Evening star., 1919-09-01

tion his grain and cattle Tor the reu
army and the local soviet officials Of
ten treat peasants with brutality.
In March and April several risings
occurred in rural districts in soviet
Russia On April % there broke out
in the county of Mglinsk a peasant
mutiny. The leaders were the left
socialist revolutionists, the most pow
erful anti-bolshevist peasant party in
Russia The rising was suppressed
without bloodshed. Six were arrest
ed and the rest of the rebel chiefs
escaped.
Soviet Starts Terror.
A campaign Of red terror was start
ed in the county of volokolimsk. the
province Of Moscow. by several Off
cials Of the local soviet. Peasants
were beaten, f1ogged, executed. and
false protocols were drawn up claim
ing that the victims tried to escape
or were guilty of violence. Requisi-
tions and .confiscations were carried
through without system. The corpses
of the executed peasants were ordered
by the local commissioner to be left
at the place of execution for. one day,
after which time the neighbors would
be forced to bury them. The Grim
inal officials were finally arrested and
condemned to penal servitude by the
provincial revolutionary tribunal.
Extensive peasant disturbances oc-
CURED in the. counties of Poretchei
and Zarutchie. the. province of Tver,
before Easter. The inhabitants de-
cided to prevent the export of grain
from their villages. The first thing
they did was quite in keeping with
the traditional mode of action of the
Russian peasant. They elected
deputation to Lenin. petitioning him
to explain the order about the ex-
portation of grain and have it re-
voked.
Punitive Expedition Sent.
The local soviet did not like this
willful action of the peasants. I'm
mediately a protocol was drawn up
representing that 1900 men were in
villages and that the responsible
communists were fatally wounded.
A row Of alarming kilograms poured
into Moscow and punitive expedition
was urgently requested 1t was dis
patched promptly to the place of the
disturbance.
Supported by this expedition. sew
eral communists declared themselves
a revolutionary military soviet. AS
its head stood the anarchist. Leshin.
He proclaimed a state of siege, re-
moved the local soviet and imposed an
indemnity on the whole district. At
the collection Of this indemnity the
peasants were fogged, hit in the face
with revo1vers. uhdresed to the last
shirt and placed in cold water.
There was an instance when
beaten woman lost her speech. The
farms were looted, everything that
had been prepared by the peasants
for Easter. including meat. butter,
milk and other products, was taken
away. without compensation and
al t~4w
similar articles were conf1scated by
force. In one section many peasants
were shot and their horses and cattle
requisitioned. For two months this
went on. until the central government
in Moscow learned of the affair.
Moscow Government Acts.
A flying inspection commission
was hurried to the spot Of the dis
orders. without any ceremonies"
tells its chairman in the Moscow L.
vestia Of May .. I'VE Immediately ar
rested the most prominent leaders of
the expedition. Orders were issued.
for the convocation of meetings and
tion how the Moscow authorities re-
gard such events. All the requisi-
TONED horses and cattle were re-
turned to their owners. The popula-
tion was infinitely grateful
. Continuing his observation, the
behave. with very rare EXCEPTIONS.
abominably. 1t was only with great
difficulty that we were able to con-
vince the peasants that we also were
communists. But we tried hard to
explain it. and finally they understood
Speculation, drunkenness. and cor
ruption are rampant in the village.
according to Vopatin. the peasant
from the province Of Tambov. who
begins his complaint in the Moscow
Izvesta with the cry. Help. we are
perishing" Vopatin's correspondence
Help. we are perishing! While we
are starving. do you know what is
going on in the village depths? Take
as an example our village Olkhi. Spec
ulation is rife here, especially with
salt. which sells at 40 rubles a
What do the soviets do? When it is
reported to them they wave their
hands and do nothing. Not only this.
but the militiamen. beginning with
the chief and including some COM
munists. are all engaged in distill-
70 rubles a bottle. Nobody who is in
close touch with the militia is afraid
to engage in this work.
Judge Accepts a Drink.
Hunger is ahead OF us. but neither
the citizens nor the authorities recog-
nize it. The peoples judge also
drinks, and II one wishes to win a
case. one only needs to treat him to
q drink. We live in terrible filth.
There Is no soap. People and horses
all are afflicted with scabs. Epidem-
les are Inevitable in the summer If
Moscow will pay no attention to us,
then we shall perish.
I'VE had elections for the village
and county soviets, but the voting oc-
CURED in violation of the constitution
Of the soviet government AS re-
suit Of this, under the guise of COM
munists, number of village capital
lists who entered the party in order
to avoid acquisitions and contribu-
tions, were elected. The toiling
peasantry is thus being turned
against the government, and this at a
time when the hosts of Kolchak are
advancing from the east"
Conditions even more frightful than
those described above obtained dur
ing the past winter in the county of
Ribinsk the province of Yaroslav. but
the results were quite different.
There the population was terrorized
by a group Of self-styled communists.
who seized the most important posts
and controlled the local soviet. Only