THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CRASS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1917. THE RUSSIAN ELECTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16672, 17 October 1917, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CRASS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1917. THE RUSSIAN ELECTIONS.

The preparations which are reported from Russia for the election of a 11 Constituent Assembly indicate that this great and hopeful experiment is not to be long delayed. The aggregation of 180,000,000 people who form the State of Russia are to be given the opportunity of selecting their own institutions of government on a franchise theoretically as free and liberal as that of New .Zealand. Such a profound change !. in the whole political and social • fabric cannot be other than an experiment. There is no theoretical proof that the democracy which it • presupposes is the ideal form of government for Russia's millions, , and there is a great body of his- ' torical evidence to suggest that Russia cannot borrow our Western institutions and expect them to fit ' her complex national organisation without laborious and slow evolu- ) tion. Yet the experiment is hopeful because it gives to the Russian peo- ■ pie a chance, their first chance, of proving their capacity for self- , government along the lines they themselves appear to favour. They commence with the initial recommendation that under an Autocracy they have proved a virile people, able to build and maintain a great empire, and there is no undue optimism in anticipating that the • very racial characteristics which made Russia a great military power I will make her a great country under I the new conditions, and a great ; bulwark of the civilisation she learned in Europe and carried right over the Asiatic Continent. The future of free institutions in Russia becomes more promising if them long historical preparation is • remembered. The revolution had '> not its origin in the circumstances of the European war, although the pro-Germanism and incompetence : of the bureaucracy undoubtedly hastened it The Russian people were 'resolute enough to win a fragment of liberty, and some of the forms of self-government, in 1905, and it is generally believed that this was a delayed development which might have taken place 25 years earlier but for the assassination of Alexander 11., who had actually sighed a Constitution, and whose j liberation of the serfs, reform of the judiciary, and institution of the Zemstovs foreshadowed the final triumph of freedom in Russia. The historical threads of the revolution go back much further than the reign ! of Alexander 11. Even before France shook off the yoke liberal ideas were known in Russia, and for a whole century afterwards the autocracy of the throne was engaged in a never-ending struggle with the half-conscious soul of the people. Some emperors sought to strengthen the monarchy by timely concessions and reforms; others used cruelly* repressive methods, but all felt the stirring of the nation, and when the late Tsar established the Duma he but gave a constitutional voice to the forces which had hitherto been articulate only in revolt and assassination. The Duma was never intended to be effective. It was elected by a system which was calculated to make it a serviceable instrument of reactionaries. Nevertheless it was the Duma which became the mouthpiece of the revolution. In the Duma the authority and patriotism of Ministers was first challenged, and the Duma first defied the Tsar himself by refusing to obey a decree of prorogation. Liberty in Russia, as everywhere else, depends on the suc<pssful prosecution of the war. This might suggest that it would be wise to postpone election experiments until j Germany is beaten, but in this con- j nection we have to remember that' the greatest handicap to Russia's j military effort is the lack of a recognised central authority. The Duma is not representative, and the successive Ministries which have been formed have shown neither the strength, nor the boldness demanded by the military situation. A dictatorship might have carried the country over the crisis, but no dictator has arisen. The natural and accrptable lubstitutn is ? Minis'.:,which has authority from the peopl', | and may, ■*ri tNt gr.u:,?!, ciaiai .he ! patriotic co-operation <J all parties. If such a result is secured by an election, the proceeding would bo wholly jitsttSed. Whatever government the pec ;ie of Russia may elect, wilt be we'"erred by the Allies. Tl.c balaa-g cf n.vtle.i is a ;:.»<■..' F ..- sian question. ,The peac? party.in Russia is small, and an appeal to the people will probably reduce it to its real The factions which have handicapped the Russian armies by their dissensions are in the main patriotic. They differ more as to methods than objects, and there is every reason to hope that the Constituent Assembly will, ! when it meets, become the authori- ' tative voice of Russian determination to carry on till the victory is . won which can alone guarantee free institutions the world over. '