Archiv: Russische Revolution März 1917 / Russian Revolution March 1917


24.06.2023 - 15:22 [ Jecobin Magazine ]

The Kornilov Coup

(09.06.2017)

In the face of a determined working-class mobilization, and thanks to revolutionary agitators who contacted the soldiers under Kornilov’s command, the right-wing military offensive disintegrated before it could reach Petrograd. “The hundreds of agitators — workers, soldiers, members of the Soviets — who infiltrated Kornilov’s camp … encountered little resistance,” wrote Abramovitch. Kornilov’s troops, workers, and peasants in uniform, responded to the Bolshevik, SR, and left-Menshevik agitators’ appeals by turning against their officers and rallying to the soviets. The coup collapsed, leaving Kornilov no choice but to surrender to the Provisional Government.

In the wake of Kornilov’s failed coup, the Bolsheviks won decisive majorities in the soviets and secured overwhelming support among the working class as a whole. A majority of the SR party split to the Left, as did a significant Menshevik current, aligning with Lenin and Trotsky. This united front set the stage for revolutionary triumph in October.

24.06.2023 - 15:17 [ Wikipedia ]

Kornilov affair

Kornilov had the support of the British military attaché, Brigadier-General Alfred Knox, and Kerensky accused Knox of producing pro-Kornilov propaganda. Kerensky also claimed Lord Milner wrote him a letter expressing support for Kornilov. A British armoured car squadron commanded by Oliver Locker-Lampson and dressed in Russian uniforms allegedly participated in the coup.

Over the course of the next few days, as the Provisional Government tried to come up with a concrete plan to avert the oncoming attack, the Petrograd Soviet had taken measures to defend against Kornilov‘s advancing troops. One of these measures was the creation of the Committee for Struggle Against Counterrevolution on 11 September 1917 (28 August Old Style). Those participating in the committee were representatives of the two national soviet executive committees of workers and soldiers and of peasants, the Petrograd Soviet, the General Central Council of Trade Unions, and the Social Revolutionary (S. R.) and Menshevik parties. The most notable members of this committee were the Bolsheviks, who had a large support base among the lower class, and included organizers such as Leon Trotsky, who had been previously imprisoned but released at the behest of the Petrograd Soviet to assist in the organization of the defense of Petrograd.

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The biggest beneficiary of the Kornilov affair was the Bolshevik Party, who enjoyed a revival in support and strength in the wake of the attempted coup. Kerensky released Bolsheviks who had been arrested during the July Days a few months earlier, when Vladimir Lenin was accused of being in the pay of the Germans and subsequently fled to Finland. Kerensky‘s plea to the Petrograd Soviet for support had resulted in the rearmament of the Bolshevik Military Organization and the release of Bolshevik political prisoners, including Leon Trotsky. Though these weapons were not needed to fight off Kornilov‘s advancing troops in August, they were kept by the Bolsheviks and used in their own successful armed October Revolution.

24.06.2023 - 14:38 [ BigSiteofHistory.com ]

The March Revolution | The Russian Revolution of 1917

The czar’s secret police, the Okhrana, conducted mass arrests. But the soldiers were now refusing orders to stop the workers as they sought to march across the River Neva from the workers’ quarter to the palaces, and on March 10 (February 27 in the old Russian calendar) many soldiers handed their weapons over to the crowd. The insurgents captured the arsenal with forty thousand rifles, and Petrograd (as St. Petersburg was now called) was in their hands.

The Revolution of February and March 1917, a product of despair and high emotion, remained virtually leaderless and without a program, since those who had been planning revolution were not yet fully prepared. The main Bolshevik leaders were still abroad or in exile, and the radical agrarian group (the Social Revolutionaries, SR) and the more philosophical Marxists (the Social Democrats, SD) were also caught by surprise.

24.06.2023 - 14:30 [ Kremlin ]

Address to citizens of Russia

Therefore, any actions that split our nation are essentially a betrayal of our people, of our comrades-in-arms who are now fighting at the frontline. This is a knife in the back of our country and our people.

A blow like this was dealt to Russia in 1917, when the country was fighting in World War I. But the victory was stolen from it: intrigues, squabbles and politicking behind the backs of the army and the nation turned into the greatest turmoil, the destruction of the army and the collapse of the state, and the loss of vast territories, ultimately leading to the tragedy of the civil war.