REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3384, 22 January 1919, Page 18

REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA.

. STARVING AND FREEZING TO ■ 1 DEATH. . BOLSHEVIST EXCESSES.

, ' (By Cable).

j Travellers from Petrograd state that the conditions thero are awful. . The population is < starving''and freezing to death en masse. Tiro mortality is so great that the earho coflins are naett repeatedly. | There have been fresh executions of friends of the Entente, the victims including Admirals Sctstoliin, Pahlcr, and Kovalevskit. | The Now Yoik's World's Stockholm correspondent states that, according to Hclsingforo advices, Soviet troops forming tho garrison at Petrograd mutinied, and refused to .go, to the front. The Bolshevist defeat nt Bonn lias greatly undermined tho Bolshevists' position. Trotsky, mounted on a white horse, was present at tho Perm battle, and ho returned to Moscow greatly depressed. Tho Bolshevist press is pessimistic, and con fesses that their Siberian army is worthless. _ Tlio Aftonblnd's Helsingfors correspondent states that serious hunger riots have occurred at Petrograd. The streets are crowded with people shouting for bread, and tho Bolshevists —chiolly Letts 'and Chinese—nro firing on tho crowds. Some starving people are bogging to bo shot. Tho whole city is without bread. It is foared that Libau has fallen into Bolshevist hands. Refugees describe tho fearful Bolshevist atrocities in Lotthtnd. In one village comprising 3000 SOulfl, over 600 were murdered in cold blood. All the women were outraged, and, being considered national property, were taken to large common houses and subjected to moral and physical torture of a baffling description. A Lett-Soviet republic- has been formed at Riga. WORSE THAN SAVAGES. The Australian Press Association reports: General Poole telegraphs that refugees from Central Russia state that the Bolshevists continue to destroy the country's economic and social life. The decree for the nationalisation of women has been put into force, and Cornmissionaries of Free Love have been established in several towns. Respectable women have been flogged for refusing to yield. Experiments are also being made in the nationalisation of children. THE BALTIC PROVINCES. An Esthonian communique states that the Esthonians captured the commander of the enemy's marine troops operating on the coast, with much booty; also the staff and artillery of the Forty-ninth Rifle Regiment. Finnish troops participated in the fighting for the firs'fc time, and captured two villages. The advance continues, and has reached the River Walge. The Bolshevists are retreating in disorder in Esthonia. A great part of the invading troops have been withdrawn to quell famine strikes in Petrograd, where internal troubles have caused a highly dangerous situation. U.S. State Department advices say that British troops have landed at "Riga and defeated the Bolshevist forces; also that the situation is improving in the/ Baltic provinces. The Vossiche states that refugees from Riga report that fires are burning in several places in the town, and the Bolshevists are plundering and murdering the people. SOUTH RUSSIA. The Constantinople correspondent of The Times states that the withdrawal of antiGerman troops from Ukrainia has greatly strengthened the anti-Bolshevist forces in South Russia. General Krasnoff put up a splendid fight for many months, though heavily handicapped by shortage of munitions. He is now developing a powerful military organisation supplied from the Black Sea ports. The whole region between the Caspian and the Black Sea will soon be in anti-Bolshevist hands. General Krasnoff aims to join the Czecho-Slovaks and clear Ukrainia of the Bolshevists. It is reported that the Ukrainians have bombarded Przemysl for several days from both land and air. The situation is terrible, and there have been 2000 deaths. The city is without either food or light. /EXAMINING THE SITUATION. It is understood that a committee of six representatives of the principal Allies will examine the situation in Russia. Representatives of the Southern Russian States, also of Omsk, will give evidence before the committee, also various Russian personages now in Russia who liave been grouped under the presidency of Prince Lvoff. i THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY. The New York Times Wasliington correspondent states that the State Department announces that an agreement has been reached'at Tokio for joint Allied control of the Chinese Western and TransSiberian railways. ' The United States, Britain, France, Italy, Japan, China, and Russia will each have one representative on the controlling commission. The Omsk Government will appoint the Russian representative. This is considered tantamount to a recognition of the All-Russian government. 1 The Trans-Siberian railway will be worked by Japan and America under a board representative of the inter-Allied nations. ' Japan has withdrawn half of the 60,000 troops sent to Siberia ; the remainder are merely communications. AMERICAN TROOPS. Senator Johnston has invited the United States Senate to pass resolutions

for the withdrawal of the American forces from Russia. His reason is that it is obvious that the United States does not possess a Russian policy.