RUSSIA'S TRAGEDY.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 July 1918, Page 3

RUSSIA'S TRAGEDY.

EVERYTHING IN MELTING POT. WHY FOREIGN INTERVENTION WILL BE NEEDED. Mr L. B. Golden, who, until early in April, had remained in Petrograd as the Daily Mail's special correspondent, lias some interesting observations to make in a recent article on the oft-propounded question: Can Russia help us again in the war? He says:— Ever since I have been back I have been asked these two questons by nine out of every ten I have met. Quite a number of people have drawn my attention to the great Napoleonic wars, when Russia fought against Prance, patched it up with Napoleon, and then fought once more. What is not generally recognised is that the old Russia and the new Russi: are two different things. In the main the people have remained the same but the mechanism of government has been materially altered. Even to-day there are quite a large number of Russians who have not the faintest idea whom they had been fighting and with whom they had been allied. Men coming from remote villages in the interior saw splendid films at the cinema showing the British and French Armies and Navies at work. EXTRAORDINARY IGNORANCE. There was nothing whatever wrong with the films, but unfortunately the peasant soldier could never make out which was which. When he saw a representation of British troops he often had a vague idea that they were the Germans that he had heard so touch talk about. But what really baffled them were the naval pictures. Most of them had never heard of the sea, and while they were delighted with pictures of Dreadnoughts, cruisers, and destroyers, they could never understand that these wonderful things that floated in some magical way on water had anything to do with the war or could be of the slightest assistance to Russia. Some indication of the extraordinary lack of knowledge on the part of some Russians can be found from the fact that some of the soldiers had never heard of tea. They were men who came from the great marshes of Polesia, and their amazement was inoreditable when they saw water being boiled, a spoonful of something being thrown into it, and then the thing was drunk with a bit of lemon and perhaps some sugar or other sweetener. In their own wild home, water was the only thing available for drinking purposes. In the old days before the revolution the peasantry was told to do something land the thing was done.without question or even much curiosity as to why anybody should wish to give the order. Once the mechanism of government had broken down and there was nobody to give orders, nothing was done. Things just went to pieces. Now everything in Russia is in the melting-pot. Nobody can possibly foretell where the breaking-up process will end or what parts are likely to form a coalition, but, at the' moment, all the hundred and one races are drifting away from the old centralised Russia. AN ORGY OF TALK. More fatal than anything, however, to the prospects of Russia doing anything again for a considerable period is the unceasing flow of oratory and discussion. Practically without exception every Russian, rich and poor, old and young, man and woman, has some pet theory of what is to be done. So keen are they on their theories that they spend the whole of the day and greater part of the night discussing and quarrelling with each other. The rest of the day they are too exhausted to do anything but sleep off their debauch of talk. All their energy has been expended. At the moment the only two men who actually want to do anything and have the power to do it are Lenin and Trotsky. These two men are ruling Russia today. All the intelligent and semi-in-telligent people who have anything to lose naturally detest the Bolsheviks and their rulers for having plunged Russia into chaos. All those who expect to gain by disorder support the Lenin regime. Whatever one may think about Lenin and his policy, so far as he goes he is personally honest, although the means that he employs may be condemned. Perhaps the most tragic feature of Russia to-day is that nobody has yet shown the slightest desire to resume work. The decent workmen long ago left Petrograd and returned to the villages where they were born. Those who remain have not the faintest intention of doing any more woTk than they can lielp. Nor is it a matter of surprise, when one remembers the conditions to-day. Every factory and workshop is controlled by a Soviet of its own, and in every one of them is there the same pandemonium. RUSSIA NOT LIKELY TO HELP. To give a typical example. A friend of mine was general manager of a great munition factory, which, by order of the Soviet, was to be demolished for peace work. A week or so after it had been transformed the workshop Soviet held a meeting and told my friend that he was dismissed. He was willing to stay on to help them run the factory, to explain processes, and the way to keep a business going, but they cut him short. "Never mind all that talk," said the chairman of the Soviet, "you hand over the cash at the bank. W r e can run the business ourselves." Unable to help himself, the bank balance of something like £50,000 was handed over to the comrades. Since that day not a stroke of work had been done bv anybody. The workers just draw their wages as usual, while the members of the committee live in the factory and spend their time in gambling. At all hours of the day and night they call for the cashier, and tell him to brins along some more cash. The plant is being ruined, aud when the money has been all spent the place will be dismantled. Now that is typical of Russia to-day. The decent peop'lo in a hopeless and helpless minority spending tho whole of their time talking; the others enjoying themselves hugely by spending other people's money—and also talking. If ever there is foreign intervention it will probably be welcomed by both sections for by that time nobody will have anything" left. When that comes and erdwr is rotertd it sill aot b*

such a very difficult matter for Russia to recover. I do not think, however, that this is likely to happen in time to enable Russia to help us onee asaia is to *«r,