WHY RUSSIA COLLAPSED.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 November 1917, Page 6

WHY RUSSIA COLLAPSED.

ARMY DISCIPLINE ABOLISHED. | THE COMEDY OF MILITARY | FREEDOM. (Age Correspondent). London, August. 13. Before the military collapse of Russia was made apparent to the world by the rapid advance of the Austro-German offensive in Galicia, the desertions from tlie Russian armies at the front hail reached colossal figures. The German estimate of these desertions—an estimate based on information obtained in the "fraternising" days, when German and Russian soldiers made merry together in the Russian trenehes—was 1,500,0(50. It was the official abolition of discipline in the Russian armies by the famous "Decree Regarding the Fundamental Rights of Meli in the Fighting Services" which was mainly responsible for the desertions. The decree dealt with the rights of soldiers and sailors, but said next to nothing about their'duties. It abolished irksome duties and established new rights as the gift of the glorious revolution to the rank and file. It abolished military discipline of all kinds, including the punishment for desertion. It was against tlie spirit of the glorious revolution to compel a man to remain in the trenches if lie felt lie was needed at home. The officers were powerless to prevent soldiers throwing down their arms and walking oil'. Thousands of soldiers did so, and when the rumor went round the Russian armies that the estates of the land owners were to be eut up and divided among the peasants ci each district, hundreds of thousands of peasant soldiers left the ranks and hurried home, so as to be on hand when the division of the land took place. The following picture of the conditions in the country districts of Russia after the revolution helps to explain the wholesale defcrtion from the armies. "Immediately the success of the revolution was assured, the peasants elected committees, which took over the management of affairs. Only two things interest the peasants—the' war and the land. As to the war, the opinion of the maj6rity of the peasants is that it must end quickly. How this is to be brought about the peasant does tiot know and does not care." "We have shed too much blood," they say. ''lt is time to end the slaughter." Any suggestion at peasants' meetings to continue the war meets with unqualified disapproval. The land question the peasants have settled for themselves. From now onwards the fallow lands of landed proprietors are to be ploughed for winter crops by the peasants for their own use. The harvest on these lands is to be gathered by the peasants for their own use. The cattle, horses, and the farming- machinery of the proprietors pass to the peasantry in the autumn. No compensation will be paid hv the peasants (o the proprietors for dispossession. The question of the ownership of the farm houses, farm buildings, and orchards has not been decided. The majority of the peasants favor taking possession of everything of the kind, but they are willing to wait for the decision of the Constituent Assembly, if it meets in the autumn. If it is postponed beyond autumn the peasants will not wait. They are willing to obey the Constituent Assembly if its decrees harmonise with their own views. There are agitators who tell the peasants: "Don't give up your corn to the Government, because if you do this war will go on, but if you stop food supplies the armies, having no food, will come home of their own accord." The work of tho "Decree Regarding the Fundamental Rights of Men in the Fightifig Services" in abolishing discipline in the armies was completed by the introduction of the committee svstepi into the military organisation. There was a committee elected by the rank and file /or each company in each regiment-, there, was another committee for each regiment, another for each army division, a committee for each army corps, a committee for each army, and a committee for each group of armies on each of the fronts into which the military operations were divided- The original purpose of these committees was to maintain order—to establish a new and pleasant form of discipline based on the democratic principles of one soldier one vote, and responsible government in military affairs. The committee? were not responsible to any military authority, but only to the Council of Soldiers' and Workmen's Delegates, which sat at Pctrograd, and usurped the functions of the Government. In theory these committees were not to interfere in military affairs. In practice they controlled all military questions. All military power gravitated, to them because they were the only bodies with any semblance of authority over the soldiers. The officers had no authority; tiYir authority had been abolished by the "Decree Regarding the Fundamental Rights of Men in the Fighting .Services." The committees fflon usurped all the functions of military command, and stamped out any incipient signs of the restoration of discipline as between officers and men. Every military'operation, every plan of attack had to be submitted to the committees, and in order to increase their popularity they submitted it to the men. Each company Voted on the question whether it would ta;ke part in a proposed attack. And usually the soldiers voted in the negative. The Tolstovan doctrine of non-resistance which has permeated the Russian revolution was very popular in the 'Russian trenches No comprehensive story of the great Russian retreat has reached England. In fact the retreat began so suddenly and extended to such a vast scale that no comprehensive story of it can be written. The Grenadier Division of the 11th Army were the first troops to put into practical operation in the trenches the Tolstovan doctrine of non-resistance. And as news of their flight readied other divisions the retreat spread until it became general. Over hundreds of souare miles of country the soldiers poured, burning and looting as they went, in order to delay the advance of the enemy. The panic caused bv fear qf 'lilie enemv soon ceased, for at the pace the deserters travelled the enemy was soon left in the rear. Rut the retreat continued, the deserters being actuated by a businesslike determination to establish a record in the history of retreats. . . Electioneering methods applied to the Russian army have succeeded in proditein" a colossal disaster instead of the victorv that was intended. Xo army since the" beginning of history has had so manv patriotic speeches, so many stirring manifestoes addressed to it as the Russian arm v has had since the revolution established itself in March last. It speeches ond manifestoes in the name of i|rttdom and patriotism could secure

victory, the 4u«triftn.» and Germans .would be in disorderly retreat, not the Russians. A democratic army in which discipline has been abolished and has been succeeded by the - principles of universal brotherhood and social equality' is no match for the highly disciplined armies of the Central Powers. A return to old methods of military discipline will have to be made if Russia is to be saved. If the Jnssians arc to maintain the freedom that the revolution gave them they will have to fight for it. The campaigning season on the Russian front will not last beyond the end of September, for the arrival of winter rains and snows will render extensive military operations impossible. There is, therefore, little time available for the Germans in which to complete the defeat of the Russian armies; there is ample time for the restoration of discipline and military efficiency in the Russian armies before next year's campaign begins. But the task of educating the Russian peasant soldier to the fact that every free nation has to defend its freedom when threatened, instead of sacrificing itself and its freedom on tiie altar of non-resistance, is a difficult one.