REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3383, 15 January 1919, Page 25

REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA.

TROTSKY ARRESTS LENIN. THE SPREAD OF BOLSHEVISM. (By Cable). TROTSKY AS DICTATOR. It is reported from Moscow that Trotsky has assumed the Dictatorshipp of Russia after arresting Lenin. The Gothenburg Gazette learns that the dispute between Lenin and Trotsky arose out of Lenin's demand that the Bolshevists should coalesce with the Menshevists. Trotsky, however, insisted on the continuation of the reign of terror. BOLSHEVIST ATROCITIES. Mr Jeffries, The Times special correspondent, describes the awful Bolshevik atrocities. The Bolshevists, he says, are reviving the most fiendish medieval tortures. A maraiidiug gang in Podolia seized a Polish landlord and pulled his limbs apart till the body ripped, the remains being hacked to pieces and burned. The manager and five overseei's of a factory at Schienski were bound in the open in weather with the thermometer below zero, and water was poured over their heads till their bodies were frozen solid. Russian officers have been torn to pieces, others had their bones broken,- while yet others were killed by the application of an electric current. Members of the Danish Legation from Petrograd state that the British civil and military officials imprisoned in Moscow are being tyrannically treated. The real Dictator of Petrograd is a woman, aged 22, named Jacobleva, chief of the Anti-Counter-Revolutionary Committee. Her cruelty surpasses all existing legends. Many of the people die of starvation in the streets of Petrograd every day. The population of .the capital has sunk to 800,000 (in 1913 it was 2,300,000). Threequarters of the shops are closed, the tramways are suspended, and the electric light may be used only for two hours nightly.

The Red Guards in the Petrograd district now. number 500,000. Among the amazing doings of the Russian Bolshevists is the actinn of the Petrograd. Soviet in transforming 21 churches into picture palaces for propaganda purposes. One hundred and ; fifty. thousand prisoners have arrived from Germany, and those hostile to Bolshevism were forced to attend lectures on the principle of Soviet rule. General Brusiloff is reported to have been killed at Moscow; General Kuropatkin to have been murdered at Omsk. BOLSHEVISM SPREADING. The truth is becoming more and more obvious that the various " sectors of Europe which present chaotic conditions are increasing in number . instead of decreasing. The fact is that the Bolshevists, having decided to enlarge their sphere of control, have declared war ,on the world at large. The main question now is whether Bolshevist aggression will stop on the old Eastern German frontier and where and when will the Allies have to meet the Bolshevist advanced forces. None of the Allies will have any desire to send an expeditionary force into the fastnesses of Eastern Eairope. Certainly this will not be done unless the avalanche grows, which now threatens to engulf also Western Continental Europe. The' Bolshevist regime in Russia is strengthening politically and militarily. The army is completely commanded by officers of the old regime, and the former General Staff has been reconstituted under the supreme command of Aucheremisoff. The "Reds" have become an excellent regular army, well armed, and kept disciplined. They will easilv overrun the Baltic provinces unless great numbers of Western troops oppose them. Russian wireless reports state that the Bolshevists have captured Riga. Strong Bolshevist activity is reported at various points on the Siberian railway. The U.S. Department of Justice discovered that a fund of £IOO,OOO has been sent to New York from Lenin for the promotion of Bolshevism in the United States. It is officially stated that Bolshevism is making alarming headway in this country. A .Russian wireless message states that a meeting of the Union of Chinese Workmen at Moscow declared in favour of immediately starting a propaganda service in China in favour of a social revolution, also asking the assistance of the Soviet Government in organising such a propaganda and despatching propagandists to China. FIGHTING THE BOLSHEVISTS. Despatches from Archangel say that the Americans drove back the Bolshevists near Kadish after desperate fighting. American officers report that the Bolshevists mutilated American soldiers who fell into their hands. An official message from Berlin states that British artillery interfered in the fighting between Germans and Bolshevists, resulting in the surrender of two Lithuanian detachments. Great disorder at Posen threatens the German communications.

Renter's correspondent states that the Bolshevists were routed at Kama River, losing 35,000 prisoners and a great quantity of booty. The Siberian array is developing- the victory cabled on the 27th of December, and is advancing along the Petrograd railway. It has captured 30,000 men and an enormous quantity of booty. The Siberian army's booty (captured in operations on the River Kama) includes 200 locomotives, 4000 wagons, and huge quantities of equipment, guns, rifles, and ammunition ; also many instruments of torture which the Bolshevists had used on

many mutilated bodies found at Perm. The retreating Bolshevists kidnapped many leading residents of Perm. ALLIED INTERVENTION. It is authoritatively denied that the British Government proposes sending more troops to Russia. Tne number there does not exceed 20,000, and these will return at the soonest possible date and be replaced by volunteers. Although our effort in Russia was necessarily weak, it considerably assisted in Germany's overthrow. The Germans withdrew 48 divisions westward from the 'date the Bolshevists assumed , power. These withdrawals entirely ceased for three months after the Allies landed at Archangel, and were resumed only when it was .found there was a weakness in the Allied contingent. In view of criticisms of Allied intervention in Russia and the demand for their withdrawal, it, is pointed out that the expeditions are aimed solely against the Germans, in orders to prevent the further transferring of troops to the west front and to stop the penetration of Russia, enabling Germany to absorb minerals, foodstuffs, and oil. The New York Sun's Paris correspondent states: The United States will not send American troops to Russia for any purpose. If Russia needs policing, the Allies must undertake it. The Americans will be sent home with the greatest speed, and all of them will probably have left Europe by next October. THE ALL-RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT. The Washington correspondent of the New York Times states' that official despatches from Paris say that Russian peace representatives have urged the Allied Governments to recognise the all-Russian Government at Omsk. THE ROMANOFF FAMILY. The Morning Post's Archangel correspondent sends a sensational story that the ex-Czar is not dead. The Grand Duke Cyril, who narrated the story to the correspondent, had a letter la6t November from Princess Tatiana, the Czar's daughter, stating that the Emperor, Empress, and their daughters are all alive. The Bolshevist officer who was ordered to carry out their death told the Emperor: " It is a matter of indifference to me who is shot. I have only to produce a corpse with a bullet in the head, and I could make the victim's identification, impossible." Count T. offered to sacrifice himself. The Czar protested, but the Count overruled him. The Czar escaped, but his whereabouts is unknown.