File No. 861.00/1043 ½
The Consul at Helsingfors (Haynes) to the Secretary of State
[Copied from confirmation; original not received.]
17. Socialist Party, with the help of Red Guards and Russian soldiers, yesterday forcibly overwhelmed bourgeois government and elected their own Senate. Members of bourgeois Senate in flight; city terrified; 50 killed; banks and all business places closed and under Red Guard military. White bourgeois Guards organized north of Helsingfors are coming to give battle Red Guards. It is feared that battleships in harbor, which are sympathizing with Red Guards, will bombard Helsingfors. It is arranged that whatever party succeeds it will render every aid proper distribution American food.