than permitting himself to be outwitted and deceived by a cunning
trickster. The incident serves to show, however, the ease with which the
extreme fanaticism of the Bolsheviki played into the hands of the
autocracy.


VII

While Bolsheviki and Mensheviki wrangled and disputed, great forces were at
work among the Russian people. By 1910 the terrible pall of depression and
despair which had settled upon the nation as a result of the failure of the
First Revolution began to break. There was a new generation of college
students, youthful and optimistic spirits who were undeterred by the
failure of 1905-06, confident that they were wiser and certain to succeed.
Also there had been an enormous growth of working-class organizations,
large numbers of unions and co-operative societies having been formed in
spite of the efforts of the government. The soul of Russia was once more
stirring.

The end of 1910 and the beginning of 1911 witnessed a new series of
strikes, such as had not occurred since 1905. The first were students'
strikes, inaugurated in support of their demand for the abolition of
capital punishment. These were quickly followed by important strikes in the
industrial centers for economic ends--better wages and shorter
working-hours. As in the period immediately preceding the First Revolution,
the industrial unrest soon manifested itself in political ways. Without any
conscious leadership at all this would have been inevitable in the existing
circumstances. But there was leadership. Social Democrats of both factions,
and Socialists of other groups as well, moved among the workers, preaching
the old, yet ever new, gospel of revolt. Political strikes followed the