Council Bluffs

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a city and countyseat of Pottawattamie co., Ia.; on the Missouri river, opposite Omaha, Neb.. with which it is connected by bridges. The city is the E. terminus of the Union Pacific railroad and the converging point of all E. railroads which join the Union Pacific. It is situated at the foot of the bluffs, four miles from the river. The city is the farming trade center of southern Iowa. It contains several railelevators, and other interests. The prin. cipal industries are carpentering, masonry, printing and publishing, plumbing and gas fitting, flour and gri grist milling, and brick and tile making. In 1919 there were 3 National banks, with $420,- 000 capital, and several private banking houses. The city is well lighted by gas and electricity, is connected with Omaha by electric railways, and has several fine parks. The most noteworthy buildings 12-Vol. IIІ-Cyc are the County Court House, United States Government Building, High School, Masonic Temple, and Union Depot. There are many churches, a Library Association, Y. M. C. A., and the State Institution for Deaf Mutes. Council Bluffs derives its name from a council held on the bluffs between the Indians and the explorers, Lewis and Clarke. It was a Mormon settlement in 1846, and was chartered as a city in 1853. Pop. (1910) 29,292; (1920) 36,162. COUNCIL OF WORKINGMEN AND SOLDIERS, more generally known by its Russian name, the Soviet, a word signifying "Council." A Council of Workingmen was first organized in Moscow, in 1905, by the Russian revolutionists, with Leon Trotzky as its chief executive. It participated to a leading extent in the revolutionary disorders which took place in Moscow at that time, but was dissolved with the suppression of the revolutionary movement by the Russian authorities. In March, 1917, a council of Workingmen's Delegates was again organized in Petrograd, this time not for the purpose of creating a revolution, but to meet revolutionary conditions created by the Premier, Protopopov. The term "Soviet" has been universally associated with the Russian Bolsheviki, or Communists, but this is distinctly erroneous. The relation is closely parallel to the relation between the Constitution of the United States and the political party which happens to be in power. The Russian Government, or a number of its higher officials, desired to make a separate peace with Germany, in the early part of 1917. To create a pretext, they deliberately set about creating those abnormal economic conditions which they hoped would lead to disorders in the capital. Conscious of this move, the radicals and liberals as they did, to bring the war against successful conclusion. Germany to a Nevertheless, the autocracy continued in its irritative tactics. Realizing the inevitable crisis, and to prevent general disorder, the liberals, through the Duma, where they were in a majority, organized a Supreme Committee to take over the reins of government. The radical elements, and especially the labor organizations, feeling that they would not be fully represented by this body, at the same time took steps to form their Council of Workingmen's Delegates. This was actually accomplished in the night of March 11, 1917, when public disorder was already in full swing and the police 1 174 COUNCIL OF WORKINGMEN had already begun firing on the assembled populace. For months after these two bodies cooperated ted amicably in exercising the real power of the Provisional Government, both alike being in favor of maintaining order at home while the war was prosecuted against the enemy outside. A few weeks after the formation of the Council its name was changed to the Council of Workingmen's and Soldiers' Delegates, since the delegates from the military organizations at the front were allowed to participate in the deliberations of the body in increasing numbers. During the early part of the régime of the Provisional Revolutionary Government the moderate Socialists were in control of the Council by a large majority, their representative, Alexander Kerensky, becoming Premier and War Minister. On Sept. 10, 1917, an effort was made to establish a military dictatorship by the Cossack commander-inchief, General Kornilov, who sought to eliminate the Kerensky civil government. The effort failed, largely through the efforts of Kerensky, but the effect was to create a Bolshevist majority in the Soviet, the Bolsheviki, or extreme radicals, being in favor of terminating the dual character of the administration and establishing the Soviet in supreme authority. This swing to the extreme left continued with increasing strength, as delegates from the military organizations at the front arrived, and a month later the Bolshevist majority was able to overthrow the Provisional Government and establish what became generally known as the Soviet Government. The Council, or Soviet, was intended by its founders to be something much more than a temporary measure for maintaining working-class organization during a critical revolutionary period. It embodies what they consider a radwere strongly opposed to any revolu- ically new principle in government. tionary activities at that time, wishing, Many of the Soviet organizers have stated that they were primarily inspired by the old town meeting system of our New England States, under which the people gathered periodically in meeting and directly initiated legislation. Based on this free democracy, the Soviet, however, however, instead of of being based on geographical representation, insists on representation by occupation. Thus, in a large city the school teachers have a council of their own, quite separate and distinct from the council of the men engaged in building, or of the transportation workers. Thus, locally, the Soviets have a strong resemblance to trade unions. But in federation they lose this trade character, for the federations, which are formed on a geographical basis, consist of a union of all the soviets within their territories. Thus it is only locally that the Soviet It elects has an educational aspect. delegates to the regional federation, who represent their constituents as workers in a special trade or profession, rather than as citizens. Before the ascendancy of the Bolsheviki the Soviet was open to all citizens above voting age, including women, but after they came into power the Communists restricted suffrage to what they called the proletariat, persons living from the proceeds of their labor and not employing others as workers. In 1920 the Soviet system of government was still in full power over the greater part of Russia. There has been much criticism of its efficiency by radical observers, themselves in favor of a Socialist system of government. So far removed is the local Soviet from the authority exercised by the National Executive Committee in Moscow, chosen by a quarterly All-Russian Congress of Soviets, that it exercises almost no control over its actions. This is said to be due to the many relays of delegates which are finally represented at the Congress. The local soviets send delegates to a regional soviet, which in turn sends delegates to a provincial soviet, where the delegates to the Congress are elected. By this time the popular character of the representatives is almost completely lost. See RUSSIA.