(C) Underwood & Underwood

THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS

COMMITTEE

This important Committee, which recently conferred with the President about the Peace Treaty, consists of seventeen members, of whom ten are seen in this picture (left to right): George H. Moses, N. H. (partly seen); Hiram W. Johnson, Cal.; Warren G. Harding, Ohio; Albert B. Fall, N. M.; Frank B. Brandegee, Conn.; Porter J. MeCumber, N. D.; Henry Cabot Lodge, Mass., Chairman; Gilbert M. Hitchcock, Neb.; Claude A. Swanson, Va.; and Key Pittman, Nevada

HE Prelude to Bolshevism" is not

"Ta well-chosen title for the story of

Premier Kerensky's conflict with General Kornilov. That conflict was not a "prelude" in the sense of an overture or introduction. It was merely an episode in the evolution of Bolshevism and might be better described as an interlude. The real prelude to Bolshevism was the usurpation of governmental authority by the Petrograd Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates in the early spring of 1917. Bolshevism was the outcome of that usurpation, and it was a formidable and growing power long before Kerensky became the head of the Russian state. The quarrel between the Premier and his Commanderin-Chief undoubtedly helped the Bolsheviki by giving them a pretext for raising the cry of "counter-revolution ;" but it can hardly be regarded either as an originating cause of Bolshevism or as a determining factor in its ultimate success. Lenine and Trotsky would probably have overthrown Kerensky even if Kornilov had never been born. Although there are great differences of opinion and many discrepancies of testimony with regard to the clash between Kerensky and Kornilov, the facts that are not in dispute seem to be these:

In July, 1917, when Kerensky became the Premier of a Socialistic Ministry,2 the situation in Russia was perilous and alarming. The country was full of German agents, traitors, and spies; the first forcible attempt of the Bolsheviki to overthrow the Provisional Government had only just been defeated; the armies at the front, demoralized by Bolshevist propaganda, were rapidly disintegrating, and the Germans, taking advantage of the opportunity thus afforded them, broke through the Russian lines in Galicia and began an advance on Tarnopol. The success of the enemy on the southwestern front was wholly due to the breaking down of discipline in the Russian army as the result of Bolshevist influence and agitation; but Kerensky, assuming that it was due to the incompetence of the Commander-in-Chief, dismissed General Brusilov and appointed in his place General Kornilov, a "Cossack officer who had already distinguished himself as commander of the Eighth Russian Army on the southwestern front. General Kornilov accepted the appointment, but made his acceptance conditional upon the adoption of certain reforms intended to reestablish discipline in the army. These reforms were not objectionable to Kerensky in principle, but the form in which the demand for them was made seemed to him "sharp," "tactless," and "inadmissible," and on that account alone he came near revoking the appointment that he had just made." Kornilov, however," the Premier says, "was permitted to retain his position,

1 The Prelude to Bolshevism. By A. K. Kerensky, Former Prime Minister of Russia. Dodd, Mead & Co., New York.

2 Prince Lvoff, Premier of the First Provisional Government, was the last non-Socialist member of the original Ministry. When he resigned, on July 20, 1917, Kerensky, who was at that time Minister of War, succeeded him. The Cabinet was then composed wholly of Socialists.

partly to avoid changes in the High Command at that critical moment, and partly because his conduct was ascribed to the influence of adventurers surrounding him at Headquarters."

Keren

Kornilov immediately issued an order restoring the death penalty for cowardice, treason, or disobedience in the army, and urgently recommended that Kerensky adopt a similar measure for the punishment of the same offenses in the rear. sky, however, was not willing to do this, because, as he said, he "considered it absolutely impossible to carry out the sentence of death under the conditions of a free political life."

At the National Conference in Moscow, on August 28, General Kornilov and General Kaledin both recommended that politics be kept out of the army; that the power of the soldiers' committees be greatly restricted; that the disciplinary rights of superior officers be restored; that the usurpation of power by central and local soviets be immediately stopped; and that all disciplinary measures found to be necessary at the front be made applicable also in the rear.

These recommendations, however, went unheeded, because, as Kerensky explained, the policy of the Provisional Government was "to abstain from forcing events or provoking explosions." Taking fresh courage from the Premier's passive attitude, Lenine, Trotsky, and their associates renewed their activity and made preparations for another attempt to overthrow the Gov

ernment.

On September 6, after the Germans had captured Riga, the situation became so alarming that Kerensky decided to proclaim martial law; and in order that he might have trustworthy and loyal troops for the enforcement of it he sent the Deputy Minister of War (Savinkov) to army Headquarters with a request that Kornilov send immediately to the capital "a well-disciplined army force." In obedience to these instructions, Kornilov on the following day ordered General Krimov to proceed to Petrograd with the whole of the Third Cavalry Corps, which included a division from Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Up to this point there is substantial agreement as to the facts; but all the events of the following week were then, and are still, in dispute. In less than five days after the Cavalry Corps started for Petrograd the relations between the Premier and his Commander-in-Chief suddenly changed, apparently as the result of verbal information carried back and forth by an envoy named Lvov. Whether the latter misrepresented Kerensky to Kornilov, or Kornilov to Kerensky, or both, it is impossible to determine; but the result was a rupture. Kerensky accused Kornilov of sending the Third Cavalry Corps to Petrograd with secret instructions to overthrow the Provisional Government and establish a dictatorship. Kornilov, on the other hand, accused Kerensky of double dealing, and declared that under the pressure of the Bolshevist majority in the

Soviets" he (Kerensky) "was playing into the hands of the German General Staff."

On September 10 Kerensky ordered Kornilov to turn over the command of the armies to General Klembovsky. Kornilov, supported by Klembovsky, Baluiev, Shcherbatov, Denikine, and practically all of the general officers at the front, refused to obey, and issued an appeal to the nation in which he said:

I pledge myself to secure for the people, through victory over the foreign foe, the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, in which the people themselves will decide upon their destiny and will choose the form of their new political life. . . . To avoid the clash of arms, to avert all the bloodshed that would result from fratricidal war, and forgetting all insults, I say publicly to the Provisional Government, "Come to my Headquarters, where your liberty is guaranteed by my word of honor, and, together with me, work out the Government plan for national defense, which, while securing victory, will lead the Russian people to its great future."

To this Kerensky responded by denouncing the Commander-in-Chief as a "traitor," and by declaring that in sending to Petrograd the "well-disciplined army force" for which the Premier himself had asked, Kornilov had committed an act of sedition and rebellion.

Meanwhile the Bolsheviki, taking advantage of this conflict, raised the cry of "counter-revolution," and declared that Kornilov was marching on Petrograd for the purpose of overthrowing the Provis ional Government and re-establishing the old monarchical régime. At the same time they isolated the Third Cavalry Corps by cutting all its communications and sent emissaries to inform the cavalrymen that Kornilov had been declared a traitor; that he was dead; and that if they wished to preserve the fruits of the Revolution they must refuse to fight the troops of the Petrograd garrison. Under the influence of this Bolshevist propaganda the Third Cavalry Corps virtually went to pieces, and its commander, General Krimov, committed suicide.

Thus tragically ended the attempt of General Kornilov to secure a government that would carry on the war energetically, restore discipline in the army, deal resolutely with the Bolsheviki, and put to death all traitors, German agents and spies. Of course Kornilov was guilty of insubordination when he refused to obey the order to surrender his command; but he was not a "traitor," and if Kerensky had joined forces with him, or had even followed his advice, the Bolsheviki never would have overthrown the Provisional Government and the shameful BrestLitovsk treaty would not have been signed. Kerensky attributes the triumph of the Bolsheviki to the popular fear of a counterrevolution which Kornilov's "revolt" excited. Kornilov, on the other hand, regarded it as a natural outcome of the

weakness and indecision" of a "spineless" Government. That both men had at heart the welfare of their country there can be no doubt; but one was a soldier and a man of action, while the other was a theorist, a politician, and, to some extent, a compromiser. Kornilov was technically in the wrong; but few people outside of the Bolsheviki ever questioned the unselfishness of his motives. Even Kerensky himself felt bound to pay a tribute to Kornilov's patriotism. "I have written many

66

things against him," he admits in his preface, "but I feel obliged to say emphatically that I never doubted his love for his country. I saw not in bad intention, but in a lack of understanding and in great political inexperience, the cause of his actions."

In October, 1917, a commission was appointed to investigate the whole "Kornilov affair." Kerensky was the principal witness, and his book is nothing more than a stenographic report of his testimony, with later additions, comments, and explanations. Although it is merely an ex parte statement of his own case, it is entitled to fair consideration; but it should be read in connection with General Kornilov's orders, telegrams, and appeals, and with Robert Wilton's chapter on "Kornilov and the Cossacks." 1

In November, 1917, less than a month after Kerensky gave in the Winter Palace the testimony that he has now published, the Provisional Government was overthrown by Lenine and Trotsky and the Premier went into hiding. General Kornilov, who had vainly urged Kerensky to take severe repressive, measures against the Bolsheviki long before this catastrophe occurred, made his way to southeastern Russia, where a few months later he was killed while fighting at the head of the Cossacks against Trotsky's Red Guard.

The view taken by the Bolsheviki of Kerensky's attitude toward them and toward Kornilov was well expressed by Lenine, who, after he had come into power, said, rather contemptuously: "Kerensky is not a man of character, resolution, or force. He knew that General Kornilov was his friend, yet he ordered his arrest; he knew that Trotsky was his enemy, yet he let him alone."

THE NEW BOOKS

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

Book About the English Bible (A). By
Josiah H. Penniman, Ph.D., LL.D. The
Macmillan Company, New York.
Contact With the Other World. The

Latest Evidence as to Communication with the Dead. By James H. Hyslop, Ph.D., LL.D. The Century Company, New York. Christian Approach to Islam (The). By

James L. Barton, LL.D. Illustrated. The
Pilgrim Press, Boston.

This book is of high importance for the reconstruction of international relations on an enduring basis. Dr. Barton, a Christian scholar and a statesman also, is doubly qualified by long experience to speak with authority on a thorny problem.

He exhibits Islam historically as the militant religion of Mohammed bent on dominating the world, tracing its growth to imperial greatness and its decline to its present collapse as a government, but still strong as a religion held by one-seventh of the world's population. Next, approaching Islam critically, its merits and defects are impartially appraised, its common grounds with Christianity, its inadequacy when tested by life, and the consequent dissatisfaction of many Mohammedans, their revolts and ineffectual attempts at reformation. Concurrently with this disintegration a change of attitude toward Christianity is exhibited, auspicious for a constructive approach to Islam. Here Dr. Barton sets forth the difficulties to be overcome both in Islam and in Christendom, the concessions required in mere

1 See "The Birth of the Russian Democracy," by A. J. Sack. Chapter XV, and "Russia's Agony," by Robert Wilton, Chapter XXIV.

matters of form, and the simplicity with which, avoiding points of controversy, the Gospel, in the life and teachings of Jesus, must be presented as fulfilling man's highest aspirations. In this way of approach to Islam he outlines a programme of evangelization and a reorganization for conquest by standardized and specialized missionary work.

HISTORY AND POLITICAL ECONOMY

Armenians in America (The). By M. Vartan Malcom. Introduction by Hon. James W. Gerard. Illustrated. The Pilgrim Press, Boston.

Commercial Policy in War Time and After. A Study of the Application of Democratic Ideas to International Commercial Relations. By William Smith Culbertson, Introduction by Henry C. Emery. Problems of War and Reconstruction. D. Appleton & Co., New York,

Developing Executive Ability. By Enoch Burton Gowin. The Ronald Press Company, New York.

German Empire (The), 1867-1914, and the Unity Movement. By William Harbutt Dawson. 2 vols. The Macmillan Company, New York.

League of Nations Covenant (The). Edited by Samuel McCune Lindsay. Published by the Academy of Political Science, Columbia University, New York.

A series of addresses and papers presented at the National Conference held under the auspices of the Academy of Political Science in the City of New York, June 5, 1919, discussing the new international obligations of the United States under the proposed Covenant of the League of Nations. The papers included in this volume are contributions from Senator Pittman, Dwight W. Morrow, George Wharton Pepper, George W. Wickersham, Abram I. Elkus, and ten others.

Modern Japan: Social-Industrial-Political. By Amos S. Hershey and Susanne W. Hershey. The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis.

Politics of Industry (The). By Glenn Frank. The Century Company, New York. Reconstructing America: Our Next Big Job. Edited by Edwin Wildman. Illustrated. The Page Company, Boston.

POETRY

New Voices. By Marguerite Wilkinson. The Macmillan Company, New York.

Poems and Prose (The). By Ernest Dowson. (The Modern Library of the World's Best Books.) Boni & Liveright, New York. This convenient edition of Dowson's poems and prose has for an Introduction Arthur Symons's discriminating study of that poet and his works.

Treasury of War Poetry (A). British and American Poems of the World War. 19141919. Edited by George Herbert Clarke. Second Series. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.

WAR BOOKS Canada at War, 1914-1918. A Record of Heroism and Achievement. By J. Castell Hopkins, F.S.S., F.R.G.S. Including A Story of Five Cities. By Robert John Renison. Illustrated. The George H. Doran Company, New York.

History of the Great War (A). By Bertram Benedict, A.B. 2 vols. Vol I. Illustrated. The Bureau of National Literature (Inc.), New York.

Prussianism and Pacifism. By Poultney Bigelow, M.A., F.R.G.S. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.

Story of the American Legion (The). _By George Seay Wheat. Illustrated. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.

This is a clear and eminently readable exposition of the history, the purpose, and ideals of the American Legion. It tells of the first inception of the idea among the A. E. F. and of its development to include

all those who wore the American uniform during the great war. It should prove of great interest to any man who wore either gold or silver chevrons during the war. Throttled. By Inspector Thomas J. Tunney, as told to Paul Merrick Hollister. Illustrated. Small, Maynard & Co., Boston.

Inspector Tunney was head of the "bomb squad" of the New York Police. Exceedingly interesting is his account of German plots and their detection from 1914 on. Other than bomb activities are described; for instance, secret codes and how they were deciphered. The narrative is decidedly worth reading.

Under the Bolshevik Reign of Terror. By Rhoda Power. McBride, Nast & Co., Ltd., New York.

Way of the Eagle (The). By Major Charles J. Biddle. Illustrated. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

With the Yankee Division in France. By Frank P. Sibley. Illustrated. Little, Brown & Co., Boston.

DRAMA

Abraham Lincoln. By John Drinkwater. With Introduction by Arnold Bennett. Houghton Mifflin Company.

In Mr. Bennett's Introduction to this play he gives an interesting account of the reception which it received from the London public. It was staged in a little theater in Hammersmith, and Mr. Bennett says:

Americans will more clearly realize what John Drink water has achieved with the London public if they imagine somebody putting on a play about the Crimean War at some unknown derelict theater round about Two Hundred and Fiftieth Street, and drawing all New York to Two Hundred and Fiftieth Street.

The figure of Abraham Lincoln as shadowed forth by the author of this play is one of tremendous dignity and restrained power and in the main it is a figure recognizable as true by American readers. Mr. Drinkwater says of his play:

I am an Englishman, and not a citizen of the great country that gave Lincoln birth. I have, therefore, written as an Englishman, making no attempt to achieve a "local color" of which I have no experience, or to speak in an idiom to which I have not been bred. To have done otherwise, as I am sure any American friends that this play may have the good fortune to make will allow, would have been to treat a great subject with levity.

Mr. Drinkwater has, perhaps wisely, not attempted to write in the American idiom. But for those more familiar with our Civil War period than the average Londoner the introduction of an English housemaid into Lincoln's Springfield home and the introduction into the White House of the crudely drawn figure of William Custis, a Negro who talks very much after the fashion of a comic-opera Indian, does in some measure destroy the dramatic illusion which the author has sought to create. The fact that the play has been so successful in London affords an interesting comment upon the growing closeness of the relationship between England and the United States. It is also proof of the inherent worth of Mr. Drinkwater's conception.

MISCELLANEOUS Alaska: Our Beautiful Northland of Opportunity. By Agnes Rush Burr. Illustrated. The Page Company, Boston. Few people can read this book and look at its pictures without feeling a fervent desire to visit our wonderful Territory. The work is brightly written and contains a mine of information about the scenic, geographical, and commercial characteristics of Alaska.