Page:The New Europe - Volume 3.djvu/104

 been thrown into the limelight partly owing to his own force of character and partly because of the position occupied by his party. All eyes in Western Europe are now turned on the Russian peasantry, for it is the peasants who will decide the future constitution of their country. They stand at present half-way between the Liberals and the Socialists, and Mr. Kerenski himself is helping to keep the balance between the Provisional Government and the Council of Labour Deputies. The peasants, who in the past have been regarded as upholders of the Monarchy, have no doubt assimilated much that is new from their association in the army with workers from the industrial centres, but they may at the same time retain much of their dislike of radical changes. There is little likelihood that the peasantry in 1917 will be converted to the theories of Marx and Engels more successfully than they were in 1905. Their decision may be in favour of a Republic, but it will hardly be a socialist Republic. Author:Rex Leeper.

the accession of the new Emperor of Austria-Hungary a part of the British Press has expressed hopes of a separate peace with Austria. These hopes have no real foundation, but they are characteristic. The last few weeks have witnessed a rising tide of these expectations, although Austria has given a good enough answer by following Germany and breaking with the United States.

To give a fair exposition of the situation we quote a passage from the Westminster Gazette (21 April), speaking of the political significance of Anti-Germanism in Austria:—“Neither the dynasty nor the mass of the people, excepting a few German fanatics, have any desire to play the part assigned to them, and the perpetual insistence on it has awakened them to the fact that this war is in all its Mid-Europe and Eastern Europe aspects a war of Germanism against Slavdom, in which a victory, if it could be obtained, would be a German and not an Austrian or Hungarian triumph. We cannot say at present what the issue will be, but we are certain that these events require very careful watching by the statesmen of the Allies, and that the wise handling of them by the Allied Governments may be of