SOVIET'S ENEMIES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21329, 2 November 1932, Page 11

SOVIET'S ENEMIES

RELENTLESS PURSUIT DECREE ABOUT PROPERTY LONDON. Oct. 25 "Lenin himself s;»id that Socialist property was sacred," says the Soviet Commissar for Justice, lvrylenko, notorious for his relentless pursuit of "enemies of the Soviet," in a retort lo "comrades" who charge him with having used religious phraseology in a recent decree on the subject of property, the Riga correspondent of the Times reports. In his decree, Krvlenko declared that property was both sacred and inviolate. He prescribed the death penalty for thieves. In a long apologia, the Commissar admits that the death sentence for trifling offences, such as stealing a cart wheel, is cruel, but it is also necessary because such malefactors are incorrigible. The decree, he explains, is primarily aimed at three classes of evildoers:— (1) Class enemies who destroy Soviet enterprise by means of arson and sabotage. (2) State employees who abuse their position lo accumulate commodities. This has necessitated the shooting of batches of offenders in Moscow, Leningrad and elsewhere. (3) Peasants who steal produce and agricultural implements for private sale. (4) Brigands. "The class war," says Krylenko, "has now developed into a war of grain and bread. The workers cannot be blamed because their enemies force them to resort lo pitiless retaliation."