ENVIOUS EYES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 50, 1 March 1937, Page 3

ENVIOUS EYES

CAST ON THE UKRAINE

A VERY RICH TERRITORY

GERMANY'S DESIRE

"If I had ,the Ukraine,.:with its ,trer mendous wealth, -Germany ;would s>vim in;plenty.'#Serr/::imUer:)in:.hte>pee i cH at the Nuremburg, Rally ■•lastb September.;'. ;,'' 'Vy , '.[. ■■■'■'■:''■'■';".[:- " ..:• ." ~v';:;: ' " :'■■

A' month after Hitler, in the presence of 100,000 Nazis, delivered -an amazing speech against --Russia, ..the above-quoted sentence, -the GermanJapanese Pact: was signed (says1 ■ a writer in the Melbourne' "Age")1. ;;But even 'before ■ this. rthe : politically-edu-cated: world had. heard a greatsde'al of Hitler's/designs on Russia.: ■ In; his famous book,! "Mem Kampf," he said: "When we are1 talking of the heed; for more German room,-in,Europe we can in the first "place 'think"only; of Russia and the border States'.dependent upon her." ".-. . .'■'' "'": .' ','-.' ..";-'', .';V "

■Hitler, according to several competent political .observers, places-his designs under the banner of a world j anti-Socialist: crusade; but. the basic ' policy is by no means new. Before the' Great War •Germany, and Austria1 were busy supporting a movement to detach the'Ukraine-from Russia, when the only Socialists Russia could boast j of were ,in gaol. The policy of the' old Imperial German Government is apparently being put into operation by Hitler with remarkable fidelity. There is the same desire to detach ■ France from her alliance with Russia; to drive a wedge between Britain and , France; to obtain a foothold in Morocco, thus menacing Britain's trade ] routes to Australia and India; to estab- j lish submarine, bases off the Spanish coast, and to ferment rebellion in Spam, with the object of obtaining certain minerals found there :which are necessary to German munition factories. THE NEAREST PROVINCE. The Ukraine is the nearest and richest Russian province. In area it is as large as Germany, and it contains a population; of ;over 30,000,000, which is half, that of Germany, equal to that of Poland, and nearly one-sixth of that of all Russia. The-famous Donetz Basin produces -75 per cent, of Russia's entire coal. Last year the Donbas mine alone produced -73,000,000 tons of coal, and- the Ukrainian metallurgical industry turned out over 11,000,000 tons of pig iron, and 7,000,000 tons of steel, which was in excess of the entire iron and steel production of Germany. The Dnieperpetrovsk plant ajone smelted twice as'much pig iron as the entire metallurgical industry in Poland. These figures are pertinent as Germany's most frantic efforts are being devoted to obtaining iron ore in any part of the world possible. The Ukraine is first in the production of electricity,- and at Dnieperstroi an aluminium plant produces more aluminium than the-whole of France, while nearby " are enormous manganese works, both these metals being essential for the manufacture .61 aeroplanes.

.The Ukraine is the greatest and most fertile iplain .> in, the; .wbrl'd.".?.; It -,is ■ * the principal:granary,,iii Russia;}and:>vvhen; one considers thatjlastfyear's [ Russian harvest yielded';-the'2 gigantic:■'total;,of 5,320,000,000.■ bushels of.;grain;: '(very, little -of .which; is; : exported),;-or' ■ aboii^: seventeen'tinies as'iniich1 as' Australia's harvest,; sbme'-idea-may be; gained;!of the lure ■•which/the; ;',trkraine: ;h'as:; for Germany^- especially M^ 'bnlyj a;. smallipart':of i 'Russia^v:Last;year's;.har-;' 'vest iin:';the rl ;,iJkratnei: s:-: amounted;''S.>.tO 850,000,600; bushels ; ;dfils wheat.," from 50,00ft00pt acres,■■; or ■■• seventeen' ■'.bushels1. to.the-acre,: compared.-.with only:,eight: b'ushelsvtb'itheiacfeiinithe.-time of ithe. Tsar.*-■'■:'',/:;y;ivj \n:;^.?;i:<-;:}'- :/:;'■; ■/■^'^:: .' : RICHER THAN;GERMANY.V' ';■",.', In the/"combined, wealth of;- ; "its mineral, and-agricultural : :sourcesfrthe

Ukraine is far richer than Germany. Its less important products include huge quantities of cotton, grapes, tobacco, maize, salt, sugar, Umber, fruit, and cattle. Its capital, Kiev, contains enormous factories which manufacture almost any thing, one could think of in.secondary industries, from typewriters and tractors, to aeroplanes and locomotives. And' beyond the Ukraine is the Caucasus ' wlych,' next to the' United States, is the greatest oil-producing region of the world; and beyond that again the various gold-producing centres of Russia which last year brought forth £70,000,000 of this yellow metal—still important to all nations,. buy never more so than in time of war. ' Many attempts have , been' made to subjugate the Ukraine in' the' past. Beiore the revolution a handful' of Polish land owners' possessed-1 huge "stretches of the best Ukrainian '.land., while the Tsar, in an endeavour to Russianise the Ukrainians, denied-them autonomy and the right to speak their own language/which is different-from Russian. During the war their 'towns and villages were burned and plundered by the Germans, and after the latter were driven out, the Ukraine became a battlefield of the civil.war. General Denikin, with his anti^Red.army, occupied the country in February, 1919, with' the help of French troops. " The old land owners" were restored. In April a Socialist Republic was proclaimed. The French forces intervened,"but most of the' French troops mutinied, and refused to fight the peasants,, and in December the Red Army .occupied Kiev. In 1320, however, P.oland invaded the Ukraine, and occupied Kiev. The Polish army was aided by General Wrangel, whn had succeeded General Denikin. The Red .Army, however, under Voroshilov (now commander of the entire Russian army) defeated the Poles, and drove • them back to -the very gates oT Warsaw; Wrangel was driven out of the Crimea, and at last the Ukraine was. free of ;all foreign intervention. MEASURE OF AUTONOMY. Under the Socialist regime during the last sixteen years the Ukraine, Republic has enjoyed a'large measure of autonomy, and has developed-its own culture. In 1828 I,796,ooo.children attended schools; the number is now 4,223,000. and in the last four years-2000 schools have been built in the collective farms. Over 8000 agricultural laboratories have been established, and 1250 maternity hospitals were organised in the collective farms of 'the Ukraine in 1935. There are more students in the Ukraine enjoying higher-education than there are/in the wbc.ie,-of'Ger-many. ' Last year 25,000 • medical students passed out of the universities in the Ukraine, while over 50,000 passed out of the', agricultural colleges; and 98,000 applications were received' for training as air pilots. Although the Ukraine is today one of the most prosperous and contented of the Republics of the Union, this happy state of affairs has only been achieved as the result of considerable modification and Liberalisation of the Soviet doctrine. Many peasants are allowed to possess small holdings of their own, and if the central Government made a slight strategic retreat from its doctrine it was a retreat which brought victory.- In the event of war the Ukrainians are more formidable than they'were when they drove, out Poles, Germans, and others'at the "end of the last war, and at- a time' when they were weak. It should also.be remembered that Germany and Russia have no common frontier. In the south Rumania, in the centre Poland,'and in the north the (border States-of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia stand in the way. All of them at present are more favourable to Russia than Germany, as they realise that Russia, with* her 9,000,000 square miles of territory, desires no more; but Germany, by organising the Fascist- Internationale, is making frantic efforts to,, effect changes of Governments in-those countries which would be.more favourable to German aims. ' Finland recently celebrated the seventy-fifth birthday of'thepresident of the Republic, Dr. Svinhufvud,. as a national festival.