ower of the Soviets?_ Then came certain
hypocritical "ifs." "If," yes, "if" the personnel of the Constituent
Assembly is favorable to us; "if" it will recognize the power of the
Soviets, it can count on their support. _If not--it condemns itself to
death_.

The Socialist-Revolutionists of the Left in their organ, _The Flag of
Labor_, repeated in the wake of the Bolsheviki, "We will uphold the
Constituent Assembly in _the measure we_--"

Afterward we see no longer questions or prudent "ifs," but distinct
answers. "The majority of the Constituent Assembly is formed," said the
Bolsheviki, "of Socialist-Revolutionists and Cadets--that is to say,
enemies of the people. This composition assures it of a
counter-revolutionary spirit. Its destiny is therefore clear. Historic
examples come to its aid. _The victorious people has no need of a
Constituent Assembly. It is above the Constituante_. It has gone beyond
it." The Russian people, half illiterate, were made to believe that in a
few weeks they had outgrown the end for which millions of Russians had
fought for almost a century; that they no longer had need of the most
perfect form of popular representation, such as did not exist even in the
most cultivated countries of western Europe. To the Constituent Assembly,
legislative organ due to equal, direct, and secret universal suffrage, they
opposed the Soviets, with their recruiting done by hazard and their
elections to two or three degrees,[92] the Soviets which were the
revolutionary organs and not the legislative organs, and whose role besides
none of those who fought for the Constituent Assembly sought to diminish.

V

_The Fight Concentrates Around the Constituent Assembly_

This was a maneuver whose object appeared clearly. The defenders of the
Constituent Assembly had evidence of what was being prepared. The peasants
who waited with impatience the opening of the Constituent Assembly sent
delegates to Petrograd to find out the cause of the delay of the
convocation. These delegates betook themselves to the Executive Committee
of the Soviet of Peasants' Delegates (11 Kirillovskaia Street), and to the
Socialist-Revolutionist fraction of the members of the Constituante (2
Bolotnai Street). This last fraction worked actively at its proper
organization. A bureau of organization was elected, commissions charged to
elaborate projects of law for the Constituante. The fraction issued
bulletins explaining to the population th