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The majority of the members of the Central Committee were either non-party men, or were mostly of a bourgeois turn of mind, or else belonged to the leaders of the 1905 movement, i. e. to the social-revolutionists. The activity of the Central Committee was distinguished by a desire to cooperate with the Ministry of Post and Telegraph and did everything it could in this direction, becoming, in the long run, nothing but a servant of the Ministry. All the claims of the masses were entirely disregarded. The Central Committee tried to drown all protests.
But in its organisation the Union made rapid progress. Regional Congresses were being called at which regional committees were elected and the Union continued to organise itself in accordance with the scheme adopted by the All-Russian Congress.
But, owing to the lack of experience in the past and the absence of workers acquainted with trade-unionism the organisation went on irregularly. Yet at the All-Russian Congress several unions of technical workers and workers employed in the railway mail service were called into life; in October was organised the Union of Radio-Telegraph Workers. These three Unions continuously fought between themselves, thus considerably diminishing their influence. During the October Revolution of 1917, when the proletariat attempted to take first of all possession of the most important institutions, the Central Committee, influenced by the social-revolutionists, remained neutral and did not acknowledge the Soviet Government; at the same time they however carried on a most abominable struggle against the revolutionary proletariat. Under the pretence of remaining neutral the Central Committee organised strikes and sabotage (in Petrograd Saratoff, etc), But the policy of the Central Committee met with great opposition on the part of the masses.
