RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 November 1917, Page 5

RUSSIA.

COMPLEX, INCOHERENT SITUATION. NO CENTRAL GOVERNMENT. CAUCASIAN ARMY DEFEATS TURKS. Received Nov. 24, 12.35 a.m. London, Nov, 23. The Daily Chronicle's Pctrograd corre- 1 spondent, commenting on the complex and incoherent situation in Russia, which consists of units recognising no central government, says that Transcaucasia is governed by a committee of moderate Socialists. The Caucasian army has just won a considerable victory at the Diala river, taking prisoner 1600 Turks. LENIN GIVES ORDERS. EXTREMISTS DOOMED TO FALL. London, Nov. 22. The Pctrograd correspondent of the Daily Chronicle says that Lenin lias issued a proclamation to the peasants* and workers assorting that the Government is now in his hands. He orders the local peasants' councils to take over estates immediately and hold them 'pending the preparation of a scheme of partition. The correspondent denies that the majority of the people support the Bolsheviks. The Government is very weak and only controls the armed fores, while all the Socialist and non-Socialist parties, and practically the whole of the people, oppose it. A prominent Bolshevik is pessimistic and believes the Government is doomed to fall. The correspondent adds that it is absurd to regard Lenin as a mere German agent, but his fanaticism is such that ,he would go to any lengths to achieve his ends. He would gladly accept German money and officers for the purpose of effecting a social revolution. Money for himself would not tempt Lenin, whose only aim is the forcible establishment of -Socialism. BOLSHEVIKS' ATROCITIES. CADETS DECAPITATED. Copenhagen, Nov. 22. Several Petrograd newspapers expose the Bolsheviks' cruelties. They affirm that released Austrians and Germans assisted the Bolsheviks in fighting ! against Kerenskv's troops. A commission which investigated the treatment of tho cadets imprisoned in the fortress o? Peter and Paul found that they received no food-or water for forty hours. The bodies of twenty cadets some of them <Jecapitated were found in neighboring canals. The commission was not permitted to visit the cells of the women's battalion owing to the fact that the women had been subjected to every possible cruelty. THE PEOPLE'S COMMISSARIES EAGERLY TOUTING FOR PEACE. Alls, and N.Z. Cable Assoc. and Renter. Received Nov. 23, 10.40 p.m. London, Nov. 22. Wireless Russian official: The Council of People's Commissaries, in the najniJ of the Government of the Russian Republic, has deposed General Dnkhonin, owing to his refusal to offer an armistice, and has appointed General Krvlcnko as commander-in-chief. The Council urges the soldiers to arrest counterrevolutionary generals, who are preventing lynch law, which action is declared unworthv of the revolutionary army. The Council has invited the regiments at the front to elect plenipotentiaries immediately to begin peace pourparlers with the enemy. TROTSKY'S THREAT TO MAKE PEACE. Copenhagen, Nov. 22. A HajjaraijTS message" to the Politiken states that M. Trotsky has font the Allies a supplementary note requesting a revision of their war aims and ?tating that if replies wero not received by November 23 Russia would consider herself justified in making a separate peace. FIGHTING EXPECTED IN FINLAND. Copenhagen, Nov. 22. Great events are impending in Finland. The Socialist and Bourgeois parties have joined in a compromise directed against the Russians and fighting is expected momentarily. SOVIET PROTECTS NEWSPAPERS.. Times Service. Received Nov. 23, 5.5 p.m. Petrograd, Nov. 22. The Soviet's executive, after hearing Lenin and Trotsky, declined to suppress bourgeois newspapers or confiscate their presses.