Kronstadt

210 Pages·1979·3.451 MB·English

by  Trotsky, Leon, Lenin, Vladimir Ilʹich

Kronstadt

IC
PATHFINDER
New York London Montreal Sydney
Edited by Barbara Mutnick
Copyright © 1979 by Pathfinder Press
All rights reserved
ISBN 978-0-87348-883-9
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 78-65893
Manufactured in Canada
First edition, 1979
Eleventh printing, 2018
Cover photo: Red Army machine-gunners firing on Kronstadt insurgents
Pathfinder
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E-mail: [email protected]
Contents
Map of Kronstadt
7
Editorial preface
9
Introduction, by Pierre Frank
15
V.I. Lenin
A deteriorating situation, February 24, 1921 53
On party unity 55
The lessons of Kronstadt, March 8, 1921 57
Tighten up our ranks, March 9, 1921 62
Kronstadt's historical place, March 15, 1921 64
The campaign of lies, March 16, 1921 66
Appeal for proletarian solidarity, March 27, 1921 71
Class truth, April 21, 1921 76
Tactics of the Russian Communist Party, July 5, 1921 80
Leon Trotsky
The revolt of ex-general Kozlovsky and the warship
'Petropavlovsk' (Government statement),
March 2, 1921 85
Ultimatum, March 5, 1921 87
Comments to the foreign press, March 16, 1921 89
Kronstadt and the stock exchange, March 23, 1921 93
In honor of the heroes of Kronstadt, April 3, 1921 97
Address to revolutionary youth, July 14, 1921 99
The questions of Wendelin Thomas, July 6, 1937 101
The need for a pamphlet on Kronstadt,
November 19, 1937 105
Hue and cry over Kronstadt, January 15, 1938 108
More on the suppression of Kronstadt, July 6, 1938 123
A tragic necessity, August 1940 127
Supplementary material
The truth about Kronstadt, by John G. Wright IJI
Exchange of views on Kronstadt, from the
'New International' I62
Glossary I87
fu~ ~
•
ti
THE KRONSTADT UPRISING
and its suppression
March 1-18, 1921
f
s
HQ of Northern
~ Group
Konnaya Lakhta
Street Fighting In Kronatadt
Symbols:
c;..{Li~~e~~iv~~a~l~h~v:: ~:~c~c;_8~~9~~ Army units in the first
......... {Li~=s~:tl~:ai~k r~~=~s·t~eef~:t.in second offensive, March 17-18,
.,.. .... {Direction of rebels' flight from Kronstadt.
.A.... . Ships held by rebels.
Sites of the heaviest fighting.
This map was published in Kak vooruzha/as' revoliutsiia (How the Revolution
Armed Itself}, vol. 3, book 1. It was translated by George Saunders.

Editorial preface
Anarchists, Social Democrats, and right-wing anticommu
nists make up a spectrum of opponents of Bolshevism who
maintain that the Soviet government's suppression of the
1921 Kronstadt uprising is proof that Leninism spawned
Stalinism. It is this charge that has focused a historical spot
light on Kronstadt and turned the word itself into a favorite
refrain of the anti-Bolsheviks.
This book contains the most important statements on the
revolt by V.I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky-the two central So
viet leaders who bore political and military responsibility for
suppressing the uprising. It constitutes, therefore, a definitive
answer to the attacks leveled against the Bolsheviks.
Before further detailing this book's contents, we re
print below an account of the Kronstadt revolt, of value to
the reader because of its concise, factual description of the
events. The account is the major part of a long footnote on
Kronstadt that appears in Trotsky's Sochineniya (Collected
Works), published in the Soviet Union in 1926:*
•
The disturbances at Kronstadt began on February 28, 1921.
On March 1, a meeting was held in Kronstadt, with 12,000-
14,000 sailors, Red Army men, and workers taking part. At
tending the meeting were Comrade Kalinin, president of the
All-Union Central Executive Committee [of the soviets], who
* George Saunders translated the footnote from vol. 17, book 2, of
Sochineniya. The note was undoubtedly prepared by the editors rather than
by Trotsky himself, but it is likely that Trotsky read and approved it.
9