THE OUTLOOK IN RUSSIA

Taranaki Daily News, 14 April 1932, Page 13

THE OUTLOOK IN RUSSIA

EXPERIMENTS of soviet

“DOOMED TO FAILURE.” ENGLISH VISITOR’S VIEWS. Conditions in Soviet Russia were discussed by Mr. Frank Gilder, secretary of Amalgamated Smelters, Limited, of Loudon, who passed through Auckland this week on hifi way to Sydney. Mr. Gilder spent about two months in Russia recently, representing on a trade delegation the various important metal industries of Great Britain, and he had no hesitation in saying that social and industrial experiments now being carried out in Russia were doomed to failUl “in England much has been written about Russia,” Mr. Gilder said, “but it is difficult to obtain a true picture of the country from newspapers, as- the Russians' have developed propaganda to a fine art. The whole question is exceedingly complex. There is no doubt that a section of the Russian people is out to further its own ends, but on the other hand there are the idealists.” A few years ago, the majority of the 150,000,000 people in Russia followed agricultural pursuits, Mr. Gilder said. The total area under production was then only 11.5 per cent, of the whole surface. Now the Communists wanted to industrialise the whole of the country within five years and to that end had forced farmers to go in for co-oper-ative work and take up Government farms, or go out of business altogether. It was held that if the farmers were allowed to sell their own products the plan would be defeated. Agriculture had been made a Government monopoly. ALL-POWERFUL MINORITY. The most remarkable state of affairs w as that 95 per cent, of the population was in fear and trembling of the other 5 per cent, and the supreme tragedy of it was that nobody seemed to know exactly what comprised the minority. In Moscow he had once asked a business friend to dine with him and the man said that he could accept only if he could bring two of his departmental heads with’him. He had explained that one was certain to bo a secret service and his presence would remove any suspicion concerning the business discussion at dinner. Industrialists in Russia were more favoured under the new regime, but the authorities had simply converted one form of slavery into another. In Tsarist days the labourers were considered as rerfs; that position was still maintained, but the power was held in a different quarter. The minority was holding power simply because the majority was not educated. Children in Russian schools to-day were being taught to regard themselves merely as cogs in a huge industrial machine. Discussing currency matters, Mr. Gilder said the manipulation of exchanges had certainly not made for a low cost of living. A foreigner would require about £5O r week to live in Russia. One night- in Moscow he thought he would like caviare, which, in London, would have cost 4s 6d; it cost 12s 6d, in spite of the fact that caviare came from Russia. Eggs cost 2s each in terms of English money. People were not actually starving but to them the bare necessities of life were luxuries. POPULATION OF MOSCOW. In spite of efforts to promote cooperative farming, there was still a considerable drift to the cities. Moscow had a population of 2,750,000, although it'.was built for a population of only 1,500)000. The city was terribly overcrowded. Factories and schools, although they were conducted by committees, were really in the hands of the Communists. In three years £24,000,000 had been spent on the construction of woollen mills and factories and many more were in course of building. Russia, however, could not grow sufficient wool for her own requirements and she could not import wool without money to pay for it. The whole Communist system would probably break down through education. The schools were well conducted and the children were encouraged to do everything for themselves. A child was never corrected by his teacher; he was corrected by his classmates. However, children who were taught to-think for themselves would not always regard themselves as cogs in an industrial machine. Their enlightenment would be the means of overthrowing the existing order.

“There is no doubt that the people are going through great privations,” Mr. Gilder said. “That is admitted on all sides. When a visitor leaves Russia he gives a sigh as if to say: ‘Thank God that’s over.’ When one asks a Russian if he ever goes to Berlin or Paris, he says: ‘No, I can’t get out.’ And that word ‘out’ is terribly significant. To the majority of Russians, Russia is nothing more than a vast prison.”