Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-03-14
Again the Man Of the Hour.

~
Out OF the present crisis arises once
more the soul ola suppressed people
IN the person of n single man whose
heart is Russian to the core, and
whose thoughts and ideals are modern
and liberal. 1t is the most magnet
ic name i'll Russia, one of the greatest
in all contemporary historyLKeren-
sky, the hero of that, revolution which
exactly four years ago swept-the Ro-
manoffs off their ancient throne.
Perhaps the outside world has for.
gotten, Kerensky. PERHAPS his name.
has been lost in the maze of other
great namessaof a great period. [t
But the rank and file of Russians
have never forgotten kerensky. Nor;
did. he forget his friends from the
stormy March days of 1917. In Paris,
IN London, in the seclusion OF private
villas in Swiss cities Kerensky thought
and worked necessarily for the Rus
sion cause. He consulted with foreign
friends and with Russian exiles. and
at the psychological hour in the his
tory OF his country he appears once
more as a central figure. y
LssssAs XetsSthessmfsts of uncertainty en-
velop sKerensky as. far as a foreign.
viewpoint is concerned. Details Of
his plans, sdnd his actions have not
beeH ANNOUNCED, but the word has
gene forth that he has arrived in
Petrograd. While a later report says
that he II In London.
\ Friend of the People.
+. Alexander Kerensky, 40 Years old,
has always been a friend of the peo-
PIE. A few years ago his name was
unknown outside Petrograd, but in
that city all who were poor and all
who were prosecuted relenuessly by
the autocratic government of the Car,
! knew LaWyer Kerensky.
In.s1asf22s he was elected a member of
HHtheessll1uma and at once defined his at
lernment. 1t was he, Who when the
Car on March IL, 1917, ordered the
}Duma' dismissed, gave the signal. for
continuing. the session despite, the or
ders from above.
And, again, it was Kerensky who
a~dmonished his enraged- fehoW.coun-
trymenI to be sensible and humane
even though they inaugurated a new
epoch in history. That the Roman
offs should fall was inevitable. Ker-
ensky realized hat all reforms would
cratic-regime to be continued. So he
and his advisers decreed its fall: but
Kerensky had nothing to do with the
subsequent wholesale executions of
members of the imperial family.
Master OF Russia.
Events moved with meteoric swift
ness. Kerensky became minister of
Justice in the first democratic govern
ment Russia knew, and shortly there
after he found himself virtually head
of h government.
Them came the clash with the mill
tary party. headed by General Korn-
Iilon, full details of which have never
1become known to. the world outside
Russia. Whatever a. have been..the
Hnature of the conflict, it precipitated
SIthe fall of Kerensky, for although, he
was vindicated. in the course Of
%events, in maintaining his attitude
! toward Kornilof, fate had decreed
that he must needs yield. z
The Bolshevist idea had entered
Russia. in the form of workmen's and
soldiers councils, and when Kerensky
refused to recognize these ~organiza-
tons, he vas practically driven from
Petrograd less than eight months
after his triumphant ascent.
II #inca then. sAthat is, since November,
Il E817, ESR ItsfNs has been governed by
v Bolshfvism and its principal repre-
sentatives.. 2
Hopes That Came to Nlught.
Lenin and Trotzky-now, reports
say, abjectly hiding in the Peter and
Paul palace-have made some serious
miscalculations.
First. they had reckoned with the
unconditional support Of the Russian
~peasantry. They enjoyed that as long
as they were in a position to frighten
the peasants with their frequent shows
of force. But as soon as the rural
population perceived that Russia was
on. therHroadi to perdition, the rulers
hrealized, that they had based their
estimates on too sanguine expecta-
tons.
Second. the self-appointed leaders
Of the nation had felt certain that the
working classes of the city would be
with them. For a time it seemed az
though the, workers of Russia might
keep up that deluDton, but when they
saw that Lenin and Trotzky did no,
hesitate to turn their guns on the
i"dear comrades in hours Of conflict
they lost what little confidence the,
had placed in the government.
Third-and this was the most fata,
of all Observation-Disclosures and
Trotzky were convinced hat they
could plant the red banner OF Soviet.
ism in other countries, and that Thu
movement at home thus would receive
q stimulus which would be otherwise
Impossible. ~. +. ~