http://anarchism.ws/writers/anarcho/history/russia/kronstadt.html In urban areas, a wave of spontaneous strikes occurred. Kronstadt was a direct result of these strikes. These started in Moscow, before spreading to Petrograd where (as elsewhere) a three-man Defence Committee was formed in Petrograd and Zinoviev "proclaimed martial law" on February 24th. "Overnight Petrograd became an armed camp. In every quarter pedestrians were stopped and their documents checked . . . the curfew [was] strictly enforced." The Petrograd Cheka made widespread arrests. [Avrich, Kronstadt 1921, pp. 35-9 and pp. 46-7] On February 26th, in response to this strike wave, the crews of the battleships Petropavlovsk and Sevastopol held an emergency meeting. They agreed to send a delegation to the city to investigate and report back. On their turn two days later, the delegates informed their fellow sailors of the strikes and the government repression directed against them. Those present at this meeting on the Petropavlovsk then approved a resolution which raised the following 15 demands: "1. Immediate new elections to the Soviets. The present Soviets no longer express the wishes of the workers and peasants. The new elections should be by secret ballot, and should be preceded by free electoral propaganda. 2. Freedom of speech and of the press for workers and peasants, for the Anarchists, and for the Left Socialist parties. 3. The right of assembly, and freedom for trade union and peasant organisations. 4. The organisation, at the latest on 10th March 1921, of a Conference of non-Party workers, solders and sailors of Petrograd, Kronstadt and the Petrograd District. 5. The liberation of all political prisoners of the Socialist parties, and of all imprisoned workers and peasants, soldiers and sailors belonging to working class and peasant organisations. 6. The election of a commission to look into the dossiers of all those detained in prisons and concentration camps. 7. The abolition of all political sections in the armed forces. No political party should have privileges for the propagation of its ideas, or receive State subsidies to this end. In the place of the political sections various cultural groups should be set up, deriving resources from the State. 8. The immediate abolition of the militia detachments set up between towns and countryside. 9. The equalisation of rations for all workers, except those engaged in dangerous or unhealthy jobs. 10. The abolition of Party combat detachments in all military groups. The abolition of Party guards in factories and enterprises. If guards are required, they should be nominated, taking into account the views of the workers. 11. The granting to the peasants of freedom of action on their own soil, and of the right to own cattle, provided they look after them themselves and do not employ hired labour. 12. We request that all military units and officer trainee groups associate themselves with this resolution. 13. We demand that the Press give proper publicity to this resolution. 14. We demand the institution of mobile workers' control groups. 15. We demand that handicraft production be authorised provided it does not utilise wage labour." The Communist government started to attack Kronstadt on March 7th. After 10 days of constant attacks the Kronstadt revolt was crushed by the Red Army. The refugees of the revolt in a Finnish town Terijoki....( some 8-9,000 )!
Ah, but it wasn't that easy, read this too. Most of the literature we find online on Kronstadt is of Anarchist origin, it's stiil such a hot matter for them after all these years that it is nearly impossible to find a detached opinion. Curiously the later great Tukhachevsky was the commander of the siege forces on the Soviet side.
Yes, but it is very interesting in my opinion that the same Kronstadt marines who were getting Lenin to power were trying to get it away from him...whatever the background.
The revolts in the USSR 1921 and demands for future nation. Tambov Rebellion - Wikipedia Also interesting ( new to me ) : The Tambov Rebellion of 1920–1921 was one of the largest and best-organized peasant rebellions challenging the Bolshevik regime during the Russian Civil War.[9][10] The uprising took place in the territories of the modern Tambov Oblast and part of the Voronezh Oblast, less than 300 miles southeast of Moscow. In Soviet historiography, the rebellion was referred to as the Antonovschina ("Antonov's mutiny"), so named after Alexander Antonov, a former official of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, who turned against the government of the Bolsheviks. It began in August 1920 with resistance to the forced confiscation of grain and developed into a guerrilla war against the Red Army, Cheka units and the Soviet Russian authorities. It is estimated that around 100,000 people were arrested and around 15,000 shot dead during the suppression of the uprising. The Red Army used chemical weapons to fight the peasants.[11] The bulk of the peasant army was destroyed in the summer of 1921, smaller groups continued until the following year. The movement was later portrayed by the Soviets as anarchical banditry, similar to other anti-Soviet movements that opposed them during this period. BTW. The kronstadt rebellion sailors,soldiers and civilians escaped by walking on ice to Finland. Where I live we have many orthodox churches and cemetaries.
It is interesting to understand why we have in the Kotka area so many Orthodox churces and people.Because they left the USSR from Kronstadt. What if we had returned them to Lenin instead?
