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 I refuse henceforth to consider myself a member of the Russian Communist Party. I wholly approve of the resolution passed by the all-city meeting on March 1, and I hereby place my energies and abilities at the disposal of the Provisional Revolutionary Committee.

Son of the political exile in the Trial of 193. Izvestia, No. 3, March 5, 1921

Almost thirty years I have lived in deep love for the people, and have carried light and knowledge, so far as lay in my power, to all who thirsted for it, up to the present moment.

The Revolution of 1917 gave greater scope to my work, increased my activities, and I devoted myself with greater energy to the service of my ideal.

The Communist slogan, “All for the people,” inspired me with its nobility and beauty, and in February, 1920, I entered the Russian Communist Party as a candidate. But the “first shot” fired at the peaceful population, at my dearly beloved children of which there are about seven thousand in Kronstadt, fills me with horror that I may be considered as sharing responsibility for the blood of the innocents thus shed. I feel that I can no longer believe in and propagate that which has disgraced itself by a fiendish act. Therefore with the first shot I have ceased to regard myself as a member of the Communist Party.

(Teacher) Izvestia, No. 6, March 8, 1921 Such communications appeared in almost every issue of the Izvestia. Most significant was the declaration of the Provisional Bureau of the Kronstadt Section of the Communist Party, whose Manifesto to its members was published in the Izvestia, No. 2, March 4: 22