Left: Kerensky visits Southwestern Front troops Right: "October" (1927 Soviet movie)
Sources: webpage (left), All Soviet movies on RVISION
1. TO ALL THE TOILERS, TO ALL THE WORKERS AND SOLDIERS OF PETROGRAD.1
Comrades,
Russia is traversing sore trials.
The war is still continuing and claiming countless lives. It is being deliberately prolonged by the scoundrels, the bloodsucking bankers who grow fat on it.2
The industrial disruption brought by the war is causing the stoppage of factories and unemployment, deliberately intensified by the lockout capitalists in their lust for fabulous profits.3
The food shortage brought by the war is becoming more and more ominous. High prices are strangling the urban poor, and the prices are continually rising according to the whim of marauding profiteers.
The sinister phantom of hunger and ruin is staring us in the face...4
[...]
Famine draws closer and closer, and no effective measures are taken to avert it.
Is it surprising that the counter-revolutionaries are growing more and more arrogant and inciting the government to inflict further repressive measures on the workers and peasants, the soldiers and sailors?
Comrades, these things can no longer be tolerated in silence! To remain silent after all this would be criminal!
You are free citizens, you have the right to protest, and you must use that right before it's too late.
Let tomorrow (June 18), the day of the peaceful demonstration, be a day of formidable protest by revolutionary Petrograd against resurgent oppression and tyranny!
Let victorious banners wave tomorrow to the dismay of the foes of liberty and socialism!
Let your call, the call of champions of the revolution, resound throughout the world to the delight of all the oppressed and enslaved!
[...]
2. TO ALL THE TOILERS, TO ALL THE WORKERS AND SOLDIERS OF PETROGRAD.1
Comrades,
These are dire times for Russia.
The three years of war have claimed countless victims and reduced the country to a state of exhaustion.
The dislocation of the transportation system and the disruption of food supplies are fraught with the menace of wholesale starvation.
Industrial upheaval and factory shutdowns are shaking the very foundation of our national economy.
But the war goes on and on, intensifying the general crisis and taking the country to utter collapse.
The Provisional Government whose mission it was to "save" the country has proven unequal to the task. Moreover it made matters worse by launching an offensive at the front, thereby prolonging the war which is the principal cause of the general crisis in the country.2
The result is total government confusion, crisis, and a breakdown of authority which everyone decries but no one dispels with sensible measures.
[...]
3. THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS.1
The Constituent Assembly Election campaign has begun. The parties are already mobilizing their forces. The prospective candidates of the Cadets are already touring the country, sounding their chances of success. The Socialist-Revolutionaries have convened a conference of gubernia peasant representatives in Petrograd for the purpose of "organizing" the elections. Another group of Narodniks is convening a congress of the All-Russian Peasants' Union 2 in Moscow with the same purpose. Simultaneously non-party "Garrison Soviets of Peasants' Deputies" are spontaneously springing up; they intend to check whether the election campaign is conducted in the countryside effectively...
[...]
The immediate task of our Party is to wrest the poorer strata of the peasantry away from the influence of Trudoviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, and to unite these poor peasants with urban workers in order to form one fraternal family.
[...]
We are in favour of an agreement with non-Party poor peasants whom life itself is leading to the path of revolutionary struggle against the landlords and capitalists.
We are in favour of an agreement with non-Party soldiers and sailors who are imbued with confidence not in the wealthy but in the poor, not in the bourgeois government but in the people and, above all, in the working class. To repel such groups and organizations because they cannot or do not want to merge with our Party would be unwise and harmful.
That's why our election campaign in the rural districts must strive to find a common language with such groups and organizations, work out a common revolutionary platform, draw up in every constituency joint lists of candidates who are not "professors" or "savants" but peasants, soldiers and sailors ready to defend the people's demands staunchly.
Only in this way will it be possible to rally the broad strata of the rural toiling population around the leader of our revolution, the proletariat.
[...]
The following is a platform prototype that might serve as ground for agreement with such non-Party organizations of peasants and soldiers,
1. We are opposed to the landlords and capitalists and their "Party of Popular Freedom" because they and they alone are the chief enemies of the Russian people. No confidence in and no support for the wealthy and their government!
[...]
4. We are in favour of the speediest ending of the war through resolute rebellion of the peoples against their imperialist governments.
5. We are opposed to the industrial anarchy that is being aggravated by the capitalists. We are in favour of workers' control over industry; we are in favour of the management of industry along democratic lines through the intervention of the workers themselves and of a government they trust.
[...]
7. We are in favour of all the land—appanage, state, crown, landlord, monastery and church—being transferred to the whole people without compensation.3
[...]
9. We are in favour of all idling draft animals and farm implements now in possession of the landlords or stored in warehouses, being placed immediately at the disposal of the Peasant Committees for tillage, mowing, harvesting, etc.
[...]
11. We are in favour of a people's republic without a standing army, a bureaucracy or a police force.4
12. Instead of a standing army we demand a national guard with elected commanders.
[...]
17. We are opposed to the harassment of the workers' and soldiers' press; we are opposed to restrictions on free speech and assembly whether in the rear or at the front; we are opposed to arrests without trial; we are opposed to the disarming of workers.5
18. We are opposed to the reintroduction of the death penalty.6
[...]
20. Lastly we are in favour of all power in the country being turned over to the revolutionary Soviets of Workers and Peasants for only such power can lead the country out of the impasse it has been brought to by the war, by the economic disruption and high cost of living and by the capitalists and landlords fattening on the people's need.
Such is in general the platform that might serve as a basis for agreement between our Party organizations and the non-Party revolutionary groups of peasants and soldiers.
Comrades, the elections are approaching. Intervene before it's too late and organize the election campaign.
[...]
The importance of the Constituent Assembly is immense. But immeasurably greater is the importance of the masses outside the Constituent Assembly. The source of strength will not be the Constituent Assembly itself but the workers and peasants who by their struggle are creating a new revolutionary law and who will propel the Constituent Assembly forward.
Know that the more organized the revolutionary masses are, the more attentively will the Constituent Assembly heed their voice and the more anchored will the future of the Russian revolution be.
Therefore the chief task in the elections is to rally the broad mass of the peasantry around our Party.
To work, comrades!
4. AGAINST THE MOSCOW CONFERENCE.1
The counter-revolution is entering a new phase. From wrecking and destruction it is moving to consolidate the positions it won. From riots and disorders it is shifting to "legal channels" of "constitutional evolution."
The revolution can and must be defeated, say the counter-revolutionaries. But that is not enough. Approval must be obtained for this. And it must be so arranged that this approval is given by the "people" themselves, by the "nation," and not only in Petrograd or at the front, but all over Russia. Then the victory will be solid and the gains obtained can be the springboard for future victories of the counter-revolution.
But how is this to be done?
One could speed up the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, sole representative of the entire Russian people, and ask for its approval of a policy of war and ruin, wrecking and arrests, manhandling and shootings.
But the bourgeoisie will not agree to this. They know that the Constituent Assembly, where peasants will be in the majority, would not brook or approve a counter-revolutionary policy.
That's why the bourgeoisie continue to postpone the Constituent Assembly and will probably do so indefinitely, rescinding it at length.
What then is the "way out"?
The "way out" is to substitute a "Moscow Conference" for the Constituent Assembly.
The "way out" is to substitute the will of the people with the will of landlords and upper strata of the bourgeoisie, to substitute a "Moscow Conference" for the Constituent Assembly.
The "way out" for the counter-revolution is to convene a conference of merchants, manufacturers, landlords, bankers, members of the tsarist Duma plus the already-tamed Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries in order to glorify it as a "National Assembly" and to garner its approval for the policy of imperialism and counter-revolution, laying the burden of the war on the backs of workers and peasants.
The counter-revolution needs a parliament of its own, a centre of its own, and is creating it.
The counter-revolution needs the confidence of the "public" and is garnering it.
That's the crux of the matter.
The counter-revolution is in this respect following the same course as the revolution. It is learning from the revolution.
The revolution had its parliament, its real centre, and felt itself organized.
Now the counter-revolution is striving to create its own parliament and is creating it in the very heart of Russia, in Moscow, by the hand of—oh the irony of fate!—the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks.
And this at a time when the revolution's parliament has been demoted to mere adjunct of the imperialist bourgeois counter-revolution, when war to the death has been declared upon the Soviets and Committees of workers, peasants and soldiers!
It's not difficult to understand that under these circumstances the conference to be convened in Moscow on August 12 will be transformed inevitably into a tool of counter-revolutionary conspiracy against the workers threatened with lockouts and unemployment—against the landless peasants—against the soldiers deprived of the liberties won in the days of revolution; and the conspiracy will be camouflaged with the "socialist talk" of Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks at the conference.
Consequently it is the task of the advanced workers,
1) To rip the "organ of popular representation" mask off the face of the conference, to drag its counter-revolutionary, anti-popular nature, into the light of day.
2) To expose the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries for using the "salvation of the revolution" flag to disguise the conference and mislead the people of Russia.
3) To organize mass protests against these counter-revolutionary maneuvers of the "saviours" (i.e., saviours of the profits of landlords and capitalists).
Let the enemies of the revolution know that the workers will not let themselves be duped, that they will not let the battle-standard of revolution slip from their hands.
5. DIVISION OF LABOUR IN THE "SOCIALIST-REVOLUTIONARY" PARTY.
At the last meeting of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies the Socialist-Revolutionaries voted for the abolition of the death penalty and joined the protest against the arrest of Bolsheviks.
That, of course, is very good and very commendable.
But we take the liberty of asking a modest question: Who introduced the death penalty at the front and who arrested the Bolsheviks?
Wasn't it the Socialist-Revolutionaries (with the gracious assistance of the Cadets and Mensheviks!)? As far as we know, citizen A. F. Kerensky the Prime Minister is a member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. His name adorned the list of candidates of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party in the elections to the Petrograd City Duma.
As far as we know, citizen B. V. Savinkov the Deputy Minister of War is also a member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party.
Well, weren't these two prominent "Socialist-Revolutionaries" primarily responsible for the restoration of the death penalty at the front? (To them should be added General Kornilov but he has not joined the Socialist-Revolutionary Party so far).
Furthermore we know that citizen Chernov the Minister of Agriculture is also supposed to be a member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party.
And lastly citizen N. D. Avksentyev the Minister of the Interior who occupies, next to Kerensky, the most prominent post in the cabinet is also a member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party.
Well, didn't all these right honourable "Socialist-Revolutionaries" introduce the death penalty at the front and arrest the Bolsheviks?
One may ask: What is this strange division of labour in the Socialist-Revolutionary Party which has some members vehemently protest against the introduction of the death penalty while others introduce it with their own hands?...
It's truly astonishing!
It was so very recently that we overthrew the autocratic system, it was so very recently that we began to live "in European style" that we have adopted all at once all the objectionable features of "European" political life.
Take any bourgeois-radical party in France, let's say. It will without fail label itself a socialist party, "Radical Socialist," "Independent Socialist," etc., etc. Before electors, the "lower ranks" and the masses, these parties always scatter "Left" phrases roundabout, particularly on the eve of elections and particularly when they are hard pressed by a rival party that is truly socialist. But "at the top" the "Radical Socialist" and "Independent Socialist" government ministers calmly pursue their bourgeois work, totally detached from the socialist desires of their electors.
That's how the Socialist-Revolutionaries are behaving presently.
A happy party! Who introduced the death penalty? The Socialist-Revolutionaries! Who protested it? The Socialist-Revolutionaries! You pay your money and take your choice...
The Socialist-Revolutionaries hope in this way to safeguard their innocence (stay popular with the masses) and still make a fortune (keep their ministerial portfolios).
But, it will be said, disagreements occur in every party; some members think one way, others another.
Yes, but there are disagreements and disagreements. If some are for the hangmen and others against, to reconcile such "disagreements" within a party is rather hard. And if, moreover, the most responsible leaders of the party, the government ministers, are for the hangmen and put their opinion into practice straightaway, every politically-minded person will judge that party's policies by the actions of these ministers and not by this or that resolution of protest tabled by the rank and file.
The shame has not been erased. The Socialist-Revolutionary Party stays a death-penalty party, a jailers' party that arrests working-class leaders. The Socialist-Revolutionaries will never rid themselves of the shame that it was prominent members of their party the ones who re-introduced the death penalty. They will never wash off the stigma that their government promoted the infamous slander cast at leaders of the workers' party and that their government attempted to stage a new Dreyfus affair against Lenin...1
6. TWO LINES.
The fundamental question of revolution is power. The character of a revolution, its course and outcome wholly depend upon who wields power, which class holds power. What is called a power struggle is nothing but an outward manifestation of a class struggle for power. A revolutionary epoch is remarkable indeed for being the most acute and naked version of the struggle for power. That explains our "chronic" governmental crisis aggravated by the war, disruption and famine. That explains the "astonishing" fact that not a single "conference" or "congress" can be held nowadays without the issue of power inevitably coming to the fore.
And inevitably it surfaced at the Democratic Conference 1 held in the Alexandrinsky Theatre.
Two lines regarding the question of power were revealed at the conference.
The first line was an open coalition with the Cadet Party. The Menshevik and Socialist-Revolutionary defencists advocated it and that inveterate compromiser, Tsereteli, pressed for it at the conference.
The second line was to make a radical break with the Cadet Party. This line was advocated by our Party together with the internationalists inside the Socialist-Revolutionary and Menshevik camp, and it was urged at the conference by Kamenev.2
[...]
Source: Russian Wikipedia.The reason for convening a Democratic Conference after and in opposition to the Moscow State Conference was the awareness that a homogeneous democratic government had to replace the coalition government which had clearly begun to fall apart after the notorious June [Kerensky] Offensive and which had received a mortal wound after Kornilov's attempted coup. I do not presume to assert that all the leading members of the Central Executive Committee viewed the task of the Democratic Conference thus but I can categorically assert that this is precisely how the most prominent members viewed it... The task that guided us in convening the Democratic Conference was to create a democratic government based not only on strict revolutionary democracy, represented by the Soviets, but also based on cooperatives and local government bodies (city councils and zemstvos)... We were encouraged to do this after observing the success obtained at the Moscow State Conference by a similar effort.
The Central Committee of the Bolsheviks decided to boycott the Pre-parliament. True, the Bolshevik group consisting of people like Kamenev and Teodorovich was loath to leave it, but the Central Committee compelled them to do so.
Kamenev and Zinoviev stubbornly insisted on participation in the Pre-parliament, striving thereby to divert the Party from its preparations for the uprising. Comrade Stalin spoke at a meeting of the Bolsheviks attending the All-Russian Democratic Conference, vigorously opposed participation in the Pre-parliament and called it a "Kornilov aborted fetus."
Lenin and Stalin considered that it would be a grave mistake to participate in the Pre-parliament even for a short time, for it might arouse in the masses the false hope that the Pre-parliament could really do something for the working people [and thus obviate the Bolshevik uprising].
(J. V. Stalin. History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, pp. 203-04)
7. THE RAILWAY STRIKE AND THE DEMOCRATIC BANKRUPTS.
The grandly conceived and magnificently organized railway strike is apparently coming to an end.
The victory is with the railwaymen because it is self-evident that the puny coalition of the Kornilov-defencist camp is incapable of withstanding the mighty onslaught of the entire democracy of the country.
It is now clear to all that the strike was “instigated” not by the malicious intent of the railwaymen but by the anti-revolutionary policy of the Directory. It is now clear to all that the strike was forced upon the country not by the Railwaymen Committees but by the counter-revolutionary threats of Kerensky and Nikitin. It is now clear to all that a failure of the strike would have led to the certain militarization of the railways and...the consolidation of the power of the imperialist bourgeoisie.
The railwaymen were right in responding to the despicable calumnies of Kerensky and Nikitin with the damning accusation, "It is not we, citizens Kerensky and Nikitin, who have betrayed the country but you who have betrayed your ideals and the Provisional Government its promises. This time no words or threats can stop us."
[...]
8. THE PARTY OF "INDETERMINATES" AND THE RUSSIAN SOLDIERS.
In the days of tsarism the Socialist-Revolutionary Party used to shout from the housetops that the landed estates must be turned over to the peasants. The peasants believed the Socialist-Revolutionaries and rallied to them, regarding them as their party, the party of the peasants.
With the fall of tsarism and victory of the revolution the time came for the Socialist-Revolutionaries to pass from word to deed and carry out their "golden promises" of land at long last. But... (that famous "but"!) they wavered and suggested to the peasants that they put off the land question until the opening of a Constituent Assembly whose convocation was moreover postponed.
[...]
The peasants replied with a powerful agrarian movement, unauthorized "seizure" of landed estates and "appropriation" of farm stock and implements, thereby expressing lack of confidence in the Socialist-Revolutionary policy of prevaricating.
Socialist-Revolutionary Ministers were not slow to retaliate. They arrested scores and hundreds of peasants, land committee members. And so we got a picture of Socialist-Revolutionary Ministers arresting Socialist-Revolutionary peasants for enforcing Socialist-Revolutionary promises.
The upshot is the complete disintegration of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, most vividly illustrated by the voting at the Pre-Parliament 1 where Left Socialist-Revolutionaries came out for and Right Socialist-Revolutionaries against an immediate transfer of land to the peasants while Chernov (that Hamlet of the party) together with the Centre judiciously abstained.
The result was a mass exodus of soldiers from the Socialist-Revolutionary Party.
[...]
9. KERENSKY
Paris: Dispatches from St. Petersburg [sic] say that the Constituent Assembly convened until 5:00 AM on March 14. It was agreed to postpone the elections until public order is assured.
Kerensky accepted the Ministry of Justice.
Lyon: (Madrid 20): Prince Lvov and the rest of the Russian Government welcomed the French and English socialist delegates. The prince expressed his pleasure at seeing the British, French, Russian and American democracies standing side by side. The French delegate voiced equal delight.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, speaking on behalf of the Government, stated that the Provisional Government will prosecute the war until the annihilation of German militarism.
Kerensky said that he stood ready to thwart the grip of imperialism, desiring only the liberty, equality and brotherhood of all peoples.
Petrograd (May 11): Kerensky the Russian Minister of Justice is "very gravely" ill. His recovery is doubtful.
Petrograd The Assembly celebrated by the new Russian Government was a solemn affair. Automobiles driving the ministers were covered in flowers thrown by the public filling the streets. The session, attended by six hundred delegates, was presided over by a soldier.
Kerensky the Minister of War delivered a speech and beseeched soldiers and officers to give their life for Russia to guarantee her freedom. The delegates rose to their feet and shouted, "We swear!" The scene radiated a moving grandeur.
The appearance on the podium of M. Thomas the French minister set off a pro-French demonstration. Thomas stated that, given the spectacle he had just witnessed, he felt sure that what republican France expects today of democratic Russia will be consummated.
Ministers Kerensky and Thomas were led triumphantly to their respective cars.
Miscellany of the war: The events of recent weeks shore the conviction that the better elements of Russia have been compelled to accept Kerensky's policy. Lenin and his followers lose influence.
Petrograd: Kerensky has toured all the war fronts of Galicia, inspecting the troops, raising the morale of the discontented and winning over several regiments for the offensive.
Petrograd: Kerensky has been the object of a terrorist attack in Polotzk. He was unhurt.
Paris: Kerensky was wounded during his last tour of the front as he encouraged Muscovite troops to persevere.
Petrograd: Kerensky the president of the Council of Ministers has ordered all Army units and the fleet of Kronstadt to immediately follow only the orders of their local commander, rejecting intermediaries of any stripe.
Nauen: The Russian Provisional Government agreed in session to take steps to suppress the disorders. Several Army units were deployed to the outskirts of Petrograd. Others went to the Tauride Palace where the Council of Workers, Soldiers and Peasants was sitting. The units were repulsed with rifle fire. Loyal artillery opened fire on the palace. Order was restored at nightfall.
Troops disarm armed civilians patrolling the streets.
The Dutch press intimates that Russia is heading to the abyss unless Kerensky manages to save the country.
Petrograd (July 21): Some individual fired twelve shots at Kerensky the Minister of War, but all twelve missed the target.
The death penalty: The Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army states in a message sent to Kerensky that introducing the death penalty is the only measure left to countervail insubordination in the Army.
Moscow: Kerensky delivered a forceful speech at the opening of the grand conference in Moscow, asserting that any bid made against the government will be put down harshly. He declared that the present hour is decisive for Russia due to the reigning chaos aggravated by the separatist ambitions of several nationalities. He added that the Government will grant autonomy to some regions once the Constituent Assembly approves it, but that if the unrest reaches certain levels meantime, particularly in Finland, the Government will bar the Diet from reopening.
Moscow: Following talks with Kerensky, Generalissimo Kornilov left for Moscow and the conference. The Moscow State Conference hosts two thousand five hundred delegates, four hundred and eighty-eight are Duma deputies. Sessions will go until September 2.
The Cossack Congress has ordered its representatives at the Moscow Conference to ask the Government to display full energy in the present circumstances. They demand also the creation of an interim State Commission composed of Duma deputies inveighed with full powers and absolute independence from the workingman organizations.
Delegates from other provinces have petitioned the Government for the immediate convocation of a Constituent Assembly.
The Maximalist Committee has published an extremely violent manifesto protesting and branding the Moscow Conference a reactionary maneuver (Item 4).
Rumour has it that General Kornilov will make important revelations about the actual military situation.
Moscow: The maximalists attempt by all means to hobble the work of the Conference, inciting the masses against the delegates.
The trolley operators went on strike.
The Soviet approved an order of the day with three hundred and fifty votes for, three hundred and four against, labelling the Moscow strike a legitimate protest against counter-revolutionary maneuvers.
Despite the inconveniences created by the maximalists, the second session of the Moscow Conference went ahead, Kornilov and Kerensky present. The generalissimo turned his speech into an appeal to the nation which caused a great sensation among the delegates who fêted him with a delirious ovation.
Moscow: Guchkov the former Minister of War outlined the perilous economic situation during the final session of the Moscow Conference and prescribed for remedy a reconstitution of the central government.
Milyukov invited the Government to make concessions to the political parties and to declare Russia a Federal Republic, a prospect that sparked thunderous applause.
Lekapov (?) declared that Russia will never seek a separate peace.
Kerensky gave the closing speech.
The newspapers display optimism about the outcome of the Moscow Conference.
The democratic and bourgeois elements lean toward unity in order to save Russia.
Petrograd: Kornilov will arrive to Petrograd today with his troops. Those defending the capital fraternize with Kornilov's.
Another dispatch affirms that generals Kornilov and Lukomsky were arrested.
According to British reports the Russian crisis was resolved with the formation of a Government composed of five members headed by Kerensky who he has stated that Russia will remain in the war side by side with the Allies.
Petrograd: The new Government has declared Russia a republic.
Petrograd: Kerensky addressed the Army saying that he places his hopes on it to save the country.
With the object of increasing the number of conscripts all citizens apt for military service will be drafted.
These are the names of the two giants who aspire to exercise Russia's dictatorship.
The famous Kerensky is one of the few statesmen whom this war has revealed in among the Entente powers. A socialist, one of the biggest enemies of the empire to whose fall he contributed with all his might, a tribunitian speaker who ruled the Workers and Soldiers' Committee [Soviet], a fomenter of rebellion at first when the aim was to demolish and now an advocate of discipline because Russia needs to rebuild, a paladin of peace at the start of the revolution because this was what the country longed for and lately a staunch defender of continuing the war at all costs: he equally makes a speech that draws the ignorant masses behind him or harangues the troops, infusing them with courage, or takes part in the most serious debates or persuades the most cunning and shrewd diplomats.
Kerensky owns a will of iron, he is a man of action with all the qualities the circumstances require. He outdistances Lloyd George by far in decisiveness, but he outstrips Kerensky in skilful and sly discourse.
A young man of thirty-six years, sick with hereditary tuberculosis, feeble, he pursues his task of renewal in a hurry, at breakneck speed, with the haste of a man who suspects his days are numbered; and verily he is too ill to vie with the enormous difficulties that currently confront his Government.
Kerensky is a man who speaks to his fellow countrymen like a father and, convinced of short-term demise, says to them, "I have very little time left to live, I am gravely ill. Be appreciative of the liberties won and do not put them at risk through your selfish or rash actions. Let me deed my country the greatest good I can before my life ends."
What is the reason for Kerensky's radical change in thinking? His greatest capitulation, apparently incomprehensible, is to cross overnight from the bank of passionate pacifism to the bank of a most zealous imperialism, and to drop his formula, "peace without annexations or compensations," to endorse France's claim to Alsace-Lorraine. Some would ascribe the responsibility for this switch to England's black hand, and there are even those who attribute it to dastardly and dishonourable motives. We harbour the suspicion rather that Kerensky uses the protection afforded by England to his particular advantage and that he is not following English instructions toadyishly.
It is understandable that Kerensky with a clear understanding and correct perception of reality, with the deliberate aim of restoring order at home and restraining demagogues, anarchists and lowlifes who kvell in these periods of revolt, pointed to a goal that nobody would find fault with and, concurrently wishing to raise a noble and high standard, pointed to the external enemy. Thus he tried to bring discipline back to the Army, and if successful, solidify the regime, do battle against the revolutionaries, save his beloved Russia and immediately seal a peace with the Austro-Germans. When he shouts for war he is not thinking about Germany or about Austria-Hungary but about the rebels, partisans, destroyers of his country, Meanwhile he garners the support of the Entente powers which assume that Kerensky is veritably relegating Russian interests to those of the French, British, Japanese, Italian...
General Kornilov is full of physical and mental vigor. He was born of humble Cossack parents in a Western Siberia town in the year 1870. He is therefore forty-seven years old. As a child he had to perform menial work to help sustain his family, but endowed with uncommon willpower and energy, apt to meet any challenge, he learned alone during his hours of leisure and at age thirteen enrolled in a cadet corps. Six years later he could speak several languages and in 1892 obtained the Artillery officer diploma.
An excellent mathematician, fond of historical treatises, he would have enjoyed a great future in Russia but instead he opted for service in Turkestan, attracted by the hard life, the frequent and dangerous insurrections verified by troops and by the irrepressible desire to acquaint himself with new peoples and study new languages. He entered the General Staff Academy in 1895, graduated in very good standing and returned to Turkestan. From 1896 to 1902 he undertook perilous commissions in Afghanistan and Persia which often called for wearing native garb as disguise.
He was studying the languages of India when the Russo-Japanese War broke out. He first displayed his enviable military skills as a brigade commander. He was awarded the Cross of St. George. At the end of the Russo-Japanese War he was made adjutant to the General Staff and travelled unceasingly across Europe and Asia for more instruction.
He was given command of the 49th Division at the start of this war. He fought brilliantly in the conquest of a sizeable slice of Galicia and distinguished himself notably in the retreat of 1915 where he sacrificed his division to save the left flank south of Tarnov. He was wounded but kept fighting to the end at the head of a handful of soldiers till they were all captured. He escaped from Austria and returned to Russia. Here a halo of popularity began to envelop him. In April 1917 he was appointed commander of the Petrograd garrison but, unable to impose his will on the Committees [Soviets], solicited a move to the front. He led the army that took Galich and Kalisz [Item 2, footnote 2]. This plus the debacle of his colleague Gutor plus the energy with which Kornilov suppressed disobedience lifted the general to the rank of Supreme Commander.
Of medium height, slim, stiff, he is tough and bold like the Cossacks he descends from. Of prominent features, albeit not unbecoming, small prying eyes, calm stolid demeanour, he has uppermost the look of a self-controlled man and is both kind and dour.
F. AZPIROZ
Petrograd: Kerensky's decision to proclaim the Republic was greeted with a lot of satisfaction here.
Kerensky and Kornilov represent the people and the Army united for the exclusive goal of winning, of pulling Russia out of her domestic disaster, from the reigning anarchy, from the chaos she flounders in.
These are not two ambitious men disputing Power but two men with different concepts of what government is required by the motherland. Kerensky represents the revolutionary and democratic Power, he maintains the principles of the revolution that condemn every tyranny. He holds talks with one and sundry to forge a consensus, but his government is mere illusion and withstands not the pressure of the competing political parties.
Kornilov is not a man of many words, and when he does speak, he threatens with the whip. He represents the dictatorship posing as stalwart relief from the chaos, the single Power he wishes to bring down on the havoc.
Whom of these two men or which of the two viewpoints does Russia need in these critical moments? Kerensky or Kornilov?
The two very grave problems threatening to destroy Russia are the military and the agrarian questions. The Army lacks discipline: it has even relinquished its memory, its moral strength of unity, cohesion; and meanwhile the situation in the countryside is deplorable without any viable remedy being prescribed for the economic mess.
Add to these calamities the cries for autonomy issuing out of Finland, Ukraine and other regions aspiring to self-rule, the social clashes, the spectre of hunger looming on all sides, victuals becoming scarce to an alarming degree, the immense amount of blood spilled in the three years of war, the impossibility of recovering any national service, the manufacturers of components and war matériel outputting 40% less than of old, the intemperance of liberty flooding the lower and oppressed clases, and it will be readily understood that Russia has become a chaotic sea where every lofty noble sentiment founders, where no salvation is possible and where no one remembers the motherland.
Kerensky essayed the schemes he had at hand to mitigate the confusion. Not heeding the advice of General Brusilov but influenced by the encouragement and promise of easy victory held out by France and England, he launched an offensive on a supposedly unprotected Galician front with the aim of reinforcing his rule. The reply that the Austro-Germans gave to his offensive left Kerensky's reputation as a strategist in tatters. Evinced the Russians' disastrous way of fighting, Kerensky rushed to the front and re-established the death penalty for deserters, but the measure was abolished even as he was heading to the front.
Kornilov was appointed generalissimo on August 1. Six days later he sends Kerensky a genuine appeal of despair. The full horror of the situation is unveiled by the pell-mell flight of regiments overcome with panic, the loss of discipline brought by banditry, officers caught in the crossfire between the enemy and their own soldiers.
Kerensky informs the Government in detail about the trenchant requests of the generalissimo and then spends the following days and weeks discussing, talking, dodging endlessly Kornilov's anguished pleas. Finally to do something practical he tries to unify the dissidents, to meld the various parties, he invents the Moscow State Conference, a supreme effort to silence the generalissimo. Kornilov goes to the conference not because he had any confidence in it but in deference to Kerensky.
And there arrived August 28, a memorable date in which the generalissimo pronounced a devastating speech that exposed the sores and evils corroding the Army and demanded the immediate restoration of the death penalty, the restitution of officers' authority, militarization of the railways, a reset of the defence industry and the curtailment of "Soviet" activity in zones with Army presence.
The Government ignored Kornilov and exactly two weeks after the conclusion of the Moscow State Conference the Germans take Riga in fulfillment of the generalissimo's prophecy. These were Kornilov's words: "Riga fallen, the road to St. Petersburg cleared, the threat of a Finnish uprising in the rear and flanks exposed by the collapse of a fleet in decomposition, frame the foreseeable spectacle before our eyes without any possibility of averting the economic catastrophe approaching."
Upon the very grave events that unfolded after the Moscow State Conference, the disintegration of the Russian Army, the fulfillment of the prophecies uttered by Kornilov at the banbkrupt conference, and seeing the impossibility of goodwill rule, Kornilov intimated to Kerensky the handover of political and military Power. Kerensky refuses and dismisses Kornilov, but the latter does not forfeit his post of Supreme Commander to General Klembovsky, and adamant, not willing to waste any more time in sterile reveries or futile discussions, challenges Kerensky's authority and prods him, threatening civil war, to dismiss the two ministers who oppose his programme of governance because the salvation of Russia hinges on the sole dilemma: either let the internal agitation evolve unchecked, abandoning the motherland's future to fate, or concentrate the political and military power in a single hand.
This threat sparked the full-fledged crisis.
Two integral iron-willed men who don't back down before anything or anyone face off. The insurgent general sends his troops to Petrograd. Kerensky appoints himself generalissimo and leaves the city to face down his adversary. The first one relies on force, the second one on the people.
Russia is undone, defunct, no longer an obstacle in the war... Embroiled internally, dismembered, with the enemy knocking at the door continually and on the eve of a civil war, her reconstruction is not possible unless she signs a peace with whoever and howsoever.
Neither Kerensky nor Kornilov, despite the splendid traits gracing them, will save Russia if the entire nation does not unconditionally side with one or the other, conscious of the frightful ruin that menaces it.
F. AZPIROZ
Petrograd: Kerensky has ordered the dismantling of all the Committees which although labelled "charitable" were in fact doing political work against the Government.
The Central Committee [of the Petrograd Soviet] resolved to ignore the order.
Petrograd: Rumour has it that the Soviets will indict Kerensky.
Petrograd: Kerensky appealed to the railwaymen to desist from going on strike and offered them a raise in salary once the difficulties arisen from the formation of the new Government are over (Item 7).
Petrograd: Kerensky is sick with flu.
Petrograd: The Cadets have nominated Maklakov the Russian ambassor in Paris a candidate to the Constituent Assembly.
The Provisional Council will shortly study the exiling abroad of the former Tsar and his family.
The civilian population of Kronstadt has begun evacuating the city.
The British ambassador has paid a visit to Kerensky.
The press of Petrograd details a crisis in the Soviets.
Intellectuals and peasants have joined other organisms because the Soviets have lost influence (Item 8).
Petrograd: Kerensky and Tereshchenko held talks with the Italian ambassador regarding the German advance.
Petrograd: The maximalists have taken over the capital, deposing Kerensky.
Petrograd: Two nights ago the Winter Palace surrendered. All ministers were captured. The new Russian Government has made Kerensky's flight known and has ordained his detention and return to Petrograd. He is accused of high treason.
London: Kerensky and loyal soldiers are located three hours away from Petrograd.
Details of Kerensky's flight from Petrograd: Kerensky was told that General Verkhovsky was holding talks with Lenin, Trotsky and Kamenev. He assumed their motive was the staging of a coup d'état in favour of somebody who would assume the dual role of dictator and generalissimo.
Kerensky then ordered Verkhovsky to leave Petrograd, but the latter returned secretly on November 6. All the maneuvers to bring the maximalists to power were executed quickly. Kerensky grasped what was happening that afternoon and he also knew that the artillery corps of the Peter and Paul Fortress sided with the maximalists and that the cruiser "Aurora" would deal the first blow.
That's when he fled.
Moscow: Kerensky can count on two hundred thousand soldiers. He will set up a Government in the city, then march on the capital.
Petrograd: A hard fight is being waged in the outskirts of Petrograd between maximalists and Kerensky's troops. It is said that the Navy and most of the Army are against him.
The forces of the Soviets defeated the forces of Kerensky and Kornilov in the vicinity of Tsarskoye Selo.
Petrograd: The maximalists have taken Gatchina and made Kerensky's General Staff captive. Kerensky has fled.
Kerensky's wife was arrested.
Paris: Kerensky the one-time arbiter of Russia's destinies has landed in Montreal (Canada).
London: Kerensky has been staying here since a week ago. He declared himself to be in favour of an Allied military intervention in Russia, but he believes that the Bolsheviks ought not to be blamed.
He will depart shortly for Paris and America.
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