RUSSIAN CRISIS.

FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. PETROGRAD, Friday.

M. Kerenski yesterday left for the front, and his power will now be put to a supreme test. All Russia has placed unbounded confidence in this great Socialist, and sees in him one of the means of saving the country from ruin and shame. But it would be unwise to base too optimistic hopes on his journey on the sole ground that he has been able to win over the one organ that counts in Petrograd – the Council of Workmen’s and Soldiers’ Delegates. That he has won them over is well shown by the new position taken up by the official organ of the Council of Workmen’s and Soldiers’ Delegates with regard to the war and particularly with regard to the Allies. Full and unwavering confidence in the new Provincial Government – and by the Government they understand essentially M. Kerenski – is now the keynote of their very utterance. The following is from yesterday’s leading article:

The Russian democracy hates war. But it must be clear to anyone that the war cannot be stopped simply by sticking bayonets into the ground, nor can it be ended merely at the will of one of the fighting Powers. The new Government’s declaration represents the sole position which, at the present moment, can possibly be taken up by Socialists. The Russian democracy calls on the army to defend, not only its own front, but to prevent the possibility of the Allied armies suffering a reverse, for the defeat of the Allies would, in the end, incur our defeat also. By the force of our organised influence we will induce the Governments of the Allies to renounce their conquering aims in the war as openly and as decisively as our own Government has done. Therefore, when we make assistance to the Allies our chief aim, we are defending not the interests of international capitalists but our own interests – the liberty of Russia and the gains of the revolution. The army may be sure that the Socialist War Minister will not let the blood of a Russian soldier be shed in vain for the sake of appeasing the thieving interests of international capitalists, and therefore the Russian democracy, with all its soul, will support the new Provisional Government in its efforts to restore the fighting power of the army for offensive as well as for defensive action.

But, though the general feeling in the capital is so improved, the same unfortunately cannot be said of the front, where the soldiers rarely come into contact with the responsible leaders of the Council of Workmen’s and Soldiers’ Delegates, and where, too often, pacifist agitators are masters of the field.