EX-KAISER'S BOAST.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 July 1919, Page 12

EX-KAISER'S BOAST.

N'.'-VT POLICY OF TIIE BIG FOUR (By Dr. Harold Williams.)' Have the Allied leaders at last evolved a Russian policy'; It is hitfd to say. On the one hand we have Mr. Lloyd George's recent assurances that there are to be 110 negotiations with the Bolsheviks and that material support must be given to our friends, Koltchak and Denikcn. riien, almost in the same breath, we are told that the Big 'Four have given to Dr. Nanscnts plan for feeding Russia th'!d' formal consent, under conditions that necessarily involve negotiations, ev.?n though indirectly, with the Bolsheviks, and withdrawing material support from our friends, .Koltchak and Deniken. We, who do not breathe that serene upper air in which apparent contradictions aro reconciled, can only painfully attempt to estimate the elfect of those planetary influences on the terrestrial phenomena before our eyes. CAUSE OF STARVATION.

I am all for feeding Russia. I cannot think without sharp pain of the sufferings of Petrograd and Moscow. When I see the abundance and variety of food in London shops and restaurants I am ashamed to remember .that many of my best friends are starving in Kussia; and I would do anything to break down the horrible ban that prevents th?m, and all despairing Russians, from sharing in the bounty of a still ordered wo-ld. JJut it seems to me that the policy of the Big Four, as outlined in their reply to Dr. Nansen, simply postpones once more, instead of hastening, the day of deliverance. For it is based on the assumption that starvation in Russia is the cause of Bolshevism, ; whereas the exact contrary is the causa ■ -Bolshevism is the cause of starvation. To describe how Bolshevism' has brought the Russian towns to starvation would require a volume. I can only give one or two salient facts. On tlie admission of the Bolsheviks themselves, Soviet Russia, excluding the Ukraine, which has been occupied by the Red Army this year, is capable 01 supplying all the food requirements of the Russian towns. But during the first nine months of IDIH, under the Bolshevik, 0110 million poods (1(1,500 tons) of corn were brought into Petrograd, as compared with four million pocds (06,000 tons) in the corresponding period of 11)17 (before the Bolsheviks). The chief reason fur the failure of supplies is the resolute and growing hostility of the peasants to Soviet methods, coupled with the blind determination of the Bolsheviks to enforce these methods at any cost. Tlie "Izvestia" of the l'ood Supply Commissariat (or Ministry) for December, 1018, states that to overcome the "desperate resistance" of the peasantry to Soviet methods, armed food detachments, to the number of 30,500 bayonets, were formed. The easuaUieaof these food detachments from May to December were 7300.

ATTITUDE OF THE PEASANTRY. The following recent report from the Mot-cow lavcrtia throws light on the attitude of the peasantry. An extraordinary tax of 790.000 roubles was imposed on the district "of Tsarevosanchursk, near the Volga. Of this sum 300,000 was raised and sent to Moscow. Then the pennants revolted and killed over a hundred Bolshevik officials, while the rest lied to .Moscow. The insurgents occupied the town and smashed up I I.e. Communist Club and the houses of members of the Soviet.

Two weeks later -two regiments of "Internationals" Letts, and Chinese, were sent to the district. The revolt was suppressed, 2700 peasants being uliot and 1500 arrested.

That is a typical incident, often repeated. This kind of tiling largely accounts for the starvation of the towns. It must be remembered, fnrthrir, that the Bolsheviks now have possession of the Ukraine, which formerly helped to feed Europe. A r ow Koltchak and Deniken are trying to overthrow the regime that prevents Russia feeding herself in the only natural >vay, and so far they have been encouraged by the Allies. Bud suddenly the. Big Four say: "We will let food into Russia from outside on condition that all hostilities are stopped and that "ilia transfer of troops and military materials to and within the Russian territory be suspended." What does this mean?

"STRATEGICAL POSSIBILITIES. iColtchak's armies are at this moment advancing rapidly from the Urals to the Volga. During the last month one army has advanced over 200 miles westward froin Ufa. Less than another 100 miles will bring it to Samara, on the Volga. Another force is moving almost as rapidly on Kazan, while in the north a third force is within striking'distance of Viatka, now being evacuated by the Bokheviks. The capture of Viatka, coinciding with the opening of the Northern Dvina, would render possible an effective junction between the Siberian Army and Archangel, and the relief of our troops there. At the same time the capture of the Middle Volga by Koltchak would facilitate a junction between the Siberians and Deniken, whose northernmost troops are near Tsaritsyn, on i the Lower Volga. These, in viow of the breakdown of the Rei Army in the East, are the real strategical possibilities of the immediate future. Relief for starving Moscow and Petrograd is in sight—from Russian resources.

; Put at this moment the Big say: ,- No. Stop fighting! Don't go farther. We will buttress up the failing Bolshevik regime by talking through neutral interpreters with Lenin, sending food fro.ll beyond the seas, using up tonnage needed lor Czecho-Slovakia, Servia and Pomnd, and constructing cumbrous international commissions."

it really does not matter very much. Nothing will conic of the scheme, except a certain added bitterness and disillusionment. No one will stop fighting. Tiie Bolsheviks, who caro little enough now for the Russia the.y huvo ruined, will continue their march through Bessaiabia into Koumania, their chosen liignway to Bolshevik Hungary. Hussia will be saved somehow. But what of Europe! And what of the Peace t .