...“The sailor’s life
was one of a low creature without rights, whose duty it was to fulfill all
orders without ever questioning them. The sailors always remained "gray
cattle" without any rights on land as well as on the ship. Insulting was
how one could describe how the officers hurried the sailors into a line up when
meeting an officer on shore. Inevitably,
an officer would, for the most insignificant slip, over exaggerate an issue and
then unceremoniously throw the sailor to the dog’s box or a lock up. It wasn’t rare that screaming, demeaning, and
disparaging language would be directed at the sailors.
“An idiot...I
say…you’re an idiot! You are a bastard…etc.”
Of course the sailor had no choice but to reply to the officer ‘Yes,
your highness’…as this drunken “highness” continued his tirade to a point of
exhaustion whereupon the sailor would ultimately end up in the lock up”. One should note that all the officers' staff
consisted from the "verified" and "trustworthy" people.
Those who were endowed with hereditary aristocracy, the sons of rich landlords,
and the so-called "white bone".
The despotic leadership wasn’t unique to the navy, even when the sailors
were greeting the army officers, instead of extending their hand, the officers
would give the sailors only two fingers, definitely not a handshake.”
Pavel Dybenko 1912
..."The fleet and its political view for an accountable 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".
Pavel Dybenko 1912
“…my hands boiled in the salty water”
Pavel Dybenko 1912
...“While laying on top of the hill, I am carried further and further away from the life of a sailor to the life of few men in few countries. It’s a fairy tale for me, for the sailors, for most Russians. But do I really have a right to be upset right now, when my whole being is at peace at the very thought of a free country and free people? In an hour or two I still have to go back to the slavery and humiliation!
Sadly, I am watching the sunset at the horizon. These purple skies, this surrounding beauty of nature make me hate my dependent life as a slave sailor.
I really don’t want to go back to the ship, to part with nature, with the life of people who are free, who don’t know the sufferings the sailors go through…
Pavel Dybenko Norway Spring 1913
“Excuse me, Admiral Von Essen, would you care for me to show you how to hit a target?”
“Keep your eyes on the target, as it is the right of any sailor to make the necessary corrections as needed”.
Pavel Dybenko Baltic Sea Spring 1914
From 1906 to 1915 5,757 sailors were condemned for preparation of revolts.
Among them:
196 were executed
1.320 were exiled to penal servitude,
1744 were
put into different correctional institutions for various terms,
20 were
locked up in fortresses,
876 were
imprisoned in the naval jail,
others were exiled and sent to civil prisons
with different types of punishmentsPavel Dybenko 1915
“The Baltic Navy should be united so as its voice can be clearly heard by the Government”
Pavel Dybenko April 1917
Authored:
“The Relationship between Tsentrobalt and the Fleet Headquarters”
“The Charter of Tsentrobalt”
Pavel Dybenko April 1917
...“It always seemed to a sailor that he was above a soldier or
a worker and consequently this is his duty to be always the pace-setter. This was the way they understood their
tasks. Self-esteem was often pushing the
sailor to the places where the resistance would be the maximum. Our small group formed of this type of sailors
was perfectly aware of that and this was the reason why the sailors successfully
managed to concentrate power at their hands.
It is common belief that the Provisional government lost its authority
over the Baltic Fleet only at the end of September 1917 but that is wrong. The authority of the Provisional government
over the Baltic Fleet was lost in fact back in April 1917. The fleet was living its own separate life,
went its own way notwithstanding government policy and even though there were
some hesitations they do not contradict the fact the actual power over the
Baltic Fleet was lost by the government already in April.”
Pavel Dybenko 1917
...“We lost this time but as usual we will continued to keep
our spirits up. This is just a resolution; another question is who will give
the money in reality. The most important thing is that there is little trust
for the new government and their lack of accountability.”
Pavel Dybenko May 1917
“…We were all exhausted by the long wait for the minister. Finally, the phone rang I answered it. There was Kerensky’s secretary on line. He said that Kerensky ordered all of Tsentrobalt to show up at “Krechet” by 4 PM. But I told him that Tsentrobalt is an institution and the minister is supposed to come over, not the other way round. Besides we have many urgent and pressing matters to solve. We ask the minister to come over instead.”
Pavel Dybenko May 1917
“Don’t worry, Vladimir Ilyich, these are lies;
we are modest people, we are not about to start anything”. (Dybenko actually uses
an idiomatic expression that if given word-for-word the translation is “We will
not be getting into hell before our fathers”
Pavel Dybenko June 1917
“Kerensky was crazy for letting us go free”
Pavel Dybenko September 1917
...“in battle your order is law”
Pavel Dybenko September 1917
..."we consider it our duty to defend Petrograd. We will fulfill our self-imposed obligation. Not because of the request of a pitiful Russian Bonaparte (Kerensky) who retains power simply because of the unlimited patience of the Russian Revolution. Nor because of the treaties made by our government with the Allies, treaties intended to smother the Russian Revolution. We follow the call of our revolutionary sentiment."
Pavel Dybenko September 1917
..."the control over operational matters was firmly in the hands of the sailors themselves."
Pavel Dybenko September 1917
...“From the second half of September, the provisional government became a piece of pure fiction in the fleet as well as in Finland: its threats produced only laughter and answering telegrams in which the refusal to comply with Kerensky’s orders was couched in very disrespectful terms.”
Pavel Dybenko September 1917
..."that the sailors fought not because they wanted to expiate their guilt before the Government, as Kerensky seemed to imagine, but because they were defending the Revolution and all it stood for with all their might.
Pavel Dybenko September 1917
…The Russian Fleet has always stood in the front lines of the Revolution. The names of its sailors are written in the book of the history of the struggle against Tsarism. In the earliest days of the Revolution the sailors marched in the front ranks, our ultimate aim being deliverance from all misery. And this life and death struggle with our own oppressors gives us the right to appeal to you, proletarians of all countries, with a strong voice against the exploiters. Break the chains, you who are oppressed! Rise in revolt! We have nothing to lose but our chains! We believe in the victory of the Revolution, we are full of this belief. We know that our comrades in the Revolution will fulfill their duty on the barricades to the bitter end. We know that decisive moments are coming. A gigantic struggle will set the world afire. On the horizon the fires of the revolt of all oppressed peoples are already glowing and becoming stronger."
“We demand from the Soviet of Soldiers, Workmen and Peasant Deputies and the Tsentroflot the immediate removal from the ranks of the Provisional Government of the “Socialist,”--political adventurer Kerensky, as one who is scandalizing and ruining the Great Revolution, and with it the great revolutionary people, by his shameful political blackmail in behalf of the bourgeoisie”.
The fleet does not recognize the Provisional Government; that the latter has
been informed that it should not clog the telegraph with its orders, as the
latter will all the same not be executed.
Finally, the crews of
the fleet were ready to both repel the invader and determine the form of government
in Petrograd.”Pavel Dybenko September 1917
...“The time has come to show how to die for the revolution! For it is better to die for freedom and dignity than to live with out it.”
Pavel Dybenko September 1917
...the “fleet was ready.”
Pavel Dybenko September 1917
“To everybody and all.
Tsentrobalt is calling to all who treasures achievements of freedom and revolution. Comrades!
The sun of truth and people’s victory has been shining brightly since the moment the power passed into the people’s hands. But dark clouds are hanging now over the horizon…Great steps were made before the 2d Soviet’s session.
1st – the long awaited dream of people – the land came into the people’s possession;
2nd – all the parties of the war were offered the truce at all the fronts;
3rd – capital punishment is abolished at the front.
These are the achievements given to us by the revolution of October 25th.
…In spite of provocative rumors that Tsentrobalt swept to the side of the betrayers Kornilov and Kerenksy, Tsentrobalt declares that the Baltic fleet sending its representatives to the 2nd session of the Soviets entrusted them with voting for Soviet power, which it defended and will continue to defend. The whole Baltic fleet absolutely trusts the newly organized Soviet authorities and obeys it without any questions; we see this power as the only legitimate power.
Long live the people’s government of workers, peasants, soldiers and sailors!
Pavel Dybenko September 1917
“Tsentrobalt warns you against information spread by Kerensky, Kornilov and Kaledin. All the rumors about Germans taking Petrograd and Moscow are absolutely false. You can trust only the radio of the Military – Revolutionary committee and Tsentrobalt. We shall win. The criminal operation of Kerensky will be defeated.
Pavel Dybenko September 1917
...“Comrades! We, the Central Committee of the Baltic fleet declare to everybody that we safe guard the achievements of the revolution and rights of the oppressed class and that any attack on the people power would be defeated by all the might of the Baltic fleet”.
Pavel Dybenko September 1917
...“Before the latest
naval operations began’, he said, “the admiral addressed a question to the
Congress of the Sailors then sitting: Will they carry out military orders? We answered: “We will—under the supervision
from our side.
But . . .if we see the fleet is threatened with destruction,
the commanding staff will be the first to hang from the mast head.”
In conclusion, stimulated by the universal sympathy, Dybenko
confidently exclaimed: “They talk about the need of bringing out the Petrograd
garrison for the defense of the approaches to Petrograd
and of Reval in particular. Don’t
believe a word of it. We will defend
Reval ourselves. Stay here and defend
the interests of the revolution…When we need your support we will say so
ourselves, and I am confident that you will support us.”
Pavel Dybenko September 1917
“Was there not enough butchering for you? You need more blood?”
Pavel Dybenko October 1917
“The crews of Tsentrobalt
have decided to help the Soviets. We
will be sending battleships and mine crews out to Petrograd. They will support the armed forces from
Kronshtadt. We now control radio
broadcasting and are in constant communication with the executive committees of
both Kronshtadt and Revel. I thought it
was important I told you and you know of it yourself.”
Dybenko then put a neatly
folded piece of paper on the desk in front of the admiral.
'This is
the calling of Tsentrobalt that has been accepted now. Tomorrow it will be in the papers. Soon you will receive the official orders of
Tsentrobalt.’
Dybenko left and Admiral Razvozov continued to look over
the letter the chairman placed before him, “The Baltic fleet won’t shake in fear
in the face of any reaction forces or revolution enemies…Pavel Dybenko October 1917
On board the “Polar Star” (the offices of the Tsentrobalt)
there stood Admiral Razvozov, Dybenko asked him; “So, what about now? Do you
believe now?”
Admiral Razvozov replied, “Yes. This is a miracle.
Impossible things are happening. With such a passion and persistence you are
bound to succeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment