THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1926. RUSSIA'S REIGN OF TERROR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19418, 28 August 1926, Page 10

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1926. RUSSIA'S REIGN OF TERROR.

That all is not well with Russia is very plainly indicated by the postponement until next year of the summoning of the Congress of Soviets. This, in the language of Russia's Constitution, is " the supremo organ of authority." It is composed of representatives of town and township soviets on the basis of one deputy for each 25,000 electors and of representatives of provincial congresses of Soviets on the basis of one deputy for each 125,000 of the population. Both classes of representatives are elected at the provincial congresses, provision being made that where thero are no provincial congresses in any constituent republic in the Union the representatives are elected directly at the congress of soviets of these republics. By that provision, power is retained very largely by the Soviets of the republics. But even they are not supreme in their territories. They have no initial right of summons: that rests in the hands of the Central Executive Committee, which is a handful of men directing the affairs of the Russian "Government. This group may act " on its own decision" as to the summoning of the soviets in the Union. It is further provided that, should extraordinary circumstances prevent the summoning of the congress of soviets at the proper time, the Central Executive Committee has the right to postpone the congress. The Constitution was very adroitly framed to keep supreme power in . the hands of the handful of men at the head of national affairs, and that they do not hesitate to exercise it is evident from the intimation of postponement. Only on paper is the congress " the supreme organ of authority." Despite the denial that anything untoward has happened to menace the Bolshevik regime, it is now quite clear 4 that " extraordinary circumstances " have arisen. The news from Riga announces the probability that' before the congress is summoned another election will be held —one that will produce results to order; and this election, it is stated, will be conducted on lines strictly preventing the so-called bourgeoisie from taking part in it.

From the words of the Constitution and the news now received it is clear that the Bolshevik rulers of Russia are still organising a reign of terror. Under the constitutional powers they have been studiously careful to retain, they are lording it over the people in a fashion no less tyrannical than was common with the Tsars, and with less concern for popular welfare than the least benign " Little Father " ever felt. History holds no more hypocritical claim, than was made by the Central Executive Committee in asserting, three years ago, that "only in the camp of the soviets, only under the conditions of the dictatorship of the proletariat, has it proved possible to destroy national oppression at the roots, to establish an atmosphere of mutual confidence and lay the foundations of the brotherly collaboration of peoples." The claim was preposterous then. Subsequent events prove that its makers have not seriously tried to substantiate it in practice. They set out to rule by relentless and unscrupulous force, to impose the will of a callous and cruel minority on the millions of helpless people over . whom they have assumed authority. There has been diversity of opinion as to how far the present Government of Russia is stable, but there has been no room to doubt that whatever stability it has possessed has never had any other basis than that of intolerant compulsion. The Bolshevik leaders set themselves to dragoon Russia into acceptance of them. They built up the Red Army. Recent news, well credentialled, shows Russia to be a first-class air Power: expenditure on this arm of the service amounted to £4,000,000 last year. They have sedulously sought to pamper the artisan class, to the detriment of the peasants, hypnotising the former into the belief that the maintenance of the present regime is essential to the workers' welfare. They have employed the old secret police—the Cheka, now known as the G.P.U.— to crush opposition to them. Their whole policy and practice amount to a ghastly travesty of the principles of freedom and equality they have professed.

Striking confirmation of this judgment has recently been given by the Russian writer Artzybasheff. Belonging to no party, owning no property, earning his bread by work, and solemnly asseverating that lie hap no other purpose than to tell the truth, he has put on record an indictment of the Bolshevik regime. "If the Bolsheviki pretend that they conquered by the sympathy and lupport of the majority," he says, " they lie and calumniate the Russian people." Their triumph, in his view, was won because, in the fire of civil war which they had lit, the energies of the people had crumbled to ashes, because • the disintegration of the country had begun in a way that gave them an opportunity to abuse. " They crushed the scattered energies of the people with their merciless determination to rule; but the greater part of Russia hated and hates the Soviet, which only exists by a pitiless terror the like of which the world has never seen." Loving his country with ardour, he utters his challenge: " We Russians—who, in spite of the horror and abasement which our people have lived through, have not yet lost all human feeling and national honour —we must never reconcile ourselves with the rule of men covered from head to foot with the blood and the tears of the people." He believes that the day of vengeance is not far away. The wish may be father to the thought; but the postponement of the congress of Soviets, however advantageous to the leaders now in power, may well arouse resentment enough to bring that day more surely and with sudden violepce.