sons of the properties classes

These came for the most part from among the sons of the propertied classes . Union of Officers . An organisation formed among the reactionary officers in the army to combat politically the growing power of the Army Committees . Knights of St. George . The Cross of St. George was awarded for distinguished action in battle . Its holder automatically became a " Knight of St. George . " The predominant influence in the organisation was that of the supporters of the military idea . Peasants ' Union . In 1905 , the Peasants ' Union was a revolutionary peasants ' organisation . In 1917 , however , it had become the political expression of the more prosperous peasants , to fight the growing power and revolutionary aims of the Soviets of Peasants ' Deputies . Chronology and Spelling I have adopted in this book our Calendar throughout , instead of the former Russian Calendar , which was thirteen days earlier . In the spelling of Russian names and words , I have made no attempt to follow any scientific rules for transliteration , but have tried to give the spelling which would lead the English - speaking reader to the simplest approximation of their pronunciation . Sources Much of the material in this book is from my own notes . I have also relied , however , upon a heterogeneous file of several hundred assorted Russian newspapers , covering almost every day of the time described , of files of the English paper , the Russian Daily News , and of the two French papers , Journal de Russie and Entente . But far more valuable than these is the Bulletin de la Presse issued daily by the French Information Bureau in Petrograd , which reports all important happenings , speeches and the comment of the Russian press . Of this I have an almost complete file from the spring of 1917 to the end of January , 1918 . Besides the foregoing , I have in my possession almost every proclamation ,