AT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18438, 23 March 1922, Page 5

AT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

THE RAND REVOLT. The Rand revolt was an attempt to bring about an upheaval similar to the French Revolution. How nearly it succeeded is told by General Smuts. SPEECH BY GENERAL SMUTS. CAPETOWN, March 20. General Smuts was loudly cheered t>n entering the Assembly. Making a statement he said when he last spoke in the House practically the whole Rand from one end to the other, except Boysburg and a small portion in the centre of Johannesburg, was in the hands of revolutionaries. He paid a tribute to the prompt action of the Minister of Defence in mobilizing the burghers and to the latter’s magnificent organisation. There had been a grave danger that the whole Rand might become the scene of bloodshed and murder such as would take one back to the days of the French revolution. Not till the early hours of Sunday was it possible to change the situation. After that rapid progress was made. W’hen he left Johannesburg on Friday the situation was almost as if nothing had happened. The country • had escaped a tremendous danger. The strike had been submerged by the revolution as it had been admitted by a resolution of mine-workers’ unions dissociating themselves from the revolutionary movement. It was clear that the Trades Unions Federation Executive were not tree agents and dark influences were in the background. The executive made a fatal mistake in not repudiating the movement as soon as the council of action appeared, but waiting till after all this trouble and bloodshed. The Government had been blamed for not arresting the revolutionary leaders. There was a time when most of those in gaol ought to have remained there but the magistrates let them out on the flimsiest possible bail. It might be asked what were the prospects and aims of the revolutionaries. It was clear from the statements made by the leaders who were really out for a red revolution of the French Republic type. There was no doubt about that fact. What impressed him most was if these people, even for a few days before commandos came up, obtained the mastery of the whole of Johannesburg and the Rand, they might have set up a revolutionary tribunal and people might have beer executed by hundreds and Johannesburg changed into an ovean of blood. That was their, way to create a Soviet Republic. It might be said they were mad, but they had a great measure of success. They, no doubt, expected assistance the country and other comman■Los to come to their assistance. they were disappointed. One oBKthe most consolatory facts was the rSponse to the Government’s appeal. He hoped what had happened had cleared the air. It would now be realised all over the world that in South Africa, whatever its politics, there was a vast body of solid public opinion which would support law and order and public authority.

INTERESTING DISCOVERY. CAPETOWN, March 21. In the room in the Trades Hall at Johannesburg used by the Communists, the police found a red robe and two red caps the same shape as the cap of liberty worn in the French Revolution, also a black skull cap. It is surmised that the latter was the cap of justice, and would form part of the vestments of the judge under the communistic regime. A BOLSHEVIST PLOT. RESULT OF YEARS OF PROPAGANDA. CAPETOWN, March 21. A representative of the Australian Press Association during a recent visit to the Rand, endeavoured to discover the underlying motives of the insurrection. Investigations were carried out both among the worst ruffians among the prisoners and well-to-do sympathisers of the Labour cause, Dutch inhabitants, lawyers, and financiers of Russian birth. The conclusion arrived at was that the whole matter was of a most complex character. No doubt Bolshevik propaganda w'as openly carried out on the Rand for years past in Dutch and English, headed chiefly by English extremists, who turned the heads of many of the workers, notably among illiterate miners of Dutch descent. The promoters of the upheaval included some Russian Jews, but the great majority were of English birth, with a few Dutch extremists. In the fighting the Dutch were foremost, both in regard to leadership and to numbers, Englisn second, and Russian a oad third. There were several Dutch lads amongst the snipers, considering it sport to pick off passers-by. The rank and file apparently had no clear idea what object would be attained. They were told they must fight to keep out the natives, also for the worthy object of establishing a republic, and they would have a big support from the country districts. When the burghers marched into the outskirts of Bononi they were cheered by the strikers, who believed they had come to their assistance. This military support was expected chiefly from the Free State, which is overwhelmingly republican. The rally of the burghers to Government came as an immense to the revolutionaries.