CONDITIONS IN PETROGRAD.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 June 1919, Page 12

CONDITIONS IN PETROGRAD.

A VAST NECROPOLIS. An interesting account of conditions in Russia it' given by M. Odier, late Swiss Minister at. Petrograd, whose exertions on behalf of the nationals of other countries in Russia have called forth widespread gratitude. The situation in Russia is even worse than has been described, he said. Some 300 Bolshevik leaders dominate the country, with famine as their chief weapon. The little food" that is brought to the towns by peasants is seized by Bolshevik gangs waiting at the railway stations, who destroy what they do not want. They will, for instance, deliberately smash hundreds of eggs on the pavement. The lack of fuel is; also terrible. Petrograd is one vast necropolis. The streets are deserted. Bodies lie about unburied. Lenin himself lives iu the lap of luxury, and fares sumptuously. M. against massacres. Zincvieff made the on the occasion of an official protest against massacres. Zinovieffff made the frequent Bolshevik answer: "The bourgeois we kill will never be as numerous as the soldiers dead on the field of battle." Money is falling into disuse, for the peasants prefer to barter goods. The socalled "Kerensky notes" arc sold in bagsfull by weight. The people are sunk in apathy, but earnestly desire outside intervention, and were filled with despair when the Entente did not come to their rescue. Tho Bolshevik Army is well fed and well paid. Lenin's bodyguard is formed of Letts. There are very many Chin' f eso in the Bolshevik Army, and these mand payment in advance, and double pay when fighting. They are not good soldiers, and M. Odier considers that a small well-organised force could make headway against much larger numbers of Bolsheviks, especially as it would have the support and sympathy of the ij&eopje.