TORTURE IN RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 March 1920, Page 3

TORTURE IN RUSSIA.

. BOLSHEVIK "HATRED OP CHRISTIANITY." SMUGGLED LETTER. Extraordinary evidence as to the state 01 Russia under the Bolsheviks and their persecution of religion is contained in a remarkable article by Prince Eugene Troubetslcoy, one of the most famous Russian reformers and Professor of Law in Moscow University, which appears in the January HAlbert Journal-, Thearticle was smuggled out of Russia, where the prince is in hiding, and, having been ''immersed in some fluid," a. pai-t of it is illegible—where the readings are conjectural brackets are employed. It gives the account of an eyewitness. _ "One of the most striking characteristics of Bolshevism," Prince Troubetskoy says, "is its pronounced hatred of religion, and of Christianity moSt of all. To the Bolshevik, Christianity is not merely the (theory) of a mode of life different from his own; it is an enemy to be persecuted and wiped out of existence. "The state of things is becoming Insupportable for the masses. In the country there are fresh outbreaks every day. The peasant, realising that he has been tricked by empty promises, becomes ferocious and kills'the Bolshevik officers. These functionaries are sometimes burnt alive or buried alive. These revolts are ruthlessly repressed. Thousands are hanged or shot; blood is being shed like water. "Villages are burnt ten or a dozen at a time. Meantime the popular hatred of the Bolsheviks rises every day. No Booner is the fire stamped out in one pWce than it breaks forth in another. "I am acquainted with provinces in Russia where the number of priests assassinated amounts to 10 per cent, of their total number. The Bolsheviks have not been content to kill them; they have torn out the eye 3 of some, they have cut out the tongues of others; arid thev have even crucified them. In Perm, before killing a bishop they tore out his eyes and cut off his cheeks; they then had him exhibited in the streets. "The endeavors of the Bolsheviks to 'annihilate' religion and suffocate the Church have produced exaetlv the opposite effect. The minds of'the Russian people have been profoundly impressed by the co-incidence of national disaster with the triumph of irreligion They, see that hitherto tne existence of social life has. depended entirely on the religious bond. The Bolsheviks have given them a demonstration that irreligion (erected into a principle) ends in bestiality." The simple peasants say: "We have forgotten Ocd and become wild beasts That is the sole cause of our misery." He states (hat a great religious movement is developing against the Bolshevik ,'. "The Bolsheviks are fully aware of the danger confronting them and are determined to prevent it gathering head. Religion is being persecuted on a scale ami with a ferocity without precedent in history." _ Kotwithstanding the persecution, -'rientlly relations between the "classes" are growing. "The growth of ,-< national unity which shall include all classes is feared by the Bolsheviks before everything else. Russia, is being brought back to life by the hlooa of her martyrs.'' A moving account is given of the heroism of Archbishop Tikhon, who is now claimed by the Bolsheviks, falsely it wiinM seem, as deprecating resistance (o (hem. He wrote to Lenin a. letter telling them "that their deeds were one long series of crimes, treachery, brigandage, murder, abolition of law. He ended the letter bv a solemn warning that those who took the sword would perish by the sword." Warned that, his death' was probable, he replied: "I am ready to die at any moment." And he refused to '.idfi himself.