RUMOURS OF TROUBLE IN RUSSIA MULTIPLY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19237, 26 November 1930, Page 1

RUMOURS OF TROUBLE IN RUSSIA MULTIPLY.

CONFLICTING REPORTS OF DISORDERS RECEIVED. (United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) LONDON, November 24. News from Russia continues to be of a conflicting character. The Paris correspondent of the “Morning Post" claims as authentic the announcement of serious revolts at Kazan, Borispol and Kharkov. Should the movement develop, as it is likely to do next spring after the melting of the snow, it may bring the whole regime toppling. In the event of Stalin losing his hold on Moscow, he will retire to Tajekistan, where millions of pounds has been expended on roads and the erection of a modern citadel, like the new Angora, where a safe refuge and large reserve of gold await him. His immediate flight from Moscow is not expected, but the situation is distinctly menacing. The rumour that Stalin has been assassinated is baseless, but it is reported that the 0.G.P.U., the secret police organisation, is beginning to disintegrate. This is the most significant happening in Russa for years, as it means that the basis of the whole Bolshevik tyranny is being sapped. Gunfire Heard. Advices from Riga confirm the report that dwellers on the frontier heard gunfire in the Ostroff-Pskoff district. Travellers reported that an armoured train is standing by at Pskoff, covered with canvas in order to conceal it from the people. Berlin messages say that many wild rumours continue to reach that city. The newspapers have published the story of a Russian sea captain to the effect that Rykoff revealed to Stalin that there is a conspiracy by which the officers corps wished Rykoff to take the lead and overthrow the Dictator. In consequence hundreds of officers have been arrested. Reports from other sources indicate that Red Army troops have been withdrawn from Moscow, which is in sole charge of the O.G.P.U. Admission of Trouble. A Russian broadcast picked up in several centres, says that General Voroshiloff, War Commissar, speaking at Moscow, appealed to the people to remain quiet and loyal to the Government. He promised more extensive food rations to civilians and new privileges to soldiers of the Red Army. This is the first admission by an official at Moscow of any trouble in Russia, SECRET S.O.S. IS ISSUED BY RED DICTATOR. Serious conspiracies in the Red Army and among the rank and file of workers and peasants against the Red Dictator, Stalin, are admitted in Moscow, and great apprehension as todevelopments during the winter, wrote a correspondent of the “Daily Mail" recently. I have just seen a copy of a secret memorandum circulated by Stalin to his followers in Soviet Russia and in foreign countries, the contents of which are obviously a serious warning of danger ahead. The importance of the document is evident from the instruction: “To be destroyed immediately after perusal,” which appears in large type at the head of it. The memorandum states that the opposition forces in the Red Army are growing, and that “the majority of officers are actively siding with the leaders of the Right Wing." Many officers have openly declared their support of Voroshiloff, the Commander-in-Chief, against Stalin. The army conspiracy, it is stated, is camouflaged “by formal adhesion to party orders, behind which action is being prepared for the overthrew of the present Communist Party executive." This conspiracy is being aided by “sabotage” in industry, which finds expression in the destruction of valuable machinery, particularly in the Donetz Valley, in the Urals, and in Western Siberia. Emphasis is laid on the fact that the destroyers are ordinary workers. A whole section of the memorandum is devoted to the peasantry. It states that “the crisis in agriculture has reached a dangerous peak". Every step taken against the peasants is answered “by a wholesale destruction of tractors and other agricultural machinery." iThe armed Communist brigades sent to “collect" grain in the villages are met with such opposition that “500 comrades have been killed between August 1 and 15". This peasant terror has so frightened the comrades that they refuse to obey orders. In this connection it is of interest to note that none of the Moscow Commissars has dared to visit rural Russia since May last.