The Ruhr

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 33, 23 August 1923, Page 23

The Ruhr

The outbreak of Bolshevism of which the German bishops had given a serious warning in their appeal began in Gelsenkirchen on May 24 when organised "centuries" of the Communists set out to reduce food prices. This action was followed by looting and riots. The shops, which had all been locked at the beginning of the disturbances, were broken open and their merchandise distributed. In the struggle between the Communists and the citizens' defence forces 11 people were killed and many wounded. Police headquarters wero stormed by the rioters and a Communist regime established, with the city completely in control of the Bolshevist forces. Additional French troops were sent into Gelsenkirchen, but they were ordered not to interfere so long as the demonstrators did not clash with the French military. French official authorities are quoted to the effect that Moscow has sent more than 20,000,000 Swiss francs to the Ruhr Valley in order to aid in the establishment of a Soviet republic. Two shiploads of wheat are also said to have been sent on the initiative of Moscow for the support of the Communists, particularly at Dortmund and Bochum, with promises of further supplies if needed. These statements were published by the French as a reply to the charge of fostering the Communist uprising. On May 25 the fall of Bochum was also announced. This is an important centre of the Prussian steel and -iron industry, besides being a coal-mining town. It is also a great centre of Catholic social activity. No serious fighting appears to have taken place at Bochum, when the Communists invaded the Stinnes plant and compelled cessation of work. The 23,000 employees followed the order and laid down their tools. The total number on strike "in the Bochum area is given as 60,000. No casualties occurred at this time, although the movement engineered by the revolutionists was vetoed by the Labor leaders. Plundering and looting was also prevented by the discipline which the Communist leaders successfully enforced. Describing the existing conditions in his cable dispatch of May 25 to the New York Herald, Lincoln Eyre wrote: "Meanwhile, the poilus stand smilingly by while a motley crowd of youths, with Red or anarchistic black arm bands, govern Europe's rights to her industrial regions. Thus far it must be admitted that the young revolutionaries •have done rather well. Gelsenkirchen is fast returning to normalcy, and Dortmund, Bochum, and Essen, where the , Communist agitation is in full swing, are also comparatively peaceful. . '.'The only property destroyed has been the police head- | quarters, together with a few provision stores. In Gelsenkirchen the municipal government continues to function, having accepted the dissolution of the so-called self-pro-tecting units in favor of a police force exclusively from the working class, but the selection is not limited to the Communist faction.

"The protective committee in charge of policing Gelsenkirchen has issued an edict as dry as Volstead's, even' beer being prohibited. The necessities of life will be rationed until wages catch up with the cost of living." In Essen the warehouses were looted and the citizens here as elsewhere were practically helpless since their police had beeen disarmed by the French and so could offer no effectual resistance. There was danger, too, that the Communists would lose control over their own bands, and delegates wero sent from the Bolshevist headquarters in Berlin to the countless little towns where the Communist movement was spreading. The initial success of the Communist uprising, it will be noticed, took 1 place in the cities that had suffered most from the French invasion. To stay the disorders the German Government asked permission to send German police into the occupied districts of Essen and Gelsenkirchen. By May 28 the police had been strongly reinforced by recruits from the unoccupied territory. The counter-revo-lutionary movement appears to be centred in Bochum. Its sudden assertion of power led to new collisions and further bloodshed, but the progress of the Communists was stayed and the advantage rested with the civic forces. The French continued to hold aloof, despite occasional requests from German municipalities. Their troops weTe confined to their quarters, making a clash with them improbable.