Ten Days That Shook the World

the Provisio

-Paul as I went down the Nevsky. It was a raw, chill day. In front of the St

belong to?" I aske

th a grin, "Slava Bogu! Glory to God!

even less uneasiness among the street crowds than there had been the day before. A whole crop of new appeals against insurrection h

TROGRAD MUN

he Central and Ward Dumas, and representatives of the following revolutionary democratic organizations: The Tsay-ee-kah, the All-Russian Executive Committee of

ll be on duty in the building of the Municip

er 7th

, this was the Duma's declarati

of Dien. The Bolshevik paper, printed on large-sized sheets in the conquered office of the Russkaya Volia, had huge headlines: "ALL POWER-TO THE

t, every honest democrat realises that there are

ew, and this will mean every kind of repression for the workers, soldi

te abolition of landlord tyranny, immediate check of the capitalists, immediate proposal of a just peace. Then the land is assured to the

ncy; the Peterhof yunkers unable to reach Petrograd; the Cossacks undecided; arrest of some of the Ministers; shooting of Chief of the Cit

had really happened he shrugged his shoulders in a tired manner and replied, "Tchort znayet! The devil knows! Well, perhaps the Bolsheviki can seize the power, bu

rmed sailors. In the lobby were many of the smart young officers, walkin

mething unusual was going on around the Marinsky Palace, where the Council of the Russian Republic met.

snapped one, while another

eputatov); all the guns trained toward St. Isaac's. A barricade had been heaped up across the mouth of Novaya Ulitza-boxes, barrels, an old bed-spring, a wagon. A

to be any figh

away, comrade, you'll get hurt. They will come fr

o w

ll you, brother," h

f the Russian Republic. "We walked in there," he said, "and filled all the doors with comrades. I went up to the co

ing sailor stopped me, and when I showed my pass, just said, "If you were Saint Michael himself, comrade, you couldn't pass he

man in the uniform of a general, the centre of

to be allowed to pass!" The guard scratched his head, looking uneasily out of the corner of his eye; he beckoned to a

" he stammered, in the manner of the old régime, "Acce

utes later another, with armed soldiers on the front seat, full of arrested members of the Provisional Go

those gentlemen last night

sappointed small boy. "The damn fools let most

sailors were drawn up, and behind them came ma

d a cordon of troops stretched clear across the western end, besieged by an uneasy throng of citizens. Except for far-away soldi

siness!" and shouldered through. At the door of the Palace the same old shveitzari, in their brass-buttoned blue uniforms with the red-and-gold collars, politely took our coats and hats, and we went up-stairs. In the dark, gloomy corridor, st

Feodorvitch is extremely occupied just now…." He lo

re i

you know, there wasn't enough gasoline for his automobile

Ministe

in some room-I d

Bolshevik

every minute to say that they are coming. But we are ready. We h

go in

in a temporary partition dividing the hall and locked on the outside. On the other side were voices, and somebody laughing. Except

the door

minutes he said something about having a glass of

where was a litter of cigarette-butts, bits of bread, cloth, and empty bottles with expensive French labels. More and more soldiers, with the red shoulder-straps of the yunker-schools, moved about in a stale atmosphere of tobacco-smoke and unwashed humanity. One had a bottle of white Burgundy, evidently filched from the cellars of the Palace. They looked at us with astonis

eeks, from the look of the floor and walls. Machine guns were

ear, and a voice said in thick but fluent French, "I see, by the way you admire the paintings,

id not seem to occur to him that there was anything unusual in four strangers, one a woman, wande

are all students in the officers' training schools. But are they gentlemen? Kerensky opened the officers' schools to the ra

y. Will you please go to your Consul and make arrangements? I will give you my address." In spite of our protestations he wrote it on

ided us through the rooms and explained everything. "The W

n soldiers in

won't be hurt if any trouble comes." He sig

rangued by a tall, energetic-looking officer I recognised as Stankievitch, chief Military Commissar of the Provisional Government. After a few minutes two of the

d the schools from the ranks, and gave their names-Robert Olev, Alexei Vasilienko and Erni Sachs, an Esthonian. But now they didn't want to be office

em how to fight. They do not dare to fight, they are cowards. But if w

ped in every direction. Inside all was uproar, soldiers running here and there, grabbing up guns, rifle-belts and shouting, "Here they come! Here they come!" … But in a few minutes it qui

erted. We went into the Hotel France for dinner, and right in the middle of soup the waiter, very pale in the face, came up and insisted that we move

ing engine and oil-smoke pouring out of it. A small boy had climbed up the side of the thing and was looking down the barrel of a machine gun. Soldiers and sailors stood around,

oot at them? The Women's Battalion is in there

moured car came around the corner, and a

ed. "Let's go on t

be heard above the roaring engine. "The Committee says to wa

ee the trams, the crowds, the lighted shop-windows and the electric signs of the moving-picture shows-life going on as

troganov Palace made out some soldiers wheeling into position a three-inch field-gun. Men in

rgued feebly, with embarrassed grins…. Armoured cars went up and down the street, named after the first Tsars-Oleg, Rurik, Svietoslav-and daubed with huge red letters, "R. S. D. R. P." (Rossiskaya Partia)[13]. At the Mikhailovsky a man appeared with an armful of newspapers, and was immediately stormed by frantic people, offering a r

ocial Democrati

tizens had gathered, staring up at the roof of a ta

a provocator. Presently he will fire on the people…

s and looked us up and down. The canvas covers had been taken off the four rapid-fire guns on each side of the doorway, and the ammunition-belts hung snakelike from their breeches. A dun herd of armoured cars stood under the trees in the court-yard, engines going. The long, bare, dimly-illuminated halls roared with the thunder of feet, calling, shouting…. There was an atmosphere of recklessness. A crowd came pouring down the staircase, workers in black blouses and round black fur hats, many of them with g

tariat and garrison, particularly emphasises the unity, organisation, discipline, and complete cooperation shown b

be created by the Revolution, and which will assure the industrial proletariat of the support of the entire mass of poor peasants,

will propose immediately a just and democr

It will establish workmen's control over production and distribution of manufactured products,

ian Revolution. The Soviet expresses its conviction that the city workers, allies of the poor peasants, will assure complete revolutionary order, indispensable to the victory

ider it w

ere is much to do. Horribly

insane! Insane!" he shouted. "The European working-class won't move! All Russia-" He waved his hand distractedly a

ous session. In the

ee Trotzky had declar

t no long

ers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies, are going to try an experiment unique in history; we are going to

iev, crying, "This day we have paid our debt to the international proletariat, and struck a terrible blo

ictorious insurrection, but no reply had come. Troops were said to be ma

pating the will of the

iet

Congress of Soviets has been anticipated by th

waited in anxious silence or wild exultation the ringing of the chairman's bell. There was no heat in the hall but the stifling heat of unwashed human bodies. A foul blue cloud of cigarette smoke rose from the mass and hung in the thick air. Occasionally some one in authority mounted the tribune and asked the c

: Kerensky, flying to the front through country towns all doubtfully heaving up; Tcheidze, the old eagle, who had contemptuously retired to his own Georgian mountains, there to sicken with consumption; and the high-souled Tseretelli, also mortally stricken, who, nevertheless, would return and pour out his beautiful eloquence for a lost cause. Got

's uniform, was ringing the bell. Silence fell sharply, intense,

dinary moment that you will understand why the Tsay-ee-kah considers it unnecessary to address you with a political speech. This will become much clearer to you if you will recollect that I am a member o

session of the Second

Soldiers' D

ist Revolutionaries, 3 Mensheviki and 1 Internationalist (Gorky's group). Hendelmann, for the right and centre Socialist Revolutionaries, said that they refused to take part in the presidium; the same from Kintchuk, for the Mensheviki; and from the Mensheviki Internationalists, that until the verification of certain circumstances, they too could not enter the presidium. Scattering applause and hoots. One voice, "Renegades, you call

vsky, rising, announced that upon agreement of the bureau of all factions, it was proposed to hear and discuss the report of the Petrog

ers are being shot down in the streets! At this moment, when before the opening of the Congress of Soviets the question of Power is being settled by means of a military plot organised by one of the revolutionary parties-" for a moment he could not make himself heard above the noise, "All of the revolutionary parties must face the fact! The first vopros (question) before the Congress is the question of Power, and this question is already being settled by force of arms in the

elegates, screaming at each other…. So, with the crash of artillery, in the

ier announced that the All-Russian Peasants' Soviets had refused to send delegates to the Congress; he proposed that a com

n what is happening, and call upon all public forces to resist the attempt to capture the power…." Kutchin, delegate of the 12th Army and representative of the Troudoviki: "I was sent here only for information, and I am returning at once to the Front, where all the Army Committees consider that the taking of power by the Soviets, only three weeks before the Constituent Assembly, is a stab in the back of the Army and a crime against the people-!" Shouts of "Lie! You lie!"… When he could be heard again, "Let's make an end of this adventure in Petrograd! I call upon all delegates to leave this hall in order to save the country and

g for? What do you r

t of the Fifth Army, the Second F- regiment,

e officers, not the soldiers! What do th

consider it necessary to mobilise all self-conscious revolutionary forces for the salvation of th

. "You speak for the S

sonable soldiers to

evolutionist! Provocato

egotiations with the Provisional Government for the formation of a new Cabinet, which would find support in all strat

t consulting the other factions and parties, we find it impossible to remain in the Congress, and th

or the Socialist Revolutionaries, could be heard protesting against the bo

n-faced soldier, with flashing eyes, leaped to

they do not represent the soldiers!" Shaking his fist. "The Twelfth Army has been insisting for a long time upon the re-election of the Great Soviet and the Army Committee, but just as your own Tsay-ee-kah, our Committee refused to call a meeting of the representatives of the masses until the end of Sept

len from that tribune, welding them together but beating them down. Did they stand then alone? Was Russia rising against them? Was it true that the Army was marching on Petrograd? Then this clear-eyed young soldier

nd not groups. "Hundreds of delegates from the Front," he said, "are being elected without the participation of the soldiers because the Army Committees are no longer the real representatives of the rank and file…." Lukianov, crying that officers like Kharash an

of the Jewish Social Democrats-his eyes snapp

and be responsible for these crimes. Because the firing on the Winter Palace doesn't cease, the Municipal Duma together with the Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries, and the Executive Committee of the Peasants' Soviet, has decided to perish with the Provisional Government, and

ruel face, letting out his rich voice in cool contempt, "All these so-called Socialist compromisers, these frightened Mensheviki,

itary Revolutionary Committee had sent a delegation to offer negotiations to the

ssars armed with power of life and death to all the corners of the city, amid the buzz of the telephonographs. The door opened, a blast of stale air and cigarette smoke rushed out, we caught

, above the sound of which could be heard the far-off slow beat of the cannon. A great motor-truck stood there, sh

you going?"

answered a little workman, grinni

the faces of the workmen with rifles who squatted around it, and went bumping at top speed down the Suvorovsky Prospect, swaying from side to side…. One man tore the wrapping from a bundle and began to hurl handfuls of papers into the air. We imitated him, plunging down through the dark street with a tail of white

e paper, and under a fle

ITIZENS

e organ of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, the Military Revol

ic peace, abolition of landlord property-rights over the land, labor control o

UTION OF WORKMEN, S

evolutiona

of Workers' and S

Proclamation in Rus

volutionary Committee on the night of November 7th (our calendar), which we help

rutal statue and swung down the wide Nevsky, three men standing up with rifles ready, peering at the windows. Behind us the street was alive with people running and stooping. We could no longer hear the cannon, and the nearer we drew to the Winter Palace

hem we recognised many of the delegates from the Congress, leaders of the Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries; Avksentiev, the lean, red-bearded president of the Peasants' Soviets, Sarokin, Kerensky's spokesman, Khintchuk, Abramovitch; and at the head white-bearded old Schreider, Mayor of Petrograd, and Prokopovitch, Minister of Supplies

hey cried. "See, these

Look at their tickets

r Pal

frowning. "I have orders from the Committee not to let anybody go to the Wint

e will march on whether you permit us or n

" repeated the

ll sides. "We are ready to die, if you have the heart to fire

looking stubborn, "I ca

if we go forward

le who haven't any guns. We won'

forward! Wha

ailor, evidently at a loss. "We can't

ou do? What

ank you!" he cried, energetically. "And if necessary we

esentment, Prokopovitch had mounted some sort of

hese ignorant men! It is beneath our dignity to be shot down here in the street by switchmen-" (What he meant by "switch

he Nevsky, always in column of fours. And taking advantage of the diversion

from the recoil of its last shot over the roofs. Soldiers were standing in every doorway talking in low tones and peering down toward the Police Bridge. I heard one voice saying: "It is possible that we ha

and get them out!" Voices began to give commands, and in the thick gloom we made out a dark mass movin

t ahead of me said in a low voice: "Look out, comrades! Don't trust them. They will fire, surely!" In the open we b

you did they

know. Abo

ce windows, I could see that the first two or three hundred men were Red Guards, with only a few scattered soldiers. Over the barricade of firewood we clambered, and leaping down inside gave a triumphant shout as

ssware…. One man went strutting around with a bronze clock perched on his shoulder; another found a plume of ostrich feathers, which he stuck in his hat. The looting was just beginning when somebody cried, "Comrades! Don't touch anything! Don't take anything! This is the property of the People!" Immediately twenty voices were crying, "Stop! Put everything back! Don't take anything! Property of the People!" Many hands drag

he Palace!" bawled a Red Guard, sticking his head through an inner door. "Come, comrades, let's show that we'

hing that was plainly not his property was taken away, the man at the table noted it on his paper, and it was carried into a little room. The most amazing assortment of objects were thus confiscated; statuettes, bottles of ink, bed-spreads worked with the Imperial monogram, candles, a small oil-painting, desk blotters, gold-handled swords, cakes of soap, clothes of every description, blankets. One Red Guard car

Counter-revolutionists! Murderers of the People!" But there was no violence done, although the yunkers were terrified. They too had their pockets full of small plunder. It was c

, one by one. Whereupon th

ard answered firmly that it was forbidden. "Who are you anyway?" he asked. "Ho

e Provisional Government. First came Kishkin, his face drawn and pale, then Rutenberg, looking sullenly at the floor; Terestchenko was next, glancing sharply around; he stared at us with cold fixity…. They passed in silence; the victorio

e had been entered also by other detachments from the side of the Neva. The paintings, statues, tapestries and rugs of the great state apartments were unharmed; in the offices, however, every desk and cabinet had been ransacked, the papers scattered over the floor, and in the living rooms beds had bee

betrayed them to the Red Guards. The long table covered with green baize was just as they had left it, under arrest. Before each empty seat was pen and ink and paper; the papers were scribbled over with beginnings of plans of action, rough drafts of proclamations and manifestos. Most of these were scratched out, as their futility became evident,

the Ministry of War early in the morning, but they did not know of the military telegraph office in the attic, nor of the private telephone line connecting it with the Winter Palace. In that atti

trolled from room to room a small group followed us, until by the time we reached the great picture-gallery where we had spent the afterno

Doodling by Konava

stry in he Provisional Government, and then scratched out as the hopelessness of the situation became more and m

ary Committee. The soldier took them gingerly, turned them upside down and looked at them without comprehension. Evidently he could not read. He handed them back and spat on the floor. "Bumagi! Papers!" said he with co

ho are you? What is it?" The others he

up our documents. "Comrades!" he cried. "These people are foreign comrades-from America. They have come here t

came here to observe the revolutionary discipline of the proletarian army, but they have been wan

led the others,

am Commissar of the Military Revolutionary Committee. Do you trust me? Well, I te

the Neva quay, before which stood the usual committee going through po

the Women's Batt

ng what to do with them-many were in hysterics, and so on. So finally we marched them up to the Fin

where loomed the darker mass of Peter-Paul, came a hoarse shout…. Underfoot the sidewalk was littered with broken stucco, from th

gone, and the only signs of war were Red Guards and soldiers squatting around fires. The city was quiet-

ng. He urged that the Committee of Public Safety be expanded, so as to unite all the anti-Bolshevik elements in one huge organisation, to be called the Committee for Salvation of Country and Revolution. And as we looked on, the Committee for

ts, old Prokopovitch, and even members of the Council of the Republic-among whom Vinaver and other Cadets. Lieber cried that the co

. "Niet!" said he, "there are devils…." It was only after weary wandering that we foun

people lay sleeping on the floor, their guns beside them. In spite of the seceding delegates, the hall of meetings was crowded with people, roaring like the sea. As we came in, Kameniev was reading the list of arrested Ministers. The name of Terestchenko was gree

his bearded face convulsed with rage, mounted the pla

know that four comrades who risked their lives and their freedom fighting against tyranny of the Tsar, have been flung into Peter-Paul pris

masses going to sit quietly here while the Okh

h gloves? After July 16th and 18th they didn't use much ceremony with us!" With a triumphant ring in his voice he cried, "Now that the oborontsi and the faint-hearted have gone

Soviets and the Military Revolutionary Committee!" Wild cheers. "The Cycle Corps sent from the front has arrived at Tsarskoye, and the soldiers are now with us; they recognise the pow

ence of Petrograd." They suspected, however, the meaning of the order; and at the station of Peredolsk were met by representatives of the Fifth Battalion from Tsarskoye. A joint meeting

t, and the Mensheviki Internationalists left the Congress in a Whirlwind of Jocular insults. There was no longer any panic fear…. Kameniev from the platform shouted after them, "The Mensheviki Internationalists claimed 'emergency' for the question of a 'peac

f the factions, and proceed to the appeal to th

SOLDIERS A

of the Soviets. There are also a number of Peasant deputies. Based upon the will of the great majority of the workers', sol

nment is deposed. Mos

vernment are a

to the Land Committees, defend the soldiers rights, enforcing a complete democratisation of the Army, establish workers' control over production, ensure the convocation of the Constituent Assembly

ansferred to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Pea

s of Imperialism, until the new Government shall have brought about the conclusion of the democratic peace which it will directly propose to all nations. The new Government will take all necessary ste

ring to lead troops against Petrograd. Several regiments,

sistance to the Kornilov

troop-trains being s

rog

es! The destiny of the Revolution a

e the Re

of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.

, staggering with fatigue, climbed to

rthern Front. The Twel

iets, announcing the f

ee which has taken ov

emonium, men weeping,

as recognised the Comm

ernment Voitins

Government, and thrust the coup d'etat upon the Congress of Soviets. Now there was all great Russia to win-and then t

was only a faint unearthly pallor stealing over the silent streets, dimmi