The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-04-18
Moscow in October
III.-sELF-MADE COMMANDERS

The soldier comrades of the cyclist
battalion which was on Lubanskaya
Square came up and assembled in the
streets of China Town in the night,
and at day-break the Junkers opened
machine gun and rifle fire from the
roofs. The soldiers kept close to the
walls, and reiterated leaving the dead
and dragging along the wounded. They
brought many wounded to the Moscow
Soviet.
"Comrades!" Those Cyclists" who
were still living, said to us, "Give us
commanders, we are losing through
the lack of them"
But who could be sent to command?
Some non-commissionedo officer get
ting canned-meat out of a tin with a
pen-knife, heard $50 "cyclist" told
mel about the defeat in China Town.
Wiping the knife on his overcoat, the
non-commissioned officer said to me:
"Give me the order and / will go
take command"
"There is a battalion there" l re-
piled.
'I can ever command a battalion"
replied the non-commissioned officer,
continuing to chew a piece Of cold
meat.
The order was Immediately typed
out on the machine by Comrade Sam
sonov, and the non-commissioned Of
ficer was sent off to the seat of COM
bat as commander of the battalion.
In the evening of the same day,
/ together with Comrade Muralov, we
went over the entire buildings Of the
Moscow Soviet: yard, various out
houses, etc, and everywhere there
were soldiers. Soldiers in compact
crowds and parties. l came out on the
Skobelev (now Soviet Square. Some
detachment of soldiers or other with
out commander, was calling the roll
and lining up.
Zone, two, one two"
| Afterwards, the soldier who stood in
front cried OUT
left turn! quick march,"
And the detachment marched off
down Bryussovsky Pereulok.
! I went up to the one who was COM
manding, and who was marching in
the front ranks He was a pock-
marked almost hairless little man with
a musical voice.
"Where are you going to-" asked
him.
"Down Brussovsky, can't you hear,
the Cadets are making it hot for our
fellows down there.
'How do you know, who ordered
you to go there?"
"If we did not know, we would not
go: our own fellows have told US,
and who can give orders anyway? The
officers of our regiment are over there
on the side of the Cadets, can't you
hear?"
I wrote down the name Of the sol
der and he afterwards took command
of the entire Brussovsky sector.
On the next day early in the morn
ing, before my table there stood COM
plete with gold epaulettes, a smartly
dressed young non-commissioned Of
ficer with a little black moustache
who said:
"Please give me job at the front"
"Are you a Bolsheviki?"
eyes"
"What regiment do you belong to-"
II came here together with the
whole of our regiment from Padolsk.
am the only officer who remained
with the soldiers. And now we are
all at your disposition"
"And what pity you did not come
before. Things are not going well
with the cyclist battalion in China
Town. We had to send an unknown
non-commissioned officer there"
"That does not matter, can also
go there"
ct is not convenient to change now.
If you like, you can go to the Mkt
skie Vorota. Our position there in in
two houses*+. The Junkers have all
the time kept up a steady fire there
and this evening they tried to come
up and attack"
alright then, I'll go there. l viii
take one or two fellows from our regi-
ment. Here. this comrade," the.
non-commissioned officer opened the
door of the headquarters and called a
The soldiers called all their enemies
Cadets" no matter whether they were
Junkers, officers, volunteers, students
or any other defenders OF the old order.
." II was these that were afterwards
burnt by the Junkers. But one of them.
we think has already been restored
ana the Timiryazev Statute erected in