Sat[urday] 24 IX 7 X
Mon[day] 25 » 8 »
Tues[day] 26 » 9 »
Wed[nesday] 27 » 10 »

a.

EXTRACTS FROM FOREIGN NEWSPAPERS ABOUT EVENTS IN MOSCOW.¹

Temps. Sun[day] 8 X (25 IX) (?)*
Saturday 24 IX (7 X).

Yesterday evening in Moscow there were large demonstrations of typesetters, in which workers of other trades, students and outsiders also participated. Cossacks and gendarmes dispersed the demonstrators several times, but they gathered again. Many police wounded.
Printing houses, electric trams and tobacco factories are not working. Newspapers are not coming out. A general strike of all factory and railway workers is expected.

Temps 9 X (26 IX).

New disorders occurred in Moscow on 8 X (25 IX — Sunday). Starting at 11 a.m. a crowd began to gather on Strastnoy Boulevard.
The number of wounded demonstrators is unknown. Up to 50 police wounded. Many soldiers wounded and bruised by stones. The crowd sang the Marseillaise.
Many printing houses, including the printing house of Russkoye Slovo, were attacked by strikers and suffered serious damage (dégâts).

¹ At the beginning of the manuscript Lenin was calculating which day of the week fell on which date, and mistakenly omitted Sunday, which caused his doubt, expressed a line below, whether the newspaper was correct in stating that 25 September fell on a Sunday. Ed.

Temps 10 X (27 IX Tuesday).

The day of 8 X (25 IX, Sunday) was even more turbulent than the previous ones. The crowd of strikers, attacked by dragoons on Tverskoy Boulevard, spread (s'est répandue) along the left bank of the Moscow River, where the main printing houses are located. It wrecked those printing houses whose workers refused to strike. The Cossacks managed to disperse the crowd only after stubborn resistance.

At the same time, a gathering of about 400 bakery journeymen in front of Filippov's shop, near the Governor-General's house, led to a regular siege and a scuffle (bagarre). Cossacks fired at the roof. They surrounded the house, while a police detachment and two companies of grenadiers made a flanking movement, entered the house from the rear and finally occupied the roof as well. 192 bakery journeymen arrested. Eight arrested workers wounded, two killed.

These bloody events again place on the order of the day the question of quartering Cossack troops in Moscow. The 34th Don Cossack Regiment is temporarily quartered in Moscow; but the City Duma seems inclined to give them quarters also for the future, thanks to a strong (? virulent) speech by Mr. Shchepkin (? Shmakov?). Russkiye Vedomosti asserts that the existence of the 34th Don Cossack Regiment is illegal; it must be disbanded due to the end of the war, and the city of Moscow should not (ne doit pas) give it quarters.

The events in Moscow find a great echo in St. Petersburg. This is evidenced by the following dispatch sent this morning by our special correspondent:

"The absence of Moscow newspapers, which are not appearing due to the typesetters' strike, gives free rein (donne beau jeu) to the St. Petersburg press, which indulges in pathetic descriptions of what happened on Tverskoy Boulevard. The censorship does not forbid this. (La censure laisse faire.)

"A state of siege has existed in Moscow for several months. That is the only reason it was not introduced yesterday. Strikes are feared in St. Petersburg. The workers, it is said, are well armed. Students hold noisy meetings and decide to support the agitation until the government grants the two freedoms (les deux libertés).

Times. Monday 9 X. From a Correspondent.
St. Petersburg. 8 X.

Startling news of insurrection and bloodshed in Moscow causes great anxiety here. It is feared that the unrest will spread to St. Petersburg and that we may witness a repetition of the events of a year ago. Several hundred Moscow students arrived today, ostensibly to take part in the funeral of Kondratenko, which caused a large popular demonstration at the station from where the body was sent to the Lavra for burial. But the students undoubtedly have other aims, namely: to support the disorders.

The closure of Moscow University will probably lead to the same measure in St. Petersburg. Then the whole mass of students will try to hold meetings where the police will find it difficult to prevent them—notably in theatres and railway stations. Following political propaganda, working-class unrest can be expected, and the approach of winter, bringing hardship to the poor population of St. Petersburg, will dispose many of the population to participate in the disorders. Everyone admits that the closure of Moscow University was a great mistake, for which the local authorities are to blame. They threatened to send Cossacks to clear the buildings if political meetings were held in them. The Council of Professors, fearing a repetition of the massacre in the Tiflis City Duma, found it necessary to close the University. The authorities say that students must not hold meetings. Technically they are right, but in the present state of Russia superhuman restraint would be required on the part of the students not to use their newly-won freedom for political meetings. The S.-D.s and S.-R.s naturally took advantage of the convenient opportunity to speak at meetings, ventilate their views, and invite students to work together in support of the workers' unrest. But if the authorities had not interfered in university affairs, these deplorable disorders would probably not have taken place.

"I am informed that the St. Petersburg workers are well armed with weapons and bombs. The police have recently discovered large depots. The government needs the greatest moderation and coolness to avoid bloodshed.

Moscow. 7 X.

During the demonstration which took place here yesterday evening in connection with the typesetters' strike, the crowd threw stones and fired revolvers at the gendarmes and troops. An officer commanding the gendarmes was seriously wounded. A Cossack officer was trampled to death; one gendarme and one student were killed. Many wounded, including gendarmes, soldiers, citizens.

Fr[an]k[f]urter Z[e]i[t]u[n]g 9 X (Monday) Evening Edition.
Editorial note. "If the Moscow students have indeed adopted the resolution we reported yesterday, it is not surprising that the rector and council decided to close the University. This testifies to political immaturity, if purely political questions are mixed with purely academic ones as was done in the resolution." The conduct of those Russian students who hold political meetings in the university building is all the more reprehensible because the majority of those attending the meetings are not students"... etc. utter banality about science etc.¹

Z. A. Correspondence from St. Petersburg dated 6 X. Moscow University closed for participation of non-students in meetings.... The government made a "Greek gift" by granting partial academic freedom, for everyone knew that it would lead to a rift (Zerwürfniss) between students and professors. If this was the aim, it has been achieved.

Telegram from St. Petersburg 9 X. Rus reports that yesterday on Tverskaya 8 bakers were killed, 2 wounded. 1 policeman, 1 precinct officer and 1 Cossack killed. Many wounded (including 1 professor). The main streets and squares are occupied by police, two regiments of grenadiers, a squadron of dragoons and 8 Cossack hundreds.

Moscow. 9 X. (St. Petersburg Telegraph Agency). "The bakers' strike has become general today."

Fr[a]nkf[urter] Z[e]i[t]u[n]g 8 X. 1. Morning Edition.
Moscow. 7 X (W. B.). Yesterday evening demonstrators fired revolvers at dragoon patrols and wounded two. Around midnight the demonstrators were dispersed in two places by troops using drawn (blank) weapons. Several people wounded.— Bakers have begun a strike. White bread supplies for two days.

Moscow. 7 X. (St. Petersburg Telegraph Agency). From 11 a.m. gatherings on Strastnaya Square. Many locksmiths (Strassenbahnschlosser) participate, who have put many trams out of order. In some factories workers stopped work.

Fr[a]nkf[urter] Z[e]i[t]u[n]g 8 X. 2. Morning Edition.

From Russ[ische] Korr[espondenz] resolution of Moscow students fully in the spirit of the St. Petersburg one, with merciless condemnation of autocracy, its policy of beatings, persecution etc. The State Duma declared a "brazen mockery" of Russia and especially of the proletariat. Demand for a democratic republic. Convening of a Popular Constituent Assembly (all 21 years of age without distinction of sex). Revolution declared the only path. Participation in the State Duma declared treason. It was decided to open the University to transform higher education into a revolutionary tribune. Call for the overthrow of tsarist autocracy, for the convening by a provisional revolutionary government of a popular constituent assembly.

---

Monday 9 X (26 IX)—crowds of workers with red flags. Strike continues. Newspapers not appearing.

Tuesday 10 X (27 IX)—"Telegraph Bureau surrounded by a company of soldiers." Kazan University closed.

---

Trib[une] (and Le Matin 10 X).

"St. Petersburg 9 X. Official dispatches assert that there were no serious events in Moscow on Monday. But St. Petersburg newspapers received tragic information by telephone, of the following content:

"Today, Monday, there were large disturbances (bagarres) with a crowd gathered in front of the Governor-General's house. Cossacks fired two volleys. 10 people killed, including 2 police. Many wounded. When the Cossacks dismounted to fire, their horses bolted (emballés?) and crushed many people. Towards evening a crowd of workers with red banners, shouting, began to loot bakeries and gunsmiths' shops. It rushed along the boulevards and caused much damage. Finally the crowd was dispersed by police. Many wounded. The strike of tram employees, typesetters and bakers continues. The districts where the disorders occurred are occupied by military force. Newspapers are not appearing." (Havas)

Trib[une].

St. Petersburg 10 X. Many people are arriving from Moscow, mainly students. Proclamations are being distributed in factories calling for a demonstration next Saturday. Agitation for a strike among bakers in St. Petersburg is underway.

L'indép[endant] Belge devotes a few lines in its editorial to the events in Moscow. Notes a telling detail: the janitors swept up the blood!! If revolution seizes Moscow, it has triumphed in Russia.

V[o]rw[ärts] 10 X.

Private reports speak of the insane cruelty of the Cossacks. On Tverskoy Boulevard it came to a real battle between the troops and the striking workers. About 10,000 strikers fought against a battalion of infantry. The troops fired several volleys, first in the air, then into the crowd. Many killed, including women and children. Even more seriously wounded. Ambulance wagons (Ambulanzwagen) are seen everywhere carrying the wounded to hospitals. The number of killed is estimated at approximately 50, the number of wounded at 600. Several hundred people arrested.

Those arrested during the clash between soldiers and workers were taken to the parade ground of a military barracks. There 50 soldiers were drawn up in two ranks. The workers were driven back and forth with whips between these ranks, while the soldiers beat them with rifle butts. Several hundred spectators applauded and by their approval incited the soldiers to further atrocities. Many workers were thus killed or seriously wounded.

The Times of 10 X Tuesday (27 IX) reported that "Order was restored yesterday in Moscow" (p. 9) — in a brief summary. The correspondence from St. Petersburg dated 9 X states:
"Today there are signs that the situation in Moscow has passed the critical period. An agreement is expected between the typesetters and tram employees and their employers, and if the strike ends, the worst will be over. The local newspapers are allowed to print long and detailed accounts of yesterday's events. They give many harrowing details of the atrocities committed by the Cossacks. These accounts show, however, that the troops made little use of firearms, despite frequent revolver shots from the crowd. Evidently the authorities showed a praiseworthy desire to avoid bloodshed. I am informed from a reliable source that not a single person was killed yesterday, although many were wounded."

A meeting at Przhevalsky's, where Gorky wanted to read "Children of the Sun", was forbidden. About 200 tickets at 25 rubles each had been sold for the benefit of the starving.

RATEL.

"Interesting light on the situation in Moscow is shed by a statement communicated to me by a prominent member of the reformist party who has just arrived from there. According to his reports, neither students nor revolutionaries are leading the mob, which consists mainly of hooligans, street arabs (arabs), apprentices, tailors, and old women with a small number of workers and an even smaller number of students. About 25,000 gathered on Tverskoy Boulevard on Friday; the crowd swelled from the side streets and began to hold a meeting. The police dispersed them repeatedly, but the crowd quickly gathered again. Shots were constantly fired from the crowd, many police were killed, but neither the police nor the Cossacks used firearms. The next day it was decided to fire into the crowd if revolvers were used again. Eyewitnesses state, however, that the soldiers deliberately aimed high, as shown by bullet marks on the house of Prince Mirsky on Tverskoy Boulevard near the Pushkin monument. This explains the small number of casualties among the rebels.

"Public opinion in Moscow was initially on the side of the authorities, thanks to the remarkable coolness and self-control they displayed. The rebels meet with no sympathy even among the students, as shown by the fact that students saved a wounded gendarme officer. The City Governor, Count Medem, took this opportunity to thank the Rector, Prince S. Trubetskoy, for this fact. But if the government declares martial law in Moscow, public opinion is bound to turn against it.

"Discussing the origin of the present events, my informant attributes them to the widespread and imperative need for freedom of speech, necessary for all classes in Russia to state their needs. This fully confirms the information given in my telegram that the restrictions imposed by the authorities on university meetings, which outsiders attended, gave rise to bitterness. The crowd became the more or less unconscious expression of discontent. The thinking classes in Moscow are convinced that the only hope of avoiding a repetition of scenes of violence and bloodshed lies in permitting public meetings. In the coming days, organised efforts will be made to bring this home to the St. Petersburg authorities.

"Countess Bobrinskaya, who takes a lively interest in the Peasant Union, has arrived here for a meeting with Trepov and is trying to obtain permission to hold public meetings of this union. Prince S. Trubetskoy is coming tomorrow to persuade the government to permit all meetings of congresses, thereby freeing the university from the intrusion of outsiders. He will be followed by many representatives of various professional unions coming with the same mission."

Moscow. 9 X. [=Reuter?] (Times 10 X.)

"Everything is quiet in the streets today. Necessary measures have been taken to maintain order. Police and military patrols have been reinforced. A dragoon regiment has been summoned from Tver. In some parts of the city work has resumed in some bakeries, but in other parts the strike continues. Of the 200 people arrested yesterday, 65 were sent to prison, the rest released."

Le Temps. 11 X. Wednesday. Special correspondent of the newspaper, by telegraph.

St. Petersburg. 10 X.

"News received about the disorders in Moscow is contradictory. Official agencies and reactionary newspapers assert that the facts are exaggerated. Other newspapers publish accounts of eyewitnesses, confirming the information received by telephone, and describe the events in an even more tragic light. Thus, for example, one officer ordered an attack on the workers and beat them himself with ferocity on the face and stomach, not sparing women, whom he struck on the chest with laughter. At the same time, police with fists and sabres dealt with the strikers.

"The management of Filippov's bakery states that the police, Cossacks and soldiers attacked its workers without any provocation, at a time when they were peacefully leaving the house where they worked, having decided to join the strike simply out of solidarity. This same management protested to the City Governor against the brutality of the soldiers, who caused significant damage to the house, broke all the windows, fired without any provocation, beat and wounded the arrested bakery journeymen.

"During yesterday's disorders, shop windows (les devantures), street lamps and benches were broken along a large part of the demonstration route. The central water supply and telephone stations are heavily guarded by troops. The authorities have no precise information on the number of victims and wounded who have hidden in their homes; they assert that no policeman has been killed; several dozen of them are wounded, as are Cossacks, gendarmes and soldiers, some seriously. One of them has died. The gendarme captain who was wounded is dying."

Our special correspondent in Moscow telegraphs:

"The unexpected movement that has shaken the population of the second capital arises not from one but from many causes. Among them must be named the demands of the working class and the demands of the intelligentsia class. The former caused the mobilisation of the common people (du bas peuple) and gave the events on Tverskaya Street and Tverskoy Boulevard a character of extreme violence. The latter are perhaps the main ones in that they reveal once again that state of general discontent which can justify Moscow public opinion and which the Russian government can no longer ignore.

"The educated part of the population, however, carefully tried to separate its cause from that of the street agitators. The students, recently reprimanded (sermonnés) by the Rector, Prince S. Trubetskoy, who promised them to reopen the University by 10 October, distinguished themselves by their moderation and earned the gratitude of the City Governor Medem. Their intervention helped reduce the number of deaths. For the day of the 7th it is estimated that 8 bakery workers were killed and 2 wounded; 1 Cossack and 1 policeman killed; for the day of the 8th five Cossacks, four gendarmes and many police were wounded.

"In liberal circles it is thought that the initial cause of the unrest lies in the official prohibition of political meetings. Prince S. Trubetskoy, delegated by the University and provided with full powers by a special resolution of the Council of Professors, is going to St. Petersburg to seek the right of assembly for university youth. Countess Bobrinskaya is lobbying Trepov for the same for the peasants!!.. source not named.

Le Temps 11 X.

Tiflis. "The turmoil caused in Tiflis on the evening of the 8th by the simultaneous explosion of 9 bombs subsided only by 11 p.m. 20 Cossacks seriously wounded are in hospitals. Only 1 Cossack is said to have been killed. Among the victims of Cossack fire is named a Protestant pastor in Tiflis. There is no doubt that the bombs were directed against the Cossacks as reprisal for the shootings in Tiflis on 11 September. The Cossacks have since awaited vengeance (les vindictes); recently they printed in the Tiflis newspapers the following statement: 'We will consider the Tiflis Armenians responsible for any attack on officers and Cossacks. The first blow from the army will be our signal for a general massacre; the prohibitions of our commanders will not stop us. Etchmiadzin will be plundered by the Cossacks stationed near it; we have warned them and they are ready to act.' Signed: Cossacks."
From Riga a telegram in Le Temps 11 X is shorter and Voss[i]sche¹ Z[e]i[t]u[n]g detailed. Voss[ische] Z[e]i[t]u[n]g. Monday 9 X, Evening Edition.
"Riga. 8 October (Own report). The police, having received a series of reports, made an original discovery. Some time ago they learned that members of the local Latvian revolutionary committee were conducting regular shooting exercises in the vicinity of Riga. It turned out that the place for these exercises was a peasant's plot of land lying 4-5 versts from the city. A large police detail searched the yard and estate of this peasant. A whole series of 'fortifications', barricades, redoubts were found. Members of the Latvian revolutionary committee practised here in 'attacks on fortified positions'. The owner of the estate, a Latvian peasant, was arrested. None of those who practised were found."

Le Matin. 10 X. (Tuesday).

St. Petersburg 9 X. "News arriving from Moscow, despite the censorship, gives an account of one of the bloodiest days in Russian history. The battle is raging in all the main streets and even in front of the Governor-General's house. All bakeries and gunsmiths' shops have been looted. The demonstrators unfurled the red flag. Many killed and wounded." Gaston Leroux.

St. Petersburg 9 X. "The last two days the news from Moscow has agitated St. Petersburg. Yesterday's bloody events in particular have found an echo here. And although everyone is sure that the military force at the governor's disposal will soon suppress the rebellion in the city, where martial law will be introduced, no one hides from themselves that the strikes in Moscow may quickly affect the working population of St. Petersburg. I need not tell you that the censorship is working wonders to stop any alarming news. Calm reigns here, and General Trepov has taken all measures to prevent strikers from entering the city if a general strike, about which there are rumours, is decided upon. On Thursday two large meetings, half workers, half students, took place without serious incidents, despite the fact that burning political questions were discussed." Gaston Leroux.

Le Genévois. 11 X; La Suisse. 11 X.

St. Petersburg 11 X. "Dispatches from Moscow report that the situation there is extremely serious. Clashes continue. The crowd fires at the troops. The battle is raging in all streets. Many wounded on both sides. The strike has become general. Two hundred thousand workers against 20,000 troops. Many shops looted."

| Not in Trib[une]. Source unknown.

| Not in J[ournal] de Genève 12 X either, ibid[em]

Tribune, 12 X. From ..e Soir in Paris ((?))

Ib[idem]:

St. Petersburg 10 X. "News received by newspapers by telephone testifies to the spread of the strike in Moscow to most plants and factories. There were clashes between police and workers attempting to stop work. At the Epprecht plant workers fired revolvers. There are wounded on both sides. A large revolutionary demonstration took place in the Sretenka quarter. The bakers' strike is coming to an end. Roaming crowds attacked shops and seized trams; the police immediately recaptured them.

Moscow 10 X. Most factories and plants went on strike on Tuesday evening. The electric tram workers continue their strike. The workers of Zamoskvorechye split on the question of the strike: some for, others against. Strikers go around in crowds, stopping work. The police disperse them. City engineers issued a new statement demanding an immediate and serious investigation of workers' demands and their rapid satisfaction. They also demand that there be no reprisals and that no worker be dismissed for striking."

Further information 12 X. The strike in Moscow has grown. The railway workshops have joined.

The strike is not economic but political. The beginning of the strike in St. Petersburg (San-Galli).

Abundance of revolutionary meetings both in universities and on the street...

Slogans of the S.D. party.

Revolutionary students: revolutionary democracy.

What is happening in Moscow?

— A dress rehearsal? Aut-aut.*

— The beginning of the end?

— Are the old forms of struggle ending?

— Or are new ones being born?

Voss[ische] [Ze]i[t]u[n]g.

NB! Liberals in universities and liberals in the State Duma (Abwiegler)...**

Already yes.... not yet??

* — either-or. Ed.
** — (observer). Ed.

¹ All quotations from "Le Temps" are taken from correspondence in that newspaper, which was printed under the heading "Les troubles en Russie" ("Disturbances in Russia") in Nos. 16182 of 9 October and 16183 of 10 October and under the heading "Les troubles à Moscou" ("Disturbances in Moscow") in Nos. 16181 of 8 October and 16184 of 11 October.
From the newspaper "Le Matin" two correspondences are quoted under the heading "La crise russe" ("The Crisis in Russia") in No. 7898 of 10 October 1905.