February revolution. Literary and historical notes of a young technician February 14, 1917 event
This is the second revolution, which is also called the Bourgeois-Democratic revolution.
Causes
100 years later, historians argue that the February Revolution was inevitable, since there were many reasons that caused it - defeat at the fronts, the difficult situation of workers and peasants, hunger, devastation, political lawlessness, the decline in the authority of the autocratic government and its inability to carry out reforms.
That is, almost all those problems that remained unresolved after the first revolution, which occurred in 1905.
Democratic transformations in Russia, with the exception of small concessions made by the Manifesto of October 17, 1905, remained unfinished, so new social upheavals were inevitable.
Move
The main events of the February Revolution happened quickly. At the beginning of 1917, interruptions in food supplies to big cities Russia strengthened, and by mid-February, due to a shortage of bread and rising prices, workers began to go on strike en masse.
Bread riots broke out in Petrograd - crowds of people destroyed bread stores, and on February 23 a general strike of Petrograd workers began.
Workers and women with the slogans “Bread!”, “Down with war!”, “Down with autocracy!” took to the streets of Petrograd - a political demonstration marked the beginning of the revolution.
Every day the number of striking workers, who were the driving force of the struggle, led by the Bolshevik Party, grew. The workers were joined by students, office workers, artisans, and peasants demanding the redistribution of land. Within a few days, a wave of strikes swept Petrograd, Moscow and other cities of the country.
© photo: Sputnik / RIA Novosti
Executions and arrests were no longer able to cool the revolutionary fervor of the masses. Every day the situation became more and more aggravated, becoming irreversible. Government troops were put on alert - Petrograd was turned into a military camp.
The outcome of the struggle was predetermined by the mass transition of soldiers on February 27 to the side of the rebels, who occupied the most important points of the city and government buildings. The next day the government was overthrown.
The Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies and the Provisional Committee were created in Petrograd State Duma, who formed the Provisional Government.
The power of the Provisional Government was established in Moscow on March 1, and within a month throughout the country.
Results
The new government proclaimed political rights and freedoms, including speech, assembly, press and demonstrations.
Class, national and religious restrictions, the death penalty, military courts were abolished, a political amnesty was declared, and an eight-hour working day was introduced.
Workers received the right to restore democratic organizations banned during the war, to create trade unions and factory committees.
However, the main political question of power remained unresolved - a dual power arose in Russia, which further split Russian society.
In the context of a sharply worsened food crisis, the events of February 1917 took place. On February 22, 1917, the Putilov plant in Petrograd was closed “until special permission.” The workers turned to the entire proletariat of the capital for support. The government took measures to prevent revolution. At the beginning of February 1917, the Petrograd Military District was removed from the command of the Northern Front and transferred to the subordination of the Minister of War M. A. Belyaev. The district commander, General S.S. Khabalov, received emergency powers to suppress possible unrest.
On February 23, 1917, events spontaneously began in Petrograd, which just a few days later ended with the overthrow of the monarchy. Thus, International Women's Day (March 8, new style) became the first day of the revolution. The rallies of workers that began at textile factories on the Vyborg side grew into mass protests. From the working-class outskirts, columns of demonstrators headed towards the city center. The behavior of the soldiers and Cossacks set the workers in an optimistic mood. Petrograd, meanwhile, took on the appearance of a military camp. Machine guns were installed on fire towers and on some houses. The government decided to fight by arming the police and using the army. On February 25, soldiers, at the command of their officers, began to use weapons. General Khabalov - received an order from the tsar to immediately stop the unrest in the capital. To keep soldiers from communicating with the rebels, the command of some units did not issue them overcoats and shoes.
On February 26, the streets of Petrograd were stained with blood - a mass execution of the rebel workers took place. These events became the turning point of the revolution. On February 27, troops began to go over to the side of the rebels - the execution had an effect that the authorities did not count on. The Petrograd garrison, numbering 180 thousand people at that time, and together with the troops of the nearest suburbs 300 thousand people, sided with the people.
Nicholas II wrote in his diary on February 27, 1917: “Unrest began in Petrograd several days ago; Unfortunately, troops also began to take part in them. It’s a disgusting feeling to be so far away and receive fragmentary bad news.” On the afternoon of February 28, the Peter and Paul Fortress was occupied. The position of the remnants of the government troops, led by General Khabalov in the Admiralty and trying to strengthen themselves there, became hopeless, and they, laying down their arms, dispersed to their barracks. The tsar's attempt to organize a punitive expedition, led by General I. I. Ivanov, ended in failure.
On the night of February 28, the IV State Duma created a Temporary Committee from among its members to govern the state (chaired by Octobrist M.V. Rodzianko). The committee sought to restore order and save the monarchy. The Committee sent its representatives A.I. Guchkov and V.V. Shulgin to Headquarters, where the Tsar was located, to negotiate with him. Nicholas II still hoped to suppress the uprising with armed forces, but the troops he sent went over to the side of the rebels.
Nicholas II, meanwhile, left Headquarters, located in Mogilev, hoping to arrive in Tsarskoe Selo. However, the path was occupied by the rebels, and only in the middle of the day on March 1, the tsar arrived in Pskov, where the headquarters of the Northern Front was located. Soon the question of abdication was raised. The front commander, General N.V. Ruzsky, on the morning of March 2, read to Nicholas II “his longest conversation on the apparatus with Rodzianko.” The latter insisted on renunciation.
The Provisional Committee of the State Duma A. I. Guchkov and V. V. Shulgin went to Pskov. Moreover, it was decided to act secretly and quickly, “without asking anyone, without consulting anyone.” By the time Guchkov and Shulgin arrived, Nikolai had already made his decision. The renunciation was signed by the tsar on March 2 at 23:40, but in order to avoid the impression that this act was of a violent nature, the time was set on the manifesto when it was signed - 15:00.
Nicholas II abdicated the throne for himself and for his young son Alexei in favor of his younger brother Mikhail Alexandrovich, however, the latter, in turn, refused to accept supreme power. This meant the complete victory of the revolution. Leaving Pskov late at night on March 2, former king He wrote bitter words in his diary: “There is treason, cowardice, and deception all around.” From the evening of March 3 until the morning of March 8, Nikolai was at Headquarters. When leaving, he said goodbye to its inhabitants. According to the testimony of the head of the Military Communications of the theater of military operations, General N. M. Tikhmenev, the separation procedure turned out to be very difficult for many: “convulsive, intercepted sobs did not subside... The officers of the St. George battalion - people, for the most part, wounded several times - could not stand it: two of them fainted. At the other end of the hall, one of the convoy soldiers collapsed.”
Meanwhile, during the February events, the workers of Petrograd began to create Soviets of Workers' Deputies; elections of deputies were held at enterprises. On the evening of February 27, the first meeting of the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies took place in the Tauride Palace. Having the full support of the rebels, the Council began to show itself as a real power. The majority in the Council was held by the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, who believed that the democratic revolution should end with the creation of a democratic government.
The issue of creating such a government was decided in the IV State Duma. The Octobrist and Cadets parties had a majority and influenced the Social Democrats and Socialist Revolutionary deputies. On March 1 (14), the executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet decided to grant the Temporary Committee of the State Duma the right to form a provisional government from representatives political parties members of the Council. On the same day it was formed under the leadership of Prince G.E. Lvov. Along with it, another power arose - the Soviets, although not officially recognized. A dual power was created in the capital: the power of the Provisional Government and the power of the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. Following Petrograd, the revolution won in Moscow, and then peacefully (“by telegraph”) in most cities and provinces. The Provisional Government, lacking the strength to resist the revolutionary elements, was forced to seek support from the Petrograd Soviet, which relied on armed workers and soldiers. The leadership of the Council, consisting of Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, provided this support.
The new “tops” who came to power immediately found themselves faced with the need to solve the urgent historical tasks facing the country - ending the war, liquidating the landowners’ latifundia, allocating land to the peasants, solving national problems. However, the Provisional Government promised to solve them at the Constituent Assembly and tried to restrain the discontent of the masses by citing the impossibility of carrying out fundamental reforms during the war.
The plurality of power, which became an all-Russian phenomenon, was deepened by two parallel processes occurring simultaneously - the emergence and formation of government bodies of different political orientation - the Soviets and various committees: public safety, rescue committees. In addition, city dumas and zemstvos, elected under tsarism, continued to function, consisting mainly of representatives of the Octobrist, Cadets, Socialist-Revolutionary and Menshevik parties.
A manifestation of the extraordinary political activity of the broad masses of the people who carried out the revolution was their participation in thousands of rallies and demonstrations that took place on a variety of occasions. It seemed that the country could not get out of the state of anarchy, euphoria from the unexpectedly victorious revolution. At the rallies there was a search for answers to questions about what happened, how to end the war, how to build a Russian democratic republic. The answers proposed by political parties and the authorities were supported by the thesis that from now on the war was fought in the name of protecting the gains of the revolution.
Issues that worried the country were discussed on a daily basis at meetings of the Petrograd Soviet. On the main point, about power, the majority assumed that power should be with the people. An 8-point declaration was developed, which the Provisional Government was supposed to form the basis of its activities. The main ones are: freedom of speech, press, unions, abolition of all class, religious and national restrictions, immediate preparation for the convening of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly on the basis of universal, equal, secret and direct voting, which will have to establish the form of government and prepare the constitution of the country.
The Provisional Government postponed the resolution of all key issues (war and peace, agrarian, national) until the Constituent Assembly. Thus, the victory of the February Revolution did not immediately solve the problems facing the country, which left objective conditions for continuing the struggle to solve them.
Although the factors that prepared the revolutionary explosion in February 1917 had been taking shape for a long time, politicians and publicists, right and left, predicted its inevitability; the revolution was neither “prepared” nor “organized”; it broke out spontaneously and suddenly for all parties and the government. Not a single political party showed itself to be the organizer and leader of the revolution, which took them by surprise.
The immediate cause of the revolutionary explosion was the following events that occurred in the second half of February 1917 in Petrograd. In mid-February, the capital's food supply, especially bread, deteriorated. There was bread in the country in sufficient quantity, but due to the devastation of transport and the sluggishness of the authorities responsible for supply, it could not be delivered to the cities in a timely manner. A card system was introduced, but it did not solve the problem. Long queues appeared at bakeries, which caused growing discontent among the population. In this situation, any act of the authorities or owners that irritates the population industrial enterprises could serve as a detonator for a social explosion.
On February 18, workers at one of the largest factories in Petrograd, Putilovsky, began a strike, demanding an increase in wages due to rising costs. On February 20, the plant administration, under the pretext of interruptions in the supply of raw materials, fired the strikers and announced the closure of some workshops for an indefinite period. The Putilovites were supported by workers from other city enterprises. On February 23 (New Style March 8 - International Women's Day) it was decided to start a general strike. Opposition figures in the Duma also decided to take advantage of the day of February 23; as early as February 14, from the rostrum of the State Duma, they sharply criticized the incompetent ministers and demanded their resignation. Duma figures - Menshevik N.S. Chkheidze and Trudovik A.F. Kerensky - established contact with illegal organizations and created a committee to hold a demonstration on February 23.
On that day, 128 thousand workers from 50 enterprises went on strike - a third of the capital's workers. A demonstration also took place, which was peaceful. A rally was held in the city center. The authorities, in order to reassure the people, announced that there was enough food in the city and there was no reason to worry.
The next day, 214 thousand workers were already on strike. The strikes were accompanied by demonstrations: columns of demonstrators with red flags and singing the Marseillaise rushed to the city center. Women took an active part in them and took to the streets with the slogans “Bread”!, “Peace”!, “Freedom!”, “Bring back our husbands!”.
Authorities initially treated them as spontaneous food riots. However, events grew stronger every day and became threatening for the authorities. On February 25, strikes covered over 300 thousand people. (80% of city workers). The demonstrators were already speaking with political slogans: “Down with the monarchy!”, “Long live the republic!”, rushing to the central squares and avenues of the city. They managed to overcome police and military barriers and break through to Znamenskaya Square near the Moskovsky Station, where a spontaneous rally began at the monument to Alexander III. Rallies and demonstrations took place in the main squares, avenues and streets of the city. The Cossack squads sent against them refused to disperse them. Demonstrators threw stones and logs at the mounted policemen. The authorities have already seen that the “unrest” is taking on a political nature.
On the morning of February 25, columns of workers again rushed to the city center, and on the Vyborg side they were already destroying police stations. A rally began again on Znamenskaya Square. Demonstrators clashed with police, resulting in several demonstrators being killed and injured. On the same day, Nicholas II received from the commander of the Petrograd Military District, General S.S. Khabalov’s report about the outbreak of unrest in Petrograd, and at 9 o’clock in the evening Khabalov received a telegram from him: “I command you to stop the riots in the capital tomorrow, which are unacceptable in the difficult times of the war with Germany and Austria.” Khabalov immediately ordered the police and reserve unit commanders to use weapons against the demonstrators. On the night of February 26, the police arrested about a hundred of the most active figures of the left parties.
February 26 was a Sunday. Factories and factories did not work. Masses of demonstrators with red banners and singing revolutionary songs again rushed to the central streets and squares of the city. There were continuous rallies on Znamenskaya Square and near the Kazan Cathedral. By order of Khabalov, the police, who sat on the roofs of houses, opened fire with machine guns on demonstrators and protesters. On Znamenskaya Square, 40 people were killed and the same number were wounded. Police fired at demonstrators on Sadovaya Street, Liteiny and Vladimirsky Avenues. On the night of February 27, new arrests were made: this time 170 people were captured.
The outcome of any revolution depends on whose side the army is on. Defeat of the revolution 1905 - 1907 was largely due to the fact that, despite a series of uprisings in the army and navy, on the whole the army remained loyal to the government and was used by it to suppress peasant and worker revolts. In February 1917, there was a garrison of up to 180 thousand soldiers in Petrograd. These were mainly spare parts that were to be sent to the front. There were quite a few recruits here from regular workers, mobilized for participation in strikes, and quite a few front-line soldiers who had recovered from injuries. The concentration of a mass of soldiers in the capital, who were easily influenced by revolutionary propaganda, was a major mistake by the authorities.
The shooting of demonstrators on February 26 caused strong indignation among the soldiers of the capital's garrison and had a decisive influence on their transition to the side of the revolution. On the afternoon of February 26, the 4th company of the reserve battalion of the Pavlovsky regiment refused to take the place assigned to it at the outpost and even opened fire on a platoon of mounted police. The company was disarmed, 19 of its “ringleaders” were sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress. Chairman of the State Duma M.V. Rodzianko telegraphed to the Tsar that day: “The situation is serious. There is anarchy in the capital. The government is paralyzed. There is indiscriminate shooting in the streets. Units of troops are shooting at each other.” In conclusion, he asked the king: “Immediately entrust a person who enjoys the trust of the country to form a new government. You cannot hesitate. Any delay is like death.”
Even on the eve of the tsar's departure to Headquarters, two versions of his decree on the State Duma were prepared - the first on its dissolution, the second on the interruption of its sessions. In response to Rodzianko's telegram, the tsar sent a second version of the decree - on the break of the Duma from February 26 to April 1917. At 11 o'clock in the morning on February 27, deputies of the State Duma gathered in the White Hall of the Tauride Palace and silently listened to the tsar's decree on the break of the Duma session. The tsar's decree put the Duma members in a difficult position: on the one hand, they did not dare not fulfill the will of the tsar, on the other, they could not help but take into account the threatening unfolding of revolutionary events in the capital. Deputies from the left parties proposed not to obey the tsar’s decree and, in an “address to the people,” declare themselves the Constituent Assembly, but the majority was against such an action. In the Semicircular Hall of the Tauride Palace, they opened a “private meeting”, at which a decision was made, in fulfillment of the tsar’s order, not to hold official meetings of the Duma, but the deputies did not disperse and remained in their places. By half past three in the afternoon on February 27, crowds of demonstrators approached the Tauride Palace, some of them entered the palace. Then the Duma decided to form from its members a “Provisional Committee of the State Duma to restore order in Petrograd and to communicate with institutions and individuals.” On the same day, a Committee of 12 people, chaired by Rodzianko, was formed. At first, the Provisional Committee was afraid to take power into its own hands and sought an agreement with the tsar. On the evening of February 27, Rodzianko sent a new telegram to the Tsar, in which he invited him to make concessions - to instruct the Duma to form a ministry responsible to it.
But events unfolded rapidly. On that day, strikes covered almost all enterprises in the capital, and in fact an uprising had already begun. The troops of the capital's garrison began to go over to the side of the rebels. On the morning of February 27, a training team consisting of 600 people from the reserve battalion of the Volyn regiment rebelled. The team leader was killed. Non-commissioned officer T.I., who led the uprising. Kirpichnikov raised the entire regiment, which moved towards the Lithuanian and Preobrazhensky regiments and carried them along with him.
If on the morning of February 27, 10 thousand soldiers went over to the side of the rebels, then in the evening of the same day - 67 thousand. On the same day, Khabalov telegraphed to the tsar that “the troops refuse to go out against the rebels.” On February 28, 127 thousand soldiers were on the side of the rebels, and on March 1 - already 170 thousand soldiers. On February 28, the Winter Palace and the Peter and Paul Fortress were captured, the arsenal was captured, from which 40 thousand rifles and 30 thousand revolvers were distributed to the working detachments. On Liteiny Prospekt, the building of the District Court and the House of Pre-trial Detention were destroyed and set on fire. Police stations were burning. The gendarmerie and secret police were liquidated. Many policemen and gendarmes were arrested (later the Provisional Government released them and sent them to the front). Prisoners were released from prisons. On March 1, after negotiations, the remnants of the garrison, who had settled in the Admiralty together with Khabalov, surrendered. The Mariinsky Palace was taken and the tsar's ministers and senior dignitaries who were in it were arrested. They were brought or brought to the Tauride Palace. Minister of Internal Affairs A.D. Protopopov voluntarily came under arrest. Ministers and generals from the Tauride Palace were escorted to the Peter and Paul Fortress, the rest - to places of detention prepared for them.
Military units from Peterhof and Strelna who had gone over to the side of the revolution arrived in Petrograd through the Baltic Station and along the Peterhof Highway. On March 1, the sailors of the Kronstadt port rebelled. Commander of the Kronstadt port and military governor of Kronstadt, Rear Admiral R.N. Viren and several senior officers were shot by the sailors. Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich (cousin of Nicholas II) brought the guards crew sailors entrusted to him to the Tauride Palace at the disposal of the revolutionary power.
On the evening of February 28, in the conditions of the already victorious revolution, Rodzianko proposed to announce that the Provisional Committee of the State Duma would take over government functions. On the night of February 28, the Provisional Committee of the State Duma addressed the people of Russia with an appeal that it was taking upon itself the initiative to “restore state and public order” and create a new government. As a first measure, he sent commissioners from members of the Duma to the ministries. In order to take control of the situation in the capital and stop the further development of revolutionary events, the Provisional Committee of the State Duma tried in vain to return the soldiers to the barracks. But this attempt showed that he was unable to take control of the situation in the capital.
The soviets, revived during the revolution, became more effective revolutionary power. As early as February 26, a number of members of the Union of Workers' Cooperatives of Petrograd, the Social Democratic faction of the State Duma and other working groups put forward the idea of forming Soviets of Workers' Deputies along the lines of 1905. This idea was also supported by the Bolsheviks. On February 27, representatives of working groups, together with a group of Duma deputies and representatives of the left-wing intelligentsia, gathered in the Tauride Palace and announced the creation of the Provisional Executive Committee of the Petrograd Council of Working People's Deputies. The Committee made an appeal to immediately elect deputies to the Council - one deputy from 1 thousand workers, and one from a company of soldiers. 250 deputies were elected and gathered in the Tauride Palace. They, in turn, elected the Executive Committee of the Council, the chairman of which was the leader of the Social Democratic faction of the State Duma, Menshevik N.S. Chkheidze, and his deputies were Trudovik A.F. Kerensky and Menshevik M.I. Skobelev. The majority in the Executive Committee and in the Council itself belonged to the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries - at that time the most numerous and influential left-wing parties in Russia. On February 28, the first issue of Izvestia of the Council of Workers' Deputies was published (editor: Menshevik F.I. Dan).
The Petrograd Soviet began to act as a body of revolutionary power, making a number of important decisions. On February 28, on his initiative, district council committees were created. He formed military and food commissions, armed militia, established control over printing houses and railways. By decision of the Petrograd Council, the financial resources of the tsarist government were seized and control was established over their spending. Commissars from the Council were sent to the districts of the capital to establish people's power in them.
On March 1, 1917, the Council issued the famous “Order No. 1,” which provided for the creation of elected soldiers’ committees in military units, abolished the titles of officers and the giving of honor to them outside of service, but most importantly, it removed the Petrograd garrison from subordination to the old command. This order in our literature is usually regarded as a deeply democratic act. In fact, by subordinating unit commanders to soldier committees with little competence in military matters, he violated the principle of unity of command necessary for any army and thereby contributed to the decline of military discipline.
The number of victims in Petrograd in the February days of 1917 was about 300 people. killed and up to 1200 wounded.
The main political event of February could well be the resumption of meetings of the State Duma, scheduled for February 14.
The State Duma of the fourth convocation was elected in September-October 1912; its composition was, of course, bourgeois-landowner. After the defeats in the war in the spring-summer of 1915 and in connection with the growth of the labor movement in the State Duma, criticism of the government, calls and even demands for the creation of a “responsible government”, a government enjoying the “confidence of the country,” began to be increasingly heard. The State Duma met irregularly. So, in September 1915, it was dissolved for vacation, which lasted until February 1916. In November 1916, the Progressive Bloc demanded the resignation of the Stürmer government, then the new head of the government, Trepov. On December 16, the deputies were again sent on leave until January, which was “extended” until February 14.
The State Duma included 13 Social Democrats (7 Mensheviks and 6 Bolsheviks (later there were 5 of them, since R. Malinovsky was exposed as an agent of the secret police). In November 1914, all five Bolshevik Duma members participated in the Bolshevik conference in Ozerki, all participants in the conference , including Bolshevik Duma members, were arrested. Their trial took place on February 10-13, 1915 and all 5 deputies were found guilty of participating in an organization aimed at overthrowing tsarism, and were sentenced to exile in Eastern Siberia(Turukhansky region). In 1916, meetings were held at many enterprises in the capital in connection with the anniversary of the verdict of the Bolshevik deputies, at which resolutions were passed demanding their release. In 1917, the Bolsheviks called for marking this date with demonstrations and a one-day strike “as a sign of readiness to give... their lives in the fight for the slogans that openly sounded in the mouths of our exiled deputies.”
The Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries made calls to “demonstrate” on February 14 at the Tauride Palace in order to express confidence and support in the State Duma, which on that day was supposed to resume work after the “vacation”.
February 8-9 strikes at a number of factories in Petrograd and Kolpin (Izhora plant) forced the commander of the Petrograd military district, General Khabalov, to issue an appeal to the workers demanding not to strike and threatening to use weapons.
February 10 Some factories were idle, others only worked until lunchtime. Rallies took place, the Bolshevik Party distributed 10 thousand leaflets. The workers' protests, which began on February 10, lasted for several days.
On February 10, 1917, the actual state councilor, chamberlain M.V. Rodzianko, who had presided over the State Duma for many years (since March 1911), arrived in Tsarskoe Selo with his last most loyal report. While assessing very little the actions of the government, especially the Minister of Internal Affairs Protopopov, he argued that Russia was on the eve of huge events, the outcome of which could not be foreseen. According to Rodzianko, it was necessary to immediately resolve the issue of extending the powers of the State Duma. He referred to the fact that such a measure - the extension of powers for the entire duration of the war - was recognized as naturally necessary not only by members of the State Duma, but also by the allies. If this is not done, Rodzianko emphasized, then the country, “exhausted from the hardships of life, due to the existing troubles in governance, can itself begin to defend its legal rights. This cannot be allowed in any way; it must be prevented in every possible way.”
Nicholas II did not agree with the report and to Rodzianko’s words: “You cannot put all the Rasputins at the forefront, you, sir, will reap what you sow” - he replied: “Well, God willing.”
Rallies and strikes at factories began (or rather, continued, as well as the distribution of leaflets calling “Down with autocracy!”) already in early February.
The 14th of February(on the opening day of the State Duma meeting), more than 80 thousand workers of 58 enterprises went on strike (Obukhovsky plant, Thornton factory, Atlas, factories: Aivaz, Old Lessner and New Lessner, etc.). Workers from many factories took to the streets with red banners and slogans: “Down with the government!”, “Long live the republic!”, “Down with the war!” Demonstrators broke through to Nevsky Prospekt, where clashes occurred with the police. Several attempts were made to arrest the demonstrators, but the crowd violently repulsed them. Gatherings took place in a number of higher educational institutions - University, Polytechnic, Forestry, Psychoneurological Institutes, etc.
At the call of the St. Petersburg Bolshevik Committee, workers of the Izhora plant in Kolpino held rallies in the workshops on February 13 and 14. Speeches were made by representatives of the Russian Bureau of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party and the factory workers themselves.
The head of the security department, Lieutenant Colonel Prutensky, reporting to the Petrograd Gendarmerie Directorate about strikes and rallies at the Izhora plant, noted the helplessness of the administration: “It should be noted that the Cossacks and lower ranks were friendly towards the workers and, apparently, recognized that the workers’ demands were fundamental and that measures should be taken in The authorities should not have anything to do with the emerging movement; in general, the impression was created that the Cossacks were on the side of the workers.”
Events showed that the “impression” did not deceive the royal servant. The atmosphere became tenser every day. The Bolsheviks called for open struggle. In a new leaflet issued after February 14, they wrote:
From a leaflet
Petersburg Committee of the RSDLPTO ALL WORKERS,
FOR WOMEN WORKERS
PETROGRAD
Together, comrades, keep up!
Let us strengthen our spirit in the fight,
The road to the kingdom of freedom
Let's pierce our chests!Comrades! Confess to each other that many of you have been waiting with curiosity for February 14th. Confess also and tell us what you had at your disposal, what forces you had mustered, what desires you had, clear and decisive, so that the day of February 14 would bring you what the entire working class longs for, what the entire suffering, hungry people of Russia are waiting for. Were the vague speeches that were heard in defense of the workers’ action at the Tauride Palace on the opening day of the State Duma enough? Is there really anyone among us who thinks that freedom can be obtained by beating the thresholds of palaces? No! The workers paid a high price for their enlightenment, and it would be an irreparable, shameful mistake to forget the dearly acquired science. But the tsarist government really wanted the St. Petersburg workers to be as blind and gullible as they were twelve years ago. After all, what a treat the royal ministers had prepared for the gullible! In each alley, a machine gun, a hundred policemen, wild, dark people were brought for this day, ready to rush at us at the first word. The bourgeois liberals, to whose support some bewildered workers were calling on the working class, seemed to have taken water in their mouths: they hid, not knowing what the St. Petersburg workers would do with the State Duma; and when there were none of them at the Tauride Palace, liberals in the Duma and in the newspapers whispered: of course, the workers of St. Petersburg could not do anything unpleasant to us, since the workers are at one with us, they want to wage the war to the end. Yes, comrades!
We want to fight the war to the end, and we must end it with our victory! But not the war that has been ruining and tormenting peoples for three years now. We want to wage war against this war. And our first weapon should be a clear consciousness of where our enemies are and who our friends are.
Thirty-one months of human carnage gave the people the loss of many millions of lives, millions of cripples, crazy and sick people, military bondage in factories, serfdom in the village, flogging and bullying of sailors, lack of food, high prices, hunger. Only a handful of ruling capitalists and landowners are shouting about the war to the end and making hefty profits from the bloody deed. Suppliers of all sorts celebrate their feast on the bones of workers and peasants. The royal power stands guard over all the predatory brethren.
You can no longer wait and remain silent. ...Another outcome except people's struggle, No!
The working class and democracy should not wait until the tsarist government and the capitalists want to make peace, but now fight against these predators in order to take the fate of the country and the issues of the world into their own hands.
The first condition for real peace must be the overthrow of the tsarist government and the establishment of a Provisional Revolutionary Government to establish:
1. Russian Democratic Republic!
2. Carrying out an 8-hour working day!
3. Transfer of all landowners' lands to the peasantry!
The time has come for open struggle!
The workers' speeches were supported by students. On February 10, a student meeting took place at Petrograd University, the participants of which unanimously declared that they “join their protest in the form of a one-day strike and demonstration to the voice of the proletariat.” Student gatherings took place at the Polytechnic and Psychoneurological, Forestry and Medical Institutes, at the Lesgaft courses and the Higher Women's Courses. Several student gatherings advocated a two-day strike. And, naturally, the students “demonstrated” on Nevsky Prospekt.
On February 14, several hundred people came to rally at the Duma itself, responding to the call of the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. Both the police barriers and the position of the cadets, who called for refraining from demonstrations and maintaining order, interfered.
State Duma deputies discussed current bills, some speakers demanded the resignation of incapable ministers.
“How can you fight with legal means against someone who has turned the law itself into a weapon of mockery of the people? How can you cover up your inaction by implementing the law, when your enemies do not hide behind the law, but, openly mocking the entire country, mocking us, violate the law every day "With lawbreakers, there is only one way to physically eliminate them..."
The next key date in February for manifestations of public rally and demonstration activity could be February 23 (old style, and March 8 according to the new style), that is, International Women's Day, however...
February 17 In 1917, the fire monitor and stamping workshop went on strike Putilovsky plant. The workers demanded a 50% increase in prices for the return of recently fired comrades to the plant. On February 18, rallies took place in all workshops. The workers elected a delegation to present demands to the management. The director threatened settlement. On March 20, 4 more workshops went on strike, and rallies were held in others. Then on February 21, the entire plant stopped working and the Putilov shipyard went on strike. Only soldiers assigned to the plant continued work. On February 22, the plant was closed. The next day, 20 thousand Putilovites moved into the city. The day before, there were strong food riots in Petrograd. The appearance of the Putilovites seemed to add fuel to the fire. The Bolsheviks called for strikes in solidarity with the Putilovites. At several enterprises of the Vyborg and Narva outposts, strikes began in protest against the lack of food, bread and high prices.
February 22 Nicholas II went to headquarters in Mogilev. And now - the irony of fate - interruptions in the sale of bread have become completely intolerable.
February 23(according to the old calendar style, March 8) was International Women's Day. The Bolsheviks once again called on the workers to strike. About 90 thousand workers went on strike. During the day, the outskirts of Petrograd were dominated by demonstrators. The crowd was dominated by working women. Women abandoned lines where they had stood for hours for bread and joined the strikers. The demonstrators not only went on strike themselves - they removed others from work.
A huge crowd of workers surrounded the cartridge factory, where they removed five thousand people from work. The performances were held under the slogan “Bread!” There were already quite a few red banners with revolutionary slogans, especially in the Vyborg region, where the Bolshevik committee began vigorous activity. According to a police report, at about 3 pm, up to four thousand people broke through from the Vyborg side through the Sampsonievsky Bridge and occupied Trinity Square. Speakers appeared in the crowd. Policemen on horseback and on foot dispersed the demonstrations. Not yet strong enough to repel the police, the workers responded to the repression by smashing bakeries and beating up the most zealous policemen.
In the evening the Bolshevik Committee of the Vyborg District met. They decided to continue the strike and turn it into a general strike.
Events developed in several dimensions - on the one hand, strikes organized with the participation of the Bolsheviks, on the other hand, spontaneous street protests.
From the REPORT of the prosecutor of the Petrograd Judicial Chamber to the Minister of Justice on the strike movement of Petrograd workers. 24 February.
RAPORT
On the morning of February 23, the artisans of the Vyborg region who came to the factories gradually began to stop work and go out into the streets in crowds, openly expressing protest and dissatisfaction about the lack of bread. The movement of the masses for the most part was of such a demonstrative nature that they had to be broken up by police squads.
Soon, news of the strike spread to enterprises in other areas, whose workers also began to join the strikers. Thus, by the end of the day, 43 enterprises with 78,443 workers were on strike.
Note. According to some estimates, the number of strikers was more than 128 thousand people.
Late in the evening of February 23, in the Vyborg district, at the apartment of worker I. Alexandrov, a meeting of the leadership core of the Petrograd Bolsheviks took place. It recognized the need to continue the strike, organize demonstrations on Nevsky, intensify agitation among the soldiers, and take measures to arm the workers.
24 February Over 200 thousand workers were already on strike, that is, more than half of the St. Petersburg proletariat.
Up to 10,000 workers from the Vyborg side out of 40,000 who gathered at the Liteyny Bridge and several thousand workers from other areas broke through, despite police cordons, into the city center - onto Nevsky Prospekt. There were rallies at the Kazan Cathedral and on Znamenskaya Square.
Military units were sent to help the police, but the Cossack soldiers evaded orders.
Strike on the 25th in Petrograd it turned into a universal political one. On this day, according to an intelligence report to the police department, a meeting of the St. Petersburg Committee of the RSDLP took place.
From a note from the security department dated February 24, intended for the information of police bailiffs
On February 23, from 9 a.m., in protest over the shortage of black bread in bakeries and small shops, at factories in the Vyborg part of the region, strikes of workers began, which then spread to some factories located in the Petrograd, Rozhdestvenskaya and Foundry parts, and During the day, work was stopped in 50 factories and factory enterprises, where 87,534 workers went on strike.
The strikers, energetically dispersed by police squads and requested military units, scattered in one place, soon gathered in others, showing particular tenacity in this case, and only by 7 o’clock in the evening was order restored in the area of the Vyborg part. Attempts by workers of the Vyborg region to cross in crowds to the central part of the city were prevented throughout the day by police guards guarding bridges and embankments, but by 4 o’clock in the afternoon some of the workers nevertheless crossed one by one over the bridges and along the ice of the Neva River, along a large length of it, and reached the embankment of the left bank, where workers managed to group in the side streets adjacent to the embankment and then almost simultaneously remove workers from 6 factories from work in the areas of the 3rd section of the Rozhdestvenskaya part, the 1st section of the Liteinaya part and then carried out demonstrations on Liteiny and Suvorovsky prospects, where the workers were soon dispersed. Almost simultaneously with this, at 4 and a half o'clock in the afternoon, on Nevsky Prospekt, near Znamenskaya Square, part of the striking workers, who entered there in tram cars, as well as individually and in small groups from side streets, made several attempts to delay the movement of trams and cause riots *, but the demonstrators were immediately dispersed, and tram traffic was restored. By 7 pm normal traffic on Nevsky Prospekt was established. In the area of the Petrograd part, the striking workers made several attempts to remove non-striking workers from work, but these attempts were prevented and the demonstrators were dispersed.
In addition, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the public waiting in line for bread, having heard that it had been sold, broke the mirror glass in Filippov’s bakery, at number 61 on Bolshoy Prospekt, and then fled. In other parts of the city there were no strikes or demonstrations by workers.
During the pacification of the unrest, 21 workers were detained... On the morning of February 23, the Putilov shipyard was closed by order of the administration, and a settlement was announced to the workers.
* The police assessment of any political speech is one: chaos.
From the note
Head of the Security Department, Major General Globachev
the Minister of Internal Affairs, the mayor, the prosecutor's office,
director of the police department and commander of the troops
on the evening of February 24
The strike of workers that took place yesterday over a shortage of bread continued today, with 131 enterprises with 158,583 people not working during the day.
Among the demonstrators there was a significant number of students.
From the note
police department about the meeting
Petersburg Committee of the Bolshevik Party on February 25, 1917
The Petrograd organization of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, during the two days of unrest in Petrograd, decided to use the emerging movement for party purposes and, taking the leadership of the masses participating in it into its own hands, give it a clearly revolutionary direction.
For this purpose, the named organization proposed:
2) tomorrow, February 26, in the morning, convene a committee to resolve the question of the best and expedient procedure for managing the already excited, but not yet sufficiently organized masses of striking workers; at the same time, it was proposed, if the government does not take energetic measures to suppress the ongoing unrest, on Monday, February 27, to begin setting up barricades, cutting off electricity, damaging water pipes and telegraphs *;
3) immediately form a number of factory committees at the factories, the members of which should select representatives from their composition to the “Information Bureau”, which will serve as a link between the organization and the factory committees and will manage the latter, transmitting to them the directives of the Petrograd Committee. This “Information Bureau,” according to the conspirators’ assumption, should subsequently be formed into the “Council of Workers’ Deputies,” similar to the one that functioned in 1905;
4) from the Bureau of the Central Committee of the same organization (Petrograd), delegates that have not yet been clarified were sent to Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod on party assignments.
As for other revolutionary organizations, individual representatives of the Socialist Revolutionary Party existing in Petrograd (there are no organizations of this party in Petrograd), fully sympathizing with the movement that has begun, believe to join it in order to support the revolutionary action of the proletariat. Among students in higher educational institutions there is complete sympathy for the movement; Meetings led by speakers take place within the walls of institutions. Students take part in riots in the streets. In order to suppress such plans of revolutionary elements, it is proposed to make up to 200 arrests tonight among the most active revolutionary figures and student youth...
* Leningrad researcher Yu. S. Tokarev suggested that the provocateur, on the basis of whose reports the note was drawn up, deliberately exaggerated the story in order to inflate himself with the police authorities, because the assertion that the Bolsheviks intended to disrupt telephone communications and deprive the city of water and electricity hardly legal. These measures were not dictated by the current situation and were alien to Bolshevik tactics.
From a leaf
Petersburg Committee of the Bolshevik Party,
published on February 25
Russian
It became impossible to live. There's nothing to eat. There is nothing to wear. There is nothing to heat it with. At the front there is blood, mutilation, death. Set after set. Train after train, like herds of cattle, our children and brothers are sent to human slaughter.
You can't be silent!
To hand over brothers and children to slaughter, while you yourself die of cold and hunger and remain silent endlessly, is cowardice, senseless, criminal, and vile. ...The time of open struggle has arrived. Strikes, rallies, demonstrations will not weaken the organization, but will strengthen it. Take advantage of every opportunity, every convenient day. Always and everywhere with the masses and with their revolutionary slogans.
Call everyone to fight. It is better to die a glorious death fighting for the workers’ cause than to lay down your life for the profits of capital at the front or to wither away from hunger and overwork. A single protest can grow into an all-Russian revolution, which will give impetus to revolution in other countries. There is a struggle ahead, but certain victory awaits us. All under the red banners of the revolution! Down with the royal monarchy! Long live the democratic republic! Long live the eight-hour workday! All the land of the landowners to the people! Long live the All-Russian General Strike! Down with the war! Long live the brotherhood of the workers of the whole world! Long live the Socialist International!
The employee's nickname is Stoker.
Lieutenant Colonel Tyshkevich received the informationStatement of information. Today, the agitation has taken on even greater proportions, and one can already note the leadership center from where directives are received... If decisive measures are not taken to suppress the unrest, then barricades may be erected by Monday. It should be noted that among military units, called to pacify the riots, flirting with the demonstrators is observed, and some parts, even being patronizing, encourage the crowd with appeals: “Push harder.” If the moment is missed and the leadership moves to the top of the revolutionary underground, then events will take on the widest dimensions.
On the Vyborg side, workers destroyed police stations and interrupted telephone communications with the Petrograd city authorities. The Narva outpost actually came under the control of the rebels. At the Putilov plant, workers created a temporary revolutionary committee, which headed the fighting squad. The first armed clashes with the police occurred. The dead and wounded appeared. Near the Kazansky Bridge, demonstrators fired several shots at policemen, wounding two of them. Near the Anichkov Bridge on Nevsky Prospekt, a hand grenade was thrown at a group of mounted gendarmes. On Nizhegorodskaya Street, demonstrators killed the police chief of the Vyborg unit, and on Znamenskaya Square - a bailiff. Dozens of police were beaten. The outcome of the struggle largely depended on the behavior of the army. In a number of cases, soldiers and even Cossacks sent to disperse demonstrators refused to shoot at workers, and there were cases of fraternization. On Vasilievsky Island, the Cossack hundred refused to carry out the officer’s order to disperse the demonstration. At the Kazan Cathedral, the Cossacks of the 4th Don Regiment recaptured those arrested from the policemen. On Sadovaya Street, soldiers joined the demonstrators.
From the memoirs of P. D. Skuratov, a worker at the Putilov plant:
“We organized ourselves at the end of the Bogomolovskaya small group, about 300-400 people, and then, when we reached the Peterhof Highway, a huge mass of workers joined us. We tied red scarves onto sticks - a red banner appeared - and with the singing of “La Marseillaise” we moved towards the Narva Gate. When we reached Ushakovskaya Street, a mounted detachment of police rushed towards us and began whipping us left and right, and we were forced to run away... Thousands of Putilovites and chemical plant workers again gathered at the Narva Gate. We decided to give the procession an organized character. Those in front took hands and moved in this way... As soon as they turned from Sadovaya to Nevsky, a cavalry squadron gallops towards them with drawn sabers from the Anichkov Palace. We parted and they drove between us. We shouted “hurray” in an organized manner, but there was no response from them.
Having reached Liteiny, we met with the workers of the Vyborg district and continued the joint procession to Znamenskaya Square. A general meeting was held there. At this time, a mounted police detachment flew out from behind the Balabinskaya hotel, and the bailiff riding ahead hit the woman on the shoulder with a saber carrying a banner, who worked in the hospital cash desk of our plant. He didn’t have to leave - we pulled him off his horse, carried him down and threw him into the Fontanka. The Cossacks were galloping from the Central Hotel along Ligovka, then the policemen turned and drove back along Suvorovsky Prospekt, and the Cossacks followed us. We discussed among ourselves what it meant, that there was a discrepancy between the troops, and concluded: it means the revolution has won.”.
Priceless, beloved treasure! 8°, light snow - I’m sleeping well so far, but I miss you unspeakably, my love. Strikes and riots in the city are more than provocative (I am sending you a letter from Kalinin* to me). It is, however, not worth much, since you will probably receive a more detailed report from the mayor. This is a hooligan movement, boys and girls running around and shouting that they have no bread, just to create excitement, and workers who prevent others from working. If the weather had been very cold, they would all probably have stayed indoors. But this will all pass and calm down, if only the Duma behaves well. The worst speeches are not published**, but I think that anti-dynastic speeches must be immediately and very severely punished, especially since it is wartime... The strikers must be told directly not to organize strikes, otherwise they will be sent to the front or punish severely.* This is what the Romanovs called the Minister of Internal Affairs A.D. Protopopov.
** This refers to the debate in the State Duma on the food issue. Some of the speeches, according to the written order of the Minister of War, were prohibited from publication.
From a telegram from the commander of the Petrograd Military District, General S. S. Khabalov, to the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief
I report that on February 23 and 24, due to a lack of bread, a strike occurred in many factories. On February 24, about 200 thousand workers went on strike and forcibly removed those working. The tram service was stopped by workers. In the middle of the day on February 23 and 24, some of the workers broke through to Nevsky, from where they were dispersed... Today, February 25, the workers’ attempts to penetrate Nevsky were successfully paralyzed. The part that broke through is dispersed by the Cossacks... In addition to the Petrograd garrison, five squadrons of the 9th reserve cavalry regiment from Krasnoe Selo, a hundred of the Life Guards of the combined Cossack regiment from Pavlovsk are taking part in suppressing the unrest, and five squadrons of the guards reserve cavalry regiment are called to Petrograd.
Announcement
Commander of the Petrograd Military District Khabalov,
prohibiting demonstrations and performances
Last days In Petrograd, riots occurred, accompanied by violence and attacks on the lives of military and police officials. I prohibit any gathering on the streets. I preface the population of Petrograd that I have confirmed to the troops to use weapons, stopping at nothing to restore order in the capital.
Telegram from the Tsar to General Khabalov
To the General Staff Khabalov
I command you to stop the riots in the capital tomorrow, which are unacceptable during the difficult times of the war with Germany and Austria.
Telegram from Khabalov to the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief
I report that during the second half of February 25, crowds of workers gathering on Znamenskaya Square and near the Kazan Cathedral were repeatedly dispersed by police and military officials. Around 5 p.m. near Gostiny Dvor, demonstrators sang revolutionary songs and threw out red flags with the inscription: “Down with the war!”... On February 25, two hundred and forty thousand workers went on strike. I have issued an announcement prohibiting the gathering of people on the streets and confirming that any manifestation of disorder will be suppressed by force of arms. Today, February 26, the city is calm in the morning.
Telegram
Chairman of the State Duma M.V. Rodzianko Nicholas II
Your Majesty! The situation is serious. There is anarchy in the capital. The government is paralyzed. Transport, food and fuel were in complete disarray. Public discontent is growing. There is indiscriminate shooting on the streets. Troop units shoot at each other. It is necessary to immediately entrust a person enjoying the confidence of the country to form a new government. You can't hesitate. Any delay is like death. I pray to God that at this hour the responsibility does not fall on the crown bearer.
To help the garrison units and the Cossacks of the 1st Don Regiment, who, in the opinion of the ruling circles, were too hesitant in dispersing the demonstrators, five squadrons of the 9th reserve cavalry regiment from Krasnoe Selo, a hundred of the Life Guards of the consolidated Cossack regiment from Pavlovsk and five squadrons were called guards reserve regiment. At about 9 pm on February 25, the commander of the Petrograd Military District, General Khabalov, received a telegram from Nicholas II, who ordered the unrest in the capital to immediately stop. Having gathered the chiefs of the sections and commanders of the units located in Petrograd, Khabalov read out the text of the emperor’s telegram, giving instructions to shoot at the demonstrators after three warnings.
On the morning of February 26, arrests of representatives of revolutionary organizations began. In total, about a hundred people were captured.
On the afternoon of February 26, Sunday, crowds of workers from all proletarian districts of the capital began to move towards the center. In many places their path was blocked by military patrols. On Znamenskaya Square, on Nevsky, Ligovskaya Street, on the corner of 1st Rozhdestvenskaya and Suvorovsky Prospekt, military outposts, on the orders of officers, shot at demonstrators. According to a certificate from the security department, on Znamenskaya Square alone the police collected about 40 dead and approximately the same number of wounded that day, not counting those whom the demonstrators carried away with them. In total, during the February revolutionary events in Petrograd, 169 people were killed and about a thousand were wounded. Larger number the number of deaths falls on February 26th.
From the memoirs of a soldier of the training team of the Volyn regiment about the participation of Volyn residents in the execution of a workers’ demonstration:
“The team is already in place. The workers occupied the entire area of the Nikolaevsky station. The soldiers still hope that they were called only for appearances, to instill fear. But when the hour hand on the station clock moved towards twelve, the soldiers’ doubts were dispelled - they were ordered to shoot. A volley rang out. The workers rushed in all directions. The first volleys were almost without defeat: the soldiers, as if by agreement, fired upwards. But then a machine gun, aimed at the crowd by officers, began to crackle, and workers’ blood stained the snow-covered square. The crowd rushed into the courtyards in disorder, crushing each other. The mounted gendarmerie began to pursue the “enemy” who had been shot down from the position, and this pursuit continued until late at night. Only then were the military units separated into barracks. Our team, under the leadership of Staff Captain Dashkevich, returned to the barracks exactly at one in the morning.”
Pagetnykh K.I.
Volyntsi in February days. Memories
IGV Manuscript Fund, No. 488
Leaflet
Petersburg Committee of the Bolshevik Party
with an appeal to the soldiers to go over to the side of the rebel workers
to overthrow the autocracy
Russian
Social Democratic Labor PartyWorkers of all countries, unite!
BROTHER SOLDIERS!
For the third day, we, the workers of Petrograd, openly demand the destruction of the autocratic system, the culprit of the shed blood of the people, the culprit of the famine in the country, dooming your wives and children, mothers and brothers to death. Remember, comrade soldiers, that only the fraternal alliance of the working class and the revolutionary army will bring liberation to the enslaved people and an end to the fratricidal senseless massacre.
Down with the royal monarchy! Long live the fraternal alliance of the revolutionary army with the people!
Petersburg Committee
Russian Social Democratic
workers' party
The employee's nickname is Matveev.
Lieutenant Colonel Tyshkevich received informationIn the Vasileostrovsky district, the Social Democrats (Social Democrats) are conducting widespread campaigning for the continuation of the strike and street demonstrations. At the ongoing rallies, decisions were made to use terror on a large scale against those factories and factories that would begin work. Today, in the apartment of worker Grismanov, who lives on the 14th line of Vasilievsky Island in house No. 95, apt. 1, a meeting of Bolsheviks and Unitedists took place, at which about 28 people were present. At the meeting, appeals to the soldiers were handed over to those present for distribution among the lower ranks, and, in addition, the following resolution was adopted: 1) continuation of the strike and further demonstrations, taking them to extreme limits; 2) forcibly force cinema entrepreneurs and billiard room owners to close them in order to force workers to work on the street rather than engage in festive entertainment; 3) collect weapons for the formation of fighting squads and 4) engage in the disarmament of policemen through unexpected attacks.
The employee's nickname is Limonin.
Lieutenant Colonel Belousov received informationStatement of information. The general mood of the non-party masses is this: the movement broke out spontaneously, without preparation and solely on the basis of the food crisis. Since the military units did not interfere with the crowd, and in some cases even took measures to paralyze the initiatives of the police officials, the masses gained confidence in their impunity, and now, after two days of unhindered walking through the streets, when revolutionary circles put forward slogans: “Down with the war” and “Down with the government,” the people became convinced that a revolution had begun, that success belonged to the masses, that the government was powerless to suppress the movement due to the fact that the military units were not on its side, that a decisive victory was close, since the military units would not march today tomorrow it is open on the side of the revolutionary forces that the movement that has begun will not subside, but will grow without interruption until the final victory and coup d'etat. Water supply and power plants are expected to cease operations. It should be borne in mind that tomorrow the workers will go to the factories, but with the sole purpose of getting together, uniting and moving out into the streets again in an organized and planned manner to achieve complete success. IN this moment factories play the role of grand clubs, and therefore the temporary closure of factories for at least 2-3 days would deprive the masses of information centers where experienced speakers electrify the crowd, coordinate the actions of individual factories and give coherence and organization to all speeches. The question of creating a Council of Workers' Deputies has been raised, which is expected to be created in the near future. The mood of the masses is fueled by news of certain successes of the crowd in certain areas of the capital and by information received about the emergence of a movement in the provinces. Nowadays they say that in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod there is already a complete repetition of the Petrograd events and that in a number of provincial cities there are also riots.
They say that a great movement has begun among the sailors of the Baltic Fleet and that the sailors are ready any minute to penetrate here and act on land as a major revolutionary force. The situation is aggravated by the fact that bourgeois circles also demand a change of government, i.e. the government remains without support from anyone, but in this case there is also a gratifying phenomenon: bourgeois circles only demand a change of government and are in favor of continuing the war to a victorious end , and the workers put forward slogans: “Bread, down with the government and down with the war.” This last point creates discord between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, and only because of this they do not want to support each other. This difference of views is a good circumstance for the government, which fragments the forces and disperses the initiatives of individual circles. Nowadays everything depends on the line of conduct of the military units: if the latter do not go over to the side of the proletariat, then the movement will quickly decline, but if the troops turn against the government, then nothing will save the country from a revolutionary coup. Only decisive and immediate action can weaken and stop the emerging movement. The election to the Council of Workers' Deputies will take place at the factories, probably tomorrow morning, and the Council of Workers' Deputies tomorrow evening. dep. can already begin its functions. This circumstance once again speaks for the need to prevent factory meetings tomorrow morning by closing all factories.
This was the last message that the security department received. From February 27, only two telephone messages from the polling stations were preserved, reporting on the performance of the Volynians, Lithuanians, Preobrazhentsev and other military units.
At about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the 4th company of the reserve battalion of the Pavlovsk regiment, indignant at the participation of the training team of its regiment in the execution of workers, went out into the street with the goal of returning fellow soldiers to the barracks and along the way fired at a mounted detachment of policemen. Khabalov ordered the battalion commander and the regimental priest to take the oath of office and place the company in barracks, taking away their weapons. When, having returned to the barracks, the company handed over its weapons, it was discovered that 21 soldiers, taking their rifles, went over to the side of the demonstrators. The battalion command arrested 19 people, they were sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress, they were subject to a military court, as the main instigators. The performance of the Pavlovians was a harbinger of the uprising, but not yet the uprising itself.
But activists of worker cooperatives, trade unions, Mensheviks, and Socialist Revolutionaries were preparing for a revolutionary development of events
.The mood in the capital is extremely alarming. The wildest rumors are circulating in society, both about the intentions of the government authorities (in the sense of taking various kinds of reactionary measures), and equally about the assumptions of groups and segments of the population hostile to this government (in the sense of possible and probable revolutionary initiatives and excesses).
Everyone is waiting for some exceptional events and performances from both sides. They are equally serious and anxiously awaiting various revolutionary outbreaks, as well as the seemingly undoubted “palace coup” in the near future, the herald of which, according to general belief, was the act against the “notorious old man” (meaning the murder of Rasputin).
Among such chaotic judgments, gossip and rumors, special attention is drawn to the repeated conversations and rumors everywhere about terror as a phenomenon not of a party nature, but of a general one. In this regard, rumors about the probable possibility of manifestations of terror are usually associated in progressive social circles with the question of the probable final dissolution of the State Duma under the current situation.<…>
It should be noted that if the workers came to realize the necessity and feasibility of a general strike and the subsequent revolution, and the circles of the intelligentsia came to believe in the salvific nature of political murders and terror, then this quite clearly shows the oppositional mood of society and its thirst to find one or another way out of the created politically abnormal situation. And this situation is becoming more abnormal and tense every day, and that the masses of the population, nor the leaders of political parties, do not see any natural peaceful way out of it - there is no need to talk about this.
FROM A LETTER OF EMPRESS ALEXANDRA FYODOROVNA TO NICHOLAS II
Strikes and riots in the city are more than provocative.<…>This is a hooligan movement, boys and girls running around and shouting that they have no bread - just to create excitement, and workers who prevent others from working. If the weather had been very cold, they would all probably have stayed indoors. But this will all pass and calm down, if only the Duma behaves well. The worst speeches are not published, but I think that anti-dynastic speeches must be immediately and very severely punished, especially since now is wartime. The strikers must be told directly not to organize strikes, otherwise they will be sent to the front or severely punished.
TELEGRAM S.S. KHABALOVA TO STAKE
I report that on February 23 and 24, due to a lack of bread, a strike occurred in many factories. On February 24, about 200 thousand workers went on strike and forcibly removed those working. The tram service was stopped by workers. In the middle of the day on February 23 and 24, some of the workers broke through to Nevsky, from where they were dispersed. Today is February 25, the workers’ attempts to penetrate Nevsky are successfully paralyzed. The unit that has broken through is dispersed by the Cossacks. In addition to the Petrograd garrison, five squadrons of the 9th reserve cavalry regiment from Krasnoye Selo, a hundred of the Life Guards of the combined Cossack regiment from Pavlovsk, and five squadrons of the guards reserve cavalry regiment were called to Petrograd to suppress the unrest.
(S.S. Khabalov - Commander of the Petrograd Military District, Lieutenant General)
“NO SLOW DOWN.”
TELEGRAM OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE STATE DUMA M.V. RODZYANKO TO NICHOLAYIIFEBRUARY 26, 1917
Your Majesty!
The situation is serious. There is anarchy in the capital. The government is paralyzed. Transport, food and fuel were in complete disarray. Public discontent is growing. There is indiscriminate shooting on the streets. Troop units shoot at each other. It is necessary to immediately entrust a person enjoying the confidence of the country to form a new government. You can't hesitate. Any delay is like death. I pray to God that at this hour the responsibility does not fall on the crown bearer.
“TOMORROW MAY BE ALREADY LATE”
FROM M.V.’S TELEGRAM RODZYANKO TO NICHOLAYII 27 FEBRUARY 1917
The government is completely powerless to suppress the disorder. There is no hope for the garrison troops. The reserve battalions of the guard regiments are in revolt. Officers are being killed. Having joined the crowd and the popular movement, they head to the house of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Duma. Civil War has begun and is growing. Order to immediately call on a new government on the principles I conveyed to Your Majesty in yesterday’s telegram. Order the legislative chambers to be reconvened to repeal your highest decree. Announce these measures without delay with the highest manifesto. If the movement spreads to the army, the Germans will triumph and the collapse of Russia, and with it the dynasty, is inevitable. On behalf of all of Russia, I ask Your Majesty to fulfill the above. The hour that decides your fate and the fate of your homeland has come. Tomorrow may be too late.
RODZYANKO ABOUT HIS POSITION IN FEBRUARY 1917
In 1919, the former chairman of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma wrote: “Of course, the State Duma could refuse to lead the revolution, but we must not forget what has been created complete absence power and the fact that if the Duma were to be eliminated, complete anarchy would immediately set in and the fatherland would perish immediately... The Duma had to be preserved, at least as a fetish of power, which would still play its role in difficult times.”
TELEGRAM S.S. KHABALOV IN THE NAME OF M.V. ALEXEEVA
I ask you to report to His Imperial Majesty that I could not fulfill the order to restore order in the capital. Most of the units, one after another, betrayed their duty and refused to fight against the rebels. Others fraternized with the rebels and turned their weapons against the troops loyal to His Majesty. Those who remained faithful to their duty fought against the rebels all day, suffering heavy losses. By evening the rebels took possession for the most part capital Cities. Small units of various regiments gathered near the Winter Palace under the command of Major General Zankevich remain faithful to the oath, with whom I will continue to fight.
(M.V. Alekseev - Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Headquarters, Adjutant General of the General Staff, Infantry General)
FIRST SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION
On February 27, 1917, at 5 o’clock in the morning, the senior sergeant major of the training team of the Volyn Regiment, Timofey Kirpichnikov, raised the soldiers subordinate to him, fed, armed and lined up before the arrival of his superiors. The day before, their commander, Staff Captain Lashkevich, led the team into the city to shoot at unarmed demonstrators who were outraged by the lack of bread in stores; At the same time, Lashkevich personally killed several dozen civilians. At night, Timofey Kirpichnikov persuaded his assistants, the “platoon leaders,” to refuse to participate in the executions of Petrograd residents. Arriving at the unit's location, the officer argued with his subordinates; as a result, he tried to escape and was shot.
The rebel training team, arms in hand, moved towards the reserve battalion of their regiment and carried it along with them. Then Timofey Kirpichnikov led the soldiers further - to raise the neighboring regiments. Overcoming the resistance of sentries and officers, they were able to bring many thousands of armed people onto the streets within a few hours. At some point, Kirpichnikov himself ceased to control the actions of the crowd, which randomly opened fire, stormed objects occupied by the gendarmerie, and ultimately prompted government agencies, including the government, curtail their activities, and later completely flee.
Thanks to the abilities of Timofey Kirpichnikov, the riots organized with the participation of the Chief of Staff of the Headquarters M.V. Alekseev, commander of the troops of the Petrograd Military District S.S. Khabalov and other high-ranking officials were beyond the control of any government authorities.
Deputies of the State Duma tried to form a new government, activists of the left parties began to create Soviets - they called for sending representatives from every part and from every thousand workers to elect the Executive Committee. In parallel, A.I. Guchkov and V.V. Shulgin, with the support of the highest generals, forced Nicholas II to abdicate the throne. The power in the country was weakening more and more (especially after order No. 1, which contributed to the collapse of the army). This did not prevent the new commander of the Petrograd Military District L.G. Kornilov from presenting the award to Kirpichnikov - the St. George Cross of the 4th degree. The hero of February was also promoted to lieutenant.
The leaders of extremist political organizations gathered in Petrograd and were already trying to take power into their own hands - the “April crisis” arose. At the same time, Timofey Kirpichnikov stood up for the Provisional Government. He again brought an armed demonstration into the streets, which paralyzed the actions of the revolutionaries. In April they had to abandon their plans.
After October 25, 1917, when P.N. Krasnov advanced on Petrograd, captured by the Bolsheviks, Kirpichnikov tried to repeat his signature move with a revolt of the garrison soldiers. However, the uprising of the cadet schools did not evoke responses among the soldiers - the plan failed.
In November, Kirpichnikov was able to escape from the capital to the Don. He arrived to A.P. Kutepov, who was in Petrograd on vacation in February and tried in vain to restore order (the soldiers assigned to him fled) while Kirpichnikov was destroying it. A very short conversation took place between the two heroes, recorded by A.P. Kutepov in his memoirs: “One day a young officer came to my headquarters and very cheekily told me that he had come to the Volunteer Army to fight the Bolsheviks “for the freedom of the people,” which the Bolsheviks were trampling on. I asked him where he had been until now and what he had been doing, the officer told me that he was one of the first “fighters for the freedom of the people” and that in Petrograd he took an active part in the revolution, being one of the first to oppose the old regime. When the officer wanted to leave, I ordered him to stay and, calling the officer on duty, sent for a squad. The young officer became agitated, turned pale and began asking why I was detaining him. Now you will see, I said, and when the squad arrived, I ordered that this “freedom fighter” be immediately shot.
ORDER No. 1
PETROGRAD COUNCIL OF WORKERS' AND SOLDIERS' DEPUTIES FOR THE GARRISON OF THE PETROGRAD DISTRICT
Order No. 1. March 1, 1917 To the garrison of the Petrograd district to all soldiers of the guard, army, artillery and navy for immediate and precise execution, and to the workers of Petrograd for information.
The Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies decided:
1) In all companies, battalions, regiments, parks, batteries, squadrons and individual services of various types of military departments and on naval vessels, immediately select committees from elected representatives from the lower ranks of the above military units.
2) In all military units that have not yet elected their representatives to the Council of Workers' Deputies, elect one representative from each company, who will present themselves with written certificates to the State Duma building by 10 a.m. on March 2.
3) In all its political speeches, the military unit is subordinate to the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies and its committees.
4) Orders of the military commission of the State Duma should be executed, except in cases where they contradict the orders and resolutions of the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.
5) All kinds of weapons, such as rifles, machine guns, armored vehicles, etc., must be at the disposal and under the control of company and battalion committees and in no case be issued to officers, even at their request.
6) In the ranks and during the performance of official duties, soldiers must observe the strictest military discipline, but outside of service and formation in their political, civil and private life, soldiers cannot in any way be diminished in those rights that all citizens enjoy. In particular, standing in front and the mandatory salutation outside of duty are abolished.
7) The titles of officers are likewise abolished: Your Excellency, Honor, etc., and replaced by the address: Mr. General, Mr. Colonel, etc.
Rough treatment of soldiers of all military ranks and, in particular, addressing them as “you” is prohibited, and any violation of this, as well as all misunderstandings between officers and soldiers, the latter are obliged to bring to the attention of company committees.
This order should be read in all companies, battalions, regiments, crews, batteries and other combatant and non-combatant commands.
Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies
DECLARATION OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
Citizens!
The temporary committee of members of the State Duma, with the assistance and sympathy of the capital's troops and population, has now achieved such a degree of success over the dark forces of the old regime that it allows it to begin a more durable structure of executive power.
For this purpose, the Temporary Committee of the State Duma appoints the following persons as ministers of the first public cabinet, in whom the country's trust is ensured by their past social and political activities.
Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Internal Affairs, Prince G.E. Lviv.
Minister of Foreign Affairs P.N. Miliukov.
Minister of Military and Naval A.I. Guchkov.
Minister of Railways N.V. Nekrasov.
Minister of Trade and Industry A.I. Konovalov.
Minister of Public Education A.A. Manuilov.
Minister of Finance M.I. Tereshchenko.
Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod V.N. Lviv.
Minister of Agriculture A.I. Shingarev.
Minister of Justice A.F. Kerensky.
State Comptroller I.V. Godnev.
Minister for Finnish Affairs F.I. Rodichev.
In its present activities, the cabinet will be guided by the following principles:
1. Complete and immediate amnesty for all political and religious cases, including terrorist attacks, military uprisings and agrarian crimes, etc.
2. Freedom of speech, press, unions, meetings and strikes, with the extension of political freedoms to military personnel within the limits permitted by military-technical conditions.
3. Abolition of all class, religious and national restrictions.
4. Immediate preparation for the convening of a Constituent Assembly on the basis of universal, equal, secret and direct voting, which will establish the form of government and constitution of the country.
5. Replacement of the police with a people's militia with elected authorities, subordinate bodies local government.
6. Elections to local government bodies on the basis of universal, direct, equal and secret voting.
7. Non-disarmament and non-withdrawal from Petrograd of military units that took part in the revolutionary movement.
8. While maintaining strict military discipline in the ranks and while on duty military service- elimination of all restrictions for soldiers in the use of public rights granted to all other citizens. The Provisional Government considers it its duty to add that it does not at all intend to take advantage of military circumstances for any delay in the implementation of the above reforms and measures.
Chairman of the State Duma M.V. Rodzianko.
Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Prince. G.E.Lvov.
Ministers: P.N.Milyukov, N.V.Nekrasov, A.N.Konovalov, A.A.Manuylov, M.I.Tereshchenko, Vl.N.Lvov, A.I.Shingarev, A.F.Kerensky.
ABOUT THE REFUSAL OF THE GRAND DUKE MICHAEL ALEXANDROVICH
FROM THE PERCEPTION OF SUPREME POWER TILL THE ESTABLISHMENT
IN THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OF THE BOARD AND NEW
BASIC LAWS OF THE RUSSIAN STATE
A heavy burden has been placed on me by the will of my brother, who handed over to me the imperial all-Russian throne in a time of unprecedented war and popular unrest. Inspired by the common thought with all the people that the good of our Motherland is above all, I made a firm decision in that case to assume supreme power if such is the will of our great people, who must establish a form of government and new fundamental laws by popular vote through their representatives in the Constituent Assembly Russian state.
Therefore, calling on God’s blessing, I ask all citizens of the Russian state to submit to the Provisional Government, which arose at the initiative of the State Duma and was invested with full power, until such time as it is possible to convene
in the shortest possible time, on the basis of universal, direct, equal and secret suffrage, the Constituent Assembly, with its decision on the form of government, will express the will of the people.