SLAVERY AND STARVATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LI, Issue 4533, 20 November 1930, Page 4

SLAVERY AND STARVATION.

CONDITIONS 'IN RUSSIA. Conditions under the rule of the Union of Soviet Republics have been investigated ,by many delegations fro in Great Britain, but the reports have invariably been under suspicion either because of extreme partisanship or because the authorities have skilfully stage-managed the performance so as to create the most favourable impression. It is extremely doubtful if any of the formal visits paid to Russia have resulted in investigators getting into touch with actual conditions, and the information supplied by the captain of a steamier trading regularly to the 'Black 'Sea as recorded by an Australian paper, is likely to :be authentic because it is the result of actual observation and not heai’say, and for the further reason that he has no political axe to grind. 'Though he has heen trading to Southern Russia for the past eight years he deals particularly with what he observed during three months of last winter, and, not being a visitor in the ordinary way, he was able to make his inquiries without the restricting attentions of .the Soviet authorities.

The once beautiful and prosperous city of Odessa, he says, is now a scene of desolation and squalor, with streets and houses out of repair, the tram system inoperative, and no sewerage system. The one remaining indication cf its former splendour is the world-famed Opera. House, where a. performance that had been running for a long time showed Chinese labourers being beaten by chains by the British. From inquiries it was gathered itliat propaganda against the British was the theme of most of the performances. Although the Soviet authorities attempt to persuade the Russian woiiker that he is better off than those in othdr countries, the a'bsenvelr was told that it is fully realised by Russian labourers that they are worse off than ever they were, and his own studied opinion is that they are slaves, and miser-■ble-pn'es at that. Shops are run by the Soviet at which prices are higli and rations of staple- foods pitifully inadequate. Theoreticallv, says the captain, workers have an eight-hour day, but wages are so low, and the cost of living so excessive that men haive to work much longer hours to make a living. He saw men work continuously for twenty-four hours for about seven' shillings in English money, and not being able to afford boots, they wore sacks on their feet bound round with straw.

The wharf labourers came down to his ship escorted by an armed force with fixed bayonets, and the escort remained while they worked, lieturning with the men when work was finished. The average labourer, he found, earns approximately five shillings for eight hours’ work, less 12 per cent, tax to the 'Soviet, while sailors and firemen earn £7 per month, less per cent, paid to the Soviet, but as they had to pay for their own food, the whole of their wages was swallowed up in living costs.

In the coal ports visited, conditions were even worse than in Odessa. At one, Mairiapol, the labourers., driven all the timei, worked. day and night for the same rates -of pay. They were in a constantly rebellious mood and only 'the presence of an armed guard kept them at work. (The one thing that keeps the Russian workmen going, says this obsetrver, is the much-talked-of revolution which they seem to think will turn the country into a paradise. He admits he is puzzled over the tremendous increase in the production of wheat in Russia this year, for he gathered that the farmers, not seeing the force of working with no profit for themselves and a profit for the Soviet, had decided to grow only sufficient for their own needs. In his opinion the wheat has been commandeered to develop the export scheme, and next year it may be neeessairy to import grain to avoid a. famine.

'Summing up, this apparently unbiased observer says the Russian revolution has reached a stage when the Soviet rulers view the future with apprehension. Officials and workers alike would welcome any change. Present conditions they feel are unbearable, bordering as they are ou slavery and starvation.