to stand idly by while the British Empire drifts to perdition in the wake of the unfortunate Russian people, who have now attained the appointed anarchy and absolute impotence which have long threatened them after successively traversing stages perilously resembling some recent phases of British development.

First, we had the Old Regime in Russia, pronounced in its day to be sacrosanct and indispensable, but now familiarly, if irreverently, termed "the Old Gang" in Petrograd. There was a fleeting promise of the millennium on the collapse of the Tsardom, when the Provisional Government suddenly came into being amid a prodigious flourish of trumpets which re-echoed throughout the civilized world. One must not press analogies too far, and it would be extravagant to compare the downfall of our Twenty-Three in December 1917 and the advent of the Five in Downing Street to the Russian Revolution, even though that portion of the Press which had played an active part in dismissing the "Wait-and-Sees" encouraged expectations of a new heaven and a new earth hardly less than those aroused in Russian breasts. The honeymoons were short if sweet in both countries, and the cold realities dawned upon us within a very few weeks of our New Gang replacing our Old Gang.

Our disappointment at discovering that Lloyd George government was hardly distinguishable from Asquith government coincided with the much-advertised Kerensky, whose meteoric appearance on the Russian stage culminated in a one-man show" not less arbitrary than the Autocracy, though with this difference, that whereas all good Democrats abroad had looked askance, if not with aversion, at Nicholas, they proceeded to prostrate themselves before Kerensky, who was hailed, not merely as the saviour of Russia, but also as the saviour of Europe. He would inspire the Russian revolutionary armies to eclipse the legendary deeds of Napoleonic France, making a clean sweep of "reactionaries" from one end of the Continent to the other, beginning with the Hohenzollerns and the Hapsburgs, while it was not obscurely hinted that he would subsequently polish off the House of Windsor as a barbarous anachronism. Kerensky was galvanic. He would rouse the sleeping giant, and turn every Russian moujik into a crusader on behalf of the Brotherhood of Man. Even the most sceptical and suspicious were to some extent infected by the prevailing enthusiasm. The Man of Destiny was obviously a demagogue-some might even regard him as a charlatan--but from the moment he was christened the Russian Lloyd George" all his shortcomings and foibles were overlooked, while there was a veritable conspiracy of silence in the Press concerning his goings-on at the Winter Palace, which might otherwise have opened our eyes to the fact that this pure

souled patriot was not entirely wrapped up in Russia. Indeed, like most professional politicians, he only gave one thought to his country for every ten to himself. But there was no withstanding the Kerensky claque which pervaded all countries. He would "reform" the Russian army from top to bottom, clear out all lazy and incompetent Staff officers, and make the Russian soldier fight as he had never fought before. The interrupted advance of the " steam-roller " upon Berlin would speedily be resumed, and with every prospect of success; all the more, as thanks to the unflagging industry and self-sacrifice of the Allies the campaign of 1917 would find Russian troops, for the first time in the war, properly equipped and armed with the necessary artillery and munitions, the lack of which had been pronounced responsible for the calamities of 1915. Some of our pundits-political rather than military, as the politicians were infinitely more astray over Russia than the soldiers, who were frankly puzzled already foresaw the exact date when the Cossacks would join hands with the Gurkhas in Unter den Linden. The "Russian Lloyd George" and his "splendid mob" would teach the obsolete General Staffs of Europe, many of which, in the jargon of the day, were hot-beds of privilege, how to make war by modern up-to-date methods. Now that Russia had found her soul humanity would be staggered. It were cruel to disinter the forecasts of those eager days. Even less emotional people expected something, as it was not unreasonable to hope that a great empire, with a fine military tradition, unlimited man-power, abundantly supplied with all the requisites of war, now that it had shaken off the shackles that had imprisoned it, should make a serious and perhaps a formidable contribution to victory in the coming campaign. Hopes undeniably ran high in Western military circles that even after every discount "the Eastern neighbour would menace Germany sufficiently to enable the Allies to obtain a military decision elsewhere. Our politicians regarded the Russian situation as so infinitely improved, since the Revolution had destroyed the possibility of a separate peace "between the Romanoffs and the Hohenzollerns, that our soldiers were entitled to regard so huge an Ally as a substantial asset. If Russia rowed a reasonable proportion of her weight, Sir Douglas Haig, General Nivelle or General Pétain, and General Cadorna would do the rest. On this not irrational hypothesis the assumption was sound, and would, we are inclined to believe, have been realized.

Unfortunately the "Russian Lloyd George" could not, or would not, confine himself to that in which he excelled all competitorspropaganda among the masses. He could set any audience on fire. It is a special and rare gift, priceless to a Democracy when

consecrated to a worthy cause. Kerensky could have convinced enough Russians that they were fighting for themselves as well as for the life of their country. Unfortunately oratory, in which he shone, did not satisfy the Dictator. Megalomania took possession of him, as it is apt to of demagogues. He fancied himself as a strategist. That way madness lies-also catastrophe. He began by interfering with the army-he wanted a "tame Chief of the Staff who would do his bidding, Generals who shared his political prejudices, and would operate under his command. He eventually appointed himself Commander-in-Chief of all the Russian Armies. It made some mouths water. Professional ability, sterling character, proved skill in the field--this and all the other attributes of success in war were useless to Kerensky. He preferred General "Ditto " to General "Non Non." He set to work to destroy military discipline, which is the cement that differentiates an army from a mob. Within a few months the end came, the Russian forces, which under a Grand Duke Nicholas or an Alexieff had repeatedly bluffed the Boche- when woefully short of guns and gunpowder-began melting away until the Power which only a few years ago hypnotized Europe and cowed Berlin had ceased to count, and was rapidly resolving itself into its component parts.

The dismemberment of Russia must not in fairness be exclusively debited to M. Kerensky, but undoubtedly that demagogue's invincible incompetence and colossal conceit paved the way for Bolshevikism. The appalling fate of our Ally should be an eternal warning to every civilized community of the terrible danger of allowing weak, irresolute, ambitious, unscrupulous, ignorant, inept, eloquent, and cowardly arrivistes to get the upper hand, especially in war, and to meddle with matters they do not understand.

One may not cite "capitalist or "bourgeois" testimony against the Russian Terror, but it so happens that there recently reached this country a document which even such ardent admirers of Bolshevikism as Mr. Arthur Henderson can hardly discount any more than can those among His Majesty's Ministers who appear to have sufficient weakness for anarchy to tolerate Bolshevik propaganda in London. I refer to the appeal issued to the International Socialists of Europe by the Central Committee of the United Labour Party of Russian Social Democrats, who cannot be suspect in the Labour world. It was forwarded to Justice, the organ of the Social Democratic Federation, of which Mr. Hyndman is editor, by Monsieur Camille Huysmans, secretary to the International Socialist Bureau. It should surely give pause to all crypto-Bolsheviks among us, and make every professing Democrat realize the deadly peril to the cause of

Democracy of having any truck with a plague besides which the Black Death might appear to be a blessing. While a certain Monsieur Litvinoff is allowed to masquerade in this country by the War Cabinet (which, be it not forgotten, embraces Lord Milner, Lord Curzon, and Mr. Bonar Law, as well as Mr. Lloyd George), and to preach treason and disaffection on British platforms, though his paymasters are strongly suspected of having taken enemy money, the Bolshevik Government in Petrograd in the intervals of selling their country have ruthlessly suppressed every form of liberty that hampered their own robberies, including the right of Russian Social Democrats to make known the truth abroad. The latter's manifesto opens thus:

At this dreadful and menacing hour we appeal to the sections of the Internationale ! As at the worst moments in the Tsarist regime we are deprived of the power of communicating freely with the Western Socialist Parties. The frontier is closed. In no country are the workers informed of what is going on in Russia, or else they are informed in a false and misleading manner. In the interests of the International Labour movement we must make a breach in the barrier of silence which the Bolsheviks have erected. We must cast light upon the unprecedented terror which rages in Russia in the name of Socialism, and which soils its spotless banner.

The writers explained that their review was necessarily brief, as they have to send it abroad "secretly across the frontier." The drastic dominion of "Dora," which threatens every writer who has a soul above licking our Prime Minister's boots, is nothing to the present reign of terror in Bolshevikia. At any rate here we still have the security of an occasional open trial (though we don't know how long this privilege may last), whereas in Russia, if one day Mr. Henderson's friends take a dislike to you, the next day you may have ceased to exist without any one being allowed to know of your elimination. The Socialist appeal attributes the breakdown of the Provisional Government to economic disorganization, producing hunger and consequent discontent, which threw the mass of the workers and the soldiers into the arms of the Bolsheviks, who "lured them with promises of immediate peace, of bread, and of liberation." In July the Bolsheviks first tried to seize the Government, subsequently realizing that they could only effect their purpose by a military conspiracy on which the Dictatorship of Lenin was founded on October 25, "unknown to the other Socialists and democratic organizations. The mass of the workers played no direct part in the revolt, but they sympathized with it passively, because they believed in the demagogic principles of peace and Social Revolution." The Provisional Council of the Republic, of which three-quarters were Socialists and Democrats, was driven out at the point of the bayonet, while the Provisional Government, of which half were Socialists, was imprisoned in the fortress of

St. Peter and St. Paul, and its headquarters, the Winter Palace, was sacked, and its defenders lynched.

The Bolshevik usurpation took place on the eve of the opening of the Second Congress of Soviets. All the Socialist Parties, one after another, protested against the conspiracy and left the Congress.

The Bolsheviks, who seized the reins of government three weeks before the elections for the Constituent Assembly, created the Council of People's Commissaries. The members of this Council are formally responsible to a Central Executive Committee, elected by the Second Congress after the departure of all the other Parties. In reality, the Council of Commissaries is nothing but a screen to mask the dual dictatorship of Lenin and Trotsky, sustained by the bayonets of the soldiers and surrounded by suspicious characters, adventurers, and even criminals.

Such was the birth of the Bolshevik Government, which was nothing but the ordinary coup d'état-called " a Pronunciamento when carried out by soldiers-by a handful of adventurers exploiting the misery of "the People" for their own advantage. Anarchies are invariably the handiwork of minorities-in Russia more so than usual.

That Dictatorship is maintained only by shameless terrorization. The Council of Commissaries has not yet succeeded in subduing the administrative organization to its will. The tchivovniks and the civil servants have refused to work under the direction of the usurpers. Whole districts have refused to recognize the new regime, and they are trying to organize district governments. The democratic bodies in the towns and the Zemstvos, elected by universal, direct, secret, and proportional suffrage, will have nothing to do with the new regime. They do not recognize it, and resist it. Among all the Socialist Parties none but the left wing of the Social Revolutionaries, who have been expelled from their Party, have come to an agreement with the Bolsheviks and take part in this Government." All the other democratic organizations rally round the Committees of Safety of the Fatherland and the Revolution, as also round such democratic organizations as the Zemstvos and the vallos.

When any of us venture to criticize the proceedings of the miscreants who are ruining Russia we are denounced in our "Defeatist" Press as "reactionaries" who "lack sympathy with progress," and this country's refusal to officially "recognize Bolshevikism is regarded in the same quarters as "one of the biggest blunders of the war." Many of us feel that our Government has gone much too far in countenancing, if not in kotowing to Lenin and Trotsky, who are avowed enemies of everything which has hitherto passed for civilization, and requite British amenities by abuse.

If there be any sense or life left in the House of Commons, surely some of its members will devote themselves to the pursuit and exposure of Litvinoff, who would be hounded out of any self-respecting community. As showing the contempt in which we are held among bitter enemies it is suggestive that no attempt has so far been made to establish any official Bolshevik agency in Paris, in Rome, or, so far as we know, in any other Allied capital except London. Berlin, to whom the Bolsheviks have