cieties combated the intrigues of the food speculators, which were
even more active in Russia than they are in this country, and
stabilized prices. In some of the cities the local municipal
administrations turned over the whole problem of food supply to the
local cooperatives, doing nothing more than foot the bills. During the
war the membership of these societies rose to thirteen million. They,
too, were democratic in form.

It would seem that the Government could have done no less than accept
the cooperation of these social organizations thankfully and done all
in its power not to handicap them in their efforts. But this did not
happen. On the contrary, from the beginning they were hampered as
though they were dangerous revolutionary organizations. This policy
became even more pronounced later on, when the success of the Allies
made the dark forces desperate.

CHAPTER LXXV

TREACHERY OF THE AUTOCRACY

On the outbreak of the war the premier was Ivan L. Goremykin, a
typical autocrat, who had served under four czars, and who was now
well past seventy. As though utterly unconscious of the war situation,
he carried his administration on as he had done previous to the war.
First of all, he began a determined campaign of persecution of the
Jews, at a moment when the most violent anti-Semites would be
irritated by such a course. He even went so far as to have a number of
pogroms perpetrated and he spread persistent rumors that the Jews were
betraying the cause of Russia, in spite of the fact that they were
playing a leading part in the social organizations and were more than
proportionately represented in the army. Then he instituted similar
persecution among the Ruthenians and the Poles, and when Galicia was
occupied by the Russian military forces Goremykin sent there a number
of petty officials whom he instructed to make the inhabitants into
Russians according to old methods. Then when the commander in chief,
Grand Duke Nicholas, issued his manifesto promising the Poles liberty,
the Goremykin ministry completely ignored the promise. And finally, a
number of political refugees, who had returned from abroad to offer
their services, either in the army or in the social organizations,
were imprisoned or sent to Siberia.

Even the reactionaries who had previously supported all that the
Government stood for were indignant. This feeling became most manifest
in the Duma. In 1914 the Duma had been a reactionary body, th