RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 April 1917, Page 5

RUSSIA.

INFLUENCE OF EMPRESS. CAUSE OF REVOLUTION. , ~ . , /FAMIXB DELIBERATELY ENGINEERED. Petrograd, April 22. ; Irrefutable evidence ia forthcoming reading tie revolution- that reactionaries, who were led by the Empress and It. Protopopo£f,..were sent to promote dlsturbancea. The state of famine was (deliberately engineered in Petrograd and Other, cities and the reactionaries were prepared to turn it to account as a pre- ■ text for a pence favorable to Germany. JtL ProtopopofT constructed a perfect organisation to create disturbances. ■ The .Weakness of the Czar's hold on ' the people was the , most astonishing feature of the revolution. He was nothing to them, hardly a name.- Nowhere is regret heard tt his abdication. ' The Empress was the most f interesting personality of tilie old regime. While the Czar was thoroughly anti-Cierman" and pro-Ally the Empress was anti-Ally luid pro-German. She believed her mission was to maintain absolute monarchy tor her husband and son. She was intensely mystical. She believed that God had.chosen Russia as the instrument of great miracles. Hence partiy ttrose the away the repulsive imposter Rasputin exercised over her. Perhaps she -mas right that Russia has been chosen as the scene of great miracles, though not precisely of the kind she imagined, < The Those correspondent adds that the influence of the Duma on the Provisional Government is daily growing. The 'bulk of the workmen and soldiers •re patriotic and know that Germany nnat be beaten if their liberties are to be assured. RUSSIAN EXILES. A COLD RECEPTION. London, April 22. The Petrograd correspondent of tke . Observer states tba*t M. Lenin, leader #f the Russian exiles, who returned from Switzerland through Germany, delivered an inflammatory speech demanding an Immediate peace, and the abolition" if the Government. He was coldly received by the majority of the Russian Socialists. i The Labor Gazette points out that the extremists are the best friends of (the reactionaries. The-Congress of soldiers' and workers' delegates support the Government and demand the establishment of arbitration ronrts, safeguards for women's and children's labor, the abolition of contract labor, and an eight-hours' day, except in munition troika. RELEASED PRISONERS. TRANSPORT DIFFICULTIES. Copenhagen, April 22. Owing to the transport difficulties 100,000 released Russian political prisoners have not yet departed from Siberi*. WORKMEN'S COUNCIL EIGHT-HOUR DAY. Received April 23, 10.35 p.m. Petrograd, April 22. The president of the Workmen's Council states that the council demanded an eigW'hour day, owing to the principle involved, but the men were ri»dy to .work twenty,-four :* grdw is «SU|? rto- ___