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present
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For a few years in a row the Russian writer, philosopher and revolutionary
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Boris Yakovenko had been living in Italy.
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News from Russia were reaching it with delays;
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however, he paid great attention to the events at his Motherland
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gathering materials for his future book.
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His “History of the Great Russian Revolution” was only published in 1924.
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At that time, neither Yakovenko nor his companions and opponents knew
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that the Russian Empire would last for just two months…
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The History of the Russian Revolution. February. Episode Two
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The dramatic 1916 was followed by 1917.
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It was destined to bring victory in the war for Russia and its allies
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as a large-scale decisive attack of the Russian troops was planned for 1917.
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The success of the Russian army permitted to save the English,
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French and Italian troops from annihilation.
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All the hopes of England and France laid with Russia now.
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The allies even signed an agreement with Russia
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according to which the Russian government was to get what it had been fighting for
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for many centuries in a row – after the war,
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Russia would gain control not only over the Black Sea Straits
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but also over Constantinople, a capital of Turkey (Istanbul) at that time.
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The hopes for the quick victory were well-grounded.
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Germany’s situation worsened with each passing day.
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Squeezed between the fronts and blocked buy military and navy,
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the German Empire turned into a country where hunger became the way of life.
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There was shortage of food.
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Almost everything was sold by the cards – bread, butter, meat and clothes.
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Germans nicknamed the winter of 1916-1917 “the swede winter”.
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That vegetable was the only meal many Germans were eating.
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The German propaganda was working at full steam.
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It tried to convince the Germans that the situation wasn’t so dire
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and that they could replace a chicken with a roasted crow as it tasted the same.
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However, even the front started to feel the shortage of food.
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By that time, the Russian economy had overcome the shock.
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The heavy manufacturing was now producing three times more goods
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than before the war and the production at the military orders increased 20-fold.
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Cars, armored cars and airplanes were manufactured in Russia.
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Electric and radio industries were established.
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There was no more shortage of arms and ammunition.
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The country was supplying the front with everything it needed.
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However,the price of these successes was high.
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The state debt increased. The prices grew…
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Italy, 1917
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Living in Italy, Boris Yakovenko was following
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what was going on in his native land with attention.
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From the book of Boris Yakovenko
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“The History of the Great Russian Revolution”:
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“By the start of 1916, Russia lost almost 300 sq. versts of the richest lands
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with population of 25 mln people;
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huge adjucent lands were in a state of deep economic paralysis.
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The enemy seized about 8,000 versts of railways.
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A lot of factories and plants were ruined during the battles
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and about two dozens of provinces were ravaged”.
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15 mln men served in the army; "
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each new day of the war was taking away hundreds of human lives.
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The First World War (1914-1918) resulted in colossal human losses
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of all participating countries. According to different estimates,
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the Russian army lost about 1.5 mln people dead and about 4-5 mln wounded.
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During the first years of the war, the professional officers’ corps
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was almost completely annihilated.
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Officers with professional military training were replaced with people
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trained in a rush. It suffices to say that in the course of 3 years of the war
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more members of the Russian army were primited to officers
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than during all the history of the Russian army
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before the start of the First World War.
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In just a few months, an acute shortage of professional military men
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will lead to a situation when the armed forces prove unable
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to suppress the internal revolts in the Russian state.
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There was also a shortage of working hands in the country.
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2.5 mln horses were requisitioned for the army’s needs.
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The agriculture stalled.
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In 1916, significant areas of fertile lands remained out of crop.
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The life of a peasant was getting harder by the day.
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The concept of the surplus-appropriation system was born in 1916,
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before the Bolsheviks came to power.
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After the authorities announced the fixed prices for the food,
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peasants started to hide the supplies trying to sell them for more.
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In answer to that, the government introduced the so-called
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“surplus-appropriation system” in some provinces.
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It meant that the peasants were forced to sell the bread and other food
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at the fixed prices; that fueled dissatisfaction in the villages.
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Still, big cities, especially the capital, didn’t care for those problems.
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The changes! Petrograd strove for the changes.
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The majority of the population was aware of the difficulties of the war times.
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Almost nobody doubted the need to win over the enemy,
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and the expectations of a fast victory were well-grounded.
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The liberal intelligentsia as well the oppositional politicians
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and large entrepreneurs who supported them were an exception.
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They claimed that the victory was only possible
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through the most decisive changes of the Russian political life.
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Their activities were directed against the Tsar’s government.
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The views among the opposition differed.
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Some believed that it was enough to perform a coup d’état
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and enthrone a liberal monarch.
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The leader of the October Party and deputy of the Duma Alexander Guchkov
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was organizing a conspiracy against the Tsar
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with the involvement of the military forces.
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The others stated that only revolution was able to save the country.
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The oppositional deputies of the Duma were meeting with radical revolutionaries,
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employees of the foreign embassies and secret services.
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Many of them were ready for anything to overthrow the Tsar in Russia.
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Nobody thought that it would ruin the millennium-old state.
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They believed that Russia was undefeatable and strong,
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capable of withstanding any trials.
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“No matter how much you beat it, it’ll survived”, they said about it.
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Everybody waited to something to happen.
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However, nobody knew what scale the events would take
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and what consequences would be.
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On January 1 of the new 1917, a reception took place in the Winter Palace
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attended by the entire elite of the Empire.
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The Minister of Internal Affairs Protopopov
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approached the chairman of the State Duma Mikhail Rodzyanko.
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Alexander Dmitriyevitch Protopopov graduated from the cavalry college
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and the General Headquarters Academy but soon resigned.
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A large manufacturer and landowner.
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The deputy of the 3rd and 4th State Dumas from the October Party.
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Visited England as a part of the Duma delegation.
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The British King George V praised him highly in his letter to Nicolay II.
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Some of his peers had doubts about Protopopov’s mental health.
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However, opinion of King George V and the recommendation
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of the chairman of the Duma Rodzyanko and the Minister for Foreign Affairs Sazonov
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were so important that the Emperor appointed Protopopov
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the Minister of Internal Affairs.
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Just recently, Protopopov was Rodzyanko’s deputy in the Duma.
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However, his move from the opposition to the government changed everything.
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The liberal politicians perceived it as a betrayal.
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Protopopov just wanted to congratulate Rodzyanko on the New Year
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but he didn’t even turn his head and shouted:
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“Get out! Don’t you dare touch me!”
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The scandal at the reception in the Palace!
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The scandal at the reception in the Palace!
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The chairman of the Duma showed the Minister his place!
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The entire Petrograd was discussing that situation.
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The liberal audience was excited – Rodzyanko entered into an open conflict
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with the Tsar’s minister and became the opposition’s idol at once.
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Protopopov didn’t swallow the offence and challenged Rodzyanko to a duel.
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He accepted. The capital froze awaiting an incredible sight –
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amidst the most difficult war, the Minister of the Internal Affairs
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was going to duel with the chairman of the parliament!
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Emperor Nicolay II had to interfere in the conflict.
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The Tsar simply ordered the Minister to renounce the duel,
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and it was cancelled.
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Alexander Dmitriyevitch...
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However, the peace wasn’t achieved.
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January 9 was approaching, the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday.
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You may go.
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”The Bloody Sunday” was the execution of the demonstration
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of the workers of Petrograd who went to the Tsar
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with a petition on January 9, 1905.
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The troops used firearms against the participants of the meeting,
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in a result of what over a thousand of people died.
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The bloody drama was a result of political intrigues and open provocations
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of secret services and revolutionaries and pushed the masses
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to support the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907.
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On January 9, annual demonstrations of the workers and mass unrest took place.
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The authorities expected the same in 1917. They were waiting and getting ready.
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It’s interesting that the mass unrest was organised
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not so much by the radical revolutionaries but by the legal politicians
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who were meeting at the Duma,
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the liberals from the so called Working Group
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of the Central Military and Industrial Committee.
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Besides, the opposition was preparing to hold meetings
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of the military and economic committees and the organizations of the Zemgor.
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Amidst the mass manifestation, the session of the State Duma was to open.
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The opposition planned to join forces to attack the authorities.
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The military and economic committees and the Zemgor
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were founded as public organizations to assist the front
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by collecting the money from individuals.
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However, by 1917 they were financed solely by the state
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despite the fact that they were mostly controlled by the leaders of the opposition.
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It’s hard to believe in it, but the establishments that existed
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at the state’s expense were preparing active actions
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against the Tsar and his government.
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The liberals were stirring the situation up as much as they could.
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But that time, nothing happened. The authorities prohibited the meetings.
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Some active participants were arrested
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and the opening of the Duma was delayed for a later term.
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To mark the Bloody Sunday, the workers held a strike
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but it didn’t lead to a social outburst.
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The government won that round of the political battle.
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However, it turned out that it was its last victory.
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From 8 a.m. and up to the present moment everything is relatively calm.
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The meetings are mostly peaceful…
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The anniversary of the Bloody Sunday was relatively peaceful.
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The Minister of the Internal Affairs Protopopov even decided
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that the revolution was nipped in the bud. That was what he reported to the Tsar.
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Many revolutionaries agreed with the Minister of the Internal Affairs.
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Among them was Vladimir Ulyanov, better known by one of his aliases – Lenin.
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Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov (Lenin), a son of an inspector of people’s colleges
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who was awarded with a rank of hereditary noble.
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As a student, he joined a revolutionary movement,
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was arrested many times and sent to exile in Siberia.
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One of the leaders of the Social-Democratic Party.
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After the division of the Party into the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks
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headed the Bolsheviks’ wing.
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During the Russian-Japanese war he actively cooperated with the Japanese government
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and smuggled arms and propagandistic literature into Russia,
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what led to the beginning of the First Russian Revolution.
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After it ended, he emigrated. He actively supported the policy of terror.
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In secret from the members of the party, he organized a group
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called “the Bolsheviks Centre” inside the Central Committee of the party
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which was raising funds for Lenin’s fraction
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through thefts, murders and blackmailing.
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According to some data, during the years of the First World War
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he cooperated with the German secret services
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through figureheads and got huge amounts of money from the Germans
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for sabotage and agitation in Russia.
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At the beginning of 1917, Lenin was in Switzerland.
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On the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday,
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he was delivering a speech to the working youth of Zurich.
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Lenin was talking about the reasons
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behind the failure of the First Russian Revolution
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and dreamt of a new revolution that he expected to take place in distant future.
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Lenin told his audience:
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“We’re the old-timers and probably won’t witness the battles
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which will determine the fate of that future revolution”.
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Vladimir Ulyanov had been living abroad for 17 years
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and had quite a blurry notion of what was happening in Russia.
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His party wasn’t very numerous.
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The liberal parties that were meeting at the Duma
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(the constitutional democrats, cadets for short,
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supported by the city bourgeois and intelligentsia,
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as well as the October Party representing large landowners and progressists,
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representatives of the businessmen and bankers) were much more influential.
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It seemed that in 1917 the ghost of the revolution retreated.
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Some optimists believed that it was defeated forever.
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However, the clouds were thickening over Russia.
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The growing unrest, endless conspiracies at the top,
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dissatisfaction of the people who were exhausted by the war
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could erupt as a violent tempest at any given moment.
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The head of the Petrograd Security Department Globachev reported:
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“The mood in the capital is alarming.
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The wildest rumours circulate both about the intentions of the authorities
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(concerning the introduction of different reactional measures)
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and about the views of groups and layers of the society opposing the authorities
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(regarding possible revolutionary actions and accidents).
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Everybody is waiting for some extraordinary events and actions from both sides.
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They are apprehensive of both different revolutionary outbursts and coup d’?tat”…
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The atmosphere was growing tenser.
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The so-called working group of the military and economic committee
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00:18:14,944 --> 00:18:17,140
went on with the organization of the strikes.
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00:18:17,484 --> 00:18:20,435
On February 14, when the Duma convened for a session,
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about 100,000 people were striking in Petrograd.
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00:18:24,319 --> 00:18:26,982
The workers were fighting with the police.
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00:18:27,309 --> 00:18:30,024
That was when the revolutionary red banners first appeared.
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00:18:30,251 --> 00:18:34,688
Slogans “Enough of the War”, “Long Live the Republic” were heard.
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00:18:34,961 --> 00:18:38,644
For the first time, another slogan was heard: “Bread!”
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though no hunger was expected at that point.
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It was calm at the Duma and around it.
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00:18:55,772 --> 00:18:58,696
Emperor Nicolay II openly told its chairman Mikhail Rodzyanko
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00:18:58,951 --> 00:19:01,637
that should the open confrontation with the government begin,
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00:19:01,834 --> 00:19:05,594
the Tsar would simply disband the Duma.
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00:19:06,306 --> 00:19:09,499
Rodzyanko decided not to exacerbate the relations with the powers;
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00:19:09,727 --> 00:19:12,257
speaking at the opening of the parliamentary session,
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00:19:12,478 --> 00:19:14,891
he was talking about the bravery of the Russian army.
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00:19:15,210 --> 00:19:18,904
However, another deputy delivered a much more radical speech.
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00:19:19,558 --> 00:19:22,479
His name was Alexander Kerenskiy.
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00:19:23,772 --> 00:19:27,346
Alexander Fedorovitch Kerenskiy, a son of the director of a gymnasium
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00:19:27,585 --> 00:19:33,384
in a town of Simbirsk. It’s interesting that Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin)
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00:19:33,585 --> 00:19:37,365
studied in that gymnasium when Kerenskiy’s father was its director.
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00:19:37,664 --> 00:19:39,739
Alexander Kerenskiy graduated
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00:19:39,818 --> 00:19:43,681
from the law faculty of the St.-Petersburg University.
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00:19:43,936 --> 00:19:47,067
He cooperated with the revolutionary editions, was arrested
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00:19:47,257 --> 00:19:50,395
but then released for the lack of evidence.
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00:19:50,625 --> 00:19:55,793
He was well-known as a lawyer defending revolutionaries and rebellious peasants.
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00:19:56,084 --> 00:19:58,927
He was under secret supervision of the Security Department
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00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:02,230
under the nickname of Fast which was given to him
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00:20:02,444 --> 00:20:06,339
because of his habit to run about the streets jumping in trams on the run.
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00:20:06,519 --> 00:20:09,281
One of the leaders of the Russian political masonry.
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00:20:10,473 --> 00:20:16,039
Kerenskiy was a brilliant speaker. On ascending the chair, he said the words
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00:20:16,244 --> 00:20:20,549
the Tavria Palace had never heard before:
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00:20:21,019 --> 00:20:25,990
“Let me ask you something, respected members of the State Duma.
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00:20:26,256 --> 00:20:29,592
Do you realize that the historical task of the Russian nation
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00:20:29,796 --> 00:20:33,766
at the present moment is the immediate destruction of the medieval regime,
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00:20:33,999 --> 00:20:40,228
by any means? How may one use the legal means to fight those
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00:20:40,436 --> 00:20:44,257
who had turned the law into a weapon of torture for the nation?
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00:20:44,592 --> 00:20:47,639
There is only one way to deal with those who violate the law –
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00:20:47,865 --> 00:20:49,926
their physical elimination”.
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00:20:51,675 --> 00:20:56,365
The chairman asked what Kerenskiy meant, and he replied:
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00:20:58,771 --> 00:21:01,925
“What Brut did at the times of the Ancient Rome”.
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00:21:04,482 --> 00:21:09,543
Marcus Junius Brut murdered Julius Caesar, the Roman Emperor.
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00:21:10,490 --> 00:21:12,192
Kerenskiy’s hint was clear.
283
00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:16,242
In fact, he called upon the physical elimination of the Emperor.
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00:21:16,693 --> 00:21:18,140
That was unheard of.
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00:21:22,736 --> 00:21:25,006
Italy, 1917
286
00:21:26,510 --> 00:21:30,686
“Kerenskiy’s speech reflected the enormous incredible crisis
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00:21:30,912 --> 00:21:35,500
more than any other speeches and public appeals –
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00:21:35,798 --> 00:21:39,329
the crisis that had been developing in Russia’s giant body
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00:21:39,559 --> 00:21:44,618
since the first days of the war and by 1917had grown in all directions
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00:21:44,819 --> 00:21:50,066
and was destined to break out in a form of a terrible catastrophe”.
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00:22:00,461 --> 00:22:03,229
Kerenskiy’s speech went viral.
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00:22:08,188 --> 00:22:11,711
Alexander Fedorovitch? You may come in.
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00:22:22,846 --> 00:22:26,132
In any other country, especially during such a difficult war
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00:22:26,362 --> 00:22:30,707
a person who delivered a similar speech would be immediately arrested.
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00:22:30,942 --> 00:22:36,000
The Ministry of Justice prepared a petition to relieve him of his deputy’s immunity.
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00:22:39,478 --> 00:22:42,130
But when the chairman of the Duma Rodzyanko received the paper
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00:22:42,397 --> 00:22:45,346
from the Ministry of Justice, he summoned Kerenskiy to his office
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00:22:45,557 --> 00:22:53,709
and told him: “Don’t worry, the Duma would never give you up”.
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00:22:54,319 --> 00:22:56,474
And so it happened.
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00:23:06,430 --> 00:23:09,147
The authorities tried to hold Kerenskiy responsible
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00:23:09,227 --> 00:23:11,292
for his words but in vain.
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00:23:11,372 --> 00:23:13,901
The shocking speech of the deputy was deleted
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00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:16,779
from the official minutes of the session
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00:23:17,093 --> 00:23:22,187
but he remained the deputy of the State Duma.
305
00:23:23,020 --> 00:23:26,432
Guchkov had already been drafting the plan of arrest of Nicolay II.
306
00:23:26,662 --> 00:23:29,605
The conspirators were waiting for the Emperor to leave for the front
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00:23:29,884 --> 00:23:31,882
to capture the Tsar’s train.
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00:23:32,267 --> 00:23:34,023
People said that when Empress Alexandra Fedorovna found out
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00:23:34,251 --> 00:23:36,169
about Kerenskiy’s speech at the Duma,
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00:23:36,451 --> 00:23:39,826
she said that Kerenskiy deserved to be hanged.
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00:23:40,088 --> 00:23:43,415
Some claim that her wording was a bit different:
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00:23:43,616 --> 00:23:47,412
“Kerenskiy deserves to be hung together with Guchkov”.
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00:23:57,798 --> 00:24:01,882
Anticipating the oncoming revolt, the authorities were trying to avoid it.
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00:24:02,315 --> 00:24:05,034
The working group of the Military and Economic Committee
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00:24:05,357 --> 00:24:09,277
that was organizing the strikes was arrested.
316
00:24:17,594 --> 00:24:19,586
Lieutenant General Sergey Khabalov was appointed
317
00:24:19,830 --> 00:24:22,665
the head of the Petrograd Military District.
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00:24:22,893 --> 00:24:25,055
He was entrusted with extraordinary competence
319
00:24:25,344 --> 00:24:28,972
to suppress mass unrest without any bureaucratic delays.
320
00:24:34,006 --> 00:24:35,843
Sergey Semenovitch Khabalov,
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00:24:35,923 --> 00:24:39,467
the Russian Lieutenant General of the Ossetic descend.
322
00:24:40,088 --> 00:24:42,345
He graduated from the Mikhailov Artillery college
323
00:24:42,557 --> 00:24:44,932
and the General Headquarters Academy.
324
00:24:45,189 --> 00:24:49,565
He served at the headquarters as well as the director of different military colleges.
325
00:24:50,112 --> 00:24:54,948
Since 1914, he had been the military governor of the Ural province.
326
00:24:55,606 --> 00:24:58,565
He had never taken part in military actions.
327
00:24:58,926 --> 00:25:03,750
In 1916, he was appointed the head of the Petrograd Military District.
328
00:25:10,586 --> 00:25:14,525
Khabalov had served in the rear all his life
329
00:25:14,782 --> 00:25:18,786
and was neither a military commander nor an experienced administrator.
330
00:25:22,608 --> 00:25:25,711
The lack of experience and decisiveness played a fateful part
331
00:25:25,973 --> 00:25:28,277
in the events that followed.
332
00:25:41,474 --> 00:25:44,586
The first task that the General had to deal with
333
00:25:44,839 --> 00:25:48,018
was the dispatching of the reserve battalions to the front.
334
00:25:48,319 --> 00:25:52,936
They amounted to 12-15,000 of soldiers;
335
00:25:53,173 --> 00:25:56,032
that was dozens of times more than there should have been.
336
00:25:56,230 --> 00:25:58,613
The personnel of those units spared no efforts
337
00:25:58,766 --> 00:26:01,198
to avoid being sent to the frontline and was sitting in the rear
338
00:26:01,426 --> 00:26:04,107
at the expense of the state’s money.
339
00:26:04,188 --> 00:26:09,118
For that, they were contemptuously called the “Petrograd Running Society”.
340
00:26:09,198 --> 00:26:13,930
Khabalov failed to dispatch them to the front and postponed it until the spring.
341
00:26:14,009 --> 00:26:17,317
In a result of that, huge hordes of armed soldiers
342
00:26:17,511 --> 00:26:20,053
were wandering about the capital,
343
00:26:20,134 --> 00:26:23,522
where the situation was already quite tense.
344
00:26:23,723 --> 00:26:27,813
The failure to solve that problem could cost the general his post.
345
00:26:28,027 --> 00:26:30,698
However, the Minister of the Internal Affairs Protopopov
346
00:26:30,898 --> 00:26:33,500
talked the Tsar into not firing Khabalov.
347
00:26:33,729 --> 00:26:36,634
Protopopov himself had earned Empress’s complete trust by that time
348
00:26:36,856 --> 00:26:38,192
and remained at his post too,
349
00:26:38,271 --> 00:26:42,409
despite all the demands of the oppositional politicians to dismiss him.
350
00:26:42,490 --> 00:26:45,574
The atmosphere was electrifying,
351
00:26:45,784 --> 00:26:50,709
and at that point the weather interfered into the course of events.
352
00:26:51,384 --> 00:26:54,626
That factor proved to be fateful for Russia.
353
00:26:56,324 --> 00:26:59,221
In the middle of February snowstorms started in Petrograd
354
00:26:59,455 --> 00:27:04,225
and the temperate plummeted to minus 30. The trains couldn’t move;
355
00:27:04,494 --> 00:27:08,978
because of the snowdrifts the railroads were struggling.
356
00:27:09,213 --> 00:27:13,283
About 6,000 wagons got stuck at different stations.
357
00:27:13,519 --> 00:27:17,750
In a result of that, some deliveries of bread into Petrograd were delayed.
358
00:27:17,978 --> 00:27:22,143
Instead of 450 wagons that were delivering supplies to the capital every day
359
00:27:22,346 --> 00:27:26,155
a little more than a hundred broke through the snowdrifts.
360
00:27:26,388 --> 00:27:29,486
The reserves of flour in Petrograd decreased threefold.
361
00:27:29,769 --> 00:27:33,788
During the war years, it was the first ever shortage of bread.
362
00:27:34,448 --> 00:27:37,466
However, it wasn’t a catastrophe yet. As opposed to Germany,
363
00:27:37,748 --> 00:27:40,947
the Russian Empire wasn’t suffering from the lack of food.
364
00:27:41,196 --> 00:27:44,266
It was the irrational use of it that posed a problem.
365
00:27:44,888 --> 00:27:49,243
A significant share of harvest of 1916 was simply held by the peasants
366
00:27:49,459 --> 00:27:54,679
who were waiting for a convenient moment to sell the bread for more.
367
00:27:55,009 --> 00:27:59,472
The effect was unexpected. In autumn, rumours spread all over Russia
368
00:27:59,676 --> 00:28:03,367
that the bread would be ten times more expensive.
369
00:28:03,584 --> 00:28:05,650
The common folk was scaring each other
370
00:28:05,846 --> 00:28:08,469
with stories of the introduction of the ration cards.
371
00:28:08,724 --> 00:28:12,315
By that time, the cards had already been introduced in Moscow, Kharkov, Odessa
372
00:28:12,571 --> 00:28:13,852
and some other cities.
373
00:28:13,932 --> 00:28:17,194
However, only deficit supplies like sugar were rationed.
374
00:28:17,435 --> 00:28:22,298
There were some problems with food supplies in the provinces
375
00:28:22,512 --> 00:28:27,207
but none on Petrograd. However, it was the capital that burst out.
376
00:28:27,801 --> 00:28:30,997
The interruptions of deliveries incited a new wave of rumours
377
00:28:31,173 --> 00:28:35,768
including those that the bread would be soon only sold with the cards.
378
00:28:36,186 --> 00:28:39,240
Amidst that electrified atmosphere, a new strike started
379
00:28:39,452 --> 00:28:43,267
at the largest plant of the city – Putilov.
380
00:28:44,670 --> 00:28:46,132
Petrograd, 1917
381
00:28:46,430 --> 00:28:50,308
The main city of the Empire Petrograd was a large production centre.
382
00:28:50,778 --> 00:28:55,073
The main plants of the capital included the factories of Putilov, Obukhov, Izhor,
383
00:28:55,303 --> 00:28:59,336
Alexandrov and the arsenal named after Peter the Great;
384
00:28:59,559 --> 00:29:03,079
they were the leading enterprises of world class.
385
00:29:03,364 --> 00:29:07,486
At the Putilov plant alone, 36,000 people were working.
386
00:29:07,756 --> 00:29:14,108
At 902 plants of the capital about 400,000 people were working,
387
00:29:14,298 --> 00:29:18,239
amounting to the fifth of the 2 mln Petrograd population.
388
00:29:18,531 --> 00:29:22,066
The political sympathies of the majority of the working class of the capital
389
00:29:22,290 --> 00:29:26,770
belonged to the different revolutionary parties and the opposition.
390
00:29:26,967 --> 00:29:31,063
The workers of the stamping workshop of the Putilov plant demanded
391
00:29:31,278 --> 00:29:36,160
that the administration should increase their wages by 50%.
392
00:29:37,393 --> 00:29:40,678
The administration of the plant agreed to the 20%-increase
393
00:29:40,875 --> 00:29:44,289
in return of the immediate resumption of the works.
394
00:29:44,628 --> 00:29:47,423
The strikers didn’t accept such terms.
395
00:29:47,990 --> 00:29:51,332
Then the management of the plant announced the closure of the workshop.
396
00:29:51,993 --> 00:29:55,861
In answer to that, the other workshops stopped the work too.
397
00:29:56,251 --> 00:29:58,948
The reaction was severe: the administration claimed
398
00:29:59,150 --> 00:30:02,877
that the Putilov plant would stop for undefined term.
399
00:30:03,656 --> 00:30:06,476
All the workers would be fired.
400
00:30:07,578 --> 00:30:12,201
Dozens of the workers faced dim prospects of losing their means of living.
401
00:30:12,478 --> 00:30:15,574
Besides, the exemption from the military service
402
00:30:16,050 --> 00:30:20,464
would then be immediately lifted from them,
403
00:30:20,665 --> 00:30:25,329
and the workers could get into the trenches any time.
404
00:30:27,135 --> 00:30:31,607
At that time, queues were forming by Petrograd’s groceries.
405
00:30:31,868 --> 00:30:35,228
The reserves of the bread were intact, no hunger was expected.
406
00:30:35,589 --> 00:30:38,538
The capital only lacked rye bread.
407
00:30:38,829 --> 00:30:42,340
It was cheaper so most working families were buying it.
408
00:30:42,534 --> 00:30:47,739
To buy it, the queues formed. The situation wasn’t critical.
409
00:30:47,965 --> 00:30:51,835
In the worst-case scenario, army reserves could be used.
410
00:30:52,030 --> 00:30:55,404
Still, the people were getting more and more irritated.
411
00:30:55,580 --> 00:30:58,177
The Ambassador of France in Russia Maurice Paleologue
412
00:30:58,258 --> 00:30:59,734
remembered about those days:
413
00:31:00,076 --> 00:31:03,790
“Today by the bread shop at the Lyteiniy I was taken aback
414
00:31:03,991 --> 00:31:07,880
by the mean expression that I saw on the faces of all the poor people
415
00:31:08,105 --> 00:31:12,987
who were queueing, as some of them had already spent the entire night there”.
416
00:31:19,968 --> 00:31:24,592
Every hour spent in the freezing cold intensified the anger of the people.
417
00:31:24,971 --> 00:31:27,530
One spark was enough to start the outburst.
418
00:31:28,271 --> 00:31:31,266
-There is no bread. -When will it be delivered?
419
00:31:32,250 --> 00:31:34,940
There is no bread. We’re out of it for today.
420
00:31:35,237 --> 00:31:40,007
There is no bread. We’re out of it. It’s all at the front.
421
00:31:41,458 --> 00:31:43,403
No Bread
422
00:31:43,737 --> 00:31:46,322
Who can read? What does it say?
423
00:31:47,249 --> 00:31:51,015
Even illiterate may understand. It says that there is no bread.
424
00:31:51,391 --> 00:31:53,361
Here is the bread! He hid it!
425
00:31:53,636 --> 00:31:55,705
What a bastard!
426
00:31:55,922 --> 00:31:57,781
Here you go!
427
00:32:45,050 --> 00:32:48,945
On February 21, the enraged crowds started to attack groceries and bakeries
428
00:32:49,250 --> 00:32:53,394
demanding the bread. Nobody reported to the Tsar about that.
429
00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:58,427
The next day the Emperor left the capital and went to Mogilev,
430
00:32:58,633 --> 00:33:01,636
to the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief.
431
00:33:01,981 --> 00:33:05,028
The preparation of the decisive spring advance was nearing its end,
432
00:33:05,207 --> 00:33:09,369
and Nicolay decided that his presence was necessary in Mogilev.
433
00:33:10,019 --> 00:33:13,257
The Emperor concentrated on the military affairs.
434
00:33:13,982 --> 00:33:17,111
He planned to turn to the solving of Russia’s internal problems
435
00:33:17,345 --> 00:33:20,125
after the victory over the external enemy.
436
00:33:22,779 --> 00:33:25,240
The conspirators headed by Guchkov had been waiting
437
00:33:25,550 --> 00:33:29,233
for the Emperor to leave for a long time.
438
00:33:29,578 --> 00:33:32,800
They plotted to capture the Tsar’s train and make Nicolay II abdicate
439
00:33:33,028 --> 00:33:35,711
in favour of his son Prince Alexei.
440
00:33:35,952 --> 00:33:39,576
Guchkov had supporters even at the top of the Russian army:
441
00:33:39,868 --> 00:33:44,185
the head of the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief General Alexeyev,
442
00:33:44,384 --> 00:33:48,650
commander-in-chief of the armies of the North-Western Front General Ruzskiy,
443
00:33:48,851 --> 00:33:53,457
ex-military minister General Polivanov and the others were all for him.
444
00:33:53,712 --> 00:33:56,239
The conspirators had no doubts in their success.
445
00:33:56,469 --> 00:33:59,507
However, the rush departure of the Tsar to the front
446
00:33:59,702 --> 00:34:02,701
came as a surprise for them and spoiled their hand.
447
00:34:04,007 --> 00:34:06,931
The Empress who was in a state of a severe psychological crisis
448
00:34:07,161 --> 00:34:09,527
stayed at the Tsarskoye Selo.
449
00:34:09,606 --> 00:34:13,277
In Petrograd the authorities were represented
450
00:34:13,454 --> 00:34:16,243
by the Prime-Minister Prince Golitsin, Minister of the Internal Affairs Protopopov
451
00:34:16,485 --> 00:34:19,922
and the commander of the Petrograd Military District General Khabalov.
452
00:34:20,159 --> 00:34:23,089
They were the first to receive the future blow.
453
00:34:25,847 --> 00:34:29,690
In his train, Nicolay II wrote in his diary:
454
00:34:29,771 --> 00:34:32,363
“The day was sunny and cold.
455
00:34:32,592 --> 00:34:35,532
I read, was bored and had rest”.
456
00:34:35,612 --> 00:34:40,391
The diary didn’t mention the unrest in the capital –
457
00:34:40,715 --> 00:34:44,411
nobody reported to the Emperor about the attacks at the bakeries.
458
00:34:44,715 --> 00:34:47,837
He also had no idea about the failed plan of capturing the Tsar’s train.
459
00:34:48,262 --> 00:34:50,520
In a decisive moment of the Russian history
460
00:34:50,737 --> 00:34:54,396
the Tsar was almost completely unaware of what was going on.
461
00:34:59,918 --> 00:35:01,405
Italy, 1917
462
00:35:01,485 --> 00:35:07,320
From the book of Boris Yakovenko"The History of the Great Russian Revolution":
463
00:35:07,556 --> 00:35:10,374
“The revolution started with an insignificant pretext
464
00:35:10,626 --> 00:35:14,201
and then accelerated with incredible force and speed,
465
00:35:14,427 --> 00:35:17,136
and in this respect, it was unexpected.
466
00:35:17,507 --> 00:35:20,130
Everybody felt the incredible political and social tension
467
00:35:20,327 --> 00:35:23,911
but nobody thought that the explosion would be so abrupt
468
00:35:24,106 --> 00:35:27,647
and that the events would develop lightning-fast”.
469
00:35:35,059 --> 00:35:42,383
It was February 23. After the change of the calendar, it became March 8.
470
00:35:43,226 --> 00:35:46,755
As now, at that time Russia celebrated the International Women’s Day
471
00:35:46,945 --> 00:35:51,114
that was also called “the Day of Female Workers”.
472
00:35:51,472 --> 00:35:57,362
It was first celebrated in 1913 and hadn’t become a national holiday yet.
473
00:35:57,893 --> 00:36:00,938
First of all, it was a holiday of the women working
474
00:36:01,018 --> 00:36:02,785
at the plants and factories.
475
00:36:03,168 --> 00:36:05,413
The day of the female workers was always noisy,
476
00:36:05,610 --> 00:36:13,453
with loud manifestations and mass meetings. It was the case in 1917 too.
477
00:36:14,313 --> 00:36:18,301
The female workers of the textile factory of the Vyborg district of Petrograd
478
00:36:18,503 --> 00:36:19,579
announced a strike.
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00:36:19,659 --> 00:36:22,943
Besides, in the centre of the capital a mass demonstration
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00:36:23,135 --> 00:36:26,402
was demanding the improvement of the conditions of work for the women.
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00:36:26,590 --> 00:36:29,331
The men followed suit.
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00:36:29,514 --> 00:36:32,982
Among them there were a lot of workers from the Putilov plant.
483
00:36:33,351 --> 00:36:37,126
Soon the strike was supported by a dozen enterprises of Petrograd.
484
00:36:37,327 --> 00:36:40,137
The participants of the strike wanted bread
485
00:36:40,329 --> 00:36:43,880
and also shouted political slogans like “Enough of the War”
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00:36:44,083 --> 00:36:46,677
and “Let’s Get Rid of the Monarchy”.
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00:36:46,907 --> 00:36:48,592
According to the police reports,
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00:36:48,766 --> 00:36:53,585
87,534 people from 50 enterprises attended the strike.
489
00:36:54,831 --> 00:36:57,735
At first, the strikes in the centre of Petrograd were peaceful
490
00:36:57,896 --> 00:37:01,559
but at the working suburbs the marchers had already started to attack
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00:37:01,791 --> 00:37:07,355
police departments and shops and turning trams upside down. The day was clear.
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00:37:07,586 --> 00:37:12,092
Thanks to that, a lot of people were outside,
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00:37:12,342 --> 00:37:17,530
and the crowds of the rebels snowballed. They included teenagers,
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00:37:17,817 --> 00:37:24,393
students, angry commoners, city tramps and the onlookers.
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00:37:26,130 --> 00:37:30,287
The unrest threatened to encompass the central districts of Petrograd.
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The police weren’t ready for that.
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00:37:33,268 --> 00:37:37,754
Often only a handful of policemen was facing thousands of workers.
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00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:43,144
The city officers couldn’t contain the crowd of enraged and excited people.
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00:37:44,699 --> 00:37:47,844
Sometimes the police threatened the protesters with weapons
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00:37:48,179 --> 00:37:53,044
but it only worsened the situation. The workers were beating the policemen
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00:37:53,253 --> 00:37:58,235
and stealing their arms. However, such cases of violence were rare.
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00:37:58,592 --> 00:38:02,311
In most cases, the protestors weren’t aggressive.
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00:38:02,635 --> 00:38:05,977
The demonstrations were mostly peaceful.
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00:38:07,086 --> 00:38:10,389
In some districts of Petrograd, the Kazaks were alerted.
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00:38:10,637 --> 00:38:13,380
They were considered to be reliable supporters of the Tsar’s throne.
506
00:38:13,581 --> 00:38:17,015
For many dozens of years, the authorities engaged the Kazaks
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00:38:17,199 --> 00:38:21,659
into suppressing mass unrest and disband public demonstrations.
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00:38:22,628 --> 00:38:25,711
It was the case during the First Russian Revolution,
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00:38:25,791 --> 00:38:27,664
and the same happened in 1917.
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00:38:27,896 --> 00:38:31,039
In some places, the Kazaks and the police
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00:38:31,119 --> 00:38:32,822
managed to push the crows behind.
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00:38:33,121 --> 00:38:35,831
But the protestors were much more numerous.
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00:38:36,018 --> 00:38:39,099
Under the blows of the Kazak whips, some workers ran aside but stayed close.
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00:38:39,315 --> 00:38:44,056
More and more often the appeals to go to the Neva Avenue were heard.
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00:38:48,807 --> 00:38:53,440
At the time of the demonstration, the State Duma convened for a meeting.
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00:38:54,128 --> 00:38:55,810
Before leaving for Mogilev,
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00:38:56,007 --> 00:38:58,673
Tsar handed his order to disband the Duma
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00:38:58,882 --> 00:39:02,086
over to the Prime-Minister Prince Golitsin. No date was stated in the document –
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Golitsin had to choose it himself.
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00:39:06,471 --> 00:39:09,715
The Russian parliament didn’t know that it was one step away
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00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:12,831
from closing, and so went on with its work.
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00:39:13,385 --> 00:39:14,750
The Duma didn’t react to the events in Petrograd
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00:39:14,983 --> 00:39:18,661
despite the fact that the deputies knew about the demonstrations –
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00:39:18,876 --> 00:39:21,943
the phone calls had been heard in the Duma since the morning.
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00:39:22,161 --> 00:39:25,450
However, the Duma wasn’t discussing the restoration of the order in the city.
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00:39:25,643 --> 00:39:27,577
The deputies only used the reports about the unrest
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00:39:27,775 --> 00:39:30,811
to attack the Tsar’s government some more.
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00:39:31,485 --> 00:39:35,099
The main issue of the agenda was the food supplies.
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00:39:44,889 --> 00:39:46,958
A peasant Kozma Egorovitch Gorodilov was invited
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to deliver a speech in the Duma.
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He started with criticizing the fixed prices:
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00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:44,255
“Low prices for the bread are ruining the country,
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00:40:44,557 --> 00:40:47,608
they killed the trade and all the agriculture.
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00:40:49,094 --> 00:40:51,798
The peasants are being made serfs again.
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00:40:52,072 --> 00:40:56,605
They are forced to sow the fields and sell bread for low fixed prices”.
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00:40:58,744 --> 00:41:02,541
Gorodilov’s speech was interrupted with the shouts of “Bravo!”
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00:41:08,201 --> 00:41:11,056
Deputy Andrey Shingaryov, on the contrary,
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demanded some concessions from the peasants:
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00:41:14,346 --> 00:41:17,103
“The bread must be delivered to the army, population,
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workers who work for the defence and the cities.
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We shall say from this high chair:
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“We shall bring the bread, we shall hand it over.”
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00:41:25,449 --> 00:41:30,224
The State Duma shall tell everybody who has the bread: “Hand it over!”
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00:41:31,295 --> 00:41:34,511
Passions flied when the deputies discussed the mass strikes
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00:41:34,719 --> 00:41:37,471
and especially the strike at the Putilov plant.
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00:41:38,108 --> 00:41:40,771
Deputy Matvey Skobelev started his speech
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00:41:40,989 --> 00:41:45,116
by saying that the country was moving towards incomprehensible
548
00:41:45,369 --> 00:41:48,525
and alarming events with lightning-fast speed.
549
00:41:48,925 --> 00:41:51,172
Skobelev also appealed not to the peasants
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00:41:51,393 --> 00:41:55,288
but to the government and demanded bread for the hungry workers.
551
00:41:56,010 --> 00:42:00,230
In his speech, he asked a question: “What is going on in the streets?”
552
00:42:01,376 --> 00:42:06,246
The streets were rumbling. The police and Kazaks were pushed away.
553
00:42:06,523 --> 00:42:11,124
The crowd poured into the centre and soon filled the two main avenues
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00:42:11,356 --> 00:42:13,889
of the capital – Neva and Liteyniy.
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00:42:20,784 --> 00:42:23,487
To clear the Neva and Lyteyniy Avenues from the protestors,
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00:42:23,755 --> 00:42:25,965
the authorities gathered significant quantity
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00:42:26,210 --> 00:42:29,186
of police officers and Kazaks in the centre of Petrograd.
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00:42:29,378 --> 00:42:32,569
In two hours, the crowds were pushed out of the both avenues.
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00:42:35,070 --> 00:42:38,017
While the police officers and the Kazaks went on disbanding the crowds,
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00:42:38,235 --> 00:42:40,623
the State Duma went on with their discussions.
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00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:44,121
Deputy Shingaryov claimed that the parliament should request the government
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00:42:44,302 --> 00:42:47,498
to finally solve the problem of the food supplies or,
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00:42:47,579 --> 00:42:50,803
as Shingaryov put it, “get out of this state”.
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00:42:50,882 --> 00:42:55,085
The session of the Duma finished with adopting a resolution
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00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:58,978
in which the government was offered to improve the food supplies
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00:42:59,170 --> 00:43:03,305
and engage representatives of the workers into decision-making process.
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00:43:03,554 --> 00:43:06,762
The session closed, and the deputies went home.
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00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:10,328
Almost nobody could guess that the demonstrations
569
00:43:10,409 --> 00:43:15,044
and fights with the police were the beginning of a new revolution.
570
00:43:25,565 --> 00:43:28,309
In the evening of February 23, the top military
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00:43:28,389 --> 00:43:30,478
and police management of Petrograd
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00:43:30,612 --> 00:43:34,201
convened for a meeting under the head of General Khabalov.
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00:43:35,552 --> 00:43:38,248
The military was now responsible for the order in the city.
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00:43:39,005 --> 00:43:42,740
The Minister of the Internal Affairs Protopopov read the reports of his subordinates
575
00:43:42,949 --> 00:43:45,739
but demonstrated no anxiety;
576
00:43:46,005 --> 00:43:49,612
he decided that the reason behind the unrest was food shortage.
577
00:43:50,246 --> 00:43:53,834
The Minister even suggested that Khabalov should print appeals to the population
578
00:43:54,061 --> 00:43:57,172
saying that the city had enough reserves of bread.
579
00:43:57,711 --> 00:44:01,512
Protopopov got into the car and personally rode around the city.
580
00:44:02,380 --> 00:44:05,682
The trip convinced the Minister that the situation calmed down –
581
00:44:05,938 --> 00:44:10,291
the streets were empty and reinforced police units were patrolling the city.
582
00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:17,849
It was calm in Petrograd. The Ministry of the Internal Affairs
583
00:44:18,036 --> 00:44:20,232
drew the following report on the previous day:
584
00:44:20,402 --> 00:44:24,436
“By the evening of February 23, thanks to the joint efforts of the police
585
00:44:24,594 --> 00:44:29,115
and the military officers the order was fully restored everywhere in the capital.”
586
00:44:29,342 --> 00:44:31,378
The Emperor who was heading for Mogilev
587
00:44:31,583 --> 00:44:34,626
didn’t get any reports about the mass unrest again.
588
00:44:35,036 --> 00:44:38,590
The head of the state was still unaware of what was going on in the capital
589
00:44:38,786 --> 00:44:43,680
and had no means to somehow influence the oncoming events.
590
00:44:51,108 --> 00:44:53,091
“Everything was ready for the resistance.
591
00:44:53,318 --> 00:44:55,606
However, the revolution was ready to burst out
592
00:44:55,789 --> 00:44:59,293
in the most unbridled and victorious way ever”.
593
00:45:02,795 --> 00:45:04,002
-Vanya? -Yes?
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00:45:05,141 --> 00:45:09,875
-Tie the mittens in front of you. -Why? What for?
595
00:45:10,168 --> 00:45:12,952
So that nobody could catch you from behind.
596
00:45:13,170 --> 00:45:16,320
Three of our people were strangled tonight.
597
00:45:32,617 --> 00:45:34,584
Hello again.
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00:45:35,019 --> 00:45:36,222
Run!
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00:45:40,831 --> 00:45:42,597
Freeze!
56894
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