“Long live the vanguard of the revolution, Kronstadt”1921 Propaganda poster calling for support for
“Long live the vanguard of the revolution, Kronstadt”1921 Propaganda poster calling for support for the Kronstadt uprising.On March 1st 1921, around 15,000 people assembled in the city of Kronstadt, demanding free elections, an end to censorship, and freedom of trade, marking the beginning of the Kronstadt Rebellion against the Bolshevik government.The uprising consisted of sailors, soldiers, and civilians from a variety of political persuasions. It was also the last major revolt against the Bolshevik government on Russian territory during the civil war.The rebellion took place in the context of a difficult winter in which fuel and food became scarce. Protests and civil unrest were happening throughout Russia, and the sailors in Kronstadt had actually deposed their commander Raskolnikov in late January.On February 28th, in reaction to government suppression of protests in Petrograd, the sailors drafted a set of fifteen demands, including free elections, freedom of assembly for peasant and labor organizations, and the allowance of trade.On March 2nd, a Provisional Revolutionary Committee was formed, demanding a “third revolution” to restore the revolutionary values Kronstadt supporters felt the Bolsheviks had betrayed.The Bolsheviks accused the Kronstadt rebels as being “counter-revolutionary” and moved to crush the rebellion by force. On March 7th, the Bolshevik government began attacking the island with small land forces and aerial bombardment, however little progress was made.On March 16th, a Bolshevik force of 50,000 met and defeated the 15,000 rebels, seizing control of the island. 8,000 Kronstadt refugees crossed into Finland within a day of Kronstadt’s fall, sabotaging the defenses as they left.Anarchists see the Kronstadt Rebellion as a righteous rebellion against an increasingly repressive Soviet state, while Bolsheviks view it as counter-revolutionary and petty bourgeois in character. For his part, Lenin regarded the episode as a critical challenge to the revolution, calling Kronstadt “undoubtedly more dangerous than Denikin, Yudenich, and Kolchak combined”. -- source link
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