7-13 May 1917
- By Mark Sutcliffe
- •
- 13 May, 2017
- •
Article in Pravda
Comrades! Under oppressive tsarist rule the worker’s word was silenced and the worker’s art could not flourish in the shadows. The proletariat – this Titan of all revolutions and the creator of mankind’s bright future – must have its own mighty art, its poets and artists. Proletarian art will only reach its full potential, of course, under a socialist system. But even now, when some of the fetters that enchain the proletariat have been cast off, the sparks of a free art must burst into a bright flame.
8 May
Diary entry of Lev Tikhomirov, revolutionary and later conservative thinker
In general my own situation is full of fears for the future and misgivings, and I can't see the merest glimpse of hope, except through God's help. To speak of Russia's situation is difficult. The fact is that the revolution is consolidating, and of course in a strongly socialist direction ... the future is very murky and the only thing that's clear is that many trials and tribulations lie ahead ... Of course I'm objective enough not to equate Russia's interest with my own. But how I fear for my family. Poor Mama, why has she lived so long! Mysterious are God's ways! And I too - why did I not die sooner? The only thing I can say is that God's will will be done, however much suffering it may involve. And speaking of God, the new Russia is demonstrating a serious falling away from faith. It's hard to define the extent to which people are turning away from God but there can be no doubt that this is the case.
(L.A. Tikhomirov, Diary 1915-1917, Moscow 2008)
Sir George Buchanan, British Ambassador (despatch to the Foreign Office)
The last two weeks have been very anxious ones, as the
victory which the Government had won over the Soviet in the matter of the note
to the Powers was not nearly so complete as Miliukoff had imagined. So long as
the Soviet maintained its exclusive right to dispose of the troops, the
Government, as Prince Lvoff remarked, was ‘an authority without power’, while
the Workmen’s Council was ‘a power without authority’. Under such conditions it
was impossible for Guchkoff, as Minister of War, and for Korniloff, as military
governor of Petrograd, to accept responsibility for the maintenance of
discipline in the army. They both, consequently, resigned, while the former
declared that if things were to continue as they were the army would cease to
exist as a fighting force in three weeks’ time. Guchkoff’s resignation
precipitated matters, and Lvoff, Kerensky and Tereschenko came to the
conclusion that, as the Soviet was too powerful a factor to be either
suppressed or disregarded, the only way of putting an end to the anomaly of a
dual Government was to form a Coalition.
(Sir George Buchanan, My Mission to Russia , London 1923)
9 May
Diary entry of Alexander Benois, artist and critic
Today I witnessed an ‘extremely Russian’ scene. At the tram
stop a woman and her child boarded at the front of the tram (she could have got
in at the back, it wasn’t so crowded). The tram driver was not having this infringement of the rules and
declared that the tram ‘was not going any further’. Everywhere else in the
world the passengers would have taken the driver’s side and would have helped
the woman to enter via the rear. But here exactly the opposite occurred! The
whole wagon took issue with the driver, hurling insults and reproaches at him …
Maybe such a thing expresses some wonderful characteristic of Russia … But in
today’s climate this phenomenon can fill me with horror, precisely because it
is spontaneous, unpremeditated, and not consolidated by a sense of ‘higher’
duty. Even Kerensky won’t be able to deal with it…
(Alexander Benois , Diary 1916-1918 , Moscow 2006)
10 May
Diary of Nicholas II
In the afternoon we worked hard in the garden
and even started to plant a few vegetables.
(Sergei Mironenko (ed.), Nicholas and Alexandra: The Last Imperial Family of Tsarist Russia, London 1998)
11 May
Article by Lenin in Pravda
However maliciously the press of the capitalists and their
friends may slander us, denouncing us as anarchists, we still repeat: we are
not anarchists, we are ardent upholders of the best organisation of the masses
and of a most firm ‘state’ authority – but the state we want is not a bourgeois
parliamentary republic, but a Republic of Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and
Peasants’ Deputies.
(Lenin, 'The Russian Revolution', Pravda)
Letter from Sofia Yudina in Petrograd to her friend Nina Agafonnikova in Vyatka
You talk of ‘night’, ‘darkness’. Yes, for now everything is
still night, but the dawn is close, because nobody will keep that gleam of hope behind thick curtains
and leave the people in the dark. It’s possible that much will change for the
worse and with the dawn, in the light of day, we’ll see that it shouldn’t have
been done like this, but the lesson will be a useful one: it’s necessary,
nothing is unnecessary… These are not rose-tinted spectacles, no. Here in
Petrograd there are many unpleasant aspects to life. Those who come here from
other towns are taken aback at the debauchery and difficulties of our life in
‘Piter’, and perhaps it is here that the revolution is felt most of all, since
the uprising began from here. It’s not us so much as subsequent generations who
will benefit, but we lived through the events themselves…
(Viktor Berdinskikh, Letters from Petrograd: 1916-1919 , St Petersburg 2016)
12 May
Amateur artist M.S. Smirnov on drawing Lenin at the Putilov
Works
The young workers constructed a tribune, which was painted
red. The committee argued over the text for the slogan. Finally they fixed a
slogan to the centre of the tribune which read ‘All Power to the Soviets!’
Lenin arrived with Antonov-Ovseyenko. They came in a small black truck. Vladimir Ilich was in a cap
and a light overcoat, which he took off before he made his speech. I stared
intently and tried to convey Lenin’s face, I wanted to capture his sharp look,
his character. His trimmed, light beard and moustache didn’t cover the outline
of his lips. Occasionally he would clench his lips and his cheeks would hollow
out, as if he was sucking them in. And his face changed all the time. His suit lay
heavily on him. The chain of an old watch hung from the top pocket of his
waistcoat. And with his right hand he held onto the lapel of his jacket. His
left hand was lowered. Hurriedly I drew him, knowing the great importance of
this endeavor and feeling that this could be my only chance to draw the great
leader from nature. I heard the cry: ‘Let Lenin speak!...’ The noise, the
applause, the shouts of ‘Hurrah!’ … I tried to draw Lenin’s profile. He spoke
calmly, slightly leaning forward and gesticulating with his right hand, while
holding his cap in his left hand.
(V.P.
Lapshin, Artistic Life of Moscow and Petrograd in 1917, Moscow 1983)
Appeal to the peasants from a Committee of Soldiers’
Deputies, printed in the Menshevik newspaper Rabochaia gazeta
Comrade peasants, our fathers and brothers!
Our freedom, our liberty, is in danger. Rumours have reached
us that say certain wild, dangerous people are going from one remote village in
our vast and long-suffering Homeland to another and burning the landowners’ hay,
burning the grain, killing the livestock, demolishing structures. And seeing
them, our ignorant, uninformed peasants are joining the robbers to menace and
plunder landowners’ estates. We, your sons and brothers who wear the soldier’s
grey overcoat, call upon you from our trenches: Stop! What are you doing? Do
you want to leave our army without bread, meat or fodder? Do you want the
Germans to capture us with their bare hands right here as we starve? Do you
want to wreck our Homeland and your own freedom? Do you want us to have Tsar
Nicholas II back with the old ways, the birch rods, the gallows, the penal
detachments, the guards, the Ingush? Instead of land and liberty, do you want
poverty and misery worse even than before? If not, then don’t lay a hand on
anyone else’s property, and maintain order.
Committee of Soldiers’ Deputies, 540th Sukhinichsky Infantry Regiment
(Mark D. Steinberg, Voices of Revolution, 1917 , New Haven and London 2001)
13 May
During breakfast the Order was brought to us: Kerensky was
coming to Podgaytsy! He would come and harangue our soldiers with heartening
words. Pray Heaven that his influence would succeed in re-organising the
already disorganised Front Line troops … At first glance, he looked small and
insignificant. He wore a darkish uniform and there was nothing about him to
indicate the magnetic power he was able to wield. I remember clearly a feeling
of disappointment. Was this man really the Kerensky? He looked less than his 36
years and his beardless face made him even younger. For a while he stood in
silence; then he began to speak, slowly at first and very clearly. As he spoke,
one realised immediately the source of his power. His sincerity was
unquestionable; and his eloquence literally hypnotised us.
(Florence Farmborough, Nurse at the Russian Front: A Diary 1914-18, London 1974)
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13 May 2017
The artist's account of drawing Lenin as he addressed the crowd is striking, partly because his image is so familiar to us as an idealised tool of propaganda after his death; it's almost strange to think that he was drawn from life. What is it about historical figures that make them so hard to picture eating their breakfast, or, god forbid, answering a call of nature? In an article in the New Statesman this week, Catherine Merridale, describes Lenin as 'quick to crack a joke' which again doesn't fit the mental image one has of him. The single-mindedness which led a fellow exile to describe him as 'the only man for whom revolution is the preoccupation 24 hours a day' is more the image, as is Lenin reading 148 books and 232 articles in English, French and German in a few months in 1916 for his essay on 'Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism'. 'The Soviets exaggerated Lenin's so-called genius', writes Merridale, 'but he was certainly tenacious and quick. What he was missing was the gene for self-doubt and humility. The man's arrogance left others panting in his wake. Years earlier, in his student days (when he was balding fast), friends used to joke among themselves that he had such a big brain that it was pushing his hair out.' Hmm, missing the gene for self-doubt and humility - remind you of anyone on the current political scene..?
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.