The Vikzhel negotiations were ultimately unsuccessful talks among Russian socialist parties, imposed by the All-Russian Executive Committee of the Railway Union (Vikzhel) with the aim of replacing the Sovnarkom, an exclusively Bolshevik government newly formed during the October Revolution, with a coalition of socialist forces.
Following the Bolshevik seizure of power during the October Revolution, their socialist political opponents resorted to arms. Vikzhel, which favored the formation of a coalition government of various socialist parties, forced them to begin negotiations for its creation. Vikzhel threatened to paralyze rail transport, which was essential for supplying cities and transporting the troops of both the Sovnarkom and its adversaries.
The attitude of the various parties varied according to the fortunes of the ongoing fighting, which Vikzhel had failed to stop. The more conservative currents of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (PSR) and the Mensheviks were initially intransigent and in favor of undoing the consequences of the October Revolution at the negotiating table, a possibility favored by the strength of the Bolshevik faction willing to compromise and the government's adverse military situation. Petrograd was threatened by the forces assembled by Kerensky and Moscow was still in dispute.
On the other hand, factions of all three parties —the PSR, the Left Socialist Revolutionaries (Left SRs) and the Mensheviks— vehemently advocated for the formation of a coalition. After several sessions, the parties reached a preliminary agreement which, however, was ultimately rejected by the majority of the Bolshevik Central Committee, once again under the control of the Leninist faction opposed to concessions to the moderate currents of the other formations. The Bolshevik victory in Moscow, the crushing of the Junker mutiny in the capital, and the failure of Kerensky's offensive against Petrograd hardened the Bolshevik position while moderating the demands of their socialist adversaries.
Lenin, with fundamental support from Trotsky and the increasing backing of the Bolshevik Central Committee, demanded a series of conditions unacceptable to the other side for the continuation of the talks. The other side responded with its own conditions, which were in turn rejected by the Sovnarkom. The efforts of moderate Bolsheviks to reach an intermediate agreement, which would not include all the conditions approved by their Central Committee, led Lenin to try to impose party discipline on them and to challenge them to take control. In response, the moderates resigned from their government and Central Committee posts, which did not serve to moderate Lenin's position. After several days, the Leninist faction's rejection of the opposition's conditions and the majority of the opposition's reluctance to accept those of the Bolsheviks led to the failure of the negotiations. Weeks later, however, the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, now split from the PSR, entered the government.
Background
Faced with the Bolshevik seizure of power during the October Revolution —not in their own name, but in the name of the soviets— part of their socialist political adversaries decided to oppose them by armed force. Not even the Left Socialist Revolutionary wing, which had remained at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets after the walkout of the other parties, was willing to join the government without an agreement between those socialists who supported the October Revolution and those who rejected it. Supporters of an agreement among socialists —Menshevik-Internationalists, Left Socialist Revolutionaries, and the moderate Bolshevik current led by Kamenev and Zinoviev— began working to achieve the pact. The possibility of forming a coalition socialist government also had considerable popular support, reflected in the backing for its creation by the Petrograd Trade Union Council or the Vyborg Soviet.
The majority of the Socialist Revolutionaries (PSR) refused to restore the overthrown Russian Provisional Government and its policy of coalition with the bourgeoisie, given its unpopularity. In Petrograd, Stankevich was alone in defending the previous cabinet, while in Moscow, the railway workers imposed on the party the acceptance of a new exclusively socialist government. Even so, the Central Committee continued to advocate for the removal of the Bolsheviks from power and the provisional return of Kerensky to hand power to a new socialist coalition cabinet that excluded Lenin's party. The party, despite lacking any real force, demanded the removal of the Bolsheviks.
The national railway workers' union decided not to side with any faction, but to mediate between the government's Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC) and the oppositionist Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland and Revolution, to try to force the warring parties to end the conflict and form a socialist coalition government. The union's power resided in its ability to paralyze communications through strikes; given that the meager supply of cities and troop movement depended on the railway network, the union's strike threat was serious. The executive committee essentially followed the policy of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, the largest group on the committee, holding about a quarter of its approximately forty members. They wanted to remove the bourgeoisie from the government, end the war, and form a cabinet of all socialist forces in which none dominated the others.
On , Vikzhel moved from Moscow, where it was headquartered, to Petrograd and, after meeting with delegates from the Congress of Soviets, representatives of the Ministry of Transport, and moderate Bolshevik leaders, imposed a blockade on troop transport and proclaimed the calling of a strike for midnight on if the Bolsheviks did not agree to negotiate. In the last session of the Second Congress held that same day, its representative had expressed opposition to the seizure of power by a single party, the Bolsheviks, and had called for the formation of a coalition of all socialist parties. To impose its will, Vikzhel had taken control of the railways. Any attempt to attack the railway workers would result in the end of supplies to the capital, Vikzhel's representative had indicated.
Three days later, clashes between supporters and opponents of the new government began in Moscow, initially unfavorable to the former. Fighting on the outskirts of Petrograd had also not ceased. The situation of the new government was precarious, not yet controlling Moscow and besieged in Petrograd, where on the Junker mutiny occurred and which was being approached by the troops assembled by Kerensky.
On , both the government and the Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland and Revolution —controlled by the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks and opposed to the Bolshevik government— tried in vain to win Vikzhel's favor. The following day, despite the Menshevik Central Committee's refusal to deal with the Bolsheviks, its call to form a new government, and its demand for the surrender of the Military Revolutionary Committee, the Committee for Salvation agreed to form a new socialist government that would exclude the Bolsheviks. Riazanov, on behalf of the Bolsheviks, invited the railway workers to come to Smolny to begin negotiations. The parties thus accepted the union's demand to negotiate, but Vikzhel failed to also secure a ceasefire proclamation. Meanwhile, tensions increased between the Military Revolutionary Committee, defending the city against Kerensky, and Vikzhel, which was blocking troop movements.
Beginning of the negotiations
The talks began on the night of at the headquarters of the Ministry of Transport, following the start of heavy fighting in Moscow and Kerensky's advance to Gatchina. Twenty-six delegates from the various socialist parties attended the session. The basis of the negotiations was Vikzhel's proposal to form a new socialist government encompassing everyone from the Bolsheviks to the Popular Socialists. The simultaneous ceasefire proposal was rejected by the more conservative socialists —who continued to demand the exclusion of the Bolsheviks from any future government— and by Kerensky.
The moderate Bolshevik current, led by Lev Kamenev, had secured the support of the party's Central Committee —from which Lenin, Trotsky, and Zinoviev were absent— to participate, with the intention of including in the government the parties that had left the sessions of the Second Congress of Soviets. Lenin and Trotsky were meeting with the Military Revolutionary Committee to coordinate the crushing of the Junker uprising and the defense of the capital against Kerensky. The Central Committee's motion had included the need to accept the resolutions of the Congress of Soviets, the responsibility of the new cabinet to the soviets, and the inclusion in it of all socialist parties as bases for negotiating with the adversaries. Kamenev wanted to secure the support of the moderate socialists and deny it to Kerensky. To this end, he was willing to retain in their posts on the All-Russian Central Executive Committee the delegates who had withdrawn during the Congress. The course of the fighting, unfavorable to the Bolsheviks both in Moscow and on the outskirts of Petrograd between and , favored the Bolshevik conciliatory attitude. At the plenary session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (CEC or VTsIK) on the same day, , Kamenev expressed his willingness to accept the exclusion of Lenin and Trotsky demanded by the other moderate socialist parties and to contemplate a government in which his party did not hold a majority.
The very weakness of the Sovnarkom that facilitated Bolshevik moderation hardened the stance of the socialist parties that had supported the Provisional Government overthrown in the October Revolution.
Gendelman, spokesman for the Socialist Revolutionaries, expressed willingness to end Kerensky's government and create a new exclusively socialist Council of Ministers, but without the Bolsheviks and only after their military defeat, and encouraged the railway workers to support Kerensky's military operations. Despite Gendelman's bellicose tone, the uprising in Petrograd encouraged by his party had failed that same day.
Martov wanted to channel the October Revolution and prevent a clash among socialists from facilitating counterrevolution. His desire to end the clashes among socialists peacefully was shared by other delegates in the talks. Eager to prevent their failure, he was initially singularly conciliatory towards the Bolsheviks in the first session. During the talks, he expressed opposition to the Sovnarkom's repressive measures, such as the closure of socialist publications, executions without trial, and other excesses of the Military Revolutionary Committee. In his opinion, the lack of agreement among socialists would lead to imminent civil war. Dan, also representing the Mensheviks, indicated that his party would only participate in the new cabinet if the Socialist Revolutionaries also joined. With a preliminary agreement between the parties, an inter-party committee was formed that began to finalize the agreement during the night.