Page:Michael Farbman - The Russian Revolution & The War (1917).djvu/52

 this internal salvation of Russia is in fact conditional upon the success of Russia's effort for peace. It is felt by everybody in Russia, and of course by the Government itself in the first place, that the only chance of the Government's saving Russia from internal chaos is the success of its foreign policy—that is to say, its success in bringing the war to a speedy conclusion. Upon that the whole future of Russia is staked.

The way was clear and obvious. A strong army was needed by the Russians to reinforce and dignify its peace programme. Chernov, the leader of the Social Revolutionaries and Minister for Agriculture in the new Government, declared at a Cabinet Council: "Russia must no longer speak to her Allies in the tone of a poor relative, and to enemies with the mien and language of a pauper." At the recent all-Russian Congress of the C.W.S.D. he put it even more forcibly: "Russia must have a strong army to enforce the respect of friends and foes alike." We now see that the thing has been done. Kerensky and