Lenin, Zinoviev, and Kamenev. As we shall see, Lenin and Zinoviev immediately went underground (as did Nevsky and Podvoisky, the two top Military Organization officials). Only Kamenev did not flee—he was arrested and jailed on July 9.
Two days earlier the government had incarcerated members of two large naval delegations dispatched from Helsingfors to Petrograd by the leftist- dominated Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet (Tsentrobalt); among the arrested sailors were such influential "fleet" Bolsheviks as Pavel Dybenko and Nikolai Khovrin. A week later Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, another key Helsingfors Bolshevik, was also imprisoned. One of several suspicious characters in a car full of workers detained by a cossack patrol at this time was Sergei Bagdatiev, an Armenian by background who had once been a candidate for the Bolshevik Central Committee. On the afternoon of July 4, Bagdatiev was reported cruising around Petrograd atop an armored car, waving a rifle and crying out to gaping onlookers to "arrest the ministers." Upon interrogation following his arrest, Bagdatiev modestly admitted to being one of the organizers of the uprising. Newspaper accounts of his capture were very definite about two things: that Bagdatiev was a German spy and that he was a Jew. To Malenkaia gazeta's man-on-the-scene, Bagdatiev's "outward appearance, his hooked nose, his short reddish beard," and the fact that he was "masquerading in a democratic workman's shirt" were dead giveaways. Noted the reporter, "Bagdatiev speaks Russian well with barely a trace of a Jewish accent."33
Flavian Khaustov, an editor of Okopnaia pravda and the focus of a widespread manhunt since his escape from the Crosses Prison (an ancient jail in the Vyborg District built in the form of two crosses) on June 18, was now recaptured, picked up leaving a theater at the Luna Park amusement center, evidently on a tip from an informer.34 Taking leftist leaders from the Kron- stadt naval base into custody was infinitely more difficult for the government. In response to a telegram from Kerensky demanding that "counterrevolutionary instigators" be turned over to the government at once, the Executive Committee of the Kronstadt Soviet wired back: "Inasmuch as no one knows of any 'counterrevolutionary' instigators in Kronstadt, it will be impossible to conduct arrests." Specifically directed to turn over several key Bolshevik leaders (Fedor Raskolnikov, Semion Roshal, and Afanasii Rem- nev), the Kronstadt Soviet persisted in its refusal to cooperate with the government. Only after the naval base was threatened with blockade and bombardment was it agreed that all of the sought-after Kronstadters, except for Roshal (who had disappeared), would turn themselves in.35 Subsequently, Roshal also surrendered; encountering Raskolnikov in the Crosses shortly afterward, he explained, "After your arrest, it seemed awkward to hide."36
Alexandra Kollontai, an internationally prominent Bolshevik, was in
Cartoon by A. Lebedev depicting the arrest of Alexandra Kollontai, from Petrogradskaia gazeta, July 16, 1917. The caption reads: "The Arrest of That Lenin 'Woman!' " The valise is marked "compromising documents." (An exact copy, redrawn for this volume.)
Stockholm during the July days. After the German-agent scandal broke, the Swedish press made life miserable for her, implying that she was abroad to arrange for further German subsidies. Consequently, she hurried back to Petrograd. She later described her reception at the Swedish-Finnish border on July 13. Some Russian officers boarded the train at Torneo and took her into custody. Word of her arrest spread through the station, and crowds soon formed on the platform chanting "German spy! Betrayer of Russia!" A dining car steward with a napkin tucked under his arm chased after her screaming: "It's the spy Kollontai! You belong on the scaffold with the betrayers of Russia." After the train had left Torneo, Kollontai and her guards made their way to the dining car, but revolutionary Russia's self- appointed guardian was still on duty. Barring the way, he blurted, "The spy Kollontai . . . won't eat anything in my dining car." Adding that "spies should be given only bread and water," he stubbornly refused to serve even that.37
As arrests of suspected leftists mounted, few non-Bolsheviks challenged the government. Among those who did were Martov; Trotsky; and Anatolii Lunacharsky, a playwright, Marxist philosopher, and powerful revolutionary tribune who at this time was a member of the Interdistrict Committee. At a Central Executive Committee meeting on July 17, for example, Trotsky staunchly defended the behavior of the Bolsheviks throughout the July days and mocked the idea of Lenin's being a German agent. "Lenin has been struggling for the revolution for thirty years," observed Trotsky. "I have been fighting against the oppression of the popular masses for twenty years. We cannot but be filled with hatred toward German militarism. Anyone who says differently does not know what a revolutionary is."38
АРЕСТЪ ЛЕНИНСКОЙ „МАДАМЪ"
Карр. А. ЛЕБЕДЕВА.
To help the Bolshevik cause, Trotsky agreed to defend Raskolnikov in court. In mid-July he sent a letter of protest on the Bolsheviks' behalf to the
government in which he declared: "In principle, I share the views of Lenin, Kamenev, and Zinoviev. . . . My relation to the events of July 3-4 was exactly the same as theirs. . . . There is no logical reason for ordering that Lenin, Zinoviev, and Kamenev be arrested and not me."39 The government could not ignore such a challenge. Orders for the arrest of Trotsky, and Lunacharsky as well, were issued by Karinsky's office on the morning of July 23. Lunacharsky was picked up at his apartment a short while later. Trotsky, unaware that the authorities were on the lookout for him, called Karinsky that evening to discuss Raskolnikov's defense. When Trotsky inquired whether it would be all right for him to appear in court as Raskolnikov's lawyer, Karinsky replied: "I'll let you know. Where can you be reached?" "At Larin's," responded the unsuspecting Trotsky. Within an hour a squad of soldiers knocked at Larin's door and hustled Trotsky away.40
A warrant for Lenin's arrest was issued by the prosecutor of the Petrograd court of appeals on the evening of July 6. At once, a detachment of soldiers and officers from the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment, commanded by the head of the counterintelligence bureau, Boris Nikitin, rushed to Lenin's last-known residence—the apartment of his oldest sister, Anna Elizarova. Although Lenin was not there at the time, Nikitin, who had been impatient to get his hands on the Bolshevik leader for months, was in no mood to come away empty-handed. While Nadezhda Krupskaia, Lenin's wife, looked on enraged, Nikitin supervised an inch-by-inch search of the apartment, confiscating papers and documents that seemed in any way suspicious. A reporter for Petrogradskaia gazeta who appeared at the apartment house early the next morning recorded Lenin's neighbors' reactions to the latest events. All voiced indignation at the idea of having harbored an enemy agent and agreed that the tenants of Number 24 had a lot of money (the word "German" was left unspoken). "You can see for yourself, buildings like this with a grand staircase and mahagony floors are not at all common in Petrograd," pointed out the custodian. "Lenin almost always travels by automobile," he added. "Lenin and his wife have better linens than anyone else," confided a female tenant. "Workers don't rent in this building," her companion chimed in. As the reporter prepared to leave, the custodian produced a petition demanding that the residents of Number 24 be evicted immediately. Already embellished with several signatures, the petition proclaimed: "We do not want such dangerous neighbors as Lenin and his family."41