Kornilov Responds to Kerenskii

L. G. Kornilov, Response. August 27, 1917

The Minister-President's telegram No. 4163 in its entire first part is a lie throughout: it was not I who sent the Member of the State Duma, Vladimir L'vov, to the Provisional Government, but he came to me as the envoy of the Minister-President. Aleksei Aladin, Member of the State Duma, is a witness to this. A great provocation has thus taken place which jeopardizes the fate of the motherland.

People of Russia! Our great motherland is dying. The hour of her death is near. Forced to speak openly, I, General Kornilov, declare that under the pressure of the Bolshevik majority of the Soviets, the Provisional Government acts in complete harmony with the plans of the German g6neral staff, and simultaneously with the forthcoming landing of the enemy forces on the Riga shores, it is killing the army and undermines the very foundation of the country.

The heavy sense of the inevitable ruin of the country commands me in these ominous moments to call upon all Russian people to come to the aid of the dying motherland. All in whose breasts a

Russian heart is beating, who believe in God, in Church, pray to the Lord for the greatest miracle, the saving of our native land!

I, General Kornilov, son of a Cossack peasant, declare to all and sundry that I want nothing for myself, except the preservation of a Great Russia, and I vow to bring the people by means of victory over the enemy to the Constituent Assembly, where they will themselves decide their fate and choose their new form of government. But it is quite impossible for me to betray Russia into the hands of her ancient enemy, the German race, and to turn the Russian people into German slaves. I prefer to die on the battlefield of honor rather than see the disgrace and infamy of the Russian land.

Russian people, the life of your motherland is in your hands!

Source: Robert Paul Browder and Alexander F. Kerensky, eds., The Russian Provisional Government, 1917: Documents (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1961), Vol. III, pp. 55-57.

1917

EVENTS February Revolution Formation of the Soviets April Crisis Revolution in the Army July Days Kornilov Affair Bolsheviks Seize Power First Bolshevik Decrees Constituent Assembly Treaty of Brest Litovsk
FOUR KINDS OF STATES Communist Party Building Economic Apparatus Building the Soviets Red Guard into Army State Security
DISINTEGRATION OF THE OLD SOCIETY Depopulation of the Cities Food Supply Conflict with the Church Death of the Old Culture Destruction of the Left The Empire Falls
CREATION OF A NEW SOCIETY New Letters and Dates Culture and Revolution The New Woman Workers Organization Peasant Revolution Organs of the Press Raising Socialist Youth