The Daily News. TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 1919. THE BOLSHEVIK REGIME.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 April 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 1919. THE BOLSHEVIK REGIME.

For a long time past there lias been a widespread feeling that the Allies should take measures to call the Bolshevik dictators in Russia to account. That feeling will certainly be intensified by the revelations of the terrible atrocities mentioned in the British "White Book that has recently been made public, while the bringing to light of the secret treaty between the Spartaeists and Bolsheviks for creating Soviets in Germany by means of joint armed forces will still further emphasise the need for putting an end to the menace. The Bolsheviks have not only tortured and foully murdered their own fellow citizens, but have also imprisoned, without trial, and even murdered foreigners, including diplomatic representatives of foreign countries whom it is recognised should be treated as sacred. The raiding of the British Embassy at Petrograd and the murder of Captain Cromie constitute a legitimate casus belli, while the imprisonment* under loathsome conditions, of members of the Bri-

tish and French Diplomatic Corps entitle Britain and France to demand redress for such a gross international outrage, and it is clear this redress cannot be obtained without stern measures Beyond this, the Bolsheviks are adopting aggressive tactics towards the rest of the world. They are ignoring the claim of Esthonia and Poland to separate national existence, and have sent into these countries troops who plunder, burn and massacre wherever they go. It is the duty of the Allies and America to protect the new nations created by the policy of self-determina-tion, so that on both moral and legal grounds the case for intervention is clear, yet intervention is bitterly opposed by certain sections in France and Britain. The experiment of landing troops at Archangel, while fully justified, does not appear to have borne the fruit anticipated, for the simple reason that the scale was too small, and grave fears have been entertained for the safety of the contingent, though latest reports indicate that these troops are more than holding their own, but it is a relief to know that assistance is to be sent. There should be no misconception as to the nature of the Bolshevik programme, which was clearly stated as far back as January, 1918, by Krilenko, the Bolshevik Commander-in-Chief, who said: "We uphold the appeal of the Soviets, and we shall shrftik from nothing, not even from spreading wholesale terror and woe to all who attempt to cross our path. We must not spare our enemies." How that programme has been carried out we know only too well. It is quite clear why the Socialists ally themselves with the cause of Bolshevism. They are more influenced by envy than by the desire to regenerate humanity. The Socialist is a discontented person with an inflated notion of his own importance, and intensely class conscious, but though discontent in certain phases of society may be justifiable and useful, it should be obvious that we cannot build up a new world on a basis of envy and by means of hideous and revolting atrocities that outshame the annals of barbarism. Men inspired by envy are far more eager to wreak vengeance on the elass above them than to benefit the class below. Expression has been given to this feeling in Russia by the wholesale slaughter of the middle and upper classes. Division of the spoil may benefit a few, but not for long, then comes the horror of starvation doubly accentuated by the prodigal waste of confiscated goods and' property. Industries have been nationalised and ceased to be productive. The" workers have been told they can draw their pay regardless of the work they do, and the men who know how to conduct the indus tries have been murdered or imprisoned. Can anyone doubt the results of such methods ? The only possible ending is the absolute destruction of the means of producing the wealth necessary for the' wants of mankind. That, is why Western Europe must defend itself against the advance of doctrines that would lead to world disaster. Already the Bolsheviks are ensnaring the German Spartacists into their net and are confidently counting on winning over millions of Germans whom they expect will soon be suffering from unemployment. Austria and Hunj gary also offer a scope for Bol- | shevik wiles and the specious poison of the plausible orators who proclaim that the troubles of the people come from the action of the rich in stealing the property of the poor. Lenin is described by Dr. Harold Williams, for many years the Petrograd correspondent of the London Daily Chronicle, as one of the ablest men in Europe, who sees in the armistice, the discontent, and general social disturbance caused by the war, a great opportunity which he is cleverly exploiting, without scruples as to the means adopted. Dr. Williams' firm conviction is that if we don't eradicate Bolshev ism it will overwhelm us. Bolshevism is out for world revolution, for the explosion of the whole present form of civilisation, Russia being a mere experimental station and jumping off ground, while the Bolsheviks aim at ad- . vancing through the moral and material wreckage of the great war, and establishing their dictatorship not only at Warsaw, Berlin, Vienna and Budapest, but ultimately in Rome Paris, London and New York. The Socialist scheme of society, as logically in terpreted by the Russian Bolsheviks, involves, first the murder of the intellectual classes who alone are capable of directing industry ; . secondly, the motives which lead to the accumulation of capital; and thirdly, it tells the workers they are entitled to large salaries for pretending to work. Such , doctrines are an outrage on common sense and sanity.