CZECHO-SLOVAK ADVANCE
According by Reuter, to Izvestia a Moscow (the telegram Bolshevik received organ) reports viâ Berlin, that and Ekaterinburg quoted has been (an important captured by town the on Czecho-slovak the Asiatic side troops. of the It Ural is not Mountains) surprising Pravda to learn says: that The Czecho-slovak the Bolshevik Press danger is is raising growing cries like of an alarm. avalanche, paper. No and pardon the counter-revolution to the enemy. The is hunger extending ring like must an be oil broken. blot on A Moscow telegram to Frankfurter Zeitung says: The Czechs having blown up the railway from Brjandino (near Simbirsk) to Budulma in the rear of the Soviet troops, the latter were forced to retreat, leaving behind two guns and several machine-guns. In the West Ural sector the Soviet troops had to withdraw before superior forces. Another telegram quoted by Reuter’s Amsterdam correspondent states that at Tuesday’s plenary session of the Executive Main Committee of the Moscow Council and labour organisations in the Grand Theatre, at which 2,000 members were present, the following resolutions were adopted after speeches by Lenin and Trotsky:
1. The Socialist Fatherland is in danger.
2. The chief tasks of the present Government are to repulse the Czecho-slovaks and to obtain grain.
3. A most powerful agitation must be started among the labouring classes to explain the gravity of the situation.
4. Vigilance must be increased regarding the bourgeoisie, who are everywhere joining the counter-revolutionaries. The Soviet Government must protect itself. To that end the bourgeoisie must be placed under control, and wholesale terrorism must be put into practice against them.
5. The general watchword must be “Death or victory,” mass expeditions for bread, mass military organisation, and armament of workmen, and the exertion of all our strength to fight against the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie. An appeal from the Peoples’ Delegates for International Affairs to the Provincial and District Committees declares that Moscow and Petrograd have already been without bread for four days, and urgently begs them to rescue the capital from famine. The German Press, commenting on the assassination of Von Eichhorn, and evidently writing to the order of the Government, continues to pretend that the murder was due to Entente incitement. The Berliner Tageblatt, however, remarks: It was to be expected that a search would have to be made in the circles of Ukrainian patriots to find the criminals, for these people do not only work against General Skoropadski’s Government, which came into power with German support, but have also adopted as their watchword “Away with the Germans.” Information received in London states that in the Ukraine the peasant rising has assumed large proportions, and is apparently a menace to the German and Austrian communications. The peasants are destroying railways, they have blown up an important bridge south-east of Kieff, and the Austrian troops are quite unable to deal with them. The seriousness of the situation may be judged also from the murder of General Field-marshal Eichhorn, In Siberia the Czech detachment at Vladivostok is making good progress along the railway, and the Bolsheviks seem to have been unsuccessful in trying to mobilise prisoners of war in Eastern Siberia against the Czechs. The Bolsheviks are also meeting with great difficulty from the hostility of the population, and they have to maintain a large proportion of their forces in order to keep them down. The situation is, therefore, at present favourable. Further west it is not so favourable. Semenoff, the Cossack colonel, has been compelled to retire about thirty miles south of the Manchurian frontier, which is being patrolled by the Chinese. At present Semenoff ’s force is of insufficient strength, which is unfortunate, because his position on the flank of the Bolsheviks is a very favourable one, and might have assisted the Czech advance. In the Caucasus there is great friction between the Germans and the Turks. The Germans are trying to prevent the Turks occupying Baku and getting the oil wells, but the Turks are apparently disregarding these German efforts. A Turkish attack on Baku appears to be imminent, and it is possible that the place will fall. There are indications that the Germans will shortly adopt the offensive, in conjunction with the Finns, against the southern part of the Murman railway. In Finland there is an intense hostility among the population to the Germans. They are very short of food, being entirely dependent for it on the Entente Powers, and the mass of the people are very much opposed to the idea of war. The Government, however, is completely under the control of the Germans, and the army is organised and largely officered by the Germans. BOLSHEVIK ALARM