AMONG THE BOLSHEVIKS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3128, 31 July 1922, Page 8

AMONG THE BOLSHEVIKS.

Personal experiences and 'knowledge of Bolshevik Russia! and the' effects ol Soviet Government upon civilisation were related by Mr M. W. Bidwell, It’.G.KS., in an address at the Auckland Rotary Club luncheon on Monday. Mr Bidwell is an ex-Aucklander who has spent a considerable time in Russia since the revolution. He was a member of the British Military Mission that visited Russia to act in an advisory capacity to the ill-fated Loyalist leaders. Admiral Koltchak and General Deniken, and he also took part in the task of tracking the "requisition” of about £4.000,000 worth of British goods, of which only about £500.000 worth was- recovered. Tile massacre of the Tsar and the Romanoff family at Ekaterinburg was the first of the "atrocities mentioned by Mr Bidwell. That massacre was apparently deemed a creditable thing, foi there was n man walking the streets of Chita to-day who boasted that he was responsible for the Tsar’s death. There had been many ((Uestions raised doubting the report of the massacre of the Romanoffs, but the testimony of the tutor of the Tsar’s children appeared to lie conclusive. "I was in Irkutsk,” continued the speaker, "when the Bolsheviks came into the town. It is said that the Bolsheviks arc not brutal. They had captured about gOO prisoners from the ranks of the White Army and had them lined up near the steps to the basement of the railway station. The Bolsheviks put 12 prisoners at a time auainst a wall and shot them down. The fate of each batch was witnessed by the succeeding batch, and eventually a panic ensued. The terrified prisoner.- rushed down the stairs, only to be shot in cold blood. I bad photographs of the scene, but the Bolshevik-, took them. But I personally saw the blood running down the steps.” The (|iicstion of the nationalisation of Russian women was not discussed by Mr Bidwell. who said it had been denied time and again by the Bolsheviks. His answer to the denials was the evidence of Ids own eyes. At Irkutsk he saw the proclamation posted up at the railway station. Women bad come to Hie British mission begging for protection against the ltdsiloviks. He cited the experiences of (be sister of a, Russian friend of Ids who was living in Betrograd. A large sum of money was demanded before she would be allowed to leave the city. Tim money was sent, but what became of it was a mystery. In !)!) cases out of |()() money never got' to tbo person in whom it was sent. That had been going on for three years. The lady's pay for two or three years was lib ot potatoes and a cabbage per flay. She now gut g()() roubles a month. The lecturer then recounted Ids experiences on arrival at 5 ladivostock in 1020. when he was sent to recover (lie missing British goods. He made it, clear that bribery and corruption are prevalent among the Bolsheviks. With' vivid detail the speaker related the massacre of women by vodka parties maddened bv drink, and referred in

particular to tho abominable murder M of the wife and daughters of Baron VI Ungcin, a Cossack, who witnessed their i, awful torture and death. Every possible crime was committed against them, and the baron sought revenge with such vigor as to become known as the “mad baron.” He resolved to destroy every Russian Jew Bolshevik he could, and killed thousands before his capture last December. Mr Bidwell next described the plight and sufferings of thousands of Russian refugees who arrived at Constantinople while he was there. Forty vessels brought them out from Russia- under the French flag. It was impossible to describe their sufferings, which were beyond imagination. It wa« ridiculous to suggest that those refugees were fleeing from a good Government. He proceeded to recount the depreciation of the rouble —on one occasion he paidl for a dinner 258,000 roubles, equal to £26,000 in normal value and the wanton destruction of oil wells and pipe-lines at Baku by the Bolsheviks. Each Bolshevik rouble bore the slogan “Workers of the World. Unite!” “There is a lot of talk about tho suffering of the Russians,” continued Mr Bidwcll. “There is no question about what they are suffering. I have a tremendous admiration for the people of Russia. The Bolsheviks are not in the majority. They arc simply ruled by Russian Jews who have no loyalty to their own country. It is absurd to suggest that there is any similarity between the Bolshevik revolution and the French Revolution. Every Bolshevik is working for his own pocket. How the Bolsheviks first took the land from the peasants, and then forced them to surrender 40 per cent, of its yield to the Bolshevik Government, was then outlined. The result, said Mr IHdwell. was that the peasants refused to fully work their land. Thus suffering was widespread, hut Russia was one of the wealthiest countries in .the world as regards resources. As regards relief sent to the British Army in Russia, a great deal of tho goods never reached them. What Russia needed was good government. The next phase of the lecture dealt with Bolshevik propaganda in India and Palestine, where Russian Jews were spreading the doctrine of Bolshevism among the people. The Arabs today hated Britain as they had never hated her before. That was entirely through Bolshevik propaganda. He thought it would have been better if Mr IJoyd George had stood up for the Turk rather than for the Bolshevik, it- seemed to the speaker that the more "c tried to do for Bolshevik Russia the more we would rob ourselves of comfort, as long as the present Government ruled Russia. When a different Government came in. then it was our duty to do everything possible for the people of Russia.