21-27 May 1917
- By Mark Sutcliffe
- •
- 27 May, 2017
- •
Memoir by the Menshevik Nikolai Sukhanov
There were indeed many excesses, perhaps more than before.
Lynch-law, the destruction of houses and shops, jeering at and attacks on
officers, provincial authorities, or private persons, unauthorized arrests,
seizures, and beatings-up – were recorded every day by tens and hundreds. In
the country burnings and destruction of country houses became more frequent.
The peasants were beginning to ‘regulate’ land-tenure according to their own
ideas, forbidding the illegal felling of trees, driving off the landlords’
stock, taking the stock of grain under their own control, and refusing to
permit them to be taken to stations and wharves.
(N.N. Sukhanov, The Russian Revolution 1917: a Personal Record , Oxford 1955)
21 May
Diary entry of Joshua Butler Wright, Counselor of the American Embassy, Petrograd
Spring has suddenly turned into summer overnight – and the
trees are shooting forth green faster than any foliage I ever saw. It tempted
the ambassador and myself to the country to play golf in the afternoon – a poor
course but lovely country. My first glimpse of suburban life and found it
greatly resembles our western towns in many ways; ill kept small places, swarms
of children, log houses, etc. Surely among all the people that we saw in the
country and in the large parks of Petrograd there seemed no sign of anarchy or
violence. The people seemed rather to be emerging from a rather dazed state of
surprise at the complete liberty which they suddenly gained.
(Witness to Revolution: The Russian Revolution Diary and Letters of J. Butler Wright, London 2002)
Article in The Times
on the Labour conference in Leeds
Mr Ramsay MacDonald moved the first resolution,
congratulating the Russian people on a Revolution which had overthrown tyranny
… ‘We share,’ he added, ‘the aspirations of the Russian democracy. They turn to
us for counsel and support. Let us go to them and say “In the name of
everything you hold sacred, restrain the anarchy in your midst; find a cause
for unity, maintain your Revolution, stand by your principles, put yourselves
at the head of the democracies of Europe, give us inspiration so that you and
we together, shoulder to shoulder, will march out, bringing humanity still
further upward.’
‘Socialists on War Aims’, The Times
From the protocol of a general meeting of workers of the
Okulovsky Paper Factory and local peasants of Krestetsk Uezd, Novgorod
Province, 21 May 1917
Let our socialist comrades in the Ministry as well as in the
Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies know that even in the
remote provinces we hear their summons to save free Russia and know their work
and devotion to the people and with them burn with the desire to work for the
common goal –the Salvation of Free Democratic Russia.
(Mark D. Steinberg, Voices of Revolution, 1917, New Haven and London 2001)
22 May
On the 22nd
[Lenin] addressed the delegates [of the First All-Russian Congress of Peasants’
Soviets] in person, hammering home his support for the poorest peasants and
demanding the redistribution of land.
(ChinaMiéville, October: The Story of the Russian Revolution, London 2017)
The opening
day of this first Labour Parliament of Russia was very memorable. From an early
hour in the morning the corridors and halls of the Naval Cadet Corps in the
Vassily Ostroff were filled with delegates arriving from East and West. Each
group as it arrived bore the mark of the region from which it hailed. Here was
a picturesque group of Ukrainians round a samovar and an accordion. There was a
group of sunburnt soldiers from the garrisons in Central Asia. There were some
dark-eyed natives from the Caucasus. There were lusty soldiers from the trenches,
and serious-looking officers; there were artizans from the Moscow factories and
mining representatives from the Don.
(M.P. Price, My Reminiscences of the Russian Revolution, London 1921)
24 May
Diary entry of Louis de Robien, attaché at the French Embassy
Kerensky
has occasional bursts of energy and is trying to take the army in hand again:
he has reorganized the courts-martial and ordered them to severely punish all
attempts at desertion. All requests to resign presented by officers are refused
and General Gurko, who, because of the growing lack of discipline has asked to
be relieved of his command of the central group of armies, has been put at the
head of a mere division. Generalissimo Alexeiev has been replaced by General
Brussilov, the victor of Galicia. But what can all these measures accomplish
against the forces of anarchy which are causing the army to disintegrate, and
against which all words are useless?
(Louis de Robien, The Diary of a Diplomat in Russia 1917-1918, London 1969)
Diary entry of an anonymous Englishman
Felix
Yusupov and his wife to tea in the loggia. Afterwards, in the garden, he told
me the whole story of the murder of Rasputin.
(The Russian Diary of an Englishman, Petrograd 1915-1917, New York 1919)
25 May
Letter from Sofia Yudina in Petrograd to her friend Nina Agafonnikova in Vyatka
Today the
weather is fine: sky as blue as blue, white clouds. I’m sitting by the open
window: the lightest of breezes, the smell of the garden, the long grass gently
moving, the ceaseless chirping of the birds – the warblers and chaffinches. And
so many nightingales at night! And frogs!.. Mama is tired from the journey,
Papa is okay, feels fine, just worried by the chaos in our household. Lena
doesn’t know where to put herself, she’s reading Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’. We
don’t hear a word from her.
(Viktor Berdinskikh, Letters from Petrograd: 1916-1919, St Petersburg 2016)
26 May
Article in The Times
When Russia
stepped forth from her prison she stepped into Utopia, and she has not yet
discovered that it is Utopia. All this is quite natural, but it is embarrassing
and dangerous. If it be not corrected Russia will fall away from the great
Alliance against barbarism or will stultify the Alliance by an inadequate
peace. Our difficulty is Germany’s opportunity, and she has not been slow to
use her opportunity. Into the Russian lines German aeroplanes have dropped multiplied
forgeries. These purport to be copies of letters from Russian homes to Russian
soldiers – letters which fell into German hands when the soldiers to whom they
were addressed become prisoners of war. Here is one of those forgeries: –'Dear
Soldiers, – You ought to know that Russia would have concluded peace long ago
had it not been for England, but we want peace – we are thirsting for it.
Working men, who have now the opportunity of making their wishes known, are
demanding peace. Nobody has the right to say that the Russian workman is
against peace. England has no right to say that. Whatever the outcome of this
evil war, we cannot expect any gratitude from England. Therefore we must shake
ourselves free of England. This is the demand of the people. This is its holy
will. I have nothing more to write. I am well, and hope the same of you. Your
loving brother, Nicolai'.
('The New Russia: From Prison into Utopia' by C. Hagberg Wright, The Times)
27 May
Diary entry of Alexander Benois, artist and critic
I've recently become indifferent to everything. An elemental tragedy is almost certain to be played out, and what its outcome will be, nobody for the moment can say.
(Alexander Benois, Diary 1916-1918, Moscow 2006)
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27 May 2017
Narodnaya volya (People’s Will) was the revolutionary
organisation behind the assassination of Alexander II in 1881 and many other
terrorist acts in the decades leading up to the 1917 Revolution. Lenin’s
brother, Alexander Ulyanov, was involved with one of its subsequent
incarnations, and was hanged at the age of seventeen. Lenin’s ferocious
commitment to overthrowing the tsarist regime has often been ascribed to this
event, an extreme example, perhaps, of unintended consequences.
In the week of the Manchester bombing, it would be wrong to equate Russia’s revolutionary movement with Islamist fanaticism, the one committed to the demise of a brutal authoritarian government, the other blindly waging war against those who enjoy the freedoms of democratic government. But lessons of unintended consequences are often ignored by those in power, and it can be important to take a step back. The instinct of people to come together, to look for mutual reassurance and seek out the good in the face of inexplicable horror, was witnessed in the vigil in Manchester’s Albert Square, and in particular Tony Walsh’s poem ‘This is the Place’ – a stirring tribute to the city’s contribution to the world, an acknowledgement of the hurt, but most of all a reminder that people coming together, and working together, can create a place where a Muslim man supports his elderly Jewish neighbour as they stand united in grief.
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.