REVISIONISM IN RUSSIA TROTSKY AGAINST THE BOLSHEVIKS - 1904 - 1905
Compassl904-1905: Parvus Lays the Basis for Trotsky's "Theory of Permanent. Revolution"
In November and December l904 Trotsky wrote a brochure on the necessity for the working class to play the leading role in the capitalist revolution in Russia which, the following year, he entitled "Before the 9th January" (this being the date, under the old Russian calendar, in 1905 when the first Russian revolution began with the shooting down by the tsar's troops of an unarmed workers' demonstration).
When in Munich, Trotsky was accustomed to stay at the home of Aleksandr Helfand a Russian Jew who then claimed to be a Marxist. Helfand published his own political review "Aus der Weltpolitik" ('World Politics') and wrote articles for other magazines especially Kautsky's "Neue Zeit" (New Life) and the new "Iskra" -- under the pen-name "Parvus".
When Trotsky visited Munich in January 1905, he had the proofs of the brochure with him. Parvus was impressed with its contents and decided to put the weight of his authority behind Trotsky by writing a preface to it. In this preface he stated a conclusion which Trotsky still hesitated to draw:
"In Russia only the workers can accomplish a revolutionary insurrection. . . The revolutionary provisional government will be a government of workers' democracy." (Parvus:Preface to: L.Trotsky: "Do 9 Yanvara"; Geneva; 1905)
In April 1905 Lenin commented on Parvus's theory that the capitalist revolution in Russia could result in a government of the working class, as it had been put forward in the brochure written by"the windbag Trotsky".
(V. I. Lenin: "Social-Democracy and the Provisional Revolutionary Government"; in: "Selected Works", Volume 3; London; 1946; p. 35)
Lenin declared:
"This cannot be . . This cannot be, because only a revolutionary dictatorship relying on the overwhelming majority of the people can be at all durable.. . The Russian proletariat, however, at present constitutes a minority of the population in Russia. It can become the great overwhelming majority only if it combines with the mass of semi-proletarians, semi-small proprietors, i.e. with the mass of the petty-bourgeois urban and rural poor. And such a composition of the social basis of the possible and desirable revolutionary-democratic dictatorship will of course, find its reflection in the composition of the revolutionary government. With such a composition the participation or even the predominance of the most diversified representatives of revolutionary democracy in such a government will be inevitable".
(V. I. Lenin; ibid.; p. 35).
1905: The Beginning of the 1905 Revolution
On January 22nd., 1905 a peaceful demonstration of unarmed workers, led by a police agent, a priest by the name of Georgi Gapon, was fired on by troops while on its way to present a petition to the tsar at his Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. Over a thousand workers were killed, more than two thousand injured.
The massacre taught tens of thousands of workers that they could win their rights only by struggle.
During the weeks and months that followed, economic strikes began to pass into political strikes, into demonstrations and in places into clashes with tsarist troops.
In a letter written in Geneva three days after ""Bloody Sunday"", Lenin wrote:
"The Russian proletariat will not forget this lesson. Even the most uneducated, the most backward strata of the working class, who naively trusted the tsar and sincerely wished to put peacefully before 'the tsar himself' the requests of a tormented nation, were all taught a lesson by the troops led by the tsar and the tsar's uncle, the Grand Duke Vladimir. . The arming of the people is becoming one of the immediate tasks of the revolutionary movement The immediate arming of the workers and of all citizens in general, the preparation and organising of the revolutionary forces for overthrowing the government authorities and institutions -- this is the practical basis on which all revoluionaries can and must unite to strike a common blow.......
Long live the Revolution!
Long live the proletariat in revolt."
(V. I. Lenin: "The Beginning of the Revolution in Russia"", In: "Selected Works",Volume 3; -London; l946;p. 289, 291, 292).
"No Tsar, but a Workers' Government"
In February 1905 Trotsky returned to Russia, settling first in Kiev. Here he made contact with a member of the Party's Central Committee who had the previous July played a treacherous role in assisting the Mensheviks to capture the Central Committee -- Leonid Krassin. Krassin was in charge of a clandestine printing plant, which he now placed at Trotsky's disposal.
A few weeks later Trotsky moved to St. Petersburg, where he became leader of the city's Menshevik group.
He now adopted the view put forward in Parvus's preface to his brochure "Before the 9th. January", namely that the capitalist revolution in Russia should result in a workers' government:
"The composition of the Provisional Government will in the main depend on the proletariat. If the insurrection ends in a decisive victory, those who have led the working class in the rising will gain power."
(L. Trotsky: "Article in Iskra" (The Spark), No. 93; March 17th., 1905).
"Trotskyism: 'No Tsar, but a workers' government'. This surely, is wrong. There is a petty bourgeoisie, it cannot be ignored".
(V. I.Lenin: Report on the Political Situation, Petrograd City Conference RSDLP, in: "Collected Works", Volume 20, Book 1; London; 1929; p. 207).
Trotsky however, declared that this formulation of his political line was sloganised by Parvus and not by himself:
"At no time and in no place did I ever write or utter or propose such a slogan as "No Tsar -- but a workers' government." The fact of the matter is that a proclamation entitled: 'No Tsar -- but a workers' government' was written and published abroad in the summer of 1905 by Parvus".
(L. Trotsky. "The Permanent Revolution"; New York; 1970; p.222)
The Third Party Congress
Early in 1905, the Central Committee acceded to the pressure within the Party and agreed to collaborate with the Bureau of Majority Committees in convening the Third Congress of the Party.
The congress took place in London in April/May 1905, that is, during the rising tide of the 1905 Revolution. It was boycotted by the Mensheviks, and attended by 24 delegates.
The congress adopted a resolution calling on the Party urgently to make all political and technical preparations for an armed uprising, and to organise armed resistance to the violence of the government-sponsored reactionary organisations. It also amended the formulation of point 1 of the Party rules adopted at the 2nd. Congress in order to bring this into line with Lenin's principles of Party organisation and, abolishing the dual leading bodies (Central Committee and editorial board) established.at the 2nd. Congress, to make the Central Committee the leading body of the Party.
The congress set up a new central organ of the Party "Proletary" (The Proletarian). Lenin, who chaired the congress, was elected to the Central Committee, which at its first meeting, appointed him editor of the paper. This appeared in May l9O5 and was published regularly in Geneva until Lenin returned to Russia in November 1905.
The 1905-Menshevik Conference
The Mensheviks, who boycotted the Third Congress of the Party, held their own conference simultaneously in Geneva. The conference endorsed the Menshevik line on the capitalist revolution (see next section) and refrained from discussing resolutions that had been submitted on the arming of the masses and work among the troops.
Lenin's "The Two Tactics of Social-Democracy"
In July 1905 Lenin published a long work, "The Two Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution" in which he analysed the resolution of the Third Party Congress on the question of the capitalist revolution alongside that adopted at the Menshevik conference.
Lenin's conception of the capitalist revolution was as follows:
1. The capitalist revolution is advantageous to the working class:
"The bourgeois revolution is in the highest degree advantageous to the proletariat. The bourgeois revolution is absolutely necessary in the interests of the proletariat. The more complete, determined and consistent the bourgeois revolution, the more secure will the proletarian struggle against the bourgeoisie and for socialism become".
(V. I. Lenin: "The Two Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution", in: "Selected Works " Volume 3; London; l946; p.75).
2. The working class is in fact,- objectively more interested in a full capitalist revolution than is the capitalist class:
"In a certain sense the bourgeois revolution is more advantageous to the proletariat than it is to the bourgeoisie. This postulate is undoubtedly correct in the following sense: it is to the advantage of the bourgeoisie to rely on certain remnants of the past as against the proletariat, for instance, on a monarchy, a standing army, etc. It is to the advantage of the bourgeoisie if the bourgeois revolution does not too resolutely sweep away the remnants of the past, but leaves some. . . It is to the advantage of the bourgeoisie if the necessary bourgeois-democratic changes take place more slowly, more gradually, more cautiously, with less determination, by means of reforms and not by means of revolution; if these changes spare the 'venerable' institutions of feudalism (such as the monarchy); if these reforms develop as little as possible the revolutionary initiative of the common people, i.e., the peasantry, and especially the workers, for otherwise it will be easier for the workers, as the French say, 'to pass the rifle from one shoulder to the other', i.e., to turn the guns which the bourgeois revolution will place in their hands; the democratic institutions which will spring up on the ground that will be cleared of feudalism, against the bourgeoisie.
On the other hand, it is more advantageous for the working class if the necessary bourgeois democratic changes take place in the form of revolution and not reform.
The very position the proletariat as a class occupies, compels it to be consistently democratic.
The bourgeoisie looks behind, is afraid of democratic progress which threatens to strengthen the proletariat. The proletariat has nothing to lose but its chains, but by means of democracy it has the whole world to win".
(V.1. Lenin: ibid.; p. 75-77).
3. Therefore, 'the working class must strive to make itself the leading force in the capitalist revolution, with the peasantry as its allies:
"Only the proletariat can be a consistent fighter for democracy. It may become a victorious fighter for democracy only if the peasant masses join it in its revolutionary struggle. If the proletariat is not strong enough for this, the bourgeoisie will put itself at the head of the democratic revolution and will impart to it the character of inconsistency and selfishness. The proletariat must carry out to the end the democratic revolution, and in this unite to itself the mass of the peasantry in order to crush by force resistance of the autocracy and to paralyse the instability of the bourgeoisie. At the head of the whole of the people, and particularly of the peasantry -- for complete freedom for a consistent democratic revolution, for a republic!" (V.I. Lenin: ibid; p. 86, 110-11, 14).
4. The provisional government which will be set up as a result of a democratic revolution carried out under the leadership of the working class will be the "democratic dictatorship_of the proletariat and peasantry":
"'A decisive victory of the revolution over tsarism' is the revolutionary-democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry…. It will be a democratic, not a socialist dictatorship".
(V. I. Lenin: ibid.; p,. 82).,
5. The working class must endeavour to continue the capitalist revolution so as to transform it uninterruptedly into a working class revolution, a socialist revolution, which wll make the working class the ruling class:
"From the democratic revolution we shall at once, according to the degree of our strength, the strength of the class conscious and organised proletariat, begin to pass over to the socialist revolution. We stand for continuous revolution. We shall not stop half way."
(V. I. Lenin; "The Attitude of Social-Democracy toward the Peasant Movement", in: ibid; p145) .
6. The working class will be the leading force in the socialist revolution, with the poorer strata of the peasantry and urban petty-bourgeoisie as its allies:
"The proletariat must accomplish the socialist revolution and in this unite to itself the mass of the semi-proletarian elements of the population in order to crush by force the resistance of the bourgeoisie and to paralyse the instability of the peasantry and petty bourgeoisie. . At the head of all the toilers and the exploited – for socialism!"
(V. I. Lenin: "The Two Tactics Of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution", in: ibid.; p. 111, l24).
The Menshevik conception Of the capitalist revolution, on the other hand, was, on the other hand as follows:
1. As in previous capitalist revolutions in history, the capitalist revolution in Russia will make the capitalists the ruling class:
"It is evident that the forthcoming revolution cannot assume any political forms against the will of the whole -of the bourgeoisie, for the latter will be the master of tomorrow". (M..Martynov: "Two Dictatorships", Cited by: V. I. Lenin:"Social-Democracy, and the Provisional Revolutionary Government", in: ibid.; p. 26).
2. Therefore the role of the working class in the capitalist revolution must be to exert pressure upon the capitalist class to bring the revolution to a successful conclusion:
"The hegemony of the proletariat is a harmful utopia. The proletariat must follow the extreme bourgeois opposition".
(M. Martynov: "Two Dictatorships", cited in: J. V. Stalin: Preface to The Georgian Edition of K. Kautsky: "The Driving Forces and Prospects, of the Russian Revolution", in: "Works", Volume 2; Moscow; 1953; p. 2-3).
"The struggle to influence the course and outcome of the bourgeois revolution can express itself only in the fact that the proletariat will exert revolutionary pressure on the will of the liberal and radical bourgeoisie, and that the more democratic 'lower stratum' of society will force its' 'upper stratum' to agree to lead the bourgeois revolution to its logical conclusion". (M. Martynov: ibid., cited in: V. I. Lenin: ibid.; p. 28).
3. There will be a relatively long interval of time between the capitalist revolution and the subsequent socialist revolution:
"The triumph of socialism cannot coincide with the fall of absolutism. These two movements necessarily will be separated from one another by a significant interval of time".
(G. Plekhanov: "Chto zhe dal "she?"in: "Zarya"; No. 2-3; December 1901).
4. The capitalist revolution may be decisively victorious over the tsarist autocracy without the revolutionary overthrow of this autocracy:
"A decisive victory of the revolution over tsarism may be marked either by the setting up of a provisional government, which emerges from a victorious people's uprising, 'or by the revolutionary initiative of this or that representative institution' which, under the immediate pressure of the revolutionary people, decides to set up a "national constituent assembly". (Resolution of 1905 Menshevik Conference, cited by: V. I. Lenin: "The Two Tactics of social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution", in: ibid.; p. 57).
5. Social-Democrats must not participate in the provisional government, if one is set up in place of the autocracy since:
a) this will be a capitalist government, and participation by Social-Democrats in a capitalist government is contrary to socialist principles;
b) an attempt to do so would frighten the capitalist class and lead to the restoration of autocracy:"Social-Democrats must, during the whole course of the revolution, strive to maintain a position which would best of all preserve it from being merged with bourgeois democracy. Therefore, Social-Democracy must not strive to seize or share power in the provisional government, but must remain the party of the extreme revolutionary opposition." (Ibid., p. 69).
"The Conference believes that the formation of a Social Democratic provisional government, or entry into the government would lead, on the one hand, to the masses of the proletariat becoming disappointed in the Social-Democratic Party and abandoning it …. because the Social-Democrats, in spite of the fact that they had seized power, would not-be able to satisfy the pressing needs of the working class, including the establishment of socialism, and, on the other hand, would induce the bourgeois classes to desert the cause of the revolution and in that way diminish its sweep". (Ibid.; p. l04).
"By simply frightening the majority of the bourgeois elements, the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat can lead to but one result -- the restoration of absolutism in its original form".
(M. Martynov: "Two Dictatorships", cited in: V. I. Lenin: "Social-Democracy and the Provisional Revolutionary Government'"; in: ibid.; p. 27).
6. Only in the event of working class revolution in Western Europe should the Social-Democratic Party depart from this principle and participate in the provisional government, for only then would it be possible to go forward in Russia to the working class, socialist revolution:
"Only in one event should social-Democracy, on its own initiative, direct its efforts towards seizing power and retaining it as long as possible, namely, in the event of the revolution spreading to the advanced countries of Western Europe where conditions for the achievement of socialism have already reached a certain state of maturity. In that event, the restricted historical scope of the Russian revolution can be considerably extended and the possibility of striking the path of socialist reforms will arise".
(Resolution of 1905 Menshevik Conference, cited in: -V.I. Lenin:"The Two Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution, in: ibid.; p. 96).
The St. Petersburg Soviet in the 1905 Revolution
In May 1905 Trotsky went to Finland. When he returned to St. Petersburg in October, a general strike had broken out in the city.
The striking workers elected delegates to a strike committee3 which quickly developed into the first important "Soviet of Workers' Deputies" and began to publish its own organ: "Izvestia" (News). The Mensheviks supported the Soviet from its inception, regarding it as an organ of democratic local government-. The St. Petersburg Bolsheviks, led by Bogdan Knunyantz, were, however, at first hesitant in their approach to it, regarding it as a rival to the Party and demanding that it affiliate to the Party before they could support it.
Meanwhile Lenin, after making arrangements for the publication in St. Petersburg of a legal Bolshevik newspaper "Novaya Zizn" (New Life), had left-Geneva in October for Russia. Held up in Stockholm, he wrote from there:
"Comrade Radin (i.e., Knunyantz -- -Ed.) is wrong in raising the question in No. 5 of the 'Novaya Zhizn', the Soviet of Workers? Deputies or the Party? I think that it is wrong to put the question in this way, and that the decision must certainly be: both the Soviet of Deputies and the Party . . .
The Soviet of Deputies, as an organ representing all occupations, should strive to include deputies from all industrial, professional and office workers, domestic servants, farm labourers, etc., from all who want and are able to fight in common for a better life for the whole working people.
I think it inadvisable to demand that the Soviet of Workers' Deputies should accept the Social-Democratic Programme and join the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party.
I believe (On the strength of the incomplete and only 'paper' information at my disposal) that politically the Soviet of Workers' Deputies should be regarded as the embryo of a provisional revolutionary Government".
(V.I. Lenin "Our Tasks and the Soviet of Workers' Deputies"; in "Collected Works"; Volume 10; Moscow; 1962; p. 19, 20, 21).
Later, after his arrival in St. Petersburg, Lenin made a clear analysis of the Soviet. It could not be an organ of government until the power of the central tsarist state had been smashed, at least locally; in the existing circumstances its role must be to conduct this revolutionary struggle to smash the central state machine .
"The Soviet of Workers' Deputies is not a parliament of labour and not an organ of proletarian self-government. It is not an organ of government at all, but a fighting organisation for the achievement of definite aims. . .
The Soviet of Workers Deputies represents an undefined, broad fighting alliance of socialists and revolutionary democrats".
(V. I.Lenin: "Socialism and Anarchism", in: "Selected Works", Volume 3; London; l943; p. 343) .
"The Soviets of Workers' Deputies, etc., were in fact the embryo of a provisional government; power would inevitably have passed to them had the uprising been victorious". (V. I.Lenin; "The Dissolution of the Duma and the Tasks of the Proletariat", in: Ibid.; p. 383).
Although the St. Petersburg Bolsheviks corrected their attitude to the Soviet within a few days, their hesitancy in supporting it contributed in considerable measure to the fact that the majority of the deputies were from the outset Mensheviks or supporters of the Mensheviks. On October 30th, the Soviet elected its Executive; this consisted of three Mensheviks, three Bolsheviks, and three Socialist-Revolutionaries.
After a few days under the chairmanship of the Menshevik S. Zborovski, the Soviet elected as its chairman the lawyer Georgi Nosar (better known under his pseudonym "Khrustalev"); who was then independent of any party but later joined the Mensheviks.
Trotsky, who had allied himself with the St. Petersburg Mensheviks on his arrival in the city, was elected to the Soviet and soon came to play a leading role in its activities - which following the Menshevik political line of damping down the revolutionary enthusiasm and activity of the workers.
On November 2nd."Trotsky urged the Soviet to call off the general strike".
(I. Deutscher: "The Prophet Armed: Trotsky: 1879-1921"; London; 1970; p. 132).
and it duly came to an end on November 3rd.
On November 13th. The workers themselves began to introduce an eight-hour working day in the factories, and on the 15th, widespread public indignation at the state of siege which the tsarist government had just imposed on Poland, forced the Soviet to call a second general strike in St. Petersburg.
On November 18th, three days later,"Trotsky.. . proposed to call an end to the second general strike". (I. Deutscher; ibid ; p. 134),
on the pretext that :
"The government had just announced that the sailors of Kronstadt (who had participated in the first general strike -- Ed.) would be tried by ordinary military courts, not courts martial. The Soviet could withdraw not with victory indeed, but with honour".
(I. Deutscher; Ibid.; p. 134).
In his speech to the Soviet urging the calling-off of the second general strike, Trotsky's biographer declares that:
"While he tried to dam up the raging element of revolt, he stood before the Soviet like defiance itself, passionate and sombre".
(I. Deutscher: ibid; p. 134),
and:
"Events work for us and we have no need to force the pace. We must drag out the period of preparation for decisive action as much as we can, perhaps for a month or two, until we can come out as an army as cohesive and organised as possible. . .
When the liberal bourgeoisie, as if boasting of its treachery, tells us: 'You are alone. Do you think you can go on fighting without us? Have you signed a pact with victory?', we throw our answer in their face: 'No, we have signed a pact with death'".
(L.Trotsky; Speech to St. Petersburg Soviet, November 16th., l905, in: No. 7, November 20th., l905).
Having succeeded in inducing the Soviet to call off the second general strike,"A few days later he had again to impress upon the Soviet its own weakness and urge it to stop enforcing the eight-hour day. . . The Soviet was divided, a minority demanding a general strike; but Trotsky prevailed".
(I. Deutscher: ibid; p. 135).
Saying:
"We have not won the eight-hour day for the working class, but we have succeeded in winning the working class for the eight-hour day".
(L.Trotsky: Speech to St. Petersburg Soviet, cited in: I. Deutscher: ibid.; p. 140).
In addition to his activities in the Soviet, Trotsky had contrived to gain control, jointly with Parvus (who had followed him to St. Petersburg and had become a deputy in the Soviet) of a daily newspaper, "Russkaya Gazeta" (The Russian Newspaper), and later in the year, alongside it, he founded with Parvus and Yuli Martov a second daily "Nachalo" (The Beginning),which became the organ of Menshevisim from October to December 1905.
By the beginning of December, the government felt strong enough to take the offensive again. Press censorship was re-imposed, and on December 5th. Khrustalev, the Chairman of the Soviet, was arrested together with a few other leading members. Trotsky replied to this by proposing that:
"The Soviet of Workers' Deputies temporarily elect a new chairman and continue to prepare for an armed uprising."
(L. Trotsky: Resolution to St. Petersburg Soviet, cited in: I. Deutscher:Ibid.; p. 140)
The Soviet accepted the proposal and elected a three-man Presidium, headed by Trotsky.
But the preparations for the "armed uprising" of Trotsky's were virtually non-existent.
"The preparations for the rising which Trotsky had mentioned had so far been less than rudimentary: two delegates had been sent to establish contact with the provincial Soviets. The sinews of insurrection were lacking".
(I. Deutscher: ibid.; p. 140).
Trotsky's last gesture in the 1905 Revolution was then to put forward a "Financial Manifesto" written by Parvus. This called upon the people to withhold payment of taxes, declaring:
"There is only one way to overthrow the government --to deny it . . its revenue".
(Financial Manifesto of St. Petersburg Soviet, cited in: I.Deutscher: ibid.; p.141).
On December 16th., Trotsky presided over a meeting of the Executive of the St. Petersburg Soviet, when a detachment of soldiers and police burst in to the meeting room and the members of the executive were arrested. A number of charge were brought against them, the principle charge being that of plotting insurrection:
The role of the Mensheviks in the St. Petersburg Soviet was summed up later by J.V. Stalin:
"The St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies, being the Soviet of the most important industrial and revolutionary centre of Russia, the capital of the tsarist empire, ought to have played a decisive role in the Revolution of 1905. However, it did not perform this task, owing to its bad, Menshevik leadership. As we know Lenin had not yet arrived in St. Petersburg; he was still abroad. The Mensheviks took advantage of Lenin's absence to make their way into the St.Petersburg Soviet and to seize hold of its leadership. It was not surprising under such circumstances that the Mensheviks Khrustalev, Trotsky, Parvus and others managed to turn the St. Petersburg Soviet against the policy of an uprising. Instead of bringing the soldiers into close contact with the Soviet and linking them up with the common struggle, they demanded that the soldiers be withdrawn from St. Petersburg. The Soviet, instead of arming the workers and preparing them for an uprising, just marked time and was against preparations for an uprising".
(J.V. Stalin: "History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union"(Bolsheviks; Moscow; 1941; p.79-80).
The Moscow Uprising
On December 19th., 1905 the Moscow Soviet of Workers' Deputies, which was led by the Bolsheviks, resolved to:
"Strive to transform the strike into an armed uprising."
(V.I.Lenin: "The Lessons of the Moscow Uprising; in: "Selected Works, Volume 3; London; l946; p. 346)
and by December 22nd. the first barricades were being set up in the streets.
"The 23rd: artillery fire is opened on the barricades and on the crowds in the streets. Barricades are set up more deliberately, and no longer singly but on a really mass scale. The whole population is in the streets; all the principal centres of the city are covered by a network of. barricades. For several days stubborn guerilla fighting proceeds between the insurgent detachments and the troops. The troops become exhausted and Dubasov is obliged to beg for reinforcements. Only on December 28 did the government forces acquire complete superiority and on December 30 the Semenov regiment stormed the Prosnya district, the last stronghold of the uprising".
(V. I. Lenin: "The Lessons of the Moscow Uprising", in: ibid; p. 347).
In fact, the attitude of the Menshevik leadership of the St. Petersburg Soviet, led by Trotsky enabled the tsar to transfer troops from the capital to Moscow and this was a significant factor in the crushing of the uprising in the latter city.
"The climax of the Revolution of 1905 was reached in the December uprising in Moscow. A small crowd of rebels, namely, of organised and armed workers -- they numbered not more than eight thousand --resisted the tsar's government for nine days. The government dared not trust the Moscow garrison; on the contrary, it had to keep it behind locked doors, and only on the arrival of the Semenovsky Regiment from St. Petersburg was it able to quell the rebellion".
(V.1. Lenin: Lecture on the 1905 Revolution, in: ibid.; p. 16).
Soviets of Workers' Deputies were organised in other towns as well as in St. Petersburg and Moscow. In addition, Soviets of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies and Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies were established in some places.
Isolated strikes, riots and mutinies continued 4nto 1906, leading to a lack of clarity for some months as to whether the revolutionary tide was ebbing or merely temporarily at rest before a subsequent rise. In fact December 1905 proved to be the peak of the revolutionary tide.
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