When the Cossacks had retreated, and the first Red Guards entered the
town, witnesses reported that the priests had incited the people
against the Soviets, and had said prayers at the grave of Rasputin,
which lies behind the Imperial Palace. One of the priests, Father
Ivan Kutchurov, was arrested and shot by the infuriated Red Guards….
Just as the Red Guards entered the town the electric lights were shut
off, plunging the streets in complete darkness. The director of the
electric light plant, Lubovitch, was arrested by the Soviet troops
and asked why he had shut off the lights. He was found some time
later in the room where he had been imprisoned with a revolver in his
hand and a bullet hole in his temple.
The Petrograd anti-Bolshevik papers came out next day with headlines,
“Plekhanov’s temperature 39 degrees!” Plekhanov lived at Tsarskoye
Selo, where he was lying ill in bed. Red Guards arrived at the house
and searched it for arms, questioning the old man.
“What class of society do you belong to?” they asked him.
“I am a revolutionist,” answered Plekhanov, “who for forty years has
devoted his life to the struggle for liberty!”
“Anyway,” said a workman, “you have now sold yourself to the
bourgeoisie!”
The workers no longer knew Plekhanov, pioneer of the Russian Social
Democracy!
5.
APPEAL OF THE SOVIET GOVERNMENT
“The detachments at Gatchina, deceived by Kerensky, have laid down
their arms and decided to arrest Kerensky.
Pages:
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505