The just and generous attitude of the Revolutionary Committee toward the Kronstadt members of the Com== munist Party — few of whom had been arrested in spite of Bolshevik repressions and the holding of the sailors' families as hostages — won the respect even of the Communists. The pages of the Izvesfia contain numerous communications from Communist groups and organisations of Kronstadt, condemning the attitude of the Central Government and indorsing the stand and measures of the Provisional Revolu:= tionary Committee. Many Kronstadt Communists publicly announced their withdrawal from the Party as a protest against its despotism and bureaucratic corruption. In various issues of the Izvestia there are to be found hundreds of names of Communists whose conscience made it impossible for them to "remain in the Party of the executioner Trotsky", as some of them expressed it. Resignations from the Com? munist Party soon became so numerous as to resemble a general exodus.* The following letters, taken at random from a large batch, sufficiently characterise the sentiment of the Kronstadt Communists: (1) (1) I have come to realise that the policies of the Communist Party have brought the country into a hopeless blind alley from which there is no exit. The Party has become bureaucratic, it has learned nothing and it does not want to learn. It refuses to listen to the voice of 115 million peasants; it does not want to consider that only freedom of speech and opportunity to participate in the reconstruction of the country, by means of altered election methods, can bring our country out of its lethargy.
*) The Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Russia con^ sidered its Kronstadt Section so "demoralised" that after the defeat of Kronstadt it ordered a complete re^registration of all Kronstadt Com^ munists. A. B.
21 I refuse henceforth to consider myself a member of the Russian Communist Party. T wholly approve of the resolution passed by the all::city meeting on March 1, and I hereby place my energies and abilities at the disposal of the Provisional Revolutionary Committee.
HERMAN KANEV Krasniy Komandir (Red Army Officer) Son of the political exile in the Trial of 193.* Izvestia, No. 3, March 5, 1921 (2) COMRADES, MY PUPILS OF THE INDUSTRIAL, RED ARMY, AND NAVAL SCHOOLS!
Almost thirty years I have lived in deep love for the people, and have carried light and knowledge, so far as lay in my power, to all who thirsted for it, up to the present moment.
The Revolution of 1917 gave greater scope to my work, in? creased my activities, and I devoted myself with greater energy to the service of my ideal.
The Communist slogan, "All for the people", inspired me with its nobility and beauty, and in February, 1920, I entered the Russian Communist Party as a candidate. But the "first shot" fired at the peaceful population, at my dearly beloved children of which there are about seven thousand in Kronstadt, fills me with horror that I may be considered as sharing responsibility for the blood of the innocents thus shed. I feel that I can no longer believe in and propagate that which has disgraced itself by a fiendish act. Therefore with the first shot I have ceased to regard myself as a member of the Communist Party.
MARIA NIKOLAYEVNA SHATEL (Teacher) Izvesfia, No. 6, March 8, 1921 Such communications appeared in almost every issue of the Izvestia, Most significant was the declaration of the Provisional Bureau of the Kronstadt Section of the Com^ munist Party, whose Manifesto to its members was published in the Izvestia, No. 2, March 4: *) The celebrated trial of 193 in the early days of the revolutionary movement of Russia. It began in the latter part of 1877, closing in the first months of 1878. A. B.
22 *** Let every comrade of our Party realise the importance of the present hour.
Give no credence to the false rumors that Communists are being shot, and that the Kronstadt Communists are about to rise up in arms. Such rumors are spread to cause bloodshed.
We declare that our Party has always been defending the conquests of the working class against all known and secret enemies of the power of the w^orkers' and peasants' Soviets, and will continue to do so.
The Provisional Bureau of the Kronstadt Communist Party recognises the necessity for new elections to the Soviet and calls upon the members of the. Communist Party to take part in the elections.
The Provisional Bureau of the Communist Party directs all members of the Party to remain at their posts and in no way to obstruct or interfere with the measures of the Provisional Revolu^^ tionary Committee.
Long live the power of the Soviets!
Long live the international union of) workers!
PROVISIONAL BUREAU OF THE KRONSTADT SECTION OF THE RUSSIAN COMMUNIST PARTY: F. FERVUSHIN Similarly various other organisations, civil and military, expressed their opposition to the Moscow regime and their entire agreement v/itli the demands of the Kronstadt sailors. Many resolutions to that effect were also passed by Red Army regiments stationed in Kronstadt and on duty in the forts. The following is expressive of their general spirit and tendency: We, Red Army soldiers of the Fort "Krasnoarmeetz", stand wdioUy with the Provisional Revolutionary Committee, and to the last moment we will defend the Revolutionary Committee, the workers and the peasants.
*** Let no one believe the lies of the Communist/ proclamations thrown from aeroplanes. We have no generals here and no Tsarist officers. Kronstadt has always been the city of workers and peasants, and so it will remain. The generals are in the service of the Communists.
23 *** At this moment, when the fate of the country is in the balance, we who have taken the power into our own hands and who have entrusted the Revolutionary Committee with leadership in the fight — we declare to the whole garrison and to the workers that we are prepared to die for the liberty of the laboring masses. Freed from the three^year old Communist yoke and terror we shall die rather than recede a single step. Long live Free Russia of the Working People!
CREW OF THE FORT "KRASNOARMEETZ" Izvesila, No. 5, March 7, 1921 Kronstadt was inspired by passionate love of a Free Russia and unbounded faith in true Soviets. It was con:? fident of gaining the support of the whole of Russia, of Petrograd in particular, thus bringing about the final liberation of the country. The Kronstadt Izvestia reiterates this attitude and hope, and in numerous articles and appeals it seeks to clarify its position toward the Bolsheviki and its aspiration to lay the foundation of a new, free life for itself and the rest of Russia. This great aspiration, the purity of its motives, and its fervent hope of liberation stand out in striking relief on the pages of the official organ of the Kronstadt Provisional Revolutionary Committee and thoroughly express the spirit of the soldiers, sailors and workers. The virulent attacks of the Bolshevik press, the infamous lies sent broadcast by the Moscow radio station accusing Kronstadt of counter-revolution and White conspiracy, the Revolutionary Committee replied to in a dignified manner. It often reproduced in its organ the Moscow proclamations in order to show to the people of Kronstadt to what depths the Bolsheviki had sunk. Occasionally the Communist methods were exposed and characterised by the Izvestia with just indignation, as in its issue of March 8, (No. 6), under the heading "We and They": Not knowing how to retain the power that is falling from their hands, the Communists resort to the vilest provocative means. Their contemptible press has mobilised all its forces to incite the masses and put the Kronstadt movement in the light of a White guard conspiracy. Now a clique of shameless villains has sent 24 word to the world that "Kronstadt has sold itself to Finland". Their newspapers spit fire and poison, and because they have failed to persuade the proletariat that Kronstadt is in the hands of counter^revolutionists, they are now trying to play on the nationalistic feelings.
The whole world already knows from our radios what the Kronstadt garrison and workers are fighting for. But the Communists are striving, to pervert the meaning of events and thus mislead our Petrograd brothers.
Petrograd is surrounded by the bayonets of the kursanti and the Party "guards", and Maliuta Skuratov — Trotsky -— does not permit the delegates of the nonpartisan workers and soldiers to go to Kronstadt. He fears they would learn the whole truth there, and that truth would immediately sweep the Communists away and the thus enlightened laboring masses would take the power into their own horny hands.
That is the reason that the Petro^Soviet (Soviet of Petrograd) did not reply to our radio-telegram in which we asked that really impartial comrades be sent to Kronstadt.
Fearing for their own skins, the leaders of the Communists suppress the truth and disseminate the lie that White guardists are active in Kronstadt, that the Kronstadt proletariat has sold itself to Finland and to French spies, that the Finns have already organised an army in order to attack Petrograd with the aid of the Kronstadt myatezhniki (mutineers), and so forth.
To all this we can reply only this: All power to the Soviets! Keep your hands off them, the hands that are red with the blood of the martyrs of liberty who have died fighting against the White guardists, the landlords, and the bourgeoisie!
In simple and frank speech Kronstadt sought to express the will of the people yearning for freedom and for the opportunity to shape their own destinies. It felt itself the advance guard, so to speak, of the proletariat of Russia about to rise in defense of the great aspirations for which the people had fought and suffered in the October Revolution. The faith of Kronstadt in the Soviet system was deep and firm; its alls^inclusive slogan. All power fo the Soviets, not to parties! That was its program; it did not have time to develop it or to theorize. It strove for the emancipation of the people from the Communist yoke. That yoke, no longer bearable, made a new revolution, the 25 25 Third Revolution, necessary. The road to liberty and peace lay in freely elected Soviets, "the cornerstone of the new revolution". The pages of the Izvestia bear rich testimony to the unspoiled directness and single^mindedness of the Kronstadt sailors and workers, and the touching faith the}^ had in their mission as the initiators of the Third Revolution. These aspirations and hopes are clearly set forth in No. 6 of the Izvestia, March 8, in the leading editorial entitled "V/hat We Are Fighting For': With the October Revolution the working class had hoped to achieve its emancipation. But there resulted an even greater enslavement of human personaHty.
The power of the police and gendarme monarchy fell into the hands of usurpers — the Communists — who, instead of giving the people liberty, have instilled in them only the constant fear of the Tcheka, which by its horrors surpasses even the gendarme regime of Tsarism. *** Worst and most criminal of all is the spiritual cabal of the Communists: they have laid their hand also on the internal world of the laboring masses, compelling everyone to think according to Communist prescription.
*** Russia of the toilers, the first to raise the red banner of labor's emancipation, is drenched with the blood of those martyred for the greater glory of Communist dominion. In that sea of blood the Communists are drowning all the bright promises and possibilities of the workers' revolution. It has now become clear that the Russian Communist Party is not the defender of the laboring masses, as it pretends to be. The interests of the working people are foreign to it. Having gained power it is now fearful only of losing it, and therefore it considers all means permissible: defamation, deceit, violence, murder, and vengeance upon the families of the rebels.
There is an end to long?=suffering patience. Here and there the land is lit up by the fires of rebellion in a struggle against oppression and violence. Strikes of workers have multiplied, but the Bolshevik police regime has taken every precaution against the outbreak of the inevitable Third Revolution.
But in spite of it all it has come, and it is made by the hands of the laboring masses. The Generals of Communism see clearly that it is the people who have risen, the people who have become convinced that the Communists have betrayed the ideas of Socialism. Fearing for their safety and knowing that there is no place they can hide in from the wrath of the workers, the Communists still try to terrorise the rebels with prison, shooting, 26 BFEMEHHOrO PEBOJffiJ- aHOHHOrO KOMHTITA J6B iHfffim n P IS H ^ 3 M S.
3a npe«03U!-Tcjs Bp. Pas, Koh KBRfcrcur. 3a cejrperapfi TjHnis.
C aiuieft- CToptHbi yjiOHa hst.
OTBpsHeH. FQWiimrxssLomnoTQ EoMHTera.
asBhSaos «;ise:ssj.7ti> a Up Pef. tids^^ter.
5i)9ii5r.a PajjEO npoietapHaTj bgsx CTpaa.
Mu HO xoTe<JB KjwBa., Oca Bawja nepBue a 6oi oaex.
OTBfi.
Eiue Gsaop a cpoaoHcaiBHfi pesaaa TpjAoeofl aspoa. ^JAfrr uoBepswCB ^ opai. ^ . HpecryaEO paoraqaaaekaa sou* Eysasxaiua 6paTCKaa sposb spe- CTbSB 8 fxiiSoqax, opomaiDrQ&a .'.auykcTcptfaaaoa CoErrcsttB Poi>- eaB,- nycTb 6yAat ueaeiiioti, caa- »u»tt£;^uUu5 8 eASHjit) psrri. Oop uoB Bsa&szctarin B KoiiejT? FsnBT8ri.aoS cxaaTKB c rajjpofi ffojfccieiECT- CKoro c&KojicpEWSBfi isu Acianii SuTb XJS&jiaoaposHu.
Had CoeBOfi apices rjio ycjTMmaa Vaa coiixoiffT pewpas. Ha- aiB Gparka pa5o^ae a KpecrLasa. 'iepe.4 rosoati- 6oji5>5jeBasoa, no- AcioT s£3 pfKy nosoma a CepaOe c o6e3jst«B«ea opjioB.
Ku aojacBu ^aaiTosKTk sd' unccapdjtepzaauo C QbtjarooiBH raeaos a cep.tsc, c Tpessofi roJM^BoJ?, yjftpataBBS paymsxca a Cofi a cSt-pi'.r&a rea CBOB jKaaifo caau, Eaaaceu ao- c^eiEHA pamaianBt yjitap opo- TBBBKSy Mu ycaetnao b«asu Tiraai- ^PCKVE) floptSy a opewTejava TpJfl'<BOro HSpOAS- CaosoftcTsxa ■ tujttpsst Urpes xssaa opu^esapsMa twra Vfpa sas»(fi»a: £&%»>.'«■ (iiui$ifMpu9- ctaa (ftsepxiQ ■«■£ te pysosonas, asa E4 tiotsi Crrcc aca ts3 t*ep»J«»s« ttuKajsnirwa.
psTv 08*19 g'« ytja Has T?4ff»e3?»- Tps flijA, KM. o»« «*>,-^a9 nswj* ra? f^poBuireiira rOJIOO OBMAHFTMX.
ips coaoenaoD wja gj<rea 8.vaa»- Oea. opstaToiL'. eooyruMv. «?s zse aoiaet oOnaajmS n)7Jl'JB0l pjacccS aa- pcx OsB xa BaasJEtb eno x<>sb?s m Sy, iBAa caooro a*p«isoauua tauaa- it>S BpuM TpyscQiteaoa Ba asAo p!><-«'V6>(» onan 6ptn.aa ot«a a «!n«a.
fta 9 ajsi ap«xi7Ma<va?t Boiesj era «« soryr ca «»* c&rfr lUBi^aa B tztpisaz sa ffii s&isofo tpaesojtewfi fiaa <i«3V B6 Bscio ea oepflf.- > as JO op*e» pjtetaS op^»T&j>9S9t &z aapeecTsyar 8paar«n«kt{) Pm9.o» uanaawl KaaarsT rep. r,^iMifaitit:i< BsOpaaatti aa a, tp/zumssaul Tanao oay hb aejaa ^ REDUCED FACSIMILE OF A PAGE OF THE KRONSTADT IZVESTIA 27 and other barbarities. But life under the Communist dictatorship is more terrible than death.*** There is no middle road. To conquer or to die! The example is being set by Kronstadt, the terror of counter^^revolution from the right and from the left. Here has taken place the great revolutionary deed. Here is raised the banner of rebellion against the three:=year old tyranny and oppression of Communist autocracy, which has put in the shade the three::hundredj=year old despotism of monarchism. Here, in Kronstadt, has been laid the cornerstone of the Third Revolution which is to break the last chains of the worker and open the new, broad road to Socialist creativeness.
This new Revolution will rouse the masses of the East and the West, and it will serve as an example of new Socialist , constructiveness, in contradistinction to the governmental, cuts^and? dried Communist "construction". The laboring masses will learn that what has been done till now in the name of the workers and peasants was not Socialism.
Without firing a single shot, without shedding a drop of blood, the first step has been taken. Those who labor need no blood. They will shed it only in self-defense. *** The workers and peasants march on: they are leaving behind them the utchredilka (Constituent Assembly) with its bourgeois regime and the Communist Party dictatorship with its Tcheka and State capitalism, v/hich have put the noose around the neck of the workers and threaten to strangle them to death.
The present change offers the laboring masses the opportunity of securing, at last, freely elected Soviets which will function without fear of the Party whip; they can now reorganise the governmentalised labor unions into voluntary associations of workers, peasants, and the working intelligentsia. At last is broken the police club of Communist autocracy.
That was the program, those the immediate demands, for which the Bolshevik Government began the attack of Kronstadt at 6.45 P.M., March 7, 1921.
V. BOLSHEVIK ULTIMATUM TO KRONSTADT Kronstadt was generous. Not a drop of Communist blood did it shed, in spite of all the provocation, the blockade of the city and the repressive measures on the part of the Bolshevik Government. It scorned to imitate the Com^ mimist example of vengeance, even going to the extent of 28 warning the Kronstadt population not to be guilty of excesses against members of the Communist Party. The Provisional Revolutionary Committee issued a call to the jpeople of Kronstadt to that effect, even after the Bolshevik Government had ignored the demand of the sailors for the liberation of the hostages taken in Petrograd. The Kron== stadt demand sent by radio to the Petrograd Soviet and the Manifesto of the Revolutionary Committee were published 00 the same day, March 7, and are hereby reproduced: In the name of the Kronstadt garrison the Provisional Revolutionary Committee of Kronstadt demands that the families of the sailors, workers and Red Army men held by the Petro== Soviet as hostages be liberated within 24 hours.
The Kronstadt garrison declares that the Communists enjoy full liberty in Kronstadt^ and their families are absolutely safe. The example of the Petro:jSoviet will not be followed here, because we consider such methods (the taking of hostages) most shameful and vicious even if prompted by desperate fury. History knows no siach infamy.
SAILOR PETRICHENKO Chairman Provisional Revolutionary Committee KILGAST Secretary The Manifesto to the people of Kronstadt read in part: The long continued oppression of the laboring masses by the Communist dictatorship has produced very natural indignation and resentment on the part of the people. As a result of it relatives of Communists have in some instances been discharged from their positions and boycotted. That must not be. We do not seek vengeance — we are defending our labor interests, Kronstadt lived in the spirit of its holy crusade. It had abiding faith in the justice of its cause and felt itself the true defender of the Revolution. In this state of mind the sailors did not believe that the Government would attack them by force of arms. In the subconsciousness of these simple children of the soil and sea there perhaps germinated the feeling that not only through violence may victory be gained. The Slavic psychology seemed to believe that the justice of the cause and the strength of revolutionary spirit must win.
29 At any rate, Kronstadt refused to take the offensive. The Revolutionary Committee would not accept the insistent advice of the military experts to make an immediate landing in Oranienbaum, a fort of great strategic value. The Kron^^ stadt sailors and soldiers aimed to establish free Soviets and were willing to defend their rights against attack; but they would not be the aggressors.
In Petrograd there were persistent rumors that the Government was preparing military operations against Kronstadt, but the people did not credit such stories: the thing seemed so outrageous as to be absurd. As already mentioned, the Committee of Defense (officially known as the Soviet of Labor and Defense) had declared the capital to fee in an "extraordinary state of siege". No assemblies were permitted, no gathering on the streets. The Petrograd workers knew little of what was transpiring in Kronstadt, the only information accessible being the Communist press and the frequent bulletins to the effect that the 'Tsarist General Kozlovsky organised a counter-revolutionary uprising in Kronstadt". Anxiously the people looked forward to the announced session of the Petrograd Soviet which was to take action in the Kronstadt matter.
The Petro^Soviet met on March 4, admission being by cards which, as a rule, only Communists could procure. The writer, then on friendly terms with the Bolsheviki and particularly with Zinoviev, was present. As Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet Zinoviev opened the session and in a long speech set forth the Kronstadt situation. I confess that I came to the meeting disposed rather in favor of the Zinoviev viev^point: I was on my guard against the vaguest possibihty of counter-revolutionary influence in Kronstadt. But Zinoviev's speech itself convinced me that the Com^ munist accusations against the sailors were pure fabrication, without a scintilla of truth. I had heard Zinoviev on several previous occasions. I found him a convincing speaker, once his premises were admitted. But now his whole attitude, his argumentation, his tone and manner — all gave the lie to 30 30 Ms words. I could sense his own conscience protesting. The only "evidence" presented against Kronstadt was the famous Resolution of March 1, the demands of which were just and even moderate. Yet it was on the sole basis of that document, supported by the vehement, almost hysterical denunciation of the sailors by Kalinin, that the fatal step was taken. Prepared beforehand and presented by the stentorian^voiced Yevdokimov, the right^^hand man of Zinoviev, the resolution against Kronstadt was passed by the delegates wrought up to a high pitch of intolerance and blood thirst — passed amid a tumult of protest from several delegates of Petrograd factories and the spokesmen of the sailors. The resolution declared Kronstadt guilty of a counter:?revolutionary uprising against the Soviet power and demanded its immediate surrender.
It was a declaration of war. Even many Communists refused to believe that the resolution would be carried out: it were a monstrous thing to attack by force of arms the ''pride and glory of the Russian Revolution", as Trotsky had christened the Kronstadt sailors. In the circle of their friends many sober^^minded Communists threatened to resign from the Party should such a bloody deed come to pass.
Trotsky had been expected to address the Petro:;Soviet, and his failure to appear v/as interpreted by some as indicating that the seriousness of the situation was exaggerated. But during the night he arrived in Petrograd and the following morning, March 5, he issued his ultimatum to Kronstadt: The Workers' and Peasants' Govermnent has decreed that Kronstadt and the rebellious ships must immediately submit to the authority of the Soviet Republic, Therefore I command all who have raised their hand against the Socialist fatherland to lay down their arms at once. The obdurate are to be disarmed and turned over to the Soviet authorities. The arrested Commissars and other representatives of the Government are to be liberated at once. Only those surrendering unconditionally may count on the mercy of the Soviet Republic.
31 Simultaneously I am issuing orders to prepare to quell t|ie mutiny and subdue the mutineers by force of arms. Responsibility for the harm that may be suffered by the peaceful population will fall entirely upon the heads of the counter^^revolutionary mutineers.
This warning is final.
TROTSKY Chairman Revolutionary Military Soviet of the Republic KAMENEV ^,. ^,.
Commanders=m?Chief The situation looked ominous. Great military forces continuously flowed into Petrograd and its environs. Trotsky's ultimatum was followed by a prikaz which contained the historic threat, "I'll shoot you like pheasants*'. A group of Anarchists then in Petrograd made a last attempt to induce the Bolsheviki to reconsider their decision of attacking Kronstadt. They felt it their duty to the Revolution to make an effort, even if hopeless, to prevent the imminent massacre of the revolutionary flower of Russia, the Kronstadt sailors and workers. On March 5 they sent a protest to the Committee of Defense, pointing out the peaceful intentions and just demands of Kronstadt, reminding the Communists of the heroic revolutionary history of the sailors, and suggesting a method of settling the dispute in a manner befitting comrades and revolutionists. The document read: To the Petrograd Soviet of Labor and Defense Chairman Zinoviev: To remain silent now is impossible, even criminal. Recent events impel us Anarchists to speak out and to declare our attitude in the present situation.
The spirit of ferment and dissatisfaction manifest among the workers and sailors is the result of causes that demand our serious attention. Cold and hunger have produced disaffection, and the absence of any opportunity for discussion and criticism is forcing the workers and sailors to air their grievances in the open.
White^jguardist bands wish and may try to exploit this dissatisfaction in their own class interests. Hiding behind the workers and sailors they throw out slogans of the Constituent Assembly, of free trade, and similar demands.
We Anarchists have long since exposed the fiction of those slogans, and we declare to the whole world that we will fight with 32 arms against any counter-revolutionary attempt, in cooperation with all friends of the Social Revolution and hand in hand with the Bolsheviki.
Concerning the conflict between the Soviet Government and the workers and sailors, we hold that it must be settled not by force of arms but by means of comradely, fraternal revolutionary agreement. Resorting to bloodshed, on the part of the Soviet Government, will not — in the given situation — intimidate or quieten the workers. On the contrary, it will serve only to aggravate matters and will strengthen the hands of the Entente and of internal counter^^revolution.
More important still, the use of force by the Workers' and Peasants' Government against workers and sailors will have a reactionary effect upon the international revolutionary movement and will everywhere result in incalculable harm to the Social Revo? lution.
Comrades Bolsheviki, bethink yourselves before it is too late! Do not play with fire: you are about to make a most serious and decisive step.
We hereby submit to you the following proposition: Let a Commission be selected to consist of five persons, inclusive of two Anarchists. The Commission is to go to Kronstadt to settle the dispute by peaceful means. In the given situation this is the most radical method. It will be of international revolutionary significance.
ALEXANDER BERKMAN Petrograd EMMA GOLDMAN March 5, 1921 PERKUS PETROVSKY Zinoviev, informed that a document in connection with the Kronstadt problem was to be submitted to the Soviet of Defense, sent his personal representative for it. Whether the letter was discussed by that body is not known to the writer. At any rate, no action was taken in the matter.
VL THE FIRST SHOT Kronstadt, heroic and generous, was dreaming of libera ating Russia by the Third Revolution which it felt proud to have initiated. It formulated no definite program. Liberty and universal brotherhood were its slogans. It thought of the Third Revolution as a gradual process of emancipation, the first step in that direction being the free election of 33 33 independent Soviets, uncontrolled by any political party and expressive of the will and interests of the people. The wlioie:=hearted, unsophisticated sailors were proclaiming to the workers of the world their great Ideal and calling upon the proletariat to join forces in the common fight, confident that their Cause would find enthusiastic support and that the workers of Petrograd, first and foremost, would hasten to their aid.
Meanwhile Trotsky had collected his forces. The most trusted divisions from the fronts, kursanti regiments, Tcheka detachments, and military units consisting exclusively of Communists were now gathered in the forts of Sestroretsk, Lissy Noss, Krasnaia Gorka, and neighboring fortified places. The greatest Russian military experts were rushed to the scene to form plans for the blockade and attack of Kronstadt, and the notorious Tukhachevski was appointed Commancler^n^Chief in the siege of Kronstadt.
On March 7, at 6. 45 in the evening, the Communist batteries of Sestroretsk and Lissy Noss fired the first shots against Kronstadt.
It was the anniversary of the Women Workers' Day. Kronstadt, besieged and attacked, did not forget the great holiday. Under fire of numerous batteries, the brave sailors sent a radio greeting to the workingwomen of the world, an act most characteristic of the psychology of the Rebel City. The radio read: Today is a universal holiday — Women Workers' Day. We of Kronstadt send, amid the thunder of cannon, our fraternal greetings to the workingwomen of the world. *** May you soon accomplish your liberation from every form of violence and op^ p]:ession. *** Long live the free revolutionary workingwomen! Long live the Social Revolution throughout the world!
No less characteristic was the heart^^rending cr^^' of Kron:* stadt, 'Tet The Whole World Know", pubHshed after the first shot had been fired, in No. 6 of the Izvestia, March 8: The first shot has been fired...Standing up to his knees in the blood of the workers, Marshal Trotsky was the first to open 34 fire against revolutionary Kronstadt v/hich has risen against the autocracy of the Communists to estabhsh the true power of the Soviets.
Without shedding a drop of blood we, Red Army men, sailors, and Workers of Kronstadt have freed ourselves from the yoke of the Communists and have even preserved their lives. By the threat of artillery they want now to subject us again to their tyranny.
Not wishing bloodshed, we asked that nonpartisan delegates of the Petrograd proletariat be sent to us, that they may learn that Kronstadt is fighting for the Power of the Soviets. But the Com^ munists have kept our demand from the workers of Petrograd and now they have opened fire — the usual reply of the pseudo Workers' and Peasants' Government to the demands of the labor? ing m'asses.