e program which the
Socialist-Revolutionists were going to defend at the Constituante. Active
relations were undertaken with the provinces. At the same time the members
of the fraction, among whom were many peasants and workmen, followed up an
active agitation in the workshops and factories of Petrograd, and among the
soldiers of the Preobrajenski Regiment and some others. The members of the
Executive Committee of the Soviet of Peasants' Delegates worked in concert
with them. It was precisely the opinion of the peasants and of the workmen
which had most importance in the fight against the Bolsheviki. They, the
true representatives of the people, were listened to everywhere; people
were obliged to reckon with them.

It was under these conditions that the Democratic Conference met. Called by
the Provisional Government, it comprised representatives of the Soviets, of
parties, of organizations of the army, peasant organizations,
co-operatives, zemstvos, agricultural committees, etc. Its object was to
solve the question of power until the meeting of the Constituent Assembly.

At this conference the Bolsheviki formed only a small minority; but they
acted as masters of the situation, calling, in a provocative manner,
all those who were not in accord with them, "Kornilovist,
counter-revolutionaries, traitors!" Because of this attitude the
conference, which ought to have had the character of an assembly deciding
affairs of state, took on the character of a boisterous meeting, which
lasted several days of unending twaddle. What the Bolsheviki wanted was a
verbal victory--to have shouted more loudly than their opponents. The same
speeches were repeated every day. Some upheld a power exclusively
Socialist, others--the majority composed of delegates from different
corners of the country--sanctioned an agreement with all the democratic
elements.

The provincial delegates, having come with a view to serious work, returned
to their homes, carrying with them a painful impression of lost
opportunities, of useless debates.

There remained but a few weeks before the convocation of the Constituent
Assembly. Those who voted against a government exclusively Socialist did
not think that, under the troublesome conditions of the time, they could
expose the country to the risk of a dispersion of strength; they feared the
possible isolation of the government in face of certain elements whose help
could not be relied on. But they did not take in