people, the coalitionists could not succeed in forming a new coalition.
Especially pronounced was the temper of the Kronstadt sailors, whom we
had to restrain from transcending the limits of a peaceful
demonstration. The fourth demonstration, which was already controlled by
our party, assumed a still more serious character. The Soviet leaders
were quite at sea; their speeches assumed an evasive character; the
answers given by Cheidze to the deputies were without any political
content. It was clear that the official leaders were marking time.

On the night of the 4th the "loyal" regiments began to arrive. During
the session of the Executive Committee the Taurida Palace resounded to
the strains of the Marseillaise. The expression on the faces of the
leaders suddenly changed. They displayed a look of confidence which had
been entirely wanting of late. It was produced by the entry into the
Taurida Palace of the Volynsk regiment, the same one, which, a few
months later, was to lead the vanguard of the October revolution, under
our banners. From this moment, everything changed. There was no longer
any need to handle the delegates of the Petrograd workmen and soldiers
with kid gloves. Speeches were made from the floor of the Executive
Committee, which referred to an armed insurrection that had been
"suppressed" on that very day by loyal revolutionary forces. The
Bolsheviki were declared to be a counter-revolutionary party.

The fear experienced by the liberal bourgeoisie during the two days of
armed demonstration betrayed itself in a hatred that was crystallized
not only in the columns of the newspapers, but also in the streets of
Petrograd, and more especially on the Nevsky Prospect, where individual
workmen and soldiers caught in the act of "criminal" agitation were
mercilessly beaten up. The junkers, army-officers, policemen, and the
St. Georgian cavaliers were now the masters of the situation. And all