RUSSIAN AFFAIRS.

Matamata Record, Volume VII, Issue 586, 1 December 1924, Page 7

RUSSIAN AFFAIRS.

1 THE AMIABLE I>'OLSUEVIKS. For the benefit of the Russian workers Mr Trotsky has been drawing a moral from the British elections. He is naturally disappointed at the great

Conservative victory. He sees In it ian illustration of the need for the creation of a strong Bolshevist party in Great Britain. Mr Rakovsky's valiant celebration at Chesham House—formerly the Russian Imperial Embassy—of the seventh aninversary of the Russian revolution, and his valiant display of the red flag, have been merely an exhibition of vanity. The

notorious Zinovieff letter was a sad mistake on the part of those who are seeking to advance the Communistic revolutionary cause in Great Britain. The Government which compromised itself in its dealing with the Communists is no more. Even in liberty-lov-ing and most tolerant England the red flag is becoming an object of increased distaste. The Communist brotherhood there may well regard with some alarm the emergence of an organisation of British Fascisti, one of whose laudable objects is to keep Trafalgar Square free from flags '.">.' an objectionable colour. What Mr Baldwin and bis colleagues may decide to do with the Anglo - Soviet treaty—" an agreement ito agree " may well be a matter of some concern in Moscow The musings of M. Trotsky on the generally unsatisfactory situation take a military direction. He dreams of more aggressive propaganda. "We shall succeed in establishing Communist Governments abroad only when we have organised secret military shock units which tfill develop class warfare." It is satisfactory to think that it is a forlorn hppe in British communities upon which M. Trotsky proposes to rely. British common sense is the despair of the Bolshevists, and causes them many an outburst of impotent rage. Their leaders, unable to find acceptance at their own valuation in Europe, find relief in contemplating the more ren unsophisticated and more plastic children of the East. "We are winning," declares M. Trotsky, "in the East, Where the gigantic yellow man Is raising his head. All the cities and villages in China and India are feeling Russia's helping hand." While this is in boastful vein, there is no doubt that the Bolshevists are carrying on an extensive propaganda in the East, and the disturbed conditions in China and India are more favourable than otherwise to their efforts. M. Trotsky admits that the Bolshevists have temporarily lost ground in Europe. In this connection it is of 'interest to look back to the proceedings of the fifth congress of the Third International, which was held at Moscow in June last under the presidency of the amiable M. Zinovieff Commenting upon the programme then presented, a Russian professor at an American university pointed to •its revelation of two facts—first, that the International, less enthusiastic over the prospect of an immediate world revolution, will nevertheless continue its work in that direction, and secondly that purely Russian problems are apparently Jmore and more coming to the forefront. The commentator added informatively: " In a way the latter circumstance is a direct result of the fact, pointed out by Zinovieff in his opening speech, that, with the exception of Russ'ia, -