Evening Post. THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1927. "IN FIGHTING TRIM!"

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 24, 28 July 1927, Page 10

Evening Post. THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1927. "IN FIGHTING TRIM!"

"The menace of war is real," says M. Voroshiloff, the Soviet War Commissar, "and it will probably start in 1928."^ By that time presumably Britain's plans for the encirclement of Russia will be complete and she will be ready to strike at tlie one Power now standing between her and the' capitalistic tyranny which she has designed for the whole world. It is therefore good news for Russia and for the world that the insatiable Imperialism of Britain will not find her intended victim unprepared, that the storming/of the last stronghold of the proletariat will not be the light work that she imagines. In the bad old days of the Tsars neither the Black Sea nor the Baltic was much' better than, a British lake, and Russia's only retort to the bombardment of Sebastopol was that gallant action off the Dogger Bank about fifty years later in which, mistaking a fleet of British trawlers for a Japanese squadron which had been last heard of in the China seas, a Russian fleet sank one of them, killed two fishermen, and wounded six. It is not clear that- in these days the Red Fleet will ever be able to get as far from its moorings as the Dogger Bank, but the testimony of two competent authorities shows it to be already so desperately efficient that there is no saying to what piich it may not have altamed when the test comes in 1928.

The first of the two warnings which Britain has recently had on this point came from Rear-Admiral Smirnov. His eagle eye had detected the presence of a British squadron in die Baltic, and his quick mind was able to discern at once what it was there for. Its mission was to spy out the naval strength—or could it possibly be the naval weakness?—of Russia. But the apprehension and the indignation with which he observed British seamen at their usual tricks were without the faintest touch of alarm. Great as the peril might be, Rear-Admiral Smirnov knew that the Red Fleet was ready to meet it. Now that ,the Soviet sailors are inured to seasickness, ho informed tho "Pravda," ffio Eod Fleet is ready and take on all-comers, and will dofeud Kronstadt to tlie death. This was some five weeks ago, and we now have an equally reassuring statement from a higher authority. In the same speech in which the Soviet War Commissar was reported yesterday to have predicted the outbreak of war next year, he announced that, on the naval side at any rate, Russia would not be found wanting. Tlie fleet, ho said, was already in fighting trim, but must strive for greater efficiency. Tho fleet wag being augmented for 1928 with a first instalment of four cruisers, threo destroyers, and seven submarines, in order to protect tho Baltic from British raids. It is highly gratifying to know that the Red Fleet is no longer liable to be paralysed by seasickness, that it will be strengthened next year by the addition of fourteen vessels, and that the object is officially proclaimed to be "to protect the Baltic from British raids." After this momentous announcement will Britain proceed with the scrapping programme under consideration at Geneva? She will probably proceed with the proposals if for no other purpose than to lull the Soviet Government's suspicions, but the carrying of them out is of course a different matter. Under her present rulers, however, Russia is not at all likely to be deceived. M. Voroshiloff may rather be relied on to find in British hypocrisy a reason for speeding up his building programme, while the audacious intrusion of that British squadron into the Baltic serves as a constant reminder to Rear-Admiral Smirnov to preserve for his crews by constant practice that immunity from seasickness which he evidently regards as the crowning triumph of Soviet discipline and the conclusive evidence of the Red Fleet's efficiency. The circumstances of M. Voroshiloff's announcement were not less remarkable than its substance.

Goneral meetings of ssamen and commanders of all units wound up the Baltic manoeuvres of the Soviet Navy. The meetings were held on the open soa.

The Riga correspondent of "The Times," who sends this message, has doubtless observed the proper order in putting the seamen first. We may be sure that the Red Navy is just as "class-conscious" as the Red Army and just as insistent on giving the proletariat its due. Though the Trade Union Delegation which visited Russia in 1924 was not privileged to inspect the Red Navy, it is safe to assume that the idyllic picture which they painted of discipline in the Red Army would apply with equal accuracy to the other service.

There is, they said, no trace whatever of that social gulf separating officer and man that is a carefully cultivated characteristic of some other European armies. In' consequence the difference of bearing of the Bed Army man from that of his Western equivalent is most marked. One can see at once that pains have been taken during his training to stimulate intelligence, to develop consciousness of his rights as a human being, and to bring out individuality. All this in sharp contrast to the practice nearer home, and for au exactly contrary reason; in order, namely, to creato a forco consciously ready and eager to defend tho workers, its own fellows, against either outside or inside attack. The members of the Delegation visited various Bed Army barracks and clubs. Tho most noticeable feature was the excellent provision made for education—political, pro-

fessional, and general. . . . The education given in the Red Army is, of course, entirely Communist in character, but there appears to be more freedom for political discussion than is usually considered compatible with Army discipline. . . . Soldiers get two hours a day general education and one hour political. Technical training is not provided, but soldiers can visit factories for instruction. Soldiers are under no restrictions as tc taking part in political and social life.

And so it was to a happy band of brothers in which everybody from an admiral to a seaman was able to mingle on the equal footing of a class-conscious humanity that the Soviet War Commissar propounded his building programme, denounced Britain as the enemy, and declared that she would be running them into war next yearl It is not so that the British Admiralty performs, but in the presence of a force which, in the words of the Trade Union Delegation, is "consciously ready and willing to defend the workers, its own fellows, against either outside or inside attack," what chance have the antiquated British notions of naval discipline and efficiency to prevail?