Page:Albert Rhys Williams - Through the Russian Revolution (1921).djvu/49

Rh wrath of the sailors and workingmen was roused by a red banner with the inscription "Long live the Provisional Government" They started to tear it down and in the melee some one shouted "The Cossacks are coming."

The very name of these ancient enemies of the people struck terror into the crowds. Whitefaced, they stampeded like a herd, trampling the fallen and yelling like madmen. Happily it was a false alarm. The ranks re-formed and with songs and cheers took up the march again.

But this procession was more than an outburst of emotion. It was sternly prophetic, its banners proclaiming: "Factories to the Workers! Land to the Peasants! Peace to All the World! Down with the War! Down with the Secret Treaties! Down with the Capitalist Ministers!"

This was the Bolshevik program crystallized into slogans for the masses. There were thousands of banners, so many that even the Bolsheviks were surprised. Those banners were signals indicating a big storm brewing. Everybody could see that, and everybody did see it, except those sent to Russia specifically commissioned to see it—the Root Mission for example. While these gentlemen were in revolutionary Russia they were absolutely isolated from the Revolution. As the Russian proverb goes: "they went to the circus, but they did not see the elephant."

On this July 1st the Americans were invited