EVENTS OF THE 13TH IN PETROGRAD
Three regiments of the Petrograd garrison to take any part in the
battle against Kerensky. On the morning of the 13th they summoned to
a joint conference sixty delegates from the Front, in order to find
some way to stop the civil war. This conference appointed a committee
to go and persuade Kerensky’s troops to lay down their arms. They
proposed to ask the Government soldiers the following questions: (1)
Will the soldiers and Cossacks of Kerensky recognise the
_Tsay-ee-kah_ as the repository of Governmental power, responsible to
the Congress of Soviets? (2) Will the soldiers and Cossacks accept
the decrees of the second Congress of Soviets? (3) Will they accept
the Land and Peace decrees? (4) Will they agree to cease hostilities
and return to their units? (5) Will they consent to the arrest of
Kerensky, Krasnov and Savinkov?
At the meeting of the Petrograd Soviet, Zinoviev said, “It would be
foolish to think that this committee could finish affair. The enemy
can only be broken by force. However, it would be a crime for us not
to try every peaceful means to bring the Cossacks over to us…. What
we need is a military victory…. The news of an armistice is
premature. Our Staff will be ready to conclude an armistice when the
enemy can no longer do any harm….
“At present, the influence of our victory is creating new political
conditions….
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