Page:John Reed - Ten Days that Shook the World - 1919, Boni and Liveright.djvu/104

 rose to speak, in a tense silence, which seemed to me almost menacing.

“The hours in which we live appear in the most tragic colours,” he said. “The enemy is at the gates of Petrograd, the forces of the democracy are trying to organise to resist him, and yet we await bloodshed in the streets of the capital, and famine threatens to destroy, not only our homogeneous Government, but the Revolution itself…

“The masses are sick and exhausted. They have no interest in the Revolution. If the Bolsheviki start anything, that will be the end of the Revolution…” (Cries, “That’s a lie!”) “The counter-revolutionists are waiting with the Bolsheviki to begin riots and massacres… If there is any vystuplennie, there will be no Constituent Assembly…” (Cries, “Lie! Shame!”)

“It is inadmissible that in the zone of military operations the Petrograd garrison shall not submit to the orders of the Staff… You must obey the orders of the Staff and of the Tsay-ee-kah elected by you. All Power to the Soviets—that means death! Robbers and thieves are waiting for the moment to loot and burn… When you have such slogans put before you, ‘Enter the houses, take away the shoes and clothes from the bourgeoisie—’” (Tumult. Cries, “No such slogan! A lie! A lie!”) “Well, it may start differently, but it will end that way!

“The Tsay-ee-kah has full power to act, and must be obeyed… We are not afraid of bayonets… The Tsay-ee-kah will defend the Revolution with its body…” (Cries, “It was a dead body long ago!”)

Immense continued uproar, in which his voice could be heard screaming, as he pounded the desk, “Those who are urging this are committing a crime!”

Voice: “You committed a crime long ago, when you captured the power and turned it over to the bourgeoisie!”