The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1918. RUSSIA'S AGONY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 43, 14 September 1918, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1918. RUSSIA'S AGONY.

“The desire t 0 got something for no-

thing is the keynote of Bolshevism,” j remarks Mr Robert W ilton, an Hng- ' lislunan and a special newspaper correspondent, in his book “Russia s Agony.” Mr Wilton claims to have 1 had a personal experience of Russia • and the Russians dating back nearly, half a century, and during the past fourteen years be lias been an eyewitness of events in Russia, and “able to study at hrst hand the mani- j fold aspects of reaction and revolution as each in its turn was exploited by ■ our relentless foe.” A member ot the Australian House ol Representatives inis asked for recognition as the consular authority for the Russians in Australia, who are said to number six .thousand, and of whom 90 per cent, are said to support “the reform called Bolshevism” ; and those who 1 have any connection with Russian I affairs in the British Dominions J should read Mr Wilton’s hook, in 1

JIT' order that they may understand just what Bolshevism stands s for. The

book is amply documented, and contains a connected historical account of political events in Russia from the outbreak of war to the eve of the socalled Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Mr Wilton pjoeg over the whole shameful and tragic story of Russia’s collapse under the influence of the “dark forces” wielded by Germany; of the Czarina, disgraced by her association I with the abominable Rasputin—a name which is said to signify “be of I the bad roads”—of the Czar’s feeble-) ness and futility, and of the various causes that contributed so fatally to supreme power falling into the bands of the German princess who shared the throne with the Czar. In his absence at the front the Czarina and Rasputin directed the administration in the interests of Germany without a chock. After the revolution the Germans made the Bolsheviks their willing tools, and Lenin and Trotsky continued the deadly work of the betrayal of Russia—the incapable Kerensky being quickly swept a wav. But now there are signs that Bolshevism has nearly run its course, and that the end of the public activities of Lenin and Trotsky is approaching.* “Bolshevism.” says Mr Wilton, “was most dangerous while it worked behind the screen of Democracy. Vi hen it came into the light of day with Lenin’s usurpation of the Government in Petrograd its troubles began. It had to conclude an immediate peace and feed and enrich the mob or perish. Obviously Bolshevism is a destructive, not a constructive agency, ft has laid waste the country agriculturally and industrially. It offers no practicable method of feeding and clothing the people. Lven if the German terms he accepted, viz., exploitation of the Russian grain market and duty-free entry of German goods, the Russian cities will starve and the Russian peasant will go in rags. Moreover, all wTro could

leave the cities have fled home to their villages, and it is unlikely that any surplus food will be available for export from European Russia for a long time to come. Thus from an economic point of view the continuance ( I' the present regime is an impossibility.” It therefore behoves the people in the British Dominions to regard with profound distrust the Bolsheviks and their supporters in their midst. Mr Wilton takes a hopeful view of the general condition of Russia. “A new Russia,” he gays, “is springing up amid the ruing of the old. The day of tenin and destruction draws to a close. Do not believe outward aspects and appearances. Russia is ; not dead. Her agony still upon her is not the agony of death, but the agony of a living, breathing organism struggling to find expression, wrestling against the. fiend of Bolshevism that has gripped her when she was at her weakest.”