of counter-revolutionary forces, and after two days of savage fighting the uprising was crashed by means of Cossacks and large numbers of reliable troops. A veritable counter-revolutionary rdgn of terror ensued. The Mensheviki and Social revolutionists actively co-operated with the government in imprisoning the Bolsheviki and disarming the masses, establishing "revolutionary order" by crushing the left wing of the Revolution. This formidable uprising, however, in spite of its defeat; went far toward preserving the Revolution and energizing the morale of the masses: its defeat paved the way for the overthrow of the moderates in the Soviets, which occurred completely a few months later.
Events had demonstrated the necessity of ministerial reconstruction, and on July 20 Prince Lvov resigned as Premier, Kerensky being appointed the new Premier, but retaining his portfolio as Minister of War and Marine. On July 20 Kerensky issued a proclamation to the army and navy, accusing the sailors of Cronstadt and the Baltic Fleet of being tools of "German agents and provocateurs," and ordering:
"1.—The Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet to be immediately disbanded, a new one to be elected in its place.
"2.—To declare to all crews and vessels of the Baltic Fleet that I call upon them immediately to remove from their midst suspicious persons who are inciting disobedience to the Provisional Government and agitating against an advance, and to bring them for investigation and trial to Petrograd.
"3.—To the crews of Cronstadt and the ships of the line, 'Petropavlovsk,' 'Republica' and 'Slava,' whose honor is stained by counter-revolutionary acts and resolutions: I order the arrest within 24 hours of all the ring leaders and that they be sent for investigation and trial to Petrograd, and be ordered to give assurance of full obedience to the Provisional Government. I declare to the crews of Cronstadt and the above-mentioned ships that in case of failure to comply with my present order they will be declared traitors to the country and the Revolution and that the most resolute measures will be taken against them."
This was the first act of the "revolutionary" Premier Kerensky—an act directed against the courageous and revolutionary sailors of Cronstadt and the Baltic Fleet, who had been most active factors in the first stage of the Revolution and throughout its subsequent course, and who were now stigmatized because they adhered to the revolutionary program of "all power to the Soviets." On July 25 the Executive Committee of the All-Russian Soviets adopted a resolution, 300 to 11, insinuating that Lenin and Zinovief had received money from German sources and demanding that the Bolsheviki repudiate their leaders. An order for the arrest of Lenin was issued, who went into hiding; hundreds of Bolsheviki were imprisoned.[1]
- ↑ Trotzky was not directly affiliated with the Bolsheviki, and capital was made of this fact to create dissension among the revolutionary, opposition. After the order was issued for the arrest of Lenin et al.. Trotzky, in an open letter to the Ministry, declared: "My principles are the same as those of Lenin, Zinovief, and Kamenef, and I have always publicly defended these principles in my paper "Vperiod" and in all my speeches. The fact that I do not belong to the "Pravda" and the organization of the Bolsheviki does not result from differences in politics, but is caused by circumstances which divided the parties in the past, but have lost at present every meaning. … What I have here stated shows clearly that there is no logical reason whatever to omit me from the warrant to arrest Zinovief, Lenin and Kamenef, which arrest is only the result of counter-revolutionary despotism." This letter was published in "Pravda," as an expression of solidarity.
