THE DECISIVE HOURS

THE OCTOBER DAYS 1917
About six o’clock on the morning of October 24, several armored cars carrying Junkers and militiamen appeared at the premises of the printing shop of the Rabochy Put (Workers’ Path), which was appearing in place of the Pravda that had been banned by the Kerensky Government, with a warrant of the Provisional Government, dated October 23, for the confiscation of the paper and the arrest of the editor. The workers refused to recognize this warrant since it was not countersigned by the Revolutionary Military Committee, and a regular uproar set in. At the sound of the fracas, workers who were hurrying to the factories in the early hours of the morning began to gather at the printing shop. Among them were a number of Red Guards, one of whom informed the secretary of the Rozhdestvenka District Committee of the Party about the raid that had been made on the central organ of the Party. The latter rang up Stalin.

Stalin immediately called up the armored car division, which was loyal to the Bolsheviks, and at the .same time warned the Revolutionary Military Committee that Kerensky was attempting to smash the Rabochy Put. The Revolutionary Military Committee dispatched two companies of the Lithuanian Regiment that were on duty. The revolutionary soldiers and the Red Guards pressed back the armored cars and placed a reinforced guard over the printing shop and the editorial offices of the Rabochy Put. Towards 11 a.m. the Rabochy Put came out with a call for the overthrow of the Provisional Government.

Around 10 a.m. Kerensky, who had occupied the apartment in the Winter Palace of Alexander the Third, father of the Tsar (apparently in preparation for assuming the role of Napoleon), descended to the offices of the Provisional Government and informed the Ministers that the planned attack on the Bolsheviks had been launched. The Ministers proposed that Kerensky deliver this information to the meeting of the Pre-parliament in order to secure the assistance of the latter. After having received a report from Polkovnikov to the effect that soldiers had been dispatched from the front, that cycle detachments would arrive at Petrograd on the 24th and that trustworthy people had been sent out to meet them, Kerensky left for the session of the Pre-parliament. When he arrived, the Menshevik Minister Nikitin was delivering a lengthy and tedious report on the chaos in the food situation throughout the country. The deputies were rambling about in the corridors. Suddenly they caught sight of Kerensky. His agitated appearance was plain to see. The deputies began to flock back to the hall. As soon as Nikitin left the platform, Kerensky took his place and began immediately:

“I consider it my duty to quote to you some of the most characteristic passages taken from various proclamations printed in the Rabochy Put and written by that arch-criminal Ulyanov Lenin, who is wanted by the state.”

Thereupon Kerensky, amidst shouts and calls from the audience, began to read the passages from Lenin’s “A Letter to the Comrades” in which Lenin flays the traitors Zinoviev and Kamenev and argues in favor of an armed uprising. Kerensky concluded his speech on a hysterical note:

“Thus, I must state to the Provisional Council of the Russian Republic that the mood of a certain section of the St. Petersburg population is utterly, openly and definitely an insurrectionary mood.”

A regular hubbub arose. Members of the audience demanded that Kerensky explain how it was that he had allowed things to go to such extremes and what steps he had taken. Amidst the uproar, Konovalov suddenly mounted the steps of the platform and handed Kerensky a note. Kerensky hurriedly read it through and agitatedly raised his hand for silence, indicating that he had not yet concluded his apparently finished speech.

Silence fell. Kerensky continued:

“I have just been handed a copy of a document which is now circulating among the regiments.”

In the hushed hall, Kerensky read out:

“‘Danger threatens the Petrograd Soviet. You are hereby instructed to keep your regiment in complete military preparedness and to await further orders. Any delay or failure to comply with this order will be deemed treachery to the revolution.

“‘The Revolutionary Military Committee.’”

Pandemonium broke loose. The deputies rushed to the platform with clenched fists. Kerensky was blamed for the uprising that was beginning. The deputies demanded that the most stringent measures be taken. At 2:05 p.m., amidst stormy applause, Kerensky, having secured the consent of all parties to any measures that he might see fit to take against the Bolsheviks, hastened to the Winter Palace for the purpose of proceeding against the uprising.

While Kerensky had been delivering his hysterical and lengthy speech, a meeting of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party had taken place in the Smolny. Here, without any speeches or loss of time, the following decisions had been adopted: Dzerzhinsky was to occupy the Post and Telegraph Office; the two representatives of the Kronstadt Soviet who were in Petrograd at the time were to be sent to Kronstadt; Moscow was to be informed of the commencement of the armed uprising, for which purpose one representative was to be sent there that day and another the next; two thousand Red Guards were to be summoned from Revolutionary Headquarters.

Sverdlov was instructed to keep a watch over every step of the Provisional Government. In short, the entire carefully-prepared mechanism of insurrection had been set in motion.

At 3 p.m., when Junker detachments appeared at the drawbridges on Kerensky’s orders to raise them and cut off the working class districts from the center, the counter-revolutionary troops found Red Guards, sailors and soldiers from the Garrison already posted there by order of the Revolutionary Military Committee. As a matter of fact, they had been there for so long that the Red Guards at the Nikolayevsky Bridge had settled down for a nap, and the Junkers, taking them by surprise, seized the bridge.

Learning of this, the Revolutionary Military Committee issued orders to the commissar of the cruiser Aurora to land a party and recapture the bridge. Around 5 p.m. the Peter and Paul Fortress finally went over to the side of the revolution. By 5 p.m. the Telegraph Office had been taken. Code messages were immediately sent out to all regions with the information that the uprising had begun.

LENIN AT SMOLNY

A note describing all the measures that had been taken was sent to Lenin, who was anxiously awaiting news at his secret lodgings in the Vyborg district. He hastily wrote a note asking permission of the Central Committee to go to the Smolny. The housewife in whose apartment Lenin was staying undertook to deliver the note, but was unable to cross by way of the Nikolayevsky Bridge since the Junkers had occupied it. Therefore she delivered the note to the Vyborg District Committee of the Party and from there its contents were transmitted by phone to Stalin at the Smolny. The latter replied that it would be too dangerous for Lenin to leave his place of concealment.

Upon receiving this reply, Lenin wrote another letter, this time a fairly long one. This is the famous letter that begins as follows:

“Comrades,

“I am writing these lines on the evening of October 24. The situation is critical in the extreme. It is absolutely clear that to delay the insurrection now will be veritably fatal....

“We must at all costs, this very evening, this very night, arrest the Government, first disarming the Junkers (defeating them, if they resist), and so forth.... Under no circumstances must the power be left in the hands of Kerensky and Co. until the 25th – not under any circumstances; the matter must be decided without fail this very evening, or this very night.” (Lenin and Stalin, The Russian Revolution, pp. 230-31.)

Taking this letter the same comrade made her way to the Smolny. She was obliged to go all the way on foot as the streetcars were not running. By the time she returned, the Central Committee had already sent for Lenin. There was a representative of the Central Committee in the apartment. In order to avoid an argument with his hostess, Lenin sent her to the Smolny with a third note to the Central Committee. When she returned the apartment was dark. No one was home. The table was set for two in preparation for the evening meal. And on the bottom of one plate was scrawled: “I have gone to the place you didn’t want me to go to.”

Lenin had donned a wig, put a bandage around his face and had gone out with the Control Committee representative.

On the way a street-car passed them, headed for the car-barn. Lenin hopped on through the front entrance. The driver was a woman.

“Where are you rushing to?” he asked.

“What a question!” she replied. “And you a worker, too! Not to know where we’re going! Why, we’re going to knock the stuffings out of the bourgeois!”

Upon hearing this, Lenin began to explain to the driver what was behind all these events. His companion was on pins and needles. The car was packed and Lenin might be recognized at any minute. Fortunately, the car turned into the terminus just then and the two jumped off.

They arrived at the Smolny around midnight after many difficulties. Lenin immediately went upstairs to the second story, sent for Stalin, and without removing his wig sat down on a window-sill to wait for him. Just then the Menshevik Dan came out of the Conference Hall carrying a package. Undoing the package, he turned to his companions and said: “I’m frightfully hungry. Wouldn’t you like some sandwiches?”

Quite by chance, he glanced in the direction of the window and apparently recognized Lenin. Slowly, he tied up his package again and moved off to the door. Laughing and winking, the others shuffled out after him.

Stalin came in and told Lenin about all the measures that had been taken.

After midnight messengers carrying news of the uprising hurried through the city, calling out new detachments. According to a prearranged plan, these detachments occupied the premises of government institutions. They met with no resistance on the part of the guards. In one place the soldiers declared that they would not surrender. The Red Guards unslung their rifles, but it soon became clear that it was all a misunderstanding – the soldiers meant that they would not surrender to the Provisional Government, as for the Revolutionary Military Committee, they were only too eager to assist it in every way. The two detachments thus remained on guard there.

At 1:25 a.m. the post office was occupied. At 2 a.m. the railway stations and the power station were taken. The power was immediately shut off in the Winter Palace. At 6 a.m. the State Bank was seized. Thus the socialist revolution did not repeat the mistake of the Paris Commune, which had left the bank in the hands of the counter-revolutionaries.

At 7 a.m. the Palace Bridge under Kerensky’s very windows was taken. Glancing through the window Kerensky looked out at a sea of Red Guard bayonets. He realized that there could be no question of any attack on his part now. Losing no time, he dashed over to Area Headquarters. Polkovnikov, who had been so confident only the day before, today, at the dawn of October 25, announced that not a single regiment had come out and that even the Cossacks were refusing to budge. During the night the district headquarters of the Red Guard had surrounded the Cossack regiments. When the Cossacks attempted to leave their barracks, they were confronted with machine-guns. Several Junker schools, as, for instance, the Pavlovsky School for Junkers, were likewise surrounded in good time.

KERENSKY’S FLIGHT

Kerensky realized that his only salvation lay in flight.

He decided to apply to the foreign powers for assistance. An adjutant was sent to the Italian military attache with a request for an automobile. The latter said that he would be delighted to give his car to the Supreme Command, but that he had no gasoline. Thereupon the adjutant scurried off to the American attache. The American said that he would give him a car, but insisted that he be taken to see the Commander-in-Chief. The inquisitive Yankee was then taken to the Winter Palace where he saw Kerensky and shook hands with him warmly. Kerensky got into the car, which was flying the American flag, and was driven out to the Square.

Seeing the flag of a foreign power, the Red Guards allowed the automobile to pass. Swiftly Kerensky sped down the Nevsky, to Tsarskoye Syelo and from there to Pskov, which was a part of the front. This flight of the Prime Minister of the last bourgeois government was an admission by Kerensky of the victory of the revolution in Petrograd; not, of course, that the revolution needed any such admission.

At 10 a.m. on the morning of the 25th Lenin wrote the famous manifesto “To the Citizens of Russia” in the Smolny.

“The Provisional Government has been overthrown. The power of state has passed into the hands of the organ of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, the Revolutionary Military Committee, which stands at the head of the Petrograd proletariat and garrison.

“The cause for which the people have fought – the immediate proposal of a democratic peace, the abolition of landlordism, workers’ control over production and the creation of a Soviet Government – is assured.

“Long live the revolution of the workers, soldiers and peasants!”

At 11 a.m. this manifesto could already be seen posted throughout the city. Nothing remained in the hands of the Provisional Government but the Winter Palace. All government institutions had been taken without a single shot being fired. All roads leading to Petrograd were in the hands of the revolutionaries.

It was decided to attack the Winter Palace as soon as the sailors arrived from Helsingfors and Kronstadt. The Kronstadt detachment was held up, however, because of stormy weather at sea. Moreover, for every ten men called up, a hundred volunteered, which complicated setting up the detachments and dispatching them.

Meanwhile, at 2:35 p.m. a special meeting of the Petrograd Soviet was opened. Lenin addressed this meeting for the first time after an enforced absence of over three and a half months. In a brief speech, Lenin reported the victory of the revolution.

“From now on,” he said, “a new phase in the history of Russia begins, and this revolution, the third Russian revolution, should in the end lead to the victory of socialism.”

The Petrograd Soviet resolved to place all its 3,000 members at the disposal of the Revolutionary Military Committee.

The meeting had scarcely been concluded when the ships from Kronstadt steamed into the mouth of the Neva. The sailors landed in quick order and took up their posts. The Winter Palace was completely surrounded. Preparations for the assault on the Palace began. The Peter and Paul Fortress was to raise the Red Flag, and upon seeing this the Aurora would fire a round from its six-inch guns. This was to be the signal for the attack. Wishing to spare the forces of the revolutionary army as much as possible and to save the Palace building itself from destruction, the Revolutionary Military Committee decided to present the Provisional Government with an ultimatum. The demand to surrender the Palace on pain of artillery fire was hastily written on a scrap of paper and given to a rank-and-file member of the cycle detachment who volunteered to deliver it. Waving a white handkerchief as a flag of truce the cyclist approached the Winter Palace. The Junkers took him to the Staff Headquarters of the Military Area, which adjoined the Palace. There he met Kishkin, who had been appointed dictator of the city after Kerensky’s flight, and his two assistants – Palchinsky and Ruthenberg.

The cyclist delivered the ultimatum. In the rush, they had forgotten to set a time limit for the ultimatum and the cyclist himself set the limit at twenty minutes.

Seizing the ultimatum, Kishkin dashed into the Palace to confer with the Government. The members of the Provisional Government were in the Malakhitov Hall, from the windows of which the Peter and Paul Fortress and the cruiser Aurora could be seen. Before replying it was decided to consult General Headquarters. Either through treachery or because proper precautionary measures had not yet been taken by the insurgent masses, a connection was established with General Headquarters by direct wire. The tape recording the conversation has been preserved. Dukhonin reported that troops had been dispatched and proposed that the Government hold out till they arrived.

Upon receiving this information, the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Menshevik Nikitin, called up Moscow. The telephone operator at the Exchange managed to fool the inexperienced Red Guard who was stationed there to keep a check on the calls she put through, and connected Nikitin with Rudnev, the Socialist-Revolutionary Mayor of Moscow. Rudnev was informed of the ultimatum, of the conversation with Dukhonin and of the decision not to surrender. He was also told that in the event of the arrest of the Provisional Government, he, Rudnev, was charged with the formation of a new government.

Meanwhile the twenty minutes had elapsed. The cyclist turned to General Poradelov and demanded an answer. Poradelov asked for an additional ten minutes, so that he could get in touch with the Winter Palace. The cyclist agreed to give him ten more minutes. While the general was talking to the Palace over the phone, the cyclist went out of the building into the street, where under cover of the darkness the Red Guards had begun to gather. Exactly ten minutes later, the doors of the Staff Headquarters were burst open, and the Red Guards entered and arrested Poradelov, who was still at the phone, and all the Staff officers.

The news of the seizure of Staff Headquarters was taken to mean the fall of the Winter Palace. All further preparations were stopped and the commanders of the revolutionary troops began to rush towards the Winter Palace. They were met with machine-gun fire. It was going on 9 p.m. before the whole thing was straightened out and the mistake cleared up. Lenin sent a note from the Smolny to the commander of the revolutionary troops besieging the Winter Palace, ordering him to attack immediately. At 9 p.m. a warning shot was fired from the Peter and Paul Fortress, followed by the thunder of the six-inch guns of the Aurora. The attack had begun.

The Red Guards rolled out a three-inch gun, mounted it under the arch leading to the Palace Square, and fired two shells point-blank at the Winter Palace. One shell broke off part of the cornice, another hit the room adjoining the one in which the members of the Provisional Government were sitting. The Ministers moved to the inside rooms of the Palace.

The first group of sailors that forced its way into the Winter Palace was captured, but the appearance of Red Guards within the Palace had caused extreme consternation in the ranks of its defenders. In order to raise the general spirit, Palchinsky called together some of the Junkers and began to deliver a speech to them. He told them that Kerensky’s troops were approaching Petrograd and had taken Luga, some thirty kilometers from Petrograd.

Suddenly someone shouted out: “Luga is not thirty kilometers from Petrograd but one hundred and thirty! You ought to know your geography!”

The effect of the speech was entirely lost. Palchinsky made no attempt to finish what he had been saying, turned and went out. Some of the Junkers hastened from the hall, shouldered arms and left the Palace. Nevertheless, there were still over nine hundred armed Junkers, exclusive of officers, in the Palace.

In order to smash the resistance of the defenders of the Winter Palace, artillery fire was opened on it from the Peter and Paul Fortress. As many as thirty shells were fired. At the same time rifle and machine-gun fire opened up. The Provisional Government would fall at any moment now. For the last time Nikitin rang up the Municipal Duma. Kuskova, a Constitutional-Democrat member of the Duma, informed him that a delegation consisting of representatives from all the parties was heading for the Winter Palace. The members of the Municipal Duma were discussing the question of whether to go to the Winter Palace. The floor was taken by Minister Prokopovich, who complained that he had not been allowed to enter the Palace.

“Now, when our chosen representatives are facing death, let us forget party differences and brave death together,” proposed Prokopovich.

They got out onto the street and began to form ranks. Just then the delegation that had left for the Winter Palace returned. The deputies of the Municipal Duma retraced their steps and entered the building again. The delegation informed them that they had not been permitted to board the Aurora or to enter the Winter Palace.

Then Countess Panina took the floor and declared that if the deputies were not permitted to enter the Winter Palace, they could at least stand before the guns and die in front of the Winter Palace.

Once again the deputies went out onto the street and began to fall in. This time a representative of the All-Russian Peasant Council came running up with the request to wait for the members of the Peasant Council. And again they turned back to the Duma premises, again speeches were made and a vote taken. It was already dark when they left the building for the third time. On the way to the Winter Palace they were stopped by a detachment of seven sailors and entered into a dispute with them. The sailors declared that the Revolutionary Military Committee had given orders to allow no one to pass.

Voices were raised in angry shouts. One of the sailors called out sharply above the tumult: “Disperse to your homes and leave us in peace!” It was sufficient for these political corpses to hear a raised voice for them all to turn back.

In any case, it was too late to go to the Winter Palace.

At 11 p.m. sharp, a rifle shot rang out as the signal for the final attack. Red Guards rushed the Winter Palace from all sides. In places they were beaten off, but they managed to break in through most of the entrances and began to scatter through the halls on the first and second stories. They soon came upon the room where the Provisional Government was sitting and placed its members under arrest. Their names were taken down, a check up was made to see if they were all there, and they were then convoyed to the Peter and Paul Fortress by way of the Troitsky Bridge. When the men at the fortress saw the convoy approaching they opened fire, thinking the enemy was attempting an attack. The order was given to fall prone, and down the Ministers went. After a moment or so the fire ceased. Wet and muddied, the Ministers rose from the ground and entered the fortress. Rumor has it that when they were being placed in their cells, one of the Ministers complained to Uritsky, who had been appointed commandant of the fortress, that the cells were damp and very close; to which Uritsky replied: “You built these cells yourselves, you have only yourselves to blame.”

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