NOTES AND COMMENTS

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16259, 9 July 1918, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

The landing of British, French, American, and Japancfae marines at Vladivostok is the iirst move in a policy which has long been urged upon the Allies by the real friends of Russia. It is possible, however, that if Russia s troubles Had been merely internal the Allies would have let her stew m her own juice lauier tuan in any way weaken their suongtii in tne West by trying to restore order and good government to tne distracted laud. But, Germany's positi'on m ltussia and tuo far-reaciiing scope and menace of her machinations rendeied it ab&oiute.y imperative tiia t beiore long tne Allies suould take action. Dr. vviliiams declared only the other day tnat apart from the re-conquest of iiuss.a lor tlie Allied cause we could not win the world-war. German ambitions were aharne with a new dream ot tlie East and the Kaiser was hastLy gathering in the Czar's heritage. A little while before this a special con espondent of '"The Times" warned Britain that if the Allies emerged fioin tne war with 1/0 "million Russians not restored to stability we siiouid navo viituai.y sold our birthright lor a mess of pottage. Whatever I'ower or lowers redeemed Russia wouid control the world in twenty years.

Intervention has presented itself for' maiiy months past as the only means by which Russia could be prevented from becoming the hinterland of Uerjnany, who would thereby receive an enormous accession of strong Lh, invoiv- ! ing Europe and the East, including India, in sorious peril, it might iiave been undertaken much eailier in the year, had it not been for tne attitude of America, whicn seemed, in view of the knowledge tnat the American President and Government must nave had, strangely reluctant to enter upon the task. American concern for tlie ieelings, or the reported feelings, of the Russian people, in spite of tne obvious ! danger from delay, has been maintained until German penetration has been _so I far. accomplished as to make effective intervention a matter of grave difficulty. The whoio positron in Russia is so extraordinarily contused and the news received irorn that country is so often unreliable, tnat it is extiemeiy aimcuit ito estimate tne situation accurately. J One ..tact that emerges appears to be that, /as predicted, mu&scs of uxe people nave becouie sioix oi tne iiolsneviiia, wuose potver is uwmuuug. luey are ueing uy uie |j-uou-üb3, insurrections ujjamst tnein m.uvo lately talien place in several districts. in oidieis, elections nave youe against. Soviet (.uoiiuiovik) canuiuates. now jar iiern-aiiy is respousioie ror tneae and otuer disorders is a moot point, 'lue iJoisneviis nave been uesenbod i>y one • wnuer as tne oil© anu-Uermau party in Jttussia wmle ano tlier deciaies tuat tuey are receiving direct aid .irom Uermany. In one part, of tne country ! vnov are reportea to be ugirtiiig a&aiiiat ! tne Germans, ana in numeious I other piaces with tnem. It is, or course. no part of Germany s poncy to inspire the Bolsheviks to hght against her, but it is quite possible that the anti-German operations are not very sorious, and it is impossible not to recognise that' Germany is finding her opportunty in the armed disturbances that are just now sporadic in Russia, and difficult to believe that she has no hand in fomenting them for her own ends.

Siberia is, undoubtedly, not only the most convenient point for Allied intervention, but the one in which it has a very good chanco of succeeding in forestalling German designs. For months there has been some more of less organised and active hostility to both the Bolsheviks and the enemy in that part of Russia. The Cossack General, Semenotf, with a force of Cossacks alleged to be 3000 strong, was waging war in April against the Bolsheviks. His force, if the number credited to it was correct, was woak, and an opposing force, which included an Austro-German cavalry brigade and four infantry regiments, compelled him, after he had had one or two minor successes east of Lake Baikal, to suspend his westward march and retront to the Chinese frontier. A good many of his Cossacks, owing to internal dissensions. then deserted to the enemy.

Much greater success has attended the operations of some large bodies of Czecho-Slovaks, whose presence in Western Siberia is explained, by the fact that tnoy wore prisoners of war, having surrendered eaiiy in the campaign, owing to lack 01 sympathy with Austria, who is now puling ueariy for ner oppressive ruio, i>y wmc-n sne antiiO and otuer nuuouanuus witiuu nor borders. i'urther eaot, tne czeouo-oiovaiis, who are now nyutuig 1,11 e (jfoiiuuii-rioiouevik rorces, to be re&iinencs who nave revo.iod wmlo on active service against Russia, and are now doing winit tuey can to heip liur. All these Czechoslovaks constitute & valuable nucleus lor any forces that tne Allies may tiirow into Siberia. They hold some of tlie larger cuios of Sibeiia, and control a large part of the I raiis-Siberian railway, tuey have assumed command of V ladivostok, and tuey have lately been strouytiiened in their .councils by the accession to their side of M. Miliukov, formerly a member of Prince Lvoff's Ministry after the fall of the Czar.

There sooms every reason to believe that Siberia may be rescued from German intrigues without a great deal of trouble. If tne Allies can land sufficient troops to atiuen tlio Czechoslovak forces already in the held, it is higniy probable that tne latter will at once be reiniorced by Russians anxious to bee tne ia.it of Bolshevik rule. Siberia, oi couise, is not Russia, but it is a very important part of it, and success there by tne enemies of uieimany would tno antiUerman movement in ii.uropean Russia, 'ihis action by the Aliies in intervening in Russia is, we believe, one of the most important steps they have taken, and furtner developments will be awaited with deep interest by all who realise how essential it is that Germany's Eastern ambitions should be thwarted.

The French Maritime League has given its moral support to the resolution of the* British Seamen's Union to enforce for a stated term after tne

war a boycott against Germany and Germans on the sea. That decision was reached last September, when the Merchant Seamen's League was formed for the express, purpose of carrying out tho boycott for two years alter the war, | with another month added for every new crime. In May last the term of the proposed boycott had reached five years and seven months; it has mxt been extended to six years, and some want to make it ten. It will probably be that, by the end of tne war, when the time comes to put the boycott into operation.

At one time the British Seamen's Union had very close relations with the German Social Democrats and the feeda list International, but according to Mr Havelock Wilson, the leaders of the Union lost confidence in them owing to tiieir treachery during a strike. Still tho spirit of brotherhood was strong enough to cause the Union, when war broke out, to buy some land, form a model internment camp, and usk the Government to give them charge of all interned German sailors. The Government did so, and the interned sailors were well looked after. But when Mr Wilson heard them cheering and rejoicing over the Lusitania disaster— many of them being men who had been so long in England and on English boats that they had almost forgotten their mother-tongue—his eyes were opened, and the camp was very soon afterwards handed over to the military authorities.

Then came the unrestricted sub-1 marine campaign, with all its attendant savagery—"sinking without leaving a trace," firing on ships' boats, and so on. "I have got," said Mr Havelock "Wilson, "hundreds of cases of boys whose arms and legs have been blown off by U-boats' guns while they were trying to get away from sinking ships in open boats. 1 wrote to the secretary of the International Transport Workers' Union, protesting against these crimes. His reply attempted to justify every one of them. That showed us that not only was the Kaiser responsible, but that tho organ- ' ised trade union movement of Germany was also responsible." So thereupon the policy to which the Merchant Seamen's League is committed, was adopted, and for years after the war German Labour will have cause to remember its support to tho murderous submarine campaign. The attitude of the Union is most clearly expressed in some verses which lately appeared m "Punch," of which the last one ran as follows:— j "When peace is signed and treaties made, : end trade begins again, ! There's somo'll shake a German's hand an' never eco the Btain; Bnt cot me," saya Dan the sailor-man, "not me as God's on high— Lord knows it's bitter in an open boat to see your shipmates die!" I