Page:John Reed - Ten Days that Shook the World - 1919, Boni and Liveright.djvu/246

200 A courier reported that the Committee of Welcome sent to meet Kerensky at the railway station had been arrested. In the streets could be heard the dull rumble of distant cannonading, south and southwest. Still Kerensky did not come…

Only three newspapers were out—Pravda, Dielo Naroda and Novaya Zhizn. All of them devoted much space to the new “coalition” Government. The Socialist Revolutionary paper demanded a Cabinet without either Cadets or Bolsheviki. Gorky was hopeful; Smolny had made concessions. A purely Socialist Government was taking shape—all elements except the bourgeoisie. As for Pravda, it sneered:

On the walls a vainglorious announcement of the Vikzhel, threatening to strike if both sides did not compromise:

Smolny thrilled with the boundless vitality of inexhaustible humanity in action.