SOVIET & RELIGION

Hokitika Guardian, 26 February 1930, Page 6

SOVIET & RELIGION

BRITISH PREMIER

COUNSEL’S PATIENCE

[United Press Association— By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. j

LONDON,. Feb. 24

Regarding Russia, Mr Ramsay MacDonald,. replying to a corresilbndout, admits that the Government are much concerned with what is going on m Russia,, but has not got. the; facts. The news from Riga, lie said, should not be believed until it was corroborated. Many statements' which had done duty from time to time had proved false. Russia's religious history was full of records of persecution. Its members of the Cabinet inherited a hatred of'persecuting and tljev were unlikely to be indifferent there to, but any agitation inspired by polities as much as by religious toleration, must not deflect the good from pursuing the ordinary rule of international relationships. The prudence, tone, and temper at the present agitation was hardening, rather than softening the Russian Government s heart,-and wg&. giving it ity, ferroneously, .to perswad'evits-D w.Jj' people that this’is part, of a cotaspit-, acy- -bv other- Governments to* Itf-giU a war against the'Soviet; His Government was not indiflerent, ;but flmy tended to avoid any';, action -"wKuJN .ddujd,: add to .tjie fdf&rttdhs Christians' in Russia.

POSITION'AT-' MOSCOW V - ■ BRITISH PRESSMAN’S M’fePO&T.--I.ONDON, Feb. 24,

There are so many conflicting reports as to the extent of the anti-r* ligious campaign in Russia that it is most difficult to get a true summary of the real position. The first despatch from a British United Pres* special correspondent who was sem to investigate the position, reached London to-night. His account is one embodying big observations in Moscow on Sunday. •He says: “It Whs ‘a-day of con-trn-•dictions, contrasts..and- - perplexities., In' practically all <)f ,tbe fi ; [teen,.lnmPfed cliurelies m Albsc-owA-whcre thW iifar 6nly on<?’ hundred- chfif'ehblC’Mv- 6 ' '’bben ■’clivefthd; to otheP uses yu°r* djy ißolisbc-d —-the usual services .y,,,we.re Held, although the congregations were depleted pnes- .1, was to hear at least one cliurch'bell' ringihg. I attended the .stately cathedral of the "Holy Saviour,-the favourite one of the Czar and Czarina, close to the Kremlin, where- there were five hundred worshippers. They were as deRome or New York. Their small number was no doubt due in- part to the campaign, and ill part to -the- fact that, ,S:U ; nda,Ys, -lui.YS,. .now come working days iii the factories and shops, which on Sunday were running as normally. Thereafter I vent by a tax' to the anti-religious State Museum, which is devoted to charts, pictures, .jin depicting the {theory 6i|evoUjJicnjfand sso an allegled relationships. o f|",C hhlSli miity witn Paganism: also alleged materialistic, monarchists, anti-revolutionary tendencies and practices of the Orthodox Church, In contrast with the Cathedral congregation, the visitors here were mostly youths and children who appeared to be keenly interested.’

The correspondent detailed liis journey throughout the city, seeing the commissionary stores crowded with ration-card holders, and thence to- a crowded cinema, where there was an all-Russian film, which was photographically and technically superior to the American current news film, and which graphically portrayed the demolition "of the ..Saint; Simon Monastery; which was once the alwde of “Ivan the Terrible.”

The correspondent ended tlie- day in the crowded-National Opera-, where, he saw a superb performance by a Russian ballet.

“Throughout the day,” he says, “there was licit The 'slightest indication That the people of Moscow were disturbed or anywise influenced for or against the world-wide agitation on the religious issue.”

CAMPAIGN AGAINST.’ PEASANTS

BERLIN, Fob. 25

A Russian newspaper published here discloses a Soviet campaign against a prosperous peasant class known as The Koulaks, who are openly anti-Bolshe-vist, or are allegedly secret counter revolutionaries. The paper says that at least forty of these are massacred daily, while thousands are being driven from their farms to face starvation, their places being taken by engineers, doctors, journalists, artists and actors.

bed army. anniversary celebration. MOSCOW, Feb. 24. The twelfth ;umiversary of tlu* formation of the Red Army was celebrated with great fervour. Occasion was taken throughout the Soviet to emphasise the danger of a united capitalist attack, the inevitability of which is almost a tenet of the Communist faith. M. Voroshilov (War Commissioner) in a manifesto said: “Not since the end of the civil ■ wars have the hostile activities of the Imperialists assumed such proportions. A wild anti-Soviet campaign has developed, and the world’s first proletarian nation is being drenched with an ocean of lies. Libel, provocations, false documents, sabotage and even tiling is being used against 'The Pope, the Archbishop of Can-

terbury and other dignitaries, figure prominently in a list of enemies which the Soviet has published, in the “Pravda ” In commemoiation of the event, the highest, honour, the Ordei of the Red Banner, has l> e <m awarded to President Stalin.