KEPT A PRISONER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 279, 7 September 1935, Page 6

KEPT A PRISONER.

ENGLISH BOY IN RUSSIA. A remarkable story of his life in Russia and of being kept virtually a prisoner for 14 years was told in London recently by a young man who lias just returned to England. He is Mr Robert Greenfield, of Perivale, who has been a member of the Young Communists’ League, an officer in the Red Army cavalry, arrested as a spy, and tried for his life. Taken to Russia by his parents in 1921 when he was a boy of 14, Mr Greenfield found that it was impossible if or him to leave the country, says the “Sunday Chronicle.” “It has taken me- 14 years to get ou,t of Russia,” ho told an interviewer, “and during the whole of that time I have outwardly, at any rate, been as ardent a Communist as anyone. But my one idea was to get out and, once out, never to return. “When we first went to Russia conditions were almost unbelievable. Food was so' scarce that a pound of bread was worth thousands of roubles. Clothes were unobtainable, and people dressed in vermin-infested sacks. “Our. month’s rations were of black bread, 2oz of tea, and 61b of salt hearings. Butter was so hard to get that 1 exchanged a valuable gold fountain pen for a pound of rancid butter. If you saw anyone wearing decent clothes you could be certain that they had been looted from large houses. The police did nothing to stop this looting. “No one dared to speak against the revolutionary party. People kept their mouths shut through fear of the execution squad at Peter Paul’s fort. “There was no compulsory education. Children pleased themselves. We had to live like cattle until I joined the Young Communists’ League. Then things changed as if by magic. “I was given good educational facilities which enabled me, after giving a false age, to get a commission in the Red Army cavalry. Life then became n bed of l oses. I bad as much food as I wanted. My people got an extra allowance. “Most of my colleagues were muchmarried men. It cost 4s to get married and 4s to get divorced, and either party can divorce the other three weeks after the marriage on political or temperamental grounds. “I did not get married myself- because: I disliked the system and always hoped for tbe time when I. could get out of the country. Finally, I summoned up enough courage to apply for my British passport. I was instantly thrown into gaol and accused of being a spy.

“My life hung on a thread. After months of uncertainty and rough usage in prison I managed to- convince tbe authorities that I was not a spy. I was released on condition I left Russia for ever.”