THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 45, 21 February 1918, Page 6

THE WAR

An official report from' Petrograd states that Trotsky and Lenin, in the presence of a^ renewed invasion of Bussia by the enemy, have been forced to surrender suddenly to the enemy's demands and to declare the willingness of the People's Commissaries to sign a peace on the enemy's terms. Even official messages from Russia, may be Untrue; they are at least liable to be reversed by subsequent ones; but this is exactly what was to be expected. No grandiloquent talk about fighting the German invader, no adherence to even nobler ideals than the Bolsheviks profess, no righteous indignation against the German schemes of conquest and the inherent sinfulness of the bourgeoisie, can prevail against even third-rate German troops armed and organised. Russia really signed a blank peace treaty as soon as the army-began to be disorganised, and left the filling-in of the terms to Germany. The Brest Litoysk negotiations snowed the Bolslieyik leaders holding their own in surprising fashion against the enemy's practised diplomats, but one is- inclined to wonder how much of it was a great stags ■play.

Russia was given a great deal of ropo, in the hope no doutt that the enemy could secure his objects by talking. But from the first blast, however bold th^ attitude of the Russian delegates, the Central Powers were the military victors. T3y negotiation they secured the Ukraine peace, such as it is, and having come to an end of their patience, and perhaps of the time they can use for conferences, have turned to the true resource of the victor. In peace negotiations what really counts is not the relative position of the armies to national frontiers, not what either side has done, but what can bo done still. In the Russian theatre the enemy not only has the ad-vantage of achievements in the form of a vast occupation, but ho has the power to do a- great deal more. However poor his armies may b6 compared with those in other theatres, they can occupy. Russia, to the limit of their marching ability, and the Bolshevik leaders are . clearsighted enough to realise it. The "lamb" of Brest Litovsk has thrown off his disguise and shows himself to be a Prussian wolf.

Kryltoko, the Bolshevik commander-in-chief, seems to be making an effort to check the invasion, first by the typical Bolshevik means of talking the Germans into'inactivity, and, if that fails, by offering tho utmost resistance. It seems to be easy enough to talk a Russian into not fighting, but the case 'may bo 'a little different with a German newly inspired with the lust of conquest. Krylenko may bo disappointed when, if his men fail in their mission as peaceagents, the time comes for them to "offer the utmost resistance." A Petrograd correspondent of a London paper wrote a few #eeks. ago:—"lt is very difficult to rally Bolshevik troops. With the soldiers Bolshevism means mainly a desire for peace, and when they are called'on to fight in civil war their Bolshevik, convictions may suddenly vanish, or' else strange transformations may occur, as in Zhmerinka, when the Volhynian Guards Begiment was ordered by Bolsheviks to attack Ukrainians. Fifteen hundred soldiers of the regiment suddenly self-determined, as the saying is— that is, they declared themselves Ukrainians, and went over to the other side. Frequently at critical moments Bolshevik troops allow themselves to be disarmed without resistance. The formerly Bolshevik garrison of Rostoff-on-the-Don had only to be told by the Cossacks to disperse and go home, and it immediately became pro-Cossack." :

The same principle, presumably, will assert itself in the case of war against the Austrians and Germans, for the Russian soldier who sees no sense in being cut down -by Cossacks is not likely to relish being shot at by Huns. In any case, what are the Russians going to fight with? The enemy has thinned his forces to the utmost, but he has not disarmed them, and he has not robbed them of enough artillery to make a balanced army. The Bolsheviks on the battle front cfumot be imagined as much better than a half-armed mob, and in all probability the bulk of the effective soldiers and weapons have been diverted to carry on the insane civil war which is ravaging Russia and sapping her strength"".

The revival of warfare dn the East, even if it is but a flutter, is, bound to have a great effect upon the German nation. The effect will be all the greater if at the very threat of a Hindenburgian avalanche the Bolsheviks should collapse, as is indicated in to-day's report. Though Germany, before Christmas, declared that peace could'not be concluded with, so unstable a Government as that of Lenin and Trotsky, for the purposes of this act a .peace ..concluded with anyone, so long as it gives German results, will do. The Germans have been carefully .working up the nation's enthusiasm for the war for months past—ever since the military party, re-established its threatened grip on German affairs. The war lords know that the idea of a forced peace can only be kept out of the German mind by a process of hypnotism, and they have striven to create an.obsession. "Don't write too much about peace. Only a victory leads to pea-ce. So it has been in the East; so it will be in the West; so it will be everywhere." This bombastic declaration was made in "December, says the London .Daily Telegraph, by General Ludendorff, Chief Quartermaster-General of the German General Staff, to a group of journalists representing organs of the Centre Party, who visited th? German Headquarters. The visit, in itself was of significance as part of the great campaign of the Prussian militarists. Following on the footsteps of the Reichstag members, pressmen from all parts of 'the Empire in successive parties are visiting the fronts, the programme also always including a theatrically staged interview with the army chiefs. Ludendorff went on : " Victory and peace will certainly come. They will come the sooner the more united wo are, and the stronger we show ourselves able to bear what has to be borne. In the military sense no one can now deprive us of victory. Although we stand before such a heavy task,, with God's help we shall carry it through." Hindenburg also addressed tho journalists, saying : "It is my firm conviotion that further victories will follow the victories, already obtained. Majr

the courage of the Fatherland remain unbrokf-n, and then, with us, the Fatherland will conquer. Greet for me the beloved Fatherland, and teE it it can be at rest, for we shall conquer, with God."

The Germans, shaken perhaps by pondering upon the events of last year in the West, infected with the_ Russian spirit of revolution, and suffering a good deal from hunger, have been skilfully nursed by_ such propaganda, and the Italian drive must have gone a long way towards comforting them.' A Russian peace will go still further, especially if it really does produce some food, and the newly-reported outburst of enthusiastic talk about trade after the war— talk thai. 1 may turn out to be not very far astray in some respects—will add still more to the war spirit which is essential if the enemy's forecasted offensive is to be pushed forward jvith its maximum weight.