The July days of 1917 [the 3rd through the 7th] were a time of open demonstration against the provisional government of Russia. The demonstrations were started by the 1st machine gun regiment and in conjunction with the Kronstad sailors and workers from the local Petrograd Soviet. Though popular sentiment for Soviet power was growing during this time, and support for the provisional government was dwindling it was still a surprising turn of events, sparked in part by the failure of the first offensive effort against the Germans in many months, the Galician Offensive, which resulted in 200,000 casualties. There were Bolsheviks amongst the ranks of the Kronstad sailors and it appeared to some members of the Provisional Government to be an attempted Bolshevik coup. This vision of the protests, or at least the ideals of the Kronstad Sailors, are illuminated by the shouts of the Bolshevik slogan "All Power to the Soviets!" At the peak of the protests a workers apparently shouted in the face of S.R. Minister of Agriculture Chernov, screaming "Take power, you son of a bitch, when it's given to you."
However, upon the arrival of the Sailors, Soldiers and Workers at the Bolshevik headquarters in Kseshinskaya Palace, Lenin did not greet them in a way that would befit the arrival of allied brothers in revolutionary struggle, but rather sent them off, not encouraging them to take action against the leadership of either the provisional government, or the present leaders of the Soviet. "Confused and lacking leadership and specific plans, the demonstrators roamed the city, fell to drinking and looting and eventually dispersed."
Lenin and the Bolsheviks had been unprepared for this, caught off balance if you will. As Fitzpatrick describers it, "The Kronstadt Bolsheviks, responding to the sailors' revolutionary mood, had taken an initiative, which, in effect, the Bolshevik Central Committee had disowned. The whole affair damaged Bolshevik morale and Lenin's credibility as a revolutionary leader" Furthermore, despite disowning this effort, the Bolsheviks were still blamed for it and there was a crackdown upon revolutionary groups, many were arrested, including Trotsky and Lenin fled the country for Finland.
Background established. Creative re-reading of this event, particularly Lenin's failure to seize the revolutionary moment, which is made clear through his writings from Finland, calling for the Bolsheviks to be prepared for armed insurrection, to be prepared to seize the moment - obviously he had no interest in missing yet another opportunity.
First the easier way - Contextualizing these events through the Чёрный монах - Creatively - Associatively, almost with out goal.
The first concept that comes to mind is [perhaps of course] insurrection as Lenin's Black Monk. He had dreamed of the story regarding it, or perhaps been told the story? He cannon be sure, but then it appears before him, with little warning. He was not prepared for it and he interacted with the Monk/demonstrators, he was not as articulate as he would have liked to have been. When the conversation had passed, he could think only of questions he would liked to have asked [Read: actions he would liked to have taken]. While he had prepared himself for such an arrival, in theory, as Fitzpatrick says of Lenin with the Kronstad Bolsheviks, he was caught off balance. Lenin almost certainly would have been pleased to see revolutionary sentiment growing, and growing along the lines that he had set, Bolshevism. As Kovrin was pleased to have seen the Monk. He desired to see his Monk again, and to able to have that dialogue, as a matter of fact, he would miss it for no think. Kovrin meditated on the idea in his study and hoped that by revisiting the same places, he would again have his opprotunity. Lenin wrote letters from Finland, informing his Bolshevik comrades that the time was coming, his specter, his Black Monk would return and they must be ready to seize all of the momentum, speed and knowledge of the fast flying creature which visits those who do the "Work of the Gods" - to create a revolution.
Lenin as certain characters within the story, holds appeal for me. Perhaps it is because of his role as a primary actor in the stories regarding early days leading up to the Bolshevik Coup, and these characters are at the least, somewhat active in their environment. Perhaps it is worth musing on Lenin as the Black Monk himself. Appearing and disappearing throughout this revolutionary environment in which we're swimming. The Black Monk appears on the scene and stirs the emotions of certain individuals, however, when the situation becomes to heated [and through this reading, Kovrin's health degrades to such a degree that he receives assistance and stops working] he disappears [To Finland]. The Bolshevik movement is damamged severely and sentiment regarding them as a leader of revolution dwindles to a degree. But Lenin continues to work, writing to the dedicated Bolsheviks and Kovrin continues, in role now as perhaps an arrested Bolshevik [Trostky?], to consider his life before - the work, the love of the work, his goals, despite the illness that it eventually caused. Eventually the role of the monk grows and he returns, on a sealed German train, to awake the sleepy Kovrin and draw him back into the revolutionary moment. Perhaps there is then a stronger metaphorical choice than Trotsky here, someone who suffered due Lenin's choice, perhaps the people in general again, as one can certainly point out that Lenin's eventual rule was not without cruelty - and in the end Kovrin dies. However, it is worth noting - Kovrin built his revolution in the end. Though it cost him his life, the end of The Black Monk details how he died with a smile upon his face.
It seems difficult to me to separate these ideas. To read Lenin's failure of the July Days against the Black Monk and then to do the same thing in reverse - rather than to have a dialogue between the two, in which they inform one another. This is something from a literary and historical analysis standpoint that I will have to explore further. It feels important to be able to make this distinction more clearly. Worth coming back to.
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