PROPOSED VISIT TO RUSSIA

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21247, 20 August 1934, Page 6

PROPOSED VISIT TO RUSSIA

♦__ EDUCATION BOARD'S ATTITUDE A CHRISTCHLRCH PROTEST A meeting held in the Trades Hall last evening passed the following resolution:— "That this public meeting of Christchurch citizens emphatically protests against the arbitrary action of the Wellington Education Board in refusing leave of absence, without pay, to Mr Max Eiske, to enable him to undertake a first-hand investigation of educational matters in the Soviet Union." The resolution was passed after nn address by Mr Riske, entitled "The Soviet Dictatorship—What Is It?" The meeting was presided over by Mr G. Lawn. The revolution in 1917 occurred when "Russia was weakened by the war, and, with the intervention of foreign powers, chaos resulted, said Mr Riske. The form of government subsequently built up, he maintained, was the only real democracy existing to-day. Ihe Soviets were local committees, elected annually and in close contact with the people, and they could be dissolved at any time. These bodies s >nt delegates to larger congresses, administration, as well t& legislation, was their function, and a permanent bureaucracy was thus avoided. All workers more than 18 years of age could vote; any employers and those living on unearned incomes were debarred from doing so. In a Congress one representative from the industrial workers had as much power as five from the peasants. The authorities, however, hoped gradually to build up a co-operative friendship between town and country on an ultimately equal basis. There was, admittedly, a class rule in Russia at present, said Mr Riske; but, with the gradual elimination of the remaining elements of the old regime, it was hoped to form a society in which equal rights were shared by all. Already the O.G.P.U. was being replaced by elected courts, and everywhere institutions more typical of a stable society were growing up. Any compromise with reactionary groups was, however, impossible. Mr Riske, who is conducting a lecture tour, also gave a lecture on "Women and Children in Soviet Rusria" at the rooms of the Social Discussion Group. Manchester street, on Saturday evening. The lecture, which was illustrated by lantern slides, was under the auspices of the Friends of the Soviet Union.