utionists of the Right and the Menshiviki.

"So, practically, there remained only Bolsheviki in the Soviets.
And as there was no difference of opinion among them, regular
meetings were soon abandoned altogether and the ostensible 'rule of
the working masses' thus definitely disappeared. A few persons,
often appointed from above (the Bolsheviki often had recourse to
bayonets to support the fiction of Soviet rule: in Tumen the
Executive Committee of a non-existent Soviet was brought from
Ekaterinburg under a convoy of 800 Red Guards), would rule and lord
it over the people, tired and weary of the war and a sterile
revolution.

"Occasional outbursts of popular wrath serve as indications of the
depth of dissatisfaction which is engendered by the Soviets and
their offshoots, the Military-Revolutionary Committee. Thus, in the
Polevsky works, in Ekaterinburg County, a mob of peasants, armed
with axes, scythes and sticks, fell upon the Soviets and beast-like
tore into fragments fifty Bolsheviki. In the Neviansk works the
insurrection of the workers against the Red Army lasted for three
days, until reinforcements from Perm finally subdued this
'counter-revolutionary' revolt. In Okhansk County 2,000 peasants
were shot down for demanding the abolition of the Soviets and the
re-establishment of the rule of the people."

In the April 19, 1919, issue of "Struggling Russia" we are told that
"Vlast Naroda," in May, 1918, thus described the uprisings against the
Soviets:

"In Kleen, a crowd entered by force the building occupied by the
Soviets with the intention of bringing the deputies before their
own court of justice. The latter fled. The Financial Commisary
committed suicide by shooting himself, in order to escape the
infuriated crowd.

"In Oriekhovo-Zooyevo, the deputies work in their offices, guarded
by a most vigilant military force. Even on the streets they are
accompanied by guards armed with rifles and bayonets.

"In Penza, an attempt has been made on the lives of the Soviet
members. One of the presiding officers has been wounded. The Soviet
building is now surrounded with cannons and machine-guns.

"In Svicherka, where the Bolsheviki had ordered a Bartholomew
night, the deputies are hunted like wild animals....

"In Bielo, all members of the Sov