Hokitika Guardian & evening star WEDNESDAY, NOV. 14th, 1917. STILL KALEIDOSCOPIC.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 November 1917, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & evening star WEDNESDAY, NOV. 14th, 1917. STILL KALEIDOSCOPIC.

The Russian situation is still beautifully 'kladoidoscopic.. Although atl tho u'eelc end M. Kerensky’s downfall was announced with positive certainty, the news this week that, like Rienzi of old, he is “coming again.” The news for a few days disclosed a- queer jumble of alleged facts. The stories emanated e vidently from various correspondent;, possessing as many varied points of view. Probably some of the stories were written to order with a specific object. Tt would now appear that tin* attempt of the Maximalists to seize power was something of a Hash in the pan. Their short-lived success in the capital city is evidently not being repeated in the country, whence Kerensky is drawing renewed power and forces to enable him to rehabilitate his threatened authority. The Maximalists, Bolshoviki and Lpnites are practically one and the same section of the Social Democratic Party. They are an extreme section with idealist ideas. Lenin was a well-known Socialist who had been expelled from Russia prior to the war, and was living in exile in Switzerland. The eruption of war gave him an opportunity to return to Russia, and it is significant that he returned through Germany. On reaching Petrograd he assumed the chief command of the Maximalists, set himself up in the capital and began a vigorous agitation, having the Pravda (Truth) as his chief newspaper organ. The doctrine he preached was that of struggle of the • oppressed workers against the capitalists and boiirge<eso. which \va<- to tnlu* precedence of all other kinds of war; that the lianffiness of mankind was to he found only >n the dissolution of society i> ,4 n " •• ’

or of sm-11 self-governing mp*s. ait l ' community of propertv, and connected with one another by only the slenderest ef ties. On these doctrines T erin worked indefatipbly. The Revolution

and th of Czardom gavo him an .opportunity which ho turned to further advantage, and worked matters up to the point that for the time being ho was able to depose the Kerensky Government, and put it to flight to save its head. Now we see that Lenin’s power is waning. The organisation required for so vast a country a s .Russia, was evidently beyond him. His proposals for government by a division of land among the peasants, and ,the settlement of the economic question, presumably by compulsion, were too radical for Russia. The educated classes and the propertied people would see where this free form of government was going to lead the country, and someiliing. more stable was required. Presumably Lenin’s tactics would serve the enemy admirably. His. propaganda work broke up the chance of Russia retrieving herself from a military pom'- of view after the revolution. In this Lenin served the Central Rowers well, and he did so, it is believed, as the tpol of the enemies of Russia. If Kerensky hae succeeded in rallying- the Cossacks to his side he will have the superior power to control Russia within, and that must be settled before we can regard it as possible for Russia to reenter the war effectively. The re-or-ganisation of Russia in any case will be a. stupendous task. For that reason there can he very little hope of Russia being an important factor in the decision of the war for a. long time to come.