White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1918-03-10
R0W THE RUSSIAN
REVOLUTION CAME
-. ool. WILLIAM d. THOMPSON.

N, properly the name OF any So
:, group or faction or creed or
,s.orv It is a perfectly good Rus
s.n word. and the Russian people
10 II in its literal sense. Further
more. it is accurate in Its description
Il the people TO whom 1t is applied.
a,aater mistake could be made
hon to attach II simply or even es-
,.e,ally to the extreme element that
:, this moment is in control OF Pet
-osrad Not less than ninety per
cont of the Russian people constitute
the Rolsheviki
In last Sundays article | tried TO
sse,eb the underlying situation In
proeia. and the history OF a~utocratic
.,oresslon which brought II about.
Remember that from time to time
throughout the years there has been
raore than one attempt at revolution.
pnmsn flesh and blood had at least
n try 10 throw on the grinding heel
NJ despotism. Again and again there
vere upheayeals of greater or less
magnitude, but always the %autocracy
gas able to suppress them. The en-
ormous distances in Russia. the In
efficiency of transportation. and the
fart that every means of communi-
cation was absolutely controlled by
the Government. made 1t almost i'm
uossIble for any considerable revo-
lutionary movement too be organis-
ed Every movement TO instruct and
awaken the people, was ruthlessly
suppressed. there was. OF course.
nothing In the way of public meet
ings Of protest. There was no such
thing as the peaceful assembling of
the people to appeal for the mitiga-
ton OF grievances. On more than
one occasion-notably at the time of
the uprising in 1868 peaceful pro-
cession headed by the sacred religious
emblems Of Russia, was even invited
to the Cars Palace. and on its ap-
proach was shot to pieces by the
troops Under such conditions 1t vas
inevitable that the means of propo-
ganda had TO be secret. Little groups
Of reyolters, and in many eases In
dlyiduals, resorted to the tactics OF
terrorism and assassination. And
underneath there went on constantly
in spite Of all this brutal repression,
the spreading OF the message OF a
freedom that would surely come.
Their poets Ike Nekrassof and their
writer's like Tolstoy wrote OF this
freedom
RalIying Against Germany.
The beginning of the great war was
a new and unexpected unifying in
iuenee There was not only a COM
mon eause against the feared and
hated government of the German
Empire. but "A personal interest in
the business. From every part OF
Russia mon we're summoned TO the
army. The great Russian people
awakened to something like a world
interest.
Al the same time the terrible cost
Of the war TO every Russian indiyi-
dual increased the privations Of the
people. Suflerings such as they never
had known before invaded the homes
OF the peasants. and added to their
grief al the loss, perhaps forever. Of
their brothers and sons.
Al last came a time when the Car
and the ruling classes. really pro-
herman at heart. saw that the Jig
was up. The family quarrel between
Willy and "Nicky" was getting
serious. The old officer class was
pretty we'll shot TO pieces In the war;
new ones had taken their places. The
army was getting to be a little too
enicient and self-conscious OF its
power. These autocrats began to fear
Tor their " safety. So they decid-
90 TO put over" a separate peace,
mere Is no doubt that Protopopoff.
VINO was In charge OF the distribution
OF the food supplies. deliberately
Kept arms and munitions from the
russian army and handed over
countless thousands of weaponless
soldiers to slaughter at the hands
VI the well armd Germans. II
was their plan evidently to precipi-
tate an uprising In Petrograd which
would be suppressed by the army,
ana at once give a plausible reason
LOT Withdrawing from the war, thus
ENABLING the pro-German autocraey
VI Russia to fasten Its grip more
osntly than ever upon the Russian
people.
1t was a fatal blander. Two things
eoaspired to upset the whole plan
NE first, a basic fact with which