BOLSHEVIST ACTIVITY IN SWITZERLAND

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 101, 23 January 1919, Page 8

BOLSHEVIST ACTIVITY IN SWITZERLAND

GOVERNMENT'S' FIRM STAND. The Swiss Federal Council, to the relief of all respectable people in Switzerland, has at. length decided to take a firm-'stand apain.st the Bolshevist organisation in'this 'country (writes the "Times" correspondent from Berne). It will bo remembered that when the Bolshevist Legation arrived here in May, under M. Jean Berzine, to represent the "Federative Socialist Soviet Republic of Russia," the Federal Council declared that it recognised neither this mission nor its Government, and would maintain merely do facto relations with it in the interests of the Swiss in.Russia and of. Russians in Switzerland, nu condition that tho mission abstained from all direct or indirect political agitation. Tho Federal Council recently announced that it could not hide from itseli the. fact.that the revolutionary propaganda which is being systematically employed in Switzerland uuder the influence 01-Jiiilshevist agents is spreadin" daily, defending and exalting the violenco'arid , the terrorism of the Bolshevists, and it is doing so with the support of the Soviet Legation in Jierne. 'file Federal Council has therefore decided to break off all relations with this mission, iuid to invite it to leave' Switzerland. it remains to be seen bow long this nest ot brigands is to be .given to pack up and go. It is impossible to resist the belief in the accuracy of the opinion freely expressed "in French Switzerland, tliat this accession of courage of the. Federal Council in dealing with a public scandal, to say nothing of a danger to the peace of the country, is not unconnected with tho example set by Germany in severing her relations with the Bolshevists. The Bolsneyist Legation hero, the whole staff of which, down to the messengers, has lieen receiving a. minimum salary of £20 a month, with ■ such additions as its members saw lit to attribute to tlienisolves, consists of a singular collection of persons, mala and female, Swiss as well as Russian, tho chief characteristics of whom is a complete ignorance of politics or any serious raisin d'etre. They have been spending much timo in drinking champagne in an obscure restaurant and freely dispensing grants in aid of singers suffering from influenzal. Having myself,dined in their presence, I can testily to tho magificent baritone voice of one member of tho staff, who, although reactionary at heart, has joinnd the mission, in hopes of obtaining a situation us a singer or conjurer. Tho others obviously belong to tbe cab-driver type. All 'have been privately astonished by (the respectful way in which they have hitherto been treated. llight-tliinlcing Swiss :,re horrified that-a National'Counscilorj M. Flatten, -.the-.general secretary of '.be Swiss Socialist Party, should hold the rank of Counsellor attached to the Bolshevist Legation, and travelling first class with Comrade Rosa Blocb. They are also astonished that the notorious Mmc. Balauanof, who lias been, travelling about tho country, lavishly dispensing stolen funds in the Bolshevist interest, was not long , ago expelled. The Federal Council has, however, requested tho Soviet Legation to invite her and another undesirable, named Salchinte, to leave the country. This lady was expelled from the canton of Vaud 12 years ago for' Making anarchist propaganda. It is reported that at the time sho declared: "I am no anarchist, but I believe my propaganda is much! more repolutionary than that of the anarchists." _' ... Among the less illegitimate activities of the Soviet Legation uas its syin-' pathetic interest in Russian deserters, numbering more than a thousand, from the French front. The Swiss authorities welcomed this activity in view of the fact that the Legation was spending money more freely on the material needs of its compatriots, each man receiving'Qs. daily. But, besides providing sanatoria and helping Russian deserters to live, the Legation employed four persons on propaganda among them. These persons gave lectures and supplied the latest Bolshevist newspapers and other literaturo. v Those soldiers who showed most zeal* were transferred to Berne for the purposes of tho propaganda headquarters. Besides propaganda among the soldiers and students (although the latter are largely indifferent to it), tha Bolshevists have started a Press Bureau, which twice daily has supplied the S.viss newspapers with the Bolshevist version of events in Russia, in German and French. Pamphlets printed in Switzerland were circulated freely, as, for example, one entitled "The Truth About the Intervention of the Allies in Russia. How the British Authorities are Strangling the Russian Revolution. By Jf- Philips Price, correspondent of tlie 'Manchester Guardian' in Russia."