Page:The Proletarian Revolution in Russia - Lenin, Trotsky and Chicherin - ed. Louis C. Fraina (1918).djvu/309



The openly counter-revolutionary character of the Moscov Conference, emphasized by the reactionary proposals of Kaledine, Kornilov, Guchkov & Co., created a revulsion of feeling among the revolutionary masses. The re-appearance upon the stage of the extreme reactionary forces pushed the Soviets into the extreme Left, and made inescapable a repudiation of its moderate policy. The Soviets could no longer play the role of the centre. The assertions of the Bolsheviki, that the Coalition Government was an instrument of reaction, were confirmed by the openly organizing forces of the counter-revolution. The events of September and October accelerated the acceptance of a revolutionary policy by the masses, and led inexorably to the Bolshevik Revolution in November and the assumption of all power by the Soviets.

On September 2 the German troops launched an offensive on the Dvina front and on September 3 Riga was captured. All the evidence shows that the fall of Riga was maneuvred by General Kornilov and his staff in order to strike terror in the heart of Russia. By means of contradictory orders and the desertion of the staffs the Riga front was opened to the Germans, who poured through; it was only the activity of the soldiers' committees that prevented a fuller disaster. The documents published by the Bolsheviki offer conclusive procf of the conspiracy and deliberate treachery: General Kornilov's covert threat made at the Moscow Conference had become a reality.

It appeared for a time as if the Germans would press the offensive, and by means of army and fleet capture Petrograd. Ap-