Page:Yevgeni Alekseyevich Preobrazhensky - Third Anniversary of the Russian October Revolution (1921).djvu/9

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THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION
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number of others were started. Only for a brief space of time did the Soviet Government hold sway over the whole of Russia, from Petrograd to Vladivostock, and from Archangel to the Crimea and Baku.

The new campaign against the Soviet Government commenced in the spring of 1918. German imperialism, satisfied with the Brest Treaty, which was incredibly ruinous for us, left Great Russia in peace. It was too much occupied with the war in France against English, French, and American capital to think of taking Petrograd and Moscow from the Russian workers. It was, however, strong enough to send German divisions to the Ukraine for the purposes of loot. The weak detachments of our workers and partisans were soon compelled to leave the Ukraine, and the latter was handed over to the large landlords, and to Hetman Skoropadsky, the Tzarist general, supported by the Prussian junkers. In the East the bandits of British and French imperialism raised against us the Czecho-Slovaks. In the North the British landed troops at Archangel, and with the assistance of the White Guards opened a new front against us, menacing Vologda and Moscow from the North. On the Don, in place of Alexeyev, who died, and of Kornilov, who was killed, General Krasnov became head of the Cossack counter-revolution. This is the same general whom the Petrograd workers released on parole in November, 1917. He occupied the Don territory and was menacing Voronezh and Tzaritzin. Doutov raised again the standard of revolt at the head of the Orenbourg Cossacks. The Czecho-Slovaks and the Siberian White Guards cap-