Strength was given to this feeling when Miliukov, the Foreign Minister, in an interview championed the annexation of Constantinople as a necessary safeguard for the outlet to the Mediterranean which Russian economic development needed.  Immediately there was an outcry of protest from the Soviet, in which, it should be observed, the Bolsheviki were already gaining strength and confidence, thanks to the leadership of Kamenev, Lenine’s colleague, who had returned from Siberian exile.  It was not only the Bolsheviki, however, who protested against imperialistic tendencies.  Practically the whole body of Socialists, Mensheviki and Bolsheviki alike, agreed in opposing imperialism and secret diplomacy.  Socialists loyal to the national defense and Socialists who repudiated that policy and deemed it treason to the cause of Socialism were united in this one thing.

The storm of protest which Miliukov’s interview provoked was stilled temporarily when the Premier, Lvov, announced that the Foreign Minister’s views concerning the annexation of Constantinople were purely personal and did not represent the policy of the Provisional Government.  Assurances were given that the Provisional Government was in accord with the policy of the Soviet.  On April 16th a national congress of the Councils of Workmen’s and Soldiers’ Delegates adopted a series of resolutions in which there was a distinct menace to the Provisional Government.  An earlier proclamation by the Petrograd Soviet had taken the form of a letter addressed to “Proletarians and Working-people of all Countries,” but being in fact an appeal to the German working class to rise and refuse to fight against democratic and free Russia.[6] It declared that the peoples must take the matter of deciding questions of war and peace into their own hands.  The new declaration was addressed to the Russian people: 

First.—­The Provisional Government, which constituted itself during the Revolution, in agreement with the Council of Workmen’s and Soldiers’ Delegates of Petrograd, published a proclamation announcing its program.  This Congress records that this program contains in principle political demands for Russian democracy, and recognizes that so far the Provisional Government has faithfully carried out its promises.

Second.—­This Congress appeals to the whole revolutionary democracy of Russia to rally to the support of the Council of Workmen’s and Soldiers’ Delegates, which is the center of the organized democratic forces that are capable, in unison with other progressive forces, of counteracting any counter revolutionary attempt and of consolidating the conquests of the revolution.

Third.—­The Congress recognizes the necessity of permanent political control, the necessity of exercising an influence over the Provisional Government which will keep it up to a more energetic struggle against anti-revolutionary