Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-06-16
LIFE UNDER BOLsHEv|K
RULE IS DESCRIBED
To Come Out OF Russia To-Day Ia
to Emerge From the Middle
Ages.
MASS RELAPSEs INTO CHAOS
In Cronstadt tho BolsI,cviki Have
Pulled Down the Great Figure OF
Christ and Put Up u Spirit OF
Freedom.
HY G.. II. MEwES,
The StaT photographer for n London
Journal. Who. After NcnrIy Four
icnrs In Eussin, LEFT Pctr0-


journal. Who. After NcnrIy Four
icnrs In i;ussin, LcH Pctr0-
grad Month Ago.
| have just arrived in England from
retrograd. where have been. almost
continuously, since 1914.
watched the first stages Of Sacred
unity" for the war. assisted at early
campaigns OF partial triumph or defeat
for Russia. ] saw the czardom over
thrown and the beginning of confusion.
Then ! had five months OF Bolshe-
wiki AS result. seem to have
lived a century. To come out Of Russia
into England to day is to emerge at a
bound from the Middle Ages to modern
times.
People talk Of the French Revolution
and compare 1t with the Russian. But
Russia is not Cas- France was) ii highly
civilized state. travcrsed by doctrin-
aire notions Of human bettcrment and
the rights of man. 1t is a huge. form
less mass. which was held together only
by authority. and the symbols OF au-
thority. in church and state. The
symbols nave gone. The mass re!apses
into chaos.
The revolutionaries overthrow the
hrst symbol or piliar--thc cZardOm.
They are now hard at work trying to
overthrow the othcr-the church.
Each Bolshcvik writes atheist on
his permit or passport. In Cronstadt
Cathedral they have pulled down the
great figure of Christ and put up Il
Spirit OF Frecdom--just AS Bobcspierre.
indeed. installed "A prostitute in Sotrc
Dame and instituted feast Of reason
for the republic. The French people
at heart were shocked. But they did
nothing. 1t may be that the Russian
is AT heart shocked Eut he can do
nothing. He submits. lie submits b.
= &c ha rai,g nF :.
dom is person with red cap.
Freedom has transformed ordinary
life in Petrograd something in this
way:
II is day towards the end OF March.
1919 and ! am looking from my WIN
dow into the square below.
see little groups Of soldie RS
revolutionary Notwithstanding the
passers-by. imagine they are exam
ming their documents.
But the arst paSscr-by is removing
his overcoat The second is sitting on
the pavement while soldier gently
but 'rmly removes his boots a lady
comes round the corner In fur coat.
She is quickly relieved OF It, ono
man. in a temper. throws all he has III
his pockets OUT on TO the snow. There
Is scramble amongst the soldiers.
/, is o'clock. and as hive only
just got up / may he dreaming For
corrohoration l go To some friends
British oiiicers-stlyinE In the house.
They join me, and We see the hold up"
in progress Suddenly there Is a sharp
crack Some one Is shooting. The
robaer band takes to its heels. This
il the reign of freedom.
NIGHTMARE OF ANARCHY,
WITH ROBBfHIES NUMEROUS
Robberies by broad daylight. eNorb!-
tant prices, the daily bread allowance
quarter Of a pound per person. and
bread mostly straw and water, hutte-
forgotten, restaurants with mcager din
ners at 80 roubles. Night life tapart
from robbing) there Is none. No one
darcs so out at night. The theaters
begin at and end at 1890. To COM
pensatc themselves for the vodka self
denial ordinance of the beginning. the
Red Guards go about on wine smashing
forays In private cellars. They drink
what they can and destroy what they
can't drink
know OF women In Petrograd who
have covered up their diamonds with
little bits of cloth and sewn them onto
their dresses in the form OF rough
buttons 10 preserve them from the
common pillage Ii the midst Of the
universal freedom. the republicans
must. OF course. be free 10 annex what
ever they take fancy 10.
PetrograI is in state OF famine.
The only people we'll fed there are the
swaggering German officers. often
used to see poor, ragged. halt-starved
Russian sold.ers. who had fought ana
suffered in the war. stink By one OF
these overhea.lng surcrmen.
And the bourheois, he famed,
much writtcn-about intelligentsIa-
what does 1t think? What is it doing?
1t apparently doesn't think. And 1t
certainly does nothing. The Russian
is half Oriental Oriental fatalism Is
in him. Tomorrow or next day-who
knows?-the Germans will be here to
rescue us from freedom" The In
telligentsia have developed an In
ordinate respect for the German.
NOTHING DONE TO HALT
SALE Or ENTIRE NATION
And meanwhile we are not going
to continue fighting for British capt.
talism." y phrase | heard half dozen
times a day at least! While our
dreamers sympathize with them they
speak thus OF us.
For the rest l ask What have the
intelligentsia class in Russia done to
prevent their country from being sold
body and so-l to Germany? Nothing!
The students. who for years have
been preaching the kind of socialism
that has brought Russia to her present
pitiful condition, have stood by and
watched events without raising fin
ger. although during the revolution OF
March. 1917. they played tho leading
part. On November 6. when Ltnin and
TrotZky drove Herensky from Pctro-
grad. the only men that showed oppo-
sition TO the Bolsheviki were few
hundred Junkers. although 10000 or
f1cers were living in the hotels and
apartmentsi
During five months OF Bolshevikism I
have watched the intellisentsia swal-
low everything that Lenin, Trotzky
and company have cared to give them.
Their safe deposits a. the hank have
been coniscated: many are without
money. means Of earning any. Yet
with typical Russian apathy they just
wait Tomorrow. Perhaps. or per-
haps another day.
SO It goes on. and our munitions. our
guns. our money. our effort, are an
nihilated-or pass. where portable. to
Germany.
Heavy British guns were sold to Ger
many for zoo roubles each. One Rus
sian division sold their artillery to the
Germans for 10000 roublcs and were