[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….