The Bolsheviki, then a small political sect, put themselves at the
head of the movement. As a result of the disastrous failure of the
rising, public opinion turned against them, and their leaderless
hordes slunk back into the Viborg Quarter, which is Petrograd's _St.
Antoine._ Then followed a savage hunt of the Bolsheviki; hundreds
were imprisoned, among them Trotzky, Madame Kollontai and Kameniev;
Lenin and Zinoviev went into hiding, fugitives from justice; the
Bolshevik papers were suppressed. Provocators and reactionaries
raised the cry that the Bolsheviki were German agents, until people
all over the world believed it.
But the Provisional Government found itself unable to substantiate
its accusations; the documents proving pro-German conspiracy were
discovered to be forgeries; [*] and one by one the Bolsheviki were
[*Part of the famous "Sisson Documents"]
released from prison without trial, on nominal or no bail-until only
six remained. The impotence and indecision of the ever-changing
Provisional Government was an argument nobody could refute. The
Bolsheviki raised again the slogan so dear to the masses, "All Power
to the Soviets!"-and they were not merely self-seeking, for at that
time the majority of the Soviets was "moderate" Socialist, their
bitter enemy.
But more potent still, they took the crude, simple desires of the
workers, soldiers and peasants, and from them built their immediate
programme.
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