The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is in corporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6th, 1926. THE SOVIET METHOD.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 January 1926, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is in corporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6th, 1926. THE SOVIET METHOD.

Aftkk some years the Russian Soviet authorities have published a. report of the murder of the Russian Royal family. it is; remarks the “Lyttelton Times,’’ a terrible story of Communism in action ; of the execution of a deposed monarch without trial and of

the cold-blooded murder of the innocent mem X»I\S of !iis family. The facts now narrated are not new, although they now have official endorsement. Some years ago a Russian general, who who had had an opportunity to investigate tlie whole affair, published a book in France setting out the facts practically as stated by the Communist leaders. The disciples of Marx had learned only too well his doctrine of hatred and extermination, and, in the flush of success in seizing power, they committed crimes that will make their names infamous for ever. The Mexican rebels gave the Fmperor .Maximilian trial by court-martial, but the Communists of Russia delilierately ordered the murder of the Czar, the Czarina, the Czarevitch and the four Grand Duchesses, and sent “trusted Communists” to assist in the bloody deed. It was the beginning of a crusade against the cultured classes of Russia that sent thousands of men and women to their doom and drove tens of thousands into exile. Here is seen the doctrine of force carried to its conclusion, and the results

must impress all who see in goodwill the only hope of better things. A diplomat lias placed on record a statement made by the Czar in the early stages of the war to the effect that it would claim its victims and that lie might be one of them. Whatever he lacked in strength as a ruler and in vision as the titular head of a ' great nation, letters recently published show that lie was a loyal ally not prepared to accept peace at the price of deserting the western nations. The picture that remains in the memory of most people probably is that of a somewhat weak and vacillating ruler, much attached to liis family and finding pleasure in simple things. He carried great responsibilities and must

be held accountable for In’s discharge of them, or his failure to discharge them for the benefit of the people. Hut to l>e callously shot in the basement of a small house without trial should not have been his fate, and not even the Communists have attempted to justify the murder of the Czarina and her children. These things are the outcome of doctrines of hatred. They spring direct from the gospel of force and are the acts of minds divorced from all semblance of justice. Murder and destruction cannot form flic foundation for a better order of things, and the proof of it- would seem to bo apparent in Russia to-day.