July Days
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The July Days refers to events in 1917 that took place in Petrograd, Russia, between July 3 and July 7 (Julian calendar) (July 16-July 20, Gregorian calendar), when soldiers and industrial workers in the city rioted against the Russian Provisional Government. Bolsheviks led the attack, but it failed and their leader Vladimir Lenin went into hiding, while other leaders were arrested.[1][2] The outcome of the July Days represented a temporary decline in the growth of Bolshevik power and influence in the period before the October Revolution.
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[edit] Causes
Alexander Kerensky, then minister of war and navy, ordered a vast Russian offensive against Austro-Hungarian forces on 16 June. Despite initial successes, the Russians were defeated and the operation ended on July 2, quickly to be followed by a combined counter-offensive by German and Austro-Hungarian forces on 6 July. At the same time, divisions within the Provisional Government were proven when some of the members offered independence to the Ukranian leaders. This made the Bolsheviks start thinking of a rebellion against the weak Russian government.
Anti-war feelings were rife among the populace at that time. These feelings intensified with the news of the failed offensive. Discontented workers started protests which soon spiraled into violent riots.
[edit] July 3
On July 3rd, machine gunners from the several-thousand-man First Machine Gun Regiment were dispatched to all the major Petrograd factories and military units to appeal for insurrection. By mid-afternoon thousands of workers and soldiers took to the streets. Soldiers were in full battle dress and workers marched alongside their families carrying banners while insurgent motorcars and military trucks drove through the streets decorated with red flags. Demonstrations outside the Mariinsky Palace, the headquarters for the Provisional Government and the Tauride Palace, the headquarters of the Petrograd Soviet, included slogans for the transfer of power to the Soviets. A large part of the demonstration went out of their way to parade past the Bolshevik headquarters at the Kshesinskaia mansion.
Random rifle and machine gun fire was scattered throughout the city. Workers and soldiers appealed to the guards at the Peter and Paul Fortress and with their consent were able to take over the Fortress. A group of soldiers made an unsuccessful attempt to capture War Minister Alexander Kerensky.
In reaction to the street protests, the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet appealed to workers and soldiers to not go into the streets. This directive failed and in response the commander of the Petrograd Military District, General Petr Polovstev ordered units of the garrison to restore order. Units not active in the rebellion ignored the orders. Later in the evening General Polovstev issued a decree banning on further demonstrations. The Provisional Government, the military and the Petrograd Soviet had lost all authority. The cabinet of the Provisional Government and the All-Russian Executive Committees of the Petrograd Soviet met in emergency sessions throughout the night discussing how to deal with the situation. [3]
[edit] Bolshevik involvement
The demands which the workers and soldiers took to the streets with in the July Days were influenced by the Bolshevik Party. 'All Power to the Soviets' and other slogans put forth by the Bolsheviks were taken up by the workers and soldiers on the streets. The demonstration was organized by the Bolshevik Military Organization without authorization from the Central Committee after pressure from rank and file soldiers. During the afternoon of July 3 the Central Committee with the support of Kamenev, Trotsky and Zinoviev decided to take action to restrain the developing situation. Under the pressure of what seemed like a developing mass demonstration of workers and soldiers in the streets, the leadership of the Bolshevik Military Organization, the Petersburg Committee and later on the Central Committee, reversed their decision, coming out in support of the street demonstrations. Both Trotsky and Zinoviev persistently argued that the street protests remain peaceful. After this decision, the Bolshevik Military Organization actively organized and supported the demonstration, mobilizing reinforcements from the front lines and dispatching armored cars to capture key posts including bridges and the Peter and Paul Fortress.
No public record was ever made of the internal debates of the Bolshevik Party around the July Days. There were some within the Bolshevik Party who advocated an intensification of activity on July 4th. Most prominent among those were Nikolai Podvoisky and Vladimir Nevsky, leaders of the Bolshevik Military Organization, Volodarsky a member of the Petersburg Committee and Martin Latis of the Vyborg District Bolshevik Organization, who was highly critical of the Central Committee's decision to hold back the masses. Others in the Bolshevik Party, including V.I. Lenin were split on what to do. On July 5th at two or three o'clock in the morning, after the Provisional Government dispatched a number of loyal troops from the front to the streets of Petrograd and won the support of a number of previously neutral garrisons of troops, the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party decided to call off the street demonstrations.
[edit] Consequences
Kerensky ordered the arrest of Lenin and the other leading Bolsheviks, accusing them of inciting revolt with German financial backing. Lenin successfully fled and went into hiding in Finland, but many other Bolshevik leaders were arrested, including Trotsky and Lunacharskii who were apprehended on 22 July. They remained in prison until Kerensky released them in response to the Kornilov Affair.
[edit] References
- ^ A History of Western Society. Chapter Outlines. Chapter 27: The Great Break: War and Revolution, Seventh Edition. John P. McKay, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Bennett D. Hill, Georgetown University; John Buckler, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- ^ "In July 1917, a half-baked Bolshevik uprising against the Government failed. Trotsky went to prison but Lenin escaped to Finland." (Key Themes of the Twentieth Century by Philip Sauvain. p.54)
- ^ . Rabinowitch, Alexander (2004). The Bolsheviks Come to Power: The Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd. Haymarket Books and Pluto Press. SBN 0745322689.
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[edit] Further Reading
- Trotsky, Leon (1980). The History of the Russian Revolution. Pathfinder Press. ISBN 978-0873488297.
- Cliff, Tony (2004). All Power to the Soviets: Lenin, 1914-1917. Haymarket Books. ISBN 978-1931859103.
- Le Blanc, Paul (1993). Lenin and the Revolutionary Party. Humanity Books. ISBN 978-1573924276.
