INTRODUCTION

11

after the downfall of the monarchy, when the sufferings, humiliations,
 and bitterness which had been suppressed for generations
gradually came to the surface.
There exists between the autocracy and the complete denial of
the state, an intermediate stage when the Government acts as an organizing
 and directing power freely accepted by the people. Democratic
 tendencies are not necessarily an evil from which the Government
 has to protect itself, nor is the Government necessarily a
negative force if it meets the requirements of a nation and organizes
its creative forces.
The Russian people have repeatedly proved that they understand
 the nature of the relationship between the Government and
the nation. They know how to accept necessary restrictions and they
realize the importance of a government as an organizing power.
They give proofs not only of this understanding, but also of a remarkable
 capacity to create this organizing element. The peasant
commune, the association of workmen (artel), the institutions of the
zemstvos and the municipal government, the work of the State
Duma, and the autonomous government of the Cossacks,—all bear
witness to the inborn capacity of the Russian people for self-government,
 of their desire for a rule by those they themselves had
chosen without compulsion.
The history of the Unions of Zemstvos and of Towns presents
merely a new illustration of the gift of the Russian people for creative
 effort and untiring work under most discouraging conditions.
Perhaps no country in the World War had to face a task more stupendous
 than the one with which Russia was confronted. Not only
did she have to fight an enemy who was infinitely superior to her in
military equipment and general preparedness for the War, but also
to bring to life a powerful war organization of which the law of the
former Russian Empire took no cognizance. And this organization
was created in spite of the traditional opposition of the Government
and was based on forces the potentialities of which at that time were
still unknown. Only natural gifts and inborn ability for organizing
work on the bases of autonomy saved the situation. It was not, as the
bureaucrats tried to represent the work of the Union, a sham stagesetting
 put up at the expense of the Treasury by a gang of revolutionaries,
 but a spontaneous creation of the national genius. It may
verily be described as the child of the Russian people. The spirit of