As might be expected in a peasants' Congress, members of the
Socialist-Revolutionary party were in the majority, numbering 537. The next
largest group was the Social Democratic party, including Bolsheviki and
Mensheviki, numbering 103. There were 136 delegates described as
non-partizan; 4 belonged to the group called the "People's Socialists" and
6 to the Labor Group. It was the most representative body of peasant
workers ever brought together.
Among the first speakers to address the Congress was the venerable
"Grandmother" of the Russian Revolution, Catherine Breshkovskaya, who spoke
with the freedom accorded to her and to her alone. "Tell me," she demanded,
"is there advantage to us in keeping our front on a war footing and in
allowing the people to sit in trenches with their hands folded and to die
from fever, scurvy, and all sorts of contagious diseases? If our army had a
real desire to help the Allies, the war would be finished in one or two
months, _but we are prolonging it by sitting with our hands folded_." V.M.
Chernov, leader of the Socialist-Revolutionary party, the new Minister of
Agriculture, made a notable address in which he traversed with great skill
and courage the arguments of the Bolsheviki, making a superb defense of the
policy of participation in the government.
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