Libmonster ID: EE-1291
Author(s) of the publication: O. N. ZNAMENSKY

The spring of 1917 in Russia was marked by a sharp rise in the political activity of the masses. Workers 'organizations such as Soviets, trade unions, and soldiers' committees strengthened their positions. An important political event that spring was the May Day demonstrations. They were held legally for the first time across the country. The largest demonstration took place in Petrograd.

The question of celebrating May 1 was raised among the Petrograd workers at the end of March, which was largely facilitated by the agitation of the Bolsheviks. On April 1 and 5, the Central Bureau of the Petrograd Soviet of Trade Unions supported the demonstration .1 On April 6, the Executive Committee of the PC of the RSDLP (b) decided to celebrate this holiday on April 18 (May 1 in the new style), i.e. simultaneously with the entire international proletariat, and to create a special preparatory commission .2 This was followed by a meeting of the Executive Committee, which confirmed the decision of the Executive Commission to celebrate the International Workers ' Solidarity Day on Tuesday, April 18. At the meeting, the question arose: will the Petrograd Soviet decide to work out the day on April 18 on another holiday? The SC decided to treat this probable decision negatively .3
April 6 IR. The Petrograd Soviet, after hearing an "extraordinary statement" (the author is not specified), unanimously decided to celebrate the holiday on April 18, 4, but, as the members of the PC of the RSDLP (b) had foreseen, decided to work for April 18 on Sunday, April 16, and passed it through the Council. A notice about this, with reference to the opinion of the "workers ' members" of the Council, was published in large print across the entire first page on April 9 by Izvestia. On April 10, the Petrograd Society of Manufacturers and Breeders invited entrepreneurs to agree to the resolution of the Council of 5 . But no one raised the issue of working off three non-working Easter days!

The Bolsheviks and the workers under their influence immediately protested. On April 10, the Workers ' Bureau of the RSDLP (b) PC stated that it condemned the Council's resolution 6 "in the strongest possible terms". The same reaction was expressed by the workers of the Phoenix, Baranovsky, Golstrom and Tuneld, Pollak, Nevsky Thread Manufactory and a number of other enterprises. 7 According to the Petrograd Society of Manufacturers and Breeders, 28 enterprises refused to work out the day of April 18 .8 However, the Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik leadership of the EC of the Petrograd Soviet tried to exert direct pressure on the trade unions and district councils. Appeals were made to adhere to a single line, to protect the authority of the Petrograd Soviet, and not to give the "opponents" any reason to accuse the workers of unwillingness to work, of violating "the interests of the revolution in the field of defense and the supply of food to the population."9 The authors of an editorial in Izvestia assured that it was not a question of working out for April 18: after all, the workers would give their earnings for April 16 "for their common cause, for the needs of the revolution" and thereby " once again reveal their unity,

1 Minutes of the Petrograd Soviet of Trade Unions for 1917, l. 1927, pp. 9, 11.

2 The First Legal Petersburg Bolshevik Committee in 1917, Moscow, l. 1927, p. 72.

3 Ibid., p. 79.

4 Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies. Minutes of meetings of the Executive Committee and the Bureau of the EC. Moscow -L. 1925, p. 86.

5 TsGIA SSSR, f. 150, op. 1, d. 67, l. 52.

6 Pravda, 13. IV. 1917.

7 October armed uprising. The seventeenth year in Petrograd. Book 1. L. 1967, p. 211; Pravda, 15. IV. 1917; Bolsheviks of Petrograd in 1917. Chronicle of events. L. 1957, p. 125.

8 Sobolev G. L. Revolyutsionnoe soznanie rabochikh i soldat Petrograda v 1917 g. [Revolutionary consciousness of Petrograd workers and soldiers in 1917].

9 Izvestiya Petrogradskogo Sovetskogo, 14. IV. 1917.

page 181

their loyalty to the revolution, their loyalty to the all-Proletarian socialist banner. " 10 The Executive Committee took care of the costs and troubles of decorating 11 squares for the holiday , including the production of huge posters with the words " Proletarians of all countries, unite!" and " Long live the International!" Pressure on the workers ' organizations in the name of the Petrograd Soviet and unabashed demagoguery did their job. On April 16, workers came to the enterprises 12 . But this did not bring down the intensity of pre-holiday activity.

By April 18, the workers were preparing for an internationalist, anti-militarist, and essentially anti-bourgeois demonstration. They wanted the May Day march to be colorful, solemn and organized. Special commissions were set up under factory committees and trade unions, funds were raised for the design of demonstrators ' columns, and slogans on posters and banners were determined mainly under Bolshevik influence. At the Putilov factory, even more money was raised for the purchase of red panels for posters and banners and for the payment of artists ' labor than was required .13 The head of the Admiralty plant paid the bills of "various stores, artists and musicians" about 2.3 thousand rubles 14 . Sometimes factory committees joined forces. On Vasilyevsky Island, the general meeting of factory committees of 22 enterprises elected a commission to prepare for the holiday and decided to organize a choir of workers, appoint those responsible for order (one for every 100 workers) .15
Soldiers ' committees and individual national organizations also prepared for the holiday. Some employees also expressed their intention to participate in the demonstration. The organizational and political preparation of the celebration was supervised by the district and city commissions attached to the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet 16. The latter was first semi-official, and then became official. A commission formed under the PC of the RSDLP (b)established contact with it17 . The Executive Committee commission developed a ceremonial celebration, including determining the start time of the demonstration, routes of columns from assembly points to six squares (Field of Mars, Dvortsovaya, Isaakievskaya, Alexandriyskaya, Teatralnaya, and Lafonskaya), where areas were allocated places for rallies in advance. There-the district commissions had to arrange stands, 16-25 per district, turning them into trucks and platforms of dray cabs. The order was also to be monitored by district commissions, and without the participation of the city police .18 However, the latter, judging by the report of one of the district commissioners, "took all measures in case of possible excesses": reinforced posts, organized patrolling 19 .

Six city squares by April 18 were decorated with huge banners with the words " Long live the International!", "Proletarians of all countries, unite!", "Long live May 1!", " Down with militarism!". Banners reading " Long live the International!" They were even painted on the walls of the Winter and Mariinsky Palaces, and posters "Proletarians of all countries, unite!"were hung on the building of the former German Embassy. and "Down with militarism!"20 . The City Duma should have taken care of the decoration of the central streets, but it did not, as the workers of the Artur Koppel plant noted with indignation in their written statement to the Petrograd Soviet .21 Only in working-class neighborhoods did many hang out homemade red flags. In proletarian districts already from 7 o'clock. in the morning, the streets were busy 22 . Bolshevik agitators distributed the newspapers Pravda and Golos Pravdy. Lenin's article " Our Views. Response to the resolution of the Executive Commission of the Council of Soldiers ' Deputies." In it, V. I. Lenin, in particular, pointed out: "Our propaganda: all power is in the state.-

10 Ibid.

11 TsGAOR Leningrad, f. 7384, op. 9, d. 158, l. 1.

12 Novaya zhizn, 18. IV. 1917.

13 Payalin N. Putilov factory in 1917-Krasnaya letopis, 1932, N 3 (48), p. 187.

14 Factory committees of Petrograd in 1917 Protocols, Moscow, 1979, p. 60.

15 The Bolsheviks of Petrograd in 1917, p. 126.

16 Khabas R. The First of May in Russia in 1917 - the Proletarian Revolution, 1927, n. 5 (64), p. 24.

17 The First Legal Petersburg Bolshevik Committee in 1917, p. 82.

18 Izvestiya Petrogradskogo Sovetskogo, 15. IV. 1917.

19 TsGAOR Leningrad, f. 131, op. 1, d. 16, l. 23.

Day 20, 20. IV. 1917.

21 TsGAOR Leningrad, f. 7384, op. 9 d. 151, l. 15.

22 Delo naroda, 20. IV. 1917.

page 182

only the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers', Peasants', etc. deputies can pass into the hands of the Soviets, for these Soviets obviously represent the vast majority of the people."23
The workers went to their factories and held meetings here, at the gates or in the courtyards. There were many women and children in the festive crowd. After listening to the parting words of the agitators and managers, the workers went from the factories to the district assembly points. "Here's the first column moving," the reporter reported. "The orchestra is playing La Marseillaise. The bright sun shines on the procession. The windows in the houses open and the sleepy faces of the townsfolk look out, awakened by the sounds of the workers 'anthem" 24 . In bourgeois neighborhoods, house committees locked their doors and placed guards on duty .25 The philistine public, as on the previous evening, discussed panic rumors about allegedly inevitable "riots" and "excesses".

Columns were formed at the district assembly points.. At 9 o'clock. in the morning, they moved towards the squares. In the first rows, teenagers were singing "Internationale". They carried flags with the words " Long live the future fighters for freedom of Russia!", " Child labor protection!", " Free training!"26 . Many posters and banners, even the bourgeois press acknowledged, were "bright, beautiful and popular"27 . Some of the columns looked spectacular, which was taken care of by the workers themselves and, above all, by the female workers. For example, the girls from the uniform shop had red scarves, and their managers had red skirts, and they carried white flags in their hands .28 Bands marched in the district columns. In the Putilov column, choirs specially assigned to each workshop performed revolutionary songs .29 Most often, "La Marseillaise"was played. In total, there were at least 700,000 demonstrators, including over 500,000 workers and their families. The columns observed the alignment (8 people in a row) and the intervals in which the managers with white flags were located. The column managers, who were overseeing the order, had a red ribbon tied over their shoulders, and the district managers also had a bow pinned on their shoulders. In the first row of each factory column, a sign was carried with the number under which the plant was listed in the list of 30 .

A bourgeois-philistine crowd gathered on the sidewalks. Some timidly huddled against the walls of their homes, while others organized "flying" rallies where they reviled the Bolsheviks and called for the continuation of the war .31 Defencist calls were also heard from trucks driving around the city .32 The most crowded and colorful gathering place for the columns was the Champ de Mars. Demonstrators of the Vyborg and Nevsky districts came here. "A truly living sea is pouring down from the Troitsky Bridge, and it seems that there is no end to it," Correspondent 33 reported his impressions . Another added: "A dense, completely black forest under a bright red dome - this is how the Field of Mars looks from a distance on the day of the red holiday. Banners, placards, and banners form this dome, hanging over the heads of the black mass of people. From a distance, it seems that the crowd is all together, there are no gaps. You come closer and are surprised to see that all this mass is divided into hundreds of separate groups, groups and meetings. True, groups do not stand still. The field is in continuous, continuous motion " 34 . Among the speakers were representatives of political parties, members of the EC of the Petrograd Soviet, and ordinary workers. Especially successful were the speeches of the Bolsheviks, who advocated the transfer of all power to the Soviets, the end of the imperialist war, the legislative consolidation of the 8-hour working day, and the transfer of land to the peasants .35 The Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries were listened to with all the more dissatisfaction the louder the defencist notes sounded in their speeches. "The audience," the observer noted, " is particularly sensitive and demanding in this matter. Lack of agreement, uncertainty of position do not succeed on the Field of Mars " 36 .

Lenin, who came to the Field of Mars in the leading line of the workers of the Vyborg district, made a speech that was listened to with great attention by the workers and soldiers. He spoke about the significance of the May 1 holiday and the tasks of the revolution. Then the party leader

23 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 31, p. 279.

24 Novaya zhizn, 20. IV. 1917.

25 Khabas R. Uk. soch., p. 31.

26 Pravda, 20. IV. 1917.

27 Speech, 20. IV. 1917.

Day 28, 20. IV. 1917.

29 Narva Outpost in 1917 in memoirs and documents. l. 1960, p. 130.

30 Delo naroda, 18. IV. 1917.

31 Speech, 20. IV. 1917.

Day 32, 20. IV. 1917.

33 Delo naroda, 20. IV. 1917.

34 Novaya zhizn, 20. IV. 1917.

35 Pravda, 20. IV. 1917.

36 Novaya zhizn, 20. IV. 1917.

page 183

Bolshevikov spoke to demonstrators on Palace Square, and in the evening - to workers of the Okhta powder factories (Porokhovye, Lagernaya Polyanka), where soldiers and sailors were also present .37 Lenin's speeches gave the Bolshevik agitation a special persuasiveness and weight, and helped thousands of workers and soldiers to better understand the tasks that faced them. On Lenin's Palace Square, the workers of the Petrograd district, located near the Winter Palace, and the Moscow District, located near the arch of the General Staff, listened. 30 thousand Putilov residents, as well as workers of other factories of the Narva outpost and soldiers filled part of St. Isaac's and Mariinsky Squares. Proletarians of the City district were standing next to the Putilov residents. This was the third gathering point for demonstrators, after the Field of Mars and Palace Square. The rallies on Teatralnaya Square, where workers of the Vasileostrovsky district gathered, were very crowded. The Mariinsky Theatre Choir and Orchestra performed "La Marseillaise" and "Hey, Let's Go!"several times.38 . The main podium here was at the monument to Mikhail Glinka, decorated with red cloth.

Meetings of Petrograd workers and soldiers continued until late in the evening, and then on the way home, their participants repeatedly stopped and again began to discuss burning issues, among which the question of war and peace was in the first place .39 They often got into heated arguments with representatives of the bourgeois-philistine public .40 On the same evening, meetings and concerts were held in theaters and cinemas, which were scheduled on the eve of the holiday 41 . The May Day demonstration made a deep impression on the masses. True, it could not indicate (nor did it set out to do so) the specific direction of the further revolutionary struggle. "May Day," Lenin wrote, "was a celebration of wishes and hopes connected with the history of the world labor movement, with its ideal of peace and socialism." 42 At the same time, the May Day demonstration was not only a holiday: it became part of the class labor movement in the pre-October period.

37 Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Biographical Chronicle, vol. 4, p. 99; Bondarevskaya T. P., Velikanova A. Ya., Suslova F. M. Lenin in Petersburg-Petrograd. L. 1980, pp. 305, 308-309.

38 Delo naroda, 20. IV. 1917; Den, 20. IV.1917.

39 Delo naroda, 20. IV. 1917.

40 TsGAOR Leningrad, f. 131, op. 1, d. 16, l. 23.

41 October armed Uprising. The seventeenth year in Petrograd. Book 1, p. 212; Bulletin of the Provisional Government, 18. IV. 1917.

42 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 32, p. 361.

page 184


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