THE TYPICAL BOLSHEVIK.

Taihape Daily Times, 3 July 1919, Page 5

THE TYPICAL BOLSHEVIK.

1 RUSSIANS IN GERMANY. “VERY LIKE ANIMALS.” .' ‘ CORRESPONDENTS IMPRES— ; SIONS. . An illuminating description of the! Bolshevik element among the Rus—l sfan prisoners of war in the Lamsdorfl prison camp is given by Mr. Oliver’ Madox Hueffer. Of the 800,000 Rus-i sinus remaining in Germany he es-‘E timates that 90 per cent are entirely uneducated. Making allowances for; the bad effects on morale‘ of four; years’ German prison life. Mr. HuCff€l’% sees in the inhabitants of the Lams-i dorf Camp evidence of the existence in Russia of a low type of hunianity,~ which is a peril to civilisation. I I had to come to‘G.erman:v'_. he Writes to understand something about 801-5 shevisni. and during the past few days ‘ I have learnt quite :1 lot about it and its causes. There are in Cel'nial'iy lto—da:»' more than 800,000 Russian Lpl‘iSoll€l'S. 50,000 or so ill this part of iit. The bulk are <:once.nti-ated in prison caiiips. the remainder are kept at work on “koininando” on farms, and in the coal mines. I suppose I have been at more or less close quarters with 10,000 of them at Lewisidorf prison camp and elsewhere Something like 20 per cent of these ‘prisoners are officially declared to be professed Bolshevisfs and are kept more or less segregated from their companions. It is not too much to say that the remaining 80 per cent. are Bolshevik in everything but name. [They‘h-ave no respect for’ their oflicers iwho for their part are'fr:lnkly afraid ‘of them.

I 1; is. of course, scarcely fair to judge or” u manfs capacity after he has been four ye-c'lrs_' in the most stultiiying state of captivity. but it is difiicnlt to imagine that these men can ever have been very much superior to animals. Ninety per cent. of them are totally unc-ducatc(l; only :1 very small proportion appear to have reasoning powers whatever. Their sole active desires appear to be to eat__-and to sleep; their sole motive a dull? resentment against those who are keeping them in captivity_ Each prison lager has a committee appointed by the prisoners themselves to represent their interests. These committees presumably include those who are the most intelligent_, or at least the most prominent among them I have been present at one or two interviews between such committees and the .~\mev.'iczui al'nly ofiicers_. who. al'e_.now -udnli.nisterin’g the prison canips-. They were always overflowing with grievances. They never at—tempted to controvert :1 fact, scarcely even to under-:<ta.llcl it. The conversation ran something like tllis:—~

“We are not given enough to eat.”

They were told that they ’were gctting_ more food than ‘rhe civilians of England and Franco received during several years of the war.

A pause as of deep refleetion_,_ followed by “We are not given enough to eat_” . With what appeared to me superfluous patience the items of their daily fare were explained to thenl—--120 gl‘3.llll)lL‘s of meat per day, 20 of r'e.r, 60 of tea :1 week, so much meal, So Inu-:11 hard, \\'l‘i‘i‘(l: bread for soup thic-king. A11Ul;l1L-1‘ pause, and then. “We are not getting enough to eat. The German guards are getting as much as We are getting. You are feeding the German guards. This is very wrong.’;’ It is very wrong.” lt is gellt.l_y but firmly hinted that the subject is‘ exhausted. MUTINOUS OVER A BATH. Their dislike to'wo1‘l; is only equalled by their (listuste for any kind of until}-:)l'i'ry. One 1112111, ‘for .ills=tallce, ulthougfh suii'el'ing from violent toothziehe, refused to open his mouth boenusc the doctor told him to do so. It is the same when it is a question 01.’ taking a bzrth. hey have apparently it rted Aoffoetain sr enifwyp aoixvb no rooted antipathy towards bathing, but the institution of :1 weekly bathduy under the new regime produced the ilezlrest thing to a mutiny possible to such listles? fainemits. When the first came round 20 of them flatly refused to take off their elothes——because they were told that they must do so if they were to enter the Water. The G-ernians l.’1Cl{(‘(l the one Possible \w_'p3pon towards disciplining and improving t.lle'niol'ale of their prisoners—they always ‘fed them as badly as possible, and gzive them 110 *'ob3Co‘o- Their American siieccssors fed them liberally, and extend the possibility of cigaretfes 25 an ineitenientTo Virtue. And it woi-ks——as well as it would Wo2‘; with -as young child 01' 311 lnfélligeirt‘. doe‘.

There nm-'6!‘ was a more surprised or ixldignauf psirty of B'olSlloviks than were the b.-athimq party wfien they "discovered that in consequence of the refusal of 20 to unaréss, fhey wel-oval] to be (lep:'if;'(‘Fl hf ‘."Tl'oir‘ White bread for soup thielienin-_r_r for the ensuing week. The whole lager reduced itself info

:1-n infinity of confllliftees, and passed endless resolutions condemning :the mrutality of their harsh American taskmasters. But when the neizt. ba/c_hi_ng day came round they showed awffesperate unanimify in doing what they were told.

Govol'lllllpnt through the stomach is supremely, efficierrt‘. in getting things done; it-is, unfortunately, purely temporarily in its eifccts. And, so far as can be secil, any appeal to th“eir reason is hopeless. It is scarcely too much to say that of the thousands I have séen in :t'he last few days not one in twcnfy shows, facially, the ordinary signs of human intelligence, 4 LOW TYPE OF HUMANITY.

To stand’, as I have stood, amid a crowd of them, and to study their lowering brows and the dull, hopeless apathy of ‘g.heir'e7_ves, is fo‘ receive the impression of standing in 41. herd ‘of eaftle. Much allowance must, of course, be made for the blightin-g effects of .f’tlieir flo-ng inrlpx-isonmen'rt; it is very difiicult to believe thaf, even after good food, suifable exercise, skilled medical tl'eatnlent., '-and such 0d11(’El‘il011il1 influences {as may be found possible. they can ever be faised to anything like the level of average F.m-opean intelligence.

And these are but a sample of the people whfo have at present Russia. under their heel, and are threatening fhe whole of Cen‘rral Europe. There are 800.000 of them in Germany now; there are 180000 of them in Russia, a horde beyom} the dreams either of the ancient or modern Atfilla. And yet fhere are people who laugh at the peril of B‘olsllevism!