Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-01-07
THE RUSSIAN CRISIS


A'A of the peace negotiations. and
very properly so, for there is bound
to be some clash between the pres
ent Italian foreign minister and the
Jugo-Slavs with respect to the con-
troll of territory fronting on the
Adriatic. But that can be adjusted
by diplomatic interchange, and no
doubt will be without further blood
shed. But Russia is the real prob
lem and it demands immediate at
tention. If the Allies can get to-
oppose the Bolsheviki that mon
strous despotism can be crushed
easily.
The Allies ought to encourage the
movement to unite the Ukranians,
the Don Cossacks, the Orenburg
Cossacks and the lesser elements
opposed to Lenine, and provide
them with means to overthrow the
impossible Bolsheviki, as they de-
sire to do.
Although the Bolsheviki have
many followers throughout the
Ukraine, they never were predomi-
nant, even in the shipbuilding cities
of the Black Sea. In the Don region
and in the Caucasus and Trans
Caucasus their hold has been even
slighter. Cossacks of all sorts have
been enemies of the Bolsheviki. as
they are all landholders and unalter-
ably opposed to the domination of
their districts by outsiders.
Many British naval and military
officers, as well as civil officials,
have left London for the Black Sea
district since the signing of the
armistice and commercial interests
are also sending representatives to
look the situation over preparatory
to opening up the extensive oil and
grain districts.
Siberia, the Ukraine, Finland and
the new government at Archangel
shut Bolshevik Russia off entirely
from its ports, and the unfriendli-
ness of the government in all these
sections to the Moscow government
under Lenine is daily increasing the
strain on soviet Russia. The new
governments in these various sec
tions which have refused to accept
Bolshevism are not as stable as the
Entente powers might wish. While
they all express their desire to be-
come part of Russia should fed
Grafton become possible under an
acceptable central government, the
political differences in all the four
sections named have been keen, and
party quarrels and the ambition of
rival leaders have frequently ex-
ceeded patriotism in the struggle for
power.
Only about 4o,000,Oe0 inhabitants
now remain under Bolshevik con-
troll. The total population of the
Russian empire as it existed before
the revolution was estimated at 1S0,-
100000. The great majority of this
population Is in the portion of
Russia south of Bolshevik rule,
which is far the richest and most
populous portion of the former en-
pire.
Consequently. developments in
South Russia should be watched
with great eagerness. A stable GEN.
trail government established at Kiev,
Odessa or Sebastopol and recognized
by the Allies would control the great
majority of Russia's natural re-
sources, especially if it gained con-
troll of the Volga and established
communication with the mineral de-
posits of the Urals, and the grain
fields of Siberia.
Such a government would natur-
ally be the key to Russla's political
and economic future. Northern
Russia is sterile in contrast with the
south. It's lands are poor. Moscow
and Petrograd industries depend en-
tirely upon distant centers for their
raw products. The factories and in
dustrial populations of North
Russia, or soviet Russia, are entirely
within districts which cannot feed
themselves. And therein lies the
greatest inherent weakness of the
Russian Bolshevik movement. 1t
is based on theories which are re-
pugnant to the districts which pro-
duce the foodstuffs and can starve
soviet Russia as a sign of their dis
approval.