Kornilov should have won...."
On the extreme right the organs of the scarcely-veiled Monarchists,
Purishkevitch's _Narodny Tribun_ (People's Tribune), _Novaya Rus_
(New Russia), and _Zhivoye Slovo_ (Living Word), openly advocated
the extermination of the revolutionary democracy....
On the 23rd of October occurred the naval battle with a German
squadron in the Gulf of Riga. On the pretext that Petrograd was in
danger, the Provisional Government drew up plans for evacuating the
capital. First the great munitions works were to go, distributed
widely throughout Russia; and then the Government itself was to move
to Moscow. Instantly the Bolsheviki began to cry out that the
Government was abandoning the Red Capital in order to weaken the
Revolution. Riga had been sold to the Germans; now Petrograd was
being betrayed!
The bourgeois press was joyful. "At Moscow," said the Cadet paper
_Ryetch_ (Speech), "the Government can pursue its work in a tranquil
atmosphere, without being interfered with by anarchists." Rodzianko,
leader of the right wing of the Cadet party, declared in _Utro
Rossii_ (The Morning of Russia) that the taking of Petrograd by the
Germans would be a blessing, because it would destroy the Soviets
and get rid of the revolutionary Baltic Fleet:
Petrograd is in danger (he wrote). I say to myself, "Let God take
care of Petrograd." They fear that if Petrograd is lost the central
revolutionary organisations will be destroyed.
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