The Pride and Joy of the Revolution: Sevastopol Sailors in Rostov-on-Don in 1917
The Black Sea sailors during 1917 were not politically active. The Sevastopol Soviet of the Deputies of the Army, Navy and Workers influenced the position of the crews. The Bolsheviks from Petrograd campaigned, but the sailors did not accept the idea of the class struggle until December 1917. This is due to the return of the detachment A.V. Mokrousov and flotilla of minesweepers from a campaign on the Don which was considered a nest of counter-revolution. Sevastopol sailors gained experience in armed clashes, and became active participants in the class struggle. Teams of the Sevastopol courts were in Rostov-on-Don for a week. They had an order from their Soviet on neutrality, but they were bound by obligations towards the Rostov Revolutionary Committee who had invited them to the Don. Ships shelled the city. There were victims. This shook the position of the Don Revolutionary Committee, its supporters left the city, the power of the Don Ataman was established. The yacht Kolkhida assigned to the Sevastopol port played a role in the revolutionary events in the Don.