...
For two days now the Bolsheviki had been in control of the city. The
frightened citizens were creeping out of their cellars to seek their
dead; the barricades in the streets were being removed. Instead of
diminishing, however, the stories of destruction in Moscow continued
to grow.... And it was under the influence of these fearful reports
that we decided to go there.
Petrograd, after all, in spite of being for a century the seat of
Government, is still an artificial city. Moscow is real Russia,
Russia as it was and will be; in Moscow we would get the true feeling
of the Russian people about the Revolution. Life was more intense
there.
For the past week the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee,
aided by the rank and file of the Railway Workers, had seized control
of the Nicolai Railroad, and hurled trainload after trainload of
sailors and Red Guards southwest.... We were provided with passes from
Smolny, without which no one could leave the capital.... When the train
backed into the station, a mob of shabby soldiers, all carrying huge
sacks of eatables, stormed the doors, smashed the windows, and poured
into all the compartments, filling up the aisles and even climbing
onto the roof. Three of us managed to wedge our way into a
compartment, but almost immediately about twenty soldiers entered....
There was room for only four people; we argued, expostulated, and the
conductor joined us-but the soldiers merely laughed.
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