BOLSHEVIK RUSSIA

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2443, 20 June 1922, Page 4

BOLSHEVIK RUSSIA

CONDITIONS VIVIDLY DRAWN,

MOST HIDEOUS ATROCITIES,

FEAR AND INTIMIDATION

The “requisition” of about £4,000,000 worth of British goods by Admiral Kolchak shortly after the Russian revolution the subsequent tracking of the goods through the heart of Russia, and the eventual recovery of about £500,000 worth, were the main features of a very interesting story told recently by Mr W. M. Bid-well, F.R.G.S., an exAucklander, who conducted the search, and who has just returned to Auckland after many years abroad.

A member of the Military Mission sent from England to act in an advisory capacity to Admiral Kolchak and General Deniken when they took control of the loyalist forces of Russia, Mr Bidwell gained knowledge of conditions in that country which later led to his being requested by British merchants to return to Russia in an endeavour to trace the goods which had gone astray. He found that Admiral Kolchak had “requisitioned” them from the depot at Vladivostok, that a great quantity had been sold to the Japanese to raise money for war material, and that the leaders of the loyalist troops had possessed tliemse • ves of, the rest, sold thcfn, and then disappeared with the proceeds.

The chances of British merchants ever getting quid pro quo seemed very remote, but in pursuit of this chance Mr Bidwell set out on an expedition which, before the quest was ended, led him through the heart of Siberia, through Manchuria, and incidentally, through several stirring adventures. Having at lasj recovered about £500,000 worth, he had it loaded on a train, and was proceeding with it into Manchuria, when a dramatc incident oeeffrred, which, for the time being made the British merchants’ chances for compensation look very slight.

At the little town of Makeivskaya on the border between Siberia and Manchuria, the Cossack leader, Baron Ungern, popularly known as the “Mad Baron” on account of his bloodthirsty crusade against the Bolsheviks, attempted to commandeer the goods and stating that his 2,000 troops would blow up the town and murder the railway officials if they dared to let the train'through. ' ORIENTAL “DIPLOMACY.”

They then set about unloading the train. In face of this emergency, Mr Bidwell appealed to the Gover-nor-General of Manchuria, who immediately dispatched 250 Chinese troops to the town. The Chinese officer in charge dealt with the situation in a manner worthy of the highest traditions of Oriental diplomacy, announcing to the Cossack leader that he had the authority to state that all the forces in China were behind him, backed up by those of the British Empire, and that fullest recompense would be demanded if any hinderance were offered. The hint was sufficient, and the 250 Chinese under the eyes of the 2,000 Cossacks reloaded the train, which crossed the border that night and passed safely through into Manchuria. The goods were afterwards shipped to Shanghai, and sold to the Japanese. A tragic sidelight on the career of the Baron Ungern, was supplied by Mr Bidwelf who explained that this unfortunate man had been driven almost mad by the sight of his wife and daughters tortured and slain by Jewish Bolsheviks shortly after the massacre of the Czar and family at Ekaterinburg. His fierce hatred of the murderers amounted to madness, and he was responsible for the death of a great number of the enemy. “But the Bolsheviks were too much for him in the end,” said Mr Bidwell. “Six months ago he was caught while fighting on the borders of Mongolia. He must have suffered a frightful death.” A CHINESE COURT OF JUSTICE. Upon l’eturning to England Mr Bidwell was requested to undertake another search for lost goods, about £30,000 worth, which had also disappeared. It was found that these had been stolen by Russian-Jewish commissioners at Chita, in Siberia, and in May last year Mr Bidwell went there to fight a lawsuit in the Chinese Courts, which incidentally provided another sidelight on Chinese methods from a new viewpoint. “There was not the smallest ele-_ ment of what we know as justice in the whole of the procedure,” said Mr Bidwell. “The system of Chinese justice was nothing but a system of bribery, or rather blackmail. After four hearings I discovered that witnesses and Judge had been bribed heavily by the other side. At the fifth hearing I bribed them just a little more heavily, and won the case. But it. cost me £7,500 to get those goods back!” A SIDELIGHT ON THE SOVIET. Mr Bidwell had some very hard tilings to say about the Soviet Govvernment and its administration. “People here who talk in favour of the Soviet and Bolshevik simply do not know what they are talking about,” he declared. “I have travelled right through Central Russia, lived in places off the beaten track, and have seen with my own eyes what has been-going on. People who may think they are right simply take the word of somebody else. Take that hideous, business of nationalisation of women—of course it lias been denied. I understand that Miss Margaret Thorpe denied it in Auckland the other day. Well, with all due respect to Miss Thorpe, I may say she.knows nothing about it ■ • • ..I understand she got no ; further into the interior of Russia ■ than Samara, on the Volga. With 1

my own eyes I saw at Harbin, in Manchuria, the notices posted up on the buildings, and 1 know personally of what was done in that connection by the Soviet Government, I know, too, of most hideous atrocities perpetrated throughout the interior ... .1 have photographs that will carry all the conviction needed by anyone inclined to favour Soviet methods. TWO MEANS OF SETTLEMENT. “Bribery and corruption are absolutely stifling the life of the country. It is impossible for the peaceloving section to make any headway because the Bolsheviks are allowed such liberty. They are utterly hated by the vast majority of Russians, and maintain their power only through the force of intimidation, for the Russian peasants are simple minded and kindly folks by nature, not fighters. Russia’s problem, so far as I can see, will be settled in one of two ways : Either by a process of evolution in which, through years of great suffering, the forces of good will eventually prevail, or the nation will be goaded beyond endurance and will rouse itself to action. If that happens, there will be a general pogrom, which will sweep away Bolsheviks and Jews throughout Russia.”