> >From: http://iww.org/~jah/russia-rev-anar.html > >============================================================================ > > > >REPRESSION > > > >During 1920, peasant revolts against the Bolsheviks occurred in 22 provinces > >and there were 118 centres of resistance. In Tambov province the Peasant > >Workers' Union held their region for a year until defeated by massive > >military intervention in 1921. > > > >The Bolshevik's policy of enforced 'War Communism', put into practice by the > >Red Army, created conditions far worse then had existed before the > >revolution; grain was seized, and there were whippings and mass executions > >of peasants. Popular hatred of his new system, in both village and factory, > >became focussed upon one man: Leon Trotsky, the leader of the Red Army. > > > >During his years as military boss Trotsky developed some startling new > >marxist ideas which placed him on the far right of the Bolsheviks. In his > >view, the new socialist state should become the 'most ruthless form of > >government imaginable'. Socialism itself he defined as the 'organisation of > >workers along new lines, their adaption to these, and their re-education, > >with a view to a constant increase in productivity'. He excused this return > >to serfdom by claiming that: 'under certain conditions, slavery represented > >progress,' because it, 'led to a rise in production'. The Red Army was the > >way to ensure this much desired rise. Workers would be 'militarised'. > >Nonworkers - 'deserters from the work-front' - should be 'assembled in > >disciplinary battalions or else relegated to the concentration camps'. For > >reasons beyond Trotsky's understanding these ideas were not given a > >rapturous welcome by the industrial workers of Russia. > > > >KRONSTADT > > > >Chronic famine now swept a Russia dominated by a ruthless one-party State. > >Factory committees and village assemblies were silenced and workers' control > >denounced. The Cheka herded thousands of revolutionaries into camps, or > >simply shot them on the spot. > > > >In February 1921, Petrograd workers took to the streets in protest. The > >Bolsheviks imposed a curfew and martial law. The naval base at nearby > >Kronstadt sent delegates to join the strikers. In March, its sailors > >mutinied. 'In view of the fact that the present Soviets do not express the > >will of the workers and peasants', they issued a 15-point-programme to > >revitalise the revolution: > > > > [KRONSTADT RESOLUTION] > > > > 1. New elections to the Soviets by secret ballot, with freedom to carry on > > agitation beforehand for all workers and peasants. > > > > 2. Freedom of speech and of the press for workers and peasants, for > > anarchists and left-socialist parties. > > > > 3. Freedom of assembly for trade unions and peasant organisations. > > > > 4. A non-party conference of the workers, Red Army soldiers and sailors of > > Petrograd, Kronstadt and Petrograd province. > > > > 5. Liberation of all political prisoners of socialist parties, as well as > > all workers, peasants, soldiers and sailors imprisoned in connection > > with the labour and peasant movements. > > > > 6. Election of a commission to review the case of those being held in > > prison and concentration camps. > > > > 7. Abolition of all political sections in the armed forces. No party > > should be given special privileges in the propagation of its ideas or > > receive the financial support of the state for such purposes. Instead > > cultural and educational commissions should be established, locally > > elected and financed by the state. > > > > 8. Removal of road-blocks between town and country. > > > > 9. Equal rations for all working people, with the exception of those > > employed in trades detrimental to health. > > > > 10. An end to Party detachments in all branches of the army, as well as the > > Party guards kept on duty in factories and mills. Should such guards or > > detachments be found necessary, they are to be appointed in the army > > from the ranks and in the factories and mills at the discretion of the > > workers. > > > > 11. Full freedom of action for peasants: in regard to the land, and the > > right to keep cattle, on condition that the peasants manage with their > > own means and do not hire labour. > > > > 12. A request to all branches of the army, including officer trainees, to > > endorse this programme. > > > > 13. The press to give the programme wide publicity. > > > > 14. Appointment of mobile workers' control groups. > > > > 15. Authorisation of handicraft production, provided no wage labour is > > involved. > > > >Trotsky's reply was swift: an air raid followed by days of savage > >artillery fire and more bombs. The Krondstadt garrison and civllians > >furiously returned the fire while preparing to meet the forthcoming Red Army > >onslaught. > > > >It began on March 8th. Two battalions of the 561st Regiment advanced across > >the ice, but on reaching the rebel lines they surrendered, leaving their > >officers to return alone. Next, the Orchane Regiment refused to attack. And > >when two more regiments mutinied rather than proceed, they were disarmed by > >force. Meanwhile Trotsky's artillery continued to pound Kronstadt. > > > >Although 'reorganised', the 561st again refused to fight 'against our > >brothers'. Some Red Army units lost half of their men to their own bullets- > >machine gunned in the back 'to prevent them surrendering to the rebels.' > >machine gunned in the back 'to prevent them surrendering to the rebels.' > > > >Faced with mutiny the Bolsheviks sent for 'reliable' troops from > >far-off Kirghiz and Bashkir before their commander, Toukhatchevsky, was > >ready for his final assault on the beleaguered, exhausted rebels. > > > >On March 16th, a massive 4-hour artillery barrage opened the attack, > >followed by assault from the air. At midnight, the Red Army advanced. It > >followed by assault from the air. At midnight, the Red Army advanced. It > >took them five hours to gain entry to the town, and 24 hours of > >bitter and terrible street fighting before they could overwhelm the > >sailors' and workers' militia. > > > >Official figures speak of at least 5,000 killed and wounded on the > >Government side. The rebel losses will never be known. Thousands died or > >disappeared in the 'revolutionary tribunals' that followed. 8,000 > >disappeared in the 'revolutionary tribunals' that followed. 8,000 > >Kronstadters fled over the ice to Finland, and 15,000 sailers were > >kicked out of the fleet. A new wave of arrests swept the country and > >on September 21st the anarchist poet Lev Chernyi was shot by the Cheka. The > >anarchists were scattered to the prison camps, where they died of illness, > >hard labour or Cheka executioners. Those who evaded the net fled their > >homeland to a life of exile. Among them were Emma Goldman and Alex Berkman, > >who wrote: > > > > 'Grey are the passing days. One by one the embers of hope have > > died out. Terror and despotism have crushed the life born on > > October. The slogans of the revolution are foresworn, its ideals > > stifled in the blood of the people. The breath of yesterday is > > dooming millions to death; the shadow of today hangs like a black > > pall over the country. Dictatorship is trampling the masses > > underfoot. The revolutaon is dead; its spirit cries in the > > wilderness . . . I have decided to leave Russia.' > >