As part of celebrations for the fifth anniversary of the October Revolution the official voice of the Communist International printed this invaluable day-by-day account of the Revolution’s progress through those years. Here is Year Three, 1919, which saw the Civil War threaten the existence of the new Soviet state, imperialist interventions, the defeats of the Revolutions in Hungary and Germany, War Communism, the formation of the Communist International, and the death of leading Bolshevik Jacob Sverdlov. Year One here. Year Two here.
‘The Year Three: A Calendar of the Russian Revolution’ from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 2 No. 96. November 7, 1922.
JANUARY 1919.
The Red Wave passes over Europe.
6. (Spartacist insurrection al Berlin.)
10. The Soviet Delegation of the Red Cross is assassinated in Poland.
12. Soviet Russia proposes peace to the United States.
13. (Workers’ insurrection at Berlin is suppressed by the Social Democracy.)
15. (Workers’ Republic in Luxemburg. The movement is suppressed by French troops. Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg are assassinated in Berlin.)
16. Second All-Russian Trade Union Congress.
25. The Allies invite Soviet Russia to the Prinkipo Conference.
26. Eight Communist Parties invite the workers to prepare the First Congress of the Communist International.
30. The Soviet Government of Latvia decrees the nationalization of the land. (Death of Franz Mehring.)
FEBRUARY 1919.
2. Opening of the first workers’ faculty at the University of Moscow.
3. First Congress of Soviets of White Russia.
5. The All-Russian Executive of Soviets recognizes the independence of White Russia.
6. First Congress of Science at Petrograd.
8. Decree forming the Council of Child Protection. Decree on the use of International time.
10. (Proletarian insurrection in Berlin.)
20. Decree on the organization of agricultural communes by proletarian groups.
22. (Assassination of Kurt Eisner in Bavaria.)
22. (Proclamation of the Soviet Republic in Munich.)
MARCH 1919.
Birth of the Communist International.
2. First Communist International Congress at Moscow.
10. (Street fighting between Communist workers and troops in Berlin.)
13. Burial of Comrade Sverdlov, president of the All-Russian Executive of Soviets. Eighth Congress of the Russian Communist Party which adopts the program of the Party.
22. (Hungary becomes a Soviet Republic.)
23. Decree on farm work upon the land cultivated by the Red Soldiers.
APRIL 1919.
3. First All-Russian Congress of Physical Culture.
6. Decree on the Workers’ and Peasants’ Militia.
7. (Bavaria proclaims itself a Soviet Republic.)
12. Decree on state control.
14. (Overthrow of the Bavarian Soviets. The Soviet Regime is reestablished on the 16th, but does not last more than a few days.)
19. (Beginning of the Roumanian offensive against Soviet Hungary.)
23. The Soviet government calls upon the proletariat to protest against the blockade of Russia.
27. Decree on State aid to artists.
MAY 1919.
The first attack against Petrograd.
9. The first “Communist Saturday”· The Communist workers of the station depot of Moscow (Kazan line) decide to work voluntarily on Saturday from six o’clock in the evening to eight o’clock in the morning to repair the locomotives.
13. The Whites of the North-West (General Rodzianko) supported by the Esthonians begin their offensive against Petrograd. Bulak-Balaknvitch occupy Odov and Pskov.
JUNE 1919.
20. Petrograd is threatened by the White troops. An English fleet holds the sea before Cronstadt. The Krasnaya Gorka Fort passes to the Whites. The Red Army repels the troops of Rodzianko. The Red sailors attack the Fort of Krasnaya Gorka.
JULY 1919.
Military Successes.
14. The Red Army having repulsed and beaten Koltchak enters Ekaterinburg. The Volga and the Ural are freed.
19. The Americans evacuate Archangel.
28. In Moscow the unveiling of the obelisk commemorating the Soviet Constitution, the first monument in stone erected by the Soviet Government.
AUGUST 1919.
4. (Betrayed by the Social Democratic leaders, Soviet Hungary is overcome.)
5. The Red Army takes Yamburg and saves Petrograd.
SEPTEMBER 1919.
The Leontievsky Outrage.
10. Negotiations for peace begin with Esthonia.
18. Esthonia interrupts the negotiations in order to learn the attitude of the other Baltic States.
15. Resumption of relations with Red Turkestan. The White troops of Orenburg are defeated.
19. Congress of the Finnish Communist Party (Petrograd).
26. The Social-Revolutionaries of the Left and the “secret anarchists” throw a bomb in conjunction with Makhno into the meeting room of the Communist Committee of Moscow (Pereulok Leontievsky outrage). 12 militants are killed, fifty wounded.
OCTOBER 1919.
The Russian Commune in danger, the fall of the Whites,
5. Second All-Russian Congress of Communist Youth.
8. Beginning of “Communist Recruiting Week” in Moscow. The Party enrolls 14,581 workers and soldiers as members during this week.
12. The second White offensive against Petrograd begins. Yudenitch seizes Yamburg.
13. The White Army of General Denikin, which occupies the entire Ukraine, marches on Moscow and reaches Orel (Central Russia).
17. Yudenitch occupies Tsarskoe-Selo and Gatchina.
21. Yudenitch’s advance is checked by the Red Army at Pulkovo, at 10-15 kilometers from Petrograd. The defeat of the Whites becomes disastrous.
End of October the defeat of Denikin, beaten by the Red Army. North of Orel. The recovery of Orel by the Red Army on the 23rd becomes likewise irretrievable. The White Army of the South retreats to the Black Sea. (This disordered retreat is to end in February by the frightful panic and evacuation of Novorossiisk.) Peasant insurrection embraces all Siberia. Omsk is threatened by the Reds.
NOVEMBER 1919.
The collapse of the Omsk Government.
8. (Communist executions in Budapest.)
10. Evacuation of Omsk by the Koltchak government. The Reds take possession on the 14th.
25. Discovery in Petrograd of the conspiracy called “Tactical Center”, in which the instigators were acting in cooperation with Yudenitch.
29. First Congress of the Mussulman Communists at Moscow.
DECEMBER 1919.
5. Seventh All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
24. Insurrection of Irkutsk against the Koltchak government.
International Press Correspondence, widely known as”Inprecorr” was published by the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) regularly in German and English, occasionally in many other languages, beginning in 1921 and lasting in English until 1938. Inprecorr’s role was to supply translated articles to the English-speaking press of the International from the Comintern’s different sections, as well as news and statements from the ECCI. Many ‘Daily Worker’ and ‘Communist’ articles originated in Inprecorr, and it also published articles by American comrades for use in other countries. It was published at least weekly, and often thrice weekly.
PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/inprecor/1922/v02n096-nov-07-1922-inprecor.pdf
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