The Waikato Times. With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 1919. THE SOVIET MOVEMENT

Waikato Times, Volume 90, Issue 14048, 29 April 1919, Page 4

The Waikato Times. With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 1919. THE SOVIET MOVEMENT

One of the most significant effects of the military collapse of the Powers associated with Germany agai.ist the Allies has been the upsetting of the old ioims c ! government in the countries that have suffered defeat. The example was set, of course, by Russia, and the leaven of Bolshevism has brought about a wide-spread ferment now manifesting itself in various European States which hirtfi suffered to the full the penalties and the reverses of war. The autocratic governments of Germany and Austria-Hungary, once their prestige was obliterated in defeat, proved powerless to hold in domination the various nationalities of which their Empires were composed. Revolution received an impetus to which they could oppose no effective resistance. Thus there has ensued a striking development of the Soviet movement in Europe. The Soviets, committees of delegates representing military, industrial, and agricultural units, were not the creation of the Bolshevists. They were formed when the Anti-Bolshevists were in power in Russia. But they became thoroughly Bolshevised after the seizure of authority by Lenin and Trotsky and their party, who carried on civil war until the bourgeoisie were sufficiently exterminated or suppressed to permit the task of revolutionary reconstruction to be approached by these organisations on the new basis. In the Nineteenth Century Review Dr. Arthur Shadwell gives a very instructive account of Bolshevism in the light of recent publications by Lenin and Trotsky. Reporting last year to the Central Executive Committee of the Bolshevist organisations upon "The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Power," Lenin expressed with great emphasis the view—- " One cannot conquer or abolish Capitalism without ruthlessly overcoming the opposition of the exploiters. Every great revolution, but especially tire Socialist revolution —even if there had been no external war—is unthinkable without an internal war, that is civil war, which implies even greater disorder than external war." The Whole Bolshevist regime rests upon force ruthlessly exercised. The first step it aims at is the conquest of- political power by the proletariat, which will then use that power to wrest all capital from the bourgeoisie and take the means of production into its own hands. In one of his published reports Lenin looks forward to the time when "as the typical form of suppression and compulsion the tribunal will replace shooting on the spot." But that time shows no sign of approaching. While Bolshevism is called the "dictatorship of the proletariat" it is in reality nothing more or less than a military dictatorship in Russia to-day, which may be expected to last, as Dr. Shadwell observes, so long as it is possible to keep the Praetorten Guard contented by lavish pay and plenty of food. A prominent feature of the activities of the Bolshevists has been their eagerness to carry the light into other countries. They would capture the world. Eastern Europe is ringing with their propaganda. In Hungary, they have found a particularly congenial soil, it would appear, and a Hungarian Soviet Government is even now busily engaged in making extraordinary decrees, including one that orders the theatres to give several free performances for the workers • every week. Further, the Soviet is supervising "the rapid socialisation of factories, workshops, and houses in Hungary." The whole business, if the latest reports describe it correctly, savours strongly of absurdity. It is doubtful, says the Berlin correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, if the Entente will seriously consider embarking on an adventure against such a childlike government of Bolshevists. But such a development as the world is now witnessing, that of the dissolution of great empires into small nations, ( is attended with a far-reaching importance and intense interest, quite apart from any question of anxiety, which might, indeed, readily be misplaced. This disintegration of loosely-knit Powers is in itself a highly impressivr circumstance, as President Wilson recognised in the course of a speech at Rome, in which he said: "The distinguishing feature of this war is that great empires have gone to pieces, and the characteristic of these empires was that they held different peoples reluctantly together under the coercion of force and the guidance of intrigue." Whether the new Governments that are set up are Socialist or otherwise is not a question with which other countries have, after all, great reason to concern themselves. Even a State in which a Socialist Government endeavours to justify its existence by the prosecution of a class-war such as is being carried on in Russia, and such as may develop in Hungary and elsewhere, may conceivably claim «nd receive recognition from other Governments while it works out its experiment in statesmanship. The failure of the Bolshevist Government, which, in the absence of a true constructive policy on its part, should be inevitable and complete, will afford a demonstration of the futility of the movement it represents much more convincing than any act of intervention or suppression could furnish. For the first time, Lenin has declared, class-

war Socialism is being put to the test of reality. And it may well be providing what Dr. Shadwell terms "a priceless lesson."