INTRODUCTION 
11 
after the downfall of the monarchy, when the sufferings, humilia- 
tions, 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 or- 
ganizing and directing power freely accepted by the people. Demo- 
cratic tendencies are not necessarily an evil from which the Govern- 
ment 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 under- 
stand 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 re- 
markable 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-gov- 
ernment, 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 crea- 
tive effort and untiring work under most discouraging conditions. 
Perhaps no country in the World War had to face a task more stu- 
pendous 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 stage- 
setting put up at the expense of the Treasury by a gang of revolu- 
tionaries, but a spontaneous creation of the national genius. It may 
verily be described as the child of the Russian people. The spirit of