“Yes, we do! We know you!” came from several parts of the crowd. “Well, if you know me, you ought also to know that I waded in the mud of the trenches together with you; that I slept on the same wet ground as you or your brother; that I faced the same dangers, suffered the same hunger, shared the same cabbage soup that you had. Why then do you attack me? Why do you jeer at me? How and when have I earned your contempt and derision?” “When you were a common soldier,” answered a couple of voices, “you were like one of us. But now, being an officer, you are under the influence of the bourgeoisie.” “Who made me an officer if not you? Didn’t your comrades, the common soldiers of the First and Tenth Armies, send special delegates to honour me and present icons and standards to me, thus raising me to the grade of officer? I am of the people, blood of your blood, a toiling peasant girl.” “But we are tired of war. We want peace,” they complained, unable to find fault with me personally. “I want peace, too. But how can you have peace? Show me how?” I insisted vigorously, observing that my words were soothing the temper of the crowd considerably. “Why, simply by leaving the front and going home. That’s how we can have peace.” “Leave the front!” I shouted, with all the force at my command. “What will happen then? Tell me! Will you have peace? Never! The Germans will just walk over our defences and crush the people and their freedom. This is war. You are soldiers and you know what war is. You know that all is fair in war. To leave the trenches! Why not hand Russia over to the Kaiser! It’s the same thing, and you know it as well as I. No, there is no other way to peace than through an offensive and the defeat of the enemy. Conquer the Germans and there will be peace! Shoot them, kill them, stab them, but do not fraternize with the foes of our beloved Russia!” “But they fraternize with us. They are tired of the war, too. They want peace as much as we,” said a few men. “They are deceiving you. They fraternize here and send soldiers to fight our Allies.” “What are the Allies to us if they do not want peace?” some argued. “They do not want peace now because they know that the Germans are treacherous. You and I know it, too. Haven’t the Germans asphyxiated thousands of our brethren with their deadly gases? Haven’t we all suffered from their base tricks? Aren’t they now occupying a large part of our country? Let’s drive them out and have peace!” There was silence. Nobody had anything to say. Greatly encouraged, I resumed, just as a happy idea dawned upon me. “Yes, let us drive them out of Russia. Suppose I were to take you along to the front, to feed you well, to equip you with new uniforms and boots, would you go with me to attack the treacherous enemy?” “Yes, yes! We will go! You are our comrade. You are not a bourgeois vampire! With you, we will go!” many voices rang from all sides.