The
As subsequent events were to show, the situation in Moscow was so tenuous that had the Left SRs wanted to seize power they could have done so with even greater ease than the Bolsheviks in October. But they emphatically did not want the responsibility of governing. Their rebellion was not so much a coup d’état as a coup de théâtre, a grand political demonstration intended to galvanize the “masses” and revive their flagging revolutionary spirit. They committed the very error that Lenin was forever warning his followers against, that of “playing” at revolution.
When the Congress of Soviets opened at the Bolshoi Theater, the Left SRs and Bolsheviks at once flew at each other’s throats. Left SR speakers accused the Bolsheviks of betraying the Revolution and instigating a war between city and village, while the Bolsheviks charged the Left SRs with trying to provoke a war between Russia and Germany. The Left SRs introduced a motion calling for an expression of no confidence in the Bolshevik Government, the abrogation of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, and a declaration of war on Germany. The Bolshevik majority defeated the motion, whereupon the Left SRs walked out.103
According to Bliumkin, in the evening of July 4 Spiridonova requested him to come see her.104 She said that the party wanted him to assassinate Mirbach. Bliumkin asked for twenty-four hours to make the necessary preparations. These included procuring for himself and Andreev a document bearing a forged signature of Dzerzhinskii requesting for the two men an audience with the German Ambassador, two revolvers, two bombs, and a car belonging to the Cheka chauifeured by Popov.
Around 2:15–2:30 p.m. on July 6 two representatives of the Cheka presented themselves at the German Embassy on Denezhnyi Pereulok. One identified himself as Iakov Bliumkin, an official of the Cheka counterintelligence service, the other as Nicholas Andreev, a representative of the Revolutionary Tribunal. They showed credentials signed by Dzerzhinskii and a secretary of the Cheka authorizing them to discuss “a matter of direct concern to the ambassador.”105 This turned out to be the case of a Lieutenant Robert Mirbach, believed to be a relative of the ambassador, whom the Cheka had detained on suspicion of espionage. The visitors were received by Riezler and an interpreter, Lieutenant L. G. Miller. Riezler told them that he had the authority to speak on Count Mirbach’s behalf, but the Russians refused to deal with him, insisting that Dzerzhinskii had instructed them to speak personally with the ambassador.
The German Embassy had for some time been receiving warnings of possible violence. There were anonymous letters and suspicious incidents, such as visits by electricians to inspect lighting fixtures that were in perfect working order and strangers taking photographs of the embassy building. Mirbach was reluctant to meet with the visitors, but since they produced credentials from the head of the Cheka he came down to see them. The Russians said he might be interested in the case of Lieutenant Mirbach. The ambassador replied that he would prefer that the information be provided in writing. At this point, Bliumkin and Andreev reached into their briefcases and pulled out revolvers, which they fired at Mirbach and Riezler. All their shots missed. Riezler and Miller dropped to the floor. Mirbach rose and tried to escape through the main living room to the upstairs quarters. Andreev ran after him and fired at the back of the head. Bliumkin threw a bomb into the middle of the room. The two assassins jumped out of the open windows. Bliumkin injured himself, but he managed to follow Andreev and climb a two-and-a-half-meter-high iron fence surrounding the embassy building to reach the automobile which waited outside with its engine running. Mirbach, who never regained consciousness, died at 3:15 p.m.106
