Who knows how Russian history would have developed if the second revolution in 1917 had taken place not in October, but a few months earlier. After all, there was such a chance - in July 1917, a massive revolutionary uprising took place in Petrograd, and the Bolsheviks in it had not yet played such an active role as in October. But the "ringleaders" were the Petrograd anarchists, who had great influence in 1917 - first of all, among the sailors of the naval crews stationed in Kronstadt and among the soldiers of several ground military units. As a matter of fact, the actions of the anarchists became one of the formal reasons for the protest that took place on July 16-18 (July 3-5 according to the old style) in 1917 in Petrograd.
Anarchists of Petrograd between February and October
During the February Revolution of 1917, the anarchists, who had not previously had strong positions in the Russian capital, were able to create several active and militant organizations in Petrograd. The total number of anarchists in the city during the period under review reached 18 thousand people, united in several large and influential organizations and many scattered groups. The largest of these was the Petrograd Federation of Communist Anarchists, the actual leadership of which was carried out by Ilya Solomonovich Bleikhman (1874-1921), better known among the revolutionaries under the pseudonym "Solntsev". He was one of the "veterans" of the Russian anarchist movement, who began his revolutionary path at the end of the 19th century. A native of the town of Vidzsk, Kovno province, Bleikhman in his youth worked as a shoemaker for a shoemaker, then a tinsmith, and in 1897 he joined the revolutionary movement. A little later he had to emigrate from the country, and he joined the anarchist-communists in 1904, while already abroad. Bleikhman returned to Russia before the outbreak of the First World War and took up revolutionary agitation - first in Dvinsk, and then in St. Petersburg. In July 1914, he became illegal. In 1917, Bleikhman became one of the initiators of the creation of the Petrograd group of anarchists - communists, as part of which he participated in the February Revolution. In March 1917, Bleikhmann, as a representative of the anarchists, became a member of the Petrograd and Kronstadt Soviets of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies. On March 7, 1917, Bleikhmann, speaking to members of the working section of the Petrograd Soviet, demanded that the anarchists-communists be admitted to the Soviet as full-fledged deputies, and that the anarchists be allowed to publish their own magazine and carry personal weapons. In general, after February 1917, Bleikhmann took a leading position among the Petrograd anarchists - communists, distinguished by a radical, uncompromising position in relation to the Provisional Government. In Bleikhman's opinion, it was necessary to immediately carry out a new revolution and liquidate state institutions, transferring all control directly into the hands of the people. Another major organization was the Union of Anarcho-Syndicalist Propaganda. Part of the formations of the workers' Red Guard and factory committees were under the control of the anarchists. The most authoritative ideologist and propagandist of the Union of Anarcho-Syndicalist Propaganda was Yefim Yarchuk. He was born in 1882.in the town of Berezno, Volyn province, and was a tailor by profession. In 1903 Yarchuk joined the anarchists, took part in the activities of the Kropotkinist group of communist anarchists "Bread and Freedom" in Bialystok and Zhitomir, in 1913 he emigrated to the United States. Yarchuk returned to Russia at the beginning of 1917 and was elected a deputy of the Petrograd Soviet. He led the revolutionary propaganda among the sailors of Kronstadt, in fact, conducting anarchist agitation among them. Zhuk's squad also played a significant role in the activities of the anarchists.
Justin Petrovich Zhuk (1887-1919) came from a simple peasant family in the town of Gorodische in the Kiev province. In 1904 he graduated from a two-year school at the Gorodishchensky sugar factory and continued to work in the factory chemical laboratory. In 1905 he joined the revolutionary movement, and in the spring of 1907 he was arrested but soon released. In the vicinity of Kiev Zhuk created and headed the South Russian Federation of Anarchist-Syndicalist Peasants. According to the materials of the Kiev gendarme administration, Justin Zhuk was characterized as the leader of the Cherkasy group of anarchist communists and "the soul of all the robbery attacks and murders that took place in 1907-1908." In 1909 Zhuk was nevertheless arrested and sentenced to death, but then the execution was commuted to life imprisonment, which Zhuk served in the Smolensk Central, and then in the Shlisselburg Fortress. On February 28, 1917, the squad of workers of the Shlisselburg gunpowder factory freed 67 prisoners of the fortress. Among them was Zhuk, who immediately entered the gunpowder factory as a locksmith's henchman and created a workers' squad. The Factory and Works Committee under the leadership of Zhuk actually exercised revolutionary control over the entire Shlisselburg. The Red Guard of Shlisselburg was created, which became one of the most efficient revolutionary armed formations.
In May 1917, the anarchists of Petrograd held two armed demonstrations against the policies of the Provisional Government. Around the same time, the anarchists seized the empty building of the Durnovo dacha. The building of the dacha back in 1813, 104 years before the events described, was acquired by Dmitry Nikolaevich Durnovo, the chief-gofmeister of the imperial court, after which it was inherited by representatives of the Durnovo family. After the February Revolution, the headquarters of the Petrograd Federation of Communist Anarchists was located here. In fact, the dacha Durnovo was turned by the Petrograd anarchists into an analogue of the modern "squat" - an unauthorizedly seized premises that was used for social and political needs. In addition to the headquarters of the communist anarchists, the dacha also housed the board of trade unions of the Vyborg side of Petrograd, the baker's trade union, the Prosvet workers 'club, the commissariat of the workers' militia of the 2nd Vyborg subdistrict, and the council of the Petrograd people's militia. However, the anarchists felt the most confident and were in fact the "new owners" of the dacha. Naturally, this fact caused great dissatisfaction on the part of representatives of the authorities, loyal to the Provisional Government. They were not sympathetic to either the anarchists themselves or their placement on the territory of the Durnovo dacha. Moreover, the anarchists began to interfere more and more actively in the social and political life of Petrograd, since they saw the need to continue the revolution and, accordingly, to carry out various political actions.
Capture of "Russian Will" and headquarters at the dacha Durnovo
On June 5, 1917, a combat detachment of anarchists of 50-70 people, under the command of Ilya Bleikhman, arrived at the printing house of the newspaper "Russian Will". Bleichmann stated that printing workers could be free from capitalist exploitation, and printing equipment was confiscated by the Anarchist-Communist Federation for the needs of further revolutionary activities. After the leadership of the newspaper "Russkaya Volya" complained to the Petrosovet, the Executive Committee of the Petrosovet described the actions of the anarchists as provocative and damaging the reputation of the revolution. However, the anarchists declared that they did not recognize any power - neither the power of the Provisional Government, nor the power of the Petrograd Soviet. An anarchist leaflet was issued on the equipment of the printing house, the text of which should be quoted in full: “To the workers and soldiers! Citizens, the old regime has stained itself with crime and betrayal. If we want the freedom won by the people not to be liars and jailers, we must liquidate the old regime, otherwise it will raise its head again. The newspaper Russkaya Volya (Protokopov) deliberately sows confusion and civil strife. We, workers and soldiers, want to return the property to the people and therefore confiscate the printing house of Russkaya Volya for the needs of anarchism. The treacherous newspaper will not exist. Let no one see in our act a threat to themselves, freedom first of all. Everyone can write whatever he pleases. By confiscating Russkaya Volya, we are not fighting the printed word, but only eliminating the legacy of the old regime, which we bring to the general knowledge. Executive Committee for the liquidation of the newspaper "Russkaya Volya" ". After the anarchists refused to leave the printing house of Russkaya Volya, the authorities turned to the military for help. The operation to free the "Russian Will" was led by the commander of the Petrograd military district, Lieutenant General Pyotr Aleksandrovich Polovtsov (1874-1964). After a detachment of government troops succeeded in expelling the anarchists from the printing house of Russkaya Volya, the Provisional Government decided to release a more serious object - the Durnovo dacha. June 7, Minister of Justice of the Provisional Government N. P. Pereverzev gave the order to free the Durnovo dacha. Since, in addition to the anarchists, as mentioned above, local trade union and workers' organizations were also located on the territory of the dacha, a big scandal began that went beyond the anarchist movement. In protest against the expulsion of anarchist and workers' organizations from the dacha of Durnovo, on the same day, June 7, four enterprises located on the Vyborgskaya side went on strike. The striking workers appealed to the Petrograd Soviet with a request not to evict the anarchist and workers' organizations from the dacha premises, but they were refused.
The second delegation, sent to the Petrosovet, told the Executive Committee that in case of attempts to evict from the dacha, the anarchists would be forced to put up armed resistance to the government troops. At the same time, propagandists were sent to the city's enterprises and to the location of the military units of the Petrograd Military District. The next day, after the order of Minister Pereverzev, 28 enterprises were on strike. On June 9, 1917, a conference was convened at Durnovo's dacha, in which representatives of 95 Petrograd factories and military units took part. At the conference, a Provisional Revolutionary Committee was created, consisting of several workers 'and soldiers' delegates. It is noteworthy that even the Bolsheviks were included in the committee, in particular - a delegate from the Pavlovsk regiment P. A. Arsky. The anarchists decided on the day after the conference, June 10, to seize several other printing houses and premises. A large demonstration was planned for June 10, the organizers of which were to be the Bolsheviks. The anarchists decided to seize the moment and, while the forces of the government troops were distracted by observing the demonstration of the Bolsheviks, to seize the printing houses. However, the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, under the influence of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, decided to ban the demonstration, after which an emergency meeting of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) canceled the event. Thus, the Bolsheviks abandoned the popular uprising against the Provisional Government, explaining this by concern for the safety of the workers who were supposed to demonstrate.
On the appointed day, June 10, in Kronstadt, about 10 thousand sailors of naval crews, soldiers and workers gathered for a rally, who were expecting a trip to the capital for a demonstration. The chairman of the local council A. M. Lyubovich, who announced the decision of the Congress of Soviets to cancel the demonstration in Petrograd, which caused a sharply negative reaction from the audience. Representative of the Bolsheviks I. P. Flerovsky tried to explain to the audience that the masses were not yet ready for a serious protest against the Provisional Government, but his speech was cut short by the protesters. Flerovsky was followed by Yefim Yarchuk, one of the most powerful anarchist orators. Unlike Bleikhman, Yarchuk adhered to a more moderate position and was disposed to cooperate with the Bolsheviks. He stressed that without the Bolsheviks it is impossible to go to the demonstration, because there is not so much strength and the demonstration can end in disaster, with great human sacrifices. But the sailors and soldiers did not heed the anarcho-syndicalist leader either. The next speaker took the exact opposite position. The anarchist Asnin has just arrived from Durnovo's dacha - specifically to persuade the sailors and soldiers of Kronstadt to march in Petrograd. As the Bolshevik I. P. Flerovsky, Asnin was a very colorful figure from the point of view of appearance: “a black long cloak, a soft wide-brimmed hat, a black shirt, high hunting boots, a daddy of revolvers in his belt, and in his hand he held a rifle on which he was leaning” (I. P. Bolshevik Kronstadt in 1917). But with his oratorical gift, Asnin was less fortunate than with his appearance - he called on the audience to go to the aid of the demonstrators in Petrograd, but he did it so tongue-tied that the public did not accept his calls and continued to hold a meeting. As a result, the trip of the Kronstadt sailors, soldiers and workers to Petrograd on June 10 did not take place - largely due to the propagandists unsuccessfully chosen by the anarchists and the activities of the Bolsheviks, the same I. P. Flerovsky, who ultimately managed to "pacify the crowd" and ensure that the protesters limited themselves to sending an intelligence delegation to Petrograd.
The attack on the "Kresty" and the assault on the Durnovo dacha
Meanwhile, rumors spread in Petrograd that the Provisional Government was summoning 20,000 Cossacks from the front to crush the revolutionary movement in the capital. In fact, there was no talk of any transfer of troops to Petrograd, but the Provisional Government, after the release of the printing house of Russkaya Volya and the presentation of a demand to evict the anarchists from the Durnovo dacha, became so emboldened that on June 12 it also demanded the release of the Kshesinskaya mansion. This mansion housed the headquarters of the Bolsheviks, but by a court decision, the mansion was supposed to be returned to Kshesinskaya herself. However, the Bolsheviks turned out to be "a tough nut to crack" - the workers' militia of Petrograd and the military units of the Petrograd military district refused to undertake the eviction of the Bolsheviks from the mansion and on the evening of the same day on June 12, the Petrograd Soviet decided to cancel the eviction. With regard to the anarchists, the abolition of the eviction was not undertaken. The Provisional Revolutionary Committee of Anarchists managed to invite representatives of 150 enterprises and military units of Petrograd to the Durnovo dacha. It was decided to schedule a demonstration of protest against the policies of the Provisional Government for June 14. The Bolsheviks called a mass demonstration for June 18, and one of the main slogans at it was "Against the policy of the offensive!" - after all, the unsuccessful June offensive undertaken by the Russian army caused a sharply negative reaction from the public. On June 18, in Petrograd, a demonstration of many thousands against the Provisional Government took place, in which representatives of all left-wing radical revolutionary parties and organizations took part. During the demonstration, a large detachment of anarchists launched an attack on the building of the famous St. Petersburg prison "Kresty". Many anarchists and members of other revolutionary organizations, who were detained at different times, were held in the "Kresty". As a result of the raid, a number of anarchists and a member of the Military Organization of the Bolsheviks F. P. Khaustov. However, in addition to Khaustov and the anarchists, about 400 criminals who escaped from the transit prison took advantage of the raid on Kresty in order to get out. The raid on the "Kresty" was led by Justin Zhuk, the leader of the workers of Shlisselburg, who himself was sentenced to life in the past and, just like the prisoners of the "Kresty", was released as a result of the attack on the prison of revolutionaries during the February revolution. Despite the fact that the Bolshevik leadership officially rejected the accusations of the Provisional Government of complicity in the raid on the "Kresty", the Bolshevik Party was suspected of collaborating with anarchists and the leaders of the RSDLP (b) had to repeatedly emphasize that their charges were not involved in the release of prisoners.
In response to the events of June 18, the Provisional Government also took more decisive action. Since the information was received that the prisoners released from the "Kresty" were hiding at the Durnovo dacha, it was decided to "kill two birds with one stone" - to put an end to the anarchist headquarters and to detain the illegally released prisoners. On June 19, Minister of Justice of the Provisional Government Pavel Nikolayevich Pereverzev, Prosecutor of the Petrograd Judicial Chamber Nikolai Sergeevich Karinsky and Commander of the Troops of the Petrograd Military District Lieutenant General Pyotr Aleksandrovich Polovtsov arrived at Durnovo's dacha (pictured). Of course, the high-ranking officials were not alone - they were accompanied by an infantry battalion with an armored car and a Cossack hundred of the 1st Don Regiment. Cossacks and soldiers began storming the dacha, as a result of which one of the prominent activists of the Petrograd Federation of Anarchist Communists Sh. A. Asnin is the same unfortunate speaker who spoke to the sailors of Kronstadt. During the attack on the Durnovo dacha, 59 people were arrested, including several prisoners released the day before from Kresty. Pereverzev and Polovtsov even had to make excuses for the raid on Durnovo's dacha before the Congress of Soviets. Moreover, on the evening of the same day, June 19, workers of four enterprises in Petrograd went on strike, protesting against the policy of the Provisional Government in relation to revolutionary organizations. Anarchist agitators went to the enterprises and military units of Petrograd in order to immediately rouse the workers, soldiers and sailors to the protest action and, thus, to take revenge on the Provisional Government for its "counter-revolutionary policy".
The first machine gun - "skirmisher" of the uprising
The strongest protest sentiments prevailed among the soldiers of the 1st machine-gun regiment. The first machine-gun regiment was practically comparable in size to the division - about 300 officers and 11,340 lower ranks served in it. Initially, it was assumed that the regiment, in which the machine gunners underwent combat training, would form and send a marching company to the front every week. However, the setbacks at the front were accompanied by fermentation among the soldiers of the regiment. When the June offensive began, the Provisional Government ordered the immediate formation and dispatch of 30 machine-gun teams to the front. In response, the regimental committee announced that it would not send a single marching company until the war took on a "revolutionary character." Among the soldiers of the regiment, most did not want to fight and sympathized with revolutionary ideas, sympathizing with both the Bolsheviks and the anarchists. By the way, the communist anarchist Asnin, who died during the storming of Durnovo's dacha, was a frequent guest in the regiment's barracks and enjoyed great prestige among the personnel. Therefore, as soon as the regiment learned about the death of Asnin as a result of the attack on the Durnovo dacha, the soldiers got agitated - there was another reason for an armed uprising.
The idea of an immediate armed uprising, put forward by the anarchist leader Ilya Bleikhman, was supported by the commander of the 1st machine-gun regiment, Ensign Semashko, who was a member of the Military Organization under the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) In the February Revolution of 1917, the positions of commanders in military units became elective and the regimental committee, as a rule, elected revolutionary junior officers or non-commissioned officers to these positions).
On the night of July 2, 1917, in the "red room" of the Durnovo dacha, where anarchists continued to gather, a secret meeting of the leadership of the Petrograd Federation of Anarchist Communists was held, which was attended by 14 people, including such prominent anarchists as Ilya Bleikhman, P. Kolobushkin, P. Pavlov, A. Fedorov. At the meeting, it was decided to immediately prepare an armed uprising under the slogan "Down with the Provisional Government!" and mobilize the entire personnel of the Petrograd Federation of Communist Anarchists. It was decided to send agitators to the location of the 1st machine-gun regiment, which was considered the support of the anarchists. On the morning of July 2, 43-year-old Ilya Bleikhman went there, dressed in a soldier's greatcoat. On the afternoon of July 3, a large rally was held dedicated to the sending of soldiers to the front. This time the meeting was organized by the Bolshevik Party. Speeches were expected by Kamenev, Zinoviev, Trotsky, Lunacharsky and other popular Bolshevik orators. However, Zinoviev and Kamenev did not come to the regiment, but Trotsky and Lunacharsky spoke out, who did not dissuade the soldiers of the regiment from the idea of an armed uprising. Meanwhile, the anarchists, disguised as workers, soldiers and sailors, were campaigning among the personnel. Ilya Bleikhman called on the regiment for an immediate uprising. The Bolsheviks, seeing that the soldiers were close to an armed uprising, tried to carry out the idea of an immediate transfer of all power to the Soviets. However, the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, who controlled the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, opposed this idea. Then the Bolsheviks demanded the convocation of an emergency session of the working section of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, at which they adopted the resolution “In view of the crisis of power, the working section considers it necessary to insist that the All. Congress of the SRS and K. Dep. He took all the power into his own hands. " In fact, this meant that the Bolsheviks embarked on a course to overthrow the Provisional Government.
July 3-5 uprising
At 19.00 on July 3, 1917, the armed units of the 1st machine-gun regiment left their barracks and moved towards the Kshesinskaya mansion, where they reached by 20.00. At about 23.00 in the area of Gostiny Dvor there was a shootout with supporters of the Provisional Government, in which several people died. On the night of July 3-4, a meeting of members of the Central Committee, the Petrograd Committee of the RSDLP (b), the Interdistrict Committee of the RSDLP and the Bolshevik Military Organization was held in the Tauride Palace, at which the current military-political situation in the city was discussed. Meanwhile, a thirty thousandth column of workers from the Putilov factory approached the Tauride Palace. After that, the leadership of the Bolsheviks made a decision on the participation of the party in the actions of soldiers, sailors and workers, but set a course for turning the armed uprising into a peaceful demonstration. On the morning of July 4, 1917, several detachments of sailors of the Baltic Fleet moved from Kronstadt to Petrograd on tug and passenger steamers, at the same time the 2nd machine gun regiment, which was under the ideological influence of the Bolsheviks, moved out of Oranienbaum. On the streets of Petrograd, a crowd of several tens, or even hundreds of thousands of people gathered. Armed opponents of the Provisional Government moved across the Troitsky Bridge along Sadovaya Street, Nevsky and Liteiny Prospekt. At the corner of Panteleimonovskaya Street and Liteiny Prospect, machine-gun fire was opened at a detachment of Kronstadt sailors from a house window. Three sailors were killed, ten were wounded, after which the Kronstadters opened indiscriminate fire at the house and in the yards. Several skirmishes took place in other areas of the demonstration - militants from right-wing radical organizations clashed with the demonstrators. Criminals also became more active, looting private apartments and shops along the route of the demonstrators. On the night of July 4-5, the Socialist-Revolutionary Menshevik All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets declared martial law and summoned the Volyn regiment to guard the Tauride Palace. On behalf of the demonstrators, 5 delegates went to negotiations with the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, including I. V. Stalin (Dzhugashvili). The executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet was represented by its chairman N. S. Chkheidze. A group of anarchists managed to break into the Tauride Palace in search of the Minister of Justice Pereverzev, one of the culprits of the current situation. However, the anarchists did not find Pereverzev and instead of him they seized the Minister of Agriculture Chernov. They took him into the car, beat him a little and said that they would release him only after the transfer of power to the Soviets. Only with the help of Leon Trotsky was Chernov released.
When the commander of the Petrograd Military District, Lieutenant General Polovtsov, learned about the arrest of Minister Chernov and other violent actions of the rebels in the Tauride Palace, he decided to suppress the uprising by military means. An operational detachment was formed under the command of Colonel Rebinder, which included two guns of the cavalry artillery regiment and one hundred Cossacks of the 1st Don regiment. The task of Rebinder's detachment was to get to the Tauride Palace and disperse the crowd with volleys of guns. However, at the intersection of Shpalernaya Street and Liteiny Prospect, machine gun fire was opened at Rebinder's detachment. In response, the artillerymen fired three volleys - one shell exploded in the area of the Peter and Paul Fortress, the second dispersed the meeting in the area of the Mikhailovsky Artillery School, and the third fell on the positions of the machine gunners shooting at the detachment and killed 8 rebels. The crowd at the Tauride Palace, frightened by the artillery volleys, dispersed. During the skirmish, 6 Cossacks and 4 soldiers of the cavalry artillery regiment were also killed. An important role in dispersing the crowd was played by the staff captain Tsaguria, who was in Petrograd on a business trip and voluntarily joined Rebinder's detachment.
On the morning of July 5, most of the sailors returned to Kronstadt. Nevertheless, part of the Kronstadt sailors fortified in the Peter and Paul Fortress, captured by the anarchists from the 16th company of the 1st machine gun regiment. On July 6, a detachment under the command of the deputy commander of the Petrograd Military District, Captain A. I. Kuzmina seized the Kshesinskaya mansion, and the Bolsheviks decided not to provide armed resistance to the government troops. After the capture of the Kshesinskaya mansion, government troops surrounded the Peter and Paul Fortress. After negotiations with the anarchist Yarchuk and the Bolshevik Stalin who were in the fortress, the fortress was also surrendered without a fight. In return, the sailors defending the fortress were released to Kronstadt. To ensure public order, military units mobilized from the front urgently arrived in the capital. The Minister of War, Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky, also arrived. The uprising was actually suppressed and the Provisional Government for a short period strengthened its position, significantly limiting the power of the Soviets. However, it cannot be argued that the revolutionary parties suffered absolute defeat in the July uprising. In many ways, they managed to achieve certain changes in the policy of the Provisional Government. On July 7, the Minister of Justice, Pereverzev, who was responsible for the defeat of the Durnovo dacha, was dismissed from his post. A little later, the chairman of the Provisional Government, Prince Lvov, announced his resignation. Thus, the July events of 1917 ended with the formation of the second composition of the Provisional Government - this time under the leadership of Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky. In the new Provisional Government, most of the ministerial posts belonged to the radical democratic forces and moderate socialists - first of all, right-wing socialist-revolutionaries and Mensheviks. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, fleeing persecution, urgently fled from Petrograd, like some other prominent Bolshevik leaders.
The fate of the key figures of the uprising
Despite the suppression of the July uprising, after some months the power of the Provisional Government was overthrown as a result of the October Revolution. Almost all of the same people took an active part in it, which also carried out the direct leadership of the insurgent soldiers, sailors and workers in July 1917. Their fate subsequently developed in different ways - someone died on the fronts of the Civil War, someone died a natural death in native to Russia or abroad. After the suppression of the uprising, the anarchist Ilya Bleikhman was persecuted by the Provisional Government. In the summer of 1917, he became secretary of the Petrograd Federation of Anarchist Groups, and during the October Revolution he supported the Bolshevik line and on October 28, 1917, he was inducted into the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee as a representative of the communist anarchists. However, already in 1918, when the Soviet government began to persecute not entirely accommodating anarchists, Bleikhman was arrested by the Cheka. While logging, he fell ill and was released due to illness, after which he moved to Moscow, where he died in 1921 at the age of 47. Efim Yarchuk, like Bleikhman, supported the October Revolution. He was elected a delegate to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets from Kronstadt, became a member of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee as a representative of the Union of Anarcho-Syndicalist Propaganda. In January 1918, Yarchuk, at the head of a detachment of sailors, departed for the South, where he participated in the defeat of General Kaledin's troops. After returning to Petrograd, he continued his anarchist activities as part of the organizations of Russian anarcho-syndicalists, was repeatedly arrested by the organs of the Cheka, but then was released. In February 1921, Yarchuk became one of the five members of the Commission for organizing the funeral of Pyotr Alekseevich Kropotkin. On January 5, 1922, he was expelled from the USSR among ten prominent anarchists. For some time he lived in Germany, but in 1925 he decided to return to his homeland. Further, its traces are lost. It is possible that he became a victim of political repression.
Two other anarchist leaders - participants in the July events - went over to the side of the Bolsheviks and died heroically in the fire of the Civil War. In the days of the October Revolution, Justin Zhuk commanded a detachment of the Red Guard of Shlisselburg of 200 workers who arrived to take part in the storming of the Winter Palace. In 1918 Zhuk worked as a district food commissioner in Shlisselburg, and in August 1919 he became a member of the Military Council of the Karelian sector of the front. On October 25, 1919, he died in battle with the Whites. Anatoly Zheleznyakov (1895-1919), after the suppression of the July uprising, was arrested by the Provisional Government and sentenced to 14 years in hard labor. However, at the beginning of September 1917 he managed to escape from the "Kresty". Zheleznyakov continued active propaganda activities among the sailors of the Baltic Fleet. On October 24, he commanded a detachment of the 2nd naval crew that seized the building of the Petrograd Telegraph Agency, and the next day, as part of a combined detachment of sailors of the Baltic Fleet, he stormed the Winter Palace. On October 26, Zheleznyakov was included in the Naval Revolutionary Committee. In early January 1918, Zheleznyakov was appointed commandant of the Tauride Palace and it was in this post that he received all-Russian fame for dispersed the Constituent Assembly with the words "the guard is tired." In January 1918 g. Zheleznyakov also went to the front, where he participated in hostilities as an assistant to the commander of a detachment of sailors, then as chairman of the revolutionary headquarters of the Danube flotilla and commander of the Elan infantry regiment as part of the Kikvidze division. In May 1919, Zheleznyakov co-ordinated an armored train named after Khudyakov as part of the 14th Army, which was fighting against Denikin's troops. During one of the battles in the area of the Verkhovtsevo station, Zheleznyakov was wounded and taken to the town of Pyatikhatki, where the next day, July 27, 1919, he died at the age of 24.
Nikolai Ilyich Podvoisky (1880-1948), who led the Military Organization of the Bolsheviks and took an active part in the revolutionary agitation among the soldier masses, until March 1918 served as People's Commissar of the RSFSR for military and naval affairs. This was the peak of his revolutionary and state career. In 1921, he retired from prominent military posts and, until his retirement in 1935, was engaged in sports management. During the defense of Moscow in 1941, a personal pensioner Podvoisky asked to go to the front, but was refused because of his age and volunteered to dig trenches near Moscow. As for the direct leader of the suppression of the uprising, Lieutenant General Polovtsov, in 1918 he emigrated from Russia and lived for a long time in Great Britain, then in France, and in 1922 settled in Monaco. In Monaco, he worked as director of the famous Monte Carlo casino, participated in the activities of Masonic lodges. By the way, it was Polovtsov who lived more than all the most important figures in July 1917 - he died in 1964 at the age of 89. Ex-Minister of Justice Pavel Pereverzev was also lucky - he went to France, where he became the head of the Federation of Russian Lawyer Organizations Abroad and died in 1944 at the age of 73.
