d to make peace with them, let
them then also overturn their autocracies. If they would do this, then
they might expect peace with Russia and undoubtedly with the other
Allies, for France, Great Britain, and the United States had each
declared that it was fighting the Teutonic autocracies and not the
people they ruled.

The German Socialist is entirely a different type from the Russian
Socialist. He believes in iron discipline. He believes in strong
centralization. The German autocracy in many of its features
approaches something not far from the ideal of the German Socialist,
especially in its care of the working classes through state insurance,
workingmen's compensation legislation, and its many state and
municipal enterprises. In this lies the strength of the German
autocracy; with all its imperialistic features, it has cared for the
welfare of the working classes.

The German Socialists did not respond to this appeal. And from that
moment all danger of a separate peace between the Russian democracy
and Germany was past, if danger it may be called. The real danger to
the cause of the Allies and to Russia itself was the internal danger,
the disorganization in army discipline which the radicalism of the
revolution naturally spread among the soldiers, augmented, as it was,
by every power and agency which the enemy could bring to bear.

In the second week of April, 1917, a convention or congress of the
Workingmen's and Soldiers' Council was held, all parts of Russia being
represented. By a vote of 325 against 57 the continuance of the war
was declared necessary. The council also issued various appeals to the
soldiers, both in Petrograd and at the front, asking their support of
the Provisional Government, which seemed at least to indicate that
there were radical influences at work even too advanced for the
council.

In Petrograd General Kornilov, the famous Cossack commander, who had
once been a prisoner of the Austrians and had escaped, and who had
personally placed the czarina under arrest, was placed in command of
the Petrograd garrison. His task was especially difficult, as his men
were in closer contact with the demoralizing influences of the radical
debating clubs of the capital.

The Workingmen's and Soldiers' Council probably had no deliberate
intention of undermining the military discipline necessary to maintain
the efficiency of a body of troops, but it could not entirely give up
its idea of "democratizin