Editing John Reed (journalist) (section)

===Witness to the Russian Revolution===
[[File:Почтовая марка СССР № 5885. 1987. 100 лет со дня рождения Джона Рида.jpg|thumb|1987 Soviet stamp reading, {{shy|"Work|er of the Amer|i|can labor move|ment, inter|na|tion|al|ist writer, John Reed"}}]]

On August 17, 1917, Reed and Bryant set sail from New York to Europe, having first provided the [[US Department of State|State Department]] with legally sworn assurances that neither would represent the Socialist Party at a forthcoming conference in [[Stockholm]].<ref>Testimony of John Reed, ''Brewing and Liquor Interests and German and Bolshevik Propaganda: Report and Hearings of the Subcommittee on the Judiciary, United States Senate...'', vol 3. p. 563. Hereafter: ''Overman Committee Report, v. 3.''</ref> The pair were going as working journalists to report on the sensational developments taking place in the fledgling republic of Russia. Traveling by way of [[Finland]], the pair arrived in the capital city of Petrograd immediately after the failed [[Kornilov affair|military coup]] of [[monarchist]] General [[Lavr Kornilov]]. This was an attempt to topple the [[Russian Provisional Government|Provisional Government]] of [[Alexander Kerensky]] by force of arms. Reed and Bryant found the [[Economy of Russia|Russian economy]] in shambles. Several of the subject nations of the old empire, such as [[Grand Duchy of Finland|Finland]] and [[Ukrainian State|Ukraine]], had gained autonomy and were seeking separate military accommodations with Germany.

Reed and Bryant were in Petrograd for the [[October Revolution]], in which the [[Bolsheviks]], headed by [[Vladimir Lenin]], toppled the Kerensky government; the Bolsheviks believed this was the first blow of a worldwide socialist revolution.

Food shortages made the situation dire in the capital, and social disorder reigned. Reed later recalled:

<blockquote>The last month of the Kerensky regime was marked first by the falling off of the bread supply from 2 pounds a day to 1 pound, to half a pound, to a quarter of a pound, and, the final week, no bread at all. Holdups and crime increased to such an extent that you could hardly walk down the streets. The papers were full of it. Not only had the government broken down, but the municipal government had absolutely broken down. The city militia was quite disorganized and up in the air, and the street-cleaning apparatus and all that sort of thing had broken down—milk and everything of that sort.<ref>Testimony of John Reed, ''Overman Committee Report'', v. 3, p. 575.</ref></blockquote>

A mood for radical change was in the air. The Bolsheviks, seeking an all-socialist government and immediate end to Russian participation in the war, sought the transfer of power from Kerensky to a [[Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union|Congress of Soviets]], a gathering of elected workers' and soldiers' deputies to be convened in October. The Kerensky government considered this a kind of coup, and moved to shut down the Bolshevik press. It issued warrants of arrest for the Soviet leaders and prepared to transfer the troops of the Petrograd garrison, believed to be unreliable, back to the front. A [[Military Revolutionary Committee]] of the Soviets, dominated by the Bolshevik Party, determined to seize power on behalf of the future Congress of Soviets. At 11 pm on the evening of November 7, 1917, it captured the [[Winter Palace]], the seat of Kerensky's government.<ref>Testimony of John Reed, ''Overman Committee Report'', v. 3, p. 569.</ref> Reed and Bryant were present during the fall of the Winter Palace, the symbolic event that started the Bolshevik Revolution.<ref>Testimony of John Reed, ''Overman Committee Report'', v. 3, p. 570.</ref>

[[File:Рид-красная Россия.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|right|The cover of this 1919 British pamphlet emphasizes Reed's short-lived status as Soviet consul.]]

Reed was an enthusiastic supporter of the new [[Revolutionary socialism|revolutionary socialist]] government. He went to work for the new [[People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs]], translating decrees and news of the new government into English. "I also collaborated in the gathering of material and data and distributing of papers to go into the German trenches," Reed later recalled.<ref>Testimony of John Reed, ''Overman Committee Report'', v. 3, p. 565.</ref>

Reed was close to the inner circle of the new government. He met [[Leon Trotsky]] and was introduced to Lenin during a break of the [[Russian Constituent Assembly|Constituent Assembly]] on January 18, 1918. By December, his funds were nearly exhausted, and he took a job with American [[Raymond Robins]] of the [[International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement|International Red Cross]]. Robins wanted to set up a newspaper promoting American interests; Reed complied. But in the dummy issue he prepared, he included a warning beneath the masthead: "This paper is devoted to promoting the interests of American capital."<ref>Homberger, ''John Reed'', pp. 159–60</ref>

The dissolution of the Constituent Assembly left Reed unmoved. Two days later, armed with a rifle, he joined a patrol of [[Red Guards (Russia)|Red Guards]] prepared to defend the Foreign Office from counter-revolutionary attack.<ref name="Homberger, p. 161">Homberger, p. 161</ref> Reed attended the opening of the Third Congress of Soviets, where he gave a short speech promising to bring the news of the revolution to America, saying he hoped it would "call forth an answer from America's oppressed and exploited masses." American journalist Edgar Sisson told Reed that he was being used by the Bolsheviks for their propaganda, a rebuke he accepted.<ref name="Homberger, p. 161"/>

In January, Trotsky, responding to Reed's concern about the safety of his substantial archive, offered Reed the post of [[Consulate-General of Russia in New York City|Soviet Consul in New York]]. As the United States did not recognize the Bolshevik government, Reed's credentials would almost certainly have been rejected and he would have faced prison (which would have given the Bolsheviks some propaganda material). Most Americans in Petrograd considered Reed's appointment a massive blunder. Businessman [[Alexander Gumberg]] met with Lenin, showing him a prospectus in which Reed called for massive American capital support for Russia and for setting up a newspaper to express the American viewpoint on the negotiations at [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Russia–Central Powers)|Brest-Litovsk]]. Lenin found the proposal unsavory and withdrew Reed's nomination. Learning of Gumberg's intervention, Reed always denigrated him afterward.<ref>Homberger, pp. 161–63</ref>

Reed and Bryant wrote and published books about their Russian experiences. Bryant's ''Six Red Months in Russia'' appeared first, but Reed's ''10 Days That Shook the World'' (1919) garnered more notice.

Bryant returned to the United States in January 1918, but Reed did not reach [[New York City]] until April 28.<ref name="Stuart, p. 303">Hicks with Stuart, ''John Reed'', p. 303.</ref> On his way back, Reed traveled from Russia to [[Finland]]; he did not have a [[Visa (document)|visa]] or [[passport]] while crossing to [[Finland]]. In [[Port of Turku|Turku harbor]], when Reed was boarding a ship on his way to [[Stockholm]], [[Police of Finland|Finnish police]] arrested him; he was held at [[Kakola]] prison in [[Turku]] until he was released. From Finland, Reed traveled to [[Oslo|Kristiania]], [[Norway]] via [[Stockholm]].

Because he remained under indictment in the ''Masses'' case, federal authorities immediately met Reed when his ship reached New York, holding him on board for more than eight hours while they searched his belongings. Reed's papers, the material from which he intended to write his book, were seized. He was released upon his own recognizance after his attorney, [[Morris Hillquit]], promised to make him available at the Federal Building the next day.<ref name="Stuart, p. 303"/> His papers were not returned to him until November.