ed as delegates,
but the others had been invited by the government and could not be said to
speak as authorized representatives. There were about one hundred and
ninety men who had been members of one or other of the Dumas; one hundred
representatives of the peasants' Soviets and other peasant organizations;
about two hundred and thirty representatives of the Soviets of industrial
workers and of soldiers; more than three hundred from co-operatives; about
one hundred and eighty from the trade-unions; about one hundred and fifty
from municipalities; one hundred and fifty representatives of banks and
industrial concerns, and about one hundred and twenty from the Union of
Zemstvos and Towns. It was a Conference more thoroughly representative of
Russia than any that had ever been held. There were, indeed, no
representatives of the old regime, and there were few representatives of
the Bolsheviki. The former had no place in the new Russia that was
struggling for its existence; the repressive measures that had been found
necessary accounted for the scant representation of the latter.

It was to this Conference that President Wilson sent his famous message
giving the assurance of "every material and moral assistance" to the people
and government of Russia. For three days the great assembly debated and
listened to speeches from men representing every section of the country,
every class, and every party. Kerensky, Tseretelli, Tchcheidze, Boublikov,
Plechanov, Kropotkin, Breshkovskaya, and others, spoke for the workers;
General Kornilov and General Kaledine spoke for the military command;
Miliukov, Nekrasov, Guchkov, Maklakov, and others spoke for the
bourgeoisie. At times feeling ran high, as might have been expected, but
throughout the great gathering there was displayed a remarkable unanimity
of feeling and immediate purpose; a common resolve to support the
Provisional Government, to re-establish discipline in the army and navy, to
remain loyal to the Allies, and reject with scorn all offers of a separate
peace, and to work for the success of the Constituent Assembly.

But, notwithstanding the unity upon these immediately vital points, the
Moscow Conference showed that there was still a great gulf between the
classes, and that no matter how they might co-operate to meet and overcome
the peril that hung over the nation like the sword of Damocles, there could
be no unity in working out the great economic and social program which mu