Page:The Proletarian Revolution in Russia - Lenin, Trotsky and Chicherin - ed. Louis C. Fraina (1918).djvu/311

 mobilization of the revolutionary masses of Petrograd was immediately accomplished, the Bolsheviki imprisoned during and after the July uprising were released, and they marched out to meet Kornilov's troops, who were definitely defeated on September 15, on which day the Provisional Government went through the empty formality of officially declaring Russia a republic.

The aftermath of the Kornilov rebellion was swift and certain. The counter-revolution was active, the Soviets in danger—and the Bolsheviki everywhere rapidly became the majority. Leon Trotzky was elected President of the Petrograd Soviet, the most influential of all, and as a protest Cheidse, Skobeleff and Tseretelli resigned. The period of compromise was definitely at an end, and througout Russia the Soviets recognized the necessity of revolutionary proletarian action and policy. Life itself was making Bolshevism the accepted policy of the revolutionary masses.

These events isolated the Provisional Government. Its mandate had hitherto been the support of the Soviets; the attempt to secure a new and more general mandate through the Moscow Conference had failed; and Kerensky tried the desperate means of convoking a Democratic Congress to dispel the isolation of the Provisional Government and secure a mandate for its acts. The Congress met on September 27, and immediately it was rent with disputes. Capital punishment and coalition were discussed bitterly amid riotous disturbances. Trotzky appeared and issued a declaration of civil war in the event that the counter-revolution should oppose all power to the Soviets. Against the protest of the Bolsheviki; who bolted the Congress, and by a wavering majority, coalition was approved, a new cabinet formed; and it was decided to convene a Preliminary Parliament, to sit until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. Kerensky badgered the Congress into approving all his acts by threatening to resign and by picturing tragically the situation of the country.

The Preliminary Parliament opened on October 8, and in spite of the fact that the elections everywhere showed an overwhelming majority for the Socialist candidates, the bourgeoisie was amply represented in the Parliament, out of all proportion to its numbers. The Parliament, officially designated as "The Council of the Russian Republic," demanded that the Provisional Government should be responsible to it, but the Government refused absolutely, and the demand was withdrawn: the Parliament was simply to have "advisory" functions. Turmoil and impotence marked the activity of the Parliament; recriminations made deliberations impossible;