RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 November 1917, Page 5

RUSSIA.

A WEEK'S FIGHTING AT MOSCOW. GARRISON REMAINED IN BARRACKS CONTINUOUS BOMBARDMENT BY BOLSHEVIKS. COSSACKS ADVANCING ON CITY. Received Nov. 19. 9.45 p.m. The Daily Chronicle's Petrogiad correspondent reports that fighting at Moscow began on November 11 and lasted for a week. A committee of public safety, consisting of the City Council and other organisations, controlled a force of 3000 .pupils and officers of the training schools, and hastily organised a body of students with maxims and 3 field guns. Most of the garrison troops, numbering 100,000, remained in barracks, and did not participate in the fighting. Some departed from the city, and about 15,000 supported the Bolsheviks' Red Guards, composed mainly of youths. The Bolsheviks, with 15 field guns, kept up a continuous bombardment of the centre of the city, killing peaceful citizens in their homes. The Bolsheviks seized the Kremlin, lint were expelled by the public safety committee's troops. The Bolsheviks recaptured the Kremlin, and ! were again expelled. The killed and wounded by Wednesday numbered 3000, mostly civilians. The corpses lay for days in doorways and on stairs. The ."populace were afraid to leave their homes, and were unable to get provisions. The bombardment destroyed the Cathedral of Assumption, and set fire to the Church of St. Basil. This destruction is a national shame, which even Napoleon avoided. It has horrified both sides in the present struggle, and has resulted in negotiations for peace. It is now reported that 20,000 Cossacks are advancing on Moscow. THREE RUSSIAS. CONTROLLED BY THREE FACTIONS. Received Nov. 10, 10.55 p.m. Stockholm, Nov. 18. The Socialist coup in Finland makes the news from Russia fragmentary, but discloses an appalling chaos. There are three Russias —the north half dominited by I.enin; the middle, including Moscow, where the Maximalists aro fighting the follower.) of Kerenskv anil KnrnilofT, and the south, including Kief." and Ukraine, where Kaledin's Cossack 9 are supreme. A MYSTERIOUS MOVE. FORCES APPROACHING PETROGRAD 'AND MOSCOW. Received Nov. 39, 10.55 p;m. London, Nov. 19. The Daily Chronicle's Petrograd correspondent reports that on Sunday night a large force was approaching Petrograd for some purpose unknown, and another large force was approaching Moscow. EXAGGERATED REPORTS. A VISITOR'S IMPRESSIONS. Received Nov. 19, 5.5 p.m. Copenhagen, Nov. 18. M. Edstroen, president of the Swedish Electric Company, who lias returned from Petrograd, saw nothing of the bloody fighting chronicled by foreign newspapers. The military schools had certainly been damaged, but he heard nothing of the) reported cruelties to the women's battalion. The Bolsheviks maintained excellent order. A COMPROMISE. BETWEEN KERENSKY AND LENIN, SOLDIERS FAVOR FINNISH REVOLUTION. Received Nov. 1!), 5.5 p.m. Copenhagen, Nov. IS. The Berliner Tageblatt'a Vienna correspondent states that Lenin and Kerensky have effected a compromise which is essentially favorable to Lenin. Russian troops in Finland favor the Finnish revolution. RAPID CHANGES IN FINLAND. A BOLSHEVIK CABINET ESTABLISHED. A PARALYSING STRIKE Times Service. Petrograd, Nov. 18. There are kaleidoscopic changes inj Finland. Kerensky's supporters dissolved the Diet, which was about to pioclaim a Finnish republic. The revolutionaries re-established the Diet and appointed a Premier. Then, on the 14th, soldiers and strikers occupied the Diet and Senate buildings, dissolved the legislatures, and established a Bolshevik Cabinet. The strike is universal, industries, communications, and agriculture being at a standstill. TROOPS STOPPED GOING TO PETROGRAD. Received Nov. 19, 5.5 p.m. London, Nov. 18. A wireless Russian official notification, signed by Dukhonin and issued in Petrograd, states he has temporarily assumed the post of Commander-in-Chief and orders the stoppage of further troops going to Petrograd, Only transports connected with military operations will be permitted.

COSSACKS CONTROL FOOD AND COAL. ' SUPPLIES FOR PETROGRAD j THREATENED. j KERENSKY DONE FOR. A MILITARY DICTATOR EXPECTED. HORRIBLE MASSACRES BY BOLSHEVIKS. Received Nov. 20, 12.55 a.m. Stockholm, Nov 10, The Cossacks' great advantage is the possession of the Donetz coalfield, which places the whole of the Russian railways lat their mercy. General Kaledin can I starve and freeze Petrograd out. He has already stopped 200 waggons of food, and announces his intention of stopping the whole transport of food to Petrograd. Many well-to-do people are migrating to Archangel. It is evident that Kerensky is done for, and it is generally believed that a military dictator will arise, perhaps General AlexiefF or General Kaledin. The young officers who formed the chief force resisting the Bolsheviks in Petrograd were massacred by thousands. In one case the Bolsheviks captured an armored car manned by cadets. The Bolsheviks thrust bayonets through the loopholes, pinned the unfortunates inside, and then hauled, the cadets out and trampled them to death under the feet of the mob. LOSSES IN MOSCOW FIGHTING REBELS VICTORIOUS. Times Service. Received Nov. 20, 12.55 a.m. Petrograd, Nov. 19. The losses in the Moscow fighting amount to between eight and ten thousand. The revolutionaries were victorious. MOSCOW HOSTILITIES CEASE. MAXIMALISTS' TERMS. London, Nov. 15. On' ®a turd ay hostilities .ceased at Moscow, and terms were signed whereby the White Guard surrenders its arms and the Committee of Public Safety is dissolved. The Maximalists' conditions for entering a composite Socialist Government include control of troops in Petrograd and Moscow, and the arming of workmen throughout Russia. EXTREMISTS' DEMAND 2.QWEII. Petrograd, Nov. 18. On Saturday, after defeating Kerensky, the Maximalist Council Commissioners proclaimed th« •-'•-ht of the different peoples in K„ . to decide on their own foim of Government, including separation and the formation of independent States. The Maximalists insist on the inclusion of Trotsky and Lenin in anv composite Socialist Government, and that the maj M'ity of portfolios, including Foreign Ai.airs, the Interior, and Labor, he given to their paity. Tlie Maximalist Coininis. 'iners have closed the Russia-Swedish frontier at Tornea.