THE RUSSIAN UPHEAVAL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14473, 7 December 1917, Page 3

THE RUSSIAN UPHEAVAL

'LAWS" OF THE BOLSHEVIKI.

RED GUARDS' REIGN OF TERROR. (The Times.) PETROGRAD, Dec. 5. The Bolsheviki have drafted a law abolishing church marriages, and sub- . 'stituting civil ceremonies and conferring equal rights on legitimates and illegiti--1 mates, providing easy divorce, and per- . mitting burials m consecrated: ground without ceremony. The Red Guard is» leading a- reign of terror, and arrests are apparently ing stituted as a pretext for plundering and looting- the houses^of the wealthy. The . newspaper No voe Vremya. has been seized. Mr Bo'rehier states that Trotsky, j replying to a statement that negotia--3 tions were ordered nineteen hours bes fore the Ambassadors were informed of the Soviet's? declaration, says he sufficij" ently informed the Allies, but did not regard their views as important. He was guided only by the principles of demooracy and the interests of the workers. He would have preferred a general, not a separate, peace. * The Bolsheviki have arrested many hostile ■ journalists for alleged plotting', and other, arrests of anti-Bol'sheviki are continuous. The remnant of the Provisional Gov- • eminent has appealed to the. arm y and citizens 1 to defend the . Costitu'ent Assembly and eject the usurpers, as the armistice -will lead only .to ruin and economic slavery. ' ? (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) ... . ' . ROME, Dec. 5. 3 The Vatican is not assisting and will : not assist m . the separate peace move- > ment between Russia and the Central ■ Powers. • ■'..-' -A