THE RAND RISING.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 March 1922, Page 5

THE RAND RISING.

GRAVE TROUBLE AVERTED. REVOLUTION ESCAPED. POPULATION NOW QUIET. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Capetown, March 20. General Smuts was cheered by both sides on entering the Assembly. Making a statefnent, he said that when he last spoke in the House practically the whole of the Rand, from one end to the other, except Boysburg an,d a small portion dn the centre of Johannesburg was in the hands of the revolutionaries. He paid a tribute to the prompx action of the Minister for Defence in mobilising the burghers and to the latter’s magnificent organisation. There had been grave danger that the whole | Rand might become the scene of blood--1 shed and murder such as would take one back to the days of the French Revolution. Not till the early hours of Sunday was it possible to change the situation. After that rapid progress was made and, when he left Johannesburg on Friday, the situation was almost as if nothing had happened. The country had escaped a tremendous danger The strike had been submerged by a revolution, as had been admitted by the resolution of the Mine-Workers’ Union dissociating themselves from the revolutionary movement. It was clear that the Trades Union Federation executive were not free agents. Dark influences were in the background. The executive made a fatal mistake in not repudiating the movement as soon as the Council of Action appeared, but they waited till after all this trouble and bloodshed.

The Government had been blamed for not having arrested the revolutionary leaders. There was a time when most of them were in gaol, and. they ought to have remained there, but the magistrates let them out on the flimsiest possible bail. A RED REVOLT. It might be asked \S.iat were the prospects and aims of the revolutionaries. They were clear from statements made by the leaders, who were i really out for a Red revolution of the i French Republic type. ■ There was no ; doubt about that. The fact that im--1 pressed him most was that if these people, even for a few days before the commandos came up, had obtained the mastery of the whole of Johanesburg and the Rand, they might have set up revolutionary tribunals, people might have been executed by hundreds, and Johannesburg changed into an ocean of blood. That was their way to create a Soviet Republic.

■ It might be said that they were mad, but they had a great measure of success. They no doubt expected assistance from* the country and oraer i commandos to come to their assistance. Luckily they were disappointed. One of the most consolatory facts was the response to the Government’s appeal. He hoped that what had happened had cleared the air. Tt would now be realised all over the world that in South Africa, whatever its politics, there was a vast body of quiet, solid public opinion which would support law and order and public authority.

A representative of the Australian Tress Association, during a recent visit to the Rand, endeavored to discover the underlying motives of the insurrection. Investigations were carried out both among the worst ruffians among th© prisoners and the well-to-do sympathisers of the labor cause, Dutch inhabitants, lawyers and financiers of Russian birth. BOLSHEVIK PROPAGANDA. The conclusions arrived at on the whole matter were of a qiost complete character. There was nd doubt that the Bolshevik propaganda, which was openly carried out on the Rand for vears past in Dutch and English, headed chiefly by English extremists, turned the heads of many workers, notably among the illiterate miners of Dutch descent.

The promoters of the upheaval included some Russian Jews, but the great majority were of English birth, with a few Dutch extremists. In the fighting the Dutch were foremost both with regard to leadership and numbers, the English second, the Russians a bad third. There, were several Dutch iaas among the snipers, who considered it sport to pick off passers-by. The rank and file apparently had no clear idea what, object was to be attained. They were told they must fight to keep out’ the natives, also for the worthy object of establishing a republic. They would have big support from the country districts. When the burghers marched into the outskirts of Benoni they were cheered by the strikers, who believed they, had come to their assistance. This military support

was expected chiefly from the Free State, which is overwhelmingly Republican. The rally of the burghers to the Government came as an immense surprise to the revolutionaries. In , the Trades Hall, Johannesburg, used by the Communists, the police found a red robe and two red caps of the same shape as the cap of liberty, worn in the French revolution, also a black skull cap. Tt is surmised the latter was a cap o-f justice, and would have formed part of the vestments of the judge under the Communistic regime.