FAMINE IN RUSSIA

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 July 1933, Page 4

FAMINE IN RUSSIA

SOVIET SYSTEM BREAKING [times cables.] (Rec. July 17, 9 a.m.) LONDON, July IG. “The whole Soviet system is the biggest economic jam in history. The strictest censorship cannot long hide the truth,” says a correspondent who lately visited Russia. , “No butter, milk, and lemons are obtainable in the railway dining car, only a tiny omelette, a. little, black bread and tea for 5$ roubles, the official exchange for which is sixteen shillings, whereas outside Russia, the rouble is worth two pence. A member of the Communist Party, with a full ration card, gets value far in excess of a worker earning 125 roubles monthly, the purchasing power of which if he is lucky equals ten shillings weekly in Britain. “As the goods scarcity increases under the five year plan, prices rise, and are now 20 to 25 per cent, higher than when inaugurated. Many public s works are completely uneconomic. For instance, the Dnieprostroi power station, costing thirty-three millions sterling, a wonderful technical achievement which should feed factories with tenfold their own capital, feeds none, because none exist. The Kremlin claims that twenty per cent, more land is under cultivation, but enormously ■> less food is produced. Millions of workers goaded to desperation by hunger and poverty, have become roving hordes, seeking a livelihood.”