RUSSIANS IN EXILE

Evening Star, Issue 18714, 16 August 1924, Page 15

RUSSIANS IN EXILE

RECOGNITION AND ITS PRICE. A COLONY IN NOME. What is to become of tho 3,000,000 Russian exiles who are so great a feature of Continental capitals to-day (writes correspondent of the London ‘ Times ’). Th e y are the cultural flower of the nation whose tyrants have cast thorn out. In some cases, no doubt, poverty nostalgia will drive them to return to Russia and ta,kc service under the Bolshevists. Many have done so already, and have thereby earned tire undying contempt of those still in exile. Yet the call of Russia is immensely strong even to those whr most hate her in Bolshevist garb. The faintest rumor of better conditions and more reasonable government is sufficient to raise in countless breasts the question. “Shall I go back?” For tho early blind confidence of the speedy collapse of tho oppressor has faded into saddened hopes. No Russian will ever avow that this desired consummation is more than _a few weeks off, but the manner of their professed optimism betrays that not one oi them really thinks that it is possible tr upset the Bolshevists from outside. _ From time to time parties meet in the houso of nno of their number and talk over prodigious plans with realistic fervor, but it is only play to keep up courage. Occasionally one meets a fanatic who de dares with flaming eyes that tho Tsar n not dead, but waiting his hour in tlu wilds of Siberia, or living in tho disgui? l of a hermit among those who aro stil his people. But this is a tapestry of tlu mind woven to veil tho horror of thi bloody room of Ekaterinburg. Quito frequently there are cases of men and worner with great names living carelessly in tin old style in the certainty that in the neai future dividends will bo paid again, am title (deeds will represent real estates. Fn> them the past five years have been merely the extended pre-war holiday of tho dan nobleman abroad, and their mentalit* is that of tho characters of Turgcnieff But the vast majority have settled dowi to take and make life as they find - t neither forgetting, nor forgiving, nor ex t-ravagantly hoping. Romo is perhaps om of the best places for them, fe ! it is a small city, and a hospitable one entirely suited to the Russian character with its dreaminess, the insouciance of it life, and its visions of a mighty past.

COURAGE IN ADVERSITY

There is sometimes a tendency to withhold from these exiled Russians the syiv pathy naturally excited by misfortune 'the tendency arises from extensio of the antipathy of democratic people against the old Tsarist regime to thoswho once prospered under it. The 80l shevists with some acuteues know and trade upon this curious psyche logical phenomenon. Yet in Bofshevis eyes the Menshevists, or moderates, ar tarred with tho same brush, and at Bid shevist hands, have experienced the earn or even worse treatment than the inns' devoted servants of autocracy. Quite Lnl: ttio exiles are in tho former category, ant all those in Rome are deserving not mil; of sympathy, but admiration, for thei: courage in adversity, whatever their past political history. They are not very numerous, it is true, but all are uncomplaining, all have cheerfully descends from the position of pampered chiklrer of a powerful nation to that of noor, denationalised outcasts, struggling to earn their bread. The crop of cabarets,_ which are so noticeable a growth in Paris, am extend in Italy as far as Capri, are not typical examples of t-heir efforts. Most are working as bank clerks, shop , assistants —any humble drudgery which means a livelihood.

They have organised in Pome a club in the street oE the Little Columns, where every Saturday night they meet fen - modest claiming, music, and card playing. An orchestra of red-bloused officers plays selections of wailing folk songs, full of life on the great sad plains amid dust, mud, sun, and snow. The triangular banjoes or balalaikas quiver and throb; the brave smiles leave the faces of*' the audience, and for the moment the sorrows of their race recall the sorrows of their personal loss. In a far corner one begins to png softly in a minor key the long-sustained mournful notes of some old Slav lament. Tito silence is profound_ as good artistry deserves from true feeling. When it is finished the chatter and laughter break out again, and tho grief-stricken sufferer of a moment before is unrecognisable in youi polite and charming host. One curious thing about this little community is that it realises the ideal of equality to a far higher degree than the Communists themreives. For exile and hardship have made all ranks one.

CHARITY OF THE POOR. ■ It is Charles Dickens who makes the observation that nothing is so amazing as the charity of the poor to the poor, and the charity of these Russians to eacli other is truly astonishing. Hero in Rome the old Russian Embassy was the headquarters of the Red Cross, and served as dormitory, hospital, employment agency, and correspondence bureau for the colony and its friends. Under its shelter _ relic! committees were organised, charities centralised, food and clothing provided for the needy, and funds collected for the destitute by sales of work. Several of the ex-staff actually slept there, and those Russians who had used the Embassy in better days were thus enabled to keep in touch with each other, so that those who had any money left could help those who bad none. Ail this, of course, had to finish when Italy recognised the Soviet Government, and" though in deep distress, those who used the Embassy were prepared to go uncomplainingly when the time camo. It came without/ 'warning on the day a chantable ball was being held. The place was suddenly raided by the Soviet representatives, who placed guards at the doors to prevent tho inmates escaping. Personal belongings were confiscated, and protests were quite unavailing. Private correspondence was taken away and thoroughly examined by a representative whose Russian nationality was obviously only acquired. Their furniture and the property of charitable societies which happened to be on the premises were ruthlessly seized, and finally their persons were ejected into the streets after having been searched like pickpockets. Another matter has arisen in connection with the Russian Church in Rome, lids occupies the ground floor of a large modem palazzo in the Prati quarter, and has been in existence for some years. It is full of treasured objects—ikons, lamps, vestments, and so on, as usual rather sumptuous, and the product of the gifts of the devout for years past. Tho colony was told that this church was also to be handed the lease to he cancelled and the contents to be forfeit to the Soviet. Those who know the Prussian’s devotion to the church and images of his faith will realise the utter despair which was caused by the threatened severance of what to many was the last link with their country. It was therefore with no feigned alarm that, two Sundays before Easter, two of the Soviet agents were observed to enter the church during morning service, obviously intent on spying out the land. They walked briskly round, in marked contrast to the kneeling congregation, and appraised everything with a valuer’s eye. Finally, having made a mental note of tho stock-in-trade, so to sa.y, they departed, and nothing further has yet been heard. But I am told there is a, chance that the church may be saved from its fate by the fact that it is also used by Orthodox Greeks and Armenians.