will this Constituent Assembly be?  Of whom will it be composed?  It is possible that it will have a majority of servants of the bourgeoisie—­Cadets Socialist-Revolutionists. Can we confide to such a Constituent Assembly the destinies of the Russian Revolution?  Will it recognize the power of the Soviets? Then came certain hypocritical “ifs.”  “If,” yes, “if” the personnel of the Constituent Assembly is favorable to us; “if” it will recognize the power of the Soviets, it can count on their support. If not—­it condemns itself to death.

The Socialist-Revolutionists of the Left in their organ, The Flag of Labor, repeated in the wake of the Bolsheviki, “We will uphold the Constituent Assembly in the measure we—­”

Afterward we see no longer questions or prudent “ifs,” but distinct answers.  “The majority of the Constituent Assembly is formed,” said the Bolsheviki, “of Socialist-Revolutionists and Cadets—­that is to say, enemies of the people.  This composition assures it of a counter-revolutionary spirit.  Its destiny is therefore clear.  Historic examples come to its aid. The victorious people has no need of a Constituent Assembly.  It is above the Constituante.  It has gone beyond it.”  The Russian people, half illiterate, were made to believe that in a few weeks they had outgrown the end for which millions of Russians had fought for almost a century; that they no longer had need of the most perfect form of popular representation, such as did not exist even in the most cultivated countries of western Europe.  To the Constituent Assembly, legislative organ due to equal, direct, and secret universal suffrage, they opposed the Soviets, with their recruiting done by hazard and their elections to two or three degrees,[92] the Soviets which were the revolutionary organs and not the legislative organs, and whose role besides none of those who fought for the Constituent Assembly sought to diminish.

V

The Fight Concentrates Around the Constituent Assembly

This was a maneuver whose object appeared clearly.  The defenders of the Constituent Assembly had evidence of what was being prepared.  The peasants who waited with impatience the opening of the Constituent Assembly sent delegates to Petrograd to find out the cause of the delay of the convocation.  These delegates betook themselves to the Executive Committee of the Soviet of Peasants’ Delegates (11 Kirillovskaia Street), and to the Socialist-Revolutionist fraction of the members of the Constituante (2 Bolotnai Street).  This last fraction worked actively at its proper organization.  A bureau of organization was elected, commissions charged to elaborate projects of law for the Constituante.  The fraction issued bulletins explaining to the population the program which the Socialist-Revolutionists were going to defend at the Constituante.  Active relations were undertaken with the provinces.  At the same