Page:Michael Farbman - Russia & the Struggle for Peace (1918).djvu/139

Rh was no reason for these proclamations, but their phraseology and style were familiar to the people of Petrograd. They were not invented by Habalov or Protopopov; they represented the traditional form in which the most ruthless use of the iron hand of oppression had been announced in Russia many times before. It was not the first time that risings were provoked by such threats in advance.

But of all the provocative actions of the Government, the most significant were their dark manœuvres in dealing with the bread supply. In the midst of a prolonged food crisis, which was already making the population very nervous, there was a sudden fall in the supply of bread. The bakers' shops were empty, but the Government made repeated declarations insisting that there was no diminution in the supply of flour to the bakers, and suggesting that it was the bakers themselves who were withholding bread from the people. This provoked intense excitement among the people, who began to loot the bakers' shops, and the bakers hastened to close down. By means of these obvious lies and manœuvres the bread crisis was purposely aggravated.

Altogether, the behaviour of the Government during the last few weeks before the Revolution was without rhyme or reason, except on the assumption that they were inviting a premature rising. Next to the deliberate muddle with the food supply, the most significant thing was the action of the Tsar in relation to the Duma. On the very day of its opening, he invested the Prime Minister with an undated Ukaz for its prorogation, which the Government was at liberty to issue when it liked. Had the Government not intended to provoke revolution, they would undoubtedly have endeavoured to meet it half-way, and to forestall it by granting reforms. But the Tsar and the Government, confident that they could rely on the support of the army at the front, continued to aggravate the excitement of the people and to incense them to the point of revolt.