BOLSHEVISM AS SEEN BY A LADY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4299, 3 August 1921, Page 1

BOLSHEVISM AS SEEN BY A LADY

Maude Radford Warren, who has been travelling in the Caucasus and othei* places where the Bolshevists have - obtained a foothold, gives some of her experiences as follows: I had the unique experience of seeing the Bolsheviki take over, for the first time, territory that did not belong to Russia—the Republic of Azerbaijan. I saw them turn it into a Soviet, and I saw their Government working for eight weeks.

I will tell you how Bolshevism worked in the Republic of Azerbaijan. If you have looked into your geography lately, you know that Azerbaijan is that stretch of territory just west of the’Caspian Sea, bounded on the north by Russia, on the south by Persia, and on the west by the republic of Georgia. (That is, it is the republic of Georgia as I write; to-morrow it may be made a Soviet republic, as was its sister, Azerbaijan.) The inhabitants of Azerbaijan are said to have come originally from Central Asia. The majority of them are Moslems of Tartar and Turkish blood. Once theii’ country was independent; then it belonged to Persia; something like a hundred years ago' Russia annexed it. When the attempt, under Kerensky, to make a republic of Trans-Caucasia failed, Azerbaijan broke away with its 5,000,000 of people and in 1918 its national council proclaimed a republic, Kahn Khosky, a Tartar (recently murdered in Georgia by Bolsheviks), being made President. CHRISTIANS AND MOSLEMS CLASH. The little republic got on very well indeed, so far as its ministries and organisations were concerned. As to the rest, there has always been bad feeling between the Christians and the Moslems. An Englishwoman, married to an Armenian in Baku, told me that in the sixteen years of her married life she had seen five massacres in the city of Baku.

So perhaps both for reasons spiritual (save the mark!) and reasons physical, Azerbaijan was made for trouble. The physical reasons are the oil wells.

With Russia starving for oil, ho.w could the little republic dream that the Bolsheviki would keep their hands off? For over two years they had their agents within Baku spreading propaganda and winning over the thousands of workingmen. In the late spring they made a sort of armistice with Azerbaijan, setting aside fifteen days when they should discuss trade relations. Then, when Azerbaijan was off guard, they came down and took her with an armoured train and a handful of soldiers.

They came in, remember, to a republic that was getting .on well

enough, aside from massacres; that is, there was sufficient food and sufficient work; shops were, open and doing well; the educational system for Christians and Moslems alike was satisfactory. The'Near East was feeding Armenian and Russian Moslem refugees. I began to wonder what reason the Bolsheviki would give for coming; so, after a few days, in the intervals of trying to get away from-them, Tasked them why they had taken Azerbaijan.

TO CONVERT THE WHOLE WORLD.

The first person I addressed was a real communist —I. mean an honest one, an idealist. "Why did we come,” he replied; “because we are going to convert the whole word to Soviet rule —by the sword, if necessary. Azerbaijan was the first area in our path.” The next persons I asked was a Bolshevik colonel.

“Why did the Bolsheviki take Azerbaijan?” he repeated in exquisite English. "My dear lady, I can’t tell you, because I have only been a Bolshevik about four weeks. I haven’t learned yet what the theory of taking it was; I did what I was told to do, that was my reason. I fought faithfully when I was in Denekin’s army, and after I was taken prisoner and told by the Reds that I was now a Bolshevik, I fought faithfully for the new regime. But you will have to excuse me from giving reasons. I can find out what they say, if you like.” My interpreter translated briefly what a soldier said when I asked him why the Bolsheviki had. come in. “Tell the lady,” he replied, “that the soldiers are fighting for Russia. There has always been a greater Russia; there must always be a greater Russia. The soldiers took Azerbaijan because it really belonged to Russia.” ”Ask him,” I said, “if the soldiers are going on to take all the other countries and make them Soviet.”

“Tell the lady,” he replied, “that when we have greater Russia we are going home. Let the other countries make Soviets if they want to, but we are not going to fight to do it. It is a long time since we were in our own homes.” HOW THE SOVIET WORKED. The last person I asked was a Hebrew who had a high position as commissar. He was a Communist. He was one of those that seemed able to get what he liked. He had a car, when other commissars walked, and it was said that his rooms were very richly furnished with requisitioned furniture. “Madame,” he said, “it was not an accident that we first conquered the territory that held the oil wells.” Now I’ll tell you how the Soviet worked during the eight weeks I was there. Perhaps I expected too much, but I did. thing that within a few days things would be running at least as well as they had before.

The Bolsheviki had had more than two years’ experience at making Soviets; they ought to be able to run a little place of 5,000,000 so as not to interfere with the welfare -and happiness of the people The people, on the whole, were willing to receive them; at least they put up red flags; and those who had already had experience of Bolshevik rule, families who had come down from the Volga regions to get away from Bolshevism —they fell silent, and began to consider, secretly, how they could run away again. The first thing the Bolsheviki did was to establish a revolutionary or war committee under Huseinof, and later under Narimanoff, both Tartars, and Nairmanoff, a really honest man, an idealist, and much beloved by all- who knew him. Then they established the Country-Revolu-tionary Committee, or Tchezvodchika, supposed to suppress speculation in the people’s food, all revolts, all spying and similar crimes.

ARRESTS, COURT-MARTIALS,

EXECUTIONS.

The function of the Revolutionary Committee was to rule the new territory until councils could be elected by workmen, soldiers and peasants, who would then take over the civil government. But the Tchezvodchika (which is as near as I can spell the word) was to work all the time, and it did. At once it began to concern itself with arrests, court-mar-tials and executions.

It was a large committee, composed mostly of Bolsheviki who had come down from Moscow and Astrakhan. . Men and women they were, -and mostly young. There was one girl of 17 who was a member. I have seen a good many of those members of the Tchezvodchika. A good many of them had never had any power in their hands till a few months ago. It seems to me as if I’d rather be tried for my life by some old-fashioned Judge that had had plenty of experience. A young man would be likely to say, “She’s probably guilty, and, anyway, she looks like a bourgeois. To-morrow at sunrise. Next case.”

At any rate, some of the executions must have come from judg ments as summary as that, given by people drunk perhaps with power, certainly lacking in experience jyid probably in imagination. After they got their two committees going the Bolsheviki began sending the oil up into Russia. Baku was reeking with oil. Many of the wells were not producing because there were no more containers left. The pipe line that communicated with Batum and supplied the British with a certain amount of oil the Bolsheviki naturally cut. They took some cotton that belonged to a United States firm and sent that north. Perhaps some recompense will be made for it.

NATIONALIZED EVERYTHING.

They delighted the common people by announcing in their two newspapers that they had nationalized

the oil wells and the land and the banks, aid that they had rationed the food. There was no killing on the streets, there was no looting’ of shops. It is true that if a soldier was drunk he got five years’ imprisonment, and if he'was caught stealing he was shot. We were told that all Governmental departments were working smoothly and that the Russians and Tartars were getting on beautifully together. Only too soon there were evidences of the general inefficiency of the “amateurish Government.” And everywhere the people began secretly to complain—except the few who were able to graft.

The Bolshevik! had learned one thing: That workingmen could not have a short day if work was to be done quickly. So the workers who had expected to have six or eight hours at the most had a stint of ten or twelve, with the obligation of also giving a few hours a week on Saturday afternoon or Sunday for public work for the good of the Soviet' — such as the repair of roads. They did not like it.

Nor did they like the constant executions, and their grumbling was so loud that first the Government explained at great length in its newspapers when certain executions had been carried out, and latei’ announced that no public announcements of executions would be made. Arbitrary ruling, more like autocracy than anything else, ono would say. THE WAGES ESTABLISHED. They established wages—6ooo rubles a month for the lowest and 10,000 for the highest. But this was not equality. More of them grumbled because the wages would not cover the necessities. They did, indeed, receive some rations, soldiers and workmen; a workman’s wife, if she cared to stand in line from two to eight hours, might buy black bread at 3 rubles a pound.

But suppose she was too busy to spare the time, or too sickly to stand, then she had to pay 16. When I left \vhite bread cost 150 rubles a pound, meat close to 200; tea, 3000;'Stockings, from 1000 to 3000; and shoes from 12,000 to 16000 rubles a pair. When the Government sternly rationed the shopkeepers.they.sequestered their goods and when a Russian entered the shop he was told that this and that was out of stock. People with clothes or shoes or jewellery were willing to sell, but those who had food were determined not to abide by the rationing decisions. If I went into a Tartar shop I could buy anthing I wanted, provided no Russian was there at the same time.