Page:Michael Farbman - Russia & the Struggle for Peace (1918).djvu/94

 82 replaced by sympathy and love. The cheers of the people and the welcome they received must have been a revelation to the soldiers—must indeed have warmed their hearts with a sudden glow of unexpected happiness. They must have felt that all they had been taught in the barracks by the officers about the "internal enemy" was a lie. This sympathy of the people was in striking contradiction to the legend about the "internal enemy," and it opened the eyes of the soldiers. It is quite possible that from this time the fermentation in the army actually began. At any rate, the soldiers went to the front with this rare experience of popular sympathy and love fresh in their memory. Later on the soldiers were to receive many more tokens of the people's sympathies; their distrust of the officers, who always tried to alienate them from the people, must have grown rapidly.

I well remember the favourable impression produced in Russia by Kitchener's and King George's orders of the day to the British Expeditionary Forces when they left for France. The British were reminded in these orders that upon their behaviour in France, and upon their respect for French civilian life and property, the good name of Britain would depend. Russian progressives admired and envied the noble and dignified advice given to British soldiers. But they knew only too well that Russian fighting traditions and the mentality of the Russian military leaders and of the Government were of quite a different nature. They feared that Russian Generals would never consent to restrict the soldier where "those insignificant interests of the civil population" were concerned. And the fears of Russian progressive society were confirmed only too soon. Not only was the army not restricted; it was expressly allowed "full freedom of movement and action" during the campaign. In fact, full licence was given to the soldiers, not only in enemy countries, but even in the Western provinces of Russia, which the army had to cross on their way to the front. This free-