Page:Michael Farbman - Russia & the Struggle for Peace (1918).djvu/96

 84 fraternised with the Russian soldiers. I, myself, travelled from Sweden through Finland immediately the war broke out, and the impression was simply marvellous. I have known Finland and the cold and placid Finns for many years; and the change I saw seemed like something which could happen only in fairy tales.

In Petrograd the people sang the Russian National Anthem and cheered the Government and the Tsar with no less enthusiasm than the Germans in Berlin sang "Die Wacht am Rhein" and shouted "Hoch!" for the Kaiser. In fact, a more favourable atmosphere for the successful prosecution of the war could not be imagined. But it was destroyed only too soon by the rude and overbearing behaviour of the ambitious Military Party. The Military Party went to war, not only to conquer the enemy, but to conquer Russia itself. Even victory over Germany was, for them, only a means of establishing more firmly their own power in Russia. The Military Party, the Grand Dukes, the War Office, the General Staff, and the Court camarilla refused to accept the change which had come over Russia. Their mentality prevented them from understanding the people's loyalty and from believing in it. They could only believe in loyalty achieved by military means; they could only trust enforced loyalty.

The Finns are loyal. Splendid! But a few more divisions stationed in Finland will strengthen the loyalty of the Finns. The Jews are proclaiming their patriotism. A very pleasant sign! But that is no reason why the military authorities should alter their long-established conviction that in the event of a war with Germany the Russian Jews will sympathise with the enemy more than with Russia. Therefore, loyalty or no loyalty, the Jews in the provinces behind the front must be treated as potential spies or at least as secret allies of the enemy.

Such was the poisonous mentality of the Military Party. Within a fortnight the golden opportunity