Ten Days That Shook the World · Chapter
Counterrevolution explained
The chapter depicts the chaotic aftermath of the Bolshevik seizure of power, focusing on the struggle for legitimacy amid strikes, conspiracies, and armed conflict.
What happens
The chapter depicts the chaotic aftermath of the Bolshevik seizure of power, focusing on the struggle for legitimacy amid strikes, conspiracies, and armed conflict. It covers the Vikzhel's threat to strike, the outlawing of the Committee for Salvation, the outbreak of street fighting in Moscow, and the ongoing battle at Pulkovo. Inside Smolny, the Military Revolutionary Committee works tirelessly while the Council of People's Commissars issues decrees. Reed visits the hidden Committee for Salvation and later learns of the bank strike and the search for secret treaties.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
The emotional peak occurs when the narrator, after witnessing the destruction of sacred and historic Kremlin s…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Counterrevolution and Civil War
The chapter details the armed resistance to Bolshevik rule, including the Committee for Salvation's conspiracy, the Moscow uprising, and the battle at Pulkovo.
- Struggle for Legitimacy and Power
Both sides vie for control: the Bolsheviks issue decrees and arrest conspirators, while the Duma and Vikzhel attempt to mediate or resist.
- Workers' Control and Economic Transformation
The bank strike and the Bolshevik threat to open banks by force highlight the economic challenges of the new regime.
Characters to notice
- John Reed
Narrator and observer, moving between Smolny, the Duma, and the secret headquarters of the Committee for Salvation.
- Leon Trotsky
Reports on the battle at Pulkovo and the situation at the front, then leaves to join the Red Guards.
- Lev Kamenev
Speaks at the Petrograd Soviet about the reconciliation conference and the rejected armistice conditions.
- Grigory Schreider
Mayor of Petrograd, defends the City Duma's neutrality and complains about Bolshevik requisitions.
- Colonel Polkovnikov
Former commandant of Petrograd, seen hiding in a bathroom at the Committee for Salvation's secret apartment.
- Abram Gotz
Mentioned as a former member of the Provisional Government whose orders were used in the conspiracy.
- Andrei Shingarev
Cadet speaker at the Duma, proposes expelling Bolshevik members for treason.
- Anatoly Neratov
Functionary who disappeared with the secret treaties, supposedly hiding them in the British Embassy.
Key passages
“The conquerors of these riots, the saviours of the wreck of our country, these will be neither the Bolsheviki, nor the Committee for Salvation, nor the troops of Kerensky—but we, the Union of Railwaymen …”
The Vikzhel declared that only the railway workers, not the Bolsheviks, the Committee for Salvation, or Kerensky's forces, could save the country from ruin.
Vikzhel's assertion of neutrality and power.
“The notice posted in the streets under the heading ‘To the Pillory,’ which calls upon the people to destroy the Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries,” said Nazariev, “is a crime which you, Bolsheviki, will not be able to wash away.”
A Menshevik Internationalist accused the Bolsheviks of inciting violence against other socialist parties with a proclamation titled 'To the Pillory.'
Accusation of incitement to massacre.
“Without money,” said Menzhinsky, “we are helpless. The wages of the railroad men, of the postal and telegraph employees, must be paid. … The banks are closed; and the key to the situation, the State Bank, is also shut.”
Menzhinsky explained that the bank strike left the Bolshevik government unable to pay essential workers, paralyzing administration.
Economic crisis due to bank strike.
