File No. 861.00/2390
The Consul at Vladivostok (Caldwell) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10 p.m.]
70. Election for Vladivostok municipal council held July 27, 28th, gave Bolsheviki 53 seats out of total of 101, remainder being divided as follows: Social Democrats 22, property owners 17, and among various independent groups such as Koreans, Hebrews, Uk[rainians?] 9. Among Bolsheviki members is former president local Soviet who is now held under arrest by Czechs. There is already talk that first meeting of new municipal council will vote to reestablish Soviet which will then abolish municipal council. However, this is uncertain as some elected as Bolsheviki are not really such and will combine other groups.
The reasons given for this strong showing of Bolsheviki are: the failure of many upper-class Russians to vote and their division into several groups, and fact that population here has not suffered from evil of Bolshevik rule as have other parts of Russia, Bolsheviki here always having been restrained by fear of foreign armed intervention from taking steps which they took elsewhere.