Page:Michael Farbman - Russia & the Struggle for Peace (1918).djvu/136

country from revolution. His programme was simple and ingenious. He argued: you cannot make peace at once because it will arouse universal indignation and make the revolutionary forces absolutely irresistible. You cannot wait till the end of the war, because you do not know how the war is going to end and whether the forces of revolution will not be stronger than ever. You must crush the revolutionary forces at once before it is too late. When you have done with the revolutionaries you are free to do what you like. You can then go on with the war, or you can stop it, at your pleasure. Protopopov was hailed by the Court and the "Black Hundreds" as a saviour. Never was a Minister more powerful. He was allowed to proceed with his project undisturbed, and he went straight to his goal. He increased the police forces of Petrograd, equipped them with machine guns taken from the army, made machine-gun emplacements on the roofs of the houses, trained the police for their task, and said "We are ready."