adquarters of the
hated Secret Service and made a vast, significantly symbolical bonfire of
its archives.

Once more Rodzianko appealed to the Czar. It is no reflection upon
Rodzianko's honesty, or upon his loyalty to the people, to say that he was
appalled by the development of the struggle. He sympathized with the people
in their demand for political democracy and would wage war to the end upon
Czarism, but he feared the effect of the Revolution upon the army and the
Allied cause. Moreover, he was a landowner, and he feared Socialism. In
1906 he had joined forces with the government when the Socialists led the
masses--and now the Socialist leaders were again at the head of the masses.
Perhaps the result would have been otherwise if the Duma had followed up
its repudiation of the government by openly and unreservedly placing itself
at the head of the uprising. In any other country than Russia that would
have been done, in all probability, but the Russian bourgeoisie was weak.
This was due, like so much else in Russia, to the backwardness of the
industrial system. There was not a strong middle class and, therefore, the
bourgeoisie left the fighting to the working class. Rodzianko's new appeal
to the Czar was pathetic. When hundreds of dead and dying lay in the
streets and in churches, hospitals, and other public buildings, he could
still imagine that the Czar could save the situation: "The situation is
growing worse. It is necessary to take measures immediately, for to-morrow
it will be too late," he telegraphed. "The last hour has struck to decide
the fate of the country and of the dynasty." Poor, short-sighted bourgeois!
It was already "too late" for "measures" by the weak-minded Nicholas II to
avail. The "fate of the country and of the dynasty" was already determined!
It was just as well that the Czar did not make any reply to the message.

The new ruler of Russia, King Demos, was speaking now. Workers and soldiers
sent deputations to the Taurida Palace, where the Duma was sitting.
Rodzianko read to them the message he had sent to the Czar, but that was
small comfort. Thousands of revolutionists, civilian and military, stormed
the Taurida Palace and clamored to hear what the Socialists in the Duma had
to say. In response to this demand Tchcheidze, Kerensky, Skobelev, and
other Socialists from various groups appeared and addressed the people.
These men had a message to give; they understood the ferment and were part
o