Page:Emile Vandervelde - Three Aspects of the Russian Revolution - tr. Jean Elmslie Henderson Findlay (1918).djvu/48

 it was to take part in some meeting or to celebrate the triumph of the people's cause. Only when calm was in a sense re-established did he think seriously of resuming his regular work. But with the drudgery of daily toil he became conscious once more of his sufferings, of the weariness and the monotony of the long hours of work, the disgust for a life characterized both by the meagre pay and the constant irritation caused by the overseers and foremen, and with the renewed consciousness of his grievances there inevitably arose the will to end them.

Now one must not forget that the workmen in the factories were at that moment the masters of Russia; they were so in the full force of the term. The Soviet, which represented them as well as the soldiers, constituted the only political power capable of making itself felt in the country, for they alone had power at their disposal. They had their militia; they were closely associated with the soldiers; and especially they had cohesion and capacity for co-ordination. There were neither police nor armed guard of any kind;