Page:Michael Farbman - Russia & the Struggle for Peace (1918).djvu/140

 128 The rôle of the Tsar in the Revolution has been obscure from the very beginning. Lately there have been particularly obvious attempts to draw a veil over the part which he played. It has been said that the Tsar did not know what was going on in Petrograd, that the messages which were sent to him by Rodzianko and other members of the Duma were intercepted by the Palace Commandant, and so forth. But as a matter of fact the Tsar played a most active part in the Revolution. He knew all that was going on in Petrograd. He was in constant communication by special wire with the Empress at Tsarskoe Selo; and the Empress in turn was connected by special wire with Protopopov. The Tsar knew that a revolt was going to be provoked, and he was getting ready. On Saturday, on the eve of the Revolution, when the Government suddenly perceived that the revolutionary spirit was rising to dangerous heights, when they saw that the garrison was not reliable and that even the Cossacks were inclined to fraternise with the people, they decided to climb down on the most crucial question of the food supply. They consented to hand over the food supplies to the Zemstvos. This amounted to a virtual capitulation on the most important point. But then a very curious thing happened. In the first place, the concessions to the Zemstvos were not announced to the people. Instead, the Government came out on Sunday morning with a violent and arrogant proclamation, which practically inaugurated a state of siege. Instead of announcing the concessions and thereby pacifying the people, they issued this provocative proclamation, which could only have one effect: to transform the latent unrest and indignation into open revolt. This was followed by the prorogation of the Duma and the Revolution began.

Whence came this sudden stiffening in the attitude of the Government? The Government were beginning to be frightened by the defiant spirit of the Petrograd garrison, and had already begun to climb down. Their