The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-07-09
RUSSIAN REALM ROCKING
Shock From Pistol Shot
Has Whipped Giant
From Apathy.
REVOLUTION NEAR
Movement Is Begin
ming to Sweep Across
Width and Breadth
Of Former Empire.

Amsterdam. July S.--The vast Rus
sian realm is once more rocking in its
foundations from the shock Of pis-
tol shot which, II round about dis
patches are halfway true, has. whip
ped the giant from his apathy into
rebelling consciousness Of the Teuton
yoke,
A counter revolution of tremendous
scope appears TO have been born with
the death of the German ambassador,
Count Mirbach. by an assassin's hand.
As yet 1t is u movement" but ii is
sweeping across the width and breadth
of the former empire. The doom of
Bolshevism seems at hand. Russia $
soul is finding itself Already Moscow
is an armed camp. the scene OF wild
street fighting. The life and heart
Of the new revolt is the social revolu-
t.onary party, TO which <erensky once
belonged, and among whose leaders
are such fanatics as Shattoffff, who
not long ago was one of the chief
aeitators Of the shirtmakers in New
York and also in the mine strikes In
Americas West
In this. one of the great psyche
logical moments of the whole war
for upon 1t is staked what seems a
last chance 10 bring Russia back into
the ranks Of active ljEerents-much
depends upon diplomacy
Awakening and Action.
Once again the MuscoVite people
who suffered in silence when millions
were moved down IN battle and later,
when miluons--all of 10000. 600
were signed away into vassalaFe, have
been galvanized into awakening and
action by the taking of a single life,
As the murder OF fakir saint, the
lGS IA tho nf
czarism to the revolution and TO the
gnominous surrender. the assassina-
ton of q blue -stockingod German dip
lomat. who holding sway in Moscow
as if he owned the land, personified
all that junkerism means even to the
dumb MujIk. seems to have started the
ball Of counter revolt rolling
The world tonight looks with more
certainty than ever TO swift resur-
rection of a real Eastern front"
Most hopeful of the signs pointing
in that direction is Germany's ap-
parent course. The Berlin govern
ment is hopelessly split on the ques-
ton OF punishment. Take Moscow
shoot them all down like dogs" is the
cry of the military chiefs. who see a
grand chance for their beloved policy
of blood and iron" The diplomatists
counsel otherwise Ignore 1t. forget
II, is their advice Send a new
man. democrat. who pays less at
tention to proper salutes and his
troUSer- crease and more to the art
Of meeting the reds on their own
ground
But wise as such policy admittedly
would be for Berlin, the military
artists have on their side the wrath Of
all-highest who, with Nirbach. lost one
OF the most precious gems in the blue
hlooded corona of old school diplomacy.
The first thing the kaiser did upon
hearing the news of the assassination
was TO order Foreign Minister Won
kuehlnann TO break off the neEotia-
tons with Russian delegates in Berlin
concerning a revision Of certain clauses
In the Brcst-Litovsk treaty
kaiser's rerHstenee.
one thing Is regarded as certain in
political quarters here tonight namely
that nothing could serve the allied
cause more admirably than persistence
by the kaiser in his demand for punish
ment and vengeance; nothing could fan
the flames Of Russian revolt against the
enslaved, as would a German punt
tive expedition to Moscow and further
"reprisals." But, II is pointed out. hand
in hand, with the German plumbers
that are almost certain TO come within
the next few days. must go a wise. far
the entente. For it is added, the
slightest mistake now. the smallest
provocatiou. the littlest cause for mis-
apprehension. would undo everything
and instead Of a Russia reunited with
the western democracies. under the
banner of freedom, the world would
again behold a Russia tearing its own
flesh in bloody civil war. helping no
one but the Teutons
Little clearness was given by the
days dispatches az to what happened
IN Moscow after the murder of Mir
bach became known. The advices
agree only In one point-that the deed
was to be--and some say it was-the
signal for a country wide counter re-
volt Further. IL is certain that ter
rife street fighting ensued. but as to
the outcome nothing positive Is in
hand.
The existence of formidable con-
spiracy ia established. Berlin's semi
official Wolff agency admitted that the
movement was to be taken seriously
and that street battle ragged In Mos
COW. The Bolshevist government
whose sole fear is that Germany will
seize upon the act to take Moscow and
Petrograd and establish a German gov
eminent in either city. FASTENED to in
form the world by wireless that the
counter rebellion was nipped in the
qua. DespatcheS snow that In pro-
coeding against the rebels. the Red
Guards gave no quarters, Demonstra-
tors and all who showed the slightest
sympathy with the socialist revolu-
tionists were shot down at sight These
was something Ludendorffdan about
this police work" with Count Mir
bach. when the later was a mysteri-
Gus German officer. he no doubt gave
expert advice to Lenine as to how to
dispose OF traitors" Further, word
that the assassination was to have
been the high sign" for the counter
revolt came to the Frankfurter Zeituns