The Dominion. TUESDAY, JULY 16, 1918. HOPE FOR RUSSIA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 255, 16 July 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, JULY 16, 1918. HOPE FOR RUSSIA

The anxiety betrayed in current German comments on the situation in Russia is all the more interesting and significant on account of the efforts made to conceal it and to belittle developments which in fact 'promise well for Russia and the Allies, and badly for Germany. We are told, for instance, that "German newspapers assert that it is impossible for the Allies to restore the Eastern front so as to fiompel LrJDENDORFF to withdraw divisions from France tc fight the reorganised Russian armies and the Czflcho-Slovaks. ' The utmost Germany anticipates is that the Allied efforts will result in Lenin's overthrow, and create a guerrilla war against German troops, to prevent Germany exploiting 'the BrestLitovsk treaty." This survey obviously ignores features of the situation which Germany can by no moans afford to regard with indifference. It is admitted that there is no immediate prospect of such a reorganisation of tho Russian armies as would enable them, even with tho enterprising help -and c 1 operation of the Czecho-Slovaks, to again become an important factor in the war. The complete re-estab-lishment of an Eastern battlcfronfc manned by Russian armies in effective fighting trim is, and will be for some considerable timo to come, an impossible aspiration. A great deal may, nevertheless, be_ done to amend and improve the existing state of affairs, in which Germany is daily extending her exploitation of Russia and her domination over the country and its people. _ The German suggestion that Allied efforts in Russia will produce at most negative results: and will not appreciably affect the military situation is decidedly unconvincing. Visible facts rather suggest that it is open to the Russian people, assisted by the Czccho-Sloaks and the Allies, to definitely counter Germany's predatory schemes and to at least seriously aggravate her general military probbms. One of to-day's reports assorts that the fighting which is in progress in various parts of Russia is largely aimless, and can lead to no useful result, but tho weight of evidence supports an entirely differentconclusion. There does not seem to bo any doubt that the Czechoslovaks in Siberia, as well as tho Allied forces' which have landed on the Murman coast, are working to a ddfinite' plan, and that an increasing proportion of the Russian population is being stirred to action in the interests of its own future freedom. In order that sound and permanent work may be done towards restoring Russia it is essential that the political reorganisation of the Russian people should gn haud-in-hand with whatever military enterprises are undertaken against (.lie Germans ,ov the Bolshoviki. These conditions are satisfied to some extent in the news that governments friendly to tho

Entente havo been established in Siberia and in the Arctic littoral of Russia, between the White Sea and the Asi-in border. A pronouncement by tho Busian Social Revolutionaries, welcoming Allied intervention so long as there is no interference with internal affairs,

is also noteworthy in this connection. Given continued development on these Ibis, it is well within the bounds of possibility that while Rus'ia is still a long way from regaining the full status of a belligerent, Germany may find herself faced by military demands in the East which will overtax her available resources* and seriously conflict with her Western plans. According to one of to-day's reports, she has half a million second-lino troops between Petrograd and tho Black Sea. Such a force will be utterly insufficient to dominate the country if the movement of liberation, which thus far has taken concrete shape in Siberia and in the Arctic littoral spreads widely over European Russia.

One of tho most promising features of the existing situation is that the power of the Bolsheviki is rapidly dwindling. These anarchist adventurers havo been from first blast a, purely disintegrating factor in Russia, and the extinction .of their influence is an essential preliminary to the free development and progress of a movement of liberation. _ Such an expulsion of the Bolsheviki as now sceiiis imminent was foretold by competent observers whoso, reading of the situation has already bceu largely verified by events. For instance, Me. A. J. Sack, a well-known authority, wrote in May last that it should be understood that the Bolsheviki ruled in Russia not becauso of their strength, but becauso of the temporary weakness of the great people, prostrated by the losses ancf sufferings of the war, and by the disorganisation of tho industrial and financial life of the country, "the heritage of tho old 'regime, increased by the Bolsheviki." The greatest Rusian Revolutionary and Socialist leaders, he added, regarded the Bolsheviki as enemies of the Revolution, who, by reducing it to an absurdity, were doing their best to provoke a reaction in Russia. Dealing next with the question why the Bolsheviki, being what they are, last so long, Mu._ Sack observes that the answer is simple. Tho opposition of, the country is passive because tho country is exhausted, nnd, on tho other hand, tho Bolsheviki havo the support of tho disorganised remnants of tho Army because they allow tho soldiery to do as they please. The Bolsheviki are playing at "government," are issuing decrees, orders, and laws, but, in fact, their fundamental principle may bo expressed, as someono suggested, by the brief phrase, "help yourself." The soldiers help, themselves, and this kind of a "democratic government" naturally appeals to them.

Mr. Sack touches interestingly, also, upon such features of the situation as have a hearing on tho future :—

With tho demobilisation of the Army (he remarks), and tho want of food iii the cities, the remnants of tho Army are beginning to disappear. When this same soldier returns to his village and his home, and, after spending his money, etnrts to work, lie becomes a law-abiding, peaceful citizen. On tho other hand, the soldiers who remain in the cities becomo more and more lazy and' unwilling to fight for anything , , even for their own Bolshevist "government." Therefore, small German detachments are able to occupy entiro Russian provinces, almost without resistance. But, on the othbr hand, if a strong national democratic movement were to appear in Russia, and (here are reasons- to believe that it will appear soon, a small, well-disciplined army of a few corps could defeat very easily the armed, mobs supporting the Lenin regime.

The prospects of.a strong national democratic movement in llussia havo definitely brightened since these words were written, and already there is all but conclusive evidence that the Bolsheviki, in spite of the fact that they are more and more making common cause with the Germans, are able at most to feebly oppose its development. A reasonably good prospect thus appears that the Germans - may presently find themselves engaged in guerrilla warfaro in Russia which, will impose demands not to be met without impairing their prospects in Western Europe. But it is much more important that the hope is raised that the final phase of the war may see Russia not-a helpless pawn in Germany's hands, but a nation re invigorated and struggling vigorously to establish and safeguard its freedom.