The Provisional
Government, becoming a little alarmed about the attitude
of the Garrison Conference towards the district military headquarters,
decides to do something. They would arrest the Military Revolutionary
Committee, shut down the Bolshevik presses, and summon troops from nearby
garrisons and the front.
The government
thought they ought to get the backing of the Pre-Parliament first; nevertheless
parts of the program were set in motion. The military schools of the junkers
received orders to be ready for action. The cruiser Aurora, anchored in the
Neva near the Winter Palace, was told to sail for the Baltic Fleet. Neighboring
garrisons got orders to send troops and artillery to the capital. So did the
Northern Front. The Minister of Justice revoked
bail for people who, like Trotsky, had been released from jail, exposing
them to arrest.
More direct
steps, with a better chance of success, were also ordered: increasing the guard
of the Winter Palace, raising the drawbridges over the Neva, stopping and
searching automobile traffic, cutting off Smolny’s telephone lines.
Military
headquarters issued orders as well. They wanted the commissars of the Military
Revolutionary Committee removed from the units of the garrison, subject to
possible court martial. They also asked owners to place their automobiles under
protective custody at headquarters.
Meanwhile, at
5:30 a.m., a squad of junkers accompanied a government commissar to the
Bolshevik printing plant. They’d come bearing an order from headquarters. The
workers were not inclined to obey it, but the junkers broke in anyway, smashed
the stereotypes, sealed the building, and went on guard.
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