Rex Wade, edi. Documents of Soviet History, vol. 1.

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1

The Year 1917

1 – The Overthrow of the Provisional Government and Establishment of Soviet Power. October 25 (November 7) 1917

2 – The Bolsheviks’ Socialist Opponents Denounce the Bolshevik Revolution and Leave the Congress of Soviets. October 25-26 (November 7-8) 1917

3 – The Menshevik-Internationalists Appeal to the Congress of Soviets for a Broad Socialist Government and Warn of Civil War. October 25-26 (November 7-8) 1917

4 – Resolution of the Second Congress of Soviets on the Withdrawal of the Mensheviks and SRs. October 25-26 (November 7-8) 1917

5 – Proclamation of Assumption of Power by the Congress of Soviets. October 25-26 (November 7-8) 1917

6 – Decree on Peace. October 26 (November 8) 1917

7 – Decree on Land. October 26 (November 8) 1917

8 – Formation and Composition of the New Government. October 26 (November 28) 1917

9 – Censorship of the Press. October 27 (November 9) 1917

10 – The Spread of the Revolution: Saratov. October 27 (November 9) 1917

11 – On Popular Education. October 29 (November 11) 1917

12 – Decree on the Eight-Hour Workday and the Duration and Division of Working Time. October 29 (November 11) 1917

13 – The Vikzhel Appeal for a Broad Socialist Government. October 29 (November 11) 1917

14 – The Bolshevik Central Committee Rejects a Broad-based Socialist Government. November 2 (15) 1917

15 – Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia. November 2 (15) 1917

16 – The Spread of the Revolution Delayed: Kharkov. November 2 (15) 1917

17 – Central Executive Committee Debate on Censorship, on its Relationship to the Council of People’s Commissars, and the Resignation of Several Bolshevik Leaders. November 4 (17) 1917 

18 – Proclamation of the Ukrainian People’s Republic. November 7 (20) 1917

19 – Notification to Allied Governments of the Formation of the New Government and of the Soviet Proposal for an Armistice. November 7 (20) 1917

20 – Order to Commander-in-Chief Dukhonin Regarding an Armistice, Conversation Between the Government Leaders and General Dukhonin, and the Latter’s Dismissal. November 7-9 (20-22) 1917

21 – Trotsky’s Report on the First Steps of Soviet Foreign Policy. November 8 (21) 1917

22 – Abolition of Social Estates, Civil Ranks, Titles, and Their Replacement by «Citizens of the Russian Republic.» November 10 (23) 1917

23 – Establishment of Workers’ Control in Industry. November l4 (27) 1917

24 – Appeal to Belligerents on Peace. November 14 (27) 1917

25 – Appeal to the Moslems of Russia and the East. November 20 (December 3) 1917

26 – Abolition of the Old Judicial System and Establishment of a New One. November 22 (December 5) 1917

27 – Debate of the Outlawing of the Constitutional Democrats and on the Constituent Assembly at the Central Executive Committee. December 1 (14) 1917

28 – Establishment of the Supreme Council of the National Economy. December 1 (14) 1917

29 – Armistice Between Russia and the Central Powers. December 2 (15) 1917

30 – Establishment of the Cheka. December 7 (20) 1917

31 – Lenin’s Theses on the Constituent Assembly. December 11 or 12 (24 or 25) 1917

32 – Nationalization of Banks. December 14 (27) 1917

33 – Election of Officers and Abolition of Ranks in the Army. December 16 (29) 1917

34 – Decree on Divorce. December 16 (29), 1917

35 – Marriage, Children, and Civil Registration. December 18 (31) 1917

36 – Revolutionary Tribunal of the Press. December 18 (31) 1917

37 – On Revolutionary Tribunals. December 19, 1917 (January 1, 1918)

38 – Report by Stalin on Finnish Independence and Self-Determination. December 22, 1917 (January 4, 1918)

39 – On the Rights and Duties of Local Soviets. December 24, 1917 (January 6, 1918) and January 9 (22) 1918

40 – Krylenko’s Appeal for Volunteers to Form a Socialist People’s Guard. December 25, 1917 (January 7, 1918)

41 – Life in a Provincial City. December 28-31, 1917 (January 10-13, 1918)

Chapter 2

The Year 1918

42 – Dissolution of the Constituent Assembly. January 6 (19) 1918

43 – Lenin on the Need for an Immediate Peace. January 7 (20) 1918

44 – Ukrainian Declaration of Independence. January 9 (22) 1918

45 – The Trade Unions and the Soviet Government. January 10 (23) 1918

46 – Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People. January 12 (25) 1918

47 – Establishment of the Red Army. January 15 (28) 1918

48 – Stalin on the Nationality Question and Self-Determination. January 15 (28) 1918

49 – Patriarch Tikhon Anathemizes the Bolsheviks and Calls for Defense of the Church. January 19 (February 1) 1918

50 – Separation of Church and State, Church and Schools, and Religious Rights and Freedoms. January 20 (February 2) 1918

51 – Annulment of State Loans. January 21 (February 3) 1918

52 – Introduction of a New Calendar. January 24 (February 6) 1918

53 – Socialization of the Land. January 27 (February 9) 1918

54 – No War No Peace! Trotsky at Brest-Litovsk Declares Russia’s Participation in the War Ended. January 28 (February 10) 1918

55 – Peace Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. March 3, 1918

56 – Trotsky Inquires about American Assistance Against Germany and Japan. March 5, 1918

57 – Change of the Party Name to «Communist» and Decision to Revise the Party Program. March 8, 1918

58 – The Futurists and Public Art: «Let the Streets be a Feast of Art for All.» March 15, 1918

59 – The «Left-Wing» Communists. April 4, 1918

60 – Soviet Response to the Japanese Landing at Vladivostok. April 5, 1918

61 – The Role of Military Commissars. April 6, 1918

62 – Malevich, «Architecture as a Slap in the Face to Ferro-Concrete.» April 6, 1918

63 – Soviet Federalism-An Interview with Stalin. April 9, 1918

64 – The Removal of Old Monuments and Erection of New Monuments to the Revolution. April 12, 1918

65 – Soviet Protest over Rumanian Annexation of Bessarabia. April 18, 1918

66 – Introduction of Compulsory Military Training. April 22, 1918

67 – Lenin, «The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government.» April 28, 1918

68 – German Intervention in the Ukraine and Skoropadsky’s Assumption of Power. April 29, 1918

69 – May First Manifesto. May 1, 1918

70 – Decree on Food Procurement. May 13, 1918

71 – Lenin on International Relations. May 14, 1918

72 – Revolt of the Czechoslovak Troops. May 20-25, 1918

73 – Declaration of an Independent Georgian Democratic Republic. May 26, 1918

74 – To Arms Against Counter-Revolutionaries. May 30, 1918

75 – A Bolshevik Call for Cossack Support. May 31, 1918

76 – Committees of the Village Poor. June 11, 1918

77 – Expulsion of the SRs and Mensheviks from the Central Executive Committee. June 14, 1918

78 – Travel in the Countryside. June 27-28, 1918

79 – Nationalization of Industry. June 28, 1918

80 – Allied Decision to Intervene. July 2, 1918

81 – The Left SR Assassination of the German Ambassador and Attack on the Bolsheviks. July 6-7, 1918

82 – Report on the Food Situation to the Fifth Congress of Soviets and Resolution of the Congress. July 9, 1918

83 – Trotsky’s Report on the Army and the Fifth Congress of Soviets’ Resolution on Military Matters. July 10, 1918

84 – Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic. July 10, 1918

85 – The United States Government on Allied Intervention. July 17, 1918

86 – The Democratic Counterrevolution. The Committee of the Members of the Constituent Assembly. July 25, 1918

87 – A Socialist Revolutionary and Menshevik Manifesto Against the Bolsheviks. July 29, 1918

88 – Open Admission to Universities and Higher Education. August 2, 1918

89 – Food Requisition Detachments. August 4, 1918

90 – Trotsky’s Assessment of the Red Army. August 15, 1918

91 – Organization and Activity of Grain Requisition Detachments. August 20, 1918

92 – Trotsky on the Command of the Red Army. August 23, 1918

93 – The Attempted Assassination of Lenin. August 30, 1918

94 – Intensification of the Red Terror. September 4-5, 1918

95 – Terror and its Defense. A Protest by the Neutral Powers and Chicherin’s Response. September 5 and 12, 1918  

96 – Arrests and Executions Following the Attempted Assassination of Lenin. September 12, 1918

97 – Requisition and Distribution of Housing in Moscow. September 17, 1918

98 – Holding Families of Officers Hostage. September 30, 1918

99 – Resolution of the Central Executive Committee about Imminent Revolution in Europe. October 3, 1918

100 – Trotsky vs. Stalin. The Conflict at Tsaritsyn Over Military Policy and Organization. October 3 and 4, 1918

101 – The Unified Labor School. October 16, 1918

102 – Lunacharsky on the Unified Labor School. October 16, 1918

103 – Trotsky on the Military Situation and an Appeal to Petrograd Workers. October 21, 1918

104 – Chicherin to President Wilson on World Peace and Intervention in Russia. October 24, 1918

105 – The Labor Laws and Compulsory Labor Duty. October 31, 1918

106 – Manifesto from the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars to the Workers of Austria-Hungary. November 3, 1918

107 – Dictatorship of the Proletariat and Proletarian Democracy. Lenin’s The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky. November 10, 1918

108 – Women and the Family in the Communist State. November 16-21, 1918

109 – Admiral Kolchak Assumes Power. November 18, 1918

110 – Trotsky on Discipline. Order to the Troops on the Southern Front. November 24, 1918

111 – Altman, «Futurism» and Proletarian Art. December 15, 1918 283

112 – Russian Appeal for a Peace Treaty with the Allies. Litvinov to Wilson. December 24, 1918

113 – Lunacharsky on the State and the Controversy in the Arts. December 29, 1918

Chapter 3

The Year 1919

114 – Stepanova on Non-Objective Artistic Creativity. January, 1919

115 – Instructions of the Central Committee to Party Cells of Red Army Units of the Front and Rear. January 5, 1919

116 – Forced Labor by the Bourgeoisie and Daily Life in Moscow. January 5-9, 1919

117 – Trotsky on the Use of Specialists. January 10, 1919

118 – Restriction of Workers’ Control. January 23, 1919

119 – Invitation to the First Congress of the Communist International (Comintern). January 24, 1919

120 – Manifesto of the Communist-Futurists (Komfut). January 26, 1919

121 – The Liquidation of Illiteracy. January 29, 1919

122 – Soviet Willingness to Meet at a Proposed Conference at Prinkipo. February 4, 1919

123 – Opening of a Workers’ Higher Education Faculty. February 12, 1919

124 – A Socialist System of Agriculture. February 14, 1919

125 – Housing in Moscow. February 24-27, 1919

126 – Resolutions Constituting the Communist International. March 4, 1919

127 – First Platform of the Communist International. March 6, 1919

128 – Manifesto of the Communist International. March 6, 1919

129 – Resolution of the Communist International on the Role of Working Women. March 6, 1919

130 – Program of the Russian Communist Party. March 22, 1919

131 – Party Organization and Structure. March 22, 1919

132 – Establishment of an Autonomous Bashkir Soviet Republic. March 23, 1919

133 – Political and Educational Work in the Villages. March 23, 1919

134 – Agrarian and Labor Policies of the White Governments. March 23, 1919

135 – Kolchak on the Future of Russia. April 19, 1919

136 – Searching for Foodstuffs in the Countryside. May 5, 1919

137 – Mobilization of Workers into the Red Army. May 9, 1919

138 – Allied «Recognition» of Admiral Kolchak’s Government. May 26, 1919

139 – Attempted Unification of the Russian, Ukrainian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Belorussian Soviet Republics. June 1, 1919

140 – Labor Books. June 25, 1919

141 – Introduction of the «Subbotnik.» June 28, 1919

142 – Exhortation to the Party Organizations in the Fight Against Denikin. July 9, 1919

143 – A Menshevik Program for Russia. July 12, 1919

144 – An Appeal Against Pogroms. Summer, 1919

145 – The Activity of the Commissariat for Social Welfare. August 16, 1919

146 – Lord Curzon on the Allied Intervention in Russia. August 21, 1919

147 – The Rabfaky, Workers’ Faculties, and Higher Education. September 11, 1919

148 – Note to Latvia Regarding Peace Negotiations. September 22, 1919

149 – Official Soviet Wireless Messages. October 1, 1919

150 – A Party Membership Recruitment Drive. October 1, 1919

151 – Results and Prospects of Soviet Economic Policy. A Report after Two Years. November 7, 1919

152 – Civil War Conditions in the Ukraine. December 1, 1919

153 – Rules of the Communist Party. December 4, 1919

154 – Labor Armies. December 16, 1919

155 – Lunacharsky. The Tasks of the State Cinema in Russia. 1919

156 – Propaganda Trains. 1919

157 – Russia’s Currency and Economic Situation. 1919

Documents by Main Topics

Glossary

Sources Cited

Acknowledgements

Permissions

Indexes

Index of Names

Index of Subjects

Index of Geographic and Place Names