Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-12-08
LAYS REVOLUTION
To THE GERMANS,
NOT THE RUSSIANS
Refugee Says Only 3 to 5 Per
Cent Are Real Believers
in Soviet.

|
/ 10 Correspondence of the Associa ted
| Press There is no likelihood of a rs-
! ing of the people of Petrograd against
the bolsheviki this winter no matter
| how terrible their plight may become.
| says |. Saponen, d prominent art dealer
of that city, who sacrificed fortune of
! 5000. 900 rubles to escape from Russia.
THE belief of starving the population
! into starting revolution is a heresy.
he declares. so far as the Russians
are concerned. they will simply die.
! Cen Yudenitch. without Finland s
help. has no chance of taking Petrograd,
| for he began his campaign a month too
soon. If he had waited until Trotskys
men began to feel the pinch of the cold,
along with insufficient food, their
lowered morale might enable the attack
/ to succeed"
| Aided by the wife of Maxim Gorky
NJ. Saponen contrived. by lavish
bribery of the bolsheviki TO leave Pet
| rograd. He arrived at Helsirgfors Il
! month ago. To representative of the
i Associated Press he related The first
time for publication his remarkable eX-
periences from arrest in June while
serving as a representative of the Fin
nish government in negotiating for the
exchange of war prisoners. NJ Saponen
is a native of Finland who has resided
in Petrograd for the last ten years.
Treated Worse Than "a Dog.
Until March, he said. I'VE foreign
ers were never molested. | had been
representing the Danish Red Cross until
took up the exchange of prisoners
March II.
After securing written guarantee.
signed by Schlovsky. the Petrograd
commandant. and Tchitcherin commits
s;oner OF foreign affairs) that my life
and property would be safe, ! was al
lowed TO return to Finland. Neverthe-
less. from April % until May IA | was
kept in detention in my own house and
H.
then taken to Moscow, thrown into a
military camp and treated worse than
| d dog simply because / was Finn.
Was kept in prison until August s, when
Schlovsky ordered me to be released
THE contents of my Petrograd house
consisting of works of art, jewels val
ued by Russian experts at 1900, 900
rubles. are undoubtedly carried off. and
| have no hope of seeing them again.
Commenting on the conditions in Rus
STA. NJ. Saponen said: The allies
blockade is destroying White Russia, for
the bolsheviki naturally feed their own
followers first. and there is little left
for the governments enemies, who are
periShng.
Counter Revolt Impossible.
Il wish to reitnrate that there is no
possibility of counter revolt. for the
Russian peasants are incapable of act
ing without strong leaders Ii was the
Germans and not the people who
brought about the revolution which over
threw the emperor and later kerensky.
! Before the revolution people could OBJ
tain two or three pounds of bread.
; Afterward they We're only allowed one
eighth OF pound. but they were too
terroriZed to protest.
There are only } to ) per cent real
! believers in bolShevki in Russia and
they. by using drastic measures. are
able to swing the great masses over to
! their side
! NJ. Saponen said that the central gov
eminent. despite the control of the
| army, exercised little power over the
local soviets, but the bolsheviki have
done considerable constructive work
! principally in the establishments of trade
! schools. Eager to educate the masses
| gartens. and the state takes care of the
| children until they reach fourteen years
OF age.
! He criticised the allies military aid
to the White Russians as ineffective by
| saying that the allies do not send sup
plies regularly and in sufficient quaint
| ties.
Fear Finnish Troops Most.
| THE Finnish troops could them
selves capture Petrograd, as the boil
shevik fear them above all others
AS a result of the bolshevik propa-
ganda during the war bolshevik
i officer announced that he would
rather fight the devil himself than
| the Firms. who never know when
they are defeated. Seventy five per
cent of the task of conquering the
bolsheviki would be accomplished
with the capture of Petrograd, as that
Is the only way to impair the blind
confidence of the people who are be-
lieving in bolshevism and in the in
vincibility of their leaders"
! NJ. Saponen confirmed reports of
| appalling conditions in Petrograd. which
/ the winter will make far worse, and
| said that all wooden houses had long
since been burned for fuel. as well a $
! the flooring of others
He asserted. however. that the de-
pletion of Petrograds population was
not due so much to starvation as to
the fact that the bolsheviki had sent
away the bourgeoisie and had re-
moved prisoners to the interior