The Chief of the Central Administration of the Militia himself admitted that escaped convicts were sometimes placed in command of the militia. The villages were sometimes without any militia at all, and they administered themselves as best they could.
In its proclamation of April 25th the Provisional Government gave an accurate description of the condition of the country in stating that "the growth of new social ties was slower than the process of disruption caused by the collapse of the old régime." In every feature of the life of the people this fact was clearly to be observed.
THE ACTIVITIES OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT: FOOD SUPPLIES, INDUSTRY, TRANSPORT AND FINANCE.
In the early spring of 1917 the deficiency in supplies for the Army and for the towns was rapidly growing. In one of its appeals to the peasants the Soviet said: "The enemies of freedom, the supporters of the deposed Czar, are taking advantage of the shortage of food in the towns _for which they are themselves responsible_ in order to undermine your freedom and ours. They say that the Revolution has left the country without bread...." This simple explanation, adduced by the Revolutionary Democracy in every crisis, was, of course, one-sided. There was the inheritance of the old régime as well as the inevitable consequences of three years of war, during which imports of agricultural implements had come to a standstill, labourers were taken from the land, and, as a result, the area under crops was diminished. But these were not the only reasons for the food shortage in a fertile country--a shortage which in the autumn was considered by the Government as disastrous. The food policy of the Government and the fluctuation of prices, the depreciation of the currency and a rise in the price of commodities entirely out of proportion to the fixed prices for grain also largely contributed to this result. This rise in prices was due to general economic conditions, and especially to a very rapid rise in wages; to the agrarian policy of the Government, the inadequacy of the area under crops, to the turmoil in the villages, and to the breakdown of transport. Private trade was abolished and the entire matter of food supplies was handed over to Food Supply Committees--undoubtedly democratic in character, but, with the exception of the representatives of the Co-operatives, inexperienced and devoid of a creative spirit. There are many more reasons, great and small, which may be included in the formula: The Old Régime, the War and the Revolution.