“The forces that would support intervention must be dominated by those of extreme reaction because all but the reactionaries are prepared temporarily to sink their differences with the Bolsheviki in order to defend the revolution as a whole.”

Martov finally expressed himself as convinced that, given peace, life itself and the needs of the country will bring about the changes he desires.

ARMY

The soviet army now numbers between 1,000,000 and 1,200,000 troops of the line.  Nearly all these soldiers are young men between the ages of 17 and 27.  The morale of regiments varies greatly.  The convinced communists, who compose the bulk of the army, fight with crusading enthusiasm.  Other regiments, composed of patriots but noncommunists, are less spirited; other regiments composed of men who have entered the army for the slightly higher bread ration are distinctly untrustworthy.  Great numbers of officers of the old army are occupying important executive posts in the administration of the new army, but are under control of convinced communist supervisors.  Nearly all the lower grade officers of the army are workmen who have displayed courage in the ranks and have been trained in special officer schools.  Discipline has been restored and on the whole the spirit of the army appears to be very high, particularly since its recent successes.  The soldiers no longer have the beaten dog-like look which distinguished them under the Czar but carry themselves like freemen and curiously like Americans.  They are popular with the people.

I witnessed a review of 15,000 troops in Petrograd.  The men marched well and their equipment of shoes, uniforms, rifles, and machine guns and light artillery was excellent.  On the other hand they have no big guns, no aeroplanes, no gas shells, no liquid fire, nor indeed, any of the more refined instruments of destruction.

The testimony was universal that recruiting for the army is easiest in the districts which having once lived under the soviet were over run by anti-soviet forces and then reoccupied by the Red Army.

Trotski is enormously proud of the army he has created, but it is noteworthy that even he is ready to disband the army at once if peace can be obtained in order that all the brains and energy it contains may be turned to restoring the normal life of the country.

LENIN’S PRESTIGE

The hold which Lenin has gained on the imagination of the Russian people makes his position almost that of a dictator.  There is already a Lenin legend.  He is regarded as almost a prophet.  His picture, usually accompanied by that of Karl Marx, hangs everywhere.  In Russia one never hears Lenin and Trotski spoken of in the same breath as is usual in the western world.  Lenin is regarded as in a class by himself.  Trotski is but one of the lower order of mortals.