The Evening Star. FRIDAY, MAY 17, 1935. CHANGES IN RUSSIA.

Evening Star, Issue 22031, 17 May 1935, Page 8

The Evening Star. FRIDAY, MAY 17, 1935. CHANGES IN RUSSIA.

Thkre is no doubt that Soviet Russia is gradually moving away from many of the guiding principles of Bolshevism as expounded by Lenin and Trotsky. The “ old gang ” has gone. In addition to the two leaders of the revolution, Kamenev, Zinoviev, Rykov, and others who directed the Red policy hare disappeared from the political stage. It would appear that the pressure of inescapable economic facts is making itself felt. Without freedom for individual enterprise a country must stagnate. It is significant, too, that the eyes of the Soviet regime seem to be diverted from the goal of world revolution. If underground propaganda is still going on to this end, its voice is very feeble. Its failure in China, which seemed a’fertile ground, is complete, and no marked impression was made in the efforts to foster revolutionary movement in the British Empire. .Two men of mark in Russia to-day are Stalin and Litvinoff, They are realists apparently, who desire to follow a path of economic and industrial reconstruction rather than a dream that is impossible of fulfilment. An interesting announcement comes from Moscow to-day, which shows a definite industrial achievement. An underground railway, built on the lines of those in use in Britain, has been, opened. What it remarkable, when incidents of the past are considered, is that one of the stations has been named Eden, in commemoration of the recCftt visit to Moscow of Sir John Simon’s colleague in pursuit of Britain’s peace plans. The new underground railway has been named Kaganovich Subway, in honour of the director of the construction.

The turn of the year brought many changes in Russia, most of them of political and,* economic importance. Some came as a surprise, even for most members of the Communist Party. One was a decision to extend the full suffrage to the peasantry, thus depriving town dwellers of the electoral privileges granted them by the Soviet Constitution. This is of enormous importance. If really put into effect as outlined by the official resolutions it must give the peasantry a preponderance in the councils of the Government. The peasant population of the Soviet Union is officially stated to be 127 millions, that of the towns being 40 millions. In order to conform to the new decision there is to be a radical change in election methods. Urban and rural delegates are now to be elected by a system of “ direct, equal, and secret voting,” all citizens over eighteen years of age being entitled to vote on a strictly equal basis. In explaining the intended reform to the recent Soviet Congress, Molotov, chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars, remarked that borrowings from the parliamentary systems of capitalist countries might evoke amusement abroad, but the Bolshevist leaders would not be deterred from adopting the best elements of those systems—elements which some capitalist States were now discarding in favour of Fascist methods of government. One of the great difficulties of the Soviet since the revolution has been the passive resistance of the peasantry to the Soviet decrees. It amounted to a struggle between town and country—the industrial workers against the people on the land. The Stalin regime is making efforts to remedy this position, and the party leaders have followed the announcement of electoral reform with more tangible concessions to the peasantry. There has been considerable underground opposition, it is said, to the departures that are being made from the earlier Soviet principles. Following the recent murder of Kirov, an important official, the claim was advanced that an opposition plot had been discovered, in which Kamenev and Zinoviev were concerned. It was ruthlessly suppressed. Over a hundred of the alleged ringleaders were shot, and others banished to Siberia, industrial developments are being vigorously

prosecuted in the country. The railway system is one of the weakest spots in Russia, and Kaganovich, a close associate of Stalin, was appointed Commissar of Communications and given the task of making the railways work efficiently. He is reported to be an able organiser. This seems to be borne out by the completion of the underground railway, which Stalin says was constructed in record time.