The Dominion TUESDAY, JULY 9, 1918. A SIGNIFICANT DEED

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 249, 9 July 1918, Page 4

The Dominion TUESDAY, JULY 9, 1918. A SIGNIFICANT DEED

As an event involving the fate of one man the assassination of the German' Ambassador in Moscow, which is reported to-day, would attract no more than passing notice. But in the circumstances that obtain it is natural to look beyond the deed itself to what it portends. No doubt many will share the view expressed by French ■ commentators that the assassination of General Mirbacii is the first stroke of vengeance by oppressed Russia against the German tyranny, and a severe blow to German plans. Interest awakened by the event will be proportioned, not to the importance of General Mirbach, but by the widespread recognition of the fact that it Russia is to bo saved from permanent domination by Germany she must largely work out her own salvation. The Allies are in a position to lend Russia powerful aid in winning back her lost standing as_ a nation, but they can do nothing to help her if she is cowed, inert, and submissive to the invader. An event which indicates Vhat the fire of Russian patriotism still burns with fierce intensity is therefore of the highest significance as it bears on the prospects now raised that the Allies may seek to inaugurate a national revival in the former Empire of the Tsars. In its setting the assassination commands attention, not as an act of violence, but as a sign of the times. Such possibilities are raised as were outlined some time ago by M. Berg, a member of the Council of Representatives of Unions and Organisations of Russia, in an article published in America. The Russian people, he declared, were learning by bitter experience to overcome the Tolstoyan spirit of non-resist-ance. "German treachery is destroying that spirit in them, and very soon yoil will scea mighty wave of resentment against German aggression sweep over the country." It may bo noted in passing that'll. Berg is at variance with many other authorities on Russia in believing that the Soviet Government is destined to endure and to take the lead in tho ultimate struggle with Germany, but ho is most interesting in suggesting tho lines on which resistance to tho Teutonic invasion is likely to develop:

I know Lenin, I know his breed. 'I know tho spirit of the Russian youths. Pliey may bo cowed, driven under the ground, but ouco tliey aro aroused, there is nothing can slop I hem from the most ferocious fight against their oppressor?!. 1 do not doubt that they will begin to look upon tho Government of Williolm as they did upon Hint of Nicholas, and, to dostrov it, resort to tho Game tactics ns they did in their struggle against tho Tsar's Government. We may soon hear that an attempt was made bv a Russian "student" to assassinate Wilhelm; ihat tlio German Ambassador has been.shot dead; that a bomb has been exploded hero and there killing so many German officials; that a whole German garrison has boon massacred and burned; that Ihe crops have been destroyed to prevont ihero from falling into the" hands of the Germans. All this may happen, and more. There is bound to ho opon insurrection in the occupied territories that will demand armies to put down. How much nioro effective this struggle against German autocracy will be if tho United States will bo ready to help Russia in I her endeavour to overthrow tho German yoke!

The event now reported in Moscow remarkably fulfils one detail iu M. Bero's prediction. On the other hand it does not seem at all probable that Lenin and the other Bolshevik notables will lead the movement of insurrection if it takes shape. It is stated in the news today, by no means for the first time, that the Bolshcviki have intimated that they will offer armed resistance to Allied intervention, and if America, as now seems likely, has agreed to intervention, she has no doubt done .. so because President Wilson and his Government have been driven to accept the view that the continued existence of the Bolshevik regime is incompatible with the redemption and regeneration of Russia.

In any case an immediate challenge to the Bolshevik Administration is hardly in question, for its authority has never been effectively extended to the confines of Siberia, where, if anywhere, there is a practicable field for intervention. Wisely devised and controlled, the Alliod measures should enable the Russian people to make their own choice of governors, at first in Siberia and

afterwards in European Russia. If hopes are fully realised the progress of reconstruction in Siberia will have great value as an example and stimulus to other sections of

the- Russian nation, and available information suggests equally that there is desperate need of encouragement on these lines, and that if it is afforded it is unlikely to he wasted. Existing conditions were summed up not long ago by Mn. J. L. GarVin in an article in the Loudon Observer:

the dominant faction (the liolsheviki) has suppressed liberty us thoroughly as it has destroyed order. Those terrorists rule on' tho principle of Tsanlom at its worst. . . . In the, towns there ia a complete disintegration of industry and labour. In the. country tho peasants arc clamouring blindly for moro land and still more land, though they do not half cultivate that, which they possess. The worse elements of tho people have broken out into anarchy, which tho Bolshevists aro seeking to extirpate. Tho better element of society, the moro intelligent classes, including tho majority of Socialists and former revolutionaries, aro Under a regime of terrorist suppression. Many of them in sheer despair, and against every desire of their hearts, will and must turn pro-German if ttio Allies, instead of helping thorn, continue an attitude of 6hcDr wavering impotence.

With matters in this state, it is the testimony of observers that Germany is methodically developing plans of penetration and exploitation in Russia by which she hopes to maintain her ascendancy over that unhappy country even if she is compelled to ostensibly disown her Eastern ambitions and to evacuate the area of 500,000 square miles of Russian territory which she now holds in military occupation. Ono essential object of German policy is to secure a' restoration of the monarchy in Russia, and another is to preserve the separatist form of government in the Ukraine and other provinces, and thus perpetuate the breach between the different parts of tho country amounting to a virtual partition. This programme, it is stated, appeals to a section of the Russian population, but only to a very small section which favours a return not only of monarchy, but of the old autocracy. The Russian masses, according to a writer who sums up the evidence of rocent witnesses of Russian events, cling to the idea of a "People's Government." In this way and others ovidence is _ afforded of a great body of opposition to German schemes, hut ' the danger which exists and is increasing is that tl ) Russian masses may bo driven in mcro wedriness to accept German domination as an alternative to anarchy. Allied intervention is amply justified as an endeavour to preserve the 1 people of Russia from this fate, and it is imperatively ncccs l sary also in order that Germany may be prevented from drawing strength from Russia in this war, if it lasts long enough, and gaining a position of power in Eastern Europe which would make the destruction of Pr'ussiar militarism impossible.