'The best book on the 1917 revolution—a seminal study' STEPHEN F. COHEN, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
Alexander Rabinowitch
THE
и ж а. л ш ш па та тяж
СОМЕ ТО POWER
The Revolution of lgi? in Petrograd
The Bolsheviks Come to Power
The Bolsheviks Come to Power
The Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd
NEW EDITION
Alexander Rabinowitch
First published in 1976 by W.W. Norton and Company, New York
This new edition first published 2017 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright © 1976, 2004, and 2017 by Alexander Rabinowitch
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN
978
0
7453
9999
7
Hardback
ISBN
978
0
7453
9998
0
Paperback
ISBN
978
1
7868
0102
9
PDF eBook
ISBN
978
1
7868
0104
3
Kindle eBook
ISBN
978
1
7868
0103
6
EPUB eBook
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin.
Typeset in the United States of America
Printed in the United Kingdom
For Ellen and Misha
Contents
List of Illustrations xi Acknowledgments xiii
Note on Transliteration, Dates, and Terminology xv Preface to the Centenary Edition xvii Introduction xxxiii
• THE JULY UPRISING 1
• the bolsheviks under fire 17
• petrograd during the reaction 39
• the ineffectivenes of repression 51
• the bolshevik resurgence 83
• the rise of kornilov 94
• kornilov versus kerensky 110
• the bolsheviks and kornilov's defeat 129
• the question of a new government 151
• "all power to the soviets!" 168
• lenin's campaign for an insurrection 191
• obstacles to an uprising 209
• the garrison crisis and the military
revolutionary committee 224
• ON the eve 249
• the bolsheviks come to power 273
• epilogue 305
Notes 315
Selected Bibliography 358 Index 379
Finland .Station I
Stock Exchange Bridge
Nikolaevsky
EKATERINSKY
.OBVOPNV CANAI
Baltic Station
Warsaw Station
14
Russkii Reno factory
Novyi Lessner factory
Moskovsky Regiment
Meeting place of Sixth Congress
Erikson factory
Grenadersky Bridge
First Machine Gun Regiment
Sukhanov apartment
Elizarova apartment
Grenadier Regiment
Bolshevik headquarters, Vyborg District
Trud printing press
Mikhailovsky Artillery School
Crosses Prison
Metallist factory
Samsonevsky Bridge
Cirque Moderne
Kshesinskaia Mansion
Kronwerk Arsenal
Peter and Paul Fortress
Stock exchange
Petersburg University
Aurora
Finliandsky Regiment 180th Infantry Regiment Franco-Russian shipyard Second Baltic Fleet Detachment Keksgolmsky Regiment Central telegraph office Petrograd telegraph agency Post office War Ministry Admiralty Palace Square St. Isaac's Cathedral General Staff headquarters Petrograd telephone station Winter Palace
Pravda editorial offices and printing plant
Pavlovsky Regiment
War Memorial Field
Kazan Cathedral
City Duma
State Bank
Mariinsky Palace
Priboi publishing house
Litovsky Regiment
Fourteenth Cossack Regiment
Preobrazhensky Regiment
Sixth Engineer Battalion
Volynsky Regiment
Taurida Palace
Smolny
Legend:
PETROGRAD
1917
J/2
0
First Reserve Infantry Regiment Bonch-Bruevich apartment Znamensky Square First and Fourth Cossack Regiments Semenovsky Regiment Petrograd electric station Egersky Regiment Petrogradsky Regiment Izmailovsky Guards Regiment Harbor Canal Putilov factory
Illustrations
Soldiers and cossacks celebrating during the February days page xxxvii Members of the first Provisional Government (Hoover Institution Archives)
page xl
Members of the new coalition cabinet formed following the April crisis (Hoover Institution Archives) page xlv
The Rabotnitsa editorial board (From Velikii oktiabr' . . . albom) page xlvii
The Presidium of the First All-Russian Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (Hoover Institution Archives) page xlvix
Demonstration sponsored by the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets (Staatsbibliothek, Berlin) page l
Street scene in Petrograd, 1917 (The National Archives) page 8
July 4, 1917, in Petrograd page 11
Cartoon, "A High Post for the Leaders of the Rebellion" page 18 Soldiers of the First Machine Gun Regiment (Museum of the Revolution, USSR) page 29
Cartoon, "The Arrest of Alexandra Kollontai" page 31 Cartoon, "Lenin in the Role of Nicholas II" page 37
The funeral of seven cossacks killed during the July days (Hoover Institution Archives) page 41
Kerensky departing for the front (Staatsbibliothek, Berlin) page 56
The Bolshevik Central Committee, elected at the Sixth Congress (From Velikii oktiabr' . . . albom) [see Bibliography] page 58
Members of the Bolshevik Petersburg Committee in 1917 (From Velikii oktiabr' . . . albom) page 65
Key members of the Bolshevik Military Organization (From Velikii oktiabr' . . . albom) page 73
The Bolshoi Theater (Hoover Institution Archives) page 112
General Lavr Kornilov and Boris Savinkov arrive for the Moscow State
Conference (From White Against Red by Dimitry V. Lehovich, courtesy of Mr. Lehovich) page 114
Kerensky addressing military personnel (Hoover Institution Archives) page 116
V. N. Lvov (Hoover Institution Archives) page 122
Members of the Bolshevik Kronstadt Committee (From Velikii oktiabr' . . . albom) page 145
Map of Kornilov affair page 147
Factory workers gathered for a political meeting page 155
The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies page 161
Lenin's resolution endorsing insurrection (Radio Times Hulton Picture Library) page 207
Members of the Military Revolutionary Committee (From Velikii oktiabr' . . . albom) page 238
The Women's Battalion on the Palace Square (Radio Times Hulton Picture Library) page 255