RUSSIAN ASSEMBLY

PROMPT DISSOLUTION.

As foreshadowed in these columns some time ago, the Leninites have lost no time in meeting the opposition of the Constituent Assembly by declaring the dissolution of that body after it had held only one meeting. This step on the surface seems to be nothing more nor less than the desperate violence of a minority who see power slipping out of their hands, and are prepared to run any risks in the hope of retaining it. The Bolsheviks themselves, however, have sought to falsify their action in advance by the purest “democratic principles.” They argue that since the Constituent Assembly was elected the views of the people have taken so decided a trend in the direction of Bolshevism that it no longer represents the national will. Indeed, they go further, and contend that by its very nature such a body cannot be truly representative, since it cannot respond with sufficient rapidity to the changes of public opinion. On the other band, the local Soviets of Workmen’s, Soldiers’, and Peasants’ Delegates can be so constituted as to reflect these alterations almost immediately, and, by at once changing their delegates to the All-russian Soviet in Petrograd, can promptly bring the new mood to bear on the central authority. For it is the avowed ideal of the Leninites that every passing fancy of the majority of the nation should be at once gratified. Sooner or later this principle will be fatal to themselves, but for the present it is impossible to refute the plea that the mass of the population is Bolshevik in its sentiments. This is only because it believes in the capacity of the Bolsheviks to satisfy its double craving for peace and land. On these two fundamental questions, however, the only differences now existing between parties which really count are merely personal and tactical ones.