PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3333, 30 January 1918, Page 57

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

A RUSSIAN REVOLUTION VOCABULARY. A fortnight ago I explained the words Camarilla, Duma, Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Deputies, Provisional Government (Cabinet resulting from negotiations between the Council just named and the Committee of the Safety of the Duma), Octobrists, Nationalists, Constitutional Democrats, and Soviet. Last week's Witness contained cables referring to the Constituent Assembly. This is supposed to be a body elected by all the citizens of Russia "to determine the final draft of Russia's Government, to draft her new Constitution, and to 6olve a number of other important problems, chief among which are the questions of nationalities, with the various demands for all kinds of autonomy and the redistribution of land." The initial step towards this election took place in June last year, when there was formed a special Council of 61 members, presided over by M. Kokashkine ; but when the Constituent Assembly was duly elected and constituted I cannot say, though, judging by the disrupted state of Russia; there can be no really representative Russian Assembly at present. [Since writing the above the cables have . informed us that a tired guard has sent the Constituent Assembly to the rightabout. This reminds me of Pryde's Purge and Cromwell's arbitrary action.] The Bolsheviks.—" These comprise the anarchistic elements of various revolutionary factions." Apparently, though containing the elements of disruption among themselves, at present they have enough cohesion to be the dominant party. "Their common ground, however, is their demand for action and their readiness to go to any extreme in order to accomplish their ends. . . . They are undoubtedly a disturbing element in the working out of Russia's political future, and a danger to the country. They may succinctly be described as the I.W.W. gf Russia." "The word "bolsheviki". comes from the Russian word "bolshinstvo," which means a majority ; so the word simply means "the majority faction."

This Maximalists.—These are said to be hardly less radical and anarchistic than the Bolsheviks. They have a more definite programme, but have seen the undesirabillty of going to the extremes of the Bolsheviks-, though favouring "direct action." "Up to the moment of the Korniloff revolt they were giving their support, although rather grudgingly, to the Provisional Government. [An article in November's "Current History" eays the Bolshevik! and the Maximalists are the same, being "the left wing of the Social Democratic party, which is largely the party of the proletariat."] The Minimalists I have seen mentioned only once or twice. I fancy they occupy in Russia a position similar to the Minority Socialists in Germany. I think the word "maximalist" is * derived from "maximum," the "um" becoming "al," with tho suffix "Ist" added. The same reasoning derives Minimalist from "minimum." '- Tire Borjrmj-.OTSE.—At the time of the French Revolution this term indicated the

middle classes; but at the present time it appears to indicate all those who are opposed to the unthinking action of the masses. They may be monarchists or republican in principle; but that does not,, matter. As long as they are capitalists and refuse to be identified with excesses they are regarded with suspicion. The moderate Liberals, who hasten more slowly, aud most of the intellectuals, the hard thinkers, who cannot countenance blind excesses, all come under this comprehensive word. "It was because of this alinement [American spelling] with his class that Professor Milyukoff lost' standing with the advanced Afi this prejudice grows it becomes a menace to the final success of the revolution, because of its tendency to drive men of the intellectual type out of positions of influence and authority. The same tendency was manifested in the French Kevotion, and led to the orgies of the. guillotine in the days of the Terror." The Leninites.—Most of the present parties date from 1906, when the Social Democratic party split up into factions. The ultra-Kadicals were led by Nikolai Lenine, and this surname gives us Leninites. But, according to the "Current History" number I have referred to, the word Bolsheviki to-day includes the Maximalites, Leninites, Extremists, Zimmerwaldians, and Internationalists. And just as Bolsheviki (the majority) and Maximalists are practically one and the same, so Mensheviki (the minority) and Minimalists represent the other extreme of the Social Democratic party. Out of the chaos, it seems to me, two parties stand out, under various names—(a) the Cadets and the Bourgeoise representing law and order and, unfortunately, the old order of things; and (b) the Bolsheviki the other extreme.

But the great majority, while wishing to upset the old order of things, is split up into factions, two of which seem to stand out---(a) the Socialists in the towns and (b) the Peasant Unions. The Peasants, under the name of the " Group of Toil," have bent their energies to " organising the peasants in a compact body with a view to seizing the lands of the nobles and distributing them among the tillers of the soil." It proclaimed "the right of all people to the soil, the suppression of .private ownership of real estate, and the creation of a national estate of public lands"; and "all persons desirous of cultivating the soil were to receive from this public estate allotments not exceeding the ' norm of labour' —that is, the amount of land which the user could cultivate with his own hands and those of his family ' without paid help.' These allotments were to be given only for use, not for possession." The town Socialists, while but against Capital, recognise the necessity for more efficiency than, the Peasants' Union (the Group of Toil) think necessary. "They reproached it with putting an?'" obstacle in the way of all development of farm-production, and declared that* it rendered impossible the organisation of great enterprises employing machinery and salaried workmen, creating not an equality of wealth, but an equality of poverty." The Soviet. —A - fortnight ago I' mentioned this body, but now give what may be considered a better definition: "The Soviet, or Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates, which has done much to create the present state of chaos, is an irregular, self-constituted body made up largely of peasants, workmen, and soldiers belonging to the two great Socialist parties which represent the majority of the masses of the nation."

The Cadets.—These I also referred to; but let me restate my definition. These are the Constitutional Democrats. "They are sometimes called Progressives or Liberals. They stand for conservatism, nationalism, fullest prosecution of the war in co-operation with the Allies, and for the postponement of all internal Teform till after the war. They are the solid and stable element of the country, and were in control at the time of the first organisation of the Provisional Government, but have-since been thrust into the background by the more radical and aggressive factions of the Socialist parties."

Much more can be said about parties and names, but what I have written gives a general idea of the parties fermenting and fomenting at the present moment.