Ten Days That Shook the World Part 21

"... 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 cla.s.ses 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 pa.s.sed 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 Const.i.tuent a.s.sembly, 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 regime, in order to wreck the Const.i.tuent a.s.sembly, 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, anch.o.r.ed in the Neva.

"The Government can surrender its authority only to the Consituent a.s.sembly; 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 sh.e.l.ls were blanks, only three small shrapnels striking the facade of the Palace....

2.

KERENSKY IN FLIG{HT -ed.}.

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 partic.i.p.ation of Cossack delegates-there being 6,000 Cossacks at Ostrov.

Kerensky spoke to the a.s.sembly, 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' a.s.sistance 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 bas.e.m.e.nt 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 archaeologists, 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 archaeologists, 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-archaeological 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 Const.i.tuent a.s.sembly. 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-ma.s.ses.... 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 MUNIc.i.p.aL DUMA.

"The Central City Duma, elected on the most democratic principles, has undertaken the burden of managing Munic.i.p.al 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 Const.i.tuent a.s.sembly, 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 Munic.i.p.al 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 const.i.tuents, 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 Const.i.tuent a.s.sembly.

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 t.i.tles, 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 ent.i.tled 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 pa.s.s 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 Const.i.tuent a.s.sembly.