New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-05-18
Another Vie,c

Another Vieu
The opposite viewpoint is repre-
sented by personal letter which
has come into the possession of The
Outlook" purporting to have been
written by a Finnish resident of
Russia, who not long ago succeeded
in making his escape to his native
country. He says, in part:
Imagine how happy we were to see
a clean railway station, bread, butter,
and milk on the table, and friendly
looking and smiling people-young
men that were joking with each other.
You surely smile when you read these
lines, but l am sure you hardly can
imagine what's going on in Russia at
this time. Just think of everything
that you are accustomed TO as being
turned upside down. The rich man
is now poorer than beggar: man
who Is educated to be a state minister.
is now saving wood or cleaning the
street of snow and dirt; The minis
ter who preached in She church or an
army officer has to unload railway
wagons; the beggar who cannot write
his name, he is senator; d laborer
who was drunkard is now chief in
some ministry, and we all had to bow
before him to get the right to be alive
at all.
Everything is by law taken away
from you because you have no right to
possess single chance; everything be- '3
longs to the government; that is, is
robbed away and nobody knows or
cares where it goes. For example, you
are sleeping one night in your own bed,
few men of the Red Guards are com
ing into your fiat, asking you 10 dress
yourself as quickly as possible and
commanding you to get out Of the
house in the cold street. as your be-
longings, linen, dresses, furniture. etc.
everything you worked for all your
lifetime and saxed, your fiat also
are natlonalized; that means it is
taken from you by the lawful govern
ment and you are not going to have
red cent paid for it 1t has to be
used Tor the true Bolshevik population,
which again means the vagabond pop
ulation, who have not worked nor
saved all their life, only drunk,
robbed, and done absolutely nothing
for their country or their people.
Those people are now ruling
poor, poor Russia. myself, for m
stance, had to go to work twenty days
cut of thirty and sweep the a.4t'sst
places in the Red Army's cass4aes
barracks; my son had to clean the
streets. No pay and no bread becee.e
we belonged to the so-called own;,s
and educated class, to the fourth va;s-
sory-that is, the last lowest parasite
class of the population, where;o all
.eople who own something have 10 be-
ong We had the right to buy one
the word here is indeciphcrable q
lay a person on our cards, one-six-
zenith Of pound of bread IF there ''
we're any, but we never got any). p
mats about all we got in the three
asst months we had TO remain there. s,a
'asslng the frontier, we were so
eeble that our boys had TO carry us
n their arms all the way | pray to
sod that your country, which | still
owe and honor, never win have to So
through only one part of that ySnat -
ave seen lately in Russia.
From my brother and his farnilys
~ business, factory and stores, Ihaves q
OF heard anything, and have idea
any of them are alive or anything i,
it is left. 1t is good feeling when
on walk in the street and you can b.
ure that nobody comes rr. Kills you.