COMPOSITION OF THE PROVISIONAL REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE


    In Kronstadt itself at this time, morale was rising ever higher. The basic demand, moving through all articles of the leading publication, through all resolutions passed by individual units and forts, remained exactly the same, "the establishment of genuine power of freely elected Soviets," and liberation from under the "Communist yoke." Every day, a great number of repentant letters from individual Communists and entire groups were printed in 'Izvestiia of the Prov. Rev. Com.,' with admissions of their errors and declarations of departure from the Communist Party.

    Besides this, the besieged did not wish to believe that Bolshevik power could open military action against them. Numerous letters from rank and file Communists who were leaving the party, speak with horror of this possibility, difficult for them to conceive.

    In these days, the Provisional Revolutionary Committee addressed radio appeals exclusively to the workers, soldiers and sailors of Russia. In these, it refuted the lies about Kronstadt which were spread by the Bolsheviks. It told its listeners, "All power in Kronstadt is exclusively in the hands of revolutionary sailors, soldiers and workers, and not of White Guards with some General Kozlovsky at head, as the slanderous broadcasts from Moscow would have you believe."

    "Do not delay, comrades. Lend your support, and enter into firm contact with us. Demand that your non-party representatives be allowed through to Kronstadt. Only they will tell you the entire truth, and dispel the provocative rumors of bread from Finland and plots by the Entente. Long live the revolutionary proletariat and peasantry! Long live the power of freely elected Soviets!"

    At the same time, 'Izvestiia of the Prov. Rev. Com.' printed all the declarations, appeals and broadcasts by the Soviet authorities, full of lies and slander against the Kronstadt movement. Izvestiia printed these broadcasts, ultimatums and appeals as an example of how the Bolsheviks were deceiving not only soldiers and sailors, but also members of the Petrograd Soviet.

    The Bolsheviks particularly insistently broadcast the lie that generals and Black Hundreds were leading the uprising. The people of Kronstadt placed against this the following "Appeal to Workers, Soldiers and Sailors."

    "On March 2nd, we, the people of Kronstadt, threw off the damned Communist yoke and raised the red flag of the Third Revolution of laborers. Soldiers, seamen and workers, Revolutionary Kronstadt calls You. We know that they lead You into delusion and don't tell the truth about events here, where we are all ready to give our lives for the holy cause of worker and peasant liberation. They try to convince You that White generals and priests are with us. In order to put an end to this once and for all, we bring to Your attention that the Provisional Revolutionary Committee consists of the following fifteen members.

    1. Petrichenko--a senior clerk on the battleship Petropavlovsk;

    2. Yakovenko--a telephone operator at the Kronstadt Regional Communications Service;

    3. Ososov--a machinist on the battleship Sevastopol;

    4. Arkhipov--a head machinist;

    5. Perepelkin--an electrician on the battleship Sevastopol;

    6. Parushev--a senior electrician on the battleship Petropavlosk;

    7. Kupolov--a senior doctor's assistant;

    8. Vershinin--a seaman/combatant on the battleship Sevastopol;

    9. Tukin--an artisan in the Electro-Mechanical Factory;

    10. Romanenko--a watchman in the repair docks;

    11. Oreshin--Director of the Third Labor School;

    12. Valk--an artisan in the Sawmill;

    13. Pavlov--a worker in the Mine Workshops;

    14. Boikov--Director of the Transport String at the Admin. of Construction of the Fortress;

    15. Kilgast--an ocean navigator.

    These are our generals: Brusilov, Kamenev and the rest, and it is the gendarmes Trotsky and Zinoviev who hide the truth from You. Comrades, look about and see what they have done to You, what they are doing to Your wives, brothers and children. Are You really going to suffer and perish under the yoke of the oppressors?"