Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, JUNE 25th., 1927. COLD COMFORT

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 June 1927, Page 6

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, JUNE 25th., 1927. COLD COMFORT

Calm consideration of lhe trend of events in the affairs of their Red Russian “comrades” recently must have constituted very cold comfort for the few extremists in New Zealand, those die-hards who cling to the theories which, put into practice in Russia, have resulted in a state of unmistakable chaos. The Soviet stock has slumped (badly, particularly in Britain, and, sad to'relate, even the Labour-, ites are turning down the Reds very definitely. Not alone are they) in this attitude, however, and a cablegram published yesterday, stated that a recent conference held

in Berlin refused to have anything to do with the representatives of the Soviet, owing to the offensive and dictatorial nature of their demands. The Reds are finding out that the methods employed by them in Russia are impracticable where other countries are concerned, and

the said methods are causing Russia to be held up as a horrible example to the nations of the world. The systematic attempts to introduce Bolshevism into China and India, to mention only two of the many avenues of Soviet endeavour, have not made the progress hoped for by their authors, while the Arcos raid in London, and the consequent breaking-off of diplomatic relations by Britain,\ were further important reverses Io the Reds. After the murder of Voikoff, for which England was hysterically blamed, a senseless, malignant reign of terror was instituted in Russia, and scores of innocent prisoners were murdered without a trial. Neither life nor property is

safe in Russia, and the conditions under the Czar must hqve been infinitely preferable to the state of affairs under the Soviet, whatever were the defects of Czarism. Despite the intensive propaganda conducted by lhe Soviet in Britain, little real headway has been made, and the recent happenings in Russia have brought forth a clear expression of opinion from a joint meeting of the Trade Union Congress and the Parliamentary Labour Party, in the form of a resolution protesting against the policy of executing innocent persons, which “degrades the standards of civilisation.” In addition to having this protest to digest the Reds have also been refused a hearing in their attempt to range the British Labourites against the British Government, and, in fact, everything points to any remaining relations between the British and Russian trade unionists being broken off at an early date. On top of all this, the Soviet Mission and the Trade Delegation members have practically all been deported, and those remaining have been officially warned that any attempt to engage in political propaganda will not be tolerated. So much for the attitude of Britain. Returning to New Zealand this week, after a seven months’ visit to the Old Country, Mr. F. Bartram, Labour Member for Grey Lynn, made some remarks which contained nothing but a further dose of cold consolation for the friends of the Soviet. “Are Labour people in the Old Country going Red?” he was asked, and he replied: “No, I certainly do not think anything of the kind. So far as I saw, the Labour movement at Home is very sane, and the party more than ever realise the necessity for the development of political action.” It is noticeable, however, that the Labourites in New Zealand have not made any official pronouncement regarding their views on the Russian situation. Do they approve the protests of the English Labour organisations, or does their silence stand for agreement with Soviet methods? It would be interesting to have a definite statement of policy in this direction from the Leader of the Opposition. But perhaps he is too busy imagining oppression in Samoa to take notice of the real oppression in Russia.