Stalin’s “million hostages”

Press, 6 March 1978, Page 16

Stalin’s “million hostages”

Sir, — The truth of the murders of countless repatriated Russians by Stalin, is finally out. What other “con- ' spiracies of silence” remain hidden? Are communist atrocities and the complete denial of all human rights in communist and communistaligned nations being played down and even ignored bv much of our news media? If so, why? Why did the Biko case deserve countless dozen column inches of coverage, while the arrest and holding without trial of leading Soviet dissidents receive nothing more than brief mentions and no investigative journalism? Today a Tanzanian Bishop makes news with a statement on black Rhodesians being “forced to fight.” Anyone knowing the nature of that war knows this to be impossible. So why print such obvious and unsubstantiated untruths? Such space could be better employed exposing the real repressions such as those occurring in the one-party “socialist” dictatorship of Tanzania and its close neighbours. — Yours, etc., E. SUTHERLAND. March 3, 1978. Sir, — Were M. Creel better informed on Soviet history he would know that the butchering of Russians repatriated from Europe between 1944 and 1947 was among the crimes Khrushchev sheeted home to Stalin in his celebrated denunciation of the tyrant in 1956. By referring to these "victims of Yalta” as traitors — notwithstanding that many of them were, as your article today notes, “loyal Soviet soldiers who had won decorations for valour before falling into German hands” — M. Creel identifies himself with Stalinism, a risky step for someone who strives so hard to keep in the Kremlin’s good graces. Of course, I appreciate the difficulty of keeping up with the Soviet power play. Perhaps M. Creel could reingratiate himself by advancing a convincing explanation for the political demise of Alexei Kosygin, whose praises he sang so loudly a couple of years ago. ' — Yours, etc., GRAHAM RHIND. March 3, 1978.