RUSSIA'S TROUBLES

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 62, 7 December 1920, Page 7

RUSSIA'S TROUBLES

« ABANDONMENT OF COMMUNISM THE ONLY REMEDY THE WAY TO PEACE AND PLENTY (Br T«l«CTftpb-Preai Ajtoclatlon-OoyjilffM London, December i. Mr. Winston Churchill, in an article in the "Sunday Express," in replying to Mr. H. G. Wells's impressions of Russia, especially tho 6i'iateinent that the blockade, and not communism, had starved Russia, says she is one of thu great granaries of the world. One might as well blockade Newcastle against imports of coal as Russia against imports of wheat. The only remedy for Russia's ills is the abandonment of oommunism. Mr. Churchill asks, "Can cancer repenu. or disease transform itself into health " It would lw n miracle; but tho road 'is still open. Let tho Bolshoviks show mercy, and they will obtain peal-e. Let them liberate \3ie energies of the people, and they will obtain food. Let them observe faith in internal and external relations, and commerce will revive.—Aus.N.Z. Cablo Assn. "SIMPLE MARXISTS" WELLS'S DESCRIPTION OF SOVIET. London, November 13. Writing in the "Sunday .Express," Mr. 11. G. Wells relates liofr tho ltussian securod the dictatorship, and tho circumstances making. such a coup possible, lie scathingly criticiscs Bolshevism's practice "of Marxian theories. "When I was a boy of foufteen," he says, "1 was a complete 31/. rxist. I'd cut off abruptly from education, and caught in s' detestable shop. Being broken into life meant dreaiy toil." 1 ' ' Despite these criticisms, Mr. Wells bitterly attacks the nations supposedly her allies for not assisting Russia at the critical moment, and says, "Wheu/tho Germans had made a strong thrust tho British Admiralty, either through cowardice or Royalist intrigues, failed give effectual help." He roos on to chastise the recent attacks on Bolshevik Russia. "Denikin, lvolchak, Wrangel, and their like, stand for no guiding principle. They are essentially brigands," he contends. Tho Communists succeeded because, when Germany prevailed, tlhey wero tho only coheront party. The rest were apathetic or chaotic, but tho Communists believed in their cause, and prepared to act. (hough numerically small. Even to-day they numbor 'not 1 per cent, of tho population, their organised party numbering not more than 600,000, and their nctive members amounting to probably 100,000, but, nevertheless, during t'hosc terrible days, they save a, common, icjca of action. They had common' formulae, and mutual ■ .confidence, and thiti? were able to seize and retain control and to smash the Empire. "The restoration' of order by the Bolsheviks," says Mr, Wells, "was clumsy and bloody, but effective. It was lion silly and aimless butchcry, like Deni--1 kin's bloodshed. At present I believe, the Government is established securely, and the streets, are as safe as any at .Europe." - ~ , , Mr. Wells ridicules the'idea that) Bolshevism is' a., Jewish conspiracy, or any sort of conspiracy.' Ita ideas, ainiß, and methods are open, _ "Its leaders," he says, "are simple-minded Marxists, who have often not read Mars, but adopt the prophet's cause, believing than he was a sympathiser with tho workor. The conspiracy mania is here also, and it is difficult to persade the Marxist that tho capitalism in their totality are no more than a scrambling disorder of meanspirited, short-sighted men. "Tho; Bolshevik Government in some directions is amazingly incompetent, and| profoundly ignorant, but • essentially 'j 0 honest. The. leadors all asked ivhen is the English revolution starting but behind their minds dawns tho chill sttspicion tliat they have not captured, tho ship of State, but boarded a derelict., Mri Wells concludes with the warning, to the West not bp 'interfere.. Anyone destroying tho present ordw in Moscow destroys what is left of order in Russia. Tho brigand monarchist Government nil leave a trail of.blood, flourish horribly, and then break up. and vameh.-Sydney "Sun." DECREASE IN POPULATION EFFECT OF RUSSIA'S SUFFERINGS. Helslngfors, December 1. The effects of Russia's sufferings are indioated by preliminary census returns, which show that the population lias decreased by 10 per cent, owing,.to the fall in the bi'rtlhrate and the increased mortality, especially from typhus. The population of Moscow has decreased by 45 per cent., arid that of Petrograd by 71 per cent.—Reuter.