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THE DEGENERACY OF THE REVOLUTION 53
contemplate concluding a separate peace, while on the other
hand it is the degeneracy of the Revolution which is solely
responsible for the peace and all that led up to it.
As shown in the preceding chapter, the starting-point
of the Russian Revolution was the inefficiency of the army
organisation, which brought about military disaster, and
the critical position of the food problem of the nation,
starvation actually staring the people in the face. The first
duty of the Revolution, therefore, was to grapple with these
two deadly dangers which were threatening the country
with immediate catastrophe. It could have found no other
justification. The country was in danger and so the nation
rose against the Tsar’s government. The chief and
paramount object was to save the country from imminent
disaster, and it was precisely this noble aim which assured
to the Revolution a wonderful and speedy success. But
nothing of the sort happened. When military discipline had
been destroyed, and all capable officers had been murdered
or dismissed, when chaos began to reign and the educated
classes—the so-called Burgui—were treated as outcasts
and enemies, there was no further possibility of
commanding the soldiers to fight the Germans. It followed as
a natural consequence that international obligations and
the treaty forbidding the conclusion of a separate peace
with the enemy now became null and void.
It is therefore clear that if the Revolution had not taken
place, Russia would have preserved her mighty army and
could have added another offensive to her successful
campaign in Eastern Prussia, Galicia, and Asia Minor, and that,
in all probability, by this time the war would have been over.
The responsibility of the collapse of Russia and all its
consequences must therefore necessarily rest with the
Revolution.
In times of the breakdown of an old order there often
arise idealistic theories which bear witness to the desire for
improvement, but which are not based upon practical
possibilities. The Government of Russian Extremists has
proclaimed and adopted as a panacea against the occurrence
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