Red October

 

One hundred years ago today, plus three, the October Revolution began in Petrograd. Readers of these posts will understand that, because Russia was then using the old-style Julian calendar, it was still October there. Today there will be one entry for several events of the Red October insurrection.

November 6 – October 24, 1917: The Revolution in Readiness. The Bolsheviks and the Red Guard were not entirely ready for their insurrection, but they were more ready than the officers of the Petrograd garrison, the ministers of Kerensky’s Provisional Government, or the right-socialist Central Executive Committee of the national soviets. Meanwhile the national Congress of Soviets was still assembling, and about to be met with a fait accompli.

Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter On the Brink here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

November 7 – October 25, 1917: Petrograd Taken. The Prime Minister and his government having seriously underestimated the capabilities of the insurrectionary forces, and overestimated those of the (loyal part of the) garrison and the police, the Red Guard, with the support of left-socialist elements of the military, gained control of the capital in a day. Starting with the bridges over the Neva River, and continuing with the communications systems, power plants, banks, and other vital points of infrastructure, the insurrection took over, so far bloodlessly.

Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter Red October: The Insurrection here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

November 7 – October 25, 1917: The Winter Palace Encircled. Meanwhile, the ministers of the Provisional Government were holed up in the Winter Palace of the Romanov Czars, from which Kerensky took an early opportunity to absent himself, saying he would  speed reinforcements on  their way. The Red Guards and their Bolshevik leaders had difficulty executing their plan of encirclement and “bombardment.” Infiltration proved finally to be the successful tactic; both sides took casualties, but not many. Meanwhile the Congress of Soviets went into session in another palace of the city, and wondered about the meaning of all the racket.

Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter Red October: The Winter Palace here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

 

Council of the Republic

 

One hundred years ago today, plus three, Prime Minister Kerensky addressed the Council of the Republic, or Pre-Parliament, projected some two weeks before by the Democratic Conference of the soviets. Kerensky made it clear that the Pre-Parliament would have no authority of any kind, elective, legislative, or executive, over the Coalition Government he had in the meanwhile assembled.

On the same day, Lenin published “The Crisis Is Ripe” in Rabochy Put, making some of the same arguments for insurrection he would soon be making to the Bolshevik Central Committee.

Read about the Pre-Parliament here, and Lenin’s article here. Or read the whole chapter on Lenin’s Insurrection here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

 

Last Coalition vs. September Theses

 

One hundred years ago today, plus three, on the day after Kerensky announced another coalition government, destined to be his last, Lenin published the “Tasks of the Revolution,“ a kind of September version of the April Theses, in Rabochy Put. So while Kerensky was assigning ministries to bourgeois-liberal Cadets and right-socialists, that is, moving to the right, Lenin was reassessing Bolshevik strategy and tactics in light of recent developments, especially in the Petrograd Soviet, of which Trotsky had just been named president, and moving the revolution to the left.

 

Read about it here and here. Or read the whole chapter on Lenin’s Insurrection here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

Result of the Democratic Conference

One hundred years ago today, plus three, the right-socialist dominated Democratic Conference adjourned, but not without leaving doors open, if not making outright concessions, to Kerensky and the bourgeois liberal Cadets. The conference’s final act, the creation of a Council of the Republic, “Pre-Parliament” for short, did nothing to forestall Kerensky’s next move.

 

Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on the Democratic Conference here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

  

Trotsky Makes Bail

 

One hundred years ago today, plus three, political considerations compelled Kerensky’s Directory to permit Trotsky, imprisoned since the July Days, to post bail, which the trade unions had promptly raised. Meanwhile the day before, Lenin, still in exile, published a proposal to reject coalition with the bourgeois Cadets. The Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks would instead run the government on behalf of the soviets. This compromise got nowhere; it was effectively the last the Bolsheviks were to propose.

 

Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on the Democratic Conference here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

 

The Bolsheviks Carry a Resolution

 

One hundred years ago today, plus three, a day after the Executive Committee of the (national) soviets conceded Prime Minister Kerensky’s plan for a directorate, that is, a narrower government concentrating more authority in himself, the Petrograd (local) soviet overwhelmingly approved a Bolshevik resolution calling for a government of the workers’ and peasants’ soviets.

 

Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on the Democratic Conference here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

 

Kornilov’s Insurrection Collapses

 

One hundred years ago today, plus three, General’s Kornilov’s attempt at insurrection had fallen completely apart. His soldiers had no stomach for an attack on the revolutionary soldiers  and workers in the capital, and the general in direct command of those troops had shot himself dead after an interview with Prime Minister Kerensky. Soon Kornilov himself would be locked up.

 Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on Kornilov’s Insurrection here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

 

Kornilov Stalls

 

One hundred years ago today, plus three, only two days after it had started, General Kornilov’s advance on the capital began to peter out. Then socialist agitators went to work – they even brought some of the Cossacks over to the revolution!

Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on Kornilov’s Insurrection here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

 

Kornilov Advances

 

One hundred years ago yesterday, plus three, General Kornilov’s troops continued their advance on the capital. Or tried to. They wanted to go by rail, but the railroads were controlled by workers sympathetic to the socialist revolution. Soon things were not going smoothly at all.

Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on Kornilov’s Insurrection here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

Kornilov’s Manifesto

 

One hundred years ago today, plus three, plus two days (September 9, new style), General Kornilov issued a manifesto of accusations against the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks that was the signal for a counter-revolutionary insurrection. Then, contrary to his fellow plotter Prime Minister Kerensky’s wishes, he ordered troops he had previously placed in position to move towards Petrograd.

 Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on Kornilov’s Insurrection here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

 

A Plot Hatched

One hundred years ago today, plus three, Kerensky’s emissary to Kornilov returned from headquarters to Petrograd with an agreed upon scheme for overthrowing the Provisional Government under the guise of suppressing the Bolsheviks. The only open question: who was double-crossing whom.

 

Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on Kornilov’s Insurrection here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

Kerensky’s State Conference

One hundred years ago today, plus three years, minus a week (that is, on August 25^th, new style), Prime Minister Kerensky stage-managed a “State Conference” in Moscow at which, by alternating speakers from the left and right, he endeavored to depict himself as the indispensable man in the middle, the only one capable of governing amid the revolutionary and counter-revolutionary tendencies of the time. One of the speakers from the right, General Kornilov, would soon make his own play for control of those tendencies.

 Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on the State Conference here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

 

Bolsheviks Convene

One hundred years ago today, plus three, the Bolsheviks convened a party congress at a time when the party itself was barely legal. They passed a resolution to say Lenin, then in hiding, ought not to turn himself in; and welcomed the Trotskyites, up to then a separate party, into the Bolshevik fold. Meanwhile Kerensky, apparently satisfied that both the right socialists and the bourgeois Cadets considered him “indispensable,” had agreed two days before to form as prime minister the government that became the Second Coalition.

 Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on Kerensky’s Government here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

  

Kerensky Resigns

One hundred years ago today, plus three, Prime Minister Kerensky, possibly annoyed that the right-socialist ministers in his cabinet were not willing to go as far right as he in order to meet the demands of the bourgeois-liberal Cadets, resigned. It’s also possible he was only trying to strengthen his hand against both left and right, and thought resignation was the best way to do it.

Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on Kerensky’s Government here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

The State Duma Speaks

One hundred years ago today, plus three, the State Duma, a political relic that the tsar had permitted to exist because it had no real power, denounced Kerensky’s government, which had been styling itself the “Government of Salvation.” This was enough to cause all the ministers to hand in their portfolios, which in turn caused Kerensky to lurch further to the right, opening cabinet negotiations with the Cadets.

Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on Kerensky’s Government here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

Kerensky Prime Minister

One hundred years ago today, plus three, a cabinet reshuffle having been made necessary by the resignation of the bourgeois liberal Cadet ministers some days before, Alexander Kerensky was given another promotion, this time to Prime Minister. He also retained his post as War Minister. A crackdown on the Bolsheviks was part of the program of the new government; Lenin took Stalin’s advice and went into hiding.

Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on Kerensky’s Government here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

June Demonstration

One hundred years ago today, plus three, it was still June in Russia, as they were on the old-style calendar. The Congress of Soviets had called for a demonstration, but the Bolsheviks managed to turn it into a protest of Kerensky’s summer offensive, slated to start that day.

Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on the June Demonstration here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

Kerensky Orders an Offensive

One hundred years ago today, plus three, Alexander Kerensky, Social Revolutionary and Minister of War in the Coalition Government, ordered the Russian Army, whose private soldiers were largely conscripted peasants, to undertake an offensive all along the front against the armies of Germany and Austria-Hungary. He and his bourgeois friends in the cabinet were about the only people who thought this was a good idea.

Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on the June Demonstration here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

Coalition Government

One hundred years ago today, plus three, some but not all of the socialist parties were invited, and were willing, to join the coalition government being formed after a couple bourgeois liberal Cadet ministers resigned from the provisional government. Alexander Kerensky, a Social Revolutionary, got promoted to the War Ministry. The Bolsheviks had opposed this compromise in the Executive Committee of the Soviet.

Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on the coalition government here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

Kornilov’s Insurrection

One hundred years ago today, plus two, Kerensky’s choice for overall command in the war against Germany and her allies, General Kornilov, turned his forces instead in the direction of Petrograd. His manifesto, also issued that day, made it sound as if, not the Bolsheviks, but the Provisional Government itself was the target of the move.

Of course, Kerensky, head of that government, did not think particularly well of Kornilov’s plans. Read about it here.

Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.