To the Convention of Soldiers' Delegates from
the Front Tseretelli brought the decisions of the Council of Workmen's and
Soldiers' Deputies, in shaping which he had taken an important part with
Tchcheidze, Skobelev, and others. The Council had decided "to send an
appeal to the soldiers at the front, and to explain to them that _in order
to bring about universal peace it is necessary to defend the Revolution and
Russia by defending the front_." This action had been taken despite the
opposition of the Bolsheviki, and showed that the moderate Socialists were
still in control of the Soviet. An Appeal to the Army, drawn up by
Tseretelli, was adopted by the vote of every member except the Bolsheviki,
who refrained from voting. This Appeal to the Army Tseretelli presented to
the Soldiers' Delegates from the Front:
Comrades, soldiers at the front, in the name of the Revolutionary
Democracy, we make a fervent appeal to you.
A hard task has fallen to your lot. You have paid a dear price,
you have paid with your blood, a dear price indeed, for the crimes
of the Czar who sent you to fight and left you without arms,
without ammunition, without bread!
Why, the privation you now suffer is the work of the Czar and his
coterie of self-seeking associates who brought the country to
ruin.
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