We were not able to have much of a “rest” - after four days we had to go to Petersburg. For some reason, memories of the wintry journey have stayed with me, travelling through the Finnish pine forests, the glorious morning and Ilyich’s preoccupied, thoughtful face. He was thinking of the struggle ahead. The question of the Constituent Assembly must be decided soon. It has been arranged for the 18 January.
I attend a lot of events. The “New Year's Eve of the Futurists” took place in the Polytechnic. There was a crowd there, as there might have been at a Soviet demonstration. Towards the start of the evening, it became clear that of the four men advertised on the poster Burliuka, Kamenskii wouldn’t show up, and Goldschmidt was refusing. As for myself, well I was fiddling with my pen. It is awful to remember it.
Baby kept in bed today because of his foot, but it doesn't hurt him. There was no night service as our priest was obliged to go away for a few days on account of unpleasant stories. He is innocent.
There is a theory that the Moscow working man feels himself free from capitalist domination, and therefore bears hardships gladly. This is no doubt true of the minority who are active Communists, but I do not think it has any truth for the others. The average working man... feels himself the slave of the Government, and has no sense whatsoever of having been liberated from a tyranny.
President Wilson's speech of December 26th has just been delivered to Brest-Litovsk by Colonel Raymond Robins. I'm sending it to you. I hope it will be properly used.
It was a quiet clear day. Alexis's ankle was somewhat swollen and he stayed in bed. We took a long walk; the girls also went out after dinner.