"You see, I'am a follower of Kropotkin. To us the
Revolution is a great failure; it has not aroused the patriotism of
the masses. Of course that only proves that the people are not ready
for Revolution...."
It was just 8.40 when a thundering wave of cheers announced the
entrance of the presidium, with Lenin-great Lenin-among them. A
short, stocky figure, with a big head set down in his shoulders,
bald and bulging. Little eyes, a snubbish nose, wide, generous
mouth, and heavy chin; clean-shaven now, but already beginning to
bristle with the well-known beard of his past and future. Dressed in
shabby clothes, his trousers much too long for him. Unimpressive, to
be the idol of a mob, loved and revered as perhaps few leaders in
history have been. A strange popular leader-a leader purely by
virtue of intellect; colourless, humourless, uncompromising and
detached, without picturesque idiosyncrasies-but with the power of
explaining profound ideas in simple terms, of analysing a concrete
situation. And combined with shrewdness, the greatest intellectual
audacity.
Kameniev was reading the report of the actions of the Military
Revolutionary Committee; abolition of capital punishment in the
Army, restoration of the free right of propaganda, release of
officers and soldiers arrested for political crimes, orders to
arrest Kerensky and confiscation of food supplies in private
store-houses.
Pages:
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196