After the shooting of the July demonstration in Petrograd in 1917, the political situation in Russia changed dramatically. The dual power ended. Having seized all power, the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie began mass repressions against the Bolshevik party and its press. On July 5, the cadets and Cossacks destroyed the editorial office of Pravda, and the next day - the party printing house of Truda, where Soldatskaya Pravda and Listok Pravda were printed. The central and metropolitan Committees of the Bolsheviks were temporarily left without print organs. The Bolshevik newspapers of Moscow, Helsingfors and other cities came to the aid of the Central Committee and the PC of the RSDLP (b), which, despite prohibitions and persecution, continued to educate the working masses politically, revolutionized and rallied them to fight for people's power. One of these newspapers was the organ of the Kronstadt Committee of the RSDLP (b), created with the direct assistance of the Central Committee and the PC of the Bolshevik Party. As early as the beginning of March 1917. The PC of the RSDLP (b) sent S. G. Roshal, B. A. Zhemchuzhin, an experienced and staunch Bolshevik underground worker, member of the PC of the RSDLP (b), and other comrades to the Kronstadt Committee for party work and organizing the publication of the newspaper .1
Funds were needed to publish the newspaper. They were gathered by the sailors, soldiers, and workers of Kronstadt. They were also its correspondents and distributors. The first issue of the newspaper was published on March 15, 1917 in the private printing house of D. M. Komarov with a circulation of 5 thousand copies; and three days later the circulation reached 10 thousand. The Kronstadt Committee named its newspaper Golos Pravdy, thereby emphasizing that it follows the course of Lenin's Pravda, defends the interests of the working masses, and serves the cause of the revolution. Staunch revolutionary fighters I. P. Flerovsky, P. D. Khokhryakov, and V. I. Deshevoy took an active part in the newspaper.
Immediately after the July events, the Bolshevik newspapers published articles that analyzed the situation in the country and, in connection with the changed conditions, set out the next revolutionary tasks for the working people. Golos Pravda, in its editorial of July 7(20), wrote that the July 4 demonstration was intended to put pressure on the opportunist majority in the Soviets and to show the falsity of their policy. The presumptuous socialist ministers refused to listen to the demands of the broad masses and, marching hand in hand with the counter-revolution, declared the most decisive struggle of the Bolshevik Party. In the article "Forward to democracy", the newspaper explained that the Russian proletariat, if it does not want its own destruction, must fight for power, for its transition from the haves to the have-nots. This struggle is difficult because of the confidence of the majority of the population in the government that does not take into account the demands of the people. But when the majority of the people are convinced that the government's policy is disastrous, then they will win.
The July events were also vividly reflected in the issue of July 10, 1917, which is now kept in the Central State Military Historical Archive of the USSR. This number does not appear in the bibliographic index of the periodical press and was considered lost until now2 . Meanwhile, its content helps us to study in more detail the post-July period in the history of the party. Here is published, for example, the appeal of the Kronstadt Committee of the RSDLP (b) to the Bolsheviks of the capital and the whole country. Here is what it says about the events of that time: "The editorial offices and printing house of Pravda and Soldatskaya Pravda were destroyed. The party does not have in the capital
1 See "The First Legal Petersburg Committee of the Bolsheviks in 1917", Moscow, l. 1927, p. 57.
2 See The Bolshevik Periodical Press (December 1900-October 1917). Bibliographic index, Moscow, 1964.
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governing (printed - G. S.) bodies. Agitation work in Petrograd is extremely difficult... All the more responsibilities are assigned to the provincial branches of the party, and especially to the Kronstadt Committee. Step forward, fellow party members! The seats of retired teammates must be filled immediately. Our newspaper, Golos Pravdy, must now serve the needs of all workers and soldiers in Petrograd. Comrades of Petrograd, get in touch more closely with revolutionary Kronstadt and arrange for the daily delivery of Golos Pravda... The revolution is in danger, but it is big, powerful and strong. She won't die, but will survive no matter what... Long live the revolution!"3 . In the same issue, the appeal of the St. Petersburg Committee of the RSDLP (b) to workers, soldiers, and party members was published: "We must rally even closer around our banners. We must make every effort to ensure that the party emerges with dignity from the difficult conditions created in recent days... Let all party members continue to do their work stoutly to develop the class consciousness of the working masses and the masses of the rural poor, to explain to them who their friends are and who their enemies are ... " 4
The article "The guilty are sought in the wrong place" stated that the Provisional Government did not meet and does not meet the demands of the workers. The Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik leadership of the Soviets is in no way willing to break ties with the bourgeoisie. The article explained that the demonstrators took to the streets not to fight, but to present their demands to the CEC of the Soviets. At the end of the article, confidence in the final victory of the revolution was expressed: "Attempts by dark forces in blood to destroy the revolution will not succeed. We will carry the red banner out of all trials and tribulations with honor." Golos Pravda called on workers, sailors, and soldiers to continue their agitation and organizational work among the masses. He stressed that the bourgeoisie, in full agreement with the Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, had decided to crack down on the Bolshevik Party. If there hadn't been a demonstration, she would have used any other excuse.
On July 12, the Provisional Government granted the Minister of War and the Minister of the Interior the right to close all newspapers and magazines for calling for a fight against its policies. The next day, Golos Pravda was closed. But on July 14, a Bolshevik newspaper was published in Kronstadt. It was now called Proletarskoe Delo, and its circulation was 12,000 copies .5 The newspaper was published until the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution. Since October 28, 1917. it was again called "Voice of Truth". The newspaper gained wide popularity and exerted a great influence on the soldier and peasant masses. This was evidenced by the greetings and resolutions received by the editorial office and the local Council from different cities and other localities in Russia. Through Stockholm, the newspaper also penetrated into Western Europe. In the Swedish capital, the foreign mission of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) used materials from the Kronstadt newspaper in its German and French editions, introduced the working people of the West to the situation in Russia and the activities of the Bolshevik Party, and exposed the treacherous policy of the Menshevik-SR leaders of the Soviets .6
Protecting the transports with the newspaper from the bloodhounds of the Provisional Government, the Kronstadt Committee of the RSDLP (b) sent them from Kronstadt to Petrograd not through parth, but through the suburbs of the capital Lisiy Nos and Olgino, where control was weaker .7 The printed voice of the Kronstadt Bolsheviks reached its readers in various ways - with letters, with the help of messengers, with various delegations, agitators, vacationers, and the wounded. The campaign work was carried out successfully. No wonder the command of the 3rd Army, in a report to the headquarters of the Commander - in-Chief of the Western Front on August 8, 1917, asked to take measures against the distribution among the military of "harmful newspapers in their own direction-Golos Pravdy, Proletarskoe Delo and others. "8
3 TSGVIA of the USSR, f. 2048, op. 1, units hr. 1339, ll. 62-62 vol.
4 Ibid., l. 61 vol.
5 " VI Congress of the RSDLP (b)". Protocols, Moscow, 1958, p. 78.
6 See Yu. I. Vorobtsov. Activities of the representative office of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) in Stockholm (April-November 1917). Moscow, 1968, p. 47.
7 "Military seamen in the struggle for the victory of the October Revolution", Moscow, 1958, p. 304.
8 TSGVIA SSSR, f. 2048, op. 1, ed. hr. 1339, l. 54.
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As you know, during the July days, when the party and the revolution were in a difficult time, V. I. Lenin wrote a number of works in the underground. They provided an in-depth analysis of the changed situation in the country and outlined new slogans for party tactics. Some of Lenin's articles were published in the newspaper of the Kronstadt Bolsheviks. From July 4 to July 23, 1917, that is, before the publication of the central organ of the party, the Rabochy I Soldat newspaper, was resumed, the Kronshtadters published ten Lenin articles: "What could the cadets expect when they left the ministry?"," Political Situation"," Gratitude to Prince G. E. Lvov", "Letter to the editor of Proletarsky Delo" and others. Lenin's theses "The Political Situation" were published in a newspaper called "Political Mood". On July 15, the newspaper published Lenin's "Letter to the editorial office of Proletarsky Delo", which explained the reasons for the non-appearance of the Bolshevik leaders at the trial of the Provisional Government. On the eve of the Sixth Party Congress, the publishing house of the Kronstadt Committee of the RSDLP (b) published Lenin's work "Towards Slogans"as a separate pamphlet for the first time.
Proletarskoe Delo, relying on Lenin's instructions, explained in its pages to the sailors, soldiers, and workers that after the July events, when power passed entirely into the hands of the counter-revolution, the slogan "All power to the Soviets!" It should be temporarily lifted and that the path to victory lies only through armed insurrection. A leading article in the newspaper of July 19 stated that if earlier the slogan of the day was "All power to the Soviets!", at the present time, when power is concentrated in the hands of the rabid bourgeoisie, it can only be swept away by a new revolutionary upsurge, for which it is necessary to prepare.
On July 24, Proletarskoe Delo published the appeal of the Second Petrograd Citywide Conference of the RSDLP (b) "To all the working people, to all the workers and soldiers of Petrograd." It assessed the situation in the country after the shooting of the July demonstration and expressed confidence in the victory of the revolution. The proclamation called on workers, soldiers and sailors to meet the upcoming battles with dignity and organization. In the same issue was published the resolution of the joint meeting of the delegates of the front, representatives of the fleet, factories, factories and workshops of Petrograd and Kronstadt, adopted on July 22. The task of all the revolutionary elements, it pointed out, was to expose all counter-revolutionary measures, mercilessly criticize the reactionary policy of the compromisers, strengthen the positions of the revolutionary proletariat, the peasantry, and the soldiers, and prepare the forces for armed insurrection. In connection with the publication on July 23 of the central organ of the party, the Rabochy I Soldat newspaper, Proletarskoe Delo wrote that, despite the persecution experienced by the Bolshevik press, a bold revolutionary word was once again heard in Petrograd.
Despite the rampant counter-revolution, the Bolsheviks of Kronstadt, under the leadership of the Central and St. Petersburg Committees of the RSDLP (b), continued to fight for the revolutionary mobilization of the masses, for their preparation for the overthrow of the bourgeois Provisional Government. The newspaper of the Kronstadt Committee of the RSDLP (b), with the help of the Central Committee and the PC of the Bolshevik Party, exposed to the workers, sailors, and soldiers the utter ruin of hopes of compromise with the bourgeoisie, and pointed out a specific enemy of the working people. Golos Pravdy and Proletarskoe Delu, published under the leadership of the Kronstadt Committee of the RSDLP (b), played, like other Bolshevik newspapers, a major role in revolutionizing the masses in the post-July days. During that difficult period for the party, the Bolshevik organization of Kronstadt and its press organs were the reliable support of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) in the struggle for the masses in the new conditions of the revolutionary struggle.
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