END OF TRIAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23223, 22 June 1937, Page 9

END OF TRIAL

HIGH SOVIET OFFICIALS LONG SENTENCES IMPOSED ANOTHER TROTSKYIST ARRESTED (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) LONDON, June 20. The Moscow correspondent of The Times says the trial of the agricultural wreckers resulted in Grinenko, Atamanchuk and Furman, high officials of the Odessa organisation, being sentenced,to 10 years’ forced labour “ in a distant labour camp." and six other wreckers were sentenced to varying terms.

Alexandra Zumbilova. the woman Commissar for Social Security in Crimea, was arrested on a charge of being the ringleader of a group which embezzled public funds for use by the Trotskyists.' She and her accomplice, who are official bookkeepers and accountants, are alleged to have misappropriated nearly 500,000 roubles by false applications for relief from non-existent persons.

“TROTSKYIST MENACE”

REVIEW BY THE COMINTERN

ANTI-SOVIET CAMPAIGN

The , difficulties which face the Communist parties in various countries. particularly because of the activities of the Trotskyist elements, are believed tc be the subject occupying the attention of Communist leaders assembled from many countries for an important secret session of the Presidium' of the Comintern (the Communist International), according to reports circulating in Moscow (stated the Manchester Guardian recently). The situation in the French Communist Party is known to be a source of grave concern to the Presidium. An official spokesman, writing in a Soviet daily newspaper on the machinations of the Trotskyists in France, declares that the French party has already enrolled 280,000 members, and the membership is steadily growing. The charge is made that the Trotskyists there have been engaged in “ a furious anti-Soviet campaign ” since January, when the trial of the so-called Trotskyists took place. There are seldom any disclosures of what goes on at the meetings of the Comintern Presidium, which usually meets twice a year in great secrecy. It is believed, however, that, in addition to discussing measures to combat the influence of the Trotskyists, the present session is reviewing the Spanish situation and the German-Japanese antiComintern pact. SWEEPING PURGE The Comintern, like the Russian Communist Party, has been undergoing a sweeping “ purge ” lately. Following the recent Moscow trials of Zinovieff, Kameneff and Trotsky “ Oppositionists ” the Comintern’s official magazine has reported the expulsion of a number of Polish, Austrian, Latvian and other members of the Comintern’s staff abroad on suspicion of being involved in Trotskyist manoeuvres or of sympathy with “ Oppositionists.”’ Trotsky’s removal to Mexico, where he is able to talk and write freely, renders him in the eyes of the Comintern more of a menace than he ever has been in the decade since his expulsion from the Soviet Union, during which his movements and actions were hampered by restrictions of watchful Governments. Evidence of how serious is the Comintern’s concern over Trotskyism is provided by the series of articles which began to appear in the Soviet press recently analysing the status of Trotskyist reserves in various countries.

It is believed that a number of the Communist leaders who attended the recent Communist Party Conference in Valencia have come to Moscow for the present session of the Presidium.