BOLSHEVIK VIEW OF LONDON.

Putaruru Press, Volume II, Issue 50, 2 October 1924, Page 3

BOLSHEVIK VIEW OF LONDON.

HYDE PARK ORATORY. Soviet Delegate Writes His Impressions. Kutuzoff, the Soviet delegate, has written in the Isvestia his impressions of London. Having heard that Communist meetings, attended by many hundreds of thousands of British citizens —according to the Soviet papers—were held every afternoon in Hyde Park, the members of the Soviet delegation, accompanied by their secretaries and interpreters, made for Marble Arch end of the Park, where, to Kutuzoff’s surprise, the only thing they saw was: “ A little crowd of people surrounding a few men standing on stools. The men on the stools were talking, and the crowd was quietly standing and listening, and, now, what do you think those men were talking about? About the life of the people or how the workers live, or about politics. Nothing of the kind—they were merely discussing which religion is the best - And I am told that there are at least 70 different religious denominations in London.”

This state of affairs in Hyde Park and the total absence of any Bolshevist oratory “ appeared to us very unsatisfactory,” continues Kutuzoff, and the delegation then drove to the Zoo, where the gorillas, the elephants, sea lions and crocodiles,” amply compensated our Bolshevist guests for the lack of zeal for Communist ideas in the average Londoner, and more our friend compares the “ proletarian ” and “ capitalist ” capitals: “ One has only to compare the London Zoo with our Moscow one to realise how far behind Europe w r e still are!”

A visit to Poplar with “ Lord ” Lansbury as cicerone does not appear to have thrilled the Bolshevist delegates, and Kutuzoff merely confines himself to admitting that the working masses in the land ruled by a "Workers and Peasants Government” appear to live in much dirtier and unhealthier conditions than the inhabitants of the worst slums of “ capitalist ” London. The Moscow delegates, having expressed their desire to see for themselves “ how the English peasants live,” they were taken out into the country in a charabanc another source of childish delight for Kutuzoff and his comrades:— “ We drove for an hour and for a second hour, and still there was no end to London. And only after we had been scorching through the

streets for over three hours did we begin to see gardens, fields and orchards, and little cities which we were told were English villages. And where are the peasants ? we asked. We were shown the farm houses in which rich swells live, who have hired labourers working for them, and own all these fields and orchards and the herds of cows and deer one sees grazing on the meadows ! Such are the English peasants, who live not knowing what want or misery means.” As for the English people, Kutuzoff does not appear to think much of them.

“ They are all so stern, look so depressed and cross; they stare at each other like bulls; when they meet you they say: * How do you do, my dear ? ’ —but never invite you to their houses. I am told the English live in complete isolation, like hermits. But everybody is smartly dressed; they all wear bowlers, and the women hats, instead of kerchiefs; and even the children are dressed in the latest fashion; you see kiddies not seven years old, and they wear shirts and hats and boots, and even ties ! ” What Kutuzoff did not like in London was the English Sunday, which was “ too quiet, too peaceful, like a lull before a storm. . . .”