Wairarapa Daily Times (Established Over 60 Years.) TUESDAY, 7th SEPTEMBER, 1937. SOVIET RUSSIA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 7 September 1937, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times (Established Over 60 Years.) TUESDAY, 7th SEPTEMBER, 1937. SOVIET RUSSIA.

Fundamental changes are introduced in Soviet Russia with so much noise and confusion, so much denunciation and bitterness, that it is often difficult to perceive their intention. But the pattern and purpose of the violent campaign against “Trotskyists,” “Rightists” and “public enemies” is beginning to emerge. The Bolshevik dictatorship, which has struck in turn at every “class” of Soviet society, has now turned against entrenched officialdom, a new “class” created by the dictatorship itself. Joseph Stalin and his closest associates have entered into a new alliance with the “little people” against the Soviet bureaucracy which threatened to overshadow the dictatorship and the ‘ ‘ revolution. ’ ’ Sympathetic visitors to Russia in recent years have noted with dismay the size and power of officialdom, its privileges and percpiisites. Some visitors have expressed doubts whether this new “class” was not more unpleasant and more firmly entrenched than older “classes” which it had superseded. For years this group was permitted to grow in size, power and prestige; its members performed wonders in helping to convert the Soviet state into “one vast syndicate,” with an iron grip upon industry, agriculture, and every means of public expression, as well as upon the political machine. But' the dictatorship apparently was biding its time. The “Trotskyist” trials were the beginning of a frontal attack upon the bureaucracy. During recent months hundreds of thousands of party and government officials have been removed and disgraced, exiled or shot. The charge of “Trotskyism” was made to cover such a multitude of sins that it seemed! for a time that the dictatorship, in a panic, was destroying its own political machine. Gradually, however, the dictatorship’s purpose emerged, although it has never been publicly stated. The higher organs of the Communist Party, under Joseph Stalin’s firm control, had outlined a new alli-

ance with the “little people” to undermine and weaken the power of the bureaucracy. Within a few months officialdom has been shaken to its foundation. Every party group, every government office, every factory and industry, every collective farm, has yielded its quota of “Trotskyists,” officials in key positions. Officials have been set to destroy officials; there has been a frenzy of mutual recriminations and denunciations, all of which have been recorded and utilised by the political police.