12-18 February 1917
- By Mark Sutcliffe
- •
- 17 Feb, 2017
- •
13 February
Diary entry of James L. Houghteling, Jr, attaché at the American Embassy, Petrograd
At Mikhailoff’s fur store this evening, I talked with a
Belgian who was in Moscow in 1905. He described to me the riots, barricades and
miscellaneous murder of that exciting time. The government picked out its most
unruly regiments of Cossacks to quell the disturbance, and they shot at
everything in sight. A man standing next to my informant in a side street
leaned out to look up the Tverskaya and exposed his head and one hand; his hand
was drilled clean through with a bullet. Lucky it wasn’t his head! The word
‘Cossack’ originally meant bandit and these fellows live up to their name. I
shouldn’t be surprised if the revolution which is coming will begin with a
massacre of the Cossacks comparable only to that of the Janissaries, or to
Peter the Great’s slaughter of the Streltsi.
(James L. Houghteling, Jr, A Diary of the Russian Revolution, New York 1918)
Diary entry of Lev Tikhomirov, revolutionary and later conservative thinker
They’re saying terrible things about our rulers. I don’t
even want to note them down. Everything is against the Empress. The Emperor
still gets sympathy. And all this is being said by the crowd as they stand in
queues, completely openly, not
even hiding it from the police who are in attendance. I don’t know what to think about the future
of Russia. Tomorrow, finally, the State Duma is convening. But what good will
that be? Russia has rarely been in such a terrifying situation, not even in the
Time of Troubles. And the most terrifying thing of all is that the Emperor is
apparently unable to surround himself with trustworthy people who love Russia.
Meanwhile I carry on with my writing. What else can I do? I have no means of
helping Russia, and what’s more I’m completely wrung out physically… So I sit
and do my work, which I can do half-ill, in my study, amongst books rather than
people. Truth to tell, there are books I need. I should go to the library, but
I can’t go out. The work's
dragging.
(L.A. Tikhomirov, Diary 1915-1917, Moscow 2008)
14 February
Diary entry of Joshua Butler Wright, Counselor of the
American Embassy, Petrograd
No disturbances yesterday – as is usually the case when
there is so much preliminary talk. The military have every where been in
evidence lately, particularly the Cossacks who have openly patrolled the
streets. The people have a very wholesome respect for the Cossacks; and I
hardly blame them for they are a formidable looking lot of men. Went to the
opening of the Duma at 2.00PM, at which everyone expected that a demonstration
of some kind would occur. It was jammed as I have never seen a hall filled
before and the deliberations were rather uninteresting. The gallery
accommodations are very inadequate, the Diplomatic Loge having only twelve
chairs in it. The Allied ambassadors were in front and applauded by the Duma.
Uchida – Japanese ambassador – has arrived.
(Witness to Revolution: The Russian Revolution Diary and Letters of J. Butler Wright, London 2002)
Sir George Buchanan, British Ambassador to the Imperial Court
… the Duma met, and the opening sitting, which I attended,
passed off so quietly that I thought I could safely take a short holiday in
Finland. During the ten days which I spent there no rumours reached me of the
coming storm.
(Sir George Buchanan, My Mission to Russia, London 1923)
15 February
Report in The Times, ‘Food Supply and Reform in Russia’
Rumours of impending trouble in connexion with the opening
of the Duma have been falsified. Quiet prevails outside and inside the Tauris
Palace. The most unpopular Ministers refrained from appearing. The House was
moved only by the presidential address to the Army and Navy, in which M. Rodzianko
assured the soldiers that their sufferings and exploits were duly appreciated
and all efforts would be exerted by the nation to help its gallant Army to victory
by doing what they could … Although an open collision between the Government
and the Duma has been avoided the belief prevails among members of the House
that their labours will not be of long duration. Food supplies are coming in
more freely, thanks to the cessation of the snowstorms, which have severely
impeded road and railway transport.
(The Times, 'From our own correspondent, Petrograd')
Diary entry of Georges-Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia
From whatever point of view the Russian be regarded, whether
political, intellectual, moral or religious, he always presents the paradoxical
spectacle of extreme docility combined with a spirit of revolt which is very
strongly marked … All who study the history and theology of the Russian
Orthodox Church, ‘the True Church of Christ’, realise that its essential
characteristics are its conservative instincts, the immutable rigidity of its
creed, reverence for canon law, the importance of forms and rites, routine
devotions, sumptuous ceremonial, an imposing hierarchy, and humble, blind
submission on the part of the faithful. By way of contrast, the great sect of
the Raskol which separated from the official Church in the XVIIth century and has
no less than eleven million adherents, shows us the abolition of the
priesthood, a primitive rough-and-ready form of worship and a negative and
subversive radicalism … These two sides of the Russian nature appear equally
well in the sphere of morals and private life. I know no country where the
social fact is so impregnated with the spirit of tradition and religion;
domestic life so solemn, patriarchal, inspired by so much tenderness and
affection, enveloped in so much poetry and reverence … On the other hand, in no
other country are individual revolts more frequent and sudden, and nowhere do
they create such a sensation.
(Maurice Paléologue, An Ambassador's Memoirs 1914-1917, London 1973)
16 February
Diary entry of Alexander Benois, artist and critic
Today leaving the editorial office after a gloomy political
conversation with
[Iosif] Gessen
[editor of Rech’], I stopped him as he was hurrying off somewhere
and said (obviously without expecting my words to have any real effect): ‘I beg
you to give up on Constantinople’, in other words from waging war till final
victory. I got a pretty symptomatic response; first he turned back towards me
with a dejected look, then a sad smile and finally he intoned: ‘It makes no
difference now anyway, everything’s going to hell in a handcart!’ It seems the
warmongers have finally realised it. So why carry on confusing and misleading
public opinion by continuing to campaign in the paper for the continuation of
the war? What is harrying them to their own destruction?
(Alexander Benois,
Diary 1916-1918, Moscow 2006)
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18 February 2017
British Ambassador Buchanan and weather forecaster Michael Fish are perhaps not obvious soulmates, but taking a holiday to Finland on the eve of the February Revolution is not so far removed from the 'hurricane that isn't on the way' in 1987. There is a patronising tone to some of the foreign observers' writing about Russia and Russians which could be seen as 'of its time' were it not for the parallels with attitudes to the country in 2017. You don't have to be a Putinista to feel that the western press and those who pontificate about Russia have, at best, a particular viewpoint they wish to put across (even if not always accompanied by the grinding of an axe). A more recent Ambassador to Moscow, Tony Brenton, brings a notably calm and rational - and informed - take on current relations. In the Daily Telegraph
last August he wrote: '...it is crucial that we walk back from where we now are. Russia sees the UK as a leading Western hawk. A thawing of our relations with them would be an important step. I am not arguing that we should let our guard down entirely. Russia’s recent actions have revealed a disturbing readiness to break international law and seize national advantage when the opportunity offers. We need to be absolutely clear on Nato’s united readiness to stand firm against such adventures and to support our more exposed allies as and when necessary. But to get the temperature down we also need to be looking for areas where we can expand cooperation.'
as per the Gregorian calendar. 5 November 2017
8 October
Letter from Lenin to the Bolshevik Comrades attending the Regional Congress of
the Soviets of the Northern Region
Comrades, Our revolution is passing through a highly critical period …
A gigantic task is being imposed upon the responsible leaders of our Party,
failure to perform which will involve the danger of a total collapse of the
internationalist proletarian movement. The situation is such that verily,
procrastination is like unto death … In the vicinity of Petrograd and in
Petrograd itself — that is where the insurrection can, and must, be decided on
and effected … The fleet, Kronstadt, Viborg, Reval, can and must advance
on Petrograd; they must smash the Kornilov regiments, rouse both the capitals,
start a mass agitation for a government which will immediately give the land to
the peasants and immediately make proposals for peace, and must overthrow
Kerensky’s government and establish such a government. Verily, procrastination
is like unto death.
(V.I. Lenin and Joseph Stalin, The Russian Revolution: Writings and Speeches
from the February Revolution to the October Revolution, 1917, London 1938)
9 October
Report in The Times
The Maximalist [Bolshevik], M. Trotsky, President of the Petrograd Soviet,
made a violent attack on the Government, describing it as irresponsible and
assailing its bourgeois elements, ‘who,’ he continued, ‘by their attitude are
causing insurrection among the peasants, increasing disorganisation and trying
to render the Constituent Assembly abortive.’ ‘The Maximalists,’ he declared,
‘cannot work with the Government or with the Preliminary Parliament, which I am
leaving in order to say to the workmen, soldiers, and peasants that Petrograd,
the Revolution, and the people are in danger.’ The Maximalists then left the
Chamber, shouting, ‘Long live a democratic and honourable peace! Long live the
Constituent Assembly!’
(‘Opening of Preliminary Parliament’, The Times)
10 October
As Sukhanov left his home for the Soviet on the morning of the 10th, his
wife Galina Flakserman eyed nasty skies and made him promise not to try to
return that night, but to stay at his office … Unlike her diarist husband,
who was previously an independent and had recently joined the Menshevik left,
Galina Flakserman was a long-time Bolshevik activist, on the staff of Izvestia.
Unbeknownst to him, she had quietly informed her comrades that comings and
goings at her roomy, many-entranced apartment would be unlikely to draw
attention. Thus, with her husband out of the way, the Bolshevik CC came
visiting. At least twelve of the twenty-one-committee were there … There
entered a clean-shaven, bespectacled, grey-haired man, ‘every bit like a
Lutheran minister’, Alexandra Kollontai remembered. The CC stared at the
newcomer. Absent-mindedly, he doffed his wig like a hat, to reveal a familiar
bald pate. Lenin had arrived.
(China Miéville, October: The Story of the Russian Revolution, London 2017)
Memoir by the Menshevik Nikolai
Sukhanov
Oh, the novel jokes of the merry muse of History! This supreme and decisive
session took place in my own home … without my knowledge … For such a
cardinal session not only did people come from Moscow, but the Lord of Hosts
himself, with his henchman, crept out of the underground. Lenin appeared in a
wig, but without his beard. Zinoviev appeared with a beard, but without his
shock of hair. The meeting went on for about ten hours, until about 3 o’clock
in the morning … However, I don’t actually know much about the exact
course of this meeting, or even about its outcome. It’s clear that the question
of an uprising was put … It was decided to begin the uprising as quickly
as possible, depending on circumstances but not on the Congress.
(N.N. Sukhanov, The Russian Revolution 1917: a Personal Record, Oxford 1955)
11 October
British Consul Arthur Woodhouse in a letter home
Things are coming to a pretty pass here. I confess I should like to be out
of it, but this is not the time to show the white feather. I could not ask for
leave now, no matter how imminent the danger. There are over 1,000 Britishers
here still, and I and my staff may be of use and assistance to them in an
emergency.
(Helen Rappaport, Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd 1917, London 2017)
Memoir of Fedor Raskolnikov, naval
cadet at Kronstadt
The proximity of a proletarian rising in Russia, as prologue to the world
socialist revolution, became the subject of all our discussions in
prison … Even behind bars, in a stuffy, stagnant cell, we felt instinctively
that the superficial calm that outwardly seemed to prevail presaged an
approaching storm … At last, on October 11, my turn [for release]
came … Stepping out of the prison on to the Vyborg-Side embankment and
breathing in deeply the cool evening breeze that blew from the river, I felt
that joyous sense of freedom which is known only to those who have learnt to
value it while behind bards. I took a tram at the Finland Station and quickly
reached Smolny … In the mood of the delegates to the Congress of Soviets
of the Northern Region which was taking place at that time .. an unusual
elation, an extreme animation was noticeable … They told me straightaway
that the CC had decided on armed insurrection. But there was a group of
comrades, headed by Zinoviev and Kamenev, who did not agree with this decision
and regarded a rising a premature and doomed to defeat.
(F.F. Raskolnikov, Kronstadt and Petrograd in 1917, New York 1982, first
published 1925)
12 October
Sir George Buchanan, British Ambassador to Russia
On [Kerensky] expressing the fear that there was a strong anti-Russian
feeling both in England and France, I said that though the British public was
ready to make allowances for her difficulties, it was but natural that they
should, after the fall of Riga, have abandoned all hope of her continuing to
take an active part in the war … Bolshevism was at the root of all the
evils from which Russia was suffering, and if he would but eradicate it he
would go down to history, not only as the leading figure of the revolution, but
as the saviour of his country. Kerensky admitted the truth of what I had said,
but contended that he could not do this unless the Bolsheviks themselves
provoked the intervention of the Government by an armed uprising.
(Sir George Buchanan, My Mission to Russia, London 1923)
13 October
Diary entry of Louis de Robien, attaché at the French Embassy
Kerensky is becoming more and more unpopular, in spite of certain grotesque
demonstrations such as this one: the inhabitants of a district in Central
Russia have asked him to take over the supreme religious power, and want to
make him into a kind of Pope as well as a dictator, whereas even the Tsar was
really neither one nor the other. Nobody takes him seriously, except in the
Embassy. A rather amusing sonnet about him has appeared, dedicated to the beds
in the Winter Palace, and complaining that they are reserved for hysteria
cases … for Alexander Feodorovich (Kerensky’s first names) and then
Alexandra Feodorovna (the Empress).
(Louis de Robien, The Diary of a Diplomat in Russia 1917–1918, London 1969)
14 October 2017
The BBC2 semi-dramatisation of how the Bolsheviks took power, shown this week,
was a curious thing. Talking heads in the form of Figes, Mieville, Rappaport,
Sebag-Montefiore, Tariq Ali, Martin Amis and others were interspersed with
moody reconstructions of late-night meetings, and dramatic moments such as
Lenin’s unbearded return to the Bolshevik CC (cf Sukhanov above). The programme
felt rather staged and unconvincing, with a lot of agonised expressions and
fist-clenching by Lenin, but the reviewers liked it. Odd, though, that
Eisenstein’s storming of the Winter Palace is rolled out every time, with a
brief disclaimer that it’s a work of fiction and yet somehow presented as
historical footage. There’s a sense of directorial sleight of hand, as if the
rather prosaic taking of the palace desperately needs a re-write. In some
supra-historical way, Eisenstein’s version has become the accepted version.
John Reed’s Ten Days that Shook the World
, currently being
serialised on Radio 4, is also presented with tremendous vigour, and properly
so as the book is nothing if not dramatic. Historical truth, though, is often
as elusive in a book that was originally published — in 1919 — with an
introduction by Lenin. ‘Reed was not’, writes one reviewer, ‘an ideal observer.
He knew little Russian, his grasp of events was sometimes shaky, and his facts
were often suspect.’ Still, that puts him in good company, and Reed is
undoubtedly a good read.