REAL LIFE IN RUSSIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20758, 29 December 1930, Page 9

REAL LIFE IN RUSSIA.

AN APPALLING PICTURE.

STARVATION AND, DEATH. STATEMENTS BY VISITORS. [FROM OUR OWN correspondent.] SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 26. An appalling picture of Russia, shadowed by starvation, of her people living in daily fear of death at tho hands of the terrible "G.P.U.," and of a constant prayer that tho worst days of the Tsarist regime, is painted by three Californian oilworkers, who have just returned from the Baku oil wells, where they went under contract to explain Californian methods to the Russian oil operators. The three men say they are convinced they were selected by the Soviet agents, who are now sprinkled everywhere over the North American Continent, in tho hope that they would imbibe the principles of Sovietism and be useful "contacts" in America for the world revolution Russia is planning. When it was discovered they were not likely to be converted, privileges were withdrawn and their lives became so that they were glad to get out, losing their pay and property, which they cheerfully forfeited for a sight of civilisation

These men explode a lot of current myths about Russia—myths about the five-year programme, farms conducted with modern tractors, and of a contented people. No visitor, however influential, is ever allowed to see the real Russia. The tractors aro all near the railway lines on which tourists travel j behind these areas are the most primitive methods of agriculture and industry; the contented people are all placed under this eye of the tourist and the itinerant writer. There are two Ruesias, the real and the counterfeit. Only tho latter is displayed. A worker who resides there some months sees tho real. Two Shillings for a Divorce. "I had an interpreter who cheerfully admitted he had been married 14 times in 10 years," said Mr. B. E. Montgomery, the spokesman of the trio. "It costs the equivalent of 3d to get married, 2s for a divorce, which includes the fee for the second marriage. The marriage certificate is a signed form, with two photos on it. The officials tear off one photo and put another in its place, and you married again." "The believers in the five-year programme are fanatical about it. To the average uneducated Russian, or the Russian educated in Communist schools, the success of the programme means a free hand to shoot the rest of the world. A maid who worked for us, who used to talk openly, said 6he was actually expecting to go to America and shoot Americans. The great mass of the Russians are not prosperous and certainly not happy; they are bitterly poor and getting poorer, and utterly miserable.

"The Russians liked Lenin. If he had lived things would have been different. They believed he was genuinely one of the people; he had their interests at heart. But Stalin is another story. They will tell you he was a bandit leader before he seized the supreme power, and he and his kind have wrecked everything that Lenin began. Babies Starting on Black Bread.

" At a private store, just before I left, when my year's contract was up, butter was selling for 6s a pound, sugar 3s, both with green mould thrown in. An ordinary pair of shoes cost from £5 to £2O. You cannot buy fresh milk at all. Babies start then; lives on black bread, dried fish and tea. If they are husky and lucky, they survive. People suspect the Government paper money as being worthless and hoard their copper coins, the penalty for which is death. Many commit suicide when demands for taxes are made on them.

" The country is infested with spies. Stop and talk to a Russian, and you will see him constantly looking over his shoulder. If there is anyone within hearing, he shuts up like an oyster. Anybody—your servant, your next door neighbour, the man who works beside you—may be a spy or a member of the G.P.U. " And the G.P.U. —the Soviet secret police—has Russia literally frightened to death. The Russians call it something that sounds like " geppy-you"—making a word out of the initials, and a whisper of that eversounding word is enough to start the average Russian running for shelter. Somebody dissppears mysteriously and overnight. Do not ask what beqame of him. G.P.U. A whole family vanishes. I knew one in Baku that 'dropped out of sight between sunset and sunrise. G.P.U. Penalty of Indiscretion. " Somebody makes an indiscreet remark, dares to criticise the Government. Some morning you will see him marching down the street with armed soldiers guarding him. He does not come back. G.P.U. [ have seen whole squads of them marching out like that, and everybody knew what was going to happen, but nobody dared to say a word. " I saw one miserable little group being paraded through Baku—five men and two girls. There was not one of them a day over 22 years old and the youngest looked about 16. The G.P.U. is not particular about the age of the targets it sets up before the firing squads. "At first it is hard to understand how the Russians can stand by and see those things going on; how they can watch 16-year-old boys and girls marched out, to be shot and' not do something about it. " There are two reasons. They are afraid to do anything. And they have seen so much in the past ten years —so much blood and horror and suffering—they have become apathetic. It simply does not mean anything any more. So, when I read interviews with Americans who have gone to Russia on official visits, saying how prosperous and happy the country is, I think a lot of things.