Once in power, on March 6 the Provisional Government announced that it would continue the war "to a victorious end." It also promised to “sacredly keep” loyalty to the allies and all agreements concluded with them. On May 22, on the radio, the commander of the German Eastern Front, Prince Leopold of Bavaria, suggested that Russia begin peace negotiations. The interim government responded with a categorical refusal ...
Meanwhile, the spontaneous striving for peace was growing. At the front, the famous fraternization with enemy soldiers began. The units fighting each other stopped firing, leaving-
R. Zarrin. War loan poster.
General A. Brusilov.
153
"ORDER NUMBER ONE"
On March 1, 1917, the Petrograd Soviet was replenished with soldiers' deputies. On the same day, the Council issued the famous "Order number one" on the capital's garrison.
The order canceled various minor restrictions for soldiers outside the service: now soldiers could not stand up in front of the officers and salute them. “In the same way,” the order said, “the titles of officers are canceled: your excellency, honor, etc., and is replaced by the address: Mr. General, Mr. Colonel, etc. Rough treatment of soldiers of all military ranks and, in particular, addressing them on "you" is prohibited ... "
In addition, in the first paragraph of the order it was said: "In all companies, battalions, regiments ... immediately elect committees from elected representatives from the lower ranks." Although formally the order concerned only the troops of the capital's military district, it was soon read throughout the army. Soldiers' committees began to be elected everywhere, which played the role of Soviets in the military environment.
Most of the officers believed that Order Number One was the first and most important impetus for the collapse of the army. As a result of the order, the officers lost any power over the soldiers. The Bolsheviks objected to this that the order did not play a special role: it only reflected the demands of the spontaneous movement.
One of the authors of the order, the Menshevik Joseph Goldenberg, said in March 1917: “Order number one is not a mistake, but a necessity ... On the day when we“ made a revolution, ”we realized that if we didn’t destroy the old army, it will crush the revolution. We had to choose between the army and the revolution. We did not hesitate: we made a decision in favor of the latter and used - I boldly affirm this - the proper means. "
Having found themselves later in power, the Bolsheviks "deepened" even more, brought to their logical conclusion "Order number
whether from the trenches. The soldiers talked peacefully, smoked, exchanged various small things. Soldiers' committees were elected everywhere in Russian military units, which often canceled orders from their superiors. “Throughout the Army,” wrote General Pyotr Krasnov, “the infantry refused to carry out combat orders and move to positions to replace other regiments. There were cases when their own infantry forbade their artillery to shoot at the enemy's trenches on the pretext that such shooting caused enemy fire back. The war froze along the entire front ... "
Supporters of the continuation of the war argued to the soldiers that "the path to peace lies through the enemy's trenches." Minister of War Alexander Kerensky said, speaking in front of the troops on May 12: “You are the freest soldiers in the world. Shouldn't you prove to the world that the system on which the army is being built is the best system. Will you not prove to other monarchs that not a fist, but a conscience is the best strength of an army (Excited exclamations: "We will prove it!"). Your army under the monarch performed feats. Will it really turn out to be a herd of sheep under the republic? " (Storm of applause. Shouts: "No, never!"). Kerensky spent weeks touring the troops at the front and, with fiery eloquence, called upon the soldiers to attack the enemy. The exact date of the start of the offensive was kept secret. The Minister of War emphasized that the fate of the revolution depends on this offensive.
March 1917.
“For the garrison of the Petrograd District, all the soldiers of the guard, army, artillery and navy for immediate and accurate execution and the workers of Petrograd for information. The Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies decided:
1) In all companies, battalions, regiments, parks, batteries, squadrons and individual services of various kinds of military directorates and on ships of the navy, immediately select committees from elected representatives from the lower ranks of the above military units. (These committees will replace the command of the army.)
2) In all military units that have not yet elected their representatives to the Council of Workers' Deputies, elect one representative from the companies, who will appear with written certificates at the building of the State Duma by 10 o'clock in the morning on March 2nd. (The Provisional Government "not involved" in this document, is located next door to the Petrograd Soviet. Kerensky generally walks from room to room.)
In all its political speeches, the military unit submits to the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies and its committees.
4) Orders of the military commission of the State Duma should be carried out only in cases where they do not contradict orders and resolutions of the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies. (Two points with one subtext: the government does not dispose of its own army. The command, according to point 1, too.)
5) All kinds of weapons, such as rifles, machine guns, armored vehicles, etc., must be at the disposal and control of company and battalion committees and in no case be given out to officers, even at their request. (Just imagine this: do not give out weapons to officers! This is during the war!)
6) In the ranks and when performing their duties, soldiers must observe the strictest military discipline, outside of service and formation, in their political, civil and private life, soldiers can in no way be diminished in those rights that all citizens enjoy. In particular, standing up for the front and obligatory saluting outside the service is canceled. (In political life, soldiers cannot be infringed upon, in private life too. A soldier now has only rights, but almost no responsibilities. So the mess begins: first you don’t need to salute and stand still, then you don’t need to fight. I don’t want to, that's all.)
Likewise, the title of officers "Your Excellency, Honor", etc., is abolished and replaced by an address: Mr. General, Mr. Colonel, etc.
Rough treatment of soldiers of all military ranks, and in particular addressing them as "you", is prohibited, and any violation of this, as well as all misunderstandings between officers and soldiers, the latter are obliged to inform company committees.
Read this order in all companies, battalions, regiments, crews, batteries and other combatant and non-combatant teams. Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies ”.
We draw your attention to the date of publication of Order No. 1 - 1st March ! Nicholas II abdicated power only in the middle of the day 2nd March ... Foresight again? No - rush! It is still not really known how it will end, so it is necessary to launch a quiet paper bomb into the Russian army as long as circumstances permit.
So who, after all, wrote this muck, who is responsible for the death of the Russian army, and with it Russia? Opinions vary. Someone blames the Petrograd Soviet, someone the Provisional Government. The main excuse for the "temporary workers": on March 1, when the order was issued, there was still no government itself. But we remember that both centers of the new Russian power were created on the same day, February 27 ... It was just that at first there was a different name: the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, not the government. But the essence does not change from this.
The memoirs of V. N. Lvov, a member of the Provisional Government, shed light on this very dark story. On March 2, the author of the text of the order, a member of the Petrograd Soviet, lawyer Sokolov appeared in the room where the Provisional Committee of the State Duma was sitting. In his hand he was clutching a text that had already been published in the morning edition of Izvestia of the Petrograd Soviet. The bomb has already been laid for the Russian army, the newspaper is being distributed. Sokolov is a famous lawyer who made a name for himself during the first Russian revolution, defending the destroyers of Russia. Together with them, he now sits on the Council. In addition, it is Sokolov that Russia should be grateful for Kerensky. He laid the foundation for his political career, inviting Alexander Fedorovich as a defender in 1906 to a high-profile trial of the Baltic terrorists, after which, after successful completion, Kerensky began his ascent to the heights of power.
“... ND Sokolov comes up to our table with quick steps and asks us to get acquainted with the contents of the paper he brought ... - writes the Chief Prosecutor of the Synod. V.N. Lvov - This was the famous order number one ... After reading it, Guchkov immediately declared that the order was ... unthinkable, and left the room. Milyukov began to convince Sokolov of the utter impossibility of publishing this order ... Finally, Milyukov got up exhausted and walked away from the table ... I jumped up from my chair and shouted to Sokolov with my usual fervor that this paper, which he had brought, was a crime against the motherland. ... Kerensky ran up to me and shouted: 'Vladimir Nikolaevich, be silent, be silent!', Then grabbed Sokolov by the hand, took him quickly to another room and locked the door behind him ... '
Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel was not in Petrograd for only three months, but the feeling that he was in a completely unfamiliar city did not leave him. Most of all, the abundance of red was shocking: flags on some buildings, bows in the buttonholes of soldiers and even officers. The faint-hearted explained this by the fact that a person dressed in the old uniform would not be allowed to pass through the city, and with a bad combination of circumstances, one could lose his life. But Wrangel proudly walked around the city in his general's uniform, with the heir's monograms, and not a single scoundrel found fault with him!
After the famous attack at Causen, the baron's career went up sharply. Captain Wrangel in less than two years (!) Became a general, and from January 1917, commander of the 1st brigade of the Ussuri Cavalry Division. He could not even dream of such a takeoff. It was not just luck, it was fate. It was as if someone's hand was leading the baron through the storms of the world war to some as yet unknown goal. And for this she brought Wrangel along this path with wonderful people from whom one could and should have learned a lot.
So here is the division, in which he first commanded a regiment, and then a brigade was commanded by Major General Krymov. They worked together immediately, as if their souls were fused with each other. And Wrangel eagerly absorbed into himself, the new that his commander contained. The Ussuriian cavalry division, made up of Siberian natives, under the command of General Krymov, managed to gain deserved fame in the army. The regiment, which Baron Wrangel had commanded for over a year, was awarded a high distinction for a brilliant attack on August 22, 1916 in the Wooded Carpathians. The honor was really high: the heir Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich was appointed the chief of the regiment. It was extremely honorable to be the commander of such a military unit. And very useful for your future career. And she at Wrangel was already so cool that it was inevitably breathtaking. Now she could become incredible at all.
After being awarded a high rank, he then had to go to St. Petersburg at the head of a deputation from the regiment to present to the young chief. As a gift to the heir, they brought with them a small Trans-Baikal horse and a full set of uniforms of the Nerchinsk Cossack regiment. General Krymov had to be thanked for such a high distinction. His professional leadership of the division brought well-deserved success in battle, and now made it possible to make an acquaintance with the Russian emperor himself.
Wrangel remembered this day for the rest of his life. Except for himself and the royal family, no one was at dinner. The Tsar was cheerful and lively, inquired about that memorable attack, and with his usual delicacy did not forget to inquire about the wound received in this battle by the Baron himself. The Grand Duchesses and the heir himself were cheerful, joking and laughing. Alexei Nikolaevich, now the chief of the Nerchinsky regiment, kept asking which horses in the regiment and whether the uniform that had been presented to him were now worn by his ranks. Then we drank coffee, sat for another hour and a half ...
The baron shuddered and stared blankly at the cab.
We arrived, master - he said - Tavrichesky, as asked.
As recently it was - coffee, conversations with cute royal daughters, but now all this is gone. What is there? Nobody knew that. Even an experienced general Krymov. Then, upon Wrangel's return from the capital, he asked him in detail about all the ceremonies. At the remembrance of the emperor, the general's eyes flashed with an unkind twinkle. He could not stand the august person and considered her the source of innumerable troubles for the country and the monarchy. Therefore, he was so happy about the murder of Rasputin. And he met the baron, waving fresh copies of the newspapers, shouting from a distance to the approaching Wrangel:
Finally, the scoundrel Grishka got killed!
Even then, the baron did not understand the joy of Krymov, his hopes, his aspirations. Yes, the sovereign may be making mistakes, but is it possible to conceive of what the division commander said in an undertone, in full hint. And the death of Rasputin was only the beginning ...
There is an uprising in St. Petersburg, the Tsar abdicated the throne, now I will read you a manifesto, it must be announced to the troops tomorrow.
After the manifesto of Nicholas II, Krymov began to read the abdication of the Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich. And then Wrangel understood. He understood, immediately and clearly, as if a photographic picture had been developed in his head. Putting down the phone, he said to the chief of staff who was recording the words:
This is the end, this is anarchy!
Then he hotly tried to prove this to General Krymov in a personal conversation. After all, it was not the very fact of the tsar's abdication that was terrible, no - that was not the main thing! The danger was in the very idea of \u200b\u200bthe destruction of the monarchy, the disappearance of the figure of the Monarch himself. Transfer power to Nikolai to his son and, having sworn allegiance to the new sovereign, the Russian people would continue to faithfully serve the tsar and the homeland. But now the king is gone, and it will be seen more and will not be. With this, the very idea of \u200b\u200bpower fell, all obligations binding it disappeared in the concept of the people, and with all that, these obligations were not replaced by anything appropriate.
So he spoke, and Krymov ardently objected to this, that all this had already happened in history during the Great French Revolution. Then the army, thanks to the coup, found a new breath and very quickly scattered all enemies and even gave birth to the genius of Napoleon. And so it will be now in Russia! Krymov sincerely continued to believe that this was a coup, and not the beginning of all-Russian turmoil. So they argued, until the early Chisinau dawn.
Then there was the reading of both manifestos in front of the troops. And everything was as Wrangel had foreseen. What happened can be summed up in one word - bewilderment. The officers, like the soldiers, were puzzled and depressed, even seemed to be quiet. Krymov then, on the contrary, shone with optimism. From him the baron also learned the composition of the Provisional Government. He especially praised the War Minister Guchkov, whom he knew personally.
Oh, Alexander Ivanovich is a statesman, he knows the army as well as you and I - the general smiled, and his mood was noticeably going uphill.
Wrangel, on the other hand, was filled with bad expectations. Reading newspapers was also pessimistic. The names of the Duma leaders stood in line, but it was not clear who, by virtue of their personality and character, would hold on to power and curb the rearing Russia. Who will put in place the newly formed Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies, not elected by anyone, but brazenly crawling into all the power gaps. Then Order No. 1 appeared ...
As if in a fog, the baron passed the guard at the entrance to the Tauride Palace. For the last "imperial" visit to Petrograd, one had to thank Krymov, "thank you" for today's trip was again by his right. Exactly two days ago, the general asked to come to him immediately.
I ask you, Baron, to leave for Petersburg today, ”he said shortly and dryly on the phone.
And at a personal meeting, emotions surged over the edge. Throwing off his tunic, he sat at the writing table, and around him on the table, chairs and floor lay a row of crumpled newspapers.
They are crazy! There, the devil knows what is being done - said General Krymov - I do not recognize Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov. I just don't understand how he can allow all this. I wrote him a letter. Just like that, without a call, I cannot leave the division. Therefore, Pyotr Nikolaevich, I ask you to go and see the Minister of War.
And he began to read his letter to Guchkov. It said that the army should be outside politics, that those who touch this army are committing a crime in front of their homeland. After all, death threatens the army, and with it the whole of Russia. Wrangel listened in silence, he agreed with every word, with every comma. With the only difference that such an outcome was clear to him even on the first day, when the manifestos of renunciation were read. But he did not say this to Krymov, because the commander of the Ussuri Cavalry Division, in the middle of reading, suddenly grabbed his head with both hands and burst into tears. That same evening, Wrangel left for Petrograd.
Today he went to the Minister of the Provisional Government at the Tauride Palace. But not to Minister of War Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov, but to Pavel Nikolayevich Milyukov, Minister of Foreign Affairs. This was not exactly what Krymov asked him to do, but it didn't work out better. Guchkov was not in the city, the baron left his address, asking to notify when the Minister of War would return. A day later, Milyukov invited him to his place ...
The minister's office was on the second floor. When Wrangel entered, Miliukov rose to meet him and with a smile sat him down in an armchair.
Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov is absent, - he said - but we keep in touch with him every day. I can forward your letter to him, and I will also try to convey to him exactly everything that you would like to tell me.
The Baron opened his folder and put General Krymov's letter on the table. Perhaps that was enough, but having traveled so long, he could not help but express his thoughts.
The latest orders in the army are shaking discipline and creating a chasm between officers and soldiers - Wrangel began - Now, at the present moment, when firm discipline is especially necessary, when the fate of the country is being decided, everything must be done to strengthen it. The army is, first of all, discipline. It emanates from bosses to subordinates, and if the prestige of the latter is not maintained, everything will collapse. A soldier has no right, should not reason. He must obey implicitly!
It is difficult for you to argue, General - replied the minister. But it was evident from his face that the baron had stepped on a very painful callus.
Let me then know what the requirement of discipline “only in the ranks” means? In this form, it is harmful and meaningless. You cannot be a half soldier, you cannot follow military rules only in battle.
Wrangel looked at Milyukov's smart, sleek face and tried to imagine him in a dirty, smelly trench, splashed with mud and human blood.
Now the war and we are all warriors, and officers, and soldiers, wherever we are: in the trenches, in the reserve, or in the deep rear - we are all the time, are on duty and are in the ranks. Or should a warrior listen to his commander only during a bayonet attack, and while sleeping in a dugout he is free to do as he wants? A soldier on the front line has no time, no strength for anything other than the war itself. A good soldier has neither political, nor general civil, nor private life about which you write in your orders. This is not for trench veterans, but for snotty chatterboxes who have chosen warm rear places for themselves. All these "freedoms" will be used only by scum and scum. Those that now stagger the streets of the capital!
The minister listened attentively, all the while making notes in his notebook.
What you say is very interesting, I will definitely convey all this to Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov. However, I must note that the information that we have, what we hear here from representatives of the army, illuminates the issue in a slightly different way.
It is possible, - answered Wrangel, - but let me ask you what representatives of the army you would like to talk about. About those who sit on the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies, who were elected and appointed by someone unknown, or about those whom I just saw on the streets of the city, decorated with red bows. Believe me, of the good officers and soldiers in St. Petersburg now there are only those who are in the infirmaries, and they can hardly be your informants.
Of course, I do not presume to judge, - Milyukov smiled - Be sure, I will accurately convey to the Minister of War everything that you said.
The minister leaned back to his notebook. A sleek face, a well-fed look, a clean shirt and an expensive suit. At that moment, Wrangel realized that for this gentleman, everything that he was telling him here was just information. No more valuable than the one that demagogues and deserters, hung with red bows, will present to Miliukov. Then he, along with Guchkov, after a hearty dinner, will talk for a long time about what is harmful and what is useful for the Russian soldier. Discuss and exchange views.
The notebook has closed. Miliukov raised his eyes. General Wrangel was already at the door. Stopping for a second, he clicked his heels loudly and tilted his head. And then he silently walked out the door ...
A few days after the publication of the ominous Order No. 1, its contents were known throughout the army. Then the government tried to explain that it applies only to the Petrograd garrison, and not to the entire army. In vain - it was impossible to drive back the gin into the bottle!
Those responsible for the death of the Russian army can be named directly by their names. These are members of the Petrograd Soviet, who wrote the text of the order, Yu.M. Steklov (Nakhamkes) and N.D. Sokolov. The War Minister Guchkov is to blame, everyone who was part of the government and scribbly wrote in their notebooks is to blame. But Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky is to blame more than others. After all, he was a member of the Council that wrote and issued the order, he was a minister of the government, which had the ability to strangle in the bud the catalyst for the decomposition of its own army. Kerensky could have prevented all this twice ! But he did not, but on the contrary helped the order to be born, although it is not difficult to foresee its consequences. No army can live by such rules. Even the most ardent "supporters" of Order No. 1, the Bolsheviks, used it only as a tool to seize power and disintegrate the old army. As soon as they came to power, they began to create a new Red Army, with a new discipline. More precisely, with a well-forgotten old one - execution for disobedience. The army is subordination, a clear hierarchy, where orders are carried out without question. There will be no discipline and no armed force, but there will be a huge discussion club. It is obvious. Another thing seems incomprehensible. It was not Lenin and Trotsky who published and distributed Order No. 1, it was not the Bolsheviks who initiated it. Others did it. So, why did the Provisional Government fail to understand that it was impossible to win a war with such an army? Did the idealistic patriots understand military affairs even less than ours?
For the further collapse of the country, it was necessary, first of all, to disintegrate the army - conscious and disciplined, it could instantly suppress any centers of anti-state actions
Here is the answer to all the questions at once. Kerensky justified himself: “someone alone, or some group, the authenticity of which still remains a mystery,” issued this order, and the Russian army was destroyed. And I, Kerensky - white and fluffy! He is simultaneously in two power structures and does not know anything about the origin of this document! But for us it is not so important who published it. Suppose that everything dark and anti-Russian came from the Petrograd Soviet, and its member Kerensky simply did not go to the meetings, but somewhere he was having a show with lovely ladies. Nothing changes from this. Then we will have to admit that this gentleman also did not appear at the meetings of the Provisional Government. Let us recall the "Declaration of the Provisional Government on its composition and tasks on March 3, 1917". After all, it says practically the same thing, democratic freedoms are introduced in the army, in other words, the army begins to engage in politics and listen to the one whose language is better suspended. Kerensky is trying to relieve himself and his colleagues of responsibility for the collapse of the army, but he does it very awkwardly.
But only Order No. 1 did not end there. The Russian army was too strong to be destroyed in one sitting. Therefore, after the first, Order No. 2 appears, which clarified that its predecessor did not establish the election of officers, but only allowed the committees to object to the appointment of chiefs. After its publication, no one in the army could really figure out how the leadership of the Russian armed force was carried out. The Germans beat our army for almost three years, but they could not achieve chaos and disorganization. In three days this was done by several Social Democrats and Socialist-Revolutionaries, together with the Provisional Government. But even this was not enough for them, so on March 6, Minister of War Guchkov arranged a meeting with a delegation from the Soviet of Deputies at his apartment. It ended with an agreement that canceled both orders! As a result, everyone in our army could decide for himself which order is closer to him and build service in accordance with his spirit.
The logic of the actions of the Provisional Government can only be understood if you imagine that their only goal was to destroy all the foundations of statehood and create unimaginable chaos. The embodiment of the "union" plan to destroy Russia.
Throwing away the verbal husk about naive democrats who accidentally ruined the country, you get the dry residue: clear, systematic actions to break up Russia. In order to destroy any power, it is necessary to destroy those hoops that hold it together. They are always the same:
- army;
- police and other law enforcement agencies;
- the state apparatus of the country management.
It is at these key points that the Provisional Government strikes immediately after coming to power.
Several blows were delivered to the army, the first of which was an ominous order. The decision to attack is now made at a meeting, and a strict officer can simply be sent ... sorry, removed. Since there is freedom of speech, you are welcome to the military units, comrade agitators. Tell the soldiers how the platform of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries differs from the program of the Right, describe to them all the delights of anarchism. Really interesting? And if the commander says something about discipline, we will immediately remove him, the tsar's satrap!
Try it, command the crowd of screaming and insolent soldiers, each of whom sympathizes with some party. So far, officers were rarely killed, but the attitude towards them became wary, and with the coming to power of the Bolsheviks, the extermination of command personnel became widespread.
The next blow is dealt to the state mechanism: the destruction of the administrative vertical of power begins. No sooner had Nikolai renounced, as two days later changes have already poured in. We started as expected: the Council of Ministers was renamed the Provisional Government. The Ministry of the Imperial Palace and Fates was abolished, and the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) were quickly cut out of it. But if you think that the latter dealt only with thieves and murderers, then you will be deeply mistaken, because the new Ministry of Internal Affairs was also baked about palaces! In March, the indefatigable rebuilders set up the Legal Meeting. He was charged with the responsibility of giving "preliminary legal opinions" on government measures. Instead of the Main Directorate for Press Affairs, the All-Russian Book Chamber and Press Review Bureau were created in April. Under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in the second half of March, a Department for Local Government Affairs will be formed to manage the activities of the Provisional Government Commissioners. On March 25, 1917, a Special Conference on local reform was established, which prepared legislative acts on commissars, militia, zemstvos, etc. That's where all these commissars, Special conferences and other "Bolshevik" joys come from!
To make you fully understand the level of chaos that has reigned in Russia, I will add that on March 5, the Provisional Government abolished the entire Russian administration with one stroke of the pen , those. fired all governors and vice governors ... The head of the government, Prince Lvov, simply sent a circular addressed to the governors themselves: “The Provisional Government recognized it necessary to temporarily remove the governor and vice-governor from their duties in these positions. Governance of provinces is entrusted to the chairmen of zemstvo councils as provincial commissars of the Provisional Government ... The chairmen of uyezd zemstvo administrations are entrusted with the duties of uyezd commissioners ... ”.
And all this was abolished in one moment. Suddenly. No clarification or preparation. When representatives of the old and new administrations came from the provinces to Petrograd and tried to get at least some instructions and details, they invariably received from the head of the government, Prince G.E. Lvov's categorical refusal: “This is a question of the old psychology. The Provisional Government removed the old governors, and will not appoint anyone. In places they will choose. Such issues should be resolved not from the center, but by the population itself. "
Can you imagine how much effort is needed to build a new state machine? Perestroika in the USSR began in 1985, but the state still cannot come to its senses. And here all these colossal transformations take place in a matter of days, and even the leaders of the country are actually removed from business: choose yourself, and we will not appoint anyone ! The result is clear - chaos is inevitable. And all this during the war, with the army, where the commanders are removed, and their orders are discussed at rallies! Are you still wondering why Russia has so quickly turned into a huge field of chaos and anarchy?
Here a cold sweat began to break through those who a week ago stood in the forefront of the new "democratic" government. The optimist Rodzianko, who persuaded Mikhail Romanov to abdicate on March 3, is again engaged in persuasion two days later. This time the chairman of the Provisional Government, Prince Lvov. Rodzianko proves the entire perniciousness of the order to abolish the local administration, but no one is listening to him. After all, he did not become a member of the government, and the Provisional Committee of the State Duma was virtually liquidated: the majority of the deputies either stopped visiting the Tavrichesky Palace or fled the capital altogether. Now Mikhail Vladimirovich Rodzianko is no longer needed by anyone. The Moor did his job and can calmly observe how the Provisional Government makes pre-planned "random mistakes." Moreover, its head showed incredible optimism. “We can consider ourselves the happiest people; our generation has fallen into the happiest period of Russian history, ”says Prince Lvov on April 27, 1917, at a solemn jubilee meeting of four Dumas. His words seem terribly idiocy when you remember that October will happen in six months. No, the head of government was not a complete fool. It's just that his "happiness" is of a completely different kind! The happiest people in the coming years will be all those who need to see Russia destroyed and destroyed ...
All the reforms initiated by the Provisional Government could lead to only one result - disaster. All statements that they wanted "the best, but it turned out, as always" do not withstand even the slightest criticism. They knew what they were doing. Problems in the country began at once in all areas. Everywhere the newly minted revolutionaries managed to poke their heads. Angrily condemning the ineffectiveness of the tsarist government, making the lack of bread a pretext for a change of power, "temporary workers" already in the first month of their rule, introduced a rationing system in March. In June, ration cards were given for bread, as well as cereals and sugar. From July 1, the rationing system was extended to meat, butter, eggs and other products.
The most offensive thing is that all the difficulties were artificially created and absolutely unnecessary, there was no practical sense in this. After all, the government TEMPORARY ! If the Constituent Assembly decides to reintroduce the monarchy, so that again to rebuild the entire power vertical? Not a single state can stand this. For example, the Soviet Union could not stand it. Although perestroika in the USSR began in peacetime, and the Germans did not stand on the approaches to Riga, and millions of men did not languish in the trenches.
But maybe the old government apparatus could sabotage the decisions of the new government, and therefore it was necessary to replace it. No, there was no point in restructuring the mechanism of power for these reasons. Nobody threatened the interim government inside the country, it was absolutely legitimate authority ... The tsar abdicated, his brother Michael was waiting for the decision of the Constituent Assembly, which actually meant the same thing. Almost all the highest military personnel betrayed their sovereign, there was no one to restore the old regime. The "allies" also supported the coup. Why change the entire state apparatus?
There can be only one answer: to create chaos.
"The police must be reorganized into the police," the Provisional Government wrote in a circular addressed to the governors to be removed. But why? How is the police different from the police? Here is a man at the end of the twentieth century, maybe with difficulty this question, and answered, but imagine the bewilderment of the Russian governors brought up in the nineteenth century. How long does it take to create at least one new "people's" militia? You know? I don't, but I think it will take a long time. A very long time. And the grown uncles from the Provisional Government did not understand this? So why is the new government trying to reshape the entire state machine, which has been taking shape for centuries, literally in a matter of days? Where are they in such a hurry?
Kerensky sent his first order as Minister of Justice by telegraph 2 March 1917 ... In its harmfulness, it could compete with Order No. 1: prosecutors were ordered release all political prisoners and convey greetings to them on behalf of the new government. Let's pay attention to the date again: Kerensky signed his first order right on the day of renunciation Emperor Nicholas II. The date of the abdication of the Russian monarch not only has a day and a month, but also an exact hour and minute: March 2, 1917, 15:00. 5 minutes. “The Provisional Government was created on the evening of March 2,” all history textbooks write. Let's just count.
Information about the long-awaited renunciation was, of course, immediately telegraphed to Petrograd and communicated to the Duma conspirators. But even in the best case scenario:
If government lists are ready in advance;
If everything is agreed;
If information arrives without delay,
then the Provisional Government could be created between 16.00 and 17.00 hours. Previously, nothing. After that, mutual congratulations and hugs should have followed. Let's put on joy another 30 minutes. So at 17.00-17.30 Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky ran urgently to the telegraph to send your first decree on amnesty! And he couldn't wait until morning?
No, it was impossible to wait until morning. On the morning of the next day, Kerensky set off to procure the abdication of Mikhail Romanov in favor of the Provisional Government. And although the Grand Duke was a weak-willed subject, it was impossible to 100% guarantee that this would happen ! Therefore, harmful regulations must be adopted as quickly as possible, then it may not work out. As with Order No. 1, published the day before ...
All those who detonated bombs in the midst of the crowd in 1905, who killed the police and military, who disrupted military supplies, rallies and strikes, they were all now released. With apologies! And with tickets bought at public expense. Many heroes of the future Russian turmoil were in a hurry to leave their places of detention on these days. For example, the modest anarchist Nestor Ivanovich Makhno. “With the conviction that freedom, free labor, equality and solidarity will triumph over slavery under the yoke of the state and capital, I left the gate of the Butyrka prison on March 2, 1917,” he writes in his memoirs.
Ekaterina Konstantinovna Breshkovskaya-Breshko, the notorious "grandmother" of the Russian revolution, one of the organizers and leaders of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, is not just leaving the place of exile in Minusinsk. To return to Moscow, she was provided with a special separate carriage! She was so exhausted, collecting money in the USA for the first revolution. They were used to buy weapons, and no one will ever know how many people were killed from it. But now the time is different - not just naive democrats are in power, but deliberate destroyers of the country, therefore their imprisoned comrades-in-arms are released with honor. "Grandma", for example, after her release will live ... in the Winter Palace! Grateful Breshkovskaya-Breshko, constantly traveled around the country and helped to finally fool the heads of the population. She especially admired Kerensky, of course. This "worthy of worthy citizens of the Russian land, ... a citizen who, with his resolute and courageous word and manner of action, saved Russia in the revolutionary days of the February coup," the "grandmother" simply adored.
But not every liberated person was met by Alexander Fedorovich at the station with a bouquet of lush roses. In addition to the political amnesty, a general amnesty was declared in Russia on March 6. Thousands of thieves and raiders, nicknamed by the people "Kerensky's chicks", were at large. They also get the right to free travel to their place of residence "by any class". When you are amazed at the inhuman atrocities of the Russian Civil War, remember who released those murderers and murderers who would join the ranks of the warring parties. The criminals are released the very next day after the liquidation of the police. Purely by chance of course ...
The leaders of the new Russia are working tirelessly. On March 3, 1917, the institute of justices of the peace was reorganized: local courts began to be formed of three members, a judge and two assessors. The next day, the Supreme Criminal Court, the special presences of the Government Senate, the Chambers of Justice and the District Courts were abolished. It is not enough for them to release the terrorists, it is not enough to return all political emigrants, they lack amnesty for criminals. The collapse of the judicial system is also insufficient. Here are 7 - On March 1st, Kerensky went to Moscow, where he met with members of the Moscow Soviet of Workers' Deputies and representatives of various public organizations. Alexander Fedorovich told them that "in the near future the government will publish a decree abolishing the death penalty for political crimes, and all such cases will henceforth be subject to a jury trial." No sooner said than done. On March 12, the government will abolish the death penalty not only for political, but also for criminal and military crimes! From now on, German spies and deserters, thieves and rapists cannot be executed - freedom is raging in the country! Freedom to betray, steal and kill. Now all defeatist emigrants, all agents of the enemy can return to Russia - after all, counterintelligence has been abolished in the freest country! Whom does it disturb? This question can be answered immediately: the bodies, whose main job is to fight against spies and traitors, interfere with traitors and spies. The situation on the fronts is very difficult. A terrible war is going on, the enemy is advancing. It is in this situation that the Provisional Government amnesties and returns all political exiles and criminal convicts, abolishes the police and the gendarme corps. Isn't that so - strange actions, very smack of high treason.
Later, at the end of his days, Kerensky wrote, defining the main achievements of the Provisional Government headed by him in the transformation of Russia: “The independence of courts and judges was established. All “special” courts were eliminated and all “political” or state security cases were now subject to jury trial, like all ordinary criminal cases ”.
Well, to be sure, well done. Cases “related to state security” are treated as ordinary criminal cases. On a first come, first served basis, by jury. You do not like the faces of the jury, you can give them a challenge, ask others. Then appeal the verdict, and then you look, and the power will change! Aleksandr Fyodorovich was clearly modest - it is not necessary to write about his contribution to transformations, but about his personal, huge contribution to the October Revolution!
But if you, dear readers, think that an emptiness has come to Russian prisons when declaring complete freedom, you are deeply mistaken. The Bolshevik agitators who called for defeat came out, and "reactionaries", that is to say, went to replace them. those who remained faithful to the oath and who hated the mess that reigned in the country. The arrests began immediately, even before the king's abdication. According to the recollections of one deputy: "A number of members of the Duma are exclusively engaged in releasing those arrested ... The Duma turned to a huge precinct ... with the difference that earlier policemen were dragging to the precinct, and now they are dragging policemen ... There are a lot of arrested."
Until the disbanded police became the people's militia, all those arrested had to wait patiently in prison. And the new government was vigilant to ensure that none of the old "tsarist" campaigners remained in the service. So sit there while they recruit new employees, while they appoint them, while the investigator reads the papers, while he sorts it out. So, that long sitting on the investigation is not a modern invention at all. For example, the Kronstadt naval officers arrested during February and imprisoned in casemates were easily imprisoned from March 2 to June 7! Only on that day did the commission of inquiry begin its actions, which was supposed to sort out their cases.
And again, remember that the government was TEMPORARY ! Will the Constituent Assembly decide to reintroduce the monarchy, to dissolve the people's militia again and to create the police again? Wouldn't it have been easier with all the innovations to wait for its convocation, wouldn't it have been wiser?
All the actions of the new government seem strange only if you forget about its true goal.Having created complete confusion in the management system, the Provisional Government began to create a conflict situation in the most delicate issue of the Russian revolution - the land issue. Three weeks after the fall of the monarchy, the Main Land Office was created. The interim government declared land reform “in accordance with the new needs of the economy, with the wishes of the majority of peasants and the programs of all democratic parties. The need for reform was declared, the essence, and the timing of its implementation was postponed until the decision of the Constituent Assembly. In other words, having said "A", "B" the government did not speak. The only concrete step was the withdrawal to the treasury of lands belonging to the deposed monarch, which took place on March 12. Four days later, the lands of all the other Romanovs were requisitioned, most of them so happy about the fall of the one who covered them with his crown from all everyday adversities. This concludes the concrete land reform cases.
In the conditions of permissiveness and lawlessness that gripped the country, everyone began to act as they saw fit. The result was a spontaneous, massive seizure of private land and the rampant of the most ordinary banditry. At the instigation of the left-wing extremist parties, the destruction of the landowners' estates began. Many peasants, instead of working, began to fight and fight with each other all day, keeping an eye on who seized what land. Bolshevik propaganda will fall into the already prepared soil. But did the government do nothing in response to the pogrom movements? The fact of the matter is that all the vigorous activity of the Provisional Government pursued completely different goals. It issued formidable circulars sent to the provincial commissars, with strict instructions to restore order. But these orders were not carried out, since the local authorities had no real power to enforce the orders. In addition, in an effort to gain popularity among the masses, especially among the peasantry, the government often turned a blind eye to many cases of illegal actions, calling on private landowners to peace and harmony in the countryside.
"Black" redistribution of land, boomerang hit and discipline in the army. This topic was immediately taken up by German propaganda. "Go home - said the German leaflets - They divide the land, and you may be late!" Many soldiers believed and deserted.
Following agriculture, a conflict situation was carefully created in industry. Literally a couple of weeks after coming to power, the Provisional Government, together with the Petrograd Soviet, forced the main capitalists in the capital to sign agreements on the introduction of an 8-hour working day. Like everything that the "allied" puppets did, their good intentions and the right actions had a double bottom. This wonderful gesture to defend workers' rights, along with a set of similar impossible in a war changes, very quickly led to the fact that ... all of Russia stopped working and began to fight for their rights.
“Everyone began to strike recklessly: laundresses have been on strike for several weeks, clerks, clerks, accountants, municipal, trade, hospital employees - often headed by doctors - dock workers, steamer servants ... Now the Donetsk basin has risen - this is already worse. And the worst thing is the deal with the railroad workers. I can tell you that nothing more and nothing less than a general railroad strike is approaching us, ”says V.M. Chernov is his party colleague Gotz. And everything he said was completely true. Forgetting that the war was in the yard all at once began to demand an increase in wages. Of course, the standard of living in the country was going down, and the demands of the strikers were fair - but not during the World War! Collective selfishness plus a complete lack of power in the country led the Russian economy to collapse incredibly quickly. Instead of tough measures, the Provisional Government produced commissions. One of them, led by G.V. Plekhanov examined the demands of the railroad strikers. Once their general strike in 1905 led Nicholas II to the need for concessions, in 1917 the fate of the front and the country hangs in the balance. The results of the work of the Plekhanov commission are indicative: new rates of payment were developed, based on the price index. The information was reported to the government. It was horrified and refused. Fair, but impossible - no money for it. Why was this whole business started? To rock the situation. How else to explain the further actions of the "temporary workers". The railroad workers are going to strike because they are not given money. But the authorities cannot prohibit the strike either. This is not democratic!
"A general strike during the war was a monstrous thing," Chernov writes further. "But the prohibition of strikes by the authority of the authorities, when its own commission established that the workers were not provided with an elementary minimum of life, was a monstrous thing." Theater of the absurd, and only ...
Society was rapidly falling into anarchy, with different parts of it increasingly hating each other. Entrepreneurs shouted about the insatiable workers and threatened mass layoffs. The workers protested in response, talking about the huge war profits and the monstrous savings of their masters. The fire of the Civil War had not yet flared up, but the firewood had already been decomposed and even carefully watered with gasoline.
The most sane members of the Provisional Government saw the impending thunderstorm and tried to resist it. True, in a very peculiar way - simply by resigning. The “fork” followed the “fork”: honest and decent people (that is, not familiar with the “union” plan of destroying the country) left the Provisional Government, the scoundrels remained. This rotation lasted until the overthrow. Therefore, when we are looking for those responsible for the collapse of Russia, we can only look at the lists of government members from beginning to end. Everything immediately falls into place. The fact is surprising and easily verifiable:
From the very first composition of the Provisional Government, only (!) Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky remained in its last composition. All the rest left or were removed when at various stages they interfered with leading the country to disaster.
But let us return to the strange behavior of the government in relations between workers and owners. The absurdity of the situation was obvious to all sane people. On May 10, representatives of heavy industry attended the government meeting. This is metallurgy and metal processing, the backbone of any economy.
“Under the current conditions, the industrialists said, the factories cannot continue to work. Industrialists have to pay for their labor not at the expense of income, but at the expense of fixed capital, which will be spent in a short time, and then the enterprises will have to be liquidated, ”tells us the head of the cadets P.N. Milyukov. Pay attention: the Provisional Government has been in power for only two months, and the question of liquidating the basic sectors of the economy is already being raised! Impact "work", there is nothing to say.
What's the problem? As always, in money. For example, in the Donetsk region, 18 metallurgical enterprises owned a fixed capital of 195 million rubles. and had a gross profit of 75 million rubles. per year and dividends of 18 million rubles., and the workers demanded a wage increase of 240 million rubles. per year from the existing rates.
“Industrialists agreed to increase wages by 64 million. But the workers do not want to hear about it. Nor do they agree to the owners' proposed concession of all profits. They say: let the enterprise go to the state ... But the state cannot pay workers to the detriment of the further existence of the enterprise, ”P.N. Milyukov.
Already in May, talks about the nationalization of industry begin! Does this thought remind you of anything? That's right, this is the Bolshevik program, this is their slogan "Factories - to workers!" Who is introducing this idea into the masses of the workers? Lenin? No, Kerensky! After all, he is one of the leading members of the Petrograd Soviet, we just know him much more for his activities in the government. Here is Lev Davydovich Trotsky in his biography "My Life" kindly lists the leaders of this council for us: “I knew little Tsereteli, I did not know Kerensky at all. Chkheidze knew better, Skobelev was my student, I fought with Chernov more than once on foreign reports, I saw Gots for the first time. It was the ruling Soviet democracy group. " It is the Council where Alexander Fyodorovich sits and offers its own way of solving the problem, forcing Lenin to be a pitiful plagiarist.
At the conference of factory committees and councils of the elders of Petrograd on May 30, 1917, the words were heard for the first time: “The way to salvation from catastrophe of all economic life lies only in the establishment of real workers' control over the production and distribution of products ... Workers control must be immediately developed into a complete settlement production and distribution of products by workers. " From here to the dictatorship of the proletariat is not even a step, but a half step. And it's only May! Lenin is delighted with this document: "The program is magnificent," he wrote, "and control, and the nationalization of trusts, and the fight against speculation, and labor conscription ...".
Kerensky in the Council, together with everyone else, agrees with the clearly extremist proposals, and he himself in the government creates the ground for discontent by inaction and sabotage of clearly necessary government measures. Such as a ban on strikes, and a moratorium on increasing wages until the victorious end of the war. But the fact of the matter is that if Russia tightens its belts tighter, and its army is not infected with Order No. 1, then the war will end in 1917! The victory of the "allies" and Russia! But the British and French do not need such a victory, the capital of the United States is not going to enter the war in May 1917 for this. Therefore, exactly what Russia needs, Kerensky and company will not do.
The workers of the Petrograd Soviet are engaged in open demagoguery. Skobelev, Chernov, Tsereteli point out that "industrialists must give up profits and dividends not only for the current year, but also for the past years." The phrase is beautiful, and the consequences are predictable and very familiar to the modern Russian economy. Persuading a person to part with money is possible only in one case: if he is on death row. This is how the Bolsheviks will seize capital. They will achieve unprecedented success in this field. The Provisional Government can only persuade, as a result, Russian capital flowed abroad, and the purchase of foreign currency increased sharply in the country. The less patient and more cautious began to withdraw assets abroad. Where? Mainly to the "allies": to England and France, a smaller part to Switzerland and the USA.
There was nothing like such idiocy in any warring country. Everywhere the government tightly controlled the sphere of the economy, suppressing the selfishness of all social groups and directing the common energy of the nation towards one goal - victory.
“You should know - said the Secretary of Labor of Great Britain, Arthur Henderson - that all industry, all work on supplying the army has been taken under strict control by the British government. And we in England have almost no conflicts with the workers under the control of industrialists. All the demands of the workers are considered by the state, and it, if it finds it possible to satisfy them, satisfies ... When the war began, we suggested that the workers temporarily abandon the struggle for their rights, and in the name of the interests of the state they refused. There was a time when workers worked seven days a week, knowing no holidays or rest ».
This is as it should be if a nation strives for victory. This was the case in all democratic countries. But Russia has become “the freest country”. Purely by chance , sure.
Seeing a sad prospect, the Minister of Trade and Industry, progressistA.I. Konovalov, resigns."There could be hope for the prevention of a crisis," he said, "only if the government finally showed real fullness of power: if, after three months of experience, it took the path of broken and trampled discipline."
A little later, at the congress of the military-industrial committees in Moscow on May 17, he was even more frank: “ An anti-state tendency that disguises its true essence with demagogic slogans is leading Russia to catastrophe. The Bolsheviks were just beginning to gain strength - the orator is not talking about them, he is talking about the Provisional Government! And, perhaps, you can't say better. However, historians never ask why the ministers see their light only on the eve of their resignation, and why those who remain do not hear the voices of their departed colleagues.
But the most terrible damage was caused by the policy of the Provisional Government to the souls of the Russian people. They say that the rebirth of our people took place under the influence of the Bolshevik ideology. This is not true - in just six months of their activity, Kerensky and the campaign managed to completely disintegrate the peasantry, workers and soldiers. Lenin only completed what they had begun. After all, it is a well-known fact that unprecedented popularity came to Vladimir Ilyich precisely after his return from emigration in April the seventeenth. Until that time, his ideas did not cause such a stormy enthusiasm among the masses. This is the result of the activities of the Provisional Government. In a short time, it managed to arouse hatred for everything related to the former structure of the Russian state, and the state itself too. This was achieved through the most unbridled propaganda, launched immediately after coming to power. The informational blow was dealt to the Russian Empire, which was presented in the press as a monstrous "prison of peoples". An excellent means of this was the compromise of the monarchist idea, by smearing the royal family with mud. The Independent Press launched an extensive campaign to discredit the former emperor and his wife. In illustrated colorful magazines printed unimaginable obscenity on the royal family with Rasputin.
As if by a wave of the wand of an invisible director, the tone of the publications sharply changes in relation to all the other Romanovs. Moreover, not only in the capital and Moscow press, where the most talented "independent" journalists work, but throughout the country. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich noticed the change while reading the Kiev newspapers: “The moment came when the destruction of the tsar's monuments no longer satisfied the crowd. Overnight, the Kiev press radically changed its attitude towards our family .
The whole dynasty must be drowned in mud, - one well-known journalist exclaimed on the pages of the widespread Kiev newspaper, and they began throwing mud at us. It was no longer said about the liberalism of my brother, Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, or about the kindness of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich. We all suddenly turned into “Romanovs, enemies of the revolution and the Russian people ».
"Fantastic and at times completely unworthy descriptions began to appear in various newspapers, even in those that until the last day of the old regime were the" semi-official "voice of the government and benefited from their loyalty to the crown." This was said, not by some inveterate monarchist, but by Kerensky himself. Apparently, they began to write IS that even he could not stand it and was indignant. Anyone who is even a little familiar with the activities of the press knows perfectly well that, having money, you can publish whatever you like. The budget allocated by the Schiffs and other private sponsors of our revolution was combined with the financial resources of the Western intelligence services. So the newspapers printed "the pure truth", and then the government in the person of Kerensky frowned bashfully - they overdid it. But, as in the case with Order No. 1, Kerensky lies and maneuvers in describing all his actions.
Investigator Sokolov, who will have a hard lot to investigate the death of the Romanov family, spoke well of Kerensky's own duplicity and attitude to the tsar: in the dwelling of the Sovereign Emperor, carrying in his soul a certain conviction of a judge, confident in the guilt of the Sovereign Emperor and Empress Empress before the Motherland. While concealing such feelings in his soul, Mr. Kerensky at the same time deliberately tried to emphasize his generosity and his nobility in the form of pronounced correctness. "
Alexander Fyodorovich behaves strangely, as if he is trying to fulfill someone's order. At all costs, find evidence and accuse, dirty the king and queen. And together, take off to trample into the mud the entire Russian monarchy! This feature of the future head of Russia is also noticed by the White Guard investigator: “This was mainly the conviction of Mr. Kerensky. Far from wanting to resort to any straining in the conclusions in such a case, the investigating authorities are ready to admit that Mr. Kerensky was only mistaken, although such mistakes in his position seem strange: an experienced skillful lawyer, all the time posing as a sufferer according to popular truth, Mr. Kerensky, as a professional lawyer, could not help but know that any conviction must be based on facts. He did exactly the opposite: he first formed a certain conviction for himself, and then tried to find the facts " .
Decomposition the country went so fast that already under the Provisional Government began and Decay!First of all, the army began to disintegrate into component parts. Even before February, some national units were created: Latvian battalions, a Caucasian native division, a Serbian corps. After the coup, the process of nationalization of the army took on an avalanche-like character. First, the Czechoslovak corps was formed, and then everyone began to demand the formation of their "armies"! Try, deny this to loud national-revolutionaries! The officers are overwhelmed, the command is confused and does not know how to force the soldiers to obey orders. Therefore, General Brusilov and allowed the creation of the "Ukrainian regiment named after Hetman Mazepa." The "Ukrainization" of the army immediately began - the soldiers had an excellent reason for refusing to be sent to the front: "Let's go to the Ukrainian ensign!"
Dashing trouble began, and already at the end of the summer of 1917 there was a struggle for the Black Sea Fleet! About half of the non-Ukrainian sailors were decommissioned from the ships Volia and Memory of Mercury, and Ukrainian national flags were raised instead of Andreevsky. The Naval Minister Rear Admiral Verderevsky, on October 16, sent the Central Rada to Kiev a telegram with the following content: “Raising a flag other than the Russian flag on the Black Sea Fleet ships is an unacceptable act of separatism, since the Black Sea Fleet is the fleet of the Russian Republic, supported by the state treasury. I consider it your moral duty to explain this to the enthusiastic crews of the Black Sea Fleet. " Two more weeks will pass and the admiral, together with the entire government, will go to the casemates of Petropavlovka, and the Central Rada will soon announce the separation of Ukraine from Russia. It will be later, already under the Bolsheviks, but the roots of all this were laid by the democratic Provisional Government.
Against the background of the complete disintegration of the armed force, the number of apparatchiks increased sharply. In the War Office alone, the number of bureaucrats has more than tripled. Finance Minister Nekrasov was forced to declare at a state meeting in Moscow that "not a single period of Russian history, not a single tsarist government was so generous in its spending as the government of revolutionary Russia." Well, this is easy to understand if you remember that generous gentlemen in a very short period of time will find themselves in Paris and Berlin, and some in New York. There, after all, you have to live on something, so they cleaned up the treasury, as best they could.
Simultaneously with the disintegration of the army, the territorial disintegration of the country began. This is how it usually starts. First, people must feel their own difference from others, their neighbors. When they have felt it enough, it will be very easy to break up the multinational Russian army into numerous national troops and play them against each other. The huge Russian Empire would then disintegrate into numerous national states, hostile to each other, and especially to Russia. This is what our "allies" need, and it will be so. London and Paris will race to recognize the "young" states, stubbornly refusing to recognize the Russian governments fighting the Bolsheviks.
All this horror began under the Provisional Government, and under the Bolsheviks it only reached its logical development. Poland and Finland demanded independence. The independence of the first was agreed to be recognized by the Provisional Government after the war, the second was denied self-determination and the Finns would be released by Lenin. By September, the situation in Turkestan heated up, so much so that force had to be used to restore order. The aggravated issue with the Black Sea Fleet began in March 1917, when a number of political parties and organizations in Ukraine convened the Central Rada. In May, she decided to press the Provisional Government to immediately proclaim the principle of the national-territorial autonomy of Ukraine. It was assumed that it should have included eight Ukrainian provinces, as well as the territory of the southern coast of Crimea, some districts of Kursk, Voronezh, Bessarabian provinces, Don region and Kuban with a predominantly Ukrainian population.
The signs of a future catastrophe were already there. But the Provisional Government only issued "strange" orders and did nothing to prevent the death of the country. Irakli Tsereteli, the leader of the Mensheviks, an active member of the Petrograd Soviet, the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs of one of the members of this government, had an excellent sense of humor. After the October Revolution, he led independent Georgia. In short, he destroyed Russia as best he could. Roman Gul, in his Apology for Emigration, conveys an anecdote that happened to the leader of the Mensheviks much later, in exile: the French socialists invited Tsereteli to their congress and asked for a greeting.
Dear comrades, I am very flattered ... - said Tsereteli - But I have already ruined two countries - Russia and Georgia, do you really want me to ruin another third - France.
The French were laughing at the lucky joke. We will not laugh, because the destruction of Russia and the millions of ruined people is a very sad thing.
The only threat to the Provisional Government was chaos, which it itself created. But it stubbornly sowed the seeds of hatred, invading the painful issues of Russian life and leaving them unresolved. Soon, another "danger" will appear - the Bolsheviks.
The plan for the collapse of our country was already approaching its final chord - Decay.But for this, performers were needed. They then in gloomy March 17th to their homeland and got ready….
Order No. 1 of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies transferred all power in military units to elected committees of lower ranks, which greatly contributed to the decomposition of the army and the decline of discipline among the soldiers. In Soviet historiography, this order has always been evaluated positively, since he, according to Soviet historians, played an important role in revolutionizing the Russian army and strengthening the positions of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies. This material contains an article by G.I. Zlokazov "New data on the Order No. 1 of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies" (1981) and "Information on the" order No. 1 "" (Izvestia of the Petrograd Soviet R. and S. D .. Pg., 1917. No. 125, July 23 (August 5)).
Certificate of "order number 1". // Bulletin of the Petrograd Soviet of R. and S. D .. Pg., 1917. No. 125, July 23 (August 5), p. 6-7.
In view of the fact that in recent days in various institutions and meetings the content of "Order No. 1" of the Petrograd Soviet and the circumstances accompanying its publication were transmitted and covered incorrectly, the Executive Committee considers it necessary to re-publish, as a reference material, this order in to outline in the most concise outline the history of the origin of this document, which, in the opinion of the Committee, played a great positive role in organizing the Russian army under the conditions of the revolution.
Here is the full text of the order:
March 1, 1917.
For the garrison of the Petrograd District, all the soldiers of the guard, army, artillery and navy for immediate execution, and the workers of Petrograd for information.
The Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies decided:
1) In all companies, battalions, regiments, parks, batteries, squadrons and individual services of various kinds of military directorates and on the ships of the navy, immediately elect committees from elected representatives from the lower ranks of the above military units.
2) In all military units that have not yet elected their representatives to the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies, elect one representative from the companies, who will appear with written certificates at the building of the State Duma by 10 o'clock in the morning on March 2.
3) In all its political speeches, the military unit is subordinate to the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies and its committees.
4) The orders of the Military Commission of the State Duma should be carried out, except for those cases when they contradict orders and resolutions of the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies.
5) All kinds of weapons, such as rifles, machine guns, armored vehicles, etc., must be at the disposal and control of company and battalion committees and in no case be issued to officers even at their request.
6) In the ranks and during the exercise of their official duties, soldiers must observe the strictest military discipline, but outside of service and formation, in their political, civil and private life, soldiers can in no way be diminished in the rights that all citizens enjoy.
In particular, standing up for the front and obligatory saluting outside the service is canceled.
7) Likewise, the titles of officers are abolished: your excellency, honor, etc., and replaced by the address: Mr. General, Mr. Colonel, etc.
Rough treatment of soldiers of all military ranks and, in particular, addressing them as "you" is prohibited, and any violation of this, as well as all misunderstandings between officers and soldiers, the latter are obliged to inform the company committees.
Read this order in all companies, battalions, regiments, crews, batteries and other combatant and non-combatant teams. Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies.
An order was issued on March 1st, i.e. even before the creation (by agreement between the Provisional Committee of the State Duma and the Executive Committee of the Council) of the Provisional Government and therefore an order cannot be considered competing with the power of the latter.
The order addressed exclusively to the Petrograd garrison.
An order was signed by the "Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies" and it was drawn up at the first meeting of the Council of the full composition, i.e. with the participation of not only the workers, but also the soldiers' section.
The deputies of the Petrograd garrison wished in their very first meeting to formulate the foundations of the social organization of soldiers and submitted to the meeting a number of proposals on regimental and company committees, on the abolition of obligatory saluting, on the general civil rights of a soldier, etc. These proposals, discussed and adopted by the meeting, in their totality constituted "Order No. 1".
Neither the Executive Committee, as such, nor its individual members (as can be seen from the minutes of meetings published in Izvestia on March 2) submitted to the meeting either a whole draft of the order, or even a draft of its individual points.
Therefore, the statements of some members of the State Duma (as well as statements of some press organs, already refuted on behalf of the Committee at the meeting of the All-Russian Conference on March 30) that the “author” of Order No. 1 is one or another member of the Committee are untrue. The "author" of the order was the plenary meeting of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies, the only organ of revolutionary democracy at that time. And the Executive Committee, reckoning with the will of the Soviet and recognizing the full compliance of the order with the tasks and needs of the revolutionary army and the revolutionary moment, published this order.
It is, of course, not possible to fully disclose the indicated correspondence in this brief note, but to evaluate individual points of the order from this point of view, the following must be borne in mind:
The order was issued on the third day of the revolution, when its military-technical period was not yet completely over. And in Izvestia of March 1, on the first page, there is a "notice" about the need to collect all armored vehicles for the Mikhailovsky Manege "to eliminate shelling from the rooftops."
Separate military units, subjected to such "shelling", did not feel calm even on the first of March and were not sure of a favorable outcome of the uprising they had begun. All the more this must be said with regard to February 28, the second day of the revolution. Meanwhile, on February 28, signed by the chairman of the Provisional Committee, an appeal was published to the soldiers of Petrograd instructing them to return to their barracks. The soldiers of the Petrograd regiments, who raised an uprising almost everywhere without officers, and sometimes even with their direct opposition, did not know who owned the barracks now and were afraid to return there. The order of the chairman of the Provisional Committee to return to the barracks gave rise to alarm among the soldiers; many of them were perplexed and loudly expressed their fear of being arrested and disarmed in the barracks.
This anxiety was further intensified by rumors that officers in some regiments had already begun to disarm soldiers. To what extent these rumors were at that time a real factor in public sentiment, the following "announcement", published and posted on the streets of Petrograd on March 1 on behalf of the chairman of the Military Commission under the State Duma, shows:
Announcement.
On this March 1st, a rumor spread among the soldiers of the Petrograd garrison that the officers in the regiments were taking away weapons from the soldiers. These rumors were tested in two regiments and turned out to be false. As chairman of the Military Commission of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, I declare that the most decisive measures will be taken to prevent such actions on the part of the officers, up to the shooting of the guilty.
Member of the State Duma B. Engelhardt.
It is therefore natural that the representative body of the Petrograd soldiers also wished, on the one hand, to calm the soldiers' masses, and on the other hand, to ensure the non-disarming of its main military force in the critical period of the Russian revolution. This desire resulted in 5 points of the order.
It should also be noted here that by that time the attitude of a significant part of the Petrograd officer corps towards the revolution had not yet been fully determined. And on March 1, on behalf of the Military Commission under the Provisional Committee and the Chairman of the State Duma, an order was published for officers who did not have specific instructions from the Commission to appear before the Commission and to their units on March 1 and 2, indicating that “the delay in the appearance of Mr. officers to their units will inevitably undermine the prestige of the officer rank. "
The lack of clarity about the attitude of some of the officers to the revolution, as well as the previous regime in the army, of course, created serious obstacles for the correct attitude of the soldier's part of the troops to the officers who resolutely and openly went over to the side of the revolution.
The Petrograd Soviet took measures to remove or weaken these obstacles as far as possible.
Comrades and citizens! The complete victory of the Russian people over the old regime is approaching. But for this victory still tremendous efforts are needed, exceptional endurance and firmness are needed. Disunity and anarchy should not be allowed. It is necessary to immediately stop all outrages, robberies, breaking into private apartments, plundering and damage to all kinds of property, aimless seizure of public institutions. Decline in discipline and anarchy are ruining revolution and people's freedom.
The danger of a military movement against the revolution has not yet been eliminated. To prevent it, it is very important to ensure friendly coordinated work with the officers. The officers who cherish the interests of freedom and the progressive development of the homeland should make every effort to establish joint activities with the soldiers. They will respect in the soldier his personal and civil dignity, they will treat the soldier's sense of honor with care. For their part, the soldiers will remember that it is impossible to stigmatize the entire officer corporation for the bad behavior of individual officers, that the army is only strong in the union of soldiers and officers. For the sake of the success of the revolutionary struggle, it is necessary to show tolerance and forget the insignificant offenses against democracy of those officers who have joined the decisive and final struggle that you are waging against the old regime.
In addition, when some socialist organizations, following Order No. 1, submitted their proclamation, which could increase the hostile attitude of the unconscious part of the soldiers towards the officers, as such, the Executive Committee immediately published an appeal to the officers and soldiers in Izvestia on March 3, in which he stated the following:
Officers and soldiers. Order No. 1 of the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies, quoted in the last issue of Izvestia, quite accurately defines the relationship between soldiers and officers. Nevertheless, there are people who, at a crucial historical moment, seek to destroy the unity achieved at the cost of so many sacrifices. We are talking about a proclamation, which, fortunately, has not received much circulation, signed by the names of two socialist parties.
Let's compare these documents.
The order puts officers in their place, giving them power only during official hours: in the ranks, during training hours, during hostilities, soldiers and in general all military ranks observe military discipline. Out of service, out of order, an officer does not use any power in relation to a soldier.
A soldier becomes a citizen when he ceases to be a slave — that is the meaning of the order. As a citizen, he is allowed to independently arrange his life, participate in alliances and parties, form company and battalion committees, at the disposal and control of which are all kinds of weapons that are not issued to officers even according to their requirements, for weapons are the property of all soldiers, all citizens ... From now on, the soldiers must form a self-governing artel, which runs its economy (food, etc.) completely independently. There is no doubt that this artel, in the area of \u200b\u200ba specially military, needs educated leaders, and these leaders are the officers. In such a situation, the relations between soldiers and officers, which constituted one of the dark sides of the pre-revolutionary system of the Russian army, are impossible. Even if there were any misunderstandings, they would be easily resolved by the authority of the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies.
So, quite clearly, the New Soldier looms before us. Soldier-citizen, independent and independent, soldier-soldier, consciously submitting in the name of the interests of the matter to drill discipline and the leadership of authoritative officers.
If in the Prikaz we see a correct and clear understanding of the position of a soldier and an officer, then in the above-mentioned proclamation we notice a strange bitterness against all officers, indiscriminately, without exception. Even the officers who went over to the side of the people, our real friends, are suspected by the authors of the appeal.
On March 4, the Military Department, through General Potapov, notifying that Order No. 1 was subject to misinterpretations in some cases, asked the Executive Committee to publish such an explanation of the order that would eliminate the possibility of any false interpretation. At the same time, General Potapov asked that this explanation, for the sake of its greater authority, be published also in the form of an "order".
To edit the requested clarification, the Committee elected a Commission, which worked out together with the Military Commission, chaired by General Potapov, explanatory order No. 2.
Here is the text of this order:
From the Executive Committee of the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies.
Order number 2.
March 5, 1917.
For the troops of the Petrograd District, all the soldiers of the guard, army, artillery and navy for accurate execution, workers of Petrograd for information.
In clarification and addition of Order No. 1, the Executive Committee of the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies decided:
1) Order No. 1 of the Council of Workers' Deputies invited all companies, battalions and other military units to elect the respective Committees for each unit (company, battalion, etc.), but the “Order” did not establish that these committees should elect officers for each unit. These committees must be elected so that the soldiers of the Petrograd garrison are organized and can, through representatives of the Committees, participate in the general political life of the country and, in particular, declare to the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies about their views on the need to take certain measures. The committees should also be responsible for the social needs of each company or other unit.
The question of the extent to which the interests of the military organization can be combined with the right of soldiers to choose their own chiefs has been submitted for consideration and development to a special commission.
All elections of officers made to date, approved and submitted for approval by the military commanders, must remain in force.
2) Until the time when the question of elected commanders is resolved quite accurately, the Council recognizes that the committees of individual units have the right to object to the appointment of one officer or another. These objections should be directed to the Executive Committee of the Council of Workers' Deputies, from where they will be submitted to the Military Commission, where, along with other public organizations, representatives of the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies participate.
3) Order No. 1 establishes the importance of the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies as an institution that directs all political actions of the Petrograd soldiers. Soldiers are obliged to obey this elected body in their social and political life.
As for the military authorities, soldiers are obliged to obey all their orders relating to military service.
4) In order to eliminate the danger of an armed counter-revolution, the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies put forward a demand for the non-armament of the Petrograd garrison, which had won Russia her political freedom, and the Provisional Government undertook to prevent such disarmament, which it announced in its government declaration.
In accordance with this declaration, the company and battalion committees are obliged to ensure that the weapons of the Petrograd soldiers are not taken away from them, which was indicated in Order No. 1.
5) Confirming the requirements set out in clauses 6 and 7 of Order No. 1, the Executive Committee notes that some of them are already being implemented by the Provisional Government.
Read this order in all companies, battalions, regiments, crews, batteries and other combatant and non-combatant teams.
Executive Committee of the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies.
Finally, the Executive Committee returned to Order No. 1 in an appeal, with which it addressed (by telegraph) to the armies at the front on March 7.
This is the appeal:
The Executive Committee informs the front troops about the decisive victory over the old regime.
We are confident that the troops of the front are with us and will not allow attempts to return the old regime to come true.
Its strengthening may be hindered by internal enmity among the army, discord between officers and soldiers, and all citizens now have the duty to promote relations between soldiers and officers who have recognized the new system of Russia. And we appeal to the officers to show respect for the personality of the soldier-citizen in their official and non-official relations.
With the expectation that the officers will hear our call, we invite the soldiers in the ranks and, while performing military service, strictly fulfill their military duties.
At the same time, the Committee informs the armies of the front that the orders of the 1st and 2nd relate only to the troops of the Petrograd district, as stated in the title of these orders.
As for the armies of the front, the Minister of War promises to immediately work out, in agreement with the Executive Committee of the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies, new rules for relations between the soldier and the command staff.
For the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies - Deputy Chairman M.I. Skobelev.
Chairman of the Military Commission of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, general-m. Potapov.
Minister of War A. Guchkov.
In conclusion, the Executive Committee notes that most of the points of Order No. 1 have already received the force of law in part during his tenure as Minister of War A.I. Guchkov, partly during A.F. Kerensky. As for the regimental, company and other committees, the idea of \u200b\u200bwhich was first expressed in Order No. 1, not only public institutions, but also many representatives of the highest command staff, spoke about their positive, organizing role.
Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies.
G.I. Zlokazov. New data on Order No. 1 of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies
(Initial publication: Source study of Russian history: collection of articles. 1981 / Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Institute of History of the USSR; editor-in-chief V.I.Buganov, responsible secretary V.F.Kutyev. M., 1982. S. 62- 71.)The history of the creation of Order No. 1, which played an important role in revolutionizing the Russian army and strengthening the positions of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies in 1917, is considered in some detail in the historical literature, especially in the works of V.I. Miller and Yu. S. Tokarev (1 ). However, the researchers did not use some materials that made it possible to more fully disclose the participation of the soldier masses in the publication of Order No. 1, as well as the attitude of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma and the compromising Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet towards it. An attempt is made below to analyze these materials.
It is known that Order No. 1 was a response action of the Petrograd Soviet to the order of the Chairman of the State Duma MV Rodzianko dated February 27, which pursued the goal of separating the revolutionary masses and isolating the insurgent soldiers of the Petrograd garrison from the working class. Usually, information about the order of MV Rodzianko is cited from the memoirs of contemporaries. We managed to find the original of this order, which clearly reveals the counter-revolutionary intentions of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma. Printed in a separate leaflet, he ordered all lower ranks and military units to immediately return to their barracks. In turn, the officers should return to their units and take measures "to establish order." The unit commanders were ordered to arrive at the State Duma to receive orders by 11 a.m. on February 28 (2). According to the recollections of an eyewitness to the events of the Bundist M. Rafes, Rodzianko's order also prescribed that the soldiers surrender their weapons (3), however, the original text of the order does not say anything directly about this. One of the participants in the February Revolution, a member of the Union of Republican Officers, B. Lyubarsky, recalling the events, wrote that attempts to take away weapons from the soldiers, "drive them back from the street to the barracks" met with resistance from the latter. They began to disarm the officers, expel from the units those of them who had bullied the soldiers in the past, and also began to hold elections for commanders who won the trust of the soldiers 'masses, organize regimental and company committees, which became the bodies of soldiers' self-government. According to B. Lyubarsky, the behavior of the soldiers was also strongly influenced by the message received on February 28, 1917 that the punitive expedition of General N. I. Ivanov had been thrown against Petrograd with the aim of bloody pacification of the revolutionary capital. "This news," wrote B. Lyubarsky, "quickly spread throughout St. Petersburg, penetrated into the barracks, into the soldiers' masses and immediately made them wary" (4).
The order of M.V. Rodzianko also caused a violent reaction from the deputies of the Petrograd Soviet, who angrily condemned the provocative venture of the Duma Committee at the plenum of the Soviet on February 28 (5). This reaction also had an impact on the compromising Executive Committee of the Soviet, which was forced to take retaliatory measures in order to keep the Petrograd garrison in the hands of the Soviet. This was mentioned in the speech of Yu. M. Steklov to the military delegates who visited the Executive Committee on April 4. He bluntly noted that Order No. 1 was a response to "Rodzianko's unsuccessful order, preventing direct confrontation between soldiers and officers," and added that Order No. 1 saved the revolution. While recognizing the participation of the Executive Committee of the Soviet in the publication of Order No. 1, Steklov simultaneously tried to justify the actions of the Compromisers in the eyes of bourgeois circles, who accused the Soviet of the fact that Order No. 1 allegedly caused the disintegration of the army and undermined military discipline (6).
The influence of Rodzianko's order on the events connected with the publication of Order No. 1 is also evidenced by the "Information on Order No. 1" published by the Compromisers in July 1917. (7) It says that Rodzianko's order to return to the barracks gave rise to alarm among the soldiers. They feared that on their return to the barracks they might be arrested and disarmed. However, the authors of the information kept silent about the powerful pressure exerted on the Executive Committee of the Soviet by the soldiers themselves, who insisted on securing the rights they had won. According to B. Lyubarsky, delegations from units arrived at the Tauride Palace, demanding to consolidate the rights of soldiers, to authorize spontaneously organized soldiers' committees, to repulse the reactionary officers (8).
The relationship between Rodzianko's order and the publication of Order No. 1 was pointed out by the Bolshevik A.D. Sadovsky, who was directly involved in its development. In his memoirs, he wrote: “At that time the mass of soldiers was agitated around the order of the State Duma military commission, which restored officer power in the units. It is clear that all this threatened the soldier insurrectionary masses with reprisals, and therefore the speeches of the soldiers in the Soviet concerned this exciting issue and was even instructed by the Council of soldiers elected to the Executive Committee to draw up a kind of notification. At the beginning it was not called an order, but a notification or otherwise, but going in opposition to the order of the State Duma ”(9).
Speaking about the position of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet in connection with Order No. 1, Yu.S. Tokarev correctly wrote that the Socialist-Revolutionary Mensheviks provided forced support for the revolutionary initiative of the soldiers of the Petrograd garrison. The Compromisers were afraid of the deals made by the Duma Committee with the tsar in order to suppress the revolution. They wanted to persuade the Duma Committee to form a bourgeois government, but were afraid of attempts to establish the undivided authority of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma over the garrison of Petrograd (10).
In the light of all of the above, it is quite possible to make the assumption that the Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik leadership of the Petrograd Soviet, trying to make bourgeois politicians more compliant, deliberately informed them of Order No. 1 with a delay. This assumption suggests itself when familiarizing with the memoirs of V. N. Lvov, who held the post of Chief Prosecutor of the Synod in the Provisional Government of the first composition. He wrote that the Provisional Committee of the State Duma became aware of the appearance of Order No. 1 only in the evening of March 2, 1917, when the Provisional Government had already been formed. They learned about Order No. 1 from ND Sokolov, a member of the Executive Committee of the Council, who had participated in its preparation. Sokolov insisted on issuing an order on behalf of the Provisional Government, but was refused by AI Guchkov and PN Milyukov. However, virtually no consent was required. “Soon I found out,” VN Lvov continued, “that on the morning of March 2, Order No. 1, by order of the RD Council, had already been printed. Consequently, Sokolov came to us post factum "(11)
The responsibility of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet for the appearance of Order No. 1 was also recognized by Yu. M. Steklov, who in those days occupied a prominent position in the leadership of the Soviet. In connection with the campaign of bourgeois circles against the Soviets, raised after the July events, Steklov wrote a letter to the newspaper Novaya Zhizn. He rejected his authorship in the creation of Order No. 1, since, according to him, he was at that time busy with negotiations with the Provisional Committee of the State Duma on the formation of the Provisional Government. Steklov wrote that he saw this document only when it had already been adopted by the Council and published. But then Steklov pointed out that he, like other members of the Council, bears political responsibility for this document, as well as for all other documents issued on behalf of the Council (12).
After the publication in the press of "Information on Order No. 1," the Provisional Committee of the State Duma made its own commentary, which spoke about the active role in the creation of Order No. 1 of the soldiers' masses and the participation of the Petrograd Soviet in this matter. As indicated in the report of the Provisional Committee, late in the evening on March 1, when it became clear that all of Petrograd was in the hands of the revolutionary troops, soldiers' representatives from about 20 units of the garrison appeared in the State Duma and appealed to the chairman of the military commission of the State Duma, commandant of Petrograd B.A.Engelgardt with the statement that they cannot trust their officers who did not take part in the revolution. The soldiers demanded the issuance of an order for the conduct of the election of officers in companies, squadrons, batteries and teams.
The draft of this order concerned the election of junior officers, and also established some supervision of the soldiers over the economy in units of the troops. According to the Provisional Committee, this document "touched less on the foundations of the old military discipline." Engelhardt informed the Provisional Committee of his negotiations with the military delegates. Its members, as well as AI Guchkov, who was present here, categorically opposed the issuance of such an order, "recognizing the impossibility of resolving such a very serious issue hastily." But a little later, a member of the Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies, unknown to him, came to Engelhardt, dressed in a soldier's uniform, and offered to take part in drawing up an order aimed at regulating the relationship between officers and soldiers on a new basis. Engelhardt replied that the Provisional Committee of the State Duma found the issuance of the projected order premature, to which he received the answer: "So much the better, we will write it ourselves." And on the afternoon of March 2, Order No. 1 was published (13).
The Provisional Committee did not establish a direct relationship between Rodzianko's order of February 27 and Order No. 1, but its members nevertheless considered the Petrograd Soviet to be guilty of issuing Order No. 1, although the Compromisers denied their initiative in preparing the order in the "Information on Order No. I"
Until now, the historical literature has not resolved the question of whether the text of Order No. 1 before its publication contained a clause on the election of command personnel. According to Yu. S. Tokarev, at the negotiations of the delegation of the Executive Committee of the Council with the Provisional Committee of the State Duma on the formation of the Provisional Government, which took place on the night of March 1–2, the issue of the election of the command staff by soldiers was already mentioned. It was put forward by a delegation of the Petrograd Soviet, but rejected by the Provisional Committee (14). He came to this conclusion by deciphering the draft secretary record of the plenary session of the Petrograd Soviet on March 2, which reproduces the text of the speech of Yu. M. Steklov on the negotiations between the Executive Committee of the Soviet and the Provisional Committee on the conditions for the formation of the Provisional Government. The entry is very vague, but it does include a clause on the election of commanders.
It is very difficult to establish firm positions of the parties on this issue from the text of the entry, but it is possible that the Executive Committee of the Council insisted on the election of commanders. It is also possible that there was a clause on the election of officers in Order No. 1, but then, during its printing, it was removed at the insistence of the Executive Committee of the Council. To some extent, this is confirmed by the memories of the Socialist-Revolutionary Yu. A. Kudryavtsev about the February Revolution (15). They have not yet been used by historians, although they provide a number of new information on the issue considered here. Kudryavtsev drew up Order No. 1 together with the Bolsheviks A. N. Paderin (16), A. D. Sadovsky and other deputies-soldiers. He writes that the appeal of the soldiers' representatives to the military commission of the State Duma with a demand to issue a manifesto on the civil rights of soldiers, to secure the army behind the revolution, to stop taking away weapons from the soldiers did not give any result. (Recall that the arrival of soldiers' delegates to the military commission was also mentioned in the above message of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma.)
The chairman of the military commission, B.A.Engelgardt, greeted the soldiers' representatives, among whom was Kudryavtsev, with hostility. He refused to publish such a manifesto, demanded the return of the soldiers to their units and submission to the command staff. As Kudryavtsev writes, this made "the soldiers' activists of the February revolution look for another way out in the interests of the revolution." The soldiers gathered for their first meeting in the Soviet (meaning the meeting of the plenum of the Petrograd Soviet on March 1, at which deputies from military units were widely represented for the first time). Under the influence of the revolutionary masses of soldiers, Engelhardt was forced to issue an order on pain of execution to stop taking away weapons from the soldiers (17).
At the same time, the return to the barracks of the command staff, who had hidden during the uprising of the garrison, could not restore normal relations between soldiers and officers.
Further, Kudryavtsev wrote that a mass of delegates from military units appeared in room No. 12 of the Tavrichesky Palace during a meeting of the "working part of the Executive Committee". The meeting was stormy. A number of orators from the soldiers made demands for civil rights for soldiers, for continued participation of military units in the revolution. These sentiments were based on the need to create the organizational stability of the Petrograd garrison units, to stop the officers' attempts to isolate the soldiers in the barracks and take away their weapons, and also to resolve the food crisis in the units. Among the speakers, in addition to himself, the author of the memoirs named A. P. Borisov, F. F. Linde, N. D. Sokolov. Kudryavtsev remembered that the orators made hot, excited speeches, although sometimes they were "clumsy in their language." As a result, a decision was made: the soldiers should not give their weapons to anyone; invite the soldiers to elect their representatives to the Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies, one from the company. In their political speeches, the soldiers should obey only the Petrograd Soviet.
The decision provided that the soldier and the officer were equal citizens outside the service. It was established that the subordination of soldiers to the orders of the military commission of the State Duma is carried out only as long as they do not disagree with the decisions of the Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies. "By these decisions, - wrote Yu. A. Kudryavtsev, - the army ... was assigned to the revolution."
Kudryavtsev fairly accurately reproduced the course of the meeting of the Petrograd Soviet on March 1, at which the draft of the future Order No. 1 was basically drawn up. Kudryavtsev's memories are generally supported by documentary data (18) and clarify some details.
Yu. A. Kudryavtsev believed that at the meeting of the Council on March 1, "on the basis of an indisputable account of the real situation ... the soldiers gained civil freedom and civil rights."
For the purposes of the closest communication with the representatives of the workers in the Executive Committee of the Soviet, A.D.Sadovsky, A.N. Paderin, V.I.Badenko, F.F. Linde, Sokolov, Yu.A. Kudryavtsev, A.P. Borisov, Klimchinsky, I. G. Barkov, Vakulenko. A commission was also created to formulate decisions of the Council meeting on March 1, which sat in room 13 of the Tauride Palace. Unlike the authors of other memoirs, Yu. A. Kudryavtsev mentions Yu. M. Steklov among the members of the commission. As far as the memoirist remembers, at first under the dictation of soldiers, members of the commission, the text was written by Yu. M. Steklov, but soon it was replaced by ND Sokolov. In addition, another 2-3 people were recording, whose names are not named in their memoirs. In presenting this information, Kudryavtsev believed that in the memoirs of A.G. Shlyapnikov and N.N. Sukhanov, the details about the meeting of the soldier's commission on the development of Order No. 1 (19) were not quite accurately conveyed.
As a result of the work of the soldiers' commission, Order No. 1 was created, which extended to the garrison of the Petrograd district and was brought to the attention of the workers of Petrograd.
The memoirs of B. Lyubarsky, which we have already mentioned, also inform about the creation by the Council of the Soldiers' Commission to develop an order that would consolidate the rights of the soldiers obtained in a hard struggle. B. Lyubarsky named almost the entire composition of the commission for the development of a soldier's order. He confirmed that it included Yu. M. Steklov. In addition to him, the commission included the Bolshevik M. Yu. Kozlovsky, the Menshevik M. M. Dobranitsky, the Socialist-Revolutionary V. N. Filippovsky, the soldier of the Lithuanian regiment Menshevik A. P. Borisov, the soldier of the Finnish regiment F. F. Linde (internationalist), as well as several from the Union of Republican Officers, whose names are not disclosed. Complementing the known facts, B. Lyubarsky reported some interesting details of the work of the soldier's commission for drawing up Order No. 1. This commission worked from 3 pm on March 1 in the library of the Tauride Palace. Delegates from military units also took part in its work. Almost without any controversy, all points of the order were quickly adopted. According to B. Lyubarsky, the final editing of the document was entrusted to M. M. Dobranitsky, and at 7 pm on March 1, the order was submitted for approval by the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet (other authors of the memoirs do not report in such detail either about the work of the commission or about the meeting of the Executive Committee) ...
Thus, before the publication of Order No. 1, its text was also considered by the Executive Committee of the Council, which once again confirms the deep interest of the Compromisers in this document. The meeting was chaired by NS Chkheidze. Representatives of the Officers' Union were invited: Ensign Shahverdov and Captain of the 6th Reserve Regiment Menshevik-Oboronets Saks. The order was read out and no objection was raised. The officers present said that they considered it necessary to issue such an order to restore calm in the units of the garrison, to restore confidence in the officers. The meeting of the Executive Committee of the Council lasted only 15 minutes, and on the same evening Order No. 1 was sent out to the garrison units (20).
B. Lyubarsky's story about a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, which unanimously approved Order No. 1, shows that the Compromisers perceived Order No. 1, proceeding, of course, from their own interests. Apparently, by the fact of its publication, they wanted to demonstrate to the officials of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma the real influence that the Petrograd Soviet had then. Thus, the petty-bourgeois politicians tried to get concessions from the bourgeoisie in the negotiations on the creation of the Provisional Government. As is known, the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries did not even think about creating a government on the basis of the Petrograd Soviet, being opponents of the further progressive development of the revolution.
In the memoirs of Yu. A. Kudryavtsev, there is a statement that the published document was named an order based on his personal proposal, but it is not possible to verify the reliability of this statement. Order No. 1 was then brought to the attention of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma and at the same time sent to the printing house of Izvestia Petrograd Soviet. The text of the order was transmitted to the newspaper by Kudryavtsev himself, which is confirmed by the memoirs of A.D.Sadovsky. He wrote that Kudryavtsev went to some printing house, where Order No. 1 was printed at night and in the morning it was distributed among military units (21).
The Izvestia printing house, which was in charge of the Bolshevik B. D. Bonch-Bruevich, decided to publish Order No. 1 in large circulation. It was about 1-2 million prints. According to Kudryavtsev, about 1 million copies were actually printed at that time.
The memoirist further cited an important fact about the exclusion of one of the paragraphs from the text of Order No. 1 during its printing. He recalled that there was talk about the right to withdraw the lower command staff, on which the soldiers of the military units insisted. However, Kudryavtsev could not recall the content of this item more accurately. This point, which, judging by the recollections, concerned the right to elect the lower command personnel by the soldiers themselves, was deleted by members of the Executive Committee of the Council N.D.Sokolov, Yu.M. Steklov and others as a result of a sharp protest from the Provisional Committee of the State Duma or the military commission of the State Duma.
Order No. 1 was printed on the morning of March 2 and was quickly transported around the city on cars from the automobile unit where Kudryavtsev worked.
Thus, giving a number of new information about the development of Order No. 1, the memoirs of Yu. A. Kudryavtsev to some extent concretize the issue of the election beginning: was there or was not such a point in its text. Judging by the content of the memoirs, it could have been before printing, and in the process of printing, excluded by the Compromisers under pressure from the Provisional Committee of the State Duma. However, the memoirs of Yu. A. Kudryavtsev do not give a firm answer to the question whether there was a full clause on the election of officers in Order No. 1.
Yu. A. Kudryavtsev, like other memoirists, defends the version that ND Sokolov only wrote down the text of Order No. 1, ostensibly showing complete passivity. This version is refuted by the Left Socialist-Revolutionary S. D. Mstislavsky, who was a participant and witness of the events of the February Revolution. He drew attention precisely to the interest of the members of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet in weakening the influence of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma. Mstislavsky noted that ND Sokolov really wrote Order No. 1 under the dictation of the soldiers' deputies who had just been introduced to the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, but at the same time he nevertheless introduced points 3 and 4 (22) into the text of the order.
As you know, paragraph 3 of the order established that in all their political speeches, military units obey the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies and their committees, and paragraph 4 said that the orders of the military commission of the State Duma should be carried out only in cases where they are not contradict orders and resolutions of the Petrograd Soviet. This once again confirms the forced participation of the Compromisers in the development of Order No. 1, dictated by the political motives that guided the petty-bourgeois parties, which ultimately sought to retard the development of the revolutionary process in the country after the overthrow of the autocracy.
Thus, the materials presented in the article concretize the history of the creation of Order No. 1, clarify the circumstances and reasons for its creation.
1. Miller VI Beginning of the democratization of the old army in the days of the February Revolution -History of the USSR, 1966, No. 6; He's the same. From the history of order number 1 of the Petrograd Soviet.-Military history journal, 1966, number 2; He's the same. Soldiers' committees of the Russian army in 1917, M., 1974; Tokarev Yu. S. Order No. 1 of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies. - Auxiliary historical disciplines. L., 1973, issue. five; He's the same. Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies in March - April 1917 L., 1976.
2. State. Museum of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Leningrad, f. 2: (Fund of leaflets), No. 10771 / 1-2.
3. The Past, 1922, no. 19, p. 193.
4. Lyubarsky B. Order number 1: (According to notes) .- Krasnaya Zvezda, 1924, March 12. Despite the importance of the information given by the author, his memoirs were not used in the literature and remained little known. Meanwhile, as their name shows, they were written not only from memory, but also on the basis of the notes available to the author, made, obviously, in the wake of events. This enhances the degree of reliability of the memoirs of B. Lyubarsky. No information was found about his party affiliation, but he was in close contact with the Social Revolutionaries in the Union of Republican Officers and, apparently, was close to this party. B. Lyubarsky is also the author of the brochure "The Truth About Order No. 1", published in Petrograd in 1917 on behalf of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet. The brochure was of an agitation and propaganda nature and it justified the actions of the Executive Committee of the Council.
5. Zlokazov GI On the meeting of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies on February 28, 1917 - In the book: October and the Civil War in the USSR. M., 1966.
6. State. archive of the October revolution and socialist construction in Leningrad (hereinafter: TsGAORL), f. 7384, op. 9, d.196a, l. 2 rev-3. The reactionary military clique constantly reiterated about the "demoralizing" influence of Order No. 1. For example, at an emergency meeting of the Council of the "Military League" together with representatives of the "Union of St. George Knights", "Officers' Union of Volunteers of the People's Army", "Union of Personal Example", "Cossack Congress" , "Unity", "Battalions of Death", "Honor of the Motherland and Order" and other clearly counter-revolutionary-monarchist organizations that took place on July 31, 1917, the officers who spoke fiercely attacked the "initiators of Order No. 1, civilians who took on someone else's spirit and work matter, ”and accused them of bringing the army to demoralization. They welcomed the activities of L. G. Kornilov as Minister of War, calling him a staunch fighter "for a health-improving beginning in the army" (Army and Navy of Free Russia, 1917, Aug. 2).
7. News of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies, 1917, 23 July.
8. Red Star, 1924, March 12.
9 Central Party Archives of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU (hereinafter: CPA IML), f. 124, op. 1, d. 1699, p. II, l. 268 vol .; see also: Ibid., part III, fol. 8.
10. Auxiliary historical disciplines, vol. 5, p. 55.
11. Lvov V. N. "Revolutionary democracy" and its leaders in the role of leaders of the policy of the Provisional Government. Omsk, 1919, p. 3.
12. New life, 1917, 1 Aug.
13 Speech, 1917, July 30.
14 Tokarev Yu.S. Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies in March-April 1917, p. 64-65; see also: TsGAORL, f. 1000, op. 73, d. 3.
15. CPA IML, f. 71, op. 15, d.401, l. 13-18. Memoirs were written in 1929.
16. A. N. Paderin spoke about his participation in drawing up Order No. 1 in his memoirs published in the journal Proletarian Revolution (1924, No. 8/9).
17. According to Lyubarsky, this order was issued at the insistence of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet (Krasnaya Zvezda, 1924, March 12).
18. The transcript of the draft minutes of the meeting of the Petrograd Soviet on March 1, 1917 was made by V. I. Miller (History of the USSR, 1966, No. 6).
19. Yu. A. Kudryavtsev had in mind A. Shlyapnikov's book “The Seventeenth Year” and N. Sukhanov's memoirs “Notes on the Revolution”.
20. Red Star, 1924, March 12.
21. CPA IML, f. 124, op. 1, d. 1699, p. II, l. 268 vol.
22. CPA IML, f. 70, op. 3, d.583, l. 5. Memoirs of SD Mstislavsky were written in 1928. SD Mstislavsky (Maslovsky) later became a Soviet writer.
The Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies decided:
1) In all companies, battalions, regiments, parks, batteries, squadrons and individual services of various kinds of military directorates and on ships of the navy, immediately select committees from elected representatives from the lower ranks of the above military units.
2) In all military units that have not yet elected their representatives to the Soviet of Workers' Deputies, elect one representative from the companies, who will appear with written certificates at the building of the State Duma by 10 o'clock in the morning on March 2.
3) In all its political actions, the military unit is subordinate to the Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies and to its committees.
4) The orders of the military commission of the State Duma should be executed, except for those cases when they contradict the orders and decisions of the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies.
5) All kinds of weapons, such as rifles, machine guns, armored vehicles, etc., should be at the disposal and control of company and battalion committees and in no case should they be issued to officers even at their request.
6) In the ranks and during the performance of their duties, soldiers must observe the strictest military discipline, but outside of service and in their political, civil and private life, soldiers cannot be diminished in any way in those rights that all citizens enjoy. In particular, standing up for the front and obligatory saluting outside the service is canceled.
7) The titles of officers are likewise canceled: your excellency, nobility, etc. and is replaced by the address: Mr. General, Mr. Colonel, etc. Rough treatment of soldiers of all military ranks and, in particular, addressing them on "You" is prohibited, and any violation of this, as well as all misunderstandings between officers and soldiers, the latter are obliged to bring to the attention of company committees ...
This order undermined the basic principle of the army's functioning - the principle of one-man command. Not commanders, but soldiers' committees became the real masters of military units. The army was transformed from an important state institution into a powerful instrument of political struggle.The number of soldiers' committees at the front was 50 thousand by the summer of 1917, they consisted of up to 300 thousand soldiers and officers.
Workersin 1917 actively created at the enterprises factory committees(FZK). Their task is to implement workers controlfor production and distribution. The FZK instituted an 8-hour working day without prior notice, resolved issues of wages, hiring and firing, and supplying workers with food. There was a process of uniting the FZK into an all-Russian organization. FZK existed in 50 industrial centers. The Bolsheviks predominated in the Petrograd FZK.
Detachments of the Red Guard. They were formed from the end of March 1917 on the basis of the voluntary (?) Participation of workers. The Bolsheviks were the initiators of their creation. A workers' militia was also created, which by July 1917 merged with the Red Guard. The number of units of the Red Guard in Petrograd exceeded 20 thousand people in the fall.
There were and unions.
In the villages were created councils of peasant deputies... Their goal is to solve the agrarian question. Recreated All-Russian Peasant Union.
The weakening of central authority led to the emergence national movements... National parties demanded the granting of national independence or autonomy. In March 1917, the Provisional Government agreed to the demand Poland grant her independence. At that time it was occupied by Germany. In July 1917, the Finnish Sejm passed a law proclaiming the transition of legislative and executive authorities in Finland to the Sejm... In March 1917 g. ukrainian nationalists formed Central Rada... On June 10, 1917, she proclaimed national-territorial autonomy, and in fact - independence of Ukraine... In July 1917, the Belarusian Rada announced its desire for autonomy within the Russian republic. In Transcaucasia, various plans were developed for solving the national question: from the demand for autonomy to independence.
Order No. 1 of the Petrograd Workers Council
and soldiers' deputies for the garrison
Petrograd Military District
ORDER No. 1
For the garrison of the Petrograd district, all the soldiers of the guard, army, artillery and navy for immediate and accurate execution, and for the workers of Petrograd for information.
The Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies decided:
1) In all companies, battalions, regiments, parks, batteries, squadrons and individual services of various kinds of military directorates and on the ships of the navy, immediately elect committees from elected representatives from the lower ranks of the above military units.
2) In all military units that have not yet elected their representatives to the Soviet of Workers' Deputies, elect one representative from the companies, who will appear with written certificates in the building of the State Duma by 10 o'clock in the morning on this March 2.
3) In all its political actions, the military unit is subordinate to the Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies and to its committees.
4) Orders of the military commission of the State Duma should be carried out, except for those cases when they contradict orders and decisions of the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies.
5) All kinds of weapons, such as rifles, machine guns, armored vehicles, etc., must be at the disposal and under the control of company and battalion committees and in no case be issued to officers even at their request.
6) In the ranks and during the exercise of their official duties, soldiers must observe the strictest military discipline, but outside of service and in their political, civil and private life, soldiers cannot be diminished in any way in those rights that all citizens enjoy. In particular, standing up for the front and obligatory saluting outside the service is canceled.
7) In the same way, the titles of officers are canceled: your excellency, honor, etc., and replaced by the address: Mr. General, Mr. Colonel, etc.
Rough treatment of soldiers of all military ranks and, in particular, addressing them to "you" is prohibited, and any violation of this, as well as all misunderstandings between officers and soldiers, the latter are obliged to inform company committees.
Read this order in all companies, battalions, regiments, crews, batteries and other combatant and non-combatant teams.
Petrograd Workers Council
and soldiers' deputies
News of the Petrograd Soviet of workers
and soldiers' deputies. March 2, 1917. No. З. С.З.
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