New-York tribune., 1918-02-23
The Real Russian Tragedy
"Tavarish," With a Gun

The Russian rhantasmagora is daily
new The Bolsheviki arc again trans
formed. They will now resist They
have issued a proclamation calling upol:
all Russians to defend the Nathcrland
against the oncoming Germans Gut the
spirit of Russia has been called hthcr
and thlther until it IS weary, wretchca
and Sullcn
While the limelights have played upon
the activities of Leninc, Of Trotzky, Of
Ensign" krylenko, the real tragedy Of
what has been happening in Russia in the
last few months has been obscure. II
has seemed as if the great Russian nation
had become the prey OF few fantastic
propagandists, powerfully aided no doubt
by the insidious influence of the strong
German element. which has been q fur
larger factor, perhaps. in the dcbacic than
observers at a distance have been able
to imagine; aided, too, BY the utter col
lapse Of the kcrensky regime
But apparently the disorder ,he dis
temper goes deeper, goes into the very
roots of Russian life-iHto the singular
fataIism which has always pervaded the
upper classes of Russia, but stll more
into the strange and sudden cmergence OF
the 'Tavarisi -comrade-that j. the
Russian common soldier
\ real insight into the Russiaa drama
is supplied in two recent articles in The
Saturday Evening Post" Written from
widely different points OF view, they con-
verge upon q central point: the fact that
tho sold tn, ,l.,-
The first Of these articles. which We
review to-day. is from the pen Of Mr.
William T. Ellis, who spent the months
which covered the Bolshevik uprising in
travelling from one end Of Russia to The
other. He relates how Tavarsh has
taken possession of the railway trains, the
stations, the sleeping cars--the husky
peasant in muddy boots rcvelline in q
luxury he has 4cver known before, in the
conscience that he mas come into his
own, while the bourgeoisie ere cast out
into desolation. And this is what tho
traveller was everywhere told: "l'hero
will be peace within q month. If not, I'll
the soldiers from the Caucasus 10 Rig..
viii go home, caci tolip9 ffty corsrid9es
ond gtn. Then there will he another
revolution and We shall show thcn... y
This, says Mr.. Ellis
rs the big Fact ABOUT Russia to-e.ay -.
bigger, perhaps, than the revolution Itself
Of which it is the most important expires.
sion. Tavarish is taking his gun and going
home, without saying by your leave to
anybody. Now he has an argument the
force of which he can understand and WELD
He has been bcwldercd and bofuddlcd by
countless strange pleas. All parties have
appealed TO him as if he were q reasonable
being. He has been tossed about on a sea
OF rhetoric, each latest wave carrying oil
his frail mental craft For Tavarsh is
after all, only an ombruted peasant. the
victim OF generations OF autocratic tyranny
and injustice. He is rot responsible 70,
his inability to .hink. His Ignorance o,
such big words as patriotism, honor, 10y
atty, democracy. must be laid at the door
of the powers that denied him the priv
leges of rational human. lie WAS ruled
by torce-aud now that he finds force in
- his own hands he Will rule in the same
way. The rich oppressed him: now he will
make the rich pay-and 20 him every man
who Is not u soldier o. peasant is a hateo
bourgeois
Petrograd and the Allied governments
acted on the assumption that freedom and
democracy "woud bring in their train q
sense Of responsibility, and that the Rus
sian peasant, the most sheeplike--or mule
like.--creature on two Ices. could eyer-
else with discrimination the privileges of
the sacoboda, or liberty. that was on every
body's lips. Meanwhile. the extreme radi
Gals acted with an ingenuity Scarcely tc
be expected of thcir quality OF gray mat
ter. Their propaganda was insidous anG
persistent and comprehensive being aideo
ever by the paid German activity.
Glass hatred in Ell It's bitterness was
preached, along with the most radica
socialistic theories concerning the coniis
cation and free distribution of land
Land is one thing that the peasant car
measurably comprehend, and supremels
desires. His naive reasoning is: why
need care about the Germans? My vii
age is q long distance from the Front
and they will never come to it. SO I'll ge
home and get the land that the govern
men. is going TO take away from the bour
geoisie and distribute.'
"Brcadly speaking. there is among tat
uaeducated people Of this land no suci
thing rs patriotism. They have loyalty
10 their village and to their class. hut no
TO the country as Il whole. Certain shining
symbols like the Car and the Church
they wcio taught to reverence. When ths