Page:John Reed - Ten Days that Shook the World - 1919, Boni and Liveright.djvu/378

318 and by a trick drew him out prematurely, and then crushed him. Even Mr. A. J. Sack, in his book, "The Birth of the Russian Democracy," says:

"Several things . . . are almost certain. The first is that Kerensky knew about the movement of several detachments from the Front toward Petrograd, and it is possible that as Prime Minister and Minister of War, realising the growing Bolshevist danger, he called for them. . . ."

The only flaw in that argument is that there was no "Bolshevist danger" at that time, the Bolsheviki still being a powerless minority in the Soviets, and their leaders in jail or hiding.

When the Democratic Conference was first proposed to Kerensky, he suggested an assembly of all the elements in the nation — "he live forces," as he called them — including bankers, manufacturers, land-owners, and representatives of the Cadet party. The Soviet refused, and drew up the following table of representation, which Kerensky agreed to:

100 delegates .... All-Russian Soviets Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies . . .All-Russian Soviets Peasants' Deputies . . .Provincial Soviets Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies . . .Peasants' District Land Committees . . .Trade Unions . . .Army Committees at the Front . . .Workers' and Peasants' Cooperative Societies . . .Railway Workers' Union . . .Post and Telegraph Workers' Union . . .Commercial Clerks . . .Liberal Professions — Doctors, Lawyers, Journalists, etc. .. .Provincial Zemstvos . . .Nationalist Organisations — Poles, Ukraineans, etc.

This proportion was altered twice or three times. The final disposition of delegates was:

300 delegates .... All-Russian Soviets Workers', Soldiers' & Peasants' Deputies 300 Cooperative Societies 300. . .Municipalities Commil 100 50 50 100 84 150 " 20 10 20 15 50 59 800 150 150 200 100 200 « « « « . . .Army Committees at the Front . . .Provincial Zemstvos . . .Trade Unions . . .Nationalist Organisations . . .Several small groups

On September 28th, 1917, Izviestia, organ of the Tsay-ee-kah, published an article which said, speaking of the last Provisional Ministry:

"At last a truly democratic government, born of the will of all classes of the Russian people, the first rough form of the future liberal parliamentary régime, has been formed. Ahead of us is the Constituent Assembly, which will solve all questions of fundamental law, and whose composition will be essentially democratic. The function of the Soviets is at an end, and the time is approaching when they must retire, with the rest of the revolutionary machinery, from the stage of a free and victorious people, whose weapons shall hereafter be the peaceful ones of political action."

The leading article of Izviestia for October 23d was called, "The Crisis in the Soviet Organisations." It begn by saying that travellers reported a lessening activity of local Soviets everywhere. "This is Natural," said the