cil itself was a working-class
organization, a manifestation of the class consciousness of the workers,
the leaders of the Council did not regard the Revolution as a proletarian
event, nor doubt the necessity of co-operation on the part of all classes.
Proletarian exclusiveness came later, but on March 13th the appeal of the
Council was "to the entire population."

March 14th saw the arrest of many of the leading reactionaries, including
Protopopov and the traitor Sukhomlinov, and an approach to order. All that
day the representatives of the Duma and the representatives of the Council
of Workmen's and Soldiers' Deputies, as it was now called, embryo of the
first Soviet government, tried to reach an agreement concerning the future
organization of Russia. The representatives of the Duma were pitifully
lacking in comprehension of the situation. They wanted the Czar deposed,
but the monarchy itself retained, subject to constitutional limitations
analogous to those obtaining in England. They wanted the Romanov dynasty
retained, their choice being the Czar's brother, Grand-Duke Michael. The
representatives of the Soviet, on the other hand, would not tolerate the
suggestion that the monarchy be continued. Standing, as yet, only for
political democracy, they insisted that the monarchy must be abolished and
that the new government be republican in form. The statesmanship and
political skill of these representatives of the workers were immeasurably
superior to those possessed by the bourgeois representatives of the Duma.

V

Thursday, March 15, 1917--new style--was one of the most fateful and
momentous days in the history of mankind. It will always be remembered as
the day on which Czarism ceased to exist in Russia. At three o'clock in the
afternoon Miliukov, leader of the Constitutional Democrats, appeared in
front of the Taurida Palace and announced to the waiting throngs that an
agreement had been reached between the Duma and the Council of Workmen's
and Soldiers' Deputies; that it had been decided to depose the Czar, to
constitute immediately a Provisional Government composed of representatives
of all parties and groups, and to proceed with arrangements for the holding
of a Constituent Assembly at an early date to determine the form of a
permanent democratic government for Russia.

At the head of the Provisional Government, as Premier, had been placed
Prince George E. Lvov, who as president of the Union of Zemstvos had pr