5. _Socialist Revolutionary party._ Called _Essaires_ from the initials of their name. Originally the revolutionary party of the peasants, the party of the Fighting Organisations—the Terrorists. After the March Revolution, it was joined by many who had never been Socialists. At that time it stood for the abolition of private property in land only, the owners to be compensated in some fashion. Finally the increasing revolutionary feeling of peasants forced the _Essaires_ to abandon the “compensation” clause, and led to the younger and more fiery intellectuals breaking off from the main party in the fall of 1917 and forming a new party, the _Left Socialist Revolutionary party._ The _Essaires,_ who were afterward always called by the radical groups _“Right Socialist Revolutionaries,”_ adopted the political attitude of the Mensheviki, and worked together with them. They finally came to represent the wealthier peasants, the intellectuals, and the politically uneducated populations of remote rural districts. Among them there was, however, a wider difference of shades of political and economic opinion than among the Mensheviki. Among their leaders mentioned in these pages: Avksentiev, Gotz, Kerensky, Tchernov, “Babuschka” Breshkovskaya. a. _Left Socialist Revolutionaries._ Although theoretically sharing the Bolshevik programme of dictatorship of the working-class, at first were reluctant to follow the ruthless Bolshevik tactics. However, the _Left Socialist Revolutionaries_ remained in the Soviet Government, sharing the Cabinet portfolios, especially that of Agriculture. They withdrew from the Government several times, but always returned. As the peasants left the ranks of the _Essaires_ in increasing numbers, they joined the _Left Socialist Revolutionary party,_ which became the great peasant party supporting the Soviet Government, standing for confiscation without compensation of the great landed estates, and their disposition by the peasants themselves. Among the leaders: Spiridonova, Karelin, Kamkov, Kalagayev. b. _Maximalists._ An off-shoot of the _Socialist Revolutionary party_ in the Revolution of 1905, when it was a powerful peasant movement, demanding the immediate application of the maximum Socialist programme. Now an insignificant group of peasant anarchists. Parliamentary Procedure Russian meetings and conventions are organised after the continental model rather than our own. The first action is usually the election of officers and the _presidium._ The _presidium_ is a presiding committee, composed of representatives of the groups and political factions represented in the assembly, in proportion to their numbers. The _presidium_ arranges the Order of Business, and its members can be called upon by the President to take the chair _pro tem._