#kronstadt uprising

[rotenotes]

The Kronstadt Uprising

Working in Kronstadt for three years as a teacher at the Labor School,and also being active in the army and naval units, I have moved aheadhonestly, leg to leg with the laborers of free Kronstadt. I have giventhem all my strengths in the field of people’s education. The broadsweep of the wave of enlightenment which the Communists began, Sovietconstruction and the laborer’s class struggle with the…

[opstandelse]

The Kronstadt Uprising

Working in Kronstadt for three years as a teacher at the Labor School,and also being active in the army and naval units, I have moved aheadhonestly, leg to leg with the laborers of free Kronstadt. I have giventhem all my strengths in the field of people’s education. The broadsweep of the wave of enlightenment which the Communists began, Sovietconstruction and the laborer’s class struggle with the…

[crimethinc]

103 years ago today, the participants in the Kronstadt uprising released the first issue of their daily paper.

Three proposals contended within the Russian Revolution. Russian anti-capitalists debated whether power should be vested in representative electoral politics, in a one-party dictatorship, or directly in horizontally organized workers’ councils [soviets]. The Kronstadt uprising demanded direct control by workers’ councils.

Here, you can read the entire text of all 14 issues of the newspaper published by the Kronstadt rebels, the Izvestia [news] of the Provisional Revolutionary Committee of Sailors, Soldiers, and Workers of the Town of Kronstadt.

https://crimethinc.com/kronstadt

Many different factions have attempted to portray the Kronstadt uprising according to many different ideological frameworks. This is a rare opportunity to see the rebellion from the perspective of the rebels themselves

[stencilites]

Kronstadt uprising

[dailyanarchistposts]

Appendix — The Russian Revolution

This appendix of the FAQ exists to discuss in depth the Russian revolution and the impact that Leninist ideology and practice had on its outcome. Given that the only reason why Leninism is taken seriously in some parts of the revolutionary movement is the Russian Revolution, it is useful to expose what Alexander Berkman called “the Bolshevik Myth.” This means discussing certain aspects of the revolution and indicating exactly how Leninism helped destroy any libertarian potential it had. It also means analysing common, modern-day, Leninist excuses for the actions of the Bolsheviks to see if they hold water. It also means analysing in depth specific events of the revolution (such as the Kronstadt uprising of March 1921 and the libertarian influenced Makhnovist movement) to see if there was an alternative to Leninism at the time. Luckily, the answer is yes.

As will become clear from this appendix, Bolshevik actions and ideology had a decisive impact on the development and degeneration of the Revolution. With its centralised, top-down statist political vision, its (openly) state capitalist economic vision and its aim for party power, Leninism had pushed the revolution in an authoritarian direction before the Russian Civil War started (the most common Leninist explanation of what went wrong). Leninism, ironically enough, proved the anarchist critique of Marxism to be correct. Anarchists are confident that in depth analysis of the Russian Revolution will confirm the limitations of Bolshevism as a revolutionary movement and point to libertarian ideas for anyone who wants to change the world.

[randomnewsgenerator]

Ted Cruz dogpiles Elizabeth Warren for defending the Kronstadt Uprising.

[orthodoxydaily]

Saints&Reading: Saturday, June 22, 2024

june 9_june22

Commemoration of the Dead.

SAINT ALEXIS MECHEV, PRIEST OF MOSCOW (1923)

Our Lord’s parable of the mustard seed would surely apply to Alexei Mechev. There was no sign of real promise in this child’s early life. He was born in 1859, the son of a choir director who served under Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow. The family lived modestly with no opportunity for young Alexei to have the privacy of a room of his own. His ambition was to become a doctor after finishing school, but his mother’s ambition was for him to be a priest.

Alexei sang in the choir of another Moscow church, where the priest was extremely cruel to him, even to the point of beating him at times. Instead of rebelling, Alexiy decided that the priest was trying to teach him humility and so he endured this treatment.

At the age of 25, Alexiy married Anna Molchanova and they had six children over the next decade. Only one of these children – Sergius – remained close to his father through the years. Finally, at the age of 35, Alexei was ordained to the priesthood, fulfilling his mother’s ambition. He was assigned to the small church of St. Nicholas in Moscow which was in terrible decline. When Fr. Alexiy began offering the Divine Liturgy, no one came! He would ring the church bell to indicate that services were about to begin, but the church would remain empty. For eight years, this situation existed, and despite the ridicule of some of his fellow priests, Fr. Alexiy did not give up hope.

Tragedy struck the family in 1902, when Anna became ill and suddenly died, leaving Fr. Alexiy with the six children to raise alone. He was grief-stricken and sought the spiritual guidance of Fr. (St.) John of Kronstadt. The advice he was given sparked the blossoming of the mustard seed into a great tree: “Go to the people and share in their grief!”

Through his grief, Fr. Alexiy was able to discern the spiritual needs of people even before they told him of their troubles. He began to be able to speak to their hearts and give counsel that would help them in their lives. He worked tirelessly among his flock and kept a notebook with all the names of those for whom he prayed daily.

Soon Fr. Alexiy became known as a great spiritual father, an elder or “starets”. Those who came to him for counsel were so numerous that there were long lines waiting for him at the church or his home. Like his mentor, St. John of Kronstadt, he gave each person his full attention and turned no one away, even those who were not church-goers or who were of other faiths.

Among the many words of wisdom which Fr. Alexiy passed on to others were those which served as his motto: “Live for others, and you yourself will be saved. To be with people, to live their life, rejoice in their joys, sorrow over their misfortunes…herein lies the meaning and way of life for a Christian, and especially for a pastor.”

With the uprising in Moscow in 1905, Fr. Alexiy foresaw the Revolution and the chaos which that would bring, especially to the Church. He advised the writer Nikolai Berdyaev to leave the country so that the world would be able to hear his words.

When he fell asleep in the Lord on June 22, 1923, tens of thousands attended his funeral. The incarcerated PatriarchTikhon – the St. Tikhon who is considered a patron saint of Western Rite Orthodoxy – was allowed out of prison for a few hours in order to be present for this holy priest’s burial. In 1934, as Fr. Alexiy’s body was being removed to a new grave, the body was found to be incorrupt. This mighty tree, which blossomed from a humble mustard seed, was declared a saint – the Righteous Priest, St. Alexiy – by the Moscow Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000. Now closer to the throne of God, he can intercede for us as he did for so many in life. Holy Alexei, pray for us.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Fr. Alexiy’s son, Sergius, who had also become a priest, was assigned to continue the work of his father at St. Nicholas Church. With the worsening of relations between the Soviet government and the Church, Fr. Sergius was imprisoned several times and finally murdered in 1941. He is now also a saint of the Church.

Source: St Elizabeth Convent

THE MONK KIRILL (CYRIL), HEGUMEN OF BELOEZERSK (1427)

Saint Cyril, Igoumen of White Lake, (in the world Cosmas) was born in Moscow of pious parents. In his youth he was left an orphan and lived with his kinsman, the boyar (nobleman) Timothy Vasil’evich Vel’yaminov, in the surroundings of the court of the Great Prince Demetrius Donskoy (1363-1389). Secular life bored the youth. Knowing that Timothy would never consent to Cosmas to become a monk, Saint Stephen of Makhra (July 14), clothed him in the riasson and named him Cyril, leaving the rest to God's will.

Saint Stephen went to see Timothy, who was delighted by his visit. He met his guest at the door, asking for his blessing. The Saint replied, "Cyril, who entreats God for you, blesses you." The boyar asked who this Cyril was. Saint Stephen said, "Cosmas, your former kinsman, but now a monk laboring for the Lord, and praying for you."

At first, the boyar was very angry, and spoke harshly to Saint Stephen, who left the house. Timothy's wife reproached him for offending the Elder. The boyar repented and sent someone to ask him to return. Both men asked forgiveness of one another, and Timothy agreed to let Cosmas fulfill his heart's desire. Saint Stephen rejoiced, and told Cyril the good news. He gave away all his possessions to the poor, keeping nothing for himself.

Before returning to Makhra, Igoumen Stephen brought the new monk to Simonov Monastery, which had been established in a new place by Archimandrite Theodore (November 28), the nephew of Saint Sergius. He accepted Cyril into the Monastery and then tonsured him.

Cyril fulfilled his monastic obediences under the supervision of Elder Michael, who later became the Bishop of Smolensk. By night the Elder read the Psalter, and Cyril bowed and made prostrations, but at the first ringing of the bell, he went to the church for Matins.

He asked the Elder permission to partake of food every second or third day. The experienced Elder did not permit this, but blessed him instead to eat with the brethren, only not to the extent of satiety. Cyril fulfilled his obedience in the bakery: he carried water, chopped firewood, and distributed bread. When Saint Sergius of Radonezh came to the Simonov monastery to see his nephew Theodore, he would seek Cyril in the bakery and converse with him about spiritual matters before seeing anyone else.

After a while, Cyril was transferred from the bakery to the kitchen. He gazed into the burning fire and told himself, “Have patience, Cyril, so that by this fire you might save yourself from the eternal fire." Cyril toiled for nine years in the kitchen and God granted him such a tender heart that he was not able to eat the bread he baked without tears, and all the brethren regarded him not as a man, but as an Angel of God.

Fleeing the glory of man, he began to behave as a fool-for-Christ. As punishment for transgressing against propriety, the Superior of the monastery placed him on bread and water for forty days. Cyril underwent this punishment with joy. But the Saint could not conceal his spirituality, and the experienced Superior discovered that Cyril was not behaving as a fool out of pride, but out of humility. Against his will, they compelled him to accept ordination to the priesthood. When he was not serving in church, Cyril occupied himself with heavy work. When Theodore was made Archbishop of Rostov, the brethren chose Cyril as Archimandrite of the monastery in 1388.

Wealthy and important people began to visit the monk to hear his counsels. This disturbed the Saint's humble spirit. Despite the entreaties of the brethren, he would not remain as Igoumen, but secluded himself in his former cell. Even here he was disturbed by frequent visitors, and he went to the old Simonov Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos.

Saint Cyril’s soul yearned for solitude, and he asked the Mother of God to show him a place conducive for salvation. One night he was reading an Akathist in his cell before the Hodēgḗtria icon of the Mother of God, and had just reached the eighth Kontakion, “Seeing the strange Nativity, let us become strangers to the world and transport our minds to Heaven.” Then he heard a voice say, “Go to White Lake (Belozersk), where I have prepared a place for you.”

There at the desolate and sparsely populated White Lake, he found the place which he had seen in the vision. Saint Cyril and his companion Saint Therapon of White Lake and Mozhaisk (May 27), set up a cross and dug a cell in the ground near Mount Myaura at Siversk Lake.

Saint Therapon soon went to another place, and Saint Cyril remained where he was. However, he was not able to live in his underground cell for even one year.

Once Cyril, troubled by a strange dream, lay down to sleep under a pine tree, but just as he closed his eyes, he heard a voice cry, “Run, Cyril!” Cyril barely managed to jump away as the pine tree came crashing down. From this pine tree, the ascetic fashioned a cross.

Another time, Cyril nearly perished from flames and smoke when he was clearing the forest, but God preserved His Saint. A certain peasant attempted to burn down the monk's cell, but try as he might, he did not succeed. Then he repented with tears, and confessed his sin to Cyril, who tonsured him into monasticism.

Two monks whom Cyril loved, Zebediah and Dionysios, came to him from Simonov monastery, and then Nathanael, who afterward was steward of the monastery. Many began to come to him seeking to be tonsured. The holy Elder perceived that his time of silence was ended. In the year 1397 he constructed a temple in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God.

When the number of brethren had multiplied, the monk gave the monastery a Rule of cenobitic life, which he sanctified by the example of his own life. Thus, no one could talk in church, and no one could leave before the end of services. They also came to venerate the Gospel according to seniority. At meals they sat at their own place, and there was silence. From the trapeza, each went quietly to his own cell. No one was able to receive either letters or gifts without having shown them to Cyril, nor did anyone write a letter without his blessing.

Money was kept in the monastery treasury, and no one had any personal possessions. They went to the trapeza even to drink water. The cells were not locked, and nothing was kept in them but icons and books. In the final years of Saint Cyril’s life, the boyar Roman decided to give the monastery a village and sent the deed. Cyril knew that if the monastery came to possess a village, the brethren would become concerned about the land and settlements would disrupt the monastic solitude, so he refused the gift.

The Lord rewarded His Saint with the gift of clairvoyance and healing. A certain Theodore desired to enter the monastery, but the Enemy of mankind instilled in him such hatred for Cyril that he could not look at him, nor listen to the sound of his voice. He approached Cyril’s cell and, seeing his grey hair, he was not able to say a word from shame. The Saint said to him, “Don’t be sad, my brother, for all are mistaken about me. You alone know the truth and my unworthiness. I am actually a worthless sinner.” Then Cyril blessed Theodore, promising that he would not be troubled by such thoughts in the future. From that time Theodore lived at peace in the monastery.

Once, there was no wine for the Divine Liturgy, and the priest told the Saint about this. Cyril ordered a monk to bring him the empty wine vessel, and when he opened it, it was full of wine. During a time of famine Cyril distributed bread to all the needy and he did not stop, even though the normal reserves hardly sufficed for the brethren. Despite this, the more that bread was distributed, the more it increased. The monks then realized that God would provide for their needs, through the prayers of Saint Cyril.

The Saint calmed a storm on the lake which threatened the fishermen. He predicted that none of the brethren would die until after his death, despite a plague that would rage. Then many would follow after him.

The Saint served his final Divine Liturgy on the day of Pentecost. After giving final instructions to the brethren to preserve love among themselves,1 Saint Cyril reposed in the ninetieth year of his life on June 9, 1427 on the Feast day of his namesake Saint Cyril of Alexandria. Within a year after the Saint's death, more than thirty of the fifty-three brethren reposed. He often appeared to the survivors in dreams, offering advice and guidance.

Saint Cyril loved spiritual enlightenment and he instilled this love in his disciples. In 1635 there were more than two thousand books in the monastery, including sixteen “of the Wonderworker Cyril.” Three of his letters to Russian princes survive down to our time. They are remarkable specimens of his spiritual instruction, love, peace, and consolation.

The veneration of the holy ascetic began not later than 1447-1448. The Life of Saint Cyril was commissioned by Metropolitan Theodosios and Great Prince Basil the Dark. It was written by the Athonite monk Pakhomios the Logothete, who dwelt at the Cyrilov monastery in 1462 and met with many eyewitnesses and disciples of Saint Cyril. He learned the most from Martinian (January 12), who had lived with the Saint from his youth.

1 In the Icon of Saint Cyril, his words appear on the scroll in his hand: "Preserve love among yourselves."

Source: Orthodox Church in America_OCA

ACTS 28:1-31

1 Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta. 2 And the natives showed us unusual kindness; for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold.

3 But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. 4 So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live."

5 But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

7 In that region there was an estate of the leading citizen of the island, whose name was Publius, who received us and entertained us courteously for three days. 8 And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him.

9 So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed. 10 They also honored us in many ways; and when we departed, they provided such things as were necessary.

11 After three months we sailed in an Alexandrian ship whose figurehead was the Twin Brothers, which had wintered at the island. 12 And landing at Syracuse, we stayed three days.

13 From there we circled round and reached Rhegium. And after one day the south wind blew; and the next day we came to Puteoli, 14 where we found brethren, and were invited to stay with them seven days. And so we went toward Rome.

15 And from there, when the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum and Three Inns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. 16 Now when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard; but Paul was permitted to dwell by himself with the soldier who guarded him.

17 And it came to pass after three days that Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. So when they had come together, he said to them: "Men and brethren, though I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as18who, when they had examined me, wanted to let me go, because there was no cause for putting me to death.

19 But when the Jews spoke against it, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything of which to accuse my nation. 20 For this reason therefore I have called for you, to see you and speak with you, because for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.

21 Then they said to him, "We neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren who came reported or spoken any evil of you. 22 But we desire to hear from you what you think; for concerning this sect, we know that it is spoken against everywhere.

23 So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening. 24 And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved.

25 So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: "The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, 26 saying, 'Go to this people and say: Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and not perceive;

27 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.' 28 Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!

29 And when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves. 30 Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, 31 preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.

JOHN 5:24-30 (DEPARTED)

24 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. 25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth-those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. 30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

[speculativism]

Kronstadt Uprising - 'The Day After'

[psychotrenny]

Like I just can't stop thinking about the way that "Tankie" is typically used when a Communist State does something that anti-communists and revisionist idiots try to frame as "Evil Authoritarians murder innocent democratic Leftists because they love oppression". Because this is how a lot of people treat the 1956 Hungarian Uprising i.e. the thing that Trots were mad at the USSR for when they first coined the term "Tankie". But it is also how many people characterise the Kronstadt rebellion, the suppression of which was personally orchestrated by Trotsky himself. Arguably Trotsky was being even more "Authoritarian" because the Hungarian Uprising was dominated by outright murderous Fascists while Kronstadt's leadership was at worst revisionist and opportunist. Like Trots are so utterly fucking lacking in self awareness that they invented a pejorative for doing the exact thing that their guy was infamous for.

It's not like "Authoritarianism" is a coherent or useful term anyway but Trotskyists manage to use in ways that are more egregiously ridiculous and hypocritical than even Liberals do. It's almost impressive how incoherent their ideology is. Anything to sell those newspapers I suppose

So fucking funny how many people try to frame Trotsky as being less "Authoritarian" than Stalin. Like one of his greatest achievements was doing "Tankie" shit without even using Tanks and then 2 decades later, while in exile, telling the haters to basically "Cope and Seethe over Kronstadt"

[oceanicmarxist]

"The NEP and the Kronstadt Uprising", from Hue and Cry over Kronstadt (1938) by Leon Trotsky

Victor Serge, who, it would seem, is trying to manufacture a sort of synthesis of anarchism, POUMism, and Marxism, has intervened very unfortunately in the polemic about Kronstadt. In his opinion, the introduction of the NEP one year earlier could have averted the Kronstadt uprising. Let us admit that. But advice like this is very easy to give after the event. It is true, as Victor Serge remembers, that I had proposed the transition to the NEP as early as 1920. But I was not at all sure in advance of its success. It was no secret to me that the remedy could prove to be more dangerous than the malady itself. When I met opposition from the leaders of the party, I did not appeal to the ranks, in order to avoid mobilizing the petty bourgeoisie against the workers. The experience of the ensuing twelve months was required to convince the party of the need for the new course. But the remarkable thing is that it was precisely the Anarchists all over the world who looked upon the NEP as ... a betrayal of communism. But now the advocates of the Anarchists denounce us for not having introduced the NEP a year earlier.

In 1921 Lenin more than once openly acknowledged that the party’s obstinate defense of the methods of Military Communism had become a great mistake. But does this change matters? Whatever the immediate or remote causes of the Kronstadt rebellion, it was in its very essence a mortal danger to the dictatorship of the proletariat. Simply because it had been guilty of a political error, should the proletarian revolution really have committed suicide to punish itself?

Or perhaps it would have been sufficient to inform the Kronstadt sailors of the NEP decrees to pacify them? Illusion! The insurgents did not have a conscious program and they could not have had one because of the very nature of the petty bourgeoisie. They themselves did not clearly understand that what their fathers and brothers needed first of all was free trade. They were discontented and confused but they saw no way out. The more conscious, i.e., the rightist elements, acting behind the scenes, wanted the restoration of the bourgeois regime. But they did not say so out loud. The “left” wing wanted the liquidation of discipline, “free soviets,” and better rations. The regime of the NEP could only gradually pacify the peasant, and, after him, the discontented sections of the army and the fleet. But for this time and experience were needed.

Most puerile of all is the argument that there was no uprising, that the sailors had made no threats, that they “only” seized the fortress and the battleships. It would seem that the Bolsheviks marched with bared chests across the ice against the fortress only because of their evil characters, their inclination to provoke conflicts artificially, their hatred of the Kronstadt sailors, or their hatred of the Anarchist doctrine (about which absolutely no one, we may say in passing, bothered in those days). Is this not childish prattle? Bound neither to time nor place, the dilettante critics try (seventeen years later!) to suggest that everything would have ended in general satisfaction if only the revolution had left the insurgent sailors alone. Unfortunately, the world counterrevolution would in no case have left them alone. The logic of the struggle would have given predominance in the fortress to the extremists, that is, to the most counterrevolutionary elements. The need for supplies would have made the fortress directly dependent upon the foreign bourgeoisie and their agents, the White emigres. All the necessary preparations toward this end were already being made. Under similar circumstances only people like the Spanish Anarchists or POUMists would have waited passively, hoping for a happy outcome. The Bolsheviks, fortunately, belonged to a different school. They considered it their duty to extinguish the fire as soon as it started, thereby reducing to a minimum the number of victims.

[sergiosantos]

Books read in 2022

All the books I read in 2022, with a ⭐️ next to my favourites. You can also check my lists for 2020 and 2021.

Fiction

We - Yevgeny Zamyatin ⭐ The Last of the Masters - Philip K. Dick The Carpet Makers - Andreas Eschbach ⭐ Death's End - Liu Cixin The Ark Sakura - Kobo Abe His Master's Voice - Stanislaw Lem The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis - José Saramago Seeing - José Saramago La Diagonale Alekhine - Arthur Larrue The Man Who Planted Trees - Jean Giono The Castle - Franz Kafka The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin ⭐️ The Cyberiad - Stanislaw Lem

Non-fiction

Blockchain Chicken Farm - Xiaowei Wang ⭐ On Anarchism - Noam Chomsky A Civic Technologist's Practice Guide - Cyd Harrell The Anarchist Handbook - Michael Malice Nea Kavala, Nea Kavala - Frederico Martinho The DisCO Elements Selected Writings - Mikhail Bakunin Bobby Fischer goes to War - David Edmonds & John Eidinow Play Winning Chess - Yasser Seirawan Kraftwerk - Uwe Schütte On Tennis - David Foster Wallace Capitalist Realism - Mark Fisher Judgment of Paris - George M. Taber Voices from the Valley - Moira Weigel & Ben Tarnoff Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? - Linda Nochlin Soft City - David Sim The Motorcycle Diaries - Ernesto Che Guevara Rebel Ideas - Matthew Syed Wine and War - Don Kladstrup Four Thousand Weeks - Oliver Burkeman ⭐ The One-Straw Revolution - Masanobu Fukuoka Movement - Thalia Verkade ⭐ The Permaculture City - Toby Hemenway The Race Against the Stasi - Herbie Sykes The 99% Invisible City - Kurt Kohlstedt & Roman Mars The Captive Mind - Czesław Miłosz Consider the Oyster - M. F. K. Fisher The Kronstadt Uprising - Ida Mett Post-scarcity Anarchism - Murray Bookchin

[radicalgraff]

Huge mural painted by anarchists in St Petersburg, Russia to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the Kronstadt Uprising

The Russian text says: "Death to the Bourgeoisie" using the flag design of the Kronstadt rebels.

On March 1st 1921, around 15,000 people assembled in the city of Kronstadt, demanding free elections, an end to censorship, and freedom of trade, marking the beginning of the Kronstadt Rebellion against the Bolshevik government.

The uprising consisted of sailors, soldiers, and civilians from a variety of political persuasions. It was also the last major revolt against the Bolshevik government on Russian territory during the civil war.

The rebellion took place in the context of a difficult winter in which fuel and food became scarce. Protests and civil unrest were happening throughout Russia, and the sailors in Kronstadt had actually deposed their commander Raskolnikov in late January.

On February 28th, in reaction to government suppression of protests in Petrograd, the sailors drafted a set of fifteen demands, including free elections, freedom of assembly for peasant and labor organizations, and the allowance of trade.

On March 2nd, a Provisional Revolutionary Committee was formed, demanding a "third revolution" to restore the revolutionary values Kronstadt supporters felt the Bolsheviks had betrayed.

The Bolsheviks accused the Kronstadt rebels as being "counter-revolutionary" and moved to crush the rebellion by force. On March 7th, the Bolshevik government began attacking the island with small land forces and aerial bombardment, however little progress was made.

On March 16th, a Bolshevik force of 50,000 met and defeated the 15,000 rebels, seizing control of the island. 8,000 Kronstadt refugees crossed into Finland within a day of Kronstadt's fall, sabotaging the defenses as they left.

Anarchists see the Kronstadt Rebellion as a righteous rebellion against an increasingly repressive Soviet state, while Bolsheviks view it as counter-revolutionary and petty bourgeois in character. For his part, Lenin regarded the episode as a critical challenge to the revolution, calling Kronstadt "undoubtedly more dangerous than Denikin, Yudenich, and Kolchak combined".

[crimethinc]

One hundred and two years ago today, the first issue of the daily paper of the Kronstadt revolt appeared, chronicling the politics and day-to-day events of the uprising. You can read every issue of it in English here, along with a history of the revolt.

https://crimethinc.com/kronstadt

From Bolsheviks to right-wing conservatives, many different currents have spread falsehoods about who participated in the Kronstadt uprising and what their goals were. Fortunately, you can see for yourself by reading their own words.

The illustration shows the third issue, in the original Russian and as an English facsimile.

[fuckyeahanarchistposters]

“Long live the vanguard of the revolution, Kronstadt”

1921 Propaganda poster calling for support for the Kronstadt uprising.

On March 1st 1921, around 15,000 people assembled in the city of Kronstadt, demanding free elections, an end to censorship, and freedom of trade, marking the beginning of the Kronstadt Rebellion against the Bolshevik government.

The uprising consisted of sailors, soldiers, and civilians from a variety of political persuasions. It was also the last major revolt against the Bolshevik government on Russian territory during the civil war.

The rebellion took place in the context of a difficult winter in which fuel and food became scarce. Protests and civil unrest were happening throughout Russia, and the sailors in Kronstadt had actually deposed their commander Raskolnikov in late January.

On February 28th, in reaction to government suppression of protests in Petrograd, the sailors drafted a set of fifteen demands, including free elections, freedom of assembly for peasant and labor organizations, and the allowance of trade.

On March 2nd, a Provisional Revolutionary Committee was formed, demanding a "third revolution" to restore the revolutionary values Kronstadt supporters felt the Bolsheviks had betrayed.

The Bolsheviks accused the Kronstadt rebels as being "counter-revolutionary" and moved to crush the rebellion by force. On March 7th, the Bolshevik government began attacking the island with small land forces and aerial bombardment, however little progress was made.

On March 16th, a Bolshevik force of 50,000 met and defeated the 15,000 rebels, seizing control of the island. 8,000 Kronstadt refugees crossed into Finland within a day of Kronstadt's fall, sabotaging the defenses as they left.

Anarchists see the Kronstadt Rebellion as a righteous rebellion against an increasingly repressive Soviet state, while Bolsheviks view it as counter-revolutionary and petty bourgeois in character. For his part, Lenin regarded the episode as a critical challenge to the revolution, calling Kronstadt "undoubtedly more dangerous than Denikin, Yudenich, and Kolchak combined".

[thepopculturearchivist]

SCHENECTADY GAZETTE, March 21, 1921