They set out from
different parts of the city to unite at the Field of Mars and march to the
Taurida Palace to protest against any interference with the Constituent
Assembly. As they neared the Taurida Palace they were confronted by Red
Guards, who, without any preliminary warning or any effort at persuasion,
fired into the crowd. Among the first victims was a member of the Executive
Committee of the Soviet of Peasants' Delegates, the Siberian peasant
Logvinov, part of whose head was shot away by an explosive bullet. Another
victim was the militant Socialist-Revolutionist Gorbatchevskaia. Several
students and a number of workmen were also killed. Similar massacres
occurred at the same time in other parts of the city. Other processions
wending their way toward the meeting-place were fired into. Altogether one
hundred persons were either killed or very seriously wounded by the Red
Guards, who said that they had received orders "not to spare the
cartridges." Similar demonstrations were held in Moscow and other cities
and were similarly treated by the Red Guards. In Moscow especially the loss
of life was great. Yet the Bolshevist organs passed these tragic events
over in complete silence.
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