Chapter 131 The Beginning of the Revolution

On February 23 of the Russian calendar and March 8 of the Gregorian calendar in 1917, the weather in Petrograd was sunny. The severe cold and wind and snow for several weeks recededed slightly, and the temperature reached five degrees above zero. A group of female textile workers who waited in line outside the bakery for several hours could no longer stand the anger in their hearts. When these female textile workers heard that the bread in the store was gone, they immediately burst into unprecedented anger. The angry women rushed into the bakery and robbed the few remaining bread, while more people were spontaneous. A demonstration was organized.

In just an hour or two after these textile women launched a parade, thousands of male and female workers quickly gathered in the city. They shouted, "I want bread!" I want peace!" Cross the Neva Bridge to the Municipal Council to fight for food and vent resentment.

Bread became the fuse of the Russian Revolution in 1917. Women have become the vanguard of igniting the revolutionary fuse. A revolution that everyone had expected broke out in the most unexpected way!

In the morning, in the face of thousands of workers demonstrating, the police in Petrograd could still control the situation. However, in the afternoon, tens of thousands of women who had been in the midst of hunger and cold for a long time, exclusion of waiting, and insufficient bread supply took to the streets. In response to this situation, the revolutionaries in Petrograd immediately began to hold mass meetings in some large factories and led the workers to sing revolutionary songs of 1905. There was a parade on the street. During the demonstration, except for a few bakeries in the city, they were robbed. But on the whole, the day was spent peacefully.

"Revolution is brewing!"

When the parades with red flags and singing the revolutionary songs of the last revolution passed by the Chinese Embassy in Russia, Liu Jingren of the Russian Embassy immediately sent such a telegram to China. In fact, the same telegrams were sent from the embassies in Russia. At this time, any diplomatic official paid attention to it. The domestic situation in Russia has changed dramatically.

"Now Russia is losing control!"

When he said this to Counselor Wei Li'an around him, another question came to Liu Jingren's mind, how to ensure the safety of China's investment in Russia and aid to Russia in this turmoil.

"Prepare the car, I'm going to visit the headquarters of the East Asian Expeditionary Force!"

Perhaps, there can also provide some protection there!

The next day was Friday. The political axe cabinet held a regular cabinet meeting in the Maria Palace as usual. At the meeting, the cabinet members continued to discuss the issue of war and the supply of supplies, especially bread and fuel in the city. Naturally, they talked about the march in Petrograd, but everyone knew that if they wanted to To solve the parade, we must solve the problem of bread, but there is no agreement on how to solve the problem of bread.

It was not until after the meeting that the cabinet ministers were shocked to find that they could no longer go home. All the main streets of Petrograd have been blocked by demonstrators, with 200,000 demonstrators. In this situation, cabinet dignitaries almost immediately thought of the Cossack cavalry to maintain the order of the Prime Minister with the help of this army loyal to the Tsar.

The authorities immediately sent Cossack cavalry to maintain order. The workers gathered from the Viborg district and headed for the city center. The demonstration team met the Cossack cavalry in a narrow place. Facing the workers in the parade, the officers first rushed into the masses with a straight face and rode the way. The cavalry behind them carefully followed the passage opened by the officers and passed in a column. This is not a regular practice to disperse the crowd! The demonstrators saw some Cossack cavalry still smiling, and some winking kindly at the workers.

This discovery shocked everyone.

The Cossack cavalry, who had always been the leader in suppressing demonstrations, did not wave whips at them! The Cossack cavalry, who have always been loyal to the tsar, also understand the emotions of the people! In fact, after three years of war, even these belligerent Cossacks are tired of endless wars, and of course, they are even more tired of never tasting the fruits of victory.

The change of the Cossacks only strengthened the confidence of the demonstrators to communicate with them and strengthen their steps more bravely. Similarly, the courage of a few soldiers also infected the Cossacks, and the blinkers found the imitators. No matter how the officers scolded, the Cossack cavalry did not disperse the crowd. The people shouted kindly to them, and they smiled kindly. Some Cossack cavalry also answered the workers' questions and communicated with the workers. The boundary between the oppressors and the oppressed has been broken. In the face of this situation, the Cossack cavalry officers could only give up the idea of dispersing the people and order the Cossacks to cross the streets with horse troops and prevent the demonstrators from going to the city center. The Cossack cavalry were ordered to stand in a horizontal line, but they did not prevent the workers from drilling under the horse's belly.

On this day, there were continuous wait-and-see citizens and staff integrated into the demonstration team. They rushed through the obstacles in various ways, and tens of thousands of people rushed into Lijieyin Street. On Vasiliev Island, college students unite with workers. The masses demonstrated in Kazan Bridge, Neva Street, Suvorov Street, Lijieyin Street and Znamensky Square. The demonstrators robbed the tram driver's key to prevent the tram from driving. The streets were scattered with messy roadblocks. Some shops in the natural rich area were beaten, smashed and robbed by the so-called "revolutionary masses". After the demonstration broke out, in the face of the revolutionaries who rushed to the door to "demand them to support the revolution", for fear that the small owners of the shops would be attacked, they could only put red flags in front of the door as required by the revolutionaries, and then provide free food and drinks to those who participated in the demonstration to avoid being beaten and robbed by the revolutionary masses.

The Tsar, who learned about the situation in the capital, stylizedly issued an edict to General Habalov, the commander of the Petrograd garrison, to calm the chaos as soon as possible, which was only a small part of his full-day work. On this day, he was awarded the "Crusader" medal of Belgium, but he was not happy. Alexandra sent a telegram from the Imperial Village that her son and two daughters had measles. His heart is also attached to the sick children like the queen.

After receiving the order of the Tsar, General Khabarov issued a notice warning the public not to go to the streets in recent days. Social order must be restored. Otherwise, the political axe can only be forced to use force to restore the order of the Prime Minister. Khabarov believes that the suppression of force has a deterrent effect on the Russian people. He has seen too many protests. He has rich experience in suppressing popular movements. In fact, in 1905, he fully demonstrated his ability to suppress popular uprisings and demonstrations.

Based on past experience, on March 8, he only mobilized the police in the capital. After the police transfer was ineffective, he was able to transfer the cavalry to the street on March 9th the next day. In a situation where the prospects of this war are chaotic and uncertain, and there are endless domestic contradictions, it is indeed a matter of time to use force and how much force to suppress the popular movement. For General Khabarov, the decision he can make depends on the development of the situation.

And the political axe's two-day attitude of watching the change objectively stimulated the revolutionary impulse of the people. In this case, the capital immediately lost order, but life continued. Lemontov's work "The Masked Ball" directed by Meyerhod, a dramatist who is as famous as Stanislavski, will be presented to the public in Petrograd after five years of preparation. The premiere was on March 10th, and the streets were full of advertisements for the Masked Ball. On the night after the last rehearsal, the actors found an unforgettable scene: "There were bonfires burning everywhere on the streets and squares, and the workers sat around the bonfire - there were no police!"

Until late at night, there were still people demonstrating on Neva Street. Those revolutionaries who had been active underground took to the streets one after another and made impassioned speeches to the masses.

On March 10, the people's movement continued to rise in the city. Even workers from small and medium-sized enterprises joined the parade. The number of people in the procession and demonstration reached 300,000. Under the planning and leadership of the revolutionaries, there was continuous movement in the city, and the people's mood was also getting higher and higher. The demonstrators typed "Russian Social Labor Party" and "Down with the war!" The red flag with the words.

The Social Labor Party is a political party based on the urban working class and lower-class citizens to realize the dictatorship of the proletariat. Their idea was to overthrow the [***] system with revolution, and the leader of the last revolution was the Social Labor Party. At this time, for the workers, they choose to express their uncompromising attitude towards the "[***] system" with a fighting mood.

Khabarov's warning did not have any effect. The gathered crowd was forcibly dispersed by the police, and the demonstrators fought back with stones and ice. At the same time, in order to encourage the people, the revolutionaries mixed in the parade began to publicize that "the brothers promised not to shoot", and then the words spread among the demonstrators.

In fact, the Mucosaac cavalry became more and more sympathetic to the demonstrators. When the demonstrators clashed with the police and were driven away by the masses, the cavalry laughed like a joke. Even the demonstrators fled under the whip of the mounted police. He and several other workers fled to the Cossack cavalry and shouted:

"Brothers of Cossacks, help the workers fight for the demands of peace. You see how the French men (the nickname of the police) treat our hungry workers. Please help us!" The Cossacks looked at each other, and then raised their whips to divide the police and the people with war horses. Although their behavior was to stop large-scale bloodshed, no one expected that their actions condoned the demonstrations in the capital and even gave everyone an illusion that the Cossacks had begun to fall. Revolution!

Soon, the police in the capital were completely gone, leaving only the soldiers of the Petrograd grison. The workers panicked and asked these soldiers who had a relationship with them:

"Are you going to help the police?"

But the answer they got was just a rude "go away".

If you ask again, the result is still the same. In the face of this situation, under the planning of the social workers who walked underground, they selected the most beautiful women among the people, and then let them put on the most beautiful clothes. The women who knew the soldiers walked ahead, and then rushed into the soldiers' defense line, held the soldiers' guns in their hands, and prayed:

"Soldiers, take off your bayonets and stand with us."

In the face of these beautiful women, the soldiers wavered at this moment. They held the bayonets high above the heads of the masses, and the sentry line dispersed. The soldiers were surrounded by the crowds, full of arguments, accusations and requests. People's calmness has been fully stationed at this moment. When soldiers face far more people's demands than them, the only choice they can make is to follow the choice of the vast majority of people. Even those officers can't stop it. When some officers try to stop it, they are often asked by a group of strong workers. Surrounded by people, it seems that when he is begging, the officer will be beaten and stabbed by daggers by the workers, and then dragged to the river surrounded by the workers and thrown into the river or into the alley.

At this time, when the whole Petrograd was out of order, there was only one place in the city of Petrograd that was still order. In front of a palace-style courtyard on Pushkin Street, hundreds of Chinese soldiers with live ammunition occupied both ends of the street and pulled several snake-bellied barbed wire on the street. After the net, there are those Chinese soldiers wearing steel helmets and rifles. In the past few days, they have successfully stopped any marchers who try to enter here. According to the order they received, "use force if necessary", every time the demonstrators try to attack the street, the rifle head carries a bayonet with a scabbard. They will stab the demonstrators without hesitation, and the impact will be stopped in their screams.

"It seems that Russia has lost order!"

Looking through the glass window at the shouts and smashing and looting team from time to time on the streets outside the warning line, Xu Shuzheng, the chief of staff of the East Asian Expeditionary Force, shook his head and sighed.

"General, what I'm worried about now is the country's investment in Russia. We must ensure the safety of these investments..."

In the face of the request of the ambassador to Russia, Xu Shuzheng smiled bitterly, and then turned to look at Liu Jingren, who visited him again.

"What do you use to ensure? Ambassador Liu"

With a wry smile, Xu Shuzheng pointed to the door and said.

"Now, the only troops I can mobilize are the soldiers of this battalion..."

"General, what about the East Asian Expeditionary Force? I think we must get in touch with the Russian political axe as soon as possible. In view of the fact that the Cossacks and the Russian army have lost control, they have mobilized the expeditionary force into Petrograd to assist the Russian political axe to restore order here before the situation deteriorates further..."

Before Liu Jingren finished speaking, Xu Shuzheng took out a telegram and handed it to Liu Jingren.

"East Asian Expeditionary Force? See for yourself!"

"This..."

After receiving the telegram, Liu Jingren was shocked. How could it be like this? How could it be...

(to be continued)