patriotic, too conservative even for the Mensheviki. After the Bolshevik _coup d'etat, Yedinstvo_ disappeared.

5. _Socialist Revolutionary party._ Called _Essaires_ from the initials of their name. Originally the revolutionary party of the peasants, the party of the Fighting Organisations-the Terrorists. After the March Revolution, it was joined by many who had never been Socialists. At that time it stood for the abolition of private property in land only, the owners to be compensated in some fashion. Finally the increasing revolutionary feeling of peasants forced the _Essaires_ to abandon the "compensation" clause, and led to the younger and more fiery intellectuals breaking off from the main party in the fall of 1917 and forming a new party, the _Left Socialist Revolutionary party._ The _Essaires,_ who were afterward always called by the radical groups _"Right Socialist Revolutionaries,"_ adopted the political attitude of the Mensheviki, and worked together with them. They finally came to represent the wealthier peasants, the intellectuals, and the politically uneducated populations of remote rural districts. Among them there was, however, a wider difference of shades of political and economic opinion than among the Mensheviki. Among their leaders mentioned in these pages: Avksentiev, Gotz, Kerensky, Tchernov, "Babuschka" Breshkovskaya.

a. _Left Socialist Revolutionaries._ Although theoretically sharing the Bolshevik programme of dictatorship of the working-class, at first were reluctant to follow the ruthless Bolshevik tactics. However, the _Left Socialist Revolutionaries_ remained in the Soviet Government, sharing the Cabinet portfolios, especially that of Agriculture. They withdrew from the Government several times, but always returned. As the peasants left the ranks of the _Essaires_ in increasing numbers, they joined the _Left Socialist Revolutionary party,_ which became the great peasant party supporting the Soviet Government, standing for confiscation without compensation of the great landed estates, and their disposition by the peasants themselves. Among the leaders: Spiridonova, Karelin, Kamkov, Kalagayev.

b. _Maximalists._ An off-shoot of the _Socialist Revolutionary party_ in the Revolution of 1905, when it was a powerful peasant movement, demanding the immediate application of the maximum Socialist programme. Now an insignificant group of peasant anarchists.

Parliamentary Procedure

Russian meetings and conventions are organised after the continental model rather than our own. The first action is usually the election of officers and the _presidium._

The _presidium_ is a presiding committee, composed of representatives of the groups and political factions represented in the assembly, in proportion to their numbers. The _presidium_ arranges the Order of Business, and its members can be called upon by the President to take the chair _pro tem._

Each question (_vopros_) is stated in a general way and then debated, and at the close of the debate resolutions are submitted by the different factions, and each one voted on separately. The Order of Business can be, and usually is, smashed to pieces in the first half hour. On the plea of "emergency," which the crowd almost always grants, anybody from the floor can get up and say anything on any subject. The crowd controls the meeting, practically the only functions of the speaker being to keep order by ringing a little bell, and to recognise speakers. Almost all the real work of the session is done in caucuses of the different groups and political factions, which almost always cast their votes in a body and are represented by floor-leaders. The result is, however, that at every important new point, or vote, the session takes a recess to enable the different groups and political factions to hold a caucus.

The crowd is extremely noisy, cheering or heckling speakers, over-riding the plans of the _presidium._ Among the customary cries are: _"Prosim!_ Please! Go on!" _"Pravilno!"_ or _"Eto vierno!_ That's true! Right!" _"Do volno!_ Enough!" _"Doloi!_ Down with him!" _"Posor!_ Shame!" and _"Teesche!_ Silence! Not so noisy!"

Popular Organisations

1. _Soviet._ The word _soviet_ means "council." Under the Tsar the Imperial Council of State was called _Gosudarstvennyi Soviet._ Since the Revolution, however, the term _Soviet_ has come to be associated with a certain type of parliament elected by members of working-class economic organisations-the Soviet of Workers', of Soldiers', or of Peasants' Deputies. I have therefore limited the word to these bodies, and wherever else it occurs I have translated it "Council."

Besides the local _Soviets,_ elected in every city, town and village of Russia-and in large cities, also Ward _(Raionny) Soviets_-there are also the _oblastne_ or _gubiernsky_ (district or provincial) _Soviets,_ and the Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian _Soviets_ in the capital, called from its initials _Tsay-ee-kah._ (See below, "Central Committees").

Almost everywhere the _Soviets_ of Workers' and of Soldiers' Deputies combined very soon after the March Revolution. In special matters concerning their peculiar interests, however, the Workers' and the Soldiers' Sections continued to meet separately. The _Soviets_ of Peasants' Deputies did not join the other two until after the Bolshevik _coup d'etat._ They, too, were organised like the workers and soldiers, with an Executive Committee of the All-Russian Peasants' _Soviets_ in the capital.

2. _Trade Unions._ Although mostly industrial in form, the Russian labour unions were still called Trade Unions, and at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution had from three to four million members. These Unions were also organised in an All-Russian body, a sort of Russian Federation of Labour, which had its Central Executive Committee in the capital.

3. _Factory-Shop Committees._ These were spontaneous organisations created in the factories by the workers in their attempt to control industry, taking advantage of the administrative break-down incident upon the Revolution. Their function was by revolutionary action to take over and run the factories. The _Factory-Shop Committees_ also had their All-Russian organisation, with a Central Committee at Petrograd, which co-operated with the Trade Unions.

4. _Dumas._ The word _duma_ means roughly "deliberative body." The old Imperial Duma, which persisted six months after the Revolution, in a democratised form, died a natural death in September, 1917. The _City Duma_ referred to in this book was the reorganised Municipal Council, often called "Municipal Self-Government." It was elected by direct and secret ballot, and its only reason for failure to hold the masses during the Bolshevik Revolution was the general decline in influence of all purely _political_ representation in the fact of the growing power of organisations based on _economic_ groups.

5. _Zemstvos._ May be roughly translated "county councils." Under the Tsar semi-political, semi-social bodies with very little administrative power, developed and controlled largely by intellectual Liberals among the land-owning classes. Their most important function was education and social service among the peasants. During the war the _Zemstvos_ gradually took over the entire feeding and clothing of the Russian Army, as well as the buying from foreign countries, and work among the soldiers generally corresponding to the work of the American Y. M. C. A. at the Front. After the March Revolution the _Zemstvos_ were democratized, with a view to making them the organs of local government in the rural districts. But like the _City Dumas,_ they could not compete with the _Soviets._

6. _Cooperatives._ These were the workers' and peasants' Consumers' Cooperative societies, which had several million members all over Russia before the Revolution. Founded by Liberals and "moderate" Socialists, the Cooperative movement was not supported by the revolutionary Socialist groups, because it was a substitute for the complete transference of means of production and distribution into the hands of the workers. After the March Revolution the _Cooperatives_ spread rapidly, and were dominated by Populist Socialists, Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries, and acted as a conservative political force until the Bolshevik Revolution. However, it was the _Cooperatives_ which fed Russia when the old structure of commerce and transportation collapsed.

7. _Army Committees._ The _Army Committees_ were formed by the soldiers at the front to combat the reactionary influence of the old regime officers. Every company, regiment, brigade, division and corps had its committee, over all of which was elected the _Army Committee._ The _Central Army Committee_ cooperated with the General Staff. The administrative break-down in the army incident upon the Revolution threw upon the shoulders of the _Army Committees_ most of the work of the Quartermaster's Department, and in some cases, even the command of troops.

8. _Fleet Committees._ The corresponding organisations in the Navy.

Central Committees

In the spring and summer of 1917, All-Russian conventions of every sort of organisation were held at Petrograd. There were national congresses of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Soviets, Trade Unions, Factory-Shop Committees, Army and Fleet Committees-besides every branch of the military and naval service, Cooperatives, Nationalities, etc. Each of these conventions elected a Central Committee, or a Central Executive Committee, to guard its particular interests at the seat of Government. As the Provisional Government grew weaker, these Central Committees were forced to assume more and more administrative powers.

The most important Central Committees mentioned in this book are:

_Union of Unions._ During the Revolution of 1905, Professor Miliukov and other Liberals established unions of professional men-doctors, lawyers, physicians, etc. These were united under one central organisation, the _Union of Unions._ In 1905 the _Union of Unions_ acted with the revolutionary democracy; in 1917, however, the _Union of Unions_ opposed the Bolshevik uprising, and united the Government employees who went on strike against the authority of the Soviets.

_Tsay-ee-kah._ All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. So called from the initials of its name.

_Tsentroflot._ "Centre-Fleet"-the Central Fleet Committee.

_Vikzhel._ All-Russian Central Committee of the Railway Workers' Union. So called from the initials of its name.

Other Organisations