FUTURE OF RUSSIA

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 98, 28 April 1919, Page 3

FUTURE OF RUSSIA

THE ALLIES' INTEREST

VIEWS OF THE GRAND DUKE

ALEXANDER

ARMED INTERVENTTONi IMPERATIVE.

I have been privileged to have a long talk with the Grand Duke Alexander, who has recently arrived in Paris from the Crimea, on the present internal situation 6f the country, and to hear his views on what he considers necessary to be done if Russia is to bo once more placed on her feet and fitted to take her place at the Conference table (writes Mr. E. Ashmead Bartlett in the London Daily Telegraph). Here I should say that the Grand Duke spoke from an absolutely impartial standpoint. He recognises that the dynasty of the Romanoffs has disappeared, never to return, but as a patriot who loves his country he longs to see a stable Government established in the country which will enable the Russian people to develop on parallel lines with the democracies of all other nations.

"It is impossible," ho said, "for any person who has not been on the spot to understand the extraordinary state of anarchy and ruin to which the country has been reduced by the Bolshevik regime. It has been the fixed aim of the Soviets to turn the whole structure of society upside down, and to place the lowest elements in a position of supreme authority over the middle class and intellectuals. There is no question of establishing a democracy with equal chances and fair play for all strata of society. At first it was the aim of Lenin and his associates to wipe out the middle class and intellectuals altogether, but now that they have found it impossible to carry on the economic life of the State without their assistance, they wish to employ them as semi-slaves for their own purposes. . The cruelties, murders, and outrages which have taken place transcend "anything previously known in the world's history, and the horrors of the French' Revolution, which were directed against a small class, are insignificant to what -has been taking place in Russia. There is, in fact, no central Government at all. The Soviet of Moscow issues general instructions to the Soviets throughout the country, and leaves the interpretation of them to the local authorities on the spot. The very dregs of society are thus placed in a position of supreme authority oyer their fellow-men. The local Soviets are composed of individuals generally drawn from the criminal classes, and nearly always from the submerged tenth, who can neither read nor write, and who are wholly uneducated. Thus there is not even any uniformity m carrying out the provisional edicts issued by the Central Soviet of Moscow, and ,the tyranny varies all over the country In some of the Bolshevist districts the rule is comparatively mild compared to what it is in others.

ALL JUSTICE GONE.

" Civil justice has disappeared altogether v There are no longer any Courts of Law. Every case, whether civil or criminal, is settled by the local Soviet, whose sole object is to confiscate all property for what they declare to be the common use of the State, which really means for their own benefit. Thus, for instance, any house of a value of over 10DO roubles is confiscated to the State. As you can only build a mud hovel. for a thousand roubles, it may be said that every building in the country has been taken from its legitimate owners. Wheri your house is taken over by the local Soviet, a certain number of rooms are assigned to you, according to the size of your family, and the remainder are given to anyone who happens to be in temporary need of a dwelling, or who is dissatisfied with his own abode. . On my estates, for instance, they installed three people'for every one who was there before. This is to say, if I had one gardener they put in three; if I had one electrician they put in three; so as to find jobs for a 6 many of their supporters as possible. Thus, in a short time the State became incapable of supporting such a number of employees, and bankruptcy resulted. This ftystem of universal • confiscation is not confined to the upper classes and the wealthy. It is carried into the homes of the peasants, who are made to hand over their crops under the same communistic principles. ' Thus the peasants are continually in a state of open revolt. The Red Guards, in such instances, descend on the district and massacre the recalcitrant peasants by the hundred, and seize their grain. As a natural corollary, the peasants are not cultivating the soil in many districts, and Russia, amongst other .evils, is threatened witn a famine.

"The entire economic life of the country is at a complete standstill. The money in the banks has been confiscated, all industries are at a standstill, and only the fact that Russia is almost entirely self-supporting saves the country for the time being from complete famine and pestilence. This is the Government which the Peace Conference has invited to meet at Prinkipo to come to a general settlement of Russian affairs. The mere idea is preposterous. Yon might just as well send out a wireless to all undiscovered criminals in England or France and ask them to meet the police authorities in order that the latter might ask their forgiveness. Mind you, the vast majority of the Russian people are by now bitterly opposed to the Bolshevik regime. The millennium which they were promised has not come to pass, and they find themselves oppressed by the most intolerable tyranny the world lias ever known. But they are, for the time being, helpless in the hands of the local Soviets, supported by a mass of disbanded armed soldiers and Red Guards." ARMED INTERVENTION. I asked the Grand Duke what remedies he proposed to restore order in Russia. . "There is only one possible remedy for these evils," he replied vehemently, "and that is the armed intervention of the Allies. No great force would be necessary. The supporters of Constitutional Government in the various districts which are holding out against the Bolsheviks must be supported with arms, munitions, and supplies. It would be a comparatively easy matter to crush the Bolsheviks in a country like Russia, where there are few railways, the contral of which gives you _ complete hold on the country. In the Crimea the French generals, Francois d'Esperey and Bertillot, worked out a complete and comprehensive scheme for obtaining possession of the railroads and principal towns, which, if carried out with the assistance of the Allied troops, would have crushed the Bolsheviks within a few weeks. Unfortunately for Russia, just when their plans were ready they were stopped by direct order from Paris, with the result that tho Bolsheviks everywhere made headway in the Crimea. The great obstacle in the way of,a settlement is the prevailing, idea that Bolshevism really represents the views of the great mass of the Russian people, and that it would, therefore, be a departure from President Wilson's dictum that every nation has tho right to live under the Government of its own. choosing if the Allies :

interfered, in the internal affairs of Russia. But, as I have already said, the vast. majority of the Russian people are weary to death of the tyranny of the Soviets, and long for any authority which can bring them peace and the undisturbed possession of thoir farms and lands.

"You have an object-lesson us to how simple it would be to restore order in what the Germans, with comparatively few troops, did in the Ukraine, when they were invited to enter and put down disorder. They occupied the principal towns and soized the railways. Then they, policed the country with small patrols, and within a few weeks had driven out, killed, or imprisoned all the criminal elements bent on loot and murder. Never before had the country enjoyed such peace and prosperity. Then, when they were hard'pressed on the Western front they withdrew their troops, hoping they would embarrass the. Allies by allowing Bolshevism, which they detest and fear, to spread over Europe. Naturally, they hope by x creating a general state of anarchy throughout the world, to gain something of what they had lost by their defeats in the field.

"The Allies, if they will only lend assistance to the constitutional elements in Russia, who are the true supporters of the Revolution, have it in their power to restore order just as easily as the Germans did in the Ukraine. The fighting can be done by the constitutional forces, which can obtain any number of recruits if only arms and munitions are forthcoming. The Allied troops need merely be employed to. occupy the principal towns and to hold the railways—to act, so to speak, as the custodians of law and order, while Russia is given a chance of working out her own salvation.". ALTERNATIVES—ANARCHY AND RUIN. "What are the alternatives," I asked the Grand Duke, "if the Allies decide they cannot lend military aid?" "Then I can see no way out at all. The country will sink deeper and deeper into the mire of anarchy and financial ruin. The only alternative would be one highly-distasteful to the Russian people —to ask the Germans to undertake what the Allies refuse to do. This would only be done as a last desperate measure. You have only to recall the enormous sacrifices made by, the Russian people in tho first two years of the war —sacrifices which saved the Allies from complete disaster —to understand how Prussian dominion is hated in Russia. But unless the Allies intervene to restore order the constitutional elements, driven desperate, may be forced to adopt a step which all would deplore, and which would open Russia once again to . German intrigue and exploitation. Russia is composed r>f 80 per cent, of ignorant peasants, who must be given time to educate themselves before, you can talk of having a democracy founded on French or ■ English ideals. The people want to be ruled, but they want to be governed in their own way. They do not wish to see their Central1 Government controlled by Germans, ahd all their industries once again in German hands. Yet this is what the country will drift to unless the Allies intervene. There is practically no mid-dle-cdass in Russia, who are the backbone of every country, such as you have in England and France. Time and opportunity must be given for a middleclass to' develop and take over its legitimate share in the internal administration,- -„.■''

"Look at the financial issues alone, and see how serious the position is. France alone has twenty milliards invested in Russia, and your country has huge commitments made during the war. This money is not worth the paper it ,is printed on.under Bolshevism. 'Is the French Government prepared to go on indefinitely paying, interest on all these bonds? Yet, given.the assistance of the Allies, Russia is perfectly capable of meeting her liabilities. The wealth of the country has hardly been scratched; it is immense, and only awaits development. The mineral wealth is enormous, and also the agricultural. .There •is a wide _field for British, French, and American enterprise,' if only military assistance, which is so urgently needed, is forthcoming. Are you going to leave this great prize to the Germans?"

FUTURE GOVERNMENT.

I asked the Grand Duke what were his views on the future government of Russia, supposing order Were restored under Allied intervention.

"On that subject," he replied, "it is difficult for me to speak. The people are not yet ready for self-government. The experiment has . been tried, and has singularly failed. The revolution must be held in trust, so to speak, until the people can take charge of their own affairs. I can only see some form of benevolent dictatorship'for the time being. The country is in a state of war, and a dictatorship invariably follows for some considerable lime. What is Marshal Foch at the present moment save a dictator of Germany and of the Allied armies of occupation? He will remain so until Europe has settled down to a normal state of affairs. The whole of tha evils _ which are now surely reducing Russia to complete anarchy and- bankruptcy emanate from the Central Soviet of Moscow.. If you occupy Moscow you have.done more to restore Russia, to a normal state than any other measure could achiev..

"It seems strange, but the Conference does not seem even to wish to hear evidence, even if impartial, from the various elements who are opposed to the Bolshevik regime. Until this prevailing idea is dispelled that the Soviets represent the Russian people, it seems almost hopeless to attempt to make the truth known. Perhaps when the financial settlement of the war comes to be discussed the eyes of those in authority will be opened to the true facts. Then we may see a great change in the present attitude of the Allies towards Russian internal affairs."

The Commonwealth Government, through the medium of the Institute of Science and Industry, is now anticipating further warfare against the prickly pear pest, which is estimated to infest over 20,000,000 acres in Queensland and 2,208,000 acres in New South Wales, and to spread at the rate of about 1.000,000 acres a year. For the eradication of the pest (says the Melbourne Age) various^ methods have been proposed, including destruction by mechanical means, .by chemical means, by utilisation, and by natural enemi.es. The first three methods have been exhaustively inquired into without encouraging results, but the fourth method has- been tried with considerable success, and it is said requires complete investigation. Some time ago a conference with regard to the matter was held between the New South AVales, Queensland and Commonwealth Governments, when a scheme suggested- by the science and industry experts was put forward, suggesting the establishment of certain special laboratories where insect pests which control the prickly pear In its own native soil abroad should be experimented with. The suggestion also was made that the sum of £8000 per annum for five years should be made available for the work, the Commonwealth to supply £4000 and the two States £2000 each. Queensland agreed to the proposal, but New South Wales held back, and the suggestion was not proceeded with. It appears likely to be revived, -however, and Dr. Gellatly, Director of the Institute of Science and Industry, is visiting Sydney to confer with the New South Wales Government on the matter. s i