OMSK RE-VISITED
It is quite interesting to watch the oscillation of the Omsk mind from
one orientation to another. At the time I left for the East the stream
of favour flowed strongly in the English direction. General Knox started
on a tour of Siberia in connection with the formation of the new
Koltchak army; Sir Charles Eliot went to Hong-Kong; General Bowes was
left to deputise for General Knox, and Colonel Robertson for Sir Charles
Eliot. In three short weeks every sign of British influence had
disappeared. The English were nowhere; the favour was shared equally by
France and Japan.
The Japanese had either learned how to behave themselves towards the
Russians or they had received instructions from home. During the first
three months I was in Siberia their arrogance was simply sublime, but
after the armistice with Germany--upon whose power to defeat the Allies
they banked their all--they were a changed people, so far as outward
appearance and conduct were concerned. They talked about their alliance
with England, their friendship with Russia, their love of France. When
the Japanese try, they can make themselves very agreeable; indeed, so
charming that it is impossible to resist their advances. That was their
attitude then to all except the Chinese, whom they hold in the greatest
contempt, and to the Americans, whom they fear. With a clear field their
new policy made great headway.
The French methods are quite different. Theirs is a drawing-room attack,
and at this sort of thing the ordinary Britisher cuts but a sorry
figure. Hence the field was also pretty clear for them, and they made
full use of their opportunities. With a judicious word over a cup of tea
an editor who refuses a bribe finds his or her talents a glut on the
market. A joke around a _samovar_ reduces the rank of a particularly
Russophile general. The glorious time they are having reaches its climax
when you hear the polite condolences to the victims uttered in exquisite
French.
But Colonel Robertson had gone to "Vlady," and his place had been taken
by a typical Britisher in the person of Consul Hodgson, who took a
correct measure of the situation, and in less than forty-eight hours
herded the whole caboose back into their own compounds. It is surprising
that the influence of one virile, definite personality can be so great,
and it proves how necessary it is that in this seemingly endless turmoil
only the best men should be burdened with the responsibility of our
representation. I started on my mission to the Urals with absolute
confidence that, in the absence of General Knox, our interests in Omsk
would not suffer so long as they were in the hands of our senior consul.
After infinite trouble with Russian official elements, I started on my
western journey on April 5. The mission consisted of Colonel Frank
(liaison officer), Madame Frank (translator), Regt-Sergt.-Major Gordon,
in charge of an escort of twenty-two N.C.O.s and men, with one machine
gun. We were now entering the district behind the Ural front. These
towns had not long been cleared of the Bolsheviks, so that it was
interesting to discover how far their ideas had gained possession of the
minds of the people. The new Russian armies were rapidly pushing
forward. Their progress had been made more general and persistent since
the end of November, 1918, the date on which the Czechs finally refused
to take part in the great Perm offensive. When they read in the English
papers of January, 1919, how the Czech, Italian, French, and Allied
forces had inflicted defeat upon the Bolsheviks at Perm, it caused a
grim smile to pass over the faces of the Russian officers who did the
job. Not a single Czech, Italian, French, or Allied soldier fired a shot
after Admiral Koltchak assumed supreme command. There is one notable
exception. The armoured trains from H.M.S. _Suffolk_, under the command
of Captain Wolfe Murray, continued to fight along the Ufa front well
into January, 1919. Only the intense cold and the necessity of
recoupment and re-equipment caused them to retire to Omsk. The British
Navy fighting on the Urals was the only reminder the Russian soldier had
that the Allies of his country had not entirely deserted her.
We arrived at Tumen on April 7, and held a fine meeting of the workmen,
who seemed quite pleased to hear that the Bolsheviks were not likely to
return. These workmen looked upon the Bolshevik rule as on some horrible
nightmare. They cared for little else so long as you could assure them
on this point. So ghastly was the dream from which they had awakened
compared with the flowery promises held out to them that I readily
believe "Ivan the Terrible" would have been received at that moment as a
saviour. This was a dangerous feeling which I tried my best to combat,
for the excesses of the Bolshevik régime have prepared the way--and were
deliberately intended so to do--for a return to absolutism.
We arrived at Ekaterinburg at the same time as General Knox arrived from
Chilliyabinsk. His first words were congratulations on my C.B., news of
which had just arrived. I visited Consul Preston, and read the evidence
he and his French colleague had collected relative to Bolshevik outrages
on the workmen of the district. It was too sad to think about. This was
the place where the Tsar and his family were imprisoned and murdered. Of
them it could be fairly alleged that they were responsible for the
crimes of the old régime; but what crimes have the poor workmen and
peasants committed that the most fiendish cruelty should be reserved for
them? I give it up! Perhaps there is some reason or justification; all I
can say is I have not heard it, neither can I imagine what it can be.
I held a meeting of railway workmen and officials, and was surprised at
the attention and earnestness of the audience. They hungrily devoured
every scrap of information as to our English trade union organisation
and work, and requested that a further meeting should be held next day
in a great carriage works in the centre of the town. This proved to be
one of the most remarkable gatherings I have ever attended. A fine
platform had been erected at one end of the main workshop. A sea of
faces under huge multi-coloured _papahas_ spread over the floor, while
every carriage was covered with human ants; even the beams of the
building carried its human freight. Clearly it seemed to me that the
resurrection of Russia had begun; the destruction of Russia began from
the head, its re-birth is from the ground.