The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 1918. DISTRACTED RUSSIA.

Southland Times, Issue 17866, 17 January 1918, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 1918. DISTRACTED RUSSIA.

The seething pot of Russian troubles produces fresh disturbances every day and Russia gets no nearer a settlement of her disorders. The British Ambassador, who has returned from Pet.rograd, has really very little to tell us i about the situation that we were not able | to deduce from the cable news. Sir George Buchanan is not at liberty to express him- I self freely. Britain must still maintain re- j lations with Russia as harmoniously as pos- I sible, and, whatever the British. Ambassador lately from Petrograd may say privately to i his official and personal friends, anything that he gives out for publication will be carefully worded so as not to give offence to those with whom Britain ha? to deal in Russia, For the time being the Bolsheviks clearly have the upper hand, and though the Lenin- 1 Trotsky Government, which is really a revolutionary despotism, has not been recognised by the Allies they can only communicate with the Bolshevik leaders in reference, to Russian affairs. The Bolshevik Government is the de facto Government of Russia for the time being, and the Allies must deal with it as such. In reporting the strength of the Bolsheviks the British Ambassador told us only what the cables had made jierfectly clear. And it was no news either to learn that the trump card of the Bolsheviks is peace. The fact which is now widely recognised, even, by those who professed to believe that a Russian army, perfectly organised and equipped and able to take an “offensive” against Germany, might turn up miraculously on the Russian front on any fine morning, is that the Russian people arc worn out by the war. That is not difficult to understand. The war has brought nothing but misery to Russia. While the Russian armies suffered terrible disasters, millions of the Russian people had neither food nor fuel in their homes. After I

the revolution the country was given over to turbulence and conditions of life became still more intolerable. When the defections in the army began it was not the Bolsheviks who were in power but Kerensky. The Bolsheviks are no\y in [lower because the army refused to fight and demanded peace, and the Bolsheviks promised peace. The Russian people are of the same mind with the army. A war government is not possible in Russia at the present time, and in any case even if Korniloff, Kaledin, and Kerensky did seize the government with the intention of keeping Russia in the war they could not reorganise the country industrially and economically, or restore the army to a state of discipline and efficiency in the face of the enemy. Even if the enemy consented to remain inactive the best generals could not .put a new Russian army on a war footing in time to be of any assistance to the Allies. Peace was the Bolsheviks’ trump card. Any government which puts the Bolsheviks out of office will have to promise peace also, and it is more than doubtful if Kaledin, or Korniloff, or Kerensky, is now in favour of the continuance of the war. The fact which has to be recognised is that Russia is out of the war and is not likely to return to it. Mr Lloyd George’s speech showed how the British Government looks at the position; Mr Wilson’s speech showed how it apjieured to the American Government; the sjieech of Fir Auckland Geddes on the Man-Power Bill shows what the Allies’ Chief Command thinks of it. From their point of view Russia and Roumania are out of the war. and they have to prepare for the transfer of 1,600,000 men from the eastern front to the west. The position of Russia is nor at all affected by reports of the mobilisation of the so-called Bolshevik army .It L an army in name only—a 'Tag-tag and tx>b--la.il” collection, lacking in organisation, discipline, and thb military spirit. The alleged mobilisation of the Red Guard is not to be taken any more seriously than the threat of its (’ommander-in-Chief. Krylenko, to wage a “Holy War” against the bourgeoisie of Britain, France, and Italy, as well as that of Germany. The Bolshevik army is capable of no more serious lighting than that which is being carried on with bauds of Cossacks in different parts of the country, in which the actions are irregular skirmishes or local fights in which very little progress is made. “Russia has finished her rob as an active Power in this war.” says Sir George Buchanan, and that just about e-urns up the position, What the result of the Pence Conference may be. or what will ultimately conic out of the struggle for power between the rival factions in Russia. no one can foretell, hut the developments, whatever they may be. can make little difference to the Allies as far as the prosecution of the war is concerned.