RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 January 1918, Page 5

RUSSIA.

PROCEEDINGS AT ASSEMBLY. THE SLOUGH OF CIVIL WAR. BECOMING DEEPER HOURLY. London, Jan. 21." The Petrograd correspondent of the Daily Chronicle says that the Constituent Assembly opened on Thursday afternoon and the Bolsheviks withdrew at midnight. Tile opening marked the inauguration of a fresh phase of terror. The Pity is hourly sinking deeper into the slough of civil war. The struggle is 'llow between the Social Revolutionaries, who are a majority in the Constituent Assembly, and the Bolsheviks, who are holding with tight reins the power. The deputies include'a large proportion of young men, returned political refugees and workers of the revolutionary parties. There are few peasants, working men or soldiers.

BOLSHEVIKS DISORDERLY. VERITABLE "FIASfco. i London,; Jan. 21. The Petrograd correspondent of the •Daily Chronicle states that. 200 to 2+o Revolutionaries, 00 Bolsheviks, and 30 Left Social Revolutionaries attended the Assembly. The People's Commissaries were some on the right and some on the left of the Speaker's tribune and included Lenin, who Was apparently in good spirits and chatting with Krvlenko. . The Bolsheviks raised a howl of indignation, banged their desks,, and whistled when the Social Revolutionaries proposed Shvetsoff, the senior ilcnuty, should open the proceedings. The Bolsheviks shook their fists and rushed to the tribune to prevent Shvetsoff collecting the proceedings.

The arrival of Svcrdloff. President of the Executive Committee of the Bolshevik Soviet, stopped-tHe brawl, Slivetsoft retiring. SVcmllofV declared that the Russian revolutionary flag had spread to all countries, freeing the working class from the joke of capital. He proclaimed Russia a" Federal Stfviet Republic and' demanded that the Constituent Assembly should recognise the power of the-Soviets and cortftrm their decrees for the nationalisation of land, banks, and means of production.

The declaration added: 'ln order to destroy the parasitic classes compulsory service will be introduced, the workers shall be armed, form in <r n . P«rl Socialist army of workers and peasants, and all the propertied classes shall be disarmed." The Bolsheviks punctuated this- astonishing declaration with calculated bursts of applause, after which the crowd rose and sang the Internationale. M. CherilofV was' elected' President and declared that the Bolshevik' tactics had rendered it difficult to secure a democratic peace without victors or vanquished. The Constituent Assembly must initiate an international. Socialist peace conference to' secure such a- peace.

REPORTS CENSORED PROTEST TO JAPAN London, Jan. 21. The Petrograd correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph Agency states that the Smolny Institute disall&wing any fixed meeting in the Taurida Palace of the Constituent Assembly the Bolshevik# confiscated the papers containing the reports of the Constituent Assembly, entirely suppressing several. The Council of Commissaries has sent a protest against Japan lauding troops at Vladivostock. German messages from Brest Litovsk state that the Germans and Ukrainians have agreed 011 a. basis of peace and will reassemble shortly.

THE RUSStAN FRONT. TROOPS DESERT WHOLESALE. WAR MATERIAL ABANDONED. ! ROUMANIANS STILL HOSTILE. Times Service. Received Jan. 22, 5.5 p.m. Amsterdam, Jan. 21. / . Berlin correspondents draw extraordinary pictures of t!he Russian 1 front. As ;tlip result of masses of deserters, on many sections up to 150 miles in length there are no opponents to face the German troops. Deserters arrive in the German lines, including' the deposed officers, who fled owing to the men's cruel treatment. Apparently Russian discipline is entirely disappearing. War material has been carted away, and the rest abandoned, buried in the snow, especially the heavy guns, which none took the trouble to remove. The supply of ammunition has practically ceased. The troops barter 'horses for food, and even sell their rifles. The conditions on the south-east front are somewhat better, as the Roumanians are stai well organised and hostile to .Germain