The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-06-23
hu lanes o,eradyi

= just returned from Russia to Lon
DOM
win Russia back out of the war?
What do the Russian workers think
OF the present situation? Are tney
optfmistic? 49,. These are rev OF
the leading questions that nave
been asked since my return from
Russia.
AS to the first question, my tour
Of 4. 900 miles or SO through Russia
Has convinced me that the Russians
Wfll not make a separate peace.
n The Russians are new enthusiastic
aily optirnistic;' they have, too, a re-
newed' faith I'M their allies, and are
sfaunch in their. adherence to the
aims of the. Allies.
At first we found, here and there,
suspicious that Britain and France
had not ssplayed the game" with Rus
sia:s Such suspicious have not van
ished entirely.
When the country was in the
throes of the revolution, all the anar-
chistic elements seemed to nave got
the upper hand. The country was
flooded with German agents and Ger
man spies and these did their utmost
10 foment anarchistic tendencies So
well prepared were these enemies
that they had even bought several
Russian newspapers to help them IN
their propaganda.
on the extremists in Russia the
mndden acquisition of freedom-free
speech, a free press and the right OF
public meeting-had an Intoxicating
effect Then came the release from
prison and exile of yne men VINO mao
fought bitterly against the old regime
and who had been prosecuted un-
When
these men returned to Russia and
found there this novel and exhilara-
ting atmosphere of freedom, they be-
came suspicious even of the existing
regime and made the most of their
opportunities by endeayortng to OBJ
tain power in the council chaber OF
the workmen's and Soldiers Depu-
ties.
The Provisional government were
4 government without power-f the
word s'government' can be- applied
to such scant authority as they pos
sessed. Whatever authority they had,
too, was shared by the Workmen's
and Soldiers Deputies. so that In
point of, fact there were two govern
fnents existing In no sense did they
uulI together The provisional gov
\ ernment would determine upon p ,cer-
tain course of action one days and
B then the Workingmen's and Soin1ers
Deputies would decide on something
in direct Opposition the day aftert
NOW there is o. coalition govern
laent. formed of the greater part OF
the acld provisional government and
six socialists from the Workmen's
y ana Soldiers Deputies
No Separate Peace
no touch more fully on the main
Question Nv Is Russia still determined
to stick it out? Well, the first declar-
alton made by the coalition govern
rnent showed clearly that Russia is
firm for the cause Of the Allies The
coalition government has declared
\ emphatically that there will be no
separate peace and that the aims OF
the Allies in this war of liberation
win be staunchly backed up by Rus
sia--and. what Is more, by Russia
united in all her unshackled strength
1t is impossibie to state definitely
the views of the Russian workers
generally, for In the brief time at our
disposal we were able only to gel
into direct contact with few OF
them. Still, SO far as we could judge
OF their opinions through the medium
Of their representative organizations
and from our own experiences wher
addressing large public gatherings OF
both the workers and the soldiers,
can be stated confidently that the
workers OF Russia are ready to bach
w sS:i asf 6Gslif' 9 sEnnsnss w'fh =
The conference Of Representatives
OF the peasants which met recently
clearly showed these agriculture,
workers to be in favor of continu int
the war. Their opinions are vitall,
important, for it must hests emember'
ed that Russian society Is agricul
tural and not Industrial In fact, o.
the fifteen millions of men undel
arms on the various Russian 'front.'
eighty-five per cent. Of them are O
the peasant or agricultural-class.
we came into contact with the in
dustrial workers in, the, various mu
milton factories we visited. Thei
present attitude towards the war cal
best be illustrated by this strikin,
fact: that whereas in February tn
work on munitions of war had slack
ened considerably in the factorie
and, in fact, state of absolute chao
prevailed-now in June-the men ar
working a full nine hours DAY In
stead of the eight hours which the,
declared and won. All the munitiol
factories are controlled by commit
tees OF workmen elected by the lnen
In one factory in Petrograd, wher
10000 operatives are employed, W
found that the output of munition
X had increased wonderfully The me
are producing fifteen times NOR
than they produced at the beginin
OF April.
stu. despite all these renewed eff
forts on the part of the workirgmer
AS and the great results accruing fror