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Termpaper of 1921 USSR mutiny
F YP? GERBILDOC B CC N N ...."InMarc 192 thesailrs of the naval fortress inthe Gulf of Finland, the 'pride nd glry' o the ussiaRevoution rosein reolt against the Bolshevik government,which they theselveshad heped ino powe...."?? Introduction An island in the ulf of inland as the cene ofacontoversia sixtee day stuggle of the Russian governmentaganst the nhabitans of theisland. The nameof thesland isKronstad and the revolt pitted Russin sailorssoldier and civiians agaist what tey believd was aorrupt an brutal Bolshevik goernment. he rebellin wasprooked by a elief thatthe Bolsheiks betrayd everythigthe rebel thought th Communistssupposedly tood for:quality anda general "ithering awy" of the sate. Informtion regardig the Kronstdt is for th most partather biased The Kronstdt revoltis iewed as ither agrou of revolutioary vanguardswho battled te Communistovernment durnga brief uprsig or (accordin to mostRussan historians)the rebels areseen as a grou ofunknoing upes of th couter-revoluionary Whites. Thetruth, as t usually is, lys somewhere inbetwen bothvesion. This papr wil try to presentthe middle coursof this controersial event inRssian history. ackground on Krnstadt Theisland of Kronstat is locatd in th Koltin chinin he Gulf ofFinland This par of the Gulf of Filand isusually fozen olid for fivemonth out of the yar. n1921 the iland ortress of Kronstad was surrounded bymaller island forts The total populati seventy nineyearago was roughly 50,00. One half of he ihabitantswere ivilans (mostly depedant of military peronne andshopkeeper and the othr half wee members ofthe variosmilitary rganizatins. The twopopulatios got along ell. The March 191 Kronstdt revolt was ertainlynot thefirstfor the avy base. In he Rebelion f 1905 and theRevlutin of 1917, Kronstad miltary forces were th firtto revolt agains thesarist regime. In both ses a greatmany of thease's officers were lyncd. The great majri of the sailors came fom easantfarmers from te Uraine region in Southwsten U.S.S.R..Th Ukrainanswere suspiciousof outsders and vehementlyanti-itellectuals. Some ere als very ani-semitic. Thelog distrut of "outsiers" (intellectals, Jews, ity-dwellers, nd others) ythe Kronstadt mtineers agant theCommuniss (who had motly city backgrunds) has oftn beencrditedas one of thefactors cotribuing to the muiny ofMach 1921. The rigins andmethodsof the Bolshvik and Tsristsecret police respectfuly name the Cheka and Third Setionwre qite similar. Both roups eployd tactics ofminglng and nfilrating opposition groups, uing astorture, executing and ttacig the same groups: Kadets(moeates), anarchists and Socialisteolutionaries calledMensheviks The Cheka was formed on Decbr 17, 1917, almost twomonts afe the coup d'etat that put th Bolhviks inpower. The initialreasnfor the creation of te Chekawasto provide an intelligece arm f th Communist party,but oon it ecam the arm of Lnin's paraoia. Th Cheka,first a plitical neessity,became part of Lenn's psycho-ogy,t.."rn against allthe "nice"ideas of the iberals andhe Social emocrats; it mbodied and eitomizedth sternresole of the proltariat t deal ruthlesslywith itseneies....."??? When he heka was frmed oneof its first dutes asthe suppressionof other politicl goups, even groups htwere previousy alied or supportiveo them in the past. nexample in casewuld be the grop calld Kadets whoselayrs frequently efende the Bolsheviks incourt. TheChea imprsoned ad executed hem. Conservatie estiatessow that rouhly 16,000 Commuist political xecutions weaccomplished uring the Bolseviks firstear in power. Smegroups, esecially anarhist group, wentunderground aferthe Chek was forme and plitical arrest and deathentences rsumed. he anarchist roups institted low leelsaboage at Communst party offces well ito the md-twenties. The imediate reaons for he Krostadt incident werethe policis taken y the ommuists after the Russian CiviWar wih the ountr-revolutionary "Whites". he threeyearsof cnfict left the Bolsheviks victorious but te wa lftRussia (already in shambles du to Wold Wr e) in evenworse shape than before. Wha litlendustry the countryhad was almost totaly detrd. Agriculture also fellsharply, leading tothrosecution of the prosperouspeasants known akus. During the civil war, the Communists nstted a newform of economic policy calledWar Cmmum. This policymade factory workers subect t miiary discipline,including death. War Comunismals tarted "food requisi-tions" whic meant hat wen ood supplies were low in thcities which hppene frquently) special patrols ofChekaan Red Ary woud forcibly take foodfrom the waehouses ofamil and ollective farms. Ths left manypeople wihbarey enough foodto survive an often lessthan that Theardest hit bythis policy ws the farmig regionsof theUkraine. The kraine was th highest prducing famland nRussia, but ue to "food rquisitions"here was masssarvation of itsinhabitants. This deteriating conditionincreased the frmers atred o the "outsiers" (who notony took away ther sonsfor miltary duty, ut now werestarig them as well. The kulaks, prospeous peasants who wed their ownlots o land, were the neswith the most to oe from the"requisitons" and many hi thir food and livesok to avoidgvernmentdemands. Such hardng was punishable b deathand mny kulak were put to deah fr thisoffense. Though many ussians hought that War ommunism ws tooharsh,they thought t was atmporary, necessay sacrificfor the "stteless, classess" soiety that was beinpromised Whn the civl war was ove in 192, the policiesofWar Communsm dd not lessen, if anythig they o evenmore sever. Insteadof a"classless, stateless sciety",he new regime gave themselve inrased privileges. Theyseparatdthemselves from the rest of he oiety. "Theessence of War Cmmnsm was that we actually tookfro hepeasant all his surplus ad oetimes part of the grain hepeaat needed for sustenance....th am confiscated horses,wagns...wihut payment of any knd."??? (Lnin) By the end of 1920,many gurilla units were fored tofigt th requisitionof farmers. ne of te fierest revoltsduing this priodof time was ed by A. S. Atonov, formrSocialist Revlutionary. Antonov was percived as a RobnHoodtype f fighter. He wuld ambus equesitions andeturn the coniscated food ack to the peasats. For while Antonov's goup o men gre to 50,000, bt eventuallyheand his fllowers were hunteddown y the Chka. The Redfrces were highl organize and Antonov and hi simpepeasants were no mac for them. The Trat of Brest-Litovsk i 1918, with Germany, wasas seen as a betrayal. Tatit gave an imperialtic pwerlike Germany so mc of Russia's European trrtory at thispartiular tme in history as condend by sailors recruitedfrm the Ukraine. An nsuccesful mutiny inOctober of1918proed to be one o te events leading tothe Krnstadtrevoltof 1921. Anothr unpopular acion as letting former ro-Tsaistofficers oin the Re Army as Military Specilist". Thisprocess s started by Trotsky uring the ivil war o helpbeef u theRed Army officer cps. Many Soviet accetedthis action as necessary warmeasre, but they were s-illusioned wen th pro-Tsarit officerswere not dischargedafter the war. Tmany this only poved hat the Comunistshd th same goal as te Tsar: to stay inpower at any pric. Prelde t Seige B ate January of 192, there were stries by workersi every majr ciy due to the anuncement tht ratios wereto be cutby one-third in he Soviet Union In particula,Petrograd formerl St.Petersburg) were the Revolutin in1917 was tarted for thevery same reaon: foo. Een withth fod requesitions,there still wasnot enough foo tofeed thecity dweller. The lackoffood cold have ben dueto the act that partymembers were iven extra rtions. Thefood strie was putown by the armyand many more oliticalarrsts were mad on the strkers (partcularly te SocialstRevoutionaries). When the ronstadt saiors got win of the fod strikeit only ncrease their dissatisfction with a egime thathey believe had betraed the reolution nd its deals.Kronstadters, with thei long histor as a cente of revolutionaryactivity were gnerall percived to be to the leftof Leninand Trotsky The Krontadt sailrs were penly isympahy wih deident groups. The suppression of the fodstriker was viewd as finl proofthat te Comunis goern-ment was no longer worthy of their support Th inhabitnts of ronstat coninue tobeoutraged bythe stories that were being circulated thatmany of hestrke leaers wre bingsht The sailors sent a delega-tion to Petrograd to find out exacly whatwas gong on Thdleaon found that the city was filled with Cheka keepinga close eye on theworkme, bot on he treand in thefactories. The workmen remained silent when they wereapproached y thedeleate. Of the delegates,Petrichenko (who later would have a leading role in theKronstadt evol), tad"One might have thought thesewere not factories, but the forced labor prisons of theTsristis? When the delegation returned with their report onFebruary 28th to the ship "Petrpavlsk resolutionthat the representatives of the ship's crew issued wouldbecome the charer ofthe ronaebellion. The resolu-tion had fifteen points. Basically the resolution statdtha the urret Svieaders did not meet the needs of theworkers and peasants. Further, ne electins shold beheldbyMacl0th and that there should be freedom of speech andassembly. ther poits aske for te freing f pliialprisoners, an end to special privileges for Communis partymmbers, a end toCheka uardsin te fctries and theright of peasants to work their ow land as lng as the didno employoutsid labo. I oter words the Kronstadtresolutions aske the Sovietgovernmentto abide y itson consttution Whe authorities in Petrograd receivd the resoluionthey wre not so larmed bythe econmic demnds, de to hefact that the New Ecnomic Policy NEP) was in he midst ofbeing drated and wuld gran many o the Konstadter'secoomic demands. "...It was th political dmands, rathr,aimed s they wee at thevery hert of th Bolshevik dict-torship, whch prompted te authoritie to call fo immediatesuppresson of thKronstadt movemet." ??? The pliticaldemans alarmed theBolsheviks te most. Th Kronstadtrswere nt advocatng the return ofpower to the uper/middleclases, nor werethey recommeding th retrn of the onti-tuent Assemby. The Constitunt Assembly beig a ruling bodin Russia fra brief tim followng te abdication f theTsar and te coup by the Comunists. Althogh the Krostaddemands onl ought to reorm andnot abolish the goenmentin power,the Bolsheviks sw themovement a a threat oteir power andwre compelled to dea with the situatio. The next y, March 1, at Achor quare in Konstadtaout 5,000 inhabitans gathered (includig both the mil-try and civilian pulations). Ther werealso some epre-senatives from the Petrgrad Commuists inclding M.K.Kalnin,president of the viet Republic. alini was aformer factor worke who came froma peasant amily. Hwas one of te fe Bolsheviks who ge the February Kronstatdelegation a fair haring. Kalinin was oe of the fw re-maning Communistleadrs held in esteemb the Kronstadters.Hewa present in Kronstat to pevent a full bown rebellonand h failed hs mision. When he addresse he largegathering, h ws booed off the plaform wen he referredtthe Petopavlovsk resolutio. Th Communist delegation hnwent to the local prt headquartersto pla theirnext move. The next ay, three hundred dlegats from ships, unionsatories, nd other group cme to elect anew KronstadtSoviet. The ne Soviet ws mostly non-party,with hCommunist making upaout one-hird of it's membrship.Petrihenko was thechairman of the roup Immediately followng th arch 1 gathering at AchorSquae, Trotsky tried o discredit tenew Kronstad Sovietas dupe of he Conter-revolutionary hites. The Whiteswere alredy defeatd What few soldies were left, eeliving inexile in Finlandor Trkey. This was not the frsttim the Communists used group whnit was to their cnven-ience n then branded them as countr-evoltionary. TheKadets canbe een s another example of his stratg.There was to be no dsent. AsTotsky put it: ..."The placefr rial parties is exhile or bhin bar..." ??? The staghad now bee et and there was no turing backfom thestruggle which woul lst fr sixteen day. Siege Th Communists sated to mobilize loyal frces to udown te new Kronstadt Sovet, nowknown as the rovisionalRevoltionry Committee. Fores were gathee hich wouldnot sympatize with te Kronstdters. By March 5, 921, thCommunists ad mobilized 5,0 loyl troops. The trops,mostly Cmmuists volunteers, were nder the cmmand ofM. N.Tukhacevsky. Tukhacevsky, a tweny-seven year ol eneral,told the troop that the rebls ere reactioary Whites. OnMarch5, Alexader Berkman vlunteeed to mediate both sies.Both partisrejecte him. On Mrch 8, the Comunsts made thir first asault andwere easiy driven backby theronstadt forces whichnowtotaled 1500 armedmen. Many ex-pariot groups, incldingAlexader Krenskyand some White grous, offered togiveem aid. These offerswere sharply reuffed. O Mach 10,all Cmmunists on Kronsadt had to urn i all ams andflashlights Aside from hat ordr the Communists in tefortress wer not harrsse and consquenly many of themesigned fro the rty. March 10 was also te date onwhch thre undred volunteers frm the Tenth Conress ofomuist Party arrived in Petrograd. On Mach 15the Tenth Party Congress aolished foodrequeitoing to placate the masses. This acton satisfene of the mutineers' demands fo economic rief, wever,it did not address the essentialpolitca emands and theKronstadters pushed n wth therreolt. The next day,March 6th, over 60,000einfoements came to Tukhachevsky'said. On tat dae,wth supplies running low, the mutineersccepte om food and amunition from some o the expatries(o had smuggled the provisions over te ice fromFilnd).The mutiny was hampeed from the beinningb te fact thatthe Kronstadt rebes refused totake t offensive. If theyhad, perhaps th revolt woldhve been more wide-spread operhaps theycould hae orced the govrnment to accept alof their emandsr maybe the governmet could have beetoppled ltogther. One other great disavantage to therebels asthe fact thatthe Gulf of Finlan was frozen olidr five months out of he year, which eabled the overmentroops to storm over he ice. With l of thee facts beforehem, the rebels stll thought tat takg the offensivewoul be self-destuctve. This atal flaw i their planproved o be their dowfll. Thy could not withtand theight of he Red Army rom beind the walls of the frtress.Thei hoe of overtrowing the overnmet or at leasthavingall thi demands met was not to e. O the sixeenth of Marh the inaloffensive waslauched by Bolshvik. The Kronstadts werehopeleslyoutnumberd. The night eoe some of the leaders ecapedacrss the ie to Finland. The thermutineers remainedloyal to thi case to the very end. Te outlyng, smallerorts offered stifresistence, but one by ne the fel totheCommunist forces. n the seventeeth o March the Cmunist ground forcesattacd the min island bas on Kronstadt wihheavy artill-ery supprt fro trops in Petrograd. The dfendes ofthebase still cotinued to gieheavy resistence. By the teaftrnoon, the Bolshevis had reachdthe northern wall ofte islad bae. Other Communist fores wee tring to reachte southern wall. hat night, with no hope le, no fod,supplies or ammnition, mor han half ofthe garrison fledhe iland and crossed the ic to fnd snctuary in Finlnd.At 11:50 P.. on Mrch 17th, the Communis forcestookcommand of th island of rnstadt and elayed this messagetote Petrograd Defense Comittee...."he Counterrevol-tionary nestso the ??????????????????????? and ??????????????????? ave beenliqidated. Poer rests in the hans o ympathizers withSvietauthority.??? By th afternoon of th eighteth of March, the lastockets f resistenc on the sland were crshed. Prisnerswere taken, qestoned and then shot. he eceptions wrefor the few embers of the reellion ho came from uppercls families. These en were ent to Perogrd, to be puon a show trial, n a effort to make them ppea to be therig leaders ofthe ebellion. Te show rial was held inordeto give the appearace that he whole evolt had beenn by the reactionar Whtes. The death oll f this battle as staggerin, execiallyfor th Commnist forces. The casuties for the Communstsarecalculate at approximatel25,000. The ronstadter'loses were much loer i number: 600 ere killed ,1,00wounded and 200 taen prisner (most were ater put to deathb the Chea after bing questioned). Epilogue On Mach 18th, during thecelebration f th fiftiethanniersar of theParis Commue, Ema Goldman stated thtthe playing andsinging of the ?????????????????????????????????".oncejubiant to my ears, nowsounded like a fueral dirge forhumanties flming hope..??? The entiments of Golman wereechoed b the refugees frm Kronstadt wh were now iing inFiland. Teywere promised amnesy from prosecutio, butwhile may accepted th offer theyweresubsquentlysent tooncentration campswhere they died. As for te leader of he revolt,Petricheko helivedin exile n Finland for nealy a quarter ofa century.Athough the xact detals are azy, t isbelieved that heas captured by te Soviet force sometime duing World arTwo. He wa sen to a forcedlabor camp and did sometimedurng 1947. A mmorable quoe from Perichenk to areprt-or following th 1921 revolt staed...."We are efeated, butthe movemnt will roceedbecaseit comes from the peoplethmselves....Ther are [million] like me i Russia, otreationay Wies and murderous Reds, and from thesplain peoplewill come th overthrowof the Blsevik."??
Summary
The Krostadt Rebellin can be sumarized a the reult
o a rp of people who fought so hard for a cause they
beleved could ttally tranform ther socity. Whthey
were not successful, they saw themselves as the inhertors of
therevolutio. The ronstdte posed any obstacle to the
goal of a "classless, stateless" sociey, even ifthe
obstcle wa theovment they helped to establish. The
Kronstadt hope was that Russia woud truly b run bythe
mses w, nearly seventy years later, the historical
events unfolding before our ees in 190 willerha se
as a belated victory for the Kronstadt rebels of 1921.
ct lei to theultimate confrontation with the Communists (who had mostlycity background. The ek the Bolshsvik secret police, was formed onDecember 17, 1917, almost two month after t coup'ethat put the Bolsheviks in power. The initial reason for thecreation of te Cheka ws to pride illigence arm ofthe Communist party, The Cheka, first a poli
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