Ceasefire of Petrograd

The Ceasefire of Petrograd, was a treaty signed by Communist Russians and Republican Russians in Petrograd that would end hostilities between both states.

## **Radical Socialists Rise During the Russian Civil War**

When the Russian Civil War started, the Republican Russians were somewhat prepared for the ensuing war. But what the Republican (White Russians) were not prepared for, was a communist uprising. For a number of reasons, such as the arrival of Lenin in 1922 and his subsequent assassination, the failed efforts to stop the Communist spread allowed for a successful uprising to ensue. At first, when they rose up in rebellion, it was very successful. In August when it started, in just one month the Communists captured a huge amount of territory, capturing the vital cities of Tsaritsyn (now Volvograd), Moscow and Petrograd. The uprising caused great destabilization for the Whites, who redirected their forces towards the Communists, but because of this, it allowed for several more uprisings that the Whites couldn't quell. As a result of the Communist rebellion, it allowed the Polish, Baltics, Ukrainians, and Central Asians to successfully rise against their oppressors. However, the Communists were on borrowed time. They didn't have enough supplies for a full annexation of White Russia. They hoped after this the Whites would surrender after seeing the vast expansion of the rebellion, but this didn't happen. The Whites pushed back, but also had to deal with the non-Russians rebelling too. During the Conference of Ural'sk, it was decided that the Communists were of greater threat, and because of this decided to direct their forces towards eliminating them, instead of quelling the non-Russians. Russia would only see success in pushing back the Belarusians and annexing 1/3 of the state back into Russia. Meanwhile, Germany, fearful that this uprising would fail desperately sent supplies to the Reds. One of the reasons the Reds had almost no success and was slowly being pushed back was also due to the Finnish and their uprising. First, Tsaritsyn was captured in March of 1926. After a devastating battle, in September Moscow was finally captured by the Whites. But the Whites, being forced to hand vast swathes of territory to the non-Russians decimated the Russian war effort and their supply lines as well. Yet, hope was not yet lost for both the Whites and Reds. In December of the same year, in Salla, the Reds and Finnish negotiated for peace. The Reds gave Kovdor and Murmansk in exchange for peace, which the Finnish accepted, tired of the war. Due to this, the reds fully redirected their forces to the Whites. At this point, the Whites were a few miles from Petrograd. But, because of the reinforments the Whites were unprepared and had to retreat from the city, which plundered Russian morale further. At this point, Russia was dealing with the Reds, the Cossak-Caucasian separatists who threatened Rostov, the last Black Sea port available towards Russia. Despite the uproar and fierce pressure from his fellow White Russians, Alexander Kerensky, in charge of war torn Russia, agreed to meet in Petrograd under protection from armed guards to negotiate peace. In the end, both sides agreed to a momentary ceasefire, until an actual treaty could be signed. The actual Treaty of Petrograd slightly adjusted the borders, but in the end, the major change was the demilitarization of Northwest Russia by the White Russians. For better or for worse, the Whites and Reds would be forced to exist together.

## **Aftermath of the ceasefire and treaty**

The immediate aftermath of the ceasefire and treaty was hard to miss in everyday life. Russia (White Russia) now had almost no access to the sea except for a handful of small ports on the Barents Sea. In 1927, shortly before the Nationalist Russians took over the country, trade relations were established which helped ease the tension and war effects on the state. Although Northwest Russia was demilitarized the Reds still feared the Whites. This eventually helped them join Germany, creating the alliance known as the Combined Nations of The People. In the end, even though the Reds were not syndicalist and instead were Communist, their fear and the German fear that they would be overrun by anti-communist forces helped both states overcome their differences, with the creation of the slogan "Unite against the bourgeoisie" used heavily in Berlin and Petrograd. This was also instrumental in thawing relations between Communists, Anarchists and Syndicalists in America, and ultimately the rest of the world, as they decided for the moment to unite until the bourgeoisie were fully gone.