RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION BY A"M ■R'VT? -\X/I'PTVn? CQ ^♦'Wi. ? RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION M. v. kuDJANku J'RESIDKN I (i| IIIK IMI'I'.KIAI. DIMA r.NDKK TIIK Ol.D AND NKW (lOVICKNMKNTS RUSSIA REVOLUTION BEING THE EXPERIENCES OF AN ENGLISHMAN IN PETROGRAD ^ DURING THE UPHEAVAL fig BY STINTON JONES ILLUSTRATED BY UNIQUE PHOTOGRAPHS NEW YORK McBRIDE, NAST iff COMPANY r PRINTED IIV WM. BRENDON AMD SON, LTD., PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND URt INTRODUCTION I ARRIVED in Russia during a revolt ; I left it after a Revolution ! In November, 1905, I went to Moscow on some special business, which was to detain me six weeks, but which by a combination of circumstances extended themselves into twelve years. During this period I have travelled' all over Russia and Siberia and have therefore been able to assimilate the ideas of the Russians and become fully acquainted with their country and their innermost life. It has always been a matter of interest to me in the various countries I have visited to study how the people live, as it is by this means that one is able to appreciate one's own Ufe in the world. During my twelve years in Russia I have only made a few visits to England on special / viii RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION business, these visits being for a matter of at the most one or two months. My business has brought me into intimate contact with all classes of Russian life, from the highest to the lowest, and I have always found the Russians throughout to be most kind and hospitable. When people depreciate the Russians on account of their methods of business it is invariably oecause such persons have been very little associated with them and are insular in their views. Really to appreciate the Russians as a nation you must be broad-minded and understand that their code differs somewhat from ours. It is foolish to imply that because the codes of honour of two nations do not agree that one is right and the other wrong. To me, Russia has become practically my home, and whenever I have left its frontiers I have always felt a certain feeling of home- sickness for the land with which I have been so closely associated. It is sufficient proof to illustrate my affection and respect for the nation for me to add that my wife is a Russian. INTRODUCTION ix When I returned to England it was to find that Httle or nothing was known in this country of the great march of events in Petrograd during the five days of Revolution from March loth (February 25th) to March 14th (March ist). During those five days I was either in the streets with the crowds or in my office, which is situated in the Nevsky Prospect, and was therefore in the heart of the fighting for twenty out of the twenty- four hours. I was thus able to see things as they really happened, and from my numerous friends on the Revolutionary Committee and in the Duma was able to obtain authentic information as to the happenings at Head- quarters. Rumour I have sedulously put aside as a lying jade, and during a Revolution the air is as thick with rumours as with bullets. I have told what I saw and what I gathered from sources that cannot be questioned. I have many personal friends on both sides. Revolutionists, members of the Duma, officers and working-men. They have always been frank with me because they knew that I kept X RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION strictly aloof from politics. I accepted their hospitality with gratitude, and in return left them to manage their own affairs as to them seemed best. To call those Five Days a bloodless revolu- tion is absurd ; but to call it the revolution of restraint would not be very wide of the mark. I had got to respect and admire the Russian people ; but never so much as when all outward restraints were removed. Then it was they showed their splendid qualities, both individual and national. They killed where to their ideas killing was necessary ; but the blood-lust of an unlicensed democracy never gripped them to the exclusion of all else. S. J. CONTENTS CHAl'TEi; I. The Old Regime . II. The Sleeping Giant III. The Starving of Petrograd IV. The Rousing of the Giant . V. Red Monday VI. Hours of Crisis . VII. The Reign of the Mob VIII. The Dawn of the New Era IX. Restoring Order . X. The Republican Government XI. The Problem of the Workers and Soldiers XII. Gathering up the Threads XIII. Incidents of the Revolution XIV. The Future THE PAGB I 34 54 73 98 118 131 159 176 208 226 239 251 271 ILLUSTRATIONS M. V. RoDjANKO, President of the Imperial Duma UNDER THE OLD AND NEW GOVERNMENTS . Frontispiece TO PACK PACK An Immense Crowd on the Nevsky Prospect . 72 The Tail-end of a Crowd in the Nevsky Prospect 96 The Arsenal . . . . . 104 The Remains of the Courts of Justice . . 108 The Remains of the Prison adjoining the Courts of Justice . . . . . 112 One of the Requisitioned Cars . . .124 Guns behind Barricade Commanding the Litainai Prospect and Bridgehead . . .128 Soldiers with Red Flags Leading an Immense Crowd in the Nevsky Prospect . . . 136 The First News-sheet . . . . 140 Group of Arrested Officers . . . .156 P. N. Miliukoff, Minister of Foreign Affairs IN the Republican Ministry . . .212 The Blizzard that probably saved Petrograd from a Reign of Terror . The Nevsky Prospect after the Blizzard . Burning the Emblems of Royalty A Section of a Crowd 220 224 240 256 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION CHAPTER I THE OLD REGIME TO understand a great national Revo- lution, it is necessary to know from what the people have revolted. Communities are more long-suffering than individuals, and when huge empires such as China and Russia overthrow a form of govern- ment under which they have lived for cen- turies, it is because that government is obsolete or tyrannical, or both, and ill- suited to the modern conditions of the people. This has been the case with Russia. In the past the Divine Right of the Tzar was sufficient to justify any act of the Bureau- cracy, and a patient and deeply-religious B 2 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION people suffered, and accepted as the will of God any act of oppression and injustice on the part of the servants of their ruler. Hitherto the real Tzar of All the Russias has been the Almighty Rouble. Every official was as venal as a Chinese professional witness. If you desired to save yourself the trouble of a Customs examination of your luggage, a rouble or two would be sufficient. If you found yourself at loggerheads with a cabman, a rouble or two would gain for you the moral and physical support of the police. The United States of America has been said to be the land of the Almighty Dollar ; but the Dollar is a muling, puling infant compared with the giant Rouble. Human life, liberty, fame, a woman's honour — all were liable to be sacrificed to this Moloch of Russia. Everybody knew it and everybody accepted it, at least on the surface ; but underneath there were subtle forces at work. The brains of Russia, that is to say her most enlightened sons, saw in this evil something that was threatening the vitals of the nation, and slowly but irrevo- cably there grew up a patriotic party, known THE OLD REGIME 3 as the Revolutionaries. They had nothing to do with the NihiHsts or Anarchists. They were the real Russians, the patriots who saw the suffering being inflicted upon millions of their countrymen that a few thousands might benefit. They were the Crom wells and the Hampdens of Russia, and it is they who have struck for the rights of the individual, the community and for Holy Russia. To those who have not come actually into contact with its inhabitants, Russia is gener- ally thought of as a far distant land noted for such products as bears, wolves, Cossacks, bombs, eternal snow, and people of a low order of life clothed in thick furs. Yet in normal times of direct railway communica- tion Petrograd is only fifty hours from Lon- don. Above all, with Russia is associated that terrifying word Siberia, conjuring up a vast collection of terrible dungeons, and fear- ful mines in which starved and tortured creatures carry on a miserable existence under the control of warders and keepers who are little better than beasts. This seems to be the view of the average intelligent person. Since the War, however, 4 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION the Russian people have been brought pro- minently before the other nations, and they are beginning to be understood for what they really are, a highly civilised, honourable, straightforward, hospitable and gallant nation. The word Russia comprises a vast territory populated by upwards of 170 millions of people. This population is scattered over the whole dominion. There is not a single city in the whole of Russia with a popula- tion of two millions. The population of Petrograd, Russia's largest city, before the war was one and a half millions : it is now about two millions owing to the influx of refugees from the invaded provinces. Again, no two large cities in the Empire are within 400 miles of each other, and in many cases villages are hundreds of miles apart. It is difficult to realise what the distribution of so enormous a number of people under such conditions really signifies. The means by which such communities are linked together leave much to be desired. The roads throughout Russia are by no means good, and owing to severe climatic conditions it is very difficult to keep such roads in decent THE OLD REGIME 5 repair or even passable. The railways are insufficient to supply the enormous demand for transport. This can be more easily reaUsed when one considers that to place Russia on a par with the United States she would require an addition of at least 60,000 miles of track. The Russians, however, have handled this difficult problem with great skill, considering the fact that the people have had to contend with the almost unsurmountable opposition of the old Government, ably seconded by the Church. It has always been the chief object of the old regime to advance its personal interests at the terrible cost of suppressing the development of the nation, mentally, morally and physically. The vast area of the Russian Empire, with its small scattered communities, has played into the hands of the Government, enabling it to carry out its dire purpose. To achieve this object the Government developed a mighty organisation and employed a tremen- dous staff of men who were wilUng to sacrifice their fellows for their own advancement. This organisation, slowly developed through 6 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION generations, finally became the wonderful if terrible Police of Russia. The units were trained in so harsh a manner as to eliminate entirely their finer feelings and thus give full play to their less human instincts, making them the ideal tools of their masters. Germany, the land of organisation, can boast of nothing to compare with the Russian police. With all her defects, Germany's organisation is schemed for the nation's development ; in Russia, on the other hand, it was an entirely obstructive organisation. The police of Russia never lost an oppor- tunity, no matter how degrading, of forcing its will upon the people, both high and low, the only exceptions being those at the head of the organisation itself, or such as were wilUng to pay large sums as bribes. Bribery has been one of the most terrible weapons in the hands of the police. They were given a very small wage, but were permitted to extort bribes from the people in the form of money, food-stuffs, clothes, etc. This accounts for the behef that all Russians take bribes as a matter of course. It was by no means uncommon for the police to be in league with THE OLD REGIME 7 thieves, and they were frequently party to shady transactions by which the general public was deprived of its hard-earned money. The customs officials were particularly susceptible to bribes. Even if a traveller to Russia were carrying no contraband and, therefore, had no necessity to resort to a bribe to escape the heavy duties, it was a common practice to hand one of the officials a three-rouble note. By doing this the traveller was saved the inconvenience of having his trunks searched and thoroughly disarranged. Nothing could equal the skill with which such officials would take the money without being noticed. With the Russian police the practice of bribery and corruption had been reduced to a fine art. They were always willing to em- ploy this, to them, legitimate tool to further their own interests and designs, but more especially when it gave them an opportunity of using their power against the working classes. Their one object was to suppress the liberties of the subject, individually and collectively. I can give an instance of this that came 8 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION under my personal knowledge. A certain firm in Petrograd employed about 200 skilled workmen on important erection work. Every- thing was progressing very satisfactorily when a new workman applied for work. Within a few days of this man's advent dissatisfaction began to manifest itself amongst the workmen, who finally submitted drastic and impossible demands to their employers, who must either grant them immediately or lose heavily on their con- tracts. A strike ensued and pickets were established. For three weeks every possible method was tried to induce the men to return, but without avail. One day a member of the firm happened to mention the fact of the strike to a woman in a Government office whom he knew in her official capacity. " You want my hus- band," she remarked, ** he would soon settle things for you." An invitation to dinner to wife and husband followed. The man turned out to be an unimportant police official. He was told the facts and promised for the in- considerable sum of 225 roubles (£25) to put an end to the strike in forty-eight hours. THE OLD REGIME 9 The employers jumped at the offer, although unaware as to how he would act. The only information required by this particular poUce official were the names of seven of the ring- leaders of the movement. These were sup- plied, and within forty-eight hours all the men were back at their work under the old conditions with the exception of the seven whose names were given to the police. Of these men nothing further was seen. Upon investigation, however, it was found that the police had first of all forged a letter to themselves as from one of the seven. The letter stated that this particular work- man wished to return to work but was intimidated by the other six, whose names were given. This was sufficient for the police to arrest the entire seven men and exile them from the Petrograd Government, not only the city of Petrograd but the whole province, for a period of three years. Close enquiry showed that these men had been arrested at their homes in the night and, without further ado, placed on a train and sent off, regardless of their families. The most curious circumstance was that 10 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION the police officer actually gave a receipt for the 225 roubles ! The methods employed by the police when they wished to arrest a person without any apparent excuse, is illustrated by what occurred to a very well-known Russian Professor, now practising in Petrograd. During his younger days, and while a student and preparing for his final ex- amination, he was wakened one night by a knock at his door, and upon asking who was there, was told there was a telegram for him. He opened the door and a police officer, accompanied by two subordinates, entered his room and told him to dress immediately and come with them, offering no excuse whatsoever for their action. Knowing that resistance was useless, he accompanied them and was taken to the terrible fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul on the banks of the Neva, opposite the Winter Palace. Here he was placed in a cell and remained there for eighteen months, after which period he was told he could leave, absolutely no excuse whatsoever being given as to the reasons for his detention. THE OLD REGIME ii Subsequently, however, he found out that a friend of his who had been frequenting Revolutionary meetings, had been arrested and his effects searched for incriminating documents. In one personal letter this Professor's name happened to be mentioned, and this the police considered sufficient excuse to imprison him for eighteen months. Even when he was aware of the facts, there was no possibility of redress, in fact even a protest could not be lodged, because if he made such a protest it would probably have meant a still longer term of imprisonment. Needless to say, this eighteen months greatly retarded his studies which took him a still further eighteen months to complete. The police took every opportunity of ex- torting money from the weaker sex, actually having a scale of bribes to be demanded from the lower orders of women of the streets. In cases where they desired to be revenged upon a girl or woman they could, by means of false and trumped-up charges, bring her into disrepute and, unless their demands were satisfied, they would classify her as a common prostitute. This terrible classifica- 12 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION tion would be indelibly stamped upon her passport* and would necessitate her being included with that class with all its degrading associations, and henceforth subjected to the weekly medical examination ordained by law. The passport system of Russia was in itself a most wonderful organisation, for not only did it give the police absolute and de- finite knowledge as to the exact where- abouts of every individual in the Empire, but it also gave them an excuse to compile detailed records of the life's history of every inhabitant. Good points in the careers of the people were not notified in these records, but any bad points or slight indiscretions were invariably magnified. Thus if a person broke the law and it suited the police to take the most rigorous steps, they would, by mag- nifying the offence, punish the offender to suit their own ends. In a case where a person, although having committed no offence against the law, had earned the enmity of the police who were desirous of getting him out of the way, they * A prostitute's passport is yellow instead of white. THE OLD REGIME 13 could by magnifying a previous offence formulate a serious charge. If no such pre- vious offence existed, they could by means of their paid agents concoct a charge which would give the accused not even the right to a fair trial. When the police were desirous of having a person disposed of in this way, Siberia, with its sparse population and vast territories, offered an ideal spot for enforced exile. Once dispatched to Siberia there was little or no chance of return to home and family until it suited the police to permit it. Even foreigners were by no means free from the passport system, although a foreigner generally suffered very little inconvenience, and was usually treated by the police with a certain amount of respect. Few travellers to Russia were aware that their every move- ment was noted ; yet such was the case, for the police of every district submitted a full report once a month to Headquarters, giving particulars of the movements and the associa- tions of every foreigner. In cases where foreigners overstepped the law, or otherwise got into the bad books of the police, they were given their passports 14 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION with the special request that they would take themselves over the frontier within twenty-four hours. This meant that they would not be permitted to return to the country, and so complete was the system that, if a person were sent out of Russia over the German frontier and endeavoured to return, say, via Odessa, the police there would have full information regarding him and complete details as to the reason why he was expelled. Some idea of this really wonderful pass- port system may be gathered from the fact that every person was forced to have a pass- port, which contained a full description of that person, the members of his family and residence. If a Russian or a foreigner wished to spend a night at any particular address other than that inscribed upon the passport, it was necessary to hand his passport to the head house-man or dvornick (a sort of concierge) at the house at which he wished to stay, who would inscribe the circumstance upon the passport and due record would be kept at the police station. Thus at any moment the police would know where to find a person. THE OLD REGIME 15 In Russia separate private houses do not exist except in villages and small townships. In the cities people reside in flats in large blocks of buildings. Some of these buildings contain as many as six or seven hundred flats of from four to eighteen rooms each. Such buildings have several main and back entrances. At the former is always stationed a switzar, or hall porter, who lives usually in a room in the basement of the building and is on duty day and night. Such men are responsible for knowing every person who enters the building. These main entrances are usually locked at midnight and opened at seven in the morning. Between these hours if one wishes to enter the building he has to ring for the door to be opened. If a stranger should ask admittance, he would be asked whom he wished to see, and upon giving the number of the flat and the name of the occupant, he would be escorted to the door by the porter. The back entrances to the building usually open into yards, which communicate one with the other and can be closed by means of a gate leading to the street. i6 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION The entire building is always under the control of a stachi-dvornick, or concierge, to whom the switzars are answerable. In addi- tion to the switzars, the stachi-dvornick' s staff consists of a number of under-dvornicks who are employed in keeping the premises clean, removing kitchen refuse from the flats and in supplying them with the necessary wood fuel ; coal is never used. Day and night one of these under-dvornicks is stationed at the street gate leading to the yards, which gate is controlled in a similar manner during the night as the main entrances. These dvornicks are in some measure servants of the police, for in the event of it being necessary for a pohceman on point duty to leave his post, he would simply call the nearest dvornick to take his place. This man would then have full authority to act as a policeman, his insignia of office usually being a green sash. If the policeman re- quired to send an arrested person to the police station, he would give him in charge of one of these dvornicks, who would be answerable for the safe conduct of that person. In the case of an unruly person THE OLD REGIME 17 being arrested, a number of such dvomicks would convey the captive to the police station. The stachi-dvornick was compelled to keep a complete record of every inhabitant in the building, and it was to him that all passports were submitted when one wished to stay a night in the building. These paen acted as police spies, and any little gossip they might overhear from the servants in the different flats would be fully reported to the head man, who would in turn record these matters in his books. These porters were always very poorly paid and were, therefore, very sus- ceptible to the inevitable bribe. If a person wished to stay a night or so in any particular house, a rouble to the stachi-dvornick was sufficient to prevent his passport being en- dorsed with the fact of his visit. Another interesting fact in connection with these large residential buildings is that the house owner is responsible for the upkeep and general maintenance of the roadway immediately adjoining his house from his walls to the centre of the road. Therefore, throughout the cities and towns in Russia it i8 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION is a common sight to see a most varied patch- work of roadway. One house may, for instance, favour wood-paving, the house directly opposite is prejudiced in favour of asphalt, whereas to the right may be cobbles and to the left granite sets, a different form of wood paving, or even macadam. Each particular piece of road was usually quite good in itself, but where one type of road joined another there was usually some slight unevenness. It must not be imagined that every house-owner holds different views on the subject of road-making, but nevertheless patchwork roads may be seen in many places. On main thoroughfares, such as the Nevsky Prospect, the police in recent years have issued instructions that wood-paving must be adopted throughout. Another matter which is the responsibility of each individual house-owner is the clean- ing of his particular piece of road. On this point the pohce are very strict, and there- fore during the winter, even after a most heavy snowfall, the roads are quickly cleaned and the pavements well swept and sanded. If a person should slip on badly cleaned pave- THE OLD REGIME 19 merits and injure himself he can claim damages from the house-owner. This system of managing houses in Russia certainly has its advantages, but neverthe- less it was a part of the police spy organisa- tion. The inhabitants of Russia having such hard task-masters and with practically no say in the management of their own affairs, were naturally very embittered against the police, and they saw in Revolution their only hope of salvation. Any person possessed of more than the average amount of intelligence, and who was conscientiously interested in the immediate and future well-being of his fellow-citizens, soon became an object of suspicion to the police, who quickly arranged that such a person should disappear. Thus during the many generations preceding the recent Revolution, the brains of Russia have been sent to Siberia to stagnate out of harm's way. When the police decided to exile a person to Siberia, they gave no notice of their intentions. The hapless wretch had no 20 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION opportunity of bidding good-bye to his relatives. He was arrested and without further ado dispatched to Siberia under a number, and from that moment all know- ledge of him by his relatives ceased, unless they agreed to bribe the police to be allowed secretly to communicate with him, or the prisoner in question was sufficiently influential amongst the Revolutionary Party to be able to communicate through its Secret Agents. Although containing an enormous number of undesirables, Siberia possessed remarkably few prisons. Owing to the size of the terri- tory and the fact that for at least six months in the year the ground is covered by deep snow, also that the villages and towns are so far distant from one another, prisons as we understand them with stone walls, dun- geons and barred windows were not neces- sary. They were reserved for the criminals. It was sufficient for the police to send a prisoner to any particular village with in- structions that he should report twice a day to the police officer in charge to prevent him escaping. The general punishment for fail- THE OLD REGIME 21 ing to report at the stated times was a term of confinement, or, in the case of an alleged dangerous prisoner, death. The prisoners themselves were allowed their freedom in the particular village to which they were exiled, and for their liveli- hood were permitted to work for the peasants. In a number of cases their friends were allowed to send them money, but only through the medium of the police, who generally arranged that the hapless individual received little or nothing. In cases where a prisoner had shown himself in private life to be exception- ally energetic and capable of influencing his fellows against the poUce, he was treated by them as dangerous and generally exiled to some distant village in the far north of Siberia. This alone was a terrible torture for an intelligent mind to be thus trans- planted to live among the lower orders of Siberian peasants. In addition to the political prisoners, a large number of criminals and murderers were also sent to Siberia. These were mostly sent to prisons, which are everything that is vile. Murderers or prisoners sentenced for 22 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION life were invariably sent to the mines, which were worked in the Government interests. Such criminals were usually chained to wheel- barrows, or, for those employed otherwise, a weight was chained to the leg or they wore an iron belt to which their ankles and wrists were attached by lengths of loose chain. These chains were never removed, and death was the only relief for the miserable creatures wearing them. Such prisoners wore distinctive prison dress, but as an additional precaution against their escaping without detection, one half of their heads were always kept shaved, so that should they ever escape and allow the hair to grow it would be of a different texture to that on the other side of the head and also of a different shade. Thus they would be branded for life no matter where they went. The transport of these poor creatures from their homes to the point nearest on the rail- way to the place of their exile was generally by means of cattle trucks, in which as many as thirty or forty were herded together and fed through a small barred window. The trucks were not opened until they reached THE OLD REGIME 23 their destination, and such journeys might take from four to fourteen days. No regard was shown to sex, both men and women being herded together, without any sanitary provision. Upon reaching the end of their terrible journey by rail, it by no means followed that they had finished their travels, for the rail- ways beyond the limits of the Trans-Siberian Railway are practically nil. The rest of the journey to their final destination had, there- fore, to be made on foot, or, at the best, in springless carts in summer or open sleighs in winter. Such journeys would be anything from fifty to several hundreds or even a thousand miles. It is easy to realise the awful sufferings these poor wrecks of humanity had to undergo, with nothing to look forward to but a terrible existence for the rest of their natural lives. In cases where prisoners were sentenced to a definite term of exile, never less than a period of years, and they subsequently re- turned to their friends and homes, it was in a most pitiable condition. Siberia always leaves its tragic mark, turning youth into 24 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION age and the strongest man into a palsied wreck. In many instances a man would be ruthlessly snatched from his home without a moment in which to prepare for his departure, or even to say good-bye to his family. When he returned after his period of exile it was frequently to find that not only had his home disappeared, but that his wife and family had either vanished or had died of starvation, or worse still were eking out an existence worse than death struggling to keep body and soul together. Such men not unnaturally nourished the bitterest feelings towards the Government and its employees. They had only one hope — revenge. It is quite a common thing in Russia to meet a man whose appearance would indicate that his age is anything between sixty and eighty, whereas it is actually not more than thirty or forty. Enquiry would generally elicit the fact that the unfortunate was studying as a student at one of the Universi- ties, or as a peasant working on the land, when for some trivial offence, possibly for attending some minor Revolutionary meeting, he had been taken by the police and without THE OLD REGIME 25 trial exiled to Siberia for a period of ten or fifteen years. In parts of the far Northern Siberia, where villages are hundreds of miles apart and the peasants wish to travel they adopt a novel means. Horses will not stand the strain of such long journeys and sometimes trained wolves are employed to draw their sleighs. Such wolves are captured as cubs and become domesticated. These animals are able to maintain a steady pace for many miles with- out tiring and require little food. Two well- grown wolves are sufficient to draw a man and a sleigh with a stock of provisions for many miles. This is an interesting but not unusual sight in North Siberia. Although a large section of the population of Russia is highly educated, there is a dis- tinct break between the educated classes and the peasantry, as practically no middle class existed, at least until a few years ago. In Russia the middle class has of late been growing at a tremendous pace, and without doubt the future destiny of Russia rests in its hands. As this middle class develops it will have the advantage of youth, inasmuch 26 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION as it will not be permeated with old-fashioned ideas, but wiU start its new life from a modern and up-to-date standpoint, using the experience, trials and adversities of the middle classes of other nations as its founda- tion. It will after a few generations become a definite upper middle class and therefore raise the lower orders of Russian life to a basis similar to that of the so-called lower classes of other nations. Then Russia will become a really great nation, great in good government, and will be able to look with pride upon the fact that the old order of the peasantry, or serfs, has been entirely elimi- nated and a higher standard established. In some parts of Russia there are several very strange little colonies or communities which still exist. They are the descendants of German colonists who were invited to Russia by Catherine II with a view to showing in a practical way to the peasants how, with a little effort and patience, the land could be cultivated. These colonists were given a certain tract of land which was considered exceptionally difficult, and were allowed to employ their own methods to improve it. THE OLD REGIME 27 Such a colony still exists within twenty miles of Petrograd itself, and even to-day they still retain their old methods and habits of life, and even continue to speak the German language, although the people in their immediate neighbourhood have quite forgotten that they are of German origin. They have amply justified the confidence that was placed in them, for the land which was reclaimed by their ancestors, to-day sup- plies them with a livelihood. When visiting this colony the impression gained was of having been transplanted into another world, for each old haus-frau was always most hospitable, and wilhng for a very small sum to supply you with a really good old-fashioned meal, as they still retained their old-time culinary skill. They have naturally intermarried with the Russians, but not to any great extent. In fact these colonists have so become part and parcel of their immediate surroundings that during the Revolution they were left quite unmolested. Although Russia under the old regime was always a land of restrictions, nevertheless 28 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION owing to the fact that such restrictions could be removed by small bribes it was really a land of the fullest freedom, especially for foreigners, who could certainly get the greatest enjoyment out of life, provided they left questions regarding politics and religion severely alone. The Russians as a nation are very musical, and nations with such tendencies are gener- ally great lovers of pleasure. Although home life as we in England understand it is practically non-existent, yet the average Russian, more especially of the upper classes, leads a free and untrammelled exist- ence. They are, or were, hard drinkers, heavy smokers and good gamblers, and very generous with their money. With such instincts they are able to get the utmost out of life. All the large cities, and especially Petrograd, were able to supply unbounded pleasures even to the most hardened con- noisseur. Petrograd itself was one of the gayest cities in Europe, for life to the upper classes was one round of pleasure. To cater for the needs of the public there were numerous magnificent caf 6 chantants, dancing THE OLD REGIME 29 halls and theatres, and certainly some of the balls held throughout the season were of the most magnificent character, making a kaleido- scope of beauty with the wonderful toilets of the lovely women and the gorgeous uniforms of the officers. Such dances were kept up throughout the night to the accompaniment of really good music. One great feature of Russian winter life was the Imperial Ballet, which was without doubt one of the most wonderful and gorgeous spectacles that any one could wish to see. It was only by booking a seat weeks or even months in advance that one was able to obtain admission. In addition to the numerous enjoyments obtainable in the city, Russia, more especi- ally the north, offers every possible induce- ment to the sportsman, for in the winter ice- yachting, skating, toboganing, ice-hilling, snow-ski-ing and hockey may be had under the most ideal conditions ; while in the summer-time, tennis, rowing, yachting and bathing. In Petrograd during the months of May and June they have what are called the 30 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION ** W^ite Nights," that is dayUght throughout the twenty-four hours. During the latter part of May the sun is visible all night, and tennis can be played at midnight. It is curious that during these White Nights, although one certainly has less sleep than at other times owing to the wonderfully clear atmosphere, one does not suffer from fatigue. In]jfact7in Russia very few people do suffer from fatigue, as the Russians are not a par- ticularly energetic race and always have a " zarftra," meaning a to-morrow. They are always content to put off until to-morrow what is likely to interfere with the pleasures of to-day. This expression is sometimes maddening when it is employed, as it very often is, in connection with business. Another favourite expression universally employed throughout Russia is the word *' nechevo," which is one of those terms which mean a hundred things. Nechevo really means nothing, but it also implies, It doesn't matter. Don't worry. Don't bother, etc. It is certainly the most aggravating word in the whole of the Russian language. Owing to the gay and irresponsible lives THE OLD REGIME 31 which the majority of the Russians Uve, and also owing to the very poor and old-fashioned sanitary methods, disease was prevalent to an alarming extent, more especially that terrible plague which is foolishly called by us " the hidden scourge," and which in England has recently been the subject of a Royal Commission. The Russians use the proper term, as they are a nation of broad- minded people and do not attempt to dis- guise the terrible meaning of any word by substituting a phrase having a cleaner sound. In the towns and cities the disease was checked as far as possible by a most competent staff of doctors, but in the villages the people trust more to the teachings of their religion for cure than to medical practice. The great majority of villages, particularly the smaller ones, looked upon doctors as beings of evil intent, and it is only of later years that they have been convinced of a medical man's true value. From this may be easily understood that when once a disease, especi- ally such a one as ** the hidden plague," attacked a village, it had every opportunity of spreading its disastrous effects, for the 32 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION Russians, and more especially those of the lower orders, have Uttle or no morals. In some of the far distant villages it was possible to see practically every resident suffering from some stage of the disease. If medical men attempted to visit them with a view to assisting them or to reorganise their general sanitary arrangements, they would be met with open hostihty, the people being convinced that such sufferings as they were enduring were sent to them as a punishment by God. Such belief, in accordance with the old regime, the Church did not attempt to rectify. It was in accordance with the tradition of the old regime. In the cities " the hidden plague " is probably more prevalent than in this country. Russia may be described as a magnificent place for the classes, but a very indifferent one for the masses. The twentieth century seems determined that the masses shall rule the world, and its call has been at last heard in Russia. The suppression of the peasantry and lower orders of the Russian nation in the past was a part of the diabolical scheme of the Govern- THE OLD REGIME 33 merit, which always took particular care to retard the education of the people as much as possible, and it is for this reason that even in the twentieth century the greater portion of the population of Russia is illiterate. CHAPTER II THE SLEEPING GIANT FOR every poison there is an antidote, that for misrule being Revolution. No system that aims at enslaving the spirit of a people can continue indefinitely. In Russia the secret Revolutionary Party became stronger each year. It comprised those inteUigent Russians who had managed to escape the eagle eye of the authorities. This Revolutionary Party must not be con- iused with the Anarchists or Nihihsts, whose watchword is destruction. The Revolutionary Party is constructive, having for its object the overthrow of the Government with the view to developing the nation as a whole, and relieving milhons from its awful reign of suppression. The Anarchist -Nihilist group, on the other hand, is mostly recruited from those with unbalanced minds or actuated by 34 THE SLEEPING GIANT 35 ideas of revenge, and who, when occasion offered, performed acts of violence or assassin- ation, which the poUce always attributed to the Revolutionary Party. The police were of course aware of such organisations and used every instrument in their power to stamp them out, but their efforts were unavailing. Owing to the secret nature of the Revolutionary movement the police formed their special Secret Service, the members of which usually consisted of the lowest possible characters. These were de- tailed off to endeavour to worm their way into the confidence of the people by any means in their power, and so become ap- pointed to one of the numerous secret Revolu- tionary Councils. When such an agent succeeded in this, information was promptly given to the police, and in many instances the members of such secret Councils were arrested in a body and dispatched to Siberia. The Revolutionary Party, however, was not behindhand. It formed a Secret Service of its own, whose agents in turn wormed their way into the police organisations and so kept their principals informed as to impending 36 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION movements on the part of the police. Many thousands were so employed on both sides through the country, and when a traitor was caught by either party he was given short shrift. Thus for generations there has been an un- acknowledged Civil War raging throughout Russia. The Government through its police seeming in supreme control of the people ; the people, on the other hand, striving to break down the police organisation and over- throw the Government for the benefit, not only of their own race, but of the world in general. It must not be forgotten that Russia is one of the most valuable, if not the most valuable country in the world, and with very little difficulty generations ago could not only have been made self-supporting in every respect, but could have supplied other coun- tries with an enormous amount of much- needed products. Such development, however, would have been in direct opposition to the interests of the Government and to the personal interests of those individuals in control. More especi- ally would it have been a direct menace to THE SLEEPING GIANT 37 Germany with her ideals of world power, for through generations Germany has been im- pregnating the authorities in Russia with her own ideas of absolutism. It was to Germany's interest that the Government should have supreme control and rule with an iron hand, and thus render Russia less dangerous as a factor in opposition to German interests. An undeveloped Russia left Germany an excellent field for her produce and, at the same time, permitted her to keep a large army of spies overrunning the country. For many years the majority of the leading members of the Russian Government have been, if not actual Germans, at least Ger- many's paid agents. This has been many times proved during the present War. In addition to Germany's almost complete con- trol of the actual Government of Russia, she has, by means of her well-developed com- mercial organisation, arranged that the majority of the larger works and industrial concerns in Russia should be managed by Germans, or Germans naturalised as Russians. Thus she has been able to keep her finger on the pulse of Russia for her own interests. 38 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION It is thought by many that Germany planned for Russia to enter the field against her to give France a greater sense of security, the ultimate purpose being to force Russia, through the medium of Germany's influence at the Court and her agents in high offices in the Russian Government, to make a separate peace and so simplify the overthrow of France. Then as a further act in her diabolical scheme, Germany was to turn upon and entirely sub- jugate Russia to her will. With a people held down by such an iron hand and with secret strife simmering through the whole nation, small eruptions were bound to break out at different periods. Such out- breaks were generally classified, incorrectly, by the Government as Revolutions, and were suppressed with the utmost rigour and brutal- ity, the lives of hundreds of innocent persons counting for nothing. At various times such outbreaks have occurred, but, owing to the general ignorance of other nations as regards matters Russian, they were considered of little interest to the outside world, although when successfully suppressed the Govern- ment took pains that particulars should be THE SLEEPING GIANT 39 circulated throughout the country to con- vince the people that their masters were supreme. The Revolutionary Party was continually and secretly working up its organisation to a point when it could feel confident of bursting out into open Civil War, and overthrowing the Government. In 1905 such an attempt was made, but its non-success was due to the fact that the Government, through its secret agents, was able to force a premature outbreak of hostilities. The revolt was suppressed with extreme brutality and great slaughter. When the police wished to force such a revolt for the purpose of weakening by means of slaughter the power and spirit of the Revolutionary Party, their method was to stir up dissatisfaction among the peasantry and working-classes. If peaceful processions were formed by the people, the police would arrange for their secret agents to mingle freely with the crowds and then perform some act of violence which would give the official uniformed poHce and soldiers an excuse to fire on the crowds. These pogroms temporarily damped the spirits of the people 40 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION and so broke down the efforts of the Revolu- tionary Party. Nevertheless this simply added to the determination of the Revolu- tionists. The Army of Russia was generally regarded by the Government as being loyal to the throne, owing to the fact that the Russians, who are a religious and superstitious people, considered the Tzar as a supreme being who was not only head of the Church but also head of the Army. Nevertheless the Govern- ment were forced to recognise that the Army itself was a doubtful asset. On the other hand, the Cossacks were always looked upon as being absolutely loyal and reliable servants of the Government. Further to ensure their loyalty they were better treated than the ordinary Army, receiving higher pay and also invariably a special grant of land in the neighbourhood of their homes when their term of service expired. It was with this backing of Cossacks and the tremendous police organisation that the Government were able to work their will upon the people. This state of affairs has been going on for generations, but has been gradually develop- THE SLEEPING GIANT 41 ing to the advantage of the Revolutionary Party. The signs closely followed during the last twelve years of intimate association with Russia have proved that the police, although continually strengthening their force, have not been able to outdistance the Revolutionary Party, which was convinced that the strongest weapon it could possibly wield would be the education of the people as a whole and the crushing out of supersti- tion. To attain this end the leaders had gradually developed their own secret system for teaching the people that they were more than chattels, and that they were human beings breathing the same air and living in the same country as those in supreme control. Their efforts were greatly assisted by the gradual but natural expansion of the various industries, for although such expansion was extremely slow, owing to the efforts of the Government, yet more and more of the peasantry were migrating to the towns and manufacturing centres to supply the increas- ing demand for workmen. This gave their friends the opportunity for which they were 42 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION working to clear away the old inherited cob- webs of ignorance and suspicion, and allow the simple peasants to become more or less in- telHgent units of the community. This the Government were powerless to entirely pre- vent. After they had been in contact for several years with the town-bred people these peas- ants naturally became more developed men- tally, and, upon returning to their villages, they gave details of their wonderful experi- ences to their friends and became for the time the idols and heroes of their particular com- munities. This, together with the still in- creasing demand for workmen, led to the more adventurous spirits trying their luck in the towns, and thus the populations of the cities gradually increased, at the same time advancing and strengthening the power of the Revolutionary Party. This advancement has been more perceptible during the last six or seven years. In fact the majority of the villages, except those at great distances, have changed in many of their ways and have become more or less modernised, if such a term may be used when one considers that THE SLEEPING GIANT 43 they still closely adhere to the methods of hundreds of years ago. Russia has always been a country of con- tradictions, and it was possible to see even in some of the smaller towns quite modern practices in operation, such as electric lighting and telephone systems. It was a strange ex- perience to arrive at a small township in the wilds of Siberia and find such evidences of modernity. Although the Russians were keen to take up such advanced appliances of civil- isation, they were very backward in respect to others. For instance, there is hardly a town in Russia, other than the principal cities and larger provincial towns, where there is to be found an adequate system of water-supply, or the slightest trace of modern sanitation. Even in Petrograd to-day quite a large part of the sanitary network consists of wooden pipes made by simply boring through the trunk of a tree, the ends being shaped so as to fit one into the other. As a natural con- sequence, owing to the accumulation of dirt, the rotting of such pipes, etc., disease is pre- valent to an alarming degree. Even such absolute necessities as good 44 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION sanitation and good water-systems were sup- pressed or retarded in their execution by the Government, although numerous projects were continually being put forward. Owing to the system of bribery and corruption among the higher officials, such projects were always deemed too expensive and thus can- celled. A Russian village does not mean a cluster of well-built clean-looking little houses, nicely kept gardens, well-built roads and well cared for cattle. It almost invariably consists of two long rows of most dilapidated and crest- fallen-looking hovels situated on either side of a bare stretch of land masquerading under the title of a road. Gardens do not exist and cleanliness is unknown, not only as regards the habitation itself but also the inhabitants and all their possessions. Accustomed as they are to living for generations in such a state of dirt, Russian peasants do not realise why a foreigner should be surprised at their mode of life. A long journey of several hundred miles by sledges cannot be undertaken in one day and frequently necessitates the spending of THE SLEEPING GIANT 45 one or more nights on the road. The journey is usually broken at some village, when the head-man is only too delighted to offer every hospitality in his power. If the arrival be late at night he will immediately treat you as an honoured guest and clear out the many inmates from the best bedroom ; this he will offer to you. The Russian peasants' houses generally consist of two or three rooms, and in these rooms probably a family of twelve or fourteen persons will live, which naturally reduces the sleeping accommodation to a minimum ; nevertheless one room is always placed at the disposal of a visitor. They will also do their utmost for your personal comfort, bringing out their best samovar, glasses and tablecloth, together with the best the larder can offer. This all sounds very pleasant and cosy, and so it is for the first few minutes until you become used to the dim light from the oil lamp or candles and glance at the walls of the room, then you notice that they are apparently moving, and literally so they are. The Russian peasants appear to be quite 46 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION immune from insect bites. In addition the floors are generally well populated by tre- mendous brown and black beetles. What- ever your feelings at the moment, it is diffi- -cult to refuse the well-meant hospitality of these splendid Russians. The only thing to be done is immediately to conjure up a diplomatic excuse for passing the night well wrapped up in the sledge outside, rather than face the ordeal of passing a restless night within. It must be remembered that the tempera- ture within the rooms is almost unbearable, especially as we clothe ourselves. In some of the very poor villages in the North, where the temperature falls to an extremely low point, the villagers find it difficult, especially after an exceptionally heavy snowfall, to obtain and bring in the necessary fuel for the stove, and therefore hoard up what they have for cooking purposes. As a means of keeping the house warm, they cover the whole building, with the exception of the door and windows, with an additional wall of manure. The result is that both tempera- ture and odour are fairly high. THE SLEEPING GIANT 47 In spite of this the Russians in accordance with the teaching of their reUgion take great pains to have a thorough bodily cleansing once a week, and for this purpose every village has at least one building known as " The Bath," where people can go and have the pleasure of a thoroughly good wash on the Russian system. The bath generally consists of three large rooms, the first being for disrobing, the second a large washing- room with a good supply of soap and clean water, from which after having washed themselves thoroughly they pass on to the third apartment. This is the steam-room, heated to a very high temperature, contain- ing a large number of tiers or steps reaching to the roof ; the higher you go the hotter it gets. Having cleansed his body in a way that would satisfy the most enthusiastic hygienist, the Russian invariably dons the same dirty clothes he had taken off on enter- ing the bath ! In the poorer villages the different sexes take it in turn to use the bath, but in the towns and cities such baths, on a larger scale, generally contain separate sections, one for 48 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION males and the other for females. Such baths in the big cities are generally magnificent buildings, containing well-appointed rooms where one can have every possible conveni- ence. A special masseur or masseuse is on hand if required. These buildings usually contain a large number of suites of rooms or private baths, each suite consisting of a dressing-room, a washing-room and a steam- ing-room. As a rule these suites are very well appointed. Admission to them is gener- ally through a separate main entrance, and credentials or marriage certificates are not demanded from those using them. Such is Russia ! The Russian peasant is a very patient and by no means energetic person. He takes very little interest in his personal comfort, his chief object in life being to get sufficient food to eat and clothing to wear. This to the average person throughout the world is sufficient, but there are very few people who would be content with the food or the clothing of the Russian peasant . Owing to the severity of the winter, the houses are almost her- metically sealed and heated by means of THE SLEEPING GIANT 49 wood fuel in large brick and stone stoves, which when once heated retain their heat for several days. This raises the atmosphere of the houses to a temperature which would be almost unbearable to us and yet satisfies the needs of the Russians, whose clothes throughout the year are of the most scanty description, their chief if not their only garments being a shirt, a pair of trousers -and a pair of boots, the shirt being invariably worn outside the trousers and the trousers inside the boots. As regards food, the Russian peasant is contented if he has a sufficient supply of black rye bread and hot tea. The latter he seems to have ready at all times and con- sumes in large quantities. It is usually drunk without milk, a slice of lemon being substituted. This continual tea drinking is to supply the system with moisture to counter- act the effect of the tremendously overheated rooms. The Russian method of making tea is quite distinct from that employed in this country, for by our methods it would be difficult to be provided practically day and night with the 50 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION means of obtaining hot tea at a moment's notice. The Russians, however, use a boiling machine known as the samovar, which is always to be found, even in the homes of the very poorest. This samovar consists of a metal boiler, generally made into some fancy form, and through this boiler is arranged a vertical pipe with a grating at the bottom to^.' allow for draught. Into this pipe small splinters of lighted wood are thrown and above this is added a quantity of wood charcoal, which when it becomes ignited bums slowly and heats the water which is poured into the boiler completely surrounding the pipe. When the charcoal has been sufficiently consumed to give off its gases, the smouldering embers remain and these keep the water boiling. A quantity of very strong tea is then made in a small teapot and when a glass of tea (the Russians seldom, if ever, use cups) is required they pour into the glass a small quantity of this strong brew and add to it boiling water from the samovar, which is supplied with a small tap. Tliese samovars are made in all sizes, some THE SLEEPING GIANT 51 of them large enough to supply a hundred glasses, so that as long as the water remains hot a glass of tea is available. The small pot of brew is often allowed to get cold, and it is invariably the habit of the Russians that directly the water in the samovar has been used or has cooled down a fresh supply is boiled. The standard food of black bread is generally supplemented by fish and some- times by meat. Every peasant, no matter how poor, has a good overcoat, this being generally made of goatskin or sheepskin, with the wool inside. In addition to the coat they always possess at least one pair of ** varlinkies," or felt over-boots, which reach at least to the knee and sometimes to the thigh. In the northern villages felt is replaced by wolf-skin, always with the fur inside. When they go into the cold, all Russians take the precaution of putting on and buttoning up their over- coats before leaving the house. The coats are warmed before they are put on, as they always hang in a temperature similar to that of the rest of the house. In this country in the winter-time an overcoat would be more 52 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION appreciated if one would warm the inside before putting it on. The houses throughout Russia are built with double windows and double doors, one set of windows being taken out during the summer months and replaced for the winter. The crevices are generally sealed with putty, thus enclosing a partition of air between the two windows, which acts as an insulator and pre- vents the outside cold from affecting the temperature of the room. Between the two windows is generally placed a small jar of moisture-absorbing acid, so as to keep the partition of air free from moisture and thus eliminate the possibility of frost forming on the windows. This is also practised in the majority of the shops, for in those where this system is not employed the windows quickly become covered on the inside with a thick coating of frost which prevents the passer-by from seeing the goods displayed. The cattle and horses receive no attention whatever beyond the bare feeding. In every village there are generally two houses that stand out beyond the rest, one of these being occupied by the police officer and the other THE SLEEPING GIANT 53 by the priest. The official lives by what he can extort from the peasants, while the priest lives on their bounty. The Russians never deny the Church their best, for as a nation they are as devout as they are hospitable, and they are always willing to share their last crust with a friend or traveller. The great difficulties of the Revolutionary movement may be appreciated from the fact that it has had to develop its organisation throughout the whole of the Empire and yet be certain of secrecy. It is thanks to the Revolutionary Party that such communities as I have described have been able to develop and gradually become more modernised. CHAPTER III THE STARVING OF PETROGRAD IN the abolition of that terrible drink vodka, Russia took her first step in the direction of her own salvation. For generations vodka has been the curse of Russia and has been a tremendously strong tool in the hands of the Government, for it was supplied to the people in unlimited quantities under Government monopoly, from which a tremendous revenue was de- rived. At the commencement of the War the more intelligent members of the Russian communities were convinced that little would be achieved if vodka were allowed to con- tinue its terrible devastation of the race. Vodka is a drink that is very little under- stood outside Russia. It is really half potato spirit half adulteration, and has always been consumed in large quantities by the Russians. 54 THE STARVING OF PETROGRAD 55 Taken in small quantities as an appetiser before a good meal it is certainly excellent and stimulates the appetite, bringing out the flavour of food, but taken in large quantities before a small meal and that consisting of, say, a piece of fish and a quantity of black bread, it is bad for the system. It becomes more and more inviting as one acquires the taste and habit. To further its own interests the Govern- ment arranged that a good supply of vodka should be available in every town, city and village throughout the Empire. Thus the majority of the lower classes acquired or inherited the vodka habit, spending most of their hard-earned money in its purchase. The result was impaired health, and in many cases the reduction of their families almost to the verge of starvation, owing to the bread- winner spending practically every copeck on vodka. It is hardly possible to estimate how much the abolition of this national drink has con- tributed towards the saving of Russia, for the good effects of its abolition soon became apparent. Where previously the lower 56 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION classes had spent all, or the greater portion, of their earnings upon drink, and thereby sacrificed the health and comfort of themselves and their families, now they are able with their minds clear to realise the terrible effects which it had had upon them. They also had the greater comfort of having money to spend upon their personal require- ments. The abolition of vodka, however, was to have the most far-reaching effects. Having more money to spend on their personal comforts has opened the eyes of the peasantry and working -classes to the terrible state in which they have been living for generations. Their first impulse on finding they had money to spare was to buy new clothes. When they saw that these new clothes were rapidly getting spoiled by contact with their uncleaned habitations and general surround- ings, it became obvious to them that still greater comfort in life could be obtained by taking a little care as to personal and domestic cleanliness. They were able to buy more articles of furniture and further add to their comfort. In consequence, during the last two THE STARVING OF PETROGRAD 57 years the majority of the villages have taken on a different aspect, in particular as regards cleanliness. Again, while they were slaves to the vodka habit and always craving for further supplies, they were willing to sacrifice the produce of their land at a low price, or even mortgage their homesteads, to enable them to satisfy their cravings. Now they are saving money, are more shrewd in their dealings with the middleman and are increasing their holdings of land. In fact, last year not only did the peasants begin to reaHse the advantage of saving money, but from all over the country there was a cry of ' ' What are we to do with our money now ? " This appeal was immediately answered by the inauguration of banks which accepted the peasants' small savings on deposit at a reasonable interest. Such banks the State was forced to start, and now there is hardly a small town or village throughout the whole of the country without a bank of its own. There are, of course, still extremists who have not yet lost the craving for the spirit, and they resort to numerous 58 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION and curious methods for obtaining their beloved vodka. In Russia it has always been a very dangerous policy to talk or even think of politics or religion owing to the legions of police spies everywhere. In spite of this the Revolutionary Movement has been growing at a rapid pace. Where only three years ago one hardly dare whisper of revolution, since the commencement of the War, when the people began to awake to the fact that the Government were really not working for the interests of the nation, these whispers of Revolution gi'adually grew into open but guarded talk. During the past year this again has developed into open discussion, not as regards a Revolution to stop the War, or in any way injure the cause of the Allies, but to overthrow the Government with its German intrigues and to establish an adminis- tration that would really and honestly work for the interests of the people. Above all, permit Russia to give the full weight of her sword to the cause of justice. Nevertheless the people, or rather the Revolutionary Party, were not yet quite THE STARVING OF PETROGRAD 59 confident that the time was ripe for the over- throw of the Government without jeopardising Russia's position with the AUies, and the Revolutionary Party, and in fact the general public, have been lately openly discussing the Revolution that was to take place after the War. Then the Revolutionary Party felt convinced that it would have sufficient power to break out into open Civil War and force the Government to meet its demands. The Revolutionaries placed great hopes on the returning soldiers, who having been recruited from villages from all parts of the Empire, had had opportunities of general intercourse with each other. Their outlook had been enlarged and they had become more broad-minded and less superstitious, more awake to the fact that, collectively, they would possess an enormous power. In short, strengthened by the Revolutionary organisa- tion and the huge accumulation of secretly- stored arms, they could overthrow the Government in open fight. The Government were aware of this feeling and were forced to act to save themselves, and fulfil their traitorous obligations to Germany. 6o RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION As recent events have shown time after time, various Ministers in exceptionally high positions in the Russian Government were forced by the people to resign, and in some cases where even their own employers could not cover up their dastardly crimes, they were executed. In many cases these Ministers were of German origin and Germany's paid agents. Finally, after the fall of Stiirmer, Protropopoff was appointed to take charge of affairs and it was openly said bring about another revolt of the people. This the Government would then classify as an un- governable Revolution, and use as an excuse to sign a separate peace with Germany and thus render Russia as a nation despicable in the eyes of the world for generations to come. When the time arrived for Germany to turn and rend Russia, there would be none to help her, and so Germany would progress a step further in her scheme of world domination. Many months ago, towards the latter part of 1916, the Government commenced this dastardly organisation for the formation of the revolt which was to permit them to fulfil their traitorous aims, but like aU evil THE STARVING OF PETROGRAD 6i organisations where the principals are over- confident of themselves, it was started too late. The first step Protropopoff took was to reorganise the police and draft large bodies of them into Petrograd to swell the ranks of those already there. It was next arranged for special instruction to be given to a large number of the force in the use of machine-guns. While such instruction was in progress there were commandeered some 1200 modern machine- guns, together with an enormous supply of ammunition, which were urgently needed by the troops at the front. These guns were placed upon the roofs of churches and large buildings throughout the city. They were placed in position during the latter part of December, 1916, and in January, 1917. Although this was done secretly, the general public became aware that certain guns had been placed on roofs and enquired the reason. It was officially given out that they were placed there as anti-aircraft guns to repel any possible attack by the supposed new long- distance Zeppelins of the Germans. This excuse satisfied the public, but not the 62 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION Revolutionary Party who, through its secret agents, was perfectly aware of the real purpose of those who had so placed the machine-guns in position. The leaders determined to increase their efforts to mature their plans so as to be in a position to counter any drastic movement of the Government. Events, however, contrary to the expectations of the Government, followed one another with great rapidity, causing them to hasten their arrangements. During the second half of February all the machine-guns were supplied with ammuni- tion. Enormous supplies of rifles, revolvers and ammunition which should have been, and in fact were recorded as having been sent to the troops at the front, were detained and stored in the various police stations, together with reserve machine-guns. A number of shops, which had been closed some months previously on some concocted excuse, had their windows barred and within were stored large reserves of small arms. Now that Petrograd's police were well trained, and the Government had practically completed the necessary measures for nego- THE STARVING OF PETROGRAD 63 tiating secretly and finally with Germany, it only remained for the Ministers to organise the slaughter under the excuse of the word Revolution. To do this it was necessary to force a revolt, or spread discontent among the working-classes throughout the city and its surroundings. In order not to arouse direct and obvious suspicion the Government had for many months been secretly holding up supplies of food-stuffs to the capital, or when such food-stuffs actually arrived they were distributed in such a way that the police were soon able to comer them and have them stored out of the reach of the people. To prevent the supplies reaching Petrograd every possible obstacle was put in the way of the railway officials. Traffic was blocked wherever possible, goods were side-tracked or sent to the wrong destination, and in many cases trucks of munitions, which should have been sent to the front, were sent to Petrograd, and unnecessary food-stuffs sent to the front instead. When possible these food-stuffs were sent out to some destination in the Ural Mountains where food was plentiful. 64 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION As the shortage of provisions gradually became more acute, the people demanded to know the reason. Time after time they were given the same excuse. Owing to the inadequate number of trucks at the Govern- ment's disposal there were none to spare for food for the people. Every single truck was being used for the transport of the much- needed munitions to their comrades at the fronts. This was not true. Certainly in the large railway yards round Petrograd, and also at large stations and junctions through- out the country, there were no free trucks to be seen, nevertheless at every small siding right through the Siberian lines there were hundreds and hundreds of empty trucks simply side-tracked out of the way. The vast distances prevented the people knowing this, although those who travelled through Siberia could tell of trucks to be seen blocking every siding.* Locomotives were also sent back to the workshops in large numbers under the pre- text that urgent repairs were necessary, * About two weeks prior to the Revolution I myself saw thousands of such empty trucks between Petrograd and the Ural Mountains. THE STARVING OF PETROGRAD 65 which were entirely imaginary. Thus not only were food-stuffs for the inhabitants of the city held up in this way, but munitions that should have been sent to the various fronts were also held up by this self-same excuse of no trucks. Such were the men into whose hands had been placed the des- tinies of a great nation. It should be noted, however, that if a private person required a truck to send goods from one point to another, one was always available, provided the bribe were large enough. This is not an exaggera- tion but an actual fact, and it was a common sight to see a goods train with only a few trucks of actual munitions, the remaining trucks being full of goods of no vital import- ance to the conduct of the war. As time went on the bribes for such trucks increased. The Government officials did not openly negotiate such matters, but always arranged them through one of their agents or one of the numerous tribe of despicable beings who are always willing to sell their best friends for money. People who were known to require goods transported from one point to another were continually being 66 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION approached by such go-betweens. This was done in a quiet way with the remark that " If you want trucks we could arrange to supply them at a price." Of this general situation the workpeople were ignorant, as they believed that the excuses put forward by the Government were legitimate, and that their hardships were due to the fact that their comrades at the fronts were being supplied with the necessary munitions. One point to illustrate the organised dis- organisation of the railways is shown by the following incident. A firm that was building large and very important explosive works for the Government in the Ural Mountains was urgently in need of a number of trucks of roofing material for the buildings, as the absence of this material was delaying the whole of the work. In due course the railway authorities announced that the trucks had arrived and instructed the consignees to take possession of their goods. Upon examination, however, the trucks were found to contain rice. An investigation showed that this rice should have been sent to the troops for food, but instead the roofing material ha^ THE STARVING OF PETROGRAD 67 gone to the front and the rice to the Ural Mountains ! Another case was where a large works in the Ural Mountains had an enormous amount of copper, which was most urgently needed by the Munition Works at Petrograd, lying in their 3^ards for many months. No trucks were apparently available for its transport, and thus the Munition Works were seriously handicapped in the output of munitions. Such instances as the above were by no means isolated cases but the general practice. Even finished munitions received from the Allies were allowed to be side-tracked or discharged at wrong destinations, and when discharged were simply allowed to rot on the ground, the excuse always being put forward that there were no trucks to remove them. Even big guns were treated in this way ; in fact any despicable action that could possibly delay or injure the fighting strength of the armies was carried into effect. A system such as this soon reduced the necessaries of life in the city to an absolute minimum, and consequently food rose to exorbitant prices^ and the real essentials were 68 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION almost unobtainable. On the pretext of working in the interests of the people, the Government closed down numerous bakeries and opened what they termed Government Bakeries, where people with tickets could obtain a small dole of the necessary black bread. Luxuries and other unnecessary com- modities were in abundance, but at prices far beyond the reach of the average workman. To obtain the miserable dole of bread from one of these Government shops it was neces- sary to stand in a long queue and wait your turn. Some of these queues were often over a mile in length with people waiting four deep. This does not sound so terrible a hardship until one learns that the tempera- ture would sometimes be 70° to 80° F. below freezing point with a cutting wind blowing. At the end of many hours' tedious waiting hundreds were turned away with the excuse that all the bread was sold, and poor women had to return numbed with cold to their starving children, for it was upon the women, that this terrible task fell as the men were employed in the Munition Works. These people with their usual patience, and THE STARVING OF PETROGRAD 69 thinking of their relatives at the fronts fighting for their homes, were content to suffer such hardships, terrible as they were, rather than seem ungrateful to the soldiers by complaining. Nevertheless the human system could not stand the strain, and it was a common thing to hear the women say, " We have given our fathers, our husbands and our brothers, we are willing to give ourselves, but we must have bread for our children." It will give an idea of the shortage of food in Petrograd when I say that I, who was in a position to pay far more than the average workman, found it almost impossible to obtain a good meal. For the exorbitant price of a guinea I could get a lunch, exclusive of wines, as such were almost unobtainable owing to the prohibition law, still they could be secured if one wished to waste money. Champagne was being sold privately at ap- proximately £6 I OS. a bottle, while whisky was obtainable, also privately, at ;f7 los. a bottle. Some weeks before the Revolution, business called me to the Ural Mountains, and upon my return I took the precaution of bringing 70 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION with me a good supply of general food-stuffs. In the Ural Mountains food was very plentiful and could be obtained at almost pre-war prices, transport being the only difficulty to be overcome. This I managed by taking with me several old trunks and kit bags. When I returned to Petrograd many of my friends were keenly interested in my supplies, and it was not long before they were sadly depleted, in fact, so much so that during the Five Days of the troubles in the city my colleague and myself had very little else to eat beyond stale black bread supplemented by glasses of hot beef extract, packets of which I had taken with me to Russia. On the Fifth Day this bread was so stale that it had to be broken with the aid of a hammer and then soaked in the beef extract. As an instance of the irony of fate, Austrian and German prisoners, of which there are a large number employed in the Ural Moun- tains, were given the best of food, having an unlimited supply of meat, butter, white bread, and sugar, while the Russians them- selves at Petrograd were starving. Although Petrograd and other principal THE STARVING OF PETROGRAD 71 cities and towns throughout Russia were so short of the necessaries of life, in the pro- vinces, and more especially in Siberia, enor- mous stocks of provisions were available, only awaiting transport. In one instance many tons of the best cream butter, which was retailing in Petrograd at between seven and eight shillings the pound, were sent to a soap works to be made into soap. For this transport trucks were available, and yet such trucks were not permitted to take the butter to Petrograd. At one point on the Siberian Railway a block occurred, holding up thousands of tons of meat, which was held up until it became rotten. Then the Government at once granted trucks for its transport, when it was too late and the meat had to be destroyed. Another method employed by the Government of arousing dissatisfaction amongst the people was to remove the special tariff of fixed prices of food-stuffs. This per- mitted their agents and other inhuman profiteers to raise the prices of necessaries to an alarming extent. These profiteers found that it was to their advantage to 72 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION supply a smaller quantity of food at a higher price, rather than take the trouble of bring- ing in larger quantities to retail at the prices within the reach of the inhabitants. Although it was generally understood in this country that the people of Petrograd and other cities of Russia were plentifully supplied with food, conditions reached such a pass that not only was the much-needed black bread unobtainable, but practically every other necessary of life. These terrible trials became more and more difficult to bear until finally the people were compelled to complain. This wail of complaint was the great sound the Government was waiting for, and directly it started they immediately employed their army of paid agitators to iej;- ment the feeling of discontent, their object in this being gradually to increase this feeling among the people until they decided to strike and leave their work to form proces- sions in the streets. C M O r O K a rt CHAPTER IV THE ROUSING OF THE GIANT PROCESSIONS were necessary to the Government's scheme, not only pro- cessions but processions capable of acts of violence that should to some extent justify the murderous j^lans of the police. To achieve this the police agents mixed with the crowds, as they had done many times before, inciting the peaceable citizens to acts that would cause the police and soldiers to lire upon them. Such an act of aggression would be resented by the people, who would in their turn quite naturally commit further acts of violence. Then when these large pro- cessions were formed, the machine-guns would open on the people from the roofs of the houses and churches and mow them down in thou- sands. Such action would naturally infuriate the 73 74 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION peoples of other cities and townships and a general slaughter would take place all over the Empire. This slaughter would be carried to the most extreme limits, and its influence would naturally reach the soldiers on the various fronts, who would themselves be in- duced to revolt and thus pave the way for an easy defeat by their enemies. The Govern- ment would then classify the outbreak as an ungovernable revolution, and so put forward the excuse that the only way to save Russia would be a separate peace with Germany. Such a peace would be signed, and the people of Russia would from that time be not only despicable in the eyes of the world, but would become nothing more than serfs or slaves of the Germans. Besides delaying the formation of their plans too long, the Government had not given sufficient consideration to the growing strength of the Revolutionary Party, which had already won over a number of regiments to its side, a circumstance that was kept a profound secret. The Russian Army is recruited from all stations of life, and the soldiers are without THE ROUSING OF THE GIANT 73 doubt of the finest fighting material. They are by nature most patient, and lend them- selves easily to be moulded into first-class fighting men by their officers. They are fear- less fighters and will hold on to the last man rather than disobey orders. The officers of the Army, however, are invariably taken from the better classes and aristocrac}^ and as a rule take no pains to hide their contempt for the lower classes, from which the great major- ity of the rank and file are recruited. For generations they have enforced their orders with the utmost rigour and treated the soldiers with harshness and brutality. Of course there were exceptions, but this was the general rule. Quite naturally the soldiers, although patient, could not help feeling a certain ani- mosity towards their officers, many of whom never realised that their lives would pay the forfeit when the soldiers once got the upper hand. As is well known by the history of the present war, many of the Russian generals were nothing more than paid agents of the Germans and, working on the dog-like obedi- ence of the soldiers, were easily able to sell 76 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION them and thus sacrifice thousands of innocent and patriotic beings to fulfil their obligations to their masters. In the early stages of the war many of the retreats and defeats of the Russian armies were due to such creatures furthering their own interests. Gradually these traitors were weeded out and replaced by men of unquestioned loyalty and pat- riotism. Of all the generals in high command during the early stage of the war, perhaps Nikolai Nikolaiovitch, or better known as the Grand Duke Nicholas, was probably the greatest favourite of the soldiers and of the people as a whole. He has always shown the greatest love for the Russian soldier, and at the same time contempt for the Germans, who were never able to influence him against his better and patriotic feelings. There is no doubt that his removal from supreme command was due to the success of the German intrigues at Court, for although he is reported as not being a brilliantly clever man, he has the reputation, and rightly so, of being excep- tionally strong and just, and no matter was too small to receive his personal attention. THE ROUSING OF THE GIANT Tj On many occasions he went deliberately out of his way to show his contempt for the Court and its intrigues as a whole. It was through him that during one stage of the fighting a number of very high officials, one even being the head of the entire Russian Secret Service Police, were tried by court- martial and summarily executed. Towards the end of February there were very persistent rumours that the people had reached the limit of their endurance, and that they were contemplating a peaceful strike with a view to bringing to the notice of the Government their deplorable state. These rumours grew, and on March 6th (February 2ist) they became still more persistent, and in fact a few of the workers from a number of the larger Munition Works came out on strike and formed small processions, which were quite peaceful and not yet sufiiciently large to suit the official purpose. It was there- fore arranged for the agitators to foment these small strikes. There were in Petrograd stores of vodka, it being used for various munition purposes. These stores were all guarded, but with dia- yS RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION bolical intent the Government arranged that the guards should be removed. This would permit of the people, when worked up to a frenzy by the paid agitators, being easily induced to break into these stores and thus fill the streets with drunken and uncontrollable mobs and so still further increase the Govern- ment's chance of success. On March 7th (February 22nd) a larger number of munition workers were on strike and others were joining every hour. In some cases on the outskirts of the town reports came in that there had been slight friction between parties of workmen and the police. At this time it was noticed that there was an exceptionally large number of police all over the city dressed in their usual uniforms, and that patrols of mounted police were stationed in the main thoroughfares. The people, who had been as far as possible secretly informed by the Revolutionary Party that the strikes were being organised by the Government, could hardly realise that the Government would ever descend to such diabolical practices at such a time of the country's distress and in view of its obliga- THE ROUSING OF THE GIANT 79 tions to the Allies. The people themselves wished only to form peaceful processions with a view to attract the attention of the authori- ties to their starving condition. It never entered their minds that, as previously stated, the authorities were deliberately holding up food-stuffs and not dispatching them even to their comrades at the fronts. During these few days the necessary food of the people was practically unobtainable, and the queues outside the Government shops were greatly increased. Mixing with these queues were women, paid servants of the Government, doing their best to foster the bitter feelings of those waiting for their dole of bread. It was noticed that during these days greater numbers of people were turned away without their supplies, always with the excuse that the shops had no more. Up to this time only the larger Munition Works were on strike, and a very few of the industrial works and mills. On March 8th (February 23rd), however, practically all the industrial workers and mill-hands came out on strike, and the workmen, together \vith 8o RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION their women and children, formed into large processions and marched peaceably through the various main thoroughfares crying, " Give us bread ; we are starving and we must have bread." Again reports came through that friction had occurred on the outskirts of the city between the workpeople and the police, but it was quite apparent that the ringleaders of the processions were the usual paid agitators and that they were exceptionally well organised. These processions were formed almost en- tirely of the working -classes. The general atmosphere, however, was none too pleasant, and the feeling throughout the city was that trouble was to be expected. On March 9th (February 24th) all Muni- tion Works and mills without exception were on strike, and numerous processions were formed throughout the city and, as is cus- tomary with demonstrations, all marched towards the main thoroughfare, the magni- ficent Nevsky Prospect. The ranks of the workpeople and their wives and children were now swelled by the wives of the soldiers at the fronts, and in addition to these the THE ROUSING OF THE GIANT 8i students and quite a large number of the better- class people also joined. Although generally good-tempered they became in some cases rather boisterous. It was quite apparent, however, to persons accustomed to seeing such crowds that they were headed by well-organised leaders, and that these leaders were keen on arousing the people to acts of violence, but at first without success. When such acts were attempted by these agitators themselves, the people did their best to prevent them, shouting, *' We are perfectly peaceful, we only want bread." To fulfil their obligations to their masters, these agitators were compelled to take action, their first step being to stop all tramcars by removing the controller-handles, tying down the collector-bows, and in some cases actu- ally derailing the cars. This caused consider- able inconvenience to people going about their usual business, and resulted in the swelling of the ranks of the mobs by the people being forced to go about on foot, giving the impression that the crowds were greater than they really were. The stopping of the trams was sufficient in itself to indicate that serious G 82 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION trouble was premeditated by the police, and it was soon the cause of eliminating all vehicular traffic in the streets, On^ very significant fact noted on this day was that very few police were to be seen, but that the number of soldiers in the streets had increased alarmingly. This was due to the fact that a large number of the police had been already stationed on the roofs of the churches or buildings at their posts by the machine-guns, and that a further large body of them had been dressed as soldiers. This was as obvious as it would be if our London police were taken from their beats and put into soldiers' uniform, for although the Russian police are a well-drilled body of men, yet it is not difficult to recognise a policemen by his bearing. It was also noticed that large patrols of Cossacks on their wiry little ponies were everywhere, and that both Cossacks and soldiers (soldier-policemen) were fully armed, all carrying ball cartridge. The crowds, however, were not to be drawn into acts of violence, but maintained their peaceful attitude throughout the day. Towards the afternoon a large concourse THE ROUSING OF THE GIANT 83 gathered in front of the Nikolai Station, the principal station of the Moscow line, and also at various points in the Nevsky Prospect. While these meetings were in progress, large bodies of Cossacks were called to assist in breaking up the processions. The Cossack is usually delighted to undertake such work and has always found great pleasure in charg- ing through unarmed crowds, especially when they have been permitted to use their najika, or whips. In the use of the whip they are past -masters and can easily cut through a person's clothing and inflict a severe wound. It was noticed on this occasion, however, that the Cossacks seemed in a good humour and were smiling, an unusual thing for a Cossack on duty. Usually their faces wear a serious and set expression. Their instructions were to round up the crowds and endeavour, if possible, to break up their formation. The people, however, remained in a good humour and took very little notice of the Cossacks. Later in the day when the crowd became more dense, the Cossacks were ordered to break them up by charging through them. It was an exciting sight to see these horsemen 84 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION continually charging at full gallop through and through the crowds, but by their wonder- ful skill in horsemanship they managed to avoid injuring the people. In the few cases where injuries were inflicted it was purely accidental. In these charges the Cossacks retained their good humour, and instead of using their whips simply brandished them in the air. The people on their side cheered the Cossacks, a thing without precedent, which proved that there was some under- standing between them. During the whole of the day the paid police agitators had been striving their utmost to induce the crowds to acts of violence, but without success. When such acts were com- mitted, actually by the agitators themselves, they were severely dealt with by the crowd, who still continued with their cry " We want bread." They also cheered and sang patriotic songs continually. Hitherto the stage management of the Authorities in dealing with revolts, or semi- pacific processions, had amounted almost to inspiration. Just as the London policemen understand the psychological aspect of huge THE ROUSING OF THE GIANT 85 masses of people and how to govern them, so the Russian poHcemen and Cossacks under- stand the physical aspect of mobs and how to reduce them to obedience. I call to mind an incident that occurred during the Tolstoy Student Riots. In the Nevsky Prospect in front of the Alexandrinski Theatre is a large square the centre of which is enclosed by railings. The police saw their opportunity, and with the aid of the Cossacks herded the enormous crowd into this square. Pressing upon the outskirts were Cossacks on their wonderful ponies. The strain be- came unbearable and the crowd began to climb the railings. Soon the whole place was a dense mass of people. The Cossacks and police then surrounded them and proceeded to detach small groups at a time, which they instructed as to the direction that they were to take. In a short while the crowd was whittled away to nothing. It was a remark- able piece of work. The Cossack's weapon for mobs is his najika, or whip, which consists of a stock about fifteen inches in length and a leathern thong of about twenty inches, at the end of which 86 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION are two small pieces of leather about an inch in diameter, and between them is attached a piece of lead. It is this that does the damage. In peace or war you will never see a mounted Cossack without the inevitable najika dangling by a leather loop from his right wrist. The dexterity with which he handles this weapon is amazing. He can brush a fly from your face without your feeling it, or he could maim you for life. It was during these same Tolstoy Student Riots that I saw at close quarters the terrible effects of this najika. Three Cossacks were riding abreast along the pavement at full tilt. I endeavoured to eliminate myself against a wall, and it was fortunate that I did so, for just in front of me stood a student who received a cut from the najika of the nearest Cossack. It caught him upon the shoulder, and in an instant his coat was cut through and soon the whole of that side was saturated with blood from the deep wound the najika had in- flicted. The second Cossack's najika caught the face of a woman standing next to the student and gashed it open to the bone. The wound N. THE ROUSING OF THE GIANT 87 reached from eye to chin as if it had been cut with a butcher's knife. It was a sickening sight. To throw yourself upon the ground is of no avail. The Cossack's dexterity in the saddle is almost uncanny. I have seen a couple of them pick up a man from a prone position and carry him off between them whilst riding at full gallop. The ancient Mexicans when first they saw a Spanish horseman conceived that he was a new sort of being, and could not be convinced that man and horse were separate until they saw the man dismount. If ever there were a centaur it is the Cossack. When on duty he never, under any circumstances, leaves his horse. The beast may fall, may even roll completely over ; but while he is doing this the Cossack will stand astride and when he rises he will be firmly fixed in the saddle. One more incident to illustrate the Cossack's horsemanship. On one occasion I saw a troop of Cossacks galloping at full speed in their customary irregular order down the Nevsky. Suddenly they wheeled to the left, when a horse of one of the Cossacks in the very centre 88 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION of the troop slipped on a tram line. I saw the Cossack shot over the beast's head like a stone from a catapult. " A dead man for certain," was my mental comment. The next second the horse had regained its footing and there was the Cossack sitting in the saddle as if nothing had happened. How he had got there I had not the slightest idea. He cer- tainly went over the horse's head. The strangest thing of all perhaps is that the troop never for a moment paused in its headlong career. The value of such horsemen in dealing with crowds is obvious, and probably the greatest shock of those who had instigated the revolt, which ended in Revolution, was the defection of the Cossacks. Had they remained loyal to the Government the Revolution could never have taken place, for during the first two days, when the mob had got out of hand, a few regiments of Cossacks could have cleared the streets sufficiently to allow the police to restore order. Numbers never matter to the Cossack. He has the heart of a lion, and if a single man were ordered to clear a street where thousands of people were collected, he THE ROUSING OF THE GIANT 89 would set to work and in all probability achieve his object. At one time I came a great deal in contact with Cossacks, and splendid fellows I found them, good-natured, cheery, and great gam- blers. During these days I learned much of Cossack lore. On one occasion I had pointed out to me a certain man and was told the following story in connection with him : A Cossack officer, hearing revolutionary songs issuing from a beer-house during a big strike, ordered a Cossack to clear the building. The Cossack dismounted and walked into the beer-house, where he found forty or fifty strikers in a very ugly mood. The Cossack ordered them out. They began to argue, and point-blank declined to go. The Cossack, unperturbed, pointed his carbine at a man and said, " If you do not go out I shall shoot you." The man retained his seat and the Cossack shot him. With great delibera- tion the Cossack turned his carbine on the next man and said, " If you do not go out I shall shoot you." The man did not move and he also was shot. Before the Cossack had time to turn his weapon on the third man there 90 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION was a rush for the door, for the strikers knew that he would have shot every one of them, provided he had sufficient ammunition. Such is the Cossack. These processions continued until late and in some districts the whole night through. On several occasions during the day the police agitators had endeavoured to induce the mobs to break into the vodka stores, but were unsuccessful, owing to the foresight of Mr. Rodjanko, the President of the Duma, who, knowing that the guards had been re- moved by the orders of the Government, had caused them to be secretly guarded by armed men dressed as civilians. This precaution on the part of Mr. Rodjanko, who has always had the welfare of the nation at heart, was one of the principal causes of the failure of the devilish plans of the Government. The work- people, who had thought that peaceful demon- strations would have some effect in inducing the Government to recognise their requests, were disappointed at the treatment which they were receiving at the hands of the police. Consequently they decided that their demonstrations should be more for- THE ROUSING OF THE GIANT 91 cible, which was exactly what the Govern- ment required. Several regiments of soldiers were impressed by the processions of the workpeople. Being in agreement with the Revolutionary Party, they decided to appoint a representative to approach the officers of the regiments. This representative endeavoured to discuss with the officers the question of assisting the people, but was shot by their order. This was the first bloodshed of the Revolution. On March loth (February 25th) the crowds which had remained overnight in the streets were very early joined by still larger crowds, and assumed a far more serious aspect. As soon as they formed into processions, they were continually charged by Cossacks and mounted police at full gallop, the latter using the flat of their drawn swords. Unhke the Cossacks, the police when charging made no effort whatsoever to avoid riding down the people. By the time the usual hour had arrived for business, the general atmosphere throughout the city was extremely grave, and the entire absence of vehicular traffic caused consider- 92 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION able inconvenience. It meant that all business people had to walk to their respective offices or places of business. It was noticed on this day that the police in their usual uniforms were conspicuous by their absence, and that still more soldiers were stationed in the various main thoroughfares, and that on the crowns of one or two of the bridges across the numerous canals machine-guns were stationed. These, however, did not deter the crowds from forming into processions with their con- tinual cry of ** We want bread." Later in the day a tremendous crowd collected in the square outside the Nikolai Station, and endeavoured to hold a meeting. Here the Head Police Officer of that particular district ordered them to disperse and then drew his revolver, but before he had time to use it he was shot dead by a Cossack. This was the first real indication that the Cossacks were in any way inclined towards the people, and the news of such a strange happening spread throughout the city in an incredibly short time, giving the people greater confi- dence. This was the second act of bloodshed in the Revolution. THE ROUSING OF THE GIANT 93 During the afternoon the crowds still grew and became more menacing and, in this state, were more easily influenced by the Government agents, who began to perform acts of violence by smashing shop-windows and shouting treasonable statements and generally hustling the soldiers. This was the excuse that the police, dressed as soldiers, were waiting for to further the plans of the Government . Directly these acts of violence were committed, the soldiers were ordered to fire on the crowds, but after several volleys had been fired with ball cartridge, the crowds dispersed, leaving a number of dead and wounded in the streets. This, however, was not sufficient to quell the ardour of the people, but only infuriated them. As the news that the police had com- menced shooting into the crowds spread throughout the city, the people assumed a more threatening attitude, although they, to a greater degree, maintained their good humour, still hoping to attain their ends peaceably. This, however, was not permitted by the police agents, for it was obvious that a certain element in the crowd were there for 94 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION the sole purpose of creating a further excuse for the poHce to act violently. One interesting incident, to prove this, happened in the Nevsky Prospect, where a man, apparently a workman, smashed a large shop window and then shouted to the crowd to break others. He was immediately arrested by some soldiers by the orders of the police officers. The soldiers commenced to handle him very roughly when he produced a card, showed it to the officer, and was immediately released, the card being merely his proof that he was a police agent. In the general excite- ment of the moment such an act was un- noticed by the crowd, who simply thought it was an act of kindness on the part of the pohce to releasing the man.* In every district large crowds formed and marched through the city singing and cheer- ing and, considering the circumstances, show- ing great good humour. Towards evening several red flags were seen amongst the crowds, obviously produced by the agitators. * I turned lo a soldier sl.indinp next to me and asked wliy the man had been released. "Agent" was his laconic reply. THE ROUSING OF THE GIANT 95 These flags were immediately pulled down by the people, who shouted, " We are peaceful and don't want trouble/' However, the mere appearance of these flags was sufficient excuse for the police again to pour several volleys into tlie crowd. Such volleys were always fired with the intent to kill, and the bodies of the dead and those badly wounded were left on the streets to be later picked up by their friends. Directly the trouble started the Govern- ment had issued orders to all hospitals and doctors forbidding them to give any attention whatsoever to the wounded, this being simply a further item in the programme to infuriate the people. These processions and crowds continued throughout the evening, but to- wards midnight gradually thinned, although an enormous number of people remained on the streets all night. It was now generally admitted among all classes that the situation was becoming grave, for it must be understood that during these last few days practically no food had been obtainable, although in certain districts large queues of people still gathered outside the 96 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION Government bread-shops in the hope of obtaining a dole of food. The better classes were hoping that if Sunday, March nth (February 26th), should pass without blood- shed that things would speedily return to their normal state. This feeling was hardly justified by the continuous reports which came in from the surrounding districts. Con- flicts had taken place between the work- people and the police, the most serious news being that quite a number of police had been killed. This in itself was sufficient to warrant that matters were about to take an extremely grave turn, and that the fighting was by no means over. Throughout the day Cossacks had been charging the people, but they refrained from using unnecessary violence, and in their turn were cheered by the people. It was this attitude of the Cossacks that gave the crowds a sense of security, and made them instinc- tively feel that strange events were about to happen. Throughout the nights of terror of the Revolution, perhaps the night of March loth (February 25th), with its ominous fore- bodings for the morrow, was the most trying THE ROUSING OF THE GIANT 97 experienced by the inhabitants of Petrograd. The next day would undoubtedly give a definite indication as to the trend events would take. 1? CHAPTER V RED MONDAY SUNDAY, March nth (February 26th) was the day that was to turn an instigated revolt into a genuine revo- lution. Large crowds filled the streets of the city, and these were soon greatly reinforced by people from every outlying district. All pro- cessions were marching towards the Nevsky Prospect and other main thoroughfares, and soon the wide thoroughfare of the Nevsky Prospect was crowded from the Nikolai Station to the Winter Palace, broken only by the cordons of police across the various bridges. Quite early in the morning agitators were busy endeavouring to force the crowd to act violently. Owing to the people being now greatly incensed by the killing of the previous day, and the almost entire absence of food, 98 RED MONDAY 99 they lent themselves more easily to the machinations of the police agents. Early in the day the police again fired numerous volleys into the crowds, killing large numbers. In one case they opened fire with a machine- gun. The Cossacks were again out in force, but still refrained from acting with inten- tional violence, although, owing to the denser crowds, numerous accidents happened and people were ridden down. One notable incident during a charge was when a Cossack's horse fell amongst the people, but the rider, with the usual eques- trian skill of the Cossacks, never left his horse, and upon it regaining its feet he was heartily cheered by the people, although his comrades had already passed through the crowd.* These incidents, although small in themselves, certainly indicated that the Cossacks were by no means in favour of the Government's drastic measures, although on all previous occasions when they had been ordered to quell disturbances, they had exe- cuted their commands in the most ruthless and brutal manner. * I was within a few yards of the spot where this occurred. 100 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION Up to this time nothing whatever had been heard or seen of the poHce with their machine- guns stationed on the roofs of the churches and buildings. The time was not yet ripe — or at least so the Ministers thought — for them to be brought into use for the big slaughter. It is possible that had they been used on this day the Revolution would never have taken place, but would have ended, as all previous revolts had done, in failure. It must be understood that while these happenings were taking place in the streets, the heads of the Revolutionary Party had not been idle, but had been carefully following the trend of events with a view to putting into operation their own organisation as soon as they could feel sure of a certain number of the soldiers and Cossacks. They had also to determine, from the reports of their own agents among the workpeople, just how far the present happenings would continue before the people lost their self-control and thus complete the plans as laid down by th^ Government, RED MONDAY loi For the Revolutionists to show their hand before the time was really ripe would have meant the failure of the work of years, and would have so put back the clock as to make it impossible for them to regain the upper hand before the purpose of the Government had been fulfilled. This would have spelt ruin and slavery for Russia as a nation. They had worked with untiring energy to bring their own organisation into such a state that they could grasp the situation at a moment's notice and use the Government's own plans against itself. It was on this day that the Tzar, acting no doubt upon the urgent advice of his pro- German Ministers, who were afraid of the great patriot Mr. Rodjanko and his Com- mittee of the Duma, telegraphed to Mr. Rodjanko to dissolve the Duma : the text of the telegram was as follows : — " In accordance with Statute No. 99 em- powering me to dismiss the Duma, I here- with order that the Duma and Imperial Senate be dissolved as from February 26th, 102 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION to re-assemble not later than April, 1917, depending on the state of affairs. " Signed by the hand of His Imperial Majesty the Tzar " Nikolai. " Dated Headquarters March loth (Feb- ruary 25th), 1917. Undersigned by the Presi- dent of the Cabinet of the Ministry ** Prince Nikolai Galitzin." Mr. Rodjanko immediately called a special meeting of the Duma Committee and decided to disobey the commands of the Tzar and reply to the orders received as follows : — " The Committee of the Elders met at the Evening Conference and the orders of the Tzar being made known to them decided that the Imperial Duma do not dissolve. All Deputies will remain at their posts." After this decision of the Duma, the Revolutionary Party decided that the hour had struck. They held a secret meeting of the leaders at which it was decided that on the Monday they would endeavour to fulfil the great object for which they had been striving for generations, and that the next day would, therefore, decide the fate of Russia. RED MONDAY 103 The rest of the day and night was spent by the Revolutionary leaders in putting the final touches to their plans. One of their first acts was to arrange for their own most reliable agents to mingle freely with the crowds and to instruct the people that, when the time arrived, they were to use every effort to over- throw the Government. At the same time they were to reduce the shedding of blood and damage to property and buildings to an absolute minimum. They also gave the necessary instructions to the various regi- ments of soldiers of whom they were sure. While their efforts were bearing fruit, the crowds were still in their thousands in the streets, and further firing had taken place by the police. This had worked the people into an extremely dangerous mood. Towards evening several detachments of soldiers, who were guarding the street bridges, were ordered to fire on the crowds, but refused to do so although the police dressed as soldiers fired on the slightest pretext. The crowds had now lost all fear of the police and were openly carrying red flags and singing revolutionary songs. A particularly large crowd gathered 104 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION outside the Kazan Cathedral and made a most imposing sight, formed as they were in a dense mass between the arms of the great colonnade of this beautiful Cathedral. Several orators, obviously police agents, mounted the plinth of the statues in front of the Cathedral and made fiery speeches calling upon the people to make further and stronger demands for bread, and if refused to take it by force, also telling the crowds that the police had stored away huge quantities of bread and flour. Usually such an orator who attempted to give voice to his opinions would be immediately arrested and shown very little grace by the police, but now it was particularly noticeable that the police re- frained from arresting or even attempting to arrest these ringleaders. This in itself was significant. The people showed more inclina- tion to be carried away by these fiery speeches, but, nevertheless, the undercurrent of the Revolutionary control working amongst their ranks prevented them from following the advice of the fiery demonstrators. These happenings continued until towards midnight when the crowds began to disperse, ,,.^:=^j ^ < Tr. < RED MONDAY 105 although many thousands still remained in the city. There was every indication that the Government's plans were going slightly awry owing to the control the people maintained over themselves. The police were instructed to clear the crowds out of the city as far as possible. During the night they arranged several cordons across the bridges, so as to prevent the people returning in the morning into the city. The idea of this was that, when the crowds endeavoured to return, they would naturally collect in dense masses at the bridge-head and thus place themselves in an ideal position for the police to open fire upon them from the crown of the bridge. Such a point of vantage has always in previous revolts been taken up by the police as it enables them to fire over the heads of the front ranks and into the thick of the crowd, thus being sure of kilhng the people, but at the same time missing their own agents, who are usually at the head of such demonstra- tions. When Red Monday, March 12th (February 27th), dawned it found crowds already collect- ing at the bridge-heads leading into the city, io6 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION but stopped by these cordons of police, who were all fully armed and ready to open fire at a moment's notice. Not only the workmen were stopped but all business men and, no matter what the excuse, permission to enter the city was not granted, although persons wishing to leave it were permitted free passage across the bridges.* By this means the police were able to keep large numbers of people from entering the city. They could not, how- ever, induce the crowds at the bridge-heads to act in any way violently, in fact the people maintained a very serious and decorous de- meanour, and all the efforts of the police agents to produce acts of violence were un- availing. In the city, however, large crowds of residents, and those remaining from the pre- vious night, were formed into processions in the main thoroughfares, as on the previous day. These processions, which were well strengthened by the agents of the Revolu- tionary Party, made their way by various * I managed to get through by saying I was an Englishman, and mendaciously adding that I was a war-agent on my way to the British Embassy. RED MONDAY 107 routes to the Small-arms Factory and Arsenal situated near the Litainai Bridge on one of the main thoroughfares leading to the Nevsky Prospect. This building was guarded by a strong force of police and soldiers. The crowd very soon assumed tremendous pro- portions and surrounded the buildings in a dense mass and, in accordance with the plans of the Revolutionary Committee, became threatening. Thereupon the police immedi- ately opened fire, killing and wounding a large number of people. This so infuriated the mob that they immediately rushed the police and broke through them. The soldiers were then ordered to fire but refused to do so, and joined with the crowd against the police. Upon the soldiers throwing in their lot with the crowd they shot down their officers and, together with the people, broke into the Arsenal, which they completely looted of its enormous stores of small arms of every description ; rifles, revolvers and swords, together with machine-guns and almost un- limited ammunition. The soldiers, who were already armed, provided themselves with additional ammunition and a number formed io8 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION themselves into machine-gun detachments. The crowd armed themselves with whatever weapons first came to hand. During the wrecking of the Arsenal the police continued to fire on the people who, now that they had become possessed of arms, joined the soldiers in returning the fire. Everywhere the police were shot down with- out mercy. By this time the crowd and soldiers had developed into a disorderly rabble and, worked up to a frenzy of excite- ment, turned their attention to the prison and adjoining Courts of Justice. The prison they burst open, killing the guards and releasing the inmates who were mostly criminals. This action on the part of the people has since been very much regretted, as it only added a large number of the worst possible characters to the already infuriated mob. Immediately upon the prisoners being released they were supplied with arms by the mob. Among those freed were a number of men awaiting trial, including several desperate characters. The first act of their new-found freedom was for these men to destroy all incriminating evidence against themselves. THK Ki;\IAINS Ol rilK (OIKTS Ol' ICSTICK. RED MONDAY 109 Such evidence they knew was contained in the Records of the Courts of Justice, and they immediately made their way through the crowd to that magnificent and imposing building built in the reign of Catherine 11. The object of these men was to destroy the records, but as this would be a lengthy and tedious task, they decided that the quickest way would be to burn the building itself, or at least the section containing the evidence which they wished to destroy. They had, however, reckoned without the crowd, who, although controlled to a great extent by the Revolutionary agents, were more or less beside themselves with the excitement of the moment. Once the fire had been commenced it was allowed to spread throughout the whole building which, in a very short time, was converted into a blazing furnace. Not content with the mere destruction of the building, they set fire to all the archives containing records of centuries. This act was one of the worst of the whole Revolu- tion, but the people were unaware that they were destroying documents not only of historical value, but oi jnestim^bje value to no RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION the nation generally and involving the ruin of many people. The prison shared the fate of the Courts of Justice which it adjoins, and in a short time was also a mass of flames. Both buildings burnt fiercely for the greater part of the day and night and were completely gutted. One of the prisons burnt was that behind the Nikolai Station, a place of bad omen for thousands of Russian families. Each Wednes- day morning at nine o'clock the gates would open and there would issue forth one of the most tragic processions conceivable. They were the convicts, always political prisoners, bound for Siberia. There were usually from one hundred to one hundred and fifty, men and women, mostly chained together by the wrist in groups. Some, however, were chained from wrist to ankle, and a few, too ill to walk, rode in spring- less carts. Surrounded by gendarmes, who in Russia were always mounted, ^md police, they proceeded to the Nikolai Station to en- train for the point upon the Siberian Railway nearest to the place of their exile. Very seldom was this journey performed without RED MONDAY iii casualties, due to the hardships experienced. These prisoners carried no luggage, their total possessions being apparently the clothes in which they stood, yet when a gang were halted for a few minutes and after they moved on, the road would be littered with refuse of all descriptions, such as paper, bits of food, and the like. Where it came from I could never make out. In destroying such prisons, the people had many bitter memories to avenge. The Pro- visional Government subsequently informed the people that it was their intention to allow the ruins of the old prisons to remain as fitting monuments to the old Government. When the news spread that the soldiers at the Arsenal had joined the people, every other soldier in the streets at the time, in- cluding the Cossacks, went over to the people against the police. Having accounted for all of the police to be found, the mob round the burning buildings divided up ui to smaller mobs which drifted off to various parts of the city looking for other policemen, whom they shot down without mercy. These mobs were greatly augmented by the 112 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION people and soldiers in the streets and soon formed into dense masses. During their progress they not only shot down the police, but stopped any officers met with, who were asked to give up their arms. If they agreed and handed over their arms they were allowed their freedom, but in cases where they refused they were shot down and their arms taken. Any particularly unpopular officers who were recognised by units of their regiments were shot without question. The mobs then turned their attention to the police-stations and houses of the various police officers. The police-stations they im- mediately broke into, killing the men in charge. In cases where resistance was offered, short but brisk fights took place, but the end was the same. Immediately they captured the police-stations they set fire to them, every care being taken that each piece of furniture and every paper and document in the place should be burnt. In some cases the police-stations were situated in a large block of buildings. Here the mob, not wishing to injure the property of their fellow citizens, cleared out the con^? THE REMAINS OK TIIK TKISON ADJOIMNc; TIIE COUKTS OF JUSTICE RED MONDAY 113 tents of the police section into the middle of the street, and there made a huge bonfire of them. In a very short time every police- station throughout the city without exception was either in flames or its contents were being burnt. Certain detachments of the Revolution- aries made their way directly to the various prisons in and around Petrograd, which in every case they broke open, killing the guards and releasing the inmates, whom they armed. Thus the ranks of the mob were very quickly swelled by a host of criminals of the most desperate type, who were ready and willing to commit any act of violence on the slightest provocation. Nevertheless the mobs, although control was absolutely absent, had sufficient command over themselves to use their influence to prevent whenever possible looting or injury to their fellow citizens, but the police were ruthlessly shot down. One large prison near the Marinskie Theatre was broken open and several hundreds of prisoners released. These were mostly poor wretches who had been confined there since the Russo-Japanese War 114 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION for some slight political offences or charges trumped up by the police. No steps had been taken to investigate their cases with a view to releasing them from their living death. Such were the police methods. When told by their liberators that they were really free and that a Republic was in course of construction, these poor creatures could not realise the great happiness which had come to them. Those who were released from the underground dungeons were blinded when brought into the light, and grovelled on the ground and kissed the feet of their comrades who had liberated them. Such pathetic and heartrending sights were witnessed outside almost every prison. Amongst the mobs who had made their way to the prisons were many relatives of the hapless inmates, and most pathetic reunions took place. In the majority of cases these political prisoners when released refused to take up arms, as they were only too glad to make the most of their new-found liberty. As each police-station was broken into, the mob took control of the large stores of arms which had been accumulated there. In an RED MONDAY 115 incredibly short time there were tens of thousands of workmen, students, hooligans, and criminals fully armed mingling with the soldiers in the streets. Directly the Arsenal had been taken, the old regime issued instructions to their units in charge of the machine-guns on the various roofs to open fire on the people. As very few among the crowds were aware upon which buildings such guns were placed a terrible and highly dangerous situation was created. When the police fired from the roofs they fired into the thickest of the mobs, who returned the fire with interest, but doing very little damage save to the buildings, as the majority of those possessing arms knew little about their use. The situation of those in the various flats in these particular buildings became very dangerous, and in many cases the occupants were shot through their windows quite by accident. On the other hand, the police on the roofs took care to shoot, with deliberate intention to kill, at those who showed them- selves at the windows of the houses opposite. As the ammunition used by the police was ii6 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION charged with smokeless powder and these events happened in the daytime, none could tell where the poHce were, and thus no part of the city was safe. Knowing that the religious views of the Russians would to a great extent prevent them firing at churches, the Government had with diaboHcal intent caused the majority of the machine-guns to be placed in the belfries. It was some time before the people realised where the fire was coming from, and even when they did they were very loath to return it, as they thought to hit so sacred a building would be an act of sacrilege. Never- theless the machine-guns had to be silenced. In most cases this was done by a patrol of soldiers and people entering the churches, which they did with a respect that was almost awe. They then made their way to the belfries, where some fierce and deadly en- counters took place. Owing to the bitter nature of the fighting and the enormous expenditure of ammunition, the casualties soon mounted up to hundreds killed and wounded. The people had now practically taken command of affairs. The old RED MONDAY 117 order of the Government to hospitals and doctors not to attend the wounded was ignored, and very soon the majority of the hospitals were full of wounded, who received every possible care. The doctors throughout the city proceeded to attend to the injuries of the people, acting with the greatest heroism and self-sacrifice. CHAPTER VI HOURS OF CRISIS Although the events that were / ^ happening take a considerable time -A. JL^to describe, they followed each other with almost bewildering rapidity. Whilst the various mobs were wreaking their ven- geance upon the police-stations and hunting down the police, many regiments of soldiers had gone over bodily to the popular side. Before doing so they had taken the precaution of disarming their officers, the more unpopular ones being shot. With uncontrolled mobs wandering about, cases of looting were inevitable, more especi- ally by the lower orders, who broke into gun- stores and looted their contents. In a number of cases they broke into chemists' shops from which they took all forms of spirit, which they drank, and soon mingling with the Ii8 HOURS OF CRISIS irg crowds was a considerable number of drunken or maddened units. In a short time the whole of the city was aglow with the glare from the burning build- ings which, in addition to the heavy firing, made the situation appear far worse than it actually was, and had the effect of clearing the streets of the more serious-minded and nervous citizens. The mobs presented a strange, almost grotesque appearance. Soldiers, workmen, students, hooligans and freed criminals wandered aimlessly about in detached companies, all armed, but with a strange variety of weapons. Here would be a hooligan with an officer's sword fastened over his overcoat, a rifle in one hand and a revolver in the other ; there a small boy with a large butcher's knife on his shoulder. Close by a workman would be seen awkwardly holding an officer's sword in one hand and a bayonet in the other. One man had two revolvers, another a rifle in one hand and a tram-line cleaner in the other. A student with two rifles and a belt of machine-gun bullets round his waist was walking beside another with a bayonet tied to the end of a 120 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION stick. A drunken soldier had only the barrel of a rifle remaining, the stock having been broken off in forcing an entry into some shop. A steady, quiet -looking business man grasped a large rifle and a formidable belt of cart- ridges.* Singing, shouting, roaring, firing off their weapons into the air regardless of whom the bullets might hit, these mobs would wander along without leaders, apparently without purpose. Suddenly machine-guns served by the pohce would begin to rattle and spit their leaden venom from adjoining roofs. There would be a momentary hush, followed by the cries of the wounded and a general scurry for cover. As the streets cleared, little heaps, some very still, others writhing in agony, told of the toll of the machine-guns. From the doubtful protection of doorways and arches the mob would send a spatter of bullets in the direction from which it was thought the leaden hail came. Then a few of the braver spirits v/ould form themselves into a patrol and force their way to the roofs of the build- ings and hunt out the police at their guns. * I detail only what I saw about me. HOURS OF CRISIS 121 This was not so dangerous a proceeding as it might appear, as owing to their cramped positions the police could not put up a very serious hand-to-hand fight. In many cases the police were simply thrown over the parapets into the roadway below. In cases where policemen were wounded, no medical assistance was allowed them, but they were dispatched out of hand. The people of Petrograd had much to avenge. Although it was not yet noon, the whole city and surrounding districts were by now in the hands of the mob. The police guarding the various bridges, as yet unaware that the mob had assumed supreme control of the situation, were surprised at their posts and, after short but brisk fights, were accounted for. Directly the numerous police agents, who had been mingling with the crowds, realised that events had taken a turn contrary to their expectations, they decamped, but in cases where they were recognised they were shot down. Some of the mobs, led by criminals or hooligans, attempted to break into the vodka stores, but thanks to Mr. Rodjanko they were 122 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION prevented from doing so. Without using violence the Revolutionary guards simply explained the situation, pointing out that if the crowds availed themselves of the large stores of vodka they would be cutting their own throats and furthering the interests of the old regime. The crowds, who had amongst them many of the Revolutionary agents, were quickly convinced on this point and left the vodka stores in peace, which was a good illustration of the wonderful control which the people kept over them- selves. In cases where large stores of vodka had been found in police-stations, the crowd in- variably broke the bottles and poured their contents into the canals. Some of the worst characters among them drank large quantities of the fiery spirit and were soon incapable of taking further part in the proceedings. There were instances even of such men being shot down by the people themselves. When policemen were shot their weapons were taken, and this added further to the number of armed people in the streets. The remaining policemen, prepared for the slaugh- HOURS OF CRISIS 123 ter usual on such occasions but never for a moment anticipating that the soldiers (and more especially that the Cossacks) would side against them, took refuge when possible with their comrades on the roofs of the buildings and churches. Owing to the fact that practically all the large buildings through- out the city have flat roofs, the police were able to collect together and even change their positions. Nevertheless the organised patrols of the people were more than a match for them. At this time the crowds commenced to commandeer every automobile in the city, no matter to whom it might belong. These automobiles they filled with armed men, with at least two soldiers lying on the mudguards with loaded rifles and fixed bayonets. These formidable units then rushed all over the city shooting wildly, but with the chief object of hunting down the police, especially those in the outlying districts who had not yet become aware of the true state of affairs in the city itself, but who, having heard the intense firing, believed that their programme was being carried out. It was 124 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION by this means that the remainder of the poHce were accounted for. It was a terrifying sight to see a private limousine tearing down the road filled with armed men and a machine-gun mounted on its roof. The gun was of very little use, as it was with the greatest difficulty that the men themselves could keep in position, let alone the gun, which wobbled about peril- ously. Upon the motor lorries machine-guns were mounted in such a way as to command the front edge of the house roofs from the roadway. When those in charge were certain of a particular building from which the police were firing, the lorry would draw up and return the fire. With such indiscriminate shooting the casualties were extremely heavy. They would have been much more so had the police arranged their machine-guns on a level with the roadway instead of on the roofs of the buildings. Situated as they were the machine- guns could only command a narrow strip of road, whereas on the ground level they could have commanded a whole street. The Head Office of the Secret Police was < M "J — 4) — o ^ *-c: o HOURS OF CRISIS 125 situated in a large block of buildings on the Fontanka Canal, where was also situated the flat of the Minister of Interior. The mob broke in and, to avoid destroying the property of their fellow citizens, brought out every article of furniture from the Minister's flat and the Secret Service Offices, together with every document, book and scrap of paper they could find. These were made into huge bonfires in the streets. Thus in a few mo- ments were destroyed thousands of docu- ments containing details and general particu- lars of every criminal and political and religious suspect throughout the Empire, to say nothing of the vast volumes of informa- tion relating to enemy spies. That the incriminating evidence relating to the political and reUgious prisoners and suspects should be burnt was entirely just, but it was certainly deplorable that docu- ments containing particulars of criminals and spies were destroyed. By the destruction of these documents all evidence of such char- acters was lost, and the duties of the militia, which was formed later, were rendered more difficult in rounding up such prisoners. The 126 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION only evidence upon which they could go was that voluntarily given by persons knowing these men. By this time the old regime had begun to realise that their power was disappearing, if it had not already disappeared. They still pinned their faith, however, on the soldiers who were stationed outside the city. Directly hostilities had commenced the Government had telegraphed to Finland for several regi- ments of soldiers to be brought in immediately to clear the streets. Fortunately the Revolu- tionary Party had knowledge of these in- structions, and their agents immediately set about to organise a suitable reception. This they did by commandeering several field-guns, which they placed behind hastily constructed barricades in Litainai Prospect, commanding the bridge by which such troops would have to enter the city. These field- guns they reinforced by a number of machine- guns trained on the brow of the bridge. Thus equipped they awaited the arrival of the new troops. In due course these troops, who were ignorant of the real situation, arrived. Upon HOURS OF CRISIS 127 reaching the bridge the new arrivals were informed of what had occurred, the guns mounted in position being convincing proof. Without hesitation they decided to throw in their lot with the people, and upon doing so they disarmed their officers, taking the opportunity to shoot the more unpopular ones. They then joined the mobs in the city. Throughout the day red flags and pieces of red rag were everywhere evident, and hardly a soul was to be seen in the streets without some 'such decoration. It was, as a matter of fact, highly dangerous to be among the crowds without such evidence of one's sym- pathies.* It was quite sufficient for any person in the crowd who happened to notice the absence of this emblem to shout out, " Policeman, spy, shoot him." Without being given time to produce any papers or documents to prove his identity and that his sympathies were with the people, the suspect * As I describe later, personally I took the precaution of wearing a small Union Jack in my button-hole. In spite of this, I was repeatedly challenged by someone in the mob, whereupon I uttered the magic word " Englishman," showed my flag, and all was well. 128 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION was shot. Such instances were extremely rare considering the general state of affairs, but nevertheless they happened. The majority of those who had remained round the burning Courts of Justice and the adjoining prison, when they saw that the fire had really got a firm hold and there was no possibility of the buildings being saved, made their way to the Duma House, which was guarded by gendarmes. Now, however, the mob were well armed and in a fighting humour and had been reinforced by the soldiers. A brisk but short fight ensued, for the gendarmes soon realised that they were being overwhelmed and surrendered the building. This happened early on the Mon- day morning, March 12th (February 27). With the mob that took the Duma House were a large number of the Revolutionary leaders, who, directly the building was cap- tured, took charge of affairs and commenced their work of organisation. They took possession of Room No. 13 of the Duma building and held a meeting to discuss their plans. It must be understood that these men were not of the working classes, but were < y. < o o < ai a: < y. HOURS OF CRISIS 129 the real heads of the Revolutionary Move- ment. They it was who decided on the Sunday night that the Revolution was to take place, and that they would risk all upon the success of the movement. At the time that the Duma building was taken, Mr. Rodjanko, the President, was holding a meeting to decide the Duma's attitude. They had disregarded the instruc- tions of the Tzar to dissolve the Duma, and the decision at which they now arrived was to remain at their posts and use every possible effort to further the interest of the nation. On the previous night (Sunday) Mr. Rodjanko had realised the course events were taking and, together with his colleagues, had forwarded the following telegram to the Tzar at Headquarters : — " Position very serious. Anarchy rife in the Capital, Parliament is paralysed, trans- port of provisions is entirely disorganised. In the streets disorderly firing is taking place, units of the Army are fighting others. It is necessary to appoint someone immediately whom the country trusts to form another K 130 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION Ministry. Do not delay. This would be fatal. I pray to God that the responsibility of this day will not fall upon him who wears the Crown." At the same time Mr. Rodjanko and his colleagues sent a copy of this telegram to the Commanders of the Southern, Middle and Northern Armies, and requested them to im.press on the Tzar the urgency of the situation as explained in the telegram. The first reply was received from General Brussilof, who answered : " Your telegram to hand. Have fulfilled my duty to the Tzar and country." Later a reply from General Russki was received reading : " Telegram received. Requests fulfilled." On the morning of Monday, March 12th (February 27th), Mr. Rodjanko addressed a second telegram to the Tzar as follows : — " Situation has become worse, necessary to take immediate steps. To-morrow will be too late. The final moment has arrived when the fate of the country and the dynasty will be decided." CHAPTER VII THE REIGN OF THE MOB LARGE numbers of the people and soldiers were still occupied in setting • fire to the various police-stations. The remainder continued to hunt down the police throughout the city and on the out- sldrts, where some brisk and deadly fighting took place. Later in the day a large mob broke into the big Military Garage and com- mandeered all the cars, including a number of armoured cars. These they loaded up with a considerable stock of ammunition and used them in the general street fighting. These armoured cars were largely responsible for the speedy way in which the police with their machine-guns were rounded up, as from the cars they were able to concentrate their fire on any particular point without suffering injury themselves. 131 132 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION Towards evening a large number of people, who had remained in their houses during the day, joined with the crowd in the streets. This fact was largely responsible for the enormous number of casualties. Machine- guns spitting lead in all directions and thou- sands of persons were firing indiscriminately. It was all a matter of luck whether one escaped or no.* In addition to the actual fighting between the people and the police, numbers of young and irresponsible boys and hooligans found huge delight in firing off their weapons into the air or at windows, in fact anywhere that suited their fancy. Again, there was great danger from the happily few drunken soldiers and hooligans. These took a keen delight in showing small groups of people, especially women and girls, how to load and fire a rifle. This they would do by placing a cartridge in the breech and then pulling the trigger, quite regardless as to where the bullet might go. In a few hours the value of human life had * I myself had many narrow escapes, as I invariably found myself in the thick of the mob. It was safer, however, than being in my office with bullets coming through the windows. THE REIGN OF iHE MOB, 133 dropped with startling suddenne'ss. By care- lessness in handling weapons quite a number of people were killed and injured. Little boys also delighted in picking up dropped cartridges and throwing them into the fires which were burning outside the police-stations and also the usual fires in the streets : this they did quite innocently, but it was a serious source of danger. During very cold weather it is the practice in Russian cities to have large fires in braziers at various points to give the people, more especially the poorer classes and cabmen, an opportunity of warming themselves. To be out for many hours at a stretch in such an extremely low temperature, one is apt to become numbed with the cold and attacked by frostbite, which never gives any indication of its presence except that the part attacked usually feels comfortably warm. During the Revolution these fires were numerous throughout the streets, the dvor- nicks seeing the necessity of such fires to warm their comrades in the streets. It was in these fires that the younger element delighted to throw loose cartridges they had picked up. 134 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION In many cases these children became possessed of fire-arms and, in imitation of their elders, they delighted to fire them off. One little boy of about twelve years of age had secured an automatic pistol and, together with a large number of soldiers, was warming himself at one of these fires. Suddenly he pulled the trigger and one of the soldiers fell dead. This so alarmed the boy, who had no idea of the mechanism of the deadly weapon he held, that he kept the trigger pulled back and the automatic pistol proceeded to emipty itself. It contained seven bullets, and it was not until they were all discharged that the boy released his hold of the trigger. The result was that three soldiers were killed and four seriously injured. This wholesale de- struction was probably an isolated case, but hundreds of people were injured by the care- less use of weapons in unaccustomed hands. Quite a number of children shot themselves whilst playing with fire-arms. In the evening and throughout the night it was a weird and wonderful sight to see the rabble in the streets waving red flags and singing revolutionary songs, while the sky THE REIGN OF THE MOB 135 was aglow from the burning buildings. One particular fire was extremely picturesque, that of the large police and fire station situ- ated near the Nikolai Station. All fire- stations throughout Russia are built with a very tall look-out tower usually surmounted by a very high mast. It is the practice that when there is a fire in the city, the look-out man on the tower hoists to the top of the mast signals to indicate to the look-out men on other towers the district in which the fire is burning. This particular station, combining both the police and fire-brigade stations, consisted of four floors above which was built this high tower, the whole reaching to a height of about 150 feet. This was one of the first stations that the mob fired, and when the flames secured a good hold on the building, the tower acted as a chimney and produced a most weird and terrifying picture silhouetted as it was against the night sky. Not content with the destruction of the police-stations and their contents, the crowd, who now began to realise their own strength, decided that all documents relating in any 136 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION way whatsoever to the old regime and poUce organisation must be destroyed. This led them to private flats and the residences of local judges, which were stripped of every scrap of paper, books, documents, etc. These were burnt in the streets outside the houses. They did not forget the local Courts in this respect, but they have since had cause to regret such actions as the documents and records contained in the local Courts were invariably details and evidence relating to small cases affecting the working classes. Thus in many cases evidence was destroyed which was really to their own advantage. The overthrow of the police and the burning of all records was the death-knell of the old regime, and was at the same time the peal of victory of the Revolution. With the burning of the police-stations many thousands of passports were destroyed, and thus at one stroke that wonderful passport system of Russia was eliminated, and it is very doubtful whether it will ever be reinstated by the new Government. It is hardly likely that the people, now that they are free of that badge of serfdom, will agree to have its chains again '- o - '3 — )^ "T'tc THE REIGN OF THE MOB 137 fettering their lives. As it was difficult to prove what passports had been destroyed, it was quite natural that people who had a bad record to show on their passports soon de- stroyed them, and as no records remain they can continue life with a clean sheet. Even if the new regime continues the passport system, at least every person will have the benefit of beginning again with an unspotted record. When it is said that the passport system is now at an end, that is only in connection with those remaining in the country. For those wishing to leave or enter Russia, pass- ports must still be produced and vised in the usual way by the authorities, who if any- thing are more strict than previously. Such action is necessary to prevent spies and other enemy agents taking advantage of the chaos of the moment. Throughout these ternble times foreigners were treated with the greatest respect, both as regards their persons and their property; the only act against them being the com- mandeering of their motor-cars, and even here in some cases such cars were not taken. Where the pohce were firing from the 138 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION windows of houses the mob organised patrols to search every flat in the house. In one case the offices of an EngUsh firm were searched five times within the short period of two hours. A patrol of five or six soldiers and workmen, all fully armed, demanded admittance, and upon it being accorded they would command the inmates to hold up their hands whilst they were thoroughly searched for fire-arms. In this particular office the Revolutionaries demanded that the safe should be opened, and although there were no fire-arms there was a considerable amount of money. One of the men attempted to take it, but was im- mediately ordered by the other members of the patrol to replace it, with the remark that they were not thieves and that this was an English office and must be respected as such.* This was a good indication of the feelings of the mobs towards the Allies, for it must be clearly understood that this was a revolution against the old regime and, therefore, favour- able to the Allied cause. ♦ The appearance of the men as they stood there was that of officials performing an odious duty. I was greatly impressed with their restraint and coolness. THE REIGN OF THE MOB 139 From time to time throughout the day, members of the workmen's delegates and the Revolutionary Council drove about the streets in motor-cars and gave the people by word of mouth some particulars of the happenings at the Headquarters of the Organisation. Such information was received with tremendous cheering, especially when the arrests of the various Ministers of the old regime were an- nounced. In the evening a special unnumbered and hastily printed News-sheet was issued by the combined Councils of the Duma and the Revolutionary Party. Distribution of this News-sheet was made by fast motor-cars, handfuls of the sheets being thrown to the people who scrambled for them in the most boisterous manner.* Immediately a person obtained possession of one, he was surrounded by a crowd asking for all the News to be read out. It was a most interesting sight to see amongst the general mob hundreds of such groups who considered the contents of the * I was successful in snatching one which I immediately put in my pocket. It is reproduced here. A few days after fifty pounds was vainly offered for one of these News-sheets. 140 RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION paper more important than their own per- sonal safety. As the various news was given them it was received with wild acclamation. The heading to this historical News-sheet was as follows : — NEWS 2yth February, igiy. Newspapers not being pubHshed. EVENTS FOLLOWING ONE ANOTHER TOO RAPIDLY. THE PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING. Although a great turmoil was raging, and every man was striving his utmost in the interests of the nation, the Allies were not forgotten, for the first News-sheet contained a small paragraph reading : " ON THE ALLIED FRONT " A telegram has been received from a special correspondent giving the splendid news that the British Army had occupied BAGDAD." On this day, March 12th (February 27th), a number of regiments of soldiers came over ISBiCIlJl u 27-ro dicBiiaiisi 1917 r. raaerbt He buxoauti*. Co6biTiJi HAyn» cnMUJKOMi> dbicrpo. HeceneHJe aojhkno stiaTb, hto n|raiMiXfiffMT-b. Q ttnn 9>wn mm m "^'^ I. K c ruMiit'' jKtxank r*c Ayvw. 2.H,B.H«i|iEin. 3 N. i. iHTtamk 4, B. t. Pknckk: S; «. «. HtjntiM. e.)(.C.Huuai- 7. B. 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