Some authoritative historians regard the armed uprising in Petrograd as the beginning of the Civil War in Russia, which created exceptionally favorable ideological, political, social and geopolitical conditions for the further formation and strengthening of the Bolshevik regime. It was then that the communist ideology, the dictatorship of the proletariat, finally won, the main trends that previously led Russia along the Western path of development changed.
Situation the day before
Formally, the Soviets had already established power throughout the country and exercised practical control in some (rather important) matters. Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies were created, and "democratic" elections to the Moscow Duma were held. Elections were also planned for local self-government bodies and inThe Constituent Assembly, but the permanent postponement was caused, firstly, by the difficult domestic political situation in the country, and secondly, by regular delays in the approval of the regulatory framework at all levels.
During the preparations for the elections, the capital was separated into a separate district. Seventeen districts were formed in Moscow instead of the previously existing four. In the September 24 elections, the majority of seats in the district councils were won by the Bolsheviks, some of the deputies were on the lists of the Cadet Party, and some - of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party.
By mid-autumn 1917, local governments were finally formed in the capital and provinces. Elections to the Assembly were held at the end of October. Earlier, representatives of the Bolsheviks won the elections to city and district councils. The difference between Moscow and Petrograd then consisted in the fact that in the northern capital the Soviet of Workers' Deputies united with the Soviet of Soldiers, where the Socialist-Revolutionaries held strong positions. The Petrograd Soviet was divided into workers and soldiers.
Moscow authorities attempted to unite the two Soviets, as happened in Petrograd. However, here the leadership acted more cautiously than the Central Committee. A few days before the start of the armed uprising in Petrograd, it opposed the seizure of power with the use of weapons.
Preparation for the uprising
Different sources of historical data give different information about the plan of the uprising. In the twenties of the last century, some fairly well-known memoirists and historians asserted with complete certainty that the October armed uprising inPetrograd was carefully planned and prepared in advance. Other (no less authoritative) records said that there was no definite plan of action at all. Practically all later sources have finally settled on the fact that there was no plan in reality, and the historical events in Petrograd developed absolutely spontaneously.
The beginning of the uprising
On the night of October 25, 1917, historically significant events began to develop in Petrograd aimed at eliminating the Provisional Government, the highest body of state power in Russia between the February and October revolutions, and transferring all power to the Soviets. So, the main reason for the armed uprising in Petrograd was the mediocre management of the country, first by the tsar, then by the Provisional Government. Of course, there were accompanying reasons: the unresolved issue of land ownership, the harsh living and working conditions of workers, the complete illiteracy of the common people, as well as the First World War with its losses and the unfavorable situation on the fronts.
The beginning of the armed uprising in Petrograd in Moscow was learned at noon on October 25 from the delegates V. Nogin and V. Milyutin, who sent a telegram. The Petrograd Soviet had already become the main scene of events.
Almost immediately, a meeting of the leading centers of the Bolsheviks was held, where a body was formed to lead the uprising, the so-called Combat Center. First, the Combat Center patrols occupied the local post office. The regiment remained to guard the Kremlin,State Bank and Treasury, savings banks, arsenals of small arms and hand weapons. At first, the regiment refused to give soldiers at the disposal of the Combat Center without an order from the district headquarters and the Council of Soldiers' Deputies, but later two companies still went on missions from the center.
A special meeting of the Duma, which discussed how the city authorities should respond to the aggressive policy of the Soviets of Soldiers' and Workers' Deputies, took place on the evening of November 25th. The Bolsheviks were also present at the meeting, but during the discussion they left the Duma building. At the meeting, it was decided to create a COB (Committee of Public Security) to protect against the Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Cadets and other unfavorable parties and groups of people.
The COB included representatives of the Postal and Telegraph Union (which, by the way, was led by the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries), city and zemstvo self-government, organizations of railway workers, Soviets of Soldiers and Peasants' Deputies. The Duma, led by the Socialist-Revolutionaries, became the center of resistance of the Socialist-Revolutionaries. They acted from the position of defending the Provisional Government, but in the event of a forceful solution of the issue, they could rely only on a part of the junkers and officers.
In the evening of the same day, a plenum of both capital Soviets was held. The VRC (Military Revolutionary Center) was elected to support the armed uprising in Petrograd. The center consisted of seven people: four Bolsheviks and representatives of the Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries. In the Moscow Military Revolutionary Committee (in contrast to the Petrograd one) the Mensheviks widelyparticipated in the work, and in general in the capital the split into the Bolshevik and Menshevik parties was less acute. Less decisive than in Petrograd, the nature of the actions of the Military Revolutionary Committee in Moscow was also influenced by the fact that Lenin was absent from the capital at that time.
By order of the Military Revolutionary Committee, parts of the Moscow garrison were put on alert and now they were obliged to follow only the orders of the Military Revolutionary Center and no one else. Almost immediately, a decree was issued to stop the publication of newspapers of the Provisional Government, which was carried out successfully - on the morning of October 26, only Izvestia and Social Democrat were published.
Later, the capital's Military Revolutionary Committee created regional centers to support the October uprising in Petrograd, put the military on alert, who took the side of the Bolsheviks and their allies, a temporary governing body was chosen to control the actions of the regimental and other military committees, were adopted measures to arm 10-12 thousand people - Red Guard workers. An unfavorable factor was that significant forces of anti-Bolshevik Junkers were concentrated in the capital.
So, without preparation, the armed uprising in Petrograd began. Further events developed no less actively.
Combat readiness
On the night of October 26, the Moscow Committee brought all parts of the garrison to full combat readiness. All those who were on the lists of the reserve regiment were summoned to the Kremlin, and the workers were given more than one and a half thousand rifles with cartridges.
Konstantin Ryabtsev, Commander of the Moscow Military District, contactedHeadquarters and asked to send troops loyal to the Provisional Government from the front to the capital. At the same time, he began negotiations with the Moscow Military Revolutionary Committee.
The day after the date of the armed uprising in Petrograd (October 25, 1917), Moscow was still recovering from the events and no active measures were taken.
Martial Law
Officers who were ready to resist the Bolsheviks gathered on October 27 at the Alexander Military School under the command of the Chief of Staff of the Moscow District. There were about three hundred supporters of the provisional government. At the same time, for the first time, the term "white guard" sounded - this was the name given to a volunteer detachment of students. In the evening of the same day, the only representative of the Provisional Government S. Prokopovich arrived in Moscow.
At the same time, the COB received confirmation from Stalin about the withdrawal of regiments from the front line and the direction of troops to Petrograd. Martial law was declared in the city. An ultimatum was put forward by the MRC, they demanded that the committee disband, surrender the Kremlin and disband the revolutionary-minded units, but the representatives of the committee took away only a few companies. According to other sources, the VRC answered the ultimatum with a categorical refusal.
Also on October 27, the cadets launched an attack on a detachment of the Dvina, who were trying to break through the blockade to the city council. Of the 150 people, 45 were killed or wounded. The junkers also raided one of the regional MRCs, after which they stopped on the Garden Ring, seizing the telephone exchange, mail and telegraph.
CaptureKremlin
The next morning, Ryabtsev demanded that the VRK surrender the Kremlin, saying that the city was completely controlled by the “whites”. The head of the Military Revolutionary Committee, not knowing what the situation is in reality, and having no connection with the allies, decided to make concessions and surrender the Kremlin. When the soldiers began to disarm, two companies of junkers entered the Kremlin. The soldiers, seeing the insignificant forces of the opponents, made an attempt to take up arms again, but this failed. Moreover, many were killed then.
According to other data, recorded from the words of the direct participants in the events, when the prisoners surrendered their weapons, they were shot, and those who tried to escape were bayoneted. According to various estimates, between fifty and three hundred soldiers were considered dead.
After that, the position of the committee became very difficult. The MRC was cut off from the allies, who were pushed back to the outskirts of the city, telephone communication was impossible, and the KOB employees got free access to small arms and hand weapons, which were stored in the arsenal in the Kremlin.
At the call of the VRC, a general strike has begun. The brigade, company, command, regimental committees that gathered at the Polytechnic Museum proposed to dissolve the Council and hold elections again, as well as support the Military Revolutionary Committee. A "Council of Ten" was created to contact the committees. By the end of the day, revolutionary-minded forces occupied the center of the city. The armed uprising in Petrograd was gaining momentum.
Attempted truce
In the last days of October, the struggle for the center of the capital unfolded. Were dugtrenches, barricades were built, there were battles for the Stone and Crimean bridges. The workers (armed Red Guards), a number of infantry units and artillery took part in the battles during the armed uprising in Petrograd in 1917. By the way, the anti-Bolshevik forces had no artillery.
In the morning of October 29, the Bolsheviks began to attack the main directions: Tverskoy Boulevard, Tverskaya Square, Leontievsky Lane, Krymskaya Square, a powder warehouse, Aleksandrovsky and Kursk-Nizhny Novgorod railway stations, the main telegraph and post office.
By evening, Taganskaya Square and three buildings of the Alekseevsky School were occupied. The revolutionary troops began shelling the Metropol Hotel and occupied the central telephone exchange. Fire was also fired at the Nicholas Palace and the Spassky Gates.
Both sides played for time, but on October 29 a truce was signed. The Committee of Public Safety and the Military Revolutionary Committee began negotiations, as a result of which an agreement was reached on a ceasefire from 12 noon on October 29 for a day on the following conditions:
- dissolution of both the VRC and the COB;
- subordination of all troops to the district commander;
- organization of democratic authority;
- bringing those responsible to justice;
- complete disarmament of both "whites" and "reds".
Subsequently, the conditions were not met, the truce was violated.
Artillery shelling
In the following days, both sides increased their forces, several more attempts were made to conclude a truce, but they were unsuccessful. The Military Revolutionary Committee demanded that the KOB hand over individual buildings, the KOB inthe answer also made its demands. Artillery shelling began on November 1, intensified the next day. On the night of November 2, the cadets themselves left the Kremlin.
Later, the bishop, who examined the Kremlin, discovered a number of damages to several cathedrals (Assumption, Nikolo-Gostunsky, Annunciation), the Ivan the Great bell tower, some Kremlin towers, and the famous clock on Spasskaya stopped. Rumors circulated among the soldiers of the Petrograd garrison at that time, greatly exaggerating the scale of destruction in Moscow. It was alleged that Assumption Cathedral and St. Basil's Cathedral were allegedly damaged, and the Kremlin was completely burned down.
Having learned about the shelling, the head of the Petrograd Soviet, Lunacharsky, resigned. He stated that he could not come to terms with "thousands of victims" and bitterness to "bestial malice." Then Lenin turned to Lunacharsky, after which he corrected his speech, published in the Novaya Zhizn newspaper.
At the beginning of November, a delegation of the COB went to negotiate with the VRC. The committee agreed to the surrender of the prisoners on the condition that they hand over their weapons. After that, resistance ceased in Moscow. At seventeen o'clock on November 2, the counter-revolution signed the surrender, and four hours later the revolutionary committee ordered a ceasefire.
Resistance
The order of the Military Revolutionary Committee was addressed, however, not to all citizens, but only to controlled troops. So the fighting continued throughout the night of November 3, in some areas the “whites” even still resisted and even tried toadvance. The Kremlin was finally taken by the “reds” on the afternoon of the third of November.
On the same day, a manifesto was officially published, which proclaimed the full power of the Soviets of Deputies in the capital - such was the victory of the armed uprising in Petrograd. It is believed that the revolutionary forces lost about a thousand people during the uprising. However, the exact number of victims is unknown.
ROC reaction
In those days, the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church was taking place in Moscow. The priests called on the warring parties to stop the confrontation in order to avoid casu alties. They were also asked not to allow acts of revenge and cruel reprisals, in all cases to preserve the lives of the prisoners and the vanquished. The cathedral urged not to expose the greatest shrine - the Kremlin, as well as Moscow cathedrals not to be shelled by artillery.
Some priests became orderlies in those days. Under crossfire, they provided first aid to the wounded and bandaged the victims. The Council also decided to act as an intermediary in the negotiations between the warring parties. After the end of the confrontation, the church began to assess the damage and bury all the dead.
Human loss
After the complete end of the armed confrontation, the Military Revolutionary Committee decided to organize a mass burial of the dead near the Kremlin walls. Funeral events were scheduled for November 10. The day before the funeral, newspapers published the routes of the funeral processions so that those who wish could say goodbye to the dead. On the day of the funeral, 238 people were buried in mass graves. But the names of only 57 of them are known for sure.
ROC condemned mass burial underthe walls of the Kremlin. The Bolsheviks were accused of insulting the shrine and the church.
The fallen supporters of the Provisional Government were buried at the Fraternal Cemetery. Strongly impressed by the funeral and the funeral procession, the Russian and Soviet artist, director and poet A. Vertinsky wrote the song “What I have to say.”
After 78 years, a memorial cross and a crown of barbed wire were installed on the territory of the cemetery. Now the cross is in the Church of All Saints.
Results
The results of the armed uprising in Petrograd are the establishment of the power of the Soviets and the coming division of the world into two opposite camps - capitalist and socialist. As a result of this armed uprising, the old government was completely destroyed, and a completely new era began in the modern history of Russia.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution. It became a logical continuation of the uprising and a turning point in Russian history. These events have not yet acquired an unambiguous assessment. In the year of the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution, the Russian Historical Society and other similar organizations plan to support the trend of reconciliation of modern society with the landmark events of those years.
