THE TREASON TRIALS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22345, 8 March 1938, Page 8

THE TREASON TRIALS

10 TU)3 BDITOB OK THE TRUSS. «?ir—ln the interests of truth I , ,i'7like to draw the attention of should like to or* has be(jn your readers to ne £ " fet t sabotage SETTn the l Soviet Union, which is trial in im. **...= SOU rce and abSuteg 1 f r U el ho from IV political motive, ihorpore can be taken as irrefutable Recently the "Saturday Evenfj£ Post "which is a responsible and widfly known conservative weekly, Published a series of articles by an about the nros and cons of Communism or poliFirs%enerX and was only interested n the technical side of the matter After describing the development of in the Soviet Umon he S npq on to give the cases of sabotage, both petty and large scale, which he metwiSand personally corroborates the confessions made in the TrotskyM. trials by Pyatakov. Vice-Commissai of HelvY Industry, because he was the technical expert attached .to the denutation led by Pyatakov in Germany to the purchase mining: machmery. where he schemed with Sedov Tiotsky in collaboration with certain Geiman firms to rob the Soviet Government of tt to finance the Trotskyist organisation in the Soviet Union. Some extracts from Mr article are interesting. "I watch with special interest for names, which, to me often represent acquaintances of Eng standing! For 10 years I worked alongside some of the many recently shot imprisoned, or exiled in Russia as wreckers. Some of my friends have asked me whether or not I believe these men are guilty as chareed. I have not hesitated a moment in replying that I believe most of them are guilty. "Solely on the basis of my own experiences, I can testify that industrial sabotage is commonplace in Soviet Russia It often bears strong evidence of being directed and organised in high places. I have come across indisputable proof of deliberate sabotage on numerous occasions. Some 01 this appeared to be petty and unorganised, but some could hardly have been possible without the participation of important Communist managers. , "I hadn't worked many weeks in Russia be'fore I encountered unquestionable instances of deliberate and malicious wrecking. "My own experiences made me suspicious of a number of Communist industrial leaders years before the present round-up of Communist conspirators started in the middle of 1936. I have seen with my own eyes what a Communist wrecker in high places can do.

"I have had some close contacts over a period of years, with several of the Communist leaders who were executed or imprisoned in 1936 and 1937, after confessing that they had organised a gigantic conspiracy to wreck Soviat industry. I am convinced, from my own experience, that these Communists made genuine confessions —at least so far as their statements applied to industrial sabotage."— Yours, etc.. S. H. BECK. Rangiora, March 2, 1938.

TO TBLE EDITOK OV THE PBESS.

Sir.—The latest bundle of Stalin's victims is on the road to the scrap heap, and it looks as if his major purgings have come to their end. It is significant that Bukharin and Rykov are in the list as traitors and Trotskyites, self-confessed and self-flagellated. When Lenin died the members of the Politbouro, the governing organ of the State-ruling Communist Party, were: Trotsky, Stalin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Rykov, Bukharin, and Tomsky. These men were the rivals of Stalin, the man Lenin had characterised in a shattering phrase "too brutal arid too disloyal." To-day where Eire they? First Stalin set out after the brilliant Trotsky, and making a bloc with Zinoviev and Kamenev he drove his most dangerous opponent out of office and into exile. Tomsky was then harried persistently and committed suicide. Later came the turn of Zinoviev and Kamenev, who were shot. And now Bukharin and Rykov appear to be headed for the executioner's revolver. Stalin remains.

In place of these colleagues of Lenin, Stalin has placed in the Politbouro two types: political nonentities, like Molotov, or men who, not having been prominent in the revolution, owe their careers to him. The old intellectuals have been removed and Stalin's satellites in the Politbouro are, like himself, men who have had scant formal education or who speak no language other than Russian. The brutal and disloyal servant of Lenin has completed his job—Lenin's colleagues have been removed.—Yours, etc., JAPE. March 7, 1938.