Page:Michael Farbman - Russia & the Struggle for Peace (1918).djvu/60

 48 foreign policy in accordance with the ideals of the Revolution; secondly, of preparing for the nationalisation of the land; and, thirdly, of carrying out the above economic and industrial programme of State control. The programme of the Soviet was fully adopted by the Government, and yet nothing was done. It was now that the united opposition of the bourgeois parties began to assert itself. The cry was raised: "State control over industry—but that is Socialism!" And then began a clever and insistent propaganda, equipped with plausible and elastic arguments. The programme of the Soviet was declared to be doctrinaire and unreal.

The main argument was that such far-reaching "social revolution" could not be accomplished in one country alone—least of all in an economically backward and very little industrialised country like Russia. The opposition to State control was so strong that the manufacturers, financiers, and their political supporters even threatened to resist any such attempts by ceasing to carry on the management of industry. As a matter of fact, Konovalov, the very able Minister of Trade, already resigned from the Ministry, and it was evident that the bourgeois parties were prepared to fight. The "sabotage" which the bourgeois parties applied so effectively during the first months of the Bolshevik régime, was already looming ahead in these early days of the Revolution. The democracy was in an anxious frame of mind, and the bourgeois opposition succeeded in perplexing and eventually in splitting the democratic forces. The moderate elements tried to compromise with the Liberals, and as usual in such cases one compromise led to another, and State control, though still the centre of manifold discussions and conflicts, was actually shelved.

Meanwhile, the economic exhaustion of the country steadily progressed. The breakdown of the transport system was almost complete; the transport difficulty augmented the scarcity of coal and fuel, and the food