Once more Rodzianko appealed to the Czar.  It is no reflection upon Rodzianko’s honesty, or upon his loyalty to the people, to say that he was appalled by the development of the struggle.  He sympathized with the people in their demand for political democracy and would wage war to the end upon Czarism, but he feared the effect of the Revolution upon the army and the Allied cause.  Moreover, he was a landowner, and he feared Socialism.  In 1906 he had joined forces with the government when the Socialists led the masses—­and now the Socialist leaders were again at the head of the masses.  Perhaps the result would have been otherwise if the Duma had followed up its repudiation of the government by openly and unreservedly placing itself at the head of the uprising.  In any other country than Russia that would have been done, in all probability, but the Russian bourgeoisie was weak.  This was due, like so much else in Russia, to the backwardness of the industrial system.  There was not a strong middle class and, therefore, the bourgeoisie left the fighting to the working class.  Rodzianko’s new appeal to the Czar was pathetic.  When hundreds of dead and dying lay in the streets and in churches, hospitals, and other public buildings, he could still imagine that the Czar could save the situation:  “The situation is growing worse.  It is necessary to take measures immediately, for to-morrow it will be too late,” he telegraphed.  “The last hour has struck to decide the fate of the country and of the dynasty.”  Poor, short-sighted bourgeois!  It was already “too late” for “measures” by the weak-minded Nicholas II to avail.  The “fate of the country and of the dynasty” was already determined!  It was just as well that the Czar did not make any reply to the message.

The new ruler of Russia, King Demos, was speaking now.  Workers and soldiers sent deputations to the Taurida Palace, where the Duma was sitting.  Rodzianko read to them the message he had sent to the Czar, but that was small comfort.  Thousands of revolutionists, civilian and military, stormed the Taurida Palace and clamored to hear what the Socialists in the Duma had to say.  In response to this demand Tchcheidze, Kerensky, Skobelev, and other Socialists from various groups appeared and addressed the people.  These men had a message to give; they understood the ferment and were part of it.  They were of the Revolution—­bone of its bone, flesh of its flesh, and so they were cheered again and again.  And what a triumvirate they made, these leaders of the people!  Tchcheidze, once a university professor, keen, cool, and as witty as George Bernard Shaw, listened to with the deference democracy always pays to intellect.

Kerensky, lawyer by profession, matchless as an orator, obviously the prophet and inspirer rather than the executive type; Skobelev, blunt, direct, and practical, a man little given to romantic illusions.  It was Skobelev who made the announcement to the crowd outside the Taurida Palace that the old system was ended forever and that the Duma would create a Provisional Committee.  He begged the workers and the soldiers to keep order, to refrain from violence against individuals, and to observe strict discipline.  “Freedom demands discipline and order,” he said.