The Dominion TUESDAY. NOVEMBER 30. 1920. BRITISH LABOUR AND THE REDS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 56, 30 November 1920, Page 6

The Dominion TUESDAY. NOVEMBER 30. 1920. BRITISH LABOUR AND THE REDS

One of to-day's cablegrams mentions that the London Labour Party rejected an application by the Communist Party for affiliation—that is to say, declined to have dealings with tho limited faction in Great) Britain which still desires to take a lead from Moscow. At the same time the International Trade Union Congress—an assemttlagj at which sixteen countries are represented— has denounced. the attempts made by Lenin and his associates to extend their dictatorship and direct the workers' . international movement. There' does not seem to be any doubt that Bolshevism is now whole-heartedly repudiated _by the mass of organised Labour in practically all the more important European countries., In _ Britain the "Communist Party" is described as nothing more than an insignificant fraction of tho faction known as the British Socialist Party. In France, the Orleans Labour Conference recently voted against adhesion to the Third Internationale— the international organisation directed from Moscow —and the General Confederation of Labour has endorsed "this attitude. A contrary decision was recorded not long ago in Italy, but'late news from that country declares that it is likely to be reversed. Bolshevism haß been vehemently denounced by the foremost Socialist leaders in Gormany and Austria.

This state of affairs marks a noteworthy change from tho recent, past when not a few Socialist and Labour leaders in Europe and other countries expressed more or less definite sympathy with Bolshevism. The change is fully explained, however, by the revelation of what Bolshevism means in working practice which followed on visits made to Russia by Labour representatives of several nationalities. These delegates were not afforded by any means_ unimpeded facilities for observation— Mhs. Snowden, who was one of the British Party, complained that she was always accompanied by Bolshevik officials and met peor pie who were afraid to talk to her lest they should be arrested afterwards—but enough was ascertained and discloscd_ to demonstrate that instead of being in any respcct a movement for the emancipation of ■the labouring masses, Bolshevism is nothing else than the most grinding and mcrcilcss system of tyranny that human, or inhuman, ingenuity has yet devised. Many details of the methods by which the Bolshevist autocrats maintain their ruthlosa rule are already familiar, but additional information is given in newspapers which arrived by the last European mail. A particularly interesting series of articles on Realities of Russia was contributed to the London Times by Dit. L. Haden Guest, Joint Secretary of the British Labour Delegation to Russia. "Soviet Russia,"' Dr. Guest observes, "is ruled in fact by the so-called 'political five' (Lenin, Trotsky, Staun, K.uienev, and Krtstinskyj its decision is absolutely final. This 'five,' hampered neither by the control of any representative institution nor by any action of_ independent democratic organisation, nor by criticism of free Press or free word, are indeed omnipotent." It is added that while j the five autocrats are omnipotent so ' far as the masses are concerned, they are impotent to control the bureaucracy, and "one must acknowledge that all kinds of arbitrariness, violence, bribery, and simple I robbery bloom in Soviet Russia." Dit. Guest throws new light on tho iron discipline imposed on the conscript workers of Soviet Russia, and the fraudulent exploitation of the peasants. The frightful character of the Soviet tyranny is perhaps best indicated however in some particulars he supplies of the activities of tho Extraordinary Commission,' a body of extra-legal powers appointed to "carry on the merciless struggle against those trying to overthrow the Soviet system." The table which follows gives particulars supplied by'the Commission of persons shot for various crimes during 1918, and the first seven months of 1919, but the statistics only apply to 20 of the 52 Governments of Central Russia, and so are admittedly, far from complote:— 1918. 1919. HD.vwe 66 il6 flolwllion • 2431 651 Membership of counterrevolutionary organi-' aationa 1637 387 Incoin? io Tcbcllion 3% 59 Speculation .....' 19 32 Banditism 402 241 Desertion 39 63 Crimes by office-liolderß 157 49 Miscellaneous 1173 561 6330 2089 The significance of these figures is only appreciated by taking account of what the Bolshevists choose to regard as crime. "When it is realised," Dr.. Guest observes, "that the Salvation Army was closed as a 'counter-revolutionary organisation,' and that the Social Democratic Party was stated to form part of counter-revolutionary organisation, it will be realised that there is practically no person opposed to the Bolshevist Government who could not have been brought within the net of some accusation of counter-revolution." He adds that the most conservative estimate of the number of executions in Russia must be several times that supplied in the official figures. The deyclopment of terrorist autocracy iii which mombership of tho Salvation 'Vrmy becomes a capital offence is ill-calculated to appeal to the European democracy, but it has been shown that LENiN and his colleagues ;onspired industriously, by influencing susceptible individuals and in other ways, to extend their iron dictatorship throughout Europe, lirs't and_ foremost by capturing tho Vra.de union movement. The verdict •jf the mass of organised Labour in Europe on this insano design has never been in doubt and is now plainly pronounced.