AN ATTEMPTED COUNTER-REVOLUTION

It will be noted that one of the outstanding characteristics of the Bolshevist Government was the publicity with which it carried on all its business. A history of the Bolshevist rÉgime might almost be compiled from the proclamations of Trotzky alone. Even facts and events which one might suppose would be advantageously suppressed are announced. It was this policy which gave significance to the rumors of an attempt on the part of the conservative elements, backed by the Cossacks, to overthrow the Bolsheviki, for on December 7, 1917, Trotzky issued a proclamation, or announcement, stating that "Generals Kaledine and Kornilov, assisted by the imperialists and Constitutional Democrats and bourgeoisie," were precipitating a counter-revolution and were "raising a revolt in the Don region against the people and the revolution."

"The Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates," added the announcement, "have ordered the necessary movements of troops against the counter-revolution and issued decrees authorizing the local revolutionary garrisons to attack the enemies of the people without awaiting orders from the supreme authorities and forbidding any attempts at mediation."

Kornilov, according to previous reports, had escaped from his confinement at military headquarters at Mogilev the day before the surrender to Krylenko, together with an escort of four or five hundred Cossacks, and apparently he had succeeded in reaching the territory of the Don Cossacks, where Kaledine had established his authority.

Further details indicated that Kaledine and his forces were advancing against Ekatrinoslav, Kharkov, and Moscow. In the province of Orenburg the Bolsheviki were attacked by General Dutov, at the head of an army of Ural Cossacks, and he was now besieging Tcheliabinsk, an important railroad junction. In the Caucasus General Karaulov was reported to be attacking at two important points.

"While representatives of the Congress of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates," continued Trotzky's announcement, "and the Congress of Peasants' Deputies were negotiating to secure an honorable peace for the exhausted country, the enemies of the people, the imperialists, the bankers, the landowners, and their allies, the Cossack generals, have undertaken a final attempt to destroy the cause of peace, wrest the power from the hands of the soldiers and workmen and the land from the peasants, and to compel soldiers, sailors, and Cossacks to shed their blood for the benefit of the Russian and Allied imperialists.

"General Kaledine on the Don and General Dutov in the Ural province have raised the flag of revolt. The Constitutional Democratic party is supplying the necessary means to enable them to carry on the fight against the people. The Rodziankos, the Miliukovs, the Gutchkovs and the Konovalovs seek to regain power, and, with the aid of the Kaledines, the Kornilovs, and the Dutovs are endeavoring to turn the Cossack laborers into an instrument for achieving their criminal aims.

"General Kaledine has declared a state of war in the Don region, is hindering the supply of bread to the front, and collecting his forces. General Kornilov, who fled from prison, has arrived at his side—Kornilov who in July introduced the death penalty and conducted a campaign against the revolutionary power in Petrograd. In Orenburg General Dutov has arrested the executive and the military revolutionary committee, has disarmed the soldiers and is endeavoring to capture Tcheliabinsk, in order to cut off the supply of bread from Siberia to the front and the towns.... The bourgeois Central Committee of the Ukrainian Republic, which is waging a struggle against the Ukrainian Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils, is assisting General Kaledine in drawing troops to the Don region and is hindering the Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils from distributing the necessary military forces throughout the Ukraine for the suppression of the Kaledine rebellion.

"The Constitutional Democrats, the worst enemies of the people, who, together with the capitalists of all countries, prepared the present world war, are hoping that as members of the Constituent Assembly they may be able to come to the assistance of their generals, the Kaledines, the Kornilovs, and the Dutovs, in order to strangle the people with their aid."

The document then concluded with a decree declaring a state of siege in the Ural and Don regions, outlawing leaders of the rebellion, etc.

In typical Russian revolutionary fashion, the fighting, which now took place between the forces of the Cossack generals and the soldiers of the Soviets, seems to have been largely limited to mutual threats of arrest and general argument. The Cossack leaders retired and the Bolsheviki did not pursue them. One report stated that Kaledine had been wounded.

For some time the Rumanians had been very busy issuing official proclamations from their temporary capital, Jassy, denouncing the peace negotiations and declaring their intention of fighting the Central Powers, "to the last man." But in spite of the admiration these proclamations aroused, there was little hope that the small Balkan country could actually continue the struggle if Russia made peace. On December 7, 1917, the Rumanians consented to associate themselves with Russia in the proposed armistice. The Ukrainian Rada, also, agreed to a suspension of hostilities, by a vote of 29 to 8. On the Caucasus front, where the Russians were opposed by the Turks, it was the latter who took the initiative.

On December 11, 1917, the Constituent Assembly, on which the conservative elements had based so much hope, attempted to meet in Petrograd. But of the more than 600 delegates who had been elected only about fifty were present.

Meanwhile the negotiations for an armistice continued. The original deputation from Petrograd was now joined, on the side of the Russians, by delegations from the other fronts farther south, representing the Ukrainians and the Rumanians. The two points that created discussion and disagreement were the demands of the Russians that all movements of troops by the Germans from their eastern fronts should be suspended during negotiations and the right of the Russians to carry on unlimited fraternization with the German and Austrian soldiers. The Teutons were especially disinclined to allow the former; it was obvious that they wanted to reenforce the Italian and the western fronts with the soldiers they had to spare on the Russian fronts. But finally an agreement was reached, on December 16, 1917, and an armistice was signed by the two sides involved, the armistice to begin on noon, December 17, 1917, and last for four weeks, until January 14, 1918.