+
+“Why aren’t you out there with the Red Guards?” shouted a rough voice.
+
+“I’m going now!” answered Trotzky, and left the platform. His face a
+little paler than usual, he passed down the side of the room,
+surrounded by eager friends, and hurried out to the waiting automobile.
+
+Kameniev now spoke, describing the proceedings of the reconciliation
+conference. The armistice conditions proposed by the Mensheviki, he
+said, had been contemptuously rejected. Even the branches of the
+Railwaymen’s Union had voted against such a proposition….
+
+“Now that we’ve won the power and are sweeping all Russia,” he
+declared, “all they ask of us are three little things: 1. To surrender
+the power. 2. To make the soldiers continue the war. 3. To make the
+peasants forget about the land….”
+
+Lenin appeared for a moment, to answer the accusations of the Socialist
+Revolutionaries:
+
+“They charge us with stealing their land programme…. If that is so, we
+bow to them. It is good enough for us….”
+
+So the meeting roared on, leader after leader explaining, exhorting,
+arguing, soldier after soldier, workman after workman, standing up to
+speak his mind and his heart…. The audience flowed, changing and
+renewed continually. From time to time men came in, yelling for the
+members of such and such a detachment, to go to the front; others,
+relieved, wounded, or coming to Smolny for arms and equipment, poured
+in….
+
+It was almost three o’clock in the morning when, as we left the hall,
+Holtzman, of the Military Revolutionary Committee, came running down
+the hall with a transfigured face.
+
+“It’s all right!” he shouted, grabbing my hands. “Telegram from the
+front. Kerensky is smashed! Look at this!”
+
+He held out a sheet of paper, scribbled hurriedly in pencil, and then,
+seeing we couldn’t read it, he declaimed aloud:
+
+Pulkovo. Staff. 2.10 A.M.
+
+The night of October 30th to 31st will go down in history. The attempt
+of Kerensky to move counter-revolutionary troops against the capital of
+the Revolution has been decisively repulsed. Kerensky is retreating, we
+are advancing. The soldiers, sailors and workers of Petrograd have
+shown that they can and will with arms in their hands enforce the will
+and authority of the democracy. The bourgeoisie tried to isolate the
+revolutionary army. Kerensky attempted to break it by the force of the
+Cossacks. Both plans met a pitiful defeat.
+
+The grand idea of the domination of the worker and peasant democracy
+closed the ranks of the army and hardened its will. All the country
+from now on will be convinced that the Power of the Soviets is no
+ephemeral thing, but an invincible fact…. The repulse of Kerensky is
+the repulse of the land-owners, the bourgeoisie and the Kornilovists in
+general. The repulse of Kerensky is the confirmation of the right of
+the people to a peaceful free life, to land, bread and power. The
+Pulkovo detachment by its valorous blow has strengthened the cause of
+the Workers’ and Peasants’s Revolution. There is no return to the past.
+Before us are struggles, obstacles and sacrifices. But the road is
+clear and victory is certain.
+
+Revolutionary Russia and the Soviet Power can be proud of their Pulkovo
+detachment, acting under the command of Colonel Walden. Eternal memory
+to those who fell! Glory to the warriors of the Revolution, the
+soldiers and the officers who were faithful to the People!
+
+Long live revolutionary, popular, Socialist Russia!
+
+In the name of the Council,
+
+L. TROTZKY, People’s Commissar….
+
+Driving home across Znamensky Square, we made out an unusual crowd in
+front of the Nicolai Railway Station. Several thousand sailors were
+massed there, bristling with rifles.
+
+Standing on the steps, a member of the _Vikzhel_ was pleading with
+them.
+
+“Comrades, we cannot carry you to Moscow. We are neutral. We do not
+carry troops for either side. We cannot take you to Moscow, where
+already there is terrible civil war….”
+
+All the seething Square roared at him; the sailors began to surge
+forward. Suddenly another door was flung wide; in it stood two or three
+brakeman, a fireman or so.
+
+“This way, comrades!” cried one. “We will take you to Moscow—or
+Vladivostok, if you like! Long live the Revolution!”
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IX
+Victory
+
+
+_Order Number I_
+
+To the Troops of the Pulkovo Detachment.
+
+November 13, 1917. 38 minutes past 9 a. m.
+
+After a cruel fight the troops of the Pulkovo detachment completely
+routed the counter-revolutionary forces, who retreated from their
+positions in disorder, and under cover of Tsarskoye Selo fell back
+toward Pavlovsk II and Gatchina.
+
+Our advanced units occupied the northeastern extremity of Tsarskoye
+Selo and the station Alexandrovskaya. The Colpinno detachment was on
+our left, the Krasnoye Selo detachment to our right.
+
+I ordered the Pulkovo forces to occupy Tsarskoye Selo, to fortify its
+approaches, especially on the side of Gatchina.
+
+Also to pass and occupy Pavlovskoye, fortifying its southern side, and
+to take up the railroad as far as Dno.
+
+The troops must take all measures to strengthen the positions occupied
+by them, arranging trenches and other defensive works.
+
+They must enter into close liaison with the detachments of Colpinno and
+Krasnoye Selo, and also with the Staff of the Commander in Chief for
+the Defence of Petrograd.
+
+Signed,
+
+_Commander in Chief aver all Forces acting against the
+Counter-revolutionary Troops of Kerensky,_
+
+Lieutenant-Colonel MURAVIOV.
+
+Tuesday morning. But how is this? Only two days ago the Petrograd
+campagna was full of leaderless bands, wandering aimlessly; without
+food, without artillery, without a plan. What had fused that
+disorganised mass of undisciplined Red Guards, and soldiers without
+officers, into an army obedient to its own elected high command,
+tempered to meet and break the assault of cannon and Cossack cavalry?
+(See App. IX, Sect. 1)
+
+People in revolt have a way of defying military precedent. The ragged
+armies of the French Revolution are not forgotten—Valmy and the Lines
+of Weissembourg. Massed against the Soviet forces were _yunkers,_
+Cossacks, land-owners, nobility, Black Hundreds—the Tsar come again,
+_Okhrana_ and Siberian chains; and the vast and terrible menace of the
+Germans…. Victory, in the words of Carlyle, meant “Apotheosis and
+Millennium without end!”
+
+Sunday night, the Commissars of the Military Revolutionary Committee
+returning desperately from the field, the garrison of Petrograd elected
+its Committee of Five, its Battle Staff, three soldiers and two
+officers, all certified free from counter-revolutionary taint. Colonel
+Muraviov, ex-patriot, was in command—an efficient man, but to be
+carefully watched. At Colpinno, at Obukhovo, at Pulkovo and Krasnoye
+Selo were formed provisional detachments, increased in size as the
+stragglers came in from the surrounding country—mixed soldiers, sailors
+and Red Guards, parts of regiments, infantry, cavalry and artillery all
+together, and a few armoured cars.
+
+Day broke, and the pickets of Kerensky’s Cossacks came in touch.
+Scattered rifle-fire, summons to surrender. Over the bleak plain on the
+cold quiet air spread the sound of battle, falling upon the ears of
+roving bands as they gathered about their little fires, waiting…. So it
+was beginning! They made toward the battle; and the worker hordes
+pouring out along the straight roads quickened their pace…. Thus upon
+all the points of attack automatically converged angry human swarms, to
+be met by Commissars and assigned positions, or work to do. This was
+_their_ battle, for _their_ world; the officers in command were elected
+by _them._ For the moment that incoherent multiple will was one will….
+
+Those who participated in the fighting described to me how the sailors
+fought until they ran out of cartridges, and then stormed; how the
+untrained workmen rushed the charging Cossacks and tore them from their
+horses; how the anonymous hordes of the people, gathering in the
+darkness around the battle, rose like a tide and poured over the
+enemy…. Before midnight of Monday the Cossacks broke and were fleeing,
+leaving their artillery behind them, and the army of the proletariat,
+on a long ragged front, moved forward and rolled into Tsarskoye, before
+the enemy had a chance to destroy the great Government wireless
+station, from which now the Commissars of Smolny were hurling out to
+the world paeans of triumph….
+
+TO ALL SOVIETS OF WORKERS’ AND SOLDIERS’ DEPUTIES
+
+
+The 12th of November, in a bloody combat near Tsarskoye Selo, the
+revolutionary army defeated the counter-revolutionary troops of
+Kerensky and Kornilov. In the name of the Revolutionary Government I
+order all regiments to take the offensive against the enemies of the
+revolutionary democracy, and to take all measures to arrest Kerensky,
+and also to oppose any adventure which might menace the conquests of
+the Revolution and the victory of the proletariat.
+
+Long live the Revolutionary Army!
+MURAVIOV.
+
+News from the provinces….
+
+At Sevastopol the local Soviet had assumed the power; a huge meeting of
+the sailors on the battleships in the harbour had forced their officers
+to line up and swear allegiance to the new Government. At Nizhni
+Novgorod the Soviet was in control. From Kazan came reports of a battle
+in the streets, _yunkers_ and a brigade of artillery against the
+Bolshevik garrison….
+
+Desperate fighting had broken out again in Moscow. The _yunkers_ and
+White Guards held the Kremlin and the centre of the town, beaten upon
+from all sides by the troops of the Military Revolutionary Committee.
+The Soviet artillery was stationed in Skobeliev Square, bombarding the
+City Duma building, the Prefecture and the Hotel Metropole. The
+cobblestones of the Tverskaya and Nikitskaya had been torn up for
+trenches and barricades. A hail of machine-gun fire swept the quarters
+of the great banks and commercial houses. There were no lights, no
+telephones; the bourgeois population lived in the cellars…. The last
+bulletin said that the Military Revolutionary Committee had delivered
+an ultimatum to the Committee of Public Safety, demanding the immediate
+surrender of the Kremlin, or bombardment would follow.
+
+“Bombard the Kremlin?” cried the ordinary citizen. “They dare not!”
+
+From Vologda to Chita in far Siberia, from Pskov to Sevastopol on the
+Black Sea, in great cities and little villages, civil war burst into
+flame. From thousands of factories, peasant communes, regiments and
+armies, ships on the wide sea, greetings poured into
+Petrograd—greetings to the Government of the People.
+
+The Cossack Government at Novotcherkask telegraphed to Kerensky, _“The
+Government of the Cossack troops invites the Provisional Government and
+the members of the Council of the Republic to come, if possible, to
+Novotcherkask, where we can organise in common the struggle against the
+Bolsheviki.”_
+
+In Finland, also, things were stirring. The Soviet of Helsingfors and
+the _Tsentrobalt_ (Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet), jointly
+proclaimed a state of siege, and declared that all attempts to
+interfere with the Bolshevik forces, and all armed resistance to its
+orders, would be severely repressed. At the same time the Finnish
+Railway Union called a countrywide general strike, to put into
+operation the laws passed by the Socialist Diet of June, 1917,
+dissolved by Kerensky….
+
+Early in the morning I went out to Smolny. Going up the long wooden
+sidewalk from the outer gate I saw the first thin, hesitating
+snow-flakes fluttering down from the grey, windless sky. “Snow!” cried
+the soldier at the door, grinning with delight. “Good for the health!”
+Inside, the long, gloomy halls and bleak rooms seemed deserted. No one
+moved in all the enormous pile. A deep, uneasy sound came to my ears,
+and looking around, I noticed that everywhere on the floor, along the
+walls, men were sleeping. Rough, dirty men, workers and soldiers,
+spattered and caked with mud, sprawled alone or in heaps, in the
+careless attitudes of death. Some wore ragged bandages marked with
+blood. Guns and cartridge-belts were scattered about…. The victorious
+proletarian army!
+
+In the upstairs buffet so thick they lay that one could hardly walk.
+The air was foul. Through the clouded windows a pale light streamed. A
+battered samovar, cold, stood on the counter, and many glasses holding
+dregs of tea. Beside them lay a copy of the Military Revolutionary
+Committee’s last bulletin, upside down, scrawled with painful
+hand-writing. It was a memorial written by some soldier to his comrades
+fallen in the fight against Kerensky, just as he had set it down before
+falling on the floor to sleep. The writing was blurred with what looked
+like tears….
+
+Alexei Vinogradov
+
+D. Maskvin
+
+S. Stolbikov
+
+A. Voskressensky
+
+D. Leonsky
+
+D. Preobrazhensky
+
+V. Laidansky
+
+M. Berchikov
+
+These men were drafted into the Army on November 15th, 1916. Only three
+are left of the above.
+
+Mikhail Berchikov
+
+Alexei Voskressensky
+
+Dmitri Leonsky
+
+_Sleep, Warrior eagles, sleep with peaceful soul._
+
+_You have deserved, our own ones, happiness and_
+
+_Eternal peace. Under the earth of the grave_
+
+_You have straitly closed your ranks. Sleep, Citizens!_
+
+Only the Military Revolutionary Committee still functioned, unsleeping.
+Skripnik, emerging from the inner room, said that Gotz had been
+arrested, but had flatly denied signing the proclamation of the
+Committee for Salvation, as had Avksentiev; and the Committee for
+Salvation itself had repudiated the Appeal to the garrison. There was
+still disafiection among the city regiments, Skripnik reported; the
+Volhynsky Regiment had refused to fight against Kerensky.
+
+Several detachments of “neutral” troops, with Tchernov at their head,
+were at Gatchina, trying to persuade Kerensky to halt his attack on
+Petrograd.
+
+Skripnik laughed. “There can be no ‘neutrals’ now,” he said. “We’ve
+won!” His sharp, bearded face glowed with an almost religious
+exaltation. “More than sixty delegates have arrived from the Front,
+with assurances of support by all the armies except the troops on the
+Rumanian front, who have not been heard from. The Army Committees have
+suppressed all news from Petrograd, but we now have a regular system of
+couriers….”
+
+[Graphic, page 224: Certificate approving telegram transmission]
+
+Order given me at Staff headquarters by command of the Council of
+People’s Commissars, to transmit the first despatch out of Perograd
+after the November Revolution, over the Government wires to America.
+                      (Translation)
+       STAFF
+  Military Revolutionary
+     Commitee
+  Sov. W. & S. D.
+  2 November, 1917
+     No. 1860
+                      CERTIFICATE
+Is given by the present to the journalist of the New York Socialist
+press JOHN REED, that the text of the telegram (herewith) has been
+examined by the Government of People’s Commissars, and there is no
+objection to its transmission, and also it is recommended that all
+cooperate in every way to transmit same to its destination.
+                      For the Commander in Chief, ANTONOV
+                      Chief of Staff, VLAD. BONCH-BRUEVITCH
+
+Down in the front hall Kameniev was just entering, worn out by the
+all-night session of the Conference to Form a New Government, but
+happy. “Already the Socialist Revolutionaries are inclined to admit us
+into the new Government,” he told me. “The right wing groups are
+frightened by the Revolutionary Tribunals; they demand, in a sort of
+panic, that we dissolve them before going any further. … We have
+accepted the proposition of the _Vikzhel_ to form a homogeneous
+Socialist Ministry, and they’re working on that now. You see, it all
+springs from our victory. When we were down, they would’t have us at
+any price; not everybody’s in favour of some agreement with the
+Soivets…. What we need is a really decisive victory. Kerensky wants an
+armistice, but he’ll have to surrender (See App. IX, Sect. 2) ….”
+
+That was the temper of the Bolshevik leaders. To a foreign journalist
+who asked Trotzky what statement he had to make to the world, Trotzky
+replied: “At this moment the only statement possible is the one we are
+making through the mouths of our cannon!”
+
+But there was an undercurrent of real anxiety in the tide of victory;
+the question of finances. Instead of opening the banks, as had been
+ordered by the Military Revolutionary Committee, the Union of Bank
+Employees had held a meeting and declared a formal strike. Smolny had
+demanded some thirty-five millions of rubles from the State Bank, and
+the cashier had locked the vaults, only paying out money to the
+representatives of the Provisional Government. The reactionaries were
+using the State Bank as a political weapon; for instance, when the
+_Vikzhel_ demanded money to pay the salaries of the employees of the
+Government railroads, it was told to apply to Smolny….
+
+I went to the State Bank to see the new Commissar, a redhaired
+Ukrainean Bolshevik named Petrovitch. He was trying to bring order out
+of the chaos in which affairs had been left by the striking clerks. In
+all the offices of the huge place perspiring volunteer workers,
+soldiers and sailors, their tongues sticking out of their mouths in the
+intensity of their effort, were poring over the great ledgers with a
+bewildered air….
+
+The Duma building was crowded. There were still isolated cases of
+defiance toward the new Government, but they were rare. The Central
+Land Committee had appealed to the Peasants, ordering them not to
+recognise the Land Decree passed by the Congress of the Soviets,
+because it would cause confusion and civil war. Mayor Schreider
+announced that because of the Bolshevik insurrection, the elections to
+the Constituent Assembly would have to be indefinitely postponed.
+
+Two questions seemed to be uppermost in all minds, shocked by the
+ferocity of the civil war; first, a truce to the bloodshed (See App.
+IX, Sect. 3)—second, the creation of a new Government. There was no
+longer any talk of “destroying the Bolsheviki”—and very little about
+excluding them from the Government, except from the Populist Socialists
+and the Peasants’ Soviets. Even the Central Army Committee at the
+_Stavka,_ the most determined enemy of Smolny, telephoned from
+Moghilev: “If, to constitute the new Ministry, it is necessary to come
+to an understanding with the Bolsheviki, we agree to admit them _in a
+minority_ to the Cabinet.”
+
+_Pravda,_ ironically calling attention to Kerensky’s “humanitarian
+sentiments,” published his despatch to the Committee for Salvation:
+
+In accord with the proposals of the Committee for Salvation and all the
+democratic organisations united around it, I have halted all military
+action against the rebels. A delegate of the Committee has been sent to
+enter into negotiations. Take all measures to stop the useless shedding
+of blood.
+
+The _Vikzhel_ sent a telegram to all Russia:
+
+The Conference of the Union of Railway Workers with the representatives
+of both the belligerent parties, who admit the necessity of an
+agreement, protest energetically against the use of political terrorism
+in the civil war, especially when it is carried on between different
+factions of the revolutionary democracy, and declare that political
+terrorism, in whatever form, is in contradiction to the very idea of
+the negotiations for a new Government….
+
+[Graphic, page 227: Leaflet]
+
+Popular leaflet sold in the streets just after the Bolshevik
+insurrection, containing rhymes and jokes about the defeated
+bourgeoisie and the “moderate” Socialist leaders, Called, “How THE
+BOORZHUI (BOURGEOISIE) LOST THE POWER.”
+
+Delegations from the Conference were sent to the Front, to Gatchina. In
+the Conference itself everything seemed on the point of final
+settlement. It had even been decided to elect a Provisional People’s
+Council, composed of about four hundred members—seventy-five
+representing Smolny, seventy-five the old _Tsay-ee-kah,_ and the rest
+split up among the Town Dumas, the Trade Unions, Land Committees and
+political parties. Tchernov was mentioned as the new Premier. Lenin and
+Trotzky, rumour said, were to be excluded….
+
+About noon I was again in front of Smolny, talking with the driver of
+an ambulance bound for the revolutionary front. Could I go with him?
+Certainly! He was a volunteer, a University student, and as we rolled
+down the street shouted over his shoulder to me phrases of execrable
+German: _“Also, gut! Wir nach die Kasernen zu essen gehen!”_ I made out
+that there would be lunch at some barracks.
+
+On the Kirotchnaya we turned into an immense courtyard surrounded by
+military buildings, and mounted a dark stairway to a low room lit by
+one window. At a long wooden table were seated some twenty soldiers,
+eating _shtchi_ (cabbage soup) from a great tin wash-tub with wooden
+spoons, and talking loudly with much laughter.
+
+“Welcome to the Battalion Committee of the Sixth Reserve Engineers’
+Battalion!” cried my friend, and introduced me as an American
+Socialist. Whereat every one rose to shake my hand, and one old soldier
+put his arms around me and gave me a hearty kiss. A wooden spoon was
+produced and I took my place at the table. Another tub, full of
+_kasha,_ was brought in, a huge loaf of black bread, and of course the
+inevitable tea-pots. At once every one began asking me questions about
+America: Was it true that people in a free country sold their votes for
+_money?_ If so, how did they get what they wanted? How about this
+“Tammany”? Was it true that in a free country a little group of people
+could control a whole city, and exploited it for their personal
+benefit? Why did the people stand it? Even under the Tsar such things
+could not happen in Russia; true, here there was always graft, but to
+buy and sell a whole city full of people! And in a free country! Had
+the people no revolutionary feeling? I tried to explain that in my
+country people tried to change things by law.
+
+“Of course,” nodded a young sergeant, named Baklanov, who spoke French.
+“But you have a highly developed capitalist class? Then the capitalist
+class must control the legislatures and the courts. How then can the
+people change things? I am open to conviction, for I do not know your
+country; but to me it is incredible….”
+
+I said that I was going to Tsarskoye Selo. “I, too,” said Baklanov,
+suddenly. “And I—and I—” The whole roomful decided on the spot to go to
+Tsarskoye Selo.
+
+Just then came a knock on the door. It opened, and in it stood the
+figure of the Colonel. No one rose, but all shouted a greeting. “May I
+come in?” asked the Colonel. “_Prosim! Prosim!_” they answered
+heartily. He entered, smiling, a tall, distinguished figure in a
+goat-skin cape embroidered with gold. “I think I heard you say that you
+were going to Tsarskoye Selo, comrades,” he said. “Could I go with
+you?”
+
+Baklanov considered. “I do not think there is anything to be done here
+to-day,” he answered. “Yes, comrade, we shall be very glad to have
+you.” The Colonel thanked him and sat down, filling a glass of tea.
+
+In a low voice, for fear of wounding the Colonel’s pride, Baklanov
+explained to me. “You see, I am the chairman of the Committee. We
+control the Battalion absolutely, except in action, when the Colonel is
+delegated by us to command. In action his orders must be obeyed, but he
+is strictly responsible to us. In barracks he must ask our permission
+before taking any action…. You might call him our Executive Officer….”
+
+Arms were distributed to us, revolvers and rifles—“we might meet some
+Cossacks, you know”—and we all piled into the ambulance, together with
+three great bundles of newspapers for the front. Straight down the
+Liteiny we rattled, and along the Zagorodny Prospekt. Next to me sat a
+youth with the shoulder-straps of a Lieutenant, who seemed to speak all
+European languages with equal fluency. He was a member of the Battalion
+Committee.
+
+“I am not a Bolshevik,” he assured me, emphatically. “My family is a
+very ancient and noble one. I, myself, am, you might say, a Cadet….”
+
+“But how—?” I began, bewildered.
+
+“Oh, yes, I am a member of the Committee. I make no secret of my
+political opinions, but the others do not mind, because they know I do
+not believe in opposing the will of the majority…. I have refused to
+take any action in the present civil war, however, for I do not believe
+in taking up arms against my brother Russians….”
+
+“Provocator! Kornilovitz!” the others cried at him gaily, slapping him
+on the shoulder….
+
+Passing under the huge grey stone archway of the Moskovsky Gate,
+covered with golden hieroglyphics, ponderous Imperial eagles and the
+names of Tsars, we sped out on the wide straight highway, grey with the
+first light fall of snow. It was thronged with Red Guards, stumbling
+along on foot toward the revolutionary front, shouting and singing; and
+others, greyfaced and muddy, coming back. Most of them seemed to be
+mere boys. Women with spades, some with rifles and bandoleers, others
+wearing the Red Cross on their arm-bands—the bowed, toil-worn women of
+the slums. Squads of soldiers marching out of step, with an
+affectionate jeer for the Red Guards; sailors, grim-looking; children
+with bundles of food for their fathers and mothers; all these, coming
+and going, trudged through the whitened mud that covered the cobbles of
+the highway inches deep. We passed cannon, jingling southward with
+their caissons; trucks bound both ways, bristling with armed men;
+ambulances full of wounded from the direction of the battle, and once a
+peasant cart, creaking slowly along, in which sat a white-faced boy
+bent over his shattered stomach and screaming monotonously. In the
+fields on either side women and old men were digging trenches and
+stringing barbed wire entanglements.
+
+Back northward the clouds rolled away dramatically, and the pale sun
+came out. Across the flat, marshy plain Petrograd glittered. To the
+right, white and gilded and coloured bulbs and pinnacles; to the left,
+tall chimneys, some pouring out black smoke; and beyond, a lowering sky
+over Finland. On each side of us were churches, monasteries….
+Occasionally a monk was visible, silently watching the pulse of the
+proletarian army throbbing on the road.
+
+At Pulkovo the road divided, and there we halted in the midst of a
+great crowd, where the human streams poured from three directions,
+friends meeting, excited and congratulatory, describing the battle to
+one another. A row of houses facing the cross-roads was marked with
+bullets, and the earth was trampled into mud half a mile around. The
+fighting had been furious here…. In the near distance riderless Cossack
+horses circled hungrily, for the grass of the plain had died long ago.
+Right in front of us an awkward Red Guard was trying to ride one,
+falling off again and again, to the childlike delight of a thousand
+rough men.
+
+The left road, along which the remnants of the Cossacks had retreated,
+led up a little hill to a hamlet, where there was a glorious view of
+the immense plain, grey as a windless sea, tumultuous clouds towering
+over, and the imperial city disgorging its thousands along all the
+roads. Far over to the left lay the little hill of Kranoye Selo, the
+parade-ground of the Imperial Guards’ summer camp, and the Imperial
+Dairy. In the middle distance nothing broke the flat monotony but a few
+walled monasteries and convents, some isolated factories, and several
+large buildings with unkempt grounds that were asylums and orphanages….
+
+“Here,” said the driver, as we went on over a barren hill, “here was
+where Vera Slutskaya died. Yes, the Bolshevik member of the Duma. It
+happened early this morning. She was in an automobile, with Zalkind and
+another man. There was a truce, and they started for the front
+trenches. They were talking and laughing, when all of a sudden, from
+the armoured train in which Kerensky himself was riding, somebody saw
+the automobile and fired a cannon. The shell struck Vera Slutskaya and
+killed her….”
+
+And so we came into Tsarskoye, all bustling with the swaggering heroes
+of the proletarian horde. Now the palace where the Soviet had met was a
+busy place. Red Guards and sailors filled the court-yard, sentries
+stood at the doors, and a stream of couriers and Commissars pushed in
+and out. In the Soviet room a samovar had been set up, and fifty or
+more workers, soldiers, sailors and officers stood around, drinking tea
+and talking at the top of their voices. In one corner two clumsy-handed
+workingmen were trying to make a multigraphing machine go. At the
+centre table, the huge Dybenko bent over a map, marking out positions
+for the troops with red and blue pencils. In his free hand he carried,
+as always, the enormous bluesteel revolver. Anon he sat himself down at
+a typewriter and pounded away with one finger; every little while he
+would pause, pick up the revolver, and lovingly spin the chamber.
+
+A couch lay along the wall, and on this was stretched a young workman.
+Two Red Guards were bending over him, but the rest of the company did
+not pay any attention. In his breast was a hole; through his clothes
+fresh blood came welling up with every heart-beat. His eyes were closed
+and his young, bearded face was greenish-white. Faintly and slowly he
+still breathed, with every breath sighing, _“Mir boudit! Mir boudit!_
+(Peace is coming! Peace is coming!)”
+
+Dybenko looked up as we came in. “Ah,” he said to Baklanov. “Comrade,
+will you go up to the Commandant’s headquarters and take charge? Wait;
+I will write you credentials.” He went to the typewriter and slowly
+picked out the letters.
+
+The new Commandant of Tsarskoye Selo and I went toward the Ekaterina
+Palace, Baklanov very excited and important. In the same ornate, white
+room some Red Guards were rummaging curiously around, while my old
+friend, the Colonel, stood by the window biting his moustache. He
+greeted me like a long-lost brother. At a table near the door sat the
+French Bessarabian. The Bolsheviki had ordered him to remain, and
+continue his work.
+
+“What could I do?” he muttered. “People like myself cannot fight on
+either side in such a war as this, no matter how much we may
+instinctively dislike the dictatorship of the mob…. I only regret that
+I am so far from my mother in Bessarabia!”
+
+Baklanov was formally taking over the office from the Commandant.
+“Here,” said the Colonel nervously, “are the keys to the desk.”
+
+A Red Guard interrupted. “Where’s the money?” he asked rudely. The
+Colonel seemed surprised. “Money? Money? Ah, you mean the chest. There
+it is,” said the Colonel, “just as I found it when I took possession
+three days ago. Keys?” The Colonel shrugged. “I have no keys.”
+
+The Red Guard sneered knowingly. “Very convenient,” he said.
+
+“Let us open the chest,” said Baklanov. “Bring an axe. Here is an
+American comrade. Let him smash the chest open, and write down what he
+finds there.”
+
+I swung the axe. The wooden chest was empty.
+
+“Let’s arrest him,” said the Red Guard, venomously. “He is Kerensky’s
+man. He has stolen the money and given it to Kerensky.”
+
+Baklanov did not want to. “Oh, no,” he said. “It was the Kornilovitz
+before him. He is not to blame.
+
+“The devil!” cried the Red Guard. “He is Kerensky’s man, I tell you. If
+_you_ won’t arrest him, then _we_ will, and we’ll take him to Petrograd
+and put him in Peter-Paul, where he belongs!” At this the other Red
+Guards growled assent. With a piteous glance at us the Colonel was led
+away….
+
+Down in front of the Soviet palace an auto-truck was going to the
+front. Half a dozen Red Guards, some sailors, and a soldier or two,
+under command of a huge workman, clambered in, and shouted to me to
+come along. Red Guards issued from headquarters, each of them
+staggering under an arm-load of small, corrugated-iron bombs, filled
+with _grubit_—which, they say, is ten times as strong, and five times
+as sensitive as dynamite; these they threw into the truck. A three-inch
+cannon was loaded and then tied onto the tail of the truck with bits of
+rope and wire.
+
+We started with a shout, at top speed of course; the heavy truck
+swaying from side to side. The cannon leaped from one wheel to the
+other, and the _grubit_ bombs went rolling back and forth over our
+feet, fetching up against the sides of the car with a crash.
+
+The big Red Guard, whose name was Vladimir Nicolaievitch, plied me with
+questions about America. “Why did America come into the war? Are the
+American workers ready to throw over the capitalists? What is the
+situation in the Mooney case now? Will they extradite Berkman to San
+Francisco?” and other, very difficult to answer, all delivered in a
+shout above the roaring of the truck, while we held on to each other
+and danced amid the caroming bombs.
+
+Occasionally a patrol tried to stop us. Soldiers ran out into the road
+before us, shouted _“Shtoi!”_ and threw up their guns.
+
+We paid no attention. “The devil take you!” cried the Red Guards. “We
+don’t stop for anybody! We’re Red Guards!” And we thundered imperiously
+on, while Vladimir Nicolaievitch bellowed to me about the
+internationalisation of the Panama Canal, and such matters….
+
+About five miles out we saw a squad of sailors marching back, and
+slowed down.
+
+“Where’s the front, brothers?”
+
+The foremost sailor halted and scratched his head. “This morning,” he
+said, “it was about half a kilometer down the road. But the damn thing
+isn’t anywhere now. We walked and walked and walked, but we couldn’t
+find it.”
+
+They climbed into the truck, and we proceeded. It must have been about
+a mile further that Vladimir Nicolaievitch cocked his ear and shouted
+to the chauffeur to stop.
+
+“Firing!” he said. “Do you hear it?” For a moment dead silence, and
+then, a little ahead and to the left, three shots in rapid succession.
+Along here the side of the road was heavily wooded. Very much excited
+now, we crept along, speaking in whispers, until the truck was nearly
+opposite the place where the firing had come from. Descending, we
+spread out, and every man carrying his rifle, went stealthily into the
+forest.
+
+Two comrades, meanwhile, detached the cannon and slewed it around until
+it aimed as nearly as possible at our backs.
+
+It was silent in the woods. The leaves were gone, and the tree-trunks
+were a pale wan colour in the low, sickly autumn sun. Not a thing
+moved, except the ice of little woodland pools shivering under our
+feet. Was it an ambush?
+
+We went uneventfully forward until the trees began to thin, and paused.
+Beyond, in a little clearing, three soldiers sat around a small fire,
+perfectly oblivious.
+
+Vladimir Nicolaievitch stepped forward. _“Zra’zvuitye,_ comrades!” he
+greeted, while behind him one cannon, twenty rifles and a truck-load of
+_grubit_ bombs hung by a hair. The soldiers scrambled to their feet.
+
+“What was the shooting going on around here?”
+
+One of the soldiers answered, looking relieved, “Why we were just
+shooting a rabbit or two, comrade….”
+
+The truck hurtled on toward Romanov, through the bright, empty day. At
+the first cross-roads two soldiers ran out in front of us, waving their
+rifles. We slowed down, and stopped.
+
+“Passes, comrades!”
+
+The Red Guards raised a great clamour. “We are Red Guards. We don’t
+need any passes…. Go on, never mind them!”
+
+But a sailor objected. “This is wrong, comrades. We must have
+revolutionary discipline. Suppose some counterrevolutionaries came
+along in a truck and said: ‘We don’t need any passes?’ The comrades
+don’t know you.”
+
+At this there was a debate. One by one, however, the sailors and
+soldiers joined with the first. Grumbling, each Red Guard produced his
+dirty _bumaga_ (paper). All were alike except mine, which had been
+issued by the Revolutionary Staff at Smolny. The sentries declared that
+I must go with them. The Red Guards objected strenuously, but the
+sailor who had spoken first insisted. “This comrade we know to be a
+true comrade,” he said. “But there are orders of the Committee, and
+these orders must be obeyed. That is revolutionary discipline….”
+
+In order not to make any trouble, I got down from the truck, and
+watched it disappear careening down the road, all the company waving
+farewell. The soldiers consulted in low tones for a moment, and then
+led me to a wall, against which they placed me. It flashed upon me
+suddenly; they were going to shoot me!
+
+In all three directions not a human being was in sight. The only sign
+of life was smoke from the chimney of a _datchya,_ a rambling wooden
+house a quarter of a mile up the side road. The two soldiers were
+walking out into the road. Desperately I ran after them.
+
+“But comrades! See! Here is the seal of the Military Revolutionary
+Committee!”
+
+They stared stupidly at my pass, then at each other.
+
+“It is different from the others,” said one, sullenly. “We cannot read,
+brother.”
+
+I took him by the arm. “Come!” I said. “Let’s go to that house. Some
+one there can surely read.” They hesitated. “No,” said one. The other
+looked me over. “Why not?” he muttered. “After all, it is a serious
+crime to kill an innocent man.”
+
+We walked up to the front door of the house and knocked. A short, stout
+woman opened it, and shrank back in alarm, babbling, “I don’t know
+anything about them! I don’t know anything about them!” One of my
+guards held out the pass. She screamed. “Just to read it, comrade.”
+Hesitatingly she took the paper and read aloud, swiftly:
+
+The bearer of this pass, John Reed, is a representative of the American
+Social-Democracy, an internationalist….
+
+Out on the road again the two soldiers held another consultation. “We
+must take you to the Regimental Committee,” they said. In the
+fast-deepening twilight we trudged along the muddy road. Occasionally
+we met squads of soldiers, who stopped and surrounded me with looks of
+menace, handling my pass around and arguing violently as to whether or
+not I should be killed….
+
+It was dark when we came to the barracks of the Second Tsarskoye Selo
+Rifles, low sprawling buildings huddled along the post-road. A number
+of soldiers slouching at the entrance asked eager questions. A spy? A
+provocator? We mounted a winding stair and emerged into a great, bare
+room with a huge stove in the centre, and rows of cots on the floor,
+where about a thousand soldiers were playing cards, talking, singing,
+and asleep. In the roof was a jagged hole made by Kerensky’s cannon….
+
+I stood in the doorway, and a sudden silence ran among the groups, who
+turned and stared at me. Of a sudden they began to move, slowly and
+then with a rush, thundering, with faces full of hate. “Comrades!
+Comrades!” yelled one of my guards. “Committee! Committee!” The throng
+halted, banked around me, muttering. Out of them shouldered a lean
+youth, wearing a red arm-band.
+
+“Who is this?” he asked roughly. The guards explained. “Give me the
+paper!” He read it carefully, glancing at me with keen eyes. Then he
+smiled and handed me the pass. “Comrades, this is an American comrade.
+I am Chairman of the Committee, and I welcome you to the Regiment….” A
+sudden general buzz grew into a roar of greeting, and they pressed
+forward to shake my hand.
+
+“You have not dined? Here we have had our dinner. You shall go to the
+Officers’ Club, where there are some who speak your language….”
+
+He led me across the court-yard to the door of another building. An
+aristocratic-looking youth, with the shoulder straps of a Lieutenant,
+was entering. The Chairman presented me, and shaking hands, went back.
+
+“I am Stepan Georgevitch Morovsky, at your service,” said the
+Lieutenant, in perfect French. From the ornate entrance hall a
+ceremonial staircase led upward, lighted by glittering lustres. On the
+second floor billiard-rooms, card-rooms, a library opened from the
+hall. We entered the dining-room, at a long table in the centre of
+which sat about twenty officers in full uniform, wearing their gold-
+and silver-handled swords, the ribbons and crosses of Imperial
+decorations. All rose politely as I entered, and made a place for me
+beside the Colonel, a large, impressive man with a grizzled beard.
+Orderlies were deftly serving dinner. The atmosphere was that of any
+officers’ mess in Europe. Where was the Revolution?
+
+“You are not Bolsheviki?” I asked Morovsky.
+
+A smile went around the table, but I caught one or two glancing
+furtively at the orderly.
+
+“No,” answered my friend. “There is only one Bolshevik officer in this
+regiment. He is in Petrograd to-night. The Colonel is a Menshevik.
+Captain Kherlov there is a Cadet. I myself am a Socialist Revolutionary
+of the right wing…. I should say that most of the officers in the Army
+are not Bolsheviki, but like me they believe in democracy; they believe
+that they must follow the soldier-masses….”
+
+Dinner over, maps were brought, and the Colonel spread them out on the
+table. The rest crowded around to see.
+
+“Here,” said the Colonel, pointing to pencil marks, “were our positions
+this morning. Vladimir Kyrilovitch, where is your company?”
+
+Captain Kherlov pointed. “According to orders, we occupied the position
+along this road. Karsavin relieved me at five o’clock.”
+
+Just then the door of the room opened, and there entered the Chairman
+of the Regimental Committee, with another soldier. They joined the
+group behind the Colonel, peering at the map.
+
+“Good,” said the Colonel. “Now the Cossacks have fallen back ten
+kilometres in our sector. I do not think it is necessary to take up
+advanced positions. Gentlemen, for to-night you will hold the present
+line, strengthening the positions by—”
+
+“If you please,” interrupted the Chairman of the Regimental Committee.
+“The orders are to advance with all speed, and prepare to engage the
+Cossacks north of Gatchina in the morning. A crushing defeat is
+necessary. Kindly make the proper dispositions.”
+
+There was a short silence. The Colonel again turned to the map. “Very
+well,” he said, in a different voice. “Stepan Georgevitch, you will
+please—” Rapidly tracing lines with a blue pencil, he gave his orders,
+while a sergeant made shorthand notes. The sergeant then withdrew, and
+ten minutes later returned with the orders typewritten, and one carbon
+copy. The Chairman of the Committee studied the map with a copy of the
+orders before him.
+
+“All right,” he said, rising. Folding the carbon copy, he put it in his
+pocket. Then he signed the other, stamped it with a round seal taken
+from his pocket, and presented it to the Colonel….
+
+Here was the Revolution!
+
+I returned to the Soviet palace in Tsarskoye in the Regimental Staff
+automobile. Still the crowds of workers, soldiers and sailors pouring
+in and out, still the choking press of trucks, armoured cars, cannon
+before the door, and the shouting, the laughter of unwonted victory.
+Half a dozen Red Guards forced their way through, a priest in the
+middle. This was Father Ivan, they said, who had blessed the Cossacks
+when they entered the town. I heard afterward that he was shot…. (See
+App. IX, Sect. 4)
+
+Dybenko was just coming out, giving rapid orders right and left. In his
+hand he carried the big revolver. An automobile stood with racing
+engine at the kerb. Alone, he climbed in the rear seat, and was off-off
+to Gatchina, to conquer Kerensky.
+
+Toward nightfall he arrived at the outskirts of the town, and went on
+afoot. What Dybenko told the Cossacks nobody knows, but the fact is
+that General Krasnov and his staff and several thousand Cossacks
+surrendered, and advised Kerensky to do the same. (See App. IX, Sect.
+5)
+
+As for Kerensky—I reprint here the deposition made by General Krasnov
+on the morning of November 14th:
+
+“Gatchina, November 14, 1917. To-day, about three o’clock (A. M.), I
+was summoned by the Supreme Commander (Kerensky). He was very agitated,
+and very nervous.
+
+“‘General,’ he said to me, ‘you have betrayed me. Your Cossacks declare
+categorically that they will arrest me and deliver me to the sailors.’
+
+“‘Yes,’ I answered, ‘there is talk of it, and I know that you have no
+sympathy anywhere.’
+
+“‘But the officers say the same thing.’
+
+“‘Yes, most of all it is the officers who are discontented with you.’
+
+“‘What shall I do? I ought to commit suicide!’
+
+“‘If you are an honorable man, you will go immediately to Petrograd
+with a white flag, you will present yourself to the Military
+Revolutionary Committee, and enter into negotiations as Chief of the
+Provisional Government.’
+
+“‘All right. I will do that, General.’
+
+“‘I will give you a guard and ask that a sailor go with you.’
+
+“‘No, no, not a sailor. Do you know whether it is true that Dybenko is
+here?’
+
+“‘I don’t know who Dybenko is.’
+
+“‘He is my enemy.
+
+“‘There is nothing to do. If you play for high stakes you must know how
+to take a chance.’
+
+“‘Yes. I’ll leave to-night!’
+
+“‘Why? That would be a flight. Leave calmly and openly, so that every
+one can see that you are not running away.’
+
+“‘Very well. But you must give me a guard on which I can count.’
+
+“‘Good.’
+
+“I went out and called the Cossack Russkov, of the Tenth Regiment of
+the Don, and ordered him to pick out ten Cossacks to accompany the
+Supreme Commander. Half an hour later the Cossacks came to tell me that
+Kerensky was not in his quarters, that he had run away.
+
+“I gave the alarm and ordered that he be searched for, supposing that
+he could not have left Gatchina, but he could not be found….”
+
+And so Kerensky fled, alone, “disguised in the uniform of a sailor,”
+and by that act lost whatever popularity he had retained among the
+Russian masses….
+
+I went back to Petrograd riding on the front seat of an auto truck,
+driven by a workman and filled with Red Guards. We had no kerosene, so
+our lights were not burning. The road was crowded with the proletarian
+army going home, and new reserves pouring out to take their places.
+Immense trucks like ours, columns of artillery, wagons, loomed up in
+the night, without lights, as we were. We hurtled furiously on,
+wrenched right and left to avoid collisions that seemed inevitable,
+scraping wheels, followed by the epithets of pedestrians.
+
+Across the horizon spread the glittering lights of the capital,
+immeasurably more splendid by night than by day, like a dike of jewels
+heaped on the barren plain.
+
+The old workman who drove held the wheel in one hand, while with the
+other he swept the far-gleaming capital in an exultant gesture.
+
+“Mine!” he cried, his face all alight. “All mine now! My Petrograd!”
+
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+Moscow
+
+
+The Military Revolutionary Committee, with a fierce intensity, followed
+up its victory:
+
+November 14th.
+
+To all Army, corps, divisional and regimental Committees, to all
+Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies, to all, all,
+all.
+
+Conforming to the agreement between the Cossacks, _yunkers,_ soldiers,
+sailors and workers, it has been decided to arraign Alexander
+Feodorvitch Kerensky before a tribunal of the people. We demand that
+Kerensky be arrested, and that he be ordered, in the name of the
+organisations hereinafter mentioned, to come immediately to Petrograd
+and present himself to the tribunal.
+
+Signed,
+
+_The Cossacks of the First Division of Ussuri Cavalry; the Committee of
+Yunkers of the Petrograd detachment of Franc-Tireurs; the delegate of
+the Fifth Army._
+
+People’s Commissar DYBENKO.
+
+The Committee for Salvation, the Duma, the Central Committee of the
+Socialist Revolutionary party—proudly claiming Kerensky as a member—all
+passionately protested that he could only be held responsible to the
+Constituent Assembly.
+
+On the evening of November 16th I watched two thousand Red Guards swing
+down the Zagorodny Prospekt behind a military band playing the
+_Marseillaise_—and how appropriate it sounded—with blood-red flags over
+the dark ranks of workmen, to welcome home again their brothers who had
+defended “Red Petrograd.” In the bitter dusk they tramped, men and
+women, their tall bayonets swaying; through streets faintly lighted and
+slippery with mud, between silent crowds of bourgeois, contemptuous but
+fearful….
+
+All were against them—business men, speculators, investors,
+land-owners, army officers, politicians, teachers, students,
+professional men, shop-keepers, clerks, agents. The other Socialist
+parties hated the Bolsheviki with an implacable hatred. On the side of
+the Soviets were the rank and file of the workers, the sailors, all the
+undemoralised soldiers, the landless peasants, and a few—a very
+few—intellectuals….
+
+From the farthest corners of great Russia, whereupon desperate
+street-fighting burst like a wave, news of Kerensky’s defeat came
+echoing back the immense roar of proletarian victory. Kazan, Saratov,
+Novgorod, Vinnitza—where the streets had run with blood; Moscow, where
+the Bolsheviki had turned their artillery against the last strong-hold
+of the bourgeoisie—the Kremlin.
+
+“They are bombarding the Kremlin!” The news passed from mouth to mouth
+in the streets of Petrograd, almost with a sense of terror. Travellers
+from “white and shining little mother Moscow” told fearful tales.
+Thousands killed; the Tverskaya and the Kuznetsky Most in flames; the
+church of Vasili Blazheiny a smoking ruin; Usspensky Cathedral
+crumbling down; the Spasskaya Gate of the Kremlin tottering; the Duma
+burned to the ground. (See App. X, Sect. 1)
+
+Nothing that the Bolsheviki had done could compare with this fearful
+blasphemy in the heart of Holy Russia. To the ears of the devout
+sounded the shock of guns crashing in the face of the Holy Orthodox
+Church, and pounding to dust the sanctuary of the Russian nation….
+
+On November 15th, Lunatcharsky, Commissar of Education, broke into
+tears at the session of the Council of People’s Commissars, and rushed
+from the room, crying, “I cannot stand it! I cannot bear the monstrous
+destruction of beauty and tradition….”
+
+That afternoon his letter of resignation was published in the
+newspapers:
+
+I have just been informed, by people arriving from Moscow, what has
+happened there.
+
+The Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed, the Cathedral of the
+Assumption, are being bombarded. The Kremlin, where are now gathered
+the most important art treasures of Petrograd and of Moscow, is under
+artillery fire. There are thousands of victims.
+
+The fearful struggle there has reached a pitch of bestial ferocity.
+
+What is left? What more can happen?
+
+I cannot bear this. My cup is full. I am unable to endure these
+horrors. It is impossible to work under the pressure of thoughts which
+drive me mad!
+
+That is why I am leaving the Council of People’s Commissars.
+
+I fully realise the gravity of this decision. But I can bear no more….
+(See App. X, Sect. 2)
+
+That same day the White Guards and _yunkers_ in the Kremlin
+surrendered, and were allowed to march out unharmed. The treaty of
+peace follows:
+
+1. The Committee of Public Safety ceases to exist.
+
+2. The White Guard gives up its arms and dissolves. The officers retain
+their swords and regulations side-arms. In the Military Schools are
+retained only the arms necessary for instruction; all others are
+surrendered by the _yunkers._ The Military Revolutionary Committee
+guarantees the liberty and inviolability of the person.
+
+3. To settle the question of disarmament, as set forth in section 2, a
+special commission is appointed, consisting of representatives from all
+organisations which took part in the peace negotiations.
+
+4. From the moment of the signature of this peace treaty, both parties
+shall immediately give order to cease firing and halt all military
+operations, taking measures to ensure punctual obedience to this order.
+
+5. At the signature of the treaty, all prisoners made by the two
+parties shall be released….
+
+For two days now the Bolsheviki had been in control of the city. The
+frightened citizens were creeping out of their cellars to seek their
+dead; the barricades in the streets were being removed. Instead of
+diminishing, however, the stories of destruction in Moscow continued to
+grow…. And it was under the influence of these fearful reports that we
+decided to go there.
+
+Petrograd, after all, in spite of being for a century the seat of
+Government, is still an artificial city. Moscow is real Russia, Russia
+as it was and will be; in Moscow we would get the true feeling of the
+Russian people about the Revolution. Life was more intense there.
+
+For the past week the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee, aided
+by the rank and file of the Railway Workers, had seized control of the
+Nicolai Railroad, and hurled trainload after trainload of sailors and
+Red Guards southwest…. We were provided with passes from Smolny,
+without which no one could leave the capital…. When the train backed
+into the station, a mob of shabby soldiers, all carrying huge sacks of
+eatables, stormed the doors, smashed the windows, and poured into all
+the compartments, filling up the aisles and even climbing onto the
+roof. Three of us managed to wedge our way into a compartment, but
+almost immediately about twenty soldiers entered…. There was room for
+only four people; we argued, expostulated, and the conductor joined
+us—but the soldiers merely laughed. Were they to bother about the
+comfort of a lot of _boorzhui_ (bourgeois)? We produced the passes from
+Smolny; instantly the soldiers changed their attitude.
+
+“Come, comrades,” cried one, “these are American _tovarishtchi._ They
+have come thirty thousand versts to see our Revolution, and they are
+naturally tired….”
+
+With polite and friendly apologies the soldiers began to leave. Shortly
+afterward we heard them breaking into a compartment occupied by two
+stout, well-dressed Russians, who had bribed the conductor and locked
+their door….
+
+About seven o’clock in the evening we drew out of the station, an
+immense long train drawn by a weak little locomotive burning wood, and
+stumbled along slowly, with many stops. The soldiers on the roof kicked
+with their heels and sang whining peasant songs; and in the corridor,
+so jammed that it was impossible to pass, violent political debates
+raged all night long. Occasionally the conductor came through, as a
+matter of habit, looking for tickets. He found very few except ours,
+and after a half-hour of futile wrangling, lifted his arms despairingly
+and withdrew. The atmosphere was stifling, full of smoke and foul
+odours; if it hadn’t been for the broken windows we would doubtless
+have smothered during the night.
+
+In the morning, hours late, we looked out upon a snowy world. It was
+bitter cold. About noon a peasant woman got on with a basket-full of
+bread-chunks and a great can of luke warm coffee-substitute. From then
+on until dark there was nothing but the packed train, jolting and
+stopping, and occasional stations where a ravenous mob swooped down on
+the scantily-furnished buffet and swept it clean…. At one of these
+halts I ran into Nogin and Rykov, the seceding Commissars, who were
+returning to Moscow to put their grievances before their own Soviet,
+and further along was Bukharin, a short, red-bearded man with the eyes
+of a fanatic—“more Left than Lenin,” they said of him….
+
+Then the three strokes of the bell and we made a rush for the train,
+worming our way through the packed and noisy aisle…. A good-natured
+crowd, bearing the discomfort with humorous patience, interminably
+arguing about everything from the situation in Petrograd to the British
+Trade-Union system, and disputing loudly with the few _boorzhui_ who
+were on board. Before we reached Moscow almost every car had organised
+a Committee to secure and distribute food, and these Committees became
+divided into political factions, who wrangled over fundamental
+principles….
+
+The station at Moscow was deserted. We went to the office of the
+Commissar, in order to arrange for our return tickets. He was a sullen
+youth with the shoulder-straps of a Lieutenant; when we showed him our
+papers from Smolny, he lost his temper and declared that he was no
+Bolshevik, that he represented the Committee of Public Safety…. It was
+characteristic—in the general turmoil attending the conquest of the
+city, the chief railway station had been forgotten by the victors….
+
+Not a cab in sight. A few blocks down the street, however, we woke up a
+grotesquely-padded _izvostchik_ asleep upright on the box of his little
+sleigh. “How much to the centre of the town?”
+
+He scratched his head. “The _barini_ won’t be able to find a room in
+any hotel,” he said. “But I’ll take you around for a hundred rubles….”
+Before the Revolution it cost _two!_ We objected, but he simply
+shrugged his shoulders. “It takes a good deal of courage to drive a
+sleigh nowadays,” he went on. We could not beat him down below fifty….
+As we sped along the silent, snowy half-lighted streets, he recounted
+his adventures during the six days’ fighting. “Driving along, or
+waiting for a fare on the corner,” he said, “all of a sudden _pooff!_ a
+cannon ball exploding here, _pooff!_ a cannon ball there, _ratt-ratt!_
+a machine-gun…. I gallop, the devils shooting all around. I get to a
+nice quiet street and stop, doze a little, _pooff!_ another cannon
+ball, _ratt-ratt_…. Devils! Devils! Devils! Brrr!”
+
+In the centre of the town the snow-piled streets were quiet with the
+stillness of convalescence. Only a few arc-lights were burning, only a
+few pedestrians hurried along the side-walks. An icy wind blew from the
+great plain, cutting to the bone. At the first hotel we entered an
+office illuminated by two candles.
+
+“Yes, we have some very comfortable rooms, but all the windows are shot
+out. If the _gospodin_ does not mind a little fresh air….”
+
+Down the Tverskaya the shop-windows were broken, and there were
+shell-holes and torn-up paving stones in the street. Hotel after hotel,
+all full, or the proprietors still so frightened that all they could
+say was, “No, no, there is no room! There is no room!” On the main
+streets, where the great banking-houses and mercantile houses lay, the
+Bolshevik artillery had been indiscriminately effective. As one Soviet
+official told me, “Whenever we didn’t know just where the _yunkers_ and
+White Guards were, we bombarded their pocketbooks….”
+
+At the big Hotel National they finally took us in; for we were
+foreigners, and the Military Revolutionary Committee had promised to
+protect the dwellings of foreigners…. On the top floor the manager
+showed us where shrapnel had shattered several windows. “The animals!”
+said he, shaking his first at imaginary Bolsheviki. “But wait! Their
+time will come; in just a few days now their ridiculous Government will
+fall, and then we shall make them suffer!”
+
+We dined at a vegetarian restaurant with the enticing name, “I Eat
+Nobody,” and Tolstoy’s picture prominent on the walls, and then sallied
+out into the streets.
+
+The headquarters of the Moscow Soviet was in the palace of the former
+Governor-General, an imposing white building fronting Skobeliev Square.
+Red Guards stood sentry at the door. At the head of the wide, formal
+stairway, whose walls were plastered with announcements of
+committee-meetings and addresses of political parties, we passed
+through a series of lofty ante-rooms, hung with red-shrouded pictures
+in gold frames, to the splendid state salon, with its magnificent
+crystal lustres and gilded cornices. A low-voiced hum of talk,
+underlaid with the whirring bass of a score of sewing machines, filled
+the place. Huge bolts of red and black cotton cloth were unrolled,
+serpentining across the parqueted floor and over tables, at which sat
+half a hundred women, cutting and sewing streamers and banners for the
+Funeral of the Revolutionary Dead. The faces of these women were
+roughened and scarred with life at its most difficult; they worked now
+sternly, many of them with eyes red from weeping…. The losses of the
+Red Army had been heavy.
+
+At a desk in one corner was Rogov, an intelligent, bearded man with
+glasses, wearing the black blouse of a worker. He invited us to march
+with the Central Executive Committee in the funeral procession next
+morning….
+
+“It is impossible to teach the Socialist Revolutionaries and the
+Mensheviki anything!” he exclaimed. “They compromise from sheer habit.
+Imagine! They proposed that we hold a joint funeral with the
+_yunkers!”_
+
+[Graphic, page 251: Questionaire for the Bourgeoioisie]
+
+Distributed to all bourgeois households in Moscow by the Moscow
+Military Revolutionary Commitee, so as to provide a basis for the
+requisition of clothing for the Army and the poor workers. For
+translation see Appendix 3. (See App. X, Sect. 3)
+
+Across the hall came a man in a ragged soldier-coat and _shapka,_ whose
+face was familiar; I recognised Melnichansky, whom I had known as the
+watch-maker George Melcher in Bayonne, New Jersey, during the great
+Standard Oil strike. Now, he told me, he was secretary of the Moscow
+Metal-Workers’ Union, and a Commissar of the Military Revolutionary
+Committee during the fighting….
+
+“You see me!” he cried, showing his decrepit clothing. “I was with the
+boys in the Kremlin when the _yunkers_ came the first time. They shut
+me up in the cellar and swiped my overcoat, my money, watch and even
+the ring on my finger. This is all I’ve got to wear!”
+
+From him I learned many details of the bloody six-day battle which had
+rent Moscow in two. Unlike in Petrograd, in Moscow the City Duma had
+taken command of the _yunkers_ and White Guards. Rudnev, the Mayor, and
+Minor, president of the Duma, had directed the activities of the
+Committee of Public Safety and the troops. Riabtsev, Commandant of the
+city, a man of democratic instincts, had hesitated about opposing the
+Military Revolutionary Committee; but the Duma had forced him…. It was
+the Mayor who had urged the occupation of the Kremlin; “They will never
+dare fire on you there,” he said….
+
+One garrison regiment, badly demoralised by long inactivity, had been
+approached by both sides. The regiment held a meeting to decide what
+action to take. Resolved, that the regiment remain neutral, and
+continue its present activities—which consisted in peddling rubbers and
+sunflower seeds!
+
+“But worst of all,” said Melnichansky, “we had to organise while we
+were fighting. The other side knew just what it wanted; but here the
+soldiers had their Soviet and the workers theirs…. There was a fearful
+wrangle over who should be Commander-in-chief; some regiments talked
+for days before they decided what to do; and when the officers suddenly
+deserted us, we had no battle-staff to give orders….”
+
+Vivid little pictures he gave me. On a cold grey day he had stood at a
+corner of the Nikitskaya, which was swept by blasts of machine-gun
+fire. A throng of little boys were gathered there—street waifs who used
+to be newsboys. Shrill, excited as if with a new game, they waited
+until the firing slackened, and then tried to run across the street….
+Many were killed, but the rest dashed backward and forward, laughing,
+daring each other….
+
+Late in the evening I went to the _Dvorianskoye Sobranie_—the Nobles’
+Club—where the Moscow Bolsheviki were to meet and consider the report
+of Nogin, Rykov and the others who had left the Council of People’s
+Commissars.
+
+The meeting-place was a theatre, in which, under the old régime, to
+audiences of officers and glittering ladies, amateur presentations of
+the latest French comedy had once taken place.
+
+At first the place filled with the intellectuals—those who lived near
+the centre of the town. Nogin spoke, and most of his listeners were
+plainly with him. It was very late before the workers arrived; the
+working-class quarters were on the outskirts of the town, and no
+street-cars were running. But about midnight they began to clump up the
+stairs, in groups of ten or twenty—big, rough men, in coarse clothes,
+fresh from the battle-line, where they had fought like devils for a
+week, seeing their comrades fall all about them.
+
+Scarcely had the meeting formally opened before Nogin was assailed with
+a tempest of jeers and angry shouts. In vain he tried to argue, to
+explain; they would not listen. He had left the Council of People’s
+Commissars; he had deserted his post while the battle was raging. As
+for the bourgeois press, here in Moscow there was no more bourgeois
+press; even the City Duma had been dissolved. (See App. X, Sect. 4)
+Bukharin stood up, savage, logical, with a voice which plunged and
+struck, plunged and struck…. Him they listened to with shining eyes.
+Resolution, to support the action of the Council of People’s
+Commissars, passed by overwhelming majority. So spoke Moscow….
+
+[Graphic, page 254: Pass to the Kremlin]
+
+By this the Military Revolutionary Commitee requests to give a pass for
+the purpose of investigating the Kremlin, the representatives of the
+American Socialist party attached to the Socialist press, comrades Reed
+and Bryant. Chief of the Military Revolutionary Committee For the
+Secretary
+
+Late in the night we went through the empty streets and under the
+Iberian Gate to the great Red Square in front of the Kremlin. The
+church of Vasili Blazheiny loomed fantastic, its bright-coloured,
+convoluted and blazoned cupolas vague in the darkness. There was no
+sign of any damage…. Along one side of the square the dark towers and
+walls of the Kremlin stood up. On the high walls flickered redly the
+light of hidden flames; voices reached us across the immense place, and
+the sound of picks and shovels. We crossed over.
+
+Mountains of dirt and rock were piled high near the base of the wall.
+Climbing these we looked down into two massive pits, ten or fifteen
+feet deep and fifty yards long, where hundreds of soldiers and workers
+were digging in the light of huge fires.
+
+A young student spoke to us in German. “The Brotherhood Grave,” he
+explained. “To-morrow we shall bury here five hundred proletarians who
+died for the Revolution.”
+
+He took us down into the pit. In frantic haste swung the picks and
+shovels, and the earth—mountains grew. No one spoke. Overhead the night
+was thick with stars, and the ancient Imperial Kremlin wall towered up
+immeasurably.
+
+“Here in this holy place,” said the student, “holiest of all Russia, we
+shall bury our most holy. Here where are the tombs of the Tsars, our
+Tsar—the People—shall sleep….” His arm was in a sling, from a
+bullet-wound gained in the fighting. He looked at it. “You foreigners
+look down on us Russians because so long we tolerated a mediæval
+monarchy,” said he. “But we saw that the Tsar was not the only tyrant
+in the world; capitalism was worse, and in all the countries of the
+world capitalism was Emperor…. Russian revolutionary tactics are
+best….”
+
+As we left, the workers in the pit, exhausted and running with sweat in
+spite of the cold, began to climb wearily out. Across the Red Square a
+dark knot of men came hurrying. They swarmed into the pits, picked up
+the tools and began digging, digging, without a word….
+
+So, all the long night volunteers of the People relieved each other,
+never halting in their driving speed, and the cold light of the dawn
+laid bare the great Square, white with snow, and the yawning brown pits
+of the Brotherhood Grave, quite finished.
+
+We rose before sunrise, and hurried through the dark streets to
+Skobeliev Square. In all the great city not a human being could be
+seen; but there was a faint sound of stirring, far and near, like a
+deep wind coming. In the pale half-light a little group of men and
+women were gathered before the Soviet headquarters, with a sheaf of
+gold-lettered red banners—the Central Executive Committee of the Moscow
+Soviets. It grew light. From afar the vague stirring sound deepened and
+became louder, a steady and tremendous bass. The city was rising. We
+set out down the Tverskaya, the banners flapping overhead. The little
+street chapels along our way were locked and dark, as was the Chapel of
+the Iberian Virgin, which each new Tsar used to visit before he went to
+the Kremlin to crown himself, and which, day or night, was always open
+and crowded, and brilliant with the candles of the devout gleaming on
+the gold and silver and jewels of the ikons. Now, for the first time
+since Napoleon was in Moscow, they say, the candles were out.
+
+The Holy Orthodox Church had withdrawn the light of its countenance
+from Moscow, the nest of irreverent vipers who had bombarded the
+Kremlin. Dark and silent and cold were the churches; the priests had
+disappeared. There were no popes to officiate at the Red Burial, there
+had been no sacrament for the dead, nor were any prayers to be said
+over the grave of the blasphemers. Tikhon, Metropolitan of Moscow, was
+soon to excommunicate the Soviets….
+
+Also the shops were closed, and the propertied classes stayed at
+home—but for other reasons. This was the Day of the People, the rumour
+of whose coming was thunderous as surf….
+
+Already through the Iberian Gate a human river was flowing, and the
+vast Red Square was spotted with people, thousands of them. I remarked
+that as the throng passed the Iberian Chapel, where always before the
+passerby had crossed himself, they did not seem to notice it….
+
+We forced our way through the dense mass packed near the Kremlin wall,
+and stood upon one of the dirt-mountains. Already several men were
+there, among them Muranov, the soldier who had been elected Commandant
+of Moscow—a tall, simple-looking, bearded man with a gentle face.
+
+Through all the streets to the Red Square the torrents of people
+poured, thousands upon thousands of them, all with the look of the poor
+and the toiling. A military band came marching up, playing the
+_Internationale,_ and spontaneously the song caught and spread like
+wind-ripples on a sea, slow and solemn. From the top of the Kremlin
+wall gigantic banners unrolled to the ground; red, with great letters
+in gold and in white, saying, “Martyrs of the Beginning of World Social
+Revolution,” and “Long Live the Brotherhood of Workers of the World.”
+
+A bitter wind swept the Square, lifting the banners. Now from the far
+quarters of the city the workers of the different factories were
+arriving, with their dead. They could be seen coming through the Gate,
+the blare of their banners, and the dull red—like blood—of the coffins
+they carried. These were rude boxes, made of unplaned wood and daubed
+with crimson, borne high on the shoulders of rough men who marched with
+tears streaming down their faces, and followed by women who sobbed and
+screamed, or walked stiffly, with white, dead faces. Some of the
+coffins were open, the lid carried behind them; others were covered
+with gilded or silvered cloth, or had a soldier’s hat nailed on the
+top. There were many wreaths of hideous artificial flowers….
+
+Through an irregular lane that opened and closed again the procession
+slowly moved toward us. Now through the Gate was flowing an endless
+stream of banners, all shades of red, with silver and gold lettering,
+knots of crepe hanging from the top—and some Anarchist flags, black
+with white letters. The band was playing the Revolutionary Funeral
+March, and against the immense singing of the mass of people, standing
+uncovered, the paraders sang hoarsely, choked with sobs….
+
+Between the factory-workers came companies of soldiers with their
+coffins, too, and squadrons of cavalry, riding at salute, and artillery
+batteries, the cannon wound with red and black—forever, it seemed.
+Their banners said, “Long live the Third International!” or “We Want an
+Honest, General, Democratic Peace!”
+
+Slowly the marchers came with their coffins to the entrance of the
+grave, and the bearers clambered up with their burdens and went down
+into the pit. Many of them were women—squat, strong proletarian women.
+Behind the dead came other women—women young and broken, or old,
+wrinkled women making noises like hurt animals, who tried to follow
+their sons and husbands into the Brotherhood Grave, and shrieked when
+compassionate hands restrained them. The poor love each other so!
+
+All the long day the funeral procession passed, coming in by the
+Iberian Gate and leaving the Square by way of the Nikolskaya, a river
+of red banners, bearing words of hope and brotherhood and stupendous
+prophecies, against a back-ground of fifty thousand people,—under the
+eyes of the world’s workers and their descendants forever….
+
+One by one the five hundred coffins were laid in the pits. Dusk fell,
+and still the banners came drooping and fluttering, the band played the
+Funeral March, and the huge assemblage chanted. In the leafless
+branches of the trees above the grave the wreaths were hung, like
+strange, multi-coloured blossoms. Two hundred men began to shovel in
+the dirt. It rained dully down upon the coffins with a thudding sound,
+audible beneath the singing….
+
+The lights came out. The last banners passed, and the last moaning
+women, looking back with awful intensity as they went. Slowly from the
+great Square ebbed the proletarian tide….
+
+I suddenly realised that the devout Russian people no longer needed
+priests to pray them into heaven. On earth they were building a kingdom
+more bright than any heaven had to offer, and for which it was a glory
+to die….
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XI
+The Conquest of Power (See App. XI, Sect. 1)
+
+
+DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLES OF RUSSIA (See App. XI, Sect.
+2)
+
+… The first Congress of Soviets, in June of this year, proclaimed the
+right of the peoples of Russia to self-determination.
+
+The second Congress of Soviets, in November last, confirmed this
+inalienable right of the peoples of Russia more decisively and
+definitely.
+
+Executing the will of these Congresses, the Council of People’s
+Commissars has resolved to establish as a basis for its activity in the
+question of Nationalities, the following principles:
+
+(1) The equality and sovereignty of the peoples of Russia.
+
+(2) The right of the peoples of Russia to free self-determination, even
+to the point of separation and the formation of an independent state.
+
+(3) The abolition of any and all national and national religious
+privileges and disabilities.
+
+(4) The free development of national minorities and ethnographic groups
+inhabiting the territory of Russia.
+
+Decrees will be prepared immediately upon the formation of a Commission
+on Nationalities.
+
+In the name of the Russian Republic,
+
+People’s Commissar for Nationalities
+
+YUSSOV DJUGASHVILI-STALIN
+
+
+President of the Council of People’s Commissars
+
+V. ULIANOV (LENIN)
+
+
+The Central Rada at Kiev immediately declared Ukraine an independent
+Republic, as did the Government of Finland, through the Senate at
+Helsingfors. Independent “Governments” spring up in Siberia and the
+Caucasus. The Polish Chief Military Committee swiftly gathered together
+the Polish troops in the Russian army, abolished their Committees and
+established an iron discipline….
+
+All these “Governments” and “movements” had two characteristics in
+common; they were controlled by the propertied classes, and they feared
+and detested Bolshevism….
+
+Steadily, amid the chaos of shocking change, the Council of People’s
+Commissars hammered at the scaffolding of the Socialist order. Decree
+on Social Insurance, on Workers’ Control, Regulations for Volost Land
+Committees, Abolition of Ranks and Titles, Abolition of Courts and the
+Creation of People’s Tribunals…. (See App. XI, Sect. 3)
+
+Army after army, fleet after fleet, sent deputations, “joyfully to
+greet the new Government of the People.”
+
+In front of Smolny, one day, I saw a ragged regiment just come from the
+trenches. The soldiers were drawn up before the great gates, thin and
+grey-faced, looking up at the building as if God were in it. Some
+pointed out the Imperial eagles over the door, laughing…. Red Guards
+came to mount guard. All the soldiers turned to look, curiously, as if
+they had heard of them but never seen them. They laughed good-naturedly
+and pressed out of line to slap the Red Guards on the back, with
+half-joking, half-admiring remarks….
+
+The Provisional Government was no more. On November 15th, in all the
+churches of the capital, the priests stopped praying for it. But as
+Lenin himself told the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ that was “only the beginning of
+the conquest of power.” Deprived of arms, the opposition, which still
+controlled the economic life of the country, settled down to organise
+disorganisation, with all the Russian genius for cooperative action—to
+obstruct, cripple and discredit the Soviets.
+
+The strike of Government employees was well organised, financed by the
+banks and commercial establishments. Every move of the Bolsheviki to
+take over the Government apparatus was resisted.
+
+Trotzky went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the functionaries
+refused to recognise him, locked themselves in, and when the doors were
+forced, resigned. He demanded the keys of the archives; only when he
+brought workmen to force the locks were they given up. Then it was
+discovered that Neratov, former assistant Foreign Minister, had
+disappeared with the Secret Treaties….
+
+Shliapnikov tried to take possession of the Ministry of Labour. It was
+bitterly cold, and there was no one to light the fires. Of all the
+hundreds of employees, not one would show him where the office of the
+Minister was….
+
+Alexandra Kollontai, appointed the 13th of November Commissar of Public
+Welfare—the department of charities and public institutions—was
+welcomed with a strike of all but forty of the functionaries in the
+Ministry. Immediately the poor of the great cities, the inmates of
+institutions, were plunged in miserable want: delegations of starving
+cripples, of orphans with blue, pinched faces, besieged the building.
+With tears streaming down her face, Kollontai arrested the strikers
+until they should deliver the keys of the office and the safe; when she
+got the keys, however, it was discovered that the former Minister,
+Countess Panina, had gone off with all the funds, which she refused to
+surrender except on the order of the Constituent Assembly. (See App.
+XI, Sect. 4)
+
+In the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Supplies, the Ministry
+of Finance, similar incidents occurred. And the employees, summoned to
+return or forfeit their positions and their pensions, either stayed
+away or returned to sabotage…. Almost all the _intelligentzia_ being
+anti-Bolshevik, there was nowhere for the Soviet Government to recruit
+new staffs….
+
+The private banks remained stubbornly closed, with a back door open for
+speculators. When Bolshevik Commissars entered, the clerks left,
+secreting the books and removing the funds. All the employees of the
+State Bank struck except the clerks in charge of the vaults and the
+manufacture of money, who refused all demands from Smolny and privately
+paid out huge sums to the Committee for Salvation and the City Duma.
+
+Twice a Commissar, with a company of Red Guards, came formally to
+insist upon the delivery of large sums for Government expenses. The
+first time, the City Duma members and the Menshevik and Socialist
+Revolutionary leaders were present in imposing numbers, and spoke so
+gravely of the consequences that the Commissar was frightened. The
+second time he arrived with a warrant, which he proceeded to read aloud
+in due form; but some one called his attention to the fact that it had
+no date and no seal, and the traditional Russian respect for
+“documents” forced him again to withdraw….
+
+The officials of the Credit Chancery destroyed their books, so that all
+record of the financial relations of Russia with foreign countries was
+lost.
+
+The Supply Committees, the administrations of the Municipal-owned
+public utilities, either did not work at all, or sabotaged. And when
+the Bolsheviki, compelled by the desperate needs of the city
+population, attempted to help or to control the public service, all the
+employees went on strike immediately, and the Duma flooded Russia with
+telegrams about Bolshevik “violation of Municipal autonomy.”
+
+At Military headquarters, and in the offices of the Ministries of War
+and Marine, where the old officials had consented to work, the Army
+Committees and the high command blocked the Soviets in every way
+possible, even to the extent of neglecting the troops at the front. The
+_Vikzhel_ was hostile, refusing to transport Soviet troops; every
+troop-train that left Petrograd was taken out by force, and railway
+officials had to be arrested each time—whereupon the _Vikzhel_
+threatened an immediate general strike unless they were released….
+
+Smolny was plainly powerless. The newspapers said that all the
+factories of Petrograd must shut down for lack of fuel in three weeks;
+the _Vikzhel_ announced that trains must cease running by December
+first; there was food for three days only in Petrograd, and no more
+coming in; and the Army on the Front was starving…. The Committee for
+Salvation, the various Central Committees, sent word all over the
+country, exhorting the population to ignore the Government decrees. And
+the Allied Embassies were either coldly indifferent, or openly
+hostile….
+
+The opposition newspapers, suppressed one day and reappearing next
+morning under new names, heaped bitter sarcasm on the new regime. (See
+App. XI, Sect. 5) Even _Novaya Zhizn_ characterised it as “a
+combination of demagoguery and impotence.”
+
+From day to day (it said) the Government of the People’s Commissars
+sinks deeper and deeper into the mire of superficial haste. Having
+easily conquered the power… the Bolsheviki can not make use of it.
+
+Powerless to direct the existing mechanism of Government, they are
+unable at the same time to create a new one which might work easily and
+freely according to the theories of social experimenters.
+
+Just a little while ago the Bolsheviki hadn’t enough men to run their
+growing party—a work above all of speakers and writers; where then are
+they going to find trained men to execute the diverse and complicated
+functions of government?
+
+The new Government acts and threatens, it sprays the country with
+decrees, each one more radical and more “socialist” than the last. But
+in this exhibition of Socialism on Paper—more likely designed for the
+stupefaction of our descendants—there appears neither the desire nor
+the capacity to solve the immediate problems of the day!
+
+Meanwhile the _Vikzhel’s_ Conference to Form a New Government continued
+to meet night and day. Both sides had already agreed in principle to
+the basis of the Government; the composition of the People’s Council
+was being discussed; the Cabinet was tentatively chosen, with Tchernov
+as Premier; the Bolsheviki were admitted in a large minority, but Lenin
+and Trotzky were barred. The Central Committees of the Menshevik and
+Socialist Revolutionary parties, the Executive Committee of the
+Peasant’s Soviets, resolved that, although unalterably opposed to the
+“criminal politics” of the Bolsheviki, they would, “in order to halt
+the fratricidal bloodshed,” not oppose their entrance into the People’s
+Council.
+
+The flight of Kerensky, however, and the astounding success of the
+Soviets everywhere, altered the situation. On the 16th, in a meeting of
+the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ the Left Socialist Revolutionaries insisted that the
+Bolsheviki should form a coalition Government with the other Socialist
+parties; otherwise they would withdraw from the Military Revolutionary
+Committee and the _Tsay-ee-kah._ Malkin said, “The news from Moscow,
+where our comrades are dying on both sides of the barricades,
+determines us to bring up once more the question of organisation of
+power, and it is not only our right to do so, but our duty…. We have
+won the right to sit with the Bolsheviki here within the walls of
+Smolny Institute, and to speak from this tribune. After the bitter
+internal party struggle, we shall be obliged, if you refuse to
+compromise, to pass to open battle outside…. We must propose to the
+democracy terms of an acceptable compromise….”
+
+After a recess to consider this ultimatum, the Bolsheviki returned with
+a resolution, read by Kameniev:
+
+The _Tsay-ee-kah_ considers it necessary that there enter into the
+Government representatives of _all the Socialist parties composing the
+Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies who recognise the
+conquests of the Revolution of November 7th—that is to say, the
+establishment of a Government of Soviets, the decrees on peace, land,
+workers’ control over industry, and the arming of the working-class._
+The _Tsay-ee-kah_ therefore resolves to propose negotiations concerning
+the constitution of the Government to all parties _of the Soviet,_ and
+insists upon the following conditions as a basis:
+
+The Government is responsible to the _Tsay-ee-kah._ The _Tsay-ee-kah_
+shall be enlarged to 150 members. To these 150 delegates of the Soviets
+of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies shall be added 75 delegates of the
+_Provincial_ Soviets of Peasants’ Deputies, 80 from the Front
+organisations of the Army and Navy, 40 from the Trade Unions (25 from
+the various All-Russian Unions, in proportion to their importance, 10
+from the _Vikzhel,_ and 5 from the Post and Telegraph Workers), and 50
+delegates from the Socialist groups in the Petrograd City Duma. In the
+Ministry itself, at least one-half the portfolios must be reserved to
+the Bolsheviki. The Ministries of Labour, Interior and Foreign Affairs
+must be given to the Bolsheviki. The command of the garrisons of
+Petrograd and Moscow must remain in the hands of delegates of the
+Moscow and Petrograd Soviets.
+
+The Government undertakes the systematic arming of the workers of all
+Russia.
+
+It is resolved to insist upon the candidature of comrades Lenin and
+Trotzky.
+
+Kameniev explained. “The so-called ‘People’s Council,’” he said,
+“proposed by the Conference, would consist of about 420 members, of
+which about 150 would be Bolsheviki. Besides, there would be delegates
+from the counter-revolutionary old _Tsay-ee-kah,_ 100 members chosen by
+the Municipal Dumas—Kornilovtsi all; 100 delegates from the Peasants’
+Soviets—appointed by Avksentiev, and 80 from the old Army Committees,
+who no longer represent the soldier masses.
+
+“We refuse to admit the old _Tsay-ee-kah,_ and also the representatives
+of the Municipal Dumas. The delegates from the Peasants’ Soviets shall
+be elected by the Congress of Peasants, which we have called, and which
+will at the same time elect a new Executive Committee. The proposal to
+exclude Lenin and Trotzky is a proposal to decapitate our party, and we
+do not accept it. And finally, we see no necessity for a ‘People’s
+Council’ anyway; the Soviets are open to all Socialist parties, and the
+_Tsay-ee-kah_ represents them in their real proportions among the
+masses….”
+
+Karelin, for the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, declared that his
+party would vote for the Bolshevik resolution, reserving the right to
+modify certain details, such as the representation of the peasants, and
+demanding that the Ministry of Agriculture be reserved for the Left
+Socialist Revolutionaries. This was agreed to….
+
+Later, at a meeting of the Petrograd Soviet, Trotzky answered a
+question about the formation of the new Government:
+
+“I don’t know anything about that. I am not taking part in the
+negotiations…. However, I don’t think that they are of great
+importance….”
+
+That night there was great uneasiness in the Conference. The delegates
+of the City Duma withdrew….
+
+But at Smolny itself, in the ranks of the Bolshevik party, a formidable
+opposition to Lenin’s policy was growing. On the night of November 17th
+the great hall was packed and ominous for the meeting of the
+_Tsay-ee-kah._
+
+Larin, Bolshevik, declared that the moment of elections to the
+Constituent Assembly approached, and it was time to do away with
+“political terrorism.”
+
+“The measures taken against the freedom of the press should be
+modified. They had their reason during the struggle, but now they have
+no further excuse. The press should be free, except for appeals to riot
+and insurrection.”
+
+In a storm of hisses and hoots from his own party, Larin offered the
+following resolution:
+
+The decree of the Council of People’s Commissars concerning the Press
+is herewith repealed.
+
+Measures of political repression can only be employed subject to
+decision of a special tribunal, elected by the _Tsay-ee-kah_
+proportionally to the strength of the different parties represented;
+and this tribunal shall have the right also to reconsider measures of
+repression already taken.
+
+This was met by a thunder of applause, not only from the Left Socialist
+Revolutionaries, but also from a part of the Bolsheviki.
+
+Avanessov, for the Leninites, hastily proposed that the question of the
+Press be postponed until after some compromise between the Socialist
+parties had been reached. Overwhelmingly voted down.
+
+“The revolution which is now being accomplished,” went on Avanessov,
+“has not hesitated to attack private property; and it is as private
+property that we must examine the question of the Press….”
+
+Thereupon he read the official Bolshevik resolution:
+
+The suppression of the bourgeois press was dictated not only by purely
+military needs in the course of the insurrection, and for the checking
+of counter-revolutionary action, but it is also necessary as a measure
+of transition toward the establishment of a new régime with regard to
+the Press—a régime under which the capitalist owners of
+printing-presses and of paper cannot be the all-powerful and exclusive
+manufacturers of public opinion.
+
+We must further proceed to the confiscation of private printing plants
+and supplies of paper, which should become the property of the Soviets,
+both in the capital and in the provinces, so that the political parties
+and groups can make use of the facilities of printing in proportion to
+the actual strength of the ideas they represent—in other words,
+proportionally to the number of their constituents.
+
+The reëstablishment of the so-called “freedom of the press,” the simple
+return of printing presses and paper to the capitalists,—poisoners of
+the mind of the people—this would be an inadmissible surrender to the
+will of capital, a giving up of one of the most important conquests of
+the Revolution; in other words, it would be a measure of unquestionably
+counter-revolutionary character.
+
+Proceeding from the above, the _Tsay-ee-kah_ categorically rejects all
+propositions aiming at the reëstablishment of the old régime in the
+domain of the Press, and unequivocally supports the point of view of
+the Council of People’s Commissars on this question, against
+pretentions and ultimatums dictated by petty bourgeois prejudices, or
+by evident surrender to the interests of the counter-revolutionary
+bourgeoisie.
+
+The reading of this resolution was interrupted by ironical shouts from
+the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, and bursts of indignation from the
+insurgent Bolsheviki. Karelin was on his feet, protesting. “Three weeks
+ago the Bolsheviki were the most ardent defenders of the freedom of the
+Press… The arguments in this resolution suggest singularly the point of
+view of the old Black Hundreds and the censors of the Tsarist
+régime—for they also talked of ‘poisoners of the mind of the people.’”
+
+Trotzky spoke at length in favour of the resolution. He distinguished
+between the Press during the civil war, and the Press after the
+victory. “During civil war the right to use violence belongs only to
+the oppressed….” (Cries of “Who’s the oppressed now? Cannibal!”).
+
+“The victory over our adversaries is not yet achieved, and the
+newspapers are arms in their hands. In these conditions, the closing of
+the newspapers is a legitimate measure of defence….” Then passing to
+the question of the Press after the victory, Trotzky continued:
+
+“The attitude of Socialists on the question of freedom of the Press
+should be the same as their attitude toward the freedom of business….
+The rule of the democracy which is being established in Russia demands
+that the domination of the Press by private property must be abolished,
+just as the domination of industry by private property…. The power of
+the Soviets should confiscate all printing-plants.” (Cries, “Confiscate
+the printing-shop of _Pravda!_”)
+
+“The monopoly of the Press by the bourgeoisie must be abolished.
+Otherwise it isn’t worth while for us to take the power! Each group of
+citizens should have access to print shops and paper…. The ownership of
+print-type and of paper belongs first to the workers and peasants, and
+only afterwards to the bourgeois parties, which are in a minority…. The
+passing of the power into the hands of the Soviets will bring about a
+radical transformation of the essential conditions of existence, and
+this transformation will necessarily be evident in the Press…. If we
+are going to nationalise the banks, can we then tolerate the financial
+journals? The old régime must die; that must be understood once and for
+all….” Applause and angry cries.
+
+Karelin declared that the _Tsay-ee-kah_ had no right to pass upon this
+important question, which should be left to a special committee. Again,
+passionately, he demanded that the Press be free.
+
+Then Lenin, calm, unemotional, his forehead wrinkled, as he spoke
+slowly, choosing his words; each sentence falling like a hammer-blow.
+“The civil war is not yet finished; the enemy is still with us;
+consequently it is impossible to abolish the measures of repression
+against the Press.
+
+“We Bolsheviki have always said that when we reached a position of
+power we would close the bourgeois press. To tolerate the bourgeois
+newspapers would mean to cease being a Socialist. When one makes a
+Revolution, one cannot mark time; one must always go forward—or go
+back. He who now talks about the ‘freedom of the Press’ goes backward,
+and halts our headlong course toward Socialism.
+
+“We have thrown off the yoke of capitalism, just as the first
+revolution threw off the yoke of Tsarism. _If the first revolution had
+the right to suppress the Monarchist papers,_ then we have the right to
+suppress the bourgeois press. It is impossible to separate the question
+of the freedom of the Press from the other questions of the class
+struggle. We have promised to close these newspapers, and we shall do
+it. The immense majority of the people is with us!
+
+“Now that the insurrection is over, we have absolutely no desire to
+suppress the papers of the other Socialist parties, except inasmuch as
+they appeal to armed insurrection, or to disobedience to the Soviet
+Government. However, we shall not permit them, under the pretence of
+freedom of the Socialist press, to obtain, through the secret support
+of the bourgeoisie, a monopoly of printing-presses, ink and paper….
+These essentials must become the property of the Soviet Government, and
+be apportioned, first of all, to the Socialist parties in strict
+proportion to their voting strength….”
+
+Then the vote. The resolution of Larin and the Left Socialist
+Revolutionaries was defeated by 31 to 22; the Lenin motion was carried
+by 34 to 24. Among the minority were the Bolsheviki Riazanov and
+Lozovsky, who declared that it was impossible for them to vote against
+any restriction on the freedom of the Press.
+
+Upon this the Left Socialist Revolutionaries declared they could no
+longer be responsible for what was being done, and withdrew from the
+Military Revolutionary Committee and all other positions of executive
+responsibility.
+
+Five members—Nogin, Rykov, Miliutin, Teodorovitch and
+Shiapnikov—resigned from the Council of People’s Commissars, declaring:
+
+We are in favour of a Socialist Government composed of all the parties
+in the Soviets. We consider that only the creation of such a Government
+can possibly guarantee the results of the heroic struggle of the
+working-class and the revolutionary army. Outside of that, there
+remains only one way: the constitution of a purely Bolshevik Government
+by means of political terrorism. This last is the road taken by the
+Council of People’s Commissars. We cannot and will not follow it. We
+see that this leads directly to the elimination from political life of
+many proletarian organisations, to the establishment of an
+irresponsible régime, and to the destruction of the Revolution and the
+country. We cannot take the responsibility for such a policy, and we
+renounce before the _Tsay-ee-kah_ our function as People’s Commissars.
+
+Other Commissars, without resigning their positions, signed the
+declaration—Riazanov, Derbychev of the Press Department, Arbuzov, of
+the Government Printing-plant, Yureniev, of the Red Guard, Feodorov, of
+the Commissariat of Labour, and Larin, secretary of the Section of
+Elaboration of Decrees.
+
+At the same time Kameniev, Rykov, Miliutin, Zinoviev and Nogin resigned
+from the Central Committee of the Bolshevik party, making public their
+reasons:
+
+… The constitution of such a Government (composed of all the parties of
+the Soviet) is indispensable to prevent a new flow of blood, the coming
+famine, the destruction of the Revolution by the Kaledinists, to assure
+the convocation of the Constituent Assembly at the proper time, and to
+apply effectively the programme adopted by the Congress of Soviets….
+
+We cannot accept the responsibility for the disastrous policy of the
+Central Committee, carried on against the will of an enormous majority
+of the proletariat and the soldiers, who are eager to see the rapid end
+of the bloodshed between the different political parties of the
+democracy…. We renounce our title as members of the Central Committee,
+in order to be able to say openly our opinion to the masses of workers
+and soldiers….
+
+We leave the Central Committee at the moment of victory; we cannot
+calmly look on while the policy of the chiefs of the Central Committee
+leads toward the loss of the fruits of victory and the crushing of the
+proletariat….
+
+The masses of the workers, the soldiers of the garrison, stirred
+restlessly, sending their delegations to Smolny, to the Conference for
+Formation of the New Government, where the break in the ranks of the
+Bolsheviki caused the liveliest joy.
+
+But the answer of the Leninites was swift and ruthless. Shliapnikov and
+Teodorovitch submitted to party discipline and returned to their posts.
+Kameniev was stripped of his powers as president of the _Tsay-ee-kah,_
+and Sverdlov elected in his place. Zinoviev was deposed as president of
+the Petrograd Soviet. On the morning of the 5th, _Pravda_ contained a
+ferocious proclamation to the people of Russia, written by Lenin, which
+was printed in hundreds of thousands of copies, posted on the walls
+everywhere, and distributed over the face of Russia.
+
+The second All-Russian Congress of Soviets gave the majority to the
+Bolshevik party. Only a Government formed by this party can therefore
+be a Soviet Government. And it is known to all that the Central
+Committee of the Bolshevik party, a few hours before the formation of
+the new Government and before proposing the list of its members to the
+All-Russian Congress of Soviets, invited to its meeting three of the
+most eminent members of the Left Socialist Revolutionary group,
+comrades Kamkov, Spiro and Karelin, and ASKED THEM to participate in
+the new Government. We regret infinitely that the invited comrades
+refused; we consider their refusal inadmissible for revolutionists and
+champions of the working-class; we are willing at any time to include
+the Left Socialist Revolutionaries in the Government; but we declare
+that, as the party of the majority at the second All-Russian Congress
+of Soviets, we are entitled and BOUND before the people to form a
+Government….
+
+… Comrades! Several members of the Central Committee of our party and
+the Council of People’s Commissars, Kameniev, Zinoviev, Nogin, Rykov,
+Miliutin and a few others left yesterday, November 17th, the Central
+Committee of our party, and the last three, the Council of People’s
+Commissars….
+
+The comrades who left us acted like deserters, because they not only
+abandoned the posts entrusted to them, but also disobeyed the direct
+instructions of the Central Committee of our party, to the effect that
+they should await the decisions of the Petrograd and Moscow party
+organisations before retiring. We blame decisively such desertion. We
+are firmly convinced that all conscious workers, soldiers and peasants,
+belonging to our party or sympathising with it, will also disapprove of
+the behaviour of the deserters….
+
+Remember, comrades, that two of these deserters, Kameniev and Zinoviev,
+even before the uprising in Petrograd, appeared as deserters and
+strike-breakers, by voting at the decisive meeting of the Central
+Committee, October 23d, 1917, against the insurrection; and even AFTER
+the resolution passed by the Central Committee, they continued their
+campaign at a meeting of the party workers…. But the great impulse of
+the masses, the great heroism of millions of workers, soldiers and
+peasants, in Moscow, Petrograd, at the front, in the trenches, in the
+villages, pushed aside the deserters as a railway train scatters
+saw-dust….
+
+Shame upon those who are of little faith, hesitate, who doubt, who
+allow themselves to be frightened by the bourgeoisie, or who succumb
+before the cries of the latter’s direct or indirect accomplices! There
+is NOT A SHADOW of hesitation in the MASSES of Petrograd, Moscow, and
+the rest of Russia….
+
+… We shall not submit to any ultimatums from small groups of
+intellectuals which are not followed by the masses, which are
+PRACTICALLY only supported by Kornilovists, Savinkovists, _yunkers,_
+and so forth….
+
+The response from the whole country was like a blast of hot storm. The
+insurgents never got a chance to “say openly their opinion to the
+masses of workers and soldiers.” Upon the _Tsay-ee-kah_ rolled in like
+breakers the fierce popular condemnation of the “deserters.” For days
+Smolny was thronged with angry delegations and committees, from the
+front, from the Volga, from the Petrograd factories. “Why did they dare
+leave the Government? Were they paid by the bourgeoisie to destroy the
+Revolution? They must return and submit to the decisions of the Central
+Committee!”
+
+Only in the Petrograd garrison was there still uncertainty. A great
+soldier meeting was held on November 24th, addressed by representatives
+of all the political parties. By a vast majority Lenin’s policy was
+sustained, and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries were told that they
+must enter the government…. _See next page._
+
+The Mensheviki delivered a final ultimatum, demanding that all
+Ministers and _yunkers_ be released, that all newspapers be allowed
+full freedom, that the Red Guard be disarmed and the garrison put under
+command of the Duma. To this Smolny answered that all the Socialist
+Ministers and also all but a very few _yunkers_ had been already set
+free, that all newspapers were free except the bourgeois press, and
+that the Soviet would remain in command of the armed forces…. On the
+19th the Conference to Form a New Government disbanded, and the
+opposition one by one slipped away to Moghilev, where, under the wing
+of the General Staff, they continued to form Government after
+Government, until the end….
+
+[Graphic, page 276: Meeting announcement]
+
+Announcement, posted on the walls of Petrograd, of the result of a
+meeting of representatives of the garrison regiments, called to
+consider the question of forming a new Government. For translation see
+App. XI, Sect. 6.
+
+Meanwhile the Bolsheviki had been undermining the power of the
+_Vikzhel._ An appeal of the Petrograd Soviet to all railway workers
+called upon them to force the _Vikzhel_ to surrender its powers. On the
+15th, the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ following its procedure toward the peasants,
+called an All-Russian Congress of Railway Workers for December 1st; the
+_Vikzhel_ immediately called its own Congress for two weeks later. On
+November 16th, the _Vikzhel_ members took their seats in the
+_Tsay-ee-kah._ On the night of December 2d, at the opening session of
+the All-Russian Congress of Railway Workers, the _Tsay-ee-kah_ formally
+offered the post of Commissar of Ways and Communications to the
+_Vikzhel_—which accepted….
+
+Having settled the question of power, the Bolsheviki turned their
+attention to problems of practical administration. First of all the
+city, the country, the Army must be fed. Bands of sailors and Red
+Guards scoured the warehouses, the railway terminals, even the barges
+in the canals, unearthing and confiscating thousands of _poods_ of food
+held by private speculators. Emissaries were sent to the provinces,
+where with the assistance of the Land Committees they seized the
+store-houses of the great grain-dealers. Expeditions of sailors,
+heavily armed, were sent out in groups of five thousand, to the South,
+to Siberia, with roving commissions to capture cities still held by the
+White Guards, establish order, and _get food._ Passenger traffic on the
+Trans-Siberian Railroad was suspended for two weeks, while thirteen
+trains, loaded with bolts of cloth and bars of iron assembled by the
+Factory-Shop Committees, were sent out eastward, each in charge of a
+Commissar, to barter with the Siberian peasants for grain and
+potatoes….
+
+Kaledin being in possession of the coal-mines of the Don, the fuel
+question became urgent. Smolny shut off all electric lights in
+theatres, shops and restaurants, cut down the number of street cars,
+and confiscated the private stores of fire-wood held by the
+fuel-dealers…. And when the factories of Petrograd were about to close
+down for lack of coal, the sailors of the Baltic Fleet turned over to
+the workers two hundred thousand _poods_ from the bunkers of
+battle-ships….
+
+Toward the end of November occurred the “wine-pogroms” (See App. XI,
+Sect. 7)—looting of the wine-cellars—beginning with the plundering of
+the Winter Palace vaults. For days there were drunken soldiers on the
+streets…. In all this was evident the hand of the
+counter-revolutionists, who distributed among the regiments plans
+showing the location of the stores of liquor. The Commissars of Smolny
+began by pleading and arguing, which did not stop the growing disorder,
+followed by pitched battles between soldiers and Red Guards…. Finally
+the Military Revolutionary Committee sent out companies of sailors with
+machine-guns, who fired mercilessly upon the rioters, killing many; and
+by executive order the wine-cellars were invaded by Committees with
+hatchets, who smashed the bottles—or blew them up with dynamite….
+
+Companies of Red Guards, disciplined and well-paid, were on duty at the
+headquarters of the Ward Soviets day and night, replacing the old
+Militia. In all quarters of the city small elective Revolutionary
+Tribunals were set up by the workers and soldiers to deal with petty
+crime….
+
+The great hotels, where the speculators still did a thriving business,
+were surrounded by Red Guards, and the speculators thrown into jail.
+(See App. XI, Sect. 8)…
+
+Alert and suspicious, the working-class of the city constituted itself
+a vast spy system, through the servants prying into bourgeois
+households, and reporting all information to the Military Revolutionary
+Committee, which struck with an iron hand, unceasing. In this way was
+discovered the Monarchist plot led by former Duma-member Purishkevitch
+and a group of nobles and officers, who had planned an officers’
+uprising, and had written a letter inviting Kaledin to Petrograd. (See
+App. XI, Sect. 9)…. In this way was unearthed the conspiracy of the
+Petrograd Cadets, who were sending money and recruits to Kaledin….
+
+Neratov, frightened at the outburst of popular fury provoked by his
+flight, returned and surrendered the Secret Treaties to Trotzky, who
+began their publication in _Pravda,_ scandalising the world….
+
+[Graphic, page 279: Proclamation]
+
+Bolshevik order. A proclamation of the Committee to Fight against
+Pogroms, attached to the Petrograd Soviet. For translation see App. XI,
+Sect. 11.
+
+The restrictions on the Press were increased by a decree (See App. XI,
+Sect. 10) making advertisements a monopoly of the official Government
+newspaper. At this all the other papers suspended publication as a
+protest, or disobeyed the law and were closed…. Only three weeks later
+did they finally submit.
+
+Still the strike of the Ministries went on, still the sabotage of the
+old officials, the stoppage of normal economic life. Behind Smolny was
+only the will of the vast, unorganised popular masses; and with them
+the Council of People’s Commissars dealt, directing revolutionary
+mass-action against its enemies. In eloquent proclamations, (See App.
+XI, Sect. 12) couched in simple words and spread over Russia, Lenin
+explained the Revolution, urged the people to take the power into their
+own hands, by force to break down the resistance of the propertied
+classes, by force to take over the institutions of Government.
+Revolutionary order. Revolutionary discipline! Strict accounting and
+control! No strikes! No loafing!
+
+[Graphic, page 281: Appeal to work hard]
+
+Appeal of the Petrograd Soviet, the Petrograd Council of Professional
+Unions, and the Petrograd Council of Factory Shop Committees, to the
+Workers of Petrograd, urging them to work hard and not to strike. For
+translation see App. XI, Sect. 13.
+
+On the 20th of November the Military Revolutionary Committee issued a
+warning:
+
+The rich classes oppose the power of the Soviets—the Government of
+workers, soldiers and peasants. Their sympathisers halt the work of the
+employees of the Government and the Duma, incite strikes in the banks,
+try to interrupt communication by the railways, the post and the
+telegraph….
+
+We warn them that they are playing with fire. The country and the Army
+are threatened with famine. To fight against it, the regular
+functioning of all services is indispensable. The Workers’ and
+Peasants’ Government is taking every measure to assure the country and
+the Army all that is necessary. Opposition to these measures is a crime
+against the People. We warn the rich classes and their sympathisers
+that, if they do not cease their sabotage and their provocation in
+halting the transportation of food, they will be the first to suffer.
+They will be deprived of the right of receiving food. All the reserves
+which they possess will be requisitioned. The property of the principal
+criminals will be confiscated.
+
+We have done our duty in warning those who play with fire.
+
+We are convinced that in case decisive measures become necessary, we
+shall be solidly supported by all workers, soldiers, and peasants.
+
+On the 22d of November the walls of the city were placarded with a
+sheet headed “EXTRAORDINARY COMMUNICATION”:
+
+The Council of People’s Commissars has received an urgent telegram from
+the Staff of the Northern Front….
+
+“There must be no further delay; do not let the Army die of hunger; the
+armies of the Northern Front have not received a crust of bread now for
+several days, and in two or three days they will not have any more
+biscuits—which are being doled out to them from reserve supplies until
+now never touched…. Already delegates from all parts of the Front are
+talking of a necessary removal of part of the Army to the rear,
+foreseeing that in a few days there will be headlong flight of the
+soldiers, dying from hunger, ravaged by the three years’ war in the
+trenches, sick, insufficiently clothed, bare-footed, driven mad by
+superhuman misery.”
+
+The Military Revolutionary Committee brings this to the notice of the
+Petrograd garrison and the workers of Petrograd. The situation at the
+Front demands the most urgent and decisive measures. … Meanwhile the
+higher functionaries of the Government institutions, banks, railroads,
+post and telegraph, are on strike and impeding the work of the
+Government in supplying the Front with provisions…. Each hour of delay
+may cost the life of thousands of soldiers. The counter-revolutionary
+functionaries are the most dishonest criminals toward their hungry and
+dying brethren on the Front….
+
+The MILITARY REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE GIVES THESE CRIMINALS A LAST
+WARNING. In event of the least resistance or opposition on their part,
+the harshness of the measures which will be adopted against them will
+correspond to the seriousness of their crime….
+
+The masses of workers and soldiers responded by a savage tremor of
+rage, which swept all Russia. In the capital the Government and bank
+employees got out hundreds of proclamations and appeals (See App. XI,
+Sect. 14), protesting, defending themselves, such as this one:
+
+TO THE ATTENTION OF ALL CITIZENS.
+
+THE STATE BANK IS CLOSED!
+
+WHY?
+
+
+Because the violence exercised by the Bolsheviki against the State Bank
+has made it impossible for us to work. The first act of the People’s
+Commissars was to DEMAND TEN MILLION RUBLES, and on November 27th THEY
+DEMANDED TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS, without any indication as to where this
+money was to go.
+
+… We functionaries cannot take part in plundering the people’s
+property. We stopped work.
+
+CITIZENS! The money in the State Bank is yours, the people’s money,
+acquired by your labour, your sweat and blood. CITIZENS! Save the
+people’s property from robbery, and us from violence, and we shall
+immediately resume work.
+
+EMPLOYEES OF THE STATE BANK.
+
+
+From the Ministry of Supplies, the Ministry of Finance, from the
+Special Supply Committee, declarations that the Military Revolutionary
+Committee made it impossible for the employees to work, appeals to the
+population to support them against Smolny…. But the dominant worker and
+soldier did not believe them; it was firmly fixed in the popular mind
+that the employees were sabotaging, starving the Army, starving the
+people…. In the long bread lines, which as formerly stood in the iron
+winter streets, it was not _the Government_ which was blamed, as it had
+been under Kerensky, but the _tchinovniki,_ the sabotageurs; for the
+Government was _their_ Government, _their_ Soviets—and the
+functionaries of the Ministries were against it….
+
+At the centre of all this opposition was the Duma, and its militant
+organ, the Committee for Salvation, protesting against all the decrees
+of the Council of People’s Commissars, voting again and again not to
+recognise the Soviet Government, openly cooperating with the new
+counter-revolutionary “Governments” set up at Moghilev…. On the 17th of
+November, for example, the Committee for Salvation addressed “all
+Municipal Governments, Zemstvos, and all democratic and revolutionary
+organisations of peasants, workers, soldiers and other citizens,” in
+these words:
+
+Do not recognise the Government of the Bolsheviki, and struggle against
+it.
+
+Form local Committees for Salvation of Country and Revolution, who will
+unite all democratic forces, so as to aid the All-Russian Committee for
+Salvation in the tasks which it has set itself….
+
+Meanwhile the elections for the Constituent Assembly in Petrograd (See
+App. XI, Sect. 15) gave an enormous plurality to the Bolsheviki; so
+that even the Mensheviki Internationalists pointed out that the Duma
+ought to be re-elected, as it no longer represented the political
+composition of the Petrograd population…. At the same time floods of
+resolutions from workers’ organisations, from military units, even from
+the peasants in the surrounding country, poured in upon the Duma,
+calling it “counter-revolutionary, Kornilovitz,” and demanding that it
+resign. The last days of the Duma were stormy with the bitter demands
+of the Municipal workers for decent living wages, and the threat of
+strikes….
+
+On the 23d a formal decree of the Military Revolutionary Committee
+dissolved the Committee for Salvation. On the 29th, the Council of
+People’s Commissars ordered the dissolution and re-election of the
+Petrograd City Duma:
+
+In view of the fact that the Central Duma of Petrograd, elected
+September 2d, … has definitely lost the right to represent the
+population of Petrograd, being in complete disaccord with its state of
+mind and its aspirations … and in view of the fact that the personnel
+of the Duma majority, although having lost all political following,
+continues to make use of its prerogatives to resist in a
+counter-revolutionary manner the will of the workers, soldiers and
+peasants, to sabotage and obstruct the normal work of the
+Government—the Council of People’s Commissars considers it its duty to
+invite the population of the capital to pronounce judgment on the
+policy of the organ of Municipal autonomy.
+
+To this end the Council of People’s Commissars resolves:
+
+(1) To dissolve the Municipal Duma; the dissolution to take effect
+November 30th, 1917.
+
+(2) All functionaries elected or appointed by the present Duma shall
+remain at their posts and fulfil the duties confided to them, until
+their places shall be filled by representatives of the new Duma.
+
+(3) All Municipal employees shall continue to fulfil their duties;
+those who leave the service of their own accord shall be considered
+discharged.
+
+(4) The new elections for the Municipal Duma of Petrograd are fixed for
+December 9th, 1917….
+
+(5) The Municipal Duma of Petrograd shall meet December 11th, 1917, at
+two o’clock.
+
+(6) Those who disobey this decree, as well as those who intentionally
+harm or destroy the property of the Municipality, shall be immediately
+arrested and brought before the Revolutionary Tribunals….
+
+The Duma met defiantly, passing resolutions to the effect that it would
+“defend its position to the last drop of its blood,” and appealing
+desperately to the population to save their “own elected City
+Government.” But the population remained indifferent or hostile. On the
+31st Mayor Schreider and several members were arrested, interrogated,
+and released. That day and the next the Duma continued to meet,
+interrupted frequently by Red Guards and sailors, who politely
+requested the assembly to disperse. At the meeting of December 2d, an
+officer and some sailors entered the Nicolai Hall while a member was
+speaking, and ordered the members to leave, or force would be used.
+They did so, protesting to the last, but finally “ceding to violence.”
+
+The new Duma, which was elected ten days later, and for which the
+“Moderate” Socialists refused to vote, was almost entirely Bolshevik….
+
+There remained several centres of dangerous opposition, such as the
+“republics” of Ukraine and Finland, which were showing definitely
+anti-Soviet tendencies. Both at Helsingfors and at Kiev the Governments
+were gathering troops which could be depended upon, and entering upon
+campaigns of crushing Bolshevism, and of disarming and expelling
+Russian troops. The Ukrainean Rada had taken command of all southern
+Russia, and was furnishing Kaledin reinforcements and supplies. Both
+Finland and Ukraine were beginning secret negotiations with the
+Germans, and were promptly recognised by the Allied Governments, which
+loaned them huge sums of money, joining with the propertied classes to
+create counter-revolutionary centres of attack upon Soviet Russia. In
+the end, when Bolshevism had conquered in both these countries, the
+defeated bourgeoisie called in the Germans to restore them to power….
+
+But the most formidable menace to the Soviet Government was internal
+and two-headed—the Kaledin movement, and the Staff at Moghilev, where
+General Dukhonin had assumed command.
+
+[Graphic, page 287: Education Proclamation]
+
+Proclamation of the Commission of Public Education attached to the City
+Duma, concerning the strike of school-teachers, just before the
+Christmas holidays. The Duma had been re-elected, and was composed
+almost entirely of Bolsheviki. For translation see App. XI, Sect. 17.
+
+The ubiquitous Muraviov was appointed commander of the war against the
+Cossacks, and a Red Army was recruited from among the factory workers.
+Hundreds of propagandists were sent to the Don. The Council of People’s
+Commissars issued a proclamation to the Cossacks, (See App. XI, Sect.
+16) explaining what the Soviet Government was, how the propertied
+classes, the _tchin ovniki,_ landlords, bankers and their allies, the
+Cossack princes, land-owners and Generals, were trying to destroy the
+Revolution, and prevent the confiscation of their wealth by the people.
+
+On November 27th a committee of Cossacks came to Smolny to see Trotzky
+and Lenin. They demanded if it were true that the Soviet Government did
+not intend to divide the Cossack lands among the peasants of Great
+Russia? “No,” answered Trotzky. The Cossacks deliberated for a while.
+“Well,” they asked, “does the Soviet Government intend to confiscate
+the estates of our great Cossack land-owners and divide them among the
+working Cossacks?” To this Lenin replied. “That,” he said, “is for
+_you_ to do. We shall support the working Cossacks in all their
+actions…. The best way to begin is to form Cossacks Soviets; you will
+be given representation in the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ and then it will be
+_your_ Government, too….”
+
+The Cossacks departed, thinking hard. Two weeks later General Kaledin
+received a deputation from his troops. “Will you,” they asked, “promise
+to divide the great estates of the Cossack landlords among the working
+Cossacks?”
+
+“Only over my dead body,” responded Kaledin. A month later, seeing his
+army melt away before his eyes, Kaledin blew out his brains. And the
+Cossack movement was no more….
+
+Meanwhile at Moghilev were gathered the old _Tsay-ee-kah_ the
+“moderate” Socialist leaders—from Avksentiev to Tchernov—the active
+chiefs of the old Army Committees, and the reactionary officers. The
+Staff steadily refused to recognise the Council of People’s Commissars.
+It had united about it the Death Battalions, the Knights of St. George,
+and the Cossacks of the Front, and was in close and secret touch with
+the Allied military attachès, and with the Kaledin movement and the
+Ukrainean Rada….
+
+The Allied Governments had made no reply to the Peace decree of
+November 8th, in which the Congress of Soviets had asked for a general
+armistice.
+
+On November 20th Trotzky addressed a note to the Allied Ambassadors:
+(See App. XI, Sect. 18)
+
+I have the honour to inform you, Mr. Ambassador, that the All-Russian
+Congress of Soviets… on November 8th constituted a new Government of
+the Russian Republic, in the form of the Council of People’s
+Commissars. The President of this Government is Vladimir Ilyitch Lenin.
+The direction of Foreign Affairs has been entrusted to me, People’s
+Commissar for Foreign Affairs….
+
+In drawing your attention to the text, approved by the All-Russian
+Congress, of the proposition for an armistice and a democratic peace
+without annexations or indemnities, based on the right of
+self-determination of peoples, I have the honour to request you to
+consider that document as a formal proposal of an immediate armistice
+on all fronts, and the opening of immediate peace negotiations; a
+proposal which the authorised Government of the Russian Republic
+addresses at the same time to all the belligerent peoples and their
+Governments.
+
+Please accept, Mr. Ambassador, the profound assurance of the esteem of
+the Soviet Government toward your people, who cannot but wish for
+peace, like all the other peoples exhausted and drained by this
+unexampled butchery….
+
+The same night the Council of People’s Commissars telegraphed to
+General Dukhonin:
+
+… The Council of People’s Commissars considers it indispensable without
+delay to make a formal proposal of armistice to all the powers, both
+enemy and Allied. A declaration conforming to this decision has been
+sent by the Commissar for Foreign Affairs to the representatives of the
+Allied powers at Petrograd.
+
+The Council of People’s Commissars orders you, Citizen Commander,… to
+propose to the enemy military authorities immediately to cease
+hostilities, and enter into negotiations for peace.
+
+In charging you with the conduct of these preliminary pourparlers, the
+Council of People’s Commissars orders you:
+
+1. To inform the Council by direct wire immediately of any and all
+steps in the pourparlers with the representatives of the enemy armies.
+
+2. Not to sign the act of armistice until it has been passed upon by
+the Council of People’s Commissars.
+
+The Allied Ambassadors received Trotzky’s note with contemptuous
+silence, accompanied by anonymous interviews in the newspapers, full of
+spite and ridicule. The order to Dukhonin was characterised openly as
+an act of treason….
+
+As for Dukhonin, he gave no sign. On the night of November 22nd he was
+communicated with by telephone, and asked if he intended to obey the
+order. Dukhonin answered that he could not, unless it emanated from “a
+Government sustained by the Army and the country.”
+
+By telegraph he was immediately dismissed from the post of Supreme
+Commander, and Krylenko appointed in his place. Following his tactics
+of appealing to the masses, Lenin sent a radio to all regimental,
+divisional and corps Committees, to all soldiers and sailors of the
+Army and the Fleet, acquainting them with Dukhonin’s refusal, and
+ordering that “the regiments on the front shall elect delegates to
+begin negotiations with the enemy detachments opposite their
+positions….”
+
+On the 23d, the military attaches of the Allied nations, acting on
+instructions from their Governments, presented a note to Dukhonin, in
+which he was solemnly warned not to “violate the conditions of the
+treaties concluded between the Powers of the Entente.” The note went on
+to say that if a separate armistice with Germany were concluded, that
+act “would result in the most serious consequences” to Russia. This
+communication Dukhonin at once sent out to all the soldiers’
+Committees….
+
+Next morning Trotzky made another appeal to the troops, characterising
+the note of the Allied representatives as a flagrant interference in
+the internal affairs of Russia, and a bald attempt “to force by threats
+the Russian Army and the Russian people to continue the war in
+execution of the treaties concluded by the Tsar….”
+
+From Smolny poured out proclamation after proclamation, (See App. XI,
+Sect. 19) denouncing Dukhonin and the counter-revolutionary officers
+about him, denouncing the reactionary politicians gathered at Moghilev,
+rousing, from one end of the thousand-mile Front to the other, millions
+of angry, suspicious soldiers. And at the same time Krylenko,
+accompanied by three detachments of fanatical sailors, set out for the
+_Stavka,_ breathing threats of vengeance, (See App. XI, Sect. 20) and
+received by the soldiers everywhere with tremendous ovations—a
+triumphal progress. The Central Army Committee issued a declaration in
+favour of Dukhonin; and at once ten thousand troops moved upon
+Moghilev….
+
+On December 2d the garrison of Moghilev rose and seized the city,
+arresting Dukhonin and the Army Committee, and going out with
+victorious red banners to meet the new Supreme Commander. Krylenko
+entered Moghilev next morning, to find a howling mob gathered about the
+railway-car in which Dukhonin had been imprisoned. Krylenko made a
+speech in which he implored the soldiers not to harm Dukhonin, as he
+was to be taken to Petrograd and judged by the Revolutionary Tribunal.
+When he had finished, suddenly Dukhonin himself appeared at the window,
+as if to address the throng. But with a savage roar the people rushed
+the car, and falling upon the old General, dragged him out and beat him
+to death on the platform….
+
+So ended the revolt of the _Stavka_….
+
+Immensely strengthened by the collapse of the last important stronghold
+of hostile military power in Russia, the Soviet Government began with
+confidence the organisation of the state. Many of the old functionaries
+flocked to its banner, and many members of other parties entered the
+Government service. The financially ambitious, however, were checked by
+the decree on Salaries of Government Employees, fixing the salaries of
+the People’s Commissars—the highest—at five hundred rubles (about fifty
+dollars) a month…. The strike of Government Employees, led by the Union
+of Unions, collapsed, deserted by the financial and commercial
+interests which had been backing it. The bank clerks returned to their
+jobs….
+
+With the decree on the Nationalisation of Banks, the formation of the
+Supreme Council of People’s Economy, the putting into practical
+operation of the Land decree in the villages, the democratic
+reorganisation of the Army, and the sweeping changes in all branches of
+the Government and of life,—with all these, effective only by the will
+of the masses of workers, soldiers and peasants, slowly began, with
+many mistakes and hitches, the moulding of proletarian Russia.
+
+Not by compromise with the propertied classes, or with the other
+political leaders; not by conciliating the old Government mechanism,
+did the Bolsheviki conquer the power. Nor by the organized violence of
+a small clique. If the masses all over Russia had not been ready for
+insurrection it must have failed. The only reason for Bolshevik success
+lay in their accomplishing the vast and simple desires of the most
+profound strata of the people, calling them to the work of tearing down
+and destroying the old, and afterward, in the smoke of falling ruins,
+cooperating with them to erect the frame-work of the new….
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XII
+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.
+
+“From this moment all power belongs to the Soviets. The Commissars of
+the Provisional Government are removed. The presidents of the various
+local Soviets are invited to enter into direct relations with the
+revolutionary Government.”
+
+_Military Revolutionary Committee._
+
+2.
+
+PROTEST OF THE MUNICIPAL DUMA
+
+
+“The Central City Duma, elected on the most democratic principles, has
+undertaken the burden of managing Municipal affairs and food supplies
+at the time of the greatest disorganisation. At the present moment the
+Bolshevik party, three weeks before the elections to the Constituent
+Assembly, and in spite of the menace of the external enemy, having
+removed by armed force the only legal revolutionary authority, is
+making an attempt against the rights and independence of the Municipal
+Self-Government, demanding submission to its Commissars and its illegal
+authority.
+
+“In this terrible and tragic moment the Petrograd City Duma, in the
+face of its constituents, and of all Russia, declares loudly that it
+will not submit to any encroachments on its rights and its
+independence, and will remain at the post of responsibility to which it
+has been called by the will of the population of the capital.
+
+“The Central City Duma of Petrograd appeals to all Dumas and Zemstvos
+of the Russian Republic to rally to the defence of one of the greatest
+conquests of the Russian Revolution—the independence and inviolability
+of popular self-government.”
+
+3.
+
+LAND DECREE—PEASANTS’ “NAKAZ”
+
+
+The Land question can only be permanently settled by the general
+Constituent Assembly.
+
+The most equitable solution of the Land question should be as follows:
+
+1. The right of private ownership of land is abolished forever; land
+cannot be sold, nor leased, nor mortgaged, nor alienated in any way.
+All dominical lands, lands attached to titles, lands belonging to the
+Emperor’s cabinet, to monasteries, churches, possession lands, entailed
+lands, private estates, communal lands, peasant free-holds, and others,
+are confiscated without compensation, and become national property, and
+are placed at the disposition of the workers who cultivate them.
+
+Those who are damaged because of this social transformation of the
+rights of property are entitled to public aid during the time necessary
+for them to adapt themselves to the new conditions of existence.
+
+2. All the riches beneath the earth—ores, oil, coal, salt, etc.—as well
+as forests and waters having a national importance, become the
+exclusive property of the State. All minor streams, lakes and forests
+are placed in the hands of the communities, on condition of being
+managed by the local organs of government.
+
+3. All plots of land scientifically cultivated—gardens, plantations,
+nurseries, seed-plots, green-houses, and others—shall not be divided,
+but transformed into model farms, and pass into the hands of the State
+or of the community, according to their size and importance.
+
+Buildings, communal lands and villages with their private gardens and
+their orchards remain in the hands of their present owners; the
+dimensions of these plots and the rate of taxes for their use shall be
+fixed by law.
+
+4. All studs, governmental and private cattle-breeding and
+bird-breeding establishments, and others, are confiscated and become
+national property, and are transferred either to the State or to the
+community, according to their size and importance.
+
+All questions of compensation for the above are within the competence
+of the Constituent Assembly.
+
+5. All inventoried agricultural property of the confiscated lands,
+machinery and live-stock, are transferred without compensation to the
+State or the community, according to their quantity and importance.
+
+The confiscation of such machinery or live-stock shall not apply to the
+small properties of peasants.
+
+6. The right to use the land is granted to all citizens, without
+distinction of sex, who wish to work the land themselves, with the help
+of their families, or in partnership, and only so long as they are able
+to work. No hired labour is permitted.
+
+In the event of the incapacity for work of a member of the commune for
+a period of two years, the commune shall be bound to render him
+assistance during this time by working his land in common.
+
+Farmers who through old age or sickness have permanently lost the
+capacity to work the land themselves, shall surrender their land and
+receive instead a Government pension.
+
+7. The use of the land should be equalised—that is to say, the land
+shall be divided among the workers according to local conditions, the
+unit of labour and the needs of the individual.
+
+The way in which land is to be used may be individually determined
+upon: as homesteads, as farms, by communes, by partnerships, as will be
+decided by the villages and settlements.
+
+8. All land upon its confiscation is pooled in the general People’s
+Land Fund. Its distribution among the workers is carried out by the
+local and central organs of administration, beginning with the village
+democratic organisations and ending with the central provincial
+institutions—with the exception of urban and rural cooperative
+societies.
+
+The Land Fund is subject to periodical redistribution according to the
+increase of population and the development of productivity and rural
+economy.
+
+In case of modification of the boundaries of allotments, the original
+centre of the allotment remains intact.
+
+The lands of persons retiring from the community return to the Land
+Fund; providing that near relatives of the persons retiring, or friends
+designated by them, shall have preference in the redistribution of
+these lands.
+
+When lands are returned to the Land Fund, the money expended for
+manuring or improving the land, which has not been exhausted, shall be
+reimbursed.
+
+If in some localities the Land Fund is insufficient to satisfy the
+local population, the surplus population should emigrate.
+
+The organisation of the emigration, also the costs thereof, and the
+providing of emigrants with the necessary machinery and live-stock,
+shall be the business of the State.
+
+The emigration shall be carried out in the following order: first, the
+peasants without land who express their wish to emigrate; then the
+undesirable members of the community, deserters, etc., and finally, by
+drawing lots on agreement.
+
+All which is contained in this _nakaz,_ being the expression of the
+indisputable will of the great majority of conscious peasants of
+Russia, is declared to be a temporary law, and until the convocation of
+the Constituent Assembly, becomes effective immediately so far as is
+possible, and in some parts of it gradually, as will be determined by
+the District Soviets of Peasants’ Deputies.
+
+4.
+
+THE LAND AND DESERTERS
+
+
+The Government was not forced to make any decision concerning the
+rights of deserters to the land. The end of the war and the
+demobilisation of the army automatically removed the deserter problem….
+
+5.
+
+THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLE’S COMMISSARS
+
+
+The Council of People’s Commissars was at first composed entirely of
+Bolsheviki. This was not entirely the fault of the Bolsheviki, however.
+On November 8th they offered portfolios to members of the Left
+Socialist Revolutionaries, who declined. See page 273. {of original
+volume}
+
+
+APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VI
+
+1.
+
+APPEALS AND DENUNCIATIONS
+
+
+Appeal to all Citizens and to the Military Organisations of the
+Socialist Revolutionary Party.
+
+“The senseless attempt of the Bolsheviki is on the eve of complete
+failure. The garrison is disaffected…. The Ministries are idle, bread
+is lacking. All factions except a handful of Bolsheviki have left the
+Congress of Soviets. The Bolsheviki are alone! Abuses of all sorts,
+acts of vandalism and pillage, the bombardment of the Winter Palace,
+arbitrary arrests—all these crimes committed by the Bolsheviki have
+aroused against them the resentment of the majority of the sailors and
+soldiers. The _Tsentroflot_ refuses to submit to the orders of the
+Bolsheviki….
+
+“We call upon all sane elements to gather around the Committee for
+Salvation of Country and Revolution; to take serious measures to be
+ready, at the first call of the Central Committee of the Party, to act
+against the counter-revolutionists, who will doubtless attempt to
+profit by these troubles provoked by the Bolshevik adventure, and to
+watch closely the external enemy, who also would like to take advantage
+of this opportune moment when the Front is weakened….”
+
+_The Military Section of the Central Committee of the Socialist
+Revolutionary Party._
+
+                        *     *     *     *     *
+
+From _Pravda:_
+
+“What is Kerensky?
+
+“A usurper, whose place is in Peter-Paul prison, with Kornilov and
+Kishkin.
+
+“A criminal and a traitor to the workers, soldiers and peasants, who
+believed in him.
+
+“Kerensky? A murderer of soldiers!
+
+“Kerensky? A public executioner of peasants!
+
+“Kerensky? A strangler of workers!
+
+“Such is the second Kornilov who now wants to butcher Liberty!”
+
+
+APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VII
+
+1.
+
+TWO DECREES
+
+
+_On the Press_
+
+In the serious decisive hour of the Revolution and the days immediately
+following it, the Provisional Revolutionary Committee is compelled to
+adopt a series of measures against the counter-revolutionary press of
+all shades.
+
+Immediately on all sides there are cries that the new Socialist
+authority is in this violating the essential principles of its own
+programme by an attempt against the freedom of the press.
+
+The Workers’ and Peasants’ Government calls the attention of the
+population to the fact that in our country, behind this liberal shield,
+is hidden the opportunity for the wealthier classes to seize the lion’s
+share of the whole press, and by this means to poison the popular mind
+and bring confusion into the consciousness of the masses.
+
+Every one knows that the bourgeois press is one of the most powerful
+weapons of the bourgeoisie. Especially in this critical moment, when
+the new authority of the workers and peasants is in process of
+consolidation, it is impossible to leave it in the hands of the enemy,
+at a time when it is not less dangerous than bombs and machine-guns.
+This is why temporary and extraordinary measures have been adopted for
+the purpose of stopping the flow of filth and calumny in which the
+yellow and green press would be glad to drown the young victory of the
+people.
+
+As soon as the new order is consolidated, all administrative measures
+against the press will be suspended; full liberty will be given it
+within the limits of responsibility before the law, in accordance with
+the broadest and most progressive regulations….
+
+Bearing in mind, however, the fact that any restrictions of the freedom
+of the press, even in critical moments, are admissible only within the
+bounds of necessity, the Council of People’s Commissars decrees as
+follows:
+
+1. The following classes of newspapers shall be subject to closure: (a)
+Those inciting to open resistance or disobedience to the Workers’ and
+Peasants’ Government; (b) Those creating confusion by obviously and
+deliberately perverting the news; (c) Those inciting to acts of a
+criminal character punishable by the laws.
+
+2. The temporary or permanent closing of any organ of the press shall
+be carried out only by virtue of a resolution of the Council of
+People’s Commissars.
+
+3. The present decree is of a temporary nature, and will be revoked by
+a special _ukaz_ when normal conditions of public life are
+re-established.
+
+_President of the Council of People’s Commissars,_
+
+VLADIMIR ULIANOV (LENIN).
+
+
+                        *     *     *     *     *
+
+_On Workers’ Militia_
+
+1. All Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies shall form a Workers’
+Militia.
+
+2. This Workers’ Militia shall be entirely at the orders of the Soviets
+of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies.
+
+3. Military and civil authorities must render every assistance in
+arming the workers and in supplying them with technical equipment, even
+to the extent of requisitioning arms belonging to the War Department of
+the Government.
+
+4. This decree shall be promulgated by telegraph. Petrograd, November
+10, 1917.
+
+_People’s Commissar of the Interior_
+
+A. I. RYKOV.
+
+
+This decree encouraged the formation of companies of Red Guards all
+over Russia, which became the most valuable arm of the Soviet
+Government in the ensuing civil war.
+
+2.
+
+THE STRIKE FUND
+
+
+The fund for the striking Government employees and bank clerks was
+subscribed by banks and business houses of Petrograd and other cities,
+and also by foreign corporations doing business in Russia. All who
+consented to strike against the Bolsheviki were paid full wages, and in
+some cases their pay was increased. It was the realisation of the
+strike fund contributors that the Bolsheviki were firmly in power,
+followed by their refusal to pay strike benefits, which finally broke
+the strike.
+
+
+APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VIII
+
+1.
+
+KERENSKY’S ADVANCE
+
+
+On November 9th Kerensky and his Cossacks arrived at Gatchina, where
+the garrison, hopelessly split into two factions, immediately
+surrendered. The members of the Gatchina Soviet were arrested, and at
+first threatened with death; later they were released on good
+behaviour.
+
+The Cossack advance-guards, practically unopposed, occupied Pavlovsk,
+Alexandrovsk and other stations, and reached the outskirts of Tsarskoye
+Selo next morning—November 10th. At once the garrison divided into
+three groups—the officers, loyal to Kerenskly; part of the soldiers and
+non-commissioned officers, who declared themselves “neutral”; and most
+of the rank and file, who were for the Bolsheviki. The Bolshevik
+soldiers, who were without leaders or organisation, fell back toward
+the capital. The local Soviet also withdrew to the village of Pulkovo.
+
+From Pulkovo six members of the Tsarskoye Selo Soviet went with an
+automobile-load of proclamations to Gatchina, to propagandise the
+Cossacks. They spent most of the day going around Gatchina from one
+Cossack barracks to another, pleading, arguing and explaining. Toward
+evening some officers discovered their presence and they were arrested
+and brought before General Krasnov, who said, “You fought against
+Kornilov; now you are opposing Kerensky. I’ll have you all shot!”
+
+After reading aloud to them the order appointing him commander-in-chief
+of the Petrograd District, Krasnov asked if they were Bolsheviki. They
+replied in the affirmative—upon which Krasnov went away; a short time
+later an officer came and set them free, saying that it was by order of
+General Krasnov….
+
+In the meanwhile delegations continued to arrive from Petrograd; from
+the Duma, the Committee for Salvation, and, last of all, from the
+_Vikzhel._ The Union of Railway Workers insisted that some agreement be
+reached to halt the civil war, and demanded that Kerensky treat with
+the Bolsheviki, and that he stop the advance on Petrograd. In case of
+refusal, the _Vikzhel_ threatened a general strike at midnight of
+November 11th.
+
+Kerensky asked to be allowed to discuss the matter with the Socialist
+Ministers and with the Committee for Salvation. He was plainly
+undecided.
+
+On the 11th Cossack outposts reached Krasnoye Selo, from which the
+local Soviet and the heterogeneous forces of the Military Revolutionary
+Committee precipitately retired, some of them surrendering…. That night
+they also touched Pulkovo, where the first real resistance was
+encountered….
+
+Cossacks deserters began to dribble into Petrograd, declaring that
+Kerensky had lied to them, that he had spread broadcast over the front
+proclamations which said that Petrograd was burning, that the
+Bolsheviki had invited the Germans to come in, and that they were
+murdering women and children and looting indiscriminately….
+
+The Military Revolutionary Committee immediately sent out some dozens
+of “agitators,” with thousands of printed appeals, to inform the
+Cossacks of the real situation….
+
+2.
+
+PROCLAMATIONS OF THE MILITARY REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE
+
+
+“To All Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies.
+
+“The All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and
+Peasants’ Deputies charges the local Soviets immediately to take the
+most energetic measures to oppose all counter-revolutionary
+anti-Semitic disturbances, and all _pogroms_ of whatever nature. The
+honour of the workers’, peasants’ and soldiers’ Revolution cannot
+tolerate any disorders….
+
+“The Red Guard of Petrograd, the revolutionary garrison and the sailors
+have maintained complete order in the capital.
+
+“Workers, soldiers, and peasants, everywhere you should follow the
+example of the workers and soldiers of Petrograd.
+
+“Comrades soldiers and Cossacks, on us falls the duty of keeping real
+revolutionary order.
+
+“All revolutionary Russia and the whole world have their eyes on you….”
+
+“The All-Russian Congress of Soviets decrees:
+
+“To abolish capital punishment at the Front, which was reintroduced by
+Kerensky.
+
+“Complete freedom of propaganda is to be re-established in the country.
+All soldiers and revolutionary officers now under arrest for so-called
+political ‘crimes’ are at once to be set free.”
+
+“The ex-Premier Kerensky, overthrown by the people, refuses to submit
+to the Congress of Soviets and attempts to struggle against the legal
+Government elected by the All-Russian Congress—the Council of People’s
+Commissars. The Front has refused to aid Kerensky. Moscow has rallied
+to the new Government. In many cities (Minsk, Moghilev, Kharkov) the
+power is in the hands of the Soviets. No infantry detachment consents
+to march against the Workers’ and Peasants’ Government, which, in
+accord with the firm will of the Army and the people, has begun peace
+negotiations and has given the land to the peasants….
+
+“We give public warning that if the Cossacks do not halt Kerensky, who
+has deceived them and is leading them against Petrograd, the
+revolutionary forces will rise with all their might for the defence of
+the precious conquests of the Revolution—Peace and Land.
+
+“Citizens of Petrograd! Kerensky fled from the city, abandoning the
+authority to Kishkin, who wanted to surrender the capital to the
+Germans; Rutenburg, of the Black Band, who sabotaged the Municipal Food
+Supply; and Paltchinsky, hated by the whole democracy. Kerensky has
+fled, abandoning you to the Germans, to famine, to bloody massacres.
+The revolting people have arrested Kerensky’s Ministers, and you have
+seen how the order and supplying of Petrograd at once improved.
+Kerensky, at the demand of the aristocrat proprietors, the capitalists,
+speculators, marches against you for the purpose of giving back the
+land to the land-owners, and continuing the hated and ruinous war.
+
+“Citizens of Petrograd! We know that the great majority of you are in
+favour of the people’s revolutionary authority, against the Kornilovtsi
+led by Kerensky. Do not be deceived by the lying declarations of the
+impotent bourgeois conspirators, who will be pitilessly crushed.
+
+“Workers, soldiers, peasants! We call upon you for revolutionary
+devotion and discipline.
+
+“Millions of peasants and soldiers are with us.
+
+“The victory of the people’s Revolution is assured!”
+
+3.
+
+ACTS OF THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLE’s COMMISSARS
+
+In this book I am giving only such decrees as are in my opinion
+pertinent to the Bolshevik conquest of power. The rest belong to a
+detailed account of the Structure of the Soviet State, for which I have
+no place in this work. This will be dealt with very fully in the second
+volume, now in preparation, “Kornilov to Brest-Litovsk.”
+
+_Concerning Dwelling-Places_
+
+1. The independent Municipal Self-Governments have the right to
+sequestrate all unoccupied or uninhabited dwelling-places.
+
+2. The Municipalities may, according to laws and arrangements
+established by them, install in all available lodgings citizens who
+have no place to live, or who live in congested or unhealthy lodgings.
+
+3. The Municipalities may establish a service of inspection of
+dwelling-places, organise it and define its powers.
+
+4. The Municipalities may issue orders on the institution of House
+Committees, define their organisation, their powers and give them
+juridical authority.
+
+5. The Municipalities may create Housing Tribunals, define their powers
+and their authority.
+
+6. This decree is promulgated by telegraph.
+
+_People’s Commissar of the Interior,_
+
+A. I. RYKOV.
+
+
+                        *     *     *     *     *
+
+_On Social Insurance_
+
+The Russian proletariat has inscribed on its banners the promise of
+complete Social Insurance of wage-workers, as well as of the town and
+village poor. The Government of the Tsar, the proprietors and the
+capitalists, as well as the Government of coalition and conciliation,
+failed to realise the desires of the workers with regard to Social
+Insurance.
+
+The Workers’ and Peasants’ Government, relying upon the support of the
+Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies, announces to the
+working-class of Russia and to the town and village poor, that it will
+immediately prepare laws on Social Insurance based on the formulas
+proposed by the Labour organisations:
+
+1. Insurance for all wage-workers without exception, as well as for all
+urban and rural poor.
+
+2. Insurance to cover all categories of loss of working capacity, such
+as illness, infirmities, old age, childbirth, widowhood, orphanage, and
+unemployment.
+
+3. All the costs of insurance to be charged to employers.
+
+4. Compensation of at least full wages in all loss of working capacity
+and unemployment.
+
+5. Complete workers’ self-government of all Insurance institutions.
+
+In the name of the Government of the Russian Republic,
+                                _The People’s Commissar of Labour,_
+                                                ALEXANDER SHLIAPNIKOV.
+
+                        *     *     *     *     *
+
+_On Popular Education_
+
+Citizens of Russia!
+
+With the insurrection of November 7th the working masses have won for
+the first time the real power.
+
+The All-Russian Congress of Soviets has temporarily transferred this
+power both to its Executive Committee and to the Council of People’s
+Commissars.
+
+By the will of the revolutionary people, I have been appointed People’s
+Commissar of Education.
+
+The work of guiding in general the people’s education, inasmuch as it
+remains with the central government, is, until the Constituent Assembly
+meets, entrusted to a Commission on the People’s Education, whose
+chairman and executive is the People’s Commissar.
+
+Upon what fundamental propositions will rest this State Commission? How
+is its sphere of competence determined?
+
+_The General Line of Educational Activity:_ Every genuinely democratic
+power must, in the domain of education, in a country where illiteracy
+and ignorance reign supreme, make its first aim the struggle against
+this darkness. It must acquire in the shortest time _universal
+literacy,_ by organising a network of schools answering to the demands
+of modern pedagogics; it must introduce universal, obligatory and free
+tuition for all, and establish at the same time a series of such
+teachers’ institutes and seminaries as will in the shortest time
+furnish a powerful army of people’s teachers so necessary for the
+universal instruction of the population of our boundless Russia.
+
+_Decentralisation:_ The State Commission on People’s Education is by no
+means a central power governing the institutions of instruction and
+education. On the contrary, the entire school work ought to be
+transferred to the organs of local self-government. The independent
+work of the workers, soldiers and peasants, establishing on their own
+initiative cultural educational organisations, must be given full
+autonomy, both by the State centre and the Municipal centres.
+
+The work of the State Commission serves as a link and helpmate to
+organise resources of material and moral support to the Municipal and
+private institutions, particularly to those with a class-character
+established by the workers.
+
+_The State Committee on People’s Education:_ A whole series of
+invaluable law projects was elaborated from the beginning of the
+Revolution by the State Committee for People’s Education, a tolerably
+democratic body as to its composition, and rich in experts. The State
+Commission sincerely desires the collaboration of this Committee.
+
+It has addressed itself to the bureau of the Committee, with the
+request at once to convoke an extraordinary session of the Committee
+for the fulfilment of the following programme:
+
+1. The revision of rules of representation in the Committee, in the
+sense of greater democratisation.
+
+2. The revision of the Committee’s rights in the sense of widening
+them, and of converting the Committee into a fundamental State
+institute for the elaboration of law projects calculated to reorganise
+public instruction and education in Russia upon democratic principles.
+
+3. The revision, jointly with the new State Commission, of the laws
+already created by the Committee, a revision required by the fact that
+in editing them the Committee had to take into account the bourgeois
+spirit of previous Ministries, which obstructed it even in this its
+narrowed form.
+
+After this revision these laws will be put into effect without any
+bureaucratic red tape, in the revolutionary order.
+
+_The Pedagogues and the Societists:_ The State Commission welcomes the
+pedagogues to the bright and honourable work of educating the
+people—the masters of the country.
+
+No one measure in the domain of the people’s education ought to be
+adopted by any power without the attentive deliberation of those who
+represent the pedagogues.
+
+On the other hand, a decision cannot by any means be reached
+exclusively through the cooperation of specialists. This refers as well
+to reforms of the institutes of general education.
+
+The cooperation of the pedagogues with the social forces—this is how
+the Commission will work both in its own constitution, in the State
+Committee, and in all its activities.
+
+As its first task the Commission considers the improvement of the
+teachers’ status, and first of all of those very poor though almost
+most important contributors to the work of culture—the elementary
+school teachers. Their just demands ought to be satisfied at once and
+at any cost. The proletariat of the schools has in vain demanded an
+increase of salary to one hundred rubles per month. It would be a
+disgrace any longer to keep in poverty the teachers of the overwhelming
+majority of the Russian people.
+
+But a real democracy cannot stop at mere literacy, at universal
+elementary instruction. It must endeavour to organise a uniform secular
+school of several grades. The ideal is, equal and if possible higher
+education for all the citizens. So long as this idea has not been
+realised for all, the natural transition through all the schooling
+grades up to the university—a transition to a higher stage—must depend
+entirely upon the pupil’s aptitude, and not upon the resources of his
+family.
+
+The problem of a genuinely democratic organisation of instruction is
+particularly difficult in a country impoverished by a long, criminal,
+imperialistic war; but the workers who have taken the power must
+remember that education will serve them as the greatest instrument in
+their struggle for a better lot and for a spiritual growth. However
+needful it may be to curtail other articles of the people’s budget, the
+expenses on education must stand high. A large educational budget is
+the pride and glory of a nation. The free and enfranchised peoples of
+Russia will not forget this.
+
+The fight against illiteracy and ignorance cannot be confined to a
+thorough establishment of school education for children and youths.
+Adults, too, will be anxious to save themselves from the debasing
+position of a man who cannot read and write. The school for adults must
+occupy a conspicuous place in the general plan of popular instruction.
+
+_Instruction and Education:_ One must emphasise the difference between
+instruction and education.
+
+Instruction is the transmission of ready knowledge by the teacher to
+his pupil. Education is a creative process. The personality of the
+individual is being “educated” throughout life, is being formed, grows
+richer in content, stronger and more perfect.
+
+The toiling masses of the people—the workmen, the peasants, the
+soldiers—are thirsting for elementary and advanced instruction. But
+they are also thirsting for education. Neither the government nor the
+intellectuals nor any other power outside of themselves can give it to
+them. The school, the book, the theatre, the museum, etc., may here by
+only aids. They have their own ideas, formed by their social position,
+so different from the position of those ruling classes and
+intellectuals who have hitherto created culture. They have their own
+ideas, their own emotions, their own ways of approaching the problems
+of personality and society. The city labourer, according to his own
+fashion, the rural toiler according to his, will each build his clear
+world-conception permeated with the class-idea of the workers. There is
+no more superb or beautiful phenomenon than the one of which our
+nearest descendants will be both witnesses and participants: The
+building by collective Labour of its own general, rich and free soul.
+
+Instruction will surely be an important but not a decisive element.
+What is more important here is the criticism, the creativeness of the
+masses themselves; for science and art have only in some of their parts
+a general human importance. They suffer radical changes with every
+far-reaching class upheaval.
+
+Throughout Russia, particularly among the city labourers, but also
+among the peasants, a powerful wave of cultural educational movement
+has arisen; workers’ and soldiers’ organisations of this kind are
+multiplying rapidly. To meet them, to lend them support, to clear the
+road before them is the first task of a revolutionary and popular
+government in the domain of democratic education.
+
+_The Constituent Assembly_ will doubtless soon begin its work. It alone
+can permanently establish the order of national and social life in our
+country, and at the same time the general character of the organisation
+of popular education.
+
+Now, however, with the passage of power to the Soviets, the really
+democratic character of the Constituent Assembly is assured. The line
+which the State Commission, relying upon the State Committee, will
+follow, will hardly suffer any modification under the influence of the
+Constituent Assembly. Without pre-determining it, the new People’s
+Government considers itself within its rights in enacting in this
+domain a series of measures which aim at enriching and enlightening as
+soon as possible the spiritual life of the country.
+
+_The Ministry:_ The present work must in the interim proceed through
+the Ministry of the People’s Education. Of all the necessary
+alterations in its composition and construction the State Commission
+will have charge, elected by the Executive Committee of the Soviets and
+the State Committee. Of course the order of State authority in the
+domain of the people’s education will be established by the Constituent
+Assembly. Until then, the Ministry must play the part of the executive
+apparatus for both the State Committee and the State Commission for
+People’s Education.
+
+The pledge of the country’s safety lies in the cooperation of all its
+vital and genuinely democratic forces.
+
+We believe that the energetic effort of the working people and of the
+honest enlightened intellectuals will lead the country out of its
+painful crisis, and through complete democracy to the reign of
+Socialism and the brotherhood of nations.
+
+_People’s Commissar on Education,_
+
+A. V. LUNACHARSKY.
+
+
+                        *     *     *     *     *
+
+_On the Order in Which the Laws Are to be Ratified and Published._
+
+1. Until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, the enacting and
+publishing of laws shall be carried out in the order decreed by the
+present Provisional Workmen’s and Peasants’ Government, elected by the
+All-Russian Congress of Workers’, Peasants’ and Soldiers’ Deputies.
+
+2. Every bill is presented for consideration of the Government by the
+respective Ministry, signed by the duly authorised People’s Commissar;
+or it is presented by the legislative section attached to the
+Government, signed by the chief of the section.
+
+3. After its ratification by the Government, the decree in its final
+edition, in the name of the Russian Republic, is signed by the
+president of the Council of People’s Commissars, or for him by the
+People’s Commissar who presented it for the consideration of the
+Government, and is then published.
+
+4. The date of publishing it in the official “Gazette of the
+Provisional Workmen’s and Peasants’ Government,” is the date of its
+becoming law.
+
+5. In the decree there may be appointed a date, other than the date of
+publication, on which it shall become law, or it may be promulgated by
+telegraph; in which case it is to be regarded in every locality as
+becoming law upon the publication of the telegram.
+
+6. The promulgation of legislative acts of the government by the State
+Senate is abolished. The Legislative Section attached to the Council of
+People’s Commissars issues periodically a collection of regulations and
+orders of the government which possess the force of law.
+
+7. The Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Workers’,
+Peasants’, and Soldiers’ Deputies _(Tsay-ee-kah)_ has at all times the
+right to cancel, alter or annul any of the Government decrees.
+
+_In the name of the Russian Republic, the President of the Council of
+People’s Commissars,_
+
+V. ULIANOV-LENIN.
+
+
+4.
+
+THE LIQUOR PROBLEM
+
+
+_Order Issued by the Military Revolutonary Committee_
+
+1. Until further order the production of alcohol and alcoholic drinks
+is prohibited.
+
+2. It is ordered to all producers of alcohol and alcoholic drinks to
+inform not later than on the 27th inst. of the exact site of their
+stores.
+
+3. All culprits against this order will be tried by a Military
+Revolutionary Court.
+
+THE MILITARY REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE.
+
+
+5.
+
+ORDER NO. 2
+
+
+_From the Committee of the Finland Guard Reserve Regiment to all House
+Committees and to the citizens of Vasili Ostrov._
+
+The bourgeoisie has chosen a very sinister method of fighting against
+the proletariat; it has established in various parts of the city huge
+wine depots, and distributes liquor among the soldiers, in this manner
+attempting to sow dissatisfaction in the ranks of the Revolutionary
+army.
+
+It is herewith ordered to all house committees, that at 3 o’clock, the
+time set for posting this order, they shall in person and secretly
+notify the President of the Committee of the Finland Guard Regiment,
+concerning the amount of wine in their premises.
+
+Those who violate this order will be arrested and given trial before a
+merciless court, and their property will be confiscated, and the stock
+of wine discovered will be
+
+BLOWN UP WITH DYNAMITE
+
+
+2 hours after this warning,
+
+because more lenient measures, as experience has shown, do not bring
+the desired results.
+
+REMEMBER, THERE WILL BE NO OTHER WARNING BEFORE THE EXPLOSIONS.
+
+
+_Regimental Committee of the Finland Guard Regiment._
+
+
+APPENDIX TO CHAPTER IX
+
+1.
+
+MILITARY REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE. BULLETIN NO. 2
+
+
+November 12th, in the evening, Kerensky sent a proposition to the
+revolutionary troops—“to lay down their arms.” Kerensky’s men opened
+artillery fire. Our artillery answered and compelled the enemy to be
+silent. The Cossacks assumed the offensive. The deadly fire of the
+sailors, the Red Guards and the soldiers forced the Cossacks to
+retreat. Our armoured cars rushed in among the ranks of the enemy. The
+enemy is fleeing. Our troops are in pursuit. The order has been given
+to arrest Kerensky. Tsarskoye Selo has been taken by the revolutionary
+troops.
+
+_The Lettish Riflemen:_ The Military Revolutionary Committee has
+received precise information that the valiant Lettish Riflemen have
+arrived from the Front and taken up a position in the rear of
+Kerensky’s bands.
+
+_From the Staff of the Military Revolutionary Committee_
+
+The seizure of Gatchina and Tsarskoye Selo by Kerensky’s detachments is
+to be explained by the complete absence of artillery and machine-guns
+in these places, whereas Kerensky’s cavalry was provided with artillery
+from the beginning. The last two days were days of enforced work for
+our Staff, to provide the necessary quantity of guns, machine-guns,
+field telephones, etc., for the revolutionary troops. When this
+work—with the energetic assistance of the District Soviets and the
+factories (the Putilov Works, Obukhov and others)—was accomplished, the
+issue of the expected encounter left no place for doubt: on the side of
+the revolutionary troops there was not only a surplus in quantity and
+such a powerful material base as Petrograd, but also an enormous moral
+advantage. All the Petrograd regiments moved out to the positions with
+tremendous enthusiasm. The Garrison Conference elected a Control
+Commission of five soldiers, thus securing a complete unity between the
+commander in chief and the garrison. At the Garrison Conference it was
+unanimously decided to begin decisive action.
+
+The artillery fire on the 12th of November developed with extraordinary
+force by 3 P.M. The Cossacks were completely demoralised. A
+parliamentarian came from them to the staff of the detachment at
+Krasnoye Selo, and proposed to stop the firing, threatening otherwise
+to take “decisive” measures. He was answered that the firing would
+cease when Kerensky laid down his arms.
+
+In the developing encounter all sections of the troops—the sailors,
+soldiers and the Red Guards—showed unlimited courage. The sailors
+continued to advance until they had fired all their cartridges. The
+number of casualties has not been established yet, but it is larger on
+the part of the counter-revolutionary troops, who experienced great
+losses through one of our armoured cars.
+
+Kerensky’s staff, fearing that they would be surrounded, gave the order
+to retreat, which retreat speedily assumed a disorderly character. By
+11-12 P.M., Tsarkoye Selo, including the wireless station, was entirely
+occupied by the troops of the Soviets. The Cossacks retreated towards
+Gatchina and Colpinno.
+
+The morale of the troops is beyond all praise. The order has been given
+to pursue the retreating Cossacks. From the Tsarskoye Selo station a
+radio-telegram was sent immediately to the Front and to all local
+Soviets throughout Russia. Further details will be communicated….
+
+2.
+
+EVENTS OF THE 13TH IN PETROGRAD
+
+
+Three regiments of the Petrograd garrison to take any part in the
+battle against Kerensky. On the morning of the 13th they summoned to a
+joint conference sixty delegates from the Front, in order to find some
+way to stop the civil war. This conference appointed a committee to go
+and persuade Kerensky’s troops to lay down their arms. They proposed to
+ask the Government soldiers the following questions: (1) Will the
+soldiers and Cossacks of Kerensky recognise the _Tsay-ee-kah_ as the
+repository of Governmental power, responsible to the Congress of
+Soviets? (2) Will the soldiers and Cossacks accept the decrees of the
+second Congress of Soviets? (3) Will they accept the Land and Peace
+decrees? (4) Will they agree to cease hostilities and return to their
+units? (5) Will they consent to the arrest of Kerensky, Krasnov and
+Savinkov?
+
+At the meeting of the Petrograd Soviet, Zinoviev said, “It would be
+foolish to think that this committee could finish affair. The enemy can
+only be broken by force. However, it would be a crime for us not to try
+every peaceful means to bring the Cossacks over to us…. What we need is
+a military victory…. The news of an armistice is premature. Our Staff
+will be ready to conclude an armistice when the enemy can no longer do
+any harm….
+
+“At present, the influence of our victory is creating new political
+conditions…. To-day the Socialist Revolutionaries are inclined to admit
+the Bolsheviki into the new Government…. A decisive victory is
+indispensable, so that those who hesitate will have no further
+hesitation….”
+
+At the City Duma all attention was concentrated on the formation of the
+new Government. In many factories and barracks already Revolutionary
+Tribunals were operating, and the Bolsheviki were threatening to set up
+more of these, and try Gotz and Avksentiev before them. Dan proposed
+that an ultimatum be sent demanding the abolition of these
+Revolutionary Tribunals, or the other members of the Conference would
+immediately break off all negotiations with the Bolsheviki.
+
+Shingariov, Cadet, declared that the Municipality ought not to take
+part in any agreement with the Bolsheviki…. “Any agreement with the
+maniacs is impossible until they lay down their arms and recognise the
+authority of independent courts of law….”
+
+Yartsev, for the _Yedinstvo_ group, declared that any agreement with
+the Bolsheviki would be equivalent to a Bolshevik victory….
+
+Mayor Schreider, for the Socialist Revolutionaries, stated that he was
+opposed to all agreement with the Bolsheviki…. “As for a Government,
+that ought to spring from the popular will; and since the popular will
+has been expressed in the municipal elections, the popular will which
+can create a Government is actually concentrated in the Duma….”
+
+After other speakers, of which only the representative of the
+Mensheviki Internationalists was in favour of considering the admission
+of the Bolsheviki into the new Government, the Duma voted to continue
+its representatives in the _Vikzhel’s_ conference, but to insist upon
+the restoration of the Provisional Government before everything, and to
+exclude the Bolsheviki from the new power….
+
+3.
+
+TRUCE. KRASNOV’s ANSWER TO THE COMMITTEE FOR SALVATION
+
+“In answer to your telegram proposing an immediate armistice, the
+Supreme Commander, not wishing further futile bloodshed, consents to
+enter into negotiations and to establish relations between the armies
+of the Government and the insurrectionists. He proposes to the General
+Staff of the insurrectionists to recall its regiments to Petrograd, to
+declare the line Ligovo-Pulkovo-Colpinno neutral, and to allow the
+advance-guards of the Government cavalry to enter Tsarskoye Selo, for
+the purpose of establishing order. The answer to this proposal must be
+placed in the hands of our envoys before eight o’clock to-morrow
+morning.
+
+KRASNOV.”
+
+
+4.
+
+EVENTS AT TSARSKOYE SELO
+
+
+On the evening that Kerensky’s troops retreated from Tsarskoye Selo,
+some priests organised a religious procession through the streets of
+the town, making speeches to the citizens in which they asked the
+people to support the rightful authority, the Provisional Government.
+When the Cossacks had retreated, and the first Red Guards entered the
+town, witnesses reported that the priests had incited the people
+against the Soviets, and had said prayers at the grave of Rasputin,
+which lies behind the Imperial Palace. One of the priests, Father Ivan
+Kutchurov, was arrested and shot by the infuriated Red Guards….
+
+Just as the Red Guards entered the town the electric lights were shut
+off, plunging the streets in complete darkness. The director of the
+electric light plant, Lubovitch, was arrested by the Soviet troops and
+asked why he had shut off the lights. He was found some time later in
+the room where he had been imprisoned with a revolver in his hand and a
+bullet hole in his temple.
+
+The Petrograd anti-Bolshevik papers came out next day with headlines,
+“Plekhanov’s temperature 39 degrees!” Plekhanov lived at Tsarskoye
+Selo, where he was lying ill in bed. Red Guards arrived at the house
+and searched it for arms, questioning the old man.
+
+“What class of society do you belong to?” they asked him.
+
+“I am a revolutionist,” answered Plekhanov, “who for forty years has
+devoted his life to the struggle for liberty!”
+
+“Anyway,” said a workman, “you have now sold yourself to the
+bourgeoisie!”
+
+The workers no longer knew Plekhanov, pioneer of the Russian Social
+Democracy!
+
+5.
+
+APPEAL OF THE SOVIET GOVERNMENT
+
+
+“The detachments at Gatchina, deceived by Kerensky, have laid down
+their arms and decided to arrest Kerensky. That chief of the
+counter-revolutionary campaign has fled. The Army, by an enormous
+majority, has pronounced in favour of the second All-Russian Congress
+of Soviets, and of the Government which it has created. Scores of
+delegates from the Front have hastened to Petrograd to assure the
+Soviet Government of the Army’s fidelity. No twisting of the facts, no
+calumny against the revolutionary workers, soldiers, and peasants, has
+been able to defeat the People. The Workers’ and Soldiers’ Revolution
+is victorious….
+
+“The _Tsay-ee-kah_ appeals to the troops which march under the flag of
+the counter-revolution, and invites them immediately to lay down their
+arms—to shed no longer the blood of their brothers in the interests of
+a handful of land-owners and capitalists. The Workers’, Soldiers’ and
+Peasants’ Revolution curses those who remain even for a moment under
+the flag of the People’s enemies….
+
+“Cossacks! Come over to the rank of the victorious People! Railwaymen,
+postmen, telegraphers—all, all support the new Government of the
+People!”
+
+
+APPENDIX TO CHAPTER X
+
+1.
+
+DAMAGE TO THE KREMLIN
+
+
+I myself verified the damage to the Kremlin, which I visited
+immediately after the bombardment. The Little Nicolai Palace, a
+building of no particular importance, which was occupied occasionally
+by receptions of one of the Grand Duchesses, had served as barracks for
+the _yunkers._ It was not only bombarded, but pretty well sacked;
+fortunately there was nothing in it of particular historical value.
+
+Usspensky Cathedral had a shell-hole in one of the cupolas, but except
+for a few feet of mosaic in the ceiling, was undamaged. The frescoes on
+the porch of Blagovestchensky Cathedral were badly damaged by a shell.
+Another shell hit the corner of Ivan Veliki. Tchudovsky Monastery was
+hit about thirty times, but only one shell went through a window into
+the interior, the others breaking the brick window-moulding and the
+roof cornices.
+
+The clock over the Spasskaya Gate was smashed. Troitsky Gate was
+battered, but easily reparable. One of the lower towers had lost its
+brick spire.
+
+The church of St. Basil was untouched, as was the great Imperial
+Palace, with all the treasures of Moscow and Petrograd in its cellar,
+and the crown jewels in the Treasury. These places were not even
+entered.
+
+2.
+
+LUNATCHARSKY’s DECLARATION
+
+“Comrades! You are the young masters of the country, and although now
+you have much to do and think about, you must know how to defend your
+artistic and scientific treasures.
+
+“Comrades! That which is happening at Moscow is a horrible, irreparable
+misfortune…. The People in its struggle for the power has mutilated our
+glorious capital.
+
+“It is particularly terrible in these days of violent struggle, of
+destructive warfare, to be Commissar of Public Education. Only the hope
+of the victory of Socialism, the source of a new and superior culture,
+brings me comfort. On me weighs the responsibility of protecting the
+artistic wealth of the people…. Not being able to remain at my post,
+where I had no influence, I resigned. My comrades, the other
+Commissars, considered this resignation inadmissible. I shall therefore
+remain at my post…. And moreover, I understand that the damage done to
+the Kremlin is not as serious as has been reported….
+
+“But I beg you, comrades, to give me your support…. Preserve for
+yourselves and your descendants the beauty of our land; be the
+guardians of the property of the People.
+
+“Soon, very soon, even the most ignorant, who have been held in
+ignorance so long, will awake and understand what a source of joy,
+strength and wisdom is art….”
+
+3.
+
+QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE BOURGEOISIE
+
+
+[Graphic, page 354]
+
+4.
+
+REVOLUTIONARY FINANCIAL MEASURE
+
+
+_Order_
+
+In virtue of the powers vested in me by the Military Revolutionary
+Committee attached to the Moscow Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’
+Deputies, I decree:
+
+1. All banks with branches, the Central State Savings Bank with
+branches, and the savings banks at the Post and Telegraph offices are
+to be opened beginning November 22nd, from 11 A. M. to 1 P. M. until
+further order.
+
+2. On current accounts and on the books of the savings banks, payments
+will be made by the above mentioned institutions, of not more than 150
+rubles for each depositor during the course of the next week.
+
+3. Payments of amounts exceeding 150 rubles a week on current accounts
+and savings banks books, also payments on other accounts of all kinds
+will be allowed during the next three days—November 22nd, 23d, and
+24th, only in the following cases:
+
+(a) On the accounts of military organisations for the satisfaction of
+their needs;
+
+(b) For the payment of salaries of employees and the earnings of
+workers according to the tables and lists certified by the Factory
+Committees or Soviets of Employees, and attested by the signatures of
+the Commissars, or the representatives of the Military Revolutionary
+Committee, and the district Military Revolutionary Committees.
+
+4. Not more than 150 rubles are to be paid against drafts; the
+remaining sums are to be entered on current account, payments on which
+are to be made in the order established by the present decree.
+
+5. All other banking operations are prohibited during these three days.
+
+6. The receipt of money on all accounts is allowed for any amount.
+
+7. The representatives of the Finance Council for the certification of
+the authorisations indicated in clause 3 will hold their office in the
+building of the Stock Exchange, Ilyinka Street, from 10 A. M. to 2 P.
+M.
+
+8. The Banks and Savings Banks shall send the totals of daily cash
+operations by 5 P. M. to the headquarters of the Soviet, Skobeliev
+Square, to the Military Revolutionary Committee, for the Finance
+Council.
+
+9. All employees and managers of credit institutions of all kinds who
+refuse to comply with this decree shall be responsible as enemies of
+the Revolution and of the mass of the population, before the
+Revolutionary Tribunals. Their names shall be published for general
+information.
+
+10. For the control of the operations of Branches of the Savings Banks
+and Banks within the limits of this decree, the district Military
+Revolutionary Committees shall elect three representatives and appoint
+their place of business.
+
+_Fully-authorised Commissar of the Military Revolutionary Committee,_
+
+S. SHEVERDIN-MAKSIMENKO.
+
+
+APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XI
+
+1.
+
+LIMITATIONS OF THIS CHAPTER
+
+
+This chapter extends over a period of two months, more or less. It
+covers the time of negotiations with the Allies, the negotiations and
+armistice with the Germans, and the beginning of the Peace negotiations
+at Brest-Litovsk, as well as the period in which were laid the
+foundations of the Soviet State.
+
+However, it is no part of my purpose in this book to describe and
+interpret these very important historical events, which require more
+space. They are therefore reserved for another volume, “Kornilov to
+Brest-Litovsk.”
+
+In this chapter, then, I have confined myself to the Soviet
+Government’s attempts to consolidate its political power at home, and
+sketched its successive conquests of hostile domestic elements—which
+process was temporarily interrupted by the disastrous Peace of
+Brest-Litovsk.
+
+2.
+
+PREAMBLE—DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLES OF RUSSIA
+
+
+The October Revolution of the workers and peasants began under the
+common banner of Emancipation.
+
+The peasants are being emancipated from the power of the landowners,
+for there is no longer the landowner’s property right in the land—it
+has been abolished. The soldiers and sailors are being emancipated from
+the power of autocratic generals, for generals will henceforth be
+elective and subject to recall. The workingmen are being emancipated
+from the whims and arbitrary will of the capitalists, for henceforth
+there will be established the control of the workers over mills and
+factories. Everything living and capable of life is being emancipated
+from the hateful shackles.
+
+There remain only the peoples of Russia, who have suffered and are
+suffering oppression and arbitrariness, and whose emancipation must
+immediately be begun, whose liberation must be effected resolutely and
+definitely.
+
+During the period of Tsarism the peoples of Russia were systematically
+incited against one another. The result of such a policy are known:
+massacres and _pogroms_ on the one hand, slavery of peoples on the
+other.
+
+There can be and there must be no return to this disgraceful policy.
+Henceforth the policy of a voluntary and honest union of the peoples of
+Russia must be substituted.
+
+In the period of imperialism, after the March revolution, when the
+power was transferred into the hands of the Cadet bourgeoisie, the
+naked policy of provocation gave way to one of cowardly distrust of the
+peoples of Russia, to a policy of fault-finding, of meaningless
+“freedom” and “equality” of peoples. The results of such a policy are
+known: the growth of national enmity, the impairment of mutual
+confidence.
+
+An end must be put to this unworthy policy of falsehood and distrust,
+of fault-finding and provocation. Henceforth it must be replaced by an
+open and honest policy leading to the complete mutual confidence of the
+peoples of Russia. Only as the result of such a trust can there be
+formed an honest and lasting union of the peoples of Russia. Only as
+the result of such a union can the workers and peasants of the peoples
+of Russia be cemented into one revolutionary force able to resist all
+attempts on the part of the imperialist-annexationist bourgeoisie.
+
+3.
+
+DECREES
+
+
+_On the Nationalisation of the Banks_
+
+In the interest of the regular organisation of the national economy, of
+the thorough eradication of bank speculation and the complete
+emancipation of the workers, peasants, and the whole labouring
+population from the exploitation of banking capital, and with a view to
+the establishment of a single national bank of the Russian Republic
+which shall serve the real interests of the people and the poorer
+classes, the Central Executive Committee _(Tsay-ee-kah)_ resolves:
+
+1. The banking business is declared a state monopoly.
+
+2. All existing private joint-stock banks and banking offices are
+merged in the State Bank.
+
+3. The assets and liabilities of the liquidated establishments are
+taken over by the State Bank.
+
+4. The order of the merger of private banks in the State Bank is to be
+determined by a special decree.
+
+5. The temporary administration of the affairs of the private banks is
+entrusted to the board of the State Bank.
+
+6. The interests of the small depositors will be safeguarded.
+
+                        *   *   *   *   *
+
+_On the Equality of Rank of All Military Men_
+
+In realisation of the will of the revolutionary people regarding the
+prompt and decisive abolition of all remnants of former inequality in
+the Army, the Council of People’s Commissars decrees:
+
+1. All ranks and grades in the Army, beginning with the rank of
+Corporal and ending with the rank of General, are abolished. The Army
+of the Russian Republic consists now of free and equal citizens,
+bearing the honourable title of Soldiers of the Revolutionary Army.
+
+2. All privileges connected with the former ranks and grades, also all
+outward marks of distinction, are abolished.
+
+3. All addressing by titles is abolished.
+
+4. All decorations, orders, and other marks of distinction are
+abolished.
+
+5. With the abolition of the rank of officer, all separate officers’
+organisations are abolished.
+
+Note.—Orderlies are left only for headquarters, chanceries, Committees
+and other Army organisations.
+
+      _President of the Council of People’s Commissars,_
+                    VL. ULIANOV (LENIN).
+
+      _People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs,_
+                    N. KRYLENKO.
+
+      _People’s Commissar for Military Affairs,_
+                    N. PODVOISKY.
+
+      _Secretary of the Council,_
+                    N. GORBUNOV.
+
+                        *    *    *    *    *
+
+_On the Elective Principle and the Organisation of Authority in the
+Army_
+
+1. The army serving the will of the toiling people is subject to its
+supreme representative—the Council of People’s Commissars.
+
+2. Full authority within the limits of military units and combinations
+is vested in the respective Soldiers’ Committees and Soviets.
+
+3. Those phases of the life and activity of the troops which are
+already under the jurisdiction of the Committees are now formally
+placed in their direct control. Over such branches of activity which
+the Committees cannot assume, the control of the Soldiers’ Soviets is
+established.
+
+4. The election of commanding Staff and officers is introduced. All
+commanders up to the commanders of regiments, inclusive, are elected by
+general suffrage of squads, platoons, companies, squadrons, batteries,
+divisions (artillery, 2-3 batteries), and regiments. All commanders
+higher than the commander of a regiment, and up to the Supreme
+Commander, inclusive, are elected by congresses or conferences of
+Committees.
+
+Note.—By the term “conference” must be understood a meeting of the
+respective Committees together with delegates of committees one degree
+lower in rank. (Such as a “conference” of Regimental Committees with
+delegates from Company Committees.—Author.)
+
+5. The elected commanders above the rank of commander of regiment must
+be confirmed by the nearest Supreme Committee.
+
+Note. In the event of a refusal by a Supreme Committee to confirm an
+elected commander, with a statement of reasons for such refusal, a
+commander elected by the lower Committee a second time must be
+confirmed.
+
+6. The commanders of Armies are elected by Army congresses. Commanders
+of Fronts are elected by congresses of the respective Fronts.
+
+7. To posts of a technical character, demanding special knowledge or
+other practical preparation, namely: doctors, engineers, technicians,
+telegraph and wireless operators, aviators, automobilists, etc., only
+such persons as possess the required special knowledge may be elected,
+by the Committees of the units of the respective services.
+
+8. Chiefs of Staff must be chosen from among persons with special
+military training for that post.
+
+9. All other members of the Staff are appointed by the Chief of Staff,
+and confirmed by the respective congresses.
+
+Note.—All persons with special training must be listed in a special
+list.
+
+10. The right is reserved to retire from the service all commanders on
+active service who are not elected by the soldiers to any post, and who
+consequently are ranked as privates.
+
+11. All other functions beside those pertaining to the command, with
+the exception of posts in the economic departments, are filled by
+appointment of the respective elected commanders.
+
+12. Detailed instructions regarding the elections of the commanding
+Staff will be published separately.
+
+_President of the Council of People’s Commissars._
+
+VL. ULIANOV (LENIN).
+
+
+_People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs,_
+
+N. KRYLENKO.
+
+
+_People’s Commissar for Military Affairs,_
+
+N. PODVOISKY.
+
+
+_Secretary of the Council,_
+
+N. GORBUNOV.
+
+
+                        *     *     *     *     *
+
+_On the Abolition of Classes and Titles_
+
+1. All classes and class divisions, all class privileges and
+delimitations, all class organisations and institutions and all civil
+ranks are abolished.
+
+2. All classes of society (nobles, merchants, petty bourgeois, etc.),
+and all titles (Prince, Count and others), and all denominations of
+civil rank (Privy State Councillor, and others), are abolished, and
+there is established the general denomination of Citizen of the Russian
+Republic.
+
+3. The property and institutions of the classes of nobility are
+transferred to the corresponding autonomous Zemstvos.
+
+4. The property of merchant and bourgeois organisations is transferred
+immediately to the Municipal Self-Governments.
+
+5. All class institutions of any sort, with their property, their rules
+of procedure, and their archives, are transferred to the administration
+of the Municipalities and Zemstvos.
+
+6. All articles of existing laws applying to these matters are herewith
+repealed.
+
+7. The present decree becomes effective on the day it is published and
+applied by the Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies.
+
+The present decree has been confirmed by the _Tsay-ee-kah_ at the
+meeting of November 23d, 1917, and signed by:
+
+_President of the Tsay-ee-kah,_
+
+SVERDLOV.
+
+
+_President of the Council of People’s Commissars,_
+
+VL. ULIANOV (LENIN).
+
+
+_Executive of the Council of People’s Commissars,_
+
+V. BONCH-BRUEVITCH.
+
+
+_Secretary of the Council,_
+
+N. GORBUNOV.
+
+
+                        *     *     *     *     *
+
+On December 3d the Council of People’s Commissars resolved “to reduce
+the salaries of functionaries and employees in all Government
+institutions and establishments, general or special, without
+exception.”
+
+To begin with, the Council fixed the salary of a People’s Commissar at
+500 rubles per month, with 100 rubles additional for each grown member
+of the family incapable of work….
+
+This was the highest salary paid to any Government official….
+
+4.
+
+Countess Panina was arrested and brought to trial before the first
+Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal. The trial is described in the chapter
+on “Revolutionary Justice” in my forthcoming volume, “Kornilov to
+Brist-Litovsk.” The prisoner was sentenced to “return the money, and
+then be liberated to the public contempt.” In other words, she was set
+free!
+
+5.
+
+RIDICULE OF THE NEW RÉGIME
+
+
+From _Drug Naroda_ (Menshevik), November 18th:
+
+“The story of the ‘immediate peace’ of the Bolsheviki reminds us of a
+joyous moving-picture film…. Neratov runs—Trotzky pursues; Neratov
+climbs a wall, Trotzky too; Neratov dives into the water—Trotzky
+follows; Neratov climbs onto the roof—Trotzky right behind him; Neratov
+hides under the bed—and Trotzky has him! He has him! Naturally, peace
+is immediately signed….
+
+“All is empty and silent at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The
+couriers are respectful, but their faces wear a caustic expression….
+
+“How about arresting an ambassador and signing an armistice or a Peace
+Treaty with him? But they are strange folk, these ambassadors. They
+keep silent just as if they had heard nothing. Hola, hola, England,
+France, Germany! We have signed an armistice with you! Is it possible
+that you know nothing about it? Nevertheless, it has been published in
+all the papers and posted on all the walls. On a Bolshevik’s word of
+honour, Peace has been signed. We’re not asking much of you; you just
+have to write two words….
+
+“The ambassadors remain silent. The Powers remain silent. All is empty
+and silent in the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
+
+“‘Listen,’ says Robespierre-Trotzky to his assistant Marat-Uritzky,
+‘run over to the British Ambassador’s, tell him we’re proposing peace!’
+
+“‘Go yourself,’ says Marat-Uritzky. ‘He’s not receiving.’
+
+“‘Telephone him, then.’
+
+“‘I’ve tried. The receiver’s off the hook.’
+
+“‘Send him a telegram.’
+
+“‘I did.’
+
+“‘Well, with what result?’
+
+“Marat-Uritzky sighs and does not answer. Robespierre-Trotzky spits
+furiously into the corner….
+
+“‘Listen, Marat,’ recommences Trotzky, after a moment. ‘We must
+absolutely show that we’re conducting an active foreign policy. How can
+we do that?’
+
+“‘Launch another decree about arresting Neratov,’ answers Uritzky, with
+a profound air.
+
+“‘Marat, you’re a blockhead!’ cries Trotzky. All of a sudden he arises,
+terrible and majestic, looking at this moment like Robespierre.
+
+“‘Write, Uritzky!’ he says with severity. ‘Write a letter to the
+British ambassador, a registered letter with receipt demanded. Write! I
+also will write! The peoples of the world await an immediate peace!’
+
+“In the enormous and empty Ministry of Foreign Affairs are to be heard
+only the sound of two typewriters. With his own hands Trotzky is
+conducting an active foreign policy….”
+
+6.
+
+ON THE QUESTION OF AN AGREEMENT
+
+
+To the Attention of All Workers and All Soldiers.
+
+November 11th, in the club of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, was held an
+extraordinary meeting of representatives of all the units of the
+Petrograd garrison.
+
+The meeting was called upon the initiative of the Preobrazhensky and
+Semionovsky Regiments, for the discussion of the question as to which
+Socialist parties are for the power of the Soviets, which are against,
+which are for the people, which against, and if an agreement between
+them is possible.
+
+The representatives of the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ of the Municipal Duma, of the
+Avksentiev Peasants’ Soviets, and of all the political parties from the
+Bolsheviki to the Populist Socialists, were invited to the meeting.
+
+After long deliberation, having heard the declarations of all parties
+and organisations, the meeting by a tremendous majority of votes agreed
+that only the Bolsheviki and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries are for
+the people, and that all the other parties are only attempting, under
+cover of seeking an agreement, to deprive the people of the conquests
+won in the days of the great Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolution of
+November.
+
+Here is the text of the resolution carried at this meeting of the
+Petrograd garrison, by 61 votes against 11, and 12 not voting:
+
+“The garrison conference, summoned at the initiative of the Semionovsky
+and Preobrazhensky Regiments, on hearing the representatives of all the
+Socialist parties and popular organisations on the question of an
+agreement between the different political parties finds that:
+
+“1. The representatives of the _Tasy-ee-kah,_ the representatives of
+the Bolshevik party and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, declared
+definitely that they stand for a Government of the Soviets, for the
+decrees on Land, Peace and Workers’ Control of Industry, and that upon
+this platform they are willing to agree with all the Socialist parties.
+
+“2. At the same time the representatives of the other parties
+(Mensheviki, Socialist Revolutionaries) either gave no answer at all,
+or declared simply that they were opposed to the power of the Soviets
+and against the decrees on Land, Peace and Workers’ Control.
+
+“In view of this the meeting resolves:
+
+“‘1. To express severe censure of all parties which, under cover of an
+agreement, wish practically to annul the popular conquests of the
+Revolution of November.
+
+“2. To express full confidence in the _Tsay-ee-kah_ and the Council of
+People’s Commissars, and to promise them complete support.’
+
+“At the same time the meeting deems it necessary that the comrades Left
+Socialist Revolutionaries should enter the People’s Government.”
+
+7.
+
+WINE “POGROMS”
+
+
+It was afterward discovered that there was a regular organisation,
+maintained by the Cadets, for provoking rioting among the soldiers.
+There would be telephone messages to the different barracks, announcing
+that wine was being given away at such and such an address, and when
+the soldiers arrived at the spot an individual would point out the
+location of the cellar….
+
+The Council of People’s Commissars appointed a Commissar for the Fight
+Against Drunkenness, who, besides mercilessly putting down the wine
+riots, destroyed hundreds of thousands of bottles of liquor. The Winter
+Palace cellars, containing rare vintages valued at more than five
+million dollars, were at first flooded, and then the liquor was removed
+to Cronstadt and destroyed.
+
+In this work the Cronstadt sailors, “flower and pride of the
+revolutionary forces,” as Trotzky called them, acquitted themselves
+with iron self-dicipline….
+
+8.
+
+SPECULATORS
+
+
+Two orders concerning them:
+
+_Council of People’s Commissars_
+
+_To the Military Revolutionary Committee_
+
+The disorganisation of the food supply created by the war, and the lack
+of system, is becoming to the last degree acute, thanks to the
+speculators, marauders and their followers on the railways, in the
+steamship offices, forwarding offices, etc.
+
+Taking advantage of the nation’s greatest misfortunes, these criminal
+spoliators are playing with the health and life of millions of soldiers
+and workers, for their own benefit.
+
+Such a situation cannot be borne a single day longer.
+
+The Council of People’s Commissars proposes to the Military
+Revolutionary Committee to take the most decisive measures towards the
+uprooting of speculation, sabotage, hiding of supplies, fraudulent
+detention of cargoes, etc.
+
+All persons guilty of such actions shall be subject, by special orders
+of the Military Revolutionary Committee, to immediate arrest and
+confinement in the prisons of Cronstadt, pending their arraignment
+before the Revolutionary Tribunal.
+
+All the popular organisations are invited to cooperate in the struggle
+against the spoliators of food supplies.
+
+                _President of the Council of People’s Commissaries._
+                                        V. ULIANOV (LENIN).
+
+Accepted for execution,
+        _Military Revolutionary Committee attached to
+         the C. E. C. of the Soviets of W. & S. Deputies._
+
+Petrograd, Nov. 23d, 1917.
+
+                        *     *     *     *     *
+
+_To All Honest Citizens_
+
+_The Military Revolutionary Committee Decrees:_
+
+Spoliators, marauders, speculators, are declared to be enemies of the
+People….
+
+The Military Revolutionary Committee proposes to all public
+organisations, to all honest citizens: to inform the Military
+Revolutionary Committee immediately of all cases of spoliation,
+marauding, speculation, which become known to them.
+
+The struggle against this evil is the business of all honest people.
+The Military Revolutionary Committee expects the support of all to whom
+the interests of the People are dear.
+
+The Military Revolutionary Committee will be merciless in pursuit of
+speculators and marauders.
+
+THE MILITARY REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE
+
+
+Petrograd, Dec. 2d, 1917.
+
+9.
+
+PURISHKEVITCH’s LETTER TO KALEDIN
+
+“The situation at Petrograd is desperate. The city is cut off from the
+outside world and is entirely in the power of the Bolsheviki…. People
+are arrested in the streets, thrown into the Neva, drowned and
+imprisoned without any charge. Even Burtzev is shut up in Peter-Paul
+fortress, under strict guard.
+
+“The organisation at whose head I am is working without rest to unite
+all the officers and what is left of the _yunker_ schools, and to arm
+them. The situation cannot be saved except by creating regiments of
+officers and _yunkers._ Attacking with these regiments, and having
+gained a first success, we could later gain the aid of the garrison
+troops; but without that first success it is impossible to count on a
+single soldier, because thousands of them are divided and terrorised by
+the scum which exists in every regiment. Most of the Cossacks are
+tainted by Bolshevik propaganda, thanks to the strange policy of
+General Dutov, who allowed to pass the moment when by decisive action
+something could have been obtained. The policy of negotiations and
+concessions has borne its fruits; all that is respectable is
+persecuted, and it is the _plebe_ and the criminals who dominate—and
+nothing can be done except by shooting and hanging them.
+
+“We are awaiting you here, General, and at the moment of your arrival,
+we shall advance with all the forces at our disposal. But for that we
+must establish some communication with you, and before all, clear up
+the following points:
+
+“(1) Do you know that in your name all officers who could take part in
+the fight are being invited to leave Petrograd on the pretext of
+joining you?
+
+“(2) About when can we count on your arrival at Petrograd? We should
+like to know in order to coordinate our actions.
+
+“In spite of the criminal inaction of the conscious people here, which
+allowed the yoke of Bolshevism to be laid upon us—in spite of the
+extraordinary pig—headedness of the majority of officers, so difficult
+to organise—we believe in spite of all that Truth is on our side, and
+that we shall conquer the vicious and criminal forces who say that they
+are acting for motives of love of country and in order to save it.
+Whatever comes, we shall not permit ourselves to be struck down, and
+shall remain firm until the end.”
+
+Purishkevitch, being brought to trial before the Revolutionary
+Tribunal, was given a short prison term….
+
+10.
+
+DECREE ON THE MONOPOLY OF ADVERTISEMENTS
+
+
+1. The printing of advertisements, in newspapers, books, bill-boards,
+kiosks, in offices and other establishments is declared to be a State
+monopoly.
+
+2. Advertisements may only be published in the organs of the
+Provisional Workers’ and Peasants’ Government at Petrograd, and in the
+organs of local Soviets.
+
+3. The proprietors of newspapers and advertising offices, as well as
+all employees of such establishments, should remain at their posts
+until the transfer of the advertisement business to the Government….
+superintending the uninterrupted continuation of their houses, and
+turning over to the Soviets all private advertising and the sums
+received therefor, as well as all accounts and copy.
+
+4. All managers of publications and businesses dealing with paid
+advertising, as well as their employees and workers, shall agree to
+hold a City Congress, and to join, first the City Trade Unions, and
+then the All-Russian Unions, to organise more thoroughly and justly the
+advertising business in the Soviet publications, as well as to prepare
+better rules for the public utility of advertising.
+
+5. All persons found guilty of having concealed documents or money, or
+having sabotaged the regulations indicated in paragraphs 3 and 4, will
+be punished by a sentence of not more than three years’ imprisonment,
+and all their property will be confiscated.
+
+6. The paid insertion of advertisements…. in private publications, or
+under a masqued form, will also be severely penalised.
+
+7. Advertising offices are confiscated by the Government, the owners
+being entitled to compensation in cases of necessity. Small
+proprietors, depositors and stock-holders of the confiscated
+establishments will be reimbursed for all moneys held by them in the
+concern.
+
+8. All buildings, officers, counters, and in general every
+establishment doing a business in advertising, should immediately
+inform the Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies of its address,
+and proceed to the transfer of its business, under penalty of the
+punishment indicated in paragraph 5.
+
+                        _President of the Council of People’s
+                        Commissars,_
+                                        VL. ULIANOV (LENIN).
+
+                        _People’s Commissar for Public Instruction,_
+                                        A. V. LUNATCHARSKY.
+
+_Secretary of the Council,_
+
+N. GORBUNOV.
+
+
+11.
+
+OBLIGATORY ORDINANCE
+
+
+1. The city of Petrograd is declared to be in a state of siege.
+
+2. All assemblies, meetings and congregations on the streets and
+squares are prohibited.
+
+3. Attempts to loot wine-cellars, warehouses, factories, stores,
+business premises, private dwellings, etc., etc., _will be stopped by
+machine-gun fire without warning._
+
+4. House Committees, doormen, janitors and Militiamen are charged with
+the duty of keeping strict order in all houses, courtyards and in the
+streets, and house-doors and carriage-entrances must be locked at 9
+o’clock in the evening, and opened at 7 o’clock in the morning. After 9
+o’clock in the evening only tenants may leave the house, under strict
+control of the House Committees.
+
+5. Those guilty of the distribution, sale or purchase of any kind of
+alcoholic liquor, and also those guilty of the violation of sections 2
+and 4, will be immediately arrested and subjected to the most severe
+punishment.
+
+Petrograd, 6th of December, 3 o’clock in the night.
+
+_Committee to Fight Against Pogroms, attached to the Executive
+Committee of the Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies._
+
+12.
+
+TWO PROCLAMATIONS
+
+
+Lenin, To _the People of Russia:_
+
+“Comrades workers, soldiers, peasants—all toilers!
+
+“The Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolution has won at Petrograd, at
+Moscow…. From the Front and the villages arrive every day, every hour,
+greetings to the new Government…. The victory of the Revolution…. is
+assured, seeing that it is sustained by the majority of the people.
+
+“It is entirely understandable that the proprietors and the
+capitalists, the employees and functionaries closely allied with the
+bourgeoisic—in a word, all the rich and all those who join hands with
+them—regard the new Revolution with hostility, oppose its success,
+threaten to halt the activity of the banks, and sabotage or obstruct
+the work of other establishments…. Every conscious worker understands
+perfectly that we cannot avoid this hostility, because the high
+officials have set themselves against the People and do not wish to
+abandon their posts without resistance. But the working classes are not
+for one moment afraid of that resistance. The majority of the people
+are for us. For us are the majority of the workers and the oppressed of
+the whole world. We have justice on our side. Our ultimate victory is
+certain.
+
+“The resistance of the capitalists and high officials will be broken.
+No one will be deprived of his property without a special law on the
+nationalisation of banks and financial syndicates. This law is in
+preparation. Not a worker will lose a single kopek; on the contrary, he
+will be assisted. Without at this moment establishing the new taxes,
+the new Government considers one of its primary duties to make a severe
+accounting and control on the reception of taxes decreed by the former
+régime….
+
+“Comrades workers! Remember that you yourselves direct the Government.
+No one will help you unless you organise yourselves and take into your
+own hands the affairs of the State. Your Soviets are now the organs of
+governmental power…. Strengthen them, establish a severe revolutionary
+control, pitilessly crush the attempts at anarchy on the part of
+drunkards, brigands, counter-revolutionary _yunkers_ and Kornilovists.
+
+“Establish a strict control over production and the accounting for
+products. Arrest and turn over to the Revolutionary Tribunal of the
+People every one who injures the property of the People, by sabotage in
+production, by concealment of grain-reserves, reserves of other
+products, by retarding the shipments of grain, by bringing confusion
+into the railroads, the posts and the telegraphs, or in general
+opposing the great work of bringing Peace and transferring the Land to
+the peasants….
+
+“Comrades workers, soldiers, peasants—all toilers!
+
+“Take immediately all local power into your hands…. Little by little,
+with the consent of the majority of peasants, we shall march firmly and
+unhesitatingly toward the victory of Socialism, which will fortify the
+advance-guards of the working-class of the most civilised Countries,
+and give to the peoples an enduring peace, and free them from every
+slavery and every exploitation.”
+
+13.
+
+_“To All Workers of Petrograd!_
+
+“Comrades! The Revolution is winning—the revolution has won. All the
+power has passed over to our Soviets. The first weeks are the most
+difficult ones. The broken reaction must be finally crushed, a full
+triumph must be secured to our endeavours. The working-class ought
+to—must—show in these days THE GREATEST FIRMNESS AND ENDURANCE, in
+order to facilitate the execution of all the aims of the new People’s
+Government of Soviets. In the next few days decrees on the Labour
+question will be issued, and among the very first will be the decree on
+Workers’ Control over the production and regulation of Industry.
+
+“STRIKES AND DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE WORKER MASSES IN PETROGRAD NOW CAN
+ONLY DO HARM.
+
+
+“We ask you to cease immediately all economic and political strikes, to
+take up your work, and do it in perfect order. The work in the
+factories and all the industries is necessary for the new Government of
+Soviets, because any interruption of this work will only create new
+difficulties for us, and we have enough as it is. All to your places.
+
+“The best way to support the new Government of Soviets in these days—is
+by doing your job.
+
+“LONG LIVE THE IRON FIRMNESS OF THE PROLETARIAT! LONG LIVE THE
+REVOLUTION!”
+
+
+_Petrograd Soviet of W. & S. D._
+
+_Petrograd Council of Trade Unions._
+
+_Petrograd Council of Factory-Shop Committees._
+
+14.
+
+APPEALS AND COUNTER-APPEALS
+
+
+_From the Employees of the State and private Banks To the Population of
+Petrograd:_
+
+“Comrades workers, soldiers and citizens!
+
+“The Military Revolutionary Committee in an ‘extraordinary notice’ is
+accusing the workers of the State and private banking and other
+institutions of ‘impeding the work of the Government, directed towards
+the ensuring of the Front with provisions.’
+
+“Comrades and citizens, do not believe this calumny, brought against
+us, who are part of the general army of labour.
+
+“However difficult it be for us to work under the constant threat of
+interference by acts of violence in our hard-working life, however
+depressing it be to know that our Country and the Revolution are on the
+verge of ruin, we, nevertheless, all of us, from the highest to the
+lowest, employees, _artelshtchiki,_ counters, labourers, couriers,
+etc., are continuing to fulfil our duties which are connected with the
+ensuring of provisions and munitions to the Front and country.
+
+“Counting upon your lack of information, comrades workers and soldiers,
+in questions of finance and banking, you are being incited against
+workers like yourselves, because it is desirable to divert the
+responsibility for the starving and dying brother-soldiers at the Front
+from the guilty persons to the innocent workers who are accomplishing
+their duty under the burden of general poverty and disorganisation.
+
+“REMEMBER, WORKERS AND SOLDIERS! THE EMPLOYEES HAVE ALWAYS STOOD UP FOR
+AND WILL ALWAYS STAND UP FOR THE INTERESTS OF THE TOILING PEOPLE, PART
+OF WHICH THEY ARE THEMSELVES, AND NOT A SINGLE KOPEK NECESSARY FOR THE
+FRONT AND THE WORKERS HAS EVER BEEN DETAINED AND WILL NOT BE DETAINED
+BY THE EMPLOYEES.
+
+
+“From November 6th to November 23d, i.e., during 17 days, 500 million
+rubles were dispatched to the Front, and 120 millions to Moscow,
+besides the sums sent to other towns.
+
+“Keeping guard over the wealth of the people, the master of which can
+be only the Constituent Assembly, representing the whole nation, the
+employees refuse to give out money for purposes which are unknown to
+them.
+
+“DO NOT BELIEVE THE CALUMNIATORS CALLING YOU TO TAKE THE LAW INTO YOUR
+OWN HANDS!”
+
+
+_Central Board of the All-Russian Union of Employees of the State
+Bank._
+
+_Central Board of the All-Russian Trade Union of Employees of Credit
+Institutions._
+
+                        *     *     *     *     *
+
+_To the Population of Petrograd._
+
+“CITIZENS: Do not believe the falsehood which irresponsible people are
+trying to suggest to you by spreading terrible calumnies against the
+employees of the Ministry of Supplies and the workers in other Supply
+organisations who are labouring in these dark days for the salvation of
+Russia. Citizens! In posted placards you are called upon to lynch us,
+we are accused falsely of sabotage and strikes, we are blamed for all
+the woes and misfortunes that the people are suffering, although we
+have been striving indefatigably and uninterruptedly, and are still
+striving, to save the Russian people from the horrors of starvation.
+Notwithstanding all that we are bearing as citizens of unhappy Russia,
+we have not for one hour abandoned our heavy and responsible work of
+supplying the Army and population with provisions.
+
+“The image of the Army, cold and hungry, saving our very existence by
+its blood and its tortures, does not leave us for a single moment.
+
+“Citizens! If we have survived the blackest days in the life and
+history of our people, if we have succeeded in preventing famine in
+Petrograd, if we have managed to procure to the suffering army bread
+and forage by means of enormous, almost superhuman, efforts, it is
+because we have honestly continued and are still continuing to do our
+work….
+
+“To the ‘last warning’ of the usurpers of the power we reply: It is not
+for you who are leading the country to ruin to threaten us who are
+doing all we can not to allow the country to perish. We are not afraid
+of threats; before us stands the sacred image of tortured Russia. We
+will continue our work of supplying the Army and the people with bread
+to our last efforts, so long as you will not prevent us from
+accomplishing our duty to our country. In the contrary case the Army
+and the people will stand before the horrors of famine, but the
+responsibility therefor belongs to the perpetrators of violence.
+
+_Executive Committee of the Employees of the Ministry of Supplies._
+
+                        *     *     *     *     *
+
+_To the_ Tchinovniki (_Government Officials_).
+
+It is notified hereby, that all officials and persons who have quitted
+the service in Government and public institutions or have been
+dismissed for sabotage or for having failed to report for work on the
+day fixed, and who have nevertheless received their salary paid in
+advance for the time they have not served, are bound to return such
+salary not later than on November 27th, 1917, to those institutions
+where they were in service.
+
+In the event of this not being done, these persons will be rendered
+answerable for stealing the Treasury’s property and tried by the
+Military Revolutionary Court.
+
+_The Military-Revolutionary Committee._
+
+December 7th, 1917.
+
+                        *     *     *     *     *
+
+_From the Special Board for the Supplies_ CITIZENS
+
+“The conditions of our work for the supplying of Petrograd are getting
+more and more difficult every day.
+
+“The interference with our work—which is so ruinous to our business—of
+the Commissars of the Military Revolutionary Committee is still
+continuing.
+
+“THEIR ARBITRARY ACTS, their annulling of our orders, MAY LEAD TO A
+CATASTROPHE.
+
+“Seals have been affixed to one of the cold storages where the meat and
+butter destined for the population are kept, and we cannot regulate the
+temperature SO THAT THE PRODUCTS WOULD NOT BE SPOILT.
+
+“One carload of potatoes and one carload of cabbages have been seized
+and carried away no one knows where to.
+
+“Cargoes which are not liable to requisition (_khalva_) are
+requisitioned by the Commissars and, as was the case one day, five
+boxes of _khalva_ were seized by the Commissar for his own use.
+
+“WE ARE NOT IN A POSITION TO DISPOSE OF OUR STORAGES, where the
+self-appointed Commissars do not allow the cargoes to be taken out, and
+terrorise our employees, threatening them with arrest.
+
+“ALL THAT IS GOING ON IN PETROGRAD IS KNOWN IN THE PROVINCES, AND FROM
+THE DON, FROM SIBERIA, FROM VORONEZH AND OTHER PLACES PEOPLE ARE
+REFUSING TO SEND FLOUR AND BREAD.
+
+“THIS CANNOT GO ON MUCH LONGER.
+
+
+“The work is simply falling out of our hands.
+
+“OUR DUTY is to let the population know of this.
+
+“To the last possibility we will remain on guard of the interests of
+the population.
+
+“WE WILL DO EVERYTHING TO AVOID THE ONCOMING FAMINE, BUT IF UNDER THESE
+DIFFICULT CONDITIONS OUR WORK IS COMPELLED TO STOP, LET THE PEOPLE KNOW
+THAT IT IS NOT OUR FAULT….”
+
+
+15.
+ELECTIONS TO THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY IN PETROGRAD
+
+
+There were nineteen tickets in Petrograd. The results are as follows,
+published November 30th:
+
+         _Party_                                        _Vote_
+    Populist Socialists                                 19,109
+    Cadets                                              245,006
+    Christian Democrats                                 3,707
+    Bolsheviki                                          424,027
+    Socialist Universalists                             158
+    S. D. and S. R. Ukrainean and Jewish Workers        4,219
+    League of Women’s Rights                            5,310
+    Socialist Revolutionaries (_oborontsi_)             4,696
+    Left Socialist Revolutionaries                      152,230
+    League of the People’s Development                  385
+    Radical Democrats                                   413
+    Orthodox Parishes                                   24,139
+    Feminine League for Salvation of Country            318
+    Independent League of Workers, Soldiers, Peasants   4,942
+    Christian Democrats (Catholic)                      14,382
+    Unified Social Democrats                            11,740
+    Mensheviki                                          17,427
+    _Yedinstvo_ group                                   1,823
+    League of Cossack Troops                            6,712
+
+
+16.
+FROM THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLE’s COMMISSARS TO THE TOILING COSSACKS
+
+
+_“Brothers-Cossacks._
+
+“You are being deceived. You are being incited against the People. You
+are told that the Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies
+are your enemies, that they want to take away your Cossack land, your
+Cossack ‘liberty’. Don’t believe it, Cossacks…. Your own Generals and
+landowners are deceiving you, in order to keep you in darkness and
+slavery. We, the Council of People’s Commissars, address ourselves to
+you, Cossacks, with these words. Read them attentively and judge
+yourselves which is the truth and which is cruel deceit. The life and
+service of a Cossack were always bondage and penal servitude. At the
+first call of the authorities a Cossack always had to saddle his horse
+and ride out on campaign. All his military equipment a Cossack had to
+provide with his own hardly earned means. A Cossack is on service, his
+farm is going to rack and ruin. Is such a condition fair? No, it must
+be altered for ever. THE COSSACKS MUST BE FREED FROM BONDAGE. The new
+People’s Soviet power is willing to come to the assistance of the
+toiling Cossacks. It is only necessary that the Cossacks themselves
+should resolve to abolish the old order, that they should refuse
+submission to their slave-driver officers, land-owners, rich men, that
+they should throw off the cursed yoke from their necks. Arise,
+Cossacks! Unite! The Council of People’s Commissars calls upon you to
+enter a new, fresh, more happy life.
+
+“In November and December in Petrograd there were All-Russian
+Congresses of Soviets of Soldiers’, Workers’, and Peasants’ Deputies.
+These Congresses transferred all the authority in the different
+localities into the hands of the Soviets, i.e., into the hands of men
+elected by the People. From now on there must be in Russia no rulers or
+functionaries who command the People from above and drive them. The
+People create the authority themselves. A General has no more rights
+than a soldier. All are equal. Consider, Cossacks, is this wrong or
+right? We are calling upon you, Cossacks, to join this new order and to
+create your own Soviets of Cossacks’ Deputies. To such Soviets all the
+power must belong in the different localities. Not to _hetmans_ with
+the rank of General, but to the elected representatives of the toiling
+Cossacks, to your own trustworthy reliable men.
+
+“The All-Russian Congresses of Soldiers’, Workers’, and Peasants’
+Deputies have passed a resolution to transfer all landowners’ land into
+the possession of the toiling people. Is not that fair, Cossacks? The
+Kornilovs, Kaledins, Dutovs, Karaulovs, Bardizhes, all defend with
+their whole souls the interests of the rich men, and they are ready to
+drown Russia in blood if only the lands remain in the hands of the
+landowners. But you, the toiling Cossacks, do not you suffer yourselves
+from poverty, oppression and lack of land? How many Cossacks are there
+who have more than 4-5 _dessiatins_ per head? But the landowners, who
+have thousands of _dessiatins_ of their own land, wish besides to get
+into their hands the lands of the Cossack Army. According to the new
+Soviet laws, the lands of Cossack landowners must pass without
+compensation into the hands of the Cossack workers, the poorer
+Cossacks. You are being told that the Soviets wish to take away your
+lands from you. Who is frightening you? The rich Cossacks, who know
+that the Soviet AUTHORITY WISHES TO transfer the landowners’ lands to
+you. Choose then, Cossacks, for whom will you stand: for the Kornilovs
+and Kaledins, for the Generals and rich men, or for the Soviets of
+Peasants’, Soldiers’, Workers’ and Cossacks’ Deputies.
+
+“THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLE’s COMMISSARS elected by the All-Russian Congress
+HAS PROPOSED TO ALL NATIONS AN IMMEDIATE ARMISTICE AND AN HONOURABLE
+DEMOCRATIC PEACE WITHOUT LOSS OR DETRIMENT TO ANY NATION. All the
+capitalists, landowners, Generals-Kornilovists have risen against the
+peaceful policy of the Soviets. The war was bringing them profits,
+power, distinctions. And to you, Cossack privates? You were perishing
+without reason, without purpose, like your brothers-soldiers and
+sailors. It will soon be three years and a half that this accursed war
+has gone on, a war devised by the capitalists and landowners of all
+countries for their own profit, their world robberies. To the toiling
+Cossacks the war has only brought ruin and death. The war has drained
+all the resources from Cossack farm life. The only salvation for the
+whole of our country and for the Cossacks in particular is a prompt and
+honest peace. The Council of People’s Commissars has declared to all
+Governments and peoples: We do not want other people’s property, and we
+do not wish to give away our own. Peace without annexations and without
+indemnities. Every nation must decide its own fate. There must be no
+oppressing of one nation by another. Such is the honest, democratic,
+People’s peace which the Council of People’s Commissars is proposing to
+all Governments, to all peoples, allies and enemies. And the results
+are visible: ON THE RUSSIAN FRONT AN ARMISTICE HAS BEEN CONCLUDED.
+
+“The soldier’s and the Cossack’s blood is not flowing there any more.
+Now, Cossacks, decide: do you wish to continue this ruinous, senseless,
+criminal slaughter? Then support the Cadets, the enemies of the people,
+support Tchernov, Tseretelli, Skobeliev, who drove you into the
+offensive of July 1st; support Kornilov, who introduced capital
+punishment for soldiers and Cossacks at the front. BUT IF YOU WISH A
+PROMPT AND HONEST PEACE, THEN ENTER THE RANKS OF THE SOVIETS AND
+SUPPORT THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLE’s COMMISSARS.
+
+“Your fate, Cossacks, lies in your own hands. Our common foes, the
+landowners, capitalists, officers-Kornilovists, bourgeois newspapers,
+are deceiving you and driving you along the road to ruin. In Orenburg,
+Dutov has arrested the Soviet and disarmed the garrison. Kaledin is
+threatening the Soviets in the province of the Don. He has declared the
+province to be in a state of war and is assembling his troops. Karaulov
+is shooting the local tribes in the Caucasus. The Cadet bourgeoisie is
+supplying them with its millions. Their common aim is to suppress the
+People’s Soviets, to crush the workers and peasants, to introduce again
+the discipline of the whip in the army, and to eternalise the bondage
+of the toiling Cossacks.
+
+“Our revolutionary troops are moving to the Don and the Ural in order
+to put an end to this criminal revolt against the people. The
+commanders of the revolutionary troops have received orders not to
+enter into any negotiations with the mutinous Generals, to act
+decisively and mercilessly.
+
+“Cossacks! On you depends now whether your brothers’ blood is to flow
+still. We are holding out our hand to you. Join the whole people
+against its enemies. Declare Kaledin, Kornilov, Dutov, Karaulov and all
+their aiders and abettors to be the enemies of the people, traitors and
+betrayers. Arrest them with your own forces and turn them over into the
+hands of the Soviet authority, which will judge them in open and public
+Revolutionary Tribunal. Cossacks! Form Soviets of Cossacks’ Deputies.
+Take into your toil-worn hands the management of all the affairs of the
+Cossacks. Take away the lands of your own wealthy landowners. Take over
+their grain, their inventoried property and live-stock for the
+cultivation of the lands of the toiling Cossacks, who are ruined by the
+war.
+
+“Forward, Cossacks, to the fight for the common cause of the people!
+
+“Long live the toiling Cossacks!
+
+“Long live the union of the Cossacks, the soldiers, peasants and
+workers!
+
+“Long live the power of the Soviets of Cossacks’, Soldiers’, Workers’
+and Peasants’ Deputies.
+
+“Down with the war! Down with the landowners and the
+Kornilovist-Generals!
+
+“Long live Peace and the Brotherhood of peoples!”
+
+_Council of People’s Commissars._
+
+17.
+
+FROM THE COMMISSION ON PUBLIC EDUCATION ATTACHED TO THE CENTRAL CITY
+DUMA
+
+
+“Comrades Workingmen and Workingwomen!
+
+“A few days before the holidays, a strike has been declared by the
+teachers of the public schools. The teachers side with the bourgeoisie
+against the Workers’ and Peasants’ Government.
+
+“Comrades, organise parents’ committees and pass resolutions against
+the strike of the teachers. Propose to the Ward Soviets of Workers’ and
+Soldiers’ Deputies, the Trade Unions, the Factory-Shop and Party
+Committees, to organise protest meetings. Arrange with your own
+resources Christmas trees and entertainments for the children, and
+demand the opening of the schools, after the holidays, at the date
+which will be set by the Duma.
+
+“Comrades, strengthen your position in matters of public education,
+insist on the control of the proletarian organisations over the
+schools.”
+
+_Commission on Public Education attached to the Central City Duma._
+
+18.
+
+DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE OF THE SOVIET GOVERNMENT
+
+
+The notes issued by Trotzky to the Allies and to the neutral powers, as
+well as the note of the Allied military Attachés to General Dukhonin,
+are too voluminous to give here. Moreover they belong to another phase
+of the history of the Soviet Republic, with which this book has nothing
+to do—the foreign relations of the Soviet Government. This I treat at
+length in the next volume, “Kornilov to Brest-Litovsk.”
+
+19.
+
+APPEALS TO THE FRONT AGAINST DUKHONIN
+
+
+“… The struggle for peace has met with the resistance of the
+bourgeoisie and the counter-revolutionary Generals…. From the accounts
+in the newspapers, at the _Stavka_ of former Supreme Commander Dukhonin
+are gathering the agents and allies of the bourgeoisie, Verkhovski,
+Avksentiev, Tchernov, Gotz, Tseretelli, etc. It seems even that they
+want to form a new power against the Soviets.
+
+“Comrades soldiers! All the persons we have mentioned have been
+Ministers already. They have acted in accord with Kerensky and the
+bourgeoisie. They are responsible for the offensive of July 1st and for
+the prolongation of the war. They promised the land to the peasants and
+then arrested the Land Committees. They reestablished capital
+punishment for soldiers. They obey the orders of French, English and
+American financiers….
+
+“General Dukhonin, for having refused to obey orders of the Council of
+People’s Commissars, has been dismissed from his position as Supreme
+Commander…. For answer he is circulating among the troops the note from
+the Military Attachés of the Allied imperialist Powers, and attempting
+to provoke a counter-revolution….
+
+“Do not obey Dukhonin! Pay no attention to his provocation! Watch him
+and his group of counter-revolutionary Generals carefully….”
+
+20.
+
+FROM KRYLENKO
+
+
+_Order Number Two_
+
+“… The ex-Supreme Commander, General Dukhonin, for having opposed
+resistance to the execution of orders, for criminal action susceptible
+of provoking a new civil war, is declared enemy of the People. All
+persons who support Dukhonin will be arrested, without respect to their
+social or political position or their past. Persons equipped with
+special authority will operate these arrests. I charge General
+Manikhovsky with the execution of the above-mentioned dispositions….”
+
+
+APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XII
+
+1.
+
+INSTRUCTION TO PEASANTS
+
+
+In answer to the numerous enquiries coming from peasants, it is hereby
+explained that the whole power in the country is from now on held by
+the Soviets of the Workers’, Soldiers’, and Peasants’ Deputies. The
+Workers’ Revolution, after having conquered in Petrograd and in Moscow,
+is now conquering in all other centres of Russia. The Workers’ and
+Peasants’ Government safeguards the interests of the masses of
+peasantry, the poorest of them; it is with the majority of peasants and
+workers against the landowners, and against the capitalists.
+
+Hence the Soviets of Peasants’ Deputies, and before all the District
+Soviets, and subsequently those of the Provinces, are from now on and
+until the Constituent Assembly meets, full-powered bodies of State
+authority in their localities. All landlords’ titles to the land are
+cancelled by the second All-Russian Congress of Soviets. A decree
+regarding the land has already been issued by the present Provisional
+Workers’ and Peasants’ Government. On the basis of the above decree all
+lands hitherto belonging to landlords now pass entirely and wholly into
+the hands of the Soviets of Peasants’ Deputies. The _Volost_ (a group
+of several villages forms a _Volost_) Land Committees are immediately
+to take over all land from the landlords, and to keep a strict account
+over it, watching that order be maintained, and that the whole estate
+be well guarded, seeing that from now on all private estates become
+public property and must therefore be protected by the people
+themselves.
+
+All orders given by the _Volost_ Land Committees, adopted with the
+assent of the District Soviets of Peasants’ Deputies, in fulfilment of
+the decrees issued by the revolutionary power, are absolutely legal and
+are to be forthwith and irrefutably brought into execution.
+
+The Workers’ and Peasants’ Government appointed by the second
+All-Russian Congress of Soviets has received the name of the Council of
+People’s Commissars.
+
+The Council of People’s Commissars summons the Peasants to take the
+whole power into their hands in every locality.
+
+The workers will in every way absolutely and entirely support the
+peasants, arrange for them all that is required in connection with
+machines and tools, and in return they request the peasants to help
+with the transport of grain.
+
+_President of the Council of People’s Commissars,_ V. ULIANOV (LENIN).
+
+Petrograd, November 18th, 1917.
+
+2.
+
+The full-powered Congress of Peasants’ Soviets met about a week later,
+and continued for several weeks. Its history is merely an expanded
+version of the history of the “Extraordinary Conference.” At first the
+great majority of the delegates were hostile to the Soviet Government,
+and supported the reactionary wing. Several days later the assembly was
+supporting the moderates with Tchernov. And several days after that the
+vast majority of the Congress were voting for the faction of Maria
+Spiridonova, and sending their representatives into the _Tsay-ee-kah_
+at Smolny…. The Right Wing then walked out of the Congress and called a
+Congress of its own, which went on, dwindling from day to day, until it
+finally dissolved….
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEN DAYS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD ***
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