Page:Emile Vandervelde - Three Aspects of the Russian Revolution - tr. Jean Elmslie Henderson Findlay (1918).djvu/131

 target practice, no route marches, no grenade throwing or trench construction and manœuvres. Such a condition existed before the Revolution, with this difference, that then there were rather more parade drills and outward show of discipline. But for three years now there has been simply inactivity—the monotony and the ennui of garrison life in peacetime, only lazier and less disciplined. The Russian soldier, easy-going (flemmard) by nature, adapts himself to it easily, and greatly appreciates the good soup and the abundant rations of bread (three pounds per day) and the kascha (boiled porridge of sarazin) allowed him.

We can easily imagine what took place at the time of the Revolution. For the soldier it stood for the complete suppression of all hierarchy and discipline. Henceforth he had no more masters, and could do what he pleased. What more natural, then, than to see him profit by his new liberty to take the train and go and see how things were going at home. That was done all the more easily because soldiers travelled henceforth without tickets or