THE LINKS OF SIX

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2335, 29 September 1921, Page 1

THE LINKS OF SIX

An interesting detail of the organisation among the opponents of the Bolsheviks is given by a writer .in the North American Review. He describes the adventures of a former officer of the Russian Army, who, in relating the incidents toward the close of 1917, says: —“We in Kazan and elsewhere began the work of organising the ‘While Guards,’ which was a name given us bv the Bolsheviks, who, I suppose, liked to keep the colour distinction. Once the work was started there were plenty of volunteers. It was not long before we had some 200 members in Kazan, and established connections with our colleagues in Moscow. Tn those days the Links of Six were the nuclei of the White forces in Kazan and Moscow, and elsewhere. They operated simply and effectively. It was the custom that every man who was proved loyal to the cause should secure five volunteers, each of whom was recpiired to swear that he would serve honestly and never betray his mates. The five men knew nobody at all in the organisation except the other four men in their link, and their common leader. Thus any one man could betray only five men at most, and the bulk of the society was perfectly safe. A somewhat greater responsibility rested upon the shoulders of the leader of each link. He knew at least the identity of one man who was a member of another group of six. This system of Links of Six still exists among the Whites who are working against the Reds. The Reds know about it, but they recoenise the impossibility of destroying such an organisation. If a man discovers that lie has been betrayed, he must hurry away, if he can, and get into territory controlled by loyal Russian troops. And this evplains why I am here now, instead of being at work in Kazan. I was betrayed, and had to fly. The name of the traitor I know. He is not so engaged any more, as he has been hanged by my friends. Our immediate object was to spy upon the Bolsheviks and get their plans, and then carry the information wherever it would do the most good. Furthermore, we were to damage as much as possible the work of the Reds, and agitate and spread White propaganda, among them. We who were engaged in this dangerous enterprise were mostly former officers, students and other volunteers. We were not working for *pay, but because we had before us an ideal, the saving of Russia.”