Petergofsky District () was an administrative division of the Russian capital Petrograd (present-day Saint Petersburg) between 1917 and 1919. It was a working-class area just outside the south-western frontier of Petrograd, which was incorporated into the city proper in mid-1917. The Putilov Ironworks, a major industrial facility, was located in the district.
February Revolution Prior to the February Revolution 1917, the area just south-west of the city boundary was known as the Petergofsky Police Sector (one of four such suburbs at the time), but by 1917 the name (Нарвская застава) was also used.Районные советы Петрограда в 1917 году: протоколы, резолюции, постановления общих собраний и заседаний исполнительных комитетов, Vol. 1. Институт истории (Академия наук СССР). Ленинградское отделение. Nauka [Leningradskoe otd-nie], 1964. p. 7Районные советы Петрограда в 1917 году: протоколы, резолюции, постановления общих собраний и заседаний исполнительных комитетов, Vol. 2. Институт истории (Академия наук СССР). Ленинградское отделение. Nauka [Leningradskoe otd-nie], 1965. pp. 91–92
A strike at one of the Putilov plant workshops sparked the protest movement that evolved into the February 26–27, 1917 armed insurrection (the February Revolution). In the midst of the revolution the workers of the Narva Outpost area Narva Outpost formed workers militia commissariats and the Narvsky Soviet of Workers Deputies. The Narvsky Soviet, which was active by March 6, 1917 or earlier, covered the geographic areas of the former Petergofsky and Narvsky sectors. Since the Putilov plant had such a dominating role in the life of the area, the Narvsky Soviet became highly involved in the internal affairs of the factory. According to Smith (1983) the Menshevik and non-partisan majority in the Narvsky Soviet sought to avoid having a separate Putilov plant committee, fearing that such a committee could form a rival power centre. Moreover, the Narvsky Soviet and the workers militia under its control were actively involved with issues of public order – confronting drunkenness, gambling and hooliganism in the area.
On March 28, 1917 the Narvsky Soviet held a joint meeting with three subdistrict Soviets from the former Narvsky Sector, at which it was decided to create separate Petergofsky and Narvsky districts. The ertswhile Narvsky Soviet was rebranded as the Petergofsky District Soviet. The Narvsky and Petergofsky District Soviets continued to hold two joint meetings in April 1917, but from there onwards the two soviets operated separately. The seal of the Petergofsky District Soviet had the inscription 'February 27, 1917'.
An industrial suburb Although the Petergofsky and Narvsky districts were now formally separated, in popular jargon people at the time would still refer to the area as the 'Narvsky'. The Petergofsky District consisted of two subdistricts.David Mandel. The Petrograd Workers in the Russian Revolution: February 1917 – June 1918. BRILL, 2017. pp. 62, 64, 151 Whilst the Putilov plant dominated the life of both subdistricts, one of the subdistricts was more industrial with Putilov, Til'mans and Langezipen factories within its borders and the other had more presence of white-collar employees and small commercial enterprises.
The Petergofsky District was bordered by the , the , and the Gulf of Finland. There was a significant working-class presence in the area, the erstwhile Petergofsky Sector and the adjacent Narvsky Sector housed a fifth of all the working-class population of the greater Petrograd area (some 36,148 workers lived in the Petergofsky-Narvsky area, out of a total population of around 91,000). All in all, the economy of the local area was highly characterized by the Putilov plant, whose workforce had grown significantly since the beginning of World War I.Революционный Петроград год 1917. Наука, 1977. pp. 12, 259 By January 1, 1917 here were more than 24,000 workers at the Putilov plant. Another 5,000 people worked at the Putilov Shipyard. A third large factory in the area was the .
District Soviet
The Petergofsky District Soviet was politically heterogeneous, as a result of the presence of many different political factions at the Putilov plant. Whilst the Putilov workers had been on the forefront of the labour struggles of 1912–1914, the massive migration of peasants and urban lumpenproletariat to work at the Putilov plant with the beginning of World War I had changed the political dynamics of the local area. The Bolsheviks where the biggest faction among the Putilov workers, but there were also various different factions of anarchists or Socialist-Revolutionaries that enjoyed significant at the factory. Additionally there were small groups of Mensheviks – the United Mensheviks, Mezhraiontsy and Menshevik-Defencists. The Petergofsky District Soviet chairman was the Menshevik A. P. Kuzmin, whilst the Bolshevik A. Tsetkov-Prosveshensky served as its secretary.
Between April 10–14, 1917 elections to a Putilov Factory Committee was finally held, whereby the Petergofsky District Soviet could begin to dedicate itself more to political rather than industrial issues. The result of the Putilov Factory Committee was the election of 6 Bolsheviks, 6 non-partisans, 2 SRs, 1 Menshevik-Internationalist, 1 anarchist and 5 others of unclear political affiliation.
During the period between the February and October Revolutions of 1917, the political positions adopted by the Petergofsky District Soviet varied. In April 1917 it supported the decision of the Petrograd Soviet to organize Sunday labour for the war effort for May Day, a move the Bolsheviks denounced. On April 24–28, 1917 the Petergofsky District Soviet decided to organize Red Guards (becoming the second district in the Petrograd area to organize Red Guards, after the Vyborgsky District), but this decision was reversed on May 8–10 following a decision from the Petrograd Soviet. But on economic issues the Petergofsky District Soviet was more in line with the Bolsheviks – providing assistance to laundry workers on strike and seizing control over the G.G. Brenner Foundry and Mechanical Factory (a small copper-smelting and engineering plant which had closed by its owners in May 1917 and then taken over by a factory committee, the Petergofsky District Soviet decided to do an inventory and appointed a delegate to run the factory on June 16, 1917).Stephen Anthony Smith. Red Petrograd: Revolution in the Factories, 1917–1918. Cambridge University Press, 1983. pp. 12, 81, 88, 177–178Mark David Mandel. Development of Revolutionary Consciousness Among the Industrial Workers of Petrograd Between February and November 1917, Vol. 1. Columbia University, 1981. p. 330 And on June 8, 1917 the Petergofsky District Soviet adopted a resolution condemning repression against the Bolsheviks following events in Glukhovsky Uyezd.
The Petergofsky District was formally annexed to the city of Petrograd in the summer of 1917. The situation in Petrograd was dire, with recurring food shortages. When meat was delivered to restaurants in Petergofsky District, starving Putilov plant workers would go on rampage, looting shops and attacking members of the District Cooperative Society. The Petergofsky District Soviet and the Putilov Factory Committee intervened to quell the unrest.
By around July–August 1917, the Petergofsky District Soviet had gradually moved towards a largely Bolshevik line. The Bolshevik I. G. Egorov became the new chairman of the Petergofsky District Soviet. During the July Days the Petergofsky District Soviet sided with the Bolsheviks and rejected the instruction to disarm the working class organs of power. A new Executive Committee of the Petergofsky District Soviet was elected on July 7, 1917, using proportional representation whereby the Bolsheviks won two out of five seats. The workers militia of the Petergofsky District Soviet was disarmed. But whilst the Bolsheviks could not control the Executive Committee nor have a majority of the deputies of the District Soviet, they could control the general assembly of the Petergofsky District Soviet and thereby steer the district governance politically.
Duma election In August 1917, elections to the Petrograd City Duma were held.Валерия Антониновна Нардова. Петербургская городская дума: 1846–1918. ЛИки России, 2005. p. 524 The results were announced on August 23, 1917 – the Bolsheviks got 17,254 votes (61.5%) in Petergofsky District, the SRs 8,807 votes (31.4%), the Kadets 964 votes (3.4%), Mensheviks 459 votes (1.6%), Unity 164 votes (0.6%), Popular Socialists 104 votes (0.4%).Бастионы революции: страницы истории ленинградских заводов. Лениздат, 1957. p. 82 In the Petergofsky District Duma, the Bolsheviks and Left SRs formed a majority. As of October 1917 the District Duma chairman was the Socialist-Revolutionary B. O. Fleckel, whilst the Bolsheviks held the posts of vice chairman (V. I. Nevsky), secretary (V. P. Alekseev) and head of the District Administration (D. F. Mitrokhin). The Bolsheviks Pavel Lebedev (Polyansky) and Dmitry Manuilsky worked in the District Administration.
Kornilov affair During the September 1917 Kornilov affair, the Petergofsky District Soviet set up a revolutionary committee (one of the first soviets to do so) and organized Red Guards. On Korgachin was named commander of the Petergofsky District Red Guards. In the morning of the Petergofsky District Soviet called for general workers assemblies. At the gatherings the Petergofsky District Soviet representative and Putilov Factory Committee presented reports about the Kornilov actions. The workers reaffirmed the readiness to combat the counter-revolutionary coup attempt. The Petergofsky Central Revolutionary Committee consisted of three representatives from the Petergofsky District Soviet, five representatives from party organizations (one for each party organization), three representatives from district commissariats (one for each commissariat), one representative each from the Putilov Factory Committee, the Putilov docks, the District Board, the soldiers of the company based at the Putilov plant, the District Trade Union Bureau and small enterprises in the Petergofsky District. There were some 5,000 Red Guards mobilized. On the instructions of the Petergofsky Central Revolutionary Committee, workers erected barricades at the southern entrances of the city in order to block Kornilov's troops at the city gates.Alexander Rabinowitch. The Bolsheviks Come to Power: The Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd. Pluto Press, 2004. pp. 140, 338 Other units of the worker's militia were tasked with surveillance of rightist elements, defense of factories and maintaining public order. The Putilov workers received a significant amount of rifles and pistols from the stocks of the Peter and Paul Fortress.Лидия Федоровна Карамышева. Борьба за Петроградский Совет, март-октябрь 1917 г. Лениздат, 1964. p. 153
October Revolution On the Bolshevik I. G. Egorov was named commander of the Red Guards of Petergofsky District. During the October Revolution, the Petergofsky District workers blocked the southern entrances of the city, seized police commissariats and posts offices in Petergofsky District and took part in storming the Winter Palace. Up to 4,000 Putilov Plant Red Guards took part in defeating of the Kerensky–Krasnov uprising.