New-York tribune., 1918-01-21
More Chaos in Russia

Lenine and Trotzly have Just run up
against an awkward application Of their
own theory Of ''self determination" In gov
ernment They have been maintaining at
Brest-Litovsk that a government, to be
just, ought to be based on the consent Of
the governed and that the peoples In the
parts Of the former empire of the Cars
now occupied by German armies ought to
have the right to decide for themselves at
the ballot box what form Of state they pre-
fer to live under in the future. The Boil
shevik leaders demand that German mill
tary pressure shall be lifted before the
people of Poland and Lithuania go through
this process Of political "self-determina-
ton
But in Russia proper-the Russia which
they rule at present by virtue of military
coup d6tdt-they are not willing to prac-
tise what they preach for the outlying por-
tons now severed from the empire. Hav-
ing lost control Of the new Constituent
Assembly, they are planning to dissolve it
by force. Yet the assembly is the only
existing body in Russia which can claim to
represent the will Of majority Of the
voters of the new republic. Its title comes
to it direct from the Russian people. The
Bolshevili originally were a minority
wing of the Socialist party. They elected
Kersnslly and assumed supreme control.
But they have remained merely usurping
minority. The Moderate Socialist group
and it's allies outnumber them in the as
semby, and if they believed in "self-de-
termination" through majority action they
would have to yield to the popular will as
manifested in the assembly elections.
With what plausibility can they continue
to urge on the Germans that small but
powerful German minority in Courland
should not be allowed to make that prov
ince over into German dependency if
they themselves impose a minority military
dictatorship on Russia itself? Revolution
airy governments are generally careless of
logic. The right Of self lf-determination"
begins with them and ends with them; and
even the most fanatcal advocates of equal
ity and democracy, if they have risen to
power through the sword, do not hesitate
to draw the sword to defend their tenure
against dissatisfied and hostile majority.
The dissolution of the assembly would
only intensity the chaos in Russia Yet so
Ear rs the Allies are concerned more chaos
could hardly matter. Unless a military
dictator appears who thinks that he can
consolidate his power at home by renewing
the war against Germany, the situation
will continue from the Entente point of
view, to be practically hopeless. Possibly
the moderate Socialists, who captured con-
troll Of the assembly, and who are less in
terested than Lenine and Trotzky are in
Worldwide anti-capitalistic propaganda
might be disposed to make peace on terms
which would be more to Germany's liking
The fixed idea Of the Bosheviki is to start
a proletariat revolution in the rest of Eu-
rope. They care little about the fate of
the Poles or the Lithuanians; but they are
eager to pose as the fOmenters in Germany
and Austria-IIungary, as we'll as in the
countries OF Western Europe, of Socialist
class uprising which will sweep away the
present scheme of what they call "bour-
geois' government. 70 that extent they
may be more Of a peril to the designs of
German autocracy than a moderate Rus.
sian government would be, bent only on
| getting peace at any price and confining its
i-capitalistic experimentation to what
IS left Of Russia
But it would be unsafe for the Allies tc
PIN aly hopes on what may or may not be
done at Grest-Litovsk, where German din.
lomats are patiently and skilfully playine
on the war-wearness of disorganized Rus
sia.