REPORT ON RUSSIA

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 152, 29 June 1945, Page 5

REPORT ON RUSSIA

OFFICIAL DENIAL

Statements Attributed To Australian Minister

N.Z. Press Association—Copyright Rec. noon. CANBERRA, this day. Reports, purporting to convey some impressions of Russia" by the Australian Minister to the Soviet Union, Mr. J. J. Maloney, were inaccurate, said the acting-Minister of External Affairs, Mr. Makin. referring to statements published in Australian papers. The report could only cause embarrassment to Mr. Maloney in his mission, the Minister added. Ihey would also harm Australia's international relations. In pursuance of his duties Mr. Maloney had made reports to the Commonwealth Government on his mission in the boyiet Union. it was not in accord with diplomatic practice that these should be published, but he had no hesitation in .paying tribute to Mr. Maloney's fair and ■ dispassionate observations, a feature of which had been a picture of the splendid achievements of the Soviet during th e war against Germany. Mr. Makin said reports that a protest had been received from the soviet Legation in Canberra about the matter were untrue. Relations are strained « between the Soviet Legation in Australia and the Commonwealth Government, states • the Sydney Sun's political correspondent, in an earlier report from Canberra. This is due to the publication of views highly critical of the Soviet, alleged to have been expressed by the Australian Minister to Russia, Mr. Maloney, during a recent visit to Australia. The Soviet Legation, says the Sun writer, is understood to have protested to the External Affairs Department, and to have asked for an explanation. Mr. Maloney gave a private address to members of the Federal Parliamentary Labour party during his stay in Canberra and it has been reported that the opinions which he expressed on Russia were not favourable. New Aristocracy The Sun correspondent says he told the meeting that the Russians had created a new aristocracy, in so far that Communist party members and high-ranking technicians were treated • infinitely better than ordinary workers. In Russian restaurants, five types of ration tickets were used, dependent not only upon the type of work done, but also upon the ticketholder's standing with the Communist party. Thus class distinction was as rigorous as in Czarist Russia.

Black marketing went on without disguise in Government-controlled stores. This meant that those in high positions could secure anything they wanted because they commanded money, while the ordinary worker had to go without. It is understood Mr. Maloney also made a critical report on the trade union movement in Russia.

Earlier, Mr. Lang's newspaper Century claimed that, in conversations with old Trades Hall friends, Mr. Maloney revealed many detrimental aspects of the Russian system. The paper criticised the failure of the Federal Government to table Mr. Maloney's reports, and added: "His views on the living conditions of the Soviet masses, as compared with the living conditions of those higher up, would make interesting reading for any Australasian Council of Trades Unions Co.ngress. (Communist-influenced militants recently gained control of the council, Australia's major trade organisation.)

Political Censorship Mr. Maloney's reported criticism included matters of political censorship, alleged discourtesies to foreign diplomats, and failure to permit the Russian wives of Australians to leave their native land. Century says that Mr. Maloney made the following remark to an Australian trade union colleague: "Well, I thought things were bad enough in India when- I passed through there, but I really believe things are much worse in Russia for the average worker."

The Sun's political correspondent says that the Commonwealth Government is having difficulty in phrasing a reply to the Russian .Legation's complaint.

Mr. Maloney went to Moscow in December, 1943, and has just returned there after a furlough spent in Australia.

Born in 1901, Mr. Maloney became a prominent trades union leader. At the time of his appointment as Australian Minister to Moscow in November, 1943, he was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, and president of the New South Wales Trades and Labour Council.