The Officers’ Congress in Petrograd, at which about 700 delegates were gathered (May 18-26), passed off in a totally different manner. It split into two sharply-divided camps: the Officers and officials of the Rear who had given themselves to politics and a smaller number of real officers of the Line who had become delegates through a misunderstanding of the matter. The Executive Committee drew up their programme in strict agreement with the custom of the Soviet Congresses: (1) The attitude of the Congress towards the Provisional Government and the Soviet; (2) the War; (3) the Constituent Assembly; (4) the labour question; (5) the land question; and (6) the reorganisation of the Army on Democratic principles. An exaggerated importance was attached to the Congress in Petrograd, and at its opening pompous speeches were made by many members of the Government and by foreign representatives; the Congress was even greeted in the name of the Soviet by Nahamkes. The very first day revealed the irreconcilable differences between the two groups. These differences were inevitable, if only because, even on such a cardinal question as “Order No. 1.,” the Vice-Chairman of the Congress, Captain Brzozek, expressed the view that “its issue was dictated by historical necessity: the soldier was downtrodden, and it was imperatively necessary to free him.” This declaration was greeted with prolonged applause by part of the delegates!
After a series of stormy meetings, a resolution was passed by a majority of 265 against 246, which stated that “the Revolutionary power of the country was in the hands of the organised peasants, workmen and soldiers, who form the predominating mass of the population,” and that therefore the Government must be responsible to the All-Russia Soviet!
Even the resolution advocating an advance was passed by a majority of little more than two-thirds of those who cast their votes.
The attitude of the Petrograd Congress is to be explained by the declaration made on May 26th by that group, which, reflecting the real opinion of the Front, took the point of view of “all possible support to the Provisional Government.” “In summoning the Congress the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Council of Officers’ Delegates did not seek for the solution of the most essential problem of the moment—the regeneration of the Army—since the question of the fighting capacity of the Army and of the measures for raising its level was not even mentioned in the programme, and was included only at our request. If we are to believe the statement—strange, to say no more—made by the Chairman, Lieutenant-Colonel Goushchin, the object of the summoning of the Congress was the desire of the Executive Committee to pass under our flag into the Council of Workmen’s and Soldiers’ Delegates.” This declaration led to a series of serious incidents; three-quarters of the delegates left the meeting and the Congress came to an end.
I have mentioned the question of the Petrograd Officers’ Council and Congress only in order to show the spirit of a certain section of the officers of the Rear, which was in frequent contact with the official and unofficial rulers, and represented, in the eyes of the latter, the “voice of the Army.”
The Moghilev Congress, which attracted the unflagging attention of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, and was much favoured by him, closed on May 22nd. At this time General Alexeiev had already been relieved of the command of the Russian Army. So deeply had this episode affected him that he was unable to attend the last meeting. I bade farewell to the Congress in the following words:
“The Supreme Commander-in-Chief, who is leaving his post, has commissioned me, gentlemen, to convey to you his sincere greetings, and to say that his heart, that of an old soldier, beats in unison with yours, that it aches with the same pain, and lives with the same hope for the regeneration of the disrupted, but ever great, Russian Army.
“Let me add a few words from myself.
“You have gathered here from the distant blood-bespattered marches of our land, and laid before us your quenchless sorrow and your soul-felt grief.
“You have unrolled before us a vivid and painful picture of the life and work of the officers amidst the raging sea of the Army.