[POTEMKIN MUTINY]: RAKOVSKY CHRISTIAN: (1873-1941) 'The scene of the revolutionary sailors crying never existed'

[POTEMKIN MUTINY]: RAKOVSKY CHRISTIAN: (1873-1941) 'The scene of the revolutionary sailors crying never existed'

[POTEMKIN MUTINY]: RAKOVSKY CHRISTIAN: (1873-1941) Bulgarian-born socialist revolutionary, Bolshevik politician and Soviet diplomat and statesman, a lifelong collaborator of Leon Trotsky. Rakovsky organised rallies in support of the Battleship Potemkin revolt and carried out a relief operation for the crew of the Potemkin as the ship sought refuge in Constanta. A significant and interesting A.L.S., Dr. Christian Racovski, four pages, 8vo, Constanta, 3/16 July 1905, to an editor, in French. Rakovsky has headed the letter Affaire "Potemkine" and writes following the publication of an article, which contained some errors, based on an interview Rakovsky had given, writing, in part, '1. Il est inexact que Matustchenco (et non Mastutchenco comme il est ecrit) ait ordonne de tirer sur l'escadre de Krieger et que les autres matelots revolutionnaires aient refuse. Tout le monde etait tombe d'accord de ne pas tirer sur l'escadre avec (sic; avant) que celle ci commence les hostilites. Et cela se comprend puisque les matelots de Potemkine tenaient non pas a la destruction de l'escadre de Krieger mais a son adhesion a la cause revolutionnaire. 2. Je est inexact que Matustchenco au dernier conseil qui traita la question de la reddition ait eu a repprocher quelque chose au membre du comite......de Potemkine. La scene des matelots revolutionnaires pleurant n'a jamais existe. Nous avons examine longtemps les possibilites de la continuation de la lutte, malheureusement ces possibilites n'existaient plus et c'est la camarade Matustchenco lui meme qui a ma proposition de se maintenir encore durant deux jours dans les eaux roumaines pour que je puisse durant ce temps obtenir des instructions et des informations plus precices de la part du comite central du Parti democrate socialiste russe (qui) m'a repondu: il nous est impossible. Pour nous maintenir ici il nous fandra tenir sous pression 16 chaudieres or nous ne possedons que 50 tonnes du charbon. D'un autre cote nous fornir charbon de Constanta, etait absolument impossible. Voila la veritable cause de la reddition, Sans cela les matelots malgre les fatigues enormes de douze jours de luttes - beaucoup des matelots surtout ceux occupes dans les machines et dont la plupart entraient aussi dans le comite n'avaient pas dormi - seraient retournes en Russie et precisement en caucase pour continuer la lutte' (Translation: 1. It is not true that Matustchenco (and not Mastutchenco as it is written) ordered the firing on Krieger's squadron and that the other revolutionary sailors refused. Everyone had agreed not to fire on the squadron before (with) it began hostilities. This was understandable, since the Potemkin sailors were not interested in destroying Krieger's squadron but in joining the revolutionary cause. 2. It is not true that Matustchenco, at the last council which dealt with the question of surrender, had anything to reproach the member of the Potemkin committee. The scene of the revolutionary sailors crying never existed. We examined for a long time the possibilities of continuing the struggle, unfortunately these possibilities no longer existed and it was Comrade Matustchenco himself who made my proposal to remain for two more days in Romanian waters so that during this time I could obtain more precise instructions and information from the Central Committee of the Russian Democratic Socialist Party (which) replied to me: it is impossible for us. To keep us here we will have to pressurise 16 boilers and we only have 50 tonnes of coal. On the other hand, it was absolutely impossible for us to get coal from Constanta. This is the real reason for the surrender, without which the sailors, despite the enormous fatigue of twelve days of fighting - many of the sailors, especially those working in the engines, most of whom were also members of the committee, had not slept - would have returned to Russia and precisely to the Caucasus to continue the fight'). A letter of good content relating to one of the most famous events in the First Russian Revolution. Together with Ivan Beshoff (1884-1987) Russian naval officer, a crew member of the Potemkin and participant in the mutiny on the battleship in 1905. Blue ink signatures, in both Cyrillic and Roman script, to the base of an 8vo white card with a lightly mounted newspaper photograph above the signatures, the image depicting Beshoff standing in a three-quarter length pose and waving one hand at the foot of some aircraft steps. VG to EX, 2

Afanasi Matushenko (1879-1907) Russian socialist revolutionary and non-commissioned officer in the Russian Black Sea fleet who was the ringleader of the mutiny on the Potemkin.

The Mutiny on the Battleship Potemkin, a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy's Black Sea fleet, ocurred on 27th June 1905 during the Russian Revolution and the Russo-Japanese War. The crew mutinied over mistreatment by their officers and, after killing the Captain and some of the officers, the ship sailed for eleven days before finding refuge in Constanta, Romania. Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Party, called the 1905 Revolution, including the Potemkin mutiny, a 'dress-rehearsal' for his successful revolution in 1917. The communists seized upon it as a propaganda symbol for their party and unduly emphasised their role in the mutiny. The actions on board the Potemkin may also have led to Tsar Nicholas II's decision to end the Russo-Japanese War, and accept the October Manifesto, as the mutiny demonstrated that his regime no longer had the unquestioning loyalty of the military and navy.

The events of the mutiny later formed the basis of Sergei Eisenstein's famous silent film Battleship Potemkin (1925).