Page:Albert Rhys Williams - Through the Russian Revolution (1921).djvu/223

Rh "Shame upon these men of little faith, who hesitate and doubt, capitulating to the cries of the bourgeoisie," cried Lenin. "Look at the masses. In them there is not a shadow of hesitation." The names of the deserters were pilloried thru Russia. Before the blast of indignation from the proletarians, the commissars scurried back to their posts never to waver again.

But they could never quite shake off the haunting fear of defeat. Even Lenin was not immune. "Ten days more and we shall have lived seventy days—as long as the Paris Commune," he exclaimed, surprised at so far escaping disaster. At times the leaders saw their venture ending in certain death.

"We did our best," said Peters dolefully one day, "but it is all over for us shortly."

"Perhaps tomorrow," said Pokrovsky, "we shall get a sleep—a long one."

These forebodings never assailed the minds of the Bolshevik rank and file. They drove ahead in full confidence and assurance, infusing their leaders above with fresh courage and determination, and inspiring the broad masses below with the will to victory.

To what extent did these masses support the new government set up by the Bolsheviks? How wide a following did the Revolution find in the people? The People's Business (Dielo Narodo) said: "A revolution is a rising of