Moscow at Work In South Africa

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 886, 1 February 1930, Page 34

Moscow at Work In South Africa

NATIVES AND SEDITION WHITES OUTNUMBERED Moscow has now turned its attention to the Dark Continent. Some 6,000 natives in the native compounds of Durban were suddenly surrounded the other day by police armed with rifles, bayonets, and tear-gas bombs. Hundreds of native agitators were arrested and thrust into gaol. By this firm action the South African authorities have foiled the attempt of Moscow to stir the native population of Natal into rebellion and set up a Black Republic, says a writer in a London exchange. Only when one has moved in the underworld of Africa is it possible to appreciate the possibilities for mischief by determined agitators. Thousands of natives have been brought from their kraals into the big cities —some to work in the gold mines of Johannesburg, some to work in the diamond mines of Kimberley, and others to replace Asiatic labour on the sugar plantations in Natal. And civilisation has had its deadly effect upon the native. If it has not killed him with disease—there are thousands who die of miners’ phthisis every year—it has educated him to the precariousness of white supremacy even in South Africa. For the whites in South Africa are vastly outnumbered by the blacks. The native population of South Africa is nearly 6,000,000 and increasing rapidly. The European population of South Africa is less than 2,000,000, and inclined to be static. And whereas the whites are spread over the huge area of South Africa, the natives are limited to compounds in the cities or reserves among the mountains. And in the underworld of such cities as Capetown, Durban and Johannesburg are desperate men—white, black, brown and yellow—who are prepared to go to any lengths for money. Devilry is cheap in this underworld. The many native newspapers in South Africa are constantly preaching sedition. There is a powerful black organisation known as the African People’s Organisation. But many miserable whites and half-whites are responsible for much of the native unrest in South Africa today. It is this shadowy crowd who indulge in the despicable crime of illicit liquor trading—selling vile spirits to natives at preposterous prices. Over 600 Europeans are convicted every year for this crime alone Moreover, these whites carry on the ancient game of gun-running Old tramp steamers still cruise the east coast of Africa, and thousands of rifles have been smuggled through Portuguese territory into the native areas of South Africa. It is among these miserable whites that Moscow finds its recruits. Some of them are married to native women or half-castes. But an even greater asset to Moscow is the growing Russianisation of South Africa. The country is still regarded as a great British Dominion, but actually it has become a meltingpot of more ingredients than the United States. For some years now there has been a steady influx of Russians and Russian Jews into South Africa. Since America adopted its quota system and reduced the influx of Poles, Lithuanians and Russians, the stream has I turned from the Statue of Liberty towards Table Mountain. Whereas the British immigration into South Africa increases only by a hundred or so each year, the influx of Russians and Poles increases by the thousand. [ Many of these Russians were, behind

the Rand revolution of 1922, when it was found necessary to shell their headquarters in Johannesburg with field guns. Many were hanged for treason or banished from the country. But they still come in their thousands. Moscow knows the unrest among the natives of Africa today and is taking davantage of it. Obviously, too, Moscow has not forgotten its own nationals in the country. They are ideal agents for spreading the gospel of a great Black Republic south of the Zambesi.