The Washington herald., 1918-07-10
Russia Again.

MS new NOlume, me ECLIPSE OF Russia
Dr. E J. Dillon, former Petrograd correspondent
OF the London Telegraph, asserts that "of all
Slav peoples the Russian is by far the most COM
plex and puzzling. Unsophisticated foreigners are
DewIldered by the subeties, contrasts and contra
dieations that mark the thoughts and acts of the
arhcuate, to say nothing of the inarticulate
sion nation. 1t is a noteworthy Illustration of
the easy-goiug ways of the entente government
that they should have accepted as adequate ac-
counts OF things Russian, the fanciful pictures
reflected in the minds of foreigners ignorant of
the country, the history, the people, and the Ian
guage" .-...
The course of the Russian revolution has re-
vealed to the world some tithe of the contrasts
and the contradictions in the Russian character but
evidently we have not approached the heart of
the labyrinth yet The attempts of the Western
democracies to appreciate the Muscsvite situation
are futile. Every conceivable kind of hypothesis
has been made regarding Russia-most of them
by self-styled authorities. In the mass of COPY
now being written about the nation, only small
fraction is really Illuminating or dependable-and
that is mainly of accomplished settled facts deal
ing not with forecast of the future nor of analysis
of the present
There is counter-revolution of uncertain pro-
portions reported from Russia Its real impor-
tance has not yet been appraised. In the Murnan
peninsula bordering the Arctic between Arch
angle and Kola, the Bolshevik authority has been
overthrown and the invasion of the Finnish guards,
who trying TO seize the military stores
at Kola, has been forcibly resisted by the native
population The arrival of British, French, and
American marines at Kola has been the signal OF
revolt in the Northern provinces
The assassination of Count Mirbach the Ger
man ambassador at Petrograd, evidently ushers in
new phase of RusSo-Teuton relations. A German
march to Moscow is threatened The peasantry
of the Ukraine is in revolt against the Bolshevki
Says the New York Sun: This revolt was clearly
shown in the refusal of the peasants to accede to
the demands of the Germans for grain to supply
the Central Powers. The severe retaliatory meas
ures of the Germans have heightened this oppo-
sition until the peasant army has reached total
enrolment of 100000. 1t is said this peasant army
has forced the retreat of the Germany army Of
occupation. This army has been reinforced by 4
Polish contingent, the first corps engaging the
Germans the Polish frontier, and the sec
ond advancing upon Kiev, the Ukrainan capital
Regardless of the internal situation in Russia,
Germany is finding herself with a new crisis which
demands action. Among all classes of the Rus
sian populaton-the peasantry, the bourgeoise, the
intelgentsa, the stripped arstocracy and well-to-
do classes, the conviction is growing that the first
duty of all Russians is to expel the invader There
longer reports that the upper classes are
welcoming the Germans of oustng
Bolsheyikism A Slav. peasant ignorant and revolu-
tonary he is, is much better ruler than a
Prussian grenadier. Hunnish treachery has had
its inevitable aftermath in Russia in other parts
of the world
1t may well be that Russia will be back in the
war sooner than the most optimistic of ex-
pect and that the Eastern front will be recreated
at no distant date. That does not mean that Rus
sia will be considerable factor in the war. 1t
means, however, that Germany will have to send
troops to that long line from the Baltic to the
Black Sea, and find encirclement of her territory
re-established.
Such is the mystery of the Russian situation
that and powerful outburst OF ant-Ger-
mansm may be expected at any time with the
snuffing out OF Lenine and Trotzky, whose race is
about run, although the Soviets are to remain
behind them