Today -100: September 12, 1917: Of coup attempts, and envelopes of true information

Petrograd is under martial law. Kornilov’s troops are advancing on the city, but the NYT reports that the Workers’ and Soldiers’ Soviet, the Cadets, and the Constitutional Democrats are all backing the government, which might be true but would carry more weight if the Times’ correspondent knew that Kadets and Constitutional Democrats are the same thing. Some members of the Duma are joining Kornilov, or being arrested before they can do so.

The Kadet and Socialist members of the cabinet resign over Kerensky’s plan to rule through a five-member Directorate, which isn’t going over particularly well in the Duma.

British military types support Kornilov and the idea of a military dictatorship that will keep Russia in the war. Mostly it’s a “martial races” thing – Kornilov is a Cossack.

The US feds claim that the raid on the Philadelphia Tageblatt shows it is at the center of a massive plot, German money, yadda yadda yadda. It printed pro-German news and “didn’t even take the trouble of opening the envelope containing true information sent out by the United States Government to all newspapers.”

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