The Russian Revolution : The Kronstadt Rebellion of 1921

Résumé du document

Kronstadt is a naval fortress, built in 1703 by the tsar Peter the Great, on the Kutlin island in the Gulf of Finland, 30 kilometres in the west of Saint Petersburg (which in the early days of the 20th Century was named Petrograd, and then later renamed Leningrad, and is now Saint Petersburg again), it used to be the Russian Baltic Fleet's base. This fortress is very famous, because in March 1921, there was the first and the last popular armed uprising against the despotism of the Communist Party. The revolt ran only for 18 days but the myth of the Kronstadt uprising is still enduring, especially in the Anarchist environments. This event is one of the main references of the History of Anarchism with the Paris Commune and the legendary Anarchist soldiers of the Spanish Civil War.
In October, 1917, the Bolsheviks took the power by the way of a coup d'état in Saint Petersburg and overthrew the provisional government of Kerensky (Liberal and Socialist Revolutionary coalition). In the October Revolution the role of the fortress of Kronstadt was already very important; a great mutiny of soldiers and sailors promoted the end of the provisional government. This revolution was a kind of coup d'état made by the Bolsheviks, and also in many aspects a popular movement. But after, Russia was ruled by an authoritarian party, and the revolution lost its popular and sovietic facets. The Bolsheviks started to ruled alone, and the other revolutionary politic factions as the Anarchists, the Social-Revolutionary, the Liberals were treated as counter-revolutionaries or petit-bourgeois by the new centralised power. Soon afterwards Russia dissolved into a civil war. For several years (1918-1921), the Reds (those who support the new Bolshevik government, led by Vladimir Lenin) and the Whites (Monarchists, and all the counter-revolutionaries) armies fought in order to keep or take the power. In these years, many Anarchists assisted the Bolsheviks in their struggle with the Whites, they found the repressive policies of the government reprehensible, but a White victory seemed worse.

Extraits

[...] Sometimes, the most loyal soldiers were behind the unruly troops and shot dead those who hesitated. By 16 March, the order was taking, whatever it cost, the control of the Kronstadt fortress, Lenin: time has come to put an end to opposition”. About 45,000 loyal troops, including thousands more kursanti (fanatically officer cadets from Red Army military academies) and several hundred civilian Communist volunteers had been assembled on the mainland to the north, south and east of Kronstadt. That night, Tukhachevsky ordered a mass attack from all three directions. [...]

[...] In the October Revolution the role of the fortress of Kronstadt was already very important; a great mutiny of soldiers and sailors promoted the end of the provisional government. This revolution was a kind of coup d'état made by the Bolsheviks, and also in many aspects a popular movement. But after, Russia was ruled by an authoritarian party, and the revolution lost its popular and sovietic facets. The Bolsheviks started to ruled alone, and the other revolutionary politic factions as the Anarchists, the Social-Revolutionary, the Liberals were treated as counter-revolutionaries or petit-bourgeois by the new centralised power. [...]

[...] Then the Kronstadt Commune started . Soon, the central Bolshevik reaction commenced after the Kalinin's report. In order to close off the fortress, the news had been censored and the local Red Army units deployment locked out physically the island. The propaganda played also a big role; Trotsky, Zinoviev and Lenin, the main members of the Party, claimed out that this rebellion was a “counter- revolutionary rising organised from abroad, a “petit-bourgeois Anarchist movement” ruled by the SR's and the White as Lenin said. [...]

[...] Soon afterwards Russia dissolved into a civil war. For several years (1918-1921), the Reds (those who support the new Bolshevik government, led by Vladimir Lenin) and the Whites (Monarchists, and all the counter-revolutionaries) armies fought in order to keep or take the power. In these years, many Anarchists assisted the Bolsheviks in their struggle with the Whites, they found the repressive policies of the government reprehensible, but a White victory seemed worse. I. By the end of 1920, the Reds had almost won against the Whites and the Civil War was about over, but everyone was feeling the privation and hardship caused by civil disorder, foreign military intervention and economic embargoes, and the extreme measures ordered by Lenin under the Communism” policy. [...]

[...] The 22nd of January, the bread rations for urban people had been reduced by 30% by the government, and the food problems were the first cause of the troubles; strikes and demonstrations followed almost all the political meetings. This event was what sparked off the crisis. The movement was large at Petrograd, and the repression as well, Red Army and Cheka led it; arrests, shootouts . Many Social-Revolutionaries and Anarchists had been arrested with hundred of workers. The Bolshevik power threatened the strikers with a possible operation by the soldiers and sailors from Kronstadt . A delegation of 32 sailors from Kronstadt went to Petrograd to see by itself what happened, and reported on the situation. [...]