Ten Days that Shook the World — 19 - Appendix to Chapters 3-4
1. (See page 43) 2. The organisation of Workers’ Control is a manifestation of the same healthy activity in the sphere of industrial production, as are party organisations in the sphere of politics, trade unions in employment, Cooperatives in the domain of consumption, and literary clubs in the sphere of culture.
3. The working-class has much more interest in the proper and uninterrupted operation of factories… than the capitalist class.
Workers’ Control is a better security in this respect for the interests of modern society, of the whole people, than the arbitrary will of the owners, who are guided only by their selfish desire for material profits or political privileges.
Therefore Workers’ Control is demanded by the proletariat not only in their own interest, but in the interest of the whole country, and should be supported by the revolutionary peasantry as well as the revolutionary Army.
4. Considering the hostile attitude of the majority of the capitalist class toward the Revolution, experience shows that proper distribution of raw materials and fuel, as well as the most efficient management of factories, is impossible without Workers’ Control.
5. Only Workers’ Control over capitalist enterprises, cultivating the workers’ conscious attitude toward work, and making clear its social meaning, can create conditions favourable to the development of a firm self-discipline in labour, and the development of all labour’s possible productivity.
6. The impending transformation of industry from a war to a peace basis, and the redistribution of labour all over the country, as well as among the different factories, can be accomplished without great disturbances only by means of the democratic self-government of the workers themselves….
Therefore the realisation of Workers’ Control is an indispensable preliminary to the demobilisation of industry.
7. In accordance with the slogan proclaimed by the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviki), Workers’ Control on a national scale, in order to bring results, must extend to all capitalist concerns, and not be organised accidentally, without system; it must be well-planned, and not separated from the industrial life of the country as a whole.
8. The economic life of the country—agriculture, industry, commerce and transport—must be subjected to one unified plan, constructed so as to satisfy the individual and social requirements of the wide masses of the people; it must be approved by their elected representatives, and carried out under the direction of these representatives by means of national and local organisations.
9. That part of the plan which deals with land-labour must be carried out under supervision of the peasants’ and land-workers’ organisations;
that relating to industry, trade and transport operated by wage-earners, by means of Workers’ Control; the natural organs of Workers’ Control inside the industrial plant will be the Factory-Shop and similar Committees; and in the labour market, the Trade Unions.
10. The collective wage agreements arranged by the Trade Unions for the majority of workers in any branch of labour, must be binding on all the owners of plants employing this kind of labour in the given district.
11. Employment bureaus must be placed under the control and management of the Trade Unions, as class organisations acting within the limits of the whole industrial plan, and in accordance with it.
12. Trade Unions must have the right, upon their own initiative, to begin legal action against all employers who violate labour contracts or labour legislation, and also in behalf of any individual worker in any branch of labour.
13. On all questions relating to Workers’ Control over production, distribution and employment, the Trade Unions must confer with the workers of individual establishments through their Factory-Shop Committees.
14. Matters of employment and discharge, vacations, wage scales, refusal of work, degree of productivity and skill, reasons for abrogating agreements, disputes with the administration, and similar problems of the internal life of the factory, must be settled exclusively according to the findings of the Factory-Shop Committee, which has the right to exclude from participation in the discussion any members of the factory administration.
15. The Factory-Shop Committee forms a commission to control the supplying of the factory with raw materials, fuel, orders, labour power and technical staff (including equipment), and all other supplies and arrangements, and also to assure the factory’s adherence to the general industrial plan.
The factory administration is obliged to surrender to the organs of Workers’ Control, for their aid and information, all data concerning the business; to make it possible to verify this data, and to produce the books of the company upon demand of the Factory-Shop Committee.
16. Any illegal acts on the part of the administration discovered by the Factory-Shop Committees, or any suspicion of such illegal acts, which cannot be investigated or remedied by the workers alone, shall be referred to the district central organisation of Factory-Shop Committees charged with the particular branch of labour involved, which shall discuss the matter with the institutions charged with the execution of the general industrial plan, and find means to deal with the matter, even to the extent of confiscating the factory.
17. The union of the Factory-Shop Committees of different concerns must be accomplished on the basis of the different trades, in order to facilitate control over the whole branch of industry, so as to come within the general industrial plan; and so as to create an effective plan of distribution among the different factories of orders, raw materials, fuel, technical and labour power; and also to facilitate cooperation with the Trade Unions, which are organised by trades.
18. The central city councils of Trade Unions and Factory-Shop Committees represent the proletariat in the corresponding provincial and local institutions formed to elaborate and carry out the general industrial plan, and to organise economic relations between the towns and the villages (workers and peasants).
They also possess final authority for the management of Factory-Shop Committees and Trade Unions, so far as Workers’ Control in their district is concerned, and they shall issue obligatory regulations concerning workers’ discipline in the routine of production—which regulations, however, must be approved by vote of the workers themselves.
2. THE BOURGEOIS PRESS ON THE BOLSHEVIKI
_Russkaya Volia,_ October 28. “The decisive moment approaches….
It is decisive for the Bolsheviki.
Either they will give us… a second edition of the events of July 16-18, or they will have to admit that with their plans and intentions, with their impertinent policy of wishing to separate themselves from everything consciously national, they have been definitely defeated….
“What are the chances of Bolshevik success?
“It is difficult to answer that question, for their principal support is the… ignorance of the popular masses.
They speculate on it, they work upon it by a demagogy which nothing can stop….
“The Government must play its part in this affair.
Supporting itself morally by the Council of the Republic, the Government must take a clearly-defined attitude toward the Bolsheviki….
“And if the Bolsheviki provoke an insurrection against the legal power, and thus facilitate the German invasion, they must be treated as mutineers and traitors….
” _Birzhevya Viedomosti,_ October 28. “Now that the Bolsheviki have separated themselves from the rest of the democracy, the struggle against them is very much simpler—and it is not reasonable, in order to fight against Bolshevism, to wait until they make a manifestation.
The Government should not even allow the manifestation….
“The appeals of the Bolsheviki to insurrection and anarchy are acts punishable by the criminal courts, and in the freest countries, their authors would receive severe sentences.
For what the Bolsheviki are carrying on is not a political struggle against the Government, or even for the power; it is propaganda for anarchy, massacres, and civil war.
This propaganda must be extirpated at its roots; it would be strange to wait, in order to begin action against an agitation for _pogroms,_ until the _pogroms_ actually occurred….
” _Novoye Vremya,_ November 1. “… Why is the Government excited only about November 2d (date of calling of the Congress of Soviets), and not about September 12th, or October 3d?
“This is not the first time that Russia burns and falls in ruins, and that the smoke of the terrible conflagration makes the eyes of our Allies smart….
“Since it came to power, has there been a single order issued by the Government for the purpose of halting anarchy, or has any one attempted to put out the Russian conflagration?
“There were other things to do….
“The Government turned its attention to a more immediate problem.
It crushed an insurrection (the Kornilov attempt) concerning which every one is now asking, ‘Did it ever exist?
” 3. MODERATE SOCIALIST PRESS ON THE BOLSHEVIKI
_Dielo Naroda,_ October 28 (Socialist Revolutionary).
“The most frightful crime of the Bolsheviki against the Revolution is that they impute exclusively to the bad intentions of the revolutionary Government all the calamities which the masses are so cruelly suffering; when as a matter of fact these calamities spring from objective causes.
“They make golden promises to the masses, knowing in advance that they can fulfil none of them; they lead the masses on a false trail, deceiving them as to the source of all their troubles….
“The Bolsheviki are the most dangerous enemies of the Revolution….
” _Dien,_ October 30 (Menshevik).
“Is this really ‘the freedom of the press’?
Every day _Novaya Rus_ and _Rabotchi Put_ openly incite to insurrection.
Every day these two papers commit in their columns actual crimes.
Every day they urge _pogroms_….
Is that ‘the freedom of the press’?
…
“The Government ought to defend itself and defend us.
We have the right to insist that the Government machinery does not remain passive while the threat of bloody riots endangers the lives of its citizens….
” 4. “YEDINSTVO” Plekhanov’s paper, _Yedinstvo,_ suspended publication a few weeks after the Bolsheviki seized the power.
Contrary to popular report, _Yedinstvo_ was not suppressed by the Soviet Government; an announcement in the last number admitted that it was unable to continue _because there were too few subscribers_….
5. WERE THE BOLSHEVIKI CONSPIRATORS?
The French newspaper _Entente_ of Petrograd, on November 15th, published an article of which the following is a part: “The Government of Kerensky discusses and hesitates.
The Government of Lenin and Trotzky attacks and acts.
“This last is called a Government of Conspirators, but that is wrong.
Government of usurpers, yes, like all revolutionary Governments which triumph over their adversaries.
Conspirators—no!
“No!
They did not conspire.
On the contrary, openly, audaciously, without mincing words, without dissimulating their intentions, they multiplied their agitation, intensified their propaganda in the factories, the barracks, at the Front, in the country, everywhere, even fixing in advance the date of their taking up arms, the date of their seizure of the power….
“_They_—conspirators?
Never….
” 6. APPEAL AGAINST INSURRECTION
_From the Central Army Committee_ “… Above everything we insist upon the inflexible execution of the organised will of the majority of the people, expressed by the Provisional Government in accord with the Council of the Republic and the _Tsay-ee-kah,_ as organ of the popular power….
“Any demonstration to depose this power by violence, at a moment when a Government crisis will infallibly create disorganisation, the ruin of the country, and civil war, will be considered by the Army as a counter-revolutionary act, and repressed by force of arms….
“The interests of private groups and classes should be submitted to a single interest—that of augmenting industrial production, and distributing the necessities of life with fairness….
“All who are capable of sabotage, disorganisation, or disorder, all deserters, all slackers, all looters, should be forced to do auxiliary service in the rear of the Army….
“We invite the Provisional Government to form, out of these violators of the people’s will, these enemies of the Revolution, labour detachments to work in the rear, on the Front, in the trenches under enemy fire….
” 7. EVENTS OF THE NIGHT, NOVEMBER 6TH
Toward evening bands of Red Guards began to occupy the printing shops of the bourgeois press, where they printed _Rabotchi Put, Soldat,_ and various proclamations by the hundred thousand.
The City Militia was ordered to clear these places, but found the offices barricaded, and armed men defending them.
Soldiers who were ordered to attack the print-shops refused.
About midnight a Colonel with a company of _yunkers_ arrived at the club “Free Mind,” with a warrant to arrest the editor of _Rabotchi Put.
_ Immediately an enormous mob gathered in the street outside and threatened to lynch the _yunkers.
_ The Colonel thereupon begged that he and the _yunkers_ be arrested and taken to Peter-Paul prison for safety.
This request was granted.
At 1 A. M.
a detachment of soldiers and sailors from Smolny occupied the Telegraph Agency.
At 1. 35 the Post Office was occupied.
Toward morning the Military Hotel was taken, and at 5 o’clock the Telephone Exchange.
At dawn the State Bank was surrounded.
And at 10 A. M.
a cordon of troops was drawn about the Winter Palace.
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER IV
1. EVENTS OF NOVEMBER 7TH
From 4 A. M.
until dawn Kerensky remained at the Petrograd Staff Headquarters, sending orders to the Cossacks and to the _yunkers_ in the Officers’ Schools in and around Petrograd—all of whom answered that they were unable to move.
Colonel Polkovnikov, Commandant of the City, hurried between the Staff and the Winter Palace, evidently without any plan.
Kerensky gave an order to open the bridges; three hours passed without any action, and then an officer and five men went out on their own initiative, and putting to flight a picket of Red Guards, opened the Nicolai Bridge.
Immediately after they left, however, some sailors closed it again.
Kerensky ordered the print-shop of _Rabotchi Put_ to be occupied.
The officer detailed to the work was promised a squad of soldiers; two hours later he was promised some _yunkers;_ then the order was forgotten.
An attempt was made to recapture the Post Office and the Telegraph Agency; a few shots were fired, and the Government troops announced that they would no longer oppose the Soviets.
To a delegation of _yunkers_ Kerensky said, “As chief of the Provisional Government and as Supreme Commander I know nothing, I cannot advise you; but as a veteran revolutionist, I appeal to you, young revolutionists, to remain at your posts and defend the conquests of the Revolution.
” Orders of Kishkin, November 7th: “By decree of the Provisional Government….
I am invested with extraordinary powers for the reestablishment of order in Petrograd, in complete command of all civil and military authorities….
” “In accordance with the powers conferred upon me by the Provisional Government, I herewith relieve from his functions as Commandant of the Petrograd Military District Colonel George Polkovnikov….
” * * * * * _Appeal to the Population_ signed by Vice-Premier Konovalov, November 7th: “Citizens!
Save the fatherland, the republic and your freedom.
Maniacs have raised a revolt against the only governmental power chosen by the people, the Provisional Government….
“The members of the Provisional Government fulfil their duty, remain at their post, and continue to work for the good of the fatherland, the reestablishment of order, and the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, future sovereign of Russia and of all the Russian peoples….
“Citizens, you must support the Provisional Government.
You must strengthen its authority.
You must oppose these maniacs, with whom are joined all enemies of liberty and order, and the followers of the Tsarist régime, in order to wreck the Constituent Assembly, destroy the conquests of the Revolution, and the future of our dear fatherland….
“Citizens!
Organise around the Provisional Government for the defence of its temporary authority, in the name of order and the happiness of all peoples….
” * * * * * _Proclamation of the Provisional Government.
_ “The Petrograd Soviet….
has declared the Provisional Government overthrown, and has demanded that the Governmental power be turned over to it, under threat of bombarding the Winter Palace with the cannon of Peter-Paul Fortress, and of the cruiser _Avrora,_ anchored in the Neva.
“The Government can surrender its authority only to the Consituent Assembly; for that reason it has decided not to submit, and to demand aid from the population and the Army.
A telegram has been sent to the _Stavka;_ and an answer received says that a strong detachment of troops is being sent….
“Let the Army and the People reject the irresponsible attempts of the Bolsheviki to create a revolt in the rear….
” About 9 A. M.
Kerensky left for the Front….
Toward evening two soldiers on bicycles presented themselves at the Staff Headquarters, as delegates of the garrison of Peter-Paul Fortress.
Entering the meeting-room of the Staff, where Kishkin, Rutenburg, Paltchinski, General Bagratouni, Colonel Paradielov and Count Tolstoy were gathered, they demanded the immediate surrender of the Staff; threatening, in case of refusal, to bombard headquarters….
After two panicky conferences the Staff retreated to the Winter Palace, and the headquarters were occupied by Red Guards….
Late in the afternoon several Bolshevik armoured cars cruised around the Palace Square, and Soviet soldiers tried unsuccessfully to parley with the _yunkers_….
Firing on the Palace began about 7 o’clock in the evening….
At 10 P. M.
began an artillery bombardment from three sides, in which most of the shells were blanks, only three small shrapnels striking the façade of the Palace….
2. KERENSKY IN FLIGHT
Leaving Petrograd in the morning of November 7th, Kerensky arrived by automobile at Gatchina, where he demanded a special train.
Toward evening he was in Ostrov, Province of Pskov.
The next morning, extraordinary session of the local Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Depulies, with participation of Cossack delegates—there being 6,000 Cossacks at Ostrov.
Kerensky spoke to the assembly, appealing for aid against the Bolsheviki, and addressed himself almost exclusively to the Cossacks.
The soldier delegates protested.
“Why did you come here?
” shouted voices.
Kerensky answered, “To ask the Cossacks’ assistance in crushing the Bolshevik insurrection!
” At this there were violent protestations, which increased when he continued, “I broke the Kornilov attempt, and I will break the Bolsheviki!
” The noise became so great that he had to leave the platform….
The soldier deputies and the Ussuri Cossacks decided to arrest Kerensky, but the Don Cossacks prevented them, and got him away by train….
A Military Revolutionary Committee, set up during the day, tried to inform the garrison of Pskov; but the telephone and telegraph lines were cut….
Kerensky did not arrive at Pskov.
Revolutionary soldiers had cut the railway line, to prevent troops being sent against the capital.
On the night of November 8th he arrived by automobile at Luga, where he was well received by the Death Battalions stationed there.
Next day he took train for the South-West Front, and visited the Army Committee at headquarters.
The Fifth Army, however, was wild with enthusiasm over the news of the Bolshevik success, and the Army Committee was unable to promise Kerensky any support.
From there he went to the _Stavka,_ at Moghilev, where he ordered ten regiments from different parts of the Front to move against Petrograd.
The soldiers almost unanimously refused; and those regiments which did start halted on the way.
About five thousand Cossacks finally followed him….
3. LOOTING OF THE WINTER PALACE
I do not mean to maintain that there was no looting, in the Winter Palace.
Both after and _before_ the Winter Palace fell, there was considerable pilfering.
The statement of the Socialist Revolutionary paper _Narod,_ and of members of the City Duma, to the effect that precious objects to the value of 500,000,000 rubles had been stolen, was, however, a gross exaggeration.
The most important art treasures of the Palace—paintings, statues, tapestries, rare porcelains and armorie,—had been transferred to Moscow during the month of September; and they were still in good order in the basement of the Imperial Palace there ten days after the capture of the Kremlin by Bolshevik troops.
I can personally testify to this….
Individuals, however, especially the general public, which was allowed to circulate freely through the Winter Palace for several days after its capture, made away with table silver, clocks, bedding, mirrors and some odd vases of valuable porcelain and semi-precious stone, to the value of about ,000. The Soviet Government immediately created a special commission, composed of artists and archæologists, to recover the stolen objects.
On November 1st two proclamations were issued: “CITIZENS OF PETROGRAD!
“We urgently ask all citizens to exert every effort to find whatever possible of the objects stolen from the Winter Palace in the night of November 7-8, and to forward them to the Commandant of the Winter Palace.
“Receivers of stolen goods, antiquarians, and all who are proved to be hiding such objects will be held legally responsible and punished with all severity.
“_Commissars for the Protection of Museums and Artistic Collections,_ “G. YATMANOV, B.
MANDELBAUM.
” * * * * * “TO REGIMENTAL AND FLEET COMMITTEES “In the night of November 7-8, in the Winter Palace, which is the inalienable property of the Russian people, valuable objects of art were stolen.
“We urgently appeal to all to exert every effort, so that the stolen objects are returned to the Winter Palace.
“_Commissars_….
“G. YATMANOV, B.
MANDELBAUM.
” About half the loot was recovered, some of it in the baggage of foreigners leaving Russia.
A conference of artists and archæologists, held at the suggestion of Smolny, appointed a commission of make an inventory of the Winter Palace treasures, which was given complete charge of the Palace and of all artistic collections and State museums in Petrograd.
On November 16th the Winter Palace was closed to the public while the inventory was being made….
During the last week in November a decree was issued by the Council of People’s Commissars, changing the name of the Winter Palace to “People’s Museum,” entrusting it to the complete charge of the artistic-archæological commission, and declaring that henceforth all Governmental activities within its wall were prohibited….
4. RAPE OF THE WOMEN’S BATTALION
Immediately following the taking of the Winter Palace all sorts of sensational stories were published in the anti-Bolshevik press, and told in the City Duma, about the fate of the Women’s Battalion defending the Palace.
It was said that some of the girl-soldiers had been thrown from the windows into the street, most of the rest had been violated, and many had committed suicide as a result of the horrors they had gone through.
The City Duma appointed a commission to investigate the matter.
On November 16th the commission returned from Levashovo, headquarters of the Women’s Battalion.
Madame Tyrkova reported that the girls had been at first taken to the barracks of the Pavlovsky Regiment, and that there some of them had been badly treated; but that at present most of them were at Levashovo, and the rest scattered about the city in private houses.
Dr. Mandelbaum, another of the commission, testified drily that _none_ of the women had been thrown out of the windows of the Winter Palace, that _none_ were wounded, that three had been violated, and that one had committed suicide, leaving a note which said that she had been “disappointed in her ideals.
” On November 21st the Military Revolutionary Committee officially dissolved the Women’s Battalion, at the request of the girls themselves, who returned to civilian clothes.
In Louise Bryant’s book, “Six Red Months in Russia,” there is an interesting description of the girl-soldiers during this time.
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER V
1. APPEALS AND PROCLAMATIONS
_From the Military Revolutionary Committee,_ November 8:
