REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3330, 9 January 1918, Page 20

REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA.

ANARCHY AND CIVIL WAR

A CHRISTMAS EVE DISASTER, (By Cable.) The Morning Post'.? Pelrogracl correspondent says : The Financial Commissary's report on "Russia's finances shows that after sLv. weeks' administration the Bolsheviks are forced to admit that the State*s resources are absolutely ruined. No State imposts have been coming in since, the railways ceased to be a source of income. All sources of income have dried up. The Central Executive of the Soviets has decreed the nationalisation of private banks, whose gold coin and bullion will be confiscated. The middle-class savings will be safeguarded. The Bolshevik commissaries have announced that all pensions over 500 roubles •monthly will not bo recognised. They have issued a decree protesting against bargaining in houses and land. They intend also to nationalise the insurance companies. The commissaries have abolished military rank, including non-commissioned officers. The decree removes all distinctions in uniforms, closes officers' clubs, and levels their pensions to that of soldiers. The Bolsheviks have commenced the inspection of sa-ces in private banks, which are. expected 'to yield the State 2,000,000 or 3,000,000 nobles. The Daily Chronicle's Petrograd correspondent (Dr H Williams) says: Russia is how torn by a'i infinity of warring factions. Sunday's demonstration was ostensibly for peace, but in reality for civil war. The' educated classes were absent, and it was a pitiful displav' of mass suicide. Several hundred thousand Bolshevik supporters among the troops, sailors, workmen j and women marched in procession through the streets. It was essentially a Bolshevik parade before the German guests and a demonstration against the Constituent Assembly. The Leninites organised ' a meeting of prisoners of war, in order to foster the revolutionary propaganda, but with comic results. Eight hundred prisoners were assembled in» evil-smelling circles, and were addressed in eight different languages. The German group maintained a stolid silence until the chairman jtsked some German prisoners to address th** meeting. An individual rose, and said: 'lt is a time for deeds, not words," ai*a sat down. Others then complained of ill-treatment, one saying that he had to apply for special leave if he wished to stay out in the evening. The chairman promptly closed the meeting. The Daily Chronicle's Petrograd correspondent writes : Members of the German delegation here admit that they realised the state of affairs only on their arrival. They imagined that the Bolsheviks were the real Government. When they found that all the educated Russians in the whole of the territories were opposed to the Bolsheviks they declared that it was impossible to conclude peace with these people. The Bolsheviks will probably summon the Constituent Assembly and impose upon it the responsibility of the. conclusion of peace.

Advices received in Washington state that martial law has been declared at Moscow. The Bolsheviks have seized the banks and factories. Mr Ransome, the Daily News Petrograd correspondent, states that the city is more orderly than it has been for months, owing to Bolshevik control. People do not like the Bolsheviks, but they obey orders with startling alacrity! The only reason why the Assembly has not been opened is that 400 delegates are necessary for a quorum, and only 391 have been elected. These include 123 Bolsheviks and 204 Social Revolutionaries, of whom half support Lenin and Trotsky. Any attempt to turn out the present Government forcibly would only result in anarchy, favourable to the Germans.

GERMAN ASCENDENCY

The Morning Post's Petrograd correspondent sends a remarkable article describing German ascendancy in Russia. Apart from 200 peace delegates in Petrograd there are hundred* of peace agents from Germany. Thousands of prisoners of war are enjoying complete freedom of movement. The German accent is heard everywhere, and it ensures respect from the Russian proletariat. -The Germans are preparing betimes for an overwhelming industrial and commercial invasion of helpless Russia. The majority of the German and Austrian prisoners of war will not return to the fighting front except under compulsion, and will not even return to Germany after the war. The officers and non-commis-sioned officers will return, but the privates see the possibility of living much more profitably in Russia than in Germany. The Germans are not confined to internment camps, but are h'ving .amongst the people, and have easily proved their superiority to the Russians in all departments of life, whether in agriunlbwo or industry or commerce. The correspondent states that it is open to question whether the British Empire will feel secure against Russia in the hands of enterprising, industrious Germane, backed by the mail power of 150,000,000 Russians. A TERRIBLE DISASTER. A Haparanda telegram states that a horrible disaster occurred on Christmas Eve. An explosion at a Russian station destroyed two trains which were crowded with Cossacks. Two thousand people were killed, and buildings within two kilometres were wrecked. An entire munition depot on the south-western front was blown up. THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY.

The Council of Commissaries has fixed the date for the opening of the Constitu-

ent Assembly for the IBth inst., provided ■the necessary quorum of 4CO is present. At the Constituent Assembly elections for the Don province the Kaledin partv secured 1,856,0£0 votes, and the Social Revolutionaries 293,288.

The Soviets' Executive resolved to call a third All-Russian Congress. M. Sinovieff openly declared thai the Soviet opposed a Constituent Assembly, and would brush it away if the Assembly hindered revolutionarv action.

Ensign Krylenko has ordered the removal of his headquarters to Smolensk, and has organised a special field staff to direct operations against Ukraina and Kaledin's forces. CIVTL WAR AND ANARCHY. The Bolshevik News Agency announces that the Ukrainan Rada is willing to agree to the Bolshevik demands not to take or facilitate military measures against- the Bolsheviks, conditionally upon money sent to Ukraina and the Ukrainan Republic being officially recognised.' Twenty thousand officers have joined General Kaledin, finding life in the reorganised army insupportable. General Kaledin has organised a special corps of officers. The Cossacks surprised and disarmed the Bolshevik garrisons at Alexandrovsk, Orenburg, and Kazatin. Violent fighting continues at Irkutsk (Siberia), and whole districts of the town have been destroyed. Manv civilians died of cold. The People's Commissaries promise that they Avill not make war against Ukraina if Ukraina will allow the Maximalists to attack General Kaledin. i Reports from Southern Russia show that the Bolsheviks have entirely failed. The Cossacks and Ukrainians continue advancing. _ _ Advices fcom Haparanda state that the Ukrainian Cossacks heavily defeated the Bolsheviks on the south-western front, taking prisoner 400 and capturing eight heavy and 328 machine guns. The Bolsheviks retreated in disorder. . The Bolsheviks claim that they defeated the Ukrainians near Kharkoff, and have captured the whole Kharkoff district, where 20,000 Red Guards are now concentrated. The peasants in Siberia and Ukraine refuse to send corn to Petrograd. Reports from Southern Siberia indicate that the civil war is rapidly growing. There were eight days' continuous fighting at Irkutsk, civilians and Cossacks opposing the Bolsheviks' regulars. Artillery was used mercilessly, and whole districts were demolished. The troops in Ukraine are operating successfully against the Bolsheviks. Chinese troops are mobilised on the borders of Turkestan, preparing to enter Russian territory. The Russian army in Persia is retiring, the -Bolsheviks hoping that it will be used against the rear of Kaledin's Cossacks and Ukraina. ' , The Red Guards, in the course of the fighting at Irkutsk, murdered the French Consular agent and two other Frenchmen. The town is afire, and the population is starving. The French Cabinet Council discussed the murder of three Frenchmen at Irkutsk, including the French Consul. Turkestan has formed an autonomous Government. The Cossacks have re-elected General Kaledin as their Hetman. Robbers brutally murdered M. Goremykin, his wife, and his brother-in-law on their country estate in the Caucasas. General Karanloff, who was Hetman of the Terek Cossacks, his brother, and the whole of the staff officers and men were murdered by soldiers from the Caucasian front. POSITION IN SIBERIA. Serious Bolshevik disorders are in progress at YJadivostock. Advices from Tokio report that it is officially stated that two hours' street fighting in Harbin preceded the 'surrender of 2500 Bolsheviks. The Chinese captured a considerable quantity of arms and munitions. They intervened to end continuous factional strife. A telegram from Harbin states that, order has been restored along the Chinese Eastern railway, where the Maximalists surrendered. A thousand Chinese troops have- arrived at a Manchurian station. The Exchange Telegraph Company's Peking correspondent says everyone is delighted with the excellent manner in which the Chinese military officials are dealing with the situation at Harbin. The Bolsheviks are coming to realise that Harbin does not belong to Russia. Tokio despatches state that Chinese and Japanese troops are preparing for possible action in the Far East. The occupation of portions of Siberia may be necessary. A large Chinese army is already in Manchuria, and Japanese transports are held in readiness to assist. FINLAND. Finland has refused to acknowledge the Bolshevik Government, and will accept only the Constituent Assembly's decisions. The State is prepared to face a war. The Finnish Republic has despatched a delegation to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, France, Britain, and America for the purpose of securing official recognition of the republic. The Morning Post's Petrograd correspondent says the Swedish armies are concentrated on the Finnish frontier, and are daily expected to advance into Finland, nominally for the defence of Swedish rights which the Bolshevik troops had violated. The Bolshevik News Agency states that the People's Commissioners have informed the Finnish Government of their willingness to recognise the political independence of the Finnish Republic. The Red Guard is being mobilised at Petrograd. and. has been ordered to proceed to Finland, whither 5000 had been sent-already.

The Swedish Government has recognised Finland as a free and independent State. Le Temps announces that France has recognised the independence of the Finnish republic. THE POSITION OF RUMANIA. The situation on the Rumanian front is tragic. The relations between the Bolsheviks and the Rumanian officers are alarming. The Rumanians occupied the Bessarabian town of Loeva and several villages, and arrested and shot. several Bolshevik leaders. Tcherbatschetf has abstained from sending provisions and forage to the Bolshevik 4th Army. Trotsky has addressed a Note to the Rumanian Ambassador, with the object of outlining the Soviet demands, and threatening harsh measures against any Rumanians aiding Kaledin. The Amba6sador replied that the Russian division was now without organisation, and its men leave the front without authority and plunder the Rumanian villages, which are suffering enormously through their excesses. Bessarabia declared for a Moldavian Republic, considering itself part of the Rus-. sian Federation. • THE ALLIES AND THE BOLSHEVIKS. News of the withdrawal of all British ships from Archangel and the breaking up of the British and French depots there has caused a seusation in Russia. Sir George Buchanan ana the members of the British war mission are returning to London. Political circles in Britain,' despite the official explanation, interpret Sir George Buchanan's departure as heralding a change in the British relations with Russia. A Russian report states that Trotsky has appointed Citizen Litvenoff as Russia's provisional Plenipotentiary in London, and has ordered the Embassy, the Military Mission, and other, Russian officials in England to hand over their documents to Litvenoff. Citizen Karpinsky has been given a similar appointment. Members of the Russian Embassy in London refuse to recognise M. Litvenoff, and decline to hand over the money or documents in the Embassy's possession. The Daily Chronicle's representative has interviewed M. Litvinoff, who said*: "As Ambassador I shall dissipate the misunderstanding and the misinterpretation of the motives, character, and purpose of the Soviet Government. It is untrue that the Bolsheviks grabbed power. They only intervened in November to take the reins from M. Kerensky's trembling hands, in order to give them to the Soviets.' Unfortunately the Moderate Socialists, representing the petit bourgeoisie and well-to-do peasants, chose to desert the Soviets' leaders. The moderates should have seen that the crushing of the Soviets meant the downfall of the revolution. They were mere tools in the hands of the grande bourgeoisie generals and. reactionaries, who were frightened of the Soviets' social reforms. The crucial fact at present in Russia is that a class • war is raging in naked form throughout Great Russia, Ukraina, Finland, and Siberia, and even among the Cossacks. The Bolsheviks have behind them the whole of the industrial working class and the great mass of the peasantry. It is grossly mischievous to represent the Bolsheviks as being pro-Ger-i man or anti-Ally or as mere pacifists. The Bolsheviks realise clearly that Kaiserism and Junkerdom are the greatest obstacles to peace and to-the progress of .the international proletariat towards self-eman-cipation. But they discovered that Russia is not the only soil congenial to noxious plants; but they are oppos&d to replacing Prussian militarism by Russian-French-English militarism. They are sanguine enough to imagine that the Russian and German armies on the eastern front may some day march together against the common foes of the world's proletariat in Germany, and perhaps in other countries too. The Bolsheviks look upon a separate peace with disfavour, but the present conditions make it inevitable that the democracies in the allied countries must see that calamity does not happen, and must act at once. Otherwise they will be too late." GENERAL ITEMS. . M. Tchecherin and M. Petroff, whose, release M. Trotsky demanded, left St. Paneras station for Russia. After leaving Brixton prison M. Tchecherin had a long interview with Mr A. Henderson, M.P., who • explained the views of the Labour party. There, was a demonstration as the train steamed ont, and the Russian National Anthem was sung. The German fleet on the Russian coast is returning to Kiel and Danzig. Fourteen Austrian merchantmen, of 40,000 tons, have been released in Russian ports. A second. Austro-German mission has arrived, comprising as representatives the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Commerce, Industry, and Finance. _ Negotiations have begun for the rest-era--tion of traffic in Russia by Austria-Ger-many, the latter hoping that food supplies from Russia will save the critical situation.