Here he held up a piece of paper. “We are dragging them! A message has just come from the Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries! They say that they condemn our action, but that if the Government attacks us they will not oppose the cause of the proletariat!” Exultant shouting….
As night fell the great hall filled with soldiers and workmen, a monstrous dun mass, deep-humming in a blue haze of smoke. The old _Tsay-ee-kah_ had finally decided to welcome the delegates to that new Congress which would mean its own ruin—and perhaps the ruin of the revolutionary order it had built. At this meeting, however, only members of the _Tsay-ee-kah_ could vote….
It was after midnight when Gotz took the chair and Dan rose to speak, in a tense silence, which seemed to me almost menacing.
“The hours in which we live appear in the most tragic colours,” he said. “The enemy is at the gates of Petrograd, the forces of the democracy are trying to organise to resist him, and yet we await bloodshed in the streets of the capital, and famine threatens to destroy, not only our homogeneous Government, but the Revolution itself….
“The masses are sick and exhausted. They have no interest in the Revolution. If the Bolsheviki start anything, that will be the end of the Revolution…” (Cries, “That’s a lie!)” “The counter-revolutionists are waiting with the Bolsheviki to begin riots and massacres…. If there is any _vystuplennie,_ there will be no Constituent Assembly….” (Cries, “Lie! Shame!”)
“It is inadmissible that in the zone of military operations the Petrograd garrison shall not submit to the orders of the Staff…. You must obey the orders of the Staff and of the _Tsay-ee-kah_ elected by you. All Power to the Soviets—that means death! Robbers and thieves are waiting for the moment to loot and burn…. When you have such slogans put before you, ‘Enter the houses, take away the shoes and clothes from the bourgeoisie—’” (Tumult. Cries, “No such slogan! A lie! A lie!”) “Well, it may start differently, but it will end that way!
“The _Tsay-ee-kah_ has full power to act, and must be obeyed…. We are not afraid of bayonets…. The _Tsay-ee-kah_ will defend the Revolution with its body….” (Cries, “It was a dead body long ago!”)