IN SOVIET SIBERIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 October 1921, Page 12

IN SOVIET SIBERIA.

LAND OF GREAT MISERY. VALUELESS MILLIONS. HUNGER AND CHAOS RIFE. CAMPAIGN OF DESTRUCTION. To have a million roubles in his pocket and not have a bite to eat was the experience of Mr. R. J. Morgan, an Auckland engineer, who was imprisoned by the Bolsheviks in -Siberia and afterwards was employed in the service of the Soviet Government. At a luncheon of the Rotary Club, Mr. Morgan related some of his experiences in Soviet Siberia, and described the chaos which has been brought about by the revolutionaries. The period with which the speaker dealt was 1920, and the early part of the. present year, during which his duties under the Soviet Government required him to travel widely in Siberia and enabled him to observe the deadly work of the administration. Speaking of the question of money values under the new order, Mr. Morgan said the Bolsheviks had always maintained that money was the cause of much social evil, and one of the plants <of their platform was the abolition,of money. Their method of carrying this idea into effect, however, was a gradiud process. Upon coming into power the Bolsheviks issued paper money of their own, at the same time cancelling all money issued by previous Governments. The cancellation of the money of former Governments had been the first lesson in the new system which the peasant »learned. BACK TO SYSTEM OF BARTER. “The peasant realised,” said Mr. Morgan, “that the money in use was only paper, and therefore he refused to accept money for his flour and produce, and this at a time when the whole problem throughout Russia was how to exist. Flour was the principal commodity required by the people for existence', but money could not buy flour. The Soviet tried to compel the peasant to take money in exchange for his produce, but he stolidly refused. Thus the whole population was thrown back to the barbaric system of barter. Some people would offer gold and diamonds, but the peasant did not want gold or diamonds. One would accept nothing for his flour but horses; another would demand fish hooks. The professional man was in a particularly bad plight, because he had no fish hooks—(laughter)—and so he had to go without his flour. Tn this way community life was practically impossible. It was impossible to edrry on anv kind of trade.

“The Bolsheviks said there was no need for money, because there was no need to buy bread, as the whole population had been rationed. Theoretically this was so. The whole population had been registered, divided into different categories, and supplied with food cards, the amount of food being determined by the nature of the work performed. I was given permission to receive each month 251 b of flour, one-eighth of a lb of brick tea, one-quarter of a lb of soap, -and 41b of meat. Only once in nine months did I receive any flour. 1 sometime received the tea and soap, but I never got any meat. Some people would get meat, but perhaps they would have to take the full month's ration at one time. Speaking generally, there was no food in the Soviet stores.” WORK IN NON-PRODUCTIVE CHANNELS. Dealing with the conditions of labor, Mr. Morgan said that everyone medically fit between the ages of 16 and 35 was mobilised for work. “Each one had the right to select the work he was suitable for,” said the speaker, “and the authorities endeavored to give him the work he elected to perform. As it was not possible to get enough food to keep up bodily strength, everycne who could sign his name endeavored to register for a light form of work, clerical for preference. Another consideration which tended to make everyone seek light work was that there were no clothes or hoots in the whole of Russia, and therefore everyone wanted work in which he could save his clothing. “The Soviet paid for labor,” proceeded Mr. Morgan. “Salaries have been down. As an engineer to the Minister for Industries, I got 500(1 roubles a month (nominally .01600). the Minister got 7000 roubles, and the office boy got 1500 roubles. Of course, my salary was so mucli paper. If there had been food in the Soviet stores I would have paid only a few roubles a month for it, but as it was I was thrown on my own resources. With my 5000 roubles I could have bought a glass cut from a bottle, but not a pair of boots, the price of which was 150,000 roubles.

“How did I live? I am asked. By strategy, because I had in the country a little silver money. When I was arrested half of my silver was found and confiscated and also my paper money. The charge against me was that I was suspected of being a spy. and therefore they took my money. (Laughter.)

“In May of 1920,” said Mr. Morgan, “I was in Irkutsk, once a fine city in a land of plenty, and I walked around desperately hungry with a million roubles in my pocket. A friend remarked. ‘Well even if we arc hungry we arc millionaires.’ ” (Laughter.) The speaker then spoke of the plight in which professional men found themselves. “I went to a doctor,” he said, “and asked him what his fee was. He replied ‘a pood and a-half of flour’ (541 b but how could anyone pay In flour?” FACTORIES DELIBERATELY DESTROYED. When the Bolsheviks over-ran Siberia, continued the speaker, they carried out open propaganda urging the destruction of factories, mines, etc., on the ground that as long as works were standing the old owners would cherish the hopti of getting them back again, and to that end would be likely to foment insurrection. Lenin openly encouraged the soldiers to destroy the works of industries, stating that two works would be built where one had existed. Thus throughout Siberia factories essential to the life of the nation were destroyed. Works not destroyed were nationalised. In many cases when works were re-opened the Soviet dispensed with the services o-f the people formerly em- , ployed there, sending incompetents run them, and the result had. been that factories had been still further damaged. One goldmine near Irkutsk continued working for some time after the- Bolshevik occupation. It was nationalised, but the men wore sent no bread. MrMorgan spent some weeks going from ministry-to ministry trying to got bread for them. Finally several hundredweight were promised, but the oats-were

sent and the men then left their work, anti so the last goldmine in the country closed. DISSEMINATION OF FALSE NEWS. “Not only has nothing beer done to repair the transport facilities of Siberia,” said Mr. Morgan, “but a policy of destruction has been carried out except in services required for military purposes. The Bolsheviks argued that to leave means of communication 'throughout the country would be dangerous in view of an insurrection. Thus boats were destroyed and many railways pulled up. “There is no freedom for the press,” he proceeded. “Only Communist papers are allowed to be published. The Bolsheviks say that as they arc establishing a dictatorship of the proletariat they cannot allow papers to be published which would prejudice their policy. The papers are used in cheating the population. They are nothing but a tissue of lies.” He mentioned that in September of yeflr he was In, a town when a paper was published bearing on the title page the name of a town not in Soviet hands, and thousands of copies had been sent east to delude the people,.