MOSCOW AT WORK

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 44, 21 February 1930, Page 3

MOSCOW AT WORK

MENACE -IN S. AFRICA

RECRUITS STIR UP NATIVES

Moscow has now turned its attention to the Dark Continent, writes' William J. Ma kin, in a London newspaper. Some 6000 natives in the native compounds at Durban were suddenly surrounded the other day by police armed .with, rifles, bayonets, and tear-gas bombs. Hundreds of native agitators were arrested and thrust into gaoL By this firm action the South African authorities have foiled the attempt of Moscow to stir the native population of Natal into rebellion and set up a Black Republic.

Only when one has moved in tho underworld of Africa is it possible to apXireeiato the possibilities for mischief by determined agitators.

Thousands of natives have been brought from their kraals into the big cities—some to work in the diamond mines at Kimberley, and^ others to replace the Asiatic labour on the sugar plantations in Natal.

WHITES OUTNUMBERED.

And civilisation has had its deadly effect upou the native. If it has not killed him with (disease—there are thousands who dSe of miners' phthisis every year—it h«s educated him, to the prccariousness of! white supremacy even in South Africa..

For the whites; in South Africa are vastly outnumbered by the blacks. The native population) of South Africa is nearly 6,000,000 and increasing rapidly. The .European population of South-Af-rica is less than 2J300,000 and inclined, to bo static.

And whereas thie- whites are spread over the hugo area of South Africa, the natives are limited tio compounds in tho cities or reserves am<>ng the mountains.

And in the underworld of'such cities as Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg aro desperate men —white, black, brown, and yellow—who are prepared to go to any lengths fop money. Devilry; is cheap in this underworld. Tho many native newspapers in South, Africa are constantly preaching sedition. There is a powerful black organisation known as the African People's Organisation. But many miserable whites and halfwhites aro responsible far much of tho native unrest in South Africa to-day. It is this shadowy crowd who .indulgo in the despicable crime of, illicit liquor trading—selling vile liquoir to natives at preposterous prices. ' Over 600 Europeans are convicted evaery year for this crime alone. .. ' Moreover, these whites carry on the ancient game of gun-running. Old tramp steamers still cruise the east coast of Africa, and thousands of rifles have been smuggled through Portuguese territory into tho naitivc areas of South Africa. . ,

It is among .these miserable whites that Moscow finds its recruits. Some of them, are- married to native women' or half-castes.

But an even greater asset to Moscow is the growing Kussianisation of South Africa. .The country is still regarded as a Great British Dominion, but actually it has become a. melting pot of more ingredients than the United States.

RUSSIANS BEHIND BEVOLT.

For some years now there has been a, steady influx of Russians and Russian. Jews into South Africa.. Since America adopted the quota system and reduced the influx of -Poles, Lithuanians, and Russians, the stream has turned from the Statue of Liberty towards Table Mountain. Whereas the British, immigration into South Africa increases only by a hundred or so each year, the influx of Russians and Poles increases by the thousand.

Many of theso Russians were behind the Band revolution in 1922, when it was found necessary to shell their headquarters in Johannesburg with .field, guns. Many were hangod for treason or banished from the country. But) they still come in their thousands.

Moscow knows tho unrest among the ' natives of Africa to-day, and is taking advantage of it. Obviously, too, Moscow has not forgotten its own uatioualti in the country.' . They aro ideal agcuts for spreading the gospel of a great Black Republic south of the Zambesi.