Among the Petrograd workingmen the
displeasure with the official leaders was intensified also by the fact
that Tseretelli, Dan and Cheidze misrepresented the general views of the
proletariat in their endeavor to prevent the Petrograd Soviet from
becoming the mouthpiece of the new tendencies of the toilers. The
All-Russian Executive Committee, formed in the July Council and
depending upon the more backward provinces, put the Petrograd Soviet
more and more into the background and took all matters into its own
hands, including even local Petrograd affairs.
A clash was inevitable. The workers and soldiers pressed from below,
vehemently voiced their discontent with the official Soviet policies and
demanded greater resolution from our party. We considered that, in view
of the backwardness of the provinces, the time for such a course had not
yet arrived. At the same time, we feared that the events taking place at
the front might bring extreme chaos into the revolutionary ranks, and
desperation to the hearts of the people. The attitude of our party
toward the movement of July 3rd-5th was quite well defined. On the one
hand, there was the danger that Petrograd might break away from the more
backward parts of the country; while on the other, there was the feeling
that only the active and energetic intervention of Petrograd could save
the day. The party agitators who worked among the people were working in
harmony with the masses, conducting an uncompromising campaign.
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