March 1917 Quotes

“In one day, besides the District Court, they burned down the provincial Gendarme Administration, the Main Prison Administration, Lithuanian Fortress prison, the Okhrana, the Aleksandr Nevsky police station, and many, nearly all the stations. They also set fire to the police archive near the Lions Bridge.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, March 1917: The Red Wheel, Node III, Book 1

“Petrograd spent all evening and night catching and killing its own police. During the nighttime, they would kill them on the streets without even taking them far, or drown them in ice-holes in the Obvodny Canal. Motorcar expeditions were fitted out to hunt down policemen.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, March 1917: The Red Wheel, Node III, Book 1

“Finally, they decided—if it can be called a decision—they decided without a vote but simply by converging in the middle, to form Duma members into a committee but not invest this committee with any authority in advance and wait and see how events unfolded. However, not being the full Duma, they could not vote and elect,”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, March 1917: The Red Wheel, Node III, Book 1

“We have always insisted that the state cannot stand without freedom—but freedom cannot stand without the state!”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, March 1917: The Red Wheel, Node III, Book 1