The Government's plan was to
replace the garrison regiments with "dependable" troops-Cossacks,
Death Battalions. The Army Committees, the "moderate" Socialists and
the _Tsay-ee-kah_ supported the Government. A wide-spread agitation
was carried on at the Front and in Petrograd, emphasizing the fact
that for eight months the Petrograd garrison had been leading an easy
life in the barracks of the capital, while their exhausted comrades
in the trenches starved and died.
Naturally there was some truth in the accusation that the garrison
regiments were reluctant to exchange their comparative comfort for
the hardships of a winter campaign. But there were other reasons why
they refused to go. The Petrograd Soviet feared the Government's
intentions, and from the Front came hundreds of delegates, chosen by
the common soldiers, crying, "It is true we need reinforcements, but
more important, we must know that Petrograd and the Revolution are
well-guarded.... Do you hold the rear, comrades, and we will hold the
front!"
On October 25th, behind closed doors, the Central Committee of the
Petrograd Soviet discussed the formation of a special Military
Committee to decide the whole question. The next day a meeting of the
Soldiers' Section of the Petrograd Soviet elected a Committee, which
immediately proclaimed a boycott of the bourgeois newspapers, and
condemned the _Tsay-ee-kah_ for opposing the Congress of Soviets.
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