CHAPTER XXIV
LEGISLATION BY DECREES
So far, as already recorded, the Constituent Assembly had proved a fiasco; it could not gather together a quorum. Therefore the Lenine-Trotzky Cabinet really represented all the authority there was. Nor did they hesitate to exercise this power to promulgate certain laws which were in accordance with their program, or principles.
One of the first of these which they proclaimed, on November 26, 1917, was the abolition of all class titles, distinctions, or privileges; like the French revolution, every individual was resolved into the simple "citizen," whatever his position. The corporate properties of the nobles, large merchants and other "capitalists" were confiscated by the state.
On December 17, 1917, a similar decree was proclaimed against the church. This institution in Russia, it must be admitted, had played a sinister part in Russian politics in the earlier days of the czars and had been, if that were possible, more reactionary and despotic than the military or civil authorities. Now, according to the decree, the properties of the church, in land, money, and other treasure, was completely confiscated and its jurisdiction over the schools was ended.
Perhaps the most radical decree was that which was promulgated on December 16, 1917, in regard to army organization.
Henceforward all officers were to be elected by their men, and those which were not reelected automatically were degraded to the rank of privates, with corresponding pay. Nor did such officers have the relief of resignation, for, having become privates, they were now subject to the penalties for desertion during war time. In a sense this was only a natural reaction, for nowhere, perhaps not even in Germany, were the caste lines drawn so sharply between officers and private. In the days of the autocracy no soldier could hope to become an officer, for it was the law that officers must be of noble birth; they must be members of the aristocratic families. The natural result was that the common soldier was regarded as a degraded creature and his officers treated him as such. Now came the opportunity for revenge, and the reports of correspondents seem to indicate that this was taken full advantage of. Colonels exchanged places with their orderlies; captains and majors were forced to clean out the stables. And in not a few cases violence and lynch law were applied to officers who had been, in former days, hard taskmakers.
Meanwhile, throughout the passing days, there were continuous reports of passive resistance against the authority of the new government. It was especially among the employees of the administrative departments of the Government machinery that this resistance arose in the form of strikes. The officials of the state banks especially proved recalcitrant and refused to surrender Government moneys. Parties of drunken soldiers also created disorders, it was reported, breaking into wine shops and helping themselves to the merchandise. But when all these minor events are viewed in the retrospect of a month or two, summed up, it is remarkable how little disorder there really has been in Petrograd, comparatively speaking. Conditions certainly in no way approached those existing in France, or Paris, during the French Revolution.
It was in the Ukraine, not yet in the hands of the Bolsheviki, that disorder reigned, though they were, apparently, responsible for it in that they made efforts to gain control. In Odessa, during a few days around December 16, 1917, something very closely approaching a violent revolution broke out. Here the Rada had apparently established the capital of the republic. The Bolshevist element among the troops made a determined attack on the arsenal, where the Rada was in session. The officials of the Rada summoned loyal troops by telephone and a pitched battle ensued in the streets. Then the sailors from the Black Sea were summoned, but on arriving on the scene part of them went over to the Bolsheviki. The fighting spread from the arsenal, where the loyal troops had taken up a strong position, the Bolsheviki getting possession of the Municipal Theater, close at hand. Here some fierce hand-to-hand encounters took place, the theater building changing hands several times. Finally the Bolsheviki gained full possession of the water front, the shipping district, whereupon this section of the city was bombarded by the loyal artillery. The final outcome of the fighting was not reported, but apparently the Bolsheviki were suppressed, for the time being.
But this did not immediately concern the Petrograd Government. Under the direct supervision of Lenine and Trotzky vast quantities of Socialist literature were being published in German for the purpose of distribution along the front. Of one pamphlet it was said that a hundred thousand copies were carried to the German lines and distributed in one day. Special newspapers, printed in German, were issued for the sole purpose of propaganda among the German soldiers. According to the account of a prominent Belgian Socialist, who visited Russia, hoping as many Socialists had in other countries of the world that their principles were to receive a fair trial in the new Russia, the Bolshevik propaganda in German was hardly calculated to make converts among intelligent people, for it was written in schoolboy language, with trivial arguments. Meantime, German propaganda in Russia was couched in irreproachable Russian and calculated to appeal to the educated and the unlettered alike.