16 de marzo de 1917: la historia de la Revolución Rusa
El periódico
británico The Guardian ha publicado hoy un extracto
de un artículo suyo publicado en 1917 sobre los inicios de la revolución rusa.
En Adarga Antigua Historia ofrezco este interesante artículo ya que es otro
medio de estudiar historia: artículos de prensa contemporánea a los hechos.
En este caso, publico el artículo en su idioma
original, pues como todos sabemos el inglés se está imponiendo como lengua
mundial, especialmente en el ámbito que aquí nos ocupa: la educación, a la que
las nuevas leyes están dotando de carácter bilingüe en los últimos tiempos.
From the archive, 16 March 1917: The story of
the Russian revolution.
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| Vladimir Ilyich Lenin addresses a huge crowd in Petrograd (St Petersburg) during the Russian Revolution, March 1917. Russian activist Leon Trotsky is on the right of the podium. Photograph: Getty Images |
Petrograd, Tuesday
The first duty of a British correspondent in these days of national upheaval is
to assure our compatriots that “Russia is all right” as a friend, ally, and
fighter. The fiery trials she is undergoing will only steel her heart and arms.
I have been day
and night in the streets for the last three days; I have seen long queues of
hungry men, women, and children at the bakers’, seen wanton firing with rifles
and machine-guns, seen civil war in the main thoroughfares: but I have not
heard a single word against the war.
The shortage of
food, the lack of organisation and the neglect of the most elementary
precautions are popularly ascribed to German influences. The word “provocation”
was on the lips. These influences the Russians are resolved to exterminate.
The killing of
Rasputin was the match which set fire to a vast heap of
patriotic determination. Russia would deserve well of her Allies. She would
give herself a chance.
The fire quickly
spread, and ran from class to class, from caste to caste, from the civilians to
the troops. It smouldered in Petrograd on Saturday, flamed up on Sunday, and
became a conflagration yesterday. This morning I heard that its purpose had
been achieved.
All the
regiments in Petrograd have declared for the Duma and the people, and the Naval
Barracks have been opened to enable the sailors to make common cause with the
rest.
A Weak Fusilade
I live next to the English Church behind the English Quay. Up to the early
hours of the morning bombs, guns, and the rattle of machine-guns and rifles
were heard from Vassily Ostrov, which is across the Neva. They were the
culminating salvoes of the national awakening.
Owing to the interruption
of the tram service and the want of droshkies it would have been difficult
personally to watch the successive events. Commander Locker-Lampson, however,
placed his motor-car at my disposal on Saturday, and I drove slowly along the
Nevsky Prospekt through crowds numbering tens of thousands, intermingled with
cavalry, Cossacks, and patrols of infantry with fixed bayonets. The motor-car
was driven by a soldier and was frequently stopped, but my explanation that I
and my companion were British invariably evoked cheers and the heartiest good
wishes.
Orders were
suddenly given to use rifles and machine-guns. There were only a certain number
of live cartridges in the belts of the machine-guns, but the crowds were so
dense that many fell. As regards the riflemen, either a large number of blank
cartridges were used or the shooting was intentionally bad.
The garden in
front of the Kazan Cathedral was packed when a large force of Cossacks came up.
All kneeled, and the Cossacks did not fire.
Guards Regiments
Come Over
Several of the
police, including a high official, were shot. The resentment of the people was
directed especially against the police, for it had become known that a
considerable proportion of the troops had already refused to fire. On Sunday some
of the police sent to assist the military fired on the people, to the great
indignation of the soldiery.
Sunday was a
repetition of Saturday on a more extensive scale in various quarters of the
town.
On Sunday night
a secret meeting of the Duma was convened for Monday. The majority of the
members had reached the Tauride Palace on foot.
The first thing
in the morning several Guards regiments declared for the people, and some
officers were killed. The Litovsky Regiment refused to fire, and the Volynsky, Pavlovsky,
Preobrazhensky, Simeonoffsky, Keksholmsky, and other Guards, altogether 25,000
men, joined their comrades with their arms.
The arsenal, the
artillery headquarters, was taken and the commandant killed.
Colonel Knox,
the British Military Attache, who was at the arsenal at the time, was escorted
to the British Embassy by a guard.
The fortress of
St. Peter and St. Paul was also entered, and the prison was opened. The
fortress is now the headquarters of the revolutionary forces. There are
thousands of soldiers in the streets leading to the Duma, fraternising with the
people.
Revenge on the
Police
Tuesday evening
All the military and naval forces in Petrograd have now declared themselves on
the side of the people, and troops from Kronstadt have arrived and joined their
comrades, but so far they are not accompanied by many of their officers. The
streets are now perfectly safe, although people with weak nerves are
occasionally startled by exuberant firing in the air.
There has been a
wholesale demolishing and burning of police stations in revenge for police in
soldiers’ uniforms having manned machine-guns on the roofs of buildings such as
the Imperial Marie Theatre and the Hotel Astoria, besides police stations and
private houses, from which they also dropped grenades on the people.
Machine-gun fire
was opened on the Naval Brigade from the roof of the Hotel Astoria, which since
the war has been transformed into an hotel for officers, including British
officers and other foreigners. The naval men retaliated with a sharp fusilade,
broke into the hotel, arrested most of the Russian officers there, numbering
some 200, and took them to the Duma. The foreigners in the hotel were treated
with the greatest courtesy, and were transferred to quarters elsewhere.
Small mercy was
shown to the police, who are believed to have been responsible for most of the
casualties among the civilians. These, so far as can at present be judged,
amount to a few hundred, the great majority being wounded. A military police force is now being organised.
Joyous Thanksgiving
A walk through the chief streets between eleven and one showed that there was
everywhere the greatest animation. There were ceaseless outbursts of cheering.
Sailors and Sisters of Mercy were especially popular. The sisters cheered back
and threw kisses. It was a beautiful early spring day, which seemed to reflect
the political hour and the mood of the populace. A feeling of the deepest
thanksgiving for what has been accomplished with so little bloodshed fills all
patriotic hearts.
Without a great
change it was doubtful whether Russia could have finished her bit. She is
determined to win with a determination which Germans will soon realise, and
will remember and rue for long years to come. With
a mighty effort Russia has burst her bonds.
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