Ten Days That Shook the World

r-Revo

e and all the church-bells clamouring. From the top of a little hill outside the town could be seen the golden spires and many-co

ld remain neutral, but would not disarm. Kerensky gave them ten minutes in which to obey. This angered the soldiers; for eight months they had been governing themselves by committee, and

y large forces of yunkers, and bloodily recaptured. The Telephone Station was besieged by sailors, who lay behind barricades of barrels, boxes and tin sheets in the middle of the Morskaya, or sheltered

he car went by devious ways to the Mikhailovsky yunker school, headquarters of the counter-revolution. A French officer, in the court-yard, seemed to be in command…. By

sailors ambushed behind wood-piles began shooting. The machine-gun in the turret of the thing slewed around and spat a hail of bullets indiscriminately into the wood-piles and the crowd. In the archway where Miss Bryant stood seven people were shot dead, among them two little boys. Suddenly, with a shout, the sai

r and sent to Peter-Paul. The French Embassy promptly denied this, but one of the Cit

attitude of the Allied

ficers were active th

e at executive session

vat

The iron shutters of the shops were drawn, but business still went on. Even the moving-picture shows, all outside lights dark, played to crowded houses. The street-cars ran. The telephones were all working; when you c

ch, but were driven back by a violent fusillade from the corner of the Grebetskaya and the Bolshoy Prospekt. Soviet troops surrounded the building and opened fire, two armoured cars cruising back and forth with machine guns raking it. The yun

e flag. Now began a real bombardment. Great holes were torn in the walls of the school. The yunkers defended themselves desperately; shouting waves of Red

nst the battered building. Their own officers could not stop the terrible bombardment. A Commissar fro

Guards poured through windows, doors and holes in the wall. Before it could be stopped five yunkers were beaten and stabbed to death. The rest, about two hundred, were taken to Pete

zen members immediately set out to distribute among them armfuls of the latest proclamation of the Committee for Salvation. Several did

hing for the loan of his overcoat, as a disguise…. "They will massacre us! They will massacre us!" they cried, for many of them had given their word at the Winter Palace not to take up arms against the People. Williams offered to mediate if Antonov were released. This was i

e corners, and then, finding themselves safe, gave vent to their spite. "Ugh! The dirty, ignorant people! The fools!"… The sailors and Red Guards were embarrassed. "Brutes! Pigs!" shrilled the girls, indignantly putting on their coats and hats. Romantic h

controlled by the Municipal Duma. You are paid sixty rubles a month, and have to work ten hours and more…. From now on all that will be changed. The Government intends to put the telephones under cont

nything in common between these-these animals-and us? Remain? Not if they

rs, soldiers, workers. The six girls scurried backward and forward, instructing, helping, scolding…. So, crippled, halting, but going, the wires slowly began to hum. The first thing was to connect Smolny with the barracks and the factories; t

, a crowd had gathered before the Kazan Cathedral, continuing the endless debat

et Germany to make

r replied. "And whose

ois! To hell with Kere

nt Le

te arm-band was tearing down posters f

ulation of

e turned the Duma into a counter-revolutionary meeting, trying to raise part of the population against the rest, so as to facilitate the victory of Kornilov-Kerensky. Instead of doing their duty, the Right Socialist R

n counter-revolutionary action, have forgotten their duty, and are leading the population to famine, to civil war. We, elected by 183,000 votes, consider it our duty t

ut the city lay quiet, cold, as if exhaust

orted-capture of the Telephone Exchange, street-fighting, the taking of the Vladimir school…. "The Duma," said Trupp, "is on the side of the dem

al Government arrive in Petrograd, they will shoot down these insurgents, and

confidence in its officers; the left wing was in control; Avksentiev had resigned. A courier reported that the Committee of Welcome sent to meet Kerensky at

rnment. The Socialist Revolutionary paper demanded a Cabinet without either Cadets or Bolsheviki. Gorky was hopeful; Smolny had

members are petty journalists of doubtful reputation; our "coalition" is

ent of the Vikzhel, threatening to st

se riots, the saviour

neither the Bolshevik

troops of Kerensky-

lwa

ness like the railways; as for the Provisional Governme

ich does not act by authority of … a Governmen

oundless vitality of inexh

the Railway Workers of the Nicolai line, who said that the men wer

ittee are playing Kornilov's game. They tried to send a mission to the Stavka, but we arrested

ations, all over Russia, were cracking and changing. The Cooperatives were torn by internal struggles; the

day and night and day they threw themselves into the terrible machine; and came out limp, blind with fatigue, hoarse and filthy, to fall on the

utenant Blagonravov, thanks to the revolutionary vigilance of a soldier of the Red Guard, whose name shall be made public. At the centre of the plot was the Committee for Salvati

Military Revolutionary Committee orders the arrest of all concerned i

l forces of Bolsheviki had been driven from the Telephone and Telegraph offices; the yunkers now held the centre of the city. … But all around them the Soviet troops were mustering. Street-fighting was slowly gathering way; all

ession upstairs; on the Order in Which Laws Are to be Ratified and Published, Establishing an Eight hour Days for Workers, and Lunatcharsky's "Basis for a System of Popular Education." Only a few hundred pe

rt the troops of either party…. We have sent a committee to Kerensky to say that

nference of all the Socialist p

conference. The centre of gravity, however, lay not in composition of such a

deliberated on the d

olutionaries and t

had accepted the prop

conference, even inclu

s and the Peas

Trotzky recounted t

there is only one way-pitiless struggle. It would be childish to think we can win by any other means…. The moment is decisive. Everybody must cooper

tried to read his pa

o allow "a debate

decisive step has been taken. We all, and I in partic

is, they will cry, 'This is our Government!'" A yunker from Peterhof said that he and two others had refused to march against the Soviets; and when his comr

, indefatigable, giving o

ness had been remarked the last two days. "No drinking, comrades! No one must be on the streets after eight in the evening, except the regular guards. Al

delegation from the Viborg section; then for the

," said Trotzky, "we shall kil

rs killed in the day's fighting-or supposed to be killed, for most of the dead afterward turned up safe and sound…. Up in the Alexander Hall the Committee for Salvation held forth. The gold and red epaulettes of offic

s. Girl after girl, flushing with pleasure at the applause of the "nice" people of Petrograd, of the officers, the rich, the great names of politics

Mayor said hopefully that the Petrograd regiments were

5: Proclamation f

nd Regiment, in December, 1917, announcing desperate rem

nd went, reporting

g to save the yunkers,

"will be conquered by moral

the garrison was either busy suppressing the yunker revolt, guarding the city, or undecided what to do. At ten in the evening Lenin addressed a meeting of delegates from the city regiments, who voted overwhelmingly to fight. A Committee of five soldiers was elected to serve

the name of the right Mensheviki, proposed to the Bolsheviki the following conditions for a truce: The Red Guard to be disarmed, and the Petrograd garrison to be placed at the orders of the Duma; the troops of Kerensky not to fire a single shot or arrest a single man; a Ministry of all the Socialist parties except the Bolsheviki. For Smolny Riazanov and

ffort at conciliation, led by Martov and Gorky; but at the approach of Kerensky and the activity of the Committee for Salvation, the right wing o

eyed, awaiting the result in the capital. Now the delegates to the Congress of Soviets, hurrying on speeding trains to the farthest reaches of Asia, were coming to their homes, carrying the fiery cross. In wide-spreading ripples news of the miracle spread over the face of the

noisy. The old Mayor, in his dignified way, was prote

reign Embassies recognise only such documents as are signed by the Mayor of the town. The mind of a European does not admit of any other situation, as the Municipal self-government is the only organ which is capable of protecting the interests of the citizens. The City is bound to show hospitality, to

by the yunkers Colonel Polkovnikov ordered the telephones to Smolny

er from the Bolshevik benches,

to the population. They deprive us of our means of transport by taking away our last mot

volutionary Committee had requisitioned the Municipal automobiles. Even granting

ey distribute their illegal newspapers, Iskri (Sparks), Soldatski Golos and Rabotchaya Gazeta, inciting to insurrection. What if we Bolsheviki should also begin to distribute our papers here? But this s

eneral for indictment, and who must be tried on the charge of treason…. He proposed again that all Bolshevik members should be expelled from t

Bolsheviki is counter-revolutionary," said Pinkevitch, "then I do not know the difference between revolution and anarchy…. The Bolsheviki are depending upon the passi

onaries," said Nazariev, "is a crime which you, Bolsheviki, will not be able to wash away. Yesterday's horrors are but a preface to what you are p

r feet, shouting angrily, assailed by

eer, the Menshevik Gomberg and three or fo

on the corner of the Sadovaya to-day, I saw a Red Guard try to stop a boy selling Soldatski Golos…. The boy just laughed at him, and a crowd of people wanted to lynch the bandit

de. "I know where the Committee for Salvation is hid

normal-shop-shutters up, lights shining, and on the streets g

d. After a minute's observation she led us in-a placid-looking, middle-aged lady who at once cried, "Kyril, it's all right!" In the dining-room, where a samovar steamed on the table and there were plates full of bread and raw fish, a man in uniform emerged from behind the window-curtain

you publish such lie

what can we do?" He shrugged. "You must admit that it is neces

. The Ministries won't work…. Russia is not a city, but a whole country…. Realising that they can only last a few

l," I said. "But why

de

rs. There are no arms available…. The Bolsheviki are right to a certain extent; there are at this moment in Russia only two parties with any force-the Bolsheviki and the reactionaries, who are

i be admitted into

mitted, they'll probably do this all over again. At any rate, they will have a chance

w the Cadets do not really want the Constituent Assembly-not if the Bolsheviki can be destroyed now." He shook his head. "It is not easy for us R

think of Kere

lf forced us to accept coalition with the bourgeoisie. If he had resigned, as he threatened, it would have

it amount to

a little more radical. I stand with Tchernov, who is a real revolutionist…. Why, onl

nstituent…. At the beginning of this affair I was with the Bolsheviki, but the Central Committee

d fall into their hands. But if we wait a week the country will be so disorganised that the German imperialists will be victorious. That is

ut the C

eir men with Kerensky, and that they were doing their part…. Then, too, they said that the Cossacks were always accused of being the hereditary

Occasionally, through the half-drawn portières, we caught a glimpse of a door opening into a bath-room, where a heavily-built officer in a colonel's uniform sat on the toilet, writin

etic peace programme, but not an ultimatum to the world such as the Bolsheviki issued. The Bolsheviki cannot keep their promises to the masses, even in the country its

Socialist state here, we cannot work with them in any event! Kerensky made the great mistake. He let the Bolshe

aid, "do you in

here are enough troops from the front on our side, we shall not comp

h people, its platforms bent down from the weight and scraping along th

having their effect. For instance, the Council of People's Commissars had promised to publish the Secret Treaties; but Neratov, t

ges of the railroad men, of the postal and telegraph employees, must be paid…. The banks are closed; and the k

vaults, and there is a Decree just out, ordering the priva

was in full swing, th

y repo

nt cheering.) "But the battle is only beginning. At Pulkovo heavy

hands of the yunkers, and the workers have onl

crees on Peace and La

y is flooding the t

bloody, of women and c

But no one b

Avrora and Respublic

ained on the approa

re with the Red Guards?

a little paler than usual, he passed down the side of the room, sur

rmistice conditions proposed by the Mensheviki, he said, had been contemptuously rejec

they ask of us are three little things: 1. To surrender the power. 2. To make

moment, to answer t

t Revolu

and programme…. If that is so, we bow

o speak his mind and his heart…. The audience flowed, changing and renewed continually. From time to time men came in, yelling for the me

ft the hall, Holtzman, of the Military Revolutionary Comm

ng my hands. "Telegram from the fron

hurriedly in pencil, and then, seeing

Staff.

repulsed. Kerensky is retreating, we are advancing. The soldiers, sailors and workers of Petrograd have shown that they can and will with arms in their hands enforce the will and

act…. The repulse of Kerensky is the repulse of the land-owners, the bourgeoisie and the Kornilovists in general. The repulse of Kerensky is the confirmation of the right of the people to a peaceful free life, to land, bread and power. The

and the Soviet Power

cting under the comma

ose who fell! Glory

rs and the officers wh

op

ionary, popular,

me of the

, People's

al crowd in front of the Nicolai Railway Station. Several

a member of the Vikzhel

We do not carry troops for either side. We cannot take y

an to surge forward. Suddenly another door was flung w

cried one. "We will

ou like! Long liv