Great October
Lenin proclaims Soviet power. Artist V. A. Serov.
Pandora's Box
It is necessary to remember that by the autumn of 1917, the liberal-bourgeois Provisional Government – the “Februaryists” who destroyed the Russian Empire (although for some reason they like to call the Bolsheviks the culprits of this event) – brought Russian civilization and statehood to the brink of disaster.
It is important to remember that, Contrary to the liberal democratic myth formed in the 80s and 90s, Old Russia was destroyed not by Bolshevik commissars and Red Guards, but by ministers and generals, deputies and high church officials, aristocrats and grand dukes. High-ranking Freemasons, the elite of the Russian Empire. Noble, educated, and wealthy people. High society. The big bourgeoisie, capitalists, bankers, the oligarchs of the time, the owners of factories, plants, and steamships.
Those who thought Russia could be transformed into "dear France or England." With parliament, a rule-of-law society. With the Western civilizational matrix. They miscalculated everything. They crushed the last "staple"—autocracy. They opened Pandora's box.
A true catastrophe had begun. Not only the national outskirts of Russia were rejecting the Russian state, but also regions within Russia itself—like the Cossack autonomies of the Don and Kuban. A tiny number of nationalists claimed power in Kyiv and Little Russia. An autonomous government emerged in Siberia. The Caucasus erupted in flames.
The armed forces had collapsed long before the Bolshevik coup and were unable to continue fighting. The Provisional Government "democratized" the army in the midst of a terrible war!
Army and fleet from being pillars of order they themselves turned into sources of unrest and anarchy. Soldiers deserted by the thousands, carried away weapon (including machine guns and artillery!) The front was disintegrating, and there was no one left to stop the Austro-German and Turkish armies. Russia could no longer fulfill its duty to its Entente allies.
Finances and the economy were disorganized, the unified economic space was falling apart. The transportation system was crumbling. Supply problems with the cities began, harbingers of famine. Even during the Russian Empire, the government had begun implementing food tax collection (again, the Bolsheviks were later blamed for this).
The peasants saw that there was no authority! For the peasants, authority was God's anointed—the tsar—and his support—the army. They began seizing land, farmland, and forests, and "took revenge." Hundreds of landowners' estates burned under the Provisional Government. Essentially, another peasant war had begun, a war between village and city. The peasants believed they owed nothing more to the new authorities, any of them. They no longer had to pay taxes, provide recruits, or obey the laws.
A criminal revolution had begun. The former police, gendarmerie, and secret police were disbanded. Archives and card files were smashed and burned. Experienced police officers were thrown out onto the streets. Prisons were sacked, releasing professional criminals and common criminals. The country and cities were overrun by gangs and criminal groups that robbed the "bourgeoisie" and raided banks, warehouses, and railroads. Soon, entire gangs, bandit armies—the "greens"—emerged.
External open enemies and former "partners" began dividing and seizing Russian territories. England, France, and the United States laid claim to the most lucrative pieces. The Americans, in particular, planned to stake out virtually all of Siberia and the Far East with the help of Czechoslovak bayonets.
The Provisional Government, instead of proposing a goal, a program, and active and decisive action to save the state, postponed the resolution of fundamental issues until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly.
It was a disaster! Russia in front of her eyes ceased to exist, turning into an ethnographic territory that they were going to “master” and completely solve the “Russian question”.
A wave of chaos, both controlled and spontaneous, engulfed the country. The autocracy, the core of the empire, was crushed by an internal "fifth column." The "Februaryists"—the grand dukes, the degenerate aristocracy, generals, Freemasons, Duma officials, liberals, bankers, and industrialists.
In return, the empire's inhabitants received "freedom." People felt free from all taxes, duties, and laws. The Provisional Government, whose policies were determined by liberal and left-wing figures, was unable to establish effective order; indeed, its actions deepened the chaos.
It turned out that Western-oriented figures (mostly Freemasons, subordinate to their "big brothers" in the West) continued to destroy Russia. In words, everything was beautiful and smooth, but in reality, they were destroyers or "impotents," capable only of beautiful words. It's enough to recall the "democratization" of the army during the war (Order No. 1).
Liberal democratic Petrograd de facto lost control of the country. The continued rule of the liberals led to the disintegration of Russia into appanage principalities, each with its own host of "independent" presidents, hetmans, atamans, khans, and princelings, each with their own parliament-talking-shops, micro-armies, and administrative apparatuses. All these "states" inevitably fell under the control of external powers—England, France, the USA, Japan, Turkey, and so on.
At the same time, many neighbors coveted Russian lands. Finnish radicals, in particular, dreamed of a "Greater Finland" that would include Russian Karelia, the Kola Peninsula, and, if successful, lands as far as the Northern Urals.
The Russian civilization and people were threatened with complete destruction and disappearance from the stories.
Revolutionary sailors of the battleship Petropavlovsk (Baltic Fleet) in Helsinki (now Helsinki) around a red banner with the inscription "Death to the bourgeoisie!"
"There is such a party!"
However, a force emerged that was able to seize power and offer the people a viable plan. This was the Bolsheviks. Until the summer of 1917, they weren't considered a serious political force, inferior in popularity and numbers to virtually all other parties, especially the Cadets and Socialist Revolutionaries. But by the fall of 1917, their popularity had grown. Their program was clear and understandable to the masses. During this period, virtually any force that demonstrated political will and common sense could have seized power. The Bolsheviks became that force.
"There is such a party!" is the famous phrase uttered by Vladimir Lenin at the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets on June 4 (17), 1917. It was a response to the statement of the Menshevik Irakli Tsereteli, who claimed that there was no party in Russia ready to assume power. The phrase became a symbol of the Bolsheviks' determination and readiness to seize power.
In August 1917, the Bolsheviks set their sights on armed uprising and socialist revolution. This occurred at the Sixth Congress of the RSDLP(b). At that time, the Bolshevik Party was effectively underground. The most revolutionary regiments of the Petrograd garrison were disbanded, and workers sympathetic to the Bolsheviks were disarmed. The opportunity to recreate armed structures only arose during the Kornilov rebellion. The plan for an uprising in the capital had to be postponed.
Only on October 10 (23), 1917, did the Central Committee adopt a resolution on preparing for an uprising. On October 16 (29), an expanded meeting of the Central Committee, attended by representatives from the districts, confirmed the previously adopted decision.
The Bolsheviks seized power
12 (25) in October 1917 of the year, the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee was established to defend the revolution from the “openly preparing attack of the military and civilian Kornilov” on the initiative of Petrograd Chairman of the Council of the Soviet Union Lev Trotsky. Not only the Bolsheviks, but also some left-wing Social Revolutionaries and anarchists entered the WRC. In fact, this body and coordinated the preparation of an armed uprising. He was formally headed by Pavel Lazimir, a left SR, but almost all decisions were made by the Bolsheviks Leo Trotsky, Nikolai Podvoisky and Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko.
With the help of the Military Revolutionary Committee, the Bolsheviks established close ties with the soldiers' committees of the Petrograd garrison units. In effect, leftist forces restored dual power in the city and began to establish their control over the military. When the Provisional Government decided to send revolutionary regiments to the front, the Petrograd Soviet ordered a review of the order and determined that it was dictated by political, not strategic, motives. The regiments were ordered to remain in Petrograd.
The commander of the military district prohibited the distribution of weapons from city and suburban arsenals to workers, but the Soviet issued warrants, and the weapons were issued. The Petrograd Soviet also thwarted the Provisional Government's attempt to arm its supporters using the arsenal of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Units of the Petrograd garrison declared their insubordination to the Provisional Government. On October 21, a meeting of representatives of the garrison regiments was held, recognizing the Petrograd Soviet as the sole legitimate authority in the city. From that moment on, the Military Revolutionary Committee began appointing its own commissars to military units, replacing those of the Provisional Government.
On the night of October 22, the Military Revolutionary Committee demanded that the headquarters of the Petrograd Military District recognize the authority of its commissars, and on the 22nd, it declared the garrison subordinate to it. On October 23, the Military Revolutionary Committee secured the right to create an advisory body at the headquarters of the Petrograd District. That same day, Trotsky personally conducted agitation in the Peter and Paul Fortress, where people were still unsure which side to take.
By October 24, the Military Revolutionary Committee had appointed its commissars to the troops, as well as to arsenals, weapons depots, railway stations, and factories. By the time the uprising began, leftist forces had effectively established military control over the capital. The Provisional Government was ineffective and unable to respond decisively.
Therefore, there were no serious clashes or significant bloodshed; the Bolsheviks simply seized power. The Provisional Government's guards and loyal units surrendered almost everywhere and went home. No one wanted to shed their blood for the "provisionalists."
From October 24, detachments of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee occupied all key points in the city. Armed men simply occupied the capital's key sites, and all this was accomplished without a single shot being fired, calmly and methodically.
When Kerensky, head of the Provisional Government, ordered the arrest of members of the Military Revolutionary Committee, there was no one to carry out the arrest. The Provisional Government surrendered the country virtually without a fight, even though it had every opportunity to deal with active members of the Bolshevik Party even before the revolution. The utter incompetence and ineffectiveness of the Provisional Government is demonstrated by the fact that they did nothing to defend their last stronghold—the Winter Palace: there were no combat-ready units there, and neither ammunition nor provisions were prepared.
By the morning of October 25 (November 7), the Provisional Government had only the Winter Palace left in Petrograd. By the end of the day, it was “defended” by about 200 women from the Women’s Shock Battalion, 2-3 companies of beardless cadets, and several dozen disabled holders of the St. George Cross. The guards began to disperse even before the assault. The Cossacks were the first to leave, then they left on the orders of their superior, cadet Mikhailovsky. artillery School. Thus, the defense of the Winter Palace lost its artillery. Some of the cadets from the Oranienbaum school also left.
Therefore, the footage of the famous storming of the Winter Palace is a beautiful myth, a mere image. Most of the palace guards had gone home. The entire assault consisted of a sluggish firefight. Its scale can be gauged by the casualties: six soldiers and one female shock worker were killed. At 2:00 a.m. on October 26 (November 8), the members of the Provisional Government were arrested.
Kerensky himself escaped early, riding away in the American ambassador's car, flying an American flag (he was rescued by his overseas protectors). He went to Gatchina, where he disguised himself as a sailor to continue his escape. This gave rise to the legend that Kerensky escaped in women's clothing.
It must be said that the Bolsheviks practically defeated a "shadow." Later, a myth was created about a brilliant operation and a "heroic struggle" against the bourgeoisie. The main reason for the victory was the utter incompetence and passivity of the Provisional Government. Almost all liberal figures could only talk. The resolute Kornilov, who tried to establish at least some order, had already been eliminated. If Kerensky had been replaced by a decisive dictator of the Suvorov or Napoleonic type, with a few shock troops from the front, he would have easily dispersed the disorganized units of the Petrograd garrison and the Red partisan formations.
In the evening of October 25, the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets opened in Smolny, which proclaimed the transfer of all power to the Soviets. October 26 The Council adopted a Decree on Peace. All belligerent countries were asked to begin negotiations on the conclusion of a universal democratic peace. The decree on the land passed landowner land to the peasants. All bowels, forests and waters nationalized. At the same time, a government was formed - the Council of People's Commissars headed by Vladimir Lenin.
Simultaneously with the uprising in Petrograd, the Moscow Council Revolutionary Committee took key points of the city under its control. It didn't go so smoothly here. The Public Security Committee under the chairman of the city duma Vadim Rudnev, with the support of the junkers and Cossacks, began military actions against the Council. The fighting continued until November 3, when the Public Security Committee capitulated.
Overall, Soviet power was established in the country easily and without much bloodshed. The revolution was immediately supported in the Central Industrial Region, where local Soviets of Workers' Deputies already effectively controlled the situation. In the Baltics and Belarus, Soviet power was established in October–November 1917, and in the Central Black Earth Region, the Volga Region, and Siberia, by the end of January 1918.
These events are called "the triumphal march of the Soviet government." The process of the predominantly peaceful establishment of Soviet power throughout Russia was yet another proof of the complete degradation of the Provisional Government and the need to rescue the country with active and program-like force.
E. A. Kibrik. "There is such a party!", 1947.
The Bolsheviks saved Russian civilization.
Subsequent events confirmed the Bolsheviks' correctness. Russia was on the brink of collapse. The old project had been destroyed, and only a new project could save Russia. This is what the Bolsheviks created. They did not destroy "old Russia." The Russian Empire was destroyed by the "Februaryists," the country's degenerate elite. The Westernizers and Eurocentrists wanted to make Russia part of "enlightened, civilized Europe," with its own order. They turned out to be chatterboxes, imitators, and provocateurs who "dumped" the country, leading it to utter disaster.
The Bolsheviks did not save the "old Russia", it was doomed and fought in agony. They suggested that the people create a new reality, a civilization - a Soviet, more equitable one, where there will be no classes parasitizing the people. The Bolsheviks had all three necessary elements for the formation of a new reality, a project: an image of the future, a bright world; political will and energy, faith in one's victory (overpassionality); and organization.
The image of the future appealed to the majority of ordinary people, as communism was inherent to Russian civilization and the people from the very beginning. It's no coincidence that long before the revolution, many Christian-minded Russian thinkers were also supporters of socialism. Only socialism could offer an alternative to parasitic capitalism (and, in our time, to the neo-slave, neo-feudal system).
Communism prioritized creation and labor and was opposed to the exploitation of the people and parasitism. All of this corresponded to the Russian "matrix code." The Bolsheviks had political will, energy, and faith. They had organization.
Modern liberals try to convince the public that October was "Russia's curse." They claim Russia once again drifted away from Europe, and the history of the USSR was a continuous catastrophe. In reality, the Bolsheviks were the only force that, after the collapse of "Old Russia"—the Romanov project—attempted to save the state and the people and create a new reality.
A project that will preserve the best of the past (Pushkin, Lermontov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Suvorov, Nakhimov, Kutuzov) and simultaneously be a breakthrough into the future, into a different, just, and sunny civilization, free from slavery and oppression, parasitism and obscurantism. If not for the Bolsheviks, Russian civilization would likely have simply perished.
It's clear that not everything went smoothly with the Bolsheviks. They had to act harshly, even cruelly. A significant portion of the revolutionaries were internationalists (supporters of Trotsky and Sverdlov). Many of them were agents of Western influence. They were supposed to launch a "second wave" to destroy the Russian super-ethnos (Russian civilization). The "first wave" were the "Februaryist Masons."
They viewed Russia as a victim, a feeding trough, a base for a world revolution that would lead to the establishment of a New World Order, whose masters would be the "world behind the scenes" ("world international"). The "world behind the scenes" unleashed the world war and organized the revolution in Russia. The masters of the United States and England planned to establish a global world order based on Marxism—a kind of global totalitarian concentration camp. Their instruments were internationalist revolutionaries, the Trotskyists.
First, they "cleared the field" by destroying the old monarchical empires. The Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman empires fell as planned. Then they planned a series of "socialist" revolutions. They planned to make Russia the base for a world revolution, harness all its resources, the energy of its people, and sacrifice it. The goal: a New World Order based on false communism (Marxism).
Therefore, part of the Bolshevik Party acted as an enemy of the Russian people. However, in Russia, the deeply popular, Russian component—the Bolshevik-Stalinists—won the upper hand. It was they who demonstrated such fundamental values of the Russian "matrix" as justice, the primacy of truth over law, the spiritual over the material, the universal over the particular.
Their victory led to the construction of a separate “Russian socialism,” the physical liquidation of most of the “fifth column” (Trotskyist internationalists), and the unprecedented success of Soviet civilization, which withstood the blow of World War II and entered space.
Decree on Land. Art. V. A. Serov
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