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i9i7] INCREASING DISSOLUTION
that this little man with the clean-shaven face like
Bonaparte—untiring like him, and thundering out his
speeches like Danton—would be capable of changing
the spirit of the Russian soldier completely, and of
causing the troops on our front, so passive and quiet
since the triumph of the Revolution, to take up the
struggle for victory once more. What mattered the
principles and the extreme measures adopted by the
new Government in the interior of the country, and
the complete disorder which seemed to be reigning
there? What mattered the watchword "peace without
annexations or indemnities" which had definitely
triumphed on the Russian side? Let us save Russia’s
honour with regard to the Allies; let us fight and
conquer; the rest can be arranged afterwards and never
mind how.
Such were the hopes, such the frame of mind which
prevailed at the outset of the Kerensky regime. Alas !
it soon became obvious that these hopes were
exaggerated to say the least of it! News began to arrive
again in Stockholm, representing the Russian Army
and the entire country as being involved in
increasing dissolution. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers
with their arms were deserting in a body and returning
to the interior of the country in order to participate in
the " dividing up of properties." These deserters seized
the railways, forced any trains they could get hold of
to run, plundered and burnt private properties, formed
themselves into bands, infested the towns, took the
prisons by assault and freed the prisoners, who formed
themselves into other bands still more dangerous.
Meanwhile the Ukraine proclaimed its independence;
the Caucasus did likewise; chaos became universal;
everything was at a standstill except the
printing-presses for bank notes and the fiery eloquence of
Kerensky. As to the propaganda of the Bolsheviks it
was more energetic and open than ever.
When I was preparing to leave for my new post
in the beginning of June I had almost entirely lost all
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