BEHIND RUSSIA'S VEIL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15270, 19 July 1920, Page 8

BEHIND RUSSIA'S VEIL.

LABOR REVELATIONS

ATTEMPT TO MASK MISERY- j LONDON, July i>.— Mr. 11. V. Keeling,' a British trade unionist, m an interview, describing his oxperienr.es dining o-v- i oral years m Russia, including a year's : imprisonment, virtually declares that the Soviet sway is based on lies. The people, ; who are surprisingly ignorant, are as ; _ured that the world is turning 80l- j shevik. if they only knew that they | were really living iv sordid isolation j they might pluck up courage to flgtil: the Soviet's barharic despotism. 7 Mis. Philip Suowden, who has also re-] turned -from Russia, which she visited as j a member of. the British Labor delegation, says: "There Is no socialism nr com- 1 munism there— it is all a matter of i labels. The Soviet makes no pretence oi ! being democratic, its dictatorship oi tne .proletariat means a dictatorship of about 'six or seven." • In an article m the Evening Standard, Mrs. Sriowden suppleinenls ..her reports of the Russian visit. "The, people hesitated to speak to me," she says, "fearing subsequent arrest, as tho Soviet representatives were always listening. The •general control of Russia reproduces the .terrorism of the French Revolution. Everybody suspects everybody else. ; "Some of the British Labor delegates, possibly carried away by their feelings, ■jaye a false impression of /the Lauoimovement m Britain, and when i said publicly that Britain was not revolutionary, my hosts- showed displeasure, and did. not permit thc publication of my .speech." '.. Describing her meeting with Lenin, whose rooms are always guarded by .20 .soldiers, Mrs. Snowden says: "He gives ,;m outstanding impression as a prince or fanatics- and a slave of dogma. He ,is unselfish, except as regards the satisfaction of his personal pride. He relentlessly enforces his theories.'Mrs. Snowden found Trotsky a comnvinding personality,- .arrayed m a gor-. reous uniform, and locally reputed a military genius. The British Labor delegates, saw through the aim of thc Bolsheviks to present everything m a favorable light, and attempts at concealment made a very bad impression. .Though peasants form 84 per cent- of the population, a. loaf of bread costs a housand roubles, about £100 at the prewar value, of the rouble. Workers are given extra rations, but the conditions .of their service approximate to slavery. "Fifty thousand roubles (£5000) was offered to one of the British delegates for 'liis boots," said Mrs.\ Snowden, "but I ,am proud to say that mine were valued ;at 70,000 roubles. I believe that a point .has been, reached at which the value ot ;the rouble is under the cost of its .'artistic printing. Last winter thousands >of people died from cold m their own ;homes, and unless the fuel position improves I am convinced thai millions [will perish next winter. I ; "I found the. art conditions superb and ;queenly, contrasting' with the general fliisery. Plays are magnificently staged m -Moscow, where thc productions are the last word -m beauty. The singers actors and. dancers are well dressed ' and highly paicL Challapin, the. opera singer gets 200.000 roubles, high'tlv, besides a= much food as he wants.".