INTERNAL RUSSIA.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 February 1920, Page 2

INTERNAL RUSSIA.

(By Electric Telegraph—Co .17 right.)

REFUSE SOVIET RECOGNITION LONDON, Feb. 24.

The Allies, while deciding they are unable to enter into diplomatc relations with the Soviet until convinced that Bolshevik horrors have ended and the Government are prepared to conform to the practices of Western civilised Governments, say they are nevertheless willing to encourage to their utmost commerce between Russia and Europe. They welcome a proposal for the Labour Bureau and the League of Nations to send a commission to examine Russian conditions.

CONFLICTING REPORTS. LONDON, Feb. 23. There are different reports afloat regarding the attitude of the Allied Council towards the Soviet. One says that the Allied Council decided not to deal with Soviet Russia “until Bolshevik horrors are ended.” The “Daily Chronicle” on the other hand, states that the Peace Conference has agreed upon broad lines on the Russian question, and a statement thereon is now probable.

RUSSIA’S REGENERATION. TROTSKY INTERVIEWED. INTERESTING INFORMATION. NEW YORK, Feb. 25

The “New York World’s” Moscow correspondent interviewed Trotsky, who said:—Our military successes have not blinded us to the need of peace for the re-establishment of our economic stability. We have been forced to sacrifice the welfare of our people and of future generations to the desperate needs of the hour. We have transformed in the past eighteen months a peace-loving population of workers and peasants into an armed camp. Our peace terms, nevertheless, remain the same. The reconstruction of Russia is a tremendous enterprise which will require perhaps ten years.” “Russia’s riches are intact, and thenations which help us to -gain a peace footing, will share in the profits resulting from the aid which they have extended to us. Foreign capitalists who invest money in Russia will receive material guarantees of an adequate character.’ ’

“It is ridiculous to think that Germany can control Russia, or say that Germany has a better chance than the Allies in their own markets. Ihe fact is that we must look towards the victorious nations, such as Britain and the United States, for machinery and agricultural implements.” . “Ludicrous lies have been spread that the Red Army is militaristic. Nine tenths are soldiers and officers who have served under the Tsar. “Immediate demobilisation is obligatory with us as soon as hostilities cease. The workers and peasants will then insist on returning to the factories and farms, and will make Russia a fit land to live in.” “Frontier guards will then only be maintained.”

IN SOUTH RUSSIA. LONDON, Feb. 23. The British War Office announces the anti-Soveit Army in South Russia, on 20th February, recaptured the town of Rostoff, just north of the Sea of AZ9V taking prisoners of fifteen hundred Soviet troops, with 20 guns and a quantity of railway material,

SOVIETS RETAKE ROSTOFF. LONDON, Eeh. 23. A Moscow wirelpss message states that the Bolsheviks lmv<* recaptured Rostoff, after two day’s street fighting, and drove the enemy across the Don.

SOVIETS RETAKE IRKUTSK. LONDON, Feb. 25. A Vladivostock message, dated the 12th states a Soviet Army has defeated General Kappel and entered Irkutsk and lias concluded an armistice with the Czechs. A terrible dynamite explosion at Achinsk wrecked several trains at the station, and many Poles ngd Russians mere killed.