the
revolutionary forces. Following the example set in the 1905 Revolution,
there had been formed a central committee of the working-class
organizations to direct the movement. This body, composed of elected
representatives of the unions and Socialist societies, was later known as
the Council of Workmen's Deputies. It was this body which undertook the
organization of the Revolution. This Revolution, unlike that of 1905, was
initiated by the bourgeoisie, but its originators manifested little desire
and less capacity to lead it.

When Monday morning came there was no longer an unorganized, planless mass
confusedly opposing a carefully organized force, but a compact,
well-organized, and skilfully led movement. Processions were formed, each
under responsible directors with very definite instructions. As on the
previous day, the police stationed upon roofs of buildings, and at various
strategic points, fired upon the people. As on the previous day, also, the
soldiers joined the Revolution and refused to shoot the people. The famous
Guards' Regiment, long the pet and pride of the Czar, was the first to
rebel. The soldiers killed the officer who ordered them to fire, and then
with cheers joined the rebels. When the military authorities sent out
another regiment to suppress the rebel Guards' Regiment they saw the new
force go over to the Revolution in a body. Other regiments deserted in the
same manner. The flower of the Russian army had joined the people in
revolting against the Czar and the system of Czarism.

On the side of the revolutionists were now many thousands of well-trained
soldiers, fully armed. Soon they took possession of the Arsenal, after
killing the commander. The soldiers made organized and systematic warfare
upon the police. Every policeman seen was shot down, police stations were
set on fire, and prisons were broken open and the prisoners released. The
numerous political prisoners were triumphantly liberated and took their
places in the revolutionary ranks. In rapid succession the great bastiles
fell! Peter and Paul Fortress, scene of infinite martyrdom, fell into the
hands of the revolutionary forces, and the prisoners, many of them heroes
and martyrs of other uprisings, were set free amid frenzied cheering. The
great Schluesselburg Fortress was likewise seized and emptied. With
twenty-five thousand armed troops on their side, the revolutionists were
practically masters of the capital. They attacked the he