Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-03-12


people overthrow the Gear. the
Little Father" Of all Russian!
and symbol of imperial might.
But in Russia today the Com.
munists seldom speak of that
gray northern morning In Petro-
grad 40 years ago, when angry
crowds poured into streets over.
lain with winters drabness.
Monday, March IL was q day
of glory. A general strike hac
gripped the imperial capital fol
days. Now flaming red banners
of revolution fluttered deflantly
A sea of angry people surged
through the capitals canal-lacec
streets.
Blood Runs
Mounted police and Cossacks
hrandishing the hated knouts
charged the mass Of humanity
Machinegun fire cracked from
rooftops.
Troops deserted to the crowds
by thousands. Workers. now
armed, smashed into gloomy old
Peter and Paul Fortress. main
prison for political offenders,
and disgorged its stream Of HUI
man misery. The revolution was
on! In a few days the Gar would
abdicate and freedom would be
in sight. For q while 1t seemed
a new day would dawn for old
Mother Russia.
The causes were deep, rooted
in antiquity. years of suffering
under total autocrats. While the
West developed. Russia stood
still. Western Europe's indus
trialization in the 10th century
was rapid. building in q sturdy
working class and a strong mid
die (bourgeoisl class. Old Russia
remained a backward agrarian
country. She was rich in re-
sources, but she was poor. A
vast nation. her head rested in
the arctic, her feet in the tropics.
her arms stretched from Poland
to the Pacific. but within there
was constant ferment.
In three years of World War I.
Russia lost millions of dead and
wounded. She had IA million
under arms in 1917, but miser-
ably equipped. Army morale was
in ruins. At home and at the
front. gossip about the court and
treason spread like wildfire.
One target of gossip was a
man named Gregor Novikh. A
rakehell from Siberia, he had
earned the name "Rasputin. :"
meaning something like low
down scoundrel. Posing as a
monk and faith-healer. he
wormed his way into the Petro-
grad court and the Czarina
came under his influence.
At a magnificent banquet De-
cember II. 1916. a group of
young officers assassinated the
holy devil"
When the revolution toppled
Nicholas II, there was hope, The
provisional government under
Premier Prince Lvov represented
all the people except the noisy
minority Of Bolsheviks. Some
stood for constitutional mon
archy, some-like the Social
Revolutionaries under Justice
Minister Alexander Fyodorovich
Kerensky-stood for abolition of
private land ownership.
The revolution caught the
Bolsheviks by surprise. Most of
their leaders were abroad or In
exile.
Bolshevism had been born In
1903, nine years after Nicholas
II became car. in a split of the
Russian Social Democratic La
Dor party. The Bolsheviks ina
jority) were headed by Vladimir
1lyitch Ulyanov. a small, plump
figure with bullying forehead
and Snub nose. son of a district
school inspector and member of
the petty nobility. He called
himself Lenin. An outstanding
figure of the Mensheviks (minor-
ity) faction was Lev Davidovich
Bronstein. fanatic. fiery orator
and brilliant organizer. Son Of a
well-to-do Jewish farmer, Bron-
stein called himself by the revo-