IN NORTH RUSSIA

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 231, 24 June 1919, Page 5

IN NORTH RUSSIA

9 BOLSHEVIST PROPAGANDA AT ARCHANGEL A RECENT MUTINY Photographic copies of the propaganda leaflets which were issued by the Bolsheviki in the Arohangol fighting zone for circulation among troops of the United States and other Allied natipns represented tliero and which aro believed to have Ixen influential in causing tho mutiny oi members of Company I, three hundred thirty-ninth infantry, were made public by the War Department recently (states the "Christian Science Monitor"). Military intelligence, officers obtained tho leaflets from letters written by'soldiers on the Archangel front to relatives and friends in the United States. The leallels aro openly accredited to the Russian Soviet Republic, and are printed in English. Allied soldiers are addressed as: "Fellow Workers" and "Comrades, and their prescnco in Russia is attributed to capitalistic control of their Governments. In connection with the documents made public bv 1 the War Department,. General Peyton C l . March, Chief of Staff of thc> United States Army, aflnouncod that the members of the company, that objected to proceeding to the fighting line asked their officers questions about the motives of the Allies in Russia, and in doing so used langifage similar to that employed in Bolshevist propaganda. ; . Of the four leaJlets so far made publi" only one is specifically for circulation among United States troops. It is a toS reduction of a chart issued by the War lepartment, showing tho divisional organisations ill the American Expedition. I ary Force placed on priority for return home. The motive of the Bolsheviki in this propaganda seems to have been a de-. sire to create resentment among tho Archangel troops over their relative positions on this list, but especially to lower their moral by emphasising the fact that tlio announced, intention of the Allies, to withdraw in June, as soon as navigation opened,' proved they were engaged in a sorry cause. 1 -British Soldiers Singled Out. British- soldiers are singled out for propaganda in one of the leaflets which has the heading: "Do You Realise What You Are Dqing?" This leaflet is signeu by Lenin, president of the People's Commissary, " and by Tchicherin, People's Commissary of Foreign Affairs. It says in part:—"You havo not come here to fight for liberty. You have come here to crush it. Did you not rejoice when wo overthrew Tsarism? You did, yet you have Icome here to'restore it. It may not be your intention. It is tlie intention of tho Tsarist officers attached to your genoral staff. There is no doubt that they want to suppress the revolution and .restore the reign of the Tsar." "Is this fighting for democracy? Is this what you joined the army for? ltealiso what you are doing. You have come to murder liberty, not defend it. Just think of the shame of it—Englishmen, holping to crush a people who have succeeded in maiEmg themselves freo. We cannot believe you will do it. It would be tho mo6t shameful act in history. English fellow workers, don't do it." Another leaflet charges the governments of Great Britain and France with re-1 sponsibility for the presence of 'Allied troops in Russia. It ii> headed; '"AllLies/' and .states three reasons advanced by those governments for the expedition. First, that they have come to stump out anarchy and restore order; second, that they have come to help the Russian people; third, that the Allied invasion of Russia is, welcomed by the Russian people. The leaflet denies each of theso statements explicitly, and again charges the Allied policy to capitalistic control. Charges in Leaflet, "Comrades, do not put your trust in this reactionary gang," the leaflet concludes. "Do not let yourselves be used us 'AO tools of the enemies of liberty. Fellow workers, , be loyal to your class and refuse to do the dirty work of your masters." An interesting sidelight on the attitude of the Bolshevist Government toward the Czecho-Slovaks is given in the .foregoing leaflet. It charges that the British and French governments "are co-operating with the Czecho-Slovaks who have blocked the access to our food supplies. The serious food shortage in our country is aggravating the state of, disorganisation. If there is disorder, your governments will l)e responsible for it." In another paragraph the Czecho-Slovaks are accused of /'suppressing the workers .wherever they go.'" The fourth leaflet is devoted entirely to ,what the heading announces as a "sensational plot discovered to overthrow the Soviet Government." It charges that Mr. Lockhart, a representative of the British Government, attempted to organise a movement to overthrow the Russian revolution. In his alleged negotiations with a commander' of a Soviet detachment in Moscow, Air. Lockhart is, accused of advancing 700,000 rubles to finance the counter-revolution, 200,000 rubles being assigned for tho purpose of arresting Lenin and Trotsky and other Soviet officials, and for seizing banks, posts and telegraphs. An additional 300,000 roubles was advanced, the leaflet asserts, to have Soviet troops shifted so as' to admit British troops and establish a'military'dictatorship. The plot was discovered, it is stated, by the commander disclosing it to the Soviet authorities. The leaflet then appeals to the British troops to refuse to work in unity "with tho agents of bloodstained tsarism." (