In what year was the dissolution of the constituent assembly. Convening a constituent assembly in Russia

Constituent Assembly in Russia (1917-1918). Convocation and reasons for dissolution

The convocation of the Constituent Assembly as an organ of supreme democratic power was the demand of all the socialist parties in pre-revolutionary Russia, from the Popular Socialists to the Bolsheviks. Elections to the Constituent Assembly were held at the end of 1917. The overwhelming majority of voters participating in the elections, about 90%, voted for the socialist parties, the socialists made up 90% of all deputies (the Bolsheviks received only 24% of the votes).

But the Bolsheviks came to power under the slogan "All power to the Soviets!" They could maintain their autocracy, obtained at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, only by relying on the Soviets, opposing them to the Constituent Assembly. At the Second Congress of Soviets, the Bolsheviks promised to convene the Constituent Assembly and recognize it as the authority on which "the solution of all major issues depends," but they were not going to fulfill this promise. The Bolsheviks considered the Constituent Assembly their main rival in the struggle for power. Immediately after the election, Lenin warned that the Constituent Assembly would "doom itself to political death" if it opposed Soviet power.

Lenin used the bitter struggle within the Socialist-Revolutionary Party and concluded a political bloc with the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries. Despite disagreements with them on the issues of a multi-party system and the dictatorship of the proletariat, a separate world, freedom of the press, the Bolsheviks received the support they needed to stay in power. The Central Committee of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, believing in the unconditional prestige and invulnerability of the Constituent Assembly, did not take real steps to protect it.

The Constituent Assembly was convened on January 5, 1918. Socialist-Revolutionary Chernov was elected Chairman of the Constituent Assembly. Of the three main groups of political parties, the socialists received the majority (Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries - about 60% of the vote), Bolsheviks - 25%, bourgeois parties - 15%. Thus, under a parliamentary system, the SR party could form a government. In general, the elections reflected a nationwide turn towards socialism. However, the bulk of the population (peasants) understood socialism not as Bolsheviks (from private property and the market), but in their own way - as a just system that would give them peace and land.

The Constituent Assembly opened on January 5, 1918 in the Tauride Palace. In his speech, Chernov announced the desirability of working with the Bolsheviks, but on the condition that they would not try to "push the Soviets against the Constituent Assembly." The Soviets, as class organizations, "should not pretend to replace the Constituent Assembly," Chernov emphasized. He announced his readiness to put to a referendum all the main questions in order to put an end to the undermining of the Constituent Assembly, and in his person - under the power of the people. The Bolsheviks and Left SRs took Chernov's speech as an open confrontation with the Soviets and demanded a break for factional meetings. They never returned to the meeting room.

The members of the Constituent Assembly nevertheless opened the debate and decided not to disperse until the discussion of the documents prepared by the Socialist-Revolutionaries on the land, the state system, and the world was completed. But the head of the guard, sailor Zheleznyak, demanded that the deputies leave the meeting room, saying that "the guard was tired."

On January 6, the Council of People's Commissars adopted theses on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, and on the night of the 7th All-Russian Central Executive Committee approved the decrees.

Lenin's opponent in the struggle for power, Chernov, addressed him with an open letter, reminding him of his "solemn and oathful promises to obey the will of the Constituent Assembly", and then dispersed him. He called Lenin a liar, "who stole people's trust with false promises and then blasphemously trampled on his word, his promises."

The Constituent Assembly was an important stage in the struggle of Lenin and the Bolsheviks against their political opponents in the socialist camp. They gradually cut off the most right parts of it - first the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks in the days of the October Revolution of 1917, then the socialists in the Constituent Assembly, and finally, their allies - the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries.

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ALL-RUSSIAN CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY. The convocation of the Constituent Assembly as an organ of supreme democratic power was the demand of all socialist parties in pre-revolutionary Russia, from the Popular Socialists to the Bolsheviks. Elections to the Constituent Assembly were held at the end of 1917. The overwhelming majority of voters participating in the elections, about 90%, voted for the socialist parties, the socialists made up 90% of all deputies (the Bolsheviks received only 24% of the votes). But the Bolsheviks came to power under the slogan "All power to the Soviets!" They could maintain their autocracy, obtained at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, only by relying on the Soviets, opposing them to the Constituent Assembly. At the Second Congress of Soviets, the Bolsheviks promised to convene the Constituent Assembly and recognize it as the authority on which "the solution of all major issues depends," but they were not going to fulfill this promise. On December 3, at the Congress of Soviets of Peasant Deputies, Lenin, despite the protest of a number of delegates, declared: “The Soviets are higher than any parliaments, any Constituent Assemblies. The Bolshevik Party has always said that the highest body is the Soviets. The Bolsheviks considered the Constituent Assembly their main rival in the struggle for power. Immediately after the election, Lenin warned that the Constituent Assembly would "doom itself to political death" if it opposed Soviet power.

Lenin used the bitter struggle within the Socialist-Revolutionary Party and entered into a political bloc with the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries. Despite disagreements with them on the issues of a multi-party system and the dictatorship of the proletariat, a separate world, freedom of the press, the Bolsheviks received the support they needed to stay in power. The Central Committee of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, believing in the unconditional prestige and invulnerability of the Constituent Assembly, did not take real steps to protect it.

The Constituent Assembly opened on January 5, 1918 in the Tauride Palace. Ya.M. Sverdlov, who, by agreement of the Bolsheviks and the Left Social Revolutionaries, was supposed to open the meeting, was late. Lenin was nervous, because. the question was decided: to be or not to be his government.

Taking advantage of the confusion on the left side of the deputies, the Socialist-Revolutionary faction tried to seize the initiative and suggested that the oldest deputy, the Socialist-Revolutionary S.P. Shvetsov, open the meeting. But when he got up to the podium, he was met by a furious noise, the whistles of the Bolsheviks. Confused, Shvetsov announced a break, but Sverdlov, who arrived in time, snatched the bell from his hands and, on behalf of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets, proposed to continue the Constituent Assembly. 244 votes against 151 elected the Socialist-Revolutionary V.M. Chernov as its chairman. In his speech, Chernov announced the desirability of working with the Bolsheviks, but on the condition that they would not try to "push the Soviets against the Constituent Assembly." The Soviets, as class organizations, "should not pretend to replace the Constituent Assembly," Chernov emphasized. He announced his readiness to put to a referendum all the main questions in order to put an end to the undermining of the Constituent Assembly, and in his person - under the power of the people.

The Bolsheviks and Left SRs took Chernov's speech as an open confrontation with the Soviets and demanded a break for factional meetings. They never returned to the meeting room.

The members of the Constituent Assembly nevertheless opened the debate and decided not to disperse until the discussion of the documents prepared by the Socialist-Revolutionaries on the land, the state system, and the world was completed. But the head of the guard, sailor Zheleznyak, demanded that the deputies leave the meeting room, saying that "the guard was tired."

On January 6, the Council of People's Commissars adopted theses on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, and on the night of the 7th All-Russian Central Executive Committee approved the decrees.

On January 10, the Third Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies opened in the Tauride Palace, convened in opposition to the Constituent Assembly. From the rostrum of the congress, the sailor Zheleznyak told how he and a group of military men dispersed the "cowardly Constituent Assembly." The speech of Lenin's comrade-in-arms L.D. Trotsky sounded class irreconcilable: “We know the Constituent Assembly by its deeds, by its composition, by its parties. They wanted to create a second chamber, the Chamber of Shadows of the February Revolution. And we do not in the least conceal or obscure the fact that in the fight against this attempt we have violated formal law. We also do not hide the fact that we used violence, but we did it in order to fight against all violence, we did it in the struggle for the triumph of the greatest ideals.

The dispersal of the Constituent Assembly was not accepted by a significant part of the country's population, which placed great hopes on the democratically elected institution.

Lenin's opponent in the struggle for power, Chernov, addressed him with an open letter, reminding him of his "solemn and oathful promises to obey the will of the Constituent Assembly", and then dispersed him. He called Lenin a liar, "who stole people's trust with false promises and then blasphemously trampled on his word, his promises."

The Constituent Assembly was an important stage in the struggle of Lenin and the Bolsheviks against their political opponents in the socialist camp. They gradually cut off the most right-wing parts of it - first the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks in the days of the October Revolution of 1917, then the socialists in the Constituent Assembly, and finally, their allies - the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries.

Yefim Gimpelson

Application

The Russian Revolution, from its very beginning, promoted the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies as a mass organization of all working and exploited classes, the only one capable of leading the struggle of these classes for their complete political and economic emancipation.

During the entire first period of the Russian revolution, the Soviets multiplied, grew and strengthened, living out from their own experience the illusions of conciliation with the bourgeoisie, the deceptive forms of bourgeois-democratic parliamentarism, coming to the practical conclusion that it was impossible to emancipate the oppressed classes without breaking with these forms and with any conciliation. Such a break was the October Revolution, the transfer of all power into the hands of the Soviets.

The Constituent Assembly, elected from lists drawn up before the October Revolution, was an expression of the old correlation of political forces, when the Compromisers and the Cadets were in power.

The people could not then, voting for the candidates of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, make a choice between the Right Socialist-Revolutionaries, supporters of the bourgeoisie, and the Left, supporters of socialism. Thus, this Constituent Assembly, which was supposed to be the crown of the bourgeois-parliamentary republic, could not but stand in the way of the October Revolution and Soviet power. The October Revolution, having given power to the Soviets and through the Soviets to the working and exploited classes, aroused the desperate resistance of the exploiters, and in the suppression of this resistance fully revealed itself as the beginning of the socialist revolution.

The working classes have had to experience that the old bourgeois parliamentarism has outlived itself, that it is completely incompatible with the tasks of realizing socialism, that not national, but only class institutions (such as the Soviets) are capable of defeating the resistance of the propertied classes and laying the foundations of a socialist society.

Any renunciation of the full power of the Soviets, of the Soviet Republic conquered by the people, in favor of bourgeois parliamentarism and a Constituent Assembly would now be a step backwards and the collapse of the entire October Workers' and Peasants' Revolution.

The Constituent Assembly, opened on January 5, by virtue of circumstances known to all, gave the majority to the Right Socialist-Revolutionary Party, the parties of Kerensky, Avksentiev and Chernov. Naturally, this party refused to accept for discussion the completely precise, clear, and not allowing for any misunderstandings proposal of the supreme organ of Soviet power, the Central Executive Committee of Soviets, to recognize the program of Soviet power, to recognize the "Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People", to recognize the October Revolution and Soviet power. Thus the Constituent Assembly severed all ties between itself and the Soviet Republic of Russia. The departure from such a Constituent Assembly of the factions of the Bolsheviks and the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, who now obviously constitute an enormous majority in the Soviets and enjoy the confidence of the workers and the majority of the peasants, was inevitable.

And outside the walls of the Constituent Assembly, the parties of the majority of the Constituent Assembly, the Right Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, are waging an open struggle against Soviet power, calling in their bodies to overthrow it, objectively thereby supporting the resistance of the exploiters to the transfer of land and factories into the hands of the working people.

It is clear that the rest of the Constituent Assembly can therefore only play the role of covering up the struggle of the bourgeois counter-revolution to overthrow the power of the Soviets.

Therefore, the Central Executive Committee decides: The Constituent Assembly is dissolved.

In the first days of January 1918, the fate of Russia was decided in the Tauride Palace. At that moment in history, the Civil War could have been prevented. The Constituent Assembly met in the Tauride Palace. Great hopes were pinned on him. After the abdication of the tsar, Russia waited for the Constituent Assembly to determine the state structure, form a government, and adopt new laws. The provisional government was called provisional because it was supposed to act only until the assembly was convened.

I promise and swear before Almighty God and my conscience to serve faithfully and truthfully to the people of the Russian State ... I swear to take all measures to convene ... the Constituent Assembly, to transfer full power into its hands ... In fulfilling this my oath, God help me.

BOLSHEVIKS IN THE MINORITY

Elections to the Constituent Assembly proved to be a difficult task in a warring country. But they were carried out almost flawlessly. Soldiers at the front were also able to vote. The elections began on November 12, 1917 and were supposed to end on November 14, but dragged on in many regions until the end of December. Two weeks were given for summarizing the voting results - from 14 to 28 November.

44 political parties participated in the elections: 13 all-Russian and 31 national. There was no universal suffrage anywhere else, except in Russia. The freedom of voting ensured high voter turnout. Fifty million people voted. Relatively small peoples were able to send their representatives. The results of the first free democratic elections to the Russian parliament were not in favor of the Bolsheviks.

767 deputies were elected. 370 Socialist-Revolutionaries, 175 Bolsheviks, 40 Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, 16 Mensheviks, 17 Cadets, 2 People's Socialists, 80 representatives of national parties received mandates. The Leninists received less than a quarter of the votes in the Constituent Assembly, which was to decide the fate of Russia.

Russian society voted for the socialist parties, flattered by promises to distribute land and end the war. However, something else is also characteristic: they voted for political radicals, but not for extremism in politics. On the contrary, the convocation of the Constituent Assembly is an attempt to solve problems by legislative means.

Until October, the Bolsheviks regarded the Constituent Assembly as a "genuine people's representation" and accused the Provisional Government and the bourgeoisie of trying to disrupt the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. But while the first democratic elections in the history of Russia were going on, the situation changed. The Bolsheviks have already taken power. Why do they need a Constituent Assembly?

On November 29, at a meeting of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party, the question was already discussed whether it was worth convening a Constituent Assembly at all.

We must postpone the elections,” Lenin said.

They objected to him:

It is inconvenient to delay now. This will be understood as the liquidation of the Constituent Assembly, especially since we ourselves accused the Provisional Government of postponing the Constituent Assembly.

Why is it inconvenient? Lenin objected. - And if the Constituent Assembly turns out to be Kadet-Menshevik-Socialist-Revolutionary, will that be convenient?

LENIN GONE

The first meeting of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly was held in the Tauride Palace on January 5, 1918. The palace was filled with armed sailors and Latvian riflemen loyal to the Bolsheviks. It was Lenin who ordered the delivery to Petrograd of one of the Latvian regiments, a worker in composition:

A peasant can waver if something happens, proletarian determination is needed here.

People's Commissar for Naval Affairs Pavel Dybenko was instructed to summon armed sailors to Petrograd.

In the morning, Izvestia published an ominous warning:

“The Extraordinary Commission for the Protection of the City of Petrograd received information that counter-revolutionaries of all directions had united to fight the Soviet government and appointed January 5 as the day of their speech - the opening day of the Constituent Assembly. It is also known that the leaders of these counter-revolutionary plans are Filonenko, Savinkov and Kerensky, who arrived in Petrograd from the Don from Kaledin.

The deputies, finding themselves in a hostile environment, felt uncomfortable. But they did not even imagine that the parliament would last only one day ...

Lenin settled down in the government box. According to the description of a contemporary, Lenin “was agitated and was deathly pale, as pale as ever. From this completely white pallor of his face and neck, his head seemed even larger, his eyes widened and burned with a steel fire ... He sat down, clenched his hands convulsively and began to look around the entire hall from edge to edge with his flaming eyes that had become huge.

Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party Yakov Sverdlov announced the "Declaration of the rights of the working and exploited people." His proposal to approve the declaration of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks rejected. The deputies did not consider it right to recognize Soviet power, because the voters instructed them to determine the political system of Russia and decide who would govern the country, that is, to form a legitimate government.

Then, on behalf of the Bolshevik faction, Fyodor Raskolnikov, Deputy People's Commissar for Naval Affairs, announced that the majority of the Constituent Assembly expressed yesterday's revolution:

Not wishing for a single minute to cover up the crimes of the enemies of the people, we declare that we are leaving the Constituent Assembly in order to hand over to the Soviet authorities the final decision on the question of the attitude towards the counter-revolutionary part of the Constituent Assembly.

Lenin was convinced that the parliament would not support the Bolsheviks, and, consequently, would only interfere with the Soviet regime. Leaving in the evening, Lenin ordered that everyone who wished to leave be let out, but no one should be allowed back in. At half past three in the night, the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries also left the palace, having entered into a coalition with the Bolsheviks.

The rest of the deputies, who made up the majority of the Constituent Assembly, continued to work. Responding to the desire of their voters to end the war as soon as possible, they called on the allied powers to conclude a just and universal peace as soon as possible. They proclaimed Russia "the Russian Democratic Federative Republic, uniting peoples and regions in an inseparable union, within the limits established by the federal constitution, sovereign."

The protection of the Tauride Palace was carried out by a detachment of sailors numbering two hundred people (from the cruiser "Aurora" and the battleship "Respublika") under the command of the anarchist Anatoly Viktorsky (Zheleznyak). At about four o'clock in the morning on January 6, 1918, Pavel Dybenko ordered Zheleznyak, who looked contemptuously at the deputies-talkers, to adjourn the meeting. Dybenko himself was elected to the Constituent Assembly, but did not value his mandate very much.

The head of the guard at the Tauride Palace touched the chairman on the shoulder and said rather impolitely:

I have been instructed to bring to your attention that all present leave the meeting room, because the guard is tired.

Viktor Chernov, elected chairman of the Constituent Assembly, at that moment proclaimed the abolition of land ownership. Chernov was one of the founders of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, who, of course, felt like winners - the village, that is, the absolute majority of the population, voted for them. The Social Revolutionaries considered it their duty to fulfill the main point of their program - to give the peasants land.

Chernov tried to reason with the sailor:

All members of the Constituent Assembly are also very tired, but no amount of fatigue can interrupt the announcement of the land law, which Russia is waiting for.

The ironworker repeated indifferently:

I ask you to leave the room.

COUNTRY LOST PARLIAMENT

The deputies dispersed. They intended to continue work that day in the evening. But they were simply not allowed into the palace. The Bolsheviks decided to dissolve the Constituent Assembly. This was a decisive moment in the history of the country: other parties, competitors and rivals were forcibly eliminated from political life.

A demonstration in support of the Constituent Assembly was shot. It was never possible to establish the number of victims - the figure of thirty people usually appears.

“After the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly,” recalled Vladimir Zenzinov, a deputy from the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, “political life in Petrograd froze - all political parties were persecuted by Bolshevik usurpers. Party newspapers were forcibly closed, party organizations led a semi-legal existence, expecting a Bolshevik raid every minute.

Lenin was satisfied with Trotsky:

Of course, it was very risky on our part that we did not postpone the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. Very, very careless. But in the end it turned out better. The dispersal of the Constituent Assembly by the Soviet government is the complete and open liquidation of formal democracy in the name of revolutionary dictatorship. Now the lesson will be hard.

The country has lost its parliament. The way of representative democracy for Russia was closed. The revolution is over. The next time a freely elected parliament will not meet in Russia soon.

The ending. Beginning in the issues of "MK" dated December 19, 2016, January 9, then every Monday, as well as April 28, May 5, June 9, November 7, 2017.

The struggle for the All-Russian Constituent Assembly and the shooting of demonstrations in its support in Petrograd and Moscow on January 5, 1918.

“From November 12 to November 14, 1917, elections to the Constituent Assembly took place. They ended in a major victory for the Socialist-Revolutionaries, who won more than half of the mandates, while the Bolsheviks got only 25 o / o electoral votes (out of 703 mandates, the P.S.-R. received 299, the Ukrainian P.S.-R. - 81, and other national SR groups 19, Bolsheviks got 168, Left SRs 39, Mensheviks 18, Cadets 15 and Popular Socialists 4. See: O. N. Radkey, “The elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly of 1917” , Cambridge, Maza., 1950, pp. 16-17, 21). By decision of the Central Committee P.S.-R. dated November 17, the issue of convening the Constituent Assembly took a central place in the activities of the party. For the defense of the Constituent Assembly, the Central Committee recognized the need to organize "all living forces of the country, armed and unarmed." The Fourth Congress of the P.S.-R., which took place from November 26 to December 5 in Petrograd, pointed out the need to concentrate “sufficient organized forces” around the protection of the Constituent Assembly so that, if necessary, “to take up the fight against a criminal encroachment on the supreme will of the people . The same fourth congress by an overwhelming majority restored the center-left leadership of the party and “condemned the procrastination of the coalition policy by the Central Committee and its tolerance of the “personal” policy of some right-wing leaders.”

The meeting of the Constituent Assembly was initially scheduled for November 28th. On that day, about 40 delegates, not without difficulty, managed to get through the guards set up by the Bolsheviks to the Tauride Palace, where they decided to postpone the official opening of the Assembly until a sufficient number of deputies arrived, and until then come every day to the Tauride Palace. That same evening the Bolsheviks proceeded to arrest the delegates. At first it was the Cadets, but soon it was the turn of the S.R.: V.N. was arrested. Filippovsky. According to the Central Committee of P.S.-R., the Bolshevik commander-in-chief V.N. Krylenko, in his order to the army, declared: "Let your hand not tremble if you have to raise it against the deputies."

In early December, by order of the Council of People's Commissars, the Tauride Palace was cleared and temporarily sealed. In response, the Social Revolutionaries called on the population to support the Constituent Assembly. 109 deputies s.-r. wrote in a letter published on December 9 in the party newspaper Delo Naroda: “We call on the people to support their elected representatives by all means and means. We call on everyone to fight against the new violators of the people's will. /.../ Be ready all at the call of the Constituent Assembly to come together to defend it.” And then, in December, the Central Committee of P.S.-R. urged workers, peasants and soldiers: “Prepare immediately to defend him [Constituent Assembly]. But on December 12, the Central Committee decided to abandon terror in the fight against the Bolsheviks, not to force the convocation of the Constituent Assembly and wait for a favorable moment. Nevertheless, the Constituent Assembly opened on January 5, 1918. It bore little resemblance to parliament, since the galleries were occupied by armed Red Guards and sailors who held the delegates at gunpoint. “We, the deputies, were surrounded by an angry crowd, ready to rush at us and tear us to pieces every minute,” recalled the deputy from PS-R. V.M. Zenzinov. Chernov, who was elected chairman, was targeted by the sailors, the same happened to others, for example, to O.S. Minor. After the majority of the Constituent Assembly refused to recognize the leading role of the Soviet government, the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs left the hall. After one day of meetings, at which the law on land was also adopted, the Soviet government dispersed the Constituent Assembly."

In Petrograd, on the orders of the Bolsheviks, a peaceful demonstration in defense of the Constituent Assembly was shot. There were dead and wounded. Some claimed that 7-10 people died, 23 were injured; others - that 21 people died, and there were still others who claimed that there were about 100 victims. " Among the dead were the Socialist-Revolutionaries E.S. Gorbachevskaya, G.I. Logvinov and A. Efimov. In Moscow, a demonstration in defense of the Constituent Assembly was was also shot, among the dead was A. M. Ratner, brother of a member of the Central Committee P. S.-R. E. M. Ratner.

Party of Socialists - Revolutionaries after the October Revolution of 1917. Documents from the RPS Archive. Collected and supplied with notes and an outline of the history of the party in the post-revolutionary period by Mark Jansen. Amsterdam. 1989. S.16-17.

“The peaceful demonstration in Petrograd on January 5, 1918 in support of the Constituent Assembly was shot by the Red Guard. The execution took place at the corner of Nevsky and Liteiny prospects and in the area of ​​Kirochnaya street. The main column of up to 60 thousand people was dispersed, however, other columns of demonstrators reached the Tauride Palace and were dispersed only after the arrival of additional troops.

The dispersal of the demonstration was led by a special headquarters headed by V.I. Lenin, Ya.M. Sverdlov, N.I. Podvoisky, M.S. Uritsky, V.D. Bonch-Bruevich. According to various estimates, the death toll ranged from 7 to 100 people. The demonstrators mainly consisted of representatives of the intelligentsia, employees and university students. At the same time, a significant number of workers took part in the demonstration. The demonstration was accompanied by Socialist-Revolutionary combatants who did not put up any serious resistance to the Red Guards. According to the former Socialist-Revolutionary V.K. Dzerulya, “all the demonstrators, including the PC, went unarmed, and the PC even issued an order to the districts so that no one would take weapons with them.”

"Delo Naroda", December 9, appeal of the Union for the Defense of the Constituent Assembly:"All, as one man, for the defense of freedom of speech and the press! All for the defense of the Constituent Assembly!

Be ready all at the call of the Constituent Assembly to stand together in its defense!

"Pravda", No. 203 of December 12, 1917:"... Several dozen people who called themselves deputies, without showing their documents, broke into the building of the Tauride Palace on the evening of December 11, accompanied by armed Whites, cadets and several thousand bourgeois and saboteurs-officials ... Their goal was to create an allegedly "legitimate" they wanted to present the voice of several dozen bourgeois deputies as the voice of the Constituent Assembly.

Central Committee of the Party continuously sends Kornilov officers to the south to help Kaledin. The Council of People's Commissars declares the Constitutional Democratic Party to be the party of enemies of the people.

Conspiracy distinguished by harmony and unity of plan: a strike from the south, sabotage throughout the country and a central speech in the Constituent Assembly"

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars, December 13, 1917:"Members of the leading institutions of the Cadet Party, as the party of enemies of the people, are subject to arrest and trial by revolutionary tribunals.
The local soviets are entrusted with the duty of special supervision over the Cadets Party in view of its connection with the Kornilov-Kaledino civil war against the revolution.

All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the 1st convocation, December 28 (January 7), 1918:"... "Every living thing in the country, and above all the working class and the army, must take up arms in defense of the power of the people in the person of the Constituent Assembly ... In announcing this, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the 1st convocation calls on you, comrades, get in touch with him immediately."

Telegram, P. Dybenko - Tsentrobalt, January 3, 1918:"Urgently, no later than January 4, send 1000 sailors for two or three days to guard and fight against counter-revolution on the day of January 5. Send a detachment with rifles and cartridges - if not, then weapons will be issued on the spot. Comrades Khovrin are appointed commanders of the detachment and Zheleznyakov.

P.E. Dybenko:" On the eve of the opening of the Constituent Assembly, a detachment of sailors, soldered and disciplined, arrives in Petrograd.

As in the October days, the fleet came to defend Soviet power. Protect from whom? - From ordinary demonstrators and soft-bodied intelligentsia. Or maybe the instigators of the Constituent Assembly will act as a "breast" in defense of the offspring doomed to death?

But they were unable to do so."

From the memoirs of a member of the Military Commission of the AKP B. Sokolov:... How are we going to defend the Constituent Assembly? How will we protect ourselves?

With such a question, I turned almost on the first day to the responsible leader of the X faction. He made a puzzled face.

"Protect? Self-defense? What an absurdity. Do you understand what you are saying? After all, we are people's deputies ... We must give the people a new life, new laws, and defending the Constituent Assembly is the business of the people who elected us.”

And this opinion, which I heard and which greatly struck me, corresponded to the mood of the majority of the faction...

In these days, in these weeks, I have repeatedly had occasion to talk with the visiting deputies and find out their point of view on the tactics we must adhere to. As a general rule, the position of the majority of deputies was as follows.

“We must by all means avoid adventurism. If the Bolsheviks committed a crime against the Russian people by overthrowing the Provisional Government and arbitrarily seizing power into their own hands, if they resort to methods that are incorrect and ugly, this does not mean that we should follow their example. Far from it. We must follow the path of exclusive legality, we must defend the right in the only way that is acceptable for people's deputies, the parliamentary way. Enough blood, enough adventure. The dispute must be transferred to the resolution of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly, and here, in the face of the whole people, the whole country, it will receive its just solution.

This position, this tactic, which I find it difficult to call anything other than “purely parliamentary”, was by no means only adhered to by the Right Socialist-Revolutionaries and Tsentroviks, but also by Chernivtsi. And Chernivtsi, perhaps even more than the rest. For, precisely, V. Chernov was one of the most ardent opponents of the civil war and one of those who hoped for a peaceful elimination of the conflict with the Bolsheviks, believing that “the Bolsheviks would save before the All-Russian Constituent Assembly” ...

"Substantial parliamentarianism" was advocated by the vast majority of the Socialist-Revolutionary faction of the Constituent Assembly. Those who did not agree with this tactic and who called for active action were a tiny minority. The proportion of this minority in the faction was very small. They were looked upon as people infected with adventurism, insufficiently imbued with statehood, insufficiently mature politically.

This group of oppositionists consisted mainly of deputies from the front or persons involved in one way or another in the great war. Among them are D. Surguchev (later shot by the Bolsheviks), Fortunatov, lieutenant Kh., Sergei Maslov, a member of the Central Committee, now shot by Onipko. I also belonged to this group.

At the end of November, with the arrival of members of the Constituent Assembly in Petrograd and when the purely parliamentary position of the Socialist-Revolutionary faction became clear, it was precisely in these days, but at the insistence mainly of front-line deputies, that the Military Commission was reorganized. Expanded in its scope, it received a certain autonomy from the Central Committee. It included representatives of the military deputies of the Constituent Assembly faction, between them I, two members of the Central Committee, as well as a number of energetic military SRs. Its presidium included Surguchev, a member of the Central Committee, and I (as chairman). The money for its activities was given by front-line organizations. The work of the commission ... was carried out in separate sections, independent from each other and to a certain extent conspiratorial.

Of course, the work of the newly organized commission cannot be called in any way perfect or in the slightest degree satisfactory, it had too little time at its disposal, and its activities proceeded in a very difficult situation. Nevertheless, something has been achieved.

Strictly speaking, one can speak of only two aspects of the activity of this commission: its work in the Petrograd garrison and its military undertakings and enterprises.

The task of the Military Commission was to single out from the Petrograd garrison those units that were the most combat-ready and at the same time the most anti-Bolshevik minded. In the very first days of our stay in Petrograd, my comrades and I visited most of the military units stationed in Petrograd. Here and there we held small meetings to ascertain the mood of the soldiers, but in most cases we limited ourselves to conversations with committees and with groups of soldiers. The situation is completely hopeless in the Jaeger regiment, as well as in the Pavlovsky, and in others. A more favorable situation was outlined in the Izmailovsky regiment, as well as in a number of technical and artillery units, and only in three units did we find what we were looking for. The surviving combat readiness, the presence of a known discipline and undeniable anti-Bolshevism.

These were the regiments Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky and the armored division located in the companies of the Izmailovsky regiment. Both the regimental and company committees of the first two regiments, for the most part, consisted of non-party people, but who were sharply and consciously opposed to the Bolsheviks. In the regiments there were a considerable number of St. George Knights, wounded in the German war, as well as dissatisfied with the Bolshevik devastation. The relationship between the command staff, regimental committees and the mass of soldiers was quite friendly.

We decided to choose precisely these three parts as the center of militant anti-Bolshevism. Through our Socialist-Revolutionaries, as well as related front-line organizations, we urgently summoned the most energetic and militant element. In the course of December, more than 600 officers and soldiers arrived from the front, who were distributed among separate companies of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments. Moreover, the majority of those who arrived were sent to the Semenovsky regiment, and a minority of approximately 1/3, to the Preobrazhensky regiment. We succeeded in getting some of those called into the membership of both company and regimental committees. Several specialists, mostly former students, we attached to the armored division.

Thus, at the end of December, we significantly increased both the combat effectiveness and the anti-Bolshevism of the above-mentioned units.

In order to cheer up “our” units, and also in order to create an unfriendly mood towards the Bolsheviks in the Petrograd garrison, it was decided to publish a daily soldier's newspaper, The Gray Overcoat.

Summing up the results of our activities in the Petrograd garrison, I must say that we succeeded, to be sure, to an insignificant degree, in carrying out the work of defending the Constituent Assembly. At the same time, by the opening day of the Constituent Assembly, i.e. by January 5, the people's representatives had at their disposal two regiments, relatively combat-ready and unconditionally ready, who decided to defend themselves with weapons in their hands. Why didn't this armed uprising take place on January 5th? Why?..

The Bolsheviks not only conducted energetic propaganda among the Petrograd garrison, but, using the rich military reserves at their disposal, crossed all sorts of combat, so-called Red Guard units. We tried to follow their example. Alas, our undertakings in this direction were far from brilliant. While the whole of Petrograd was in the full sense filled with all kinds of weapons, we had the latter in very limited quantities. And therefore it turned out that our combatants were unarmed or equipped with such primitive weapons that they could not count. Yes, however, the workers, for it was among them that our combatants were recruited, were not particularly enthusiastic about joining the fighting squads. I just had to work in this direction in the Narva and Kolomensky districts.

Meeting of workers of the Franco-Russian factory and the New Admiralty. Of course, meetings of workers who sympathize with us, inscribed in the anti-Bolshevik party.

I explain the situation and the general necessity, from my point of view, to defend the Constituent Assembly with an armed hand. In response, a number of questions, unrest.

“Has not enough brotherly blood been shed?” “Four years there was a war, all blood and blood...”. “The Bolsheviks are really scoundrels, but they are unlikely to encroach on the US.”

“But in my opinion,” declared one of the young workers, “it is necessary, comrades, to think not about how to quarrel with the Bolsheviks, but how to come to terms with them. Yet, you see, they defend the interests of the proletariat. Who is in the Kolomna Commissariat now? All our Franco-Russians, Bolsheviks...”

It was still a time when the workers, even those of them who were definitely opposed to the Bolsheviks, harbored some illusions about the latter and their intentions. As a result, about fifteen people signed up for the combatants. The Bolsheviks at the same plant had combatants three times more.

The results of our activities in this direction have been reduced to the fact that on paper we had up to two thousand worker vigilantes. But only on paper. For most of them did not appear at the appearances and were generally imbued with a spirit of indifference and despondency. And when taking into account the forces that could protect the U.S. with weapons in hand, we did not take into account these combat squads ...

In addition to recruiting combatants among the Petrograd workers, there were attempts on our part to organize squads from front-line soldiers, from front-line soldiers and officers ... Some of our front-line organizations were quite strong and active. This could be especially said about the committees of the Southwestern and Romanian fronts. Back in November, the Military Commission resorted to the help of these committees, and they began to send front-line soldiers to Petrograd, the most reliable, well-armed, sent as if on a business trip. Some of these front-line soldiers, as it was said, were sent to “strengthen” the Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky regiments. But we wanted to leave some of the arriving soldiers at our direct disposal, forming combat flying detachments from them. To this end, we took steps to place them as secretly as possible in Petrograd itself, without arousing the suspicions of the Bolsheviks for the time being. After some hesitation, we settled on the idea of ​​opening a People's Soldiers' University. In mid-December, such was opened within the walls of one of the higher educational institutions. The opening itself took place with the knowledge and sanction of the Bolshevik authorities, because the program indicated in it was quite innocent, general cultural and educational, and among the leaders and lecturers of the university there were persons who were obviously loyal to the Bolshevik government.

It was in our interests to keep these militant cadets together, so that in the event of an unexpected arrest they could provide resistance and so that it would be easier to use them in the event of a speech against the Bolsheviks. After a long search, I managed, thanks to the assistance of the well-known public figure K., to arrange such a hostel, designed for two hundred people, in the premises of the Red Cross on the Fontanka.

Arriving front-line soldiers came to the courses and from there went to the hostel. As a rule, they came with guns, equipped with several hand grenades. By the end of December, there were already several dozen such cadets. And since they were all fighting and decisive people, they represented an undoubted force.

This case was not developed on a full scale, since the Central Committee of the Socialist-Revolutionaries saw in it too risky an adventure. We were asked to suspend this undertaking. We did it.”

P. Dashevsky, member of the bureau of the military commission of the AKP:"... The original plan of our headquarters and the military commission stated that from the first moment ... we would act directly as active initiators of an armed uprising. All our preparations went on in this spirit during the month before the opening of the Constituent Assembly according to the directives of the Central Committee. In this direction All the discussions of the military commission were also going on in our garrison conference with the participation of citizen Likhach.

N. Likhach:"... The party had no real forces on which it could rely."

G. Semenov, head of the military commission at the Petrograd Committee of the AKP:"Gradually, cells were created in the regiments: Semenovsky, Preobrazhensky, Grenadier, Izmailovsky, motor-pontoon, spare electro-technical, in chemical and engineer battalions and in the 5th armored division. The commander of one of the battalions of the motor-pontoon regiment, ensign Mavrinsky, comrade chairman of the regimental committee of the Semenovsky regiment and a member of the committee of the chemical battalion Usenko were members of the military commission. The number of each cell was from 10 to 40 people "

It was decided to organize an intelligence department. A front-line officer was sent to the headquarters of the Red Guard with a fake letter, who soon received the post of assistant to Mekhanoshin and kept us informed of the location of the Bolshevik units.

By the end of December... the commander of the 5th armored battalion, the commissar and the entire divisional committee, were ours. The Semyonovsky regiment agreed to come out if the entire Socialist-Revolutionary faction of the Constituent Assembly called on it, and then not first, but behind the armored division. And the Preobrazhensky regiment agreed to act if Semenovsky spoke.

I believed that we did not have troops (except for the armored division), and I thought to send the expected mass demonstration led by combatants to the Semenovsky regiment, staging an uprising, hoping that the Semenovites would join, move to the Preobrazhenians and, together with the latter, to the Tauride Palace to start active actions. The headquarters accepted my plan."

Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of January 3 (16), "Pravda" January 4 (17), 1918:“Any attempt on the part of anyone or any institution to appropriate certain functions of state power will be regarded as a counter-revolutionary act. Any such attempt will be suppressed by all means at the disposal of the Soviet government, up to and including the use of armed force.”

Extraordinary Commission for the Protection of Petrograd, January 3:"... Any attempt to penetrate ... into the area of ​​​​the Tauride Palace and Smolny, starting from January 5, will be vigorously stopped by military force"

The formed "Union for the Defense of the Constituent Assembly", under the leadership of the Right Socialist-Revolutionary V.N.

To suppress the conspiracy and maintain order on the opening day of the Constituent Assembly, an Extraordinary Military Council was created.

The Tauride Palace, where the Constituent Assembly was to open on January 5, the approaches to the palace, the Smolny district and other important positions of St. Petersburg, the council instructed the sailors to protect. They were commanded by People's Commissar for Maritime Affairs P. E. Dybenko.

Tauride Palace - 100 people; Nikolaev Academy - Foundry - Kirochnaya - 300 people; state bank - 450 people. The Peter and Paul Fortress will have 4 seaplanes.

V.D. Bonch-Bruevich:"We are approaching the 5th of January, and I want to warn you that we must meet this day with all seriousness ... All factories and military units must be at full readiness. It is better to exaggerate than to minimize the danger. Let us have confidence that we are ready to repulse and suppress, if necessary, mercilessly every directed blow."

P.E. Dybenko:"January 18th. (5 January) From early morning, while the layman was still sleeping peacefully, on the main streets of Petrograd, loyal sentries of the Soviet government, detachments of sailors, took up their posts. They were given a strict order: to keep order in the city ... The commanders of the detachments were all combat comrades, tested back in July and October.

Zheleznyak with his detachment solemnly acts to guard the Tauride Palace - the Constituent Assembly. An anarchist sailor, he was sincerely indignant even at the Second Congress of the Baltic Fleet that it was proposed to nominate his candidacy as a candidate for the Constituent Assembly. Now, proudly speaking with the detachment, he declares with a sly smile: "I will take the place of honor." Yes, he was right. He took a place of honor in history.

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, having checked the guards with Comrade Myasnikov, I hasten to Taurida. The entrances to it are guarded by sailors. In the corridor of Tauride I meet Bonch-Bruyevich.

Well, how? Is everything calm in the city? Are there many demonstrators? Where are they heading? Is there any information that they are heading straight for Tauride?

There is some confusion on his face.

Just passed the guards. Everything is in place. No demonstrators are moving towards Tauride, and if they do, the sailors won't let them through. They are strictly ordered.

All this is fine, but they say that the Petrograd regiments came out together with the demonstrators.

Comrade Bonch-Bruevich, this is all nonsense. What are the Petrograd regiments now? - None of them are combat-ready. 5,000 sailors were drawn into the city.

Bonch-Bruevich, somewhat reassured, leaves for the meeting.

At about 5 o'clock, Bonch-Bruevich again comes up and in a bewildered, agitated voice says:

You said that everything is calm in the city; meanwhile, information has now been received that a demonstration of about 10,000, along with soldiers, is moving at the corner of Kirochnaya and Liteiny Prospect. Heading straight for Taurida. What measures have been taken?

At the corner of Liteiny there is a detachment of 500 men under the command of Comrade Khovrin. The demonstrators will not penetrate to Taurida.

Anyway, go now. Look everywhere and report immediately. Comrade Lenin is worried.

By car I go around the guards. A rather impressive demonstration actually approached the corner of Liteiny, demanding to be let through to the Tauride Palace. The sailors didn't let go. There was a moment when it seemed that the demonstrators would rush at the sailor detachment. Several shots were fired at the car. A platoon of sailors fired a salvo into the air. The crowd scattered in all directions. But even before late evening, separate insignificant groups demonstrated around the city, trying to get to Tauride. Access was firmly barred."

V.D. Bonch-Bruevich:“The city was divided into sections. A commandant was appointed in the Tauride Palace, and M.S. assembly appointed commandant of the Smolny and subordinated the entire district to me... I was responsible for all order in this area, including those demonstrations that were expected around the Taurida Palace... I understood perfectly well that this area is the most important of all of Petrograd ... that it is precisely here that the demonstrations will aspire."

Union for the Defense of the Constituent Assembly, appeal on January 5 (18):"Citizens, you ... must tell him ( Constituent Assembly) that the capital of the revolution is animated by the desire to move the whole people to the last feats that the salvation of the country requires. Everyone to the demonstration on January 5!".

Petrograd SNK, January 5:"Under the slogan 'All power to the Constituent Assembly' lies the slogan 'Down with the Soviets'. That is why all the capitalists, the entire Black Hundred, all the bankers stand for this slogan!"

From the defensive speech of the member of the Central Committee of the AKP A.R. Gotz at the trial of the S.R., August 1, 1922: “We definitely stated that yes, we considered it necessary to organize all those forces, military and combat, that were at our disposal, so that in case the Bolshevik power dares to encroach on the constituent assembly, give it a proper support. That was the main political task these days. This is the first.

Further, we considered it necessary not to confine ourselves to the mobilization of those military forces that were at our disposal, we considered that the people themselves, the working class of Petrograd itself, should declare by manifestation their will to defend the constituent assembly. He had to declare his will to say loudly, distinctly, comprehensively, addressing the representatives of the Smolny - "do not dare to encroach on the constituent assembly, for behind the constituent assembly stands a solid iron phalanx of the workers' army." That's what we wanted. That is why we, addressing all the parties, the entire working class of Petrograd, said: “Go to a peaceful, unarmed demonstration, go to

to reveal your will, in order to manifest your mood. And citizen Krylenko says (let’s say, for a moment, the correctness of his version) that yes, I don’t deny that you organized a peaceful demonstration, which was supposed to summarize this will, but besides this there was another demonstration, no longer peaceful, which should was to go from armored cars, Semenovtsev, etc. Let's assume for a moment that your concept is correct, but all this does not change the essence of the matter. All armed demonstrations (let's say your version), which were then conceived, did not take place, did not take place, because all these mythical armored cars, which you, as commander in chief, operated on, arranged them with the help of my friend Timofeev and threw them on Smolny,

It's all surreal, everything is fortune-telling on the coffee grounds. You know well that not a single armored car left. From my point of view, it is very bad that I did not leave, but that is another question. We do not establish what is good and what is bad, but we establish facts. And the facts are such that even if we allow our subjective most passionate desire to assemble an armored fist (such a desire, such a task we had absolutely definitely), we did not succeed in this fortune-telling, we did not succeed because simply, without further ado, we did not have this fist. When we tried to squeeze it, it remained in this form (shows with a gesture). That's the problem. That's the state of things. The armored cars did not come out. The Semyonovsky regiment did not come out.

Did we have an intention. Yes. And here Timofeev definitely said that we, the members of the Central Committee. would consider it criminal on their part. if we had not taken all measures to organize, gather a fist, organize an armed defense of the constituent assembly. We have decided that the moment you decide to encroach on the sovereignty of the constituent assembly, lay your hand on it, we must rebuff you. We considered this not only our right, but also our sacred duty to the working class. And if we had not made every effort to fulfill this task, we would indeed bear full responsibility not to you, but to the entire working class of Russia. But, I repeat, we bone fide did everything we could, and if, nevertheless, we failed, then for the reason mentioned by Count. Pokrovsky. Why was it necessary Krylenko pile up all these facts, why did he need, apart from the desire to use these facts as accusatory material against us, in order to once again prove that this party is hypocrisy, and utter a few loud philippics, which he does not badly succeed.

Why did he need it. I'll tell you why. This was necessary in order to hide, obscure, veil the true meaning and the tragic and political meaning of the events of January 5th. And this day will go down in history not as the day of hypocrisy of the party, but as the day of the bloody crime committed by you against the working people, because on that day you shot at peaceful demonstrations, because on that day you shed the blood of the workers on the streets of Petrograd, and this blood aroused the spirit of indignation after. In order to hide this fact, in order to cover up the crime not of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, but of some other party, you certainly had to pile up and build hypotheses, which we note, because in this respect you completely broke through an open door. Yes, we wanted to defend, but this fact, the fact of our desire to protect, does not in any way justify the fact that you shot down an unarmed demonstration that moved towards you in order to seize power. Allow me to point out that the file contains copy No. of Dyelo Naroda, in which, on the eve of January 5, the following statement was placed: The city of Petrograd has been turned into an armed camp. The Bolsheviks are spreading news that the Socialist-Revolutionaries are preparing an armed seizure of power, that they are plotting against the Council of People's Commissars. Do not believe this provocation and go to a peaceful demonstration. And it was true, we did not set out to organize a coup, we did not set out to seize power by conspiratorial means, no, we openly said that this was the only legal one. legitimate power, and all citizens and all working people must submit to it, before it all parties that have been at enmity up to this moment must humble themselves and lay down their bloody weapons.

And unless these parties take the path of agreement and reconciliation with it, then this Constituent Assembly has the right, of course, not by exhortations and florid speeches. and with the sword to subdue all other parties. And our business was to forge this sword, and if we failed, then this is not our fault, but our misfortune. But, more than that, this day was not only a day of crime on the part of the Bolsheviks, but this day played the role of a turning point in the history of Bolshevik tactics. In order not to be unfounded, let me refer to an authoritative person who is unconditional for you.

I think I will be allowed c. Refer to Rosa Luxembourg as chairman in this case. I take the liberty of pointing out that in a book published by her under the title The Russian Revolution, she wrote: “The well-known dispersal of the Constituent Assembly on January 5, 1918, played an outstanding role in the policy of the Bolsheviks. This measure determined their further position.

It was to a certain extent a turning point in their tactics. It is known that Lenin and friends

they stormily demanded the convocation of the Constituent Assembly before their October victory. It was precisely this policy of procrastination in this question on the part of the Kerensky government that was one of the points of accusation by the Bolsheviks of this government and gave them a pretext for the fiercest attacks on it. Trotsky even says in one of his interesting articles from "The October Revolution to the Peace of Brest-Litovsk" that the October Revolution was a real salvation for the Constituent Assembly, as well as for the entire revolution. Well, as the Bolsheviks understand the word “salvation”, we have seen enough of this from practice on the day of January 5th. Apparently, to save them means to shoot. Further, she points to the whole inconsistency of the argument that the Bolsheviks used to justify politically their violent act against the Constituent Assembly. What arguments were advanced then by the Bolsheviks to justify the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly. What they said. First of all, they said that the Constituent Assembly was yesterday's day of the revolution. It does not reflect the real correlation of forces that was established after the October victory. That this is a day that has already passed, this is an inverted page of the book of history and it is impossible, relying on it

decide the fate of today. Further, in addition to these general political considerations, they pointed out that in this election campaign the Socialist-Revolutionary Party appeared as a single party, not yet split, not yet separated from its party, the so-called Left Socialist Revolutionaries. These two considerations were usually put forward as a political justification for this tactic. What does Rosa Luxembourg answer them to? I again prefer to speak in her words, for her authority, I have no doubt, is for you ...

BUKHARIN. She wanted to burn this book.

GOC. I don't know if she wanted to burn this book or not. I don’t think that she wanted to burn her, I think that she didn’t want to burn her, but because she later changed her point of view in some respects, from this statement, these views do not lose all their deep value and instructiveness. As to what she wanted to burn, let me tell you, Citizen Bukharin, this is already in the realm of fantasy. We do not know about her intentions, at least from the literature.

BUKHARIN. - You are not familiar with literature.

GOTs - Let's not argue, citizen Bukharin. Let me indicate how she responded to those considerations from that book which Citizen Bukharin would like to burn. I understand why he would like to burn this book, because this book is a bright, instructive, eloquent act against him and against his friends. Now what does she say. She says the following: “One must only be surprised that such intelligent people as Lenin and Trotsky did not come to their own conclusions. If the Constituent Assembly was elected long before the turning point - the October revolution and reflects the past, and not the new situation in the country, then the conclusion naturally arises that it is necessary to cassate the obsolete stillborn Constituent Assembly and immediately call elections to a new Constituent Assembly. This is literally what we said in our time in those books that we do not renounce and that we are not going to burn. But the Bolsheviks did not follow this path. “They did not want to hand over,” she says further, “to hand over the fate of the revolution into the hands of the assembly, which expressed the mood of yesterday’s Russia, the period [a] of hesitation and coalition with the bourgeoisie, when they had only one thing left: to immediately convene a new Constituent Assembly in the place of the old one, emerged from the depths of a renewed, moving on a new path of the country. Instead, Trotsky, on the basis of the worthlessness of the present assembly, comes to general conclusions about the uselessness and worthlessness of any representation of the people based on universal suffrage in general. Already on that day, on the day of January 5, that cardinal question was posed with all cutting sharpness, which then all the time divided us into two hostile camps. The question was put like this: dictatorship or democracy. Should the state rely on a minority, or should the state rely on the majority of the working class. As long as you had the hope that the majority of the constituent assembly would be yours, you did not rebel, and only when you were convinced that you could not create this majority, that the attitude of the social forces among the working people is such that it is against you. , only from that moment you turned the front against the Constituent Assembly and from that moment you put forward the concept: “dictatorship”.

When I speak now of democracy, I consider it necessary first of all to refer to Citizen Krylenko's theory No. 2. Citizen Krylenko is here with great enthusiasm, with great polemical and dialectical art, I give him his due, he developed before us here a theory that we, in fact, at least many of us, I say this frankly, preached 15 years ago in circles for the second type. Citizen Krylenko said: don't be fetishists, idolaters of democracy. Democracy is not a fetish, not an idol to be worshipped and smashed in the face. Citizen Krylenko, I think that even all those who have not studied at the seminary, but who have become involved in international socialism in one way or another, know very well that democracy, of course, is not a fetish for any socialist, is not an idol, but is only that form and the only form in which socialist ideals can be realized in the name and for which we are fighting.

But Citizen Krylenko went further. He says: freedom is a tool for us, i.e. if we need freedom, then we use it. but if freedom is claimed, if it is desired, if others also strive for it, then we use this weapon as an edge against them.

Let me tell you that this is the most wrong and most destructive understanding of freedom. For us, freedom is that invigorating atmosphere in which alone and only any broad, any mass socialist working-class movement is possible, this is the element that must envelop, surround and permeate this working-class movement. Outside these conditions, outside the forms of freedom, the broadest freedom, no initiative of the working masses is possible. But do I need you, people who call themselves Marxist socialists, to prove that socialism is impossible without the condition of the broadest independent activity of the working masses, which, for its part, cannot take place without freedom.

Freedom is the soul of socialism, it is the basic condition for the self-activity of the masses. If you are this vital nerve, this basic essence, if you cut this nerve, then, of course, nothing will remain of the independent activity of the masses, and then there is only a direct path - the path to the theory that citizen Krylenko developed here - to the theory of unenlightened ignorant masses, for whom it is harmful to have too much contact with political parties that can beat them, inexperienced, inexperienced, ignorant, to bring them down, drag them along, draw them into such a swamp from which they, poor things, will never crawl out. But what is it, if not the classically expressed theory of Pobedonostsev. What is this, in its socialist essence, if not the same desire of Pobedonostsev to save the Orthodox pure people from the pernicious influence of Western democracy, which can only cloud the purity of his consciousness, which can only corrupt him, which he will be powerless to understand and, like a child who is given a sharp knife can only inflict sharp dangerous wounds on itself.

And already one step from this concept of citizen Lunacharsky, which citizen Krylenko started, only one step to the legend of the Grand Inquisitor Tolstoy, I'm sorry, Dostoevsky. So this legend is the logical natural conclusion of the cycle of thoughts that Citizen Krylenko and Citizen Lunacharsky have been developing here before us, and which can be said to be compressed into one political concept - the concept of dictatorship in your understanding. Let me again refer to Rosa Luxembourg...

CHAIRMAN - Could you ask to be closer to the point. The Constituent Assembly, thank God, was dispersed. We are interested in your further position, and not in the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly, whether this is good or bad. Dispersed and well done.

GOC - in this plane, I will not, of course, argue whether it is good that they dispersed the Constituent Assembly, it is good or bad that this or that gentleman was slapped on the head. In this plane, I do not consider it possible and appropriate to conduct political debates, albeit in the form of a defensive speech. I still have not gone beyond the framework that you pointed out to me. I follow your instructions...

The CHAIRMAN - Instructions concerning the form of the dictatorship of the proletariat are for us the initial form, not subject to discussion. We are the organs of this dictatorship. The question of universal suffrage is a settled question, not subject to discussion, so that the whole conversation here about it is completely useless.

GOC - Perhaps we are having many conversations here in vain, because one very correct thought was expressed by citizen Krylenko. He said: “from the very beginning, in fact, from the moment of your first statements, it was possible to say that the issue was settled and proceed to the sentencing.”

The opening day of the Constituent Assembly came on January 5, 1918. There were no severe frosts. Demonstrations were held in many districts of the city in support of the Constituent Assembly. The demonstrators began to gather in the morning at nine collection points designated by the Union for the Defense of the Constituent Assembly. The route of the movement provided for the confluence of the columns on the Field of Mars and the subsequent advance to the Tauride Palace from Liteiny Prospekt.

The column of workers of the Alexander Nevsky district, marching from the Field of Mars to the Tauride Palace, looked especially massive and cohesive. There is no exact data on the number of demonstrators, but according to M. Kapustin, 200 thousand people took part in them. According to other sources, the main column of demonstrators numbered 60,000 people. On January 5, Pravda banned all rallies and demonstrations in Petrograd in the areas adjacent to the Tauride Palace. It was proclaimed that they would be put down by military force. At the same time, Bolshevik agitators at the most important factories (Obukhov, Baltiysky, etc.) tried to enlist the support of the workers, but were unsuccessful. As part of the columns of demonstrators, the workers moved towards Tauride and were machine-gunned.

V.M. Chernov:“It was necessary to morally disarm ... the Bolsheviks. To do this, we propagandized a demonstration of the civilian population, absolutely unarmed, against which it would not be easy to use brute force. Everything, in our opinion, depended on not giving the Bolsheviks even a shadow of a moral justification for moving to only in this case, we thought, can even their most resolute defenders waver and our most indecisive friends be imbued with determination ... "

Paevsky, head of the Petrograd combat squads of the AKP:"So we went alone. Several districts joined us along the way.

The composition of the procession was as follows: a small number of party members, a squad, a lot of young ladies, high school students, especially students, many officials of all departments, organizations of cadets with their green and white flags, poalei-zion, etc., in the complete absence of workers and soldier. From outside, from the crowd of workers, ridicule was heard at the bourgeois composition of the procession.

"New Life," January 6, 1918:"... When the demonstrators appeared at the Panteleymonovskaya Church, the sailors and Red Guards, who were standing at the corner of Liteiny Prospekt and Panteleymonovskaya Street, immediately opened fire. The standard-bearers and the music orchestra of the Obukhov Factory, who were walking ahead of the demonstration, were the first to come under fire. After the execution of the demonstrators, the Red Guards and sailors began the solemn burning of the selected banners.

: “We gathered between 9 and 10 in a restaurant on Kirochnaya Street, and the last preparations were made there. And then we moved in perfect order to the Tauride Palace. All the streets were occupied by troops, machine guns were on the corners, and in general the whole city looked like a military camp. By 12 o'clock we arrived at the Tauride Palace, and guard bayonets were crossed in front of us.

From 9 am, the columns of demonstrators moved from the St. Petersburg suburbs to the center. The demonstration was indeed very large. Although I was not there, but according to the rumors that reached us - almost every minute someone came running - there were over 100,000 people. In this regard, we were not mistaken, and some military units also marched in the crowd, but these were not units, but separate groups of soldiers and sailors. They were met by detachments of soldiers, sailors and even horsemen specially sent against the crowd, and when the crowd did not want to disperse, they began to shoot at it. I do not know exactly how many were killed, but we, standing in the courtyard of the Tauride Palace, heard the rattle of machine guns and volleys of rifles ... By three o'clock it was all over. Several dozen dead, several hundred wounded."

M.M. Ter-Poghosyan:"... There were us at Liteiny - I can't say for sure, but when I got up on the pedestal near the gate and looked, I couldn't see the end of this crowd - huge, many tens of thousands. And so I remember, I walked at the head ...

At this time, Bolshevik units - regular units - appeared against us from a ledge from the side of the District Court, and, therefore, they cut us off and began to crush us. Then they retreated and on both sides of the street knelt at the ready, and the shooting began.

From a speech at the trial of S.-R. member of the Central Committee of the AKP E.S. Berg:"I am a worker. And during the demonstration in defense of the Constituent Assembly, I took part in it. The Petrograd Committee declared a peaceful demonstration, and the Committee itself, including myself, walked unarmed at the head of the procession from the Petrograd side. On the way, at the corner of Liteiny and Furshtadtskaya, an armed chain blocked our way. We entered into negotiations with the soldiers in order to obtain a pass to the Tauride Palace. We were answered with bullets. Here Logvinov was killed - a peasant, a member of the Executive Committee of the Council of Peasant Deputies - who was walking with a banner. He was killed by an explosive bullet that blew off half of his skull. And he was killed at the time when, after the first shots, he lay down on the ground. Gorbachevskaya, an old party worker, was also killed there. Other processions were shot in other places. 6 workers of the Marcus factory were killed, workers of the Obukhov factory were killed. On January 9, I took part in the funeral of the dead; there were 8 coffins, because the authorities did not give us the rest of the dead, and among them were 3 s.-r., 2 s.-d. and 3 non-party and almost all of them were workers. Here is the truth about this demonstration. It was said here that it was a demonstration of officials, students, the bourgeoisie, and that there were no workers in it. So why is there not a single official, not a single bourgeois among the dead, and they are all workers and socialists? The demonstration was peaceful - such was the decision of the Petrograd Committee, which carried out the directives of the Central Committee and transmitted them to the regions.

Approaching the Tauride Palace, in order, on behalf of the workers of some factories and factories, to greet Uchr. Sobr., I and three fellow workers could not go there, because there was shooting all around. The demonstration did not disperse, it was shot. And it was you who shot down a peaceful workers' demonstration in defense of the Constituent Assembly!”

P.I. Stuchka: ".. In the protection of the Smolny and Tauride Palace (during the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly), the first place was occupied by comrades selected by the Latvian rifle regiments."

"Pravda", January 6:"It was quiet on the streets on January 5. From time to time small groups of intellectuals with placards appeared, they were dispersed. According to the information of the emergency headquarters, armed clashes took place between groups of armed demonstrators and patrols. Soldiers were shot from windows and roofs. Those arrested had revolvers, bombs and grenades" .

M. Gorky, "New Life" (January 9, 1918):“On January 5, 1918, the unarmed Petersburg democrats — workers, office workers — peacefully manifested in honor of the Constituent Assembly... Pravda is lying when it writes that the January 5 manifestation was organized by the bourgeoisie, bankers, etc., and that it was the "bourgeois" and "Kaledinians" who were going to the Tauride Palace. "Pravda" is lying—it knows perfectly well that the "bourgeois" have nothing to rejoice over the opening of the Constituent Assembly, they have nothing to do among 246 socialists of one party and 140 - "Pravda" knows that workers from the Obukhovsky, Cartridge and other factories took part in the demonstration, that under the red banners of the Russian Social Democratic Party, the workers of Vasileostrovsky, Vyborgsky and other districts marched to the Tauride Palace. It was these workers who were shot, and how many no matter what Pravda lied, it would not hide the shameful fact... So, on January 5, unarmed workers of Petrograd were shot. through the cracks of the fences, cowardly, like real killers."

Sokolov, member of the Constituent Assembly, Socialist-Revolutionary:"... The people in Petrograd were opposed to the Bolsheviks, but we failed to lead this anti-Bolshevik movement."

The opening of the Assembly at noon did not take place, and only at 4 pm more than 400 delegates entered the White Hall of the Tauride Palace. The transcript convinces us that since the opening of the Constituent Assembly, its work has resembled a sharp political battle.

The Assembly was opened twice. For the first time, it was opened by the oldest deputy, former Narodnaya Volya member S. Shevtsov. Then - Ya.M. Sverdlov, opened it on behalf of the Council of People's Commissars. Then began long squabbles about the presidium and the chairman. The Bolsheviks and the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries were in a clear minority, and the Socialist-Revolutionary V.M.Chernov was elected chairman.

V.M.Zenzinov:“The city was an armed camp that day; the Bolshevik troops surrounded the building of the Tauride Palace, which was prepared for the meetings of the Constituent Assembly, with a solid wall. Before us ... these walls parted. These sailors and soldiers who stood here in full armament ... In the building we were surrounded in the choirs and in the aisles by an angry crowd. A frenzied roar filled the room. "

M.V. Vishnyak, Secretary of the CA:“In front of the Tauride facade, the entire area is lined with cannons, machine guns, camp kitchens. Machine-gun belts are randomly piled in a heap. All gates are locked. Only the extreme gate on the left is ajar, and tickets are allowed through. from behind, probing his back... This is the first external guard... They let him through the left door. Again control, inside. People are checking not in overcoats, but in service jackets and tunics... Armed people everywhere. Most of all sailors and Latvians.. "At the entrance to the meeting hall, the last cordon. The external situation leaves no doubt about the Bolshevik views and intentions."

V.D. Bonch-Bruevich:"They were scattered everywhere. Sailors importantly and decorously walked around the halls in pairs, holding guns on their left shoulders in a belt." On the sides of the stands and in the corridors there are also armed people. The public galleries are packed to capacity. However, all these people are Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries. Entrance tickets to the galleries, about 400 pieces, distributed among the Petrograd sailors, soldiers and workers Uritsky. There were very few supporters of the Social Revolutionaries in the hall.

P.E. Dybenko: " After the party meetings, the Constituent Assembly opens. The whole procedure for the opening and election of the Presidium of the Constituent Assembly was of a buffoonish, frivolous character. They showered each other with witticisms, filled idle time with picks. For general laughter and amusement of the guarding sailors, I sent a note to the Presidium of the Constituent Assembly with a proposal to elect Kerensky and Kornilov as secretaries. Chernov only shrugged it off and somewhat tenderly declared: "After all, Kornilov and Kerensky are not here."

The board has been selected. Chernov, in an hour and a half speech, poured out all the sorrows and insults inflicted by the Bolsheviks on the long-suffering democracy. Other living shadows of the Provisional Government, which has sunk into oblivion, also appear. At about one in the morning, the Bolsheviks leave the Constituent Assembly. The Left SRs still remain.

Comrade Lenin and several other comrades are in one of the rooms remote from the meeting hall of the Tauride Palace. With regard to the Constituent Assembly, a decision was made: the next day, none of the members of the Constituent Assembly should be allowed into the Tauride Palace and thus consider the Constituent Assembly dissolved.

About half past three, the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries also leave the assembly hall. At this moment, Comrade Zheleznyak comes up to me and reports:

The sailors are tired, they want to sleep. How to be?

I gave the order to disperse the Constituent Assembly after the people's commissars left Taurida. Comrade Lenin learned about this order. He contacted me and demanded its cancellation.

And will you sign, Vladimir Ilyich, that not a single sailor's head will fall on the streets of Petrograd tomorrow?

Comrade Lenin resorts to the assistance of Kollontai to force me to cancel the order. I call Iron Man. Lenin offers him an order not to carry out and imposes his resolution on my written order:

"T. Zheleznyak. The Constituent Assembly shall not be dispersed until the end of today's session."

In words, he adds: “Tomorrow morning, do not let anyone into Tavrichesky.”

V.I. Lenin, January 5:“It is instructed to comrade soldiers and sailors who are on guard duty within the walls of the Tauride Palace not to allow any violence against the counter-revolutionary part of the Constituent Assembly and, freely letting everyone out of the Tauride Palace, not to let anyone into it without special orders.
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin)"

P.E. Dybenko:“Zheleznyak, turning to Vladimir Ilyich, asks the inscription “Zheleznyak” to be replaced by “Dybenko’s order.” Vladimir Ilyich half-jokingly dismisses it and immediately leaves in a car. Two sailors are traveling with Vladimir Ilyich to guard.

After Comrade Lenin, the Tauride and other people's commissars leave. At the exit I meet Zheleznyak.

Ironstone: What will happen to me if I do not follow the order of Comrade Lenin?

Disperse the Constituent Assembly, and we'll figure it out tomorrow.

Ironworker was just waiting for this. Without noise, calmly and simply, he approached the chairman of the Constituent Assembly, Chernov, put his hand on his shoulder and declared that in view of the fact that the guard was tired, he suggested that the assembly go home.

The "living forces" of the country quickly evaporated without the slightest resistance.

Thus ended the existence of the long-awaited All-Russian Parliament. In fact, it was dispersed not on the day of its opening, but on October 25th. A detachment of sailors under the command of Comrade Zheleznyak only carried out the order of the October Revolution.

Zheleznyakov. I have received instructions to bring to your attention that all present leave the meeting room because the guard is tired.
(Voices: "We don't need a guard").
Chernov. What instruction? From whom?
Zheleznyakov. I am the head of the security of the Tauride Palace, I have instructions from the commissar.
Chernov. All members of the Constituent Assembly are also very tired, but no amount of fatigue can interrupt the promulgation of the land law that Russia is waiting for... The Constituent Assembly can disperse only if force is used!...
Zheleznyakov.... I ask you to leave the meeting room"

Most of the deputies refused to approve the extremist "Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People" and other decrees of the Bolsheviks. In retaliation, the Bolsheviks, and then the Left SRs, left the meeting room. The remaining deputies continued to discuss questions about land, power, etc. until 5 am on January 6.

At 4 o'clock 20 min. on the morning of January 6, when the discussion of the issue of land was coming to an end, sailor A. Zheleznyakov, the head of the guard of the Tauride Palace, approached Chernov, who was announcing the "Draft Fundamental Law on Land", by the head of the guard of the Tauride Palace. He said that he had instructions to stop the meeting, all those present must leave the meeting room, because the guard was tired. The meeting was adjourned, and the next one was scheduled for 17:00.

V.M. Chernov:"- I declare a break until 5 pm! - I submit to armed force! I protest, but I submit to violence!"

From the memoirs of a member of the Military Commission of the AKP B. Sokolov: “We, I'm talking about the Military Commission, did not doubt the positive attitude towards our plan of action on the part of the Central Committee. And the greater was the disappointment... On January 3, at a meeting of the Military Commission, we were informed about the decision of our Central Committee. This resolution categorically forbade armed action, as an untimely and unreliable act. A peaceful demonstration was recommended, and it was suggested that soldiers and other military officials take part in the demonstration unarmed, "in order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed."

The motives for this decision appear to have been quite varied. We, the uninitiated, were told about them in a much abbreviated form. In any case, this decision was dictated by the best of intentions.

First, the fear of civil war or, more precisely, fratricide. It is Chernov who owns the famous saying that "we must not shed a single drop of people's blood." “And the Bolsheviks,” he was asked, “is it possible to shed the blood of the Bolsheviks?” "The Bolsheviks are the same people." The armed struggle against the Bolsheviks at that time was regarded as really fratricide, as an undesirable struggle.

Secondly, many remembered the failures of the Moscow and Petrograd armed uprisings in defense of the Provisional Government. These speeches showed the impotence and disorganization of democracy. From this came a kind of fear of new armed uprisings, lack of confidence in one's own strength, moreover, conviction in the deliberate failure of such uprisings.

Thirdly, the mood that I spoke about at the beginning of this article certainly dominated. The belief impregnated with fatalism about the omnipotence of Bolshevism, that Bolshevism is a popular phenomenon, which captures more and more broad circles of the masses of the people.

"We must let Bolshevism outlive." "Let Bolshevism outlive itself." Here is a slogan put forward precisely at that time, and I think it played a rather sad role in the history of the anti-Bolshevik struggle. For this slogan marks a passive policy.

Finally, fourthly, there was still the same idealism based on faith in the triumph of democratic principles, on faith in the will of the people. “Is it permissible,” the prominent leader H. asked, “for us to impose our will, our decision on the people. If indeed the majority of the people gravitate toward Bolshevism, then we must heed the voice of the people. The people will decide for themselves who the Truth follows, and they will follow those whom they trust more. There is no need for violence against the will of the people.”

“We are representatives of democracy and we defend the principles of people's rule. Is it permissible, until the people have spoken their word, to raise an internecine civil war and shed brotherly blood? The case of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly, in which the opinion of the whole country will be reflected as a focus, to say “yes” or “no”.

It is very difficult to say which of the motives just listed was decisive for the rejection of the armed action we had planned. The fear of adventurism, which in general characterizes all the activities of the AKP after the February revolution, the desire for a special, elevated to the principle of legality, based on democratic principles, self-doubt - all this is closely intertwined with each other, I think, played the same role in this decision .

So we stood before the prohibition of armed action. This ban took us by surprise. Reported to the Plenum of the Military Commission, it gave rise to many misunderstandings and discontent. It seems that at the very last minute we managed to warn the Defense Committee about our re-decision. They, in turn, took hasty steps and changed collection points. The Semenovites had to experience the most excitement.

Boris Petrov and I visited the regiment to report to its leaders that the armed demonstration was canceled and that they were asked to "come to the demonstration unarmed so that blood would not be shed."

The second half of the sentence aroused a storm of indignation in them... “Why are you, comrades, really laughing at us? Or are you kidding?.. We are not small children, and if we went to fight the Bolsheviks, we would do it quite consciously ... And blood ... blood, perhaps, would not have been shed if we had come out with a whole regiment armed ".

We talked for a long time with the Semyonovites, and the more we talked, the clearer it became that our refusal to take armed action had erected between them and us a blank wall of mutual incomprehension.

“Intellectuals... They are wise, not knowing what they are. Now it is clear that there are no military men among them.”

And despite lengthy exhortations, that evening the Semenovites refused to defend the newspaper “The Gray Overcoat” published by us.

“Nothing. It will still be covered. Only one rigmarole "...".

The doors of the Tauride Palace were closed for the members of the Constituent Assembly forever. On the night of January 6-7, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee approved the decree written earlier by Lenin on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly.

List of used literature and sources

Amursky I.E. Sailor Zheleznyakov - M.: Moskovsky Rabochiy, 1968.

Bonch-Bruevich M. D. All power to the Soviets! - M.: Military Publishing, 1958.

Budberg A. Diary of a White Guard. - Mn.: Harvest, M.: AST, 2001;

Vasiliev V. E. And our spirit is young. - M .: Military Publishing House, 1981.

V. Vladimirov "The Year of Service of the Socialists to the Capitalists" Essays on the history of the counter-revolution in 1918 Edited by Ya. A. Yakovlev State Publishing House Moscow Leningrad, 1927

Golinkov D. L., "Who was the organizer of the Junker uprising in October 1917", "Questions of History", 1966, No. 3;

Dybenko P.E. From the bowels of the tsarist fleet to the Great October. - M.: Military Publishing, 1958.

Kerensky A.F., Gatchina, from Sat. Art. “From Afar”, Paris, 1922 (3)

Lutovinov I. S., "Liquidation of the Kerensky-Krasnov rebellion", M., 1965;

Mstislavsky S.D. "Collection. Frank stories" .- M .: Military publishing house, 1998

Party of Socialists - Revolutionaries after the October Revolution of 1917. Documents from the RPS Archive. Collected and supplied with notes and an outline of the history of the party in the post-revolutionary period by Mark Jansen. Amsterdam. 1989.

Party of Socialists - Revolutionaries. Documents and materials. In 3 vols./ T.3.Ch. October 1917 - 1925-M.: ROSSPEN, 2000.

Minutes of the meetings of the Central Committee of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (June 1917 - March 1918) with comments by V.M. Chernov "Questions of History", 2000, No. 7, 8, 9, 10

Trial of the Socialist-Revolutionaries (June-August 1922). Training. Holding. Results. Collection of documents / Comp. S.A. Krasilnikov., K.N. Morozov, I.V. Chubykin. -M.: ROSSPEN, 2002.

socialist.memo.ru - Russian socialists and anarchists after October 1917

The convocation and dissolution of the Constituent Assembly on January 5-6 (18-19), 1918 is one of the turning points in the development of the Great Russian Revolution. The forceful actions of the supporters of the Soviet government thwarted the possibility of forming a parliamentary democracy in Russia and carrying out social transformations based on the will of the majority of voters. The dispersal of the assembly was another step towards a large-scale civil war.
All participants in the February Revolution, including the Bolsheviks, recognized the Constituent Assembly as the final judge of party disputes. This was also believed by millions of Russian citizens, who believed that it was the will of the nationwide "gathering", the people's representatives, that could guarantee both the right to the Earth and the rules of political life by which the country would have to live. Forceful revision of the decisions of the Assembly at that moment was considered blasphemy, and that is why the subordination of all party leaders to the will of the Assembly could exclude a civil war and guarantee the democratic end of the revolution, the peaceful multi-party future of the country. However, preparations for the elections to the Constituent Assembly were delayed. A special meeting for the preparation of the draft Regulations on elections to the Constituent Assembly began work only on May 25. Work on the draft Regulations on elections to the Constituent Assembly was completed in August 1917. It was decided that it would be elected in general, equal, direct elections by secret ballot according to party lists nominated in the territorial districts.
On June 14, the Provisional Government scheduled the elections for September 17, and the convocation of the Constituent Assembly for September 30. However, due to the belated preparation of the regulation on elections and voter lists, on August 9, the Provisional Government decided to call the elections for November 12, and the convocation of the Constituent Assembly - for November 28, 1917.

But by this time, power was already in the hands of the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks promised that they would submit to the will of the Assembly and hoped to win by convincing the majority that they were right with the help of the first populist measures of the Council of People's Commissars. The elections to the Constituent Assembly, which were officially held on November 12 (individual deputies were elected in October-February), brought disappointment to the Bolsheviks - they won 23.5% of the vote and 180 deputy mandates out of 767. And the parties of supporters of democratic socialism (SRs, Social Democrats, Mensheviks and others) received 58.1%. The peasantry gave their votes to the Social Revolutionaries, and they formed the largest faction of 352 deputies. Another 128 seats were won by other socialist parties. In large cities and at the front, the Bolsheviks achieved great success, but Russia was predominantly a peasant country. The allies of the Bolsheviks, the Left SRs who broke away from the Socialist-Revolutionary Party and passed through the lists of the AKP, received only about 40 mandates, that is, about 5%, and could not turn the tide. In those districts where the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries decided to go on their own, in most cases they were defeated.

The composition of the Constituent Assembly following the results of the elections of 1917

In large cities, the Kadets, who were irreconcilable opponents of the Bolsheviks, also achieved success, who got 14 seats. Another 95 seats were received by national parties (except socialists) and Cossacks. By the time the assembly opened, 715 deputies had been elected.
On November 26, the Council of People's Commissars decided that for the opening of the Constituent Assembly it was necessary that 400 deputies arrive in Petrograd, and before that the convocation of the Assembly was postponed.

The Bolsheviks and the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries together had about a third of the votes, and the Socialist-Revolutionaries were to become the leading center of the Assembly. The assembly could remove the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs from power.
The Union for the Defense of the Constituent Assembly held mass demonstrations in support of the speedy convocation of parliament, which was postponed by the Council of People's Commissars.
On November 28, the Council of People's Commissars issued a decree on the arrest of the leaders of the civil war (meaning anti-Bolshevik uprisings), on the basis of which several Kadets deputies were arrested, since their party supported the fight against Bolshevism. Along with the Cadets, some Socialist-Revolutionary deputies were also arrested. The principle of parliamentary immunity did not work. The arrival in the capital of deputies-opponents of the Bolsheviks was difficult.
On December 20, the Council of People's Commissars decided to open the work of the Assembly on January 5. On December 22, the decision of the Council of People's Commissars was approved by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. But in opposition to the Constituent Assembly, the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs were preparing the convocation of the Third Congress of Soviets.
After consultations with the Left SRs, the Bolshevik leadership decided to disperse the Constituent Assembly shortly after its convocation. The military superiority in Petrograd was on the side of the Bolsheviks, although many units were rather neutral. The Social Revolutionaries tried to organize military support for the Assembly, but, according to the convincing conclusion of the historian L.G. Protasov, "Socialist-Revolutionary conspiracies were clearly not enough to organize an armed counter-coup - they did not go beyond the necessary defense of the Constituent Assembly." But if this work had been done better, the Assembly could have been defended. However, the Bolsheviks again showed that in the matter of military conspiracies they were more efficient and resourceful. The armored cars prepared by the Social Revolutionaries were put out of action. The Socialist-Revolutionaries were afraid of marring the holiday of democracy by shooting, and abandoned the idea of ​​an armed demonstration in support of the Assembly. His supporters were to take to the streets unarmed.
On January 5, the opening day of the Assembly, Bolshevik troops shot down a demonstration of workers and intellectuals in support of it. More than 20 people died.
By the opening of the meeting, 410 deputies arrived at the Tauride Palace. The quorum has been reached. The Bolsheviks and the Left SRs had 155 votes.
At the beginning of the meeting, there was a scuffle at the podium - the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Bolsheviks claimed the right to open the meeting, the Socialist-Revolutionaries insisted that this should be done by the oldest deputy (he was a Socialist-Revolutionary). The representative of the Bolsheviks, Ya. Sverdlov, made his way to the podium and read out a draft declaration written by Lenin, which said: “Supporting Soviet power and the decrees of the Council of People’s Commissars, the Constituent Assembly considers that its task is limited to establishing the fundamental foundations for the socialist reorganization of society.” In essence, these were terms of surrender, which would turn the Assembly into an appendage of the Soviet regime. No wonder the Constituent Assembly refused even to discuss such a declaration.
The Socialist-Revolutionary leader V. Chernov, who was elected Chairman of the Parliament, delivered a conceptual speech in which he outlined the Socialist-Revolutionary vision of the country's most important problems. Chernov considered it necessary to formalize the transfer of land to the peasants "into a concrete, precisely formalized reality by law." The chaotic land redistribution begun by the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs is not capable of providing the peasants with a lasting right to land: “the general transfer of land use ... is not done with one stroke of the pen ... The working village does not want the lease of state property, it wants the access of labor to the land itself was not subject to any tribute ... "
The agrarian reform was to become the foundation for the gradual construction of socialism with the help of trade unions, cooperatives and strong local self-government.
The policy of the Bolsheviks was criticized by the majority of speakers. The supporters of the Bolsheviks answered not only from the podium, but also from the gallery, which was packed with their supporters. Democrats were not allowed into the building. The crowd gathered at the top shouted and hooted. Armed men aimed from the gallery at the speakers. It took a lot of courage to work in such conditions. Seeing that the majority of the Assembly was not going to give up, the Bolsheviks, and then the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, left the Parliament. Formally, the quorum also disappeared with them. However, Parliament continued to work. In most of the world's parliaments, a quorum is necessary for the opening of parliament, and not for its current work. In the coming days, the arrival of deputies from the hinterland was expected.
The remaining deputies discussed and adopted 10 points of the Basic Land Law, which corresponded to the ideas of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. Having abolished the right of ownership of land without redemption, the law transferred it to the disposal of local self-government bodies.
The debate ended early in the morning on 6 January. The head of the guard, anarchist V. Zheleznyakov, referring to the member of the Council of People's Commissars P. Dybenko, told Chernov that "the guard was tired," and it was time to end the meeting. There was nothing special about this, but the speaker reacted irritably: we will disperse only if we are dispersed by force. In the end, they decided that the deputies would continue to work today until the main bills were adopted at least in an accelerated manner. Zheleznyakov no longer interfered in the work of the Assembly.
The deputies adopted the basis of the law on land, a resolution declaring Russia a democratic federal republic and a peace declaration condemning the separate negotiations of the Bolsheviks and demanding a general democratic peace. Then, at twenty to five in the morning, the chairman of the meeting, V. Chernov, closed the meeting, scheduling the next one for five in the evening. When, having slept a little, the deputies again gathered at the Tauride Palace, they found the doors closed - the Bolsheviks announced the dissolution of the Assembly and took away the premises from the supreme body of power. This was the act of dispersing the Constituent Assembly.
Outraged by yesterday's execution of a peaceful demonstration, the workers of the Semyannikovsky plant supported the elected representatives of Russia and invited the deputies to sit on the territory of their enterprise. The strike grew in the city, soon involving more than 50 enterprises.
Despite the fact that V. Chernov suggested accepting the proposal of the workers, the majority of the socialist deputies opposed the continuation of the meetings, fearing that the Bolsheviks might shell the plant from ships. It is not known what would have happened if the Bolsheviks had ordered the sailors to shoot at the plant - in 1921, the very fact of a strike in Petrograd caused the Kronstadt sailors to act against the Bolsheviks. But in January 1918, the Socialist-Revolutionary leaders stopped before the specter of civil war. The deputies were leaving the capital, fearing arrests. On January 10, 1918, the Third Congress of Workers', Soldiers', Peasants' and Cossacks' Deputies met and proclaimed itself the highest authority in the country.
Russia's first freely elected parliament was dispersed. Democracy has failed. Now the contradictions between the various social strata of Russia could no longer be resolved through peaceful discussions in parliament. The Bolsheviks took another step towards civil war.