File No. 861.00/2195
The Minister in Sweden (Morris) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 4, 12.35 p.m.]
2407. From various sources of reliable information I have had [Page 247] drawn up the following statement of conditions in Russia, and the probable tendencies which I felt would be of interest to you:
During the last two or three months the dissatisfaction with the Bolsheviks throughout Russia has been growing, and particularly in the industrial centers. This is shown by the workmen’s organizations, the former staunch supporters of the Bolsheviks, demanding the convening of the Constitutional Assembly. This opposition took more active form in outlying districts. The Cossacks of the Don, the Urals, and the Baikal raised armed forces against the representatives of the Bolshevik régime in their respective districts. Lastly the Czecho-Slovak troops decided to side in with the opposition to the Government and placed their forces at the disposal of so-called counter-revolutionists.
The movement has been gaining force for some two weeks and lately it has spread so quickly that it reaches from the Volga River in the west to at least Omsk, a distance of about 1,500 miles. The latest news seems to indicate that it has even extended as far as Krasnoyarsk.
The center of fighting seems to have been between Perm, Samara, Chelyabinsk and Ekaterinburg. In this territory they seem to have been successful and have captured the industrial part of the Urals, which were a former stronghold of the Bolsheviks.
All parties, socialistic and monarchistic [alike], seem to have agreed to bury their differences in an effort to oust the Bolsheviks and reestablish order in Russia. The difficulty in deciding on the head for their new government has probably been solved by uniting on Michael Alexandrovich who has now escaped to the Urals and joined Czecho-Slovaks.
The only possible way at the present time of consolidating the uneducated masses of Russia is by making the spiritual and political head one as by returning to a monarchy. Milyukov in a recent letter has supported this idea. Undoubtedly the present movement is pro-Ally, as it has not only the restoration of Russia as its object but the expulsion of the Germans as well.
If it is confirmed that as it now appears probable the Government at Harbin and that at Omsk have united, and if the success of the present movement is continued then it would seem that such a government would represent the real Russian people and would be deserving of the material as well as the moral support of the Allies.
The events of the last months may be summed up: the end of Bolshevik régime in the Urals and Siberia is at hand and a new government monarchistic in its tendencies with Michael Alexandrovich as its head is about to be established there.