On this day, millions of Russians walked up to commemorate 12 years of Bloody Sunday...... There is ample information that the commemoration march was launched by the same revolutionaries who instigated it 12 years ago, and that they are exploiting the discontent that exists in Russia and are fanning up popular discontent with the government in order to seek a coup d'état...... We have reason to believe that in the next 10 months, Russia will enter the most critical period, and once the revolution is formed, then everything in Russia will be changed......"

Telegram No. 01256 (top secret) from the Intelligence Station of the Imperial Intelligence Service in Russia

While the people of the Russian state, amid the agitation of the revolutionaries and the discontent of the Tsar, were commemorating "Bloody Sunday" in a surging crowd, Umilyanov, who was in exile in Zurich, gave a speech at the youth congress held at the National Residence. {/Book friend upload update} At the youth conference, he made a more straightforward claim.

"There can be no doubt that this revolution in the future can only be proletarian, social...... The revolution of ism. This revolution in the future will certainly show further that, on the one hand, only a harsh struggle, that is, a civil war, can liberate humanity from the oppression of capital; On the other hand, only the class-conscious proletariat can become, and will become, the leader of the overwhelming majority of the exploited. ”

At this time, due to serious dissatisfaction with the Tsar, the fighting spirit of various interest groups and the masses of the people in Russia was promoted by various reasons, such as the bursting of the embankment by floods. On January 29, the Menshevik member Ye? Mayevs drafted a manifesto for the workers entitled "Autocracy is strangling the state", in which he said ← provisional government must be established. "To extricate the country from its predicament and to avoid a fatal collapse, to strengthen domestic political freedoms and to conclude a peace treaty on terms acceptable to the proletariat of all countries" ◇ The Wing Constitutionalists were also increasingly dissatisfied with the "purely office-based tactics" pursued by the party leadership and advocated more resolute action.

In a leaflet issued on 27 February, the Petrograd Committee of the Bolsheviks called for: "The working class and the peasants in military uniforms join hands in a struggle against the entire tsarist clique." Put an end to the humiliation of Russia forever. The time has come for an open struggle! ”

At this time, most of the opposition leaders in Russia were exiled to the frontiers and exiled abroad, but there were still a large number of opposition and revolutionaries in the country who mobilized the masses to directly confront the tsarist government, they staged marches, launched strikes, and printed anti-war and anti-tsarist leaflets≥ *book* bar ()

And to these anti-government acts, the Russian Imperial Spy Bureau also reacted immediately, first on the night of February 8. Most of the members of the "workers' regiment", including Gvozdev, were arrested, and subsequently imprisoned in the Peter and Paul fortress. Then, in retaliation, on February 21, everything seemed to be slipping towards an even more dangerous brink, when the police at the Putilov plant were attacked ♀ in a hail of "pieces of iron and iron slag".

On February 27, when the Russian State Duma opened, about 90,000 demonstrators in Petrograd flocked to the State Duma to petition the deputies of the State Duma, facing petition activity and massive strikes. On the same day, the commander of the Petrograd Military District, General Khabarov, issued a notice to maintain order and prohibit demonstrations, as well as an open letter from Milyukov. He warned workers to beware of "bad and dangerous agitation" from "fountains of darkness."

Although the atmosphere on the opening day of the State Duma was tense. But the opening ceremony of the Duma proceeded quite calmly, and high hopes were placed on the State Duma. However. From the very beginning, the Duma got bogged down in endless arguments on the issue of food supply, and the deputies of the State Duma. Most people were equally disappointed with Tsar Nicholas II, and their words were even somewhat aggressive, so to speak, on this point many parliamentarians were in agreement with the demonstrators outside their doors, and in their words, some of them even gave verbal support to those who marched outside. …,

On March 1, forced by the tight food supply throughout Russia, the government decided to introduce a limited ration of bread coupons in Petrograd, and this new method hit the nerves even more violently: the already insufficient food rations had to be reduced again! On March 3, a snowstorm that lasted several days interrupted rail transport, and food supplies in Petrograd ran out. Many people gathered around the bakery, especially the women who were in charge of the housework, and the women shouted and robbed the bakery in the face of the merchants taking the opportunity to raise prices and stop selling. The following day, there were several more robberies of bakeries in the city.

The tsar and the Russian government did not have any foresight of the grim situation that was coming, in fact, as early as a month and a half ago, General Globachev, the head of the Russian Imperial Security Service, issued a warning to the government.

"The mood of all walks of life in the capital is particularly anxious, and the political situation is as it was on the eve of 1905."

In order to report the danger of the situation, he made a series of secret reports to the government on February 1, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 26, and directly pointed out in the report.

"The inhabitants openly criticized all the measures of the government in intolerable and sharp terms, and there were also statements "concerning His Majesty the Tsar". The report speaks of the resurrection of revolutionary slogans and the danger of increased terrorist acts, and it is likely that the government is faced "not with a handful of insignificant Duma members, but against the entire Russian people", and that the growing discontent of his inhabitants will not end there, but "the beginning of a revolution that is the most terrible of all revolutions and ruthlessly destroys the social order."

In late February, State Duma Chairman Rodencke directly admonished the Tsar:

"Your Majesty, we are on the eve of a great event, and the outcome is unpredictable. It seems that you have chosen to dissolve the Duma, the most dangerous path. I am sure that within three weeks the revolution that overthrows His Majesty will break out, and His Majesty will no longer be able to rule. ”

Rodencke's straightforwardness surprised Nicholas II and asked:

"Where did you know that?"

"From all fait accompli. The self-esteem of the people, the will of the people and the self-consciousness of the people cannot be neglected in this way, as the appointed ministers have done. It cannot be assumed that only Rasputinian figures are the most important. You, Your Majesty, are reaping the bitter fruits you have sown. ”

But the warning of the chairman of the State Duma, Nicholas II did not pay much attention to it, and simply said casually:

"God willing."

Faced with the tsar's indifference, Luo Jiangke replied:

"God will not forbid, you and your government have ruined everything, revolution is inevitable."

Although he did not seem to care, Nicholas II was somewhat influenced by Rodencko's words, and he summoned the newly appointed Prime Minister Golitsyn and authorized him to study the formation of a cabinet responsible to the Russian Duma, which, in Nicholas II's opinion, had to show his attitude in some way, if needed, of course, on the premise that it was to maintain his rule.

But what happened then changed everything.

On 1 March, the US press published the "Zimmermann Secret Cable," which was sent by German Foreign Minister Zimmermann to the Minister in Mexico City at the time≤ meaning that in the event of a war between Germany and the United States, the Minister would propose to the Mexican government in Carranza to form an alliance, and Mexico would join the German side, and in return, Mexico would receive generous financial assistance and restore the lost territories in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Carranza was also supposed to mediate for Germany and Japan, which were at war at the time, and to ask Japan to join the alliance ♀, and the secret message was intercepted and deciphered by the British, who sent it to the American ambassador to Britain, Page, and the whole country was shocked, and the contents of the secret message aroused even the people of the central and western regions, who had been relatively cold to the war, to join the war. At the same time, the Germans were torpedoing American ships, killing many Americans, which greatly angered the American public, and the call for war in the United States became more and more intense. …,

Nicholas II, who was originally prepared to make concessions to the people, in view of the fact that it was a foregone conclusion that the United States would join the Entente to enter the war, and at the same time, China also promised to send an expeditionary force to Russia in the next six months, and also further increase the number of days, Nicholas II decided to return to the Mogilev base camp in order to continue this "victorious war".

In the evening Golitsyn was summoned to the palace, and after Nikolai told him that he was going to return to the base camp, he said to him bluntly:

"I change my decision."

This was the result of his consultations with Alexandra, who was adamantly opposed to the creation of a government accountable to the Duma, and instead wanted to leave a complete absolute monarchy to her son.

In the evening, as is customary, the bell of the Fedorov Church rang to see the Tsar off at the Alexander Station, from which his sky-blue train entered the Nikolaev railway line.

At the Tsar's dinner, two representatives of the workers of the Putilov plant, commissioned by the masses, visited Kerensky and Tsykhze, two representatives of the Socialist caucus in the State Duma, respectively, and the workers' representatives considered it their duty to remind them of the gravity of the situation that had developed.

At noon on March 8, the Tsar's special train arrived in Mogilev, and the Tsar hosted a luncheon to entertain the heads of the military delegations of the Allied countries. Subsequently, the tsar convened a military meeting, and the Chief of the General Staff Alekseev and General Gurko had just spread out the map on the table to report to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on the situation at the front, and urgent telegrams from the ministers and Duma deputies flew on the table like snowflakes:

The people's riots shook the capital, and the revolution began! (To be continued......