sudden return to high-handed and provocative methods is to be explained by the arrival of orders from the Tsar at headquarters. The Tsar told them to hold on till the arrival of troops from the front. They were informed that troops were on their way to the capital under General Ivanov. These troops did not reach Petrograd: the railway workers, who were on the side of the Revolution, refused to convey them.
What now was the attitude of the Duma? To the very last moment, their attitude was thoroughly loyal to the Tsar and to the Monarchy. The moderate majority of the Duma were indignant with the Government for their inefficient and reactionary conduct; they were angry with the Tsaritsa and even with the Tsar; but they never went a step farther than the Monarchist mentality would allow. At the last moment, when Petrograd was in the hands of the revolutionary forces, they were still sending messages to the Tsar imploring him to grant reforms. They were afraid of revolution; they wanted urgent reforms and an efficient conduct of the war. Only when they saw that if they did not join the Revolution the Revolution would do without them—only then did they drop their loyalty to the Tsardom and come out openly on the side of the Revolution. Even after the Socialists had taken the leadership of the Revolution and the whole garrison had gone over, the right wing of the Duma was still persevering in its loyalty to Nicholas II., while the left wing (Miliukov) dreamed of a Constitutional Monarchy under the Tsarevich as Tsar.
So much for the Tsar and the Duma. The Tsar and his Government deliberately provoked an early Revolution; the Duma did not make the Revolution, but, on the contrary, tried to annul its effects. There remained the workers and soldiers.
The soldiers themselves would have revolted of their own accord sooner or later; their sufferings and humiliations under the old disciplinary system had become well-nigh unbearable. As it was, they saw the
