Trepov, who had shown his sympathy for the executioners of Rasputin, was removed. So were the Ministers of War and Marine, who had declared themselves for the people. Black reactionaries and pro-Germans were placed in their posts. Then he began arresting all the labor leaders who were agitating against strikes and demonstrations and in favor of prosecuting the war, leaving his own hirelings, who were preaching strikes and revolution, to continue their efforts unharmed. This was about the most obviously significant act he had yet committed. Then the food-supply trains arriving daily in Petrograd were deliberately halted in the provinces and the population drifted on to the verge of actual famine.
Then Protopopoff's efforts, in the early days of March, 1917, began to bear fruit. In spite of the warnings of the few loyal labor leaders still at liberty, the workers began to grumble and to talk revolt. Their stomachs were empty. On February 27, 1917, when the Duma went into session again, 300,000 workingmen had gone out on strike in Petrograd. The air was charged with electricity. Everybody realized that the critical moment was approaching: the final battle between the dark forces and the people.
On March 1, 1917, the only two leaders of the labor organizations which supported the Duma issued an appeal exhorting the workers to return to work.
And this appeal in favor of order and law was censored by the Government.
Further proof of the treachery of Protopopoff were not needed; this was the most convincing which had yet appeared.
During the first week of March, 1917, the unrest among the populace continued growing, and the Duma and the labor leaders felt themselves regarding the situation helplessly. Small riots occurred and martial law was immediately declared. Food was so scarce that even the wealthy were starving.
But Protopopoff had made one mistake: he was also starving the troops garrisoning Petrograd.
On March 9, 1917, the street railways ceased running on account of a strike of the street railway men. The streets were full of excited crowds, though as yet no violence had been committed. Cossacks and soldiers also patrolled the thoroughfares, while squads of police were on the housetops, covering the street corners with machine guns. Protopopoff wanted revolution, but he did not mean to allow it to succeed. All he wanted was a few days of violent disorder, a prolonged Red Sunday, during which a separate peace with Germany and Austria might be proclaimed.
But the violence did not break out so soon as he desired. The strike was spreading; by the 10th it had become practically universal. But meanwhile the workingmen were quietly organizing. Electing delegates, they formed the Council of Workingmen's Deputies, which immediately took over the control of their movements. It was this fact which caused what might have been a blind uprising of desperate people to assume the character of an organized revolution. On this date the Duma, which had been in continual session, broke off relations with the Government with a resolution stating that "with such a Government the Duma forever severs its connections." In response to this act the czar issued a decree ordering the dissolution of the Duma.
On the following day, Sunday the 11th, the members of the Duma unanimously decided to ignore the decree of the czar and to hold what was to prove the first session of the Duma as the representative body of the Russian democracy.