He was so sure of
himself and of his ability to put down the uprising and thereby show
himself a real statesman that he concluded not to wait for the revolution
to come in the ordinary course of events, but to hurry it a bit. Although
there is no conclusive proof for this statement, there is plenty of
convincing circumstantial evidence. We know that it was proposed to have
the workmen of Petrograd strike on February 27, the day of the opening of
the Duma, as a protest against the government; we know also that to meet
this situation, the Minister of the Interior had placed machine guns in the
garrets, in steeples, on housetops, and other such places where they could
command the important streets and shoot down the mob. The rising did not
take place because Miliukov, the great liberal leader, learned that the
Government was behind this move and that preparations had been made to
slaughter the unsuspecting workmen. He, therefore, addressed them in an
open letter calling on them not to make any demonstration, and they did
not. For the time being the strike was off, but the air was full of
discontent and restlessness, and it was difficult to say when trouble would
break out again. With this in view, a number of representatives of various
organizations met to discuss the situation and to determine what attitude
they should take and what counsel they should give to the labor leaders.
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