In February 1921, workers in several factories in Petrograd went on
strike. The winter was exceptionally harsh and the people of the capital
suffered intensely from cold, hunger and fatigue. They demanded an
increase in their food rations, a little fuel and clothing. The
complaints of the strikers, ignored by the authorities, soon took on a
political character. ---- Here and there a demand for a Constituent
Assembly and free trade was also expressed. The strikers' attempted
demonstration in the streets was repressed, the government having
ordered the military kursanti to be brought out . Lisa Zorin, who of
all the communists I had met had remained closest to the people, was
present at the dissolution of the demonstration. One woman was so
enraged by the brutality of the military that she attacked Lisa. The
latter, faithful to her proletarian instincts, saved the woman from
arrest and accompanied her home. There she found the most appalling
conditions. In a dark, damp room lived a working-class family with their
six children, half-naked in the biting cold. Lisa later told me, "I felt
sick thinking about being at Astoria." She later left.
When the Kronstadt sailors learned of what was happening in Petrograd,
they expressed solidarity with the strikers in their economic and
revolutionary demands, but refused to support any call for a Constituent
Assembly. On March 1, the sailors organized a mass rally in Kronstadt,
which was also attended by the Chairman of the All-Russian Central
Executive Committee, Kalinin (the President of the Republic of Russia),
the Commandant of the Kronstadt Fortress, Kuzmin, and the Chairman of
the Kronstadt Soviet, Vassiliev. The rally, of which the Executive
Committee of the Kronstadt Soviet was aware, passed a resolution that
was approved by the sailors, the garrison, and the 16,000-strong
assembly of citizens. Kalinin, Kuzmin, and Vassiliev spoke out against
the resolution, which later became the basis of the conflict between
Kronstadt and the Government. It expressed the popular demand for
Soviets elected by free choice of the people. It is worth reproducing
that document in its entirety, so that the reader may be enabled to
judge the true character of Kronstadt's demands. The resolution read:
" After hearing the report of the representatives sent by the general
assembly of ship crews to Petrograd to investigate the situation, we
resolve:
1) Considering that the present Soviets do not express the will of the
workers and peasants, immediately call new elections by secret ballot
and have an election campaign with full freedom of agitation among the
workers and peasants;
2) establish freedom of speech and of the press for workers and
peasants, for anarchists and left socialist parties;
3) guarantee freedom of assembly for trade unions and peasant organizations;
4) to convene a non-partisan conference of workers, Red Army soldiers
and sailors of Petrograd, Kronstadt and the Petrograd province by March
10, 1921;
5) release all political prisoners of the socialist parties, as well as
all workers, peasants, soldiers and sailors imprisoned in connection
with the workers' and peasants' movements;
6) elect a Commission to examine the cases of those detained in prisons
and concentration camps;
7) abolish all politotdeli[political offices]because no party should
receive special privileges in the propagation of its ideas or receive
financial support from the Government for such purposes. Instead,
educational and cultural commissions should be established, locally
elected and financed by the Government.
8) immediately abolish all zagryaditelniye otryadi;[armed units that
requisitioned grain from the peasants];
9) standardize the rations of all those who work, with the exception of
those employed in occupations harmful to health;
10) to abolish Communist combat detachments in all branches of the army,
as well as Communist guards kept on duty in mills and factories. If such
guards or military detachments should be deemed necessary, they should
be appointed in the army from the ranks and in the factories according
to the judgment of the workers;
11) grant the peasants full freedom of action with regard to their land,
and also the right to raise livestock, provided that the peasants do so
with their own means, that is, without employing hired labor;
12) Request all army divisions, as well as our military kursanti
comrades, to approve our resolutions;
13) request that the press give maximum publicity to our resolutions;
14) appoint a traveling control commission;
15) allow free kustarnoye[individual, small-scale]production by one's
own efforts."
The Petrograd Soviet was to meet on March 4, and it was generally
believed that the fate of Kronstadt would be decided then. Trotsky was
to address the meeting, and as I had not yet had the opportunity to hear
him in Russia, I was eager to attend. My attitude to the Kronstadt
question was still undecided. I could not believe that the Bolsheviks
would deliberately invent the story of General Kozlovsky as the leader
of the sailors. The Soviet meeting, I expected, would clarify the matter.
The Tauride Palace was crowded, and a special corps of kursanti
surrounded the stage. The atmosphere was tense. Everyone was waiting for
Trotsky. But when at 10 o'clock he had not yet arrived, Zinoviev opened
the meeting. Before he had spoken for fifteen minutes I was convinced
that he himself did not believe Kozlovsky's story. " Of course Kozlovsky
is old and can do nothing ," he said, " but the white officers support
him and are deceiving the sailors ." Yet for days the Soviet newspapers
had celebrated General Kozlovsky as the driving force of the "uprising."
Kalinin, who had been allowed to leave Kronstadt unmolested by the
sailors, raved like a fishmonger. He denounced the sailors as
counterrevolutionaries and demanded their immediate submission. Many
other Communists followed suit. When the meeting was opened for
discussion, a worker from the Petrograd Arsenal asked to be heard. He
spoke with deep emotion and, ignoring the constant interruptions,
fearlessly declared that the workers had been driven to strike by the
government's indifference to their grievances; the Kronstadt sailors,
far from being counter-revolutionaries, were devoted to the revolution.
In front of Zinoviev he reminded him that the Bolshevik authorities were
now acting towards the workers and sailors just as the Kerensky
government had acted towards the Bolsheviks. " Then you were denounced
as counter-revolutionaries and German agents ," he said; " we, the
workers and sailors, protected you and helped you to come to power. Now
you denounce us and are ready to attack us with weapons. Remember, you
are playing with fire ."
Then a sailor spoke. He referred to the glorious revolutionary past of
Kronstadt, appealed to the Communists not to commit fratricide, and read
the Kronstadt resolution to demonstrate the peaceful attitude of the
sailors. But the voice of these sons of the people fell on deaf ears.
The Petro-Soviet, whose passions had been fomented by Bolshevik
demagogy, approved Zinoviev's resolution ordering Kronstadt to
surrender, under penalty of extermination.
The Kronstadt sailors were always the first to serve the Revolution.
They had played an important role in the Revolution of 1905; they had
been in the front line in 1917. Under Kerensky they proclaimed the
Kronstadt Commune and opposed the Constituent Assembly. They were the
vanguard of the October Revolution. In the great struggle against
Yudenich the sailors offered the strongest defense of Petrograd, and
Trotsky praised them as " the pride and glory of the Revolution ." Now,
however, they had dared to raise their voices in protest against the new
rulers of Russia. That was high treason from the Bolshevik point of
view. The Kronstadt sailors were doomed.
Petrograd was agitated by the decision of the Soviet; even some
Communists, especially those of the French Section, were filled with
indignation. But none of them had the courage to protest, even in Party
circles, against the proposed massacre. As soon as the resolution of the
Petro-Soviet was made known, a group of well-known Petrograd literary
men met to discuss whether something could not be done to prevent the
planned crime. Someone suggested that Gorki be approached to head a
committee of protest to the Soviet authorities. It was hoped that he
would emulate the example of his illustrious compatriot Tolstoy, who in
his famous letter to the tsar had raised his voice against the terrible
massacre of workers. Now such a voice was also needed, and Gorki was
considered the right man to call the present tsars to reflection. But
most of those present at the meeting snubbed the idea. Gorki was a
Bolshevik, they said; he would do nothing. On several previous occasions
he had been consulted, but he had refused to intercede. The conference
brought no results. However, there were some people in Petrograd who
could not remain silent.
They sent the following letter to the Defense Soviet:
TO THE PETROGRAD SOVIET OF LABOR AND DEFENSE, PRESIDENT ZINOVIEV:
Remaining silent now is impossible, even criminal. Recent events push us
anarchists to speak out and declare our attitude to the current situation.
The spirit of unrest and dissatisfaction manifested among the workers
and sailors is the result of causes which require our serious attention.
Cold and hunger have produced dissatisfaction, and the absence of any
opportunity for discussion and criticism is forcing the workers and
sailors to express their grievances openly.
The White Guard gangs wish and may try to exploit this dissatisfaction
in their own class interests. Hidden behind the workers and sailors,
they raise slogans of the Constituent Assembly, free trade and similar
demands.
We anarchists have long since exposed the falsity of these slogans and
declare to the whole world that we will fight with weapons against every
counter-revolutionary attempt, in collaboration with all friends of the
Social Revolution and hand in hand with the Bolsheviks.
As regards the conflict between the Soviet Government and the workers
and sailors, we maintain that it must be settled not by force of arms,
but by a revolutionary fraternal and comradely agreement. The resort to
bloodshed by the Soviet Government will not intimidate or calm the
workers in the given situation. On the contrary, it will only serve to
aggravate matters and will strengthen the gangs of the Entente and the
internal counter-revolution. But what is more important, the use of
force by the workers' and peasants' government against the workers and
sailors will have a reactionary effect on the international
revolutionary movement and will cause incalculable harm to the social
revolution everywhere.
Bolshevik comrades, think before it is too late. Do not play with fire:
you are about to take a very serious and decisive step.
We hereby submit to you the following proposal: a Commission consisting
of five persons, including two anarchists, be elected. The Commission
should go to Kronstadt to settle the dispute by peaceful means. In the
given situation, this is the most radical method. It will have an
international revolutionary significance.
Petrograd, March 5, 1921
Alexander Berkman-Emma Goldman-Perkus-Petrovsky
But this protest was ignored.
On March 7, Trotsky began the bombardment of Kronstadt, and on the 17th
the fortress and the city were taken, after numerous assaults involving
horrific human sacrifices. Thus Kronstadt was "liquidated" and the
"counter-revolutionary plot" bloodily extinguished. The "conquest" of
the city was characterized by ruthless ferocity, although none of the
communists arrested by the Kronstadt sailors were wounded or killed by
them. Even before the assault on the fortress, the Bolsheviks summarily
executed numerous Red Army soldiers whose revolutionary spirit and
solidarity had prompted them to refuse to participate in the bloodbath.
Several days after the "glorious victory" over Kronstadt, Lenin said at
the Tenth Congress of the Russian Communist Party: " The sailors did not
want the counter-revolutionaries, but they did not want us either ." And
- irony of Bolshevism! - at that very congress Lenin advocated free
trade, a step more reactionary than any of which the Kronstadt sailors
were accused.
Between March 1 and March 17, several regiments of the Petrograd
garrison and all the sailors in the port were disarmed and sent to
Ukraine and the Caucasus. The Bolsheviks were afraid to trust them in
the situation in Kronstadt: at the first psychological moment they could
make common cause with Kronstadt. In fact, many Red soldiers in Krasnaya
Gorka and the surrounding garrisons were also sympathetic to Kronstadt
and were forced to shoot the sailors.
On March 17, the Communist government completed its "victory" over the
Kronstadt proletariat, and on March 18, it commemorated the martyrs of
the Paris Commune. It was obvious to all who were silent witnesses to
the outrage committed by the Bolsheviks that the crime against Kronstadt
was far more enormous than the massacre of the Communards in 1871,
because it was committed in the name of the Social Revolution, in the
name of the Socialist Republic. History will not be deceived. In the
annals of the Russian Revolution the names of Trotsky, Zinoviev, and
Dybenko will be added to those of Thiers and Gallifet.
Seventeen terrible days, more terrible than anything I had ever known in
Russia.
Heartbreaking days, due to my total helplessness in the face of the
terrible things that were happening before my eyes.
It was just at this time that I happened to visit a friend who had been
in hospital for months. I found him very distressed. Many of the wounded
in the attack on Kronstadt had been brought to the same hospital, mostly
kursanti. I had an opportunity of talking to one of them. His
physical suffering, he said, was nothing compared with his mental agony.
Too late he had realized that he had been deceived by the cry of
"counter-revolution." There were no Tsarist generals in Kronstadt, no
White Guards: he found only his comrades, sailors and soldiers who had
fought heroically for the Revolution. The rations of ordinary patients
in the hospitals were far from satisfactory, but the wounded kursanti
received the best of everything, and a select committee of Communist
members was appointed to look after their welfare.
Some of the kursanti, including the man I spoke to, refused to accept
the special privileges. " They want to pay us for a murder ," they said.
Fearing that the entire institution might be affected by these awakened
victims, the management ordered them to be transferred to a separate
ward, the "communist ward," as the patients called it.
Kronstadt broke the last thread that bound me to the Bolsheviks. The
indiscriminate slaughter they had instigated spoke against them more
eloquently than anything else. Whatever their pretensions in the past,
the Bolsheviks now proved themselves the most pernicious enemies of the
Revolution. I could have nothing more to do with them.
Taken from Emma Goldman, My Disillusionment in Russia , Doubleday, Page
& Co., New York, 1923 (original ed.).
* Emma Goldman Kovno, June 29 , 1869 - Toronto , May 14 , 1940 was a
Russian anarchist , activist and essayist naturalized American.
http://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
strike. The winter was exceptionally harsh and the people of the capital
suffered intensely from cold, hunger and fatigue. They demanded an
increase in their food rations, a little fuel and clothing. The
complaints of the strikers, ignored by the authorities, soon took on a
political character. ---- Here and there a demand for a Constituent
Assembly and free trade was also expressed. The strikers' attempted
demonstration in the streets was repressed, the government having
ordered the military kursanti to be brought out . Lisa Zorin, who of
all the communists I had met had remained closest to the people, was
present at the dissolution of the demonstration. One woman was so
enraged by the brutality of the military that she attacked Lisa. The
latter, faithful to her proletarian instincts, saved the woman from
arrest and accompanied her home. There she found the most appalling
conditions. In a dark, damp room lived a working-class family with their
six children, half-naked in the biting cold. Lisa later told me, "I felt
sick thinking about being at Astoria." She later left.
When the Kronstadt sailors learned of what was happening in Petrograd,
they expressed solidarity with the strikers in their economic and
revolutionary demands, but refused to support any call for a Constituent
Assembly. On March 1, the sailors organized a mass rally in Kronstadt,
which was also attended by the Chairman of the All-Russian Central
Executive Committee, Kalinin (the President of the Republic of Russia),
the Commandant of the Kronstadt Fortress, Kuzmin, and the Chairman of
the Kronstadt Soviet, Vassiliev. The rally, of which the Executive
Committee of the Kronstadt Soviet was aware, passed a resolution that
was approved by the sailors, the garrison, and the 16,000-strong
assembly of citizens. Kalinin, Kuzmin, and Vassiliev spoke out against
the resolution, which later became the basis of the conflict between
Kronstadt and the Government. It expressed the popular demand for
Soviets elected by free choice of the people. It is worth reproducing
that document in its entirety, so that the reader may be enabled to
judge the true character of Kronstadt's demands. The resolution read:
" After hearing the report of the representatives sent by the general
assembly of ship crews to Petrograd to investigate the situation, we
resolve:
1) Considering that the present Soviets do not express the will of the
workers and peasants, immediately call new elections by secret ballot
and have an election campaign with full freedom of agitation among the
workers and peasants;
2) establish freedom of speech and of the press for workers and
peasants, for anarchists and left socialist parties;
3) guarantee freedom of assembly for trade unions and peasant organizations;
4) to convene a non-partisan conference of workers, Red Army soldiers
and sailors of Petrograd, Kronstadt and the Petrograd province by March
10, 1921;
5) release all political prisoners of the socialist parties, as well as
all workers, peasants, soldiers and sailors imprisoned in connection
with the workers' and peasants' movements;
6) elect a Commission to examine the cases of those detained in prisons
and concentration camps;
7) abolish all politotdeli[political offices]because no party should
receive special privileges in the propagation of its ideas or receive
financial support from the Government for such purposes. Instead,
educational and cultural commissions should be established, locally
elected and financed by the Government.
8) immediately abolish all zagryaditelniye otryadi;[armed units that
requisitioned grain from the peasants];
9) standardize the rations of all those who work, with the exception of
those employed in occupations harmful to health;
10) to abolish Communist combat detachments in all branches of the army,
as well as Communist guards kept on duty in mills and factories. If such
guards or military detachments should be deemed necessary, they should
be appointed in the army from the ranks and in the factories according
to the judgment of the workers;
11) grant the peasants full freedom of action with regard to their land,
and also the right to raise livestock, provided that the peasants do so
with their own means, that is, without employing hired labor;
12) Request all army divisions, as well as our military kursanti
comrades, to approve our resolutions;
13) request that the press give maximum publicity to our resolutions;
14) appoint a traveling control commission;
15) allow free kustarnoye[individual, small-scale]production by one's
own efforts."
The Petrograd Soviet was to meet on March 4, and it was generally
believed that the fate of Kronstadt would be decided then. Trotsky was
to address the meeting, and as I had not yet had the opportunity to hear
him in Russia, I was eager to attend. My attitude to the Kronstadt
question was still undecided. I could not believe that the Bolsheviks
would deliberately invent the story of General Kozlovsky as the leader
of the sailors. The Soviet meeting, I expected, would clarify the matter.
The Tauride Palace was crowded, and a special corps of kursanti
surrounded the stage. The atmosphere was tense. Everyone was waiting for
Trotsky. But when at 10 o'clock he had not yet arrived, Zinoviev opened
the meeting. Before he had spoken for fifteen minutes I was convinced
that he himself did not believe Kozlovsky's story. " Of course Kozlovsky
is old and can do nothing ," he said, " but the white officers support
him and are deceiving the sailors ." Yet for days the Soviet newspapers
had celebrated General Kozlovsky as the driving force of the "uprising."
Kalinin, who had been allowed to leave Kronstadt unmolested by the
sailors, raved like a fishmonger. He denounced the sailors as
counterrevolutionaries and demanded their immediate submission. Many
other Communists followed suit. When the meeting was opened for
discussion, a worker from the Petrograd Arsenal asked to be heard. He
spoke with deep emotion and, ignoring the constant interruptions,
fearlessly declared that the workers had been driven to strike by the
government's indifference to their grievances; the Kronstadt sailors,
far from being counter-revolutionaries, were devoted to the revolution.
In front of Zinoviev he reminded him that the Bolshevik authorities were
now acting towards the workers and sailors just as the Kerensky
government had acted towards the Bolsheviks. " Then you were denounced
as counter-revolutionaries and German agents ," he said; " we, the
workers and sailors, protected you and helped you to come to power. Now
you denounce us and are ready to attack us with weapons. Remember, you
are playing with fire ."
Then a sailor spoke. He referred to the glorious revolutionary past of
Kronstadt, appealed to the Communists not to commit fratricide, and read
the Kronstadt resolution to demonstrate the peaceful attitude of the
sailors. But the voice of these sons of the people fell on deaf ears.
The Petro-Soviet, whose passions had been fomented by Bolshevik
demagogy, approved Zinoviev's resolution ordering Kronstadt to
surrender, under penalty of extermination.
The Kronstadt sailors were always the first to serve the Revolution.
They had played an important role in the Revolution of 1905; they had
been in the front line in 1917. Under Kerensky they proclaimed the
Kronstadt Commune and opposed the Constituent Assembly. They were the
vanguard of the October Revolution. In the great struggle against
Yudenich the sailors offered the strongest defense of Petrograd, and
Trotsky praised them as " the pride and glory of the Revolution ." Now,
however, they had dared to raise their voices in protest against the new
rulers of Russia. That was high treason from the Bolshevik point of
view. The Kronstadt sailors were doomed.
Petrograd was agitated by the decision of the Soviet; even some
Communists, especially those of the French Section, were filled with
indignation. But none of them had the courage to protest, even in Party
circles, against the proposed massacre. As soon as the resolution of the
Petro-Soviet was made known, a group of well-known Petrograd literary
men met to discuss whether something could not be done to prevent the
planned crime. Someone suggested that Gorki be approached to head a
committee of protest to the Soviet authorities. It was hoped that he
would emulate the example of his illustrious compatriot Tolstoy, who in
his famous letter to the tsar had raised his voice against the terrible
massacre of workers. Now such a voice was also needed, and Gorki was
considered the right man to call the present tsars to reflection. But
most of those present at the meeting snubbed the idea. Gorki was a
Bolshevik, they said; he would do nothing. On several previous occasions
he had been consulted, but he had refused to intercede. The conference
brought no results. However, there were some people in Petrograd who
could not remain silent.
They sent the following letter to the Defense Soviet:
TO THE PETROGRAD SOVIET OF LABOR AND DEFENSE, PRESIDENT ZINOVIEV:
Remaining silent now is impossible, even criminal. Recent events push us
anarchists to speak out and declare our attitude to the current situation.
The spirit of unrest and dissatisfaction manifested among the workers
and sailors is the result of causes which require our serious attention.
Cold and hunger have produced dissatisfaction, and the absence of any
opportunity for discussion and criticism is forcing the workers and
sailors to express their grievances openly.
The White Guard gangs wish and may try to exploit this dissatisfaction
in their own class interests. Hidden behind the workers and sailors,
they raise slogans of the Constituent Assembly, free trade and similar
demands.
We anarchists have long since exposed the falsity of these slogans and
declare to the whole world that we will fight with weapons against every
counter-revolutionary attempt, in collaboration with all friends of the
Social Revolution and hand in hand with the Bolsheviks.
As regards the conflict between the Soviet Government and the workers
and sailors, we maintain that it must be settled not by force of arms,
but by a revolutionary fraternal and comradely agreement. The resort to
bloodshed by the Soviet Government will not intimidate or calm the
workers in the given situation. On the contrary, it will only serve to
aggravate matters and will strengthen the gangs of the Entente and the
internal counter-revolution. But what is more important, the use of
force by the workers' and peasants' government against the workers and
sailors will have a reactionary effect on the international
revolutionary movement and will cause incalculable harm to the social
revolution everywhere.
Bolshevik comrades, think before it is too late. Do not play with fire:
you are about to take a very serious and decisive step.
We hereby submit to you the following proposal: a Commission consisting
of five persons, including two anarchists, be elected. The Commission
should go to Kronstadt to settle the dispute by peaceful means. In the
given situation, this is the most radical method. It will have an
international revolutionary significance.
Petrograd, March 5, 1921
Alexander Berkman-Emma Goldman-Perkus-Petrovsky
But this protest was ignored.
On March 7, Trotsky began the bombardment of Kronstadt, and on the 17th
the fortress and the city were taken, after numerous assaults involving
horrific human sacrifices. Thus Kronstadt was "liquidated" and the
"counter-revolutionary plot" bloodily extinguished. The "conquest" of
the city was characterized by ruthless ferocity, although none of the
communists arrested by the Kronstadt sailors were wounded or killed by
them. Even before the assault on the fortress, the Bolsheviks summarily
executed numerous Red Army soldiers whose revolutionary spirit and
solidarity had prompted them to refuse to participate in the bloodbath.
Several days after the "glorious victory" over Kronstadt, Lenin said at
the Tenth Congress of the Russian Communist Party: " The sailors did not
want the counter-revolutionaries, but they did not want us either ." And
- irony of Bolshevism! - at that very congress Lenin advocated free
trade, a step more reactionary than any of which the Kronstadt sailors
were accused.
Between March 1 and March 17, several regiments of the Petrograd
garrison and all the sailors in the port were disarmed and sent to
Ukraine and the Caucasus. The Bolsheviks were afraid to trust them in
the situation in Kronstadt: at the first psychological moment they could
make common cause with Kronstadt. In fact, many Red soldiers in Krasnaya
Gorka and the surrounding garrisons were also sympathetic to Kronstadt
and were forced to shoot the sailors.
On March 17, the Communist government completed its "victory" over the
Kronstadt proletariat, and on March 18, it commemorated the martyrs of
the Paris Commune. It was obvious to all who were silent witnesses to
the outrage committed by the Bolsheviks that the crime against Kronstadt
was far more enormous than the massacre of the Communards in 1871,
because it was committed in the name of the Social Revolution, in the
name of the Socialist Republic. History will not be deceived. In the
annals of the Russian Revolution the names of Trotsky, Zinoviev, and
Dybenko will be added to those of Thiers and Gallifet.
Seventeen terrible days, more terrible than anything I had ever known in
Russia.
Heartbreaking days, due to my total helplessness in the face of the
terrible things that were happening before my eyes.
It was just at this time that I happened to visit a friend who had been
in hospital for months. I found him very distressed. Many of the wounded
in the attack on Kronstadt had been brought to the same hospital, mostly
kursanti. I had an opportunity of talking to one of them. His
physical suffering, he said, was nothing compared with his mental agony.
Too late he had realized that he had been deceived by the cry of
"counter-revolution." There were no Tsarist generals in Kronstadt, no
White Guards: he found only his comrades, sailors and soldiers who had
fought heroically for the Revolution. The rations of ordinary patients
in the hospitals were far from satisfactory, but the wounded kursanti
received the best of everything, and a select committee of Communist
members was appointed to look after their welfare.
Some of the kursanti, including the man I spoke to, refused to accept
the special privileges. " They want to pay us for a murder ," they said.
Fearing that the entire institution might be affected by these awakened
victims, the management ordered them to be transferred to a separate
ward, the "communist ward," as the patients called it.
Kronstadt broke the last thread that bound me to the Bolsheviks. The
indiscriminate slaughter they had instigated spoke against them more
eloquently than anything else. Whatever their pretensions in the past,
the Bolsheviks now proved themselves the most pernicious enemies of the
Revolution. I could have nothing more to do with them.
Taken from Emma Goldman, My Disillusionment in Russia , Doubleday, Page
& Co., New York, 1923 (original ed.).
* Emma Goldman Kovno, June 29 , 1869 - Toronto , May 14 , 1940 was a
Russian anarchist , activist and essayist naturalized American.
http://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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