Bolshevization of the Soviets
Against this background, in August – October 1917, an active "Bolshevization of the Soviets" took place. By the beginning of November 1917, the Bolsheviks occupied up to 90% of the seats in the Petrograd Soviet, up to 60% in the Moscow Soviet, most of the seats in 80 local Soviets of large industrial cities. In the executive committee of the Working Section of the Moscow Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies during the elections of September 18–19, 1917, the Bolsheviks get 32 seats, the Mensheviks – 16, the Socialist Revolutionaries – 9, the United – 3, the Bolsheviks won the election of 11 out of 17 district councils. At the same time, the Socialist Revolutionaries continue to prevail in the executive committee of the Soldier Section of the Soviet.
On September 17, 1917, the Bolshevik Viktor Nogin became Chairman of the Presidium of the Moscow Soviet; on September 25, 1917, the Petrograd Soviet was headed by Leon Trotsky, who was already Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet in 1905. On the side of the Bolsheviks are Soldiers' Committees, primarily of the Northern and Western Fronts, the Petrograd Garrison and the Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet. At the Second Congress of Deputies of the Baltic Fleet, a resolution was adopted that the fleet "does not obey the government", the Bolshevik – Left Socialist Revolutionary Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet was elected.
The "Bolshevization" of the Soldier's Committees goes from below and reaches the regimental level Committees. At the same time, Army Committees until November 1917 remained a Socialist Revolutionary – Menshevik. One of the immediate tasks of the Bolsheviks is the organization of a massive re-election of Army Committees in order to include their supporters.
Having received up to 90% of the seats in the Petrograd Soviet, the Bolsheviks begin active work to conquer the upcoming Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, and, accordingly, its permanent body – the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. In anticipation of the Second Congress, the Bolshevik Petrograd Soviet is organizing a regional Congress, the First Congress of Soviets of the Northern Region, in which Petrograd was included, as well as representatives of the Baltic Fleet. The congress was held on October 24–26, 1917 in Petrograd, and was characterized by a sharp predominance of radical socialists: out of 94 delegates to the congress, there were 51 Bolsheviks and 24 Left Socialist Revolutionaries.[1]
Lenin, "immediately providing" land to the peasants and preaching the seizure, in fact subscribed to anarchist tactics and the Socialist Revolutionary program. Both were kindly and understandable to a peasant who was by no means a fanatical supporter of Marxism. But both, for at least 15 years, the Marxist Lenin incessantly scolded. Now it has been cast. For the sake of courtesy and comprehensibility to the peasant, Lenin became both an anarchist and a Socialist Revolutionary.
Trotsky, on the other hand, so resolved all food difficulties in one spirit, that the sky grew hot... The Soviet government will send a soldier, sailor and workwoman to each village (Trotsky for some reason said precisely a workwoman at dozens of rallies); they will examine the wealthy's reserves, leave them what they need, and the rest for free – to the city or to the front... The Petersburg working mass enthusiastically greeted these promises and prospects.
It is clear that all "confiscation" and all "free", scattered right and left with royal generosity, were captivating and irresistible in the mouth of friends of the people. Nothing could resist it. And this was the source of the spontaneous and uncontrollable development of this method of agitation... Rich and poor; the rich have a lot, the poor have nothing; everything will belong to the poor, everything will be divided among the poor. This is told to you by your own workers' party, followed by the millions of poor people in cities and villages, the only party that fights with the rich and their government for land, peace and bread.
All this has been pouring endless waves all over Russia in recent weeks... All this was heard daily by hundreds of thousands of hungry, tired and embittered... This was an integral element of Bolshevik agitation, although it was not their official program.
But a delicate question arises: was socialism in this "platform"? Did I miss socialism? Have I noticed an elephant?..
The movement of the masses clearly overflowed. The working districts of Petersburg were in full swing in front of everyone. They listened only to the Bolsheviks and only believed in them. At the famous circus "Modern", where Trotsky, Lunacharsky, Volodarsky performed, everyone saw the endless tails and crowds of people who could no longer accommodate the crowded huge circus. Agitators called from words to action and promised a very close conquest of Soviet power. And finally, in Smolny they worked on creating a new, more than suspicious "defense" body...[2]
Nikolay Sukhanov. Notes on the Revolution
The Socialist Revolutionary – Menshevik All-Russian Central Executive Committee refused to recognize the legitimacy of this congress, accusing the Bolsheviks of violating election procedures. According to Richard Pipes, invitations to send delegates to the congress were sent from the unrecognized Regional Committee of the Army, Navy and Workers of Finland to only the Soviets where the Bolsheviks had a majority, and such invitations were sent even to the Moscow Province, which was not part of the Northern Region. On the other hand, the leadership of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks), primarily Lenin personally, considered the possibility of declaring the Congress of the Northern Region the highest authority. On October 8, Lenin wrote "A Letter to the Comrades of the Bolsheviks Participating in the Regional Congress of Soviets of the Northern Region", in which he directly calls for an uprising.[3] In his speech at the Congress, the Bolshevik Grigory Sokolnikov also called for an uprising, and stated that "holding a Congress in Petrograd is not accidental, since it might be he who will begin the uprising", but after the Congress the delegates adopted a resolution stating that the question of power should be decided by the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
At the Congress of Soviets of the Northern Region, the Northern Regional Committee is elected consisting of 11 Bolsheviks and 6 Left Socialist Revolutionaries, which launched a vigorous activity in preparation for the Second All-Russian Congress. On October 16, telegrams were sent to local councils on behalf of the radical-controlled Petrograd Soviet, the Moscow Council and the Congress of Soviets of the Northern Region with a proposal to send delegates to the Congress by October 20. This activity took place against the backdrop of the unwillingness of the Mensheviks and right-wing Socialist Revolutionaries to convene the Congress in general, as in fact predetermining the will of the Constituent Assembly on the issue of power in the country. Especially strong was the opposition of the Right Socialist Revolutionary permanent bodies of the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Peasant Deputies; so, on October 12, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of this Congress declared the convocation "a criminal undertaking, disastrous for the Motherland and the Revolution", and on October 24 sent telegrams to the peasant Soviets demanding "not to take part" in the Congress. Richard Pipes also points out that the initiative of the regional Congress of Soviets to convene the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets was itself illegal. According to the procedures existing at that time, only the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the permanent body of the previous Congress, had the right to convene a new All-Russian Congress of Soviets, however, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was Socialist Revolutionary – Menshevik in composition and did not intend to convene a new Congress.
At the same time, at the beginning of October, out of 974 Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies operating in the country, 600 were in favor of dispersing the Provisional Government and destroying the "dual power" system. At the same time, it was not possible to achieve the Bolshevization of the Soviets of Peasant Deputies; out of 455 such Soviets in 264 there were no Bolshevik factions at all.
The success of the Bolsheviks in the elections to the traditional bodies of self-government was also modest: in the capital Petrograd City Duma, the Bolshevik faction won 33.5% of the vote, in Moscow 11.6%, in the provincial cities of 7.5%, in the county 2.2%. At the same time, the Socialist Revolutionaries receive 37.5% in the Petrograd City Duma, and about 50% in 50 provincial cities.
In October, Lenin safely returned to Petrograd. As early as September 15, he began to actively persuade his supporters to begin preparations for a new uprising (the letters "The Bolsheviks Must Take Power" and "Marxism and the Uprising"), without waiting for Kerensky to surrender Petrograd to the Germans or still assemble the Constituent Assembly (whose elections after a long delay was finally appointed by the Provisional Government on November 12). Trotsky calls Lenin's proposals to raise an insurrection immediately "too impulsive" and suggests postponing it until the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets is convened. Kamenev suggests not raising an uprising, "burning" Lenin's letters.
In a letter, "Marxism and Rebellion", Lenin states that
...one of the most malicious and perhaps the most widespread perversions of Marxism ... belongs to the opportunist lie that preparing a rebellion, generally treating an uprising as an art, is "Blanquism". ...rebellion, in order to be successful, should not be based on a conspiracy, not on the party, but on the vanguard class ... on the revolutionary upsurge of the people ... on such a turning point in the history of the growing revolution, when the activity of the vanguard ranks of the people is greatest, when the fluctuations in the ranks of enemies and in the ranks of weak half-hearted indecisive friends is strongest... On July 3–4 ... there were no conditions for the victory of the uprising then ... there were still no majority among the workers and soldiers of the capitals. Now it is in both Soviets ... there was no nationwide revolutionary upsurge then. Now it is after Kornilovism. ...there was no hesitation then, on a serious general political scale, among our enemies and among the half-petty bourgeoisie. Now the vibrations are gigantic...[4]
The Socialist Revolutionary – Menshevik All-Russian Central Executive Committee accuses the Bolsheviks of fraud in organizing the elections of the Second Congress; in violation of electoral procedures, the Bolsheviks organized the election of soldier delegates not from the Socialist Revolutionary and Menshevik Soldiers' Committees at the army level, but from pro-Bolshevik-oriented Soldiers' Committees at the level of regiments, divisions and corps, and the Bolsheviks launched activities to re-elect Army Committees. In addition, the Bolsheviks took full advantage of the chaos and disproportionate representation that existed then in the system of Soviets, artificially increasing the number of delegates from those Soviets where they had a majority. As a result, for example, 10% of the Congress delegates were Latvians, which did not correspond to their share in the population. The peasant majority of the country's population, who supported primarily the Socialist Revolutionaries, were not represented at the Congress; the Second All-Russian Congress of Peasant Deputies was held, like the First Congress, separately from the Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.
Having declared the Second Congress of Soviets illegal in advance, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, however, agreed to convene it, postponing only the opening date of the Congress from October 20 to October 25, and stating that the Congress "should work no more than three days". Lenin continues to persuade the Bolsheviks to start an uprising immediately, without waiting for the Congress, and calls the supporters of its transfer "October 25 fetishists".