Adoption

The light cruiser Aurora was "adopted" by the Central Executive Committee of the Russian Socialist Union. Reason given: The cruiser (of its own accord) struck the decisive blow in the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. Apparently some sentimental feeling on the part of Moscow caused this "adoption" to be made, for it was stated that a cowardly band of counter-revolutionaries tried to blow up the Aurora in a fit of blind rage.

The custom of "adoption" is an honor invented by the Bolsheviki to replace the Tsarist method of making distinguished persons honorary officers in the Navy or Army. The main difference in the Bolshevik idea is that Government departments adopt a regiment or a warship. The Foreign Office recently adopted a regiment, but M. Georges Tchicherin (Foreign Minister) did not become a colonel; he became an honorary private.

Conceivably this report is Bolshevik propaganda, intended to show, that Bolshevism is very humane and ultra-democratic.