THE RUSSIAN SITUATION.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16119, 25 January 1918, Page 8

THE RUSSIAN SITUATION.

PEACE CONFERENCE. GERMANY'S POLICY OF ANNEXATIONS. (Bv Cable. —Preis Association.—Copyright.) iAustralian and N.Z. Cable Association.! (Receive Januarv 24 th. 11.30 p.m.) PETROGRAD. January 23. M. Trotzky has returned to Petrograd from Brest Litovsk. He says that the Germans' terms preponderate in favour of annexation. TJic Germans make no secret of their desire to seize Poland and Lithuania, and Courland. and hope to make Moon island a new Gibraltar, with a view to strangling Russia economically and politically. M. Trotzky added that the Austrians did not participate actively in the negotiations, but merely gave their assent to every German proposal. M. Trotzky believes that a final decision will shortly be reached. GERMAN ANNEXATIONISTS ALLPOWERFUL. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Router's Telegrams.) (Received January 2-3 th, 12.30 a.m.) LONDON, January 24. A wireless Russian political official statement declares that the German annexationists have been. sufficiently powerful to impose their will upon the evasive diplomats of the Dr. von HertJing and Herr von Kuhlmann school. The Austro-German delegation refused to guarantee the withdrawal of their armies from the occupied territories. "This is a monstrous annexation. The Austro-German peoples are being deceived by their own Governments before tho wholo world." The statement continues:—"At the Brest Litovsk negotiations Austria gave her humble approval to all General Hoff. Mann and Herr von Ivuhlmann said, but this did not prevent tho Austrian Socialists'from telling fables to the Austrian workmen regarding Count Czcrnin's endeavour to obtain peace." POSITION EXTREMELY CRITICAL. (Receive January 21th, 8.10 p.m.) LONDON, January 22. Dr'.' Harold Williams, telegraphing from Petrograd, says that a dissolu- -• ' ■tion decree justifies the Bolshevik action. • , : Ho says that the Assembly was to "be tho crown of a. bourgeois . Parliamentary Republic, but it proved to be an obstacle in the path of tho October revolution. "It is not national, but only'class institutions like the Soviets which will be ablo to overcome the re- . sistance of the propertied class, and lay the foundations of a Socialist order." v

"M. Lenin, speaking at a Socialist meeting, said that the Soviets wero kindling the flames of revolution. He commanded all people to fight the Soviets, who "were breaking the pillars . of ' the Bourgeois not with gloved hands, but in the proletarian way." ' Dr. Williams goes on:—"It is evi- , "dent that. Socialism will be introduced . at' the bayonet's point, and the programme rrill not be executed without a struggle. - The position is extremely critical." TREATMENT OF. PRISONERS. (Auatrali*n and 2f.Z. Cable Association.) (Received January 24th, 8.10 p.m.) PETROGRAD, January 23. r -' r '( .The Secretary of the Russian Delega- • v tion to the Brest Litovsk Conference ■ - Las officially protested against the ' German version of the proceedings, in ■which M. Trotzky's protest against ~ Gerinany'g change, of front is not mentioned. General Hoffmann warned, the Russian Government that if it carried out its intention of giving German officer prisoners the same treatment as the men, Germany would cancel the project for a reciprocal improvement in war prisoners' conditions in Germany. BOLSHEVIKS CLAIM VICTORY. (Renter's Telegrama.) ' (Received January 24th, 8.10 p.m.) PETROGRAD, January 23. The .Bolsheviks report .that their troops defeated the Ukrainians at Poltava, and captux-ed the town. THE PETROGRAD MURDERS. (Australian and Cable Association.) " LONDON, January 23. The letrograd correspondent of the "Daily Chronicle" says that Lenin and the Soviet condemn the murder of MM. Shingareff and Kokoshkin, and .iave issued an order for the arrest of the assassins. It is clear that the murders wcro not committed by order

of the Central Bolshevik Government, v hic-h fears tho consequences. Talk in the strops on Monday in connexion with, the murders was menacing towards the Bolsheviks, owing lo the, popularity of 31. Shincrarctf in Petrograd, aud of M. KoKoshkin. The murders indicate that ilie Bolshevik leaders are no longer able lo control the passions of the mob v.hic-h they have aroused. The correspondent of the "iT.u-nfng Post" states that it is rumoured that other ex-Ministers in tho fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul have suffered the same fate as MM. Shingareff and Kokoshkin. The food shortage is approaching the vergA of actual famine. Money is unprocurable by private persons. The methods adopted by the public bodies cf the proletariat for raising money for current expenses are roobery, blackmail, and feloDy.