The Zemstvo of
Saratov was one of the best in Russia. The peasant population of
this province, among whom the revolutionary Socialist propaganda
was carried on for several years, by the Revolutionary Socialist
party, is wide awake and well organized. The Municipality and the
Agricultural Committees were composed of Socialists. The
population was actively preparing for the elections to the
Constituent Assembly; the people discussed the list of candidates,
studied the candidates' biographies, as well as the programs of
the different parties. On the night of October 28th [November
10th, European calendar], by reason of an order that had come from
Petrograd, the Bolshevik _coup d'etat_ broke out at Saratov. The
following forces were its instruments: the garrison, which was a
stranger to the mass of the population, a weak party of workers,
and, in the capacity of leaders, some Intellectuals, who, up to
that time, had played no role in the public life of the town.
It was indeed a military _coup d'etat. The city hall, where sat
the Socialists, who were elected by equal, direct, and secret
universal suffrage, was surrounded by soldiers; machine-guns were
placed in front and the bombardment began.
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