Alarmed when he ordered
measures early that morning against the possibility of insurrection,
Kerensky seems even more alarmed as he addresses the Pre-Parliament that
afternoon. He recited what Lenin had been openly saying in the Bolshevik press.
But the patience of the government had worn thin with the Bolsheviks and the “rabble”
they represent. The last straws were calling out troops of the garrison to
recover the Bolshevik
printing plant and openly distributing weapons out of the government’s
arsenals.
Then Konovalov handed
Kerensky the text of the message from the Military Revolutionary Committee
calling on the garrison to defend the Congress of Soviets. Kerensky read it to
the assembly. So it was insurrection.
Miliukov says, “Kerensky pronounced these words in the complacent tone of a
lawyer who has at last succeeded on getting evidence against his opponent.” He
promised “liquidation” to the insurrection, demanded the support of the
Pre-Parliament for the government’s efforts in this endeavor, and left the
hall.
Support did not come
immediately or by acclamation. The parties caucused first, then debated among
themselves. It took four hours, until 6:00 p.m., and still failed of unanimity.
The socialists adopted a resolution suggested by the Menshevik Dan, blaming both the government and the Bolsheviks
for the crisis. The Cadets and Cossacks, in the minority, promised “unqualified
support to the government,” pending, as Trotsky observes, their own counter-revolutionary insurrection. The Pre-Parliament
also proposed to entrust the struggle against the insurrection to a committee
of public safety they would name. All in all, it was another staggering defeat
for the authority of the government.
Meanwhile, in the
Petrograd Soviet, Trotsky was doing his best to portray the actions of the
Military Revolutionary Committee as defensive. He would say what the committee
had done, and why, then ask rhetorically, “Is this insurrection?”
The fact is, it
was. Miliukov speculates in his history that the Bolsheviks were planning to
wait until the Congress of Soviets opened to take the insurrection on the
offensive. But the government had proved so weak, they did so beforehand.
Trotsky says, no, it was always intended to present the Congress, so far as
possible, with a fait accompli. The
Kronstadt sailors would join up with the Vyborg workers and take the capital
together, then the Congress would
convene.
But the weakness
of the government did make a difference in the plans, as the next series of
entries will show.
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