The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-03-12
.BOLSHEVIK KILLED
MANY RUSS PRIESTS
Professor Who Fled Country
to Save Himself, Paints
Horrid Picture.

LONDON, March ~. Correspondence
Of the Associated Press)-Murders Of
| clergymen constitute the latest feature
Of Bolshevik terror in Russia, says Prof.
Peter Strive. a distinguished Russian
economist, who has escaped from Rus
STA and arrived in England after hiding
from the Bolsheviki for months in Mos
COW, and after a long journey on foot
to reach safety in Finland. He was
compelled to disguise himself to escape
death at the hands OF the adherents
Of Lenine and Trotzky. Prof. Strive
was representative from Petrograd in
the second duma and a member Of the
assembly convoked by Alexander F.
Kerensky.
Altogether ten bishops had been shot
and many priests murdered. and the
dean of Kazan cathedral and his two
sons were drowned in the Neva by the
Red soldiers, said Prof. Strive. Near
kotlas, all the monks in one monastery
were hot to death. Prof. Kartasheff,
minister Of religion in Kerensky's gov
eminent, who has escaped into Finland,
says that the present persecution Of the
church in P~etrograd is only comparable
with the persecution Of the early Chris
tians.
In Moscow all the shootings take
place at night. but in Petrograd the
victims Of the Bolsheviki are shot in
the afternoon in the courtyard OF the
headquarters of the executive commits
sion and, In order to drown the noise, 1t
Is usual to start up the engines Of
motor cars which are waiting in the
vicinity,
"At the beginning Of the Bolshevik
movement, l publicly expressed the
opinion that not even a German would
hold converse with a BolsheVik. As a
Russian constitutionalist II is complete
ly inexplicable to me how any allied
government can contemplate discussion
Of any sort, in any circumstances or at
any place, with anyone whd calls him
self a Bolshevik,
Those who imagine, hat there can
by any pact, between the forces Of
civilization and Bolshevism, have no
conception Of the real state OF affairs in
Russia. The most moderate form OF
restoration OF order and liberty In Rus
STA would make the existence Of Boil
shevlsm impossible.
Bolshevism is complete tyranny,
which is absolutely incompatible with
any form Of ordered liberty and consti-
tutional government. II is entirely false
to say that Bolshevism is a popular
form OF government. II Trotzky would
be killed. No car lived in greater
terror Of his subjects than the chiefs Of
the Bolshivik government. There was
more law and justice under serfdom
than under the Bolsheviki.
1T is untrue that the armed forces OF
the Bolsheviki can offer any serious re-
sistance to organized and well-armed
pressure, and the failure of the Boil
sheviki in Esthonia, where they yielded
before small but compact forces, is
much more characteristic OF their real
nature than the successes they gained
in the north and the east against the
driblets which were put in action there.
ITO represent the Bolsheviki as being
strong is not only false but very dam
gerous-it creates the very impression
that the Bolsheviki desire to create.
They aim at world revolution, and to
create a false impression OF their power
Is to further their aims, Civilization
must not shrink from the problem; it
can be dealt with easily II 1t is grasped
firmly. The real strength OF the Boil
sheviki lies In the irresolution Of the
leaders Of civilization"