... Each
hour of delay may cost the life of thousands of soldiers. The
counter-revolutionary functionaries are the most dishonest criminals
toward their hungry and dying brethren on the Front....
The MILITARY REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE GIVES THESE CRIMINALS A LAST
WARNING. In event of the least resistance or opposition on their
part, the harshness of the measures which will be adopted against
them will correspond to the seriousness of their crime....
------------------+----------+
The masses of workers and soldiers responded by a savage tremor of
rage, which swept all Russia. In the capital the Government and bank
employees got out hundreds of proclamations and appeals (See App.
XI, Sect. 14), protesting, defending themselves, such as this one:
TO THE ATTENTION OF ALL CITIZENS.
THE STATE BANK IS CLOSED!
WHY?
Because the violence exercised by the Bolsheviki against the State
Bank has made it impossible for us to work. The first act of the
People's Commissars was to DEMAND TEN MILLION RUBLES, and on
November 27th THEY DEMANDED TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS, without any
indication as to where this money was to go.
... We functionaries cannot take part in plundering the people's
property. We stopped work.
CITIZENS! The money in the State Bank is yours, the people's money,
acquired by your labour, your sweat and blood. CITIZENS! Save the
people's property from robbery, and us from violence, and we shall
immediately resume work.
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