Upon the whole, conditions in Russia showed no signs of improvement.
Famine existed in Petrograd and in other, particularly urban, districts
of Great Russia, while civil war was still raging in Siberia and in
some parts of European Russia. According to information made public
by the State Department at Washington on May 21, cholera broke out in
Astrakhan and in the Caspian Sea region. Observers of Russian life
also noted the growing moral laxity of the population and its complete
indifference to public affairs.
Reports from Eastern and Central Russia indicated that in many
districts less than half the usual acreage was plowed. This was
attributed to the shortage of seed, horses, and implements. Even where
seed was available the peasants, uncertain of the disposition of
the land and the crops, did not plant extensively. Breadstuffs were
scarce even in grain centres, and prices were very high. The attitude
of the farmers to the city people continued to be one of distrust
and hostility, and the exodus of the city dwellers into the country
continued.
A recent article in Maxim Gorky's daily Novaia Zhizn (New Life) speaks
of the conditions prevailing in the Russian village in the following
terms:
All those who have studied the Russian village of our days clearly
perceive that the process of demoralization and decay is going
on there with remarkable speed. The peasants have taken away the
land from its owners, divided it among themselves, and destroyed
the agricultural implements. And they are getting ready to engage
in a bloody internecine struggle for the division of the booty.
In certain districts the population has consumed the entire grain
supply, including the seed. In other districts the peasants are
hiding their grain underground, for fear of being forced to share
it with starving neighbors. This situation cannot fail to lead to
chaos, destruction, and murder.
The article gives also a glimpse of what is going on in the remnants of
the Russian Army:
There are numerous reports to the effect that the soldiers are
dividing among themselves the military property of the country and
committing unspeakable acts of violence. Wild rumors are current
about the troops returning from Asia Minor. It is said that they
have brought with them into the Crimea a large number of "white
slaves" and that there is in Theodosia a veritable slave market.
The supply is so great that the price has fallen from 100 or 150
rubles to 15 or 30 rubles apiece.