The Holly chieftain., 1917-06-15
The Russian Problem

the SuDluhTIue Will Ot ONcIcOIlc OT
Outmaneuvered. The world is not
going to be, conquered by that I'M
plement among many for war.
There are several untried methods
of dealing with the submarine, in
cluding, il the situation became
desperate, an attack by allied nav
les on Germany proper.
Russia is not the same kind OF
problem. The Russian problem
can not be grasped by the allies,
but slips thru the fingers like loose
sand. There is no way of getting q
grip on 1t.
The Russian difficulty consists
in the lack of tradition of self
government. Democracy is totally
new and untried and that the Rus
sian people, now without anything
but an experimental government
patched up over night, should be
expected to produce order and law
and system, when nothing of the
kind is native to Russia. is prepOs-
ferrous.
The great, clumsy. loosely con-
nected empire of "all the Russians
has done well to get along SO far
without total Generalization and
bloodshed right and left. The peO-
pie suddenly found themselves
without government, a condition
that more easily runs into anarchy,
pure and simple than into com
petent organization for that vast
territory. Millions of Russians can
not be expected to understand the
and millions misunderstood it as
meaning of political democracy,
something that is not exactly gov
ernment and force from above, a
sort of dissolution of government
They therefore resent interference
by a new officaldom setting up in
the place of Gar
The immense democratic, socia-
listic or idealistic in Russia in such
situation is not help, but quite
the contrary. Democratic equality
to many Russians is so literal that
privates are not to salute officers.
This appears also in the demand
that the new government restate
its war aims. and after that is done,
in the new demand that all the al
lies restate their war aims. Mean
time the democratic element in
Russia, workingmen and soldiers,
states it's war aims: No annexa-
tions and no indemnities."
The Russian democrats, socialists
and idealists are sincere in t heir
declaration and prove it by stat
ing cate-gorically that Russia does
not demand the Dardanelles and
will offer Poland it's freedom. The
trouble is that these Russian efe-
ments may not understand the al
lies, even tho the allies are all of
practically the same mind as Rus
sia. That is, the Russian proletar-
lat may interpret the doctrine OF
no annexations and no indemni-
ties too literally.
Is nobody to pay indemnity to
Belgium for the crucifixion of that
heroic little country? The French
premier, Ribot, states that France
must recover Alsace and Lorraine,
and the world agrees that if the
people of those provinces are and
desire to be French and not Ger
man, France is right.
If there are to be literally no an
nexatiOns how about the relation
of the Balkan states to Turkey, and
of the German Empire to Austro-
Hungary and Bulgaria? Some sort
of revolution has sprung up in
Bohemia, and if freedom is to be
given to Bohemia, should not Rou-
manians be united in a Rouman-
ian state, instead of 3 or 4 millions
of them under a Hungarian yoke?
Is Turkey to be restored, as before
the war, when everybody is salts
fled to have Turkey finally wiped
off the map? That state has been
tried and found wanting long
enough. How about indemnities
to Serbia, even to France for the
malicious and wanton devastation
L. ~ T..