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The Russian philosopher and writer Boris Yakovenko was finishing his book
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dedicated to the Russian revolution.
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He started to gather the materials for it in Italy
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when in February of 1917 the Russian Emperor Nicolay II abdicated.
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Yakovenko completed the book in 1929 in Prague.
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By that time, the Bolsheviks had been ruling in Russia for 12 years…
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Petrograd met the morning of October 26 of 1917 calmly.
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That night, the Bolshevik coup took place in the capital,
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but the residents didn’t pay much attention to the night artillery shootings.
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The Ministers of the Temporary Government were arrested
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and detained in the cells of the Fortress of Peter and Paul;
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still, life was going on in the city as usual –
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the carts rumbled, the trams rang,
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the passers-by hurried along the streets on their own business…
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The newspapers didn’t report on the change of power.
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They were sent to print before the storm of the Winter Palace.
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The Bolsheviks accused some newspapers
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of the counter-revolutionary activities and closed them.
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The printed editions were burnt right in the street,
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in the presence of public overwhelmed by a scene unseen before.
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Soon all the oppositional editions were closed in the capital,
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what didn’t happen even in the years of monarchist censorship.
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People who demanded the freedom of speech most of all
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became the most ardent enemies of that freedom after coming to power.
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The residents of Petrograd found out about the coup from a couple of lines
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in the “recent events’ column. Rumors spread about the city
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that the Bolsheviks were torturing the imprisoned cadets
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in the Fortress of Peter and Paul, that the women from the Storm Battalion
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who had been defending the Winter Palace were raped,
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that the armed seamen are coming to people’s apartments
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and requisitioning fur-coats and boots. The shops were closed.
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The meetings demanding not to recognize the power
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of the usurpers-Bolsheviks took place.
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Panic began at the foreign exchange.
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Businessmen had good reasons to worry.
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The Bolsheviks acted in a decisive way.
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They had grandioso plans and they had enough money.
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At first, those events seemed to be a mutiny of a handful of radicals.
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Nobody could think that on October 26, 1917 a new epoch started
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in the history not only of Russia but of the entire world.
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In the evening, the session of the Second All-Russian Convention
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of the Councils recommenced; it was completely controlled by the Bolsheviks.
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From its chair, Lenin read the first decrees of the new power.
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The Peace Decree – all the warring parties
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were to immediately conclude a truce and start negotiations
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on the fair democratic peace without annexations and contributions.
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The Land Decree – the land was announced to be the all-people’s property
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and handed over for the free usage of the peasants;
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the landowners’ estates were confiscated
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and private ownership for the land was abolished.
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The audience in the hall applauded those decrees.
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After those first decrees, other ones were adopted –
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on the abolishment of the death penalty at the front
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and the formation of the Temporary Government of the Workers and Peasants.
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At 5 a.m. on October 27, the historical session was over.
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The Second Convention of the Council finished its work.
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The tired deputies sang the “International” and went home.
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The delegates of the Convention didn’t worry
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about how the decrees would be executed.
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It was impossible to stop the war by adopting a resolution.
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Russia had to sign the truce and pay the price determined by Germany.
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The abolition of private ownership for the land didn’t solve the issue
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of who its new owners would be.
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In the banking sphere of Russia, deals with lands played at important part.
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The Land Decree prohibited its sales.
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It was a destructive blow for the country’s banking sphere.
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In December of 1917, all the private, joint-stock and banking establishments
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were nationalized by another Bolsheviks’ decree.
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The Bolsheviks’ government was called “the Council of the People’s Commissars”
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or “Sovnarkom” for short. The new leaders announced publicly
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that they would rule the country
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only until the convention of the Constituent Assembly.
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During the abdication of the Emperor, it became clear that not all citizens
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would support the abolition of the monarchy.
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To prevent disturbances, it was declared that the people would determine
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the form of the government in the country.
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Delegates from all the regions of Russia, deputies of the Constituent Assembly,
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would gather in the capital and define the political organization of the country.
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All the parties agreed that it was the only democratic way
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to determine the future of the state.
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The hopes of the people to convene the Constituent Assembly
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was the main reason why the civil war didn’t start
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right after the Tsar’s abdication.
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The population perceived both the Temporary Government and the Sovnarkom
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as temporary forms of governance.
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Knowing about such mood,
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the Bolsheviks recognized the priority of the Constituent Assembly,
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if only by the words. One of Lenin’s closest comrades Yakov Sverdlov said:
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“We’re too weak now.
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The news that we delayed the Constituent Assembly will weaken us even further”.
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The country was getting ready for the elections.
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The All-Russian Commission on Elections to the Constituent Assembly –
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the All-Round-Elections – consisted of 16 people.
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It was headed by the member of the cadets’ party Nicolay Avinov.
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The elections to the Constituent Assembly were scheduled for November 12-14.
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On November 28, the elected deputies were to start their session in Petrograd.
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Thus, the election of the deputies was to take place
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under the Bolsheviks’ authority.
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Meanwhile, Lenin became the chairman of the new government –
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the Council of the People’s Commissars.
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Trotskiy was appointed the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs.
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3 people headed the People’s Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs –
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the Secretary of the Military and Revolutionary Committee
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Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko, a warrant officer Nicolay Krylenko
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and the Baltic Fleet seaman Pavel Dybenko.
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Antonov-Ovseyevnko Vladimir Alexandrovitch graduated from the cadets’ college.
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During the Russian-Japanese war, he deserted.
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For an attempt to raise a military mutiny, he was sentenced to death
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which was later replaced with 20 years of hand labour.
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He headed the storm of the Winter Palace
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and personally arrested the members of the Temporary Government.
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Krylenko Nicolay Vasilyevitch, a warrant officer.
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During the war, he was arrested for avoidance of service
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and anti-war agitation. One of the first heads of the revolutionary tribunals.
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Dybenko Pavel Yefimovitch, a Baltic Fleet seaman.
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He was dismissed from the board for the Bolshevik agitation
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and sent to the land front. After the revolution, remaining a common seaman,
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he became a People’s Commissar for Naval Affairs.
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Thus, one deserter, one soldier who was avoiding the fighting
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and a punished seaman headed the Military Ministry of the Russian republic.
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The new revolutionary government was very busy.
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There were disturbances in Petrograd.
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The shots were heard, the arrests were taking place.
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Crowds of soldiers were ransacking shops and stores.
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Even the most reliable fighters were getting drunk
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when guarding the wine cellars of the Winter Palace.
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As Antonov-Ovseyenko recalled: “The drunken intoxication was infectious”.
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The opponents of the Bolsheviks had no intentions to surrender.
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The City Duma kept working in Petrograd.
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Its deputies held endless sessions adopting loud resolutions
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about the protection of the Motherland and freedom.
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The Duma formed a Committee for Salvation of the Motherland and Revolution.
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A socialist revolutionary Abram Gotz became its chairman.
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On behalf of the Committee, the anti-Bolshevik leaflets were disseminated,
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connections were established with the military colleges and officers.
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At that, the Committee didn’t appeal to support Kerenskiy.
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The Minister and the Chairman had completely lost his popularity.
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Kerenskiy escaped from Petrograd to Gatchina.
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He didn’t find any troops loyal to the Temporary Government there
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and went to Pskov, to the Headquarters of the Northern Front.
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There a detachment was formed from the units of the 3rd Kazak Corps
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to suppress the Bolshevik revolt. A few months ago,
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that Corps went towards the capital to overthrow Kerenskiy.
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Now its Kazaks had to save Kerenskiy – move from Pskov to Petrograd
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and knock the power out of the Bolsheviks’ hands with weapons.
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The Corps was headed by Lieutenant General Petr Krasnov.
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Krasnov Petr Nicolayevitch, Lieutenant General,
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came from a noble family of the Don Troop.
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Demonstrated exceptional bravery in battle.
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During Brusilov’s Breakthrough, he was wounded.
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During Kornilov’s revolt he was arrested but later released.
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The majority of the officers of the Corps like Krasnov himself
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used to support General Kornilov.
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Just three months ago, Kerenskiy suppressed the advance of Kornilov
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with the hands of the Bolsheviks and even arrested him.
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Therefore, the officers didn’t bother to hide their contempt towards Kerenskiy.
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One of them even openly refused to shake the Minister’s hand.
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Still, the 3rd Cavalry Corps marched out and at night of October 27
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the Kazaks arrived in Gatchina.
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There, representatives of the Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland
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and Revolution met Kerenskiy and reported
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that a revolt against the Bolsheviks was under way in Petrograd.
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On the following day, the Kazak units seized Tsarskoye Selo.
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The 16,000-strong garrison surrendered to Krasnov’s few troops
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without much resistance. The capital was already very close.
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The capture of Garchina and Tsarskoye Selo frightened Lenin’s government.
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As a leading Bolshevik Nicolay Podvoyskiy wrote:
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“The situation is the following:
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either they will hang us, or we will hang them”.
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Lenin was feverishly looking for a way out.
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He even suggested opening fire at the Kazaks from Petrograd’s suburbs
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from the cannons of the Baltic Fleet cruiser.
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The chief got very upset when he found out
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that huge ships wouldn’t be able to enter the shallow Neva to start the shooting.
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On October 29, an anti-Bolshevik revolt of the cadets began.
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However, it was doomed from the very beginning.
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A few hours before its start, the Red Guards patrol detained a car
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with the member of the Committee of the Salvation named Bruderer.
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He had an order to raise the military colleges to the battle readiness
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and the scheme of dislocation of the rebellious units.
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Thus, the Bolsheviks found out all the plans of the rebels.
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Despite that, the cadets managed to seize some important objects –
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the Engineer Palace, the Central Telephone Station
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and the Mikhail Arena where some armored cars were stationed.
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A former commander of the Petrograd military district Polkovnikov
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was at the helm of the troops. However, by that time
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neither a regular army nor the centralized commandment existed.
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Polkovnikov only had a couple of detachments of the cadets with their officers.
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Soldiers of the capital’s garrison didn’t join them.
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The Bolsheviks, however, had armed detachments of the working guards,
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seamen and a couple of military units on their side.
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The fights between the Bolsheviks and the cadets lasted until late evening.
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The cadets laid big hopes for the arrival of Krasnov’s troops.
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However, it was Sunday and they were simply having rest.
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During those days, like during the following years,
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the main principle of Lenin’s rule was formed –
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to hold on to power despite anything.
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The Bolsheviks brought cannons from the Fortress of Peter and Paul
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and opened fire at the buildings captured by the cadets.
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The Vladimir Military Institute held longer than the others,
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but it didn’t stand a chance against artillery.
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The cadets’ revolt stalled. The repressions started.
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The Bolsheviks caught people in the officers’ uniforms in the streets.
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After suppressing the revolt of the cadets,
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Lenin’s government felt more confident.
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The Soviet government appointed Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Muravyov
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the commander of the troops of the Petrograd military district.
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Before that, he used to be an ardent monarchist,
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but after the February Revolution joined the socialist revolutionaries;
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later, when the new power got established, he placed a stake on it.
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During a few days of his command, Muravyov gathered over 10,000 soldiers,
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seamen and Red Guards.
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The forces of the Kazaks who were fighting against them
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amounted to mere 800 people and one armored train.
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In the morning of October 30, Krasnov’s Kazaks
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who were moving from Tsarskoye Selo to Petrograd
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approached the Pulkovo Heights by the southern suburbs of the capital.
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There the Bolsheviks’ troops of Muravyov had already taken positions
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determined to stop the advance of the Kazaks.
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The locals gathered to look at the scene unseen before –
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a battle of the Russians against Russians.
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At first, Krasnov’s advance was successful.
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The Volyn Regiment that had been fighting on the Bolsheviks’ side,
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left its positions and escaped to the rear.
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In February of 1917, that Regiment was the first to support the Revolution.
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Now, the Volyn Regiment soldiers were the first to run away from the front.
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With the support of the armored train, the Kazaks seized the positions
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at the left flank of the Bolsheviks’ defense.
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At that point, one of the officers didn’t listen to Krasnov
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and moved forward without waiting for the general advance.
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The attack stalled.
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Krasnov failed to take over the Bolsheviks’ positions.
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Krasnov’s situation was quite difficult.
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00:17:36,903 --> 00:17:40,982
He had few troops, but the Bolsheviks were waiting for the reinforcements.
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00:17:41,018 --> 00:17:45,035
Plus, they had a garrison at Tsarskoye Selo as a reserve;
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00:17:45,087 --> 00:17:49,028
it was ready to take up arms and hit the General from behind.
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00:17:49,108 --> 00:17:52,472
Realizing that the advance might finish in a catastrophe,
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00:17:52,526 --> 00:17:56,120
Krasnov ordered his Kazaks to retreat to Gatchina.
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00:17:56,178 --> 00:17:59,180
The Bolsheviks’ agitators followed them.
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They did well in the evening of October 30;
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00:18:02,673 --> 00:18:06,713
after the agitation talks, the Kazak units refused to fight.
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00:18:06,771 --> 00:18:08,045
The negotiations started.
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00:18:08,099 --> 00:18:12,087
Bolshevik Dybenko offered the Kazaks a free passage to the Don
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00:18:12,145 --> 00:18:14,247
as well as un unexpected exchange –
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00:18:14,294 --> 00:18:16,283
he promised to hand them over Lenin
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00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:18,014
if the Kazaks handed him over Kerenskiy.
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00:18:18,053 --> 00:18:23,081
For Dybenko, it was just a trick, but the Kazaks liked that idea.
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00:18:31,872 --> 00:18:34,624
Krasnov warned Kerenskiy about that.
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00:18:34,884 --> 00:18:38,307
The frightened Minister and Chairman wanted to shoot himself first,
250
00:18:38,375 --> 00:18:43,521
then begged his adjutants to kill him but finally, simply escaped from Gatchina
251
00:18:43,580 --> 00:18:46,032
in a seaman’s uniform.
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00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:53,769
The yellow press spread rumors
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00:18:53,801 --> 00:18:57,213
that the Prime-Minister disguised himself in a nurse’s dress.
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00:18:57,305 --> 00:19:00,551
The story about the escape in a woman’s dress followed Kerenskiy
255
00:19:00,587 --> 00:19:04,981
until his very death and was even screened in the Soviet movies.
256
00:19:08,799 --> 00:19:13,859
In the 60ies, aged Alexander Fedorovitch had to justify himself
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00:19:13,892 --> 00:19:17,298
and explain how it all had happened in reality.
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00:19:28,053 --> 00:19:33,096
Despite the failure of the advance, Krasnov’s officers tried to save the day.
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00:19:33,161 --> 00:19:36,501
But the commander of the Northern Front General Cheremysov
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00:19:36,549 --> 00:19:40,592
didn’t want to fight the Bolsheviks and didn’t provide them
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00:19:40,633 --> 00:19:44,096
with the reinforcements. The Bolsheviks entered Gatchina.
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00:19:44,154 --> 00:19:47,561
It strengthened the positions of the new power immensely.
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00:19:47,621 --> 00:19:51,673
During the same days, the Bolsheviks won another important victory –
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00:19:51,721 --> 00:19:54,615
they took the control over Moscow.
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00:19:54,979 --> 00:19:58,471
In the afternoon of October 25, their detachments seized the post,
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00:19:58,535 --> 00:20:00,123
banks and railways stations but in the evening,
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00:20:00,161 --> 00:20:03,143
they ran into strong resistance.
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00:20:03,194 --> 00:20:06,730
The resistance was organized by the Committee of Public Safety
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00:20:06,768 --> 00:20:11,401
formed by the Moscow City Council to prevent seizure of power in the city
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00:20:11,464 --> 00:20:16,012
by the Bolsheviks. The Committee relied on the officers and cadets.
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00:20:19,778 --> 00:20:23,211
At night of October 26, they blocked the Kremlin
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00:20:23,242 --> 00:20:27,633
to prevent the theft of weapons from the Kremlin arsenal.
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00:20:27,674 --> 00:20:31,193
The commander of the Moscow military district Colonel Ryabtsev
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00:20:31,261 --> 00:20:34,873
asked the Headquarters to send reliable military units
275
00:20:34,942 --> 00:20:37,388
and started negotiations with the Bolsheviks.
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00:20:37,448 --> 00:20:40,451
The Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief was close
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00:20:40,502 --> 00:20:45,312
to the Russian-German front line, in a far-away Byelorussian Mogilev.
278
00:20:45,351 --> 00:20:48,431
People there didn’t quite understand what was going on.
279
00:20:48,469 --> 00:20:52,661
Whom should they submit to? What is the new power like?
280
00:20:52,703 --> 00:20:55,032
The generals didn’t support the Bolsheviks
281
00:20:55,097 --> 00:20:57,817
but weren’t in a hurry to send the troops.
282
00:20:57,869 --> 00:21:02,652
Many military units didn’t listen to the commandment anyway.
283
00:21:08,353 --> 00:21:11,691
When Ryabtsev found out that Krasnov was moving towards Petrograd,
284
00:21:11,749 --> 00:21:14,569
he stopped negotiations with the Bolsheviks
285
00:21:14,654 --> 00:21:17,613
and declared a state of defense emergency in Moscow.
286
00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:22,272
The cadets won back the telephone station, telegraph and the post.
287
00:21:22,321 --> 00:21:26,240
The Kremlin that had been seized by the Bolsheviks capitulated.
288
00:21:27,115 --> 00:21:31,967
However, it soon became known that Kerenskiy’s campaign in Petrograd failed.
289
00:21:32,020 --> 00:21:34,846
The Bolsheviks mobilized new forces to Moscow.
290
00:21:34,900 --> 00:21:38,686
The majority of soldiers from the Moscow garrison turned to their side.
291
00:21:45,973 --> 00:21:48,697
Moscow was falling under the control of the revolutionaries.
292
00:21:48,740 --> 00:21:52,500
The ancient streets were all in trenches and barricades,
293
00:21:52,544 --> 00:21:55,299
and shots from machine guns and cannons were heard everywhere.
294
00:21:55,342 --> 00:21:58,302
Colonel Ryabtsev was looking for ways to negotiations.
295
00:21:58,365 --> 00:22:01,138
The cadets didn’t like it and wanted to dismiss him
296
00:22:01,172 --> 00:22:04,615
and hand the commandment over to the legendary General Brusilov;
297
00:22:04,663 --> 00:22:08,214
however, he refused to take part in the fratricidal conflict.
298
00:22:09,846 --> 00:22:11,574
For the last time in its history,
299
00:22:11,611 --> 00:22:16,879
the Moscow Kremlin played its initial part of a fortress.
300
00:22:16,948 --> 00:22:20,637
Its massive walls became a reliable protection for the cadets.
301
00:22:20,701 --> 00:22:24,737
To crush the fortress, the Bolsheviks put the large-caliber siege cannons
302
00:22:24,786 --> 00:22:29,100
at the Vorobyovy Hills and started the bombardment of the Kremlin.
303
00:22:29,163 --> 00:22:32,673
The shells damaged the cathedrals, a few towers
304
00:22:32,736 --> 00:22:34,960
and the Bell Tower named after Ivan the Great.
305
00:22:35,061 --> 00:22:36,472
The Chiming Clock stopped.
306
00:22:36,538 --> 00:22:40,126
The cadets laid down their weapons only on November 2.
307
00:22:40,173 --> 00:22:44,168
The power in Moscow passed to the Councils once and for all.
308
00:22:46,170 --> 00:22:49,651
Maksim Gorkiy wrote about those historical days:
309
00:22:49,689 --> 00:22:52,721
“In some houses close to the Kremlin the walls of the buildings
310
00:22:52,765 --> 00:22:56,188
are pierced with shells and it’s likely that dozens innocent people died
311
00:22:56,236 --> 00:23:01,150
in those houses. The shells were flying around as senselessly
312
00:23:01,209 --> 00:23:04,419
as the whole six-day long massacre and ransacking of Moscow
313
00:23:04,455 --> 00:23:06,924
didn’t make any sense”.
314
00:23:07,569 --> 00:23:09,659
In the course of seven days of the fights
315
00:23:09,698 --> 00:23:12,247
about 1,000 people died from both sides.
316
00:23:12,326 --> 00:23:16,916
On November 10, a famous necropolis was laid by the Kremlin’s wall.
317
00:23:16,964 --> 00:23:21,385
The bodies of 240 Red Guards were buried there.
318
00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:26,269
Over 300 officers and cadets were buried by the present-day “Sokol” metro station.
319
00:23:26,328 --> 00:23:31,432
A famous poet and musician Alexander Vertinskiy was present at the burial.
320
00:23:31,507 --> 00:23:33,485
Under the impression of that tragedy,
321
00:23:33,548 --> 00:23:37,814
he wrote his well-known song: “What I Must Say”:
322
00:23:37,883 --> 00:23:41,050
“I don’t know who needed it and why,
323
00:23:41,085 --> 00:23:44,698
who sent them to their death with an unshaking hand so mercilessly.
324
00:23:44,740 --> 00:23:51,954
But now they are lowered into the eternal peace…”
325
00:23:52,013 --> 00:23:55,356
The fate of Colonel Ryabtsev was tragic.
326
00:23:55,425 --> 00:23:57,366
He left Moscow for Kharkov.
327
00:23:57,420 --> 00:24:02,582
In 1919, the city was seized by the troops of the Volunteer White Army.
328
00:24:02,625 --> 00:24:05,519
Ryabtsev was arrested by the counter-intelligence.
329
00:24:05,584 --> 00:24:10,767
He was accused for in October of 1917 he allegedly issued an order
330
00:24:10,829 --> 00:24:13,580
to stop resisting the Bolsheviks, didn’t use all the opportunities
331
00:24:13,645 --> 00:24:17,745
at his disposal and didn’t take opinions of his subordinates into account.
332
00:24:17,832 --> 00:24:19,451
On the basis of conclusions of the investigation,
333
00:24:19,516 --> 00:24:21,985
Colonel Ryabtsev was executed.
334
00:24:24,709 --> 00:24:28,496
The fratricidal fights in Moscow, previously unseen in the country,
335
00:24:28,607 --> 00:24:32,243
seemed to bring its citizens to senses.
336
00:24:32,303 --> 00:24:34,899
Anti-Bolshevik meetings were held everywhere.
337
00:24:34,952 --> 00:24:38,849
The All-Russian Executive Committee of the Railways’ Unions
338
00:24:38,886 --> 00:24:42,092
refused to carry the Bolsheviks’ troops
339
00:24:42,156 --> 00:24:45,482
and threatened with the universal strike of the transport.
340
00:24:45,541 --> 00:24:48,991
The Union put forward an ultimatum –
341
00:24:49,035 --> 00:24:55,875
to stop the civil way and to form the joint socialistic government.
342
00:25:02,717 --> 00:25:06,081
The socialist revolutionaries and Mensheviks were setting the tone
343
00:25:06,117 --> 00:25:08,245
in that Union, and it was difficult to come to terms with them.
344
00:25:08,304 --> 00:25:12,266
Lenin didn’t want to share the captured power.
345
00:25:12,326 --> 00:25:15,358
Protesting against Lenin’s rigid position,
346
00:25:15,428 --> 00:25:20,116
a part of the Bolshevik people’s commissars even resigned.
347
00:25:20,178 --> 00:25:24,930
The People’s Commissar for Education Anatoliy Lunacharskiy resigned too.
348
00:25:24,984 --> 00:25:27,346
After the Moscow massacre and the shooting of the Kremlin
349
00:25:27,404 --> 00:25:29,735
he wrote in his statement:
350
00:25:29,788 --> 00:25:32,631
“The struggle embitters to the point of animal hatred.
351
00:25:32,667 --> 00:25:35,632
What will happen next? Where shall we move?
352
00:25:35,701 --> 00:25:38,172
I feel powerless to stop this terror.
353
00:25:38,220 --> 00:25:40,575
I realize the gravity of my decision.
354
00:25:40,634 --> 00:25:42,915
However, I can’t go on”.
355
00:25:44,016 --> 00:25:47,028
Lenin managed to talk Lunacharskiy into staying.
356
00:25:47,102 --> 00:25:49,454
The coalitional government was formed
357
00:25:49,497 --> 00:25:52,461
but the Mensheviks and socialist revolutionaries didn’t become its members.
358
00:25:52,515 --> 00:25:54,067
The Bolsheviks limited themselves
359
00:25:54,098 --> 00:25:55,894
to a union with the left socialist revolutionaries
360
00:25:55,932 --> 00:25:58,848
giving them the people’s commissariats of agriculture, justice,
361
00:25:58,916 --> 00:26:03,386
post and telegraph and a couple of less-important ministries.
362
00:26:03,433 --> 00:26:05,978
The left socialist revolutionaries were weak partners,
363
00:26:06,078 --> 00:26:09,309
and the coalitional government didn’t last for long.
364
00:26:09,367 --> 00:26:11,057
And in a few months,
365
00:26:11,112 --> 00:26:14,306
the Bolsheviks also simply disbanded the Railways’ Union.
366
00:26:14,368 --> 00:26:16,016
After the victory in both capitals,
367
00:26:16,065 --> 00:26:21,001
Lenin and the Bolsheviks started to root in other places too.
368
00:26:21,071 --> 00:26:24,893
Sometimes that process was fast and didn’t run across any resistance.
369
00:26:24,932 --> 00:26:26,584
However, it wasn’t like that everywhere.
370
00:26:26,657 --> 00:26:30,103
The Bolsheviks met with serious troubles in Kiev.
371
00:26:31,003 --> 00:26:34,107
The self-proclaimed body, the Central Rada (“Council”)
372
00:26:34,155 --> 00:26:37,153
refused to recognize the Bolsheviks’ authority
373
00:26:37,210 --> 00:26:38,747
when it found out about the coup.
374
00:26:38,843 --> 00:26:42,074
However, the positions of Rada in Kiev were not very strong,
375
00:26:42,143 --> 00:26:46,891
and despite loud declarations it preferred to keep neutrality.
376
00:26:50,553 --> 00:26:54,893
On October 29, the Kiev Bolsheviks decided to arrange a revolt of their own.
377
00:26:54,932 --> 00:26:58,625
The Central Rada gathered the pro-Ukrainian regiments in Kiev
378
00:26:58,663 --> 00:27:00,726
and even helped the Bolsheviks in their struggle
379
00:27:00,833 --> 00:27:03,545
against the forces of the Temporary Government.
380
00:27:03,576 --> 00:27:07,512
In a result of that, diarchy was established in Kiev for some time.
381
00:27:07,547 --> 00:27:10,998
It was ruled by both Rada and the Bolsheviks.
382
00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:14,230
In November, the Central Rada announced the establishment
383
00:27:14,288 --> 00:27:16,724
of the Ukrainian People’s Republic –
384
00:27:16,781 --> 00:27:19,436
for the time being, in federation with Russia.
385
00:27:19,496 --> 00:27:22,727
It didn’t dare declare full independence.
386
00:27:22,924 --> 00:27:24,902
Rada was preparing to overthrow the Bolsheviks
387
00:27:24,976 --> 00:27:27,947
to become the only authority in Kiev.
388
00:27:28,031 --> 00:27:30,596
A new conflict was brewing there…
389
00:27:31,682 --> 00:27:35,590
The Region of the Don Troop also refused to recognize the Bolsheviks’ authority.
390
00:27:35,638 --> 00:27:41,043
The Kazak ataman Alexei Kaledin announced that until legality was restored
391
00:27:41,093 --> 00:27:43,716
the government of the Region of the Don Troop
392
00:27:43,748 --> 00:27:46,732
would undertake the complete power.
393
00:27:46,769 --> 00:27:51,547
Other Kazak regions supported it – Kuban, Ter,
394
00:27:51,599 --> 00:27:55,246
as well as the Kalmyks and the highlanders of the Northern Caucasus.
395
00:27:55,317 --> 00:27:58,804
Here, on the south, the forces that would later lay the foundations
396
00:27:58,876 --> 00:28:02,129
of the Volunteer or White Army started to gather.
397
00:28:03,222 --> 00:28:06,086
The army top commandment at the Headquarters
398
00:28:06,118 --> 00:28:08,132
of the Commander-in-Chief could become another center of resistance
399
00:28:08,181 --> 00:28:10,798
to the Soviet power.
400
00:28:11,443 --> 00:28:14,279
Numerous politicians and public activists arrived in Byelorussian Mogilev
401
00:28:14,327 --> 00:28:17,815
where the Headquarters was situated.
402
00:28:17,864 --> 00:28:21,759
Constant meetings went on, the projects were drafted…
403
00:28:23,017 --> 00:28:26,121
There was no Commander-in-Chief at that moment.
404
00:28:26,194 --> 00:28:31,222
Lieutenant General Nicolay Dukhonin temporarily executed his duties.
405
00:28:31,270 --> 00:28:34,911
However, he wasn’t a politician but just a responsible officer.
406
00:28:35,380 --> 00:28:39,277
The General didn’t want to interfere into the civil conflict.
407
00:28:39,352 --> 00:28:44,038
He was just trying to save the remains of the army to resist the German troops.
408
00:28:44,106 --> 00:28:47,125
He thought negatively about the Bolsheviks
409
00:28:47,190 --> 00:28:51,118
but wasn’t going to fight them or to form the new government.
410
00:28:51,234 --> 00:28:54,013
Dukhonin limited himself to an appeal to the troops
411
00:28:54,073 --> 00:28:57,218
to keep calm and contain the enemy.
412
00:28:57,259 --> 00:29:01,375
Still, even such a moderate position failed to save the General’s skin.
413
00:29:01,595 --> 00:29:05,123
On November 9, during a telephone call Lenin demanded
414
00:29:05,209 --> 00:29:07,576
that Dukhonin should start peaceful negotiations
415
00:29:07,613 --> 00:29:09,293
with the German commandment.
416
00:29:09,421 --> 00:29:12,638
The General answered that it was the government and not he who should do it.
417
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:16,034
The government shall do it, and I’m a military man.
418
00:29:16,156 --> 00:29:19,486
For that, Dukhonin was called “the enemy of the people”.
419
00:29:20,757 --> 00:29:23,501
You’re the enemy of the people!
420
00:29:24,136 --> 00:29:27,996
Lenin sent telegrams to all the units of the Russian army.
421
00:29:28,056 --> 00:29:30,886
He offered the soldiers to take the “issue of peace”
422
00:29:30,924 --> 00:29:34,175
into their own hands and start the negotiations with the enemy.
423
00:29:39,426 --> 00:29:41,336
Dukhonin was dismissed from his position
424
00:29:41,373 --> 00:29:44,289
and ordered to wait for the arrival of the new commander.
425
00:29:44,337 --> 00:29:47,647
Bolshevik Krylenko was appointed to replace him.
426
00:29:47,733 --> 00:29:50,528
A warrant officer, the lowest officer rank of the army,
427
00:29:50,564 --> 00:29:54,889
plus a man who had been avoiding the military service for long,
428
00:29:54,917 --> 00:29:57,675
was now the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian army.
429
00:29:57,713 --> 00:30:00,725
Together with the detachment of the revolutionary seamen and soldiers,
430
00:30:00,769 --> 00:30:02,906
Krylenko went to Mogilev.
431
00:30:05,194 --> 00:30:08,317
Dukhonin was preparing to hand the commandment over.
432
00:30:08,365 --> 00:30:12,882
With one of the last of his orders, he released the arrested General Kornilov
433
00:30:12,955 --> 00:30:15,848
and his comrades from the Bykhov prison.
434
00:30:15,912 --> 00:30:17,710
The former inmates went to the Don
435
00:30:17,799 --> 00:30:21,846
where the forces for resisting the Bolsheviks were gathering.
436
00:30:23,270 --> 00:30:24,805
Dukhonin also issued an order
437
00:30:24,853 --> 00:30:28,095
to send the troops of the storm battalions out of Mogilev.
438
00:30:28,154 --> 00:30:30,226
Their commanders wanted to defend the headquarters
439
00:30:30,275 --> 00:30:33,543
and to resist the Bolsheviks. However, Dukhonin said:
440
00:30:33,606 --> 00:30:36,250
“I don’t want the fratricidal war.
441
00:30:36,308 --> 00:30:39,017
The Motherland will need thousands of your lives”.
442
00:30:39,065 --> 00:30:42,034
Our Motherland will need your lives. Thank you, gentlemen.
443
00:30:43,708 --> 00:30:46,705
On November 20, echelons with the detachments of the Bolsheviks
444
00:30:46,753 --> 00:30:52,152
arrived in Mogilev. First of all, Krylenko arrested Dukhonin.
445
00:30:54,685 --> 00:30:58,268
Nicolay Nicolayevitch… do you know who I am?
446
00:30:58,855 --> 00:31:01,562
The Lieutenant General was brought to the wagon
447
00:31:01,611 --> 00:31:05,060
of the new Commander-in-Chief, the former warrant officer.
448
00:31:05,438 --> 00:31:07,486
A group of soldiers burst in there,
449
00:31:07,518 --> 00:31:09,485
threatening both with weapons.
450
00:31:09,592 --> 00:31:12,912
The enraged crowd dragged the last Commander-in-Chief
451
00:31:12,976 --> 00:31:15,104
of the Russian army from the wagon.
452
00:31:15,163 --> 00:31:19,108
The reason for the carnage was the news of Kornilov’s disappearance.
453
00:31:19,742 --> 00:31:21,875
The crowd killed Dukhonin with bayonets
454
00:31:21,912 --> 00:31:25,366
and then scoffed at the dead body.
455
00:31:25,403 --> 00:31:28,304
Krylenko failed to stop the lynching.
456
00:31:28,343 --> 00:31:32,420
The crowd went to look for Dukhonin’s wife to made even with her too.
457
00:31:32,478 --> 00:31:34,676
However, she wasn’t at home.
458
00:31:34,703 --> 00:31:39,552
The poor woman was in the church, and it saved her life.
459
00:31:45,586 --> 00:31:46,952
After ransacking the Headquarters,
460
00:31:46,982 --> 00:31:49,980
the Bolsheviks started the peace negotiations.
461
00:31:50,018 --> 00:31:54,000
The Germans and the Austrians, exhausted by the war at a couple of fronts,
462
00:31:54,064 --> 00:31:56,110
had no objections against the peace.
463
00:31:56,192 --> 00:32:00,071
However, feeling their advantage, they put their conditions forward.
464
00:32:00,145 --> 00:32:03,868
The peace conference started in December of 1917.
465
00:32:06,843 --> 00:32:08,769
The peace negotiations took place in the town of Brest-Litovsk
466
00:32:08,813 --> 00:32:12,223
captured by the Germans on December 9.
467
00:32:12,270 --> 00:32:15,582
The Soviet delegation consisted of five members of the Central Committee
468
00:32:15,635 --> 00:32:18,440
headed by the Bolshevik Adolf Joffe,
469
00:32:18,478 --> 00:32:20,509
8 members of the military delegation,
470
00:32:20,587 --> 00:32:21,617
a secretary,
471
00:32:21,702 --> 00:32:22,881
3 interpreters,
472
00:32:22,977 --> 00:32:24,843
6 technical employees
473
00:32:24,901 --> 00:32:27,898
as well as 5 common members of the delegation –
474
00:32:27,961 --> 00:32:29,011
seaman Olitch,
475
00:32:29,071 --> 00:32:30,334
soldier Belyakov,
476
00:32:30,382 --> 00:32:32,605
peasant Stashkov from Kaluga,
477
00:32:32,669 --> 00:32:33,949
worker Obukhov
478
00:32:34,022 --> 00:32:36,523
and naval warrant officer Zedin.
479
00:32:38,615 --> 00:32:42,538
For the Russian officers, those negotiations were shameful.
480
00:32:42,574 --> 00:32:46,856
A member of the delegation Major General Skalov shot himself
481
00:32:46,924 --> 00:32:49,311
on the first day of the arrival in Brest-Litovsk.
482
00:32:50,613 --> 00:32:54,589
In a death note addressed to his wife General wrote:
483
00:32:54,619 --> 00:32:57,461
“Farewell, my dearest Anyuta.
484
00:32:57,516 --> 00:33:01,595
Don’t judge me and forgive me. I can’t go on living…”
485
00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:08,876
“The revolution choked on the war
486
00:33:08,924 --> 00:33:12,270
and finally had to concede with humiliation and shame
487
00:33:12,324 --> 00:33:21,950
before the German imperialistic fist, surrendering huge Russian territories…”
488
00:33:24,337 --> 00:33:26,836
All parties were ready to conclude peace.
489
00:33:26,868 --> 00:33:28,622
However, on what conditions?
490
00:33:28,656 --> 00:33:32,393
The German Empire put forward incredible demands –
491
00:33:32,431 --> 00:33:37,515
to surrender territories captured by the German troops at that point.
492
00:33:37,554 --> 00:33:39,601
Simultaneously the Germans started negotiations
493
00:33:39,648 --> 00:33:45,261
with the Ukrainian Central Rada about the accession of the lands of Ukraine.
494
00:33:45,305 --> 00:33:48,435
The Bolsheviks returned to the capital for consultations.
495
00:33:48,464 --> 00:33:50,966
However, they didn’t have forces to resist anyway.
496
00:33:51,008 --> 00:33:53,771
The Russian army didn’t exist anymore.
497
00:33:53,815 --> 00:33:56,298
A witness to those events recalled:
498
00:33:56,330 --> 00:34:00,271
“There is no army. The comrades are sleeping, eating, playing cards,
499
00:34:00,339 --> 00:34:05,670
don’t listen to any orders; they leave the communication means behind;
500
00:34:05,740 --> 00:34:08,432
the telephone and telegraph lines are broken,
501
00:34:08,481 --> 00:34:11,833
the regiments aren’t connected with the headquarters of their divisions,
502
00:34:11,903 --> 00:34:13,768
the cannons are left behind at the positions,
503
00:34:13,838 --> 00:34:16,802
they are dirty and snow-bound…”
504
00:34:19,527 --> 00:34:22,432
Lenin kept demanding peace at any cost.
505
00:34:22,512 --> 00:34:24,692
At the end of December, a delegation of the Bolsheviks
506
00:34:24,751 --> 00:34:29,074
returned to Brest-Litovsk and continued with the negotiations.
507
00:34:29,202 --> 00:34:31,884
During 300 years of the rule of the Romanovs dynasty
508
00:34:31,927 --> 00:34:34,981
the territory of the Russian Empire only grew.
509
00:34:35,041 --> 00:34:40,297
Even after defeats in wars, Russia had never surrendered any of its lands.
510
00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:43,665
The Brest Peace Treaty between Russia and Germany
511
00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:51,060
signed at Lenin’s insistence on March 3, 1918 and ratified on March 16
512
00:34:51,119 --> 00:34:53,379
consisted of 14 articles.
513
00:34:53,438 --> 00:34:55,483
In particular, it stipulated the following.
514
00:34:55,525 --> 00:34:59,402
Russia had to completely demobilize its army.
515
00:34:59,472 --> 00:35:03,556
The Soviet Russia was surrendering Poland, Lithuania, Kurland,
516
00:35:03,594 --> 00:35:07,708
Lifland and Estland. The Germans were getting regions
517
00:35:07,755 --> 00:35:11,802
captured by the German troops at the moment of conclusion of the treaty.
518
00:35:11,878 --> 00:35:16,184
Ukraine and Finland were recognized as independent states.
519
00:35:16,222 --> 00:35:21,588
Russia was surrendering Kars, Ardahan and Batum to Turkey.
520
00:35:21,655 --> 00:35:27,753
As a result of that, Russia lost a territory of 780 sq.km
521
00:35:27,811 --> 00:35:30,525
with population of 56 mln people
522
00:35:30,606 --> 00:35:33,229
(a third of the population of the Russian Empire).
523
00:35:33,335 --> 00:35:38,778
It included 27% of the fertile agricultural land,
524
00:35:38,869 --> 00:35:42,259
26% of all railway network;
525
00:35:42,322 --> 00:35:45,260
there, 73% of iron was smelted,
526
00:35:45,324 --> 00:35:52,280
89% of coal was mined and 90% of sugar was produced.
527
00:35:54,190 --> 00:35:58,092
The 1917 was nearing its end.
528
00:35:58,121 --> 00:35:59,512
Delivering a speech at the Seventh Convention
529
00:35:59,554 --> 00:36:05,232
of the Russian Communist Party, Lenin said,
530
00:36:05,269 --> 00:36:09,981
“One shall never limit oneself with formal concepts during the war…
531
00:36:10,019 --> 00:36:13,340
An agreement is a means of mobilizing the forces…”
532
00:36:13,384 --> 00:36:15,436
While the Bolsheviks were mobilizing forces,
533
00:36:15,490 --> 00:36:18,597
the battles were already going on between their supporters and opponents
534
00:36:18,634 --> 00:36:21,572
at the Don, in Siberia and in the Crimea.
535
00:36:21,619 --> 00:36:26,145
In Ukraine, the Bolsheviks and the Central Rada were in a state of a real war.
536
00:36:26,215 --> 00:36:28,214
In places where there were no hostilities,
537
00:36:28,253 --> 00:36:31,557
hordes of deserters swept everything off their path
538
00:36:31,590 --> 00:36:33,231
on their way home from the front.
539
00:36:33,275 --> 00:36:35,869
Entire regions got separated from the country.
540
00:36:35,934 --> 00:36:38,722
Finland proclaimed its independence,
541
00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:40,860
Lithuania announced his separation,
542
00:36:40,902 --> 00:36:43,675
the Caucasian states were talking about their autonomy too.
543
00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:45,851
Chaos was engulfing the country…
544
00:36:45,898 --> 00:36:48,831
That chaos brought the Bolsheviks to power,
545
00:36:48,873 --> 00:36:51,331
but the same chaos now threatened to exterminate them.
546
00:36:51,380 --> 00:36:53,986
To fight the attempt at the Soviet power,
547
00:36:54,018 --> 00:36:56,145
an All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for the Struggle
548
00:36:56,193 --> 00:37:03,010
against the Counter-Revolution and Sabotage was formed at the Sovnarkom.
549
00:37:03,054 --> 00:37:05,938
Felix Dzerzhinskiy became its chairman.
550
00:37:05,987 --> 00:37:09,233
At first, the Commission was working without spilling any blood.
551
00:37:09,297 --> 00:37:12,374
People declared the enemy of the people were deprived
552
00:37:12,411 --> 00:37:16,500
of the ration cards or had their property confiscated.
553
00:37:16,536 --> 00:37:18,689
Terror and violence were isolated cases
554
00:37:18,726 --> 00:37:23,134
explained by the rage of the people’s masses.
555
00:37:23,177 --> 00:37:27,033
The oncoming meeting of the deputies of the Constituent Assembly
556
00:37:27,074 --> 00:37:30,562
was the last hope for those who still expected the restoration of order
557
00:37:30,637 --> 00:37:34,001
in the country. What will become of the former Empire?
558
00:37:34,043 --> 00:37:36,155
A republic? A monarchy?
559
00:37:36,204 --> 00:37:39,119
Even the Bolsheviks who were making a new revolution happen
560
00:37:39,172 --> 00:37:43,773
claimed that their task was to defend the elections to the Constituent Assembly
561
00:37:43,811 --> 00:37:47,030
which Kerenskiy allegedly wanted to disrupt.
562
00:37:47,077 --> 00:37:50,206
However, Lenin had no intention of letting the power go.
563
00:37:50,244 --> 00:37:54,925
He urged his comrades to prepare the Bolshevik coup in October,
564
00:37:54,963 --> 00:37:57,932
before the start of the Constituent Assembly.
565
00:37:57,963 --> 00:38:02,375
The chief of the Bolsheviks counted on two options
566
00:38:02,460 --> 00:38:07,742
either the Bolsheviks would get the majority of votes at the elections
567
00:38:07,780 --> 00:38:10,968
to the Constituent Assembly or, being the authority at that point,
568
00:38:11,007 --> 00:38:13,724
they would cancel all the decisions of the Constituent Assembly
569
00:38:13,789 --> 00:38:16,320
and disband it with the help of the arms.
570
00:38:17,172 --> 00:38:20,973
After they seized the power, Lenin and his comrades lost the need
571
00:38:21,007 --> 00:38:23,154
to make the Constituent Assembly happen.
572
00:38:23,186 --> 00:38:25,835
However, they didn’t dare cancel it.
573
00:38:25,898 --> 00:38:30,793
The idea of the Constituent Assembly was very popular among the people.
574
00:38:30,842 --> 00:38:35,052
They expected it to work miracles and solve the country’s problems.
575
00:38:37,106 --> 00:38:39,641
As scheduled, the elections of the delegates took place
576
00:38:39,699 --> 00:38:44,934
all over the country on November 12-14 of 1917.
577
00:38:44,972 --> 00:38:46,740
Thanks to the Commission of the All-Elections
578
00:38:46,836 --> 00:38:51,097
they were well-organized and happened in the pre-arranged time.
579
00:38:51,208 --> 00:38:53,644
A week before the elections, Lenin issued a decree
580
00:38:53,686 --> 00:38:57,342
on introduction of the state monopoly for the announcements.
581
00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:02,193
It made the agitation campaigns of the Bolsheviks’ opponents difficult.
582
00:39:02,242 --> 00:39:05,606
Lenin tried to press on the Commission on All-Elections,
583
00:39:05,644 --> 00:39:10,360
but when it refused to cooperate, he simply disbanded it.
584
00:39:10,403 --> 00:39:15,088
However, despite all those tricks, the Bolsheviks lost the elections.
585
00:39:16,362 --> 00:39:23,639
48 401 962 people took part in the elections.
586
00:39:23,704 --> 00:39:28,472
The socialist revolutionaries got 39,5% of votes
587
00:39:28,543 --> 00:39:31,800
while the Bolsheviks got 22,5%.
588
00:39:31,869 --> 00:39:36,484
The constitutional democrats (cadets) got 4,5%.
589
00:39:36,519 --> 00:39:40,760
However, Lenin ordered to arrest all the members of the cadets’ fraction
590
00:39:40,798 --> 00:39:43,793
as enemies of the people. The rest of the votes were divided
591
00:39:43,835 --> 00:39:49,565
between other parties, religious confessions and public organizations.
592
00:39:53,405 --> 00:39:55,132
Taking such results of the elections into account,
593
00:39:55,190 --> 00:39:58,521
Lenin and the Bolsheviks had to hand all the power
594
00:39:58,590 --> 00:40:03,605
over to the Constituent Assembly and resign.
595
00:40:03,653 --> 00:40:06,739
However, that didn’t suit Lenin at all.
596
00:40:12,134 --> 00:40:17,907
On January 5, 1918 in the Tavria Palace the Constituent Assembly
597
00:40:17,949 --> 00:40:21,876
opened its first session. On the eve of it,
598
00:40:21,909 --> 00:40:26,449
the Bolshevik delegates organized meetings and agitated against the Assembly.
599
00:40:27,722 --> 00:40:30,612
Lenin and his comrades didn’t spare efforts and money
600
00:40:30,643 --> 00:40:33,271
for the military troops that were loyal to them.
601
00:40:33,304 --> 00:40:37,306
The Latvian Shooting Regiments where the majority of soldiers
602
00:40:37,349 --> 00:40:41,692
didn’t know Russian well and for that reason didn’t succumb
603
00:40:41,735 --> 00:40:44,447
to any agitation were considered to be the most reliable.
604
00:40:44,481 --> 00:40:48,114
The Latvians were isolated, disciplined and well-armed.
605
00:40:48,172 --> 00:40:52,529
The Bolsheviks were regularly paying and supplying them.
606
00:40:53,672 --> 00:40:57,903
A part of the Latvian Shooters had been stationed in Petrograd
607
00:40:57,936 --> 00:40:59,827
since autumn of 1917.
608
00:41:01,293 --> 00:41:04,721
A couple of weeks before the Constituent Assembly started its work,
609
00:41:04,762 --> 00:41:09,007
Lenin allotted 10 million rubles to the People’s Commissar for Military Affairs
610
00:41:09,061 --> 00:41:11,117
to organize detachments of the workers.
611
00:41:11,188 --> 00:41:15,000
On December 30, he issued an order to form a detachment of the seamen
612
00:41:15,047 --> 00:41:19,737
up to 2,000 people and summon additional two regiments
613
00:41:19,773 --> 00:41:22,442
of the Latvian Shooters from the front.
614
00:41:23,778 --> 00:41:27,083
The opponents of the Bolsheviks arranged manifestations,
615
00:41:27,119 --> 00:41:29,828
but the Bolsheviks’ troops opened fire at them.
616
00:41:29,876 --> 00:41:32,842
A few dozens of people died.
617
00:41:32,889 --> 00:41:37,132
Going to the Tavria Palace, the delegates of the Constituent Assembly
618
00:41:37,175 --> 00:41:42,004
took candles and sandwiches in case the authorities decided
619
00:41:42,041 --> 00:41:45,346
to switch the electricity off or not feed the delegates.
620
00:41:45,382 --> 00:41:50,139
A sworn enemy of the Bolshevisk Viktor Chernov was elected its chairman.
621
00:41:50,175 --> 00:41:52,857
Lenin’s delegates whistled and shouted
622
00:41:52,911 --> 00:41:54,690
preventing him from leading the meeting.
623
00:41:54,766 --> 00:41:58,213
Lenin was going between the chairs, then he sat on the steps
624
00:41:58,251 --> 00:42:00,557
leading to the chair where he was writing something,
625
00:42:00,601 --> 00:42:06,368
laughing at the delegates and openly demonstrating his despise.
626
00:42:14,594 --> 00:42:16,567
-Zheleznyakov? -Yes?
627
00:42:20,541 --> 00:42:25,581
During the break, you shall close this circus.
628
00:42:25,625 --> 00:42:26,514
Will do.
629
00:42:26,532 --> 00:42:29,668
During the break, the Bolsheviks left the hall.
630
00:42:29,797 --> 00:42:32,956
Pavel Dybenko gave an order to the seamen to disband the delegates
631
00:42:33,005 --> 00:42:37,077
with the arms but Lenin cancelled that order.
632
00:42:37,137 --> 00:42:40,780
Only at 5 a.m. at his order the head of the guards,
633
00:42:40,820 --> 00:42:46,467
drunk seaman Zheleznyakov came up to the chair and told Chernov:
634
00:42:52,543 --> 00:43:01,540
“I got an instruction to inform you that all the delegates shall leave the hall
635
00:43:01,581 --> 00:43:04,056
because the guards are tired”.
636
00:43:04,355 --> 00:43:07,632
The delegated were indignant but they had to leave.
637
00:43:07,681 --> 00:43:10,799
They agreed to meet again the following evening.
638
00:43:10,858 --> 00:43:13,461
However, the following evening a line of seamen and Latvian Shooters
639
00:43:13,510 --> 00:43:16,943
was waiting for them by the Tavria Palace.
640
00:43:16,990 --> 00:43:20,610
The doors of the Palace were locked, and the machine guns
641
00:43:20,641 --> 00:43:22,603
and a couple of cannons aimed right at the delegates.
642
00:43:22,652 --> 00:43:25,492
The Assembly had to disperse.
643
00:43:26,500 --> 00:43:29,900
In a couple of days afterwards the Bolsheviks published a decree
644
00:43:29,952 --> 00:43:33,280
on disbanding of the Constituent Assembly in the newspapers.
645
00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:36,564
That was how they did away of the last hope of the people
646
00:43:36,617 --> 00:43:40,273
for the fair determination of its future fate.
647
00:43:42,650 --> 00:43:47,363
A dot was put in the history of the Russian Revolution.
648
00:43:50,012 --> 00:43:53,094
February, 1917.
649
00:43:53,128 --> 00:43:56,611
The country that was confidently nearing a victory in a war;
650
00:43:56,664 --> 00:44:01,264
then, demonstrations started because bread queues appeared in Petrograd.
651
00:44:02,010 --> 00:44:08,475
In just nine months, the state practically ceased its existence.
652
00:44:08,528 --> 00:44:12,744
The Civil War started in Russia…
653
00:44:18,635 --> 00:44:24,318
The First World War ended on November 11, 1918.
654
00:44:24,351 --> 00:44:28,950
Russia had been engulfed by the Civil War,
655
00:44:28,998 --> 00:44:32,693
one of the awfullest wars in the history of the country, for five long years.
656
00:44:32,735 --> 00:44:38,166
The First World War took 1 700 000 lives of the citizens of Russia,
657
00:44:38,204 --> 00:44:41,172
and during the years of the Civil War unleashed by Lenin
658
00:44:41,208 --> 00:44:44,620
8-13 million people died.
659
00:44:47,947 --> 00:44:50,750
The fate of the majority of the heroes of the revolutionary drama
660
00:44:50,827 --> 00:44:57,422
of 1917 was tragic. Lenin went on ruling the Soviet State.
661
00:44:57,456 --> 00:44:59,870
He suffered a stroke and by the end of his life
662
00:44:59,902 --> 00:45:02,081
was almost completely paralyzed.
663
00:45:02,119 --> 00:45:08,108
In 1924, he died at the age of 53 years.
664
00:45:08,146 --> 00:45:10,913
Trotskiy who signed the Brest Peace Treaty
665
00:45:10,949 --> 00:45:13,583
became one of the founding fathers of the Red Army
666
00:45:13,617 --> 00:45:17,056
but lost the struggle for power after Lenin’s death.
667
00:45:17,092 --> 00:45:21,202
In 1926, he was driven out of the USSR.
668
00:45:21,257 --> 00:45:23,501
In 14 years, he was killed in Mexico
669
00:45:23,532 --> 00:45:25,461
by an agent of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs.
670
00:45:25,496 --> 00:45:28,740
Antonov-Ovseyenko who arrested the Temporary Government
671
00:45:28,775 --> 00:45:32,439
as well as his comrades at the Sovnarkom Krylenko and Dybenko
672
00:45:32,476 --> 00:45:36,445
occupied the highest posts in the Red Army and the Soviet State.
673
00:45:36,494 --> 00:45:40,950
All three of them were executed in 1938.
674
00:45:40,981 --> 00:45:45,076
Seaman Zheleznyakov who disbanded the Constituent Assembly
675
00:45:45,106 --> 00:45:48,246
was killed during the Civil War.
676
00:45:48,277 --> 00:45:51,817
Lavr Kornilov headed the Volunteer Army.
677
00:45:51,849 --> 00:45:56,295
He organized an attack against the Bolsheviks knows as the Ice Campaign.
678
00:45:56,336 --> 00:45:59,934
He died in March of 1918.
679
00:45:59,967 --> 00:46:04,251
Petr Krasnov took part in the Civil War and then emigrated.
680
00:46:04,298 --> 00:46:08,510
During the Second World War he cooperated with Hitler’s authorities.
681
00:46:08,545 --> 00:46:12,224
He supported the German aggression against the USSR.
682
00:46:12,266 --> 00:46:15,960
After the war, he was taken prisoner and in 1947,
683
00:46:15,998 --> 00:46:18,610
hanged according to the court sentence.
684
00:46:18,643 --> 00:46:21,083
Alexander Kerenskiy left Russia.
685
00:46:21,126 --> 00:46:24,432
He lived in Paris and then moved to America.
686
00:46:24,489 --> 00:46:27,436
He died at the age of 89 years.
687
00:46:27,489 --> 00:46:30,730
Orthodox priests refused to commemorate him
688
00:46:30,762 --> 00:46:34,427
blaming him for the tragedy that had happened in Russia.
689
00:46:48,898 --> 00:46:50,903
The philosopher and historian Boris Yakovenko
690
00:46:50,945 --> 00:46:57,474
didn’t return to his Motherland and died in Prague in 1948.
691
00:46:57,514 --> 00:47:01,166
His book “The History of the Great Russian Revolution”
692
00:47:01,224 --> 00:47:04,789
was published in Germany with the following introduction:
693
00:47:04,838 --> 00:47:07,769
“I dedicate this book to my late mother
694
00:47:07,833 --> 00:47:12,155
with whom we had been dreaming of the great revolution all our lives,
695
00:47:12,210 --> 00:47:15,519
then lived through it with alarm and sadness,
696
00:47:15,583 --> 00:47:17,724
then swore and cried over it,
697
00:47:17,789 --> 00:47:21,491
but at the end, managed to understand and to forgive”.
65133
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