REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3333, 30 January 1918, Page 39

REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA.

GERMAN PEACE TERMS REJECTED. MURDER OF CADET LEADERS. A GENERAL STATE OF CHAOS. (By Cable.) THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. The Brest-Litovsk deliberations were resumed on January 18. M. Trotsky reiterated the demand for a referendum of the peoples in the occupied territories on the question of their future. Von Kuhlmann repeated his refusal to withdraw the troops, and declared that these territoriea must be protected from the spread of the revolution. Discussion of this question was adjourned. Von Kuhlmann asked what were the relations of the Petrograd Government to the Caucasus. M. Trotsky replied that the Caucasus army was absolutely devoted to the Petrograd Government. Regarding the question of the future of te Aaland Islands (in the GuH of Finland), von Kuhlmann .argued that it was one for Finland, Sweden, and Germany. After dissenting from this .Trotsky intimated that he was compelled to leave for Petrograd, because of internal questions. General Hoffmann brutally expressed Germany's terms of peace, stating that Germany's future eastern- frontier would be from Riga, through Valk, Dvinsk, and Brest-Litovsk. A Russian delegate asked what would happen if Russia refused'. Hoffmann replied : " Reval will be occupied within a week." Hoffmann added that the southern boundaries would be arranged between Germany and Ukraine. The secretary of the Russian Legation at Brest-Litovsk has officially protested against the German version of the proceedings, in which M. Trotsky's protest against Germany's change of front is not mentioned. General Hoffmann warned the Russian Government that if it carried out its intention of giving German officer prisoners the same regime as the men Germany would cancel the project for reciprocal improvement in war prisoners' conditions in Germany. M. Trotsky has returned to Petrograd from Brest-Litovsk. He says the German terms preponderate in favour of annexation. They make no secret of*- their desire to seize Poland, Lithuania, and Courland, and hope to make Moon Island a new Gibraltar, with i view to strangling Russia economically and politically. M. Trotsky added: The Austrians do not participate actively in the negotiations, but merely assent to every German proposal. M. Trotsky believes that a final decision will shortly be reached. A Russian political official statement declares that the German annexationists have been sufficientlv powerful to impose their will upon the evasive diplomats of the Hertiing-Kuhlmann schools. The Austro-German delegation refused to guarantee the withdrawal of the armies from occupied territories. This is montrous annexation, and the Austro-German peoples are being deceived by their own Governments before the whole world. The statement continues: At the BrestLitovsk negotiations Austria gave her humble approval to all that Hoffmann and Kuhlmann said, but this did not prevent Austrian Socialists from telling 'fables to Austrian workmen regarding Count Czernin's endeavour to obtain peace. GERMAN TERMS REJECTED. - The Brest-Litovsk negotiations have been suspended, but will be resumed on January 29. Another message states that the Russians have finally rejected Germany's peace terms. The Petrograd correspondent of the Italian paper Secolo, says that Lenin lias informed his friends that the negotiations have been virtually broken off without result. The Daily "Mail's Petrograd correspondent states that the B-olshevik Government will refuse the German peace conditions, placing the responsibility on the Soviet's Congress. The New York World's Petrograd correspondent says that, while Trotsky is making an unflinching fight for democratic peace terms, he mav fail if the Allies refuse their aid. Russia will be unable to continue her defiance of Germany unless she receives material assistance. The Arbiter Zeitimg warns the German Government that if the Brest-Ldtovsk negotiations fail owing to the uncompromising attitude of the Central Powers, the Socialist leaders will-no longer be able' to control the workers. AN AGREEMENT WITH UKRAINE. An agreement has been reached at Brest-Litovsk between the Central Powers und Ukraine, under which the war terminates, and both parties will immediately resume economic relations. The delegates will consult- their respective Governments prior to the ratification of a final peace treaty. It appears that Germany has promised Ukraine littoral boundaries at the expense of Russia, peace being conditional on Ukraine supplying Germany with foodstuffs. A Berlin telegram indicates that an embarrassing situation has arisen at Brestr Litovsk. A second Ukrainian delegation had arrived. The previous delegation was entitled to negotiate on behalf of the Ukrainian republic, whose real Government ■was established at Kharkoff, and professed Maximalist principles. The second delegation also comes from Kharkoff, but supports Trotsky. The Bolsheviks are contemplating a formal declaration of war against- the Ukrainians. It is reported that Bolshevik troops have surrounded Kieff. The Bolsheviks report that their troops

defeated the Ukrainians at Poltava, capturing the town. The Ukrainian Rada has proclaimed the complete independence of the Ukrainian republic, and declared that it desires friendship with Rumania, Turkey, and other neighbouring Powers, and will support no war. GERMANY'S INTENTIONS EXPOSED. Mr Harold Williams, correspondent of the Daily Chronicle at Petrograd, says: The Bolshevik newspapers admit that the Brest-Litovsk regotiations have exposed the German Government's intention to annex the western provinces of Russia. They claim that knowledge of this fact was due to Bolshevik efforts to secure an explanation. It will not matter if Hoffmann carries out his threat to seize Reval for he will really expose the German army and people and lead to the overthrow of the existing Berlin regime. Meanwhile the Bolsheviks are dallying, their scheme for resisting the German advance being by creating a highly-paid volunteer army to engage in a holy war against all imperialisms. They are also waiting to see the red flag raised in Austria, and believe that Petrograd is destined to become the capital of a federation of Soviet republics. M. Trotsky, however, tells his co-revolutionaries that the bourgeoisie in the west is much better organised than the Russian, and the progress of revolutions must be slow. The attempt to make peace with Ukraina separately has irritated the Bolsheviks exceedingly, despite their proclamation regarding the right of each nationality to determine its own destinies. Hence the delegations, consisting of workmen and non-commissioned officers from Reval and Kharkov, who were sent to Brest-Litovsk. The Soviets' Conference at Petrograd has adopted all the points of the LeninTrotsky programme, including the disarmament of the bourgeoisie. Lenin was accorded a great ovation when addressing, the conference. He said : " We shall continue the civil war until we gain a complete ' victory. We shall make mistakes, as we have a- great task without a copyhead." Thus far the conference has not discussed the peace terms, to the dismay of the majority of the delegates. CADET LEADERS MURDERED.' The Daily Chronicle's Petrograd correspondent (Mr Harold Williams) states that M. Shingarieff, ex-Minister in the Provisional Government, and M. Kokoshkin, the Cadet leader, were murdered on January 20. They came to Petrograd to attend the Constituent Assembly, but were arrested and confined in a fortres's. Their imprisonment resulted in illness, and they were removed at their friends' request to the Marie Hospital. They left the prison at eight o'clock on the evening of January 20, and were murdured by the Red Guards the same night. Kokoshkin was asleep when he was murdered. Shringarieff protested and was riddled with bullets. This is a very heavy blow to the Cadets. Shingarieff was n. thorough democrat, and was scrupulously honest and single-minded. Kokoshkin was a professor of political science, and, next to M. Mildukoff, was the Cadet party's leading theorist. The friends of other imprisoned Ministers continually fear that they will be lynched. An alarm is raised several times a night, the Red Guards continually demanding that Ministers be handed over to them for summary treatment. N M. Konovaroff and M. Tretikoff have been transferred to hospital, and M. Terestchenko, M. Karta&heff, M.Bernatzky, M. Kishken, and M. Stepanoff are still in the fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul. The Red Guards and sailors continue to patrol Petrograd, and some shooting has occurred, but a terribly fierce snowstorm is raging. The correspondent adds : tc I cannot tell of all the brutalities and excesses which are ravaging Russia from end to end. Plunder and the cruellest forms of murder are so common that horrors pall on one. The tyranny is worse than under Nicholas 11. The Bolsheviks are really a warning symbol of the muttering of the volcanic forces of social upheaval loosened by the war. Their object is to enable the proletariat to capture the accumulated wealth of civilisation." The Daily Chronicle's Petrograd correspondent says that Lenin and the Sovietcondemn the murder of Shingareff and Kokoshkin, and have issued an order for the arrest of the assassins. It is clear that the - murders were not committed by the order of the Central Bolshevik Government, who fear the consequences. Talk in the streets on Monday in connection with the murders was menacing towards the Bolsheviks, owing to the popularity of Shingareff in Petrograd and of Kokoshkin in Moscow. The murders have indicated that the Bolshevik leaders are no longer able to control the passions of the mob which they aroused. The Morning Post's correspondent states that it is rumoured that other ex-Mmisters in the fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul suffered the same fate as Shingareff and Kokoshkin. A soldier named Buskoff and two sailors —Rasine and Koulivoosky—have been arrested in connection with the murders of Shingareff and Kokoshkin. REIGN OF ANARCHY AND LOOTING. Krylenko, addressing the Red Guards, said that all liberties must be set aside during the struggle with the bourgeoisie. He added: " We shall shrink at nothing, not even the spreading of wholesale terror and woe to all attempting to cross our path. We will not stop until wo have completely exterminated all our enemies." Many trains full of soldiers from Finland are going to Petrograd. The Bolsheviks are concentrating troops, expecting disturbances as a result of the brutal murders. The head of the Bolshevik Chancellor's office told the Workmen and Soldiers' Council that a great massacre is impending, wherein the working classes will de-

finitely and for ever crush the bourgeoisie. The Daily Chronicle's Petrograd correspondent says that the Bolsheviks are tottering amid ruin. They helped to create a blind and senseless anarchy which threatens to overwhelm all parties. Anarchical insubordination is prevalent among the armed masses, particularly sailors and the Red Guards. The working classes are exhibiting a strong revulsion of feeling against the Bolsheviks, holding meetings in factories, and passing resolutions of no confidence in the Bolsheviks, deciding to recall their representatives in the Soviet, and demanding the disbanding of the Red Guard, Serious disturbances have taken place at Moscow, where two revolver shots fired at an armed Bolshevik procession caused a panic. The Bolsheviks fired wildly, killing and wounding many women and children. Officers 'returning from the south-Avest front state that the Austrian army is demoralised, and that there is a complete collapse of discipline, like the Russian. Forty people were killed and 200 wounded m the Moscow disturbances. Maxjm Gorky, the Russian novelist, has been wounded by a stray rifle shot. The sudden "metamorphosis of the hitherto temperate and orderly Russian masses to lawless, pillaging, murdering mobs is due to the unlimited manufacture of vodka. The revolution swept aside the ex-Czar's prohibition decree, and distilleries have been started everywhere. The food shortage is approaching the verge of actual famine. Money is unprocurable by private persons and public bodies. The proletariat methods of raising money for current expenses are by robbery, blackmail, and felony. It is reported that Kerensky,' Silonenks, and Hairnkoff have arrived at Petrograd heading a conspiracy against the Bolshevik Government. " There was severe street fighting, warships in the Neva participating. The Committee of Public Safety, in a manifesto, states that counter-revolution-aries have united with the object of fighting the Bolshevik Government. Haparanda messages state that three of the Guards' regiments have joined sides with the supporters of the Constituent Assembly, and have opened hostilities against the Bolsheviks. The Red Guards surrounded the Social Revolutionaries', headquarters, and arrested 59 members of the military organisation, which was formed for the defence of the Constituent Assembly. Polish regiments are disobeying the democratisation order for the election of commanders. Ensign Krylenko has arrested the executive of the Polish Military Committee at Minsk. Owing to the Maximalists arresting the leaders of the Polish military organisation, the Polish legionaries occ«pied several railway stations in the Maghileff district and disarmed the Russian garrisons. * ■ THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY. The Exchange Telegraph's Petrograd correspondent states that the Bolsheviks have confiscated all papers containing reports of the Constituent Assembly, entirely suppressing several journals. The Daily Chronicle's Petrograd correspondent states that between 200 and 240 Social Revolutionaries, 90 Bolsheviks, and 30 Left Social Revolutionaries attended the People's Commissaries, some being on the right and some on the left of the Speaker's Tribune, including Lenin,' who was apparently in good spirits and was chatting with " Ensign " Krylenko. The Bolsheviks raised a howl of indignation, banged their desks, and whistled when the Social Revolutionaries proposed that M. Shvetsoff, the senior deputy, should open proceedings. The Bolsheviks shook their fists and rushed to the tribune to prevent Shvetsoff from conducting proceedings. The arrival of M. Sverdloff, President of the Executive Committee of the Bolshevik Soviet, stopped the brawl, Shvetsoff retiring. Sverdloff declared that the Russian revolutionary flag had spread to all countries, freeing the working class from the yoke of capital. He proclaimed Russia a federal soviet republic, and demanded that the Constituent Assembly recognise the power of the Soviets and confirm their decrees .for the nationalisation of the land, the banks, and the means of production and distribution. He added : " In order to destroy the parasitic classes, compulsory service will be introduced, the workers shall be armed, forming a red Socialist army of workers and peasants, and all thepropertied classes shall be disarmed." The Bolsheviks punctuated this astonishing declaration with calculated bursts of applause, after which the crowd rose and sang the Internationale. M. Chernoff was elected President, and he declared that the Bolsheviks' tactics rendered difficult a democratic peace without victors or vanquished. The Constituent Assembly, he said, must initiate an international Socialist peace conference to secure such a peace. The Petrograd correspondent of the Daily Chronicle writes : The Constituent Assembly came to a comic end at five o'clock on Saturday morning. A sailor mounted the tribune and demanded that members disperre, as the guard were tired. M. Chernoff, the President, replied that the deputies were tired too. but must do their duty to the people by carrying the great principle of land nationalisation. The sailor insisted, and the deputies hastily passed a batch of resolutions .and dispersed. Later the Bolshevik commissary to the Assembly announced ■ that the Assembly would not meet again. M. Skvorthoff. a Bolshevik leader, stating that parliamentary institutions were only a fetish of the bourgeoisie. Mr Harold Williams, Petrograd correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, writes: The dissolution decree thus justifies the Bolshevik actions. It saj-s the Assembly -was to be the crown of the bourgeois parliamentary republic, but proved a.n obstacle in the path of the October revolution. It is not national but only class institutions like the Soviets which are able to overcome

the resistance of the propertied class and lay the foundations of Socialist order. M. Lenin, speaking at a Socialist meeting, said the Soviets were kindling the flames of revolution. He commanded all people to fight. The Soviets were breaking the pillars of the bourgeois order, not with gloved hands but in a proletarian way. Mr Williams goes on: "It is evident that Socialism will be introduced at the bayonet's point, and the programme will not be executed without a struggle. The position is extremely critical." SOVIET CONGRESS. The Soviet deputies' congress has been opened with dramatic enthusiasm and every sign of popular approval and confidence. , Trotsky expressed his unfailing belief in assistance coming from the western proletariat. The Soviets' Conference at Petrograd has adopted all the points of the LeninTrosky programme, including the disarmament of the bourgeoisie. Lenin was accorded a great ovation when addresinsg the conference. He said : "We shall continue the civil war until we gain a complete victory. We shall make mistakes, as we have a great task without a copyhead." Thus far the conference has not discussed the peace terms, to the dismay of the majority of the delegates. CONGRESS OF COSSACKS. A Russian message states that a congress of Cossacks from the front was inaugurated at Kamensky on January 23. Twenty-three regiments and five batteries were represented, also all the participants in the Voronez Conference and the labouring classes among the Cossacks. General Kaledm ordered the dispersal of the congress and the arrest of the organisers. The congress then unanimously passed a resolution taking to itself all authority over the Don and, sent detachments for the purpose of capturing Likhaia and Zverere. Further, 18 superior officers were arrested. The Cossacks are fired with enthusiasm. They are striving to end Kaledin's authority with the assistance of an array of workmen and peasants. CHAOTIC POSITION IN FINLAND. The British Consul has protested to the Senate against acts of violence done to, arid robberies committed on, British subjects in Finland. The Senate has sent an ultimatum to the Russian Government asking it to cease supplying arms to Finnish hooligans, who are committing excesses, assisted by Russian soldiery, otherwise • a state of war will be proclaimed immediately. M. Kuhlmann, formerly Attorney-gene-ral of Finland, is visiting England in connection with the Finnish Relief Fund. Being interviewed, he said : "Finland is on the verge of famine. Two-fifths of the population are unable to obtain bread of any description. The food supplies available include some millions of kilogrammes of food from Iceland, most of which has been declared unfit for human consumption, and a small quantity of grain ; but, altogether, there is only half what is necessary to sustain life. The Finlanders are threatened with destruction unless speedy help is available. " The illicit supply of weapons to the lowest elements in the community is enabling them to rob and plunder, and this aggravates the situation." Frontier messages state that a reign of terror prevails in Finnish towns. A sanguinary encounter occurred on the 21st, Tornea (on the Swedish-Finnish frontier) between Finlanders and Russian soldiers. The latter,.armed with machine guns and rifles, attacked the Town Hall, and arrested the Mayor and the Police Commandant. The Finlanders. however, disarmed the Russians, and forced Russian reinforcements to retire. Serious excesses followed. Two hundred Red Guards at Viborg barricaded the streets, stormed the factories, and killed and wounded many people. The Red Guards and Socialists occupied the Government building at Helsingfors. and arrested several members of the Government and all the officials. A semi-official Finnish agency states thatgrave revolts have occurred in the past few days, chiefly at Viborg, where Russian soldiers participated. A general strike was proclaimed. The authorities are stopping the railways from running, in order to prevent the' movement of Russian troops. Considerable fighting is reported in Finland between the Red Guards*and the Finnish White Guards. Bloodshed has resulted at Viborg, Kuchava, and Oesterbotten. The Red Guards' excesses continue at Helsingfors and other towns. CHAOS AT THE FRONT. Berlin correspondents draw extraordinary pictures of the Russian front. As a result of the great masses of desertions, on many sectors up to 150 miles in length no opponents face the German troops. Deserters arrive in the German' lines, including deposed officers who fled owing to the men's cruel treatment. Apparently •the Russians' discipline is totally disappearing. Much war material has been carted away, and the rest has been abandoned, buried, in the snow, especially the heavy guns, which no one will take the trouble to remove. The supply of ammunition has practically ceased. The troops barter their horses for food and even sell their rifles. Conditions on the Russian south-west front are somewhat better. The Rumanians are stiil well organised, and are hostile to Germany. HARBIX AND VLADIVOSTOCK. The Council of the Commissaries sent a protest, to Japan against the landing of troops at- Vladivostock. Field-marshal Count Terauchi, in the course of a speech, said that Japan holds herself responsible for the maintenance of

peace in the Far East. If peace should be endangered Japan will not hesitate to take proper measures to protect it. He had observed with anxiety the internal disorders in Russia, which threaten the peace of the Far East. Japan's relations with Britain and her allies were constantly strengthening. Advices from Tokio state that. Count Ozaki, speaking in the Diet, denounced the Terauchi Administration, lamented its indifference to the war, and urged Japan to state its war aims. He asked why British and American warships were at VJadivostock, when Japan had agreed to protect the Allied interests In the Pacific. Harbin telegrams state that the Chinese have cut off all export of goods to the Russians,- who have filed a protest and threaten to suspend the operation of the Chineso railway. FIGHTiNG RUMANIANS. . Serious fighting is reported from BrestLitovsk between Russians and Rumanians on the 20th inst. in the vicinity of Galata. The Ninth and a portion of the Tenth Siberian Division attempted to break through in order to regain Russian territory, from which they, were cut. off by the Rumanians. The heavy artillery and the monitors of the Danube are engaged. The attempts so far failed, but fighting continues. A CENSORED MESSAGE. The (censor's excision), a Socialist newspaper, states that Australia will send a representative of the militant Labour movement in Australia to Petrograd, to partake in the negotiations affecting the revolution, and for peace.