Microfilm Reel 195, File 64, "Russia"

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All the microfilm scans from the file number 64, "Russia," on reel 195 from the Executive Office files of the Woodrow Wilson Papers, series 4 in the Library of Congress finding aid.

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the soviet agitators captivated the Russian masses. The Russian soldiers fought Germany because the czar so ordered. The czar was gone. Where was there reason for fighting any further? Consequently the soviet's formula, "Peace for the soldiers," appealed to 15,000,000 soldiers.

"No annexations and no contributions" was a formula so often reiterated that it was finally accepted as a beauthful principle. The soldiers said: "We have our villages on the Volga. There is land enough for all. Why should we take Constantinople? It does not belong to us and we do not want it."

The formula, "The land to the peasants, "appealed to the masses. The soviet told the soldiers: "The revolution gave you land; go and take it." Ever present in the soldier's mind was the fear that unless he went home he might be overlooked when the land was divided. The soviet made the most of this argument.

"Industries to the Workmen."

As a corollary to "The land to the peasants" there was "The industries to the workmen." In all, the soviet so worked upon the soldiers and peasant workmen that all of them believed that because the czar was deposed further need of waging the czar's war did not exist and also that the fruits of the revolution should immediately be enjoyed in full.

Logical western minds found it easy to answer this fallacious reasoning. The masses of western Europe understood that behind the victorious German bayonets lurked the old order for Russia, with its dungeons, its misery and its brutality. They understood that a German victory meant the return of the landed aristocrats, barons and grand dukes. Western Europe was fully concious of the dreadful German menace to democratic culture. But the simple Russian soldier, nothing but an illiterate Russian peasant clad in khaki, applied primitive, not practical, tests. He reasoned:

"Why should we fight our German brother, who is forced to fight by his kaiser war lord just as the czar forced us to fight? We have overthrown our

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oppresor. We will tell them how it was done. They will overthrow their kaiser and we will live happily side by side― two great peoples enjoying full freedom."

American Mission to the Rescue.

The American mission decided that swift educational work on a larger scale than ever before attempted was necessary to teach the Russian masses the fatuity of this beautiful dream. It was hoped to put an X-ray on Germany and show the Russian masses that if Germany were victorious the new freedom would be established by the re-establishment of the old order and also that German victory would restore the newly acquired land to the hands of the nobles. The American mission decided that the old revolutionary group led by Mme. Breshovakaya, "the grandmother of the revolutions," with Tahcikowsky and Lazereff was the best medium for conducting an educational campaign.

The plan contemplated thousands of speakers lecturing in the armies and the villages on the subject of the German menace; millions of pamphlets in simple Russian and intelligible to the smallest village scribes; posters, placards and colored cartoons scattered broadcast.

The additional campaign was to answer the soviet's slogan. "Peace for the soldier, land to the peasants, factories to the workmen and bread for all." The soviet was spending millions on its own speakers and issued tons of printed matter.

Plan for a Vast Publicity Campaign.

The American mission asked the American government for $1,000,000 immediately and $3,000,000 a month indefinitely for the purpose of combating the soviet propaganda. Previously Elihu Root had reccommended $10,000,000 for publicity.

Six weeks after Amerian mission's request Washington sent to Russia a branch of the committee on public information, which proceeded to tell the Russians how many aeroplanes America was building, how great an army America expected to raise and how America was certain ultimately to win the war. Neither America nor the allies ever made one

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serious attempt to combat the soviet's peace propaganda and explain to the Russian people why Germany really menaced their newly won freedom. Seventy per cent of the Russian masses are uneducated, according to western standards No one ever told the Russian masses about the German menace. How can we expect them to understand it except through experience? It seemed as though the allied representatives were completely oblivious of the growing power of the soviet.

Meanwhile the soviet's power was strengthening and the soviet formulas undermined the allied influence. Kerensky became weaker and weaker. The allied political and military missions, except the American Red Cross and political mission, completely misunderstanding the situation, charge Kerensky with ruining the army and misusing the allies' confidence.

Allies' Stiff Note to Kerensky.

It will be remembered that on the eve of Kerensky's downfall that the allied ambassadors, excepting the American ambassador, who had received no instructions, presented Kerensky with a stiff note of protest, amounting almost to an ultimatum against conditions in Russia. This note is part of the secret treaty publications. The allies hindered and persecuted Kerensky, whereas an active effort to explain why Germany menaced Russia might have frustrated the narcotic effect of the soviet's formulas.

Three days before the soviet's coup d'etat was delivered a conference was held. Kerensky met the allied military representatives in the rooms of the American mission. He declared that he commanded the support of four Petrograd regiments, perhaps enough to defeat the soviet forces, but Kerensky refused to remain in power unless he was assured by the allies of full support for the Russian policy, which Kerensky himself dictated. He was tired of telling the allies what they insisted on hearing through the mouth of the silver tongued Terestchenko while he himself was telling the Russian people something quite different.

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Instead of discussing a concrete plan for downing the soviet, the military reresentatives indulged in a general denunciation of the policy of the provisional Government and each painful detail of the Tarnopol and Riga retreats. Kerensky admitted all these charges, but he did not see how he could have changed events.

No Constructive Action Taken.

Every attempt to reach an understanding resulted in mutual recrimination. The meeting lasted two hours, and despite the urgent pressure of the American mission not a single constructive action was taken. The allied missions favored supporting Kaledines and Alexieff as against Kerensky. They scouted the possibility that the soviet might overthrow the provisional government. Yet this virile soviet organization had swept before it every military unit, village and community into which it penetrated. It had overcome obstacle after obstacle, defeated Korniloff, gained the support of the majority of the bayonets at the front and assumed control of the Baltic and Kronstadt fleets.

The allied military missions hardly sensed this power. Yet Kerensky reiterated the necessity of the allies trusting him to deal exclusively with the Russian situation. Kerensky's demand was not answered

Blow Fails; Flight of Kerensky.

Then came the blow. In five days all was over and Kerensky fled, a hunted fugitive. The allies then faced a new situation. The soviet controlled the government, the rifles and the masses. The soviet's program pledged Russia to the formula of peace. The soviet had what Kerensky never had—power—the reason being that the soviet promised the Russian People just what the Russian people wanted, namely, peace, land and bread. How to utilize this new situation as a factor in winning the world war for the allies became the burning problem of the day.

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III. AMERICAN RED CROSS WINS RUSSIA'S TRUST.

SPECIAL CABLE TO THE DAILY NEWS. [Copyright 1918, The Chicago Daily News Co.]

Moscow, Russia, April 13.—When the soviet power seized the Petrorad government in November, the ambassadors from the entente countries were torn between two desires. The stronger was to remain in Russia, wholly ignoring the soviet government and anxiously awaiting its downfall; the weaker was to quit Russia altogether. Not one realized the necessity of utilizing or co-operating with the soviet for the purposes of the world war.

Among all the allied institutions in Russia only one group understood the situation—namely, the American Red Cross mission. It realized that the soviet was not then a positive factor in the struggle against Germany, but it also realized that the soviet was so secure in its position that not even the concentrated efforts of all the other political elements in Russia could seriously threatthe soviet government's hold on Russia.

This small American unit was then unable to swing the allied policy of the old diplomats sent to Russia. The latter were equipped to negotiate with the czar and could not accommodate themselves to the changed conditions. They failed to understand that the soviet power had come to stay.

Predicted Early End of Soviet.

Two of the ambassadors told me, "The soviet is unable to last longer than ten days." Ten days passed, yet the soviet was secure. After two months the diplomats were still whispering, "The soviet will last only a couple of weeks more." The allied diplomatic and military group even attempted to expedite the soviet's downfall.

The military chief wrote notes to Doukhonin, Alexieff and other leaders of the opposition to the soviet. The allied mili-

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tartists supported Roumania and the Uraine; both sold out to Germany. They flirted with the Finnish white guards. France even recognized the white guard government—German soldiers are now fighting side by side with these white guards.

The little Red Cross group from the United States saw the soviet as an unpleasant but a necessary evil, and began to co-operate with it. The Red Cross weathered attack after attack. Diplomats and militarists alike condemned the overtures to the soviet government.

Now, in the sixth month of the soviet rule, there exists just one lane of approach to the soviet government, and that is through the American Red Cross. The allies appear at this time to be anxious to talk to Lenine and Trotzky. Tentative overtures are made daily. Britain has withdrawn her embassy and substituted as her official representative a young liberal, Lockhart. Though not a diplomat, he recognizes the permanency of the soviet power and the necessity of cooperation with it. Already he has recovered some of the lost ground. He is not entangled with the old regime and consequently the soviet leaders trust him and co-operate with him.

Soviet Trusts American Red Cross.

But it was the American Red Cross that made possible any resumption of negotiations with the soviet. To-day it is the only allied institution in Russia that the soviet really trusts. It is about the only allied institution that since November has not been actively interested in some scheme seeking to accomplish the soviet's downfall.

Originally there existed differences between the bolsheviki and the soviet. Today these terms are practically synonymous. The boisheviki utilized the soviet organization until they became one with it. In order to grasp what the soviet power in Russia really means one must define "What is the soviet?"

The soviet organization extends deep into Russian life. Literally the soviet means the council of common usage: It means a village council. This the moern Russian soviet's origin is the ancient village mir.

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Where the Soviet Gets Its Power.

Russia's present official title is "The Russian Socialistic Federated Republic of Soviets." The Present day Russian soviet Government is really only the executive committee of a vast number of local village, town and city soviets in which there exists a real sound democratic idea of majority rule. The village soviets hold local elections and select members to attend the all-Russian congress of soviets. This congress chooses the government. It was such an organization that ratified the Russo-German peace.

The bolsheviki were extreme socialists. They perfected the organization of a central clearing house for these thousands of soviets. They used this organization to spread their propaganda and won over to their point of view 95 per cent of the soldiers and 80 per cent of the peasant masses. The soviet program was impossibly radical. It proposed impractical reforms. The bolshevik ideas are the narrow outgrowth of sixty years of forced, secret revolutionary work.

Soviet is Largely Atheistic.

We can hardly expect these revolutionists to possess modern ideals, when they saw mostly only the seamy side of the czar's regime. Already a century behind the times, the revolutionary workers became atheists. The soviet is largely atheistic in tendency. The Russian church was so bound up with the czar that the masses say: "The church belonged to the czar. It was the czar's instrument. We do not trust the czar."

But, regardless of their atheism and their fatuous, impossible reasoning, the bolsheviki swept the country completely, coming to dominate the national organization of the village soviets. And in sweeping the country the bolsheviki became one with the soviet. The conservative representatives of allied countries reasoned that the bolsheviki, now the soviet leaders, were simply hired agents of Germany. They knew that Lenine came through Germany in a sealed car. They said that Trotzky was notoriously antiBritish. They declared that the soviet program was "made in Berlin."

Lenine did come to Russia through Berlin. The bolsheviki did perhaps accept

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money from Germany. They explain that by saying, "We would accept money from the devil himself in aid of our cause." There exists and old saying that you may give a fanatic money, but you cannot buy him. Germany undoubedly regrets Lenine's passage through Berlin; certainly the Germans regret the money given to the bolshevik propaganda which threatens to boomerang back on Austria. Lenine did not utter a single new word of extreme socialism. He and his associates made use of the most radical ready made arguments available because, knowing the psychology of the Russisan masses, they understood the arguments, "Peace, land, bread and factory control," would appeal to 93 per cent of the mass because the individuals of this mass never before owned even their own souls.

Formula Not Made in Berlin.

Perhaps Germany crystallized things by urging bolshevik work in Russia, but the bolshevik formula was never made in Berlin. "The land for the peasants" is a reiteration of the Fourier-Proudhon scheme based on the idea that "all land belongs to the tillers of the soil," proposed in France in 1842. "Control of industries by the workingman" is only the Pfert program of 1876 and "peace for the soldier" is the formula of the international published in the communist manifesto of 1884 which expounded the theory that autocratic ruling classes made wars to allay discontent at home and also for the purposes of imperialistic exploitation and acquisition of foreign territories.

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IV. RUSSIAN HATRED OF GERMANY GROWS.

SPECIAL CABLE TO THE DAILY NEWS. [Copyright 1918, the Chicago Daily News Co.] Moscow, Russia, April 13 (delayed).—

The soviet pledged itself to the peace program. The program was impossible of fulfillment. The soviet tried it and found it wanting. The soviet was forced to sign a peace which even itself regarded as shameful. The peace negotiations and their result caused the scales to fall from the Russian eyes, and the truth is gradually being driven home. The peace negotiations showed Germany in her true light and proved her greedy desire for aggrandizement. The peace program resulted in disaster.

Now the soviet admits that its policy was wrong. Its other extreme ideals are gradually being modified or discarded as wholly impracticable. Workmen's control of industry, repudiation of the national debt and nationalization of the banks are all sliding toward a less radical position. Through bitter experience the soviet is learning that many of its projects are absolutely impracticable, but once the impracticability of a scheme is demonstrated the soviet shows a tendency to abandon it in favor of a more moderate plan or else it abandons the scheme altogether.

German Poison Soon Reacted.

Germany pumped extreme socialism into Russia, which received it with such unexpected rapidity and violence that the poison reacted and poured back into Germany, causing alarm in Berlin. Many of Germany's 3,200,000 socialist voters were susceptible to maximalist arguments, and Berlin had strikes. Austria, the weak sister, was already tainted with the same poison that destroyed old Russia. If Russia again goes to war we can rely upon her conducting a gigantic revolutionary campaign against Germany. The German people are probably too sensible to listen to her seriously, but one must remember that the popu-

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lation of Austria to mainly Slavic and akin to the Russian Slavs. The Russian Slavs fell hard for extreme socialism. Why should not the Austiran Slavs do so as well?

We now come to the present day phase of the situation. The soviet is as powerful as ever, despite its signature to a shameful peace treaty and its evacuation of the capital. The soviet government to-day is as real as the Russian people. There exist within the country no visible forces that can oust the soviet from power. The soviet pledged itself to a program of peace. The soviet made peace and now finds that it is a peace in name only and not in fact. The soviet remembers the threat of GenHoffman, the German peace delegate, who said that Germany Invaded Russia for the purpose of exterminating the bolheviki (the soviet) who endangered civilization.

Germany Wars on Russian People.

The soviet is not deceived by the false peace which Germany dictated or the present existing calm. It expects further attention from the German army as soon as things are quiet on the western front. Germany’s war against the soviet means war against the Russian people.

For the first time the Russian people see Germany as a menace to themselves individually. Formerly they saw the Germans only as a menace to their czar.

Consequently there is growing up throughout the country, in every village and every household, the knowledge that peace is impossible and that if Russia is to avoid a return to autocracy Germany must be beaten.

In the early days we might have brought this home through education. Experience, although it has nearly wrecked the nation in the process, has convinced the Russians with more vividness than education ever could have done.

The bolsheviki are decidedly unpleasant bedfellows. They are extremely hard to work with. The soviet is a new, crude, extremely narrow and uncompromising government, but the soviet is convinced that further war with Germany is unavoldable.

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