RUSSIA'S PLIGHT

Evening Star, Issue 18044, 11 August 1922, Page 8

RUSSIA'S PLIGHT

SOVIET RULE AT ODESSA. 11 DISREPUTABLE CONDITIONS." IMPRESSIONS OF A SEA CAPTAIN. Some interesting details o! conditions in Russia under Soviet rule were given to a Southland ‘ Times ’ reporter recently by Captain 11. G. Graggs, master of the .-.teenier Twickenham, which arrived at Bluff on July 27 from the Seychelles Islands to discharge a load'of guano. Last year, after a considerable period of commercial isolation from the rest of the world, the Soviet Government sought to reopen trade with other European countries, and it was as the master of ono of the first two foreign ships to visit Odessa since the allied forces that were supportin'* W ran gel's army evacuated the _ city that Captain Graggs became acquainted with the Black Sea port under Soviet rule. , . - . , . “We found everything m n state ot starvation,” said Captain Graggs. There was no business being done in the town, and the harbor was deserted, the only shipping in sight being old and disabled vessels of the tramp type. 1 lie official rate of exchange fixed by the Bolshevik Government was 120,000 roubles to the English pound, but other people were offering 150,000. although they were liable to bo shot if it was found person had more (imai n certain fixed sura in his possession bis house was liable to be raided and the offender put in prison. ’ All the best houses bad been taken by the Bolsheviks, the capfviu- continued, and the first floors were used os offices. They were in a fearful stale of Tilth. There was no such thing as rent in Russia, and everything was in a disreputable condition. There was very little food in the town, and a loaf of bread coat over 1,000 rouble?, and a pound of meat over 3,000 roubles —when they conic! be gV>t. Even forenoon the people could he seen standing in long rows wailing for the daily ration of black bread. It was the month of September, and fruit was in pretty good supply. with the result that cholera and stomach trouble were prevalent from the quantity in which the unwonted diet was consumed by. the populace. There was no privet* business being conducted in the city. Everyone worked for the Government if lie worked at all. Each person was given a fixed wage, paid partly in paper money and partly in food. The unloading of the two vessels was, undertaken bv the Russian Commissariat for Foreign Trade. All the labor in the town was performed under the direction of soldiers from the Red army, and if a man showed signs of disobedience in the work set him or did not work hard enouph he was immediately shot. No one was allowed on board the two vessels after their arrival unless he had a permit from the Soviet authorities. “ The Soviet Commissariat Department was very desirous of making a good im-pies-ioa on Europe in general and England in particular,” Captain Graggs went on, ‘‘and we were given a splendid despatch and every facility to see the town. The laborer.- worked day and night- and all day Sunday in relays to unload the cargo of coal. There were no dues of any sort, the freight or other charges having been made payable in London beforehand. ’’ . For lunch laborers were given a chunk of black bread and a small tin of sardines little bigger than a match box jand containing six of the little fish. At other limes the ration consisted of lumps of hard dried sausage, which be described as a very different thing indeed from the soft sausage known elsewhere. Captain Graggs stated that he was provided, with two interpreters, t-has bein'* done for the purpose, a.s lie discovered later, of one spying on the other. When business had to be done there were five or six of them. During his visits in-the town lie was driven to the suburbs, where all the houses of the wealthy used to be before tlie days of the revolution. These had been tinned into child houses the Soviet. The idea syas that the State should bring the children up while the parents had to work for them. The scheme was not a popular one. and he was told that no one would let their children go if they could help’ it. He was told that in the homer- the officials did not care for or feed the children properly, and the authorities had considerable difficulty both in getting the children into the 'home- and" in. keeping them .there. He had asked to be-permitted to go inside the homes and see them, but was “ put off ” every time.

lie was allowed, however, to go about the town unaccompanied, but he was told on the quiet that he was being constantly followed by spies, who watched his movements wherever lie went. Some of the people bw met were very decently dressed, ami these. he was told.’ were the favorites of the Communists, and had been given all the best houses to live in.

When leaving the captain was asked if he had any complaints, and before the boat left he was asked' if he would accept a present. He said he had no objection to tiiis, but he did not want any paper money. This did not seem to please the officials when it was translated to them, but later he was sent a beautiful Persian enrpei, and the officers, the chief engineer, and the steward were presented with some splendid furs. These things had been looted from the stores, and the Custom-house was full of such stuff, which the Bolsheviks intended to sell when trade was reopened. At that time there was no export or import trade of any description—not since the Allk% had left Odessa, in fact.

At the conclusion of the conversation the captain produced a roll of paper currency, all the notes being of large denomination, remarking with a smite that but for the war and the consequent depreciation of the rouble such a quantity of currency would have made him rich beyond dreams.