CHAPTER XV THE TERROR Protest of the United States: Attitude of Allied and Neutral Governments-Protests of Neutral Governments and of the Chief of the American Red Cross Commission: Answers of the Soviet GovernmentEfforts for the Release of Hostages and for Restriction of the Practice of Taking Them File No. 861.00/2971 The Consul at Moscow (Poole) to the Secretary of State Moscow, September 2, 1918. SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith for the information of the Department a copy of a letter which I have to-day addressed to the Minister of the Netherlands, who is temporarily at Moscow negotiating with the Bolshevik authorities concerning the departure of the Allied representatives and the release of Allied nationals now held as hostages. I have [etc.] [Enclosure] DEWITT C. POOLE, Jr. The American Consul at Moscow (Poole) to the Netherland Minister (Oudendijk) Moscow, September 2, 1918. SIR: As of possible interest to you in connection with your negotiations with the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, I have the honor to inform you that I was approached on August 26 by Mr. B. M. Sverdlov, brother of the chairman of the Central Executive Committee, respecting the case of certain women and children said to have been taken as hostages at Ufa. Mr. Sverdlov explained that the Bolshevik forces upon retiring from Ufa took with them a large number of hostages, chosen more or less at random from the more wealthy inhabitants, and that it was possible that these hostages had subsequently been treated with severity. Without attempting to defend this action he pointed out that the taking of women and children as hostages, even as a measure of reprisal, was a barbarity which should be stopped at all costs. He proposed that if I should prepare instructions in the premises to the American Vice Consul at Samara he would use his influence to have these instructions forwarded by wireless telegraph. Pursuant to his proposal I wrote Mr. Sverdlov a letter in which I referred to his request for cooperation in the matter of the release of hostages and asked him to employ any means which might be at his disposal to have the following telegram dispatched: At request of People's Commissars I draw your attention to the cases of wife of Commissar of Food Supply Tsuryupa, wife of Commissar Bruikhanov, wife of Commissar Yuriev, wife and son President Railway Committee Mukhin, wife of Muraviev, Madam Iliin, wife of Commissar Kadomtsev, wife of Commissar Kibanov, all of whom are said to have been taken hostages at Ufa. You will investigate at once and if confirmation obtained act vigorously to secure the immediate release of the persons named. The taking of hostages of any kind is barbarous. The extension of such measures to women and children is not to be tolerated and, whatever the circumstances, must be prevented by every means in our power. Liberation should not be made contingent upon reciprocity but offered gratuitously as an example which a civilized opponent cannot but follow. Poole. At the request of Mr. Lockhart I added to the letter that the British Diplomatic Agent concurred in the foregoing instructions and regretted that there was no British agent at Samara whom he might address in a similar sense. At Mr. Sverdlov's suggestion I submitted the case to M. Grenard and he in turn addressed a letter to Mr. Sverdlov, asking him to forward to the French Vice Consul at Samara telegraphic instructions of the same tenor as those quoted above. I am personally convinced that the only hope of bringing to an end, or in any way mitigating the course of mutual reprisals upon which the Bolsheviki and a part of their opponents have unfortunately entered, is to induce one or the other side to liberate its hostages gratuitously, thus placing upon the other the full moral onus of a failure to reciprocate forthwith. I am not too sanguine of success even by this method but still consider it possible that the Bolsheviki may finally perceive that only by some striking act of abnegation and repentance can they lessen in any degree the black discredit which they have recently brought upon their cause and upon themselves individually. I have [etc.] DEWITT C. POOLE, Jr. File No. 861.00/2707 The Consul at Moscow (Poole) to the Secretary of State1 [Telegram] Moscow, September 3, 1918. [Received September 16, 5.34 a. m.] 2. Reference my No. 1 of even date, situation of Allied citizens here is dangerous, but that of Russians has already become tragic in the extreme. Complete suppression of all but Bolshevik papers since July 1 and imperfect communication abroad have no doubt left the outside world with hardly more than a suggestion of the true situation in central Russia. Since May the so-called Extraordinary Commission against Counter-Revolution has conducted an openly avowed campaign of terror. Thousands of persons have been summarily shot without even the form of trial. Many of them have no doubt been innocent of even the political views which were supposed to supply the motive of their execution. The assassination of Uritski and the attempt on Lenin are the results [causes] of this high tyranny. Socialists, once 1 Sent via the Consulate General at Christiania, where received by mail from Moscow through Norwegian Government. 'Ante, p. 662. coworkers with the Bolsheviki, have turned against them the methods by which they formerly attacked the tyranny of the Tsars. "Mass terror" is the Bolshevik reply. Official press publishes to-day following from Petrograd: In connection with the murder of Uritski 500 persons have been shot by order of the Petrograd Extraordinary Commission against Counter-Revolution. The names of the persons shot and those of candidates for future shooting, in case of a new attempt on the lives of the Soviet leaders, will be published later. In Moscow "general searches" are being made under general orders to arrest "the better-to-do and all former officers." The ill-administered prisons are filled beyond capacity and every night scores are irresponsibly shot. Sentence is passed on the slightest grounds, or the general charge, "might be dangerous to the Bolshevik power.” In sum, vengeful and irresponsible gangs are venting the desperation of their declining power in the daily massacre of untold innocents. The situation cries aloud to all who will act for the sake of humanity. It is possible that some stay might be put on the Bolsheviks, if the Allied Governments could gain the adhesion of the neutrals to joint action by which the representatives of the latter would inform the Bolsheviks that the whole world, neutral and Allied, is revolted by the present inhuman and purposeless slaughter, and unless this is stopped forthwith, Allies and neutrals alike will not only deny members of the Bolshevik government future asylum but hold them jointly and severally responsible for their present deeds. The other and truly efficacious course is a rapid military advance from the north. Our present halfway action is cruel in the extreme. Our landing has set up the Bolshevik death agony. It is now our moral duty to shield the numberless innocents who are exposed to its hateful reprisals. POOLE File No. 861.00/2980 The Consul at Moscow (Poole) to the Secretary of State Moscow, September 4, 1918. SIR: I have the honor to report that under date of September 4, I sent a personal note to the Commissar for Foreign Affairs through the Minister of the Netherlands, who was in Moscow at the time. negotiating on behalf of the neutrals respecting the several ques tions which had arisen between the Entente powers and the Bolshevik government. A copy is enclosed. I also enclose copies of the telegrams which accompanied the note to the Commissar.1 The Department will observe that in No. 2 the last three sentences of the text as sent to the Department were suppressed. The reason is obvious. In the copy of this telegram furnished to the Commissar the next to the last sentence of the third [fourth] paragraph was also altered, reading: "An irresponsible government is venting its desperation in the daily massacre of untold innocents." This step was taken with the approval of my Allied colleagues and the Minister of the Netherlands. I felt that it was a desperate situation justifying any measure which might conceivably restrain the Bolsheviki in their lawless and inhuman career. In connection with telegram No. 1, I invite the Department's attention to the enclosed excerpt from the report of the Commissar for Foreign Affairs before the meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on September 2.2 I have [etc.] DEWITT C. POOLE, Jr. [Enclosure] The American Consul at Moscow (Poole) to the Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs (Chicherin) Moscow, September 4, 1918. DEAR MR. CHICHERIN: As I have never failed to deal with you frankly, I am sending you herewith copies of two messages already dispatched to Washington, where they will arrive in a few days. It is impossible for me to believe that you approve of the mad career into which the Bolshevik government has now plunged. Your cause totters on the verge of complete moral bankruptcy. There is only one possible means of redemption. Words and discussions and counter accusations will no longer avail. You must stop at once the barbarous oppression of your own people. The enclosed messages will give you and your colleagues some foretaste, I hope, of what the judgment of the world will be when the truth is known. When your government shows not by words but by unmistakable acts that they have returned to the ways of civilization, I shall be most happy to report thereon fully and sympathetically. Sincerely, DEWITT C. POOLE, Jr. 1No. 1, ante, p. 662; No. 2, ante, p. 681. 2 See enclosure to despatch of Sept. 5, ante, p. 581. File No. 861.00/2890 The Consul at Moscow (Poole) to the Secretary of State1 [Telegram] Moscow, September 5, 1918. 4. Reference my No. 3.2 Following is [summary of a] translation of a telegram which according official gazette has been sent by Commissar of Home Affairs to all Soviets under date of September 2: Murder of Volodarski and Uritski, attempt on Lenin and shooting of masses of our comrades in Finland, Ukraine, the Don, and CzechoSlavia, continual discovery of conspiracies in our rear, open acknowledgment of right Social Revolutionist Party and other counterrevolutionary rascals of their part in these conspiracies together with insignificant extent of serious repressions and shooting of masses of White Guards and bourgeoisie on the part of the Soviets, all these things show that notwithstanding frequent pronouncements urging mass terror against the Social Revolutionists, White Guards, and bourgeoisie no real terror exists. Such a situation should decidedly be stopped, should be put to weakness and softness. All right Social Revolutionists known to local Soviets should be arrested immediately. Numerous hostages should be taken from the bourgeois and officer classes. At the slightest attempt to resist or the slightest movement among the White Guards, shooting of masses of hostages should be begun without fail. Initiative in this matter rests especially with the local executive committees. Through the militia and the Extraordinary Commission, all branches of government must take measures to seek out and arrest persons hiding under false names and shoot without fail anybody connected with the work of the White Guards. All above measures should be put immediately into execution. Indecisive action on the part of local Soviets must be immediately reported to People's Commissar of Home Affairs. Not the slightest hesitation or the slightest indecision in using mass terror. Petrovski, Commissar of Home Affairs. Official gazette, September 4, also contains following: As Soviet workers have been arrested in Archangel and repression committed by English against communists, Extraordinary Commission has arrested as hostages wife of Kerensky, his two sons, mother and niece. POOLE 1 Sent via the Consulate General at Christiania. 2 Not printed. |