Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 1930. CONDITIONS IN RUSSIA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 155, 12 April 1930, Page 6

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 1930. CONDITIONS IN RUSSIA.

The official explanation of the Soviet’s “invitation” to certain .Russians now in Britain to return to their native country is another example of the ruthless methods adopted hy the rulers of that unhappy land. The penalty which threatens those who linger in Britain more than seven days is iiability to be outlawed, with confiscation of their property, and the final irremediable fate of' being executed by shooting within . twenty-four hours of identification. In his explanation, the Soviet Consul-General in London does not attempt to minimise the nature of the penalty, but contents himself by affirming that those concerned are well aware of the consequences of ignoring or disobeying the “invitation.” With the previous history of Soviet rule before the mind, there ■is no room for doubt that the rigorous treatment threatened would be inflicted without compunction.' The recent revelations regarding the persecution of Christians puts any such doubt out of the question. Kerensky says that two thousand churches were closed last year, and on the authority of a high .Russian ecclesiastic it, has been asserted that thirty-one bishops, 1560 clergy and 7000 monks and nuns have been put to death by the Government in his country. In the suppression of' suspected anti-revolu-tionaries the same ruthlessness is displayed. The secret police are £ver active, and executions by the fifty after secret trial are not unknown. It is not difficult to understand that under such a harsh administration and in face of such iron discipline Russian people are anxious to appear amenable to the domination of their Red rulers and that it is almost impossible to get the truth about Russia from Russians themselves. One fact that may be accepted, however, is that Soviet Russia is not as “united” as the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party, which really governs the country, would like outsiders to believe. The propaganda which asserts that “in the Capitalist Camp reign national hostility, inequality, and suppression, in the Socialist: Camp are peace, national freedom, equality, and co-opera-tion,” is sadly belied by the tragedy that has been enacted in connection with religion, even if the reports be regarded as overstating the case. Of itself, however, the latest example of State discipline, authenticated by no less an authority than the Soviet Consul-General, would show that the protestations of wellbeing are not based on fact.