Michael S. Farbman

“ And from that moment they lived in a perpetual dread of revolution, and their one thought was of how to prevent it. Their anxiety increased as the war went on, for they saw that the war was spending their best and most trusted forces. The enormous casualties in the Imperial Guards and other ultra-loyal units during the heroic offensive in East Prussia were realised as a severe blow to the potential strength of the Government in case of a rebellion. ”

“ Those who were not killed in that offensive became inspired with a more real patriotism and permeated with hatred and indignation against the corrupt and inefficient Government. The Court began to look about for new sources of strength. Then began the game which became known in Russia as "political leap-frog": I refer to the feverish and repeated changes of Ministers, notably of Ministers of the Interior. Every adventurer who came to the Tsar with an elaborate scheme for checkmating the forces of revolution was received with open arms. ”

“ Never was a Minister more powerful. He was allowed to proceed with his project undisturbed, and he went straight to his goal. He increased the police forces of Petrograd, equipped them with machine guns taken from the army, made machine-gun emplacements on the roofs of the houses, trained the police for their task, and said "We are ready." ”

“ Miassoiedov and his chief associates were intimate friends of the Minister for War and the Minister for the Interior, and they based their defence on the "Black Hundred" contention that the crushing of Germany would be more disastrous for Russia than the defeat of the Russian armies in the field. ”

“ The idea of crushing the coming Revolution by efficient police forces is generally attributed to Protopopov. It is true that Protopopov specially trained the police for the coming Revolution and equipped it with machine guns. ”