Vladimir
Antonov-Ovseenko, the son of a military officer, was born in Russia
in 1884. he was educated at the Voronezh Military School and the Nikolaevsk
Army Engineering College. During this period Antonov-Ovseenko began
to question the political system that existed in Russia and in 1901
was expelled from college for refusing to take the oath of loyalty
to Nicholas II.
Antonov-Ovseenko
moved to Warsaw where he joined the illegal Social
Democratic Labour Party. The following year he found work as a
labourer in the Alexander Docks in St. Petersburg and then as a coachman
for the Society for the Protection of Animals.
At its
Second Congress of the Social Democratic Labour
Party in London in 1903, there was
a dispute between two of its leaders, Vladimir
Lenin and Julius Martov. Lenin argued
for a small party of professional revolutionaries with a large fringe
of non-party sympathizers and supporters. Martov disagreed believing
it was better to have a large party of activists. Martov won the vote
28-23 but Lenin was unwilling to accept the result and formed a faction
known as the Bolsheviks. Those who
remained loyal to Martov became known as Mensheviks.
Antonov-Ovseenko,
along with George Plekhanov, Pavel
Axelrod, Leon Trotsky, Vera
Zasulich, Irakli Tsereteli, Moisei
Uritsky, Noi Zhordania and Fedor
Dan, supported Julius Martov.
In
August 1904 Antonov-Ovseenko was arrested for distributing illegal
political propaganda. He was released and sent to Warsaw where he
became a junior officer in the Kolyvan Infantry Regiment. He used
his position to recruit junior officers to the Mensheviks.
Antonov-Ovseenko
deserted from the army during the 1905 Revolution.
He joined the Menshevik Military Committee and edited the underground
newspaper Kazarma (Garrison). However, he was arrested in April,
1906, but escaped from Sushchevsky Prison. Captured again in June,
he was sentenced to death (later commuted to twenty years hard labour
in Siberia).
In
June, 1907, a group of Mensheviks
freed
Antonov-Ovseenko by
blowing a hole in the prison wall. He spent some time hiding in Finland
until he could be provided with a false passport that would enable
him to return to Russia. Based in Moscow he organized workers' cooperatives
and editing illegal newspapers.
After
two further arrests Antonov-Ovseenko left
Russia and went to live in France. He joined
other revolutionaries in exile and as well as becoming secretary of
the Parisian Labour Bureau wrote for the radical newspaper, Golos
(Voice).
Antonov-Ovseenko
returned to Russia after the February Revolution.
In May he joined the Bolsheviks and
soon afterwards was appointed to the party's Central Committee. Antonov-Ovseenko
was
the main architect of the armed insurrection and led the Red
Guards that seized the Winter Palace on the 25th October, 1917.
After the October Revolution he was
appointed Commissar for Military Affairs in Petrograd and Commisssar
of War.
During
the Civil War Antonov-Ovseenko
commanded
the Bolshevik campaign in the Ukraine
and organized famine relief in Samara province. Antonov-Ovseenko
worked
closely with Leon Trotsky and in 1922
he was appointed Chief of Political Administration of the Red
Army.
At
the Communist Party Congress in 1922 Antonov-Ovseenko attacked
Lenin for making political compromises with the kulaks
and foreign capitalism. He also supported the idea of permanent revolution
and became one of the leaders of the left opposition.
As
a supporter of Leon Trotsky Antonov-Ovseenko
lost
his military command in 1923. To remove him from the political struggle
in the Soviet Union, in 1925 Joseph Stalin
sent him as ambassador to Czechoslovakia. Later he held similar posts
in Lithuania and Poland.
Antonov-Ovseenko
was the Soviet consul general in Barcelona during the Spanish
Civil War. He arranged for Russian advisers to
help the Popular Front government
while expanding the influence of the Soviet
Union in the country.
Joseph
Stalin was convinced that Antonov-Ovseenko was
plotting against him and in August, 1937, he recalled him to the Soviet
Union. Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko was
arrested and shot without trial in 1939.
(1) The
Granat Encyclopaedia of the Russian Revolution was published by
the Soviet government in 1924. The encyclopaedia included a collection
of autobiographies and biographies of over two hundred people involved
in the Russian Revolution. Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko
was one of those invited to write his autobiography.
At the
beginning of April 1906, I was arrested at a congress of the military
organizations. Five days later, Emelian, myself and three other comrades
escaped from the Sushchevsky jail by breaking through a wall. Within
a month I was in Sebastopol under orders from the Central Committee
to prepare an insurrection. It broke out suddenly in June, and I was
arrested in the street as I tried to shoot my way through a cordon
of police and soldiers surrounding the house where a meeting of representatives
from military units was in progress.
I was imprisoned
for a year without my true identity being revealed and then I was
sentenced to death, which eight days later was commuted to twenty
years' hard labour. Within a month, in June 1907, and on the eve of
our departure from Sebastopol, I escaped with twenty others during
an excercise period by blowing a hole in the wall and firing on the
warders and sentry. This breakout was organized by Comrade Konstantin
who had come from Moscow.
(2)
Nikolai Sukhanov, The Russian Revolution
of 1917 (1922)
Antonov-Ovseenko's plan was accepted. It consisted in
occupying first of all those parts of the city adjoining the Finland
Station: the Vyborg Side, the outskirts of the Petersburg Side, etc.
Together with the units arriving from Finland it would then be possible
to launch an offensive against the centre of the capital.
Beginning
at 2 in the morning the stations, bridges, lighting installations,
telegraphs, and telegraphic agency were gradually occupied by small
forces brought from the barracks. The little groups of cadets could
not resist and didn't think of it. In general the military operations
in the politically important centres of the city rather resembled
a changing of the guard. The weaker defence force, of cadets retired;
and a strengthened defence force, of Red Guards, took its place.
(3)
Pavel Manlyantovich was Minister
of Justice in the Provisional Government.
He was arrested by Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko and the Red Guards
on 25th October, 1917. He later wrote about the incident in his book,
In the Winter Palace (1918)
There was a noise behind the door and it burst open like
a splinter of wood thrown out by a wave, a little man flew into the
room, pushed in by the onrushing crowd which poured in after him,
like water, at once spilled into every corner and filled the room.
"Where
are the members of the Provisional Government?"
"The
Provisional Government is here," said Kornovalov, remaining seated.
"What
do you want?"
"I
inform you, all of you, members of the Provisional Government, that
you are under arrest. I am Antonov-Ovseenko, chairman of the Military
Revolutionary Committee."
"Run
them through, the sons of bitches! Why waste time with them? They've
drunk enough of our blood!" yelled a short sailor, stamping the
floor with his rifle."
There were
sympathetic replies: "What the devil, comrades! Stick them all
on bayonets, make short work of them!"
Antonov-Ovseenko
raised his head and shouted sharply: "Comrades, keep calm!"
All members of the Provisional Government are arrested. They will
be imprisoned in the Fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul. I'll permit
no violence. Conduct yourself calmly. Maintain order! Power is now
in your hands. You must maintain order!"
(4)
In his memoirs Alfred Knox, the
British Military Attaché in Petrograd,
reported that he met Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko
when he helped free the Women's Battalion
from the Bolsheviks.
When I
returned to the British Embassy I found Lady Georgina in great excitement.
Two officer instructors of the Women's Battalion had come with a terrible
story to the effect that the 137 women taken in the Winter Palace
had been beaten and tortured, and were now being outraged in the Grenadersky
barracks.
I borrowed
the Ambassador's car and drove to the Bolshevik headquarters at the
Smolny Institute. This big building, formerly a school for the daughters
of the nobility, is now thick with the dirt of revolution. Sentries
and others tried to put me off, but I at length penetrated to the
third floor, where I saw the Secretary of the Military-Revolutionary
Committee (Vladimir
Antonov-Ovseenko)
and demanded that the women should be set free at once. He tried to
procrastinate, but I told him that if they were not liberated at once
I would set the opinion of the civilized world against the Bolsheviks.
Antonov-Ovseenko
tried soothe me and begged me to talk French instead of Russian, as
the waiting-room was crowded and we were attracting attention. He
himself talked excellent French and was evidently a man of education
and culture. Finally, after two visits to the adjoining room, where
he said the Council was sitting, he came back to say that the order
for the release would be signed at once.
I drove
with the officers to the Grenadersky barracks and went to see the
Regimental Committee. The commissar, a repulsive individual of Semitic
type, refused to release the women without a written order, on the
ground that "they had resisted to the last at the Palace, fighting
desperately with bombs and revolvers."
The Bolsheviks
in this instance were as good as their word. The order arrived at
the regiment soon after my departure, and the women were escorted
by a large guard to the Finland Station, where they left at 9 p.m.
for Levashovo, their battalion headquarters. As far as could be ascertained,
though they had been beaten and insulted in every way in the Pavlovsky
barracks and on their way to the Grenadersky Regiment, they were not
actually hurt in the barracks of the latter. They were, however, only
separated from the men's quarter by a barrier extemporized from beds,
and blackguards among the soldiery had shouted threats that had made
them tremble for the fate that the night might bring.
(5)
Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, General Consul of the Soviet
Union in Barcelona , top secret
document sent to NKVD (14th October, 1936)
The relationship
between our people (the Communists) and the anarcho-syndicalists is
becoming ever more strained. Every day, delegates and individual comrades
appear before the CC of the Unified Socialist Party with statements
about the excesses of the anarchists. In places it has come to armed
clashes. Not long ago in a settlement of Huesca near Barbastro twenty-five
members of the UGT were killed by the anarchists in a surprise attack
provoked by unknown reasons. In Molins de Rei, workers in a textile
factory stopped work, protesting against arbitrary dismissals. Their
delegation to Barcelona was driven out of the train, but all the same
fifty workers forced their way to Barcelona with complaints for the
central government, but now they are afraid to return, anticipating
the anarchists' revenge. In Pueblo Nuevo near Barcelona, the anarchists
have placed an armed man at the doors of each of the food stores,
and if you do not have a food coupon from the CNT, then you cannot
buy anything. The entire population of this small town is highly excited.
They are shooting up to fifty people a day in Barcelona. (Miravitlles
told me that they were not shooting more than four a day).
Relations
with the Union of Transport Workers are strained. At the beginning
of 1934 there was a protracted strike by the transport workers. The
government and the "Esquerra" smashed the strike. In July
of this year, on the pretext of revenge against the scabs, the CNT
killed more than eighty men, UGT members, but not one Communist among
them. They killed not only actual scabs but also honest revolutionaries.
At the head of the union is Comvin, who has been to the USSR, but
on his return he came out against us. Both he and, especially, the
other leader of the union - Cargo - appear to be provocateurs. The
CNT, because of competition with the hugely growing UGT, are recruiting
members without any verification. They have taken especially many
lumpen from the port area of Barrio Chino.
They have
offered our people two posts in the new government - Council of Labour
and the Council of Municipal Work - but it is impossible for the Council
of Labour to institute control over the factories and mills without
clashing sharply with the CNT, and as for municipal services, one
must clash with the Union of Transport Workers, which is in the hands
of the CNT. Fabregas, the councillor for the economy, is a "highly
doubtful sort." Before he joined the Esquerra, he was in the
Accion Popular; he left the Esquerra for the CNT and now is playing
an obviously provocative role, attempting to "deepen the revolution"
by any means. The metallurgical syndicate just began to put forward
the slogan "family wages." The first "producer in the
family" received 100 percent wages, for example seventy pesetas
a week, the sec- ond member of the family 50 percent, the third 25
percent, the fourth, and so on, up to 10 percent. Children less than
sixteen years old only 10 percent each, This system of wages is even
worse than egalitarianism. It kills both production and the family.
In Madrid
there are up to fifty thousand construction workers. Caballero refused
to mobilize all of them for building fortifications around Madrid
("and what will they eat") and gave a total of a thousand
men for building the fortifications. In Estremadura our Comrade Deputy
Cordon is fighting heroically. He could arm five thousand peasants
but he has a detachment of only four thousand men total. Caballero
under great pressure agreed to give Cordon two hundred rifles, as
well. Meanwhile, from Estremadura, Franco could easily advance into
the rear, toward Madrid. Caballero implemented an absolutely absurd
compensation for the militia - ten pesetas a day, besides food and
housing. Farm labourers in Spain earn a total of two pesetas a day
and, feeling very good about the militia salary in the rear, do not
want to go to the front. With that, egalitarianism was introduced.
Only officer specialists receive a higher salary. A proposal made
to Caballero to pay soldiers at the rear five pesetas and only soldiers
at the front ten pesetas was turned down. Caballero is now disposed
to put into effect the institution of political commissars, but in
actual fact it is not being done. In fact, the political commissars
introduced into the Fifth Regiment have been turned into commanders,
for there are none of the latter. Caballero also supports the departure
of the government from Madrid. After the capture of Toledo, this question
was almost decided, but the anarchists were categorically against
it, and our people proposed that the question be withdrawn as inopportune.
Caballero stood up for the removal of the government to Cartagena.
They proposed sounding out the possibility of basing the government
in Barcelona. Two ministers - Prieto and Jimenez de Asua - left for
talks with the Barcelona government. The Barcelona government agreed
to give refuge to the central government. Caballero is sincere but
is a prisoner to syndicalist habits and takes the statutes of the
trade unions too literally.
The UGT
is now the strongest organization in Catalonia: it has no fewer than
half the metallurgical workers and almost all the textile workers,
municipal workers, service employees, bank employees. There are abundant
links to the peasantry. But the CNT has much better cadres and has
many weapons, which were seized in the first days (the anarchists
sent to the front fewer than 60 percent of the thirty thousand rifles
and three hundred machine guns that they seized).
(6)
Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, General Consul of the Soviet
Union in Barcelona , top secret
document sent to NKVD (18th October, 1936)
My conversations
with Garcia Oliver and with several other CNT members, and their latest
speeches, attest to the fact that the leaders of the CNT have an honest
and serious wish to concentrate all forces in a strengthened united
front and on the development of military action against the fascists.
I must note that the PSUC is not free from certain instances that
hamper the "consolidation of a united front": in particular,
although the Liaison Commission has just been set up, the party organ
Treball suddenly published an invitation to the CNT and the
FAI that, since the experience with the Liaison Commission had gone
so well, the UGT and the PSUC had suggested that the CNT and the FAI
create even more unity in the form of an action commission. This kind
of suggestion was taken by leaders of the FAI as simply a tactical
maneuver. Comrade Valdes and Comrade Sese did not hide from me that
the just-mentioned suggestion was meant to "talk to the masses
of the CNT over the heads of their leaders." The same sort of
note was sounded at the appearance of Comrade Comorera at the PSUC
and UGT demonstration on 18 October - on the one hand, a call for
protecting and developing the united front and, on the other, boasting
about the UGT's having a majority among the working class in Catalonia,
accusing the CNT and the FAI of carrying out a forced collectivization
of the peasants, of hiding weapons, and even of murdering "our
comrades."
The PSUC
leaders-designate agreed with me that such tactics were completely
wrong and expressed their intention to change them. I propose that
we get together in the near future with a limited number of representatives
of the CNT and the FAI to work out a concrete program for our next
action.
In the near future, the PSUC intends to bring forward the question
on reorganizing the management of military industry. At this point
the Committee on Military Industry works under the chairmanship of
Tarradellas, but the
main role in the committee is played by Vallejos (from the FAI). The
PSUC proposes to put together leadership from representatives from
all of the organizations, to group the factories by specialty, and
to place at the head of each group a commissar, who would answer to
the government.
The evaluation
by Garcia Oliver and other CNT members of the Madrid government seems
well founded to me. Caballero's attitude toward the question of attracting
the CNT into that or any other form of government betrays his obstinate
incomprehension of that question's importance. Without the participation
of the CNT, it will not, of course, be possible to create the appropriate
enthusiasm and discipline in the people's militia/Republican militia.
The information
concerning the intentions of the Madrid government for a timely evacuation
from Madrid was confirmed. This widely disseminated information undermines
confidence in the central government to an extraordinary degree and
paralyzes the defense of Madrid.
(7)
Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, General Consul of the Soviet
Union in Barcelona , top secret
document sent to NKVD (November, 1936)
The dispatch
of aid to Madrid is proceeding with difficulty. The question about
it was put before the military adviser on 5 November. The adviser
thought it possible to remove the entire Durruti detachment from the
front. This unit, along with the Karl Marx Division, is considered
to have the greatest fighting value. To put Durruti out of action,
a statement was issued by the commander of the Karl Marx Division,
inspired by us, about sending this division to Madrid (it was difficult
to take the division out of battle, and, besides, the PSUC did not
want to remove it from the Catalan front for political reasons). However,
Durruti refused point-blank to carry out the order for the entire
detachment, or part of it, to set out for Madrid. Immediately, it
was agreed with President Companys and the military adviser to secure
the dispatch of the mixed Catalan column (from detachments of various
parties).
A meeting
of the commanders with the detachments on the Aragon front was called
for 6 November, with our participation. After a short report about
the situation near Madrid, the commander of the Karl Marx Division
declared that his division was ready to be sent to Madrid. Durruti
was up in arms against sending reinforcements to Madrid, sharply attacked
the Madrid government, "which was preparing for defeat,"
called Madrid's situation hopeless, and concluded that Madrid had
a purely political significance - and not a strategic one. This kind
of attitude on the part of Durruti, who enjoys exceptional influence
over all of anarcho syndicalist Catalonia that is at the front, must
be smashed at all costs. It was necessary to interfere in a firm way.
And Durruti gave in, declaring that he could give Madrid a thousand
select fighters. After a passionate speech by the anarchist Santillan,
he agreed to give two thousand and immediately issued an order that
his neighbour on the front Ortiz give another two thousand, Ascaso
another thousand, and the Karl Marx division a thousand. Durruti was
silent about the Left Republicans, although the chief of their detachment
declared that he could give a battalion. In all, sixty-eight hundred
bayonets are shaping up for dispatch no later than 8 November. Durruti
then and there put his deputy at the head of the mixed detachment
(Durruti agreed to form it as a "Catalan division"). He
declared that he would personally be with the detachment until the
appointment (of the new head). But Durruti unexpectedly pulled a stunt,
holding up the dispatch. Learning about the "discovery"
of a kind of supplementary weapon (Winchester), instead of sending
the units from the front on a direct route to Madrid, he sent these
units unarmed into Barcelona, leaving their weapons (Mauser system)
at their own place on the front and instead calling up reserves (without
weapons) from Barcelona. His anarchist neighbours did the same thing.
Thus Durruti got his own way - the Aragon front was not weakened.
About five
thousand disarmed frontline soldiers were gathered in Barcelona, and
Durruti raised the question about immediately arming them at the expense
of the units of the Barcelona gendarmerie and police. Through this,
Durruti would achieve a continual striving by the CNT and the FAI
to undermine the armed support of the present government in Barcelona.
Since the weapons seized from the Garde d'Assaut and Garde Nationale
(about twenty-five hundred rifles) were still not enough, it was proposed
to get them from the "rear soldiers," and instead of weapons
of a different sort, the Garde d'Assaut and Garde Nationale would
also, according to Durruti, receive Winchesters in place of Mausers.
Here the government's decree on the handing over of weapons by the
soldiers at the rear has already been frustrated.
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