BOLSHEVIK RULE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 208, 27 April 1932, Page 7

BOLSHEVIK RULE

hungary and latvia RO - ■ . v«r.- "... . progres& gf communist power in city of riga. SOCIALIST STATES. Only two non-Russian countries (if New South. Wales be excluded) have experienced Bolshevik i-ule — ■Hungary and Latvia. Neither has allowed a ,repetition of the experience, but the ' world, being at the time busily engaged with other post-war troubles, never heard ■ an adequate description of these Communist experiments. Of what .happened in Latvia, and particularly in its capital city, Riga, an excellent aecount has just been published., Riga is an ancient city. It was (and probably is again) a wealthy and prosperous city, apd, in addition, "an active centre of thought and education," with a- culture. centuries old; Before the Bolshevik Revolution Latvia formed a province of Russia.

Socialist Working Class State. Into this city, on January 2, 1919, marched a- disreputable and dilapidated Russian army. Immediately the people of Riga learned that their Government was now "The Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Government of Latvia," that private landed property in town and eountry was abolished, that the right of private ownership of all other means of production, and of business, banks, etc., would be gradually abolished, that all food would be taken over by the new Government; in short, that the construction was beginning of "a new Socialist work-ing-class State." The people also learned that their new ^ President was one Peter Stuclcka, a man little known; he had been one of the leaders of the extfeme Socialists in Latvia. Within a few days the people learned that the seemingly fantastie decrees were to be ruthlessly enforced. First they were, compelled to give up their arms — excepting members of the working class, who were armed to the teeth. A great . many shops and business .were forced to. close and their employees thrown but of work. The gaols were opened and fifteen hundred criminals were released. The people (i.e., the "bourgeoisie") were ordered to give up clothing, linen and footwear, except a minimum quantity Reign of Terror. At the end of the second month the city was acutely short of food. All citizens were on rations, but the Government then divided the population into three categories, the first of Communists, the second of Communist sympathisers, the third of the "bourgeoisie." Members of the last category received half a loaf of bad

rye bread per day; the other s were better- treated. On the third month the reign of terror became an orgy. On some days hundreds of people were thro'wn into prison, on unproved accusations or oji none. Usually those arrested were dragged from their homes at night. Riga took . on the appearance of a dying city with streets empty, windows nailed up, markets silent, traffic stopped. Starvation and winter weather prepafed the groufid for disease, which increased rapidly. Meanhile, the "Reds" lived in the best hpuses and ate and drank gluttonously. Mofe and more of the "bourgeoisie" were shot.' "White" Aeroplane.

One day in March a 'plane flew bver the stricken city. It was a "White" aeroplane, and the people were secretly joyful, for it was a sign that th'e anti-"Red" forces \yere reorganising. Perhaps Riga might yet be saved'. Tt was not until May 22, nearly five moiiths after the occupation, that the "Reds" were driven out. The conditions meanwhile .had become steadily worse, for the Bblshevilcs, threatened now b'y defeat, seemed to be possessed by a lust for blood and vengeance.

"The 'bourf^eoisie'," decl'ared the president, "must not only be degraded; it must be anhihilated as a class." On March 21 ab.out fifty people were taken to a wood and shot dead by Communists — not by men, but by women, armed with revolvers. Early in May no fewer than 20,000 people were ordered to leave thqir homes and interned on islands in the River Dvina. The order was enforced by "Red" soldiers and "gunwomen." But at last, on May 22, the "White" army arrived, having defeated the Bolsheviks outside the city, and Riga was saved. Before the "Reds" fied they massacred thirty-three prisoners, ihcluding ten women, in the courtyards of a prison. Central Europe Savied. The "White" army was a volunteer foree consisting of Letts, "White" Ruesians and Germans, commanded by a German general. Its exploits were remarkable, for the "Red" forces it defeated were numerically far stronger. The author says that it "saved Central Europe, from the horrors of a new Hun invasion." The people of Riga jgreeted their saviours with an enthusiasm that can be imagined — and then all turned to the hunting down and shooting of the "Reds" who remained in the city. The net result. of the experiment wrhich was to establish a "heaven on earth" was — 5000 people murdered, 8500 dead of starvation, 8000 in prison, 20,000 interned. "To this should be added millions upon millions of material damage through devasta- ; tion, plunder and robbery — and all in five moiiths.