The Russian Revolution and the Baltic Fleet: War and Politics, February 1917–April 1918

234 Pages·1978·23.32 MB·English

by  Evan Mawdsley (auth.)

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION AND THE BALTIC FLEET
STUDIES IN RUSSIAN AND EAST EUROPEAN HISTORY
Phyllis Auty and Richard Clogg (editors)
British Policy towards Wartime Resistance in Yugoslavia and Greece
Elisabeth Barker
British Policy in South-East Europe in the Second World War
Richard Clogg (editor)
The Movement for Greek Independence J770-1821
Olga Crisp
Studies in the Russian Economy before 1914
D. G. Kirby (editor)
Finland and Russia 18o8-1920: Documents
Martin McCauley
The Russian Revolution and the Soviet State 1917-1921: Documents (editor)
Khrushchev and the Development of Soviet Agriculture
Communist Power in Europe 1944-1949 (editor)
Evan Mawdsley
The Russian Revolution and the Baltic Fleet
Further titles in preparation
THE RUSSIAN
REVOLUTION AND
THE BALTIC FLEET
War and Politics, February 1917-April 1918
EVAN MAWDSLEY
in association with the
Palgrave Macmillan
© Evan Mawdsley 1978
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1978
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without permission
First published 1978 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Associated companies in Delhi
Dublin Hong Kong Johannesburg Lagos
Melbourne New rork Singapore Tokyo
Rejll'inted 1993 by
Antony Rowe Ltd
CltijJjJenltam, Wiltshire
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Mawdsley, Evan
The Russian Revolution and the Baltic fleet.
(Studies in Russian and East European history).
I. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Voenno-morskol ftot-History 2. Russia-History
Revolution, 1917-1921 3· Russia-Politics and
government- I 9 I 7-I 936
I. Title II. Series
947.084'1 DK265.3
ISBN 978-1-349-03761-2 ISBN 978-1-349-03759-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-03759-9
This book is sold subject
to the standard conditions
of the Net Book Agreement
For my Father and Mother
Contents
List of Illustrations IX
Priface XI
List of Abbreviatio11s Xlll
1 THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION 3
The Baltic Fleet 3
Petrograd and Kronstadt 12
The Active Fleet 24
2 POLITICISATION 22
The Political Setting 22
The Socialist-Revolutionaries 24
The Social Democrats 28
3 NAVAL DEMOCRACY: MARCH-JUNE 1917 24
Reform from Above 24
Revolution from Below 24
Admiral Verderevsky 24
4 THE GOVERNMENT CHALLENGED: MAY-JULY
1917 24
The Kronstadt Republic 24
The July Days and Kronstadt 24
The July Days in the Active Fleet 24
5 EBB AND FLOW: JULY -SEPTEMBER 1917 24
Reaction 24
Kornilov 24
Resurgence 24
6 NAVAL OPERATIONS 24
Preparations 24
Revolutionaries at War 24
The Battle of Moon Sound 24
Contents viii
7 THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION 97
Attack 97
Motivation 100
Organisation 106
Assessment 112
8 CIVIL \V AR: POLITICS AFTER OCTOBER 116
The Centre 116
The Periphery 119
Political Mood 122
9 THE RED FLEET: ORGANISATION AFTER
OCTOBER
141
Naval Revolution
141
Sovietisation
141
Sovkombalt
141
10 THE ICE CROSSING: OPERATIONS AFTER
OCTOBER 141
Invasion 141
Exodus 141
CONCLUSION 153
APPENDICES
1 Baltic Fleet Personnel 141
2 Baltic Fleet Order of Battle 141
3 Democratic Organisations 141
Bibliography 171
Index 207
List of Illustrations
I Dreadnoughts frozen into Helsingfors North Harbour, March I9I 7
2 A meeting on the ice of Helsingfors Harbour, 4 March I g I 7
3 Kadet F. I. Rodichev speaks to Helsingfors sailors, March I 9 I 7
4 Executive Committee of Helsingfors Soviet, spring I 9 I 7
5 S. G. Roshal', a leading Bolshevik agitator at Kronstadt
6 P. E. Dybenko, first chairman of Tsentrobalt
7 A. G. Zhelezniakov, the anarchist sailor who closed the Constituent
Assembly
8 Rear-Admiral A. V. Razvozov, C.-in-C., Baltic Fleet, I917-18
9 Demonstration in Railway Station Square, Helsingfors, 18june I9I7
IO The crew of Kronstadt training ship Okean
I I The dreadnought Sevastopol' at Reval
I 2 The battleship S/ava after Moon Sound battle
I 3 Pohedite/ ', a 'Novik' type destroyer
I4 The minelayer Amur
15 Revolutionary sailors at Gatchina
I6 HQships in Helsingfors South Harbour, winter 19I7-I8
I 7 Helsingfors North Harbour from a German reconnaissance plane, 3 I
March 1918
18 A ship of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla leaving Helsingfors
Preface
Sixty thousand Baltic sailors had an importance in 1917 out of all
proportion to their numbers. The most violent episodes of the whole
February Revolution were at the Kronstadt and Helsingfors naval bases.
In the eight-month life of the Provisional Government the sailors,
especially those at Kronstadt, occupied the extreme left flank of the
popular movement. The shot from the cruiser Avrora is part of the legend of
October-and it highlighted the fleet's prominent role in the uprising. And
after 25 October the sailors were again conspicuous, this time in the
campaign to spread Soviet power throughout Russia. Any assessment of
Bolshevik success in seizing and keeping power should take into account
the actions of the Baltic ratings.
There are other reasons why the Baltic Fleet is so interesting. One
shortcoming of Western research on the revolution until recently has been
an emphasis on the centre, on the leadership of the government and of the
political parties, on the mechanics of the power struggle in the capital.
Little attention has been paid to the 'grass roots', and the revolution will
only be properly understood when local studies are available. This book,
then, looks at developments not only at the centre, but also in a 'provincial'
area. The Baltic Fleet cannot serve as a microcosm of the Russian
Revolution; no area of Russian life could be taken as typical, and in some
respects the fleet was quite atypical. But some insights may be provided
here into the revolutionary process as a whole.
Part of this process was a general politicisation, and here the book is
concerned with all the parties which were active locally, not just with the
Bolshevik victors. It also studies another neglected area, the attempted
democratisation of life, the transfer of administrative power from the ex
tsarist authorities to-for want of a better term-the masses; in the fleet this
transfer took the form of the replacement of the officer corps by elected
committees. Finally, to assess the effect of this transfer, there is an
examination of the 'conventional' military operations of the fleet. This last
point is of more than incidental importance, as the ships, mines, and shore
batteries of the Baltic Fleet were vital to the defence of the Russian capital.
The book ends not in October 1917 but in April 1918. This is partly
because the real end of the 'pre-Soviet' Baltic Fleet came only at the later
date, when the fleet was evacuated from its Finnish bases and almost
completely demobilised. In addition, the Bolshevik Revolution created, in