Pavel Dybenko's "Decree on the Democritization of the Navy of the Russian Republic" January 1918

                           

The following is part of a continued effort to provide interested historians 

and others who enjoy historical minutia; 

an alternative understanding of matters regarding 

Pavel Dybenko. 

Pavel Dybenko's legacy, bestowed upon the public by the likes of Lenin and Trotsky, prohibits him from taking his place among histories lot of fighters for freedom.  In the year 1917, the sailors decades long experience of torment had come to an end.  The roguish actions of the officers of the Imperial Russian Navy had formulated a combustible setting.  Sailors of the Imperial Fleet were treated no better than the convict serving a sentence of hard labor.  Conditions of the Russian sailors were first shared with the Petrograd elite in B. Roustam Bek's writing "Panama de la Marine Russe"  published in 1908.   Having fashioned great scandal...the books circulation was unquestionably prohibited.  The writing not only shared the maltreatment of the sailors by the officers but it had also eerily prophesied the inevitability that these sailors would accomplish the most important part in the struggle for liberty.  That the sailors would be uncompromising revolutionists because they had endured real slavery and knew very well what the rule of the current elite meant.  

It was held in many a Russian heart and must never be forgotten that the revolutionary victories in the year 1917... was due chiefly to the activity, firmness and self sacrifice of the members/sailors of the Tsar's Baltic Fleet.  

The following Decree authored by Dybenko was first published in No. 6 of the Gazette of the Temporary Workers and Peasants Government on January 12, 1918.  

Dybenko demonstrates, in writing, his intentions and views calling for dignity and freedoms.  

Quite conflicting with the plans Lenin has for Russia and her citizens.   Additionally, Dybenko in paragraph 51 declares the fleets continued independence from the political vanguard.  Lenin reacts, demanding paragraph 51 be rewritten.  Lenin threatens to take off the table the Naval Boards request for its Ministry and education for its servicemen.   

An excerpt: 

                         Decree on the Democritization of the Navy of the Russian Republic 

                                                      On the Democritization of the Navy 

                                      Part 1-General regulation on the personnel of the Fleet

1)  The personnel of the Fleet of the Russian Republic consists of free citizens, enjoying equal civic rights. 

2) The designation by title, which has existed until now, and which expressed class distinction, are abolished, and all sailors of the Navy are to be called:

                                "Sailors of the Naval Fleet of the Russian Republic"

3) From the sailors of the Fleet of the Russian Republic there will be apportioned the commanding personnel, superintending the tactical and technical sections, working in conjunction with the committees for the management of the administrative section of the Navy. 

4) The political section is entirely in the administration of elected committees.

5) The commanding personnel is formed of persons, who are accepted into the service and performing this service in accordance with special rules expounded in Part 5. 

6) From persons not of the commanding personnel, on accordance with rules in Part 5, they are nominated according to their specialties foremen who are responsible aids of the specialists of the commanding personnel. 

7) All sailors have designations, answering to their specialties and position occupied:

For example, Commander, Mechanic, Artilleryman, Electrician, etc.

8) All titles are revoked and persons occupying positions of command, are designated by their duties, for example,--Citizen Commander, Citizen Mechanics, etc. 

9) A new style of clothing, general for all naval sailors, is to be designed by a separate, special commission.

10) All sailors of the Navy are granted the right to wear civilian clothing off duty.

11) All sailors of the Navy have the right to be members of any political, national, religious, economic or professional organization, society or union.  They have the right, freely and openly, to express and profess by word of mouth, in writing or in print, their political, religious and other views.

12) All sailors of the Navy are subject to the laws, general for all citizens, without any exceptions.  Correspondence must be delivered to the addressee without exception.

13) All sailors, not on duty, have the right to absent themselves from their vessels and sections in accordance with orders and rules, established by corresponding organizations, but on the condition that a sufficient number of persons must remain to serve the vessel or section.

14) The commanding personnel have separate accommodations for living and for work, on board ship and at shore-stations.

15) The commanding personnel are allowed servants who hire out at their own free will, at the expense of the person desiring to have same, or in time of war, by the appointment of orderlies, on a mutual (with the crew) agreement, and with a definite salary.

Paragraph 51

51) Instructions to vessels, detachments, and the fleet on operative and technical questions are issued by corresponding persons of the commanding personnel, on economic and administrative questions by the commanding personnel, together with the committee and on political questions by the committees: semaphore messages received and sent.

Note--All orders of the central organs of the naval administration as well as the general state, and also ordinances of any committees published for general information are subject to execution in the fleet and flotillas of the Navy only in the event of their confirmation by the Central Committee of the Sea through instructions published in accordance with No. 20 and the foot note. 

      

Without hesitation Lenin authors a draft 

Draft Decision for the Council of People's Commissars on...

The Order of Subordination of the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets(1)

Considering the wording of the note #51. to be inexact or based on a misunderstanding, since the text, if taken literally, implies a refusal to recognize the supremacy of the Soviet state authority(2), the C.P.C asks the Navy's legislative organ to revise the wording of this note.

The C.P.C. takes into consideration the statement by representatives of the Navy that the note in question in no way signifies any repudiation of the central Soviet authorities, and instructs comrades Proshian and Lunacharsky to draw up on behalf of the Council of People's Commissars a well reasoned memorandum to the legislative organ of the Navy clarifying the point of view of the Council of People's Commissars.

Notes

1) This draft, written by Lenin, was endorsed at a meeting of the C.P.C. on January 15(28), 1918.

2) This refers to paragraph 51 of the "Regulations for the Democritization of the Navy" endorsed by an order of the Supreme Naval Board on January 8 (21), 1918.  It stated that "all orders of the central bodies, both those of the naval department and the state authorities, as well as the orders of any committees whatsoever...shall be fulfilled in the fleet or sea flotillas only if confirmed by the Central Committee of the Navy..."

Central Party Achives of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the C.C. of the C.P.S.U.

Lenin also requests that People's Commissar Dybenko send his deputy for the meeting of the Smaller Soviet of the People's Commissars that will take place at Smolny Palace at the Red Hall on January 18th at 6PM or in case he fails to do so paragraph 8920 can be taken off the meetings agenda.

Agenda

Of the meeting of the Smaller Soviet for January 1918.

H. About granting a special credit of 250,000 rubles for the sailors' educational needs (Dybenko)

I. Solicitation of the Supreme Naval Board to allow the credits for the Naval Ministry

(Dybenko) 

Dybenko holding on to the fruits of October...Lenin moving to destroy them.

Pavel Dybenko: Lenin’s February 23rd is fabrication!

Why “Lenin’s version” regarding the events of February 23rd holds no water.

In previous writings I have attempted to illuminate the struggles between Pavel Dybenko and Lenin.
I have been met with indifference at best frowned upon at worst.
Seems contemporary historians such as Suvorov, who writes without citation, and Archdeacon Kuraev continue to espouse Lenin’s historical account.  Or worse yet, Dr. Zubov’s steadfast belief, although incorrect, in the often illuminated abuse of spirits by the sailors.
Oh that rascal Dybenko!
American writer Louise Bryant (witness of events in 1917) shared a contradictory picture of the morality the sailors under Dybenko held themselves.  And it wasn’t just Bryant, a number of intellectuals, politicos, sailors, Generals and Admirals all have written about Dybenko as being keen witted, respectful, and one whose character demonstrated strength and courage.
When reflecting upon the events of 1917 one can not dismiss the decades long pursuits or historical actions taken by the Tsars sailors on behalf of the Russian citizenry.
In 1917, largely due to the armed might of the sailors a Tsar would abdicate his throne.  As spring came to Russia, the sailors organized under Pavel Dybenko’s leadership so as “the sailors one voice could be heard by the government.”
Dybenko’s leadership did not buckle under the attempts by the Kerensky led government to subordinate the sailors to the latter’s authoritarian desire.  In fact this refusal by Dybenko to neuter the sailors lawful organization Tsentrobalt would be the creation of conflict between Dybenko and Kerensky.
Lenin openly declared his successful insurrection would be impossible without the support of the Baltic fleet!
Often historians share Dybenko was a Bolshevik and therefore the sailors were nothing more than fanatics of Lenin’s designs.  Yet how did the sailors go from a decades long confrontation with the Tsar culminating in abdication and declaring the replacing government ineffectual to supporting a non democratic leader such as Lenin?
How does the “Soul of the Baltic Fleet” go from a highly respected hero to coward and drunkard?
Lenin largely rode the path to power on Dybenko and the sailors determination.
Controlling this “armed fist” was imperative for whomever would lead Russia.  Lenin wanted to be ruler Dybenko had to go!

There were numerous signs...
Kerensky declaring to General Krasnov that Dybenko was his enemy meaning the enemy of the existing governmental structure.
The Dybenko Cossack accord agreeing to Lenin and Trotsky’s removal from government.
Lenin, according to Podvoisky, wanted Dybenko to face a Military Tribunal immediately.  Such a move was premature...in due time.
Dybenko receives more votes than Lenin cast for representation to the Constituent Assembly.
Later in November, at the Sailors All Russian Conference, Lenin is witness to the devotion and admiration the sailors, the armed fist, had for Dybenko.
The writers of the times also spoke to Dybenko as the hero of the revolution...that of course had to change!
The year 1918 comes to pass, the harvest that was supposedly “October” would slowly fade away.
The disparaging of Pavel Dybenko commences!
Dybenko will be promoted to an uneducated buffoon who without Kollontai couldn’t write a coherent sentence...a drunkard with a faulty compass... an unreliable loose cannon!
Contradicting everything known about Dybenko.

Lenin reacts bitterly by decreeing if Dybenko’s “Democratization of the Fleet” is not changed due mainly to the fleets maintaining its independence from government, he would disallow funding for the Naval Ministry and educational programs for the sailors.
The fleet must be subordinate.

The assassination of two former Provisional Government Ministers blamed on the sailors although Dybenko authored a published condemnation and its was widely held that the so called assassins came directly from Dzerzhinsky’s offices.

Lenin’s refusal to allow Dybenko to speak during the government’s discussions on the Treaty of Brest Litovsk.

Dybenko’s public opposition to the Treaty and his view points as part of a group of intellectuals who wrote in dissent of Lenin’s stance in the gazette “The Kommunist”.

To ensure that Dybenko and the revolutionary mindset of the sailors would be destroyed one only
has to look closely at the negotiations of the Treaty and its affect on the Russian Navy.

Plenty of news accounts setting the table for Dybenko and his followers to be looked at as anarchists and against Lenin’s wishes.

Which brings us to Lenin’s coup de grace...the nonsense that becomes the “written word” of the events of February 23rd.

The first fact one has to consider when supporting Lenin’s version is the historical written word of Bonch Bruyevitch after having viewed the sailors detachment being sent to Narva “Not impressed”and “rag tag bunch”.   What Bonch-Bruyevitch, Lenin and subscribing historians don’t share is that this very group led by Dybenko were none other that the heroic sailors of the Northern Flying Squad sent in December to defend the newly formed Soviet regime in battle at Orenburg against Ataman Dutov.  Heroic deeds preserved in memorial by monument at the Field of Mars.  Even it’s leader, Pavlov, was among those sailors who appeared with Dybenko.

Lenin and supporting historian’s don’t share that commander P M Bulkin’s retreating detachment from Revel joined Dybenko’s men.  That headquarters according to Pavlov failed to adequately supply detachment with artillery or men...

Narva would be lost giving Lenin and Trotsky the reason to completely control the military and more specifically the fleet.

At first government publications decried Dybenko would be arrested for his opposition to the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, then for Dybenko’s haphazard retreat from Narva, then added to Protocol 82...Krylenko’s indictment against Dybenko: drunkenness and terror!

Of course first Minister of Justice Shteinberg who would go on to defend Dybenko at his upcoming trial without hesitation stated Dybenko’s arrest and subsequent trial had nothing to do with the events of Narva!  Political differences with those in power were the real reasons.

Cui Bono?
Lenin ruled Russia...Trotsky goes on to rule the military and Dybenko is unceremoniously removed from government and the consciousness of Dybenko and the sailors would forever be swept under the rug of historical significance.

Until now.....

Where have you gone Pavel Dybenko?

Today, in the U.S., workers have no seat, no say nor representation at the table regarding the machinations of business.  The business communities assault on workers for the last forty plus years has broken the will of many men and women.  There are others who (against their own interest) advocate during conversation, "to alter the existing economic system would be disastrous for all".
By accepting the current economic structure (the distribution of wealth) suggest to the ruling classes the american worker is willing to suffer ever more.  Which leaves little doubt further abuses, much harsher than exists now, will be "sold" as expanded and "beneficial" to whatever plan is in place.

Welcome to America in the winter of 2020!  Where the stock market is hitting new heights and where workers are not sharing in on the great economic success so often touted.

Unfortunately, Francois Babeuf was quite clear when he spoke to bending tolerance beyond reproach.  Continuing to send individuals to congress who won't even argue Workers should have representation in all trade agreements is disastrous for the working classes.  We are their constituents, not the donor classes!  The will of the workers can and should be spoken now...without hesitation!
By advancing the current economic climate...the inevitable outcome should well be avoided.

I often hear (via internet, tv, radio) various collective views or discussions on the topics of secession or revolution.  Most often by groups who feel disconnected, apart from the current conversation of the American fabric.  From far left idealism's to far right...the thread that combines all these groups who suffer from perceived grievances are economic and lack of opportunity.  The past 40 plus year program to dissociate and disregard labor demonstrates well demonstrates as to the planned lack of future for many. As Alan Greenspan referred to in 1997,
             "Suppressed wage-cost growth as a consequence of job insecurity can be carried only so far.  At some point in the future, the trade off of subdued wage growth for job security has to come to an end."

That was more than twenty years ago, One's future is set in the path of ones' past.

For instance,

When one has no seat at the table--it is if (workers) don't exist.  To have no opportunity to deliberate for wages, pensions and other necessary benefits and protections...indicates a marginalization of the entire working class.  Yet...our labor laws are enshrined with ethnic based or identity based idealism that is inherently in violation of our constitution.  Many view this "lawful" protection of the so called minorities only works to separate the workers.
The "protected" classes in the labor laws should well be comprised of "all" the workers.  That is the distinction!...Labor vs Management, the age old agitation. 

As I write this I pray the ruling classes pull it together and allow for labor to take a seat at the table of business...greed knows no bounds.  The continued path of disingenuous and neglectful arrogance toward the working classes results in no positive outcome.

Pavel Dybenko once said,
                         "It is better to die for freedoms and dignity rather than to live without them"

I cringe to even think about those who call for revolution...the amount of bloodshed resulting from such activity is a horrific reality that most can not envision.  I call on all wise men to use discussion, deliberation and compromise, fine American qualities, in charting out a path for a fairer distribution of wealth that benefits all.  A process that denies men like Pavel Dybenko from appearing.  Men whose plight would be to lead the disenfranchised to forcefully convince the ruling classes to submit to a more favorable society.

Although, at the end of the day...one may ask oneself, Where have you gone Pavel Dybenko? 

Zhirinovsky is short sighted...





https://news.rambler.ru/politics/42572164-zhirinovskiy-nazval-prichinu-problem-rossii/

Zhirinovsky's thesis...means to surrender to the mercy of the rich and powerful.  He says Russia is suffering from cultural stagnation due to "incompetent" government leaders after the October revolution.  Russian culture derives from the aggregate expression of all its peoples...not only those who lead the machinations of the state.  Lenin and Stalin were as strong Centralist's as the Romanov's, but the Russian people continued to flourish in all aspects of decency and humanity.  The October revolution provided the workers of Russia and the world the opportunity to gain concessions from the leadership.  Cultural shift of inclusiveness.  Times have changed and the Russian people are once again faced with the Central desires of the powerful...on a much larger scale than the Romanov dynasty.  Will the Russian people give up their identity and succumb to a uni polar culture, or will they defend their "culture of dignity"?  History suggests the latter.

Тезис Жириновского...значит, сдаться на милость богатых и могущественных.  Он говорит, что Россия страдает от культурного застоя из-за "некомпетентных" руководителей правительства после Октябрьской революции.  Русская культура происходит от совокупного выражения всех ее народов...не только те, кто руководит махинациями государства.  Ленин и Сталин были такими же сильными Централистами, как и Романовы, но русский народ продолжал процветать во всех аспектах порядочности и гуманности.  Октябрьская революция предоставила рабочим России и всего мира возможность добиться уступок от руководства.  Культурный сдвиг инклюзивности.  Времена изменились и русский народ вновь столкнулся с центральными желаниями сильных мира сего...в гораздо большем масштабе, чем династия Романовых.  Откажется ли русский народ от своей самобытности и поддастся однополярной культуре, или же он будет отстаивать свою "культуру достоинства"?  История подсказывает последнее.

Jews and Bolshevism, testimony Senate Hearing May 1919

"First of all, permit me to correct the wrong impression that has been produced with regard to the Jewish people by the testimony of certain witnesses at the hearing, Rev. Dr. Simons, who lived a number of years in Russia, practically branded Bolshevism in Russia as a movement of Jewish origin, even though he endeavoured to soften his accusations by calling the Bolshevist leaders apostate Jews.  He furnished you with a list of names of Jewish Bolshivik leaders in Russia.  Some of the men mentioned in the list are not Jews, and some are not Bolsheviki,  Dr. Simons also stated that the great majority of the Bolsheviki came from the East Side of New York.

"The statements are as unjust as they are inaccurate.  It would be quite as absurd and unjust, of course, to call Bolshevism a Christian movement, because its father and founder, Nicholas Lenine, is a Christian, or because the most influential Bolshevik leaders, such as Comissary for Foreign Affairs Tchichherin, Commander in Chief of the New Army, who demoralised and demobilised the Russian Army; and Ensign Krylenko, Comissary Dybenko, Kollontay, Lunarcharsky, Bonch Bruyevitch, and Maxim Gorky, who first aided the Bolsehvik movement, then denounced, and supports it again, are all Christians.  Nor would it be fair to call the Bolshevik movement in this country a Christian movent because the leading apologists, defenders, and agents of the Bolsheviki, such as John Reed, Albert Rhys Williams, Raymond Robins, Colonel Thompson, and Louise Bryant, are all Christians.

"Bolshevism is not a question of religion or rae.  The East Side of New York does not deserve the blame for all the wrongs and horrors that are being committed in russia by the Bolshevik tyranny.  When the autocracy of the Romanov's was overthrown the Revolutionary Government threw the doors of Russia wide open.  The Provisional Government was composed at that time of such Conservatives and Liberals as Prince Lvov and Paul Milyukov, and there was only one Socialist in the Cabinet, Alexander Kerensky.  Then, from all corners of the world, all sorts of political exiles hurried to Russia.  Some of them came from America, others from England, still others from France, Italy, Switzerland, and Scandinavian countries.  Among these political exiles there were many criminals, who suddenly also called themselves political exiles.  And these hosts of discontented preachers of unrest have played an important part in paralysing Russia. 

"Bolshevism as a sectin of the Socialist Democratic party was born about fifteen years ago.  Several Russians kept it alive quietly, yet energetically.  Lenine was the founder of the movement.  In 1909, a Bolshevist school was established in Capri, Italy, with funds secured by Maxim Gorky.  The school was organised by the following men:  Lenine, Gorky, Lunarcharsky, Alexinsky, Bogdanov, and Mokhaliov.  None of these are Jews.

"Of course there are some among the leaders of the Bolsheviki in Russia.  They disclaim their Judaism.  They say they are neither Jews nor Russians, but Internationalists.  The great mass of the Jewish people in Russia are strongly opposed to the Bolsheviki, for there is no element of the Russian population that has been hit harder by Bolshevism than the Jews.  There are even Bolshevist pogroms against the Jews.  The entire Jewish population of the town of Gluhov was massacred by Red Guards last year.  Under such circumstances, it is both absurd and unjust to charge the Jewish people with being responsible for Bolshevism."




 

Great October Series: Pavel Dybenko toward Februrary 23rd, 1918

It is often said one should not talk bad of the deceased but...the truth is a hard citation to history.


He's the one
Who likes all our pretty songs
And he likes to sing along
And he likes to shoot his gun
But he don't know what it means
Don't know what it means
And I say yeah...
words authored by Kurt Cobain

Lenin wanted to be revered..without having an understanding what it took to be respected...sure he could pout...outlast any political opponent till the wee hours of the morning...stubbornly holding fast to his theories particularly on social structures...and for some reason his political adversaries bowed down to this overrated and ill minded individual.  A wicked opportunist of a man who would lay waste to a social revolution meant to rise the plight of the majority of Russians...to set forth upon a culture of dignity and opportunity...alas the desire of power is quenched with the blood of the disenfranchised and the weak...Lenin was a hoodlum who was destined to become a blood thirsty tyrant..a man of no morals...a weak soul; driven to demonstrate to one and all his worthiness...although history shows how shallow that pool actually was...

Conversely, Pavel Yefimovitch Dybenko had earned respect: gleaned from the many years of learned wisdom from Polish Nobles and Ukrainian Cossack ancestry.  It is true that Dybenko was a "peasant", but his genetic makeup created his ability in becoming the leader of the Russian Navy.  It was the Sailors whom the peoples of Russia but their faith in...who held hope in the hearts for...an armed militarily challenge to the established decaying rule.  Workers and Peasants uprising have always resulted in nominal and few difficulties for authorities; easy to squash...easily crushed.  For it is said that,"When one raises his fist at authorities, it is he who comes away with the bloody nose"  The hopes of the Russian people lay in the armed fist of the sailors.  The Russian citizenry had yet to even hear of Lenin...but they knew the old had to go,  understood the path to freedom and who would lead them there.

"Our truth was simple",  Pavel Dybenko
As a unit the sailors would indeed lead Russia to social change...the restructuring of her government.  The sailors had faith in the enlightened minorities...believing they understood what all the blood shed was about.
It would be the enlightened minorities challenge to enact into laws the harvest fruits of the revolution.  Some having heard the protestations personally and others who witnessed the brutal Moscow uprisings...the enlightened minorities knew full well the bloody struggles for dignities desired.

As for political views regarding Pavel Dybenko.   Dr. Ewan Mawdsley, one of two western experts on the study of the Revolutionary Baltic Fleet (the other Dr. Norman Saul) put forth his observation that Dybenko was most likely an "informal social democrat"...Dr. Mawdsley was on to something back in 1978.

Honing their political and naval preparedness skills; the sailors...would in April of 1917 create a committee that would at once address the operational structures of the navy.  This organization was deemed Tsentrobalt...the Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet.  A freely elected democratic body which selected Pavel Yefimovitch Dybenko its leader and Chairman.

Contradicting contemporary historians fictitious proffers that Pavel Dybenko was an illiterate cretin!
In early 1917, Dybenko helped to organize the sailors political aspirations...helped to establish their own newspaper, the Volna, authored the charter for the Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet; Tsentrobalt, authored the document detailing the changes regarding the new relationship between the fleet and the Government. ...all of the above; radical and extraordinary events without the influence of the politico's or having any knowledge of who Lenin was. 
                                                   

                                                                       Tsentrobalt flag


The fleet as a whole were seeing the results of their efforts after decades long battle with the Tsar and the politically dominant. 
In 1905 Dr. Reusneer; a Russian Professor teaching at Berlin University related the following regarding his informed and intellectual review of the happenings in Russia at the time.
     "Many in Russia believed the sailors’ movement would accomplish the most important part in the approaching struggle for liberty.  While others, whose lot were cast in the Old Guard, classified the sailors as rebels and murderers.  In the end, the sailors convictions should have ensured them a place in Russian history as men who were heroes willing to sacrifice their lives for their country not as elements or fanatics"

After the Moscow uprisings in 1906 by Zinaida Vassilievna Konopliannikova understood
 "I saw clearly that the autocratic and bureaucratic super structure rests on the armed force of the Government, and is able to maintain itself only through the constant practice of bloody terror, on the part of those steering our ship of State.  And life itself has taught me as follows: you cannot create anything new without first destroying the old; if you cannot pierce and idea with a bayonet, neither can you resist the power of the bayonet with ideas only".

In 1912 Pavel Dybenko enters the Tsars fleet, and soon realizes,
"The fleet and its political view for a responsible social democracy did not derive from university trained theoretical knowledge, nor an understanding for legal opportunism's.  Moreover the sailors may not have had their own printing press or enough of the elite literature thought necessary for complex thinking.  Nevertheless the sailor’s classroom and their views were crafted by the many confrontations with Tsarism."  

1915 Okhrana report. This report focused on the political activity of the Petrograd Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party and concluded that the political circles of the fleet arose independently and outside of the influence of the politico’s in Petrograd

Naval Officers were aware of such activities and recalled the conditions under which the sailors of the Baltic Fleet acted during this revolutionary period:

Lt. B. Roustam Bek recalled, 

“…from a purely strategically point of view, actions required great secrecy; therefore for a certain period there was almost no information about it.  Nonetheless, the part played by the Baltic Fleet during the Revolution was of great importance.  It must not be forgotten that the victory of the Revolutions in February, March, and in October 1917, was due chiefly to the activity, firmness and self sacrifice of the members of the Baltic Fleet. The period from 1905 to 1917 represented a solid history of repeated revolts and rebellions by the determined sailors in their efforts to overthrow the existing social structure

Israel Getzler Russian Historian wrote,
"...it was in its commune like self government that Tsetrobalt really came into its own, realizing the radical, democratic and egalitarian aspirations of its garrisons and working people, their insatiable appetite for social recognition, political activity and public debate, their pent up yearning for education, integration and community.  Almost overnight, the ship's crews, the naval and military units and the workers created and practiced a direct democracy of base assemblies and committees.

All the above attest to the independence the sailors of Tsentrobalt had enjoyed...free from tyrannical rule and governed by a democratic ideal.

During the following months in the middle of 1917...history reveals a rich confrontation between Pavel Dybenko of Tsentrobalt and Alexsander Kerensky of the Provisional Government.  The final disassociation came to pass at the 2nd All Naval Congress in September although Tsentrobalt had indeed served notice to the Government during the previous April.  The finale raised the curtain during Kerensky's arrival at Gatchina with General Krasnov in charge of the Cossack regiments.  A well known last cry of discontent was spoken from Kerensky's lips as he shared with General Krasnov that it was Dybenko who was his enemy!
With that Kerensky fled...whisked away in a diplomat vehicle while disguised as a sailor.
 (there is an exaggerated version of the fight and that is Kerensky escaped dressed as a nurse)   

Concomitantly...the black raven of the Bolshevik party shows up...a woman whose deception to
Great October and Russians who had sacrificed so much; was only exceeded by Lenin himself.
Her name was Alexsandra Kollontai and contemporary historians paint a picture of her being an intellectual and a woman who desired and fought toward equal rights for Russian women.  Which is absolutely correct and in the year 1917, Kollontai would become of one Lenin's closest compatriot and ardent supporters. 

Alexsandra Kollontai would move a nation into the arms of Lenin
Lenin knew too well the path to power lay in the hand of the sailors...and that his "resurrection would be impossible without the force of the Baltic Fleet".

The literal seduction of Pavel Dybenko by Lenin and the Bolsheviks would be key in convincing Dybenko that Lenin and his band of "professional revolutionists" held the desires of the decades long sacrifice by the Russian people close to their chest. 

The sexual seduction by Alexsandra Kollontai and the political seduction by the likes of Anton-Ovseenko, Kollontai, Izmailov, Trotsky, Kamenev, Lunarcharsky, Proshian, Martov, Raskolnikov and many others proved monumental in swaying Dybenko into supporting Lenin.

The Bolsheviki elite propagandized the relationship between Kollontai and Dybenko as the "romance of the revolution".  Bolsheviki men like Antonov Ovseenko and Raskolnikov memorialized Dybenko in their writings recognizing his "Charismatic" and "Political" skills.  Trotsky does the same in his writings regarding the recruitment of the Petrograd Garrison referring to Dybenko's speech to the garrison as "a fresh and keen wind"...Dybenko speaks at the Northern Regional Congress in September detailing the current relationship between the Provisional Government and that Tsentrobalt stood in the ready to not only determine the form of government in Russia but to also defend Russia from outside enemies...i.e. Germany.


Chairman Pavel Dybenko and the sailors of Tsentrobalt honorable political viewpoints will be co-opted by  Lenin and his Bolsheviks.  The year 1917 see's Lenin's political acumen,  Lenin will speak to and print out decree after decree promising the people of Russia's every imagined and desired goal attainable.

The legal mandate of Tsentrobalt and the lack of recognition by the Provisional Government, led by its appointed leader Alexsander Kerensky...resulted in allowing for the continuation of discontent and ill opinion of Government by the sailors.   The mindset that Dybenko and Tsentrobalt would be accepting of ill treatment by Government and its desired reversion to the Tsars subservience demands...will prove to be the Governments and Kerensky's demise.

By September of 1917, Pavel Dybenko and the sailors of Tsentrobalt have already rejected the Provisional Government and Alexander Kerensky.  A political void was created allowing for the opportunist Lenin to waltz into power as the winner by consolation.

Great October comes to pass...a new dawn had arrived which places Dybenko in the vanguard of bringing to the Russian people the hopes of the many generations who sought for, fought for and died for the ideas of social change that would benefit the majority of all Russians.

Unfortunately the fruits gained by Great October would be systematically destroyed by Lenin and his inner circle...Russian G.P. Maximoff wrote that Lenin indeed had propagated the largest fraud ever perpetuated upon the Russian people.  American Noam Chomsky wrote that Lenin (after Great October) immediately began to dismantle the various soviets that emerged during the year 1917.

Tsentrobalt...the sailors soviet would be no different...Lenin moves to destroy the "armed fist" that allowed for him and the Bolsheviks to attain power...In a short three months, Lenin and his confederates will move to rid themselves of Dybenko...the "hero" of the revolution.

The following writing takes us to Dybenko's Waterloo and his removal from government.  Culminating in the fabricated and false allegations known as the events of February 23rd, 1918.






                              

  







































 

Great October Series: Little Interest in the Great October...the Russian Soul

As I write these words I have found the world to hold little interest in the historical event known as Great October...Russian leader Vladimir Putin cares little for past history unless it benefits him and his party...Putin desires to correlate Russian pride with the victorious battles over then Nazi Germany during World War II...he is also a big fan of utilizing the Russian Orthodox Church as a sense of shared belonging.  Although in both cases...there is no argument regarding the basic need of a collective sense for the people of Russia.   Nazi Germany during World War II despite funding from American Industrialists and Financiers needed to be destroyed.  Although no matter the reason there doesn't seem to take much to rally the Russians against their historical foe...those despicable Teutons.   Of course faith is a good thing...in general the Russian people are religious by their very nature...Even so, the Russian Orthodox Church has its own demons...the role it played leading up to revolution...and its failure to demonstrate repentance for said contribution.  The Church worked hand in hand with Tsar Nicholas II...a doomed King whose reign would soon be a historical footnote.  The Russian Orthodox Church and its head the Holy Synod had supported the Tsar's terror and massacres under the pretense of maintaining the Tsar's rule... 

Conversely, Great October can be seen a great source of pride for the Russian people...demonstrating to the world its steadfast desire regarding life, liberty, freedom and dignity.  The Russian people fought and died for this cause for decades.  The rise of Lenin...holds no correlation toward those ends.  In fact if truth be told...Lenin's writings and motives during the year 1917 can be best described as alot of deceptive nonsense...he himself was more of a flim flam man than a statesman...a man summoned to speak falsehoods in order to gain confidences...a man willing to sell his very own soul to achieve his own gains...setting the stage for seventy years of darkness in which the Russian people roamed.   The Russian people should never be ashamed for their efforts to depose the Tsar and bring forth the light of a new dawn.  If the good people of Russia were guilty of anything...it would be they have a trusting soul...easily mislead by those who share the term "TRUST ME".


Being that Soviet rule was so horridly despicable...the Russian people forgot the reasons and causes for revolution...forgot about the Tsar's abuse of his autocracy and the call for its end.  Not just from workers and peasants as it is so often stated...but from men of his own court, some of his most trusted advisors, his own mother, his sister in law, engineers, doctors, professors, students and many more.  Most all of Russia...except for his Budoir Council, the Tsar's wife, the Holy Synod and others who maintained benefit by Nicholas' continuing rule.

Current Historians deem supporters of the desire to depose the Tsar and their efforts toward freedoms as being fanatics or elements of Lenins...as criminals...and other disparaging terms meant to minimize and deter honorable intentions and good will.  The Russian spirit can not and should not account for the greedy self righteousness of individuals in either case...whether it be Tsar Nicholas II or Lenin and his lot of professional revolutionists. 

The irony of all this...Putin's unwillingness to remember the glory of the Russian spirit and its willingness to shed blood and die for the idea of freedom and dignity, contemporary historians disparaging words toward those who supported discourse and actions toward a new Russia, the silence of the Russian media adhering to aforementioned policy, the rise and return of the role in government by the Russian Orthodox Church without a mere mention of repentance for its role in the causes of revolution, the canonization of Tsar Nicholas II washing the bloody hands of both Romanov and Church leaders....leads Russia to a mindset that the desire of freedom and dignity can never come from its people...only from those who either are born into power, grasp power, and or are given power...

Yet be advised!...the Russian people are an intelligent lot, crafty and wise...and although Putin and the Church run rampant with suggested directions toward self improvement and pride...the Russian people are patient and willing to allow for self described champions of the people to do whatever they are determined to do...all the while knowing in their heart, in their soul...they, the Russian people, built a foundation for individuals seeking freedom and dignity that can at anytime be uncovered...utilized for future use when the bonds of tolerance are bent beyond reproach.

Great October Series: Helsingfors Meeting...Tsentrobalt speaks

“it was in its commune-like self-government that Tsentrobalt really came into its own, realizing the radical, democratic and egalitarian aspirations of its garrisons and working people, their insatiable appetite for social recognition, political activity and public debate, their pent up yearning for education, integration, and community.  Almost overnight, the ship’s crews, the naval and military units and the workers created and practiced a direct democracy of base assemblies and committees.”     Russian Historian Israel Getzler

Tsentrobalt Speaks
The Closed All-Baltic Congress reveals its work

It took twenty-two days of discussion within the Closed All-Baltic Congress...on June 15, 1917, the  Congress ended with their work completed.  Tsentrobalt's Charter and the operating policy regarding its new relationship with fleet command has been finalized.  
The time has now come to address the fleet and share with its members the focused outcome.  On a bright June day, a gathering of sailors at Senatskaya Square in Helsingfors would receive the word of its leaders.  The agenda...exposure to the protocols.

Although....there would be other topics to discuss and address at this meeting of the Helsingfors Sailors Deputies together with The Ships Committees.

The call to arrest Admiral Kolchak...

Comrade Chugunov took the podium and reported to the General Meeting of an article, that in such a respected newspaper as Izvestia of the Petrograd Soviet of Soldiers and Workers Deputies, appeared detailing clear malicious slander on the part of Baltic Fleet Admiral Kolchak.  Admiral Kolchak indicated that the Baltic fleet is in the service of the German General staff and that the delegation of the Baltic Sea Fleet made for the complete disorganization of the Black Sea fleet.  Chugunov asked the Assembly to require Admiral Kolchak account for the damaging insult toward the responsible Baltic Fleet.

Admiral Kolchak

After the issue was expressed by several speakers illuminating it from all sides, the meeting unanimously, with 7 abstentions, adopted the resolution proposed by Comrade Chugunov for the next edition.

The resolution stated..."After full consideration of the issue of slander in the press by Admiral Kolchak: his attempting to influence the country, in which he inferred 'that the Baltic fleet is in the service of the German General staff.'  Admiral Kolchak was also quoted as believing he is being forced to leave his post as Commander of the Black Sea Fleet.  Holding responsible and deeming the delegation of the Baltic Fleet culprits.  Kolchak added, "The Baltic Fleet which the German General staff commanded influenced the disorganization of the Black Sea Fleet and inspired teams to arrest him and his commanding officers of the Black Sea Fleet."  Such slander only worked against the Admiral. The sailors knew the rebellious spirit derived from a much deeper consciousness...as exhibited by the sailors of the Black Sea at Odessa in 1905, 1912 and in Sebastopal 1905, 1906, 1912 and 1917 

The meeting of the Helsingfors Sailors delegates together with the Ships Committees concluded to call on the appropriate authorities to consider all the above malicious slander of Admiral Kolchak…and based upon said slanderous lies toward the Baltic fleet to demand of the authorities to arrest him so that justice prevails.

Another topic for discussion...

...the question concerning the dismissal by the High Command of Commander in Chief of the Baltic Fleet Admiral Maksimov and the appointment of Admiral Vederevsky.as his replacement. 

Admiral Maksimov

It was then Comrade Chugunov the speaker invited the assembled to hear from the Chairman of the Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet…comrade Pavel Dybenko.

Chairman Dybenko spoke to the cohesiveness of working with Admiral Maxismov...

and the opposite phenomenon of entering in discussion with Admiral Vederevsky.

As for Admiral Maxismov

Admiral Vederevsky

Dybenko shared with the assembled the mandate approved by the interim Government which separated the sphere of action of the commander and the fleet.

Dybenko pointed out that the adoption of paragraph 14 was approved by the fleet wide congress of the Baltic Fleet.

But…as Admiral Vedervsky cancelled the adoption of paragraph 14 this prompted the congress’ action.

Dybenko also read out the telegram Admiral Vederevsky sent to the interim Government which clearly stated his opposition of the selection for the post of chief of the 1^st brigade battleships…Captain 1^st rank Zarubaeva.  If this post is selected…not appointed he would resign his duties.    

Dybenko pointed out more than 25 speakers insisted upon the selection of this post be approved by elected vote of the fleet and not by appointment of the interim government.

At the end of the debate…the assembly voted unanimously with one abstention adopted a resolution by Comrade Kireev as follows:

“Recognizing the principle of election on the ships positions is the only correct way  which alone leads to the realization of democracy.  The Helsingfors Sailors parliamentary in conjunction with marine committees commit to this principle and will defend this decision with all available means”

Great October Series: A response to Socialist Worker...Comrades of the Sea

https://socialistworker.org/2017/09/27/comrades-of-the-sea

Re: The article on the comrades-of-the-sea

Although the article shares the revolution experience via the eyes of Albert Rhys Williams and others...the tale of the "comrades of the sea" is one which includes glory as well as tragedy...

The sailors of the Tsar's fleet would indeed become known as the "armed fist" of the Russian Revolution.  Although, only studying the fleet's actions during the year 1917  provides an incomplete picture...a false understanding of what Trotsky referred to as the "glory and pride" of the revolution.

Beginning prior to 1905...the fleet was formulating its actions.  Understanding an ideal eloquently expressed by Zinaida Vassilievna Konopliannikova, at her trial for the murder of General Mien...an aide de camp of Tsar Nicholas II guilty of unmercifully slaughtering of 100's demonstrators at St. Petersburg in October of 1905 and following up with the massacre of thousands of Russian Citizens who rebelled at Moscow in December 1905 and January 1906. 

A portion of her full statement:

"I saw clearly that the autocratic and bureaucratic super structure rests on the armed force of the Government, and is able to maintain itself only through the constant practice of bloody terror, on the part of those steering our ship of State.  And life itself has taught me as follows: you cannot create anything new without first destroying the old; if you cannot pierce and idea with a bayonet, neither can you resist the power of the bayonet with ideas only."

So it came to pass at least twelve years earlier than 1917...the fleet would stand in the vanguard in the fight for liberty, freedom, and dignity. 

Professor Reussner...a Russian national teaching at Berlin University stated in 1905.

"It was the sailors and their history that would naturally place them at odds with the ruling government.  The mutinies of the sailors, which were then numerous, were not due to bad food but to revolutionary agitation carried on for years in the navy.  The Russian army was forced to become a political arm of the party that supported absolutism against the then popular will.  Many in Russia believed the sailors’ movement would accomplish the most important part in the approaching struggle for liberty.  While others, whose lot were cast in the Old Guard, classified the sailors as rebels and murderers.  In the end, the sailors convictions should have ensured them a place in Russian history as men who were heroes willing to sacrifice their lives for their country not as 'elements or fanatics'."

In the early months of 1905...Revolts in the Baltic lands, Baku, Moscow, St. Petersburg and other regions have all shaken the Tsar's rule to its foundations.  Even some of the Tsar's most trusted officials acknowledge with baited breath the Tsar had lost his way.  Dissent is not limited to the workers, peasantry, and others...but from engineers, professors, students, including the Tsar's own mother, and from the most loyal of subjects...high officials within his government. 

In May of 1905 an article appeared in the Quarterly Review followed by another in the National Review; entitled simply "The Tsar"...

Reading the article one comes to know, as many Russians did in 1905, the understanding;

                          "the sun began setting on the Romanov rule"

Moving forward during the years between 1905 and 1917...the sailors were active in the struggle for liberty and dignity...Revolts and rebellions would become a continuous theme for the sailors. 

In 1905-1907 Kronshtadt, Odessa, St. Petersburg, Reval, Sebastopal and Vladivostok all saw the actions of the revolting sailors.  Tsar Nicholas II orders the press share that the manifestations of these uprising were due to bad food and discontent of a "few" officers.

A major revolt happened in 1912...a revolt swept under the rug of historical significance by both the Tsar and Lenin...

The Tsar could not allow for the rebellion and its widespread ramifications to become known...and Lenin could not allow for a political consciousness to be developed by anyone other than himself...history is surely written by winners as Napoleon suggests.

In one sense the 1912 revolt, had it had time to mature, had a more amazingly daring object in view than that which led to the revolutionary mutiny on the battleship Kniaz Potemkin in June of 1905.

The purpose of the naval plotters were to seize the imperial yacht Shtandart, while the Tsar and imperial family were being conveyed from Yalta to Sevastopol en route to Tsarskoe-Selo.  The Tsar was to have been compelled to abdicate or abrogate his autocratic power and proclaim a limited monarchy and a constitutional regime.

The seizure of the imperial family was to have been the signal to a mutinous the Baltic squadron, the crews of which were to have murdered or arrested all their officers and attacked Kronstadt and St. Petersburg simultaneously.

Besides ruthlessly suppressing the action...Tsar Nicholas II decree's a special order issued to officers of all grades of the Black Sea fleet, forbidding them under pain of degradation and dismissal to discuss the political unrest among themselves or with civilians, of even with their own wives.  The whole commissioned personnel were compelled to sign a pledge to this effect.

Historian Alan Woods, during his investigation came across an Ohkrana report from 1915 that put forth the summation that the sailors of the Baltic fleet had created their own independent political vision...one that was separate and without influence from the Petrograd's Political bodies.

From before 1905 through up to the year 1917 one see's blood spilled from not only the sailors but from active individual Russians who gave their lives for the concept of individual freedoms, liberty, dignity...

All the while, Lenin played chess or as other "Professional Revolutionists" sat pondering Russia's future all vying for some sort of authoritative value to the movement.  The people of Russia acted; knew what they desired...they did not need for Lenin and his associates to tell them...

The sailors of the Tsar's Navy continued to openly challenge the Tsar's rule...and in 1917...the most famous freely elected body came into existence.

Tsentrobalt or the Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet.

Pavel Yefimovitch Dybenko is elected its Chairman and leader.

The following are three quotes from Dybenko in the early years of 1917.

"The fleet and its political view for a responsible social democracy did not derive from university trained theoretical knowledge, nor an understanding for legal opportunisms.  Moreover the sailors may not have had their own printing press or enough of the elite literature thought necessary for complex thinking.  Nevertheless the sailor’s classroom and their views were crafted by the many confrontations with Tsarism." 

"The Baltic fleet should be united, so its voice can be clearly heard by the government"

“Recognizing the principle of election on the ships positions is the only correct way  which alone leads to the realization of democracy.  The Helsingfors Sailors parliamentary in conjunction with marine committees commit to this principle and will defend this decision with all available means”

The government had essentially lost its authority over the men of the Baltic Fleet.

Dybenko believed in the abilities of the enlightened minorities believing they clearly heard the protestations and understood the plight of the Russian people, the suppression, the massacres...

It is important to recall that the efforts of the sailors responded to the desires of the Russian citizens...becoming the force necessary to take on the Tsar's bayonet...

Lt. Colonel Roustam Bek wrote

“…from a purely strategically point of view, actions required great secrecy; therefore for a certain period there was almost no information about it.  Nonetheless, the part played by the Baltic Fleet during the Revolution was of great importance.  It must not be forgotten that the victory of the Revolutions in February, March, and in October 1917, was due chiefly to the activity, firmness, and self-sacrifice of the members of the Baltic Fleet.  The period from 1905 to 1917 represented a solid history of repeated revolts and rebellions by the determined sailors in their efforts to overthrow the existing social structure"

Tsentrobalts Pavel Dybenko...and the fleets newly formed independence would be challenged by Alexander Kerensky and the Executive Committee during the events in July...the challenge and brash deeds to Kerensky as Trotsky recalls came from Tsentrobalt in Helsingfors not Kronshtadt!

Lenin, Trotsky and others see that Tsentrobalt and its leader Dybenko would be its ticket to power.  Lenin stated;

"an insurrection would be impossible without the sailors of the Baltic fleet"

So the guise begins...as Noam Chomsky and G.P. Maximoff tell their readers...Lenin perpetuated grand fraud upon the people of Russia...declaring his leadership would stand for liberty, freedom, and dignity...Lenin wrote numerous declarations regarding these understandings...Lenin lied!

Lenin sent to Helsingfors supporting politico's like Anton Ovseenko and others to influence Dybenko in order to garner his support...Lenin also sent to Dybenko...Alexsandra Kollontai...the black raven of the Russian peoples rebellious ideals.   She courted Dybenko...shared Lenin held Russia's best interest in his pocket...a famous relationship for the history books...more accurately a swindle of confidence. 

While in Kresty during July and August...Dybenko heard more from Lenin's conspirators...Trotsky, Kamenev, and Lunarcharsky.

All said...Dybenko was invited to the table of the powerful elite...not realizing he was being used.  Truly believed in Lenin's declarations...

Fast forward to Gatchina Palace...while Dybenko was in the lower floors of the palace speaking to the Cossacks...Kerensky was in conversation with General Krasnov...the latter recalled:

Kerensky declaring that "Pavel Dybenko was his enemy."

Why not Lenin or Trotsky?...

Great October was realized!...the efforts of the peoples of Russia and the sailors armed fist combined to force, to realize social change.

Unfortunately for Russia, under the banner of the peoples revolution...Lenin et al would go on to destroy the gains of Great October...to exploit their efforts for personal gain and power.

For any future actions taken against an autocratic regime...the movement toward realization of freedom should be wary of individuals who sit in the rear...all the while declaring they know what is best! 

Lenin and Trotsky would go on to do away with Dybenko and the power of the fleet.

But that is a tale for another day.

Great October Series: Remembering the Romanov's...Reactions are equal to Actions

After many years of investigating the causes of the Russian Revolution.  Causes swept away by the distortion of Russian contemporary historians....ascribing to anyone who wishes for dignity and freedom the designation of criminal.  Furthermore, it is was often said that the Russian people, those who supported revolution, were anti-religious zealots...rebels against the lords will.
One should not forget the outright support of the Tsar and his oppressive rule by the Holy Synod...it wasn't as if the Russian people did not have faith (quite the contrary; the Russian people are very religious) it was just fact that the terror imposed upon the people by the Tsar was directly supported by the church causing an understandable lack of trust in the church's leadership.  Ultimately the revolution would succeed.  Albeit hijacked by Lenin and his supporters who did go on to replace the autocratic system of the Tsar with an autocratic system of their own.  One whose tyranny turned out to be especially horrific.
The millions of Russians who stood for freedom and liberty...who bled and died for an ideal...including the sailors of the Tsar's fleet; would be placed in historical context as fanatics of Lenin's soviet system.
Of course nothing could be further from the truth.
Yet even so, after the Soviet system fell...Russia's response to quickly forgive the Tsar's atrocities...the terror that led to Revolution...astounded me.  The Russian church having swept under the rug their own role in abetting an evil ruler for their own benefit...canonized Tsar Nicholas II and his family...washing away the blood that had stained both the Romanov's and the leaders of the churches hands.
Still today there has been no repentance given by church leaders in regard to their role during the Tsar's oppressive actions and his tyranny.


Therefore, in maintaining the memory for reasons of Revolution...I have reprinted Ms. Konopliannilova's statement in full to her judges on August 26, 1906...on trial for the murder of General Mien the leader of the punitive actions and atrocities committed against the revolting Russian citizenry during and after the uprising in Moscow 1905-6

                                             Zinaida Vassilievna Konopliannikova

"I, a member of the Party of Socialists-Revolutionists, and at the present time a member of the Fighting Organization of the Northern Section of the Party of Socialists-Revolutionists, have shot Mien.  These are the reasons that forced me to commit this act: I think all of you remember the days in the month of December last, when General Mien and Rieman treated Moscow like a conquered enemy's territory.  I shall not speak much about it.  The newspapers and magazines have devoted much space to those days, and there are special books already that tell the whole story.  Hundreds of people were killed in Moscow.  Why, I ask, were those people in Moscow killed?  Was it because the ignorant and poor workers, fooled by the provocateur manifesto of Nicholas II and by the provocateur policy of his Government, raised the banner of revolt against their oppressors under whose yoke they have slaved for centuries?  I have killed Mien as the murderer of the fighters for freedom, as the murderer of innocent people whose blood has been shed on the streets of Moscow.
"In times of peace Mien was busy training the soldiers.  He tried to get in closer touch with the soldiers, in order to directly exert his influence over them and cultivate in them slavish obedience and loyalty to the criminal Government.  In this fashion was he training them as future murderers of their brothers and their own fathers.  I shot Mien as the commander of the Semionovsky Regiment, who inculcated in the peasant soldiers the spirit of active hostility toward the movement of the masses for their emancipation.
"Nicholas II, like Ivan the Terrible, has surrounded himself with a staff of cruel bodyguards.  People like Mien, or the notorious Orlov of the Baltic Region, or Trepov, the organizer of massacres, surround his throne.  The hands of everyone of them are stained with the blood of the people.  In killing one of Nicholas' bodyguards I want to remind him that just as the pillars of his throne are being hewed down, so may in time the throne topple itself.
"During the cross examination I was asked, "Who gave you the right to kill?"  As a member of the Socialists-Revolutionists I will give the same answer my comrades have given before me.  The party has decided to respond to the bloody terror practiced by the Government, with red terror.  The terror in which the party resorts to has been forced upon us by the Government.  The terror practiced by the party has been called into existence through the fault of the Government.  And as one who comes from the ranks of the people, --I am of common descent: my father is a soldier, my mother a peasant woman,--I ask you in the name of the people; "Who gave you the right to keep us for centuries in ignorance and poverty, in prisons and in exile, who gave you the right to send us to the gallows, and to shoot, and kill us by the hundreds?  Who gave you that right?  You yourselves took it by virtue of your might, you have legalized this right by laws of your own making, and the clergyman have sanctioned this right for you.  But now a new right is coming into being, a right which is by far more humane than your heartless law.  You have declared a relentless war against this right which is bound to prevail in the future.  You know well that with the extinction of your inhuman law, you, who feed upon it like jackals feed on the carcasses, will also perish.  And we who come from the people, we, fighters for the peoples' liberty, have the courage and the right to fight you, the representatives of autocratic and bureaucratic lawlessness, we feel in us the physical and moral strength to fight for our rights with armed force.
"I shall tell briefly the story of my life.  As soon as I completed the course of study in the teachers' training school, I was sent to teach in one of the remote corners of the Province of Lifland, in one of the schools maintained by the Government.  The Government was occupied, as it still is, with the russification of the Baltic provinces, and for this purpose schools were built and Russian men and women were sent to teach the natives.  The locality where I taught was very poor.  On three sides it bordered upon forests and on the fourth side was Lake Paypus.  The landscape was dreary, with nothing but fir and aspen trees.  The natives were exceedingly poor.  They had no land.  Alexander II, if I remember aright, freed them without giving them any land.  All the land remained in the hands of their barons and in the hands of the Government.  They lived on what the lake yielded, that is their only occupation was fishing.  As one who had grown up in poverty, I was not startled by their poverty, I only marveled how people could live under such conditions without fighting for a better future; how one could live without a single ray of light or hope on the dark horizon!  But outside of the school I could not work as I did not know the native tongue.  In school I suffered morally because I had to conduct the studies in Russian.  It was painful to see a little pupil look at me so helplessly and pitifully when I demanded that he speak only Russian.  'Why can't I speak my own language?' was the question I could read in his sad eyes.  It was painful to hear 17-18 year old boys, in the higher grades, boys who did not know their own history abounding in facts and events, relate for me the history of the family feuds among the descendants of Oleg and Rurik.  I do not mean to say that any people who think it necessary and proper to study the language and history of the neighbors with whom they are in close touch, should not do so.  But the russification of the Baltic Provinces has tended to retard the national and cultural development of the Provinces. After working in Lifland for a year, I went to teach Russian children in the school supported by the Zemstvos, in the district of Peterhoff, in the Province of Petersburg.  Conditions here were such: in front of the school lived a gendarme, behind the school lived a police official, on the mountain nearby lived a priest, nest to him a clergyman, and all of them were constantly reporting me to my superiors.  If I arranged popular readings or discussions of the most innocent nature, the clergyman reported to the inspector that 'the school teacher was engaged in discussions and readings which had nothing to do with the regular school work,' the priest kept busy writing to his superiors that the teacher was founding sects, spreading Tolstoy's doctrines, and demoralizing the younger generation.  If I arranged theatrical performances, the police official and gendarme would immediately get busy.  As a consequence, the inspector, the school board and the Governor were constantly calling on me for explanations.  Two and a half years I taught in that village, until the school board finally dismissed me.  I gave up my profession without regret.  As a result of my experiences, I have come to the following conclusions: I cannot share with the people even that meager knowledge which I myself possess, I cannot open the eyes of the people to the conditions in which they exist, I cannot point out to them the real causes of their misery.  I saw under such circumstances one could not even dream about the harmonious development of the spirit and intellect of the individual.  I saw the necessity for first creating the conditions under which the development of what is best in human nature will be possible.  I saw the prime necessity for the struggle with the autocratic and despotic Government.  I became a revolutionist.
"Soon after I was dismissed, they arrested me.  I spent a year in jail and in the fortress.  They released me, and two weeks later arrested me again.  This time they kept me eight months.  After I was freed for the second time, I fled abroad.  Abroad, as well as after my return to Russia, I worked as a member of the Party of Socialists-Revolutionists.  Under the influence of the jail and the persecutions of the Government, the revolutionary spirit was definitely strengthened in me.  I saw clearly that the Tsar, if not a tyrant and a despot, is a tool for the enslaving of the masses.  To govern, from the autocracy's point of view, means to rob, burn and kill.  The history of the Russian people is written in letters of blood.
"I saw clearly that the autocratic and bureaucratic super structure rests on the armed force of the Government, and is able to maintain itself only through the constant practice of bloody terror, on the part of those steering our ship of State.  And life itself has taught me as follows: you cannot create anything new without first destroying the old; if you cannot pierce and idea with a bayonet, neither can you resist the power of the bayonet with ideas only.  I became a terrorist.
"The autocratic and bureaucratic regime is approaching its end.  Already the defeat of the Government during the senseless Japanese War has shown that it is nearing its downfall.  The strike which took place in October frightened the Government.  To pacify the country, the Government declared that it would give the country liberty.  At the same time, while it was promising the people freedom, the Government was sending punitive expeditions to the villages and organizing bloody massacres in the cities.  This strange period of 'liberty' did not last more than a month.  Again leaden clouds of repressions appeared on the horizon.  The people were not appeased.  The Government decide to create a Duma as a support for the rotting foundations.  Neither the organization of the Black Hundreds nor any other attempts of the Government to call a conservative monarchical Duma were of any avail.  The Duma proved a liberal one.  At one time the Government suffered the just attacks of the Duma,--as it saw no serious harm in being called names,--but its patience was exhausted when the members of the Duma decided to issue a manifesto to the masses confirming the confiscation of privately owned land.  The owners began to talk, the rulers became excited, and the Duma was disbanded.  Now we are again living through a period of repressions.  But all these measures of the Government are futile.  No repressions, no arrests, no jails, no exile, no gallows, no hard-labor, no punitive expeditions, no massacre can check the movement of the masses who are rising!
"You will sentence me to death.  But wherever I die,--on the scaffold, in exile, or elsewhere--I will die with one thought:  'Forgive me, my people!  There was so little I could give you--only my life.'  And I shall die with the firm faith that the day will come, when, as the poet has it,
                                     'The throne will topple over,
                                      And the Sun of Liberty will rise
                                      Above the vast plains of Russia.' "