When the Democratic Conference was first proposed to Kerensky, he suggested an assembly of all the elements in the nation—“the live forces,” as he called them—including bankers, manufacturers, land-owners, and representatives of the Cadet party. The Soviet refused, and drew up the following table of representation, which Kerensky agreed to:
| 100 delegates | All-Russian Soviets Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies |
| 100 delegates | All-Russian Soviets Peasants’ Deputies |
| 50 delegates | Provincial Soviets Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies |
| 50 delegates | Peasants’ District Land Committees |
| 100 delegates | Trade Unions |
| 84 delegates | Army Committees at the Front |
| 150 delegates | Workers’ and Peasants’ Cooperative Societies |
| 20 delegates | Railway Workers’ Union |
| 10 delegates | Post and Telegraph Workers’ Union |
| 20 delegates | Commercial Clerks |
| 15 delegates | Liberal Professions—Doctors, Lawyers, Journalists, etc. |
| 50 delegates | Provincial Zemstvos |
| 59 delegates | Nationalist Organisations—Poles, Ukraineans, etc. |
This proportion was altered twice or three times. The final disposition of delegates was:
| 300 delegates | All-Russian Soviets Workers’, Soldiers’ & Peasants’ Deputies |
| 300 delegates | Cooperative Societies |
| 300 delegates | Municipalities |
| 150 delegates | Army Committees at the Front |
| 150 delegates | Provincial Zemstvos |
| 200 delegates | Trade Unions |
| 100 delegates | Nationalist Organisations |
| 200 delegates | Several small groups |
3.
THE FUNCTION OF THE SOVIETS IS ENDED
On September 28th, 1917, Izviestia, organ of the Tsay-ee-kah, published an article which said, speaking of the last Provisional Ministry:
“At last a truly democratic government, born of the will of all classes of the Russian people, the first rough form of the future liberal parliamentary régime, has been formed. Ahead of us is the Constituent Assembly, which will solve all questions of fundamental law, and whose composition will be essentially democratic. The function of the Soviets is at an end, and the time is approaching when they must retire, with the rest of the revolutionary machinery, from the stage of a free and victorious people, whose weapons shall hereafter be the peaceful ones of political action.”
The leading article of Izviestia for October 23d was called, “The Crisis in the Soviet Organisations.” It began by saying that travellers reported a lessening activity of local Soviets everywhere. “This is natural,” said the writer. “For the people are becoming interested in the more permanent legislative organs—the Municipal Dumas and the Zemstvs….
“In the important centres of Petrograd and Moscow, where the Soviets were best organised, they did not take in all the democratic elements…. The majority of the intellectuals did not participate, and many workers also; some of the workers because they were politically backward, others because the centre of gravity for them was in their Unns…. We cannot deny that these organisations are firmly united with the masses, whose everyday needs are better served by them….
“That the local democratic administrations are being energetically organised is highly important. The City Dumas are elected by universal suffrage, and in purely local matters have more authority than the Soviets. Not a single democrat will see anything wrong in this….