MARTIAL LAW IN KRONSTADT
According to the “reassuring” news reports of the semi-official agencies, the following official statement has been made: Petersburg, Nov. 10 (report from the Petersburg Telegraph Agency). Today martial law was imposed on Kronstadt.
TURMOIL IN THE NAVY IS ONGOING
London, November 11. According to reports received here from Petersburg a revolution broke out among the sailors of the 14th and 18th Naval Squadrons, who are part of the garrison. Consequently, guard troops occupied the barracks of the sailors.
The [London] Daily Mail reports as follows: Petersburg, November 10. During the fighting in Kronstadt, more than 300 men perished in the flames. The number of wounded was mounting toward 1,500.
MARTIAL LAW IN POLAND
Petersburg, November 10 (report from the Petersburg Telegraph Agency). The decision has been made to declare martial law† in the entire territory of the Kingdom of Poland.
ALL SCHOOLS CLOSED
Petersburg, November 10 (report from the Petersburg Telegraph Agency). In all the cities of Russia the universities and all higher educational institutions have been closed. The ministry of education has made known in this connection that no time has been set for the reopening of the schools. Secondary schools also will be closed for an indefinite period.
Chișinău,* November 11. Last night there occurred an uprising in a prison here, during the course of which the prison was set on fire. Troops that were hurriedly called in fired a salvo at the rebelling prisoners, causing the deaths of several prisoners, and also there were many wounded.
THE NEW CABINET
Petersburg, November 10 (report from the Petersburg Telegraph Agency). Today a decree of the tsar was published naming the following as ministers: [Ivan Pavlovich] Shipov, finances; [Vassili Ivanovich] Tmiryazev, commerce; [Klaudi Semjonowich] Nemeshayev, means of communication [i.e., railroads]; [Dmitri Alexandrovich] Filosofov, imperial comptroller; [Nikolai Nikolayevich] Kutler, agriculture. The resignation of the vice president of the Academy of Arts, Count [Ivan Ivanovich Graf] Tolstoy, was accepted.
Of these “worthy gentleman” only Shipov is known as a politically active liberal, indeed as the leader of liberalism’s most moderate right wing. This new bunch, it goes without saying, will be greeted by the public with absolute disgust, just as the previous pseudo-liberal combinations were.
A different news dispatch reports that even Shipov has declined to take part in this bloody farce.
Petersburg, November 10 (report from the Petersburg Telegraph Agency). Shipov, the zemstvo representative who received an invitation to enter Witte’s cabinet, has declined this offer and gave his reason as follows: At the present time, the entry of representatives of various social groups into the cabinet can have great significance only if these representatives have come to an understanding among themselves as to program. But if only one of them is taken, then it is impossible that this representative can do anything useful for the cabinet, especially because the imperial treasury is a sphere that is entirely foreign to me.
STRUVE AND WITTE
According to information from Petersburg received from a correspondent there, Pyotr von Struve, publisher of the journal Osvobozhdenie [Liberation] that is produced in Paris, has been invited by Witte, who sent a handwritten letter to Struve, to come to Petersburg and publish his newspaper there.
Thus, the ex-Marxist Struve may soon be able to put into practice his clamorous agitation for a “strong regime.”
SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC DICTATORSHIP
Das Kleine Journal has published the following correspondence about the Dąbrowa* coal-mining region, which is inhabited by 80,000 workers.
From Sosnowiec, in the Dabrowa coal basin: The rule of the workers, that is, of the Social Democratic parties, has gained the upper hand. No one dares to disobey their orders, not even the local authorities or the military. Their latest achievement is the formation of a workers’ militia, which on Monday begins operation in Sosnoswiec, and Będzin and Dąbrowa will soon follow its example. In Sosnowiec, a workers’ delegation sought out the police chief Kronenberg and notified him that their own police would now oversee matters of public safety. When he was asked to provide weapons for the “people’s militia,” Herr Kronenberg could not suggest anything against it. He merely indicated that this matter was not within his jurisdiction. The Social Democratic committees behave as though they intend in all seriousness to take over the police stations and city hall, and to have their own authorities occupy them. These parties have cancelled the payment of taxes. To make up for that, various citizens have been fined by the committees because they defied the orders of the parties or have committed offenses against the workers. At the printing establishments of Sosnowiec, which have been occupied by the Social Democrats, so that the owners have no say at this time, three journals are being published, including one in Russian that is intended for the soldiers, to win them over to the workers’ movement. It should also be noted that in the surrounding area no one has disturbed public security. Thus far, the strikers have been letting housewives purchase meat in Modrzew and bring it back across the border.†
CONCERNING PROPAGANDA
Concerning reports by the tsarist government, we have received the following note: The news reports from Kronstadt, which is in a state of total revolution, should be treated with the greatest caution, as should all telegraph dispatches about the Russian Revolution. The dispatches about the events in Kronstadt, as readers must have noticed, have been extremely contradictory and unclear. This is because the telegraph works exclusively in the interests of the government, and its aim is to discredit the revolutionaries in the eyes of public opinion.
What is now being reported sounds strikingly similar to what was reported in the spring of 1871 in and around Paris about the fighting against the commune; the same lack of clarity, the same exaggeration, the same lies and prevarication. At that time, it was the bandit chief of the “forces of order” at Versailles, the dwarf [Adolphe] Thiers, who prevaricated to the world about the events in and around Paris. Today this prevarication is being committed by two Russian telegraph agencies, one under the influence of Witte, the other under that of Trepov. It is these agencies that weave the web of lies. No matter how hard they fight against each other, both agencies have the same interest in this given instance: To keep the world in the dark about the true nature of the revolution, particularly when, as in Kronstadt, the last bastions of power, the army and navy, are involved. Therefore, caution!