UNITY & DEVOTION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 July 1942, Page 3

UNITY & DEVOTION

VIEWPOINT OF THE SOVIET PEOPLE LOVE FOR FATHERLAND. ADDRESS BY MISS LISSIENKO. The Soviet viewpoint was put forward by Miss Inna Lissienko, a gifted speaker, when she gave a short address at a dance held in the Municipal Hall, Masterton, last night. Miss Lissienko, who is a Soviet citizen, is the Russian representative on the Slavonic Council in New Zealand. In presenting the viewpoint of the. Soviet people, in an effort to get the British to understand them, Miss Lissienko said that many queer ideas were prevalent in foreign countries about the conditions of life and the actual character of the Soviet people. During the past year, the Soviet people had shown by their unity and by their devotion to their Socialistic Fatherland and the leader, Stalin, how ridiculous all those beliefs were. They loved their Fatherland so selflessly because every man, woman and child in the country had unbounded opportunities for education, work and a happy life, and because they had created it with their own blood and suffering. They had made it flourishing and something really to be proud of. They swore to crush and destroy everybody who ever dared to threaten the peaceful and happy life of their Fatherland. The great struggle of the Soviet people was actuated by unbounded love for their country and their iron will for victory, which inspired the mass heroism of fighters on the front and of workers in the rear. The Soviet people, said Miss Lissienko, had learned to become selfless during the 25 years in which they had built their Fatherland. They had learned that the happiness of society at large and the happiness of their country was the only worthy and real ideal. It was that ideal which welded so many different nationalities in the Soviet Union into one united, happy family, the whole of which arose as one to defend their land against. Fascism, not sparing their strength or life. That selfless unity and co-operation was necessary not only in the Soviet Union but throughout the Allied nations, because German Fascism was their common enemy and it was with their common efforts that they must defeat it. That was why material help in the way of munitions alone was not sufficient, but a second front in Europe must be opened and opened immediately. This second European front would serve as a basis of peaceful construction and cooperation of the British and Soviet people on the lines provided by the Anglo-Soviet Alliance and it would ensure their common victory in 1942. The dance was organised by the Masterton branch of the Slavonic Council under the direction of Mr G. Radovonovish, of Masterton. There was a large attendance of the public and decorating the stage were the flags of many United Nations, including those of the Soviet, Great Britain, America, Poland, Yugoslavia and New Zealand. The music was supplied by Barnes’s Orchestra and a ladies’ committee attended to the supper arrangements.

Miss Lissienko was presented with a bouquet. Songs were contributed by Misses M. Fulton, Waireka Nini and Hira Tauwhera.