The New Zealand Times. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1918. BOLSHEVISM AND PEACE

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 10138, 28 November 1918, Page 4

The New Zealand Times. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1918. BOLSHEVISM AND PEACE

There is no doubt that Gorman leaders are making use of Bolshevism for the purpose of getting the Armistice terms softened. It is not so. certain that Bolshevism has anv real chance in Germany. But. no one can deny that the mere threat of Bolshevism in Germany is quite likely to produce panic everywhere. This because the Bolsheviks, combining the solidity of power with definite criminality and nebulous greatness of purpose, are seated on the ruins of what once was the Russian Empire with their heads in the clouds, their feet in rivers of blood, and their mouths roaring the war erv of “Death to the Bourgeoisie.” Hero is a concrete fact to conjure the unthinking majority of mankind to unreasoning panic. That the influence is active in Germany is certain from the reported facts following on' the fra.nk wickedness of the published statements of the uncrowned king of the Russian Bolsheviks. There we have a possible explanation of the appeal “ad misericordiam” which has taken the place of bombastic German leadership.

President Wilson is among those with their eve on the other concrete facts of the situation in Germany, as he has shown by his reply that if the Bolsheviks are endured in Germany the Armistice will ho ended. This is supplemented by a report that some of the Allied chiefs have stated that if necessary their armies can make short work,, of .the The plain meaning of all this is that the German people must put their own house in order, but, that if they do not the Allies will do it for them on their own terms. The concrete fact on which this is based is that the conditions in Germany are very different from those which in Russia enabled the Bolsheviks to dominate. In Germany the effect of Kaiserdom has not boon utterly crush-, ing, as the effect of Czardom was in Russia. The Gorman people are far more advanced than the Russian. They are organised, trained, strong in the pride of a single patriotism, possessing definite ideas and aspirations. The destruction of autocratic power does not leave them helpless in presence of a bold minority with a monopoly of definite aims. It leaves them with the elements of order in hands for the most part strong. Moreover, the history of their struggles for freedom is the history of attempts to establish a union of federated republics. And in this respect the reports of Germany are a reminder, for the Federation of Republics bulks large in the more recent reports from Germany. The reports that returning soldiers have formally denounced Bolshevism supports the trend of these reports. If the notorious Schiedemann is really the accomplished time-server he is reported to be, his recent statement, anti-Bolshevik and pro-Ropuhlican, may ho taken as at an events something more than a straw showing the set of the current. A good deal morn can be said in this connection for the decided anti-Bol-shevik statement of Herr Haase who, if truly described, is a strong man with definite purposes. It may be said, judging by the face of things—such as it is and still kaleidoscopic—that the German soil is not favourable for the transplanting of Bolshevism from the Russian soil, which gives it the food necessary for its wild growth. But this is not to say that there is no danger at all of Bolshevism establishing itself in Germany, and thereby becoming a danger to all Europe. There is a danger in one respect. The Gorman people are inveterate talkers; whereas their situation, as their leaders point out, requires prompt, practicaF decisions. “If,” they say virtually, “you do not send us food, the general hunger will become the powerful ally of Bolshevism, which recklessly promises anything and everything.” But the Allies are going to send food, and, as we have indicated, they are prepared to intervene with the strong hand if anything untoward happens while the German people are eating it. The Allies are clearly aware that too much talk and too Jittlo food are a dangerous combination in presence of a wild propaganda. They are ready, and they are able, for even if the German army goes over to the extremists they have force enough to crush them, and they hold strategic positions and military moans enough to paralyse military resistance. The Allies also understand their duty to tho cause of freedom, which is the course of order, and aro determined, according to all reports, to deal with Bolshevism in its own country of Russia by giving discreetly tho help of their strength to tho Russian majority in tho power of tho Bolsheviks, who, while disarming them, formed a sturdy Wact'orinn guard for themselves out of tho crumbling elements of tho national armies. To this end tho Allied Fleet has reached tho Black Sea; an Allied army is on the Danube and in Rou-

mania; and an Italian army has inarched into Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian Tyrol. Moreover, the Allies are encouraging the nationalities of the .whilom Austrian Empire, whose autonomy is a strong safeguard against the anarchy of Bolshevism, which, left unopposed, would destroy their national entity. We may conclude, therefore, that the police duty —as it must now be called—to Mittel Europa is accepted by the Allies as well as to Germany and Russia. Turkey is not threatened with Bolshevism, but has other evils which require the strong hand, and will get it. These things represent the policy of saving reconstruction from anarchy and other evils from the North Sea to the Caucasus. It is the logical consequence of the ruin which the war precipitated by Germany has brought on half the world.

In Britain there is the same danger from too much talk, and the need for immediate reform of a social system out of joint is urgent. That is fully recognised. Mr Lloyd George has stated the case by his declaration that unless they proceed with skill, courage and promptness, the institutions of Britain may be swept away. The remedies proposed - arc peaceful, and it is hoped of general acceptance, to set the house in order, while disorder is held down in the fields of the war. But that is another and not lesser part of the great story of reconstruction which must follow the war.