OCR Text |
Show SITUATION IN RUSSIA. The speedy collapse of the Bolshevist regime in Russia is indicated by the news of the capture of the fortress of Kronstadt, at the head of the gulf of Finland twenty miles west of Petro-grad. Petro-grad. This seaport, the chief station of the Russian army, has been in the hands of the Bolsheviki since the soviet government overthrew Kerensky and assmiK'd power late in 1917. Cable advices ad-vices from apparently reliable sources have it that the' environs of Petrograd have been entered by troops commanded com-manded by General Yudeniteh. Tlw fall of the capital itself is imminent, if, indeed, in-deed, it has not already been given over to the enemies of the red regime. The moral effect of the capture of Petrograd will be felt instantly throughout through-out Russia and the way will be paved for a movement against the last remaining re-maining stronghold of the extremists, Moscow. British warships, hammering from the seas, forced the capitulation of Kronsta'dt. Meantime the Poles are hitting hard in Lithuania, the soviet regime thus being hemmed in on nil sides save the eastern front, where Admiral Ad-miral Kolchak maintains that he is advancing ad-vancing along the entire front. Pskov is again in non-Bolshevist hands. Cable advices would indicate that Yudeniteh, in his somewhat spectacular march against Petrograd, has reached the Gatehina region some thirty miles from the capital. A significant' development is the reported action of the Moscow workmen, who, in a plebiscite, have declared de-clared against the soviet and in favor of tho Kolchak government. - Tho taking of Kronstadt, however, may be regarded as the most promising of anti-Bolshevist operations, since it reducrs.the most formidable arm of Bolshevist Bol-shevist resistance and opens tho way to the center of the radical movement. Several days ago the presence of British Brit-ish warships in the Gulf of Finland was reported and it was then hinted that the Bolshevist Gibraltar was about to be bombarded. The red navy's morale never lias been at high notch. Apparently Appar-ently the British warships encountered little difficulty in achieving their purpose. pur-pose. The deliverance of Russia from the mercenaries directed by Lenine and ! Trotzky appears to be within measurable measur-able distance. The collapse of the red authority will be the more noteworthy in that it is being hastened by elements which cannot be suspected of fostering German designs in Russia. The Germans Ger-mans under arms in Russia, with the salvation sal-vation of the Russians from the Bolshevists Bolshe-vists as their pretext for military activities, activ-ities, will tie compelled to make hat good. Russia is not to be purged of Leninism in favor of a Russia controlled con-trolled by German influences. |