The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the west Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1931. THE RUSSIAN SITUATION.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 March 1931, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the west Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1931. THE RUSSIAN SITUATION.

I hk general situation in Russia appeal’s to be most complex. There are many stories of excesses, for human life ] appears to he treated as something ot very little account. Russia appeal's to he developing some strange ideas. . fuch use is made with prison labour in a country where it is not difficult to keep the prisons full because of the severity ot the Russian rule where it finds the Soviet ideals at all in danger. This is brought to mind by recent action in Canada, for as a contemporary remarks, by far tlio most interesting of recent developments in tile sphere of international affairs is the decision of Canada- to put an embargo on tne importation of Russian products into the Dominion. Colonel Maekie, acting for the Soviet authorities, made an offer of £BOO,OOO worth ol Russian coal for Canadian agricultural implements, the balance to he paid in gold. Alter due consideration the Canadian Government issued an Order-in-Coiineil prohibiting the importation of Russian coal, timber, womfpulp, asbestos and furs; and the reasons given lor this decision are most comprehensive and instructive. The Canadian Government, so this official document states, is convinced emu convict prisoners are exploited ior the same purpose, and that the standard of living under which these goods are prod need is “below any level conceived of in Canada.” But the Order-in-Council goes even further than tin’s. In Russia, it states, all employment is under the direct control of Lhp Communist Government, which “seeks to impost' its will upon the entire world;” and Canada, being opposed to Communism, “must refuse to support it by an interchange- of trade.” This probably, is the first definite declaration on precisely these lines made by any civilised Government, and it may well mark a distinct epoch in the relations between Bolshevik Russia and the rest of the world. At the same time the Canadian decision lias been received with approval throughout tho Dominion. Tho President of the Ro.val Bank of Canada lias issued a statement in which he declares that Russian goods generally speaking “are produced bv conscript labour which is worse than convict labour.’ 1 Tho Soviet, says Sir H. Holt, “allots a number of workers to agriculture and to lumber enterprises, and says to them, “Unless yen work we will give you no food.” This is fully borne out by tho Russian official documents dealing with mass production lately compiled in a British Blue Book. “If anyone refuses the labour offered to him by the .Soviet officials, his name is immediaiely removed from tlie hooks of the Labour exchanges. This entails loss of the ration card,” and that practically means starvation. Only a fortnight ago a Riga correspondent of “The Times” stated that the Soviet had “ordered tho mobilisation and delivery of a further 100,000 peasants for the timber front, and this is to be accompanied by at leastdouble the present production per man.” As to the eomiffions of labour, there is plenty of evidence of the most tragic and harrowing kind, detailing the hardships and cruelties which not only the political prisoners, but these industrial conscripts, are forced to endure in the performance of the tasks allotted to them. On this score alone there is ample justification for the decision which the Canadian Government lias reached. Of course, all this ruthless and tyrannical ororganisation is merely part and parcel of the Five Years Plan by which the Soviet Republic hopes not only to secure industrial prosperity for itself, but to undermine and destroy the industry and commerce and finance of the “capitalistic” world. Russia has exhausted its own accumulation of capital, and its credit is so bad that it cannot borrow abroad. Tt-s only hope of reconstructing and developing its industries is therefore to exploit is va‘'t natural resources as rapidly as possible, with the least possible expense. Tt has a huge population, and the Dictators enthroned at Moscow can ! ojot nil the workers they wnnt. nt nnv rate of wages they choose to fix. 'lbis is tb > explanation ol the political convict labour and the forced labour that are now playing such an important part in Russia’s industrial revival, With these two factors in combination the Moscow Dictators have made rapid progress with their Five hears Plan. At- first the scheme was greeted abroad with derision and incredulity, but it seems that- the rest oi the world must take it seriously into account in considering the economic and industrial outlook of the nations for some time to come. hT, Parmentier. one of tho French experts who helped to tlra.lt the Young Plan, has just toured Rusria, and he has given an alarming ac-

count of the rapid development of production in that country on a colossal scale. H<* talks of wheat farms larger than anything yet attempted in Australia or America ; an annual output o! millions of tons of inn at prices against which Britain and Germany cannot possibly compete; and a flood ol petrol ready to inundate the world at a figure that will drive all rivals out of th<> oil market. ll only a small percentage ol these reports are true Canada has not taken her decision too