November 8 – October 26, 1917: A New Day.
The morning papers draw a blank on the events of the previous thirty-six hours.
They reported the taking of the Winter Palace and arrest of the ministry, but
weren’t sure what that meant or what kind of difference it would make. By
orders from Smolny, the streets, tramcars, shops, and restaurants opened and
functioned normally. So people went out or went to work and shared the rumors
they’d heard or speculations they’d made up. Trotsky
says “…the seismograph of the Stock Exchange describes a convulsive curve.”
Apparently he means stocks fell – at least they could still make trades.
The American
journalist Reed picked up whatever papers he could find through the course of
the day. Reed’s clippings from the compromisist papers predicted the failure of
the Bolshevik revolution, denounced the party program – peace, land, and bread
– as lies and false promises, and condemned the Congress of Soviets as illegal
and without authority. Trotsky says some of the bourgeois and compromisist
press were reviving the old slander of the German connection. Reed observes
that the few Cadet papers to be found took a “detached, ironical” attitude. A
few of the more destructive papers were suppressed.
So not everything
was new that day. But the Bolshevik paper, lately published under title of Rabochy Put, now reappeared as Pravda.
November 8 – October 26, 1917: The Central
Committee Forms a State. All that day, the Military Revolutionary Committee
is still issuing orders from Smolny. Word came that Kornilov had escaped his
“prison” in Bykhov. He and Kerensky were to be arrested; assisting Kerensky
will be considered a state crime. Agitators and organizers were being recruited
and sent to the front and to the provinces. Units at the front were invited to
elect new soldiers committees. Measures were initiated to deal with
recalcitrant railway, telegraph, and postal unions.
These were among,
Trotsky says, “thousands and myriads of orders” issued “by word of mouth, by
pencil, by typewriter, by wire….” It was not just another day’s work.
While the city
duma met and issued proclamations in the name of the Committee of Salvation,
the Bolshevik Central Committee met to decide the structure and contents of the
new government. There were two issues: whether to form the government in
coalition with the other socialist parties, and what to call the departmental
executives. The latter was easy to solve. “Ministers” had a bad smell to it. So
they would be “commissars” of the Soviet of Peoples Commissars.
As to the first
issue, the left Social Revolutionaries were the only faction of any size that
had stayed in the Congress of Soviets with the Bolsheviks the night before.
They caucused and negotiated, but found they could not agree to a Bolshevik
program that had hardly changed since Lenin’s April
Theses, and was the foundation of the October Revolution. Lenin and Trotsky
would not compromise the program, says the American journalist Reed, even
though Kamenev and Riazanov, among others, urged accommodation in order to give
the government a broader base. By about 7:00 p.m. that evening, the left Social
Revolutionaries decided they would not join the government on the Bolsheviks’
terms, but would nevertheless remain on the Military Revolutionary Committee.
It turned out they did not want, by joining
the government, to leave behind their fellow Social Revolutionaries on the
right entirely. The result was an all-Bolshevik government.
The Central
Committee had a visitor that afternoon. The Menshevik Martov interceded on
behalf of the imprisoned socialist ministers. The committee, seemingly via
Kamenev, confirmed Trotsky’s offer of house arrest. Trotsky cannot be sure
whether the ministers accepted the offer, or preferred to remain imprisoned in
solidarity with their bourgeois colleagues.
Meanwhile,
representatives of the railway, telegraphers, and postal unions adhered to the
Committee of Salvation, creating practical if not political obstacles to the
progress of the government of soviets. Even the stenographers, employees of the
old Central Executive Committee,
would absent themselves from the Congress of Soviets, and so the record of the
proceedings is scant. Trotsky calls this the first act in a “campaign of
sabotage” by the ex-Compromisers.
Overnight November 8-9 – October 26-27,
1917: Decree on Peace. At about 8:40 p.m., Lenin enters the hall where the
Congress of Soviets has assembled; the delegates greet him, Reed says, with a
“thundering wave of cheers.” The agenda is still peace, land, and a government
of the soviets. Kamenev read the report of the praesidium’s actions of the day:
abolish the death penalty at the front, freedom of agitation there, release for
soldiers and land committee members held as political prisoners, orders to
arrest Kerensky, Kornilov, and their abettors. All were ratified by the
Congress.
Sukhanov was in
the galleries, this time as a spectator. A couple of right-socialist speakers
argued uselessly against the incoming tide. Then a coal miner from the Don
basin urged the Congress to take measures against Kaledin and his Cossacks lest
they interrupt supplies of coal and grain. Trotsky has to admit that such
measures were then beyond the revolution’s powers.
Now Lenin rose to
speak. The American journalist Reed says the welcoming ovation “lasted several
minutes. When it finished, he said simply, ‘We shall now proceed to construct
the socialist order.’” Again “that overwhelming human roar.”
With little in
the way of preliminaries, and nothing in flourishes, Lenin read the party’s
proclamation on peace:
·
Immediate negotiations between the belligerent
peoples and governments
·
Peace without annexations or indemnities
·
Neither conquered territories nor smaller,
weaker states or nationalities to be annexed
·
No secret treaties; existing treaties to be
published; provisions for the benefit of imperialist capital to be annulled
·
Immediate armistice for three months
The “offer of
peace” is addressed to the belligerent governments and peoples, but in
particular to the proletariat of England, France, and Germany, where Marx and
Engels had spent virtually all their working lives, and where socialist
political consciousness was then most advanced.
Note that, by
calling for immediate armistice and negotiations, the proclamation addresses
the first concern of the peasant soldiery. The provision on annexation
addresses the nationalities question directly and comprehensively, but by its
terms also rules out imperialist colonialism. And by calling on the workers of
England, France, and Germany, the proclamation emphasizes the international
character of the proletarian revolution. In brief comments, Lenin pointed out
that, in order for negotiations to begin immediately, governments would have to
be consulted – but not to the exclusion of the peoples. Further that the
proclamation was not an ultimatum; even exceptions to the policies on annexations
and indemnities would be considered. But “’Consider
does not mean we will accept it.’” Finally, Lenin asserted that if Russia had
thrown off the “’government of the bankers,’” so could the other peoples of
Europe. And this would be the basis of lasting peace.
Find the whole
text here.
The left Social
Revolutionaries were joined by speakers for other, smaller factions in voicing
support, sometimes qualified, for the proclamation. Lenin strongly rejected the
argument made by a fellow Bolshevik, that, rather than a proclamation, the
Congress should issue an ultimatum. The governments, Lenin argued, would spin
an ultimatum, hiding from their peoples the real meaning of the Soviet’s offer
of peace.
And so Kamenev,
in the chair, at 10:35 p.m. according to Reed, put the matter to a vote. He
called on the delegates in favor to raise their credentials. This they all did. One who lifted his hand against
was shamed, and brought it back down.
This was an
historic moment. Not in the way our politicians toss the word around. It was
the act of a whole people, manifesting their power to themselves and to the
world. Like the Declaration of Independence. Or the Emancipation Proclamation.
But not quite. The people, the masses, were all present there in Smolny through delegates they themselves elected
in the soviets. The delegates had grasped the power they were given and used it
for the people and the world. With that realization, everyone began to sing the
Internationale. From the praesidium
to the back rows, eyes that were not weeping were shining.
Afterwards
someone called out – Long live Lenin! Cheers! Caps flung in the air! Then,
remembering the war and the struggle for the revolutions, they sang the Russian
Funeral March for their dead. Trotsky and Reed were both there; both capture
the living scene in their books. Sukhanov, the Menshevik and Compromiser, was
there too, but he couldn’t sing along.
Word went out to
the front and to the provinces….
Find the lyrics
to the Internationale here,
and the sheet music here.
Many versions, in many languages, can be found on Wikipedia.
Overnight November 8-9 – October 26-27,
1917: Decree on Land. Lenin again takes the stand at the Congress of
Soviets, bringing another proclamation, this one for resolving the
long-festering agrarian question. The Social Revolutionaries had dominated the
peasants soviets since the February Revolution. When they were drawn into the
coalition governments with the bourgeois parties representing, among others,
large landowners, they found it impossible to implement the policies their
peasant constituency wanted. So they, and in particular Kerensky and his
Ministers of Agriculture, had no answer to the agrarian question.
The Bolsheviks
now gave the answer – essentially the same one given in Lenin’s April
Theses. Lenin held the only draft; it had not been possible to reproduce it
for distribution. It was also apparently written in another hand. He stumbled
as he read it, and had to stop for a moment. Someone on the dais, maybe the
person who wrote it, offered to help and read the proclamation through.
The proclamation,
Trotsky says, “smashes the Gordian knot with a hammer”:
·
Landlord property, including that of the crown,
the churches, and the monasteries, annulled without compensation
·
Confiscated lands, including livestock and
implements, to be held as national property
·
This property to be administered, and the use of
it distributed, by the local peasants soviets and land committees
·
The lands of the small peasants and Cossacks
serving in the army not subject to confiscation
The Social
Revolutionaries had managed to draft and publish, in the peasants’ Izvestia on August 19 (September 1, new
style), a set of guidelines for the redistribution of land. It remained a dead
letter until now, when the Bolsheviks appended it to the proclamation as
instructions for carrying the latter out. Find the text of the Decree on Land here.
Note that the
proclamation recognizes private property in the lands of small holders, and
permits the soviets and land committees to redistribute confiscated land
roughly equally into private parcels. Rosa Luxemburg had remarked that this is
not socialism. But Lenin in the war on capital, like Lincoln in the war against
slavery, knew when to take a step and how far the step ought to go. The
peasants were already in revolt. The Decree on Land bound them to the workers
just as the Decree on Peace had bound the soldiers.
Lenin then made a
few points in support of the proclamation. Before the applause died down, a
right Social Revolutionary representing the Executive Committee of the Peasants
Soviets pushed forward and angrily renewed the demand for the release of the
socialist ministers – including, a little ironically, the Minister of
Agriculture.
Trotsky answered
that the compomisist Central Executive Committee had already furnished a
precedent for house arrest: when Kollontai was released from prison under
doctor’s orders, her house was guarded by police formerly employed under the
tsar. A peasant delegate from Tver, “with long hair and a big sheepskin coat,”
says Trotsky, got up from his seat, made his bows, and invited the praesidium
to arrest the Executive Committee of the Peasants Soviets instead. “’Those are
not peasants’ deputies, but Cadets…. Their place is in prison.’” This met with
vocal approval from the Congress, and the first speaker beat his retreat.
Some of the left
Social Revolutionaries wanted to caucus before giving their votes. One of the
furthest left of them called for an immediate vote instead. Lenin, wanting the
proclamation to make the morning papers, nevertheless permitted a short
intermission: “’No filibustering!” he said.
After this
interim, which lasted two and half hours, until 1:00 a.m. October 26 (November
8, new style) instead of the allotted thirty minutes, the Congress received
reports of the adherence to the Military Revolutionary Committee of units from
Macedonia to the outskirts of Petrograd – another bicycle battalion sent there
by the government. They heard, Reed says, announcements asking for agitators to
go to the front. They passed, “unanimously and without debate,” a resolution
advising the local soviets, on their honor, to prevent pogroms against the Jews
or any other national or ethnic group.
Now, at about
2:00 a.m., Kamenev called the vote: the whole Congress, less one vote and eight
abstentions, supported the decree, and, says Trotsky, ”…therewith the
revolution of the proletariat acquires a mighty basis.”
Reed says a
soldier-delegate rose to make a special plea: land for deserters? This was
ruled out by the Social Revolutionaries’ guidelines. But was it fair? Over
shouted objections, the speaker won the ears of the Congress. Some deserters
were shirkers or cowards, others were brutalized, starved, and in despair.
Kamenev, having one final item on his agenda, proposed to reserve the matter to
the government for decision.
Early Morning November 9 – October 27,
1917: A New Government. The Bolsheviks do not propose a constitution to the
Congress of Soviets; that is a matter for the Constituent Assembly, then set to
meet in December. Instead they put forward a brief statement or abstract of the
Workers’ and Peasants’ Government for the consideration of the Congress.
Kamenev took the
floor and read the draft. Under this proposal, the functions of government were
allocated to departments, and the departments were placed under committees. The
soviets, local and provincial, of workers, soldiers, and peasants, would closely
advise and work with the committees. The heads of the committees would be
commissars, and have seats in the Soviet of People’s Commissars.
So far, the
American journalist Reed says, silence. Now Kamenev read the names of the
commissars. I’ll only provide the names with which the readers of these posts
will be familiar; visit Wikipedia
for the whole list. The names on it are all given names, not the well-known noms de guerre:
·
Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin), as head of government,
without portfolio
·
Antonov, Dybenko, and Krylenko, as a triumvirate
for the military and navy
·
A.V. Lunacharsky, as commissar for Education
·
L.D. Bronstein (Trotsky), as commissar for
Foreign Affairs
·
I.V. Djugashvili (Stalin), as commissar for
Nationalities
Fifteen
commissars in all were named. Applause greeted the new commissars, especially
Lenin and Trotsky, but also Lunacharsky, a well-known agitator. Kamenev became
president of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets, and Zinoviev was
made publisher of the official organ of the government.
Avilov, one of
the right socialists who’d stayed behind when the others left, renewed his role
as a gadfly. The new government must face all the old questions. Bread is hard
to find; peace may be even harder. It was a lengthy speech, at first met with
hostility, finally raising doubts. Both Avilov and the left Social
Revolutionary who spoke next called for a government of the “entire democracy,”
including the parties and persons who had walked out of the Congress the day
before. Avilov even advocated joining with the city duma in its Committee on
Public Safety.
Trotsky, a superb
debater, again gave the answer for his party. First of all, the insurrection
was a success; it was virtually bloodless. The Bolsheviks alone had judged the
correlation of forces realistically and correctly. Moreover, and now especially
with the Decrees on Peace and Land, the party represented the meeting point of
all the revolutionary masses, workers, soldiers, and peasants. So the party
already has a coalition. Is Avilov proposing a “’coalition of newspapers’”
instead? Further, bread doesn’t come from coalitions; the right socialist
walkouts offer nothing more for the solution of that problem.
The insurrection
destroyed the Provisional Government, Trotsky continued, and handed the power
to the Congress of Soviets. No thanks to the walkouts! They refused the gift.
“’They are traitors to the revolution with whom we will never unite!’”
Neither would a
coalition do anything for peace. The diplomats of the Entente laughed the
Menshevik Skobelev out of court when he presented them the Pre-Parliament’s
peace proposals. The Decree on Peace is not all that different, but it is
addressed to the peoples as well as the governments. “’We rest all our hope on
the possibility that our revolution will unleash the European revolution.’” For
otherwise, ‘”…the capitalists of all countries will crush our revolution.’” The
party is not an isolated Russian faction, but a champion of the oppressed
everywhere. The Congress, says Reed, accepted Trotsky’s speech in that spirit.
Before a vote to
confirm the Soviet of Peoples’ Commissars could be taken, the praesidium
acceded to the demand of another gadfly to speak. This was a representative of
the railroad workers union, called the Vikzhel. The union had already adhered
to the Committee of Public Safety; now it wanted to threaten the Bolsheviks and
the Congress. The union did not recognize the authority of the Congress. Unless
the Congress includes the walkout socialists in the government, the union will
not transport troops of the Military Revolutionary Committee. If the government
tries to repress the union, it will not transport food into the capital either.
This troubled the
praesidium for a moment. But really the Vikzhel overestimated their influence;
the tail was wagging the dog. Delegates to the Congress who were themselves
railway workers pointed out that the Vikzehl represented clerks, not workers.
The workers had already endorsed the
transfer of power to the Congress, as well as the actions the Congress had
taken and was about to take. In the end, Kamenev dismissed the claims as out of
order: “’There can be no questioning the legal rights of this congress.’”
Now the vote
could be taken. The Congress elected the slate of Bolshevik commissars by a
large majority, but by no means unanimously. Sukhanov estimates Avilov’s
resolution calling for a coalition with the walkout socialists got 150 votes;
Trotsky thinks this is too many. On the other hand, the new Central Executive
Committee of 62 Bolsheviks and 29 left Social Revolutionaries was confirmed
without dissent.
The agenda was
complete. Kamenev closed the Congress at 5:15 a.m. Now the October Revolution
must be spread to the cities and provinces of Russia and announced to the
world….
