7 + 

Wine “Pogroms” + 

It was afterward discovered that there was a regular organisation, maintained by the Cadets, for provoking rioting among the soldiers. There would be telephone messages to the different barracks, announcing that wine was being given away at such and such an address, and when the soldiers arrived at the spot an individual would point out the location of the cellar.⁠ ⁠… + 

The Council of People’s Commissars appointed a Commissar for the Fight Against Drunkenness, who, besides mercilessly putting down the wine riots, destroyed hundreds of thousands of bottles of liquor. The Winter Palace cellars, containing rare vintages valued at more than five million dollars, were at first flooded, and then the liquor was removed to Cronstadt and destroyed. + 

In this work the Cronstadt sailors, “flower and pride of the revolutionary forces,” as Trotsky called them, acquitted themselves with iron self-discipline.⁠ ⁠… + 