Page:The Proletarian Revolution in Russia - Lenin, Trotsky and Chicherin - ed. Louis C. Fraina (1918).djvu/194

 of counter-revolutionary forces, and after two days of savage fighting the uprising was crashed by means of Cossacks and large numbers of reliable troops. A veritable counter-revolutionary rdgn of terror ensued. The Mensheviki and Social revolutionists actively co-operated with the government in imprisoning the Bolsheviki and disarming the masses, establishing "revolutionary order" by crushing the left wing of the Revolution. This formidable uprising, however, in spite of its defeat; went far toward preserving the Revolution and energizing the morale of the masses: its defeat paved the way for the overthrow of the moderates in the Soviets, which occurred completely a few months later.

Events had demonstrated the necessity of ministerial reconstruction, and on July 20 Prince Lvov resigned as Premier, Kerensky being appointed the new Premier, but retaining his portfolio as Minister of War and Marine. On July 20 Kerensky issued a proclamation to the army and navy, accusing the sailors of Cronstadt and the Baltic Fleet of being tools of "German agents and provocateurs," and ordering:

This was the first act of the "revolutionary" Premier Kerensky—an act directed against the courageous and revolutionary sailors of Cronstadt and the Baltic Fleet, who had been most active factors in the first stage of the Revolution and throughout its subsequent course, and who were now stigmatized because they adhered to the revolutionary program of "all power to the Soviets." On July 25 the Executive Committee of the All-Russian Soviets adopted a resolution, 300 to 11, insinuating that Lenin and Zinovief had received money from German sources and demanding that the Bolsheviki repudiate their leaders. An order for the arrest of Lenin was issued, who went into hiding; hundreds of Bolsheviki were imprisoned.