The Russian Revolution 1917

A Personal Record by N.N. Sukhanov

Nikolai Nikolaevich Sukhanov
Publication Year: 2014

Author of the only full-length eyewitness account of the 1917 Revolution, Sukhanov was a key
figure in the first revolutionary Government. His seven-volume book, first published in 1922, was
suppressed under Stalin. This reissue of the abridged version is, as the editor's preface points
out, one of the few things written about this most dramatic and momentous event, which
actually has the smell of life, and gives us a feeling for the personalities, the emotions, and the
play of ideas of the whole revolutionary period."

Originally published in 1984.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make . . .
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Published by: Princeton University Press

Series: Princeton Legacy Library

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Cover

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Title Page, Copyright

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pp. i-iv

PREFACE

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pp. v-xiv
...Russian Revolution of 1917, written by Nikolai Nikolayevich Himmer, better known
as Sukhanov. It is, as he assures us repeatedly, by no means a history, but merely...

CONTENTS

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pp. xv-xvi
ILLUSTRATIONS
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pp. xvii-xviii

INTRODUCTION

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pp. xix-xliv
...Russian political exiles who contrived the web of ideas that lay in wait to ensnare
the turbulent events of 1917. The endless polemical subtleties that were the stuff of
life to the Russian Left wing now seem so dryly...

Part I

PROLOGUE

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pp. 3-17
...Though under sentence of banishment, I spent most of my time, up to
the revolution itself, living underground in the capital—sometimes on a
false passport, sometimes sleeping in a different place every night,
sometimes...

THE LAST THROW

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pp. 18-35
...extreme excitement. I was reminded of the 1905 Moscow insurrection.
The entire civil population felt itself to be in one camp united against the
enemy—the police and the military. Strangers passing by conversed
with...

THE FIRST DAY OF THE REVOLUTION

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pp. 36-75
...And these demonstrated their complete demoralization as Tsarist
fighting forces: they were disorderly groups of grey greatcoats, mingling
and fraternizing openly with the working-class crowd and casual...

THE SECOND DAY

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pp. 76-101
...comrades were doing, and quietly made their own comments. I went
over to them and listened eagerly. . . Twenty-four hours before, these
rank-and-file soldiers had been the dumb slaves of the despot who was
now thrown down, and at this moment the outcome of...

THE THIRD DAY

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pp. 102-136
...straight into the enemy camp in the right corridor, in the Duma
Committee's territory. Here things were still comparatively seemly—hall-
porters in livery were standing about, spruce and solemn young officers...

THE FOURTH DAY

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pp. 137-162
...at some military college, a future member of the Ex. Com. and
commissar of the northern front, and rather close to Kerensky. During the
revolution he was very active in the barracks among...

Part II

GETTING ORIENTED

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pp. 165-199
...gaps and voids appear which I cannot fill in. Days begin running
together in confusion, then weeks as well. From now on I shall not be
able to describe them in sequence. With the help of newspapers I could,
to be...

'SELF-DETERMINATION' IN SOVIET AND GOVERNMENT

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pp. 200-216
...more to do with the revolution than with last year's snows, and who
regarded the working class at best as a nagging creditor, with the same
mixture of fear and spitefulness—now overflowed with love of liberty,
devotion to...

THE KNOT IS TIED

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pp. 217-233
...the current revolutionary policy was determined as the resultant of
these two forces, but in the sphere of general policy, in view of
irreconcilable class interests and in anticipation of decisive clashes, both
sides began mobilizing their forces. For some days, beginning modestly...

THE PYRRHIC VICTORY OF THE DEMOCRACY

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pp. 234-258
...Soviet in the Tauride Palace; the entire bourgeoisie was systematically
and energetically hammering on the same spot from various sides.
Agitation was being conducted in the barracks, mass-meetings were
being arranged...

FINALE OF THE UNITED DEMOCRATIC FRONT

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pp. 259-270
...historically inevitable, and had not been censured by a single
democratic organization. It was only the Government, in the Liaison
Commission, who missed no opportunity to expose the inadequacy of our
mandate. Nevertheless it was clear to everyone that an all-Russian...

Part III

LENIN'S ARRIVAL

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pp. 273-296
...There was a throbbing of many motor-cars. In two or three places the
awe-inspiring outlines of armoured cars thrust up from the crowd. And
from one of the side-streets there moved out on to the square, startling
the...

THE SOVIET CONQUERS THE ARMY AND THE GOVERNMENT

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pp. 297-307
...amongst the broad masses. In the lower ranks of the Petersburg
proletariat and garrison his arrival passed unnoticed and was not
reflected in the general conjuncture. Meanwhile this general conjuncture
had...

A PETTY BOURGEOIS AND A GREAT OPPORTUNIST CONQUER THE

SOVIET
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pp. 308-329
...All-Russian Soviet organ—in place of the Petersburg Ex. Com., which
up to then had been acting in the name of the entire Russian democracy.
The Conference performed this task in a rather rough-and-ready way...

THE LEGAL NUPTIALS OF THE BIG AND PETTY BOURGEOISIE

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pp. 330-346
...entire bourgeois campaign against the revolution. The role of this
helpless and non-functioning Government was also expressed in
something else. It was an official sign-board, a company— primarily to
carry conviction to Europe...

Part IV

THE COALITION

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pp. 349-371
...political relations' in the revolution were completely crystallized, and had
arrived at some sort of stable point. The bloc of the big and petty
bourgeoisie was completely stable, unshakeable, and even formal—
from...

IN THE DEPTHS

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pp. 372-381
...self-forgetfulness and patriotic rapture, played variations on this theme
in all conceivable styles—sorrowful, menacing, and playful. 'Anarchy' in
large letters made its appearance as a standing headline. This press...

THE FIRST ALL-RUSSIAN CONGRESS OF SOVIETS

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pp. 382-389
...unrestricted capitulation to the bourgeoisie. There was absolutely no
question but that the Compromisers and the Praetorians of the Coalition
would have a decided advantage at the Congress. If only for this...

THE COALITION SPLITS UNDER STRESS

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pp. 390-429
...witches' Sabbaths were held, and there were orgies, plots, dark and
sinister and doubtless bloody doings. Of course no one doubted that
Durnovo's mysterious villa was stocked with bombs and...

THE 'JULY DAYS'

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pp. 430-488
...and there. Amongst these groups I also noticed the members of my
own fraction, the Menshevik-Internationalists, headed by Martov. They
had already had time to...

Part V

[AFTER 'JULY': THE SECOND AND THIRD COALITIONS]

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pp. 491-500
...began under the sign of the birth-pangs of counter-revolution and its
attacks on the democracy. These attempts failed: the revolution still
retained too much accumulated strength and the plutocracy lacked
everything but rage, slanders, and the miserable shattered remnants of...

THE SCANDAL IN MOSCOW

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pp. 501-503
...was undertaken just then. The press was strenuously trying to make the
man in the street take an interest in this enterprise—not without success.
The man in the street, like everyone else, saw that...

THE UNITED BOURGEOISIE DEMONSTRATES

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pp. 504-529
...And circumstances might arise in which the capital's 'commune' might
play a decisive role, as in the time of Robespierre. But at the same time
indications of the fatigue and apathy of the masses of...

THE DISSOLUTION OF THE DEMOCRACY AFTER THE KORNILOV

REVOLT
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pp. 530-534
...news of the bourgeois coup profoundly stirred the surface and the
depths of Russia. The entire organized democracy rose to its feet. All
Soviet Russia bristled and took up arms, not only metaphorically but quite
literally...

THE LAST COALITION

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pp. 535-542
...bourgeois regime was formed exactly two months after the Third
Coalition, one month after the Kornilov coup and one month before—but
let's not anticipate events. I shall simply recall something that
apparently...

THE PRE-PARLIAMENT

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pp. 543-552
...fitting was wanted—not too primitive or provincial, for the Government
itself and the most respectable social elements (not workers or soldiers)
would have to be there often. But not too ceremonial or official either, for
this wasn't the State Duma or any plenipotentiary organ...

Part VI

THE SOFTENING-UP

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pp. 555-584
...who had seized autocratic power through private agreement among a
couple of dozen men. This was the incontestable and shameful truth
which the Bolsheviks strove to make every worker and soldier aware...

THE FINAL REVIEW

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pp. 585-594
...the Bolsheviks was their not letting the Petersburg garrison out of the
capital as reinforcements. But the Bolsheviks had every hope of
immediate peace proposals. It was scarcely possible to assemble any
real force...
OVERTURE

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pp. 595-610
...the situation: even earlier the Government had had no real power or
authority. The real power in the capital had already been in the hands of
the Bolsheviks of the Petersburg Soviet long before, and nevertheless the
Winter Palace had remained the Government, and Smolny...

OCTOBER 24TH

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pp. 611-627
...contemplating a treacherous blow against the Soviet; therefore the
regimental and company committees and the Commissars must meet at
once; no one must leave the barracks; firmness must be maintained,
doubts...

OCTOBER 25TH

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pp. 628-655
...resistance was shown. Beginning at 2 in the morning the stations,
bridges, lighting installations, telegraphs, and telegraphic agency were
gradually occupied by small forces brought from the barracks. The little
groups of cadets could not resist and didn't think of it. In general...

OCTOBER 26TH

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pp. 656-676
...everywhere a few lines reporting the seizure of the Winter Palace and
the arrest of the Provisional Government. The accounts of the Soviet
Congress consisted solely of 'emergency statements' and testified to...

INDEX

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pp. 677-700

https://muse.jhu.edu/book/33963