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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 75-2975 MEDLIN, Virgil Dewain, 1943- THE RELUCTAOT REVOLUTIONARIES: THE PETROGRAD SOVIET OF WORKERS’ AND SOLDIERS' DEPUTIES 1917. The University of Oklahoma, Ph.D., 1974 History, modem Xerox University Microfilms,Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 © 1974 VIRGIL DEWAIN MEDLIN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARIES: THE ÎETROGRAD SOVIET OF WORKERS* AND SOLDIERS' DEPUTIES I917 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EHILOSOHIY BY VIRGIL DEWAIN MEDLIN Norman, Oklahoma 1974 THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARIES; THE lEEROGRAD SOVIET OF WORKERS’ AND SOLDIERS' DEPUTIES, I917 A DISSERTATION APmOVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTOH? L 61 DISSERTATION COMMITTEE TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ........................................................ iii INTRODUCTION................................................... i Chapter I. THE BIRTH OF "REVOLUTIONARY DEMOCRACY".................... Il II. THE STRUCTURE OF THE SOVIET............................... 78 III. FURY OVER WAR: A PYRRHIC VICTORY FOR REVOLUTIONARY DEFENS IS M ............................................104 IV. THE QUEST FOR P E A C E ................................... 150 V. THE SOVIET AND INTERNAL AFFAIRS ........................ 191 1. The Economy.......................................... 191 2. The March of Labor ................................... 203 3. The Peasant Collossus ............................... 218 4. The Destruction of the Military ...................... 228 5. The Nationality Question............................. 248 6. The Constituent Assembly ............................. 261 VI. THE SOVIET UNDER SIEGE ................................. 279 1. The Urban Masses in Revolt ........................... 279 2. The Specter of Counterrevolution Arises................. 309 VII. THE BOLSHEVIZATION OF THE SOVIET ........................ 322 CONCLUSIONS.................................................... 342 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................... 352 ii PREFACE The Russian Revolution has been the subject of memoirs and the object of research for over a half century. While some aspects of the revolution have received considerable attention, others have been inadequately treated or neglected. Historians have spent much effort studying the Bolsheviks in order to explain their success in November 1917. Similarly, some scholars have compiled exhaustive treatises detailing the errors of the Bolshevik opposition in order to explain the triumph of Novem­ ber. The popular masses and the institutions constructed by the revolutionaries, however, have received only slight study or dis­ torted treatment. The chasm between revolutionary enthusiasm and organization, usually a fundamental contradiction in revolu­ tion, makes the study of revolutionary institutions in 1917 essential for understanding the Russian Revolution- The Petro- grad Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was, without doubt, the most important revolutionary institution in 1917 Russia. The study that follows examines not only the structure of the Petrograd Soviet, but the decisions made by that body and the basis on which it made them. The Petrograd Soviet has been the object of only one book- length study, G. I. Zlokazov's Petrogradskii sovet rabochikh i soldatskikh deputatov v period mimogo razvitiia revoliutsiia (The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies during the Peaceful Period of the Development of the Revolution iii IV , (February-June 1917) (Moscow, 1969) . The work covers only one- half of the pre-November period of the Petrograd Soviet and suffers from distortions common to all Ü. S. S. R. party histories of the period. The only non-communist work to treat the Petrograd Soviet in any detail is Oskar Anweiler's Die RMtebewegung in Russland 1905-1921) (The Council Movement in Russia 1905-1921) (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1958). The Petrograd Soviet is not the main object of Anweiler's research which is in no way exhaus­ tive on any aspect of the Soviet movement in 1917. A few scholarly articles cover certain narrow aspects of the Soviet in 1917, but their subjects taken together make up only a very slight portion of the total picture of the institution. No exhaustive treatment of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies between March and November 1917 exists; in the following study the author attempts to realize such a treat­ ment. Some technical observations are necessary. All dates for events concerning the Petrograd Soviet and the Russian Revolution are given in the New Style (Gregorian) calendar, not the Julian calendar in use in 1917 Russia and which was thirteen days behind the Gregorian. The transliteration system from the Russian is that of the Library of Congress with the following modifications: (a) ligatures have been omitted; (b) in direct quotation of materials already in English translation the transliteration system in the translation is retained; (c) a few proper names which have become standardized in English in other transliterations have been given in the customary form, e.g., Trotsky, Kerensky, and soviet, not Trotskii, Kerenskii, and sovet. Throughout this study the term soviet refers only to the political institution prior to 1918 and not the current common usage of the word to refer to the people or government of the U. S. S. R. I owe an especial debt of gratitude to Dr. Henry J. Tobias, the supervisor of this dissertation. Despite a busy schedule chairing a large department, he spent untold hours guiding my work, challenging my concepts of the Russian Revolution, and aiding my written expression. To the other members of my committee, Dr s. Russell D. Buhite, Gordon D. Drummond, and Dougald T. Calhoun and to Dr. Robert Nye, I am indebted for many helpful suggestions and particularly for the questions they raised that made me continually reexamine my train of thought as expressed in the dissertation. To my students and my academic colleagues I owe apologies when the writing of this dissertation detracted from my teach­ ing duties. To Dr. Rob Roy MacGregor, who started me on the path of studying history, and Dr. Kenneth I. Dailey, under whom I completed my work for the Masters in history, I wish to express my whole-hearted appreciation. The numerous archives, libraries, and institutions and their staffs that aided me in the procurement of sources I can never repay for their efforts and kindnesses beyond the call of duty. I particularly wish to express my gratitude to Miss Juanita Means, former Reference Librarian at Oklahoma City University, whose bibliographic knowledge never failed me and whose penchant for accuracy kept me vigilant. I wish to thank my parents for being so understanding and supportive of me for all these many years. Virgil D. Medlin INTRODUCTION Soviets (Councils) existed in Russia long before 1917. Examples in Imperial Russia include the Sovet Imperii (Council of the Empire), Sovet Stareishin (Council of Elders), and Sovet Ministrov (Council of Ministers). Among Russian revolutionaries the term developed an es­ pecial connotation from its use to designate the revolutionary toiling class bodies established in 1905 and 1917. The institutionalization of revolution around soviets, however, until the Bolshevik coup de grace in November 1917 was never a permanent, organic part of the Russian revolutionary world. According to Viktor Chernov,^ the veteran Social­ ist Revolutionary theorist and