Ten Days That Shook the World · Chapter
Appendix to Chapter VIII explained
This appendix details Kerensky's failed military advance on Petrograd, the Bolsheviks' consolidation of power through decrees on housing, social insurance, and education, and the Military Revolutionary Committee's proclamations defending th
What happens
This appendix details Kerensky's failed military advance on Petrograd, the Bolsheviks' consolidation of power through decrees on housing, social insurance, and education, and the Military Revolutionary Committee's proclamations defending the revolution and calling for order.
Themes in this chapter
Counterrevolution and Civil War
Kerensky's advance and the Bolshevik response highlight the ongoing civil conflict and the struggle to suppress counterrevolutionary forces.
Workers' Control and Economic Transformation
Decrees on housing, social insurance, and education reflect the Bolsheviks' efforts to transform society and empower workers.
Characters to notice
- Alexander Kerensky
Led a Cossack advance on Petrograd, arriving at Gatchina on November 9th, but faced desertions and indecision.
- General Pyotr Krasnov
Appointed commander-in-chief of the Petrograd District; arrested Bolshevik propagandists but later released them.
- Nikolai Kishkin
Accused by the Bolsheviks of wanting to surrender the capital to the Germans after Kerensky fled.
- Pyotr Palchinsky
Denounced by the Bolsheviks as a saboteur of the Municipal Food Supply.
- Alexei Rykov
Issued the decree on dwelling-places as People's Commissar of the Interior.
- Alexander Shliapnikov
Announced the decree on social insurance as People's Commissar of Labour.
- Anatoly Lunacharsky
Appointed People's Commissar of Education and outlined the educational program.
Key passages
“We give public warning that if the Cossacks do not halt Kerensky, who has deceived them and is leading them against Petrograd, the revolutionary forces will rise with all their might for the defence of the precious conquests of the Revolution—Peace and Land.”
The Bolsheviks warned that if the Cossacks did not stop Kerensky, the revolutionaries would defend the gains of peace and land.
Proclamation from the Military Revolutionary Committee.
“The Workers' and Peasants' Government, relying upon the support of the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies, announces to the working-class of Russia and to the town and village poor, that it will immediately prepare laws on Social Insurance based on the formulas proposed by the Labour organisations.”
The new government promised to quickly draft social insurance laws following labor organization proposals.
Decree on social insurance by Alexander Shliapnikov.
“Every genuinely democratic power must, in the domain of education, in a country where illiteracy and ignorance reign supreme, make its first aim the struggle against this darkness.”
A true democracy must prioritize fighting illiteracy and ignorance through education.
Lunacharsky's educational program statement.