TROTSKY BANISHED

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 249, 11 January 1928, Page 9

TROTSKY BANISHED

Fifty Other Oppositionists Also WILDERNESS OF SIBERIA By Cable.—Press Association. — Copyright. Reed. 11.45 a.m. BERLIN. Tuesday. Soviet circles confirm the stat ement that 52 Oppositionists, including Trotsky, have been ordered to be banished for three years, during which each will receive a pittance of nine roubles a month.

Some have already been deported to the Siberian wilderness, or cholera areas.

It is denied that Zinovieff and Kameneff have been banished. It is hinted that the former secured immunity by writing an anti-Trotsky pamphlet. It is reported that Paitakoff, a former

trade representative In France, bas been ordered, as a punishment, to go to Australia to buy wool. Paitakoff is reported to have ironically replied.

“The first time I dealt in sheep was when I became opposed to the Stalinites, therefore, I am not qualified to serve as a wool expert.” Trotsky boasts that only force will take him to banishment in Astrakan.

The banishment of the Oppositionists is a sequel to the Soviet's unsuccessful campaign to restore discipline in factories, where it was found that Opposition propaganda was too deeprooted. The Moscow area is the worst of the lot. Secret political police wanted to imprison the offenders. but Stalin insisted that banishment was sufficient.

Among the sentenced men and their destinations are the “Pravda’s” leaderwriters, Sosnovski and Ischenko both to Siberia; Smirnoff, to Trans-Caspian area; Vukovitch, the Communist International leader, to North Dvinsk; Rakovsky to Archangel. Meanwhile, Trotsky remains at Moscow, talking defiance.—A. and N.Z.