THE H.B. TRIBUNE FRIDAY, FEB. 16, 1917. RUSSIA'S INTERNAL TROUBLES

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, 16 February 1917, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE FRIDAY, FEB. 16, 1917. RUSSIA'S INTERNAL TROUBLES

Most ol us are com ent to look upon Russia as a vast military machine yvith inexhaustible resources of manpower on which to draw—a machine on which we can rely implicitly to do a giant’s work in this great war. Hut the few who are watching events with some broader outlook cannot but be impressed by the internal difficulties by winch those having the responsibility of the conduct of military operations are embarrassed. Scarcely a week passes without our cables telling of some political, social, or indust rial upheaval of greater or less import, the latest manifestation ot unrest taking the form of an industrial strike, news of which reached us yesterday. It is said that a midnight police raid, instituted by the Minister of . the Interior, discovered incriminating documents and indications of disloyal organisation. Beyond this, and the announcement of strong repressive measures taken, cur information does not go. Some light as to the causes of popular discontent was, however, recently provided by Professor J. Y. Simpson, who has occupied chairs in both Edinburgh and Glasgow Uniterrities, and who lias travelled much and quite lately in Europ'-an ami Asiatic Russia, and lias written largely of his impressions gathered there. He now tells us that one of the principal factors contributimr to disaffection in Russia was th.- ones, lion of food supply. It soeincil >ti the fave of it absurd that a coiitnn so riel) in this respect as Russia should suffer from any scarcity, vet the pen-ants would not sell their grain, partly because they stood in no need of money, having saved much as the result of vodka prohibition. and partly because, even ti they had wished to Imv. there w,; ; . no great outlet for expenditure. There . was praeti-cily nothing to buy, as almost tlrn entire output ■ t all kinds of factories was devoted to the Army. With prices mowing >.q> against them, the peasants naturally in then turn sought tn get higher prices for their own products. The icier military levies, too, took away the middle-aged men. and the wive.-; loft ;u. home, realizing tliai next yitir’' hat vest must in consequence be. on a smaller scale, preferred to keep their grain rather than exchange it for State paper with which they could do nothing. It may bethought that the actiouot mere peasant. proprietors could scarcely have any serious effect upon the grain supply, but Professor Simpson tells us" that in European Russia only some 9 per cent, of the crops is directly in the bands of large landholders. the rest being controlled uy the peasants and smaller proprietors. The conditions of life arc therefore.much better in the country than in the towns, becai.s<\ while tbv artisans cant very good wages, they have to pay very high prices for their food.

This explanation may net seem t • cord very well with the tales w< have been told of the immense iecumulations of Russian gram i.ir.ii weie only awaiting the opening ■>! the Dardanelles to be made available for the feeding of the other A died nations and t heir armies. Professor Simpson, although he does not make any direct reference to these reported great stores, supplies some >-xnlanal.ion a-; to wiiy, granting their actual existence, they might not. be teadily made available for the Russian urban populations. In this respect- the question of transport probably played a prominent part. With a railway system originally organized in the proportion of almost 5 to 1 for the export. of grain to Germany and, otherwise. badly congested with purely military traffic, it became exceedingly difficult to furnish Petrograd and Moscow with supplies under the existing conditions. Butter there was in plenty, in Siberia, while it Moscow, you might fail to get it ‘it ali. Further, physical conditions had also operated unfavourably. The rains began early in the past autumn hindering the peasants in gathering and threshing and conveying the grain by road. There was no scarcity of grain, but there was difficulty in getting it. t ram ported into the localities that, needed it. The matter was by no means insoluble : and, just because of that, an impression got abroad that, it was not being handled as epfugetieally as it might, an impression that was strengthened wiv u the Minister of tile Interior forbade holding of a conference by repre-.entaiiv es of the I nion <'f the Towns summoned by it to discuss and deal with the situation conjointly "Al! these considerations." says Professor Simpson, ‘‘together with the strikes which started, strangely enough, with the in-lit ution of some regularity in food distribution, and in connection with which some, of the strikers were sometimes tillable to give any intelligent rea.-on as to why they bad come out. were construed, rightly or wrongly, as evidence of a deliberate attempt on the part of unseen Germanophile forces to produce internal disorganial ion and di-c<>i:t ent among the people, which might stive an opportunity tor raising the question o’’ a separate peace.” The strikes to winch Professor Simpson refers were merely the precursors ot some more widely organised industrial movement, mid, while there appears to have been some ground for popular dis-ati-l'actioii with tbo-e in authority, there need be little doubt hut that the ‘•moulderin'; discontent was zealously fanned by- German agencies in the hope of creating a conflagration that might paralyse Russia’s military sts-»‘igth.