I asked him what he thought of the much-talked-of Bolshevik
_vystuplennie._ He shrugged, sneering.
"They are cattle-_canaille,"_ he answered. "They will not dare, or if
they dare they will soon be sent flying. From our point of view it
will not be bad, for then they will ruin themselves and have no power
in the Constituent Assembly....
"But, my dear sir, allow me to outline to you my plan for a form of
Government to be submitted to the Constituent Assembly. You see, I am
chairman of a commission appointed from this body, in conjunction
with the Provisional Government, to work out a constitutional
project.... We will have a legislative assembly of two chambers, such
as you have in the United States. In the lower chamber will be
territorial representatives; in the upper, representatives of the
liberal professions, zemstvos, Cooperatives-and Trade Unions...."
Outside a chill, damp wind came from the west, and the cold mud
underfoot soaked through my shoes. Two companies of _yunkers_ passed
swinging up the Morskaya, tramping stiffly in their long coats and
singing an oldtime crashing chorus, such as the soldiers used to sing
under the Tsar.... At the first cross-street I noticed that the City
Militiamen were mounted, and armed with revolvers in bright new
holsters; a little group of people stood silently staring at them. At
the corner of the Nevsky I bought a pamphlet by Lenin, "Will the
Bolsheviki be Able to Hold the Power?" paying for it with one of the
stamps which did duty for small change.
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