GERMAN SOVIET

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 136, 10 June 1937, Page 8

GERMAN SOVIET

REPUBLIC ON yOLGA

LONG-SETTLED COLONY

HALF A MILLION.STRONG

For two reasons, conditions iri the German Volga Republic this Winter have been of unusual interest. In the first place, the region experienced lafst summer one of the worst droughts in its history. In the second place, about 430,000 of the 600,000 inhabitants are Germans, writes a correspondent from Erigels, the capital, iri the "Christian Science Monitor."

The ''Monitor" correspondent has examined the situation at first hand, visiting several of the towns and collective farm villages. Officials permitted him to travel where he liked, and gave him valuable assistance in his investigation, including the use of a motor-car, otherwise unobtainable, to make a 100-mile journey through" the farming districts affected by the drought.

The Writer is convinced that the collective-term system has Sere stie.cessiully met the most severe test yet imposed upon it, and that there is no serious food shortage. .He Has also discovered no evidence of any discrimination against the Volga Germans, \yftb are descendants of- 27,000 colonists brought to liussia in. the eighteenth century fey the Empress tiathefihe.

The history of these Germans. is tragic and heroic; For 150 years they have contended for existence with Hostile men and Nature. Their villages were raided in earlier years by Central Asian'tritfes; ..they survived by their own efforts, and set up their own admirable administrative, system. But this was destroyed in iß7oj when, their special privileges were abrogated. The Tsarist Government unsuccessfully attempted to "Russianise" them; But they clung fiercely to their own language .arid culture. StSfrfiCt btIMNO WAR. They Became' suspect during the WorlbV'Waf, and the Government decided to move them en masse to Siberia; the revolution occurred .before this project was carried out. They were disturbed by contending armies in the civil wars, and the victorious Bolsheviks set to work to "communi.se" them. Many of them resisted this process as fiercely as they had "Russianisation," but with less success. About 20 per cent, of the Germans, designated as landlords and' "kulaks," were forcibly exiled in 1930-32 to Kazakstari and other" iiihospitable regions, lbsing land, hoiises, and property. In 1924, the present German Volga Republic was set up, acfcofdiri'g to the Soviet'conception of autonomy. The Germans were permitted, to use" aha study their own language, and to admihijster their owfi affairs so', long as they adhered to the exacting tenets of Communism; as .interpreted by the Kremlin. The actual ruling.force here, as everywhere in Soviet Russia, was and is the. Communist Party. thfe uniformity of Sovietism now blankets the" German Volga Republic, which covers 18,t)00 square" miles on both sides 6'f the lower Volga, with 600,000 inhabitant, of whom about 70 per cent, are Germans. One sees here precisely the same vsocial organisation as in, any, other ...part- of the Soviet UiiiOn. One finds the same glorification of Joseph Stalin,,the same etiipMsis upon militarisation, 'the' same determination to destroy organised religion. CLEVER FARSIERS. However, German thoroughness has applied the system with unusual efficiency in the purely German .communities. The German farm Villages, so solidly built by previous generations', have become neater arid more orderly collective farms. German peasants quickly understand and apply the advice of German agronomists. Gerriiari Communists keep a close watch upon every person and every activity to make sure that all follow the "Party line." ' . . i. . " The capital city of Engels has a predominantly Russian population, but all the highest Officials are. Germans. The sprawling town of 80,000 inhabitants is primitive, with ilnpayed streets, unpainted houses, arid buildings in poor repair. It is overcrowded, like all Soviet cities, and lacks proper sanitation. But its people are active and appear generally optimistic. The yotirig people, especially; are Cheerful -and helpful. The children speaking German and Russian interchangeably, are gay, and well-behaved. The drought, in the republic this surrimer was more severe than that of 1921, which resulted in famine. Rainfall, always meagre in this .region, was one-fourth of normal. Nevertheless, the "Monitor" correspondent has disco Yered in travelling through the drought region this winter that the peasants are adequately fed and will have ample seed for the spring sow* ing. . . The Soviet system of cbllectivised agriculture is .given credit .fdr averting the famine in 1936. This system has been completely applied here since 1933. N6t cfrie individual peasant remains in the Republic; the 450,000 peasants work oh 27 State farms and 412 collective farms." " ■■■"■■ In the purely German district of Kukkus, one gets a clear conception of the system in* practice! Agriculture has become as closely organised and centrally controlled .as modern industry. Peasants have" become wage-earn-ers, with their wages' dependent upon the success of their work. In the outskirts of the village is one of the two machine-tractor stations which serve the district.. The station, owned by the State, contains 101 tractors, 12 combines, 24 seedling .machines, and 10 trucks for lease to collective villages., A permanent staff of 50 executives and mechanics keeps busy in winter overhauling the machines and instructing nearby peasants.

The surrounding collective villages somewhat resemble small towns in other countries, being rriore or less self-contained, with their own schools, nurseries; shops; clubs. ( ' The writer, thoroughly inspected the large collective village of Stahl, whose crop was. declared to.be "average" this year. It has a population of 1662 persons, in 393 families. The State has leased "iri perpetuity" to this village 12 500 acres of arable land and an additional 5000 acres of pasture land and orchards.

The villagers farm this land in common, and also own in common 337 horses, 80 cows, three camels, 104 sheep, and 406 chickens.. Aside from the joint farming, tlie life is not corhrnurial. Each fariiily has its own house and about two acres for private use, with a cow, some pigs, sheep, chickens, and bees.

These German villages are in better shape than those of northern Russia in spite of the drought, although they are not "rich" like those of the Ukraine.

These peasants can remember famines in previous drought years; their memories reinforce their faith in a sj'stem which at least avoided a famine in 1936.