The role of Lenin in the Russian revolution. How Lenin Learned About the February Revolution What Lenin Did in the Revolution of 1917
1917 is the year of upheavals and revolutions in Russia, and its finale came on the night of October 25, when all power passed to the Soviets. What are the causes, course, results of the Great October Socialist Revolution - these and other questions of history are at the center of our attention today.
Causes
Many historians argue that the events that took place in October 1917 were inevitable and at the same time unexpected. Why? Inevitable, because by that time a certain situation had developed in the Russian Empire, which predetermined the further course of history. This was due to a number of reasons:
- Results of the February Revolution : she was greeted with unprecedented enthusiasm and enthusiasm, which soon turned into the opposite - bitter disappointment. Indeed, the performance of the revolutionary-minded "lower classes" - soldiers, workers and peasants, led to a serious shift - the overthrow of the monarchy. But this is where the achievements of the revolution ended. The expected reforms "hung in the air": the longer the Provisional Government put off consideration of pressing problems, the faster discontent in society grew;
- Overthrow of the monarchy : March 2 (15), 1917 Russian Emperor Nicholas II signed the abdication. However, the question of the form of government in Russia - a monarchy or a republic, remained open. The provisional government decided to consider it during the next convocation of the Constituent Assembly. Such uncertainty could lead to only one thing - anarchy, which happened.
- The mediocre policy of the Provisional Government : the slogans under which the February Revolution took place, its aspirations and achievements were actually buried by the actions of the Provisional Government: Russia's participation in the First World War continued; a majority vote in the government blocked the land reform and the reduction of the working day to 8 hours; the autocracy was not annulled;
- Russia's participation in the First World War: any war is an extremely costly undertaking. It literally "sucks" all the juice out of the country: people, production, money - everything goes to its maintenance. The First World War was no exception, and Russia's participation in it undermined the country's economy. After the February Revolution, the Provisional Government did not retreat from its obligations to the allies. But discipline in the army was already undermined, and general desertion began in the army.
- Anarchy: already in the name of the government of that period - the Provisional Government, the spirit of the times can be traced - order and stability were destroyed, and they were replaced by anarchy - anarchy, lawlessness, confusion, spontaneity. This manifested itself in all spheres of the country's life: an autonomous government was formed in Siberia, which was not subordinate to the capital; Finland and Poland declared independence; in the villages, the peasants were engaged in unauthorized redistribution of land, burned the landowners' estates; the government was mainly engaged in the struggle with the Soviets for power; the disintegration of the army and many other events;
- The rapid growth of the influence of the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies : During the February Revolution, the Bolshevik Party was not among the most popular. But over time, this organization becomes the main political player. Their populist slogans for an immediate end to the war and for reforms found great support among the embittered workers, peasants, soldiers and police. Not the last was the role of Lenin as the founder and leader of the Bolshevik Party, which carried out the October Revolution of 1917.
Rice. 1. Mass strikes in 1917
Stages of the uprising
Before speaking briefly about the revolution of 1917 in Russia, it is necessary to answer the question of the suddenness of the uprising itself. The fact is that the actually established dual power in the country - the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks, should have ended in some kind of explosion and in the future with the victory of one of the parties. Therefore, the Soviets began preparations for the seizure of power in August, and the government at that time was preparing and taking measures to prevent it. But the events that happened on the night of October 25, 1917 came as a complete surprise to the latter. The consequences of the establishment of Soviet power also became unpredictable.
As early as October 16, 1917, the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party made a fateful decision - to prepare for an armed uprising.
On October 18, the Petrograd garrison refused to submit to the Provisional Government, and already on October 21, representatives of the garrison declared their submission to the Petrograd Soviet, as the only representative of the legitimate authority in the country. Starting on October 24, the key points of Petrograd - bridges, railway stations, telegraphs, banks, power plants and printing houses - were captured by the Military Revolutionary Committee. On the morning of October 25, the Provisional Government held only one object - the Winter Palace. Despite this, at 10 o'clock in the morning of the same day, an appeal was issued, which announced that henceforth the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was the only body of state power in Russia.
In the evening at 9 o'clock, a blank shot from the Aurora cruiser signaled the beginning of the assault on the Winter Palace, and on the night of October 26, members of the Provisional Government were arrested.
Rice. 2. The streets of Petrograd on the eve of the uprising
Results
As you know, history does not like the subjunctive mood. It is impossible to say what would have happened if this or that event had not happened and vice versa. Everything that happens happens due to not a single reason, but a multitude that at one moment intersected at one point and showed the world an event with all its positive and negative aspects: a civil war, a huge number of deaths, millions who left the country forever, terror, the construction of an industrial power , the elimination of illiteracy, free education, medical care, building the world's first socialist state, and much more. But, but speaking about the main significance of the October Revolution of 1917, one thing should be said - it was a profound revolution in the ideology, economy and structure of the state as a whole, which influenced not only the course of the history of Russia, but of the whole world.
1At the beginning of March 1917, a new, decisive factor arose in the struggle between the government and the Duma. On March 3, a strike began at the Putilov factory, which by March 10 had turned into a general strike of all the workers of the capital.
On March 11, the troops of the Petrograd garrison began to refuse to shoot at the workers. On March 12, several regiments came to the Tauride Palace, where the State Duma was located; The Duma was on the verge of dispersal (by decree of the tsar), but its members nevertheless continued to sit. The soldiers of the regiments that opposed the government declared their support for the Duma. In the evening of the same day, the Provisional Committee of the State Duma was formed, and the Council of Workers' Deputies immediately met. The next day, the leaders of the Duma organized the Provisional Government, headed by the chairman of the Union of Zemstvos, Prince Lvov. Together with the Executive Committee of the Soviet of Workers' Deputies, this government made its first statement.
On March 15, Nicholas II abdicated in favor of his brother Mikhail, who, in turn, abdicated on March 16, transferring power to the Provisional Government until the Constituent Assembly was convened.
The reign of the Romanovs ended. Russia effectively became a republic, although the declaration of a republic was delayed until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly.
What caused the revolution? There were many reasons: the weakness of state power, aggravated by the conflict between Nicholas II and the Duma; widespread dissatisfaction with the policy of the emperor in the army and throughout the country; the special circumstances that prevailed in Petrograd (they were of an economic nature: a sharp rise in prices and difficulties with food, queues in front of shops selling bread and other food products).
Of course, these difficulties turned out to be much less serious than those that awaited the country later, in 1919 and 1920. But in 1917, the population was not yet accustomed to such problems, and therefore they were especially annoying.
In addition, active Bolshevik propaganda was conducted among the workers. It is difficult to say how significant a role she played in fomenting the revolution; Minister Protopopov, for example, believed that her role was not the last.
Some observers also pointed to the participation of German agents in the campaign, but this has not been documented.
As for the troops of the Petrograd garrison, they were mainly driven by the fear of being sent to the front; that is why the first declaration of the Provisional Government included a clause stating that these troops should not be sent to the front. The soldiers of the Petrograd garrison did not suffer from poor nutrition.
But in spite of all these circumstances, the working-class movement (even reinforced by the action of the local garrison) did not yet signify a revolution on a national scale. Only from the moment when the State Duma decided to lead the movement did the rebellion turn into a revolution.
The Provisional Government formed by the Duma soon showed that it was the bearer of supreme power only nominally. In reality, power was divided between the government and the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. The provisional government consisted mainly of the Cadets and their supporters. It included only one socialist - the socialist revolutionary Kerensky. The Menshevik Chkheidze, invited to the government, refused to join it.
On the other hand, the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet represented exclusively members of the socialist parties and their supporters. Members of the bourgeois parties, even the most democratic of them, were not represented in the council. Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks predominated among those who entered the Executive Committee and the plenum of the Petrograd Soviet. The Bolsheviks were in the minority (the same picture was in the soviets formed in other Russian cities).
The first question that arose before the Russian revolution was the attitude towards the war. A significant part of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks were defensists, that is, they stood for the continuation of the war. The Bolsheviks, as well as small groups of Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, were defeatists and advocated the need for an immediate end to the war. But in the first period, even the Bolsheviks did not openly speak out in the soviets against the continuation of the war. The majority in the Petrograd and other soviets were unequivocally in favor of defense. But at the same time, an order was issued on behalf of the Petrograd Soviet - the so-called "Order No. 1" - which actually undermined discipline in the Russian army, as it called on soldiers to distrust officers and form their own councils in each army unit.
As General Brusilov wrote in his memoirs, actions aimed at disorganizing the army were quite logical when they came from the Bolsheviks who wanted to end the war, but it remained incomprehensible how the defencists could join this game. The explanation for this fact lies in the attitude of the socialist-defencists towards the Provisional Government. Both the Socialist-Revolutionaries, and especially the Mensheviks, proceeded in their ideas from the political conditions that prevailed in Russia before the revolution. They still imagined that they were living in 1905, when they had to beware of the return of reaction and the restoration of the old regime. In fact, power already belonged to the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries. As it soon became clear, the Provisional Government was fully ripe to introduce socialists into its ranks. But the Mensheviks continued to regard the Provisional Government as an administration of the old type, with which they were always ready to fight. The provisional government proved to be quite democratic in its convictions, but the socialists considered it to be a bourgeois government. The tactic of the majority in the council was to refuse to support the Provisional Government (except when it carried out a democratic program).
Undermining the government and its attempts to rely on the army, the socialists tried to ensure their own influence in the troops. At the same time, they obviously missed the fact that the army is at war.
When the revolution took place, almost all socialist groups found themselves without their leaders, who were either in exile or abroad. The first to return were those who had been in exile. On April 1, Tsereteli returned from Siberia, a member of the Second State Duma, exiled as a result of the trial of the Social Democratic faction of this Duma. A week earlier, the Bolshevik Kamenev had arrived from Siberia, where he had been exiled at the beginning of the war.
Kamenev immediately became a member of the editorial board of Pravda, whose publication had resumed a few days earlier. He also became the leader of the Petrograd Committee of the Bolsheviks, which came into being as a legal organization on March 15th. Before the arrival of Lenin, Kamenev played a leading role among the Bolsheviks. His policy towards the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries was of a conciliatory nature. He was not a tough politician and, moreover, he understood that the victory of the revolution is a common achievement of the radical parties.
Even during his stay in Siberia, when Kamenev received the news that Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich had renounced the throne, he sent him a telegram of greetings, addressing it to citizen Mikhail Romanov. Kamenev maintained his articles in Pravda and speeches in the Soviet in a tone loyal to the Provisional Government. So, in the first period of the revolution, the Bolsheviks did not sharply separate themselves from other socialists and only tried to give a leftist trend to public sentiment within the Soviet itself.
In April, those leaders of the Russian Social Democracy who were abroad began to return. On April 13, Plekhanov arrived in Petrograd from France. April 16 from Switzerland - Lenin and Martov, in early May from the United States - Trotsky. Plekhanov has now become a passionate defencist; the other three are internationalists, including Martov. Lenin and Martov returned to Russia in an unusual way, passing through German territory in a "sealed" railway carriage.
2When the revolution began in Russia, Lenin was in Switzerland. He immediately reacted with extreme hostility to the Provisional Government. On March 16, he wrote to Alexandra Kollontai: “A week of bloody battles between the workers and Milyukov + Guchkov + Kerensky is in power!! According to the "old" European pattern.
In the first of his Letters from afar, Lenin describes the events that took place in Russia:
The workers and soldiers of St. Petersburg, like the workers and soldiers of all of Russia, fought selflessly against the tsarist monarchy, for freedom, for land for the peasants, for peace, against the imperialist slaughter. In order to continue and intensify this slaughter, Anglo-French imperialist capital forged palace intrigues, arranged a conspiracy ... incited and encouraged the Guchkovs and Milyukovs, set up a completely ready-made new government, which seized power after the very first blows of the proletarian struggle inflicted on tsarism.
This government is not a random collection of individuals.
These are representatives of a new class that has risen to political power in Russia, the class of capitalist landowners and the bourgeoisie, which has long ruled our country economically and which, both during the revolution of 1905-1907 and during the counter-revolution of 1907-1914, and finally - and moreover, with particular speed - during the war of 1914-1917, it was extremely quickly organized politically, taking into its own hands both local self-government, and public education, and congresses of various types, and the Duma, and military-industrial committees, etc. This new class "almost completely" was already in power by 1917; therefore, the first blows to tsarism were enough for it to fall apart, clearing the place of the bourgeoisie.
For Lenin, the Provisional Government was "the executor of billion-dollar firms: "England" and "France".
On March 30, Lenin wrote to Ganetsky in Stockholm: "The main thing is to overthrow the bourgeois government and start with Russia, because otherwise peace cannot be obtained." Ganetsky, who lived in Stockholm at that time, was an intermediary between Lenin and the Bolsheviks in Russia. In order to mediate successfully, money was needed, and he obviously had large sums in his account, since in the letter already mentioned, Lenin gave him the following instruction: "Do not spare money on Peter's relations with Stockholm!!"
From what sources did Ganetsky receive funds for Bolshevik propaganda in Russia? Until recently, the Bolsheviks did not publish information about the party budget for this period. Therefore, one can only hypothesize.
Ganetsky acted in Stockholm as a commercial representative of Parvus. As already noted, Parvus spoke of the need for coordination between the German military command and the Russian revolutionaries. He announced this publicly, considering it his duty to serve as an "intellectual barometer" of relations between the German armed forces and the revolutionary Russian proletariat. At one time, Lenin severely criticized certain aspects of Parvus's views. However, now Ganetsky appeared in Stockholm as a representative of both Lenin and Parvus. Undoubtedly, Parvus had the opportunity to supply Ganetsky with money for Bolshevik propaganda. During the war, Parvus was engaged in the supply of the German army and large-scale speculation, so significant amounts passed through his hands. Parvus could also get money for the "deepening of the revolution" in Russia and directly from the "German imperialists". Whoever financed Ganetsky, the fact remains that in the spring of 1917 he had the means at his disposal to launch further Bolshevik propaganda.
3After receiving the first news of the revolution, Lenin made every conceivable effort to leave for Russia. The task was not an easy one. For the duration of the war, the road through Germany was officially closed to all Russians. Communication from Switzerland with Russia at that time was carried out through France and England. But since Lenin's defeatist views were known to the Allies, the French and British governments could object to his passage through their territories.
After considering the situation, Lenin and other Russian internationalists who were in Switzerland decided to go through Germany. It should be noted that neither Lenin nor his supporters applied to the British and French authorities for permission to travel.
To pass through Germany, it was necessary not only to obtain permission from the German government, but also to try to present the matter in a favorable light, since suspicions of treachery (traveling through enemy territory) inevitably arose.
A similar plan was proposed by Martov, who was the leader of the Menshevik Internationalists. Continuing to be a theoretician, far from life, believing in the power of formulas, Martov probably thought that this episode should look quite decent, since theoretically it seemed so to him. He was hardly involved in any negotiations on a practical agreement with the German imperialists. His plan was to offer Germany to allow Russian emigrants to pass through its territory in exchange for a corresponding number of Germans and Austrians interned in Russia.
First of all, we decided to turn to the Swiss government to play the role of an intermediary. In this way, they wanted to maintain a decent appearance at the international level. The Swiss socialist Grimm, one of the leaders of the Zimmerwald movement, was chosen to conduct the negotiations. In the political department of the Swiss Federal Council, he was told that the Swiss government could not go for official mediation, as this could be regarded as a violation of neutrality. Then Grimm privately approached the representative of the German government in Switzerland. After that, he withdrew from participating in mediation, and further negotiations were continued by another Swiss socialist Platten, a close acquaintance of Lenin and his supporter, one of the members of the Zimmerwald Left: Platten submitted to the German embassy in Bern proposals drawn up by Lenin on organizing the passage of Russian emigrants through Germany, taking personal responsibility. Two days later, the terms proposed by Platten were accepted by the German government, of course with the consent of the German General Staff. General Hoffmann pointed to Erzberger, a member of the Reichstag, as an intermediary in these negotiations. Scheidemann, the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, who later became Chancellor of the German Republic, claimed that Lenin's passage through Germany was organized by Parvus.
The motives that inspired the German government and the General Staff to do this are obvious. Here is what General Ludendorff and General Hoffmann said.
Ludendorff said: “Our government assumed a special responsibility for sending Lenin to Russia. From a military point of view, his trip was justified - Russia fell. General Hoffmann wrote: "Just as I throw grenades at the enemy's trenches, as I launch poisonous gases against them, as their enemy, I have the right to use propaganda tools against the opposing forces."
The agreement to give Lenin and his comrades the opportunity to enter Russia was in fact the introduction of pathogenic microbes into the body of the Russian state. Germany's calculations did not require a special comment. Germany continued the same policy that the Austrian government had previously pursued when, at the beginning of the war, it released Lenin from arrest and allowed him to leave for Switzerland. Of course, the German government could not take seriously the condition with which Lenin camouflaged his trip - the exchange of Russian emigrants for Germans interned in Russia. It is clear from Ludendorff's words that the question for the German government was not to allow Lenin to pass through Germany, but to send him to Russia.
The German government did not publish documents about Lenin's trip to Germany. As for Lenin himself, he published only the resolutions of Russian and foreign socialists adopted in Switzerland. They concerned the beginning of negotiations and the proposed conditions of travel.
The railway car, in which Lenin, Martov and other emigrants were, was hitched to a train bound for Germany on April 8, 1917. On April 13, Lenin boarded the sea ferry from Sassnitz to Sweden. So, the journey through Germany lasted at least four days - from 9 to 12 April. In Trelleborg, Lenin was met by Ganetsky, who then accompanied him to Stockholm. On the morning of April 14, Lenin found himself in Stockholm, and late in the evening of April 16, he arrived in Petrograd. The Bolsheviks gave him a solemn welcome. Workers, sailors and soldiers filled the entire Finland Station and the square in front of it. The armored car, which was at the disposal of the Bolshevik Committee, delivered Lenin to the mansion, formerly owned by the ballerina Kshesinskaya. At the beginning of the revolution, it was captured by the Bolshevik Committee and served as the headquarters of the Bolsheviks until the July speech.
4The arrival of Lenin brought about cardinal changes in the tactics of the Bolsheviks. On the very first night after his arrival in Russia, at a meeting in the Kshesinskaya mansion, he delivered a speech that sounded in sharp dissonance with the former conciliatory policy of the Bolsheviks. On April 17, he wrote his famous theses, which Pravda published two days later.
Lenin's first thesis was related to the war. For him, the war “on the part of Russia and under the new government of Lvov and Co. undoubtedly remains a predatory, imperialist war, due to the capitalist nature of this government, not the slightest concession to “revolutionary defencism” is unacceptable. His third thesis read: "No support for the Provisional Government, an explanation of the complete falsity of all its promises." The fifth thesis proposed: "Not a parliamentary republic ... but a republic of Soviets of workers, laborers and peasants' deputies throughout the country, from top to bottom."
Lenin's theses met with misunderstanding at the very center of the Bolshevik Party. Kamenev answered Lenin in the next issue of Pravda. Goldenberg announced that "Lenin has hoisted the banner of civil war among the revolutionary democrats." It hardly needs to be said that the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries took a hostile stand towards the theses.
Lenin seemed to be isolated. But already several times during his activity he remained alone and did not show fear. And now he showed no signs of anxiety. Lenin found himself in much more favorable conditions than before. He received complete freedom for agitation and propaganda. It was in Russia, at the very center of the revolution and the Russian workers' movement, and specifically in the place where the Bolsheviks had the firm support of the workers enlightened by the Bolshevik newspapers during the period of the Dumas. Lenin directed his efforts chiefly to the training of party cadres from workers and soldiers. He also tried not to limit himself to abstract agitation, but gave practical lessons, taught his supporters to organize street demonstrations. At this point, it was important to choose slogans that would not pit him against the majority in the Council. Therefore, Lenin at first tried to direct his blows not at the parties in the Soviet, but at the Provisional Government and especially at those aspects of its activity that could be classified as bourgeois and imperialist.
The first such opportunity presented itself to Lenin after the statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Milyukov, in which he confirmed the loyalty of the Provisional Government to the allies in the war and fidelity to the treaties concluded between the allies. In this statement, the imperialist aspirations of the Provisional Government were visible. Such a policy, pursuing the goals of annexation, was unacceptable not only for the internationalists, but also for the socialist defencists. The Bolsheviks got the opportunity to oppose the Provisional Government, hiding behind the slogans not only of their own party, but of the entire Soviet. On May 3 and 4 they organized street demonstrations against Milyukov. The Cadets staged a response demonstration in his support.
The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies assumed the role of a kind of arbiter between the Cadets and the Bolsheviks. All demonstrations were banned for two days. However, these events led to the reorganization of the Provisional Government. Milyukov and Guchkov, the most active ministers of the first cabinet, were forced to resign. The new composition of the government included the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries. Kerensky became Minister of War.
In May and June, Lenin was engaged in intensive party work. From May 7 to 12, he led the All-Russian Bolshevik Party Conference, which in its resolutions approved the main provisions of Lenin's theses. The provisional government was declared "the government of the landowners and capitalists", and an alliance with the defensists - the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks - was recognized as absolutely impossible. But in assessing the war, the conference noticeably softened the tone of Lenin's theses, noting that
5... you cannot end a war by ceasing hostilities by one of the belligerents. The Conference protests again and again against the low slander spread by the capitalists against our Party, that we sympathize with a separate (separate) peace with Germany ... Our Party will patiently but persistently explain to the people the truth ... that this war can be ended by a democratic peace only the state power of at least several belligerent countries into the hands of the proletarian class, which is really capable of putting an end to the oppression of capital.
The Bolshevik Conference showed that Lenin firmly stood at the helm of his party. In the elections to the Central Committee, he received an overwhelming majority of votes, securing almost unanimous approval.
In addition to inner-party problems, Lenin focused on the labor issue, trying by all means to increase the influence of the Bolsheviks on the workers of Petrograd.
Soon after the revolution in Russia, at the beginning of 1917, the rapid growth of trade union organizations began to take place, whose activities during the war years were under strong pressure from the authorities. From April to June 1917, the total number of members of the various trade unions doubled. On the one hand, trade unions arose according to professions, on the other hand, trade unions were founded, covering the workers of the entire enterprise in a single association. Almost every factory had a so-called "factory committee". In May they were legalized by the Provisional Government. In June, the Petrograd Conference of such committees met, which laid the foundation for coordinating their activities.
A struggle soon began between the factory committees and the trade unions, exacerbated by their political differences. The trade unions were under the strong influence of the Mensheviks, while the factory committees fell under the propaganda of the Bolsheviks. All this came to light at the June conference of the Petrograd committees, when Lenin proclaimed the slogan of workers' control in production. The conference approved his proposal.
After his success with the workers, Lenin felt solid ground under his feet for a major political demonstration. In mid-June, the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets was convened in Petrograd. Among the 790 delegates to the congress, the majority were Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. There were only 103 Bolsheviks. At this congress, Lenin passed judgment on a state where the Soviets share power with the Provisional Government. He spoke in favor of a government in the form of a single republic of Soviets.
When the Menshevik leader Tsereteli said that there was no political party in Russia that would take full responsibility for power, Lenin objected: “Yes! Not a single party can secede from responsibility, and our party does not refuse this: at any moment it is ready to take full power. His statement was met with laughter. However, he was not joking: successes in the working environment turned his head.
The Central Committee of the Bolsheviks scheduled a demonstration for June 23 in support of the transfer of power to the Soviets. In the event of its success, it was possible to set the task of overthrowing the Provisional Government. But word of this reached the leaders of the Congress of Soviets, and at the last moment the Bolshevik Central Committee saw fit to cancel the plan. But Lenin did not give up - his influence among the workers continued to grow. At the beginning of June, the All-Russian Conference of Trade Unions met in Petrograd, at which the balance of power turned out to be completely different from the balance at the Congress of Soviets.
True, the Bolsheviks had not yet been able to take control of the voting at the conference, but their strength was already equal to that of the Mensheviks. To further guide the labor movement, the conference elected the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions. 16 Bolsheviks, 16 Mensheviks and 3 Socialist-Revolutionaries were elected to this Soviet. Thanks to the Socialist-Revolutionaries, the Mensheviks ensured their preponderance in the executive committee (5 Mensheviks against 4 Bolsheviks).
6The offensive of the Russian army prepared by Kerensky began on July 1 on the southwestern front. During the first days it developed successfully. For further Bolshevik speeches, the situation looked unfavorable. On July 11, Lenin left for a few days to rest at Bonch-Bruevich's dacha in Finland. During these few days the state of political affairs in Petrograd changed so dramatically that a split occurred in the Provisional Government.
The basis for the dispute was the question of the autonomy of Ukraine. On July 14, a delegation of the Provisional Government, consisting of three ministers (Tsereteli, Kerensky and Tereshchenko), concluded an agreement in Kyiv with the All-Ukrainian Central Rada formed there. Upon receiving this news, the Cadet ministers left the Provisional Government, because they believed that the question of Ukraine's autonomy could not be resolved before the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. Their resignation caused a government crisis. There was a problem of reorganization of the government. The Bolsheviks considered this moment favorable for the seizure of power.
On July 16, rallies began at factories and party meetings of the Bolsheviks. On the morning of the 17th, Lenin hastily returned to Petrograd and assumed leadership of the movement. On the same day, a large mass demonstration took place in the capital. It was organized by the Bolsheviks under the slogans "Down with 10 capitalist ministers", "Peace to huts, war to palaces."
Several thousand sailors arrived from Kronstadt. The troops of the Petrograd garrison partly wavered, partly went over to the side of the Bolsheviks. Many of the workers participating in the demonstration were armed. On this day, the preponderance of forces was clearly on the side of the Bolsheviks. But they either did not know how to implement it, or did not want to take the risk of taking the decisive step: arresting the ministers of the Provisional Government and seizing official institutions. The whole day was spent in street demonstrations, during which there were clashes and skirmishes, there were wounded and killed.
The next day, July 18, the picture changed. The government called in strong cavalry units from the Northern Front. In addition, after the publication by Minister of Justice Pereverzev of evidence that Lenin and other Bolshevik leaders received money from Germany, a change occurred in the mood of a number of regiments of the Petrograd garrison in favor of the Provisional Government.
The protest movement was over. On July 19, government troops occupied the Kshesinskaya mansion (the Bolshevik Central Committee was located there), as well as the Peter and Paul Fortress. The editorial office and printing house of Pravda were destroyed by an armed detachment of junkers. At the same time, the Provisional Government issued warrants for the arrest of Lenin, Zinoviev and Trotsky.
7Information published on 18 July was obtained from counterintelligence and accused Lenin of receiving funds from Germany through Sweden. The documents named Parvus, Ganetsky and Kozlovsky as agents and intermediaries. By order of the Minister of Justice, Pereverzev, who was a Menshevik, the documents were made public. The de facto head of the government, Kerensky (a few days later he formally became prime minister) considered this publication a mistake, since it prevented the arrest of Ganetsky, who was just at that time traveling from Stockholm to Petrograd. According to Kerensky, his arrest could provide new and irrefutable evidence of cooperation between the Bolsheviks and the Germans. Ganetsky, having learned about the publication of the Provisional Government, when he had not yet reached Russian territory, immediately turned back to Stockholm.
As a result of this disagreement with Kerensky, Pereverzev was forced to resign. On July 18, immediately after the publication of information from military counterintelligence, Lenin wrote an article for the Bolshevik publication Leaf of Pravda, in which the information that appeared was declared malicious slander. Lenin even denied his connection with Ganetsky. At the end of the article, he stated:
Let us add that Ganetsky and Kozlovsky are both not Bolsheviks, but members of the Polish Social-Democrats. party that Ganetsky is a member of its Central Committee, known to us from the London Congress (1903), from which the Polish delegates left. The Bolsheviks did not receive any money either from Ganetsky or from Kozlovsky. All this is a lie.
Lenin's desire to renounce Ganetsky makes a strange impression. The fact that Ganetsky was closely associated with the Bolsheviks is beyond any doubt. Together with Vorovsky and Radek, he was a member of the Foreign Bureau of the Central Committee in Stockholm. At the beginning of the war and revolution, Ganetsky helped Lenin and received instructions from him. Lenin’s statement that the Bolsheviks did not receive “any money from either Ganetsky or Kozlovsky” was a clear lie, since Lenin himself, in a letter dated March 30, 1917, turned to Ganetsky in Stockholm with a request: “Do not spare Peter’s relations with Stockholm money!!"
It should also be noted that after the Bolshevik revolution, Ganetsky served in the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, and later was a member of the collegium of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Trade of the USSR.
So, Ganetsky's cooperation with the Bolsheviks is not in doubt. Lenin's refutation - at least with regard to Ganetsky - is definitely not credible.
As for Parvus, Lenin does not mention him in his July 18 statement, but on July 19 or 20 he wrote in an article that was not published at the time:
"They entangle Parvus, trying with all their might to create some kind of connection between him and the Bolsheviks."
Lenin goes on to note that the Bolsheviks defiantly refused to deal with Parvus. Regarding the fact that it was Parvus who arranged for him to travel through Germany in a “sealed” carriage, Lenin is silent.
Contacts between Ganetsky and Parvus Lenin could not deny, but he explained them solely by mutual trade interests: "Ganetsky conducted trade business as an employee of a company in which Parvus participated." Lenin protested against the attempt of his accusers to confuse these commercial relations with political ones.
In any case, Lenin could refute the accusations against him in court. At first, he was going to do just that, and in his first statement in Leaf of Pravda he wrote: “Now the slanderers will answer before the court. From this side, the matter is simple and uncomplicated.
But then Lenin reconsidered this question. Overestimating the decisiveness of the Provisional Government, he reasoned that the suppression of the Bolshevik uprising gave the government a reason to settle scores with the Bolsheviks. “Now they will shoot us,” he told Trotsky on the morning of 18 July. “This is the most convenient moment for them.”
In a note written three days later, noting that going to court would be a constitutional illusion, he continued:
If we consider that in Russia there is and possibly a correct government, a correct court, the convocation of the Constituent Assembly is likely, then we can come to the conclusion in favor of the appearance. But such an opinion is thoroughly erroneous ... the convocation of the Constituent Assembly is improbable without a new revolution ... a military dictatorship is in operation. It's ridiculous to talk about "court" here. The point is not in the "court", but in the episode of the civil war. This is what the supporters of the turnout need not understand.
With the approval of several members of the Bolshevik Central and Petrograd Committees, on July 27, Lenin and Zinoviev decided to go into hiding and go underground. On the same day, Kamenev was arrested. Trotsky and Lunacharsky were arrested two weeks later. On July 28, the Proletarskoe Delo newspaper published a letter signed by Lenin and Zinoviev about the reasons for their refusal to appear in court:
The counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie is trying to create a new Dreyfus affair... There are no guarantees of justice in Russia at the moment... To hand over ourselves now into the hands of the authorities would mean to hand over ourselves into the hands of the Milyukovs, Aleksinskys, Pereverzevs, into the hands of furious counter-revolutionaries, for whom all accusations against us are a mere episode in the civil war.
In evaluating this part of Lenin's and Zinoviev's statement, it must be remembered that neither Milyukov nor Pereverzev were ministers at that time, and Aleksinsky had never been a member of the Provisional Government. At that moment, more than half of the government consisted of socialists - Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks.
At the end of their statement, Lenin and Zinoviev wrote that only "the Constituent Assembly, if it meets and is not convened by the bourgeoisie," will have the right to give (or not give) the order for their arrest.
8From July 22 to November 7, 1917, Lenin was in hiding. For the first few days, he and Zinoviev hid in the attic of a barn owned by a Bolshevik worker, near Sestroretsk (34 kilometers from Petrograd). Then Lenin moved into a haystack a few kilometers from Razliv station. In early September, when the cold approached, he moved to the border with Finland and arrived in Helsingfors on a steam locomotive, posing as a stoker. There he stayed with the head of the militia - a Finnish Social Democrat, then moved to a Finnish worker, also a Social Democrat. At the beginning of October, he left Helsingfors for Vyborg, in order to be closer to Petrograd, where new events were growing. All this time, he continued to maintain close contact with the Bolshevik organization and the press, trying to direct their activities.
The 6th Congress of the RSDLP (Bolsheviks), which met in Petrograd on August 8, elected Lenin (in his absence) honorary chairman and member of the Central Committee. Lenin now declared that the immediate task was to prepare an armed uprising. He reported this to the Sixth Congress in an article on the political situation he wrote on July 23:
All hopes for the peaceful development of the Russian revolution have completely vanished. Objective position: either the victory of the military dictatorship to the end, or the victory of the armed uprising of the workers. The purpose of an armed uprising can only be the transfer of power into the hands of the proletariat, supported by the poorest peasantry, in order to carry out the program of our Party. The party of the working class, without abandoning legality, but not for a moment exaggerating it, must combine legal work with illegal work, as in 1912-1914.
In this article, Lenin called the Kerensky government a military dictatorship, which was unfair: neither Kerensky nor any of the other leaders in power in Petrograd had the determination to establish a dictatorship, although circumstances urged them to do so. In reality, the attempt to establish a military dictatorship was made by the leader of the army at the front.
On July 19, the same day that the Bolshevik uprising in Petrograd was crushed, the Germans successfully broke through the Russian front near Tarnopol. The Russian army of the revolutionary period showed complete inability to resist the enemy attack. A disorderly retreat began.
By order of July 25, Kerensky restored the death penalty for deserters at the front. On July 31, General Kornilov, a supporter of a decisive restoration of discipline in the troops, was appointed Supreme Commander. Then Savinkov became an assistant to the Minister of War. He acted as an intermediary between Kerensky and Kornilov, carrying out a program of discipline in the army. But it soon became clear that General Kornilov was being promoted to a leading position, turning out to be the leader of all forces desiring discipline in the army and order in the country.
General Kornilov began to look more and more like a military dictator. During the State Conference that opened in Moscow on August 25, his popularity among bourgeois circles became obvious. This meeting of representatives of various parties and organizations turned out to be rather helpless. It is interesting only in one respect - as an indicator of the depth of the split and demarcation between the socialist groups (including the defencists) and the bourgeois ones. While the left wing of the conference greeted Kerensky with enthusiasm, the right wing received General Kornilov with no less enthusiasm.
Kornilov's exceptional success at the Moscow Conference engendered doubts in Kerensky's soul. At the last moment, just before the plan to restore discipline in the army was approved, Kerensky feared that Kornilov would establish a dictatorship and ordered that he be removed from the post of Supreme Commander. Kornilov refused to obey the order and moved cavalry units to Petrograd. Kerensky and the Mensheviks from the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets now turned to the Bolsheviks and workers for help in order to oppose Kornilov's troops with some kind of force.
The workers responded, organized a workers' militia, and in this way the existence of the armed units of the Bolshevik workers - the Red Guard - was legalized. Things did not come to a battle, Kornilov's troops began to fraternize with the troops of the Provisional Government. The General's rebellion failed. Kerensky became commander in chief, Kornilov was arrested. Kornilov's failure was accompanied by a rupture between the Kerensky government and conservative social groups. This left Kerensky in the hands of radical left groups led by the Bolsheviks.
The Bolshevik leaders arrested after the July events were released, among them Trotsky. The influence of the Bolsheviks on the workers and soldiers (and to some extent on the peasants) began to grow rapidly. The country was in a state of complete administrative and economic chaos. The provisional government was unable to cope with the crisis. The most important issues of the moment - war or peace, the solution of problems with food, with land ownership - were shelved until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly.
Elections to the Constituent Assembly were scheduled for November 25. There was not much time left before this date, but the masses were excited, no one wanted to wait even a single day.
On September 19, the Petrograd Soviet adopted a Bolshevik resolution on power. This led to the resignation of the Menshevik-SR presidium of the soviet. The new Bolshevik history of the Petrograd Soviet dates back to the day when the council moved from the Taurida Palace to the Smolny Institute (a former boarding school for the daughters of the nobility). Repair work began in the Tauride Palace to prepare the building for the opening of the Constituent Assembly there.
On October 8, Trotsky was elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet. At a meeting of the council on October 22, a resolution was adopted on the formation of a Military Revolutionary Committee, designed to counteract the headquarters of the Petrograd Military District, which wanted to withdraw revolutionary troops from Petrograd. This meant an almost complete takeover of power.
9After the failure of the Kornilov revolt, Lenin began to think over options for the Bolsheviks to take power. His thought worked in two directions: firstly, it was necessary to develop a program that the Bolsheviks would follow after taking power. Secondly, it was necessary to push the Bolshevik organizations to overthrow the government as soon as possible. He outlined the program of actions of the Bolsheviks after the government coup in an article entitled "The Tasks of the Revolution" and published in the newspaper "Working Way" on October 9-10. The main provisions were as follows:
1. It is necessary to avoid compromise with the bourgeoisie.
2. All power in the state should be transferred to the councils.
3. The Soviet government must propose to all the belligerent peoples that they immediately conclude peace on democratic terms.
4. The Soviet government must immediately abolish private ownership of the lands of large landowners without a ransom and transfer these lands under the control of the peasant committees until the issue is finally decided by the Constituent Assembly.
5. The Soviet government must immediately introduce workers' control over production and consumption.
6. The Soviet government should arrest the Kornilov generals and the leaders of the bourgeoisie, creating a special commission to investigate counter-revolutionary conspiracies; should close the bourgeois newspapers and confiscate their printing houses.
7. The convocation of the Constituent Assembly must be guaranteed within the appointed period.
In an article entitled "Will the Bolsheviks Retain State Power?" written in the second week of October, Lenin discussed the means by which the Bolsheviks, after seizing power, could force civil servants to work for them. The main means, in his opinion, should be the confiscation by the state of all food and other means of life necessary for life and their provision only to those who support Soviet power:
“He who does not work must not eat” - this is the basic, first and foremost rule that the Soviets of Workers' Deputies can and will introduce when they become the financial power ... The rich should receive from that union of workers or employees to which they are closer in general, their field of activity, work book, they must receive weekly or after some other specified period a certificate from this union that they are conscientiously carrying out their work; without this, they cannot receive a bread card and food products in general.
In early September, Lenin began to rush the Bolshevik organizations, urging them to urgently prepare for the overthrow of the government. Around September 25-27, he wrote a letter addressed to the Central, as well as the Petrograd and Moscow Committees of the Party, about the need to take power in Moscow and Petrograd: "We will win unconditionally and undoubtedly."
On October 10, Lenin wrote to I. T. Smilga, chairman of the Regional Committee of the Army, Navy and Workers of Finland. He drew his attention to the exceptional importance of assistance from the Russian troops in Finland at the time of the overthrow of the government by the Bolsheviks. He expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the Central Committee decided to postpone the uprising until November 2, the opening date of the Second Congress of Soviets. Lenin considered it possible for the Petrograd Soviet to seize power, which, in turn, could transfer it to the Congress of Soviets.
On October 22, the day the Military Revolutionary Committee was founded under the Petrograd Soviet, Lenin moved from Vyborg to Lesnoy, near Petrograd. The next day, for the first time since the July events, he took part in a meeting of the Central Committee. It was held in Sukhanov's Petrograd apartment under the chairmanship of Sverdlov. By a majority of 10 votes to 2, the Central Committee approved the resolution proposed by Lenin to start the uprising as soon as possible. The two members of the committee who voted against were Kamenev and Zinoviev. Lenin called them "strikebreakers" and threatened them with expulsion from the party.
Under Trotsky's leadership, the necessary preparatory measures were taken. On November 1, a conference of factory committees approved a resolution transferring power to the soviets. On November 3, at a conference of committees representing the regiments of the Petrograd garrison, the Military Revolutionary Committee was recognized as the governing body of the army sections in Petrograd. On November 4, the delegates of the Petrograd regiments issued instructions that the soldiers were obliged to carry out the orders of the headquarters only if they were endorsed by the Military Revolutionary Committee.
Throughout this period, the Provisional Government was in hibernation, watching the events, but not taking any action. Finally, on November 6, it decided to call in the junkers to guard the Winter Palace (where the Provisional Government was located). The commander of the Petrograd Military District issued an order to the troops forbidding them to carry out the orders of the Military Revolutionary Committee. In the evening of the same day, Lenin sent a letter to the Bolshevik Central Committee demanding immediate action. Paraphrasing the words of Peter the Great, he wrote:
"Procrastination in speaking is like death." Putting on make-up, late in the evening of November 6, Lenin moved from Lesnoy to the Smolny Institute, from where he began to direct events.
10On the night of November 6-7, troops under the command of the Military Revolutionary Committee occupied all the main government buildings, railway stations and the services of the Main Telegraph. Early on the morning of November 7, Kerensky fled by car from Petrograd to Gatchina. The remaining members of the Provisional Government remained in the Winter Palace. Soon Bolshevik troops surrounded Zimny. The victory of the Bolsheviks was now certain.
At 10 o'clock in the morning, Lenin issued an appeal "To the Citizens of Russia" announcing that "The Provisional Government has been overthrown ... The cause for which the people fought: the immediate offer of a democratic peace, the abolition of landowner ownership of land, workers' control over production, the creation of the Soviet government, this is the cause of secured."
At 2 pm, at a meeting of the Petrograd Soviet, he made another, more detailed statement in the same vein. At 10.45 pm the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets opened.
A little later, the Bolshevik troops occupied the Winter Palace. Members of the Provisional Government were arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Notes:
So in the English edition of Vernadsky's book. Lenin: degenerated into "vulgar petty-bourgeois radicalism" (Approx. transl.)
"And soldiers" is added in the English text - Lenin does not have this. (Approx. transl.)
Lenin again does not have the word "soldiers". (Approx. transl.)
With Lenin "into the hands of the class of proletarians and semi-proletarians." (Approx. transl.)
So printed - should be: "1907" (Note by G. Vernadsky).
In the English text: "in the decisive conflict of the workers". (Approx. transl.)
In English text: "conflict". (Approx. transl.)
Lenin simply had "landowner lands", without division into large and small landowners. (Approx. transl.)
Lenin does not have the word "financial". (Approx. transl.)
Lenin: "Victory is assured, and nine-tenths of the chances that it will be bloodless." (Approx. transl.)
The October Revolution, unlike the February Revolution, was carefully prepared by the Bolsheviks, whom Lenin, overcoming strong resistance, managed to win over to his side. On October 24–25 (November 6–7), several thousand Red Guards, sailors and soldiers who followed the Bolsheviks take possession of strategically important points in the capital: railway stations, arsenals, warehouses, a telephone exchange, and the State Bank. October 25 (November 7) the headquarters of the uprising - the Military Revolutionary Committee announces the overthrow of the Provisional Government. At the end of the night of October 26 (November 8), after a warning salvo from the cruiser Aurora, the rebels take the Winter Palace with the ministers stationed there, easily crushing the resistance of the junkers and the women's battalion, which constituted the only defense of the impotent government. At the same time, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, which was dominated by the influence of the Bolsheviks, being confronted with a fact, affirms the victory of the uprising. Then, at the second meeting, he adopts a resolution on the formation of the Council of People's Commissars, as well as decrees on peace and land. So, within a few days of the almost bloodless "Great October Revolution" there is a complete break with the historical past of the country. However, it will take many years of bitter struggle before the Bolsheviks can finally establish their undivided rule.
Political and state life
29 Sept. (12 Oct.). In the Bolshevik newspaper Rabochy Put, Lenin's article "The Crisis is Ripe" appears. The call contained in it for an immediate armed uprising runs into the disagreement of a significant part of the Bolsheviks.
Lenin secretly returns to Petrograd.
Oct 10 (23) In an atmosphere of secrecy, a meeting of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party is taking place. V. Lenin achieves the adoption of a resolution on the uprising with 10 votes in favor and 2 against (L. Kamenev and G. Zinoviev) thanks to Y. Sverdlov's information about the impending military conspiracy in Minsk. A Political Bureau was created, which includes V. Lenin, G. Zinoviev, L. Kamenev, L. Trotsky, G. Sokolnikov and A. Bubnov.
Oct 12 (25) The Petrograd Soviet creates a Military Revolutionary Committee to organize the defense of the city from the Germans. The Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Trotsky, will transform it into a headquarters for the preparation of an armed uprising. The Soviet appeals to the soldiers of the capital's garrison, to the Red Guards and Kronstadt sailors with an appeal to join it.
Oct 16 (29) At an expanded meeting of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party, the resolution on the uprising, passed by Lenin, was approved, the technical preparation of which was entrusted to the Military Revolutionary Center, acting on behalf of the party together with the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet.
Oct 18 (31) M. Gorky's newspaper Novaya Zhizn published an article by L. Kamenev, where he sharply objects to the impending uprising, which he considers untimely.
Oct 22 (4 Nov.). The Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet announces that only orders approved by it are recognized as valid.
Oct 24 (6 Nov.). An open break between the Soviet and the Provisional Government, which orders the printing house of Bolshevik newspapers to be sealed and calls for military reinforcements to Petrograd. The Bolsheviks break the seals and during the day do not allow troops loyal to the government to build bridges. The beginning of the uprising, the leadership of which is carried out from the building of the Smolny Institute. On the night of 24 to 25 Oct. (November 6-7) The Red Guards, sailors and soldiers, who sided with the Bolsheviks, easily occupy the most important points of the city. Lenin comes to Smolny, where the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies is to begin, the ministers gather in the Winter Palace, Kerensky flees the capital for reinforcements.
Oct 25 (November 7) The rebels seize almost the entire capital, except for the Winter Palace. The Military Revolutionary Committee announces the overthrow of the Provisional Government and takes power into its own hands in the name of the Soviet.
Assault on the Winter Palace (with the support of the cruiser Aurora). At 2:30 a.m., the palace is occupied by the rebels.
The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets opens in Smolny (out of 650 delegates, 390 Bolsheviks and 150 Left Social Revolutionaries). A new composition of the presidium was elected, in which the Bolsheviks predominate; Mensheviks and Right Socialist-Revolutionaries, who opposed the coup, leave the congress; the appeal "To the workers, soldiers and peasants!" Thus the congress affirms the victory of the insurrection.
Oct 26 (8 Nov.). The beginning of the Bolshevik uprising in Moscow, which, after fierce fighting, ends with the capture of the Kremlin.
3 (16) Nov. The Petrograd City Duma is creating a "Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland and the Revolution", which includes Mensheviks and Right Social Revolutionaries who do not accept the actions of the Bolsheviks.
Night from 26 to 27 Oct. (Nov 8–9). The final meeting of the II Congress of Soviets: a resolution was approved on the formation of a new government - the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom), which included exclusively the Bolsheviks: Lenin (chairman), Trotsky (People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs), Stalin (People's Commissar for Nationalities), Rykov (People's Commissar for Internal Affairs), Lunacharsky (People's Commissar of Education). The All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) was re-elected, which is also dominated by Bolsheviks and Left SRs. Decrees on peace and land, written by Lenin, were adopted.
Oct 27 (Nov 9). The offensive of the troops of General Krasnov against Petrograd, organized by A. Kerensky (stopped near Pulkovo on October 30/November 12).
Oct 29 (Nov 11). In Petrograd, an attempted revolt by the Junkers was suppressed. An ultimatum from the Executive Committee of the Railway Workers' Union (Vikzhel) demanding the formation of a coalition socialist government.
1 (14) Nov. The Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party adopts a resolution that means the breakdown of negotiations that were conducted with representatives of other socialist parties on the formation of a coalition government. The representatives of the Bolsheviks sent to Gatchina manage to win over the troops gathered by Kerensky and Krasnov to the side of the revolution. Kerensky flees, Krasnov is arrested (he will soon be released and join the counter-revolutionary forces on the Don). The Tashkent Council takes power into its own hands. In general, at that time, Soviet power was established in Yaroslavl, Tver, Smolensk, Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Saratov, Rostov, Ufa.
2 (15) Nov. The "Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia" proclaims the equality and sovereignty of the peoples of Russia and their right to free self-determination up to secession.
4 (17) Nov. In protest against the refusal to form a coalition government, several Bolsheviks (including Kamenev, Zinoviev and Rykov) announced their withdrawal from the Central Committee or from the Council of People's Commissars, however, they soon returned to their posts. The third Universal of the Ukrainian Central Rada, proclaiming the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic (without breaking with Russia, the Rada called on it to transform into a federation).
Nov 10–25 (Nov 23-Dec 8). Extraordinary Congress of Peasants' Deputies in Petrograd, dominated by Socialist-Revolutionaries. The congress approves the decree on land and delegates 108 representatives as members of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.
12 (25) Nov. The beginning of the elections to the Constituent Assembly, during which 58% of the votes will be cast for the Social Revolutionaries, 25% for the Bolsheviks (however, the majority votes for them in Petrograd, Moscow and in the military units of the Northern and Western Fronts), 13% for the Cadets and others " bourgeois parties.
15 (28) Nov. The Transcaucasian Commissariat was formed in Tiflis, organizing resistance to the Bolsheviks in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Nov 19–28 (December 2-11). The First Congress of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, who have organized themselves into an independent political party, is taking place in Petrograd.
Nov 20 (December 3). The call of Lenin and Stalin to all Muslims in Russia and the East to begin the struggle for liberation from all forms of oppression. The National Muslim Assembly is gathering in Ufa to prepare the national-cultural autonomy of Russian Muslims.
Nov 26 - Dec 10 (December 9-23). I Congress of Soviets of Peasants' Deputies in Petrograd. It is dominated by Left Socialist-Revolutionaries who support the policy of the Bolsheviks.
Nov 28 (11 Dec.). Decree on the arrest of the leadership of the party of the Cadets, accused of preparing a civil war.
Nov. The organization of the first counter-revolutionary military formations: in Novocherkassk, Generals Alekseev and Kornilov create the Volunteer Army, and in December they form a "triumvirate" with the Don ataman A. Kaledin.
2 (15) Dec. The Cadets are expelled from the Constituent Assembly. The Volunteer Army enters Rostov.
4 (17) Dec. An ultimatum was presented to the Central Rada demanding to recognize Soviet power in Ukraine.
7 (20) Dec. Creation of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Sabotage and Counter-Revolution, chaired by Dzerzhinsky.
9 (22) Dec. The Bolsheviks agree with the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries on the entry of the latter into the government (they were given the posts of People's Commissars of Agriculture, Justice, Posts and Telegraphs).
11 (24) Dec. The First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets opens in Kharkov (at which the Bolsheviks predominate). 12 (25) Dec. he proclaims the Ukraine a "Republic of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies".
World War and Foreign Policy
Oct 26 (8 Nov.). Peace Decree: it contains a proposal to all warring parties to immediately begin negotiations for the signing of a just democratic peace without annexations and indemnities.
1 (14) Nov. After the flight of A. Kerensky, General N. Dukhonin became the Supreme Commander.
8 (21) Nov. Note from People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs L. Trotsky, in which all belligerents are invited to start peace negotiations.
9 (22) Nov. General N. Dukhonin removed from command (for refusing to start negotiations on a truce with the Germans) and replaced by N. Krylenko. Announced the forthcoming publication of secret treaties related to the war.
Nov 20 (December 3). Armistice talks between Russia and the Central European powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey) are opening in Brest-Litovsk. N. Krylenko takes possession of the Headquarters in Mogilev. N. Dukhonin was brutally killed by soldiers and sailors.
9 (22) Dec. Opening of the peace conference in Brest-Litovsk: Germany is represented by Secretary of State (Minister of Foreign Affairs) von Kuhlmann and General Hoffmann, Austria is represented by Foreign Minister Chernin. The Soviet delegation, headed by A. Ioffe, demands the conclusion of peace without annexations and reparations, while respecting the right of the peoples to decide their own destiny.
Dec 27 (Jan 9). After a ten-day break (arranged at the request of the Soviet side, which is trying - unsuccessfully - to involve the Entente countries in the negotiations), the peace conference in Brest-Litovsk is resumed. The Soviet delegation is now headed by L. Trotsky.
Economy, society and culture
Oct 16-19 (Oct 29-Nov 1). Meeting of proletarian organizations of cultural education in Petrograd (led by A. Lunacharsky); from November they will take the official name "Proletkult".
Oct 26 (8 Nov.). Land Decree; landowner ownership of land is abolished without any redemption, all land is transferred to the disposal of volost land committees and district Soviets of peasant deputies. In many cases, the decree simply consolidates the actual situation. Each peasant family is provided with an additional tithe of land.
5 (18) Nov. Metropolitan Tikhon was elected Patriarch of Moscow (the patriarchate had been restored by a Council of the Orthodox Church not long before).
14 (27) Nov. "Regulations on workers' control" at enterprises where more than 5 wage workers are employed (factory committees are elected at enterprises, the supreme body is the All-Russian Council of Workers' Control).
Nov 22 (5 Dec.). Reorganization of the judicial system (election of judges, creation of revolutionary tribunals).
2 (15) Dec. Creation of the Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSNKh) to regulate all economic life. Local organs of the Supreme Council of National Economy became the Councils of the National Economy (sovnarkhozes).
18 (31) Dec. Decrees "On civil marriage, on children and the maintenance of books of acts of state" and "On the dissolution of marriage."
Curriculum vitae
Lenin (Ulyanov) Vladimir Ilyich (1870-1924) was born in Simbirsk, in the family of an inspector of public schools. Entering the law faculty of Kazan University, he soon finds himself expelled after student unrest. His older brother Alexander was executed in 1887 as a member of the Narodnaya Volya conspiracy to attempt on the life of Alexander III. Young Vladimir brilliantly passes the exams at St. Petersburg University. Then he became a Marxist, met in Switzerland with Plekhanov, and upon returning to the capital in 1895 founded the Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class. He is immediately arrested and, after imprisonment, is exiled to Siberia for three years. There he writes the work "The Development of Capitalism in Russia", published in 1895 and directed against populist theories. After leaving the exile, he left Russia in 1900 and founded the Iskra newspaper in exile, which was called upon to serve as the propaganda of Marxism; at the same time, the distribution of the newspaper makes it possible to create a fairly extensive network of underground organizations on the territory of the Russian Empire. Then he takes the pseudonym Lenin and publishes in 1902 the fundamental work What Is to Be Done?, in which he sets out his concept of a party of professional revolutionaries - a small, strictly centralized one, intended to become the vanguard of the working class in its struggle against the bourgeoisie. In 1903, at the First Congress of the RSDLP, a split occurred between the Bolsheviks (led by Lenin) and the Mensheviks, who disagreed with this concept of party organization. During the revolution of 1905, he returned to Russia, but with the beginning of the Stolypin reaction, he was forced to go into exile again, where he continued an uncompromising struggle with everyone who did not accept his views on the revolutionary struggle, accusing even some Bolsheviks of idealism. In 1912 he decisively broke with the Mensheviks and began directing the newspaper Pravda, legally published in Russia, from abroad. Since 1912 he lives in Austria, and after the outbreak of the First World War he moves to Switzerland. At the conferences in Zimmerwald (1915) and in Kienthal (1916), he defends his thesis about the need to transform the imperialist war into a civil war and at the same time asserts that the socialist revolution can win in Russia (“Imperialism, as the highest stage of capitalism”).
After the February Revolution of 1917, he was allowed to cross Germany by train, and immediately upon his arrival in Russia, taking the Bolshevik Party into his own hands, he raised the question of preparing a second revolution (April Theses). In October, not without some difficulties, he convinces his comrades in the struggle of the need for an armed uprising, after the success of which he passes decrees on peace and land, and then directs the "building of socialism", during which he more than once has to overcome stubborn resistance, as , for example, on the question of the Brest-Litovsk peace or on trade union and national problems. Possessing the ability to make concessions in certain situations, as happened with the adoption of the New Economic Policy (NEP), inevitable in the conditions of complete ruin in the country, Lenin showed exceptional intransigence in the fight against the opposition, not stopping either before the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly in 1918, nor before the expulsion of the “counter-revolutionary” intelligentsia from the country in 1922. Already being seriously ill, he nevertheless tries to participate in decision-making in late 1922 and early 1923 and expresses his fears in notes later known as “Testament”. For about a year, he actually does not live, but survives, paralyzed and speechless, and dies in January 1924.
As Lenin in Russia grows into a central figure on a world scale, fierce disputes are being waged around his name.
For the bourgeoisie seized with fear, Lenin is a bolt from the blue, some kind of delusion, a world plague.
For mystical minds, Lenin is the great "Mongol-Slav" mentioned in that rather strange prophecy that appeared even before the war. “I see,” this prophecy said, “all of Europe bleeding and lit up with fires. I hear the groans of millions of people in gigantic battles. But around 1915, a hitherto unknown person will appear in the north, who will later become world famous. This is a man without a military education, a writer or a journalist, but until 1925, most of Europe will be in his hands.
For the reactionary church, Lenin is the Antichrist. The priests are trying to gather the peasants under their sacred banners and icons and lead them against the Red Army. But the peasants say: “Maybe Lenin really is the Antichrist, but he gives us land and freedom. Why should we fight against him?
For ordinary Russian citizens, the name of Lenin has an almost superhuman meaning. He is the creator of the Russian revolution, the founder of Soviet power, everything that is today's Russia is connected with his name.
To argue in this way is to look at history as the result of the activities of great men, as if great events and great epochs were determined by great leaders. True, a whole era and a huge mass movement can be displayed in one person.
Undoubtedly, any interpretation of history that connects the Russian revolution with only one individual, or with a group of individuals, is erroneous. Lenin would be the first to laugh at the idea that the fate of the Russian revolution is in his hands or in the hands of his associates.
The fate of the Russian revolution is in the hands of those who made it, in the hands and hearts of the masses. It lies in those economic forces under the pressure of which the masses of the people were set in motion. For centuries, the working people of Russia endured and suffered. In all the boundless expanses of Russia, on the Moscow plains, in the steppes of Ukraine, along the banks of the great Siberian rivers, spurred on by need, shackled by superstition, people worked from dawn to dusk, and their standard of living was extremely low. But everything comes to an end - even the patience of the poor.
In February 1917, with a roar that shook the whole world, the working class threw off the chains that bound it. The soldiers followed suit and rebelled. Then the revolution took over the countryside, penetrating deeper and deeper, igniting the most backward sections of the people with revolutionary fire, until the whole nation of 160 million people - seven times more than during the French revolution - was drawn into its maelstrom.
Embraced by a great idea, the whole nation gets down to business and proceeds to create a new order. This is the greatest social movement in the ages. Based on the economic interests of the people, it represents the most resolute action in the name of justice in history. A great nation sets out on a campaign and, true to the idea of a new world, marches forward, regardless of hunger, war, blockade and death. She rushed forward, casting aside those who betray her, and following those who satisfy the people's needs and aspirations.
The fate of the Russian revolution lies in the masses, in the Russian masses themselves, in their discipline and devotion to the common cause. And I must say that happiness smiled at them. The wise helmsman and spokesman of their thoughts was a man with a gigantic mind and iron will, a man with extensive knowledge and resolute in action, a man with the highest ideals and the most sober, most practical mind. That person was Lenin.
Albert Rhys Williams. From the book "Lenin. Man and his work.
REFERENCE: Albert Rhys Williams (1883-1962) was an American writer and publicist. He was an eyewitness to the October Revolution, met with V. I. Lenin; a friend of our country, he later repeatedly came to the USSR.
