White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1918-03-24
., eoI.. WILLIAM u. THOMPSON.
No. 4.

y, col. WILLIAM -. THOMPSON.
No. 4.
Ne need a great patience IN deal
no with the efforts of the Russian
.oonle 10 ind themselves, and to es-
,.hlish a stable government that will
urn their aspirations at home into
.omethins workable. and will carry
their relations with the rest of
,he world. We must remember the
,o,h, and confusion which surround
a the beginnings OF our " republic
ue must remember how much worse
,ore the conditions out of which
,orang the present government in
pussia than we're those of u own
..,,v history. The United States
80. founded BY men who anne from
,olatiyely Tree countries; the men
and women who constitute the back
Aora of the Russian revolution move
mani came out OF prisons, ouh of
dungeons. in which for years many
II them had been in solitary confine-
ment out OF exile in Siberia. | found
a record OF one political prisoner
tnown only BY a number-who had
been in prison under three Cars for
sixty-four years.
Everybody who was even suspect
Id Of entertaining any hope of liberty
had been in exile or in prison. Even
Young girls, twenty years old or less,
who yentured to meet together for
any Intellectual activities, we're often
bundled off TO prison, and not infre-
guently 10 years of solitary confine-
ment Is il any wonder that. when
overnight the shackles we're thrown
n and these people. so long repress-
ed. came suddenly out into the light
Of liberty. they rushed to the oppo-
site extreme
w lNAA AFhFN
About fifty years ago Catherine
Breshkoyskaya now known the world
over as The Little Grandmother OF
The Revolution. then only a young
woman began her work among the
peasants. a work that became increas-
ingly revolutionary She is nov
seventy five years old. and she has
passed thirty-four years OF her life
IN prison and in Siberian exile. Mich
ulas Basil Tchaikovsky, who was head
II the Peasants Cooperative Society
A. lar back as 1869. worked with
Madame Breshkoyskaya in her labors
for the upllft Of IN people. and came
10 be known as the Grandfather
~ the Revolution. He spent many
years 10 confinement Or. David
soskiee who was private secretary
10 Kerensky. had long years OF resi-
1ence IN the unspeakable fortress OF
IS Peter and Paul These are only
types of the h~igh-grade men and
women whom sudden liberty put IN
heir rightful places of leadership.
These people and their many as
soeiates and followers were from the
American point OF view sane and
reasonable. They realized the dan
gers of mer fanaticism, and, with
.kerensky. sought to guide the exult-
Ant masses OF the people into chan
nels OF reasonable and constructive
organization. But the very fact That
At no time In the past had the people
been permitted the slightest expert
Pnee In self-government made the
of these people enormously dii-
icnlt-made IT, in fact. for the time
impossible. The pendulum had
o swing clear TO its limit In extreme
'adicalism. Kerensky could not hold
/, and these relatively moderate PEG
'le of the liberal Centre were swept
lside, and the Extremists came 10
he top Lenine and Trotzky happen
o be the most conspicuous figures
mong them.
Latent Powers OF Conservatism.
And yet there has been at all times
D the mass OF eager and impatient
an amazing resource OF con
eryatim For example. in the midst
I all the confusion and disorganiza~
Ion preeipitated largely by the use
the German corruption fund-the
reat body OF the railroad workers
hose revolt would have thrown Rus
Ia into absolute anarchy, STOOD
teadfast at the job and kept the rail-
Dads running.
Nineteen million men had been
lobilized for the army in Russia be
the outbreak OF the val ana
beginning Of the revolution. AS