20-26 August 1917
- By Mark Sutcliffe
- •
- 26 Aug, 2017
- •
It was not only the hard right considering martial law under
Kornilov. In anguish, lugubriously, incoherently, bizarrely, grasping at a
possible way out, so was Kerensky himself … agitated at the possibility of
Bolshevik uprising, [he] was split between opposition to martial law, and a
belief in its necessity.
(China Miéville, October: The Story of the Russian Revolution, London 2017)
21 August
On 21 August another blow to Russia’s war effort came with
news that the strategically important Baltic port of Riga, 350 miles to the
south-west, had fallen to the Germans – or, rather, its Russian defenders had
simply abandoned it to them without a fight. Despite this, a state of denial
about the Russian army’s disintegration persisted in the capital. Willem
Oudendijk had gone to the opera that evening with his wife to hear Chaliapin
sing in Rimsky Korsakov’s Rusalka:
the audience had been wildly enthusiastic, rushing forward from their seats and
‘recalling Chaliapin before the footlights over and over again at the end of
every Act. There seemed no thought of revolution, or the Germans, or war that
evening. Petrograd was now in the war zone; but what did it matter? Here was
Chaliapin singing! Cheer! And applaud! Bravo, Chaliapin!’
(Helen Rappaport, Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd 1917, London 2017)
22 August
On the morning of August 22, [conservative Vladimir] Lvov
paid a visit to Kerensky. He implied in veiled terms that he represented an
influential party which believed the government should be strengthened with the
addition of public figures close to the military. Kerensky subsequently claimed
that the instant the interview was over, he dismissed it from his mind. Lvov,
however, proceeded to Mogilev to sound out Kornilov.
(Richard Pipes, A Concise History of the Russian Revolution, London 1995)
23 August
Diary entry of Louis de Robien, attaché at the French Embassy
People tell scandalous stories about [Kerensky], and the
latest pretext for these is his divorce, and his re-marriage to one of his
sisters-in-law, who is a very young student at the Conservatoire. Amongst the
people, it is said that he has got divorced to marry the Tsar’s daughter, and
that his is going to become Regent. It’s the kind of story they love here, and
the Slav imagination is busy embroidering on these fantastic themes … we shall
see it all later on at the opera with some Chaliapin, or at the ballet with
some Karsavina.
(Louis de Robien, The Diary of a Diplomat in Russia 1917-1918, London 1969)
24 August
Account by Vladimir Lvov, member of the State Duma for Samara Region
I arrived at Stavka [Army HQ] on 24 August; no
vehicles met us so Dobrynsky and I took a cab … to the hotel where I had to share a room with the Cossack captain
Rodionov … From his first words Rodionov knocked me sideways by saying that the
supreme commander had signed Kerensky’s death warrant … although Kerensky had
not officially asked me to conduct talks with Kornilov, I decided that I could
speak on his behalf, since he had shown willingness to reorganize the
government … To my question as to whether it was true that the armed
forces would not support the government in the event of a Bolshevik uprising,
Kornilov reassured me by saying that the situation was very difficult but it
would not get to this stage; the troops would do their duty and support the
government.
(V.N. Lvov, 'My Talks with Kerensky and Kornilov', A.F. Kerensky: Pro et Contra, St Petersburg 2016)
Diary entry of Joshua Butler Wright, Counselor of the American Embassy, Petrograd
A Bolshevik
uprising is now looked for by Sunday. We are forced to take the first
preparatory steps looking to the removal of our most important archives to a
place of safety.
(Witness to Revolution: The Russian Revolution Diary and Letters of J. Butler Wright, London 2002)
25 August
Account by Vladimir Lvov, member of the State Duma for Samara Region
My second meeting with Kornilov took place on the morning of
25 August … He started by elaborating the general situation: Riga was taken,
Rumania could be cut off at any moment, the mood in the ranks was despondent,
the army was wanting to pin the blame on those responsible for its ignominy at
the front and rear … Kornilov then added: ‘From 27 August to 1 September a
Bolshevik insurrection is expected, their plan being to overthrow the
government and replace them,
and conclude an immediate separate peace … Do not think I say this on my own
account, but in order to save the country I see no other option but to transfer
all military and civilian power into the hands of a supreme commander.’
(V.N. Lvov, 'My Talks with Kerensky and Kornilov', A.F. Kerensky: Pro et Contra, St Petersburg 2016)
26 August
Diary entry of Louis de Robien, attaché at the French Embassy
The internal situation is still far from brilliant. One has
the feeling that there is increasing disagreement between Kerensky and
Kornilov, and that the extremist parties are taking advantage of it to gain
ground … The populace, which had at first accepted the fall of Riga
philosophically, is now seized with panic and is trying to get out of Petrograd
at all costs. In Kanyuchennaya Street I saw a hundred-yard-long queue of people
waiting for tickets outside the Wagons-lits office. There was such a scramble
at the Nicholas Station yesterday that several people were suffocated by the
crowd and killed.
(Louis de Robien, The Diary of a Diplomat in Russia 1917-1918, London 1969)
Letter to Kerensky from G. Korotkov, a worker in the
provincial town of Slaviansk, Kharkov Province
To Mr. War Minister Kerensky
I will be brief, Mr. War Minister.
I consider it my sacred duty to inform you that the
Provisional Government should expect a new counterrevolution. The mood among
the popular masses is decidedly counterrevolutionary in view of the failure in
battle of the Russian Army. The peasants arriving in the town of Slaviansk say
openly that only the tsar can save Russia and bring all the food prices down;
they are extremely embittered against the bourgeoisie and the workers, who are
constantly engaged in party struggle, they are embittered against the soldiers,
who to their disgrace have fled from the Germans…
P.S. Once you have read this all the way through, Mr. War
Minister, you may think I am right-wing, like Purishkevich and so on. No! I am
a simple worker who sympathises with the popular socialists, but above all I am
a citizen of Russia.
G. Korotkov, Slaviansk, 26 August 1917
(Mark D. Steinberg, Voices of Revolution, 1917, New Haven and London 2001)
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26 August 2017
The concept of the strong, forceful leader is a
consistent one in Russian history. A tsar shows weakness, he is replaced by
someone with a bit more grit (Peter III
by Catherine the Great for example). In 1917 this process was accelerated and
accentuated. Nicholas, for all his authoritarian impulses, is seen to be weak.
He is replaced by the energetic, apparently decisive Kerensky. But over the
summer Kerensky starts to look more vulnerable. His appeals to the troops not
to ‘vote for peace with their legs’ fall increasingly on deaf ears, he fails to
make any real progress with land reform, his government veers from crisis to
crisis. And when, in July and August, the dual threat to Petrograd of German
advances and Bolshevik uprisings becomes impossible to ignore, another strong
man puts himself in the line of succession: Lavr Kornilov, general and
putative dictator of Russia. Who knows what would have happened if his coup had
been successful, but the strongman model is equally familiar to historians of
the Soviet period. Allow some light and shade into the fortress mentality of
the Kremlin (e.g. Gorby) and the whole thing can come crashing down. History being, as someone said, just one damned thing after another, it’s hardly
surprising that the latest Russian strongman is not far from ratcheting up a
quarter of a century in power. He’s done his research.
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.