DESPERATE METHODS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 107, 19 April 1933, Page 8

DESPERATE METHODS

SOVIET GRAIN SOWING. MEN SHOT WITHOUT TRIAL. RIGA, March 13. The Soviet Government has ordered that the sowing campaign in the chief gram districts be carried on this spring with the assistance of the Red Army and under martial law. An officer will be placed at the head of each State farm, with power to establish nqjlitary discipline. Such officers have already been appointed to most State farms in the Northern Caucasus, and the system is being introduced into other regions. “Izvestia” complains that the first officers were given a hostile reception by. peasant labourers, who figuratively “received them with fixed bayonets.” The officers, however, established discipline and created a more docile atmosphere by discovering and punishing SGO ringleaders in disaffection. lu large districts the whole adult male population lias been arrested and transferred to distant labour centres under military control, their places being taken by labour gangs from elsewhere. It is questionable whether these desperate methods will succeed in raising the crops. Unofficial reports allege that partisan bands are already actively sniping the Soviet punitive detachments. Their numbers are expected to increase as the weather becomes more mild. The RecU detachments respond by shooting hostages. The 35 men shot yesterday without'trial are being held up as a warning to officials and fainthearted Communists. The Soviet authorities have announced their intention of organising a series of trials of farm managers, bookkeepers, and other officials in the Northern Caucasus, the Ukraine, and other grain regions.