Dybenko, “a
black-bearded giant” and president of the Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet,
addresses the soldiers section of the Petrograd Soviet on the question of the
regulations of the Military Revolutionary Committee. He opened by telling the
meeting that, when an admiral asked whether they would obey orders in the
anticipated action in Moon
Sound, the sailors replied that they would, but, “…if we see that the fleet
is threatened with destruction, the commanding staff will be the first to hang
from the mast head.”
This kind of talk
played unexpectedly well in a section of the soviet hitherto dominated by the compromisist
parties. Then Dybenko spoke of the transfer of units in the garrison to the
front: “We will defend Reval ourselves. Stay here and defend the interests of
the revolution.” The Military Committee’s regulations passed with nearly 300 in
favor, one against, and a couple dozen abstaining. This consolidated the
Committee’s control of the garrison as against headquarters and the government.
Meanwhile,
Trotsky’s Executive Committee announced the renewed mobilization of the Red
Guard. The special department then created would soon come under the Military
Committee, integrating the military preparations of the workers with those of
the soldiers.
This brought the
problem of arming the workers to the fore. The attempt to disarm the workers
after the July Days uncovered some of their weapons, “old rubbish,” Trotsky
says, but “the very valuable weapons were carefully concealed.”
But they were not
nearly enough. At about this time, some of the workers came to Trotsky asking
for rifles. When he told them they party didn’t have control of the arsenals,
they told him they’d just been to the factory and the factory would be happy to
fill an order from the Soviet. The Soviet placed the order and the workers had
5,000 rifles by the end of the day.
Also on this day,
Tseretilli having gone home to Georgia, the Menshevik Dan took it upon himself
to ask in the Executive Committee whether the Bolsheviks intended to “come
out.” The old Marxist Riazanov replied, inferably, “Yes.”
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