Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/849

 The Final Stages of the War: the Russian Revolution 635 free. The world viewed with astonishment this abrupt and com- plete collapse of the ancient system of tyranny. 1148. The Socialists gain Control of the Russian Govern- ment. A revolutionary cabinet was formed of men of moderate views on the whole, but Alexander Kerensky, a socialist and repre- sentative of the Workingmen's and Soldiers' Council, was made minister of justice. The new cabinet declared itself in favor of many reforms, such as liberty of speech and of the press ; the right to strike ; the substitution of militia for the old police ; universal suffrage, including women. But the socialists were not content, and through their Council of Workingmen's and Soldiers' Delegates began to exercise great power. By July, 1917, all the more moderate members of the provisional government had been forced out and their places taken by socialists. A desperate at- tempt to lead the flagging Russian troops forward to victory against the Austrians utterly failed, and as time went on the de- mand for an immediate peace "without annexations and indem- nities " became louder and bolder. 1149. The Bolshevik Revolution (November, 1917). At length the storm which had been long gathering broke. Early in the revolution a council of workmen's and soldiers' deputies, or "soviet," had been set up in Petrograd and had begun to dispute the authority of the Duma. All over Russia similar Soviets, or councils of workmen, soldiers, and peasants, were instituted, and finally, in November, under two leaders, Lenin and Trotzky, sup- ported by soldiers, they overturned the Kerensky government, founding instead "a dictatorship of the proletariat." The faction which engineered this enterprise was known as the Bolsheviki, or "majority men," a term given to them when they constituted a majority of the Russian socialists. The Bolsheviki proceeded at once to abolish private property in land and capital and institute a " communist system." They denounced the war as an "imperialist struggle for trade and ter- ritory," and they called upon the warring powers to join them in a peace conference. Receiving no replies, they opened the Russian