# Back in Petrograd explained — The Bolshevik Myth

> Chapter companion for The Bolshevik Myth by Alexander Berkman.

## What happens

The narrator returns to Petrograd in April 1920, finding Zinoviev ill after an assault by workers, and learns that Bill Shatov is effectively exiled in Siberia despite his services. The Buford deportees remain idle and demoralized, facing discrimination as non-Communists. A gathering at a friend's home sparks a debate on Bolshevism, dictatorship, and the failures of centralized state control. The chapter covers the Ninth Party Congress's push for militarization of labor and one-man management, opposition from workers, and the narrator's discussions with Zorin and Lilina about reforming corrupt children's reformatories.

## Themes in this chapter

### Dictatorship and State Absolutism

Debate over necessity of dictatorship; Zinoviev's assault, one-man management, and centralized control over labor and education.

### Betrayal of Revolutionary Ideals

Workers losing gains from Revolution; Buford deportees idle and discriminated against; reformatories abusing children.

### Economic Collapse and Survival

Fuel shortages, bureaucratic waste, corruption in institutions, and workers' struggle for basic necessities.

## Character check-ins

### Zinoviev

Found very ill, rumored to have been assaulted by workers after factories criticized administration.

### Bill Shatov

Exiled in Siberia, denied permission to return to Petrograd to see his dying wife Nunya.

### Liza Zorin

Discussed reformatory abuses with narrator; defended the system while acknowledging some evils.

### Lilina

Zinoviev's wife, head of Petrograd educational institutions; discussed reformatories and educational methods.

### N⸺

Buford group member; expressed fear of expressing opinions due to desire to join family in Europe.

### Semyon Voskov

Prominent Communist agitator buried after dying of typhus; narrator attended his funeral.

### Lenin

Quoted advocating militarization of labor and using bourgeoisie specialists; saved Shatov from execution.

### Trotsky

Keynoted the Ninth Congress with push for militarization of labor and one-man management.

## Key lines

> Step by step we are losing everything we've gained by the Revolution

A shop committeeman laments that the new one-man management plan is returning power to former bourgeois specialists.

_Worker opposition to yedinolitchiye and perceived betrayal of revolutionary gains._

> I can't afford the luxury of expressing an opinion

N⸺ of the Buford group refuses to comment on political changes, fearing it will jeopardize his chance to leave Russia.

_Self-censorship under the Bolshevik regime._

> It was not left to the choice of the men? ... we leave nothing to chance.

The narrator is surprised that workers were ordered to attend Voskov's funeral; the committee man explains the Soviet decision was mandatory.

_State control over public demonstrations and lack of voluntary participation._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_bolshevik_myth_se/chapters/xv-back-in-petrograd
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_bolshevik_myth_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_bolshevik_myth_se/chapters