In its center stood the party's traditional leader, Chernoff. A writer
of experience, well-read in socialist literature, an experienced hand in
factional strife, he had constantly remained at the head of the party,
when party life was being built up in emigrant circles abroad. The
Revolution which had raised the S. R. party to an enormous height with
its first indiscriminating wave, automatically raised Chernoff, too,
only to reveal his complete impotence even as compared with the other
leading political lights of the first period. The paltry resources which
had secured to Chernoff a preponderance in the populist circles abroad,
proved too light in the scales of the Revolution. He concentrated his
efforts on not taking any responsible decisions, evading in all critical
cases, waiting and abstaining. For some little time, tactics of this
kind secured for him the position as center between the ever more
diverging flanks. But there was no longer any possibility of preserving
party unity for long. The former terrorist, Savinkof, took part in
Korniloff's conspiracy, was in touching unanimity with the
counter-revolutionary circles of Cossack officers and was preparing an
onslaught on Petrograd workingmen and soldiers, among whom there were
quite a few left S. R.'s. As a sacrifice to the left wing, the Center
expelled Savinkof from the party, but hesitated to raise a hand against
Kerensky. In the Pre-Parliament, the party showed signs of extreme
disruption: three groups existed independently, though under the banner
of one and the same party, but none of the groups knew exactly what it
wanted. The formal domination of this "party" in the Constituent
Assembly would have meant only a continuation of political prostration.



WITHDRAWING FROM THE PRE-PARLIAMENT. THE VOICE OF THE FRONT