BRISBANE BOLSHEVIKS

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160812, 20 November 1920, Page 5

BRISBANE BOLSHEVIKS

DEMONSTRATION ENDS IN WILD DISORDER,.

SYDNEY, Nov. 9,

Thg, Brisbane Bolsheviks last Sunday held a demonstration', to celebrate the Russian revolution. Those who disapprove of the too frequent flapping of the Eed Mag also attended, and the proceedings ended in wild disorder. Queensland appears to have a larger number of -Bolsheviks per thousand of population than any other State —probably because the Queensland Government is so very extreme that it foments extremism. However, Bolshevism and other isms which flourish in . Queensland may be merely a safety valve, for 1 the northen State seems to be as orderly and prosperous as the others. ,On Sunday the Bolsheviks wore red ties and red geraniums in their buttonholes, and they marched) behind a red flag to the Domain, and were altogether very fierce and revolutionary indeed. Russians predominated—there are a surprising number of Russians in Queensland, where they are mostly employed in unskilled work—but the fervid oratory which the occasion demanded was supplied by comrades of British birth. The whole big crowd of them howled with indignation when a large posse of police marched on to the ground. Inis from a Labour Govern xrent.

The assembly sang “The Eed Flag” very enthusiastically, and was then addressed by a Mr Roach and a Mr Thomas. Both said exactly the things they might have.been expected to say. They stood foh Revolution. It was inevitable, and must come. The Australian workers must follow the progressive and wide-visioned workers of Russia. Only fools would say that the red flag would not soon wave over Brisbane. One of the men, who made vituperative references to the men who fought for the Allies in the war, got “into holts” with the returned soldiers, of "whom many were present. When the crowd tried to liven things up with “The Red Flag,” the soldiers sa-jng the National Anthem, and when an Irishman did not remove his hat they removed it violently for him. That started a fight The crowd rushed io take sides, and in a moment a very pretty melee was in progress, with, the soldiers “getting some of their own back.” The police rushed into the battle, and broke it up before much harm was done, and the crowd began to disperse. Then a returned soldier got up and moved: “That. Australia was quite capable of looking after her own affairs without the inculcation of foreign ideas.” A show of hands showed a majority in favour of the motion, and the meeting broke up amid much argument and disorder.