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Ida Mett – the Kronstadt Uprising

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Ida Mett – the Kronstadt Uprising Ida Mett was born as Ida Markovna Gilman on July 20th, 1901 in Smorgon in the Russian m!ire "now Smarhon#, Belarus)& 'redomin( antly Jewish, the small industrial town was a hotbed of radi*alism& Ida be*ame an anar*hist while studying medi*ine in Moscow& She was soon arrested )or +anti(Soviet a*tivities’ and was e,!elled )rom the *ountry with her -rst husband, .avid /ennenbaum, in 1920& In 1921, Ida was in 'aris& Here she be*ame involved with the Grou! of Russian 3nar*hists 3broad, whi*h in*luded the great -ghter Neestor Makhno, his sometime *ollaborator 'eter 3rshinov, and )ellow anar*ho-syndi*alist Nei*olas 5a6ar7vit*h, who she later married& 3s well as editing the journal, Dielo Truda "9orkers’ :ause%, Mett was one o) the *o-authors of the Grou!#s *ontroversial but infuential +Organisational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft)# < the 'lat)orm& 19=1 )ound her *elebrating May .ay with anar*hist heroes Buenaventura .urruti and >ran*isco 3scaso in $ar*elona& 'resent at this meeting were also the veteran Russian anar*hist ?oline, 3ugustin Sou*hy "author of With the Peasants of Aragon, available )rom this !ublisher% and :amilo Berneri "murdered by the :ommunists during the Bar*elona May vents of 19=@%& Ba*k in 'aris, Ida served as se*retary o) the local gas workers’ union, all the time writing and agitating, being arrested many times. It was in this !eriod that the booklet you are reading now was written& 3Aer the >all o) >ran*e in 1900, Mett was briefy interned by the ?i*hy regime in Rieu*ros *am!, be)ore the renegade :ommunist Boris Souvarine su**essfully arranged her release& She spent the rest of the war, with her husband and their ten year old son Mar*, in 5a Garde(>reinet, a quiet mountain village near the :ôte d#36ur& Returning to 'aris, !ost(war Ida worked as a nurse in a sanat( orium )or Jewish *hildren in Brunoy, and later as a translator& She was never able to !ra*ti*e as a doctor be*ause her Buali-*ations were not re*ognised by the authorities. .uring the events o) May 19DE, she and her husband *ould be )ound on the streets of 'aris discussing her e,!erien*es with a new generation o) radi*als. She died on June 2@th, 19@=, aged @1& The Kronstadt Uprising Ida Mett /2 ORJ A4. PR3:/I: ‘La Commune de Cronstadt First !ublished 1938 by Kditions S!artacus, 'aris First nglish edition !ublished 1967 as +Fe Gronstadt :ommune# by Solidarity, 5ondon Murray $ook*hin introdu*tion )rom 1971 $lack Rose $ooks "Montreal% edition& Fis edition 2017 Feory and 'racti*e www&theoryand!racti*e&org&uk 'aperback IS$4L 978-0(9956609-0(D book IS$4L 978-0(9956609-1(= :over photo shows Gronstadt sailors o) the $attleshi! 'etropavlovsk in 2elsinki, 191@& 9ith thanks to 4i*k 2eath )or biographi*al in)ormation on Ida Mett& Publishers Preface......................................................................7 Introduction by Murray Bookchin..........................................9 Preface to Solidarity Edition..................................................22 Introduction to the French Edition......................................39 The Kronstadt Events................................................................. Background..................................................................................43 Petrograd on the Eve of Kronstadt.........................................48 Analysis of the Kronstadt Programme....................................54 Mass Meetings.............................................................................58 The Provisional Committee.......................................................59 Bolshevik Slanders......................................................................61 Effects on the Party Rank and File..........................................64 Threats and Bribes......................................................................70 Support in Petrograd..................................................................72 First Skirmishes...........................................................................73 Demoralisation in the Red Army..............................................75 Reorganisation.............................................................................78 The Final Assault........................................................................79 The Balance Sheet.......................................................................81 What They Said at the Time..................................................83 The Anarchists.............................................................................84 The Mensheviks..........................................................................88 The Right SRs..............................................................................91 The Left SRs................................................................................95 Lenin’s Views...............................................................................96 Petrichenko’s Evidence..............................................................99 Kronstadt: Last Upsurge of the Soviets.............................105 Trotsky’s Accusations...............................................................106 The Bolshevik Interpretations................................................112 Rosa Luxemburg’s Views.........................................................116 A Third Soviet Revolution......................................................118 5 Publishers Preface I) back in 1938, the events o) Gronstadt were back in +the days of the gyptian 'haraohs#, how mu*h more irrelevant are they today? 3ll the !arti*i!ants are long dead, shot down on the i*e, !urged by Stalin, or su**umbed to old age& 9hy should we be bothered by what hap!ened a hundred years agoM $e*ause history is important& It gives us ins!iration and e,ample& It tells us what to e,!e*t& 3nd i) the !ast is dead and gone, why is it that *ertain )olk are always so keen to +*orre*t# the re*ordM $e*ause some o) the most visible and !ersistent elements o) !resent day so(*alled anti(*apitalism still use the Russian Revolution as their model& Fe Soviet Hnion might be dead but its traditions weigh like a nightmare on the living& Sin*e the libertarian(socialist grou! !olidarit" resurre*ted #e $ronstadt Commune in the 1960s, there have been dozens of )ar more +histori*ally ac*urate# ac*ounts& So why read Mett when you#ve got 3vri*hM 3vri*h, Getzler et al& are !rofessional historians, their work *oolly unbiased, meti*ulously resear*hed, !ainstakingly !resented& Mett#s book is a !olemi*, a !ropaganda !ie*e& Ida Mett had !assionN Frough her work, we share the outrage with her and her *omrades, e,!elled, beaten, murdered by the +Revolutionary 2omeland# )or revolutionary activities& 3nd even after this e,tent of time, we should still be outraged& Fese were our *omrades, our )ellow The Kronstadt Uprising workers, shot down to stop the in*i!ient +Fird Revolution# in its tracks& Hnlike the !rofessionals, Mett makes no e,*uses )or the actions of the $olsheviks in 1921. 4either !easant ignoran*e nor e*onomi* *ollapse but +bureau*ratisation# is to blame& 3nd where, we might ask, does this *ome )romM Straight )rom the !racti*e and !rin*i!les of the tankies, /rotskyists and 5abour( itesN 3mongst these, substitutionism < the !arty )or the *lass < is not the e,*e!tion but the rule& $ureau*rats, !oliti*ians, !rac( ti*al !eople, your +leaders#, will tell you they know better than you& Fis *ontempt )or the !eople, who are *apable only o) +trade union *ons*iousness# turns us into )ollowers, tools to be used in the streets or in the voting booth, with the aim o) gaining !ower& 3nd then it is a short ste! )rom doing things for the !eople, to doing things to them. %uly& 2()* 8 Introduction by Murray Bookchin In Mar*h 1, 1921, the Gronstadt naval base on Gotlin Island, some twenty(-ve miles ofshore )rom 'etrograd adopted a -Aeen(!oint !rogram of !oliti*al and e*onomi* demands < a !rogram in open de-an*e o) the $olshevik 'arty’s *ontrol of the Soviet state& 3lmost immediately the $olsheviks denoun*ed the u!rising as a +9hite Guard !lot,# ostensibly another in the series of *ounter(revolutionary *ons!iracies that had beleaguered the Soviet regime during the three !re*eding years of *ivil war& 5ess than three weeks later, on Mar*h 17, Gronstadt was subdued in a bloody assault by sele*t Red 3rmy units& Fe Gronstadt u!rising, to all ap!earan*es, had been little more than a !assing e!isode in the bitter history of the *ivil war& 9e *an now say, however, that the Gronstadt u!rising marked the de-nitive end o) the Russian Revolution itsel)& Indeed, the *haracter and importan*e of the u!rising were destined to be*ome issues of acrimonious dis!ute within the international 5eA )or years to *ome& /oday, although an entirely new generation of revolutionaries has emerged < a generation almost totally unin)ormed of the events < the +!roblem of Gronstadt# has lost none o) its relevan*e and !oignan*y. For the Gronstadt u!rising !osed very )ar(reaching issuesL the relationshi! between the so-*alled +masses# and the !arties whi*h !rofess to s!eak in their name, and the nature o) the social system in the modern Soviet Hnion& Fe Gronstadt The Kronstadt Uprising u!rising, in eOe*t, remains as a lasting *hallenge to the $olshevik *on*e!t o) a !arty’s histori*al )un*tion and the notion o) the Soviet Hnion as a +workers# or +socialist# state& Fe Gronstadt sailors were no ordinary military body& Fey were the )amous +Red Sailors# of 1905, 1917, and the *ivil war& $y *ommon *onsent "until the $olsheviks began to revise history after
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