SOVIET RUSSIA

Otago Witness, Issue 3613, 12 June 1923, Page 27

SOVIET RUSSIA

SECRET SERVICE AGENT. CAPTURED BY LONDON POLICE. LONDON, June 3 A representative of the Soviet Revolutionary Party named Catzva, a Russian physician, has been sentenced at Bow street to six months’ imprisonment for having an irregular passport. He was also fined £IOO for making false statements. He was discovered on a Russianbound chip in the Regent Canal Dock. He said his name was John Smith, and that he was bound for New York. He had £2OO in his possession, also a passport which had been issued to a inan who is dead, and whose photograph had been pasted over by Catzva. A detective said that Catzva had been using the passport to travel to and from America to Europe as an American citizen. The case followed a recent capture here of two other Russian Secret Service agents. SOVIET’S CONCILIATORY ATTITUDE. STOCKHOLM, June 3. Reports from Moscow state that M. Tc-hitcherin has telegraphed to M. Krassin with a view to securing an early solution of the Anglo-Russian dispute, and stating that the Soviet will agree to reduce its diplomatic personnel in Afghanistan, Persia, and Khiva. The Soviet is also ready to allow its diplomatic representatives to be selected in consultation with the British Foreign Office. SYMPATHY WITH MOVEMENT WANING. LONDON, June 4. A special correspondent of The Times, describing the condition of Russia, says: "There is an immense vital force steadily and silently defying the nrevading fanaticism and terrorism. The real Communists are few, and their numbers are shrinking. Even to show an interested pretence for sympathy for Communism is now out of fashion.’’ The correspondent adds: ‘‘The political bureau or inner circle of the Central Committee of the Communist Party is reaiiy the governing force of Russia- It consists of about half a dozen men, including Mm. Lenin, Trotsky, Zinoviev, and Kamenev. The physical strain upon them is more than human nature can bear. If M. Lenin broke down none of the others would be likely to make a success of the position.” PRE-WAR STATUS OF ARMY. LONDON, June 5. That the army has changed less than any institution in Russia, except the Church, is the conclusion of special correspondents of The Times. They state that a detailed analysis of the Russian army and its discipline is to the effect that several officers have regained the pre-revolution status. The antiquated sword is used as much as ever, soldiers carry permanent bayonets, and the employment of troops for civilian purposes is greater than it was during the Ozarist regime. This army, which began with the intention of abolishing discipline, officers, titles, badges, and decorations, now surpasses the British army in all these respects. RusBia possesses much better military schools than England, and she is using material bequeathed by the Czarist regime, interwoven with interminable political lecturing with a view to inculcating Communism. The Bolshevists, however, find that education sometimes weakens students in the proletarian faith; hence there are many expulsions and a number of arrests, partly as a result of a healthy revolt against the persistent spying by ignorant

civilian commissars, who attend the lectures in order to exercise supervision over the lecturers and students. The extremes to which the Reds go to eliminate the capitalist heresy from the lectures exceeds anything done during the Spanish Inquisition. CONRADI’S HATRED OF BOLSHEVISTS. PARIS, June 5. Telegrams from Geneva detail the life of Conradi, who, when he assassinated M. Vorowsky, declared that he had avenged his father and his uncle. Conradi, though a Swiss, fought with distinction in the Russian Army during the war, and afterwards he and his family shared the hatred of the Bolshevist rule. Conradi’s father was expelled from home and imprisoned, and Conradi was later imprisoned in a cell next that in which his father lay dying, and he heard the shot which ended his sufferings. Conradi's brother was caught bartering a gold bracelet for bread, and was shot dead on the spot by a Bolshevist. Conradi’s wife and other middle-class women were carried off into the Red Guards’ barracks, and were not heard of again. Conradi escaped at the first opportunity, and enlisted in General Deniken’s army. He served under General Wrangel, and eventually came home to Switzerland, where he conceived the idea of vengeance. GLOOMY PROSPECT FOR PEASANTS. LONDON, June I. The Daily Mail’s Riga correspondent says : ‘‘After securing 10,000 cats to combat the mouse plague, the Russian peasants are now battling with countless millions of grasshoppers, which are threatening to destroy 40,000,000 acres of crops. Several divisions of the Red army have been told off to assist in their extermination by employing poison gas.’’ RUSSIA AND JAPAN. TOKIO, June 8. Baron Goto, representing the Foreign Office, is conferring with M. Joffe, lire Moscow Soviet’s representative. They are discussing the possible resumption of the Russo-Japanese negotiations for a trade agreement. It is learnt that Japan has refused to promise the Soviet diplomatic recognition, and firmly insists that Russia shall recognise the Czar regime s debts, accept the treaties made by the former Government, and pay indemnities for the Nikolaivsk massacre.