BOLSHEVISM IN BRISBANE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 183, 29 April 1919, Page 6

BOLSHEVISM IN BRISBANE

The sequel to the recent disturbances in Brisbane was the appearance in the Police Court of nine men, who were proceeded against for having carried the red flag in tho procession through tho streets of tho city on Sunday, March 23. The other men were charged with having assaulted two police officers. Defendants, who pleaded not guilty, were without counsel. At their request it was decided to hear the cases separately. „,„ . Plain-Clothes Constable O'Dnscoll gave evidence of the assembling of the procession at the Trades Hall. An announcement was made there by Mr. Wright, president of the Brisbane Industrial Council, that a permit to hold the procession had been given on the distinct understanding that no red flag was to be carried or exhibited. Several men and women, including defendant, then entered the Trades Hall and discussed the matter. He heard defendant addressin" the gathering in broken Ingush, or with a foreign tongue. Defendant appeared to ba excited and very determined Tho meeting loudly applauded him. Two men, Bykoff and Zuzenko, then emerged from the hall, each carrying a polo with i a newspaper wrapped round The procession having heen formod, defendant and Zuzenko went to the head of it, wheroupon Su.b-Insnector Brosnan informed Mr. Wright, in defendants presence, that if those persons, indicting Foveral men and women, carried red nogs, the police would stop the procession. Mr "Wright then turned to the processionists and shouted, "The procession is off, boys." At this time witness saw several men, women, and children iwui rC The a noiiee went to the head of the procession and. the defendant removed the newspaper from the top of tho nolo ho hold and unfurled a red flag, which heraised above his head. Witness then went lo Komn- Street police depot, and about 0 minutes later saw defendant in Queen Street, near George Street, marchm? in front of tho. procession, still carrying tho W fiV. Defendant continued to. carry tho red" flag until the Domain was reached. Witness subsequently, took deiendar*'s name and address. . Defendant, when asked if he desired to interrogate the witness, became wi dly excited, and protested against Zuzenko s a When asked if he wished to srivo eyiHence on his own behalf defeinlan said "I have no relitrion; but I will tell truth." He said that he was not siiiltv, because he had not dared to wave the red flag of (ho workers without special "mission of the capitalistic Government of the Australian Commonwealth. He. did so as n Russian Maximalist, because, as such, he recognised *nly "no State Soviet .the state of toil, the socialistic state of communism. . . As an TnternnHeial'sl lie recognised only one flw. the red flag of the jwlcwi of tho world, which was now the national flag of his Fatherland.

In the Tsar's Dungeons. As a citizen of the Russian Socialists Soviet Federative Republic, he. emphatically protested on Sunday against military intervention in Russian internal atfairs. As a Russian worker and revolutionary socialist he demanded that all Russian workers, including Peter Stmoiiolf. must be deported to socialist Russia -via neutral countries. He considered ho was not a criminal, but merely a political prisoner of the Australian capitalists. , , . ~, He had been stabbed and beaten with stkks by some ignorant, and probably drunken; soldiers, who did not understand what Bolshevism- really was. Ho had spent seven years in tho Jsar s dungeons ami in exile in Siberia, and was glad to go to prison again for the final victory of tho red flag, as a last protest against the starvation of Russian citizens in Hughes's land Ho declared his intention of carrying on a hunger strike when tho dungeons door closed behind him. Defendant "I. appeal to all socialists to unite in a long life social revolution." ' In reply to Sub-Inspector Brosnan defendant asserted that he was proud of having carried the red flag in the procession. He said he was a member of the Russian association and was in sympathy with tho I.W.W. Jlv Archdall found the defendant guilty, and said that if the. defendant choso to adopt the views he had expressed ho would havo to bo subject to the law.

Defendant: I rcfuso to pay a Penny foe! , , Mr. Archdall: You nave had no opportunity of doing so yet, nor are you likely to have it. , Defendant was sentenced to six months imprisonment in Brisbane gaol. Chief Police Magistrate Archdall, in finding Paul Leichniann, a Hussiau subject, guilty of having exhibited tho red ling in the procession proper on March 23. and also of having assaulted the police, stated: "Whilst you live in this country you must abide by this country's laws, whether you approve of thorn or lint. This procedure on your part must, be stopped. Tho exhibition of the red (lag in processions, for the time being at least, is opposed to law, and constitutes an offence of a very serious nature.. Laws are made to be obeyod."_ Defendant was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for exhibiting the red flag, and one month for assaulting the police, the sentences to be concurrent.