New-York tribune., 1918-02-12
BY Alexander Alexandrovitch
Bublikof

rested Gear Nicholas last March and
escorted him to prison in Tsdrstoc-
Seto, and a member of the Dana
that orerthre1U the old regime. 1t
was he scho first announced to the
scorld the Russian Rcvolution. lie
has just 01riued from Russia.
sTVHAT the worldwide conflict is en-
tering into it's decisive stage is
being felt by the entire world
But how different are the conditions
in which this decisive moment finds
the various struggling nation
Germany. though exhausted by he,
| enormous losses and the sitting block
ade, shows yet her STRONG nerves.
The sufferings Of the moment do not
make her forget the historical per
| spectives, the worlds problems which
confront the German nation. Neither
the thirst Of world domination nor
worry about the future has made her
forget the crying needs of the pres
ent.
In Russia not only are the nerves
worn out, but it seems as if
there is not a healthy spot left on
that enormous body. In Russia there
is nothing left; there is no wearing
apparel. no shoes; neither is there
cattle, iron, coal. nor even bread.
And it is not the Bolshevik who
have taken Russia out of the war. but
the very despair Of the people; in
fact, it was the result Of Russia's with
ated the Bolshevik. The people, in
terror before the calamity coming upon
them, without glimmer of light, like
the man who is drowning and grabs a
straw, blindly grasped the most ex-
treme political and economical teach
lngs, dreaming in them, in their cx-
traordinary ideas, to find relief from,
their extraordinary sufferings.
Reason for Bolshevik Success
The reason for the success of the
Bolsheviki lies in the fact that while
all the preceding governments, seeing
before them only a picture Of national
devastation and indescribahlc suffer
ings and therefore only feeling the
necessity of exceptional measures, of
state craftsmanship of an cxtraordi-
\
power or ability and most of ali daring
to act on scale commensurate with
the enormity of Russia itself and the
problems which confronted them, the
Bolsheviki possessed the daring to act.
The people have appreciated their dar-
ing and followed them, especially where
the sufferings have reached the limit,
! as in the north of Russia.
| However, Bolshevikism in Russia is
doomed to an utter collapse before
long. The mistake which they made
is that they directed their riotous and
, unconqucrable energy-which appeals
so strongly to the masses-along an
indisputably wrong road which will
surely lead to disillusion:
They promised the people to tighten
their burdens by "just" distribution
among all of the existing material
goods" The realization Of this they
will reach mainly through the endless
printing of currency and the distribu-
tion of it among the. needy part of the
population. The basis for the currency
issues they will create through the
confiscation of the wealth accumulated
by the well-to- do classes.
There will come, of course. and very
soon. the time when it will be self
evident to everybody that the wealth
acquired from the rich classes in Rus
sia will be negligible, and under no
circumstances would it be possible to
cover by it the obligations undertaken
by the state; that its debts are unre-
deemable, that it is bankrupt and that
its currency is nothing but waste paper.
People Enchanted at Present
But the terrible awakening from a
sweet dream is all in the future. Mean
while the people are still enchanted by
the distribution which is taking place
at present and are clamoring after
more so that they promise that they
will, without doubt, to-day or to-mor-
row remove the prime cause of their
sufferings-the war.
Peace will be concluded with all its
consequences TO Russia and to the en-
tire world, and Russia, with the blind
faith of child, is expecting from
such a peace the full and speedy end
Of her sufferings:
Alas! cruel disilluson is her lot, and
until this unhappy country will awake
and do away with her infatuation for
distributed goods" and become i'm
bued with the realization that there is
no other way to overcome the calamity
Of an almost complete cessation of the
nations production on account of the
war, than by the utmost eXertion Of all
her economic powers, she is bound to
go through many difficult trials.
In the first place, rehabilitation will
bring the final and complete disorgani-
zation of transportation and heart
rending state of non-employment due
to an enormously disproportionate offer
of labor, accompanied by just as
enormous lessening Of production by
the manufacturing plants and their
utter unpreparedness to turn to peace
industry.
On the heels of all that, still
greater calamity will befall Russia
which will take her many, many years
to ovcrcome--viz.: At the present mo-
ment, Russia is entirely devoid of
goods, but has an enormous amount
Of paper, more than 20 billions of ru-
bios. Thus, the people consider them
selves rich and only suffering from
the lack of goods created by Sabotage"
and "profiteering" of the Russian man
ufacturers and producers.
Germans Will Get All the Money
So the moment the borders will be-
come open again an avalanche of
foreign merchandise will sweep the
country and be eagerly taken up by
the people. regardless of quality, char
acter or price. Literally everything
is wanted in Russia, everything is
needed But the consequences of the
importation of foreign goods will be
that almost all the Russian currency
will become concentrated in the hands
Of foreigners. who on account Of geo
graphical and other reasons will he