WORLD WAR 440 WORLD WAR of the working people. They began spreading a propaganda against con- tinuing the war and in favor of estab- lishing a completely Socialistic govern- ment, which should not only make peace with the Central Empires, but abolish private property in trade and commerce and establish communism. It happened that the war-weary soldiers were in the mood to listen to them, and they were, therefore, in a large measure responsible for the failure of the Russian offensive during the summer of 1917. A new government was now quickly formed with Kerensky as Premier and Minister of War. Though himself a Socialist, Kerensky was bitterly opposed to the Bolsheviki. He believed that Ger- man imperialism should be first crushed and, that once accomplished, the Rus- sians might then gradually organize their Socialist Republic. As a conse- quence he was opposed by two factions; the Bolsheviki from the left, the Conser- vatives from the right. Heroically he strove to maintain the equilibrium which was necessary for Russia to maintain her balance. He called an extraordinary council of all elements of Russian society, to meet in Moscow, which it did, on Aug. 26, 1917. But the conference only served to bring out more strongly the line of cleavage between the Socialists and the Conservatives. Both sides were dis- satisfied. The people were further de- pressed when, a few days later, the news came that the city of Riga had been taken suddenly by the Germans. On Sept. 9, 1917, the situation came
- o a climax. General Kornilov, the
Cossack Commander-in-chief, attempted to proclaim a dictatorship and overthrow the democratic Provisional Government. Aside from his own Cossack regiments, the army refused to support him. On the other hand Kerensky immediately issued an appeal to the army for sup- port of the Provisional Government. Kornilov's attempt proved completely abortive. The next day he was obliged to flee, but was arrested and imprisoned at army headquarters. Kerensky had triumphed temporarily, but the very elements which had sup- ported him in overthrowing Kornilov now turned against him. There was a strong reaction in favor of the Bolshe- viki. At an election of members of the Peti-ograd Soviet the Bolsheviki suddenly found themselves with a majority. In the first week of November the So- viet, now Bolshevist, demanded that it have the power of veto over the decisions of the Provisional Government. This T^aturally was refused. On November 7 the Bolsheviki suddenly precipitated an uprising, and after a day of desultory fighting the Kerensky Government was overthrown and the Premier was obliged to flee. The Bolsheviki immediately proclaimed the Soviet the supreme power in Rus- sia. Lenin was made Premier, and Trotzsky Minister of Foreign Affairs. The following program was announced. 1. The offer of an immediate demo- cratic peace, in which all belligerents should be invited to participate. Should they refuse, then Soviet Russia would seek a separate peace. 2. The immediate handing over of the landed estates to the peasants. 3. The supreme authority of the Soviet. The rest of the Allies, naturally, re- fused even to answer the invitation to consider a discussion of peace terms. So the Soviet sent a request to the Germans to arrange a meeting, with the purpose of proclaiming an armistice, during which peace negotiations might be carried on. On Dec. 17, 1917, such an armistice went into effect. Arrange- ments were made to hold the peace con- ference between the Russians and all the allies of the Central Empires at Brest-Litovsk. Meanwhile elections had been held for members to a Constituent Assembly, which would take the place of the pro- visional government and take over the reins of government. The result in Pe- trograd was announced as 272,000 votes for the Bolsheviki, 211,000 for the Con- stitutional Democrats, and 116,000 for the Socialist Revolutionists, the latter being partisans of Kerensky. In the first week of December, Korni- lov, who had escaped in the turmoil, and a General Kaledin, raised the standard of revolt among the Cossacks in the south. But in spite of their efforts the entire population of Russia showed a disposition to accept the authority of the Soviet for the time being. The first sitting of the peace con- ference at Brest-Litovsk took place on Dec. 22, 1917. Among the dele- gates were Dr. Kuhlmann, German Foreign Minister, Count Czernin, For- eign Minister of Austria-Hungary, Ne- simy Bey, former Foreign Minister of Turkey, Kopov, a member of the Bulga- rian Cabinet, and a large delegation from the Soviet, consisting of prominent Bol- shevist leaders. It was not till the next sitting, held in January, that the dele- gates got down to a real discussion of peace terms. Meanwhile, for the first time in over three years, not a shot was being fired up and down the eastern
