Page:Lars Henning Söderhjelm - The Red Insurrection in Finland in 1918 - tr. Annie Ingebord Fausbøll (1920).djvu/106

 troops, etc. In these Finland is also declared to be in "a state of militant revolution," a situation the import of which has always remained obscure. But as Finland already during the whole of the war had been both in a state of siege and a state of war, something new was required to make an impression. The whole day long motor-cars drove about the town packed full of armed Red Guardsmen and Russians. They fired into the air and at the walls of the houses. Also the patrolling Red Guardsmen fired volley upon volley with their rifles. Still, only two persons were wounded. The whole was a faithful copy of the incidents of the March revolution: this was the exact way in which it was supposed a revolution should proceed. An attempt was also made on that day to imitate the tactics used at the murders of the officers. The chief rate collector of the city was arrested in his office, but liberated late in the evening. In order that he might reach his home unmolested, he was provided with an escort of two Red Guardsmen. When they reached a side street, the two "protectors" abandoned the prisoner they were to protect. The rate collector heard the click of a gun, and turned his head. In the same instant the shot fell. The bullet entered at the back of the neck and went out at the ear. The rate collector fell down and the Red fled. The wounded man was found in the street, was carefully nursed, and eventually recovered.

On the Tuesday the new Government and their programme were made known to the public. Of course, the Government was formed on Lenin lines; of course, "Commissioners," not ministers, ruled. And over the Government was a Central Council—as in Russia—which was to control the measures suggested by the Commissioners. In reality, it was four of the members of the Government who ruled everything, four already