Chapter 2
By the time the February Revolution of 1917 took place, Joseph had not only become friends with Kashinsky, but had grown attached to him with all his soul. He respected Kashinsky, who was 12 years older than he, for his worldly wisdom, extensive knowledge, sociable personality, and enviable physical strength, which he reinforced with regular exercise.
Kashinsky was single and lived in a private boarding house where he rented a room. Sometimes he invited Joseph to his place, but more often he visited the Gershons’ cottage himself, he liked to talk with Joseph and his father about different subjects. Gradually Joseph learned that Kashinsky was the grandson of a wealthy Jewish merchant whose family had been allowed, by way of exception, to reside in St. Petersburg for special services to the tsar and the fatherland in the last century.
As a student at St. Petersburg University, Kashinsky developed close relationships with Marxists, joined the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, and took an active part in the revolutionary events of 1905, for which he was arrested, convicted, and exiled to Belarus under police supervision without the right to live in any big cities. His father persuaded the owner of the bristle factory, whom he had known for a long time, to arrange for his son’s employment, and the owner hired Kashinsky as a comptroller at the factory, with a promise that he would be reliable. Since then, Kashinsky had been conducting revolutionary agitation in an illegal club where reliable, trusted comrades gathered cautiously.
Heated debates generally arose whenever it came to the theoretical justifications for the dictatorship of the proletariat and the expropriation of private property in the construction of а socialist society. The majority of those who argued expressed great doubts and misgivings about these theories and especially about their practical application.
Kashinsky, on the other hand, firmly, calmly, intelligibly, and often humorously defended the rightness of the Bolshevik views, referring to the experience of the French Revolution and popular uprisings in other countries. Joseph rejoiced with youthful enthusiasm at Kashinsky’s victories in arguments with those who reasoned otherwise, but his opponents’ sharp objections as well as his own forced him to think, to doubt.
Who can guarantee, and how, that the dictatorship of the proletariat will always be fair, and that expropriation will only affect those whose wealth was gained unfairly?! What dire consequences can befall society due to the actions of incompetent, unscrupulous, or downright criminal individuals, who have got to power in a dictatorship?
In response to these doubts, Kashinsky always objected in the same way: “The dictatorship of the proletariat is the power of the masses of the people, which will be exercised collegially by the best representatives of the people. This is the guarantee of justice, humanity, the incorruptibility of power, its interest in the welfare of the people”.
Usually, Joseph was quite satisfied with these arguments, though lingering doubts remained in the back of his mind.
And soon events forced the Communist supporters to deal with other, more urgent, and important practical matters. As a result of the February Revolution, a parliament, the Belarusian Rada, was formed in Minsk, and immediately after the October coup a government of the Belarusian National Republic emerged, officially proclaiming the secession of Belarus from Russia. Similar statements were issued by the Ukrainian Central Rada, as well as by the governments of Poland and Finland.
The Bolshevik government of Russia, which seized power on October 25 (November 7th in the new style) 1917, was forced to recognize the independence of Poland and Finland, as these countries had sufficient armed forces to repulse the Soviet Red Army.
However, the Soviet government was in no hurry to recognize the independence of Ukraine and Belarus, hoping to overthrow the weak governments of these territories with the help of the revolutionary masses of the people, led by the Bolsheviks, who among the local Soviets occupied leading positions. The Red Army was ready to support and consolidate these political actions at the right moment. Kashinsky, who had been a member of the RSDLP since 1905, received a directive from the center to carry out a broad agitation among the population against the secession of Belarus from Russia.
At the beginning of February 1918, under the terms of the Brest Peace Treaty, German troops seized Bobruisk. The Germans behaved as occupiers. The Council of Workers’ Deputies was dissolved, a curfew was in effect from 9 p.m., and the streets were patrolled by soldiers. The occupiers openly cooperated with the board appointed by the nationalist Belarusian government and the local police.
The Belarusian Rada intensified its propaganda for secession from Russia. Rallies were held in the enterprises and squares of Bobruisk, and representatives of the Rada called upon the people to demonstrate in support of the independence of Belarus. Communists and their supporters interfered with these demonstrations by shouting, whistling, making noise, and distributed handwritten and printed leaflets with appeals to boycott the Rada and to demand the transfer of power to the Soviets.
Soon after the Germans occupied the city, Kashinsky announced that he was temporarily leaving the city on important business and would contact Joseph upon his return. In mid-October, German soldiers made it known that events similar to those in Russia were brewing in Germany: there were also mass demonstrations and strikes by workers.
At the beginning of November, the Germans departed Bobruisk for their homeland in an orderly manner. Shortly afterward, it became known that on November 9th there was a revolution in Germany, as a result of which all the territories occupied by German troops under the terms of the Brest Peace Treaty became Soviet again.
On November 7, 1918, Bobruisk celebrated the first anniversary of the October Revolution. The departure of the Germans from the city and the news of the revolutionary unrest in Germany gave the celebration a special joyful atmosphere. Young people decorated the streets and squares with garlands of red flags, stars, ribbons, posters. Hundreds of people went into the streets, their clothes decorated with red bows. Songs were sung and short rallies spontaneously sprang up. Joseph and his comrades also sang songs, rallied, joked, and had fun. There was a sense of light and joy in their souls, believing that good, new times were coming.
In the joyful excitement of coming out of the house on the holiday morning, Braina was struck by the abundance of red: large and small stars crimsoned on houses, fences, and trees, flags fluttered, words and numbers shone in scarlet on posters and banners.
Suddenly she was reminded of a strikingly vivid dream, seen in her childhood and not forgotten in the years since: someone insistently and demandingly calls her out of the house to go outside. In great anxiety, she goes out on the porch, raises her head, and sees huge, menacing masses moving across the sky toward each other: red and black, but one cannot tell whether they are clouds or living matter. Braina’s heart flutters, she trembles with fear before the unknown phenomenon, and the masses have already come together in a tense battle. Throughout all visible space, there is a deadly struggle between red and black power. In some places, the red wins, in other areas, the black wins. But then the sky becomes redder and redder, and finally, it turns a bright color – now it can be discerned that the entire red mass is composed of countless bright red stars. And now, on November 7, 1918, these stars from a child’s prophetic dream were actually turning red in the streets of the city!
Braina and her school friend wandered for a long time through the streets filled with people celebrating, listening to the fervent speeches of the speakers. Braina wanted to speak too, but she was shy. They decided to walk to the grove by the river.
Beyond the grove, by the ruins of the fortress, the friends saw a large group of young people. There was a speaker on a stone pedestal. He was a young strong fellow with a blond, curly-haired head. He was not handsome, but his eyes shone with intelligence, and his movements and words showed confidence and strength of spirit. Beside him stood a tall, handsome young man with a face radiating spirituality.
A friend who lived in Sands told Braina that the speaker was the local ringleader Joshka Gershon, and next to him was his close friend Eli Kaplan, who was courting Hava Margolina, their mutual friend. Braina listened: Joseph was saying that the October Revolution had opened all the roads for Jewish youth — they could study, work and live as they liked, for the good of the nation, not to slave for the rich capitalists. There was no longer a Pale of Settlement, the Jews were free as all the people of Soviet Russia, and there was no point in going to Palestine now; everything the Jews hoped to find in Palestine could be attained here.
Braina liked Gershon’s speech and she even wanted to support him publicly, but the applause and shouts of approval from the young people showed that most of those present approved of Joseph’s words as well.