The Waikato Times With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1920. MENACE OF BOLSHEVISM

Waikato Times, Volume 93, Issue 14492, 15 October 1920, Page 4

The Waikato Times With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1920. MENACE OF BOLSHEVISM

While (lie London Times regards the recurring Bolshevist threats t/f an invasion of India as a bogey, raised with the idea of bringing pressure against i meat Britain, and rejects the idea that the Bolshevists either contemplate such an invasion or could overcome the difficulties which the route would present for their armies, there seems to be n.i doubt that the Soviet Government has been making very definite efforts to come to an understanding serviceab e to itself with the Government at Kabul. It would doubtless assume that Afghanistan would still he bitter enough, against Great Britain in consequence of the recent breach of the friendly relations between the two countries. Publicity is now given to what purport to be the actual proposals of the Soviet Government to the Amir. These would secure for the Soviet, in return for military and financial assistance to Afghanistan, facilities for getting into touch with the north-western frontier of India, tlic right for Soviet agents engaged in propaganda work to pass freHy into India, the right of (lie Soviet lo establish representatives in selected places, and the guarantee of the Amir not to conclude a treaty or agreement with any other Government than that at Moscow without the consent of the latter. Very likely the overtures of the Soviet to the Amir have taken the form indicated. It is not a failing of the Bolshevists to err on the side of

modesty—their ambitions range far beyond their powers. Their note to China, delivered in April and only recently given publicity, was a most insidious document, concluding witn the words: "Should the people of China, following the example of the people of Russia, long for their freedom and for escape from the fate prepared for them by the Allies at Versailles —namely, to allow their country to become another Korea and a second India—they will fight for their liberty, uniting with the Russian workers and peasants and with the Red Army. The ■Soviet Government offers the Chinese people an opportunity of establishing official relations, and calls on them to delegate their representatives to the Red Army Front.” Probably the Chinese response has been disappointing. It was easier for the Soviet to get into touch with China than with India. Wc may imagine the irritation which the apparent imperturbability -'of India creates in the mind of the Bolshevist leader who recently wrote: "Our triumphant battalions in the Siberian steppes and on the a road to Turkestan arc sowing the seeds of an outburst of revolutionary enthusiasm amongst the enslaved peoples of Asia.” But so far the manifestations of enthusiasm have not been very striking. The Times places considerable emphasis upon the time which it took the Bolshevists to overrun Bokhara—scarcely an introduction to the difficulties awaiting them on the route to India—and upon the error which they committed in overthrowing an independent .Mussulman State and thus alienating the Afghans. The Amir at Kabul has no doubt been impressed by what has befallen the Amir of Bokhara. It is difficult to judge to what extent Afghanistan may constitute a barrier against Bolshevist progress towards India, but in our cablegrams to-day will be found a message which seems to indicate that the propagandists have at least received a hearing, and that there are signs that the Amir is wavering in his attitude towards Britain. Islam has j been acclaimed as a protection against j Bolshevism. The doctrine of Bolshevism does not appeal to the Mahommednn; tile tenets of his religion teach him to respect his elders and to respect his neighbour’s property. Yet while the Bolshevists have experienced greater difficulty than they anticipated in reconciling the principles of Bolshevism with the faith of Islam, wc find it asserted, perhaps correctly, that

j they have successfully toned down their i propaganda to suit Mussulman psycho - 1 logy. It Is probable enough that the ; Bolshevists have no hope at the present i time of inaugurating a movement on any seale against India, but as specialists to propaganda they will assuredly be doing their best to permeate India with the seeds of disaffection. The Bolshevists aim at world revolution. This is the raison d'etre of their existence. They wish among other things to achieve the ruin of the British Empire. Major-General Sir George Aston, recording in a review article the results of his study, from an official vantage point at Whitehall, of the propaganda policy of all the enemies of the British Empire, observes; "I gathered that the deliberate and far-seeing plan of campaign of the Bolshevist leaders was to direct their main operations against us in the East, where that nebulous and indefinable quality ‘prestige’ has a powerful influence, particularly susceptible to the machinations, of the propagandist. By such operations on the circumference of our widely distributed territorial responsibilities they hoped in course of lime to draw the best and most patriotic of our manhood away from the United Kingdom, thus leaving the care of tiie Empire more liable to rot under the insidious influence of anti-patriolic sentimentalists.” In a recent article in The Times, entitled “Lenin’s World Plot,” Dr. Harold Williams discusses Bolshevism in relation to the British Empire in a way that shows how wide a scope England herself is offering for Bolshevist activities. And he pens this illuminating passage: “There is a widespread feeling of sympathy for oppressed peoples and distrust of everything that savours of aggressive Imperialism, and these feelings the Bolshevists know very well how to exploit. They play on generous humanitarian sentiment and fan it to white heat on behalf of remote causes of which few people know the rights and the wrongs. Partisan feeling is roused to its highest pilch on issues that lo most people arc obscure. Catchwords arc set in motion, and soon come to be accepted by thousands as indisputable truths. The authority of the Government is steadily undermined. Efforts arc made to put the Government openly in the wrong, and make it appear ridiculous or treacherous. It is persistently represented as a class Government, a capitalist Government, even though it be the product of uni- , vcrsal suffrage."