It is obvious that the Russian National Army will be revived not only on democratic, but on historical foundations.
[CHAPTER XX.]
The Democratisation of the Army—The Story of “The Declaration of the Rights of the Soldier.”
The ill-famed law, emanating from the Polivanov Committee and known as the “Declaration of the Rights of the Soldier,” was confirmed by Kerensky on May 9th. I will give the main points of that law:
(1) “All soldiers of the Army enjoy full rights of citizenship.”
(2) Every soldier is entitled to the membership of any political, national, religious, economic, or professional organisation, society or union.
(3) Every soldier off duty has the right freely and openly to express in word, writing, or in the Press his political, religious, social and other views.
(4) All printed matter (periodicals and other) should be delivered to the addressees.
(5) Soldiers are not to be appointed as orderlies. Officers are entitled to have one servant, appointed by mutual consent (of the soldier and of the officer); wages also to be settled by mutual consent, but there should be no more than one servant to each officer, Army doctor, Army clerk, or Priest.
(6) Saluting is abolished for men as well as for units.
(7) No soldier is to be punished or fined without trial. At the Front the Commanding Officer is entitled, on his own responsibility, to take the necessary steps, including armed force, against disobedient subordinates. Such steps are not to be considered as disciplinary punishments. Internal administration, punishments, and control in cases defined by Army regulations, belong to elective Army Organisations.
This “Declaration of Rights,” of which the above is but a brief summary, gave official sanction to the malady with which the Army was stricken, and which spread in varying degrees owing to mutinies, violence, and “by Revolutionary methods,” as the current expression goes. It dealt a death-blow to the old Army. It introduced boundless political discussions and social strife into the unbalanced ARMED MASSES which had already become aware of their rough physical power. “The Declaration” admitted and sanctioned wide propaganda by speech and pamphlet of anti-national, immoral and anti-Social doctrines, and even the doctrines that repudiated the State and the very existence of the Army. Finally, it deprived Commanding Officers of disciplinary power, which was handed over to elective bodies, and once again insulted and degraded the Commanding Staff. In his remarks attached to the text of the “Declaration,” Kerensky says: “Let the freest Army and Navy of the World prove that there is strength and not weakness in Liberty, let them forge a new iron discipline of duty and raise the Armed Power of the country.”
And the “Great Silent One,” as the French picturesquely describe the Army, began to talk and to shout louder and louder still, enforcing its demands by threats, by arms, and by shedding the blood of those who dared to resist its folly.
At the end of April the final draft of the “Declaration” was sent by Gutchkov to the Stavka for approval. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief and myself returned an emphatic disapproval, in which we gave vent to all our moral sufferings and our grief for the dark future of the Army. Our conclusion was that the “Declaration” “was the last nail driven into the coffin which has been prepared for the Russian Army.” On May 1st Gutchkov resigned from the War Ministry, as he did not wish “to share the responsibility for the heavy sin which was committed against the Mother Country,” and in particular to sign the “Declaration.”