The Truth About Russia

              THE TRUTH ABOUT RUSSIA
The First Inside Story of the Russian Situation from the Czars Regime, through the Bolshevik Revolution up to the time all Americans were ordered out of Soviet Russia.

TOLD BY
JEROME DAVIS

Recently Active Senior Secretary of War Work of the Y.M.C.A. in Russia for three years.

This Lecture can be illustrated with slides if so desired.

Under the Exclusive Management of the
J. B. POND LYCEUM BUREAU

50 EAST FORTY-SECOND STREET NEW YORK N. Y.

FINE ARTS BUILDING CHICAGO, ILL.


Figure





Jerome Davis photographed with the delegates to the Fifth All-Russian Siezd the day before the assassination of the German Ambassador, July, 1918, (Mr. Davis is in the center of the top row.)

JEROME DAVIS
AT a time when the chief interest of the world is in Russia and the menace of the Bolsheviki, the J. B. Pond Lyceum Bureau feels that it is especially fortunate in being able to present to the American public a man who is well qualified to tell of the conditions as they are in Russia.  Such a man is Jerome Davis, recently returned from that country and who during three regimes was connected with Y. M. C. A. work there.  He has now resigned from the Y. M. C. A. and is giving his experience and knowledge of Russia in lecture form to the American public.

Mr. Davis has seen Russia under three regimes, that of the Czar, of the Kerensky Government and of the Soviets.  He went to Russia on the same steamer with Ambassador Francis in April, 1916.  On the trip over he gained his knowledge of the Russian language from Prof. Harper, of the Chicago University, than whom he could have had no better instructor.  Previous to his undertaking the Russian Mission he had been private secretary to Dr. Sir Wilfred Grenfell, of Labrador, which gave him a particularly good training for the work he was to take up in northern countries.

Within two weeks after his arrival in Russia, where he was to work among the prisoners of war, Mr. Davis was sent to Turkestan.  His efforts among the soldiers met with opposition from the Czar's Government, but he persisted until he gained the good will of Gen. Kuropatkin, who had been transferred to Turkestan to quell the Sarte revolt.  Through Gen. Kuropatkin he was able to accomplish his end and was the first Y. M. C. A. secretary to secure permission to start work for the Russian soldiers during the Czar's regime.  The benefits he brought were recognized by the soldiers who requested him to work in all their regiments and who gave him a special letter of thanks and recognition.

Because of this success of his in keeping up the morale of the Russian soldiers in Turkestan, when the American Diplomatic Mission came to Russia in June, 1917, Dr. John R. Mott made him Acting Senior Secretary for all the War Work in Russia of the Y. M. C. A.  The overthrow of the Czar's government had brought a change in conditions and Mr. Davis was able to extend his activities.  In accomplishing this he came to personally know Alexander Kerensky and worked under his regime with the fullest confidence.  He was enabled to see a great deal denied to others at this time, and his talks with Kerensky now prove of the greatest interest.  Kerensky did not
 believe even up to five days before his overthrow that the Bolsheviks seriously endangered his regime.  The acquaintance started in Russia was renewed in London, where Mr. Davis met Kerensky on his return to America.

The overthrow of the Kerensky Government brought the Soviets into power and began the dread menace of Bolshevism.  During the seven days of deadly street fighting which took place in Moscow, Mr. Davis served as a sanitary worker, passing freely between both lines.  He was thanked for this work by the American Consul General and was mentioned in the American Press dispatches.


LEON TROTSKY Evil Genius of Russia


With the new government he had to continue his work, and made very creditable headway.  The Soviet Government at first recognized the value of the work he was doing, although Mr. Davis always was opposed to the Bolsheviks.  Mr. Davis came into personal contact with both Lenin and Trotsky, and came to fully understand what it was the Bolsheviki stood for in theory as well as in practice.  In Turkestan he found traces still remaining of the Petrograd Soviet of 1905, of which Trotsky was chairman.  Mr. Davis learned the true meaning of the Soviet or Committee, for he was elected by the First Siberian Regiment as an Honorary Delegate of the Soldier Deputies in the Soviet.  By staying in Russia until October 6, 1918, he saw the successive stages of the Russian Drama which finally ended in the withdrawal of all Americans from Soviet Russia.  He saw Bolshevism, as we now understand it, grow, and, knowing it as he does, he feels that he has some little knowledge as to how it can be curbed.  In his lecture he does not so much dwell on his own experiences in Russia as experiences; but he tells of the changes that have taken place there, the country gradually going into the condition which now menaces world peace.

It is interesting to note that Mr. Davis, assisting the Committee on Public Information, directed the sending of a million copies of President Wilson's message containing the now famous fourteen points, from Russia into the German lines.


Lein  VIII 1928 NICOLAI LENIN


After three years of the hardest and most earnest work, Mr. Davis returns to America, having known not only Kerensky, Lenin and Trotsky, but having closely known General Brusiloff, Catherine Breshkovskaya, the Little Grandmother of the Revolution, and many other leaders of the three Governments which were in power while he was in Russia.  He was in the closest touch with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and brings a message from him of the greatest interest.

An excellent speaker, Mr. Davis is a particularly desirable lecturer at the present time.  He is especially recommended for Forum meetings, where his ideas will have great value.  He will be available for chautauqua engagements, and for lyceum engagements until the chautauqua season opens.




TESTIMONIALS

The American Consul General for Russia (who died in Moscow, Russia.)
It is encouraging to feel that we are backed up here by such men as you and your staff have proven themselves.  I am thoroughly of your opinion about the work, and feel every day that we have more now to fight for than ever before, and the harder the job the harder we will stick to it, and we will win out, I have not the slightest doubt.

This morning I received rather an unusual telegram from the Department.  As a rule they are not given to expressions of congratulation, yet we have been informed that they appreciate deeply the attitude we have assumed in this whole matter and are assured of their appreciation of the 'sound' and 'praiseworthy' manner in which the work has been handled.  A part of this referred to the work of the Y. M. C. A. which I mentioned in one of my cables.



Dr. John R. Mott, General Secretary of the International Committee of the Y. M. C. A.
Jerome Davis, a most devoted and brilliant young man whose service in Russia under the Young Men's Christian Association have taken him to all parts of that distracted land.  He went first to the Caucausas in connection with our work for prisoners of war, but later engaged in work for Russian soldiers on the Western front from about the time of the first revolution until the complete collapse following the Brest-Litovsk treaty.  Even after that he remained in Russia to render such service as was possible under existing conditions and returned quite recently with a view to proceeding to Siberia, where he thought he might be able to render more effective service.  He knows Russia of the last three years as very few Americans know it.




GENERAL BRUSILOFF
Personal autographed photo given to Mr. Davis before he was arrested by the Bolsheviks.


A. Brussiloff 


C. V. Hibbard, Associate General Secretary of the International Committee
Mr. Davis has been for more than two years in Russia, has traveled over the greater part of Russia, from the Caucausas to Archangel, and knows personally the leaders in the various governments who have been making history according to their several lights.  He is a very able and interesting man, with an experience which no one else has paralleled.



Col. Raymond Robins, Former Head of the American Red Cross in Russia
Now that we are far removed from the stirring scenes of that troubled land it is good to remember those who in that darkened hour kept the faith.  Among all your goodly fellowship you were the closest to the outdoor facts and had the largest contact with the men and events of Revolutionary Russia.  Your sound judgment which regarded Soviet Russia as the dominant expression of the Slavic revolutionary spirit, and refused the cheap and easy explanations of a great fundamental revolutionary movement has been fully vindicated by the subsequent course of events

I trust that your wealth of intimate information and experience with the important personages and events of the Russian Revolution may be so used as to help develop a sound public opinion upon Soviet Russia in America and aid in securing economic help for the Russian people and an armistice on all fronts in that war-ruined land.



Mr. Roger E. Simmons, Trade Commissioner to Russia
Mr. Jerome Davis, the bearer of this note, is one of Mr. Mott's right-hand men and has done most excellently to further the interests of America in Russia, as well as to further the praiseworthy undertakings of his Association.



Patriarch Toxon, the Head of All the Churches in Russia
Mr. Davis, an American, having entered as a member into the brotherhood of the Church of Christ the Savior, and well known for his good work among the Russian people all through the war, plans to visit some of the most important towns of Russia in order to find out on the spot what can be done in Russia for the welfare of her people.  He desires to acquaint himself nearer with the Orthodox Churches and its clergy, and I would ask you to render him every assistance.



Mr. Davis has spoken at Utica, New York, Albany, The Public Forum, Church of the Ascension, New York City, Brockton, Mass., before the Business Men's Club, Fall River, Mass., etc., etc.  He has calls from churches and universities all over the country and is now arranging for his tour.