At the front, the situation grew worse day by day. Chilly autumn, with
its rains and winds, was drawing nigh. And there was looming up a fourth
winter campaign. Supplies deteriorated every day. In the rear, the front
had been forgotten--no reliefs, no new contingents, no warm winter
clothing, which was indispensable. Desertions grew in number. The old
army committees, elected in the first period of the Revolution, remained
at their places and supported Kerensky's policy. Re-elections were
forbidden. An abyss sprang up between the committees and the soldier
masses. Finally the soldiers began to regard the committees with hatred.
With increasing frequency delegates from the trenches were arriving in
Petrograd and at the sessions of the Petrograd Soviet put the question
point blank: "What is to be done further? By whom and how will the war
be ended? Why is the Petrograd Soviet silent?"



INEVITABILITY OF THE STRUGGLE FOR POWER

The Petrograd Soviet was not silent. It demanded the immediate transfer
of all power into the hands of the Soviets in the capitals and in the
provinces, the immediate transfer of the land to the peasants, the
workingmen's control of production, and immediate opening of peace
negotiations. So long as we remained an opposition party, the
motto--all power to the Soviets--was a propaganda motto. But as soon
as we found ourselves in the majority in all the principal Soviets, this
motto imposed upon us the duty of a direct and immediate fight for
power.

In the country villages, the situation had grown entangled and