The rebellion of the Left SRs is an event that took place in July 1918. This historical term is understood as an armed uprising of socialist internationalists against the Bolsheviks. The mutiny is directly related to the murder of Mirbach, a German diplomat who worked in the Moscow embassy for only four months.
Starting from March 1918, the contradictions between the Left SRs and their opponents, the Bolsheviks, grew. It all started with the conclusion of the Brest peace treaty. The agreement included conditions that for many in those years seemed shameful for Russia. In protest, some of the revolutionaries left the Council of People's Commissars. Before going into more detail about the rebellion of the Left SRs, it is worth understanding who they were. How did they differ from the Bolsheviks?
SRs
This term originated from the acronym SR (Socialist Revolutionaries). The party arose at the beginning of the 20th century on the basis of various populist organizations. In the politics of the revolutionary years, she occupied one of the leading places. It was the most numerous andan influential non-Marxist party.
SRs became followers of the ideology of populism, became famous as active participants in revolutionary terror. The year 1917 was tragic for them. In a short period of time, the party was transformed into the largest political force, gained great prestige and won the elections to the Constituent Assembly. Nevertheless, the SRs failed to hold on to power.
Left SRs
After the revolution, the so-called left opposition was formed among the Social Revolutionaries, whose representatives came up with anti-war slogans. Among their demands were:
- Termination of cooperation with the Provisional Government.
- Condemnation of the war as imperialist and an immediate exit from it.
- Solving the land issue and transferring land to peasants.
Disagreements led to a split, the creation of a new party. In October, the Left SRs took part in an uprising that changed the course of history. Then they supported the Bolsheviks, did not leave the congress with the right SRs, and became members of the Central Committee. Unlike their opponents, they supported the new government. However, they were in no hurry to join the Council of People's Commissars and demanded the creation of a government that would include representatives of various socialist parties, of which there were many at that time.
Many Left SRs held important positions in the Cheka. Nevertheless, on a number of issues they disagreed with the Bolsheviks from the very beginning. Disagreements escalated in February 1918 - after the signing of the Brest peace treaty. What is this agreement? What items did it contain? And whydid the conclusion of a separate peace treaty lead to a rebellion of the left SRs?
Brest Treaty
The agreement was signed in March 1918 in the city of Brest-Litovsk. An agreement was concluded between Soviet Russia and Germany and its allied countries. What is the essence of the Brest peace? The signing of this treaty meant the defeat of Soviet Russia in the war.
November 7, 1917 there was an uprising, as a result of which the Provisional Government ceased to exist. The very next day, the new government prepared the first decree. It was a document that spoke of the need to start peace negotiations between the warring states. Few supported him. Nevertheless, an agreement was soon concluded, after which Germany became an ally of the new Soviet state until 1941.
Negotiations began in Brest-Litovsk on December 3, 1917. The Soviet delegation laid out the following conditions:
- suspend hostilities;
- conclude a truce for six months;
- withdraw German troops from Riga.
Then only a temporary agreement was reached, according to which the truce was to continue until December 17.
Peace negotiations took place in three stages. Completed in March 1918. The treaty consisted of 14 articles, several annexes and protocols. Russia had to make many territorial concessions, demobilize the fleet and the army.
The Soviet state had to accept conditions that tsarist Russia would never accept. Aftersigning the treaty, a territory of more than 700 thousand square meters was taken away from the state. The appendix to the treaty also referred to the special economic status of Germany in Russia. German citizens could engage in private business in a country that was undergoing a general nationalization of the economy.
Events leading up to the uprising
In 1918, contradictions arose between the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs. The reason, as already mentioned, was the signing of the Brest peace. Despite the fact that the Left SRs initially opposed the war, they considered the terms of the agreement unacceptable.
The country could no longer fight. The army as such no longer existed. But these arguments, expressed by the Bolsheviks, were ignored by the Socialist-Revolutionaries. Mstislavsky, a well-known revolutionary and writer, put forward the slogan: "Not a war, but an uprising!" It was a kind of call to rebellion against the German-Austrian troops and the accusation of the Bolsheviks of retreating from the position of revolutionary socialism.
The Left SRs left the People's Committee, but still had privileges, because they held positions in the Cheka. And this played a major role in the rebellion. The Left SRs were still part of the military department, various commissions, committees, and councils. Together with the Bolsheviks, they waged an active struggle against the so-called bourgeois parties. In April 1918, they took part in the defeat of the anarchists, in which the revolutionary populist Grigory Zaks played a leading role.
One of the reasons for the rebellion of the Left SRs is the excessive activity of the Bolsheviks in the villages. The Socialist Revolutionaries were originally considered a peasant party. The Left SRs reacted negatively to the surplus appraisal system. In the villages, we althy peasants voted predominantly for them. The poor villagers felt sympathy for the Bolsheviks. The latter, in order to eliminate political competitors, organized committees. The newly created Committees of the Poor Peasants were intended to become the main center of power for the Bolshevik movement.
Some historians believe that the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries before the rebellion and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk supported many undertakings of the Bolsheviks. Including the grain monopoly, and the movement of the rural poor against the we althy peasants. There was a gap between these parties after the Kombeds began to oust the followers of the Left SRs. A move against the Bolsheviks was inevitable.
V Congress of Soviets
For the first time, the Social Revolutionaries opposed the Bolshevik policy on July 5, 1918. This happened at the Fifth Congress of Soviets. The main argument against opponents for the Socialist-Revolutionaries was the shortcomings of the Brest Peace. They also spoke out against the committees and the surplus. One of the party members promised to rid the countryside of Bolshevik innovations. Maria Spiridonova called the Bolsheviks traitors to revolutionary ideals and followers of Kerensky's policies.
However, the Socialist-Revolutionaries failed to persuade members of the Bolshevik Party to accept their demands. The situation was extremely tense. The Left SRs accused the Bolsheviks of betraying revolutionary ideas. Those, in turn, attacked their competitors with reproaches for strivingprovoke war with Germany. The next day after the Fifth Congress, an event took place, from which the uprising of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries began. A few words should be said about the German diplomat who was killed in Moscow on July 6, 1918.
Wilhelm von Mirbach
This man was born in 1871. He was a count, a German ambassador. He carried out the diplomatic mission in Moscow from April 1918. Wilhelm von Mirbach entered the national history, firstly, as a participant in the peace negotiations in Brest-Litovsk. Secondly, as a victim of an armed rebellion by the Left SRs.
The death of the German ambassador
Mirbach's murder was committed by members of the Left SR party Yakov Blyumkin and Nikolai Andreev. They, of course, had the mandates of the Cheka, which allowed them to freely enter the German embassy. At about half past three in the afternoon, Mirbach received them. During the conversation between the German ambassador and the Left SRs, an interpreter and an embassy adviser were present. Blumkin later claimed that he received the order from Spiridonova on July 4.
The date of the rebellion of the Left Social Revolutionaries in Moscow is July 6, 1918. It was then that the German ambassador was killed. The Left Socialist-Revolutionaries chose this day not by chance. June 6 was the Latvian national holiday. This was supposed to neutralize the Latvian units, the most loyal to the Bolsheviks.
Shooted at Mirbakh Andreev. Then the terrorists ran out of the embassy, got into a car that was next to the entrance to the institution. Andreev and Blumkin made many mistakes. In the ambassador's office, they forgot a briefcase with documents,left alive witnesses.
Maria Spiridonova
Who is this woman whose name was mentioned in our article more than once? Maria Spiridonova is a revolutionary, one of the leaders of the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Party. She was the daughter of a collegiate secretary. In 1902 she graduated from the women's gymnasium. Then she went to work in the noble assembly, at about the same time she joined the Social Revolutionaries. Already in 1905, Spiridonova was arrested for participating in revolutionary activities. But then she was quickly released.
In 1906, Spiridonova was arrested and sentenced to death for the murder of a high-ranking official. At the last moment, the sentence was changed to hard labor. She was released in 1917. And then she joined the revolutionary movement, became one of the leaders. After the murder of Mirbakh, Spiridonova was sent to a guardhouse in the Kremlin. Since 1918, her life has been a series of arrests and exile. Maria Spiridonova was shot in 1941 near Orel, along with over 150 political prisoners.
Yakov Blyumkin
Russian revolutionary, terrorist, security officer, born in 1900. Blumkin was the son of an Odessa clerk. In 1914 he graduated from the Jewish Theological School. Then he worked as an electrician in a theater, a tram depot, and a cannery. In 1917, the future member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party joined the detachment of sailors.
Blyumkin took part in the expropriation of the State Bank's valuables. Moreover, there is a version that he appropriated some of these valuesyourself. He arrived in Moscow in 1918. Starting in July, he was in charge of the counterintelligence department. After the assassination of the German ambassador, Blumkin hid under a false name in Moscow, Rybinsk and other cities. Blumkin was arrested in 1929, shot on charges of having links with Trotsky.
Nikolai Andreev
The future member of the Left Social Revolutionary Party was born in 1890 in Odessa. He got into the Cheka under the patronage of Blumkin. After Mirbach's murder, he was sentenced to prison. However, Andreev managed to escape. He went to Ukraine, where he planned to eliminate Skoropadsky. However, for unknown reasons, he changed his mind. This Russian revolutionary, unlike most of his associates, did not die from a bullet, but from typhus, which was common in those days.
Rebellion
The rebellion of the Left SRs in July 1918 began after Dzerzhinsky came to the headquarters and demanded that Mirbach's killers be handed over to him. He was accompanied by three Chekists who searched the premises and broke several doors. Dzerzhinsky threatened to shoot almost the entire composition of the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Party. He announced the people's commissars arrested. However, he himself was arrested and taken hostage by the rebels.
The Left SRs relied on the Cheka detachment, which was under the command of Popov. This detachment included sailors, Finns - only about eight hundred people. However, Popov did not take active steps. His detachment did not budge until the very defeat, and the defense was limited to staying in buildings in Trekhsvyatitelsky Lane. In 1929 Popov claimed that noHe did not take part in the preparation of the rebellion. And the armed clash that took place in Trekhsvyatitelsky Lane was nothing more than an act of self-defense.
During the rebellion, the Left SRs took hostage more than twenty Bolshevik functionaries. They seized several cars and killed Nikolai Abelman, a delegate to the congress. The Left SRs also seized the Main Post Office, where they began to send out anti-Bolshevik appeals.
According to a number of historians, the actions of the Social Revolutionaries were not an uprising in the full sense of the word. They did not attempt to arrest the Bolshevik government, they did not try to seize power. They limited themselves to organizing riots and declaring the Bolsheviks agents of German imperialism. The regiment under the command of Popov acted rather strangely. Instead of winning by a threefold advantage, he rioted mainly in the barracks.
Suppressing the rebellion of the Left SRs
There are several versions of who put an end to the rebellion. Some historians believe that Lenin, Trotsky, Svetlov became the organizers of the fight against the rebels. Others argue that Vatsetis, a Latvian commander, played an important role here.
Latvian riflemen took part in the suppression of the uprising of the Left SRs in Moscow. The conflict that broke out was accompanied by a tough behind-the-scenes struggle. There is an assumption that the British secret services tried to get in touch with the Latvians. One of the German diplomats claimed that the German embassy bribed the Latvians to oppose the rebels.
On the night of July 7, additional armed patrols were posted. All suspicious citizens were detained. The Latvian units launched an offensive against the rebels early in the morning. In the suppression of the uprising, machine guns, armored cars, and guns were used. The rebellion was eliminated within a few hours.
After all these events, Trotsky handed money to the Latvian commander. Lenin was not particularly grateful to Vatsetis. At the end of August 1918, he even suggested that Trotsky shoot the Latvian. A year later, he was still arrested. Of course, on suspicion of treason. Vatsetis spent several months in prison.
Dzerzhinsky was also suspected for some time. The assassins of the German ambassador carried mandates with his signature. Dzerzhinsky was temporarily removed from office.
The consequences of the Left SR rebellion in July 1918
After the uprising, the Socialist Revolutionaries were removed from the Cheka. The collegium, which included the Socialist-Revolutionaries, was abolished. Formed a new one. Jacob Peters became its chairman. The Cheka now consisted exclusively of communists. After the events in Moscow on July 6, a decree on the disarmament of the Left Social Revolutionaries was given to the bodies of the Cheka in Petrograd, Vladimir, Vitebsk, Orsha and other cities. Mirbach's murder was the reason for numerous arrests. The Left SR deputies were no longer allowed to attend the congress.
Maria Spiridonova, while in the guardhouse in the Kremlin, wrote an open letter to the Bolsheviks. It contained accusations of "swindling the workers" and repression. The trial of the leaders of the Left SRs took place in1918. Spiridonova, Popov, Andreev, Blumkin and other organizers of the uprising were accused of a counter-revolutionary rebellion.
