SOVIET RULE

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 76, 25 February 1930, Page 7

SOVIET RULE

ANTI-RELIGIOUS WAR. MORE SERIOUS ASPECT. HUNDREDS OF IKONS BURNED. (United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright). Received February 25, 10 a.m. MOSCOW, Feb. 24. The anti-religious war is assuming a more serious aspect. Workmen are voluntarily dismantling all church bells at Smolensk, and hundreds of ikons were burned at Almata. A newspaper. The Godless, publishes a long list of priests who have allegedly' forsaken religion and joined the atheist campaign. The Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and other dignitaries figure prominently in the list of enemies of the Soviet as published in the newspaper Pravda. M. Voroshilov, the War Commissar, stated to-day: “Not since the end of the civil wars have the hostile activities of Imperialists assumed such proportions. A wild anti-Soviet compaign nas developed and the world’s first proletarian nation is being drenched with an ocean of lies, libel, provocations. fal/ve documents and sabotage. Everything is being used against us.” MEASURES AGAINST JEWS. RABBIS ARRESTED. (Times Cables). LONDON, Feb. 24. “A great Jewish counter-revolutionary organisation discovered,” is how official Soviet organs justify the repressive anti-Jewish measures in Minsk, according to the Riga correspondent of the Times. A number of rabbis have been arrested and charged with crimes against the Soviet Government. The most serious offences, apparently' are corresponding with Jews abroad, and also appealing to them to provide assistance for perishing Jews in Russia.” The greatest criminal, according to the Soviet, is Dr. Cleser, the American Rabbi, who “abused the Soviet’s confidence by visiting Minsk, where he secretly inquired into the Soviet’s attitude toward religion, and also clandestinely discussed the economic conditions of the Jewish masses. Rabbi Cleser later visited Paris, where he informed other rabbis as to the results of his inquiries.” Those arrested include a number of leading members of the Jewish community' of Minsk. SENATOR BORAH’S EFFORTS. WASHINGTON, Feb. 24. According to a letter received by Senator Borah from M. Litvinoff, all but three of the fourteen rabbis have been released. Senator Borah said: “I understand that among those released is Rabbi Vlaskin. I feel reasonably certain that the three not released are not in danger of execution. Several days ago I was asked by many Americans to interest myself in tho situation. I did so and I am still working on the matter.” An earlier message stated that Senator Borah was alternating to intercede with the Soviet on behalf of 14 Jewish Rabbis who were recently arrested. He was working independently of the State Department, which was taking no action. RED ARMY FORMATION. TWELFTH ANNIVERSARY.

MOSCOW, Feb. 24. The twelfth anniversary of the formation of the Red Army was celebrated to-day with great fervour. The occasion was taken throughout the Soviet Union to emphasise the danger of a united capitalist attack, the inevitability of which is almost a tenet of Communist faith. In commemoration of the event, the highest honour of the Soviet, the Order of the Red Banner, has been awarded to M. Stalin.