But the directors
of the Revolution, and the bourgeois in the Government, had insisted
that the question could not be solved until the Constituent Assembly
met.... The second period of the Revolution, the period of
"compromise,"was signalled by the entrance of Tchernov into the
Cabinet. The peasants were convinced that now the practical solution
of the Land question would begin; but in spite of the imperative
decision of the first Peasant Congress, the reactionaries and
conciliators in the Executive Committee had prevented any action.
This policy provoked a series of agrarian disorders, which appeared
as the natural expression of impatience and thwarted energy on the
part of the peasants. The peasants understood the exact meaning of
the Revolution-they tried to turn words into action....
"The recent events," said the orator, "do not indicate a simple
riot, or a 'Bolshevik adventure,' but on the contrary, a real
popular rising, which has been greeted with sympathy by the whole
country....
"The Bolsheviki in general took the correct attitude toward the Land
question; but in recommending that the peasants seize the land by
force, they committed a profound error.... From the first days, the
Bolsheviki declared that the peasants should take over the land 'by
revolutionary massaction.' This is nothing but anarchy; the land can
be taken over in an organised manner.
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