It was thus there was manifested the habit of servile obedience, of
arbitrary power and violence, which had been taking root for several
centuries; under a thin veneer of revolution one finds the servile and
violent man of yesterday.

In the midst of these exceptional circumstances the peasants gave proof of
that obstinacy and energy in the pursuit of their rights for which they are
noted. Thrown out in the middle of the night, robbed, insulted, they
decided, nevertheless, to continue their Congress. "How, otherwise, can we
go home?" said they. "We must come to an understanding as to what is to be
done."

The members of the Executive Committee who were still free succeeded in
finding new premises (let it be noted that among others the workmen of the
big Oboukhovsky factory offered them hospitality), and during three days
the peasants could assemble secretly by hiding themselves from the eyes of
the Red Guard, and the spies in various quarters of Petrograd, until such
time as the decisions were given on all great questions. _A proces-verbal
was prepared concerning all that had taken place on Kirillovskaia Street. A
declaration was made protesting against the acts of the Bolshevik
government_. This declaration was to be read at the Taurida Palace when the
Soviets were in congress by delegates designated for that purpose. The
Bolsheviki, however, would not permit the delegates to enter the Taurida
Palace.

Here are the texts of the declaration and of the proces-verbal:

At the Third National Congress of Soviets of Peasants' Delegates
grouped around the principle of the defense of the Constituent
Assembly, this declaration was sent to the Congress of Workmen's,
Soldiers' and Peasants' Delegates called together by the
Bolshevist government at the Taurida Palace:

At the Second National Peasants' Congress the 359 delegates who
had come together for the defense of the Constituent Assembly
continued the work of the Congress and elected a provisional
Executive Committee, independently of the 354 delegates who had
opposed the power of the Constituent Assembly and adhered to the
Bolsheviki.

We, peasant delegates, having come to Petrograd, more than 300 in
number, to participate in a Congress called by the Provisional
Executive Committee, which is that of those of the Soviets which
acknowledge the principle of the defense of the Constituent
Assembly, declar