Kronstadt Rebellions of 1905-1906

Categories / Social Life
KRONSTADT REBELLIONS of 1905-1906, mass armed demonstration by Kronstadt sailors and soldiers in the period of the Revolution of 1905-07. The Rebellion of 1905 was preceded by a spontaneous demonstration made by the garrison in September of the same year. On 18 October 1905, a day following the publication of the October Manifesto, a political demonstration was held at Kronstadt. On 23 October, a mass-meeting of sailors was held on Yakornaya Square, organized by Socialist-Revolutionaries and Social Democrats. Participants strove for an improvement of conditions for the lowest ranks, and put forward demands for the introduction of a democratic republic, universal suffrage, and the abolishment of estates. On 24 October, a similar resolution was accepted by garrisoned artillerymen and infantrymen. The rebellion started spontaneously on 26 October within the second fortress battalion; by evening 40 soldiers were arrested. Sailors attempted to free them, and during the course of the clash two sailors were killed. In response, the 4th and 7th naval crews, as well as the mine-training and the artillery-training detachments, all rebelled. By the end of the day soldiers, mine-layers and artillerymen, various naval crews, and some even workers joined them (all in all, about 3.000 sailors and 1.500 soldiers). Kronstadt was taken over by the mutineers, but the absence of supervision and discipline led to looting of stores, wine shops and residences. On 27 October, troops arrived from St. Petersburg and Oranienbaum and suppressed the rebellion (in total 22 people were either killed or died from wounds, and about 100 were wounded from both sides). On 28 October, martial law was proclaimed in Kronstadt; about 3,000 participants from the rebellion were arrested. The military court in March 1906 sentenced nine people to various penal service terms, 67 people were sentenced to various terms of military confinement, and 84 people were discharged. In spring 1906, an underground military organization of Social Democrats and Socialist-Revolutionaries was created at Kronstadt to prepare a rebellion within the Baltic Fleet. Having received news about the start of the rebellion in the fortress of Sveaborg near Gelsingfors (today Suomenlinna near Helsinki, Finland) on 18 July, its leaders took the decision to rebel immediately. On 19 July, late in the evening, mine-layers, sappers, soldiers from the electrical mine company, sailors from the 1st and the 2nd naval divisions, and about 400 workers (in total 6.000 people) rebelled, but the arsenal which they captured was devoid of arms, and because officers and loyal soldiers put the guns out of action, they were unable to use artillery from the Litke battery and the Konstantin fort. The mutineers failed to continue their initial success. The ships' companies, standing in the harbour, were stranded and couldn't support the rebellion. After shelling by field artillery arriving from Oranienbaum, the Konstantin fort was surrendered. By the morning of 20 July, the rebellion was defeated; over 3.000 people were arrested. According to sentences from military field courts in 1906, 36 people were shot, 228 people were sent for penal service, and 1032 people were sent to correctional facilities. On 25 May 1917, by decision of the Kronstadt Soviet, the bodies of seven mine-layers were reburied in the communal grave on Yakornaya Square.

Reference: Зубелевич Ю. М. Кронштадт: Воспоминания революционерки, 1906 год: В 3 ч. Кронштадт, [1917]; Егоров И. В. 1905: Восстания в Балтийском флоте в 1905-06 гг. в Кронштадте, Свеаборге и на корабле "Память Азова": Сб. ст., воспоминаний, материалов и док. Л., 1926; Сивков П. З. Кронштадт: Страницы рев. истории. Л., 1972.

Z. P. Solovyeva. Yakornaya Square/Kronshtadt, city
Зубелевич Ю. М. Кронштадт: Воспоминания революционерки, 1906 год: В 3 ч. Кронштадт, [1917]
Сивков П. З. Кронштадт: Страницы рев. истории. Л., 1972
Егоров И. В. 1905: Восстания в Балтийском флоте в 1905-06 гг. в Кронштадте, Свеаборге и на корабле "Память Азова": Сб. ст., воспоминаний, материалов и док. Л., 1926 Revolution of 1905-07
Baltic Fleet
1906