Page:Michael Farbman - The Russian Revolution & The War (1917).djvu/49

 would lapse into a state of molecular dissolution. The military machine was falling into greater and greater disorder. The economic and financial situation, catastrophic enough at the outbreak of the Revolution, had become simply desperate. The failure to achieve any agreement with the Allies worked to the advantage of the Maximalists and Extremists and added impetus to their propaganda. Its effect became more evident every day that passed. At the same time the counter-revolutionary elements in Russia began to lift their heads. And they lifted their heads the higher and the more boldly in proportion as extremism became noisier, more audacious and more successful. There was neither war in any active sense nor any prospect of finishing the war. Russia's state, in short, was sufficient to appal the strongest will, to shake the strongest faith. There seemed no way out.

Yet even at this black hour it was amazing how a marvellous instinct continued to guide and support the Revolution