The June demonstration, like the April demonstration, was the outcome of a spontaneous process. But by this time the Bolsheviks had gained a firm foothold among the workers of Petrograd. In June the Bolsheviks were able to direct the spontaneous and growing discontent into organised channels, which had not been the case in April. With the object of lending shape and depth to the movement, the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party appointed a peaceful demonstration to be held on June 10. The demonstration was to take place under the Bolshevik slogan: “All Power to the Soviets!” “Down with the Ten Capitalist Ministers!” “Workers’ Control of Industry!” and “Bread, Peace and Freedom!” The purpose of this peaceful demonstration was to make known to the Congress of Soviets the will of the workers and soldiers of Petrograd, who demanded that the entire power of the State should be transferred to the Soviets.
The masses were still further incensed by an order of the Provisional Government to evict the anarchists from a villa belonging to Durnovo, a former tsarist dignitary. This order added fuel to the flames. The anarchists occupied only a small part of the building; the greater part was occupied by Red Guards and trade unions. The workers of the Vyborg District, where Durnovo’s villa was situated, were stirred into action. They regarded the actions of the Provisional Government as a direct defence of the former Ministers, who distinguished themselves by their exceptional devotion to the autocratic régime. Indignation grew, spreading from district to district. The demonstration promised to become a gigantic protest against the compromisers who supported the Provisional Government; it promised to deprive them of every shred of confidence among the Petrograd proletariat if they did not adopt a firm revolutionary policy.
The leaders of the compromising parties got wind of the proposed demonstration and raised the cry that a Bolshevik conspiracy was afoot. They asserted at the Congress of Soviets that the counter-revolutionaries were planning to take advantage of the Bolshevik demonstration, and in this way they got the Congress to pass a resolution prohibiting demonstrations. Dire threats, even the threat of expulsion from the Soviets, were held out against the Bolsheviks should they dare to demonstrate in the streets.
But very soon the true motives for prohibiting the demonstration came to light. On June 11 a joint meeting was held of the Presidium of the Congress of Soviets, the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, the Executive Committee of the Soviet of Peasants’ Deputies and the bureau of all the fractions at the Congress. This meeting sat as a court of judgment on the Bolshevik Party. The Menshevik Dan, who headed a commission appointed to investigate the proposed demonstration, moved a resolution condemning the Bolsheviks:
“The attempt of the Bolshevik centres to take advantage of the discontent and excitement of the toiling masses, caused by the grave economic crisis, to organise a demonstration on June 9 with slogans demanding the overthrow of the Provisional Government and the seizure of power by the Soviets was a piece of political adventurism, the consequences of which would have been fully utilised by the counter-revolutionaries for their own benefit.”(1)
Dan again declared that the demonstration was prohibited because the counter-revolutionaries would endeavour to take advantage of the appearance of the workers and soldiers on the streets. But nobody cited any facts or evidence in support of this statement. They were all unanimous in declaring that the Bolsheviks were hatching a conspiracy behind the back of the Congress of Soviets and were preparing to resort to armed action.
The real reason the demonstration was prohibited was betrayed in his impetuosity by the Menshevik Tsereteli:
“Dan’s resolution will not do. This is not the sort of resolution that is required now. What has taken place is nothing but a conspiracy, a conspiracy for the overthrow of the government and the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks, who know that they will never obtain power in any other way. . . . Let the Bolsheviks not blame us if we now adopt other methods. Revolutionaries who cannot bear arms worthily should be deprived of their arms. The Bolsheviks must be disarmed. . . . Machine guns and rifles must not be left in their hands. We shall not tolerate conspiracies.”(2)
Tsereteli’s counter-revolutionary speech betrayed the utter inability of the petty-bourgeois parties to conduct an independent policy and their frank fear of the action of the revolutionary proletariat. Anger is a bad counsellor: in his irritation, Tsereteli blurted out the secret that the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks were preparing to hand over the entire power to the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie and to clear the way for a military dictatorship of the type of that of General Cavaignac’s dictatorship in France in 1848. Lenin wrote on this subject as follows:
“Not Tsereteli, not Chernov personally, and not even Kerensky are designed for the rôle of Cavaignac—other people will be found for this who at the proper moment will say to the Russian Louis Blancs, ‘Get out of the way!’—but the Tseretelis and Chernovs are leaders of a petty-bourgeois policy which renders the appearance of the Cavaignacs possible and essential. . . . For Cavaignac is not fortuitous—his ‘advent’ is not an isolated fact. Cavaignac is the representative of a class (the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie), the vehicle of its policy. And it is precisely this class, it is precisely this policy, which you now are already supporting, Messieurs the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks.”(3)
The decision forbidding the demonstration had been adopted by the Congress of the Soviets, which was considered the supreme organ of the Soviets. In view of this, the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party bowed to the decision of the Congress and cancelled the demonstration appointed for June 10. But it was difficult to carry out this decision, for the resolution forbidding the demonstration had been taken late on the eve of the appointed day. However, the Bolsheviks were able to prevent the masses from demonstrating in the streets. This was the first experience in a complex and difficult manœuvre, namely, calling a retreat at a time when the spontaneous discontent of the masses had reached the point of overflowing.
The Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks cancelled the Bolshevik demonstration, but they could not cancel the causes which drove the masses to action. Delegates to the Congress who visited factories and regiments everywhere observed the seething discontent of the workers and soldiers and their growing anger, which was ready to break out at any moment.
When the delegates related their impressions, the Congress of Soviets decided to appoint a demonstration on June 18 with the object of providing an outlet for the feelings of the masses and of endeavouring to get them to accept the slogans of the compromisers. Moreover, the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks wanted to measure swords with the Bolsheviks and were confident of gaining control of the demonstration.
There was a reason why June 18 was chosen as the day of the demonstration. The petty-bourgeois leaders knew that an offensive at the front was to begin that day. The demonstration of confidence in the Congress was also to serve as a manifestation of approval of the military offensive.
But the compromisers miscalculated. Nearly 500,000 workers and soldiers demonstrated in the streets on June 18. Columns bearing red banners and revolutionary placards moved towards the centre from all parts of the city. The overwhelming majority of the demonstrators marched under Bolshevik slogans. Only very rarely were placards to be seen expressing confidence in the Provisional Government. These were greeted by catcalls and laughter, and the small groups demonstrating their “confidence” tried to hurry by as quickly as possible.
The abominable slander that the Bolsheviks were hatching a plot was completely refuted by the demonstration. What conspiracy could there be when the entire revolutionary population of Petrograd had appeared in the street to demonstrate its will? It was perfectly plain where the population stood: small, huddled groups of demonstrators called for “confidence in the government,” while hundreds of thousands of workers supported the Bolshevik slogans.
Stalin has described this demonstration in the following words:
“A feature that struck the eye: not a single mill, not a single factory, not a single regiment displayed the slogan ‘Confidence in the Provisional Government!’ Even the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries forgot (or, rather, did not dare) to display this slogan. They had everything you please—’No split!’ ‘For Unity!’ ‘Support the Soviet!’ ‘Universal Education!’ (believe it, or not!)—but the chief thing was missing: there was no confidence in the Provisional Government, not even with the crafty reservation ‘to the extent that.’ Only three groups had the courage to display the slogan of confidence, but even they were obliged to regret it. These were a group of Cossacks, a ‘Bund’ group and Plekhanov’s ‘Unity’ group. ‘The Holy Trinity!’—the workers on the Field of Mars ironically called them. Two of them (the ‘Bund’ and the ‘Unity’) were compelled by the workers to furl their banners amidst cries of ‘Down with them!’ The Cossacks, who refused to furl their banner, had it torn to shreds. And one anonymous banner of ‘confidence’ stretched ‘in mid-air’ across the entrance to the Field of Mars was torn down by a group of soldiers and workers amid the approving comments of the public: ‘Confidence in the Provisional Government is hanging in mid-air.’”(4)
In brief, the general note of the demonstration was lack of confidence in the government on the part of the vast majority of the demonstrators, and an obvious fear to go against the current on the part of the Mensheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionaries.
The demonstration revealed that the influence of the Bolshevik Party had grown tremendously. Not only did the masses bear Bolshevik banners and support the Bolshevik slogans, but thousands of workers openly announced themselves as Bolsheviks.
The compromisers were unable to conceal their defeat.
The central organ of the Mensheviks stated that they had hoped to carry out a demonstration of confidence in the Soviets and the Provisional Government, but as a matter of fact
“the demonstration of June 18 was transformed into a demonstration of non-confidence in the Provisional Government. . . .
“In its external aspect, the demonstration of June 18 produced a dispiriting impression. It seemed as though revolutionary Petrograd had parted ways with the All-Russian Congress of Soviets. A few days ago . . . the Congress had expressed its confidence in the Provisional Government.
“On June 18 revolutionary Petrograd seemed to express its complete lack of confidence in this Provisional Government.”(5)
The collapse of the influence of the petty-bourgeois compromisers among the Petrograd proletariat was admitted by the entire bourgeois and Menshevik press.
They all spoke as though by common consent of the victory of the Bolsheviks—the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries with bitterness, the Cadets with alarm, and the Monarchists with malicious glee.
Novaya Zhizn, the Left Menshevik paper, summed up its observations in the following words:
“Sunday’s demonstration revealed the complete triumph of ‘Bolshevism’ among the Petrograd proletariat and the garrison.”(6)
But it was among the bourgeoisie that the demonstration evoked the greatest alarm.
[1] The Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies. Minutes of the Meetings of the Executive Committee and the Bureau of the Executive Committee, Moscow, 1925, p. 198.
[2] “A Historic Meeting,” Pravda, No. 80, June 13, 1917.
[3] Lenin, “The Class Origins of Present and Future Cavaignacs,” Collected Works, (Russ. ed.), Vol. XX, pp. 537-38.
[4] J. Stalin, “At the Demonstration,” The Road to October, 2nd ed., Moscow, 1925, pp. 53-54.
[5] N. Cherevanin, “Lessons of the Demonstration of June 18,” Rabochaya Gazeta, No. 85, June 20, 1917.
[6] “Sunday’s Demonstration,” Novaya Zhizn, No. 53, June 20, 1917.
Previous: The First All-Russian Congress of Soviets
Next: The Russian Military Offensive