independent Soviets, uncontrolled by any political party and expressive of the will and interests of the people. The whole-hearted, unsophisticated sailors were proclaiming to the workers of the world their great Ideal, and calling upon the proletariat to join forces in the common fight, confident that their Cause would find enthusiastic support and that the workers of Petrograd, first and foremost, would hasten to their aid.
Meanwhile Trotsky had collected his forces. The most trusted divisions from the fronts, kursanti regiments, Tcheka detachments, and military units consisting exclusively of Communists were now gathered in the forts of Sestroretsk, Lissy Noss, Krasnaia Gorka, and neighboring fortified places. The greatest Russian military experts were rushed to the scene to form plans for the blockade and attack of Kronstadt, and the notorious Tukhachevski was appointed Commander-in-Chief in the siege of Kronstadt.
On March 7, at 6.45 in the evening, the Communist batteries of Sestroretsk and Lissy Noss fired the first shots against Kronstadt.
It was the anniversary of the Women Workers’ Day. Kronstadt, besieged and attacked, did not forget the great holiday. Under fire of numerous batteries, the brave sailors sent a radio greeting to the workingwomen of the world, an act most characteristic of the psychology of the Rebel City. The radio read:
Today is a universal holiday—Women Workers’ Day. We of Kronstadt send, amid the thunder of cannon, our fraternal greetings to the workingwomen of the world. *** May you soon accomplish your liberation from every form of violence and oppression. *** Long live the free revolutionary workingwomen! Long live the Social Revolution throughout the world!
No less characteristic was the heart-rending cry of Kronstadt, “Let The Whole World Know,” published after the first shot had been fired, in No. 6 of the Izvestia, March 8:
