all the information about the movements of the troops, the spirit of the
soldiers and workers, the agitation in the barracks, the undertakings of
the pogrom instigators, the councils of the bourgeois politicians, the
life at the Winter Palace, the plans of the former Soviet parties.
Informers came from all sides. There came workers, officers, porters,
Socialist cadets, servants, ladies. Many brought pure nonsense. Others
gave serious and valuable information. The decisive moment drew near. It
was apparent that there was no going back.

On the evening of the 24th of October, Kerensky appeared in the
Preliminary Parliament and demanded approval of repressive measures
against the Bolsheviki. The Preliminary Parliament, however, was in a
sad state of indetermination and complete disintegration. The
Constitutional Democrats tried to persuade the right S. R.'s to adopt a
vote of confidence. The right S. R.'s exercised pressure upon the
center. The center hesitated. The "left" wing conducted a policy of
parliamentary opposition. After many conferences, debates, hesitations,
the resolution of the "left" wing was adopted. This resolution condemned
the rebellious movement of the Soviet, but the responsibilities for the
movement were laid at the door of the anti-democratic policy of the
government. The mail brought scores of letters daily informing us of
death sentences pronounced against us, of infernal machines, of the
expected blowing up of the Smolny, etc. The bourgeois press howled
wildly, moved by hatred and terror. Gorki, who had forgotten all about
"The Song of the Falcon," continued to prophesy in his Novaya Zhizn
the approach of the end of the world.

The members of the Military Revolutionary Committee did not leave the
Smolny during the entire week. They slept on sofas and only at odd
intervals, wakened by couriers, scouts, cyclists, telegraph messengers