I RETURNED to Russia last summer, visited as many of my old
friends there as I could, arranged for the publication of some of my
books in the Russian language, and incidentally travelled a great deal
and saw a great many sides of Russian contemporary life, talked also
with all manner of Russians.
I travelled to Bergen in Norway, from Bergen obtained a passage round
the North Cape to Vardö, the last port of Norway, transhipped there to
a Russian boat and sailed for Ekaterina, the first port in Russia in
the North, the new Russian harbour which never freezes. From Ekaterina
I went on to Archangel, where I stayed a week, and from Archangel
went to Moscow. I visited some estates in Central Russia and stayed
with various acquaintances and friends, visited Rostof-on-the-Don,
the Caucasus, Orel, Petrograd, and finally came back to England on a
returning ammunition ship.
In going to Russia I certainly did not intend to publish my impressions
in book form, but I have been asked to do so, and I recognise the value
of keeping in contact with our Ally from day to day. The requirement
of the moment seems to be not so much books on Russia, of which there
are now a great many, but diaries or volumes of impressions, keeping
the peoples of the two countries in touch during the war. I returned
to London at the beginning of October, 1916, and I should be glad to
think that some one returning at the beginning of January, 1917, would
follow on with another small volume of this type. Again for April,
1917. We need such volumes of personal impressions, and there would not
be the need to apologise for them. They are letters between friends
both engaged in the same vital task. It is extremely difficult to
keep in touch with Russia by reading newspapers only. The newspapers
are, on the whole, difficult to follow. They are concerned with the
news-aspect of events and the scope for sensational appeals. Good quiet
correspondence tends to be lost in them. Hence my little book of the
hour.
I was in Russia when the war broke out in 1914. I spent 1915 in Egypt,
the Balkans, Russia and England, and again I spent the summer of 1916
in Russia. I have, therefore, been in touch with the Russians all the
time of the war. I hope, therefore, that in this time when deeds rather
than words are necessary, my report of the conditions prevailing in the
land of our ally Russia may be considered serviceable.