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CHAPTER XV
BETWEEN FEBRUARY AND OCTOBER
I REMEMBER attending a very large mass-meeting in Madison Square
Garden, New York, called to celebrate the dethronement of the Tsar.
The huge hall was crowded with twenty thousand people wrought up to
the highest pitch of enthusiasm. "Russia is free!" the
leading speaker began. A veritable hurricane of applause, shouts, and
hurrahs greeted the declaration. It continued for many minutes,
breaking out again and again. But when the audience became quiet and
the orator was about to proceed, there came a voice from the crowd:
"Free for what?"
There was no reply. The speaker continued his harangue.
The Russians are a simple and naive people. Never having had any
constitutional rights, they had no interest in politics and were not
corrupted by it. They knew little of congresses and parliaments, and
cared less about them.
"Free for what?" they wondered.
"You are free from the Tsar and his tyranny," they were
told.
That was very fine, they thought. "But how about the war?"
the soldier asked. "How about the land?" the peasant
demanded. "How about a decent existence?" the proletarian
urged. You see, my friend, those Russians were so "uneducated"they
were not satisfied just to be free from something; they wanted
to be free for something, free to do what they wanted.
And what they wanted was a chance to live, to work and enjoy the
fruits of their labor. That is, they wanted access to the land, so
they could raise food for themselves; access to the mines, shops, and
factories, so as to produce what they needed. But under the
Provisional Government, just as under the Romanovs, those things
belonged to the wealthy; they remained "private property."
As I say, the simple Russian knew nothing about politics, but he
knew exactly what he wanted. He lost no time in making his wants
known, and he was determined to get them. The soldiers and sailors
chose spokesmen from their own midst to present to the Provisional
Government their demand to terminate the war. Their representatives
organized themselves as soldiers' councils, called soviets in
Russia. The peasants and the city workers did the same. In this
manner every branch of the army and navy, every agricultural and
industrial district, every factory even, established its own soviets.
In the course of time the various soviets formed the All-Russian
Soviet of Workers', Soldiers', and Peasants' Deputies, which held its
sessions in Petrograd.
Through the Soviets the people presently began to voice their
demands.
The Provisional Government, the new "liberal" regime
under the leadership of Miliukov, paid no attention. It is
characteristic of all political. parties alike that, once in power,
they turn a deaf ear to the needs and wants of the masses. The
Provisional Government was no different in this than the Tsarist
autocracy. It failed to understand the spirit of the time, and it
stupidly believed that a few minor reforms would satisfy the country.
It kept busy talking and discussing, proposing new bills and enacting
more legislation. But it was not laws the people wanted. They wanted
peace, while the government insisted on continuing the war. They
cried for land and bread, but what they got was more laws.
If history teaches anything at all its clearest lesson is that you
can't defy or resist the will of a whole people. You can suppress it
for a while, stem the tide of popular protest, but the more violently
will the storm rage when it comes. Then it will break down every
obstacle, sweep away all opposition, and its momentum will carry it
even further than its original intention.
That has been the story of every great conflict, of every
revolution.
Recall the American War for Independence, for instance. The
rebellion of the colonies against Great Britain began with the
refusal to pay the tea tax exacted by the Government of George III.
The comparatively unimportant objection to "taxation without
representation," meeting with the King's opposition, resulted in
war and ended in completely freeing the American colonies from
English rule. Thus was born the Republic of the United States.
The French Revolution similarly began with the demand for small
improvements and reforms. The refusal of Louis XVI to lend ear to the
popular voice cost him not only his throne but also his head, and
brought about the destruction of the entire feudal system in France.
Just so did Tsar Nicholas II believe that a few insignificant
concessions would stop the revolution. He also paid for his stupidity
with his crown and life. The same fate overtook the Provisional
Government. That is why a wise man said that "history repeats
itself." It always does with government.
The Provisional Government consisted mostly of conservative men
who did not understand the people and who were far removed from their
needs. The masses demanded peace first of all. The Provisional
Government, under the leadership of Miliukov and later under
Kerensky, was determined to continue the war even in the face of the
general dissatisfaction and the serious breakdown of the industrial
and economic life of the country. The rising waves of the Revolution
were soon to sweep it away: the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers'
Deputies was preparing to take matters into its own hands.
Meanwhile the people did not wait. The soldiers at the front had
already themselves decided to quit the war as unnecessary and useless
slaughter. By the hundred thousands they were leaving the fields of
battle and returning home to their farms and factories. There they
began carrying into effect the real objects of the Revolution. For to
them the Revolution did not mean printed constitutions and paper
rights, but the land and the workshop. Between June and October,
1917, while the Provisional Government kept on endlessly discussing
"reforms," the peasants started confiscating the estates of
the large landholders and the workers took possession of the
industries.
This was called expropriating the capitalist class: that
is, depriving the masters of the things they had no right to
monopolize, the things they had appropriated from the laboring
classes, from the people.
In this manner the soil was expropriated from the landlords, the
mines and mills from their "owners," the warehouses from
the speculators. The workers and farmers took everything in charge
through their labor unions and agrarian organizations.
The "liberal" Government of Miliukov had insisted on
keeping up the war because the Allies wanted it. The "revolutionary"
Government of Kerensky also remained deaf to the popular demands. It
passed drastic laws against the "unauthorized" taking of
land by the peasantry. Kerensky did everything in his power to keep
the army at the front and even reintroduced the death penalty for
"desertion." But the people now ignored the government.
The situation again proved that the real power of a country lies
in the hands of the masses, of those who fight, toil, and produce,
and not in any parliament or government. Kerensky at one time was the
adored idol of Russia, more powerful than any Tsar. Yet his authority
was lost) his government fell, and he himself had to flee for his
life when the people realized that he was not serving their cause.
While he was still the head of the Provisional Government, the actual
power began to go over to the Petrograd Soviet, most of whose members
were revolutionary workers, peasants, and soldiers.
Various and even opposing views were represented in the Soviet, as
is inevitable in bodies composed of different classes of the
population with their particular interests. But the greatest
influence under such circumstances is always exerted by those who
voice the deepest feelings and needs of the People. Therefore, the
more revolutionary elements in the Soviet gradually gained the
mastery, for they expressed the true wants and aspirations of the
masses.
There were those in the Soviet who held that a constitution,
something like that of the United States, was all that Russia needed
to attain freedom and well-being. They asserted that capitalism was
all right: there must be masters and servants, rich and poor; the
people should be satisfied with the rights and liberties which a
democratic government would grant them. These were the Constitutional
Democrats, called for short Cadets in Russia. They quickly
lost their influence, because the "naive" Russian workers
and peasants knew that it was not rights and liberties on paper they
wanted, but a chance to work and enjoy the fruits of their labor.
They pointed to America with its Constitution and Declaration of
Independence, and said that they did not care for the injustice,
corruption, and wage slavery which constitutionally existed in that
country.
The next more liberal element were the Social Democrats, known as
Mensheviki. As Socialists they believed in the abolition of
capitalism, but they declared that the Revolution was not the time to
do it. Why not? Because it was not a proletarian revolution, they
claimed, even if it looked like one. They maintained that it could
not be a social revolution and therefore it should not alter the
fundamental economic conditions of the country. According to them it
was only a bourgeois revolution, a political one, and as such it
should make only political changes. It could not be anything more
than a bourgeois revolution, the Mensheviki argued, because had not
the great Karl Marx taught that a proletarian revolution could take
place only in a country where capitalism had reached its highest
stage of development? Russia was very backward industrially, and
therefore it would be against the teachings of Marx to consider the
Revolution proletarian. For that reason capitalism must remain in
Russia and be given a chance to ripen before the people could think
of abolishing wage slavery.
The Social Democrats had a large following among the workers of
Russia, many labor unions being Menshevik. But the argument that the
Revolution was not proletarian only because Marx had fifty years
before said that it couldn't be, did not appeal to the toilers. They
had made the Revolution. they had fought and bled for it. They had
driven out the Tsar and his clique, and they were now driving out
their industrial masters, thus abolishing wage slavery and
capitalism. They could not see why they could not do what they were
actually doing only because some one who was dead long ago had
believed that it couldn't be done. The reasoning of the Socialist
leaders was too "scientific" for them. Their common sense
told them that it was pure nonsense, and the Mensheviki lost most of
their following among the workers.
Another political party was called Socialists Revolutionists. To
this party belonged many of the terrorists who had been active
against Tsardom in the past. The Socialists Revolutionists had
numerous adherents, mainly among the farming population. But they
alienated them by taking a stand for the continuation of the war when
the country was against it. This attitude also caused a split in the
party, the conservative element becoming known as the Right
Socialists Revolutionists, while the more revolutionary faction
called itself Left Socialists Revolutionists. The latter, led by
Maria Spiridonova, who had suffered many years of Siberian
imprisonment under the Tsar, advocated the termination of the war and
secured a very considerable following, particularly among the poorer
agricultural classes.
The most radical element in Russia were the Anarchists, who
demanded immediate peace, free land for the peasant, and the
socialization of the means of production and distribution. They
wanted the abolition of capitalism and wage slavery, equal rights for
all and special privileges to none. The land, the factories and
mills, the machinery of production and the means of distribution were
to become the possession of the whole people. Each able person was to
work according to his ability and receive according to his needs.
There was to be full liberty for every one and joint use on the basis
of mutual interests. The Anarchists warned the proletariat against
delegating power to any government or placing a political party in
authority. Government of any kind, they said, would stifle the
Revolution and rob the workers of the results already achieved. The
life and welfare of a country depended on economics, not on politics,
they argued. That is, what people want is to live, to work and
satisfy their needs. For this, sensible management of industry is
necessary, not politics. Politics, they insisted, is a game to rule
and govern men, not to help them live. In short, the Anarchists
advised the toilers to permit no one to become their master again, to
abolish political government, and to manage their agrarian,
industrial, and social affairs for the good of all instead of for the
benefit of rulers and exploiters. They called upon the masses to
stand by their Soviets and look after their interests by means of
their own organizations.
The Anarchists were, however, comparatively small in numbers. As
the most advanced and revolutionary element they had been persecuted
by the Tsarist regime even worse than the Socialists. Many of them
had been executed, others imprisoned and their organizations
suppressed as illegal. It was most dangerous to belong to the
Anarchists, and their work of education was exceedingly difficult.
Therefore, the Anarchists were not strong and could not exert much
influence upon the people at large in a vast country of 120 Millions
of population.
But they had a great advantage in that their idea appealed to the
healthy instincts and sound sense of the masses. To the extent of
their ability and limited power the Anarchists encouraged the demand
for peace, land, and bread, and actively helped carry out those
demands by direct expropriation and the formation of a free communal
life.
There was another political party in Russia which was far more
numerous and better organized than the Anarchists. That party
realized the value of the Anarchist ideas and set to work to carry
them out.
It was the Bolsheviki.
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