The Kronstadt uprising is an event that could affect the course of the historical development of Russia if it were not drowned in blood. What prompted people after long wars and revolutions to take up arms again? What was happening at that time in a bloodless and devastated civil war country?
During this period, the first attempts to restore the national economy appeared, which turned out to be unsuccessful. In 1920, ineffective labor armies were organized, which, in essence, were a form of compulsory militarized labor.
The beginning of 1921 was the heyday of the unjust policy of "war communism." He contributed to the fact that industrial centers and agricultural production were further removed from each other. There was a sharp shortage of food in the country. The urban population was melting before our eyes, it was unprofitable for peasants to feed large industrial cities and towns for nothing or for nothing, and in cities a new phenomenon arose - labor desertion. In response to the unfavorable economic conditions of existence, the peasantry responded with a wave of uprisings.
Tamboshchina, the North Caucasus, Western Siberia and Ukraine took up arms. Industrial production has practically stopped. For example, the powerful Putilovsky and Sestroretsky factories, as well as the Triangle factory known in those years, were closed in Petrograd.
Inequality, deprivation, devastation and famine, as well as the restriction of democratic freedoms, which were proclaimed in October 1917, caused a fair outrage of the people, which resulted in the Kronstadt uprising. The sailors (total number of about 26 thousand people) drew up a resolution with their requirements, which was to be handed over to the government. It contained political and also economic demands.
What caused the actions of the rebels? The answer is simple. The ruling party of the Communists could not lead the country out of the catastrophic state of general devastation. In addition, she lost the confidence of the workers, because she was not considered with them, and any manifestations of disagreement of the people were declared intrigues of the counter-revolution.
The sailors did not demand the liquidation of the Soviets, but were only against the fact that power was concentrated only in one hand - the Communist Party. After all, this in itself limited the rights and freedoms of other parties and movements.
The uprising in Kronstadt was organized and numerous. Only at the rally on March 1, 1921, which took place on Anchor Square, more than 16 thousand people gathered. The city rebelled was put in order without the use of violence, not a single volley was fired. The Provisional Revolutionary Committee (VRK), which was headed by S. M. Petrichenko, was entrusted with keeping order on the streets.
Such coordinated actions instantly provoked a sharply negative reaction of the ruling party, which did not want to share its unlimited power with someone else. In response to the Kronstadt mutiny, a state of siege was introduced, which gave impetus to the beginning of martial law. In fact, the city was cut off from the whole world. Moral pressure was exerted on the rebels, propaganda was intensively conducted, the flows of campaign leaflets were dropped directly from the planes.
The Kronstadt uprising rallied the freedom fighters, who once again confirmed their loyalty to the ideas of the revolution. By order of the government on March 8, the first attempt was made to seize the city, but it was not so simple.
The rebellion, in fact, was not condemned by the Red Army, who besieged Kronstadt. Some units did not follow the orders of the Red Army commanders at all, because they themselves were unhappy with the existing order.
Under the pressure of shelling on March 18, 1921, the Kronstadt uprising fell. The violence was brutal. 2100 people were shot, 6.5 thousand soldiers were thrown into prisons, and 8 thousand city defenders went on ice to neutral Finland.
The Kronstadt uprising was the first demonstration lesson of the irreconcilable struggle between the ruling circles and the people.